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5th Anniversary Country Sint Maarten.

daniellajeffry21062015PHILIPSBURG:---- Healing time has come. We can no longer continue to run this small island as a province of France and an autonomous territory of the Netherlands. Saint Martin North was integrated into Guadeloupe some 300 km away under the 1946 Law of Departmentalization without the consent of the people. Saint Martin South was given the opportunity to be a territory of the Netherlands Antilles under the 1954 Kingdom Charter. Although the people have been grateful for these evolutions, they felt throughout the years that they were integrated into administrative or governing systems unsuitable for the sustainable development of the island, At this stage, the people of both parts are suffering from serious setbacks, incessant neglects, to say the least, that are affecting all sectors of our society, paradoxically except for all those who came from everywhere and are benefiting from the unheard-of opportunities offered by two European systems.
We need to rethink the type of governance to save the people and the total island. This responsibility lies in the hands of the most advanced and autonomous entity: the Parliament in Saint Martin South. The role of parliamentarians is to make laws to ensure the good functioning and survival of the nation. And whether we like it or not, we shall sink together or we shall rise together. The island is one, the people or nation is one. We sing it. We talk about it in our official speeches and informal addresses, but do we really mean it? On both parts of the island the same cries of the people are heard. Who pays heed to these cries? We are losing the soul of our nation. We can no longer pay lip service to the people or nation, to the resources and to the uniqueness of this island. It is the smallest bi-national island in the world (37 square miles). The solution of our problems can be found nowhere else on this planet, but in our history. Our ignorance of who we are, of the uniqueness of our little world, is a source of exploitation of our economy, and of depletion of our human and natural resources, for any outsider coming to our shores.
The 1648 Partition Treaty
We have forgotten that we lived in peaceful cohabitation for almost 300 years under the 1648 Partition treaty before constitutionally turning our backs to each other some 50/60 years ago. However, it is obvious today that this constitutional separation is not working in the interest of either side of the island. This dissatisfaction gave rise to an Overseas Collectivity on July 15, 2007 and to Country Sint Maarten on 10.10.10. These are statuses detaching both sides from their regional centers, but bringing them closer to their European anchors, who are comfortably putting in place their cooperation for the island in matters of joint defense, joint police activities (drugs circulation, money laundering, criminal arrest, etc.) which are necessary, and securing their borders. But what about the daily cohabitation on the island? Who is taking care of that? I am quite sure that we are realizing that these new constitutional developments are not working in many areas of this cohabitation, because cohabitation is not the competence of the Dutch or the French – although European nationals are benefiting from numerous opportunities on account of our open border. In reality, we need a joint governing body to handle the common issues of the total island.

The new settlements of the last sixty years have created new situations, which the separate island governments handled quite inadequately with Dutch and French laws, stalling as we can see the continuous progress of the total island. Referring to the 1648 Agreement, there is no form of physical separation but a concept of oneness shared by two governing entities engaged in jointly ruling over all the economic and natural resources of the island (Article 5). Our political leaders have never dealt seriously with this concept in terms of governance, which, we can fairly say, is unique in the world. It was easier, obviously, to allow European legislations to control each part separately with their already existing laws.

The other basic element is the free movement of people, goods, commodities and money (Article 6), which worked well for approximately 300 years, a time when the 1648 Agreement was the guide-post of decisions made on the island. But since, French and Dutch laws regulating each part separately have not been implemented in the common interest of the island nor its people. It is obvious that an element of governance is missing in our present constitutional statuses, which is the joint governance of the common situations affecting the daily lives of the people of this island. The present governing bodies have sworn allegiance to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and to the Republic of France and not to St Martin and its people.
Joint governance
Joint governance as implied in the 1648 Agreement: both Governors were Governors of the island, and the border was not a line of separation since the natural resources were used for the needs of all the island inhabitants. These aspects have been totally discarded from the recent constitutional documents and the European nations are more preoccupied in defining a precise physical separation on the island than worrying with the plight of the people, which is not their competence. We live in a democracy and the cries of the people need to be heard and addressed. The Dutch and French laws deal with their areas of competence, and it is left to the Parliament and the various administrations on both parts to be creative about finding solutions for the common situations of the total island and its people. European laws need to be harmonized for the well being of the people circulating freely on both parts.

There is a parliament. Let us take advantage of this possibility - which will not be contested by the Kingdom - to make and execute laws in the interest of the total island, and also harmonize any European law to benefit the people of the island. The Parliament of St. Martin is the supreme authority here. It is just a matter of political will and vision with respect to the uniqueness of this island. A unique island calls for unique governance. However, it will not be done unless the people of Saint Martin exert the necessary pressure, because they are the ones who are suffering from this deficit of governance.

The Parliament of St. Martin has to take up the task right now - coordinating and harmonizing - for the benefit of the total island and its people. The Parliament of St. Martin has to define the priorities to handle, as they become urgent and crucial. We all know what those priorities are, so I will not go in any details here. That is the part that is lacking. Our uniqueness where governance is concerned is that governance should not concern only the French part on one hand and the Dutch part on the other hand, but also most essentially the total island and the free movement of its people in its oneness and uniqueness.

In so doing, that is rethinking the governance of the total island, which many of you in administration, in politics, in everyday life, in private organizations are already doing, we shall attain our true destiny, exemplified by the spirit of the 1648 Agreement, and revolutionized to suit our contemporary needs as a people, the concept of a three-part governance, Dutch, French and St. Martin, with the island people represented in a Parliament playing a fully dignified role in this Unique Island in the world. This is the concept that will save the people and the island’s economy.

Daniella JEFFRY
Copyright © 2015

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