Pieter - what do you think about Dutch colonies?

[Jaga]

Jaga,

It is food that our former colony confronts our government over coronavirus aid conditions. We have some responsibility there.

Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), it encompasses the southern 40% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northern 60% of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.

Since the Island has a small population and their monarch is our King Willem-Alexander, we are connected and responsible for the Island, also because Dutch expats and tourists benefited from the Islands beautiy, facilities and tropical climate in the past.

The Netherlands should step in to fund the public coffers so that they rise and in that they could continue to cover the government payroll. Corruption, clientelism and nepotism on the Island should be adressed though by the law.

Corruption

In 1978, the government of the Netherlands Antilles installed a Research Committee on the Windward Islands (Dutch: Commissie van Onderzoek Bovenwindse Eilanden) to investigate claims of corruption in the island government. Even though the report issued by this commission was damaging for the island's government, measures were not put into place to curb corruption, arguably because the government of the Netherlands Antilles depended on the support of Wathey's Democratic Party in the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles. In August 1990, the public prosecutor of the Netherlands Antilles started an investigation into the alleged ties between the island government of Sint Maarten and the Sicilian Mafia, and in 1991 the Court of Audit of the Netherlands Antilles issued a report which concluded that the island government of Sint Maarten was ailing.

In the government and parliament of the Netherlands, the call for measures became louder. With Dutch pressure, the government of the Netherlands Antilles installed the Pourier Commission tasked with investigating the state of affairs of the island government of Sint Maarten in December 1991. Its report concluded that the island was in a severe financial crisis, that rules of democratic decision-making were continuously broken, and that the island government constituted an oligarchy. In short, the island government failed completely according to the report. After long negotiations, the Kingdom government enacted a General Measure of Kingdom Administration (Dutch: Algemene Maatregel van Rijksbestuur) in early 1993, placing Sint Maarten under direct supervision of the Kingdom. Although originally meant for one year, the Order-in-Council for the Kingdom was eventually extended until 1 March 1996.

Though much has changed since, allegations of criminal activities continue to plague Sint Maarten. In 2004, the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles asked the Scientific Research and Documentation Centre (Dutch: Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum (WODC)) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice to conduct research into organized crime in Sint Maarten. The report concluded that money laundering and cocaine trade are widespread on Sint Maarten. It also alleged that money from the island was used to finance Hamas, its associate Holy Land Foundation, and the Taliban.

In April 2009, former Commissioner Louie Laveist was convicted, and sentenced to an 18-month prison sentence, by the Sint Maarten Court-of-First-Instance, on account of forgery, fraud, and bribery. He was later acquitted of forgery and of fraud by the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, but not of bribery.

Jaga,

I do believe that the Sint Maarten’s Dutch overseers have corruption fighting, anti-fraud measures and fighting nepotism and clientelism which goes with corruption in their mindsets and not racism, discrimination or white Dutch European superiority over Carribean Blacks. An island populated predominantly by Afro-Caribbeans and other people of color does not necesserily encounters racism or discrimination. There is a lot of charity, help organisations and also financial support of Dutch Carribeans who live, work and study in the Netherlands and are wealthier than the Carribeans who stayed on Sint Maarten or other Carribean countries.

“This top-down approach definitely feels like reverting back to colonial times,” Jacobs said.

It is sad to hear that Sint Maarten and the other Dutch autonomous islands in the Caribbean — Aruba and Curaçao — suffer from the financial-economical consequences of Covid-19 (the Corona virus).

That petition Sint Maarten lawmakers against the Netherlands on aquisition of racism accusing the Netherlands of “racial discrimination” and “violations of international rights” was unknown to me so I can't judge it on their merit yet.

The fill scandal involving the alleged racial profiling of benefits claimants in the Netherlands was a terrible case and families still sugger from the conseques of that..

The fundamental claim now is that the Dutch government is using the pandemic to turn back the clock on colonial rule.

“They are trying to take full control of our democracy,” said Grisha Heyliger-Marten, the senior member of the Sint Maarten parliament who helped lead the petition effort. I don't know if the narrative that the Sint Maarten civil servants, politicians and rulers are corrupt and incompetent is plasible Jaga?

The Dutch are probably demanding broad, long-term changes to local tax laws, labor codes, border controls, and the education and health-care systems in the best interest of the Sint Maarten people, economy and health care. That could forever change the way of life in Sint Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba is a side effect of that. European values contrast with those of the Carrabian and Southern-America. I don't know of the the new Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development is a bad, neutral or good institution for Sint Maarten. I can not judge the Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development. I don't know them and have to little information and knowledge to say anything about that.

That Sint Maarten members of parliament earn upward of $10,000 a month — amounts Dutch officials say are higher than comparable salaries in the Netherlands - is strange, but probably fits with the regional and local culture and heritage of local government.

St. Martin needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Saint Maarten should ne self-sustaining. That the Saint Maarten government has been feeding thousands of islanders through food programs, offering medical equipment and coronavirus vaccines through grants, is a good thing. In the Netherlands we also saw a rise of the customers of the food banks and more people are dependent on social benefits. Some of these people were prosporous upper middle class people in Januari 2020 or some people are chaotic and poor in income but manage to survive on low wages and less spending.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

Jaga,

Like all former colonial powers we have our heritage in South-Africa, Ghana, Indonesia, the Dutch Antilles and Suriname Jaga. We had our East Indies and West Indies companies. The West Indies Company was deeply involved in the slave trade between Western-Africa (Ghana) and Southern-America. Part of our wealth is based on the slave trade, piracy (Kaapvaart) and our exploitation of Indosia (the Spice trade). We competed with the Portuguese and the British and also fought many colonial wars with them. Like any nation with a former Black (African or Southern American or Carribean) or Asian colony with have our heritage with the Afro-Europeans in the Netherlands as a result and the about 1,500,000 Dutch people of Euresian Indo heritage in the Netherlands (people of mixed race of Dutch West-Germanic and South-Eastern Asian Javanese, Balinese or Moluccan heritage). The same is the case with large groups of Creole (Afro-European) people from Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. About 50% of the Surinamese people live in Suriname and 50% lives and works in the Netherlands.

In every white-black relationship there is a disbalance. Also in the British, French, Porrtuguese, Spanish, Belgian, German (Namibia), American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cases and or instance in Eastern-Africa where Black Africans are seen as inferior by the superiour acting and sometimes ethnic cleansing Sudanese and other Eastern-African Arab tribes and people. Unforunately in every religion, system and ideology in the world you have a historical disbalance and inequaltiy between the races. This will change radically in the 21th century though, because the Indian and Chinese powers are rising and the brown and yellow people, the Indian people and the Asians will gain a more important role and the White people will have to share power. Also in the West, due to integration, assimilation, development and progress the position and role of the Indian, Asian and Black people will change.

There is such an history and heritage of injustice done to the Surinamese people and the Dutch Antilles that it is hard for the Dutch to undo that injustice. Surinamese and Dutch people of Creole background unfortenately are the offspring of Black African slaves of Dutch slave traders and plantation owners and Dutch people who sold part of that Black slaves to the Brazillians. We can not undo that justice, but we can be honest about it, apologise and give it a place in our history education, curriculum and in our consciousness.

No doubt the content of the Washington Post, an American quality newspaper, tells the truth. We took some distance to some of our former colonies when they gained independence or got more autonomy within our kingdom.

Cheers,
Pieter

[Jaga]

Pieter,

I believe in what you said that these oversees territories of Netherlands are plagued by the corruption and inefficiency. Still, I guess Dutch government should help regular people.

Probably this is a bit like Puerto Rico relationship with the US.

Thanks for explaining the roots of the problems.

As far as I know Dutch were not considered the best colonial power... but not colonial power is good. I remember hearing that when Dutch came there, they just wanted a fast profit. British stayed and actually made it more British and invested more in infrastructure

[pieter]

Jaga,

That might be not exactly accurate. You can say that the Dutch had bad imperialist, geopolitical, commercial, trade, financial and economical motivations for their colonies in Indonesia, South-Africa, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. But fact is that they were there for long periods in these places and they build houses, cities/towns, roads, bridges, chanals for irrigation and created some agriculatural cultivation and techniques.

Paramaribo in Suriname is build on Dutch colonial structures, houses, roads, squares, churches, synagogues, Hindu temples build in the Dutch colonial era and the Javanese mosques and Indian (Pakistani) mosques as well. The capital of Sint Maarten Philipsburg was founded in 1763 by John Philips, a Scottish captain in the Dutch navy; the settlement soon became a bustling centre of international trade. Two historic forts bear witness to Philipsburg's strategic importance in St. Maarten's history: Fort Amsterdam and Fort Willem.

Willemstad, the capital of the largest Island of the Dutch Antilles, Curaçao, is a city with typical Dutch architecture, roads and squares and parks. Formerly the capital of the Netherlands Antilles prior to its dissolution in 2010, it has an estimated population of 150,000. The historic centre of the city consists of four quarters: the Punda and Otrobanda, which are separated by the Sint Anna Bay, an inlet that leads into the large natural harbour called the Schottegat, as well as the Scharloo and Pietermaai Smal quarters, which are across from each other on the smaller Waaigat harbour. Willemstad is home to the Curaçao synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas. The city centre, with its unique architecture and harbour entry, has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Punda was established in 1634, when the Dutch captured the island from Spain. The original name of Punda was de punt in Dutch. Otrobanda, which was founded in 1707, is the newer section of the city and is considered to be the cultural centre of Willemstad. Its name originated from the Papiamentu otro banda, which means "the other side".

The Curaçao synagogue was built by Sephardic Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam and Recife, Brazil.

Encyclopedia Britannica writes; Sint Maarten, also spelled Saint Martin, country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Lesser Antilles, northeastern Caribbean Sea. It occupies the southern third of the island of Saint Martin.

The northern two-thirds of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin. The capital of Sint Maarten is Philipsburg, which is also the main settlement.



The Arawak and Carib inhabited the island before its sighting by Christopher Columbus on November 11, 1493, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. It was claimed by several European powers—notably the Dutch and the French, who partitioned the island in 1648. The Dutch portion of the island became a part of the Dutch West Indies in 1828 and in 1845 was one of the six Dutch island territories in the West Indies that were brought under collective administration. In 1954 those six were reorganized into the Netherlands Antilles, becoming an integral part of the Netherlands politically with autonomy in their internal affairs. However, in 1986 one of the constituent members, Aruba, chose to leave the Netherlands Antilles and establish its own autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In 1989 the political leadership of Sint Maarten announced its desire to achieve full independence as soon as possible, although eventually Sint Maarten chose to remain within the Netherlands with a status that allowed for a greater degree of autonomy. In 2006 the people of Sint Maarten agreed, along with the other islands and the government of the Netherlands, to dissolve the Netherlands Antilles; this occurred on October 10, 2010. Sint Maarten and Curaçao became, like Aruba, countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The head of state is the Dutch monarch, represented by a governor, and the head of government is the prime minister. A Council of Ministers, presided over by the prime minister, forms government policy. A minister plenipotentiary from Sint Maarten resides in the Netherlands and represents the country there at meetings of the Netherlands Council of Ministers. Sint Maarten has a unicameral Parliament (Staten), with 15 members (subject to increase up to 21 members, depending upon population growth) elected on the basis of proportional representation for a term of four years. Voting is open to all residents of Sint Maarten with Dutch nationality who are at least 18 years old. Sint Maarten is independent in internal affairs, but the government of the Netherlands is responsible for defense, foreign relations, and similar external matters. The judiciary consists of a Court of First Instance and a Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, both of which handle civil and criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is the court of final appeal.



Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia%E2%80%93Netherlands_relations

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands%E2%80%93Suriname_relations

The Netherlands Antilles

Curaçaoans in the Netherlands consist of migrants from Curaçao to the Netherlands and their descendants. Until 2010, Curaçao and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean were called the Netherlands Antilles. As of 2014, figures from Statistics Netherlands showed 142,953 people of Dutch Antillean origin in the Netherlands, which the vast majority are from Curaçao.

Arubans in the Netherlands consist of migrants from Aruba to the Netherlands and their descendants. Aruba was part of the former Netherlands Antilles until 1986 when the country seceded remaining a constituent country of Kingdom of the Netherlands. As of 2014, figures from Statistics Netherlands showed 142,953 people of Dutch Antillean origin in the Netherlands, of which 23,800 are Aruban. The largest Aruban communities in the Netherlands can be found in Amsterdam, Almere, Haarlem, The Hague, Rotterdam, Alkmaar and Amersfoort.


Map of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands and the Caribbean islands are to the same scale.

Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles



The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.[1][2]

After dissolution, the "BES islands" of the Dutch Caribbean—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba—became the Caribbean Netherlands, "special municipalities" of the Netherlands proper — a structure that only exists in the Caribbean. Meanwhile Curaçao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along the lines of Aruba, which separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Netherlands_Antilles

[kaima]