Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) want Constitution Day to be observed annually on the second Monday of October instead of the actual day – October 10 – when the St. Maarten Constitution came into force.
The proposal to make October 10 a holiday and to have it replace Kingdom Day, December 15, by amending a number of laws, including the labour ordinance, was tabled by Education and Culture Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs in a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
The minister is slated to be back in Parliament for a vote on the law changes Thursday. However, that scheduled meeting may be affected by the length of time needed to make the adjustments to reflect wishes of Parliament.
National Alliance (NA) leader MP William Marlin proposed making the holiday the second Monday in October, saying it would be better for long-term planning and would lead to better inclusion. He noted that with October 10 falling on a different day of the week every year, some sections of the community would be “deprived†of the observance, such as the Seventh-Day Adventists who hold their Sabbath from sundown on Fridays to sundown on Saturdays.
Marlin’s proposal received the support of several MPs likening it to the marking of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States on the second Monday of January while his actual birthday was January 15.
Democratic Party ((DP)) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams also proposed a change to the law proposal that was supported by fellow MPs. She called for the day to be known simply as “Constitution Day†and not “Staatsregeling Dag.â€
Wescot-Williams and United St. Maarten Party leader MP Frans Richardson both called for the recognition of the people whose hard work and dedication had helped to bring about the new status. Richardson said that although he had voted for independence in the 2000 referendum that brought about the status, he was in support of the day.
Another “independentista,†United People’s (UP) party deputy leader MP Franklin Meyers, said the day really should be called “halfway there day,†because the ultimate goal for the country was independence from the Dutch Kingdom. He called for nation-building to take the form of recognition of local heroes via renaming of streets.
MP Silveria Jacobs (NA) said truly making the day count would take more than a holiday. Nothing will come of the day if there is no education about the Constitution in schools and in the community, she said.
MP Christophe Emmanuel (NA) called the law “a violation†of his constitutional rights, because it had been presented in Dutch when the Constitution states English is also an official language of the country. The draft law presented in Dutch “impedes my ability to function properly as an MP,†Emmanuel said. “I can’t support it [the law – Ed.], but I want to.â€
Culture Department Head Neville York, responding to Emmanuel’s concern, said civil servants were faced with a severe challenge when preparing laws or amendments for presentation to Parliament, as the process required those proposals to be in Dutch. In the case of this draft law, it amends several other laws that are in Dutch and an English amendment might create misinterpretation.
A brief historical overview of the island from the days of pre-history delivered by York and comments by Bourne-Gumbs about using the day to build the country’s pride and mutual respect sparked debate among MPs about the need to identify and protect “the St. Maartener.â€
The debate also flowed into the need for schools to have materials outlining the country’s history and identity and the preservation of vital historical documents, some of which are crumbling away in Government’s own archive.
One document in the archive that promoted feelings about the scourge of slavery was a letter Archivist Alfonso Blijden found that points to the Dutch Governor in the mid-1800s consciously hiding a letter from the Crown freeing the slaves on the Dutch side.
Whether or not the St. Maarten Song is still relevant or whether there is a need to develop a St. Maarten Anthem was brought forward by independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo. She suggested a referendum on the topic.
