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Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia urges MPs to make law changes

PHILIPSBURG--Change the laws to impose harsher punishment for paedophiles and institute a sex offenders registry were among the calls the group Patrol to Eradicate Paedophilia (PEP) made to the Petitions Committee of Parliament on Thursday.

PEP's request for laws to be changed now heads to the Permanent Committee for Justice. Committee Chairman Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Leonard said he would call the Justice Minister to the committee after Parliament's July recess.

PEP representative Peggy Ann Dros-Richardson urged MPs to have Government boost its assistance to the Mental Health Foundation, to help the foundation increase awareness about paedophilia and have the required treatment for the mental disorder Read more

Ganzevoort new Chairman of Kingdom Relations Committee

THE HAGUE--Member of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ruard Ganzevoort of the green left party GroenLinks is the new Chairman of the Senate's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations.

Ganzevoort (50) was recently appointed by the Presidium of the First Chamber for four years. A fair division of the portfolios of the political parties in the Senate was taken into account in this decision of the Presidium.

Ganzevoort, a Member of the Senate since June 2011 and a member of the Kingdom Relations Committee, is replacing Marijke Linthorst who chaired the Kingdom Relations Committee for the last five years and who left the Senate late May this year.

Ganzevoort had indicated that he was interested in becoming the committee's chairman Read more

Parliament wants islands to improve LGBT rights

THE HAGUE--The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday adopted a motion which called on the Dutch Government to urge the Governments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten to legalise same sex marriages and to improve the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs).

The Parliament approved the motion of the liberal democratic VVD party, the Labour Party PvdA and the Democratic Party D66 Read more

Sarah calls Govt to return law amendment ‘soon as possible’

PHILIPSBURG--Government should “not take its time” in returning to Parliament with amendments to the draft National Ordinance to establish the Integrity Chamber for the country. Rather than wait for Parliament’s return after its July recess, Government should return with the amended law as soon as possible, says Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She is “prepared” to handle the draft law in July even though it is the parliamentary recess Read more

Plasterk gives details on dispute regulation talks

THE HAGUE--Three aspects of the dispute regulation (geschillenregling) were a source of discussion at last week's Kingdom Conference: the type of organisation that would execute the regulation, the nature of the disputes that would be resorting under the regulation, and the binding character of the ruling.

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk provided details on the discussions between the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten at the June 16 Kingdom Conference in Curaçao in a letter that he sent to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday.

Plasterk explained that the Dutch delegation indicated a preference for the Council of State of the Kingdom, and to give this existing entity a major role in the dispute regulation because, according to the Netherlands, this entity was "by far" best equipped to deal with disputes of a constitutional character.

However, the three Dutch Caribbean countries preferred to appoint the Supreme Court as the executive body of the dispute regulation Read more

Sarah calls for high priority for performing arts centre

PHILIPSBURG--"Put politics aside" and get moving on the development and construction of a preforming arts centre for St. Maarten was the call from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams to her fellow MPs on Monday morning.

The arts centre should be "put as a high priority" by government and the money needs to be found for the project, Wescot-Williams said in the notification section of the plenary session of Parliament dealing with the Integrity Chamber.

Her call stemmed from the packed arts and cultural schedule in the just concluded weekend Read more

Govt. back to drawing board with Integrity Chamber Law

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament has sent Government back to the drawing board with the controversial draft National Ordinance on the establishment of an Integrity Chamber for the country.

Parliament sending Government back to make changes was not unexpected, as the majority of MPs had voiced their discontent with the draft when it was tabled in the Central Committee of Parliament about two months ago.

The reworking of parts of the law means the deadline of June 30 for Parliament to handle the law as stated in a recent protocol with the Dutch Government will not be met Read more

Canada Conservatives lose another minister ahead of October election

OTTAWA--Canadian Industry Minister James Moore announced on Friday that he would leave politics, the third surprise departure from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet as the ruling Conservatives head for an October election trailing in the opinion polls.

Citing personal reasons, including "some difficult news" about the health of his disabled son, Moore said he would not run for re-election, but believes Harper and his nine-year-old right-leaning government would prevail.

"I have every confidence that Prime Minister Harper and our Conservative government will be re-elected, and I wish I could be part of the next Conservative government," Moore said in a Facebook posting.

"With health challenges in my family, I have concluded it is impossible for me to seek another term in office," Moore said.

Opinion polls show Harper's government has slipped behind the left-leaning New Democratic Party in a tight three-way race just four months before the national vote Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams expressed her concerns on several issues that are playing out in the media and the community at press conference on Wednesday. The most disturbing for Wescot Williams is the ongoing saga at NIPA and the dismissal of the director Vernon Richards Read more

Dp And Plp Not Willing To Work Together

ORANJESTAD, St. Eustatius - Based on the financial higher supervision as has been imposed on the government of St. Eustatius by the Kingdom government, Councilman of the opposition Democratic Party, Nicholas Sneak recently told our news department that he is willing to work with the government in an effort to find a solution to the island's financial woes pointing that they have the interest of the island and its people at heart.

However, according to him, as long as the ruling party does not allow them to work with them on finding a solution, there is nothing that they can do.

Meanwhile, speaking to our news department, leader of government on St Read more

Statia Democratic Party Willing To Work With Govt. To Remove Higher Supervision Imposed By Holland

ORANJESTAD, St. Eustatius - The decision taken by the Kingdom government to impose higher supervision with immediate effect on the island of St. Eustatius was expected.

That is the view of Councilman of the Democratic Party, Nicholas Sneak.

Speaking to our news department, he stated that the Democratic Party sounded the alarm several months ago that this would have happened Read more

Saba wants to host summit for Caribbean Netherlands

THE HAGUE--Saba has offered to host a political summit of the Caribbean Netherlands and the Netherlands in January 2016 to discuss the future of the islands, their relation with the Netherlands and how to achieve more self-reliance.

Saba Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs Chris Johnson launched his proposal for a summit which might be held in January 2016 after the completion of the evaluation during a meeting of the Executive Councils of Bonaire and St. Eustatius with the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations on Thursday.

Saba, but also Bonaire, wants to become more self-reliant and be more in charge of its own affairs Read more

UPP, NA AND DP have to return extra monies to donors.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The United Peoples Party (UPP), the National Alliance (NA) and the Democratic Party (DP) were informed by the Electoral Council last week that they have to return the excess monies they received from at least two donors for the 2014 Parliamentary Elections Read more

Bonaire wants time to hold referendum

THE HAGUE--Members of Bonaire’s Island Council on Monday officially presented a petition calling for a postponement of the amending of the Dutch Constitution to secure the island’s public entity status until after the referendum late 2015.

Island Council Members Robby Beukenboom of the Bonaire Democratic Party and James Kroon of the UPB Party handed over the petition to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk at a reception on Monday, marking the start of the so-called Caribbean Netherlands Week in The Hague.

The petition, which was recently approved by a two-third majority of the Island Council, has also been sent to the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Read more

Response to Mr. Ferrier on ‘What a democracy we live in’

Dear Editor,

Upon reading the newspaper this past Friday, June 5, I came across an interesting article submitted by Mr. Michael J. Ferrier. The article was titled "What a democracy we live in"

What is a Democracy?

Democracy is defined as the following:

a) A form of government in which the people choose leaders by voting.

b) An organisation or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights.

Now that we all understand the meaning of the word, let's move on to the subject matter at hand:

*MP Frans G Read more

Kurdish party thwarts Erdogan's ambitions with election advance

ANKARA--Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a major setback on Sunday when the ruling AK Party he founded failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election for the first time.

Erdogan, Turkey's most popular modern leader but also its most divisive, had hoped a crushing victory for the AKP would allow it to change the constitution and create a more powerful U.S.-style presidency. To do that, it would have needed to win two-thirds of the seats in parliament.

Instead, it has been left unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power almost 13 years ago Read more

Dp Leader Prefers Integrity Chamber Created By St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Would the Parliament of St. Maarten prefer to have an Integrity Chamber created by the Dutch Government as opposed to creating one themselves?

Leader of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot-Williams stated that they are in support of an Integrity Chamber created by the Parliament of St Read more

Editorial - Not allowed

The new Penal Code that went into effect June 1 (see related story) contains some important matters of which the general public should be aware. For one thing, the sale and serving of alcoholic beverages to minors under the age of 18 is now officially prohibited, with a maximum penalty of six months in prison or a NAf. 7,500 fine.

However, the National Licence Ordinance still has 16 as the minimum drinking age, a discrepancy the local Lions Club recently requested that Parliament eliminate Read more

MPs have not yet received harbour security answers

PHILIPSBURG—Members of Parliament (MPs) have not yet received the "sensitive answers" about the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies' security contract, despite the receipt of these by Parliament's Secretariat since May 26. The delay in the dissemination is due to "administrative reasons," according to Democratic Party (DP) leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.

Speaking at a DP press conference in Parliament House on Monday, Wescot-Williams said she is patiently awaiting the answers to see if they satisfy her burning questions Read more

style="text-align: center;">DP faction taking note of the developments at PJIAE.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament from the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams told reporters on Monday at a press conference that several topics were discussed during the IPKO meeting held in the Netherlands last week Read more

With tough words for Wall Street, O'Malley launches White House bid

BALTIMORE, Maryland--Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley blasted social injustice and Wall Street excesses as he launched a White House bid on Saturday, casting himself as a younger, more liberal alternative to Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
  "Powerful, wealthy special interests here at home have used our government to create, in our own country, an economy that is leaving a majority of our people behind," said O'Malley, opening his 2016 presidential campaign with a rally at a waterfront park in downtown Baltimore.
  O'Malley, who has aggressively courted his party's liberal wing, began his political career in Baltimore, first as a member of city council and then as mayor.
  Decrying big banks as having been behind the financial crisis of 2008, O'Malley singled out Goldman Sachs for particular criticism Read more