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Joint task force suggested to iron out Dutch/French issues
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Oct 14, 2005 15:24 UTC
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PHILIPSBURG - A joint Dutch side/French side task force to identify problematic issues plaguing both sides, such as in the area of transportation, has been suggested by Culture Commissioner Louie Laveist and supported by his French side counterpart Noreen Brooks.
The approach is aimed at further enhancing the relations between the two sides by pinpointing bottlenecks on which the local authorities can work together to mitigate. “Local authorities need to sit down and iron them out and decide how we protect that centuries-old united Treaty of Concordia that means so much to us. This is in the interest of protecting the history, the culture and the people of St. Maarten. If we don’t do that, St. Maarten Day will no longer mean anything to any of us.”
Laveist and Brooks expressed this view at a press conference announcing the tentative official St. Maarten Day schedule at the Government Administration Building in Philipsburg. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Unity is the Foundation for a Stronger Nation.”
The relationship between the two sides is not going well, “but this is no fault of the local administrations of the Dutch and French sides,” Laveist stated.
The latest controversy with NAGICO Insurances and those that pop up in the transportation world and employment “were never issues that drove a wedge between the local people of French and Dutch St. Maarten. I am afraid that the cultural divide, disunity and decadent behaviour and attitude of some European leaders and politicians are threatening to drive a wedge, throw a monkey wrench, into the centuries-old Treaty of Concordia.”
He called on the people of both sides to guard against “this wedge” and do “all in their power ensure that the powers that be don’t destroy the identity, cultural unity and our way of life as we know it today and as we want to know it for years to come.”
Brooks, sharing Laveist’s sentiments, stated that people of the island had lived without any hindrance. “I don’t think that in a modern time like now where people are striving and struggling toward working together, we here in St. Maarten should change that.”
“I love the St. Maarten Day speeches, the togetherness and the unity, but what I love most is to be able to live it and not just to have beautiful speeches about we are together and one island,” Brooks stated.
Everyone in the local population and the persons who have moved here “need to rally the forces together and do all necessary to protect what we have and what we have always known, because other than that we wouldn’t be St. Maarten anymore.”
Stating her support for the formation of the task force, Brooks said, “If we don’t save it (unity) today and it is gone, it will be very, very difficult to bring back. We really need to sit down and see where we are going.”
“I don’t think a European, or anyone else for that matter, is going to come here and dictate to us how we as local St. Maarteners should live. I think it is important that we should stress that, to let them know they are welcome here, but they are going to respect what they meet and they are not going to transform it, change it, mould it or recreate it.
“We will live it as St. Maarteners together. We have our work to do on the inside and once we stay with it, then they will have to follow, and who can’t follow will have to leave,” she concluded.
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