St. Maarten Private Eye

While I certainly understand and agree that there is a huge problem with abuse of these licenses to get residence and work papers, an across the board change like this is ridiculous and I seriously question the intelligence behind it. Where did it come from? From Richards himself? His cabinet? Exco members?

I know many people who have spent many years here, and whilst not naturalized, are committed to the island and own small businesses, bought property, had children. Unfortunately they don't meet the requirements of the new rules and some are considering selling up, if they can find a buyer, or are moving to the French side, if it is possible to do so. These people do not have 5 directors, they pay their taxes, spend their profits here and employ locals and now they must pack up and leave. Do you really think this is a good thing and is it targeting those who come here to profit and then leave?

The new rules means that only those with lots of money will be able to invest here, I think you can see that this leaves the door wide open to developers and investors who really care nothing for the island or people but only want to make a profit on whatever business deal they can get. The abuse of the directors license by some is largely down to the lack of inspection and control, regulations are needed too I agree, but the ones proposed are beyond reasonable.

SXM has many problems and most are connected in one way or another, immigration, law enforcement, crime, corruption, lack of transparency, nepotism, permits, licenses, polices, environment, health, education, employment, wages etc etc. It reminds me of the hotline for children launched a couple of years ago, I don't know if it still fuctions since I Can who was running it burnt down. But the thing is, what is the point of having a hotline when there is too few social workers to help that child and no where for them to stay? SXM needs comprehensive solutions and policy reforms in many areas, it needs more money which means taxes, a luxury tax has been proposed on this site before, it needs transparency in all govt dealings, more so because of our small island status, it's social system and services need expanding, it's education system needs a huge investment to bring it up to the 2000's, along with immigration reform and enforcement this would go a long way towards giving the youth of the island a future.

Do I think St. Maarten has the people to do this? Yes and No, yes, there are people who can do it, but sadly they need guidance and help from outside. I don't think the DP, or the NA for that matter, have much interest in pushing the real reforms that SXM needs, particularly in regards to election reform, party and candidate finances and transparency. Sad to say it, but Gracita went wrong when she tried to convince people that she/we could clean it up on our own.

I am not against Status Apart, I just think that now is not the time and there's too much work to be done to prepare the island for it, work that we need Dutch and EU help with. I also think that St. Maarten should seriously consider stronger ties with the EU, which would help bring closer ties to the French side. That is what you want right? I think St. Maarten could gain a great deal from closer ties, no man is an castle they say.

LH