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8 Antilliaans Dagblad Maandag 16 oktober 2017
Curaçao

Zwemster Brigitha

presenteert biografie

Van een onzer verslaggevers
Willemstad - Zwemster Enith Brigitha is gisteren aangekomen op Curaçao. Ze is
hier vanwege de presentatie van haar biografie ‘Enith Brigitha. Zwemmen in de
schaduw van doping’.

Het boek geeft een kijkje in Brigitha op eigen kracht had ge- kels zijn om lezers te ontmoe-
het leven van Brigitha in de ja- haald, kregen plots een gouden ten en de boeken te signeren.
ren dat ze zwom op internatio- randje. Want als haar tegen- Dinsdagmiddag is Brigitha
naal topniveau. Volgens de speelsters niet aan de doping vanaf 16.00 uur in Mensing’s
flaptekst van het boek won de waren onderworpen, was het Caminada, woensdag vanaf
van Curaçao afkomstige zwem- goud ‘waarschijnlijk’ naar haar 16.00 uur in de Samsom Boek-
ster elke wedstrijd, zolang het gegaan. handel aan de Fokkerweg en
Duitse DDR-team thuisbleef. Morgenochtend overhandigt zaterdag vanaf 11.00 uur in de
In 1990 kwam naar buiten dat Brigitha het eerste exemplaar Bruna in Zuikertuin Mall.
de Duitse staat de jonge zwem- van het boek aan de minister De biografie telt 196 pagina’s
sters stelselmatig doping had van Onderwijs, Wetenschap, en is rijk geïllustreerd met
toegediend, zonder dat ze daar Cultuur en Sport, Marilyn Alca- afbeeldingen uit Brigitha’s Zwemster Enith Brigitha met de schrijfster van haar biografie Jeanette
zelf iets van af wisten. De bron- lá-Wallé. De rest van de week persoonlijke fotocollectie. Het van Ditzhuijzen en initiatiefnemer van het boek Alex Roose vlak na
zen olympische medailles die zal ze in drie lokale boekwin- boek kost 40 gulden. aankomst op luchthaven Hato. FOTO LM PUBLISHERS

OPINIE Power play gration officers and prison
guards, employees of the cen-
By Hilbert Haar sus office and many others have
inister Plasterk said it fallen from their pedestal becau-
during his last visit to se they were caught breaking
MSt. Maarten: the Ne- Remem- claim with dry eyes that the Is St. Maarten closing its eyes the rules.
therlands is not just going to ber: the government or the parliament for this reality? Not at all. Look St. Maarten is not a perfect
open a bank account and let the parliament is stalling this process. at what happened since 10-10- place, but these examples show
island help itself. That makes approved a That brings us to the 10 when the island obtained that the system of checks and
sense. Funds that are available national question why St. Maarten country status. In December balances is functioning. The
from the European Develop- ordinance to would need an Integrity Cham- 2010 Minister of Public Health, Dutch wish to link the establish-
ment Fund (EDF) are not for- establish the ber at all. Corruption is a big Social Development and Labor, ment of the Integrity Chamber
ked over to the government Integrity problem in St. Maarten – accor- Maria Buncamper-Molanus, to financial aid in the wake of
either; a project needs to be Chamber ding to Minister Plasterk and a was forced to step down amid a Hurricane Irma is, in my opi-
tendered and executed and then back in Hilbert Haar whole bunch of Dutch politici- $3 million scandal over specula- nion, a power play that stinks to
the EDF pays the bills. Not a 2016. But ans, with SP-MP Ronald van tion with land she held in long high heaven.
penny flows through the go- the Constitutional Court shot it Raak and VVD-MP André Bos- lease together with her husband And then there is the Dutch
vernment’s financial system. down because there were provi- man as their regular mouthpie- Claudius. This case resulted in insistence of putting the Royal
It comes therefore as no sions in this legislation that it ces. a criminal investigation and the Marechaussee in charge of
surprise that the Netherlands deemed unconstitutional. Those Is there corruption in St. Buncampers were sentenced to border control. That’s another
wants to appoint a High Com- provisions were mostly ele- Maarten? Sure. But there is also a 12 month conditional prison power play because the Dutch
missioner to oversee the rebuil- ments that ended up in the law corruption in the Netherlands sentence and 240 hours of don’t want to help St. Maarten,
ding efforts. For this position, at the insistence of the Dutch (for instance within Bosman’s community service for tax they want to take over.
the name of Hans Leijtens government. Go figure. party VVD), in the United Sta- fraud, forgery and membership Nobody will argue that as-
came up - the man who failed at Right now the Integrity tes, in Zimbabwe, North Korea of a criminal organization. The sistance with border control is
the Dutch Tax Inspectorate Chamber is a work in progress. and every other country in the appeal is still pending. unwelcome. On the contrary,
before the Kingdom Council of It takes time, but one cannot world. In March 2013, I wrote in the country is ready to embrace
Ministers made him the quar- great detail in Today - the new- help in this field, but it can
termaster for the establishment Advertentie spaper that closed its doors after easily be fit within the existing
of the Integrity Chamber. That Hurricane Irma - about the framework, whereby our own
decision easily tops the list of involvement of Justice Minister Minister of Justice remains in
unfortunate choices. At the Roland Duncan with the prosti- control. This is not a time to
same time, nobody should have tution sector. When the govern- butt heads over trivia. It is a
a problem with proper supervi- ment fell, Duncan was the first time to truly help our country
sion over the way hundreds of one to leave office. His credibili- recover from a devastating natu-
millions of euros are going to ty in The Hague had sunk way ral disaster.
be spent to make St. Maarten below zero. If only everybody could come
whole again; but it would have The director of the airport, to their senses and leave their
been nice if the Dutch had Regina Labega, was kicked out overblown ego’s at home, there
thought of teaming its high of her job because she did not is still plenty of room to work
commissioner - whoever that pass a screening by the national together in a constructive way
will be - up with a respected security service VDSM. The towards a better St. Maarten.
local expert like Ronald Hal- director of the port, Mark Min-
man, the chairman of the Gene- go, was this year sent on a leave Deze opiniebijdrage van Hilbert
ral Audit Chamber. of absence because he is a sus- Haar verscheen in het weekeinde
And then there is of course pect in a criminal investigation op de website van Today, de krant
the Integrity Chamber. It is a into, among other things, mo- waarvan auteur Hilbert Haar tot
mystery why Minister Plasterk ney laundering. voor kort hoofdredacteur was.
wants to link the establishment The president of the Central Today, eigendom van Richard
of this doomed institute to the Bank, Dr. Emsley Tromp, was Gibson - de huidige minister van
relief efforts. It is also a mystery fired (put inactive, redactie AD.) Financiën van Sint Maarten in
why Dutch media keep writing because he is a suspect into an het kabinet-Marlin - verschijnt in
that Prime Minister Marlin investigation into his private verband met de schade als gevolg
opposes the Integrity Chamber. finances. van orkaan Irma niet langer in
That is simply not true. And the list goes on: immi- gedrukte vorm.