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6 Antilliaans Dagblad Dinsdag 14 april 2020
Curaçao

The Agony of The Rock: No Strings Attached

me of reforms. Most recently in from the Kingdom Govern-
OPINIE
Sint Maarten, with the passing ment. Deciding otherwise
By Guido Rojer, Jr. of Irma, funds that were made would have crippled the he-
he quest for support available by the Netherlands althcare system and risking the
amidst the Covid-19 crisis and France destined for recon- unnecessary loss of human life,
T has given rise to an array struction, have yet to be fully in a country where the main
of feelings about solidarity and disbursed and distributed. Evi- comorbid determinants of hy-
relationships within the King- dence thus suggests otherwise, pertension and diabetes (Li et
dom. To some this call has been as institutions (particularly al., 2020) are prevalent. Such a
left unanswered with regards to those in the Kingdom of the lack of action would be going
content, and refuted with re- Netherlands) are considered against the Universal Declarati-
gards to form. ,,How is it possi- inefficient, and malfunctioning on of Human Rights principle
ble that the Netherlands can (Veenendaal, 2017). of the ‘right to live’ of which the
even think of attaching strings Closing a border for an inde- countries have adopted (UN,
to aid in these unprecedented finite period of time essentially 1948), robbing these citizens of
times and conditions?” largely halts any incoming flow of their dignity, and equality as
summarizes the discussion tourists, bringing a substantial laid out as Kingdom responsibi-
clouding the air. The publicati- amount of private sector on all lity in the Charter of the King-
on of dissent by Caribbean islands in acute need of liquid dom of the Netherlands.
representatives in the Boards of Met het kwijtschelden van de schulden op 10 oktober 2010 zouden funds. The compounding effect Let us not forget that the
Financial Supervision (Cft), yet alle problemen opgelost worden. Niets is minder waar. FOTO ARCHIEF of these seizures have yet to be population of the island of Cu-
again shed light to the wide gap determined, but will most cer- raçao alone (then around 75K)
overlooked in many similar crisis looming, it seems that wing the SNIJ to circumvent tainly limit the ability of nations have been generous in the 50’s,
situations: transitional dyna- nothing could be further from these vulnerabilities. Sub natio- in this category to be able to when crisis hit the province of
mics are different from Small the truth. Measures taken to nality, especially as an island fend for their own. With the Zeeland, with no less than 3
Island Nations as opposed their limit the impact on the islands’ far, far, away can be heavy bur- prevailing uncertainties over million guilders. These funds
developed former colonizer. healthcare infrastructure had den for progress of its people. A how to recover, and the remai- were generated by canceling the
But have we ever really asked far reaching consequences, community in which both size ning dependence on foreign carnival celebrations on the
ourselves what is the root of this bringing the economy close to a and culture connect people to markets and their respective island, while the provinces of
nuance? Did we even bother to stillstand. Closing borders and each other with relative ease is recoveries, governments of the North Brabant and Limburg
listen carefully, gather, and locking down citizens with a unable to operate by simply islands have no choice but to partied on. Be it also fresh in
strike? A lot is still lost in trans- shelter at home approach were adopting public administration seek aid from trusted partners. the memory that the islands
lation, and I refer not to langua- adopted without considerations. principles from its former colo- Overlooking the fact that disproportionately defended the
ge, but interpretation and un- Disconnects between under- nizer. Not only because of the insularity, and the transitional refineries, out of their own
derstanding of given facts. standing conditions at the root developing character of the dynamics associated with it, funds, to allow for production of
We’ve long lived comparing of the problem’s acute financial nation, which is entitled to have discouraged the close to 90% of the jet fuel for
these islands to the Nether- needs, and structural issues make its own mistakes, but also establishment of appropriate the allied forces in WWII. In
lands, more often than we have have been exposed, prominent- due to transitional dynamics fiscal compliance would be a both incidents, no strings were
spent comparing ourselves to ly, during crises. With the limi- that greatly influence the outco- disproportionate disservice attached. The citizens of the
our region. This infatuation ted resources, and the threat of island complied, out of solidari-
with the wealth and degree of unsurmountable catastrophe, Advertentie ty. Today, it should be no diffe-
development of the Nether- Dutch Caribbean islands had no rent.
lands, has clouded our ability to choice in order to defend Week Winnaars! The Board of Financial Su-
capture the essence behind themselves. pervision’s advice is welcome,
their success: prioritization & Small Island Developing so is the advice of the IMF
sacrifice. States (Sids) face significant which allows for a better match
Our nations have never befo- problems due to an array of Koop & Win! with the gravity of this impen-
re consistently delivered in reasons, resulting in what Bri- ding crisis (Gopinath, 2020).
terms of prioritization, nor guglio (1995) pointed out as The Government of the King-
sacrifice, and landed us in a economic vulnerabilities. Small dom has an important task to
position where we treat our size, remoteness, environmen- provide for its citizens, all of
ailments (such as Public Finan- tal factors, and dependence on them. Attaching conditions to
ce) with unsuitable measures. A foreign sources of finance limit these much-needed funds, is a
small island behaving as a we- the ability of islands to make gross violation of the responsi-
althy developed country, igno- strides in their own develop- bilities entrusted in these indivi-
ring its own reality and further ment (Velickovski & Petreski, duals. Rests on their head the
exposing its vulnerabilities. 2019). Economies of these accountability of either success
Long were the days we thought nations often have no natural or failure of their decision.
that constitutional reform resource to exploit, effectively There comes a time when
would have solved for this pro- axing them from the commodi- Dutch cabinet members (who
blem: ,,The debt resolution will ty trade network which larger outnumber island representa-
take our problems away”, they (endowed) nations draw wealth tives in the Kingdom Govern-
said. In this process we have left from, given the age of industria- • Week 03-04-2020 t/m 09-04-2020 • ment) must realize that the task
the gap widen, while we over- lization. Small domestic mar- of the Kingdom Government is
looked the sources of the short- kets also render Sids essentially centrum drastically different, even
comings in our public finance. dependent on foreign export though the room they gather in
This is why it is important we markets, like tourism (Baldac- MAHAAI PISCADERA is the same. In such they have
have a very serious talk. It is chino, 2019). no other option but to decide to
time all of us took a hard look at Most critically, however, grant funds in this extreme case
this gap, just so we can all be on problems of public administra- Farah Baroud Richenteley Leito ‘without strings attached’.
the same page for once. tion resulting from a small
There has been a renewed resource base challenge the Angelica Mejia Tudit Apolina The author, Guido Rojer, Jr., is a
interest in examining relation- efficiency and effectiveness of Anthony Palma J. Pietersz scientific associate with the Facul-
ships between the Monopole the system. Sids, therefore, rely ty of Social Sciences and Econo-
and its former colonies with the on larger states (Chittoo, 2011). M. Pandt Sanon Pestel mics at the University of Curaçao
strike of hurricane Irma in the In the case of Sub National Jasmin Casper Giany (UoC). He specializes in Small
West. The island of Sint Maar- Island Jurisdictions (SNIJ) States, Islands, and Territories
ten, both Dutch and French, relationships with a supranatio- R. A. Flores R. Daantje and has experience in research in
would have access to more (or nal government assumes to the Caribbean and Latin Ameri-
so we believed) through their solve for these issues. Conven- S. D. J. Mambre Melissa Josefa ca. He’s served on boards of sever-
relationship with their former tional thought is that these close M. IItes Hensley Ster al organizations on the island of
colonizer. A few years in, and relationships allow for ease in Curaçao and the (Dutch) Carib-
with an even more daunting support and collaboration, allo- bean.