BONAIRE--Dutch Second Chamber member Cynthia Ortega-Martijn (ChristenUnie) is shocked by the situation she encountered on the new overseas special public entities of the Netherlands, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. She advised the Dutch government to take swift action to prevent protests, for example with the upcoming Queen's visit.
The parliamentarian of Cura�ao/Bonaire origin wants to present her findings to Minister Piet Hein Donner during the first consultation of the Committee Kingdom Relations after the summer recess of Parliament.
The most important conclusions drawn by Ortega-Martijn after spending six weeks in the former Netherlands Antilles is that the Dutch had insufficient consideration for the huge transition for the islands, that there is too little coordination and that the residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba feel they are treated as second-class citizens by the Dutch government. That applies to those living on the islands for generations but also to European Dutch citizens there.
On the Internet site of ChristenUnie she wrote about a meeting on St. Eustatius: "Threatening language was used as well. This time there were relatively many European Dutch citizens present. They were not pleased with the Kingdom Government."
"According to them, there is discrimination and the island is treated as a Third-World country. They believe the Kingdom Government views the residents as parasites."
On the lack of coordination, she wrote: "My first observation is that the implementation currently causes problems; insufficient consideration was given to culture, identity, the small size of the islands, but also their current development phase."
"Regarding development, these islands are trailing by decades. The implementation does not consider this sufficiently. It requires a more gradual implementation."
Most of the complaints regard public health. On all three islands it takes too long before patients are sent abroad for medical care, the accommodation in foreign hospitals is not always well arranged, second opinion examinations are often not compensated and there are language problems when people are sent to a French or Spanish-speaking island.
"On top of that, one speaks of deaths that could have been prevented if one had taken timely and adequate action. I believe this kind of complaint requires investigation though. News spreads like wildfire in a small community and confidence in the Kingdom Government and its public health crumbles by the day," said Ortega-Martijn.
Residents, businesses and organisations also complain about the cost of living due to the switch to the US dollar and the new tax system.
"I call on government to immediately launch a buying power inquiry and based on the results adjust the allowances and the minimum wage retroactively. One cannot allow people to suffer and survive on approximately 200 dollars per month."
Her findings don't differ much from the report forwarded to the Second Chamber by the Kingdom Representative earlier this year. However, that report is more nuanced.
"The representative writes 'people think' or 'administrators think' and that softens it somewhat. However, I have now experienced this personally," said Ortega-Martijn.
"Of course, I had already received signals regarding the situation on the islands. That's why I did my utmost to make this trip. However, the situation was more harrowing than I expected."
According to Ortega-Martijn, there are two possibilities to improve the situation, namely give the Kingdom Representative more power to take action or appoint a coordinating minister for the islands. In her note to Donner, she will provide more details on both possibilities.
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