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Developments and letters

February - March 2019

On 8 February, I took note of the State Secretary's answers to questions from the House of Representatives (in Dutch) following the working visit of the Commission for Kingdom Relations to Statia (and Saba) in January 2019. On page 9 (of 16) I read question 16 and the answer to it. The new building of the prison will NOT be at the police station; another place will be searched for. I haven't read this before on the internet or in a newspaper here on the island.

On 13 February 2019 there will be another meeting of the Commission Koninkrijksrelaties over Sint Eustatius in the Lower House of Parliament. In preparation for this, I will send an update of the developments on the island on 8 February 2019.

At the end of the meeting I will give my sympathetic but somewhat disappointed comments.

Two days later I decide not to write to all members of the Committee on Kingdom Relations, but only to one, namely Mr. Ronald van Raak (of the SP). Of all the members, he seems to me to be the most involved to date, so if I manage to reach him it seems to me to be a good thing. I will send him this letter.

On 25 February 2019 I will receive a letter from the State Secretary, addressed to the Lower House, in response to my earlier letters. A double feeling takes hold. On the one hand, I see it this way: as an individual citizen, you can indeed contribute to islandly/national policy; on the other hand, the content is somewhat disappointing.

I will write my response to the letter from the State Secretary on 4 and 6 March 2019 (with attachment).

On the same 6th of March, I will take note of the State Secretary's response to questions from the SP and PvdA groups. The response is evasive in nature and is based on references to previous reports.

On 30 March 2019, the Financieele Dagblad will publish a review of the developments on St. Eustatius (in Dutch). It seems to me that the article does give a good outline of the developments and feelings.