Aruba’s President of the Parliament, J.E. Thijsen, informally known as Ady, made headlines this weekend, for shooting, as is his habit, from the hip, signing a letter to the Dutch Council of Ministers, without wide parliamentarian consent, throwing Aruba in with St Marten and Curacao, to oppose the upcoming CRE / ORRA, designed to pull us out of the mud.
CRE = Caribbean Reform Entity
0RRA = Organization for Reform and Recovery Aruba
Ady, a lawyer by profession has earned a grand total of 511 votes in the last election amounting to less than 1% of the electoral vote, yet he decided to take it upon himself to align us with great partners, Curacao and St Marten, beacons of light, in responsible financial management and general law abiding, ethical behavior — show us who your friends are, and I’ll show you your future.
Aruba worked very hard to disengage from the other Dutch Antilles and to create its own respectable identity, and all of a sudden, Ady seeks to reconnect with the islands we worked so hard to get away from, both pressure-cookers of corruption and disorder.
To substantiate his claim that CRE/ORRA violate the fundamental rights of individuals and their governments, Ady recruits the support of an international organization, COPPPAL, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, sponsored by China, and notorious itself for embracing violators of procedures and international laws, such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Mexico.
Besides, who gave him the authority to speak in our name, or in the name of other parliamentarians?
Fifteen minutes into the publication of that letter, independent member of Parliament Daphne Lejuez made it clear that Ady sprung it on his colleagues as a draft, last minute. She writes: “I deeply regret that meetings are called ad-hoc and last minute, with unplanned calls of this kind that disrupt the schedule and make it difficult to attend or respond in writing in a timely manner in view of the current COVID precautions.” She couldn’t sign anything until there is a clear official sign from GOA about what has been achieved in negotiations.
One of my friends writes: Who cares what the parliament says. Have you looked at those so-called public representatives during the last debate? They are a disgrace. An embarrassment. I am sure that MinPres is doing her utmost, and will get us the best possible deal. Who cares what these geniuses say. They are a bunch of imposters who have nothing better to do than complain from the sidelines. Why don’t they try to help? Come with solutions. When their people have no money to buy food. People are losing their jobs. And everyone “working from home” — like they really ever worked when they were at the office listening to their radio or checking out social media… while the rest of us in the private sector bust our nuts to survive. I say let’s wait for MinPres who has the brains to negotiate this better than anyone on the team, and sign with the Netherlands…. Who cares what Ady, Andy or Rocco are saying; One should go because his time has come, the other is just an empty echo chamber, and the third has proven himself to be useless. And that Dellanire character who had to mention that people think she is too beautiful to be a member of Parliament. Are you kidding me? We need some brains in Parliament. We clearly are missing that. The whole team is either incapable, junior, or has a shady past, so that locals have no interest in listening to them, and while they schedule and announce a press conferences in St Marten, see below, speaking on our behalf, we are intentionally kept in the dark.
In the MEP website, as an introduction to their #13 on the list, Ady Thijsen, they state that social democratic principles such as solidarity, union and the protection of the vulnerable, enticed him to pick a political career. We see none of that from his perch on the dais, as the chairperson, or speaker. Sure, he speaks, dictatorially. Yet he seldom manages the meetings, and allows all speakers to go over their time; he overrules procedures, and meetings guidelines, and often displays sexist attitudes, when he conveniently forgets titles of female ministers, and of course apologizes.
Where is the famous MEP: “Lucha pa bienestar di henter nos comunidad,” Ady? As in “Ady a drenta politica pa como politico pa contribui na bienestar di nos pueblo y un mihor futuro pa nos yiuna.”
What happened?
Face it: There is no way any of this will EVER work without Dutch involvement. We cannot implement anything without a helping hand. So, make room for a new generation, step down as president, lets get rid of all this anti-Dutch baggage, and put a fresh face there.
The surprisingly announced press conference: Joint Press Conference Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – On Monday, September 7, 2020 the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten will be hosting a joint press conference with regard to the joint letter and position sent by the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten to the Chairman of the Kingdom Council of Ministers, Mr. Mark Rutte, regarding the Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE)/ Organization for Reform and Recovery Aruba (ORRA).
The press conference is scheduled for 14.00 – 15.00hrs.
Members of the media of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are invited to be present.
The press conference will be held virtually and will be carried out live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 115, via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1 www.pearlfmradio.sx, via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, and Parliament’s Facebook page: Parliament of Sint Maarten.
