BATI BLEKI BUZZ, December 9th, 2015

FORMAL APOLOGY TO FORMER MINISTER RUDY CROES. When Rudy Croes was the minister of Justice he was the punch-line of a lot of jokes, boy, how we used to make fun of him, left, right and middle, criticize his traditional views, his old fashioned ways, and that was just for starters, you know what I mean because you were one of the culprits, laughing your head off every time he came up with a silly rule, and pulled back the public’s free reign. Well, I am hereby apologizing to the Minister for our bad behavior because in retrospect, he was a competent Minister of Justice, we didn’t like everything he had to say, but we had a good thing going as far as public safety, and security. Sure, I like everything about MinJust, his elegant ways and his groomed and cultured demeanor, HOWEVER, I do not like anything I read in the news these days, and nothing I see in the street, and I live in a bubble, so I see very little, but I resent the fact that he does not act again RHD cars, that he does not act against illegal Venezuelan trade – PS the island struggled with 40,387 entrepreneurial Venezuelans last month, that he did not institute the beach policy, and that he cannot impose law and order in one, I repeat just one nigh-clubbing zone, the hell hole we used to call  the Olde Molen. Show us a sign that you are alive, demonstrate that you are in charge. You have the resources and you are capable, so please live up to your job requirement, or call Rudy Croes back from retirement!

THE QUESTIONABLE INTEGRITY OF AWARDS. Awards in general are tricky, because the award recipient has to really feel that he deserves the recognition. If we do not feel down-deep-inside that we deserve praise, we suffer guilt pangs, we realize that the show is politically, or commercially motivated. Let’s take for example the much written about Prestige Awards. I am immediately suspicious when the name of the perfume or a restaurant, tells me how I am supposed to feel about them. A restaurant called Delicious cannot be good. The biggest offenders are fragrance companies that define, Joy, Obsession and Allure for us, with the pompous names of their products. I say: Let me be the judges of how I feel about you. So when Prestige Awards came along and I had to instantly accept how prestigious they were, of course, I did the opposite. I questioned their integrity. Who is funding the program? Who are the sponsors? Who are the judges? How is Diana Croes involved? I really wanted to know, who owns and operates the foundation. Then I found out it is endorsed by MinTour. Power to him, he is allowed to have two programs, Shoco and Prestige, but it has to be TRANSPARENT. Someone has to openly say these are government-sponsored awards given to our people, those who are helpful to us. We fund it, we stand behind it, and it is prestigious to us. Moreover, for-profit initiatives should never receive public awards. Does Aruba Bank need an award? They make a lot of money off us, and they give a little back, as part of their social responsibility. So why award them anything? Believe me, G4theneighborhood is its own reward. I can go on, but you get my drift. The Prestige Award “Woman of the Year” accepted the plaque. She has her reasons. But I doubt it that your designated “Man of the Year” will. He shies away from the limelight. He doesn’t not promote himself publicly, and that is why doing business with him is considered prestigious, by everyone who meets him. Which brings me to the Shoco Awards. They should go back to the private sector. Our private sector is well prepared to host events and organize banquets. I join the opinion of many that the ceremony should be entrusted to professionals that would surely do a great job at setting a perfect stage. Then you can record the evening, go home and edit the footage, add nice graphics and captions, and voila, an interesting and educational one hour of good TV, instead of three-hours of torture.

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December 08, 2015
Rona Coster