Leaving Sint Maarten
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Wed 8 Feb 2012 12:19
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Well, we're off at last heading for Panama after
nearly 5 weeks on St Maarten. We didn't get to see much of it because we were
working on the boat, but it's a strange place. The 'Dutch' side of the island is
now a country in its own right, one of four which now constitute the Kingdom of
the Netherlands (the others are Aruba, Curacao and Holland). If you think
we've got problems in the UK, think about these people. The country has
about 50 000 people - I say about as no-one really knows because about 25% of
the population are illegal immigrants. Try managing that. The rule of law
is shaky; three examples will suffice to demonstrate the breadth and depth of
the problem. Eighteen people were murdered here last year. That's about 20
times the UK rate. At the other end of the legal spectrum only 20% of
developments ever bother with planning permission - but even these are not
complied with because the government has no inspection process. The remaining
80% are entirely outside the law. The Justice Minister clearly has trouble
understanding the concept of the rule of law - he consistently fails to follow
its letter (but is held in check to a degree by the free press, a factor worth
remembering during the current Leveson enquiry in the UK). You get the
picture.
St Maarten is a dirty untidy mess and it's
getting worse. I don't think that it can realistically stand on its own with
such a small population - they just don't have the resources or the talent, and
if they don't sort themselves out their tourists will go elsewhere - to picture
perfect French St Barts next door for instance.We're not sorry to
leave.
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