2) Minister Plasterk of the Dutch Ministery of the Education will be responsi-ble for 6,28 million euro (NAF14.3 million ) that will be spent for the BES islands to catch up with the level of education in the Netherlands. We will get extra support from specialists that will be

The Mike van Putten youth center was well attended , all the newly appointed Civil Servants from Statia were there. The Island Sec-retary and Commissioners were also among the attendees. Summary of what Mrs. Bijleveld promised:

1) The economic problems in Holland will have no ef-fect on the money Holland promised to spend on the Antilles. So the money for the Debt Solving and the money for Education and Health etc. will be the amount that was agreed upon.

MRS. BIJLEVELDS’ VISIT

INDEPENDENT NEWSLETTER

MARCH 9, 2009 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2

STATIA NEWS Mrs. Bijleveld made some promises. Page 1 and 2 Interview with Mr. Roy Hooker, page 3 Mega D’s Brithday Bash, pag 4 Tackle Diabetes now!, Page 5 and 6 Statia Clean, Beauti-ful and Safe, page 6 Baking and Pastry Course, page 7 Questoins about taxes, page 8 Antillenhuis info Page 9

Editorial The name ‘Statia Gazet‐te’ has been changed into Statia News. The First edition was recie‐ved with a lot of en‐thousiasm, every day emails came in from people who wanted to be on the mailinglist and we are now forming a team to make this news‐letter grow.    Everybody, even a per‐son who has just arrived on the island should be able to publicly address issues they feel  are im‐portant for the commu‐nity.   In the last island council meeting Mr. Clyde van Putten, leader of the 

opposition, stated that “teachers should not be allowed to complain about their school on the radio or television.” He added that in other countries of the world, including the Nether‐lands, that would never be allowed.   The fact is that in the Netherlands teachers often voice their opini‐ons in the media. In a true democracy, any one can speak out. The media plays an impor‐tant role in a democra‐cy.  From reading or hearing other opinions, you have the possibility to form your own opini‐on and the people as a 

whole will stay well in‐formed .   Statia news will try to be as objective as possible, because  Statia news is looking for the truth..  Anyone that wants to join the team is invited to send an email to:  statianews@hotmail.com  We hope you enjoy rea‐ding this second edition,  Annemieke  Kusters, Lena Courtar,   Lenora Cannegieter, Jules Suares, Joyce Wijshake, Carla Schelling   

“Our schools will have to come to the Dutch level” is what the Coor-dinator of Education of the BES Islands that works in the Dutch Min-istery of Education, said end of February see page 2

A `kwartiermaker` will come, just like the mare-chaussees last year were `kwartiermakers`. 3) She promised to go on U talk with Franklin Brown next time she is here. 4) The Dutch will be re-sponsible for collecting the back taxes as far back as five years. . All the taxes that Government have to pay back to their citizens will also be paid by the Dutch 5 years retro-actively. Astrid McKenzie asked this question, she works at the Tax Depart-ment and gets called every day about money Govern-ment owes people. About the backtaxes Bij-leveld stresses ´Wie heft, moet innen`, meaning `if you tax, you have to col-lect.´. The money collected will be invested in the community and the Antil-lean Government is still responsible. The taxes that will be received, will not be deducted with the Debt paying arrangement. 5) Bijleveld said: `Or BES or Independent`. One person, had a most intelligent and confronting question for Mrs. Bijle- veld. The man first stated that this BES option is the best option for now. But what will happen to our future generation? Is this the

MRS. BIJLEVELDS’ VISIT, CONTINUED

PAGE 2 STATIA NEWS

point of no return or can we still change our Status in the future? `The only other option is independence`, she said. 6) Mrs. Bijleveld said that within 5 years there will be an evaluation and some things may need adjustment for the BES islands. By that time Holland will have a new Government and a new Second Cham-ber and a new State Secre-tary of Kingdom Affairs. Kamp To answer Mrs. Rivers’ question about the qualifi-cations a politician needs to have, Mr. Kamp said the only qualification a politician needs is has to be the trust the people have in them. He also let the audience know that he understands the difficulties a small island like Statia has. He compared it to a Dutch small municipality and said that in Holland there is a lot of cooperation with other municipalities and the “Provincie” also takes care of structural things like water supply. A small island like Statia doesn’t have this cooperation and has even more things to take care of: a harbor, an airport, a hospital.

Mrs. Bijleveld answer to the next question from Mrs. Rivers, what mechanism will be in place to check our local Government, was: “We make sure “good” or “corporate” Government is in effect, we will have “financieel toezicht” and we will have “toezicht op geldleningen”, meaning the Dutch will check that Gov-ernment does not give pri-vate loans. Mrs. Clarke-Brown, prin-cipal of the Golden Rock Catholic School was won-dering where the books were that were ordered. She hadn’t heard of any books. “Books were not ordered as yet, Mrs. Bijleveld said, but soon every school will have the possibility to make re-quests for books. Mrs. Clarke-Brown told Mrs. Bijleveld that there is a great lack of “social help”, the elementary schools need “psychologists, psychiatrics and other professionals like remedial teachers and even substitute teachers.” Bijleveld agreed on that, but did not make any promises. In an interview with Statia News and Mr. Reehuis, our new head of the Department of Education (Bureau On-derwijs), Bijleveld made some remarks about education: “The extra money for education will be spend on structural changes” Her staffmember, who also took part in the conversa-

tion, said: “We will not spend money on pro-jects. Projects do not guarantee structural changes” “We moeten naar de werkvloer” Mrs. Bij-leveld added, meaning: “We have to talk to the teachers.” By A.K.

Mrs. Ank Bijleveld-

Schouten

Mr. Henk Kamp

All the parents of the GVP school are invited to come to the Regional Ser-vice Centre (Mazinga Square) next TUESDAY March 10, to nominate a parent representative in the GVP Schoolboard. You are welcome from 5.30 PM until 6.30 PM. On the link below, you can read about the problems in education on the BES is-lands. It is written from a Bonairean point of view and the author, Mr. Fred de Haas, explains about the language difficulties in education. <http://beteronderwijsneder-land.net/node/5436> This is a weblog where you can comment on the writer and pose your own opinion on the matter. SABA The commissioner of Edu-cation of Saba, Chris John-son, will lead a delegation to Holland in mid-march to have 3-days worth of meet-ings with the Dutch Ministry of Education, along with the other BES representa-tives. Saba will propose four short term needs and present them to the Dutch Ministry. These short term needs include: Materials for the schools, recruitment packages for teachers, and new school busses. (SGIS)

EDUCATION

PAGE 3 STATIA NEWS

\ General information

Interview with Mr. Roy Hooker

because Mrs. Leeflang, the Antillean Minister of Education has put an end to Cycle 3. When pointed out that teachers in the elementary schools are stressed and the classes are too big, he said that the SDA school has found a good way to deal with that matter. The teachers stay in one spot and the pupils go from teacher to teacher. That way, it is no problem if a teacher doesn’t master the Dutch language. The elementary schools have the freedom to “fill in” the FBE system in whatever way they want. All they need is a good schoolplan and a “classplan”. He says that all the teach-ers on the island should be capable to work in the FBE system, because they all had a training of almost two years. He says he is not going to shut down the Governor de Graaffschool, because he the island needs to have a public school. He wants to have one language lab for our is-land. That lab can be used by the schools, but also by the general public. In that language lab people use their ears and eyes and can work in many ways on their language skills. He stresses that this is also important for the Spanish speaking people that live here. By A.K.

Instead of an interview with Mr. Reehuis, the new head of the depart-ment of education, we had a short interview with Mr. Hooker, the commissioner of educa-tion. What experts will be appointed for educa-tion? In the Regional Service Centre, on Mazinga Square, a person will be appointed especially for education. Holland is now busy looking for a suitable person. In the department of education, one person will be ap-pointed by Holland to assist the people that work there. And also, there will be a “kwartiermaker”, or maybe two, who will assess the situation in education and who will help to make it better. At the end of April, a team from the Nether-lands will come to Statia to assess the level of the oldest pupils in the Ele-mentary schools. Who will attend the next Bes week about education? The delegation from Statia for the next Bes week about education will consist of the fol-lowing persons: Mr. Roy Hooker, Mr. Renee Ree-huis, our head of the department of education, Mrs. Malvern Dijkshoorn, head of the

Government Information Service and our new li-brarian, who is in Holland still. Mrs. Dijkshoorn and the librarian will be part of the delegation, because the meetings will not only concern education, but also culture and the media. Statia’s Government wants to have more Dutch on our island. Not only in the schools, but also in the media. What will you ask for in Holland? Mr. Hooker thinks the local Government should find a niche, a way to have some influence in our edu-cational policy. Holland says it will be solely the Dutch responsibility, but Mr. Hooker thinks that is not the right way. “The Dutch will have a say in the “What”, but we must have a say in the “How”. The future of Statia’s education. Mr. Hooker takes the in-spectionreport very seri-ous and expects that the inspection of education will be important in the future. Learning Dutch must be-gin in the Buzzy Bee day care centre. More money has to be spend on the Buzzy Bee to keep it af-fordable for parents. There will be more Dutch in the elementary schools and the exams at the GVP school will be according to the Dutch standard. Cycle 3 is not going to be a part of the GVP school,

MEGA D’S BIRTHDAY BASH

PAGE 4 PARTY SECTION STATIA NEWS

Saturday night, the 28 of February 2009. The first annual Mega D. Birthday Bash. 11 o´clock: It was like

Hollywood entered the Community Centre. The stairs were covered with red carpet. The prettiest girl of the evening was throwing flowerleaves on the carpet. The guests were coming in. Most of them dressed in black and white. It was as if everybody just bought a fabulous new outfit for this party. In-side still empty. The stage, full of luxurious lounge chairs was still empty and VIP seats too. Everybody was waiting for the artists to arrive. Police siren was heard and there came the cars. Mighty Fat, Problem Child,

T-time, Walton Schmidt, King Trini, Alicia Redan, Singing Eve, Sexy Mona, Pri-vate, the Regulatorz,

the “Man on the fifth Floor” Fleming, Daddy Rain, Maestro Dennis, Daddy Screw, and more. Best dressed artist: Singing Eve. She was wearing a stunning yellow satin dress. Migthy Dow from St. Maarten was the host of the evening together with Belkis Hassel, our local radio host. After all of them had a talk in front of the cam-era, the siren was heard again. There was Mega D, our local interna-tional music star! Now the party began, with a one minute si-

lence for Mega D’s grand-father, Josser Daniel who just has passed away. All of the artist performed and who stood out? Private. Private sang a song from his new cd. A real good partysong and Private knows how to play with the crowd. Walton Schmidt. Walton Schmidt first said that he is not used to sing from a tape, he always sings with live music. But when the old song started, the old days relived. He sang about West Indian Music that comes from Africa, that started out with no instruments and is con-quering the world. T time. T time was per-forming alone, the rest of his band sat on stage, I could see them laugh a little bit. T time can really deliver! He sings as if his

life depends on it! But T time can really sing and the song `Don´t you go away` came straight from the heart. The Regulatorz. Very good song. These two guys looked like the coolest imaginable dudes. Wearing sunglasses all evening. But when they were on stage, the fastest rapping and singing came out of them. Around 2.30 Mega D. sang his hit, all the girls sang along and then the party really began. Finally the crowd really started to dance. A lot of old talent and a lot of young talent. A lot of history and a lot of future. A lot of awards handed out. A joy to listen to and we look forward to next year, the Second Annual Mega D. Bash. Thanks Mega D., for this great party!

T– time and Mega D Singing Eve and Alicia Redan

PAGE 5 HEALTH SECTION STATIA NEWS

TACKLE DIABETES NOW! Column written by Joyce Wijshake. Project leader Tackle Diabetes Now! The 24th of November 2008 the Ministry of Health Care and Educa-tion has invited me to Curacao for a gathering with many other health care providers from the Netherlands Antilles to brainstorm about how to improve and implement a healthier lifestyle on every Island. Minister from Health Care and Education, Mrs. O. Leeflang started al-ready in 2007 with a pro-motion campaign “Antilles on the move”. Her goal is to get every-body more active, for example by introducing the “stappenteller”; a small device attached to your belt, which counts every step you take, to promote the 10.000 steps or more everyday-activity. Unfortunately Statia didn’t get any (promised) stappentellers sponsored as promotion for the Campaign. She also made sure the SVB got involved. * Every Island of the Netherlands Antilles was asked to do walk-a-ton’s. * SVB held gatherings with and for the employ-ers to inform them how to support their employers to become healthy or stay ‘fit’. * For the younger ones Mrs O. Leeflang invited the “Double Dutch” team from USA to the Antilles; the youngsters (15-21 years old) of this team are the international Champi-ons in rope jumping.

They were on Statia on 27th of November 2008 and gave a demonstration on every school. Minister Leeflang brought them to the Antilles as an example how to be active other than in sport clubs and without extra costs. This rope jumping has already become a ‘hype’ in the USA among younger people. (www.nytimes.com) In accordance to “Antilles on the Move” and with the slogan “Move your Act”, I started the project “Tackle Diabetes Now!”. A lifestyle program with a tailor-made (but tight) activity program, com-bined with a nutrition plan and educational informa-tion. Why is Fitness so im-portant   Fitness increases your metabolism. It is a proc-ess whereby one trains the

heart to pump blood more efficiently, allowing more oxygen to get to muscles and organs. This is very positive, because many chronic diseases, like diabe-tes are developing by the reducing of the metabolism. The higher your metabo-lism, the more calories you can burn, even in rest. By fitness you develop more muscle tissues and the more muscle tissues you have the more calo-ries you can burn. With the result that the chances of getting overweight are decreasing rapidly.

Fitness is used to train peo-ple to perform better while doing something for a long period of time. Usually this is done through cardio-vascular exercise, like run-ning or swimming, (nordic)walking etc. The international require-ment for adults; Every adult (inclusive 55+ ) needs to perform at least 30

minutes average intensive activity for at least 5 days , preferable every day of the week. This will be equivalent with 200 kcal per day and 1000 kcal per week on the ex-tra energy consuming, above your rest-metabolism (like breath-ing, sleeping, digesting).

The energy that you ex-pend through your daily activities, such as breath-ing, sleeping and addi-tional physical activities, should equal the energy you consume as calories. If these two things (energy used and energy consumed) are equal then your energy is in balance. To lose weight you will have to either increase the amount of energy expended through addi-tional activities or de-crease the number of calories consumed, or both.

10.000 steps or more every day...

PAGE 6 STATIA NEWS

TACKLE DIABETES NOW!, CONTINUED

Remind however to use all the nutrients your body needs to maintain in good health. Eat foods that are high in nutrients, but low in calo-ries. Concerning diabetes: It is proved that partici-pating in fitness activities will improve your insu-line-sensitiveness. That is positive, because with a better insulin, ac-tivity will cause less spikes in the blood glu-

cose level after meals, a lower average blood glu-cose level, a lower HbA1c rate (=the average glucose level rate over the 3 months). Very important because a nor-mal (healthy) HbA1c rate must be under 4.7%. Above this percentage you are at risk of getting dia-betes.

To learn more about the project call 318-4304 (physical therapist) or register yourself for the program via the general

practitioner, to learn more about the positive advan-tages of this active life-style program. Come to the Health Fair, Sat-urday the 14th of March 2009, organized by AMSA.

Place: the Termi-nal Playground from 1.00-5.00 p.m. to learn more about this project.

Statia clean, beautiful and safe

Winston Fleming is the project manager of this project. With USONA funding, he will try to involve everyone with the cleanliness and beautification on the island and the safety issues that are in‐volved.   On Thursday, Febru‐ary 26, a discussion took place at the Government Guest‐house about Statia’s littering problem. Winston Fleming hosted this meeting and local business people and represen‐tatives of Stenapa and others were pre‐sent. The main topic 

discussed was PLAS‐TIC BAGS. Everybody agreed that plastic bags should not be given out in the shops. Koos Sneek suggested that if there was a law in place that forbids the giving out of plastic bags in stores, the problem is easily tackled. Jackie Berkel agreed on that.  Ernie Simmons said that enforcement of that law will not be there. The only thing we can do is “hammer it”. Keep on educating the people about the dangers of plastic bags.  

A lot of good ideas came out of this meeting: Fleming and his team will go to all the local shops that have plas‐tic bags and talk to them. A poster will be designed and shops that do not have plas‐tic bags will get this poster to inform the customers. Every two weeks there will be a television program about “the state of affairs” concerning the littering problem.  Leontine Derby of Mazinga suggested that in that program, a list should be made of shops that already stopped giving out plastic bags.  

The social pressure to stop handing out plas‐tic bags will then be bigger. Ernie Simmons agreed: If we make a good strategy, and the awareness is there, it can work. Gary Brown added: “We have to be proud and we have to be role models for the young people.”   It was very good that some representatives of the Chinese Super‐markets were there. They have a hard time refusing plastic bags and Mr. Fleming will give extra attention to their problem.  

  

PAGE 7 STATIA NEWS

BAKING & PASTRY COURSE St. Eustatius – From the 2nd until the 6th of March 2009, the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Founda-tion organized a bak-ing and pastry course for everyone who liked to learn more about this topic. Two ladies from the Atlantis Resort Baha-mas were invited to come to the Gwen-doline van Putten School, to conduct a one week training course. Head Chef Pastry Mrs. Valerie Gray and her assistant Ms. Cynthia Saunders taught the students how to pre-pare the recipes and how to present the courses to the guests. According to Mrs. Valerie Gray, “presentation is the key and the taste will be second”. On the 6th of March, all the prepared recipes were presented to the public and the partici-pants gave information about what they have learnt. ( Noortje Groothuizen)

Head Pastry Chef Mrs. Valerie Gray taught the students how to decorate the cakes. Espresso Tres Leches, Salted Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate were prepared by the stu-dents.

STATIA NEWS PAGE 8

QUESTIONS ABOUT TAXES Questions about taxes answered by an interna-tional tax attorney: What are federal taxes? Federal taxes are taxes levied by the Central Government, such as VAT, federal income tax, wage tax, legacy tax, transfer tax. The purpose of these taxes is to provide the Central Government with money. And local taxes? Local taxes can serve to cover local costs, such as road tax and environ-mental taxes. Taxes often serve as means to bring a halt to certain developments or to stimulate certain devel-opments. If you raise rental taxes, renting a house will be more ex-pensive than buying a house, so that will stimu-late home ownership. If you raise import duties,

you protect local produc-ers/employment. Holland is thinking of having no profit tax at all. What will be the con-sequence of that? Without profit tax, Statia could be a ‘tax heaven’. (belasting paradijs) A lot of countries want to be stricter with tax heavens. (stop doing business with tax heavens) Besides nor-mal business, it also at-tracts illegal or criminal money. There have to be strict regulations about where money comes from, you have to be transparent to other countries, ex-change information, etc. On the other hand, having a profit tax is also difficult because Government has to check on all businesses. Statia is thinking of hav-ing no import duties, what will be the conse-quence of that? The positive thing is that products that will be im-ported without import

duties will be cheaper. A possible negative effect will be on local products. But since almost every-thing is imported on Statia, it seems like a good solution. The question is “Are there products that you don’t want to see on Statia?” For example: big cars. On these products you can put high import duties. It is difficult to imagine that products that are im-ported without taxes on Statia, can subsequently be imported without taxes in Europe (Statia being a part of Holland/Europe). That would mean that all products that are levied in Europe at the moment can be imported without taxes through Statia in the fu-ture. Before thinking about what kind of taxes Statia wants to have, it is impor-tant to ask these questions: 1) What are Governments’ objectives? 2) How much money does Government need for that? 3) What

does Government want to put a halt to or discourage? For Example: Government wants to stimulate (well paid) eco tourism, Govern-ment needs money to in-vest in that, Government wants to discourage “mass tourism” with low margins. How can taxes help with that: No tax for entrepre-neurs that build eco hotels. Levy touristtax to be able to pay for provisions, Levy extra tax for polluting or other unwanted tourism. Statia has to consider it’s development. The advise is: Don’t try to do “everything”, try to do something that fits the is-land and that will distin-guish Statia from the sur-rounding islands. If Statia for example will be the place to have a medical treatment, with a good hospital, a good medical training, close cooperation with Academic hospitals in the Netherlands, this could be a good source of in-come, bring prosperity to the people and give them good educational possibili-ties. Taxes are a derivative of a future plan and no goal in itself. Statia can hire advisors to make a more thorough study of the matter. There are a lot of “bad” advisors, that only give “technical” advice. Do not hire them! The Dutch Government can help if you ask them for advice. By A.K.

STATIA NEWS PAGE 9

ANTILLENHUIS INFO If you want information about the Netherlands Antilles, you can sub‐scribe to “Antillenhuisinfo”, just send an email to  berk‐houwer@kgmna.nl and she will send you all rele‐vant articles from differ‐ent newspapers. Included are also reports and let‐ters to the second cham‐ber in Holland. In STATI‐ANEWS, we will make a short summary of the news that appeared on Antillenhuisinfo over the last two weeks. 

The police:  

The report `Nu of Nooit` that was published in January 2008, stated that cooperation between Bonaire, Statia and Saba concerning the police will be complicated, unpracti‐cal and very expensive and should be reconsid‐ered. At this moment capacity from a (mother) island is necessary for Statia and Saba and when larger calamities or crimes appear, both is‐lands need support. This help should be there in time. The report advises to reconsider the coop‐eration with Sint Maarten. (“Nu of Nooit”) 

Nevertheless: We will have one police force with the main office in 

Bonaire. John Schagen, the chief of police for the three island was inter‐viewed in Amigoe. There will be one high‐tech emergency room for all three islands. There will be the newest technolo‐gies like digital roadmaps. A new way of thinking and a big investment. For the Statia and Saba police the “wijkgebonden politie‐zorg” (police care by dis‐trict) will be the new way of working. There will actually be no reorganiza‐tion, but a completely new police force. By the end of March this new police force “building plan” must be ready and hopefully next year Janu‐ary it will be operational. The police force will coop‐erate with Curacao and St. Maarten, for special things like an arrestteam.  (Amigoe) 

The referendum in Cura‐cao: 

Every day different news about the referendum in Curacao. Mr. Douwe Boersema, chairman of the referendum commit‐tee on Curacao.: “If the majority votes against the agreements made with Holland about the dis‐mantling of the Dutch Antilles, Holland has to 

start negotiating with Cura‐cao again.“ 

With the referendum, the people from Curacao get the chance to vote whether they agree with the agree‐ments made in the last “Round Table conference” that was held on the end of last year. It contains King‐dom acts about Govern‐ment finances, the Court of Justice, the Public Prosecu‐tor and the Police. Instead of a politic referendum, the committee suggests to base the referendum on the rules of the interna‐tional right of self‐determination. A political referendum is not binding, but with a self‐determination‐referendum the motherland must obey the will of the people. (Paradise FM/NRC/Miriam Sluis) 

The Dutch Second Chamber is very critical about the referendum in Curacao. Socialist Partymember, Mr. Ronald van Raak even sug‐gests that Curacao should go independent if the is‐land doesn’t accept Dutch interference. He thinks no money should go to Cura‐cao if they vote “no”.  

Bijleveld says that the Netherlands will  stick to the agreement  and Cura‐cao should do the same.  (RNWO, Caribbean edition) 

Statia news will ap-pear every other Monday. It will be send by email in PDF to ap-pr. 150 emailadresses on the mailinglist and it will also be sold at Mazinga, Happy City, Pesos Supermarket and Golden Rock super-market. If you want to send in your opinion on a local or Antillean matter, or if you want to write an article, or if you want to adver-tise, you can send an email to : statianews@hotmail.com You can also call Annemieke Kusters: 3184092 If you want to recie-ve the paper via email, please send a mail to : statianews@hotmail.com

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