Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I write this letter on the cusp of Saba Day 2021. While the outside world celebrates with us, they are unaware of the reality of many Sabans employed within the Government Service, a reality that inveigles despair, frustration, and disappointment on a daily basis as it continues to …

Dear Editor, Good afternoon, I have been contacting everyone I can think of to get contact information for Saba Splash. I do not see any information listed for them anywhere, so I’m hoping you can help with who I should get in touch with regarding ordering water from them. Thanks! …

DEAR MISTER KNOPS, Welcome Dutch caretaker State Secretary to Statia where you are likely to open a roundabout that communicates with about ten lonely vehicles per hour per day. Never have we seen on Statia such magnificent progress from you and your local civil servants and what a great investment …

Dear Editor, Hugo de Jonge as Dutch Health Minister needs to review the way responsible care is delivered by his civil servants from the ZVK (Care Insurance Office) on St. Eustatius and Bonaire. As a recent patient in need of support from these offices, I was treated with a lack …

Dear Editor, Johnny’s Ground is a small enclave of six homes located at the end of a private road on Booby Hill. For years two to three of these homes have been rented to tourists as short-term tourist rentals and during that time the full-time residents never have had to …

Dear Editor, For many years now, a small number of goat own­ers have been allowed to let their goats roam free on the island. Despite the destruction the goats have caused on the island and to people’s personal property, the goat owners never pay for it. They are never held …

Dear Editor, For many years now, a small number of goat own­ers have been allowed to let their goats roam free on the island. Despite the destruction the goats have caused on the island and to people’s personal property, the goat owners never pay for it. They are never held …

Dear Editor, While the world and certainly, our small island economies, were reeling from the effects of the Corona Virus Pandemic, many struggled as country after country, those big and small, shut their borders to visitors. The fallout from such closures meant no tourists thus no revenue going into the …

Dear Editor, WHY WE SHOULD BE WATCHING OUT FOR OUR SABAN ECONOMY. The last 3,5 months have been an unreal time for all of us. The world has changed in a profound manner, which have left a lot of us wondering how the future will look. As a community we …

Dear Editor, On behalf of the vulnerable and seemingly voiceless, opinion-less youth of Saba, most of whom have been subjected to many injustices during their course of primary education on Saba, I request immediate action by those in authority, against the functioning of the Sacred Heart School. I am very …

Since the BES islands were included as special municipalities in the country of the Netherlands on 10-10-10, the policy of the Netherlands excels in measuring with two measures. A poignant example of this is the hassle around a social minimum for the BES islands. The successive government teams postponed setting …

Dear Editor, The other day, a beautiful quiet afternoon was unusually disturbed by the sudden loud cry of a goat badly hurt and in severe distress. It was an unusual sound and the sound did not stop. A cry for help, which went on for about ten minutes. The sound …

By Ronald van Raak. It was a typical story that I was told on Saba, the beautiful island in the Caribbean, which has been part of the Netherlands since 2010. After the hurricane Irma, the King came to visit to see the damage. But the Sabans had cleared up so …

Dear Editor, The new stone and soil retaining wall at the swim pond at Cove Bay has apparently reduced the inflow of floating seaweed (I believe that this is mainly sargassum). However, it has also created essentially a dead sea zone within the pond now. The is no marine life, …

The Administrative Agreement signed this week has evoked many and sometimes violent reactions in which words were used as ‘intervention’, ‘under guardianship’ and ‘gentle instruction’. The comparison is steadily drawn with St. Eustatius where one does not hesitate to say that the intervention on Bonaire looks different than on St. …

Dear Editor, I have followed the debate on the social minimum for the Caribbean Netherlands between the members of the Kingdom Relations committee of the Second Chamber and state-sec­retaries Knops (Kingdom Relations) and Van Ark (Social Affairs). I am rather disappointed with the point of view of both state-secre­taries and …

Dear Editor, After the Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber visited the Dutch Windward Islands mid-July they fired no less than 46 question at State Secretary Knops. These questions were answered by him on August 28. I would like to comment on two of the answers the State …

Eight years after 10-10-10 it is clear that the present Dutch coalition govern­ment is prepared to finally establish a social minimum. While the responsible state-secretary Van Ark has re­cently announced that the presentation of the study into the social minimum to parliament will be delayed, the chairman of the King­dom Relations …

This morning early, I have taken notice of the news that the National Government has taken the decision to sideline the government of St. Eustatius and to appoint a special commissioner who will take over the governing of the island. This decision has been taken following the report, conclusions, and …

Dear Editor, It is today October 6th 2017. Exactly one month later after the passing of our first category 5+ hurricane Irma. Here on Saba a lot took place during the last 4 weeks. A water supply bank was set up to provide people of Saba with free bottled water. …

Dear Editor, Having experienced two hurricanes cat. 5, having seen the devastation and been around to feel and understand the inconveniences, to just express it mildly; no water, no electricity or no telecommunication for an extended period. Lots of time though to think about what happened and who are suffering, …

Update: More questions by Frances at the end of this post. Hello, My name is Frances and my son is currently studying at the medical school. I would dearly love to see his smiling face over Christmas. I was also going to book a visit to the island in February. …

Long Term solutions needed for Airlift, Supply of food and other materials, Telecommunications, Banking, Notary services, Tax Break The first reaction one has, after the hurricanes we encountered, is what went wrong and how we must do things better. In this respect, there are many lessons that can be learned …

Dear editor, I am standing in line – or rather in a disorganized congregation of desperate souls – in the parking lot of St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport, once the second busiest airport in the Caribbean, now a shell of sheetrock, concrete, metal and glass; the main terminal building …

Open letter to the Executive Council of Saba Date: 14 September 2017 Re: Economic developments after Irma Dear Council, A week ago the monstrous disaster of hurricane Irma affected the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. In particular our mother island St. Maarten.  The island we all depend on if it …

Dear Editor, I am one of many con­cerned parents that have a lot of questions since the two letters were given out by the schoolboard of Saba Comprehensive School last month. The seriousness of these letters is quite alarm­ing. It makes me really won­der how the school got into this …

Dear Editor, Please see below an urgent invitation signed by 50 parents/guardians requesting for the SCS school board and other stakeholders to attend a public meeting on Monday May 22, 2017 at the Sunny Valley Youth Center at 6:30 pm to discuss serious issues that are facing/affecting the Saba Comprehensive …

Dear editor, April 22 is known as international Earth Day. This got me thinking…what is Saba doing on behalf of this Earth Day and is there anything that can be improved to keep the unspoiled queen unspoiled? So let’s ask those critical questions: Is the Recycling plant really a Recycling …

KLM sells flight tickets for domestic flights within the Netherlands between Amsterdam and Saba. That is good news. However, the citizens of Saba are seriously discriminated by KLM. If someone from the Europeans Netherlands wants to buy a ticket the price is 33% lower than if a citizen of Saba …

On behalf of myself and my family, I would like to wish all teachers a Happy Teachers’ Day. On this special day, it gives us in Government and in the community, the opportunity to pay respect and thank those who have chosen a noble career in teaching. A teacher’s role …

This is certainly not good news for Saba in general. After receiving the information from WIB we as the representatives of a large number of local business were shocked. This doesn’t really help to improve our economic climate at all. Also we are disappointed with the relatively short notice the …

Today’s news that the Dutch Government is willing to supplement possible losses in pension years of (former) civil servants and teaching personnel who worked in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) before October 10, 2010, is obviously most welcome. While a number of these public sector employees for …

News that negotiations will start soon to discuss the transfer of tasks from the Dutch Government to Saba (see related story) inspires hope that the status of special overseas Public Entity might prove more durable than certain persons would have it. After all, there has been and still is a …

Dear editor, On April 23, 2016 via the Daily Herald presiding Commissioner Christopher Johnson announced that he would be pursuing a new venture as the new Dutch Representative. It was not until May 03, 2016 that the Island Council as a collective body was officially informed about the resignation of …

Dear Editor, I would like to share the following concerns with the people on Saba. Following my experiences, there is quite a serious problem with the delivery of mail to Saba. There is NOT a problem a problem with the postoffice here on Saba, but with probably Flamingo Post. If you have similar …

The Kingdom Charter will have existed 60 years on Monday. A lot has happened since, but all things considered the document signed by then-Queen Juliana has stood the test of time fairly well.It was the result of a decolonisation process that started after World War II and gave both Suriname …

Dear Editor, It seems there are a lot of our folks that are a quite upset because of the plan to chop down that beautiful mango tree here in the Bottom. I am glad to see our Saba people standing up and voicing their concerns. This tree has been there …

Dear Editor, On Saturday last I was driving through Windwardside and traffic was crazy. The area alongside the bakery at Breadline is being used as a parking spot. We can’t blame those who park there because if the law is not enforced or, better let me ask the question do …

Thankfully, a majority of the fractions in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament rejected the idea floated by the liberal democratic VVD and Socialist Party (SP) for a commonwealth with St. Maarten, Aruba and Curaçao as independent countries (see related article). It was pointed out correctly that the right …

Dear Editor, With Saba Day celebrations just days away, I have taken note of the program line up. How sad it is that the entire weekend activities do no have not even one single cultural event on it. For those of you who kept informed or even went to Statia …