THE HAGUE - Once again, Sylvana Simons (BIJ1) was the only faction leader to address Kingdom relations in her contribution to the general political deliberations in the Dutch House of Representatives.
"An unequal relationship where the Netherlands holds the reins on one side, and Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Statia, Saba, and Bonaire are left on the other side with a still subordinate position. The Dutch government really needs to stop accepting that the standard of living in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom is drastically and disastrously lower than in the Netherlands," said Simons.
"400 years of colonialism and slavery have resulted in abysmal living standards for Black people not creating the same sense of urgency as it does for white people. You can offer apologies for that, but my question is: where is the restoration?" Simons, who is leaving politics after the elections, advocated, among other things, for a 'Kingdom Consensus Law on Recovery Measures.'