Bonaire
Referendum vote YES or NO?
So, here’s
the deal with the Referendum on December 18, 2015.
There are a
whole lot of very smart, passionate voters on both sides of this issue. With the usual spate of crazy, sometimes racist rhetoric, the issue at stake
has been bubbling in one form or another, from World War II onward as countries around the world gained their independence from the colonial powers that ruled
them for centuries. Bonaire’s independence or some form of integration into The
Netherlands has been voted on since 2004 and will be voted on once again. Some
argue the vote is nonbinding and therefore inconsequential. But don’t be fooled into complacency because this
vote does matter. It matters a great deal.
You can vote
if you’re a resident and you’ve had your Sedula for five years prior to the
election and you should vote if you’re allowed.
People who
are voting YES are mostly happy with the way things are and people who are voting
NO are mostly unhappy. Even though the vote isn’t about if you’re happy or not,
it’s about whether to keep or change the current political relationship with
The Netherlands.
There is a
lot of misinformation and confusion about which way to vote and it’s complicated
by the fact that the published explanations and on line debates are in Dutch
and Papiamentu (the two official languages of Bonaire) but rarely in English.
The question
translates to English as: Do you agree with the current status which is a
direct link to the Netherlands? In other words, should Bonaire remain a special
municipality of the Netherlands?
If YES wins a
simple majority nothing more is voted on.
If NO wins a
simple majority then there is another vote to choose between three options,
which are Independence , Autonomous Status within the Kingdom, Integration or
perhaps any other political status freely determined by the people.
And now the
fun begins. The basis of the question becomes very important but you can’t
explain your answer you can only vote YES or NO. And the result of your vote is
seen to mean different things to different people.
Those Voting NO:
Some of the
people voting NO are clearly not happy with the current political status and want nothing less than the freedom of
self determination for Bonaire; an end to Dutch rule. The argument here is
that independence and self government can be accomplished and funded without
recourse to supervision by (or foreign aid from) The Netherlands.
But other
people voting NO are fine with the political relationship but are unhappy with the condition of life here
on Bonaire. The recent five year assessment by Commission Spies, the
official report on the consequences of the change in Bonaire’s status on
10/10/10, is grim and points out the many inequities and deficiencies in the
condition of the island’s people as a direct result of changes made by the far
off Parliamentary Government in Holland.
These NO
voters who never-the-less want to remain connected to Holland see “leverage” in
getting improved conditions for the people of Bonaire by voting NO and then
negotiating for changes that will improve the quality of life for people living
under the umbrella of Dutch Government and money. They say that a YES vote will
allow the government to boast that all is well and the people are happy, so a NO vote is required to gain political
advantage.
Those Voting YES:
Meanwhile
there are people voting YES who are clearly happy with the current political
status and have very little compassion for the issues facing the island’s
marginalized, underemployed or undereducated people, let alone the poor who
have seen their meager resources stretched to the limit by rising fixed costs
and eroding incomes; especially seniors and pensioners who, according to the
official report, have been hit hardest by the changes made on 10/10/10.
And finally
there are YES voters who abhor these conditions but believe that the political
forces in Holland will use a NO vote to leverage an already xenophobic government
into legislating even less in terms of support for a people seen to be
ungrateful and dismissive of the benefits already provided.
These are the
political forces in parliament who (since the referendum in 2004) have promised
equality but have delivered a separate rule of law whereby unequal treatment
for local people is mandated and seen as “currently adequate” for any number of
reasons which change over the years but always tend toward asking for patience
with the promise that “someday” their lot in life will improve but currently
all is being done that is possible.
Therefore these
YES voters, who ardently want improved conditions for all, feel the best way to
achieve them is to move forward under the current status and lobby for
necessary changes and improved conditions through political action and an
appeal to “the better angels of our nature” i.e. the good, positive,
constructive acts and feelings we share as compassionate and empathic beings.
In respect to
Bonaire’s budget requirements (currently around 300 million per year), the
relationship between local taxation (around 100 million) and “foreign aid”
(around 200 million) becomes critical. The infrastructure of Bonaire and the
regulatory climate for business has improved dramatically since 10/10/10, but
as the Spies Commission Report demonstrates, the impact on the quality of life
for most local people has been adversely impacted by those same changes.
So these YES
voters do not want to risk losing the money (or military protection in this potentially
unstable region) currently provided by Holland but do want to achieve the equal
treatment promised for more than ten years but still deferred.
So what happens if the NO votes win?
Choose Independence?
This option will
never pass in a vote of the people, even if the vote was restricted solely to
those who consider themselves descended from the ancient culture of the island.
While there are those including James Fines who argue that “The Netherlands continues
its position as a colonizing power perpetuating abuse and violating fundamental
human rights and interfering unduly with the local political process”; there
are others who consistently out vote them in favor of the current arrangement
whereby Bonaire benefits from being a part of The European Union.
Choose Autonomous Status within the Kingdom?
This option
will never pass a vote of the people because it requires even more trust in
local politicians who have proved themselves to be ineffective and feckless at
best and just plain corrupt at worst. And it is our dirty little island secret
and everyone knows it’s true.
Choose Integration? (or perhaps any other
political status freely determined by the people?)
This option
will never pass a vote of the people because nobody even knows what this means.
As conflicted as so many are about the YES or NO vote, they do have strong
feelings about what they like or don’t like about the current political
relationship and how it might look after this new referendum vote. If the NO
votes are in the majority this option will be a distant third in the minority
choice.
Keep the current political arrangement
but renegotiate the unequal status of the people and use The Speis Report as a
starting point to redress the issues of poverty and underemployment and poor
quality education and living conditions on the island?
Unfortunately
this is not one of the current options. The argument was expressed by Sean
Paton as a question of whether you are
happy as a second class citizen of The Netherlands YES or NO. And he
suggests it’s a no brainer unless you are already a first class citizen of The
Netherlands.
But many like
Bart Snelder and Michiel Van Borhorst believe if you do vote NO and then ask
for the government to behave as if you’d voted YES “with conditions” it stretches credulity to think that you’re in
a better position to negotiate than if you’d voted YES and then used the political
process to make your case.
All things
considered it seems the sensible vote is YES and then continue to work within
the system for necessary change.
Just my
humble opinion.
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