Harvard students plead for "yes"

February 05, 2009 6:28 AM

After extensive examination of the political reforms, two students of the American Harvard University, Jeremias Prassl and Ben Gardner, are of the opinion that during the referendum one has to give the green light for the package that has been negotiated. On Wednesday they made their conclusions public in a lecture at the UNA (University of the Netherlands Antilles). Last night they gave a presentation entitled “Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom: A look through the constitutional prism”, which took place for invitees of the law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne. The two students crossed the entire island in the past two weeks and spoke with all important parties about renewals. They held in-depth interviews with a total of over forty people.

Renewals stand for democracy

For instance, they spoke with inter alia Helmin Wiels and Charles Cooper of the opposition and with former Prime Minister Don Martina.

What is striking, is that they made themselves fully familiar with the subject matter in a brief period of time and know the smallest details, but also the sensitive points, fears, and contradictions.

Taking the opinions into consideration, they drew their own conclusion with an open mind. Prassl says that they recommend the political reforms for Curaçao “with certainty”. “The reforms stand for democracy and that is high on the list of all people we spoke with. This is also a unique chance: if the referendum is rejected, Curaçao will not be able to get another chance like this one.”

Prassl and Gardner are of the opinion that Curaçao has adopted a strong position in the negotiations. “Compare it to the BES islands (Bonaire, Statia, Saba), the Netherlands government has total financial control there”, Prassl explains. “Curaçao has negotiated strongly with the Netherlands, so that the Netherlands do advise on finance matters after the reforms, but do not have control over their finance matters.”

According to the students of this leading US university, the public responded positively to their suggestion for reforms. “The prevailing negative sentiment is the financial control, but this can only be felt now in the transition phase. Furthermore, the public asked a critical question whether the current situation is not illegal, as involvement in becoming independent is not allowed.” The answer to that question is simple: no, because Curaçao does not become independent. “Some island residents are afraid that taking over the Curaçao national debt is a form of bribery. We do not agree. Taking over the debt originates from strong negotiations. The Netherlands will not get power over Curaçao, as is the case with the BES islands, but without a debt the island gets an enormous financial stimulus.” Prassl and Gardner assess that if one votes “no” in the referendum, Curaçao will suffer a setback. They expect that Curaçao cannot pay its obligations with the debt, and that the island certainly can do so without the debt.

Last night, the students presented their findings to the invitees at the law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne, where the students elaborated on their research.

(Source: Local Newspaper “Antilliaans Dagblad”)

January 30, 2009

You can download a PDF of the report here. (Thanks to: VanEpsKunnemanVanDoorne)