Leader of the BIJ1 party Sylvana Simons, during the gen­eral political deliberations (“algemene politieke be­schouwingen”) in the Sec­ond Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday, accused Dutch politicians of “superiority thinking” to­wards the Dutch Caribbean.

“While poverty in our Kingdom extends to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, there is an attitude of distrust towards the gov­ernments of Aruba, Cura­cao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba,” said Simons.

According to Simons, the attitude of The Hague is “characterised by superior­ity thinking and by the idea that we here in The Hague know better than they, how they need to govern.

“From that position [of superiority thinking — Ed.] emerges a political unwill­ingness to, for example, act forcefully to establish a social minimum that does justice to the actual cost of living on the islands,” she said.

Simons was the only party leader who mentioned the Dutch Caribbean during the general deliberations that are always held one day after the presentation of the Dutch government budget.

She spoke about equality, justice and solidarity for ev­eryone, which she said are core values for BIJ1. These three elements should be the basis of policy, leader­ship and government’s fu­ture vision.

The Member of Parlia­ment (MP) addressed dis­crimination and racism in the Dutch society. She mentioned the tax allow­ances scandal, in which parents of Dutch Caribbe­an, Surinamese, Moroccan and Turkish descent were disproportionally targeted, as well as the broad use of ethnic profiling by police and government services.

The Daily Herald.