Mountains and coral reefs added to Dutch landscape

RNW, Gijs van den Heuvel, 8 Oct 2010

(Photo: Auntiem)

The Netherlands is turning into a tropical country. No, it's not global warming. It's an extension of the small state on the shores of the Northsea by three little Caribbean islands, a remnant of the country's colonial past.

It has been discussed for what seems like ages, but on 10 October 2010 it is really going to happen: the country called "Netherlands Antilles", a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean, will be disbanded. Of the five islands, the two biggest will acquire an autonomous status in the Dutch kingdom. The three smaller ones - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, jointly known as the BES islands - will henceforth be governed directly from The Hague on a par with municipalities in Holland, adding a whiff of the tropics to the flat country behind the European dykes. A sixth Caribbean island, Aruba, was given autonomous status much earlier, in 1986.

This remains unchanged.

The changes are the implementation of new legislation drawn up by the Netherlands' government a couple of years ago aimed at improving the governability of the "overseas dominions". They had already lost their colonial status in 1954. In several referendums held since 2004 the islands' populations have voted in favour of the new form of government.

Facts and figures

So how will people in the former Netherlands Antilles experience the new form of government? And will the Netherlands and the rest of the world notice anything?

The change in the kingdom's make-up will hardly affect the average Dutchman in Europe, but it won't do any harm to adjust a few of the most-cited statistics about the Netherlands. Such as these:

• The Dutch territory will expand by 322 square kilometres (roughly the size of Malta)
• The Netherlands will have a new highest point. It used to be the Vaalserberg in the province of Limburg, with an altitude of 322.5 metres. But this will be dwarfed by Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, which reaches 877 metres. And a good number two is The Quill on Sint Eustatius, at 600 metres.
• In addition to its flat, sandy Northsea coastline, the Netherlands will acquire coral reefs. Divers know they are found off Bonaire, but Saba and Sint Eustatius are also surrounded by coral reefs.
• The two official languages of the kingdom, Dutch and Frisian, will be accompanied by two new ones: Papiamentu (on Bonaire) and English (on St Maarten).

On the islands

The Antilles islanders will be faced with quite a few changes, although not everyone will notice these immediately.

• In 2011, the US dollar will be introduced as the new currency. Owing to their proximity to the US, they are mostly dollar economies anyway.
• Dutch and European law will apply on the islands.
• But some of Holland's laws which are radically at odds with the local culture on Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, will be introduced only gradually. These include liberal legislation on abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriages. The islanders will be allowed two years to get used to the idea before the laws come into force.
• Local schools have to change gears in order to better qualify pupils for Dutch school diplomas. The curriculum in subjects like history and geography has of course been adapted to the Caribbean location of the islands.

Misunderstandings

Friso Fennema, a spokesman for the Government Office for the Caribbean Netherlands told RNW that there are some persistant misunderstandings among the islanders. He would like to set the record straight:

• Many people believe that Papiamentu and English will be banned as official languages. That's not true; they will continue to be used.
• Many islanders are convinced that only European Dutch nationals can apply for government jobs. That is false, in fact 93 percent of vacancies are currently being filled by local applicants and that is not going to change.
• Employers on the islands fear that they will have to pay the European Dutch minimum wage, and are concerned that the unemployment benefit will be raised to the European level. That is out of the question, Mr Fennema said, because then the Antillean islands would become totally unattractive for Caribbean entrepreneurs.

Anthem

On Sunday 10 October the untitled national anthem of the Netherlands Antilles will give way to the Wilhelmus, the stately, sedate Dutch national anthem, dating back to the 16th century. But the Antilles anthem had a shadowy existence anyway, as every island had its own song.

It remains to be seen whether that will change in practice. Why on earth would the Caribbean islanders sing the words, "William of Nassau am I, of German blood". Speaking of which, many inhabitants of the flat European part of the Netherlands can't make sense of the anthem's text either.

Related Articles:

Curaçao and Sint Maarten get governments

Status change means Dutch Antilles no longer exists

Farewell to the Netherlands Antilles