Public entities less confident in future

The residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have less confidence in the future of the islands despite the increased satisfaction regarding education, health service, safety and the police compared to the previous year. This appears from an experience study that was conducted by order of the National Service Caribbean Netherlands RCN.

Practically all along the line it turns out residents of Caribbean Netherlands are content with the service. The satisfaction over medical care doubled from 36 per cent in 2011 to 61 in 2012. People also feel safer, 48 per cent compared to 31 last year. People still find the service by the Immigration and Naturalization Department (IND) problematic, although the quality has improved slightly.

The greater satisfaction can be seen partly in the mark given to the Dutch Government by the respondents; the grade was 5.4 in 2011 and 6.1 this year. That this increase was only modest considering the sharply increased satisfaction over service could be due to remaining concerns about the purchasing power, according to the report.

People are less positive about the development of income, even though the number that said to have lost purchasing power decreased from 81 per cent in 2011 to 67 in 2012; only 38 per cent sees a progress in income. The report indicated that the concerns about the purchasing power are possibly also reflected in the confidence in the future of the three islands. In 2011, 59 per cent was positively disposed toward the future compared to 41 per cent in 2012.

The final report, also to be translated in Papiamentu and English, will soon be presented to the islands, the department heads and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Source: “The Daily Herald” 2012-11-05