How Does an Optimist Read the Newspaper? Or: How Should He Read It?   2 December 2025   An optimist sees life through a positive lens and believes in a good outcome, even in difficult situations. Setbacks are viewed as temporary obstacles or opportunities to learn. Where a pessimist sees the glass as half empty, the optimist notes that at least it’s still half full. Positive outlook:  an optimist approaches the future with hope and confidence. Setbacks:  obstacles are challen

Kòrsou Felis and the Nanny State   1 December 2025   It is Monday, 1 December 2025. The last month of the year has begun. The hurricane season is officially behind us. Once again, we came through unharmed. The same cannot be said for islands like Jamaica.   On Sunday I found myself thinking about the concept of the Nanny State : a government that directly imposes rules on its citizens — commanding, prohibiting, regulating. Think of smoking bans, vape bans, or compulsory educa

Saturday after Black Friday   30 November 2025   It’s the Saturday after Black Friday. It’s 29 November. People haven’t just been paid; many also received a bonus. I don’t know exactly what the shopping crowds were like yesterday — I didn’t hear anything. But the traffic was a disaster. The commercial areas of the island were completely jammed, and that’s no longer limited to the city center. All the main roads are now in the hands of commerce.   Saturday looks very different

Nothing New Under the Sun   29 November 2025   It’s a cloudy, rainy morning, so the title has nothing to do with the weather. The reason is something else: this week I attended the climate conference organized by the CCCP of the Meteorological Service, and this morning I read that at another event the investment agency stated that attracting investors “is all about contacts.” Looking back, I stumbled upon a blog I wrote almost exactly a year ago: Too many conferences, too lit

Worries on Black Friday   28 November 2025   Apparently, it’s Black Friday. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t like crowds, and I tend toward minimalism: as little as possible, only what is necessary and functional. Of all the celebrations we’ve imported over the years, the only one I relate to is Thanksgiving – there is always something to be grateful for. I connect least with Halloween: a mix of old Celtic and Christian traditions that mark the transition to winter and t

Den of Thieves (roversnest), Kleptomania, Kleptocracy   26 November 2025   What concerns me is the report that a shipbuilder bribed the port authority’s leadership. The case is now before the court, according to media reports based on documents from the Public Prosecutor. For years, I believed that people in such positions would never engage in this kind of behavior. Others carried the stigma of corruption. But increasingly, corruption seems to be everywhere—look at Ennia, Gi

Our Human Capital   26 November 2025   A human being is a human being, yet in economics, we have reduced people to a resource. This way of thinking—people as means—has become dominant. Human interaction is treated as a transaction; a tit-for-tat society. Much as this bothers me, I will go along with it for the sake of argument.   Besides sun and sea, Curaçao really has only one trustworthy resource: its people. The World Cup qualification proved this once again. It’s about ta

Sometimes Courage Falters and Hope Fades   24 november 2025   On November 12, 2025, I wrote: “Better to turn halfway than to go completely astray.”  This was in response to the announcement that economic policy would be adjusted to respect nature and heritage. For a brief moment, it seemed as if a genuine shift in direction was underway.   Now we have yet another new Minister of Economic Development. Although the policy has been in place for years—both on paper and in practic

In a Parallel Universe   23 November 2025   The Blue Wave has swept up the entire island: the success of the national football team qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The Caribbean Sea is turbulent and far beyond. A few days ago, the Americans were said to have intercepted a Russian ship on its way to Venezuela. The airspace above Venezuela and the surrounding region is empty. In the Netherlands, drones have been spotted near locations where American nuclear warheads are stor

Diaspora is Gold   22 November 2025   What Curaçao’s qualification for the World Cup once again proves is that the diaspora is literally gold. You win the grand prize with it. The current squad consists entirely of boys born in the Netherlands to parents with Curaçaoan roots. And we have known that the diaspora can deliver gold ever since sprinter Churandy Martina shone under the Dutch flag and even carried that flag at the 2021 Games.   Diaspora is not a widely used term on

November is altijd een bijzondere maand, maar dit jaar des te meer. Curaçao heeft zich historisch weten te kwalificeren, en Suriname viert 50 jaar onafhankelijkheid. Beide mijlpalen zullen we natuurlijk niet ongenoemd laten tijdens onze bijeenkomst van dit jaar. Toch is dit ook een laatste oproep om je aan te melden. Op dinsdag 25 november, van 15:00 tot 17:00 uur , komen we online samen om terug te kijken op het turbulente, uitdagende en soms verrassende jaar 2025. Wat betek

You Only See It Once You Get It (Je gaat het pas zien als je het doorhebt)   21 November 2025   The title is a famous quote by Johan Cruijff, which Pieter Winsemius chose for his leadership book in 2004. Pieter was not only a partner at McKinsey but also a leading figure in the VVD and even served as a minister on behalf of the party. A fascinating man, when I first met him, not in person. Only twenty years later did I discover that he was the son of Albert Winsemius, the arc

Curaçao Suffers from Institutional Memory Loss   20 November 2025   What do I mean by that? Institutional memory is the knowledge held by institutions, organizations, and society as a whole — an understanding of how things work, how they are supposed to work, and where they come from. On Curaçao, much of that is being lost.   I had suspected this for years, but it became undeniable this year. There was a heated debate about whether 2 July is Flag Day, while the correct name h

This Shows That Curaçao Can Change 19 November 2025   Yesterday, 18 November 2025, I didn’t write. Not only because the tension surrounding the historic qualification had been building since the day before, but also due to personal circumstances. Something along the lines of the national coach — but different.   There was a call to join the Blue Wave everywhere, especially on social media — a movement that, in my view, is inspired by Oranje  and the Venezuelan La Vinotinto .

Family & Friends   17 November 2025   In the past, we still said "Friends & Family" when patronage was the norm and nepotism was concealed. In my training, we were focused entirely on patronage; nepotism and cronyism were not even mentioned. At the time, there was still a certain sense of shame that kept us in check. That restraint has now completely disappeared.   A few days ago, the Curaçao national coach left the squad just three or four days before the decisive match agai

The Bench of Curaçao   16 November 2025   What struck me most in the penultimate match of the national team against Bermuda was the bench – the reserve players. After the third or fourth goal, Dick Advocaat substituted a handful of players; he took nearly all the star players off the field. And… the team kept playing well and even extended the score to the final 7–0.   What does this tell us? Curaçao has more talent. There is even talent that is not on the bench at all: playe

As 2025 comes to a close, a few threads stand out, connecting the many events that shaped our world and Curaçao. Elections, political shifts, technological leaps, and global challenges have marked the year. From Curaçao’s March elections and a new government majority, to Trump’s return in the U.S., Maduro seeking another term in Venezuela, and Suriname electing its first female president, 2025 has been a year of change and reflection. Across the globe, Europe feels heightened

Bread, Circuses, and the Horizon Saturday, late morning   15 November 2025   It’s Saturday, late in the morning. For various reasons, I returned home much later than usual after breakfast. On our way to get coffee, we drove through the city. We passed the decorated dome where thousands watched Curaçao’s World Cup qualifier against Bermuda — and where crowds will gather again this Thursday for the match against Jamaica.   Further into town, streets were already being blocked o

The Day After   14 November 2025   With yesterday’s 7–0 victory over a weak Bermuda side, Curaçao now stands for the first time in history at the gates of football heaven: the 2026 World Cup. We would become the smallest country ever to qualify for the world's biggest sporting event. The island is buzzing with energy. You could see it clearly in the thousands who watched the match on the big screen.   But the day after, the problems are still there. While the euphoria still h

The Only Time You Look Down on Someone   13 November 2025   There’s a quote that says: “The only time you look down on a man is to uplift him.”   I’m not a fan of theories that explain everything through the lens of colonialism and slavery. I admitted that again to a colleague from the Netherlands last Monday. In fact, I have an aversion to them because they tend to put people in a permanent victim role. And yet, it is not a theory we can throw away.   You see, there’s someth