A Speech That Endures

A Speech That Endures

2 January 2026

I did not plan to blog today. This year, I intend to write only when there is something worth saying. Yet the Prime Minister’s New Year’s speech stayed with me — not because it inspired me, but because it did not.

Years ago, I wrote about the importance of speeches and how seriously they are underestimated here. Great leaders understand that words matter. Some speeches transcend their moment: Queen Wilhelmina in 1942, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama. Words that endure.

We do not have that tradition. And if we ever did, we have lost it.

The Prime Minister’s speech was, once again, an enumeration: what was achieved in 2025 and what is planned for 2026. A positive assessment of public finances, despite severe warnings from the Audit Office. An acknowledgment of inequality despite economic growth — fair enough. Nation-building has been reduced to investments in neighborhoods. A new vision for Curaçao is promised, with assurances that citizens will be at the center.

But it remained just that: words.

A New Year’s speech should offer direction and imagination. This was administrative language. Anyone who launches a vision process must first understand what a vision is. Moreover, only a small group in Curaçao is genuinely able to participate. Too many people are focused on survival.

That is precisely why words should matter.

Miguel Goede