The Hague The Lower House today said goodbye to 69 parliamentarians, including 6 members of the Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations: the veterans Ronald van Raak (SP) and André Bosman (VVD) and Antje Diertens (D66), Nevin Özütok (GroenLinks), Stieneke van der Graaf (Christian Union) and Chris van Dam (CDA) who have to leave the field after one term. In one fell swoop, the House loses more than 40 years of knowledge and experience in the field of kingdom relations. https://dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl/2021/03/30/kamer-ziet-40-jaar-kennis-van-de-koninkrijksrelaties-vertrekken/
All departures were addressed personally by President of the Chamber Khadija Arib. She praised Bosman’s honesty and imperturbability: With Ronald van Raak you formed a close-knit duo in the fight against corruption of certain politicians in the Caribbean. Self-enrichment at the expense of the poor population had to be combated. It is also completely at odds with your philosophy of life. You are not on Earth to mess around, you said in an interview. That is why you recently defended strict conditions in the House of support for the islands because of corona.
Own way
Against Van Raak: You have fulfilled the office in your own way: as a philosopher and activist, as a thinker and doer. You were a renowned spokesman for Kingdom Relations – always critical and persistent. With that you formed – I also said this to Mr Bosman – a special duo with Mr Bosman of the VVD, but always with the motivation to make daily life better for ordinary people throughout the Kingdom.
Against Dierentens: ‘You will continue to learn for a lifetime, you once said. This was also evident in the debates about the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, which you spoke as spokesman for Kingdom Relations. You always spoke a few words of Papiamento; I saw the textbooks on Twitter. It shows that you find it important to immerse yourself in the other person, to literally speak the same language.
Pitfall
Because of his long track record, Van Raak was given the last word: If I want to impart something of a wisdom: try, certainly you, permanent MPs, to convey to the new MPs that you are your person and your office must not identify. That is a big pitfall. These may be a bit heavy words, but the fact that you have to uphold the position of the House, the honor of the office, that is also part of your position; that also belongs to the seat that you have now borrowed. And I know all the people saying goodbye, saying, oh, nice, I won’t miss it. Well, I’m sure: I’ll miss it tomorrow. The Hague The Lower House today said goodbye to 69 parliamentarians, including 6 members of the Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations: the veterans Ronald van Raak (SP) and André Bosman (VVD) and Antje Diertens (D66), Nevin Özütok (GroenLinks), Stieneke van der Graaf (Christian Union) and Chris van Dam (CDA) who have to leave the field after one term. In one fell swoop, the House loses more than 40 years of knowledge and experience in the field of kingdom relations. https://dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl/2021/03/30/kamer-ziet-40-jaar-kennis-van-de-koninkrijksrelaties-vertrekken/