Does it mark the final act of de-colonisation, or is it the beginning of re-colonisation? The formal decision to break up the Netherlands Antilles, five former Dutch island colonies in the Caribbean, was taken today.

In the Caribbean, no tears are being shed over having to say goodbye to the Netherlands Antilles. The islands are reasonably close neighbours, but have never really been one unit, argues Gert Oostindie, director of Leiden’s Royal Institute for Linguistics, Geography and Ethnology.

“Family ties mean the links between the islands strong. But the only links they have as countries come from sharing the same colonial power. The islands felt unity was more a problem than a help.”

The two largest islands, Curaçao (population 144,000) and Sint Maarten (39,000), are set to become more or less independent. The Netherlands will take over the lion’s share of their debts and will keep an eye on the finances to prevent debt build-up in the future.

“They will remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but independent of the other islands in the Antilles. Curaçao and Sint Maarten wanted this status so they could take responsibility for their own development and wouldn’t have to worry about the other little islands,” explains Professor Oostindie.

The island of Aruba gained similar autonomy in 1986 and has booked strong economic growth since. Despite this, however, the issue has been a hot political topic for some time, especially in Curaçao, with many pushing for full independence from the Netherlands.

Price of autonomy
Those who would have preferred full independence to autonomy warn that the Netherlands will remain heavily involved in the two islands’ finances. They fear The Hague will be the source of unwanted interference.

Professor Oostindie dismisses such worries. He points out that the Netherlands has always had the power to intervene and that, in this respect, nothing has changed.

“What has changed is that the areas which the Dutch central government can deal with have now been better defined. These areas include monitoring state finances, but also the maintenance of law and order. Everything considered, most accept it’s better to work on this together.”

The smaller islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire, with a total population of 20,000, will experience more palpable changes. As ‘special municipalities’, they will come under direct Dutch rule. Professor Oostindie says they always felt they were the little brothers in the Antilles family and that they got a raw deal from big brother Curaçao. He reckons living standards, law and order and the political systems on the three islands are all set to improve with their new status.

Same-sex marriage
However, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire are socially conservative and Christian and are going to have to submit to aspects of Dutch legislation they find unpalatable. These include abortion, same-sex marriage and euthanasia.

Professor Oostindie thinks there’s no way round this: “The first gay wedding on one of the islands within a year or two is a distinct possibility”.

The Netherlands colonised six islands in the Caribbean in the 17th century: Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten (east of Puerto Rico) in the Leeward Islands and Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (off the coast of Venezuela) in the Windward Islands. They were centres of the slave trade. Nowadays, they are mostly known for their blossoming tourist industry.

In the 1950s, the first serious step was made towards independence: they received political autonomy. In 1986, Aruba became an autonomous part of the Netherlands. The other five islands became the Netherlands Antilles, part of the Dutch state, also with a degree of autonomy. It has taken decades to reach agreement on the latest changes to the islands’ status.