WILLEMSTAD.- No citizen or Education employee should nor can accept the declaration of the President of the Chamber of Commerce, who has declared a war against Papiamento. According to the President of SITEK, Mr. Darius “Lio” Plantijn, it is unusual and unacceptable that exactly around the commemoration of 50 years on May 30th, date of our struggle for the breakdown of oppression and create self-confidence, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce made an attack on our mother tongue, “Papiamento”.
It is universally proven that a child must develop his mother tongue before and after through his own language, he can learn other languages. The mother tongue is to create self-confidence. Through time, the Papiamento showed that it is a complete language according to mr. Plantijn, which we use in the family, among friends, work, in school, in Parliament, in the Government and even in the Court. “Our Culture is loaded by Papiamento, our real history comes from Papiamento”.
To reach a united community with real love for Curaçao and to reach appreciation, recognition and coexistence with our fellow citizens, the base is the language of Papiamento, only this can arise. Well what the chairman of the Chamber suggests with the idea of removing our Papiamento language from advanced teaching, is an attack against Papiamento and one, called to, maintain a situation in which we continue to divide Curaçao.
No citizen or education worker should accept these expressions. Mr. Plantijn finally says he is also convinced that neither the Parliament nor the Government of Curaçao will pay attention to such barren expression of the Chamber of Commerce.
