GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers has renewed the longstanding call for St. Maarten to formally establish a national anthem, arguing that after 16 years as a country within the Kingdom, the matter should no longer remain unresolved.
Meyers raised the issue during Parliament’s handling of the draft 2027 national budget, pointing to official ceremonies such as the opening of the parliamentary year, where those in attendance rise for the Wilhelmus and also for the St. Maarten Song.
He said that as part of nation building and strengthening national pride, St. Maarten should reach the point where the announcement at an official ceremony is simply for those present to rise for the national anthem of St. Maarten.
Meyers stressed that his concern was not necessarily about dictating which song should be selected. He referenced “O Sweet St. Martin’s Land” while making the broader point that the country should finally determine what composition will formally serve as its anthem and complete the required process.
The issue predates Meyers’ intervention and has resurfaced periodically since St. Maarten attained country status on October 10, 2010.
One of the strongest efforts to resolve the matter came under former Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Dr. Rhoda Arrindell. In 2011, Arrindell argued that St. Maarten did not have a legally established national anthem and that the Constitution required one to be enacted through national ordinance.
At the time, she proposed the establishment of a National Anthem Committee and a process through which an anthem could ultimately be selected and brought before Parliament. The proposal generated considerable public debate, particularly because many residents already regarded “O Sweet St. Martin’s Land” as the island’s national song.
The process was never completed.
Arrindell returned to the issue years later and again emphasized that the constitutional requirement remained unresolved. She also placed the discussion within the broader context of nation building and the need for St. Maarten to formally establish the national symbols associated with its constitutional status.
“O Sweet St. Martin’s Land,” composed by Father Gerard Kemps in 1958, has long been associated with the identity of the island and is regularly performed at official and cultural events. However, the question of formally establishing a national anthem through the required legal process has remained open.
Meyers’ comments therefore revive an issue that has moved through several administrations without reaching a final conclusion.
For Meyers, the question is one of completing an unfinished part of St. Maarten’s development as a country. He argued that national identity is built not only through institutions and legislation, but also through shared symbols and traditions that people recognize as their own.
He said the country has now operated under its present constitutional status for 16 years and the national anthem should no longer remain an unresolved nation-building issue.
