Speech by Acting Kingdom Representative Jan Helmond at the Remembrance Ceremony, Wilhelminaplein, Kralendijk – 4 May 2025
Less than a kilometre from here, during the war, people were imprisoned at Camp Playa Pariba.
It was a diverse group of detainees:
Dutch members of the NSB, German, Austrian, and Italian residents of Aruba and Curaçao, German sailors, but also communists.
And individuals who protested against Dutch colonial rule.
Even Jewish refugees were housed there.
All together, in one camp.
A small melting pot.
I often wonder: what must that have felt like for the rest of Bonaire?
Every time I visit the site, I ask myself this question.
Nothing remains of the camp itself.
The timber from the barracks was reused to build a bath hotel on the same spot.
This hotel has since grown into what is now the Divi Flamingo.
A place where dive tourists and other holidaymakers enjoy breakfast, the pool, or the sea view. It now symbolises freedom, whereas Playa Pariba once symbolised captivity, in an unsafe world.
Much has changed in the past 80 years – also for Bonaire.
You can see that everywhere on our island.
The small island community of 6,000 back then has grown into a melting pot of 25,000 Bonairians from many different backgrounds.
People who were born and raised here, just like their ancestors.
But also people for whom Bonaire became a beloved home later in life.
People like me.
Yet regardless of where we were born, we share something in common:
Each of us wants to live in peace and security.
And many of us now watch global events with unease.
Just like 80 years ago, it can feel as though the world is on fire.
It can make us feel uncertain and unsafe.
I am sure that none of us wishes for a world of war and conflict.
Here on our beloved Bonaire, we want to live together in peace and harmony.
And we have a role to play in making that possible.
How can we ensure peace, freedom, and safety on Bonaire?
I believe it begins with each of us.
In how we treat our neighbours, colleagues, and acquaintances.
No matter where they were born – Bonaire, the Netherlands, Venezuela, or elsewhere.
No matter their skin colour.
No matter their mother tongue.
No matter their faith or beliefs.
And no matter who they love.
Peace, freedom, and safety begin with an open attitude towards all others around us.
An open heart, simply because the other person matters too.
Because they have just as much right to a place in the sun.
Just as much right to be seen and heard.
To live and to love on Bonaire.
And I say this explicitly here on this square, because not long ago, very different words were spoken in this same place –
Words that did violence to the freedom of fellow Bonairians.
So, it’s not always easy.
Where people differ, there can be conflict.
That’s why we must continue striving to understand and connect with one another.
To make the effort to recognise someone else’s pain or longing.
And to be honest: I, too, sometimes find that hard.
When I am in the Netherlands, I am seen as someone "from the islands."
And here, I am often seen as “one of them” – from the Netherlands.
I completely understand that.
But it sometimes leaves me feeling a bit displaced.
And I believe others may recognise that feeling too.
This is exactly why it’s so important that we keep recognising the most essential truth in one another:
That we are all human beings.
And if we realise that, we must also do our best each day to truly hear and understand one another.
Even that can be difficult – because we speak different (mother) tongues.
Many of us speak either Papiamentu or Dutch.
Two languages spoken by relatively few people worldwide.
And more and more fellow Bonairians speak English or Spanish – two global languages.
So perhaps, in this fast-changing world, we should allow more space for English and Spanish.
But whoever we are, we share the same deep love for this island.
Since the Second World War, this island has grown and changed.
All of Bonaire has become a unique melting pot of beautiful and diverse people.
And no matter how much we differ from one another –
we are all human beings, capable of learning from and with each other.
We all hope that our beloved Bonaire will remain an island of peace and freedom.
That reminds me of a poem by the renowned Persian poet Rumi.
It is called The Guest House, and it goes like this:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
By embracing even discomfort, we can live together in harmony each day.
I truly believe that we can make this ideal a reality.
Together, and in freedom!
