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www.sxmislandtime.com
 PHILIPSBURG - The swearing is on April 1st, but Gerald Berkel is already receiving congratulations for his new function. Berkel was congratulated Tuesday by Leader of the Progressive Labour Party Clyde Van Putten.
His fellow Lt. Governors congratulated him last Friday when the announcement was made.
The Opposition Leader sees Berkel as "a young man with a lot of talents and abilities."
The pair first had formal contact when Van Putten was Chairman of the St. Eustatius Telephone Company (EUTEL). At that time Berkel was the company's Managing Director.
Contact was also frequent between the two in Berkel's time as Acting Lt. Governor. One place the pair would meet was in the Island Council.
"I always admired the manner in which he conducted the meetings of the Island Council. So I do believe that now that he has been elevated, promoted to the position of Lt. Governor I expect that this will improve," Van Putten said.
The Opposition Leader is requesting that Berkel be a "Governor of all the people", that he would listen to the community, and that he would not feel politically indebted for his appointment.
"I will hope that he will have an understanding that he will have to work with both sides. When I talk about both sides I'm speaking of the governmental level of both the government and the opposition," Van Putten said.
The PLP Leader is also hoping that Berkel will examine the tenures of previous Lt. Governors and learn the lessons from their mis-steps. He's asking Berkel to focus on preserving the general interest and to shy away from forces in the Statian community who would want to influence him for their own gain.
"We have not had a lot of pleasant memories and opportunities to say so where Lt. Governors are concerned because before they go into this position it is one thing and once they get in office for some reason or the other they change and I think it has a lot to do with sometimes the type of advice that they get," Van Putten said.
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