Sex refugees, halal meat and election fraud
12 August 2007 - Geert Wilders’ Freedom
Party (PVV) is the party that is most concerned about Amsterdam.
The CDA is the party that is most effective at asking questions
that generate media attention. This is revealed by an analysis of
questions asked by MPs.
By asking written questions, MPs show which issues they care about.
News from Amsterdam analysed 86 written questions about Amsterdam
issues (for more on how the analysis was done see the explanation
at the end of this article. Information on political
parties).
REMARKABLE QUESTIONS
-
What do you think of classes at the Oudemanhuispoort being
cut by 15 minutes in order to prevent fire safety problems caused
by large numbers of students crossing each other in the hallways?
Are students now entitled to a tuition fee discount? (Jasper
van Dijk and Renske Leijten, SP, to the Minister of Education)
-
What are you going to do about Rumanian gay ‘sex refugees’
getting a sex change operation in the Netherlands and subsequently
engaging in prostitution and welfare fraud? The refugees have
been admitted on the ground of being discriminated against as
gays in their country of origin. Will they be deported now that
the sex change operation has taken away the ground to admit
them? (Sietse Fritsma, PVV, to the Ministers of Justice and
Social Affairs)
-
Is it acceptable that the Amsterdam College advertises its
course in ‘technical commercial confection’ under
the name ‘fashion & branding’? (Jasper van Dijk,
SP, to the Minister of Education)
-
How can it be that a reporter from Metro managed to vote five
times, four of which at the same polling station? (Laetitia
Griffith, VVD, to the Minister of the Interior)
-
Can the money used to subsidize ethnic minority organisations
not better be used to let all children join a sports club for
free? (Fleur Agema, PVV, to the State Secretary of Health, Social
Welfare and Sports)
-
Is it true that the Amsterdam police has painted dots indicating
the direction to Mecca on the ceilings of its cells? Can you
have these removed? (Hero Brinkman, PVV, to the Minister of
the Interior)
-
Can you use your influence to have an additional punishment
given to the Moroccan guys who beat up a gay man and threw him
in the water, making them clean up a darkroom in an Amsterdam
gay bar? (Geert Wilders and Hero Brinkman, PVV, to the Ministers
of the Interior and Justice)
-
Do you agree with Mayor Job Cohen that the military service
should be reintroduced? (Coskun Çörüz and Mirjam
Sterk, CDA, to the Ministers of Youth and Family, and of the
Interior)
-
What do you think of the Red Cross serving halal meat at a
Christmas dinner in the Diamantbuurt? Are you willing to terminate
the subsidies given to the organisations involved? (Geert Wilders
and Sietse Fritsma, PVV, to the Minister of Integration)
PVV MOST CONCERNED ABOUT AMSTERDAM
The large majority of questions about Amsterdam issues have been
asked by the PVV, followed by the SP and the VVD. It is normal for
opposition parties to ask relatively many questions, and the PVV
and the SP have a reputation for asking many questions. However,
even when this is taken into account, the PVVs involvement with
Amsterdam is striking. Some 15 percent of all questions are asked
by the PVV, but the party is responsible for over 30 percent of
questions relating to Amsterdam.
MOST QUESTIONS ASKED BY A FRIESIAN
The largest number of questions about Amsterdam have been asked
by Sietse Fritsma, who lives in the Hague but is from Friesland.
Incidentally, Fritsma is also the MP who caused a controversy by
asking questions about the double nationality of State Secretaries
Ahmed Aboutaleb and Nebahat Albayrak. Jasper van Dijk and Boris
van der Ham are Amsterdammers, whereas Fred Teeven lives in nearby
Diemen.
MANY QUESTIONS CONCERN MUSLIMS
The group cited most often in questions are Muslims, followed by
Moroccans and gays. Almost all questions about the first two groups
have been asked by the PVV. Gays on the other hand have the interest
of a broad range of parties. Many of the questions are about gay
organisation COC warning about an increase in gay harassment. Further,
the SGP asked questions about the plan to have boat with under-sixteens
participate in the Gay Pride canal parade. D66 asked for a comment
on remarks by the Polish Vice Prime Minister Roman Giertych, who
had also criticised the participation of young people in the Gay
Pride.
SAFETY AND CRIME
The issue that most concerns MPs is safety and crime. Strikingly,
almost all questions about subsidies have been asked by the PVV.
This may have something to do with MP Fleur Agema, who investigated
subsidies when she was a member of the Provincial Council. Among
other things, the PVV asked about subsidies for the Marhaba Islam
Centre and about the subsidy affair in Zuidoost.
MPs generally ask questions about Amsterdam because they are worried
about something going on in the capital. On occasion, they do so
for more positive reasons. For example, Fred Teeven (VVD) said that
the way in which the Amsterdam police deals with human trafficking
is an example for other cities.
CDA EFFECTIVE AT GENERATING PUBLICITY
Whereas the PVV asks the largest number of questions about Amsterdam
issues, the CDA proves to be quite effective at generating publicity.
In a selection of national newspapers, a question of the CDA about
signs at Schiphol and one of the SP about Turkish illegal investment
funds were given most attention. Both were mentioned in six newspaper
articles. The PVV features with only two questions in the top five
of publicity-generating questions.
-
(1/2). Are you going to do something about signs in Dutch
being replaced by signs in English at Schiphol Airport? (Maarten
Haverkamp and Jan Schinkelshoek, CDA, to the Ministers of Finance
and Education)
-
(1/2). Will there be an investigation into illegal investment
funds of which Turks in de Baarsjes have been victims? (Sadet
Karabulut and Ewout Irrgang, SP, to the Minister of Finance)
-
(3/4). Can you make sure that Moroccan hooligans will have
to clean a few football stadiums as an additional punishment,
for which they will have to bring their tooth brush? (Geert
Wilders, Hero Brinkman and Raymond de Roon, PVV, to the Ministers
of the Interior and Justice)
-
(3/4). Is the Westermoskee mosque involved in illegal investment
funds? (Mirjam Sterk, CDA, to the Ministers of the Interior
and Justice)
-
(5). Is it acceptable that the University of Amsterdam will
be hosting an anti-Wilders meeting? (Martin Bosma, PVV, to the
Minister of Education)
Questions asked between the installation of the new Parliament
in November last year, and the start of the recess in July have
been included in the analysis. Only questions that explicitly mention
Amsterdam are considered. Questions that clearly are not specifically
about Amsterdam (but for example quote a study of the University
of Amsterdam) have been excluded. Publicity raised by questions
was analysed using the LexisNexis database. Illustration: signs
at Schiphol Airport designed by Paul Mijksenaar, photo Stedelijk
Museum.
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