"We will do everything in our power to do away with that regulation," remarked Antillean Prime Minister Etienne Ys during last week's budget debate.

"This is about equal treatment within the Realm. During the referendum, at least 90 percent of the population has voted for staying with the Realm. They have not voted for independence," he added.

The Dutch government has justified the measure by estimating that about half of the people in the Netherlands Antilles under the age of 25 do not have a job, and were more than four times as likely to be criminal than the general Dutch population.

"Those who do not have a chance of success in the Antilles will not have a chance of success here," Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk has commented.

The measure, leaked to the press earlier in the month, has not only angered the government of the Netherlands Antilles, but also left-wingers, and Caribbean organizations in Holland.

However, legal experts have stated that the Antillean government may well have a case, especially since citizens of the Dutch-Caribbean territories carry Dutch passports.

Commenting on the decision by the governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to seek legal advice, Ys continued:

“That would list all the possible steps, from going to the Council of State up till the European Court of Justice. In addition, I have approached a sounding board of Wise Men that advises the government, and a lawyer has been called in. We have only one course: this regulation has to be thrown out, because it is unacceptable.

“Before taking the next step, a correct governmentally as well as judicially sequence has to be kept. The first step was requesting a Realm Council of Ministers’ meeting.

"I will fight for equality within the Realm until I die. I do not accept that children from Wishi/Marchena are treated different than the ones elsewhere on the island, why do I have to accept that Antillean Dutch citizens are being treated different than the European Dutch citizens.”