User:PascalleWongAFoe/Emil Lee

Emil Lee (New York, June 30 , 1965 ) is a hotelier, based in Sint Maarten, and a former politician. Lee served as Minister of Health, Social Development and Labor Affairs between 2015 and 2019.

Emil Lee was born in New York as the son of Chinese immigrants and the family moved to Connecticut when he was 5 years old. Lee went to Amity high school, then graduated from Boston University in 1988. In 1991, Lee left for Sint Maarten to build a boutique hotel near Dawn Beach, eventually named Princess Heights Condominiums and Boutique Hotel, for which he originally served as director.

From 2001 to 2014, he was president of the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association.[i] [ii] In 2014, he was the first Sint Maarten hotelier to be elected chairman of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA), the regional umbrella organization for the hotel and tourism sector.[iii] [iv]

In 2014, Lee ran on Lee ran on the DP slate during parliamentary elections in Sint Maarten. . After the fall of the Gumbs cabinet in 2015, the Marlin I cabinet[i] was formed, a coalition between NA, USP , DP and two independent members of parliament. At that time, Lee stepped down as chairman of CHTA[ii] and became Minister of Health, Social Development and Labor Affairs (November 19, 2015).[iii] He continued to retain these portfolios in the successive cabinets  Marlin II (Dec 2016 -  Jan 2018),[iv] Marlin-Romeo I (Jan 2018 - June 2018),[v] and Marlin-Romeo II (Jun 2018 to Nov 2019).[vi] Note that the DP merged with Sint Maarten’s UP party under a new name, United Democrats (UD) in November 2017, and Lee appeared on UD list in the 2018 elections.[vii]

During a budget debate on 28 June 2019, Lee received a motion of no confidence, submitted by fellow party member Luc Mercelina and adopted with opposition support. Lee subsequently tendered his resignation to the governor but remained in office until October 10, 2019. Lee later appeared on the UD list in the  2020 state elections in position number two, but the UD received only enough votes to send one candidate to parliament.[viii] [i] See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Marlin_cabinet

[ii] https://caribbeannewsservice.com/emil-lee-accepts-minster-position-in-st-maarten-steps-down-as-chta-president/

[iii] http://www.kabgsxm.com/news-entry.aspx?language=EN&id_news=137

[iv] http://www.kabgsxm.com/news-entry.aspx?language=EN&id_news=157 ; see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Marlin_cabinet

[v] http://www.kabgsxm.com/news-entry.aspx?language=EN&id_news=180 ; see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Marlin-Romeo_cabinet; https://stmaartennews.com/government/speech-governor-holiday-swearing-interim-ministers/

[vi] http://www.kabgsxm.com/news-entry.aspx?language=EN&id_news=189 ; see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Marlin-Romeo_cabinet

[vii] https://www.sxm-talks.com/the-daily-herald/democratic-party-to-be-revived-the-daily-herald/

[viii] http://www.sintmaartengov.org/special-campaigns/Parliamentary-Elections/ParliamentaryElections2020/Pages/United-Democrats.aspx [i] https://shta.com/announcement/emil-lee-was-elected-president-of-the-shta/

[ii] https://shta.com/announcement/8752-2/

[iii] http://thedailyherald.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46819:emil-lee-announces-his-resignation-from-shta&catid=1:islands-news&Itemid=54

[iv] https://www.caribjournal.com/2013/07/10/caribbean-hotel-tourism-association-names-emil-lee-new-president/