Arron, Henk

After graduating from school in Paramaribo, Arron moved to the Netherlands, where in 1956 he began to study banking, and then worked for several years in an Amsterdam bank. After returning to his homeland, he worked in the financial system of Dutch Guiana, including from 1963 he headed the People's Credit Bank in Paramaribo.

Since 1961, Arron has been a member of the board of the National Party of Suriname (NPS). As a result of the parliamentary elections of 1963, he became a member of parliament, and since 1970 , he became chairman of the board of the NPS. In the 1973 election, he became a prime minister candidate from a coalition of parties known as the National Party Combination (NPK). NPK received 22 of the 39 seats and on December 24, 1973, Arron became Prime Minister of Dutch Guiana.

On February 15, 1974, Arron made a government statement demanding independence for Suriname no later than the end of 1975. The oppositional Progressive Reform Party, which expressed the interests of Surinamese of Indian descent, initially opposed these government intentions, but by the end of 1974 its leader Jagernath Luckhmon also supported the idea of ​​immediate independence and the Netherlands flag was lowered in Paramaribo on November 25, 1975 , and Arron became the first Prime Minister independent Republic of Suriname.

Despite his promise to hold regular parliamentary elections within 8 months after independence, Arron delayed their holding until 1977 . Despite a slight decline in popularity, the CDD again managed to win the majority of parliamentary seats. However, the Arron government was faced with a lot of problems, especially in the economic field, the main of which was a sharp increase in unemployment and a reduction in financial assistance from the Netherlands. This led to an intensification of interethnic enmity between the Creole and Indian communities and to an increase in the emigration of Surinamese to the Netherlands.

Against this unfavorable background , a military coup took place in Suriname on February 25, 1980, led by Senior Sergeant Desi Bauters . Henk Arron was arrested and placed under house arrest. However, despite the policy of “moral healing of the Surinamese nation”, during which a number of leaders of the Arron government were executed, the former head of government himself managed to avoid repression.

In 1987, D. Bauters agreed to restore democracy in Suriname and hold new parliamentary elections in November. In January 1988, Parliament elected Ramesevak Shankar as president of Suriname, and Henk Arron as vice president. However, in 1990, the legitimate government was overthrown as a result of a new coup, this time bloodless and Arron’s political career ended there.

He died on December 4, 2000 in a hotel room in the city of Alfen-en-den-Rhine in the Netherlands. In 2003, a monument was erected to him in his homeland in Paramaribo and one of the city streets was named after Arron.

• CFA Bruijning u. J. Voorhoeve (red.) Encyclopedie van Suriname - Amsterdam u. Brussel 1977 - Uitg. Elsevier - Seite 36.
• Hans Buddingh. Geschiedenis van Suriname - Uitgeverij Het Spectrum BV - ISBN 9027467625