 Under his administration, Sint Maarten was transformed from a neglected colonial backwater into a thriving tourism destination with one of the highest per capita incomes in the region.He won every election until 1990, and made a comeback in 1991 after a brief setback.After declaring that he was a "proud Caribbean man", he resigned from office in 1992 in protest against Dutch "higher supervision", a form of oversight and financial control imposed by the Dutch government to ensure "good governance", after allegations of the island's first coalition government fell and Wathey's main rivals found themselves in opposition again.