Frans Booi

Who is Frans Booi?

Frans Booi chaired the committee formed to design an official flag for Bonaire in 1981, during the political restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles that gave several islands their own island flags. A public design competition was held among Bonaire's population, but no single entry was judged strong enough to adopt as submitted, so the committee under Booi combined elements from multiple proposals into a single compromise design. Booi is credited with suggesting that the flag's top stripe be changed from red, which would have duplicated both the red of the Dutch tricolor and the red already present in an earlier central emblem, to yellow instead, so the finished flag would read as blue field, white compass star, and a yellow band understood locally as sea, guidance, and sun. The vexillologist Whitney Smith of the Flag Research Center was consulted during the design process to help refine the final proportions and symbolism. The flag was formally adopted by island ordinance on 11 December 1981 and has flown over Bonaire ever since, making Booi's compromise design the island's enduring civic symbol more than four decades later.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Flag of Bonaire" · Wikipedia (Dutch), "Vlag van Bonaire" · Vexillology Wiki, "Bonaire"