Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
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Kosrae A major portion of Kosrae's 250 inches of annual rainfall drains through the Yela basin, an area of land that comprises a large portion of the island's total land mass, and contains what many scientists consider to be the world's last remaining intact stand of Terminala Carloninensis trees. The tree is more commonly referred to as Ka on Kosrae, and it is the predominant species found in the freshwater swamps, acting as filters and purifiers between the upland mountains and the mangroves, sea-grass beds and reefs. The ongoing circumfrential road project is now less than a mile away from the Yela drainage and environmental groups, American and Japanese scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, and other concerned citizens are looking for ways to keep the forest, and its pristine watershed, away from the effects of heavy road-building machines and encroachment. - ADVERTISEMENT -
The Terminalia forests were once common on both Pohnpei and Kosrae, but heavy logging during the Japanese era, and farming, development and settlement in the ensuing years has left the Yela Ka stand as the last of its kind globally. The government has been sending personnel from various agencies into the massive swamp to ascertain the most viable route, both in financial and environmental terms. Simpson Abraham, the director of the Development Review Program, the environmental and permitting arm of the government, has been spearheading efforts to bring awareness to what he considers to be "an area of particular concern" on Kosrae. Along with Bruce Howell, the director of Public Works, Abraham recently brought in Richard Creed, a retired civil engineer who resides most of the time in the woods of Northern Idaho, but over the last decade has become well known in environmental circles for his solid work on roads in Yap, Guam, Hawaii and Palau. According to Abraham, the forest is of major biological, ecological, aesthetic and economic importance to the island and the people. His major priority at this point, he says, is to get together with the main landowners and try to come to a consensus on the value of saving rather than cutting the area. If you are visiting Kosrae, make the effort to get a boat ride into the area for a hike. The towering trees, with their huge wall roots and canopy of nearly perpendicular branches, are about as tropical as one can get. -Olivier Wortel
Marshall Islands The Interim Report No. 1 (B) by the Marshall Islands Task Force on Accountability has finally been made public. It was completed almost two years ago. Copies of the report, subtitled Tax Evasion By Certain Employees of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, are finally being circulated among Nitijela (RMI Congress) representatives. A copy of the report was furnished to Pacific Magazine. It details a scheme by whichMiam Motellang, the chief of the government's payroll division, and several of the division's employees altered payroll records to give themselves and friends reductions on withheld taxes, bogus increases in salary-many times retroactive-and false overtime payments. The report details how the payroll division chief was paid an unauthorized amount, with the false raise being applied three months retroactively. A Payroll Division accountant was authorized to be paid at the rate of $9,380 per year, but for two years was paid at the unauthorized rate of $13,238 per year. The scheme seems to have grown, and more than 40 government employees are mentioned by name in the report, which documents forgery of overtime documents and forgery of the Personnel Action Forms required to give government employees promotions. The report recommends that Miam Motellang, Fredly Dribo and Ila Atlaia "should face immediate criminal prosecution and termination from government employment." Motellang and Dribo are scheduled for jury trials in November. Atlaia has retained counsel. The Task Force found that "a former Minister of Justice," who goes unnamed, "used funds provided by Taiwan to provide additional compensation to certain select members of the Department of Public Safety." In the good news department, the Task Force did admit looking into the payroll records of the current and former presidents, Cabinet and Nitijela. They found no illegal alterations to their payrolls in either income or deductions. -Scott Whitney
Papua New Guinea PNG's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has been squabbling rather publicly with Australia's PM John Howard. The argument is over Howard's public intention to "review" Australian aid to PNG. Howard told Radio Australia that it all has to do with corruption. "We have adopted a firmer policy in relation to requiring high standards of governance and an absence of corruption." He said Australia would not provide "a blank check." Somare countered that he had never asked for one.
Meanwhile, their respective foreign ministers jumped into the fray. Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who had scheduled a trip to Port Moresby in early September to deal with the issue, was dis-invited to Port Moresby. The Somare government says they will reply to the Howard government in writing. Papua New Guinea's Foreign Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu says there must be a comprehensive review of aid-but it can't go back to what he describes as the colonial era. He spoke in Port Moresby as debate continued about the cancelled visit of Downer, who was to discuss the future of the AUD$300 million aid program. Namaliu told diplomats and officials at an Institute of National Affairs seminar that Australian aid is managed and monitored by Australian Management Contractors through commercial contracts and is not controlled by PNG. He added that "the management and administration of the aid is operated by Aus-Aid without substantive involvement by PNG government, and the consultants and contracts are chosen by AusAid." Downer remained insistent. "We want to sit down and talk with Sir Michael about that, and if he doesn't want to talk to us next week, and he wants to put it off for a few weeks, well, fair enough, but in the end what we do with our money is a matter of great importance to the people of Australia." Finally, Downer's trip was agreed upon and he traveled to Port Moresby Sept.17, and all was smoothed over. -Scott Whitney and Radio Australia
Northern Marianas Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Gov. Juan N. Babauta and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David B. Cohen signed a Memorandum of Agreement in September that will provide for cooperation between the U.S. federal government and the CNMI on matters relating to immigration and the prevention of human trafficking. Most significantly, the CNMI has agreed to develop a procedure through which foreign nationals who are facing removal from the CNMI will be eligible for protection in the CNMI, but not the United States, if they meet certain strict criteria.
All parties stressed that foreign nationals in the CNMI will not have the right to apply for asylum or other protection in the U.S. and will only be eligible for protection in the CNMI if they meet all of the requirements. Additionally, an alien will only have the right to apply for protection in the CNMI if the CNMI government is taking legal action to remove them from the Commonwealth. "People will not be able to walk in off the street and apply for protection," said Babauta. "For an alien to be eligible even to apply, the CNMI will have had to have taken legal action to send that person home. Even if an alien is eligible to apply for protection, the alien will not be eligible to actually receive protection unless the alien can prove that he or she would be persecuted or tortured upon return. A person who only wants to stay here for economic reasons is not eligible for protection, and we will be able to screen those people out." An alien who clears all of the hurdles to gain protection in the CNMI will have the right to remain in the CNMI, but will not gain the right to enter the United States. "This is a landmark agreement," said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Acting Director Office of Refugee, Asylum and International Operations, Joseph D. Cuddihy. "It will bring the CNMI into compliance with important international treaties that are designed to protect people from being returned to countries where they be persecuted or tortured. I commend the CNMI for partnering with the U.S. to ensure that important immigration issues are being addressed." "This is an important step to protect the rights of foreign nationals in the CNMI," said Cohen. "I'm pleased with the collaborative and cooperative spirit that the CNMI has shown in this process. Ever since Sept. 11 2001, the U.S. has been preoccupied with immigration and alien transit issues, especially in some of its territories where the new Homeland Security Department does not exercise direct control. A large percentage of the CNMI workforce, especially those working in the garment industry, are not U.S. citizens and their legal rights have often been open to interpretation. -Scott Whitney/DOI
Fiji It may not be until next month that Fiji's political limbo will find some direction when the Supreme Court clarifies further an earlier decision that requires Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to include Mahendra Chaudhry's Fiji Labour Party in his Cabinet as stipulated in Section 99 of Fiji's Constitution. The Constitution provides that any political party that has won 10 percent or more seats in Parliament in general elections is entitled to Cabinet participation-in proportion to the number of seats won.
Qarase has offered 14 places to Labour. Chaudhry has refused to take up Qarase's offer citing the subsequent "bloated cabinet" of 36 ministers and six assistant ministers, which would then take the number up to 42 office holders in Parliament. Chaudhry labeled ridiculous a Parliament with 29 backbenchers. The Labour party won 27 seats in the 2001 elections, thus his claim for a 47 percent representative in Cabinet. With only four more seats, Qarase is entitled to 53 percent. "The multiparty cabinet provision is in the Constitution-they are not put in there lightly. They are provisions put in there consciously to promote better race relations, to promote national unity and to have an inclusive form of governance including representatives of all communities," Chaudhry told Pacific Magazine in an earlier interview. "The PM is not complying with the spirit and the intent of this provision in the constitution. He is not dealing with this matter. He is not setting up a multi-party Cabinet in good faith. It is tokenism." Qarase, on the other hand, insists he is acting in accordance with the court ruling. After Chaudhry's distribution of a dossier to members of the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Auckland New Zealand of what he called a report on Fiji "from a different perspective," Qarase said he did not trust Chaudhry anymore. "What Chaudhry did during the Forum has only served to remove any doubts from my mind that the Fiji Labour Party leader is a person one cannot trust." Qarase met with Fiji President Ratu Josefa Iloilo on Sept. 17 to report on the impasse. After the meeting, Qarase said he could not trust Chaudhry and his party to support him in Cabinet. He claimed he already has a multi-party Cabinet. However, the Constitution considers a party eligible for Cabinet participation only if it has won 10 percent or more of the seats in Parliament. Qarase's coalition includes MPs from three parties, none of which received more than 10 pecent of the vote. -Matelita Ragogo |
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