Tough Love

Photo: Floyd K. Takeuchi For the past 16 years, Joseph Urusemal, 51, served quietly in the national congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. He gained a reputation as an honest, solid leader who could count votes and bring factions together. In fact, Urusemal served as floor leader for the past 12 years. The future president graduated from Xavier School in Chuuk in 1973, and attended college in the United States at Rockhurst College in Missouri. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1976 in Administration of Justice, and put his degree to work as a prison guard with Missouri's Jackson County Dept. of Corrections. - ADVERTISEMENT - Urusemal returned to Micronesia in 1982, just as the Trust Territory was winding down. He got a job in Yap as a teacher at the Outer Islands High School on Ulithi. In 1987, when fellow outer islander John Haglelgam was named FSM President, Urusemal won the race to fill the open seat. While he's often described, even by himself, as a "man of few words," Urusemal is no pushover, a point that senior officials in Washington, D.C. should keep in mind. In speaking with Pacific Magazine, the president for the first time said publicly that he was directly involved in drafting a speech given in the FSM Congress earlier this year that sent shock waves across the Pacific. The tough speech criticized the U.S. for demanding significant oversight of FSM fiscal affairs, as part of the negotiations that led to the second Compact of Free Association with the FSM. Some in Micronesia considered the U.S. stand as an infringement of sovereignty. In that speech (see Pacific Magazine, Feb. 2003) FSM Senator Isaac Figir, also from Yap, asked his colleagues: "Will we sacrifice our freedom, our sovereignty, our very dignity? Will we trade these priceless ideals for more televisions to undermine our culture, for more cars to clog and choke our roads, for more imported foods to poison us? Are we really so shortsighted? So weak? I say no. "No, Mr. Speaker, colleagues, I hope that you and the members of this Congress will join me in rejecting the United States proposal. Sometimes dignity and honor require that one must simply turn and walk away." Urusemal's acknowledgement of his direct involvement in the drafting of the speech says volumes about how he intends to deal with the U.S., and with the huge problems that face him at home. Excerpts from his talk with Pacific Magazine:

Pacific Magazine: What is your view of appropriate growth and development in the FSM?

President Urusemal: I believe our existing economic planning framework defines a sensible growth strategy in the key sectors of agriculture, fisheries and tourism. In no instance are we looking for the magic bullet or the big (or easy) path to sectoral growth.

For example, in tourism, (all of the states) agree that we will focus on smaller-scale tourism development to cater to niche markets. No plans exist to create "mass tourism" and the numbers we seek to attract imply a moderate, but hopefully steady, growth rate.

The strategy also appropriately focuses our attention on private sector development. We seek to have the government play only a supporting and facilitating role, and to get out of the semi-commercial activities that were established a decade or two ago.

PM: What will the national government do about Chuuk's financial situation and governance challenges?

JU: I made it clear in my inaugural address that the problems and challenges faced by the Chuuk leadership and the 50 percent of our population that are Chuukese are among my highest priorities. It should be clear that the state faces certain challenges due to geographic realities and a lower per capita share of external resources. However, the state also must take responsibility to maintain financial discipline within available resources.

But it is also clear that the state has the ability, as shown from 1996 to 1999, to pull itself out of crisis through determined leadership and decisive actions. And it is clear from that successful recovery that three key ingredients are required.

First, the state's leadership needs to accept the causes, nature and size of their problems and agree to work collectively to address them.

Two, the national government, and our donor partners, need to commit to helping the Chuukese leadership to solve the problems with both technical and financial support.

Three, we need to persist with monitoring, mutual support and assistance even after the recovery is in place so that (Chuuk) will have a long period of stability and so that the state's economic growth potential can be fully tapped.

Of course, we as leaders failed on that third count when we thought everything was fixed in 1999. We should always err on the side of being more helpful and more supportive over a longer period of time. But our support should come with some firm understanding about improved governance. Call it tough love, but make it clear that reversals of recovery and reform will harm the whole nation's progress.

PM: What steps is the FSM taking to ease concerns about the social and financial impact of FSM citizens who now live on Guam, Hawaii, the Marianas and the U.S. mainland?

JU: I believe there are three areas for us to address potentially troublesome issue, and to build positively on our relationships with Guam, the CNMI, Hawaii and the U.S. as a whole. We need to implement our economic growth strategy with determination and persistence over the long-term. Our citizens would always prefer to get jobs and prosper in their home islands rather than migrating to far away places. We need to improve our education and health systems so that the "push" factor that sends people away is lessened. As we have done for many years, we need to support our brethren states in getting the U.S. federal government to better support Guam, the CNMI and Hawaii to offset some of the real costs they face in hosting our citizens.