Government Briefs

Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands Pres. Kessai Note was easily reelected January 5 during the opening of the first parliamentary session since the November 17 national election. With the United Democratic Party solidly in control of the Nitijela (Parliament), there was little drama in the vote and no change in the leadership lineup, with Note winning 20 votes to nine over Justin deBrum, an opposition-nominated candidate and minister of education in a previous government. Speaker Litokwa Tomeing and Vice Speaker Ruben Zackhras were also backed for second terms. One seat in the 33-member chamber was still undecided as a recount for the tied race for the second Ailinglaplap Atoll parliament seat was still in progress. It is the first time in seven national elections that a Parliament race has resulted in a deadlock. If the race remains tied, incumbent and traditional chief Christopher Loeak and challenger Katzuo Katjang will pull straws to decide who gets the seat.

-GJ

FSM

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has committed more than $US2.2 million for a Rural Home Loan Partnership Program in the Western Pacific nations of the FSM, Palau and the Marshall Islands. The aim of the program is to finance better homes at affordable interest rates, with flexibility for the USDA Rural Development field offices and local governments to issue loan packages to individuals with different needs. The USDA is partnering with the local governments to provide the loans. Individual states will contribute 20 percent, while USDA covers the balance.

-OW

The decision by the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to award Mobil Oil a $US72 million fuel supply contract will stand, following a decision by the Office of the Public Auditor issued December 15 against Pacific Petroleum Corp. Pacific Petroleum had appealed the award contending that its bid would save the CUC money. CUC, however, maintained that the company did not address the delivery of fuel to the islands of Rota and Tinian, and the terms of payment were not in accordance with CUC's practice.

-FR

Some landowners whose land was taken by the government for public purposes will soon be receiving compensation, thanks to a US$40 million bond signed December 10 in Honolulu-if the landowners accept the government's offer. Of the $40 million, $29 million will go to Marianas Public Lands Authority's land compensation program. The rest has been earmarked for the Saipan Prison project currently under construction. The terms of the bond repayment will be for 30 years at an interest rate of 6.7 percent per annum. Gov. Juan N. Babauta along with Commonwealth Development Authority board chairman Sixto Igisomar signed the bond agreement on behalf of the CNMI.

-FR

Dr. Park Soon Kyung, founder of the University of Saipan, was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on Guam on December 16 and charged with defrauding Chinese students on Saipan. Eighty-eight students from mainland China paid up to $7,000 to attend the University of Saipan with promises that they could get paid jobs at the same time. That was not the case. The university's Web site, which has since been taken off the Internet, showed a sprawling campus complete with buildings overlooking the ocean and a golf course nearby. Federal and CNMI law enforcement officers stepped in after students went on strike to protest the lack of school facilities and textbooks, and poor living accommodations, among other things.

-FR

Solomon Islands

The new Solomon Islands ambassador to Taiwan says his main goals are to attract investment in fisheries and timber and cultivate trade between the two countries. "For the past 20 years, ties have been based on agricultural assistance," says Beraki Jino, previously the Solomon Islands representative to the United Nations and now ambassador to Taiwan based in Taipei. "Now we want to go beyond that and attract private investment." A Taiwanese technical mission to the Solomon Islands has been helping to develop the country's agriculture, but the only commercial deal between the two nations is for tuna fishing licenses, first signed 10 years ago and renewed in 2003. Jino said there was already interest in investing in his country and that he hoped for more concrete developments in 2004.

-GN

Samoa

The country's two political opposition parties have merged forming the Samoa Democratic United Party, but still control barely a third-17-of the 49-seat Samoan Parliament. The two opposition parties, Samoa National Development Party and Samoa United Independents Party, elected opposition leader Le Mamea Ropati as their leader. SNDP, which Ropati headed, was the main opposition party in the country. SUIP was formed by six independents MPs after the 2001 elections and soon lost one MP to the ruling Human Rights Protection Party. SUIP wasn't recognized as a political party in parliament because it did not have the required nine MPs. "We believe that the new party will constitute a stronger opposition in the current Parliament through the utilization of the meager resources of the two parties," Ropati said in December.

-FS

American Samoa

Gov. Togiola Tulafono issued an executive order prohibiting shark finning in territorial waters, the landing of shark fins without corresponding shark carcasses, and the processing of shark fins without the accompanying carcasses in the ports of American Samoa. Tulafono said the preservation of the territory's living marine resources, including healthy and sustainable fish and shark populations, should be a priority issue for the benefit of the present and future generations. The order coincides with U.S. government law that prohibits shark finning in the U.S. waters.

-FS

The fourth lawsuit in 2003 against the government-owned LBJ Medical Center was filed in late December in the High Court of American Samoa over the death of a newborn infant in July. The four pending lawsuits amount to $10.4 million. The latest lawsuit accuses the hospital of gross negligence, making fraudulent records and failing to enforce standards of care.

-FS

The Asian Development Bank in mid-December approved a US$47 million loan to improve water and sewer services for more than a quarter of a million people in Fiji. The loan, for the Suva-Nausori Water Supply and Sewerage Project in the capital, will also promote institutional reforms. The ADB is also providing a technical assistance grant of $783,000 for a tariff study to design an efficient and affordable system of charges for water and sewerage services and develop trade waste management, environmental management, and community awareness and education programs. The ADB says that water losses from leaking pipes or inaccurate or missing meters approached 55 percent of water supplied in 2003. The loan will cut down on water loss, replacing about 50 km of leaking mains, 15,000 pipes, and 27,000 malfunctioning meters. Extension or repair of storage reservoirs, pumping stations, additional mains, and new house connections will also be undertaken.

-GJ

Tonga

After being withheld from public view for a month, the government's new media legislation was finally officially issued on Christmas Eve-though the King had signed it in November. The issuance of the legislation the day before Christmas prompted the Matangi Tonga magazine to comment: "There was no Christmas cheer for the Tongan media from the Tonga Government this year." The new laws include an amendment to the constitution restricting freedom of speech, a Newspaper Act, and an act requiring the licensing of media operators. "While the foreign media ran stories about Tonga's new oppressive media laws, the local Tongan media were left in the dark for a month about whether the King had actually given his consent to the bills or not," Matangi Tonga reports. The deadline for newspaper license applications to the Department of Communications was January 30. The new constitutional amendment and media laws are aimed primarily at the New Zealand-published newspaper, Taimi 'o Tonga (Times of Tonga), which the Tongan government attempted to ban from distribution in Tonga during 2003 until a court ruling overturned the government's action as unconstitutional.

-GJ

Guam

A seafood company in Guam, Polar International, was fined US$20,000 by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office of General Counsel for illegally importing shark fins. A Taiwanese fishing vessel, Yu Jye Fa No. 66, was fined $10,000 in the same case. More than 3,000 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of shark fins were confiscated and the fines were assessed because the fins-a highly valued delicacy in some parts of Asia-were not accompanied by a requisite number of shark carcasses. Under the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, fins may comprise no more than 5 percent of the total weight of a given load of shark. The violation is the third such case in Guam in 2003.

-FW

Details of the consent decree in the civil suit filed by the U.S. government against the government of Guam for the long-overdue closure of the Ordot Dump were released December 3. According to the timetable in the order, a new landfill is to be opened and the Ordot dump closed no later than October 2007. Historically subject to political indecision, the selection of a site for the new landfill is to be determined by February 2005. "That decision will be driven by careful analysis of the environmental impact statements," says Guam Environmental Protection Agency administrator Fred Castro. At least three potential sites are to be considered and the court may make the decision if local officials are unable to do so. Two sites previously under consideration-Guatali and Malaan-have been ruled out, says Castro.

-FW

The Compacts of Free Association between the U.S. and the Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands, which were signed into law by Pres. George Bush December 17, contain a provision authorizing the federal government to forgive an estimated US$157 million owed to it by the government of Guam. Under the Compact-Impact Reconciliation provision of the law, Gov. Felix Camacho must submit a report by April 16, 2004 detailing un-reimbursed costs to Guam from the implementation of the previous Compact. He must then submit a request for "reconciliation" by December 30. In the law's final form, the Northern Marianas is eligible for similar consideration.

-FW

Palau

Despite threats to the contrary, the House of Delegates-bending to public pressure-voted to sustain presidential vetoes of two divisive bills on November 26. Pres. Tommy Remengesau, Jr., Vice Pres. Sandra Pierantozzi and various ministers joined local protestors at the National Congress to demonstrate against bringing a casino to Palau. The result? A six-to-five vote against overturning the veto of the legislation that would have allowed a casino to open. Earlier the House voted against overriding Remengesau's veto of amendments to the Financial Institutions Act. Remengesau had repeatedly warned that changes to the banking law would weaken Palau's banking regime and status in the world banking community.

-NC

Wet weather is the cause of the much-delayed completion of the 53-mile Compact Road around Babeldaob Island, and the cause of an ongoing dispute between Daewoo Engineering and Construction Company, Ltd. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Daewoo charges the Corps with misleading information and withholding information about rainfall and "dry out" time. About four years behind schedule, the project was 62 percent complete in November. The section of road to Melekeok remains scheduled for completion in time for the opening of the new national Capital in the summer of 2004. Total completion is not expected until late 2005.

-NC

Pres. Tommy Remengesau, Jr. singed into law Palau's first copyright law on November 26. The law protects all manner of written, musical and audiovisual material as well as live performances. Remengesau said the law was timely in view of the upcoming ninth Festival of Pacific Arts that Palau is hosting in July.

-NC

Contributors: Giff Johnson, Olivier Wortel, Frank Rosario, Graham Norris, Fili Sagapolutele, Frank Whitman and Nancy Chism.