Can The FSM Sort Itself?

"The main cause (of the separation talk) is the economy," FSM President Joseph Urusemal told Pacific Magazine. "We need to improve the economy. Development has been slow." Kosrae Senator Alik Alik says separation talk dates back more than 20 years. "I'm not surprised when people talk about separation," he says. "Especially when people aren't happy with their share of the funding pie." But he is among a vocal chorus of national leaders who say the FSM states need to work together. Looking at Chuuk, Alik says, "if your arm is injured, you should try to heal it, not cut it off."

Andon Amaraich, chief justice of the FSM Supreme Court who headed the Micronesian negotiating team that produced the first Compact of Free Association in 1986, says that talk of separation is "just an excuse not to deal with the problems." But those problems are at the very heart of the struggle to build a nation in this watery country of a thousand islands and more than a dozen languages-a relatively new nation that is saddled with a large and lethargic government bureaucracy and which relies for its very existence on the infusion of the majority of its budget from the U.S. government. Two years into a new Compact of Free Association with the United States-a Compact that provides grants and trust fund contributions, but is requiring a huge step-up in accountability-Micronesians are being forced by U.S. officials to deal head on with a host of accountability issues that were largely ignored by both sides during the first Compact. It's putting a focus on the problems in Chuuk like never before.

A market in Pohnpei offers fresh bananas for sale. Although FSM development plans list agriculture and fisheries as priorities, there is little organized commercial farming in Pohnpei. Photo: Giff Johnson

Many at the national level are talking hopefully about the new administration in Chuuk state, following the recent election of Governor Wesley Simina and Lt. Governor Johnson Elimo. "The signs coming out of Chuuk are encouraging," says Urusemal. But that sentiment may also be a reflection of the fact that Chuuk, literally bankrupt with a $27 million deficit and blatant corruption ingrained for years, may have no place to go but up. A recent U.S. investigation of federal funding to Chuuk found, for example, that money was listed as paying for teachers, schools, textbooks, furniture and student lunch programs that didn't exist.

Indeed, the expectations placed on Chuuk's new state administration for reform may be much too high. Manny Mori, one of Chuuk's six senators to the FSM Congress, told Pacific Magazine that "there's been too much talk. We're short on action." Mori asks pointedly, "Why can't we get our act together and solve the financial situation? The number one impediment to development in Chuuk is land," Mori adds. "The government needs to put a priority on resolving land problems." Whether it can or not remains the challenge facing the new Chuuk state leadership.

While the establishment of a new Compact Management Office and the approval of a long-range development plan by the FSM Congress in late May puts some of the basic machinery in place for dealing with the United States and Compact funding management, there are many in the FSM who question the long-term benefits of unilateral U.S. enforcement actions. David Cohen, the deputy assistant secretary of the Interior who chairs the Joint Economic Management Committee (JEMCO) overseeing U.S. Compact funding to the FSM, says the U.S. must protect American taxpayers' money. "We have zero tolerance for waste, fraud and abuse," he said recently.

Amaraich refers derisively to JEMCO as "a new government known as 'Jam' and 'Go'" that is not fostering a partnership that the Compact relationship intended between the two countries.

FSM Congress Speaker Peter Christian, a 20-year Congressional veteran and arguably the most powerful person in the FSM government, doesn't see the JEMCO process as building a development partnership with the FSM. "We asked the U.S. to put a team here (in Pohnpei), to develop pre-procurement policies and budgets with us," he says. But it didn't happen. Actions of Christian and the FSM Congress have been a target, albeit indirectly, of U.S. reform demands and more directly by the FSM executive branch, which charged then-Speaker Jack Fritz of Chuuk with abuse of funds, action that led to Fritz resigning last year.

Christian, a Pohnpeian, is unapologetic in his defense of the Congress' use of so-called "pork barrel" funding, pointing to the extensive network of paved roads that have opened up Pohnpei's once-isolated municipalities, allowing better access to markets, schools and the hospital. While U.S. officials are openly critical of the pork barrel projects, Christian and others in the FSM Congress say these funds have been used to target real development with the flexibility needed in Micronesia.

“I’m not surprised when people talk about separation. Especially when people aren’t happy with their share of the funding pie.” —Kosrae Senator Alik Alik Photo: Giff Johnson

Amaraich, who is from Chuuk, sees the need for a big change in attitudes in the FSM. Amaraich laments the lack of ownership of their country among Micronesians. People complain about lack of money, Amaraich observes. "We haven't done those small things that we as individuals can do." His anguish reflects the deep-rooted attitude in Micronesia- that the government will take care of everything-an attitude that does little to foster development or accountability. Former FSM President, John Haglelgam adds: "There's a complete lack of transparency here in the FSM. People don't know what's going on." He sees some hope in the development of the non-governmental organization movement in the FSM, pointing to the recent kick-off of Transparency Micronesia.

But in the meantime, virtually all 'development' in the FSM is driven by government. Young people today look either to the United States or to FSM government jobs for their future. Since the mid-1990s, there's been a huge exodus of Micronesians to the U.S. in search of education and work. Haglelgam worries that there's nothing to counter the trend of Micronesians looking outside the FSM for their future. The visa-free access to the U.S.-which many see as a social and economic safety valve, "defeats the purpose of creating a nation because everyone runs to the U.S.," Haglelgam says. If the FSM is serious about economic development, it needs to start at the village level in agriculture and fishing-both priority areas identified in virtually every FSM national development plan. But, he observes, aside from sakau (kava) growing, there's only one man farming commercially on the lush island of Pohnpei. Indeed, virtually no FSM college students enroll in agriculture-related programs. "The dream of all College of Micronesia students is to work for the government," he says. "The government needs to make the private sector more attractive than government jobs."

For his part, the soft-spoken Urusemal, who is from Yap, believes that the FSM leadership has to find solutions to its own problems instead of making it an issue for the U.S. Department of Interior to act on. These solutions could include the option of the national government withholding funds to the states that aren't complying with accountability requirements. Urusemal says his reform agenda includes requiring his national level departments to monitor progress at the state level. "Don't just meet in offices, go see if the classrooms and dispensaries are okay," he told Pacific Magazine. "The problems with facilities are not just a state, but also a national mistake."