Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
Sept/Oct 2006
Guam
Valiant Shield Reinforces Micronesia's Importance
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| A U.S. Navy fighter takes off from an aircraft carrier off Guam during Operation Valiant Shield. [photo: Frank Whitman] |
Valiant Shield, one of the U.S.'s largest military exercises ever, took place in and around Guam from June 19-23. The joint exercise involved more than 22,000 service members, 30 ships including three aircraft carriers, and 283 aircraft from the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. While most of the aircraft operated off of the carriers-the USS Abraham Lincoln, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Kitty Hawk-in the waters off Guam, 80 bombers and fighters operated out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
The purpose of the exercise was to practice coordinating a large-scale air and sea operation involving units from the different service branches and the venue reinforced Guam's strategic importance. As "the westernmost U.S. territory (Guam) allows us to provide basing from which to more quickly react in times of need," said Air Force Gen. David Deptula, commander of the Kenney Warfighting Headquarters in Hawaii. "Whether it be humanitarian assistance, disaster response, (or) to dissuade any aggressive moves by a potential threat, Guam is very, very well positioned."
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Though the exercise involved only U.S. forces, representatives from a number of foreign governments, most notably China, were invited to observe the activities. - Frank Whitman
Region
First Taiwan-Pacific Summit In Palau
The first Taiwan-Pacific Summit is being held in Palau in early September, bringing Republic of China President Chen Shui-bian together with heads of state from the six island nations that recognize Taiwan.
The Palau summit follows China's high-level summit with the seven Pacific countries linked to China, which was held in Fiji in April this year, as well as regional summits hosted by Japan in May and France in June. It also continues the high-visibility tit-for-tat between China and Taiwan for recognition in the region.
It will be Chen's third trip to the Pacific islands in the past two years. In 2005, he made state visits to Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands in two separate trips. Nauru switched recognition from China to Taiwan last year.
Marshall Islands President Kessai Note confirmed that he will attend the September 4 summit that is being hosted by Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr.
Taiwan's ambassador to the Marshall Islands Lien-gene Chen says the summit will become an annual event, with next year's slated for Majuro. "It is important that we work closely in the region with our development partners," Note said in a statement issued in late July. "Taiwan has done tremendous work in the Marshall Islands to improve the health, education and living standards."
The summit will include sessions on law enforcement, tourism, medical care and health, alternative energy, economic partnerships, agriculture and fishery cooperation, social and culture. A Pacific Health Forum that will bring island health ministers and staff together is also scheduled to run during the summit. - Giff Johnson
Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
For And Against Industrial Logging
A United Kingdom trade organization has asked its members to refrain from dealing with Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands timber products due to uncertainty over the legality of logging projects in the two Melanesian states.
While concerns have also been expressed in Honiara by Solomon Islands Central Bank Governor Rick Hou on whether resource owners were getting maximum benefits from logging, PNG Forest Minister Patrick Pruaitch was singing a different song in Port Moresby on the benefits of having an industry that earns K500 million (US$159 million) annually and contributes 5 percent of PNG's Gross Domestic Product.
The international environmental group Greenpeace has been campaigning to stop what it calls illegal and destructive logging in Melanesia for some years. Greenpeace's campaigns hit home in June when the London-based Timber Trade Federation (TTF) urged its members to be cautious as it could not ascertain from its own investigations that PNG and Solomon Islands-sourced timber products were produced legally.
Meanwhile Hou, in an interview with Radio New Zealand International, said better legislation was needed to ensure resource owners get maximum benefit from logging.
"There should be laws and regulations strengthened to ensure that we derive maximum benefit out of it and with this windfall gain, we should be investing in other areas," he said.
The head of the Pacific Community, Dr. Jimmie Rodgers, says Solomon Islands should cease log exports as its forests were nearly logged out. "The options for Solomons are fairly stark, for them to actually preserve what they've got left; they got to stop logging like yesterday," Rodgers has told Radio Australia.
In PNG, Pruaitch was adamant community-based eco-forestry projects were not commercially viable and would reduce economic growth, eliminate jobs and take away infrastructure in rural areas. "The PNG government will resist any effort by international green NGOs to weaken the PNG economy," he said.
Pruaitch's statements coincide with the July release of two independent studies by Melbourne-based think tank ITS Global, which slammed Greenpeace and WWF for subjecting PNG-based Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau (RH) to a "campaign of vilification" based on unsubstantiated allegations of illegal logging and human rights abuses. "If Greenpeace succeeds, it will be the people of Papua New Guinea who pay the price," said the RH-commissioned studies. - Alex Rheeney
CNMI
Power Rates Double, Load Shedding Continues
Power rates in the Northern Marianas doubled on July 23 for residential, business and government consumers with little warning as the embattled Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC) continues to struggle with the increase in fuel prices and lack of funds. This comes as CUC continued its two-hour load-shedding schedule throughout Saipan six days a week.
Safety issues expressed by the Department of Public Safety forced CUC to limit rolling blackouts to 12 hours a day in daytime only, although it hardly follows its own schedule. The rolling blackouts scheduled around the various villages changes everyday.
The effect on businesses is devastating. The commonwealth's hotel association indicated it may raise room rates or use its own generators, the latter which may be the preferred option given the economy's poor performance.
There are concerns that the price of commodities at stores may be raised and passed on to consumers. This comes as the government announces possible layoffs of 1,200 civil servants for a month this September due to funding shortfalls. But then again, that may not happen as the Commonwealth Development Authority transferred to the executive branch about $5 million to assist in the projected $6 million shortfall at the end of September, government budget officials said.
Governor Benigno R. Fitial has been pushing to borrow $40 million from the Retirement Fund through legislation still pending. The proposal ran into stiff opposition from about 6,000 government retirees and the minority Republican bloc at the Legislature. Fitial promised to repay the retirement fund on a monthly basis at 7.5 percent. The Legislature, as we went to press, continues to hold back on the $40 million bailout package due to strong pressure from retirees as well as its board of directors. The Governor's proposal to borrow $40 million came at the same time as his request to the Legislature to pass a bill that would forgive $125 million in unfunded liability that the government owes to the retirement fund.
The general perception among residents is that the Executive Branch raised the rates after months of warning that it would have no other recourse if the $40 million loan did not go through. Others blame it on CUC's mismanagement and political interference that prevented the agency from raising rates to commensurate with the increase in the price of fuel during the past 18 years. - Frank S. Rosario
Region
Future Religious Leaders Receive AIDS Education
With the horrors of HIV/AIDS becoming more apparent worldwide, and allegations that Pacific religious leaders were ignoring a potential pandemic, one of the region's theological colleges this year introduced a compulsory awareness course in sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Rev Dr. David Upp, the lecturer in the new course titled "Ministries of Sexuality, HIV/AIDS" at the Suva-based Pacific Theological College (PTC), says the leaders' reception has been encouraging.
"When I proposed a course on HIV/AIDS last October, the leaders here not only approved it, but made it a required course for our Bachelor of Divinity in Ecumenical Studies," Dr. Upp tells Pacific Magazine. Dr. Upp, a white lab-coat-wearing American, notes that the HIV numbers in the Pacific, bar Papua New Guinea, are "very small" compared to the world's worst-affected countries, such as those in Africa and Asia. "We're at the level the rest of the world wishes they could be."
PTC, an inter-denominational, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural institution founded in 1966, is the ecumenical postgraduate school of the Pacific. The Ministries of Sexualities class of 10 students, including one woman, consists of senior clergy from PTC member churches around the Pacific.
Pacific Magazine sat in on the last day of the course's last class for the trimester in July.
The class debates some loopholes in the Pacific's sexual-health education that can cause a rise in HIV infections. One student speaks of the "hidden reef danger" in society and Dr. Upp adds the "shark fin" analogy, saying that the shark's fin is not, on its own, a danger "but it is the shark attached to the fin that's dangerous."
"People may look at the HIV numbers and say 'no big deal'. But this is not just a fin; it's a fin of a dangerous shark." - Ricardo Morris
Guam
Who's In Charge?
In what has turned out to be an on-going and embarrassing comedy of errors, Guam's embattled school board withdrew its appointment of veteran administrator Luis Reyes as superintendent of public schools. The Reyes fiasco-he had been appointed to the job about a week earlier-follows the late July appointment of Judith Guthertz as superintendent, who lasted only a few days in the job before it was determined she wasn't qualified.
Guthertz, a retired University of Guam professor, it turned out didn't meet the job requirement of having a degree from a U.S. accredited university. Guthertz's graduate degree is from a university in the Philippines.
Reyes' problem apparently stemmed from the fact that he didn't have the required five years of classroom teaching experience. Reyes has served as interim superintendent since earlier this year when then superintendent Juan Flores was fired. Reyes remains the interim boss of the Guam public school system.
As Pacific Magazine was going to press, the school board was set to meet
to revisit the issue of qualifications for a superintendent.
The board's hapless efforts to hire a superintendent would be funny if it wasn't for the crisis facing Guam's public school system. The department, the largest in the U.S. territorial government, has barely made payroll a few times this year. And more than $40 million dollars in U.S. federal assistance has been withheld until a permanent superintendent is in place.
Given its recent actions, the board could clarify the classroom teaching requirement and rehire Reyes, a counselor by training. It could reopen the search for a third time. Or it might appointment Nerissa Bretania-Shafer, who was the second choice when Guthertz and Reyes were named to the top job. Bretania-Shafer is, like Reyes, a senior administrator in the Guam public schools system. - Floyd K. Takeuchi, Frank Whitman and news reports
Micronesia
Micronesian Games Unique Among All Games
The Sixth Micronesian Games on Saipan may be remembered for the fact that they almost didn't happen, as much as any athlete's individual performance. Thousands of fans turned out every night from June 23-July 1 to witness these quadrennial games. The gold medal baseball game between Northern Marianas and Guam on July 1 attracted more than 5,000 people, the largest crowd ever to watch an individual sporting event in the history of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
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| CNMI Micronesian Games. [photo: Jacqueline Hernandez] |
Lack of planning by the original organizers and the government's financial crisis forced newly-inaugurated Governor Benigno R. Fitial to cancel the games-for a week. That's when a firestorm of protests from the community culminated in athletes, parents, officials and coaches converging on the governor's conference room a week later to beg him to revive the games, promising to raise funds from the private sector. Fitial gave the organizing committee a week to show him a financial plan. The rest is history.
Bill Keldermans, chairman of the Micronesian Games Council, praised the CNMI for hosting the games with four months preparation, noting that other islands took four years to prepare.
Guam emerged as the strongest among the nine participating islands by capturing 96 medals including 51 gold, followed by Northern Marianas with 103 of which 36 are gold. All competing teams took home medals.
Micronesian Games Organizing Committee Chairman Rex I. Palacios said "the images of pure athletic performances by our athletes during these games are unforgettable." Thirty-one records were broken in swimming and athletics and 18 were established.
The most unique feature of the Micronesian Games is the Micronesian All Around which consist of five events: each competitor is required to climb five coconut trees at 20 feet high, coconut husking, spear throwing, swimming and deep-sea diving.
Where else would one find a competition and award medals in what most Pacific Islanders do all their lives for food other than in the Micronesian Games? Defending champion Eugene Alfons of Pohnpei husked 10 coconuts in 52 seconds during this competition. But that's not the record. Another competitor from Pohnpei in 1990 husked 10 coconuts in 33 seconds.
The coconut tree climbing is the highlight of this unique competition. The trees were spaced at least 20 yards apart. Ati Ati of the Marshalls climbed five coconut trees in an amazing 52 seconds. The rest of the events include the 300-yard swimming course, diving at least 15 feet to retrieve five objects, and spear throwing coconuts in the water at 10, 15, and 20 feet marks. Alfons won the gold, followed by Attii with silver and Stalin Stanley from Palau, the bronze. - Frank S. Rosario
Region
Taiwan-China Battle Impacts Local Politics
The battle between China and Taiwan for diplomatic recognition in the Pacific continues to spark controversy in Taiwan-aligned island countries. The Chinese wooed leaders from the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands on Beijing-funded trips, with different levels of fallout in each country.
A month after the Majuro Chamber of Commerce had in a letter to Speaker Litokwa Tomeing "condemned" a parliament visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese National People's Congress, the Speaker established a Special (Interim) Committee on the Condemnation by the Chamber of Commerce that held a hearing in mid-July to sharply criticize the Chamber for its action.
The oversight hearing-the first ever of its kind conducted by the Marshall Islands parliament-underscored the tension between free speech guarantees of the country's constitution and customary norms in a Pacific island where open criticism of leaders is frowned upon. It also highlighted another dimension of the battle between China and Taiwan for recognition in the region.
Senator Hiroshi Yamamura led Special Committee with two other Senators, Fountain Inok and Nidel Lorak, who grilled Chamber president Jack Niedenthal over the letter. Yamamura told Niedenthal that the hearing was "not about freedom of speech. It's about you going out in the media and ruining the reputation of Nitijela (parliament) members." He itemized numerous criticisms of the Chamber's letter, and expressed concern about the issue gaining publicity through the Marshall Islands Journalk, Radio New Zealand and Yokwe Online, the primary Web site for Marshall Islanders.
Niedenthal, in a statement that he delivered in both Marshallese and English, said the reason the Chamber expressed concern about the China trip is that local businesses recall when the Marshall Islands had relations with China. "They never did anything to get money into our economy," he said. Businesses were worried that the agenda behind the parliamentarians' trip was a change in ties from Taiwan. "Economically, it would be bad for businesses (to switch to China)," he said. The Marshall Islands has had diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 1998.
Niedenthal said the Chamber didn't break any laws with the letter and that the Bill of Rights in the constitution protected the Chamber's right to express its opinion. But, he said, "we broke Marshallese custom by using harsh words." Niedenthal offered apologies for this, and added "our mistake was not going straight to the Speaker to address the problem." He extended apologies several times for the tension between the Chamber and parliament created by this letter.
"The Marshall Islands believes in freedom of speech, but there are some limits," Lorak said. "You need to get your facts right before you tarnish reputations." Inok said that outsiders who come to the Marshall Islands need to respect the government and our people. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," he said. "And when you're in the Marshall Islands you need to respect us and the way we do things."
In the Solomon Islands, former government minister and MP Alfred Sasako led a team of media editors and publishers to China in July, a trip that was seen by Taiwan sympathizers as a hit on the Taiwanese Embassy in the country. Sasako had very sharp exchanges with Taiwan Ambassador Antonio Chen earlier this year over what Chen had alleged as misuse of money intended for an East Kwaio constituency police project when Sasako was in parliament.
From Shanghai, Sasako sent home a media release quoting a number of Chinese government officials opening their door to Solomon Islands' ministers and government officials to go see what China can offer. "Our door is open to your ministers, senior officials and businessmen," Deputy Director General of the Department of North American and Oceania Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zhang Junsai told the group, the first of its kind from the Solomons to visit China. "You don't have to talk about diplomatic relations. Just come and see for yourselves what is happening here so that you can decide whether the future of your country lies with China or Taiwan. Just tell us when your ministers, senior officials and businessmen want to come and we'll take care of the rest," Zhang said. - Giff Johnson and Alison Ofotalau
