Federated States of Micronesia
Making Up For Lost Time
FSM's Mori Takes On Unity, Development
 |
| FSM President Emanuel "Manny" Mori |
The battles didn't come as a surprise to Mori, who spent nearly a decade as a senator from his home state of Chuuk. What did come as a surprise was that he wasn't able to use his strong relationships, particularly with the large and influential Chuuk delegation, to push through his agenda in the Congress.
But beginning a few months ago, Mori began to regroup. He shook up his personal staff, convincing a fellow Chuukese, Kasio Mida, then the FSM ambassador to Japan, to give up his plum assignment and return to Pohnpei as the presidential chief of staff.
Mida has brought calm and focus to the executive office, and the results are showing in the president's relationship with the Congress.
While he's lost a year to implement his national agenda, Mori in three extended interviews with Pacific Magazine says he's anxious to move forward with his vision of an economically revitalized Micronesia that's an active player in regional and international arenas.
But Mori's toughest challenge, one that he quickly acknowledges, will be to settle the "Chuuk problem" and ensure national unity. The state, which is the largest by geography and population in the FSM, is also the most dysfunctional. Its state government has long been a fiscal black hole, and Chuuk's financial woes have for years threatened to undo the fragile unity that links the three other disparate states, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap.
The added pressure on Mori is that, as only the second FSM president from Chuuk in the last 30 years, expectations are high that he can get the state back on track "Expectations? Yes, especially from Chuuk. They expect that I can resolve their problems," says Mori.
The president has started by cracking down on the one area where he can impose his will – the state's bankrupt finances. Mori, with strong backing from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees most U.S. federal funds, is imposing fiscal accountability measures on the state government.
"Thank God there is no more throwing money all over the place," he says. His tough love approach is focusing not only on fiscal management, a natural for the former banker, but also on a bloated Chuuk state bureaucracy. "That's the biggest problem in the budget challenge," he acknowledges.
For Mori, the issue is about more than cleaning up Chuuk's balance sheet. It is about fixing a national embarrassment, and in the process, saving the federation.
While the Chuuk issue dominates Mori's domestic agenda, he's trying to position the FSM as a player in international arenas. He's getting a big boost from China.
China, says Mori, has moved quickly to be a high-profile aid donor to the FSM. "The Chinese ask, 'What do you need?'" Mori says. In fact, Mori says that China is so active in the FSM that the U.S. ambassador recently visited an agricultural project that Washington was funding, and a local farmer asked the American diplomat if she was the Chinese ambassador.
Mori tells this story to make a point - Washington needs to pay close attention to the FSM, an attitude that hasn't been prevalent in the U.S. government for more than a decade. "With China positioning itself in the region, the U.S. cannot afford to give up on the region," Mori says.
While the depth of U.S. interest in Micronesia is uncertain, Mori is clear that the FSM needs to take advantage of the military buildup on Guam. He's approaching the opportunity from two fronts.
First, he wants to develop the FSM as the breadbasket for Guam, an agricultural center for fruits and vegetables to serve that island's rapidly expanding population. Mori acknowledges that there are major obstacles to overcome, chiefly agricultural inspections for FSM produce.
Second, the FSM president wants to reopen the abandoned Pohnpei Agricultural and Technical School, which had been run by the Jesuits, and turn it into a workforce training center for Micronesians. The Guam building boom will needs tens of thousands of skilled construction workers, and FSM citizens can enter the U.S. without visas.
Mori would like to develop a two-year skills development program at the former PATS campus. "We can fill many jobs on Guam," he says.
Visit our FEEDBACK section to see reaction to this story.
http://www.pacificmagazine.net/page/feedback/
