THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Part III: Micronesia by Donald M
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SOUTHEAST ASIA SERIES Vol. XXV No. 4 (Micronesia) THE PACIFIC ISLANDS Part III: Micronesia by Donald M. Topping March 1977 Micronesia. The tiny islands. The Lilliput of its broadest sense are not synonymous. Cultural Oceania lying just north of the equator, some of Micronesia would have to include the Gilbert whose citizens are now trying to tie down their Islands and Nauru, which are not part of the TTPI. Gulliver. For the past 31 years, Gulliver has been If the Marianas are to be considered Micronesian the United States government, first through its (some would argue on linguistic grounds that they Department of Navy (1944-1951), and later through are not), we must include Guam in Cultural Micro- the Department of Interior, with close supervision nesia but not as part of the TTPI. The TTPI also and support from the Departments of Defense and includes two inhabited atolls whose people are pure State, and the CIA. While there have been three Polynesian (Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro). When previous Gullivers, none has the unique relation- most people today (excluding anthropologists and ship that the United States has had with the linguists) use the term Micronesia, they mean the 123,000 inhabitants (1973) of the Trust Territory of TTPI, which is the way we shall use the term in this the Pacific Islands (as the islands are known offi- paper to include the Caroline, Marshall, and cially). Mariana Islands, but excluding Guam. The more than two thousand islands of Micro- The first of the 2,241 islands of Micronesia to be nesia are indeed small, appearing as mere specks visited by a European were the Marianas, when on wall-sized maps. By far the biggest is Guam, Magellan reportedly landed on Guam in 1521, just which has but a minuscule 225 square miles, much prior to going to the Philippines, 1,500 miles to the of which is in steep volcanic hills (1,300 feet maxi- west. Spanish missions were established in the mum). The smallness of the other 200-plus Marianas as early as 1668, which sealed Spain's inhabited islands is difficult to grasp, especially the long unchallenged claim until 1898, when she gave tiny coral atolls that provide the only land area for up Guam to the United States and sold her re- the 25,000 Marshallese and large numbers of Caro- maining Pacific possessions to Germany. Even linians. The islands of Polynesia and Melanesia though she got an early start in Micronesia, Spain appear as veritable land masses in comparison. did not move into the Caroline Islands, eastern and western, until much later in the nineteenth century, In the emerging game of the International Law and she never entered the Marshall Islands, which of the Sea, it may not be the size of the individual form the third group of present-day political islands that counts, but the amount of water they Micronesia. While Spain was laying claim to the embrace. Micronesia covers more than three Carolines, Germany in 1885 assumed the Marshalls million square miles of it stretching nearly halfway as a Protectorate, primarily to safeguard German across the North Pacific. Economic control of these business interests already established there and in waters is one of the important items that the Nauru. Micronesians are especially concerned about in their discussions with the United States about the While Spain concentrated her efforts in the future political status of their islands. Carolines and Marianas on establishing missions and Christian education for a few, Germany was The term Micronesia can be misleading. Political developing her efforts toward making the Micronesia, which is the Trust Territory of the Marshalls pay off through copra production. After Pacific Islands (TTPI), and Cultural Micronesia in Spain was forced out of the Pacific in 1898, Copyright (C) 1977, American Universities Field Staff, Inc. [DMT-3-'771 DMT-3-'77 -2- Germany made a rather weak attempt to exercise along with "bathroom," "movie," and "baseball indirect control through traditional chiefs and to glove." initiate economic development (mainly copra) among her new possessions in the Carolines and the The most evident of the Japanese vestiges are the Marianas, but with little success. The United material remnants of World War II, ranging from States, meanwhile, established her part of the sunken aircraft carriers in the Truk lagoon to the Spanish-American War spoils as a military base tibias and femurs that are still being picked from (Navy), which Guam has been ever since. the jungles and waters of Saipan, Peleliu, Yap, and Truk. Such souvenirs provide the main attraction The brevity of German control of Micronesia for the thousands of Japanese veterans, mourners, (1898-1914) was no doubt largely responsible for and priests who can be seen in virtually all parts of the lack of any significant development or lasting Micronesia visiting battlegrounds and war influence in the Carolines and Marianas. For the memorials, thereby reviving the memories of most part, the Micronesians of these two areas were middle-aged Micronesians for the bygone days. left with their own political systems to continue their subsistence style of living, with a few of them The World War II years were hard on the being sent to attend the few German schools pro- Micronesians. Many were forced into labor by the vided by the Protestant and Catholic missionaries. Japanese in preparation of their defenses. When What little the Germans had accomplished in 1914 the fighting came to the islands it caused wide- was swept under by the comparatively long period spread devastation and loss of life, partly because of Japanese rule from 1914 to 1945. Upon being the islands are so small that they afford little room awarded control by a League of Nations mandate, for protection. Food supplies became scarce as the the Japanese, who treated Micronesia as an integral Japanese supply lines were cut off and everyone was part of Japan, entered into a development scheme forced to turn to the land and sea for survival. which provided a considerable amount of economic Micronesians could not understand why they support for the islanders as well as for thousands of should have to pay such a high toll for a war Japanese and Okinawan expatriates. By 1938, 58 between two foreign powers who were using their percent of the population of Micronesia was islands as the battlefield, and who killed more than Japanese. 5,000 Micronesians in the process. Nostalgic Micronesians still rave about the At the end of World War II Micronesia came Japanese period of civil administration as one of under the aegis of still another caretakerthe bustling activity and prosperity, much of it the fourth in less than a century. By a special arrange- result of enforced, though usually compensated, ment, unique in the history of colonialism, the labor. A fully Japanese-staffed education system to islands of Micronesia were placed in the hands of the sixth grade was established in each of the the United States as a Strategic Trusteeship of the district centers, a system which produced, espe- United Nations. While there were 11 trusteeships cially in Palau and the Marianas, the basis for fur- following World War II, all but one having now ther education of a core of elite whose continued been terminated, there was only one Strategic fluency in spoken and written Japanese attests to Trust, the status of which can be changed only by a the quality of their training. unanimous vote in the United Nations Security Council. This regulation requiring unanimity of the Vestiges of the Japanese period are evident every- Security Council is probably the most crucial factor where, from such names as Tosiwo Nakayama, the in determining Micronesia's future political status, Trukese President of the recent Constitutional for no matter what the Mieronesians may desire, Convention, to the ubiquitous soba, the Japanese either the United States or the Soviet Union is noodle soup so popular in Palau and the Marianas. almost sure to veto. Vocalists in the nightclubs of Koror, Palau's Dis- trict Center, wail out love songs of Palauan lyrics The reason for the strategic nature of this set to Japanese pop songs of the 1930s, and in Yap trusteeship becomes apparent when one considers and the Marianas one still hears such terms as the enormous area of water surrounding the ben.jo, kachido, and gurobu in everyday speech islands. Even in the innocent days of 1945, before -3- DMT-3-'77 people realized that fishing areas were being de- stipulated in the trusteeship agreement, meant pleted or that seabed mineral deposits held following the American model. enormous potential, the U.S. government was con- vinced of Micronesia's military importance, and In 1949, under the Naval administration, the was determined to retain in safe hands what had democratic secret ballot system was introduced for been gained through the greatest military effort of purposes of forming legislative bodies in each of the all time. While the United States could not simply six districts. Their initial functions were largely take possession, as was done during the colonial advisory and, except in the Marshall Islands, no period, she managed to gain close control with UN provisions were made to include any significant blessing. Still, accusations of postwar colonialism participation by traditional Micronesian leaders. are increasing as United Nations membership By 1965, the bicameral Congress of Micronesia includes a growing number of recently decolonized (COM) was formed, with new senators and repre- countries, and as the anticolonialist wave sweeps sentatives from all parts of the TTPI meeting at the from the south into the north Pacific. Since the former CIA complex on Capitol Hill in Saipan, U.S.-TTPI relationship comes ultimately under the where the High Commissioner and the TTPI head- Security Council, however, the charges thus far in quarters are located.