Pol I T Ical Reviews • Micronesia 209 Samuel F Mcphetres Republic of Palau
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pol i t ical reviews • micronesia 209 from Okinawa in 2010 promises a for copper by local scrap dealers sup- major economic shot in the arm to plying Chinese markets, thieves are the whole archipelago. Approximately actually stripping the copper tubing on $10 billion has been earmarked to anything from window air condition- develop infrastructure and facilities ers, live electric dropped lines, and on Guam; the impact of this spending power lines to streetlights along the will be felt in Saipan, Tinian, and even Beach Road walkway. Even telephone Rota. There may be a massive deple- switch boxes have been gutted, cutting tion of construction skills in Saipan as telephone services to entire neighbor- long-resident workers are given free hoods. access to the United States. Tinian samuel f mcphetres will almost certainly be utilized as a military training area on a permanent basis, requiring permanent infrastruc- Republic of Palau ture on the island. It is also expected that the educational establishment Activities of Palau’s president and on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will be National Congress, relocation of the expanded to provide vocational ser- national capitol, the Taiwan-spon- vices for people seeking employment sored summit with its Pacifi c allies, in the military. advances in conservation and environ- Two new casinos with 300 to mentalism, preparations for compact 500 guest rooms are slated for con- review, establishment of diplomatic struction on Tinian. One casino will relations with Russia, and the collapse include a golf course, while the other of the homegrown Pacifi c Savings will include a collection of luxury Bank were some of the major events villas for its clientele. These enter- that took place in the Republic of prises will certainly fi nd the expanded Palau during the year under review. population on Guam attractive in As of January 2008, President terms of marketing opportunities. Tommy E Remengesau, Jr, has one Popular initiatives to allow casinos on year remaining in his second four-year both Saipan and Rota were slated for term and is ineligible to run for offi ce the November 2007 ballot. The Tinian again in November 2008. Neverthe- airport is now capable of handling less, he has remained very active. international jets, although operations During the year under review he met await the installation of an instrument with the presidents of the other freely landing system to allow the planes to associated states (the Federated States land at night. of Micronesia [FSM] and the Republic Crime has been on the rise. Attacks of the Marshall Islands [RMI]) at their on poker arcades, some of which have sixth summit in Majuro, RMI. Perhaps involved fi rearms, have risen, with their most important achievement was thirteen robberies over a period of the agreement to begin implementa- three months. Some arrests have been tion of the Micronesian Challenge, made. Another criminal activity that whereby signatories pledge to have has become endemic is copper-wire 30 percent of their nearshore marine theft. Because of the high price offered areas and 20 percent of their forest 210 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:1 (2008) resources under environmental protec- the National Congress over the 2007 tion by 2020. The three leaders also budget kept the president occupied. made progress in completing treaties Because of ongoing disagreement for the extradition of criminals and over the budget, the congress had to maritime boundary delimitations. At pass a continuing resolution to keep meetings with the chief executives of the government working. Finally, in Yap, Guam, and the Commonwealth early January 2007, a budget law of the Northern Mariana Islands was passed and signed, totaling some (CNMI) held in Yap, FSM, in late July, $57.6 million. After three months of more agreements were made regard- heated debate between the congress ing the fi nancing of the Micronesian and the executive branch, compro- Challenge conservation effort. Prog- mises were reached on nine items ress in recycling and the removal of that had been holding up the process: metallic waste was reported. With the closure of Palau’s consulate offi ces at assistance of Japan, Palau has imple- Guam and Saipan, hiring of a bureau mented a robust program of recycling director in the Ministry of Education, and segregation of solid waste in pension plan contributions, rental Koror, and the once unsanitary town payments to Palau’s rural states, the dump has been contained and capped, scope of presidential reprogramming now forming a grassy hill. The leaders of budget funds, the status of the pub- explored the idea of bulk fuel pur- lic auditor, fi nancing for state capitol chases to gain better prices and con- improvement projects, and the hiring sidered more active efforts in develop- of an independent special prosecutor ment of renewable energy sources. to examine the Pacifi c Savings Bank Perhaps Remengesau’s most important collapse. overseas visits were to Saipan, CNMI, The relocation of the national capi- where he joined in the opening of tol from Koror to Melekeok State was the 2006 Micronesian Games, and a defi ning event that coincided with to Paris where he met with President the near completion of the fi fty-three- Jacques Chirac. In Israel, Remenge- mile Babeldaob circle road, which sau and his party met with top Israeli has been built using $150 million in offi cials, who expressed their apprecia- US compact funds. Palau’s Constitu- tion for Palau’s support in the United tion of 1979 called for moving the Nations. The Israeli offi cials were capitol, and in the 1980s leaders from amazed to learn that one of Palau’s Melekeok persuaded the National National Congress senators, Alan Congress to designate Melekeok as Seid, is of Jewish descent, and that the location; they donated a large hill, Palau’s ambassador to the United Ngerulmud, to serve as the site. As Nations, Stuart Beck, is also Jewish. one of Palau’s four ancient polities, The president and his party visited Melekeok had been eclipsed by Koror several holy sites in Jerusalem, includ- because of Koror’s popularity with ing the Wailing Wall. foreigners. The new capitol consists of At home, landslides along the four buildings in classic Greek-Roman impressive US-fi nanced Babeldaob architecture: a three-story congress compact road and skirmishes with building complete with an impressive pol i t ical reviews • micronesia 211 dome, a two-story judiciary building, as solar and wind are badly needed for a two-story president’s building (in the Palau’s long-term economic and social style of the Jefferson Memorial), and a progress. Several new electrical gen- three-story government-administration erators were purchased with a us$7 building, as well as two underground million loan from the International water storage tanks of 530,000-gallon Commercial Bank of China, Taiwan capacity. Funding for the huge project (TBN, 25 Aug–1 Sept 2006, 1). was provided by Taiwan (about us$40 Mr Remengesau and his top advis- million) and the United States (us$2 ers were involved in two international million). Construction was carried out meetings of major importance. The in two main phases (the earthworks, fi rst was the Taiwan-Pacifi c Allies and the buildings and water storage Summit held in Palau. Besides Palau, tanks); fi ve more phases (costing about the other Pacifi c Island nations main- us$12 million) were needed to com- taining diplomatic relations with Tai- plete the entire project. wan sent their heads of government, While the decision on the style and including RMI President Kessai Note, size of the buildings was made by President Anote Tong of the Republic representatives from the president’s of Kiribati, Nauru President Ludwig offi ce, the traditional chiefs, the state Scotty, Solomon Islands Prime Minis- governors, and the National Con- ter Mannaseh Sogavare, and Tuvalu gress, it has attracted much criticism Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia. In ses- from Palauans who argue that it is sions with the meeting’s host, Republic too large, too expensive, and untradi- of China President Chen Shui-bian, tional. Defenders of the Greek-Roman the Pacifi c leaders supported enhanced classic style maintain that the Palauan cooperation with Taiwan with regard people want their capitol to be of to law enforcement, information tech- great international signifi cance and nology, tourism, health care, protec- symbolic of democracy, unity, liberty, tion of natural resources, economic and justice. Wisely, all the buildings partnerships, cooperation in agricul- are decorated with permanent indig- ture and fi sheries, and the preserva- enous motifs that make them distinc- tion of culture. Since Taiwan and each tively Palauan. The grand opening of of the Pacifi c Island allies commonly the capitol complex on Independence use the English language (in addition Day, 1 October 2006, was fi lled with to vernaculars), and have a continu- feasting and much celebration. It was ing need for development assistance, a nation-building event of consider- advances in these areas are likely. able importance, rivaling Palau’s The summit was signifi cant for superb hosting of the Ninth Festival Taiwan in that it received a sover- of Pacifi c Arts in 2004. eignty endorsement from the attend- President Remengesau made the ing Pacifi c nations. Their declaration local headlines by accepting blame for stated: “The Leaders of Taiwan’s the August/September power outages Pacifi c allies strongly support Taiwan’s and rationing of electricity. Electrical achievements in political democrati- power outages are recurrent problems, zation and economic development. and renewable sources of power such Taiwan’s Allies acknowledge Taiwan 212 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:1 (2008) as a sovereign nation whose right to alerted the United Nations to this participate in international organiza- destructive practice and the General tions such as the United Nations and Assembly is expected to take action on World Health Organization cannot be it soon.