Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999

Reviews of Kiribati and Nauru are in the Congress. The issue of revenue not included in this issue. sharing between the nation and the states was decided in Congress, the Federated States of courts, and the general electorate. Micronesia The jcn pushed forward with its As the new millennium dawns, the preparations for the upcoming rene- Federated States of Micronesia’s polit- gotiations of the economic provisions ical shores are without three of its of the compacts that are due to expire founding fathers. Mr Bailey Olter, the in the year 2001. jcn was first created third president of the nation, died on by the FSM Congress to gather infor- 16 February 1999 after a long period mation in preparation for the negotia- of illness since his stroke in 1996. tion. By act of Congress, the same Mr Petrus Tun died in March 1999 team is now charged with responsibil- in Honolulu. He was the chairman ity for the negotiations as well. The of the Joint Committee on Compact committee is chaired by Mr Epel Ilon, Economic Negotiations (jcn) at the secretary of external affairs. After a time of his death. Tun’s long list of period of gathering information, the civil offices also included the first vice committee has met several times to presidency of the Federated States of prepare for the negotiations. It heard Micronesia in 1979, and governor of reports from the Economic Manage- Yap. Another “passing” of a sort took ment and Policy Advisory Team place at the end of December 1998, (empat), created in conjunction with when John Mangefel retired after the Asian Development Bank, on eco- thirty consecutive years of public ser- nomic conditions in the islands. vice dating back to the Trust Territory jcn has also hired Dr Glenn period. He was the first governor Skaggs, who retired from the US of Yap State, and served as a special Department of Defense in Spring adviser to the governor of that state, 1999, as an advisor on security and national planner, and special assistant defense matters. In a news story in to the president. Island Tribune in December 1998, The period under review saw the jcn legal counsel said that even if trend of belt tightening of the econ- defense and security (Title III of the omy continue, and the initial prepara- compact) are not part of the renego- tions for the upcoming renegotiations tiations, “[t]he economic progress of the economic provisions of the of this Nation is part of the security Compact of Free Association with interest of the region . . . the jcn real- the United States. The March elec- ized it needed an expert to counsel to tions produced new leadership in the see whether Title III of the Compact executive office, but no major changes needs adjustment and to be prepared

194 political reviews • micronesia 195 to understand the implications, should these reforms and policy changes anything need to be changed in the with the assistance of empat, and has section of the Compact” (Islands received favorable feedback from FSM Tribune, Dec 1998). Although only donors as well as members of the the economic provisions are due for South Pacific Forum during its annual renegotiation, it is clear that the jcn meeting in Palikir, Pohnpei, in 1998. is preparing for any other possible The renegotiations are mandated scenario that might be brought to the by the compact to take place on the negotiating table. Furthermore, offi- thirteenth anniversary of the imple- cials in Guam, the Commonwealth mentation of the Compact of Free of the Northern Mariana Islands, Association, which occurs in Novem- and Hawai‘i have expressed interest ber 1999. The dates and place for the in pushing the issue of open immigra- meetings are not yet set. tion or habitual residency, which gives The elections in March produced open access to the United States for no upsets for the incumbents, but the FSM citizens. These governments outcome of the first session settled have been vocal in claims that their some uncertainty regarding the social services and other resources are makeup of the executive branch. overburdened as a result of the flow President Jacob Nena, then the vice of FSM migrants. president, took over the presidency Alan B Stayman, former director when then President Bailey Olter was of the Office of Insular Affairs, has deemed too ill to continue in office. moved to the State Department and Nena’s position as vice president was assumed the position of special nego- taken up by Senator Leo Falcam. After tiator responsible for representing the March 1999 election, some won- the United States in the negotiations. dered if the Congress would allow In his testimony on Resources and Nena’s presidency to continue into International Relations before the US the new millennium. According to House of Representatives on 1 Octo- the constitution, the president and the ber 1998, Stayman, then director of vice president are to be elected by the insular affairs, claimed that the freely Congress in the first session after the associated states lacked economic general election, and chosen from experience, expertise, and planning among the four-year senators repre- capacity, leading to poor growth in senting each state. After the president these island nations’ private sectors. and vice president are elected, a spe- Mr Stayman visited the FSM and the cial election is then held to replace Republic of the Marshall Islands the four-year seats vacated by those (RMI) in July 1999. In an interview elected to the executive posts. with Pacific Island Report, he claimed In the first session of the Eleventh that the FSM (along with the RMI) Congress, Leo Falcam, from Pohnpei, has made significant progress in was elected as the nation’s fifth presi- reforming the public sector and in dent, and Redley Killion, a twelve- encouraging private sector invest- year veteran of the Congress from ments. FSM has been working on Chuuk, as vice president. The Con- 196 the contemporary pacific • spring 2000 gress also reelected Congressman Jack ruled in favor of the national govern- Fritz as its Speaker, Congressman ment, and the states were already Claude Phillip as vice speaker, and making plans to appeal the case. In Senator Joeseph Urusemal of Yap as the meantime, the issue did not get the new floor leader. A special elec- the necessary support from voters in tion was held in July 1999 to fill the the July elections. Given these results, vacant senate seats from Pohnpei and the fate of the court appeal is unclear. Chuuk. In the special election, Resio Furthermore, in relation to the second Moses, Pohnpei, and Manny Mori, proposed amendment defeated by Chuuk, were elected to Congress. voters, the Congress passed a law, By act of petition, three amend- effective 1 October 1998, which ments to the FSM Constitution were increases the states’ share of revenue put on the ballot during the general to 70 percent! elections. The amendments center joakim peter around the issues of revenue sharing and ownership of resources. One of the challenges to national unity in the FSM will always be the issue of resources, especially since one of the unique features of the federation is the weaker national government that allows the state governments more flexibility and power. The first pro- posal is to amend section 2 of Article I (Territory of Micronesia) to basi- cally give each state exclusive owner- ship of resources within its boundaries as defined in each state’s constitution. The second amendment is section 5 of Article IX to increase the states’ share of taxes from 50 to 70 percent. The third amendment would add a new section (23) to the same article to specifically guarantee equal distribu- tion between the national government and the state governments of all revenue generated from the exclusive economic zone. The amendments did not get the required 75 percent approval by voters. In 1998 the states took the national government to court over the issue of the revenues generated from the exclu- sive economic zones. FSM Supreme Court Chief Justice Andon Amaraich