Marshall Islands Journal Relocation, November 2009
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184 the contemporary pacific 23:1 (2011) 6DLSDQ7ULEXQH Daily. http://www 2009 and seemed to have solidified .saipantribune.com/ his administration’s legitimacy dur- usepa, United States Environmental Pro- ing the summer recess, tensions were tection Agency. 2010. epa comments on high even before the regular session of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement the Nitijela (Parliament) convened in (DEIS) for the Guam and CNMI Military August. The Marshall Islands Journal Relocation, November 2009. 17 February. reported prior to the meeting of the Online at http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/ Nitijela that a motion of no confi- webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20090394/$file/ dence was planned but that there were 20090394.PDF?OpenElement [accessed no specifics as to what lay behind such 8 September 2010] an initiative, nor was information wgs, Women for Genuine Security, the given about whether anyone in either website for the International Network for political party was preparing to step in Women against Militarism. 2010. A Letter should the vote succeed (MIJ, 21 Aug to President and First Lady Obama from 2009). Indeed, the rumors surround- WGS. 14 February. Online at http://www ing the proposed vote were so vague .genuinesecurity.blogspot.com/ [accessed 14 July 2010] that the only compelling aspect of such a possibility was that the vote was being considered by a coalition of leaders from both the United Demo- cratic Party (udp) and Aelon Kein Marshall Islands Ad (aka); the prospects for this third The period under review for the vote of no-confidence against Tomeing Republic of the Marshall Islands in the first eighteen months of his (RMI) has been one of unprecedented administration (and only the fifth such events, including the removal of a vote in the nation’s history) seemed to president and a potential constitu- rest entirely on a blurring of political tional crisis, the unsatisfactory resolu- party ideology and a desire simply to tion of numerous issues related to the remove him from office. Compact of Free Association with the As the Nitijela met through its United States, a variety of health issues regular sixty-day session, it seemed and diplomatic forays that thrust the that the government’s priority was islands into the global spotlight, and the resolution of the land use agree- a pair of international incidents that ment between the RMI government have painted the nation in an unfa- and Kwajalein landowners, the most vorable light in the eyes of the world prominent of whom is former Presi- press. dent and Iroijlaplap Imata Kabua. By far the most important event of While Kabua had been instrumental the last twelve months was the stun- in Tomeing’s rise to the presidency in ning and historic vote of no confi- 2008, continuing frustration over the dence that ousted President and Iroij lack of a land use agreement took cen- Litokwa Tomeing in October 2009. ter stage. In a letter to the editor of the While Tomeing had survived two Marshall Islands Journal, Kabua com- previous attempts to drive him out plained that his rights as a landowner of office in October 2008 and April had been stripped by the RMI gov- pol i t ical reviews micronesia 185 ernment’s “refusal” to consult with half-hour debate right before the vote the Kwajalein landowners during the was taken, seemed to confirm the renegotiation of the Compact of Free personal nature of the attacks against Association with the United States in Tomeing, and at one point tensions 2003 (MIJ, 14 Aug 2009). Ironically, between Tomeing and Note rose to the president at the time, udp party such a fever pitch that Majuro Sena- leader and Jabat Senator Kessai Note, tor and Nitijela Speaker Iroijlaplap had come to power by toppling Kabua Jurelang Zedkaia took the session off in 1999 and had in turn been ousted the public radio airwaves. To be sure, by Tomeing (with Kabua’s assistance) the opposition to Tomeing ultimately in 2007. But lack of movement on rested not on any particular charges the land use agreement, even after the of incompetence or malfeasance, but president and members of his cabinet rather on a vague sense that there was met with Kwajalein landowners in personal animosity between Note, in September (MIJ, 18 Sept 2009), and league with Tomeing’s former allies in compounded by the bad feelings left the aka party, and Tomeing himself over from the most recent vote of (MIJ, 23 Oct 2009). After the success no confidence led by Tomeing’s own of the vote, and in the absence of a party in April 2009, seemed to render leading candidate for president to party politics irrelevant and made succeed Tomeing, Speaker Zedkaia the Tomeing administration appear named Minister in Assistance and incapable of moving forward on this Ailinglaplap Senator Ruben Zackhras or any issue. acting president. After weeks of speculation, the With a constitutional require- motion of no confidence was finally ment that a new president be selected put on the Nitijela agenda on Wednes- within fourteen days of a vote of no day, 13 October 2009. The motion confidence and the almost complete was filed by former President and erasure of political party affilia- Jabat Senator Kessai Note, along with tion, the person who would succeed AKA members Namu Senator Kai- Tomeing was practically anybody’s buke Kabua and Lae Senator Rellong guess. The Marshall Islands Journal Lemari, and Ujae Senator Frederick suggested that the front-runners were Muller of the United People’s Party Kessai Note, Ailinglaplap Senator (or upp, which represented Presi- Christopher Loeak, and Jaluit Sena- dent Tomeing’s short-lived attempt tor Alvin Jacklick (MIJ, 23 Oct 2009). at coalition politics) (MIJ, 16 Oct However, the following Monday, in 2009). On 21 October 2009, Litokwa a 17 to 15 vote, Jurelang Zedkaia, a Tomeing became the first president former AKA party member, with the in the history of the republic to be help of Tomeing and an unprecedented ousted by a no-confidence motion, by mix of UDP party members, defeated a vote of 17 to 15 (only Arno Senator Note (who had allied himself with Gerald Zackios did not participate his traditional opposition in the aka in the vote) (MIJ, 23 Oct 2009). The party) to become the fifth president of bickering two days prior to the vote, the Republic of the Marshall Islands as well as a marathon three-and-a- (MIJ, 30 Oct 2009). Jacklick, who had 186 the contemporary pacific 23:1 (2011) offered to back Zedkaia with UDP sup- three-day roundtable was on sea-level port, ran unopposed for Speaker and rise and greenhouse-gas emissions won handily, in spite of the fact that and their potential impacts on Pacific two write-in candidates—Minister of Islands nations, especially those, like Transportation and Communications the Marshalls, comprising low-lying and Rongelap Senator Kenneth Kedi atolls (MIJ, 16 Oct 2009). Perhaps the and “Mr Mickey Mouse”—garnered most sobering assessment came from one vote each (MIJ, 30 Oct 2009). University of the South Pacific climate In the spirit of cooperation, and change researcher Patrick Nunn, who perhaps recognizing the new political warned that by 2100 states like the realities of a country whose political Marshalls, Kiribati, the Maldives, and parties had just dissolved, President Tuvalu will be uninhabitable, and that Zedkaia immediately announced that the only viable option is to begin plans he was retaining Tomeing’s cabinet, to move their entire populations by with the exception of the minister of 2050 (MIJ, 23 Oct 2009). justice. Majuro Senator David Kramer, With that grave caution in mind, who had held the post under Tomeing, the Zedkaia administration sent a had earlier made it known that he rather sizable contingent of twelve wanted to step down as minister in people from various sectors of the order to focus on his family’s private government to attend the global business enterprises; Zedkaia named climate change talks in Copenhagen Majuro Senator Brenson Wase as his in December, even though most of new minister of justice (MIJ, 30 Oct the international media had already 2009). In the aftermath of the historic declared that the talks would not yield series of events that brought down a any substantive results. The week president as well as the national party before the talks both Zedkaia and machinery, one thing was clear: the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ebon country had faced one of the most pre- Senator John Silk—along with repre- carious political crises in its thirty-year sentatives from a number of Pacific history and, by constitutionally resolv- states including the Federated States ing the difficult challenges faced, had of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, and emerged stronger for the experience. Tuvalu—attended a brief meeting in Most pressing on the Zedkaia Germany that Silk described as useful; administration’s agenda were the however, the talks in Copenhagen upcoming global climate talks in were characterized as “difficult” by Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. the foreign affairs minister due to the In the run-up to the talks, and dur- large number of countries represented ing the same week as the vote of no and the varying agendas in play, as confidence, Majuro hosted a regional well as the final “non-binding accord” Pacific Climate Change Roundtable that came out of the talks (MIJ, 8 Jan that was sponsored by the Secretariat 2010). of the Pacific Regional Environment In spite of the disappointment in Programme (sprep) and featured Copenhagen, President Zedkaia did representatives from fourteen Pacific have at least one major diplomatic vic- states and territories. The focus of the tory during the year with the official pol i t ical reviews micronesia 187 state visit of President Ma Ying-jeou with the Marshall’s current trust fund, of the Republic of China (ROC, or the country will be in a better posi- Taiwan) on 22 March 2010, the tion to negotiate a new financial deal second such visit by an ROC president with the United States after the current in five years.