By B.B
For Horizon

We were baffled by the action taken by the Government against seven Indonesian fishermen who were suspected of having been involved in an alleged murder case that occurred on their fishing boat. Local newspapers, including the Palau Horizon, reported last week that these men were sent to Taiwan last Tuesday (May 1) to face criminal charges in connection with the alleged killing of their Taiwanese captain during a recent fishing trip.
Attorney General Jeffrey Beattie told reporters that after President Remengesu revoked the fishermen’s visas, the seven fishermen were sent to Taiwan because Palau had "no criminal jurisdiction" over the case, which Jeffrey Bettie said occurred outside Palau’s criminal jurisdiction. The press reported that the Attorney General said the incident took place in the extended Exclusive Economic Zone of Palau, which he said was beyond Palau’s criminal jurisdiction although "under International Law Palau can regulate activities there".
Attorney General Beattie is a very experienced lawyer, who knows and understands Palauan laws very well, and we believe that his office took the correct and appropriate legal action in this case. But we are baffled, nevertheless, by some issues this incident brought to light. Our Constitution says that Palau has jurisdiction beyond its territorial sea to a distance of 200 nautical miles seaward from appropriate baselines. This is our exclusive economic zone, but what does that mean? Article 1 of the Palau Constitution goes on to say that "This jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, exclusive control over all living and non-living resources in or on the seabed, subsoil, insular shelf, and water column, unless otherwise limited by International treaty or other obligations assumed by Palau".
We own and have control over all living and non-living resources in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), but it seems that we don’t have jurisdiction over criminal actions that human beings perpetrate in these waters. In other words, it seems that we can license and charge fees for boats that catch tunas in our EEZ, but we do not have authority to prosecute anyone for murdering someone there as happened in the recent case involving the seven Indonesian fishermen on a Taiwanese fishing boat. Does that limitation extend to civil matters? What can we do if a foreign ship loaded with tons of garbage, which might include used oil, toxic materials, and even nuclear wastes, were to sail into our EZZ and start discharging its cargoes into our waters? Do we stand powerless while they contaminate our fishing grounds with deadly materials? We hope we wouldn’t be caught powerless in such situations. Our public leaders should look into these issues so that they may establish appropriate course of actions, with legal teeth, that we could use to prevent such destructive actions from taking place in our waters.
Our Compact Roads should be cleared of dead animals at all times
Government employees who travel daily from Koror to the new Capital at Ngerulmud in Melekeok have noticed that many animals--dogs, cats, and chicken—that have been killed by speeding vehicles on the Compact Roads could become serious health problems because they are left to decompose where they died. The Sanitation Division of the Ministry of Health and the EQPB should look into the matter to see how these dead animals could be removed from the roads so that they wouldn’t become health hazards to the general public.