ROTA officials should listen to Bishop Tomas Camacho and Speaker Heinz S. Hoschneider. The CNMI government should know everything about the Global Country of World Peace and its officials before they are allowed to turn Rota into their version of heaven on earth. Who exactly are behind Global Country? What is their background? What is the Maharishi’s role in the group? (Is he still alive?) What exactly do they want to establish on Rota? What is a “peace palace” and a “peace garden”? Who will be the students in their “peace university”? The Maharishi group claims to have 5 million followers. Can Rota—and the CNMI—handle the influx of more foreigners? What will be the possible impact on federal-CNMI ties if Global Country is granted “sovereign rights” and an exemption from local immigration law? Why does it need “sovereign rights” anyway?
Rota officials should also contact the government of Suriname where the followers of the Maharishi wanted to establish a 3,500- hectare (8,645-acre) “sovereign state,” according to a June 5, 2001 CNN report. The Maharishi group, CNN said, offered to invest “$1.3 billion over three years and provide 10,000 jobs” in exchange for a 200-year land lease agreement. According to the CNN report, “The group wants to set up what it calls a ‘Global Country of World Peace,’ with its own currency, central bank and jurisdiction….”
Suriname is not exactly a First World country, but according to CNN, the South American nation’s president “had not responded to the Maharishi council’s three requests since November.” Why?
Rota officials, moreover, should be aware that in Oct. 1999, the residents of Rheinsberg, Germany took action against the Maharishi group’s plan to build a health and convention center in their city. Berliner Zeitung reported that residents were “afraid that the…sect center would ruin Rheinsberg’s reputation.” A city official was quoted as saying that the Maharishi group “is a dangerous sect.” In 1989, a German court described the group as a “psycho-sect” whose meditation techniques could cause severe psychic illness in individual cases. The Maharishi group, the report added, promises, by meditation, world peace…and the opportunity to fly.
So here’s another question for Rota officials: Will the presence of the Maharishi group make the CNMI more attractive to the Japanese, particularly those who, several years ago, had very unpleasant encounters with one of their homegrown cults?
Government officials should not confuse desperation with resolve. The local people are already experiencing the unfortunate socio-economic consequences of labor and immigration policies implemented by their leaders who also promised them prosperity. This is not the time to make another thoughtless leap in the dark. Global Country’s proposals should be studied carefully, and the local people should be fully informed about what their leaders are again getting into on their behalf.
