I also do not believe Pew and their proponents when they profess that designation of the monument is in the best interest of the native islanders, and that we shouldn’t let it pass us by. “A win, win, situation, job opportunities, we will be known all over the world, become rich and famous” etc, etc… I’ve heard these types of remarks from “salesmen” too many times before! I also know that it has misled lots of people, including our leaders, both local and federal.
I am equally disappointed by our elected leaders’ lack of a strong united stand in protecting what is rightfully ours. One-third of our ancestral land and ocean represents a big chunk that has been taken away from our already small islands. Perhaps we forgot the teachings of our ancestors that the land, ocean, and our people, will always be our most precious natural resources. Our islands are but a grain of sand in the middle of the ocean, and our resources are different from those of the continental United States and other big countries. The exploitation of natural gas, oil, minerals, diamonds, gold, etc, are contrary to the teachings of our ancestors and these activities contribute a lot to global warming. They even kill and destroy each other for such things!
Is it true that the federal government will return our submerged lands should we agree to the marine monument? Returning something that is ours in exchange for something that is also ours? Did our elected leaders fall for this, or is it the same old federal government’s pathetic attitude where they made themselves to believe that one size shoe fits the whole world? It seems to me like, “in search of weapons of mass destruction.”
The 1906 Antiquities Act that President Bush utilized should be stricken from the book. It’s an outdated and very inhumane Act. I still can’t bring myself to believe that at a stroke of the president’s pen, an area will become a monument without consultation or due regard to the people there, especially to those that will be affected the most. Needless to say, human rights, be it native islanders, American Indians, or others, must be respected.
The manner in which the marine monument proposal was presented to us has been especially insulting for me, to our traditional leaders, and was very disrespectful to the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures, the Micronesian Chief Executives Summit, the Guam Fisherman’s Co-op, the 29th Guam Legislature, Congresswoman Madeline Bordallo, and others that stood firm with us in our belief in protecting what is rightfully ours. I do not believe that the native islanders are so arrogant not to share whatever small resources they may have. I believe that all we wanted to say was which resource should be shared and how much.
Our relation with the United States under the Covenant is that we’re neither a state, union, territory, but we are in a “political union” with the United States. Does the 1901 Antiquity Act apply to us under this relationship since we are not a territory of the United States?
I guess whatever questions we may ask, or plans for our islands will no longer valid since they’re in the hands of the federal government. Perhaps the new administration will listen to our concerns.
LINO M. OLOPAI
Chalan Kanoa, Saipan
