Lino Olopai at his residence in Chalan Kanoa.
Edwin Raymond Borja Quitugua at his residence in Dandan.
CAROLINIAN elder and cultural practitioner Lino Olopai is among the community members who were dismayed by the recent burning of the CNMI flag by Edwin Raymond Borja Quitugua, a Chamorro activist.
Quitugua burned a flag that he owned and streamed it live on social media. He believes that the only “true indigenous people” of the Northern Marianas are Chamorros.
In an interview on Wednesday, Olopai told reporters that the flag-burning incident “was very insulting.”
He said he helped design the CNMI flag. As required by the CNMI Constitution, the flag depicts a white star representing the United States, a gray latte stone representing the Chamorro people, and a multi-colored mwaar or floral wreath representing the Carolinians.
The CNMI Constitution also states that a person of Northern Marianas descent is “a person who is a citizen or national of the United States and who has at least some degree of Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof.”
“There’s a lot of significant things about the [CNMI] flag,” Olopai said. “Most of us stand firm in protecting who we are, [including] that flag,” he added.
Asked about Quitugua’s statement that the mwaar has no place on the CNMI flag, Olopai said, “Only one person says that. I think he should be thrown in jail….”
Olopai added, “There was some contention between the Chamorros and Carolinians way back, but it’s not as severe today as it was back then. After World War II, there were no intermarriages between Chamorros and Carolinians. Now we see a lot of that. I hope that will continue, to bring peace, but it’s just this one guy,” referring to Quitugua.
“Racial baiting should stop,” Olopai said. “We are all Pacific islanders — we should show a peaceful attitude and spirit not only toward the Chamorros and Carolinians, but also to other Micronesians and people.”
Without mwaar
In a separate interview, Quitugua said the CNMI flag he recognizes is the one without the mwaar.
He said he is disappointed with the CNMI public officials he had approached regarding the issue, adding that he was “pushed to the point of testing the limits of the Constitution.”
According to CNMI law (§ 223), “No person shall burn, tear, spit on, desecrate, mutilate or in anywise disgrace the Commonwealth flag. Any person who violates this section shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned for a period not to exceed one year or fined not more than $500, or both.”
In the U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on burning the American flag was established in the landmark case Texas v. Johnson (1989). The court ruled that flag burning constitutes symbolic speech that is safeguarded by the First Amendment. The ruling affirmed the right to engage in this form of expression as a protected constitutional right.
“The Attorney General’s Office detectives came and interviewed me,” Quitugua said. “I was never charged. That’s why I said I tested the Constitution…to the point where everybody views me as the devil’s advocate, and yet…they don’t understand the significance of my actions,” Quitugua added.
Ask whether he was bringing up an issue that has been resolved a long time ago, Quitugua said, “If it has been resolved…I wouldn’t be here. The AG would have imposed the law, arrested me, charged me, and you would have seen me in court, but we are not there yet. Why am I not arrested for burning the flag?”
He added, “In their mind it has been resolved…. Our elders, back then, after World War II, the number one language they knew was Japanese, which they could speak and write. If the CNMI Constitution was translated into Japanese, do you think…they would have agreed to split their identity and create another ‘nation’? Do you think that would have gone through? No.”
