Two days after the six men were secretly flown from the US naval base in Cuba, one of the six former prisoners expressed gratitude to the Palau government.
“Our overall feeling about Palau is their generous support is quite good. I am very appreciative of the support by the Palauan government,” said Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman through a translator.
Palauans were mostly welcoming of the six Uighurs, despite initial misgivings when President Johnson Toribiong announced in June he had agreed to give a temporary home to the men.
“Six men are not going to hurt anybody here, it’s a small sacrifice for Palau for our friend, the United States. We welcome them here,” said Sebastian Andreas, a retiree whose son is serving in Afghanistan.
Alfonso Diaz, a senator in the Palau legislature, also runs a radio show and said feedback from listeners had been positive.
“We accept them and treat them as part of the community. We do not reject people,” he said.
Businessman Donald Haruo runs a resort catering for Japanese tourists and he said it was important the government reassured people the men were no threat.
“Helping the Uighurs is good, but tour agencies from Japan are concerned about their presence in Palau,” he said.
There remain seven detainees in Cuba, earlier five were released to Albania in 2006, and four were resettled in Bermuda this year, with the United States fearing they would be persecuted if returned to China.
On Wednesday, the Uighurs spend a day swimming at the spectacular Rock Islands with President Johnson Toribiong.
Aside from swimming the former Guantanamo detainees also prepared food and enjoyed a late lunch with the president.
The Uighurs were ferried into one of the Rock Islands, giving them the opportunity to see the sea. It takes 40 minutes to get from Koror to the Rock Islands.
Mampimin Ala said that the former detainees were happy and were excited over the trip to the Rock Island.
Ala said one of the Uighurs said that he has only seen the water in television and glad that he has finally touched the water .
“If my guests are happy, then I am happy,” Toribiong said.
The president said they want the Uighurs to feel welcome in the island ,
Over late lunch, the Uighurs briefly chatted with them and told the president that they are happy to be in Palau.
Ala said the Uighurs wants to be a part of the Palauan society, “ where they feel like the locals are their brothers and sisters.”
The Uighurs said “Sulang” to the president after the late lunch.
“Sulang” is Thank you in Palauan.
It was the first Palauan word they learned while shopping on Monday and interacting with the locals.
The Uighurs will begin learning written and conversational English at a community college next week, Toribiong said.
Ala said on Friday, will be worship day for the Uighurs where they will go to the local mosque to pray and meet the Bangladeshi Muslim leaders and members of the community.
