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Marshall Islands Journal 2010 News From the 4/30/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal New Japan tourist link Non-stop Continental Micronesia flights from Japan to Majuro? That’s a definite “yes,” tourism operator Satoshi Yoshii told the Journal this week. After the disappointing halt to Japan Airlines-sponsored charters nearly two years ago, Yoshii turned to Continental to negotiate flights to Majuro. He said negotiations are in the final stage for several flights to happen later this year. He indicated that he hopes by next month an agreement will be finalized for Continental Micronesia charter flights. Yoshii, who operates scuba diver operations in Majuro and Pohnpei, said he is optimistic about the Continental plan, in part because Continental will use Boeing-737 planes, which are smaller than the Boeing-767 used by JAL. “The aim is to bring 120 passengers per flight,” Yoshii said. The JAL 767s hold about 230 passengers, and proved more difficult to fill for the Majuro charters. He is also talking with Continental officials about a two-stop package that would bring visitors to both Pohnpei and Majuro on the same flight. “Once combined, there will be more demand from non-dive market visitors,” he said. His aim is to see about eight charter flights this year. “Since the last JAL charter was 18 months ago, we have to show what we can do,” he said. Yoshii said there is strong demand from Japanese to come to Majuro. “On our website, the top Google search words are ‘Majuro direct 2010,’” he said. At the Marine Dive Fair in Tokyo late last year, many of the 45,000 visitors asked when flights to Majuro will start again, he said. The goal with Continental is for more frequent flights with a smaller number of passengers on each, he said.
Paul replaces Milne on the new BOMI board Bank of Marshall Islands held its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday at the ICC. Shareholders returned eight of the nine previous board members and added a new ninth member, David Paul, replacing Ebeye’s Tommy Milne. Returning to the helm of the board are Chairman Grant Labaun, and members Amon Tibon, Patrick Chen, Saane Aho, Philomena Muller, Saeko Shoniber, Jack Niedenthal, and Maria Fowler. The bank reported its net earnings in 2009 were abut $300,000 lower at $3.1 million than in 2008, when it netted $3.4 million. The bank board, however, maintained the dividend paid per share the same as last year at $4.50. Tibon noted during the meeting that the book value of BOMI shares has now risen to $134 because of the strength of the bank. Bank officials said the event was held for the first time at the ICC to accommodate various shareholders with disabilities, as the ICC has ramps and easy-to-access facilities.
Marshall Islands nuclear test victims are making their last stand, holding on by the fingernails of one hand to the slimmest of hopes that the United States Supreme Court will accept their cases for review. It is a one in 100 chance that the Supreme Court will agree to consider the Bikini and Enewetak appeals of lower court rejections, and as any Las Vegas bookie will tell you, these are seriously unfavorable odds. What is more, in a 25-page brief, the US government attempts to nail shut every possible avenue for appeal that the legal teams assembled to represent Bikini and Enewetak islanders have put forth. To be sure, the nuclear test atolls have good arguments. But are they enough to sway the nine Supreme Court justices to accept the cases? “We should have a decision by mid-April,” said Bikini attorney Jonathan Weisgall. The US legal brief, block by block, puts up an apparently insurmountable wall around the appeals. “In Section 177 of the Compact … the government of the Marshall Islands espoused the claims of its citizens and agreed to settle them,” the US Justice Department said. “To effectuate the settlement, the Compact itself, the Compact Act, and the Section 177 Agreement all provided that the settlement would serve as the final and unreviewable resolution of any claim that the people of the Marshall Islands might have against the United States.” Attorneys for Enewetak say, however, that the RMI government was under the control of the US at the time the Compact’s Section 177 was negotiated. “Although the Marshall Islands had a popularly elected government at that time that was competent to enter into agreements with the United States it remained under the control of the US as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, for which ‘all executive, legislative and judicial authority’ was ‘vested in such person or persons and…exercised…through such agency or agencies as the President of the United States may direct or authorize.” The issue, said Enewetak, “is whether the courts must accept the (US) government’s assertion that the constitutional claims of private individuals can be validly ‘settled’ not by the claimants themselves but by an entity that is not sovereign, but is under US government control.” “Unreviewable,” “full and final,” “claims terminated,” and “claims barred” are phrases that are repeated throughout the US brief to the Supreme Court. But Bikini and Enewetak say that the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment requires that just compensation be paid for the taking of property. “The central problem with all of the (US) government’s arguments is that nowhere in its brief in opposition or in any other brief filed in this case has it explained how, if the Fifth Amendment reserves rights in individuals and thereby withholds that very power from the federal government, the federal government has the power to legislate or contract those rights away without those individuals’ consent,” the Bikinians said. But the US told the Supreme Court the compensation matter was completely resolved on a government-to-government basis. “The United States and the Marshall Islands settled all claims including the takings claims, and as part of that settlement agreed to preclude further review of those claims in any federal court,” the US said, adding that the lower court’s ruling “does not warrant further review.” The Bikinians challenge this in their response: “If the (US’s) foreign or domestic political ends are served by taking individual property, the Constitution says the price for that public use is just compensation. If Congress can escape that command simply by passing a law or contracting with another governmental entity, as the Federal Circuit (court) held, then the Fifth Amendment has become an empty promise not just for petitioners, but for any and all property owners.” The US counters this, saying the US Congressional command that “no court of the US shall have jurisdiction to entertain such claims” is completely clear, leaving no room for court review of these nuclear test claims. Although the Compact’s Section 177 established the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, the US brief to the Supreme Court says that the “Congress did not create the Claims Tribunal or agree to pay its awards in full,” and the US did not participate in the Tribunal’s proceedings. “The RMI’s Claims Tribunal therefore cannot plausibly be regarded as a forum for exhausting claims against the United States, as simply one step before a return to the Court of Federal Claims for a suit under the Tucker Act,” the US said. Attorneys for Enewetak said the US position is that it “may deprive persons of their property for decades and then get away without paying compensation by foisting the problem onto another government that has no money to pay and that supposedly waived the property owners’ right to sue the United States in court.” In relation to the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, Enewetak said “now that the Tribunal has ruled that petitioners are entitled to compensation, the (US) government says that actually paying is someone else’s problem, and that, when it created the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the government of the United States effectively washed its hands of the whole affair.” But the US Justice Department maintains that the US government satisfied its nuclear test compensation obligation by providing $150 million to the Marshall Islands in the Section 177 agreement. Enewetak said the issue is not whether the Congress, in approving legislation establishing the Tribunal, may establish an “alternate forum” to adjudicate compensation. “Such alternate forums are permissible, if they ensure reasonable, certain and adequate provision for obtaining compensation,” Enewetak said. “Here, that alternate forum has been tried and found utterly wanting, yet still the government refuses to pay.” Bikini and Enewetak say that the Marshall Islands lacked capacity to “espouse” (adopt) their claims because it was not a sovereign government but was under US control. “That contention is at odds with the Compact itself, which explains that the Marshall Islands negotiated and entered into the Compact to establish a ‘government-to-government relationship’ with the United States,” the US said, adding that Marshall Islanders voted approval of the Compact. “Enewetak, citing a US legal ruling, pointed out to the Supreme Court that “constitutional rights can hardly be infringed simply because a majority of the people choose that it be.” The US brief to the Supreme Court concludes: “The Compact withdraws federal jurisdiction in clear terms and, instead, authorizes the independent government of the RMI to petition Congress for additional relief on behalf of its citizens. The RMI has done so, and its request is pending before Congress.”
From the 3/26/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Tobolar works on rising copra price A major review of the operations of Tobolar Copra Processing Plant is underway, with a report likely to go to Cabinet for action in the near future. Tobolar Board Chairman Jemi Nashion said a draft report from the Hawaii-based company Oceanic Inc. is now being reviewed by Tobolar’s board. The board’s focus is the buying price for copra on the outer islands. “It’s their lifeline,” Nashion said of copra for outer islanders. “We need to improve the buying price for copra. We are looking at opportunities and risks to accomplish this.” Tobolar plant manager Wilfredo Candilas said the study is looking at all aspects of Tobolar’s operations, including the condition of the buildings and machinery, the organizational structure and workforce, coconut products and ways to improve quality, quantity and sales volume, and safety and health standards. “It’s a study and recommendation on how to improve Tobolar,” Candilas said. “Things that can be done today and in the future.” Nashion said once the review of the draft report has been completed, it will be returned to Oceanic to be put in final form. Then it will be transmitted to Cabinet by the Tobolar board with recommendations for action. He is hopeful the report will be ready to submit to Cabinet next month. Nashion said he believes the report will help Tobolar approach development partners for assistance to bring about needed improvements in Tobolar’s operations. “Our challenge is resources,” Nashion added. Could the Marshall Islands develop a new agriculture crop for export? Namu Mayor Jeimata Nokko Kabua thinks so and is following up a visit earlier this month to the Dole Plantation in Hawaii by promoting a pilot project for growing “cacao,” the bean used to make chocolate. A pilot project with 1,000 seedlings is now underway with the Ministry of R&D’s agriculture program supervising the initial growing. Kabua, who is President of the Marshall Islands Mayors Association, sees the potential for growing cacao throughout the Marshall Islands. Being close to the equator, Marshall Islands weather fits the growing needs of the cacao plant, Kabua said. “The best thing is cacao does not die from exposure to salt air,” he said. “We have perfect weather conditions (for growing cacao).” The harvested cacao seeds can generate from $1.50 to $2 per pound, according to a recently published study on cacao production in the Kona area of Hawaii by the University of Hawaii. Kabua said Dole provided 1,000 seeds for the current pilot project, and he is hopeful that Majuro farmers will join in the pilot project to demonstrate the viability of cacao growing in the Marshall Islands. The idea for cacao growing here dates back a few years to when the late Oscar deBrum and his son, the late Senator Justin deBrum, looked at the possibility of growing cacao on Likiep Atoll. At the time, they met with Hershey’s, the huge American chocolate manufacturer. “There is a high demand for chocolate and not enough cacao beans (to meet the demand),” Kabua said. He sees cacao as complementing copra as a cash crop for the outer islands. Compared to copra, cacao is relatively easy to harvest, and once the beans are dried they can be stored without losing value or volume, Kabua said. He said the seedlings being grown at the Ministry of R&D should be ready by the end of this year to be planted on farms for the next stage of the pilot project. “I want to get this information out so that any mayor or landowner who is interested can help with growing cacao plants,” he said.
The Ministry of Health will have the capability to prevent deaths and loss of limbs, and heal wounds quickly by using the now fully operating hyperbaric chamber starting next week. The Majuro hospital’s hyperbaric chamber was bought in 2007 and various attempts were made to get it up and running. According to Dr. Robert Maddison, a Marshallese doctor working in Palau, the chamber helps increase the blood flow or circulation to wounds to help them heal quickly — wounds caused by diabetes and severe burns. “The hyperbaric chamber is also used to help divers suffering from the bends or decompression sickness,” Dr. Maddison told the Journal. Over the past several years, divers in Majuro suffering from the bends have had to be medevaced to Kwajalein at great expense to the RMI. Last week, the ministry brought in two professionals to train Majuro Hospital staff to operate and maintain the machinery. Australia’s Hyperbaric Health Special Projects Manager Roly Gough-Allen had worked a week with Majuro Hospital’s bio-medical staff Arthur Alee in chamber maintenance. Meanwhile, Dr. Maddison, who is in-charge of hyperbaric chamber operations in Palau, is spending two-weeks to teach doctors and nurses to operate and provide services in Majuro. “I will return to Majuro for a yearly maintenance check-up for the hyperbaric chamber,” said Gough-Allen.
Working on development The Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Resources and Development are working together to produce the country’s first “National Development Plan” since the mid-1990s. Foreign Minister John Silk said he is joining with Finance Minister Jack Ading and R&D Minister Matt Zackhras in the collaborative effort to draft the plan and an implementation plan of action. The proposal for the National Development Plan is to be put to Cabinet this month. Once approved, the goal is for the three ministries to produce the plan by August 2011. “The plan will answer the concerns internally and externally about what our plans are for the future,” Silk said.
From the 3/12/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Ading receives tax reform report Tax reform commission Chairman Carlos Domnick (left) handed over the completed tax proposal to Finance Minister Jack Ading last week, ending the work of the group. With them are commission members Phil Marshall and Bruce Bilimon. The next step is for the Minister to introduce the report to the Cabinet. Ading expressed his appreciation. “I know you have contributed your time and effort to preparing this report for a better future of country,” he said. Bilimon said, “it is our intention to share this report with the public once we go through the Cabinet process.”
NTA hopes volume will support price Following news that NTA will slash its dialup rates on April 1, when the fiber optic cable will be brought online, the telecommunications authority’s general manager, Tony Muller, reports there will be no change in current wi-fi (wireless) internet rates. “Although wi-fi rates will remain the same, our valued customers will enjoy higher speeds.” Customers currently have two ways of using NTA’s wi-fi service: By paying for megabytes using PayPal (a web-based financial institution) or by purchasing wi-fi cards, which cost $5 for 50 minutes. NTA doesn’t offer a billing system for wi-fi clients. Muller also reported that the cost of using NTA’s two ‘internet cafes’ in Rita and Delap will remain the same, which is eight cents per minute. Muller was keen to point out that the reduction in dialup rates is for a trial period only: “Please bear in mind that this six-month costing exercise will enable us to analyze volume. Having said that, the higher the volume, the more rates (will) continue to drop.”
Dialup error An article in last week’s edition on NTA’s new Internet rate structure erroneously reported that “dialup” speed would increase four-fold. This is not correct. The rates are dropping for dialup, but the speed — 56kbps — will remain the same. NTA explained that because the fiber optic cable is replacing satellites to provide Internet service, the “latency” — delay time — will improve. The reason for the improvement is that instead of the Internet signal having to be projected 23,000 miles to a satellite and 23,000 miles back, through the cable, signals have to travel just 2,000 miles. The quadrupling of speed is for the “leased” lines that are used by business and government offices.
From the 2/19/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal
MEC to be profitable? In two to three years, MEC will be profitable, General Manager David Paul told the Journal this week. Engine repairs, electricity loss reductions, electric meters, enforcement of debt payments, and cost-cutting measures will see “MEC in the black in two to three years maximum,” Paul said. “I’m very optimistic.” He said MEC workers are soon to be done with overhauling the Caterpillar engine, which will take the engine from its current 1.5 MW production up to three MW. Then the big Deutz engine in the other power plant, that is now producing around three MW, will be fixed to increase its output to six MW. “The beauty is that once done, these engines will produce double the power they are capable of now for the same amount of fuel,” he said. “This will be a huge savings for MEC.” An engineer is arriving shortly to conduct a report on “system losses.” Paul said MEC is aware that it’s losing about 25 percent of the power it produces from problems in the plant and in the distribution system. Getting the company back to profitability will “not be easy, and it will take a while to accomplish,” he said. No new jobs around town Employment levels in the RMI have remained virtually unchanged over the past six years, according to a statistical report issued by the RMI’s Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office. Total employment went down slightly in 2009 compared to 2008. In 2009, 10,216 people were employed in RMI. In 2008 it was 10,312. But the number of workers has remained static at about 10,000 since 2003, going from a low of 9,707 in 2005 (when the former PMOP loining plant closed) to the high of 10,338 in 2007. In 2004, there were 10,116 people working and in the intervening five years only 100 jobs were added in the country. The data show that public enterprises — government agencies such as MEC, NTA, Ports Authority and so on — are growing. There were 828 employed in 2009 compared to 692 in 2004. The private sector added only 37 new jobs from 2008 to 2009, with 4,053 employed last year — an all-time high for the country. Jobs at Kwajalein had declined by an average of 70 per year since cuts began in 2007. RMI national government jobs declined from the 2006 high of 2,421 to 2,370 last year. Total government jobs — including national and local governments, public enterprises and agencies — amounted to 4,568 in 2009, down from 2007’s all-time high of 4,656.
From the 2/12/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Yokwe Bartowe beats Avatar at box office
Yokwe Bartowe, a low-budget locally-produced feature film, out-paced the global record-setting Hollywood hit Avatar in attendance in its first week in Majuro. First weekend run numbers provided by K&K Theaters shows that 604 people paid to see Bartowe the first weekend (Friday-Sunday) that it showed compared to 239 viewers for Avatar, which opened in Majuro Friday. Avatar has set the world’s record as the highest grossing movie, with more than $2 billion in gross revenue worldwide, reported ABC News this week. Earlier this month, it beat The Titanic, which had held the record as the biggest revenue-grossing film ever for the past 12 years. While Avatar producers spent $300,000,000 to make their film, Bartowe producers Jack Niedenthal and Suzanne Chutaro indicated the cost of their film was $1,128.05. Bartowe continued to draw crowds this past weekend, but not as high as its first weekend in Majuro. K&K reported that 220 people paid to see Bartowe last weekend. Both films are continuing at K&K through next week. Bartowe is expected to be out on DVD in about a month. From the 1/15/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal Who will take over Chamber of Commerce President role? The Marshall Islands Chamber of Commerce will hold its first monthly luncheon meeting of the New Year next Wednesday, January 20, at the Marshall Islands Resort’s Melele Room beginning at 11:30am. This will be the Chamber’s every-two-year election meeting. Chamber officers hold their term of office for two years. The last officer elections were held in January, 2008. This meeting is dedicated to electing new Chamber officers for 2010-2011. Chamber members that have paid their annual $50 dues are eligible to run for office and vote. Four officer positions — President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary — are up for election. These are currently held by Hirobo Obeketang (pictured), Mike Slinger, Salome Andrike and Jim McLean, respectively. Although there is no restriction regarding how many terms of office an officer may hold, it is customary for the Chamber President position to change each two years to provide dynamic new leadership, McLean said. Otherwise, it is up to each officer to choose to stand for reelection. Two officers — Obeketang and Andrike — are not seeking reelection. Slinger and McLean will defer to the wishes of the Chamber members regarding reelection for another two-year term. So two or more new officers need to be elected this month the most important of which is the position of President. The new Chamber President can select any number of non-officer Chamber members for the Chamber’s Executive Committee that is nominally comprised of the four elected officers and the immediate past President as an ex-officio member. “I know that I speak for Vice President Mike when I say that we would welcome and support other Chamber members that decide to stand for election to any of the four officer positions,” McLean said.
Jerry wins CMI court bid battle A court dispute over a $2 million CMI construction project was resolved Monday when the college agreed to rebid the project. Pacific International Inc. withdrew its lawsuit Monday in exchange for CMI agreeing to rebid the project in February, acknowledging that the college violated the RMI government’s procurement law and agreeing to follow procurement requirements including a public opening of the bids submitted. The agreement between PII and CMI was signed by PII CEO Jerry Kramer and CMI’s outgoing President Wilson Hess, and filed in the High Court Monday with a motion to dismiss the case by PII attorney David Strauss. Anil Construction won the bid late last year for the approximately $2.2 million CMI administration building. But PII initially protested the award, and after the CMI bid committee rejected the protest, took the college to court saying that CMI had not followed the terms of the government’s procurement law governing bids. The bids were ranked on price and technical aspects, and Anil was given the opportunity to change its bid after it was submitted. The agreement attached to Monday’s dismissal states that CMI is in a “time-sensitive stage” of the final part of a $25 million campus facilities improvement project. “CMI did not follow the RMI Procurement Code in regards to its handling of Project No. CMI008 (the administration building),” the agreement states. The agreement states it is in everyone’s best interests to: • Redesign the administration building. • Have PII dismiss the case against CMI. • Have CMI rebid the project on February 1, with the requirements that it involve prequalified bidders, the bids will be opened publicly, the bid awarded without further technical assessment, and it will go to the lowest qualifying and compliant bidder. Anil Construction CEO Carlos Domnick said Tuesday that his company is not going to object to CMI’s plan to rebid the project. “We’ll go along with the rebid,” he said. “We don’t want to hold up CMI’s project.”
From the 1/8/10 issue of the Marshall Islands Journal PII pulls out of Tobolar By GIFF JOHNSON Pacific International Inc. (PII) has ended its 30-year relationship with the RMI government for managing Tobolar Copra Processing Authority, and the north Pacific’s only copra factory is now under board control. “It’s time to move on,” said PII CEO Jerry Kramer of PII’s decision to get out of Tobolar management. “Tobolar’s management is well-trained and they have an interested board.” Kramer added that his staff has been working closely with the Tobolar board for a smooth transition. PII’s management officially ended on December 31, but a few continuing issues are being worked on as part of the transition, he indicated. Tobolar board chairman Jemi Nashion confirmed that PII “wanted to get out” of the management, and “based on that, we agreed. As of December 31, PII is no longer part of Tobolar.” This terminates not only 30 years of management by PII, but ends the involvement of the company that built the facility. R&D Minister Matt Zackhras at Tuesday’s Nitijela session commented on the transition to new management, and said a study of Tobolar is to be conducted by a Honolulu firm later this month that is expected to help the government to develop new products and improve the quality of the oil it sells. “The assessment of Tobolar will help the board be aware of its current status, opportunities and risks so we can move forward accordingly,” Nashion told the Journal. “We need solid information, which the study will provide. It will help not only to understanding the current situation, but to help Tobolar pursue funding opportunities.” The Hawaii company that will conduct the study, Oceanic Marshalls Inc., has previously advised the Marshalls Energy Company when it was purchasing the “new” power plant in Delap in the late 1990s and has experience in bio-fuel, according to Zackhras and Tobolar board members. Nashion said the copra plant needs new equipment to improve its operations. “It needs a major overhaul and funding to do it,” he said. Kramer said his company began building Tobolar in 1976 and its first million-dollar shipment of oil was exported in 1979. “The opening of Tobolar (in the late 1970s) broke new ground,” said Kramer, noting that at the time the copra industry in the region was controlled by a handful of companies that were exploiting the islands. “Majuro is the last place north of the equator still to be milling copra.” Kramer said it had not been easy to maintain operations over the years, but with careful management, it had been possible to continue “this important source of income for outer islanders.”
‘Why the need for new cars?’ In the midst of interesting back and forth in Nitijela Wednesday, Mejit Senator Dennis Momotaro interjected an observation that surely caused a reaction in some listeners. In a session focused on the current plight of copra makers in the outer islands, several of the senators expressed concern not only about the dramatic effect of the just-introduced price drop for copra (effective January 1 copra went from .22¢ a pound to .15¢) but the fact that producers have serious difficulty getting paid, even when their product is picked up. Senator Momotaro’s question was aimed at vehicles. Specifically, he wanted to know why it was necessary for the various ministries of government to purchase new vehicles when “the vehicles they have been using were in good shape.”
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