Palau's Economy in Trouble—Let's Fire Someone!

It's not only Fortune 500 companies that are losing money and laying off employees; apparently countries—at least Palau—are facing the same economic troubles. New President Johnson Toribiong says the Palauan government will likely have to "cease hiring and even layoff employees in order to stay with [sic] its means" and balance the budget, according to Tia Belau (via okedyulabeluu). This comes as lawmakers propose increasing wages for top government officials, which stands in stark contrast to President Barack Obama's wage freeze for high earners in the U.S. government.

There's no question the Palauan economy runs largely on government wages, so layoffs, while balancing the budget in the short term, could simply push the country further into economic doldrums in the long run. Besides, we wouldn't want Budweiser to suffer any more, now would we?

In other bureaucratic news, Koror State Speaker Timothy Uehara was convicted of misconduct in public office and perjury for collecting rental payments on state property for himself instead of the state. Perhaps he was stashing the money in a high-interest bank account in order to generate extra funds to fight Palau's current economic crisis. Quite prescient, I must say—although, in hindsight, he shouldn't have chosen Pacific Savings Bank...

Meanwhile, the Philippines are busy wooing a Palauan delegation for access to new fishing areas after Indonesia enacted new, stricter regulations last year that required more of the catch to be processed in Indonesia. A Filipino official says the Palauan representatives are looking for "joint ventures" in fishing—i.e. fishing companies paying Palau a little money in order to exploit its resources and make a lot of money. Hey, maybe Palau should take up phosphate mining again too. Worked for Nauru.

It's not all take, take, take for the Philippines though. They continue to give Palau quality employees, including a future systems analyst at Surangel's. Could he/she possibly analyze why I can never get some last minute booze there for my Friday night partying?

Thankfully, tourists continue to flock to Palau and support the economy. Patricia from Taiwan had a grand time on the Rock Islands enjoying native entertainment and watching the stars; sadly, the food was not delicious. Court of Stinger's Fort is looking forward to his trip to Palau for a liveaboard dive tour, although it will take away from his time working out and "schleeping."

Finally, for all you homesick Palauans out there, here's a matamatong for you to enjoy, courtesy of Lydia Smith-Lenardson. Support your country; send your earnings back home! Works for the Philippines.

Back from the Dead...Postville Workers Find New Jobs

With the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa long shuttered, the Palauans who traveled to work at the cursed factory have had to find new jobs. About 20 of them have found work in Long Prairie, Minnesota, at a beef processing plant (who knew we Palauans had this innate meat-processing skill?). They've apparently settled in well and even found a place to get betelnut, all while making far above Palau's minimum wage of $2.50.

Speaking of Palau's minimum wage, the OEK did nothing with a bill that would have raised it to $3.00 per hour. The bill would have redefined who received minimum wage, as most non-resident workers in Palau aren't even eligible to receive it now. Slave class anyone?

The Talk Left blog says the U.S. should lower its drinking age from 21, saying it's the highest drinking age in the world, shared with just three countries: Indonesia, Mongolia, and—you guessed it—Palau. Just like abstinence-only sex education, the age limit never stops teenagers from getting what they want—they just get it surreptitiously and more dangerously.

Finally, we check in with Ashley, one of many missionaries teaching (and blogging) in Palau. Ashley had an excellent time spear fishing and caught 21 fish, gutted and scaled them, and ate (and loved) sashimi. I'm impressed. I only ever scaled the fish—my brother always cut the guts out. Oh, and I never caught them either. Nice work Ashley!

President Remengesau an Environmental Star

Palau has warranted many mentions in environmental news over the last two weeks. Thanks to efforts by President Tommy Remengesau, Palau will receive $1 million from The Nature Conservancy as part of the Micronesia Challenge working toward environmental conservation.

The President is also asking Hawaii to join the Global Island Partnership, the worldwide environmental initiative which the Challenge is part of. Islands got to stick together!

President Remengesau traces his environmental conservation roots to a painful lesson taught by his grandfather about catching more fish than the family could possibly eat. Finally, I understand the benefits of corporal punishment.

The President was even dubbed an "Under-Appreciated Eco-Hero" by Greenopolis. That's perhaps not as impressive as being named one of the "Heroes of the Environment" by Time Magazine, but I'm sure he's honored nonetheless.

His efforts got the attention of blogger Fr. Peter, who is concerned about Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's skepticism toward global warming. You'd think Palin, being from Alaska, would have noticed all the Arctic ice melting around her.

You'd also think she'd want to prevent Palau from being swamped by rising ocean levels, seeing as Palau was part of the Coalition of the Willing in God's war against Iraq.

Discovery Cove, a watery theme park in Orlando, offers another way to help the environment without really trying: $25 from each dolphin swim will help Palauan reefs in what theme park website Thrill Network dubs "A Relaxing Way to Rescue the Reef." Finally, I understand the benefits of keeping dolphins captive.

Nonprofit Avaaz.org put out a call for signatures on a petition to be presented to the UN Security Council regarding global warming. They quote President Remengesau in the email sent out to members. The guy's a star!

Olympic Updates, Fish & Meat Stories, and Yet More Politics

First, a few updates on Palauans in the Olympics.

Wrestler Elgin "Tulop" Elwais made a valiant showing against top Iranian wrestler and three-time world champ Hamid Soryan, holding Soryan off for more than a minute and not getting pinned.

Sprinter Peoria Koshiba finished eighth in her 100 meter heat, beating out Buthayna Al-Yacooubi of Oman and improving her season best time by half a second. Nice work Peoria! Next Olympics, Oman wants revenge.

Jesse Tamangrow also posted a personal best in the 100 m of 11.38 seconds.

Swimmer Amber Yobech performed well, placing third in her 50 m heat and (am I sensing a theme here?) setting a personal best time of 30.00 seconds.

It may not have been the Olympics, but Ngardmau's own Aughenbaugh siblings (living in Saipan) enjoyed their trip to Palau to compete in the Belau 18-and-Under Youth Games.

And finally, one more slightly idiotic mention of Palau in an Olympic blog: John Helm of The Huddersfield Daily Examiner asks, "where on earth are Tuvalu, Palau and Micronesia?" I have a better question for you, John: Where on earth is Huddersfield? Seriously. I've never heard of it. Oh, I can find it easily by Googling it? Guess what: You can do that with Palau too. Stunning, isn't it?

Back to politics: Seven women are running for the Palau Senate this year, a record for any Palauan election. Three women are also running for the House of Delegates. Looks like the matriarchs are set to take the power back...and it's about time. The good ol' boys are getting a little too heady with their "power" in the "government."

Good news on the Pacific Savings Bank front: President Tommy Remengesau has renewed the contract of independent counsel Lewis Harley, who can now continue his investigation of the bank's collapse. Thanks, Prez. Myself and thousands of others would like to know what happened to our money.

Breaking news! British researchers have captured the bright blue damselfish off the coast of Palau! Authorities have been hunting the damselfish for years, as it was on the run for the crime of resisting scientific arrest. The photo caption says it all: "The bright blue damselfish is finally in the hands of science." Score one for the good guys.

Now here's a real fish story: The Philippine government plans to make a push for access to Palauan fishing grounds, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The interesting part? They're doing this "in preparation for a possible ban of Philippine fishing vessels in Indonesian waters." This may have to do with the Indonesian government wanting Philippine boats to register in Indonesia and carry its flag, as well as do part of the processing there.

Continuing the ocean theme, The Knack suggests buying T-shirts that help save Palauan reefs in a post on "Crazy Cool Back to School Gear." Only $45.00! As the article says, to protect the environment, "All you have to do is shop." Right...I guess I haven't been protecting the environment enough lately... Get out the credit card!

Military.com (what is this site about, anyway?) has a story on the Navy's Civic Action Team (the Seabees of Camp Katuu, if I'm not mistaken) offering emergency medical technician (EMT) courses to the Palau Ministry of Justice, with the ultimate goal of "increasing patient survival." I guess that evens out how they lower Palauans' chances of survival by recruiting them into the military.

Let's conclude with a different sort of recruitment. The Des Moines Register reports that a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa is apparently recruiting Palauans to come work there—this after nearly 400 of its (illegal) workers were arrested in a May immigration raid. The United Food and Commercial Workers, a union who tried to organize Agriprocessors workers, sent a letter to Palau's Division of Labor warning of problems reported with the company, including child labor, sexual harassment, and physical abuse.

What really catches my eye from this article are the comments posted by sweetladyviv. Here are a choice few: "Do these people speak English?"; "Why bring more people into the US who don't belong here"; and my personal favorite, "Keep them out we have enough low lives in Iowa."

Way to prove your point, sweetlady.

The Olympics and Politics: Two Equally Challenging Realms for Palau

Welcome to the first installment of Palau on the Web, where I compile and link to random information about Palau culled from web pages galore. I use Google Alerts to keep me up to date on news on Palau, my homeland. Since it is such a small place, there isn't much mention of it online, and most that I see are quite interesting.

Of course, there are other instances of the word Palau online that don't relate to the country, so I will work some of that into my posts too. But for today, I'll keep it more streamlined.

I'll start with some blog mentions of Palau's participation in the Olympics opening ceremony. Thankfully I got to see the Palauan delegation in the procession, even if it was on a split-screen as CBC interviewed Canadian athletes at the same time. A few bloggers saw Palau as well and did some research to learn more about it.

Mary Cartledgehayes googled and found Palau on the Destination Micronesia website and wondered why more Americans don't know Palau was a U.S. territory. I'm not surprised.

Mike's Column scanned a map to find Palau and offered some support (contingent on U.S. underachievement): "if [U.S. athletes] don't do well, there's always Vanuatu, Palau and Nauru to cheer for."

Both blogs mentioned Vanuatu as another place they'd never heard of. If I wasn't a Pacific Islander, I probably wouldn't have heard of it either.

Intersportswire reveals a bias against Middle Eastern countries and island nations in an article about "hideous" flags of the Olympics. Palau's flag apparently sends out this message: "Come to Palau. We're all sun, beaches and water." Is that a bad thing? The author concludes with this cutting criticism: "Nice, I guess."

Ah, this is my kind of article about Palau: "Palau is such a beautiful island for vacation! Everyone should go visit themselves!!" Not much left to say, though I am confused about how to visit myself.

Surprisingly, the Toronto Star has the best coverage of Team Palau that I've seen outside of Palauan news sources. Writer Jim Byers notes that sprinter Jesse Tamangrow will be trying to break a personal record, and he even mentions each of the Palauan athletes' disciplines. Nice work Jim! Just know that there is at least one reader in Canada who appreciates it.

Here's an interesting bit of Palauan politics: President Tommy Remengesau Jr., who can't run for re-election due to the two-term limit, is instead running for Senate. After the constant battles Tommy had with the Senate during his administration, he must be dying for the chance to subvert all the next president's initiatives.

Should current senator Alfonso Diaz hold on to his seat, there will be some stimulating discussion in the Senate between the two as equals, rather than President and press conference emcee.

Meanwhile, Tommy's press conferences continue to entertain. In his most recent press-con, the President grilled independent counsel Lewis Harley on his progress in investigating the collapse of Pacific Savings Bank while also managing to argue with presidential candidate Joshua Koshiba. I think reporter David Miho summed it up well, saying the press conference "served as Palau's version of reality television." Better than The Hills? Doubt it.

More from the intricate world of Palauan politics, this time with a familial twist: Vice President Camsek Chin, who is running for president, has asked Tommy for his endorsement.

The problem? The president's sister is married to the son of another presidential candidate, Surangel Whipps, and his chief of staff, Billy Kuartei, is now Whipps' running mate (on what I like to call the "God Ticket"—Kuartei rebuffed advances from Chin and Johnson Toribiong and accepted Whipps' offer after "soul-searching, consultations with his family, and prayer").

That's why I'm lucky to be only half Palauan—I have just one side of the family in which to negotiate this kind of treacherous terrain. Good luck with that decision, Mr. President.

Which is more challenging for Palauans: competing in the Olympics, or navigating the swamps of family and politics? At least the Olympics only comes once every four years.