Opinion

Pohnpei’s new “government” website—a work in progress

“Welcome to the Official Website of Pohnpei State Government,” the home page of the website at www.pohnpeimet.fm says. The website was published to the international web community on July 5, 2010, according to Pohnpei State Public Affairs Officer Heinrick Stevenson. At the top of the screen, the words, “Peace, Unity, Transparency” and “Accountability” float by one at a time from left to right before they fade away, superimposed over the word,“Kaselehlie,” the beautiful and meaning filled greeting so often taken for granted by many of us who use it. Though the website has been published for the world to see, it’s obvious that it is a work still in progress. The home page of the new website, along with several others pages doesn’t quite fit horizontally on a computer screen. The drop-down headings don’t fit in their spaces. Neither do the menus below the headings. Additionally, the website isn’t, in the fullest interpretation of what the word “government” means in FSM, the official website of the “Pohnpei State Government” since only the Executive Branch is represented. “The website is designed primarily to inform and to share with the people of Pohnpei and the general public true and realistic information concerning what the government (executive branch) is doing, and at the same time to seek public input and guidance on how best we can improve delivery of public services to those that we serve,” says the message written by Pohnpei State’s Governor John Ehsa which dominates the home page. Under the heading of “Latest News” on the home page are the words, “Welcome Governor Ehsa from your trip from South Korea,” followed by the words writ in blue, “Contact us…” At least in its start up phase the website doesn’t have a great deal to offer yet and though “contact,” as Governor Ehsa said in his message, is the purpose for the site it is also a missing component. While every page has an alluring blue lettered, “Contact Us,” clickable link, the link doesn’t work. I clicked the blue letters, filled in the requested information boxes including my name and email address and wrote a fairly long comment in the box provided for that purpose and clicked submit. The next page that came up said, “The contact form you are testing needs to be setup.” Apparently, the Allwebco template hasn’t actually been finished by the designer of the website so no contact can yet be made by the website without sending an email by other means. I clicked the link that said This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it under the heading “email us” and the email address that popped up in my Outlook Express page showed the address This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Two days after writing to that email address there still has not been a response, which, I suppose is not too surprising given that there currently is little to no Internet access in the new Pohnpei State Government Complex. Indeed, the spreadsheet formatted page that represents the Executive Directory lists the names of some of the people working at the top levels of government but contained absolutely no information as to how to contact them. Though the spread sheet implies that there should be, there are no recorded fax numbers, no home, cell or office phone numbers and, not a single email address. News is currently scant on the new website. At press time one could find out which four bills were signed by Governor Ehsa last month but you can’t read the bills. Some websites carry disclaimers and the new Pohnpei State website is no exception, “Any person who intends to use the information is hereby advised to confirm its accuracy with Pohnpei State Office of the Governor or the party to which the information is related, before acting on that information.” I suppose that this means that whoever the webmaster is has carte blanche to post whatever he or she wants to post without having to worry too terribly much as to whether it’s accurate. It’s probably not what they meant but that was my immediate knee jerk interpretation. Under the heading “Pohnpei Met” are the following words: “Our objective is to provide a better life for our people, to live in a healthy environment and to live a long prosperous lives in Pohnpei.” There is a box devoted to “What's New in Pohnpei,” that takes up a good portion of the left side of the computer screen. The box below it says, “Click on the resources links in this website to find out more about opportunities, programs, projects and much more here in Pohnpei State.” Why not leave those boxes out and save the screen space? Having said all of these things, the Governor’s office is to be congratulated for making the effort to have a new website. It seems like a natural thing to do since so many Pohnpeians rely on the Internet to get news about goings on their homeland. With the arrival of high speed communications in the FSM more and more Pohnpeians who still live here are connecting to the Internet for information. I applaud the Governor’s office for making this effort and look forward to great improvements in the site in days to come. The website is miles better than the non-existent one that was available a few days ago. It’s been a long time since the Pohnpei Governor’s Office has had a website. Former Governor Johnny David had one that can still be found online at www.fm/PohnpeiGov. The date of the last press release on that site was 2006. The Pohnpei Legislature has a website (www.fm/PohnpeiLeg) as well but until today I had no idea that its use had been diverted for use by the now adjourned Second Pohnpei Constitutional Convention that began in 2009. Before that time the last update of the Pohnpei Legislature website had been in 2005 as far as I could see. The Kosrae Legislature has a website (http://www.kosraelegislature.org/) but I didn’t see any updates on that site more recent than 2008. I did see a notice on the site saying that due to staff shortages the Kosrae legislature was behind in its updates of bills and other information. “We expect to have everything back to normal shortly,” the webpage says. Apparently that function is the responsibility of John McKenzie, who as the Attorney for Kosrae’s Legislature must be up to his neck in paperwork and has very little if any support staff. I couldn’t find a website for the Kosrae Governor’s office. I also could find no governmental websites for Chuuk State. By far, the most up to date and best produced State website I found for the FSM was the Yap State Government page (www.yapstategov.org.) It takes a while to load up on a dial up line but the information in it is practically up to the minute. Every link in it works. I was able to sign up for a daily news update from Yap State Government. Immediately after signing up I checked my email and there was a welcome message for the service for which I’d just signed up. Larry Raigetal, who is in charge of Yap’s Department of Youth and Civic Affairs said that the website was started two years ago, using Compact Capacity Building Sector Grant money for the startup. Garrett Johnson serves as the webmaster for the site. Though the Yap webpage has a disclaimer similar to the one on Pohnpei’s website I was able to find out how to apply for a foreign investment permit something that isn’t on the Pohnpei State website. The only mention of Foreign Investment on Pohnpei’s site is an incomplete sentence. It would be petty to overly criticize a startup website because of typos or grammatical errors so I won’t do it. I did, however, find the description of Pohnpei’s economy to be quite informative even if I didn’t really quite understand what was being said despite having lived here for nearly 10 years. “Pohnpei has a typical mixed economy consisting mostly of government, households and businesses. The economy can best be described as a blend of subsistence and economic dependency.” Perhaps in time, the Pohnpei Governor’s site will be just as good as Yap’s. They might have waited to release the site until it was fully functional but they didn’t choose to do so. But then, there is a website and that’s a very good start.

 
Climate Change
“Go Local” at the 19th International Congress of Nutrition and Satellite Workshop in Thailand PDF Print E-mail
Written by Dr. Lois Englberger   
Friday, 13 November 2009
As part of the global health project led by Professor Harriet Kuhnlein, Centre of Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE)/McGill University, and the CINE team, Dr. Lois Englberger, academic leader of the Pohnpei, FSM case study, participated in the 19th International Congress of Nutrition (ICN), October 4-9, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. 

nutrition.jpgThis was a huge event with 4560 delegates from 107 countries! 

“Going local with Traditional Food in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia” was the title of our oral presentation, October 8, at the Symposium of Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and Nutrition: Finding Solutions in Local Cultures and Environments.  It was enthusiastically received, and I am happy to share with KP readers that I wore my “Let’s Go Local” t-shirt!

As reported in past KP articles, this global health study focused on traditional foods, diet, health, and a two-year promotion of local food for health. There were academic and community leaders from 12 case studies as taken from Canada, Colombia, FSM, India, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, Tanzania, and Thailand. 

Apart from the global health project, our Pohnpei Banana posters appeared in a different session as well.  Dr. Barbara Burlingame, Senior Nutrition Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, presented these in her talk on food composition and biodiversity at the ICN.  This was quite an honor for Pohnpei! 

Podis Pedrus and Kiped Albert, community leaders of Mand, Pohnpei, FSM, and Dr. Lois Englberger, as part of the Pohnpei case study in the  global health project then participated in the Satellite Workshop on Culture, Environment and Agriculture for Food and Nutrition Security of Indigenous Peoples, held 11-15 October in Thailand, supported by CINE and Thailand government. 

The group first visited the remote Sanephong Village in Thailand’s case study of the Karen people, as superbly coordinated by our colleagues from Mahidol University.  What a special visit!  This included traveling to a remote Karen village, where there was a tremendous outpour of hospitality; learning about their work;, enjoying a feast of traditional Thai food and beautiful dancing and singing; and even riding in an ox cart!! 

Thanks are extended to CINE, Mahidol University and the Thai government, ICN, Sanephong village,  and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).



World Food Day Acknowledgements.  Thanks again are extended to the agencies providing financial support for the 2009 World Food Day activities celebrated on October 16, 2009, as listed in the previous KP article.  Also we would like to thank the Pohnpei State Office of Economic Affairs, College of Micronesia-FSM Cooperative Research and Extension, Department of Education, Department of Health Services, Department of Lands and Natural Resources, FSM Departments of Resources and Development, FSM Foreign Affairs,  Island Food Community of Pohnpei, and other partners, who assisted in the work and made the event a memorable one.  Again thank you President Mori for your speech and closing words, a reminder to us all, “Let’s go local!”.




Kehpineir Kekihr
By: Eunice Hedgar

This was the winning recipe in the
“Any Local Food” category of the 2009 World Food Day Healthy Cooking
Competition.
Ingredients:
2 cups grated yam ( best to use this variety: Kehpineir)
½ cup fish meat
10 large chaya leaves
½ cup ripe papaya
1 ginger leaf (Kisiniong)
1/3 teaspoon salt
½ cup coconut cream

Method:
1. Put sufficient water in a pot and bring to boil.
2. Add the grated yam to the boiling water.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the coconut cream and stir the mixture for 3-5 minutes.
4. Then add the coconut cream and serve.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 April 2010 )
 
FSM Tax Reform continues to move forward PDF Print E-mail
Written by FSM Information Servives   
Friday, 13 November 2009
Palikir, Pohnpei October 28, 2009 The Technical Working Group (TWG) and the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) met in Guam in late August to continue their review and deliberations of the proposed tax reform laws for the FSM.
The Honorable Alik L. Alik, Vice President of the FSM and Chairman of the ESC presided over the ESC meeting which, in addition to the ESC members, included members of The Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC), the FSM Consul General in Guam, and the TWG. The state representatives on the ESC are the respective governors or their representative.
The agenda items included a presentation by the PFTAC representatives regarding the Net Profits Tax (NPT), the Value Added Tax (VAT) and a salaries tax withholding threshold. They also reviewed their recommendations on the proposed new tax administration processes and options for the structure of the Unified Revenue Authority (URA). PFTAC underscored the fact that voluntary compliance will be an integral component of the tax law reforms and future tax administration.
As a result of the preceding TWG meetings, which reviewed tax technical issues, certain options and recommendations were presented by the TWG to the ESC for their consideration. The ESC reviewed various technical alterations then endorsed the NPT draft - other than one section which will be reviewed by the TWG with a report-back to the ESC. The TWG presented two options, along with a recommendation to the ESC regarding the application of VAT to interstate trade. After review and evaluation the ESC adopted the TWG’s recommendation on this issue.
The ESC and the TWG had discussions regarding the timeframes for the finalization of the law drafts which require ESC approval before submission to the President, the National Congress, and the state legislatures.
Closing statements were made by all the ESC State Governors thanking the TWG and PFTAC for their hard work and accomplishments to date.  Vice President Alik’s closing comments included remarks on the scope and the significance of the task ahead to reform the FSM tax regime. Progress continues to be made and in the near future will involve transmittal of the package of legislations to the President, the National Congress, and the state legislatures.


Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 December 2009 )
 
The Real APHW Issue PDF Print E-mail
Written by Hendon Blaylock, Ph.D.   
Friday, 13 November 2009
Let me state at the beginning of this letter that I am not anti-lawyer. I have friends, and several family members, who are practicing attorneys. I generally respect the legal system and the people who work within it. However, there is a case in Pohnpei that has been in the courts for years that is eroding some of that respect.

A bank commercial currently being shown on U.S. television depicts a child being given something wonderful (a new bicycle) only to be informed after delivery that the bicycle must be ridden within a tiny area, which makes it unusable. The point of the ad: just as it is wrong to disappoint a child by not disclosing all conditions of a gift, so is it wrong to impose previously unstated conditions on a borrower (or business) that make it impossible to succeed.

Every time I view this commercial I am reminded of the plight of APHW, Inc., a corporation formed on Pohnpei in the early 1990s to harvest and process trochus shell into buttons and to process pepper into a gourmet condiment. Like the child in the TV ad, APHW was delighted to receive a development loan from the United States via its Investment Development Fund allocated for the purpose of encouraging entrepreneurial activity in Pohnpei State. Also like the child in the advertisement, APHW was later dismayed to discover there were undisclosed conditions: Pohnpei State was intentionally destroying its business, and its ability to repay the loan, by refusing to allow a trochus harvest and by engaging in unfair competition to purchase raw pepper directly from the growers. The FSM Supreme Court recognized these detrimental actions of Pohnpei State and awarded monetary damages to be paid by Pohnpei State to APHW as compensation for destroying its business. To date, Pohnpei State has apparently refused to pay the court-ordered damages.

In one of those twists of legal logic that defies understanding, the Court subsequently also found APHW’s principals liable for the unpaid balance of the loan from the Investment Development Fund. Just consider this: Pohnpei State was found guilty of running AHPW out of business! The same government that kept AHPW from making payments is now demanding repayment!  The people who formed APHW have been directed to benefit the entity that destroyed its business! What is wrong with this picture? The Court’s refusal to consider why the APHW loan payments could not be made and its startling inattention to the basic injustice of Pohnpei State’s actions is understandably a hot topic of conversation among would-be investors in Micronesia. Decisions such as this could have the long-term effect of killing any possible interest in funding business start-ups and expansion. If Micronesia is to ever attract outside investment in its economy rather than eternally depending upon government hand-outs, a rational and unbiased justice system must be in place that can be trusted. A judicial decision like the APHW, Inc.case is evidence that type of system remains a goal rather than a reality.

Hendon Blaylock, Ph.D.
Linwood, New Jersey
Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 December 2009 )
 
Where are we heading? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mohner A. Esiel   
Friday, 13 November 2009
Dear Editor:

    We just went through another political process by electing the right leader who we trust will help steer Pohnpei during these admittedly perilous times.  We should know by now a specific, reasonable and convincing road map to guide us tout of the present economic sadness and onto a better life.  The question we all should be asking is; do we have it?  Ask the average Pohnpeian and he will just give you that broad smile.  Whether it is a strength or weakness in our character, a valuable asset or a negligible liability, it is the charming face of the average Pohnpeian perceived by the selected that leads them to continuously behave so complacently and go on their merry old ways of politicking amidst the present and upsetting crises.  It is really hard to examine what’s behind that seemingly unreadable face.  But one can readily sense a creeping hopelessness akin to that feeling of being adrift in the middle of nowhere.  I just hope it will not turn into a feeling of anger that would erupt like waking of a sleeping monster.

    My feeling is that we should not test the Pohnpeian patience to the limits.  It should be realized that we are fast trailing that credibility so necessary at this time.  This is a more disastrous crisis facing the FSM, Pohnpei in particular, that is being hit hard as a result of the disparity in our economic base formula distribution on our local revenues.  And, it is produced by excessive and ill-influenced political principles.  Politics used to have a good connotation.  But for us in Pohnpei today, it has disapprovingly acquired a meaning that is synonymous with the use of power, position or issues for some gain or advantage without regard to what is right or just of the common good.  Hence, today we may be inclined to believe that politicians are usually known as men with watered down principles, inequitable, or for the good others.

    On the contrary, if I may, we always point to the government and blame it on the rise of uncertainties we have assured by the selected.  Sure, it can be contributors to the cause of all these problems, but I thing we ourselves are to be blamed for not speaking out.  We, to speak it in terms of change of direction, change in leadership, a change of spirit and heart for a better opportunity.  If we only talk, write, read about it and remain unmoved about everything, on the face of it they remain as representatives of the few, for the few and because of the few, so to speak.


Mohner A. Esiel
Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 December 2009 )
 
Chicken Little versus Sir Isaac Newton PDF Print E-mail
Written by Bill Jaynes   
Friday, 13 November 2009
It’s deadline day again at the Kaselehlie Press and once again I was thinking.  I don’t do it often enough and when I do it’s usually a dangerous proposition.  I’m not going to tell you the number of people I talked to today or who they were lest you deduce that what follows is a direct result of those interviews.  I know that there are some people in the FSM that would immediately come to that erroneous conclusion and it is precisely that knowledge that led me to what I was thinking this late afternoon.

It is probably an oddity of my brain, or upbringing or perhaps a combination of both.  We’ll let the psychologists argue the merits of the cognitive (genetic) or behavioral (environmental) development theories.  Whatever the case may be two stories popped into my mind today from nowhere.  I learned them in my childhood and for whatever strange reasons, I have decided to share them with you and I truly hope that it will not be a complete waste of ink.

Both stories involve falling objects. 

First is the story of Chicken Little.  I honestly don’t know if people of my generation in the FSM grew up learning that story and so I will summarize for you.


Chicken Little was walking through the forest when, KERPLUNK!  An acorn fell on her head.  “The sky is falling,” she yelled.  “I must tell the king,” and off she went.  On the way to the palace, Chicken Little met Goosey Poosey, Ocky Locky, and Henny Penny, albeit in different places and at different times.  Each of them had been heading to the forest to pursue their own bits of business.  “No,” exclaimed Chicken Little to each animal she met, “The sky is falling there!” 

Based solely on her testimony, Chicken Little convinced each of them to follow her to the palace to tell the king.

Yeah, there’s more to story that involves, for whatever reason, the kings’ men chasing Foxy Woxy away just as the party was about to be eaten and Chicken Little buying an umbrella so that falling acorns would not bother her again but I’ll just leave this short summary as it is.

Cool story, huh?  Okay, I guess you have to be about four years old to really get it.  I dug that story when I was a kid!

The next story doesn’t come from a picture book with gold foil tape on its binding.  It was a story that is probably wrong but I was told it in elementary school so I’m just going to let it stand as it is.

Famous scientist and alchemist Sir Isaac Newton in a rare fit of complacency is hanging out under an apple tree lounging in the grass, presumably thinking great thoughts when, KERPLUNK! An apple fell on his head.  As a result of his bruised noggin Sir Isaac Newton developed the concept of gravity instead of running off to tell the king and everyone he met along the way that the sky was falling. 

I suppose that it is a good thing that Sir Isaac Newton wasn’t sitting under a coconut tree or he may never have come to his astounding and, as it turns out, accurate conclusions and we all might have ended up floating off into space or perpetually walking around with umbrellas to protect us from wayward and evil apples.

Now, that is not to assume that gravity did not exist before Sir Isaac Newton came up with the concept.   Of course, gravity existed.  It still does and I truly hope that it continues to do so, although I’m sure that some of us wish that it did not operate quite so ferociously, particularly in the morning as we are trying to get out of bed.

But the two stories do have something to say to us as we consider them together.  I have to be careful as I proceed, to make no judgments regarding the size of each of these two thinkers’ brain pans.  I’ll make the disclaimer now.  The conclusions I draw from this point forward are merely to demonstrate that there are at least two completely different types of thinkers.

The Chicken Little thinkers, when prodded, immediately assume the worst and spread their assumption like wildfire.  “I don’t know what it is but I’m aginit!” (That’s “against it” for those who don’t speak hick; and there it goes, I’ve already cast aspersions on the Chicken Little types of thinkers.)  They spread what little information they have thinking that they are saving the world from its eminent demise and soon there is a crowd of angry people banging on the palace door demanding that the king save them from the evil acorn.

The Newtonian thinkers, on the other hand, when prodded immediately think, “OW!  What the heck was that?”  But then they scan the area, find the source of their irritation and then begin think.  “Is there any thing I can learn from having just been smacked in the head with an apple?  Hmmmm….”  And they are led to big conclusions that essentially change the world even if in small ways.

I suppose the biggest problem with that type of thinker is that they inspire no angry hordes who will run to the palace gates carrying torches, all in a lather, demanding that the king accept the new found conclusions.

No, the Newtonian types of thinkers move in a slow and plodding way doing what the Chicken Little followers are screaming can’t be done or shouldn’t be done or if it is done the world will end in a flaming ball of fire and it’s all a big conspiracy anyway!  “Listen to what I’m saying.  The sky is or will soon be falling!” And when the Chicken Little followers—of whom there will always be plenty because of course, Chicken Little is passionate about her message—are finally convinced under the weight of evidence that it was only a little acorn and not the sky that was falling they will still duck beneath an umbrella just in case the sky actually was falling all along just as they had said.  And when an acorn or two on occasion does fall it leads them toward fits of finger pointing, a revived frenzy that says, “Hang ‘em!  Hang ‘em all!  The sky really is falling and I told you it would be just like this!”

Alright, at this point my disclaimer is completely useless as I’ve now thoroughly demonstrated my bias toward Newtonian thinkers and my pretty thorough disdain for those who take scant bits of evidence, draw huge erroneous, dumb conclusions, drag all their mouth breathing friends along with them, circle the wagons and—for lack of a better way to put it that springs immediately to mind—go postal.

It is, in my way of thinking, the Chicken Little thinkers that are constantly being dragged along kicking and screaming into the future, perpetually afraid that the sky will fall at any moment, and the Newtonian thinkers frankly couldn’t care a whole lot less.  They plod along at the head of the pack doing the impossible with very little other than possibility thinking. 

Oh, they hear Chicken Little, Goosey Poosey, Ocky Locky, and Henny Penny screaming, “It won’t work, it’s not fair, someone’s going to get a benefit that I didn’t get, the sky really is falling!”  They halt their progress for a moment to respond to the angry hordes, “I’m pretty sure this is the right way.  I’ve thought really hard about this and this is the way I think it will work. I really am pretty sure I know where we’re going.  Just wait.  You’ll see.  It’ll be better.”

Maybe all the Newtonian thinkers need is an army of good PR people to get their message out to the Chicken Littles who won’t shut up long enough to listen—that or a really big megaphone.

-------

Oh, right, I meant to apply these stories to some news item from the Kaselehlie Press.  I’ll tell you what; I’ll play Russian Roulette and let you apply them to which ever story or stories you choose.  You know, of course, that it is entirely possible that, like Macbeth’s description of his life, this has simply been “…a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”   Just the same, some of you will do it anyway.

Bill Jaynes
Managing Editor
Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 December 2009 )
 
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