Ratcheting up public discussions

By Kambes Kesolei

While we place so much blame – and rightfully so – on our elected leaders on the need for a more effective lawmaking body, especially when Palau suffers from the lack of a coherent and convincing set of public policies with which to tackle the many issues confronting our republic today, and perhaps it is unfair to point fingers toward only Ngerulmud, but the blame may also lies elsewhere as in the intellectual class of the society.  Anyone who is interested in the thinking and slicing further into issues beyond where others are satisfied can be considered members of this class. Raising the bar in the thinking area is the work of intellectuals.

Take for example, our deteriorating government financial situation. Essentially, it should be the priority where every waking moments of our elected leaders should be spent hovering over ways to raise revenues, balance the budget and making sure that no disruption of services to the people occurs. Revenue collection is projected to top $39 million but it is reported that current collection will fall short of that amount by the millions, lending credence to the Asian Development Bank’s report that the local economy is contracting. The national government has illegally overspent a staggering amount of close to two million dollars. And still, it is difficult to identify any bold or coordinated action from the lawmakers as immediate response to the present economic conditions that has impacted every sectors of the society.

But relying solely on elected leaders for improved approach to public policies in the face of myriad and complex issues and daunting challenges is almost wishing for a cold day in hell. The members of the national congress may not necessarily be issue oriented or understand political philosophies or policy areas better than those who are on the outside, and they have tendencies to formulate policies without consulting academic and scholarly studies. As a result policies tend to be weak and lack the depth for it to be workable laws.

But, to mitigate such shortcomings calls for the intellectual community to stand up and establish their presence in the open and in public debates as both equal and necessary conduits of ideas to the political class. Policy discussions carried by members of the academia, arts, scientific, legal, and other professions serves to inform the public and stimulate civic life. The economic, cultural, and environmental challenges facing our nation are hard and prompt and require high-stakes discussions about appropriate policy response. As policymakers are also considering the proper role for government in engaging in these issues, similarly the intellectual community could also make their contributions known, be it by expressions in art, through their writings, public speeches, public demonstrations, and by other means that are healthy and beneficial for a developing nation.

In this spirit, the intellectuals promote policies and practices that strengthen and ensure that critical national debates influence public opinion and help facilitate the elected leaders’ command of issues toward meaningful public policies. At the very least, when decisions are made it will be with the appreciation that they are rooted in solid facts that have been afforded high level and thorough thinking process and not based on emotional whims, sound bites, confusion, or wrong information.