Palau’s quality of life declining
October 14, 2009
By Kambes Kesolei
What was lost among the good news during the media briefing on September 30 at the old Olbiil Era Kelulau, was the disturbing piece of information from Minister of Justice John C. Gibbons who reported that of all the theft cases recorded by the police in a recent one week period in September, 80 percent involve stolen food items.
This is worrying situation that hasn’t been heard of in recent memory and brings attention to the side of Palau that has been forgotten and ignored over time, the poor and low income earners. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before they’re forced out into the open by the economic hardships that has been felt in every level down to the individual families.
A recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Finance shows 933 families or over 26 percent of all the households headed by a Palauan live on less than $5,000 per year or less, including 205 families with no source of income. Numbers in which are similar to Koror, the main population center, and in which the bulk of the stolen food cases were recorded.
Imagine a family of four – the average household size of Palauan families, tries to live on less than $5,000 a year? In Koror, the family size is slightly more than the national average. Practically, any head of the household, even those with much higher earnings will tell you that cost of living has gone up. Price of staple food items such as canned foods, rice, and fresh produce have shoot through the roof faster than their income can keep up with. And what still not being factored into the equation are other costs like house rentals, utilities, and other necessities.
Fewer families have land to cultivate food or farm for income. Only 442 out of the 3,528 Palauan households maintain a dry land farming or taro paddies. And in Koror, it is ninety-nine families’ out of the recorded 2,116 Palauan families that maintain farm on dry and wetlands, the rest of the Koror local household have none.
With the economic numbers cited by the survey, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the theft of food, the very basic item of survival, is an unintended social outcry coming from those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder.
As a people and culture held together by the age-old tradition and cultural values of sharing and helping those in need, the time has come to turn attention to the affected group as raising them up should be the top priority, and only then could we even begin to measure our success as a nation and ensure a better quality of life.
October 17, 2009 at 8:40 am
Alii Mr. Kesolei!
First of all I am truly grateful for this site as I had just stumbled upon it
In regards to this piece of information that you have just shared here, what can one do but stare in awe? Although the numbers come down to about $13.70 a day per family, which is far above the international poverty line, it is still very troubling to see this kind of pattern where people are now stealing food in our country. Call me naive but I have always thought that no one could go hungry in Palau.
Many questions come to mind, but one important question would be: What does the government plan to do regarding this issue? After all, isn’t responding to the needs of the population an essential characteristic of democracy? I apologize if my following assessment is way off track as I am a Palauan student living abroad. It is difficult to get credible information regarding our government from miles away. However, from what I gather, there is negative response from the public towards the current administration. One would think that a small island-nation would be easy to manage considering its small and almost homogeneous population. However, this type of behavior (food theft) should be an indicator that something is terribly wrong. I’m afraid that we are beginning to see signs of structural violence in our country. I guess what I’m getting at is, what is being done about this? Is this seen as a serious threat to stability and security? What is the government doing in response to its people’s needs?
Are current public policies being shaped to distribute equal wealth among the people? Or are we sliding down the slippery slope of capitalism? I say that it’s about time to organize the community and demand stability and welfare. It’s about time the people stop whispering and make their voices heard loud and clear. Demand for change and demand it now!
Let me point out that I do feel a sense of helplessness from being away from these problems. Believe me it is very crippling; but If it wasn’t for the pursuit of education, I would be right there with all of you. If Gabriella fought for democracy and for her people (thank you S. Asanuma for a wonderful article), so can we!
Thank you Kambes for your work!
Peace,
J.Ngoriakl
November 18, 2009 at 7:26 am
Yikes, I smell the aftermath of Capitalism. I wonder, before capitalism, did we have serious problems like theft and thing like that? I’m sure we did, but just not at a disturbing pace.
I sure do agree that theft of food is alarming and a wake up call to the republic. I doubt, however, that the Government is equipped to deal with such matter. It seems very natural these days to turn to the Government for answers to societal problems. I think the community will have much greater effect in resolving such issue. Maybe have an annual food drive in every community (or state/village).
Is there anyone else out there that thinks that we no longer give as much food away to our relatives as before? Or has Palau discovered the “me” attitude? Or perhaps people are less industrious these days and sloth is soon catching up. I can understand that sometimes, it is harder to give in a profit-driven world. The fact is, in a working man’s house, hunger looks in, but dares not enter.
There are two ways to remedy such matter. 1). Maybe we need a non profit agency set up to collect and distribute food items throughout our communities. Perhaps that will make it easier for people, who have excess, to give and the ones, who are struggling, to receive. The problem with that is, it can lead to a welfare dilemma. 2). Teach our kids to be industrious. Sel tekoi el uase, “ng kesib a isngem e mengang ra kelem.” I am not an expert, but I do understand one economic rule: There is no such thing as something for nothing.
If nothing maybe done, you can rest assured that in 20 years from now, such instances will be nothing more than a segment in the evening news in Belau. Most will watch/read the news and say, “chedil, te chebuul tirkei” and going back to eating their dinners!
Problems are like cancer, extinguish it while its in the budding stages.
Ma uriul-
November 20, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I like your point but I do have to disagree with you on one thing, although charity is always a quick solution to problems of this kind, it is not a stable and productive solution. Instead of putting a bandaid on the problem we should go to the root of it. Our country is so small and should be easy to manage if our leaders figure out ways to develop our economy and provide more jobs with better wages to the people; and by that I mean developing the private sector. We are blessed by an abundance of natural resources but we rely heavily on foreign aid and are just too spoiled to look for other ways. Aid and charity is out there, but we can never be industrious if we keep depending on such things, just look at countries in the African region, they receive billions of dollars in aid and yet they are stuck without even a foot on the development ladder. I don’t think that’s the direction we want to take. We ought to “extinguish [this problem] while its in the budding stages”.