Dare to hope for Palau

By Fuana Tmarsel

I was only 5 years old when Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his most eloquent and inspirational speech at the foot of the symbolic monument of Abraham Lincoln whose ideals for freedom for the blacks translated into the Emancipation Proclamation. Could Rev. King be considered idealistic? He spoke of ideals, certainly not the realities of his day. But, they categorically inspired the future of America then, and what had become America today. Rev. King, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, et al possessed Christian ideals. The Nazis did not. That is the difference.

Meringel El Chad (Most Important)

By Santy Asanuma

Palauan language has a strange way of describing what is important. “Meringel el chad” literally means painful person. These two words used separately do not in anyway have a meaning referring to what is important. In Palauan thinking, the mind cannot ignore pain. It occupies your consciousness; therefore, its presence cannot be avoided. In a sense, a person is most aware when he is in pain. “Meringel el chad” demarcates what gets attention as being important.

Realism versus Idealism

By Jackson M. Henry

Throughout history, man has been confronted with distinguishing the difference between idealism and realism when formulating public policies. Most confrontational are those policies intended to pull societies out of poverty. Palau has not escaped this struggle as we step up our efforts in quest of building a perfect society for ourselves.

Is US meddling in Palau’s internal politics?

By Kambes Kesolei

Lets be straight, Palau’s foreign policy is to toe the U.S. line to coax for more aid. It had its start right after the Second World War when the US naval administration took over and followed by years under the US Trust Territory Government right up into the Compact era that began in 1994, in which Palau never achieved economic independence.

Palau Heroes (Ngirbelau and Dirbelau)

By Santy Asanuma

Are there living heroes in Palau? CNN today showcased World Top Ten Heroes. One of them is a Brazilian bus driver who had cooked and packed meals every night and heads off to the poor part of downtown in search for the hungry. He gives food to anyone who is down on his/her luck and starving. And he has been doing it for four years without missing a single night so his name was nominated to CNN. Who then can be the heroes for us in Palau that we can nominate?

A Veil of deception: Blinded by money

By Fuana Tmarsel

An aria, coming from the halls of power in Ngerulmud, includes a deceptive refrain: We need money and our duty is to find money for you. We must amend this law and that law to please our investors so they can give us money. This sustained rhetoric is designed to cause a sense of urgency and alarm among the people. While it is true that we need money, it is important to examine whether the money we’re bringing in will not cost us our identity, rob us of our culture, molest our pristine waters, land and air, deprive us of our peace and serenity, and in the future dispossess our people from land, property and opportunities.

Gaps in affluence and scarcity: the capitalist ethos and the cultural tenets of community in Belau

Richard Salvador

The other night I went to attend a presentation at a local law firm by a local psychologist. She was describing hers and her organization’s work in war-torn developing nations. They do psychological therapeutic work with war and genocide survivors in these nations. I ran into someone I know from the local university, we engaged in some related discussions about people’s enduring abilities to emerge from the most traumatic experiences of war, and conflict, with assistance, of course, from the local pool of resources, their societal and cultural institutions, and whatever else was available in their local environments. The university person told me that she had just returned from a very nice and eye-opening two-week trip to Belau.

Sensond A Mrecherchii A Klengoes (Twigs Can Boil Food)

Santy Asanuma

Ordinary people in the community heed the call and respond. There are people out there who care and want the truth to ultimately triumph in Palau. One who reads A Le Ko Kau Forum responded:

Courage is what the OEK needs

By Kambes Kesolei

Most of the Eighth OEK members did not win their seats as a culmination of years of cultivating mental strength and developing their policy making skills and or defeating incumbents along the way. They won as a result of the opportunity presented by the referendum in 2004 that forced the seasoned veterans to retire. The reapportionment commission aided by adding four more seats to the Senate, raising the total number of seats to thirteen. All together the current term has 29 members, including six holdovers and 23 new faces. Thus, putting into motion the law of unintended consequences.

Bai Ra Medideriik (House of Empty)

By Santy Asanuma

An impressive ancient Bai once stood in the north of Palau but it was screamingly clear that it was not being used at all. Nobody showed up at the bai and no activity really took place inside this particular bai to earn the obvious name and its widespread reputation of being empty. Even primitive Palauans had some sense on the return of resources being invested in relation to the frequency of its usage. This expectation is still the same in Wall Street world of investment today. In this thinking, people whether in the ancient past or modern finance centers of the world today are held responsible to take care of resources (money, materials, food).