We’re diversifying!

The constant–though often misguided–calls for “diversification” here have finally gone heeded. We’ve diversified, all right…at least in the realm of assaulting tourists.

The alleged rape of a tourist on Tinian is still fresh in mind. And this week’s alleged assault of yet another fair maiden on Managaha has also shown that we’ve branched out from our usual Garapan strong-armed robberies.

…but Managaha? Whoda’ thunk? The place doesn’t exactly lend itself well to easy escapes.

But such creativity shouldn’t go unheeded; after all, we’re talking about the sacred concept of diversification here.

The Japanese, no doubt, will heed the trend. Some of my professional duties have meant working closely with Japanese tour agents, and I’ve come away with the distinct impression that out target market puts a premium on safety when it travels. In other words, if things here get much nastier, crime-wise, our reputation may get seriously tainted, tourism-wise.

Perhaps even worse, we’ll have to endure a veritable hot-air typhoon of slip shod sociology as lame ideas are offered in place of serious solutions to crime. Warm and fuzzy concepts like youth centers, self-esteem crusades in school, and other such things may be well-intentioned, but aren’t likely to thwart the dark ambitions of the criminally inclined.

The concept of the youth center has always mystified me. I remember seeing them on the tough side of town when I was a kid. They were focal points for those of weak mind, not able to pass time with books or in other forms of study, who wiled away the hours playing pool and ping-pong. Most were low-grade delinquents of one stripe or another, chronic losers who wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in life if you gave them gold plated scholarships to Harvard, a platoon of tutors, and a million bucks a year in walking around money.

The time is going to come where the Commonwealth has to put up or shut up in our lame attempts to shmooze the Japanese market. A place that tolerates violent crime and property crime is a place that’s perceived as encouraging it. Which is, in essence, the same as manufacturing it.

What a thing to manufacture. Singapore–computer chips. Switzerland–cheese. Saipan–violent predators.

And it’s not just the crooks at issue. I know a Japanese woman whose room was burgled and her stuff ripped off at one of our most “prestigious” hotels. She was bullied by management into not calling the cops. She was, as it turns out, one of the Japanese advertising industry’s leading experts on Saipan, and though she may not have aired her story publically, she sure as heck did relate the tale to a wide-reaching and influential network of colleagues and cronies.

Public opinion is a strange animal, and we can’t foresee exactly when or how the Japanese market might seriously sour on us because of the crime thing. But our diversified crime industry will inevitably hasten the arrival of that day. If that day comes, it could easily cut the number of tourism arrivals in half. It’s happened in Caribbean tourism locales, and it could happen here.

Ed Stephens, Jr. is an economist and columnist for the Saipan Tribune. “Ed4Saipan@yahoo.com”