On My Mind

Another three-day weekend. The plentiful holiday season is here again. This year, though, the observation of Veterans Day was particularly poignant, with the deaths just last week of two of CNMI’s members of the U.S. Army Reserves serving in Iraq. My heart—and deepest sympathy—go out to the families of Staff Sgt. Wilgene Lieto and Cpl. Jeff Derrence Jack.

This year’s Veteran’s Day observances, scheduled for American Memorial Park at 11am, were graced by the presence of the U.S. Department of Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Insular Affairs David Cohen.

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As the war in Iraq falters on, as Palestine and Israel stumble over their attempts to come to terms, as unrest haunts Ireland, Rwanda, Chechnya, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, Syria and Lebanon and now France, it seems increasingly clear—at least to me—that what is most needed in the world right now is an “army” of skilled and respected peacemakers, mediators, negotiators rather than an army of militants.

It is obvious that shooting and killing don’t really solve injustices. Ordinary talk by either the military or politicians—or even world leaders—doesn’t seem able to end the killing either. Not even good intentions—as the agreement reached by idealists who tried to prevent destruction of greenhouses in the West Bank so that incoming Palestinians might have a source of revenue, only to have them destroyed by militants, illustrates—have much effect.

We need, instead, thousands of people trained in finding areas of agreement, adept in persuasive skills, untainted by prejudice, inspired by the promises of peace. As has been shown, it is not enough to talk to the heads of state alone. The negotiators, mediators, peacemakers, must also go out into the field and exert their skills where the fighting is, in the streets, in the jungles, in the homes.

If the CNMI were to take entry into the education industry seriously, here is a niche that no one else is supporting, and that the CNMI, with its own history of war and conflict, would be uniquely qualified to establish and promote.

Wishful thinking? Pie in the sky? Unrealistic? Hey, one has to start somewhere…

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On the subject of unrest, I think it uninformed and counter-productive that the U.S. has issued warnings to its citizens not to travel to Indonesia after the recent bombings. Indonesia has not yet reached the degree of lawlessness that the press has pictured the Philippines as being—where no mall, no street, seems safe from bombing and kidnapping—year-round.

In Indonesia, it has happened once in a year. It isn’t as though bombings were occurring every week, or even every month. There are eleven months inbetween when Bali is serene and quiet—and lovely. Moreover, Java, Indonesia’s main island, hasn’t had any outbreaks of violence. The U.S. did not, after all, ban travel to England after the multiple explosions there. Nor has travel been banned to Spain. In Bali, where the economy is so heavily dependent on tourism, banning travel there will certainly not endear the U.S. to Indonesia—in fact, it might make relations worse!

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Back home, wasn’t it extraordinary how quickly the political campaign signs disappeared from the roads? By 9am last Sunday morning, they were practically all gone from Tanapag to the foot of Capitol Hill. By the end of that Sunday, they were practically all gone from both Middle and Beach Road—except for a stretch of what I think is known as Gualo Rai. Amazing!

It usually takes the full 30 days—provided in the law for removal without fine—before as many signs are down as were down this time in less than 24 hours of the close of the polls. Did it have to do with the fact that results—at least for governor—were not clear? Or have the CNMI’s political parties and candidates suddenly been overcome with concern for the appearance of its roads????

In fact, even the “thank-you” signs are sparser than ever!

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It’s true it might be cleaner and easier and faster if political aspirants in the CNMI could constrain themselves to supporting and participating in either one party or another, rather than the three parties and an additional rank of independents that have been in evidence over the last several years.

And yes, the outcome would no doubt have been clearer sooner if there had been a primary. One theory behind the decision not to have a primary—which no one has mentioned, at least in print—is that candidates felt it would be easier to win 26 percent of the vote—one more than π—than it was to win 34 percent. Guess no one thought it would be so close!

But the splintering of parties has a certain advantage. Unable to rely on party lines for votes, leaders are going to have to look for allies and supporters who agree on the particular set of issues involved. That could mean that for a change, positions will be taken, and laws passed, on the basis of the issues rather than on the basis of party. Wouldn’t that be refreshing?

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There’s been no mention of the form of this year’s ballot as a contributing factor to the election results—that is, that because people could not vote a straight party line, that party lost votes. The only mention has been from the Election Commission Executive Director, who said that with the new lay-out, there were far fewer ballots that had to be voided—because of mistakes in the number of candidates voted for—than in previous years.

Let’s hope the new Legislature listens, and passes a bill allowing the present format, which is clear, logical and easy to understand—as well as being more economical because everything fits on one side of the page—to continue. The 14th Legislature had voted to return to the old format, where candidates were listed by party rather than position, before the new format had even had a chance to be tried by voters.

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The need for candidates and their party members to be civil, because their positions are so perilously close and the outcome is not yet known, has brought about a very distinct and pleasant state of affairs—a cooling-off period, as it were—in sharp contrast to previous elections. Will it last beyond the anti-climatic end once the absentee ballots have been counted? Will it finally make people realize that politics is a game, and that there’s no need to take it quite so seriously? That people can be friends, and can work together even if their politics are different?

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The rumor—I don’t know how far it got—that absentee ballots had been stolen in the Capitol Hill post office burglary was just that—a rumor. It apparently started because a TV announcer—for some reason known only to the announcer—introduced the story of the theft by saying something to the effect that officials had given assurances that absentee ballots were secure. The two events were not the least bit related, since the theft occurred more than a week before the election and long before the importance of the absentee ballots had been recognized.

At least one listener misunderstood, and concluded that absentee ballots were among the missing items of mail, which the listener then shared with others.

But who could possibly have benefited from stealing absentee ballots to begin with?

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More so earlier last week than later, Saipan was again deluged with heavy rains. The CNMI averages 80 inches of rain water a year—water that floods the streets, overburdens the sewer system, wears away top soil, muddies the lagoon and kills the coral, and only some of which becomes ground water and enters Saipan’s water system. What a waste!

One would think that between the monies coming in for the Coral Reef Initiative and for the Water Task Force, there’d be enough to design and implement an effective system for capturing that rain water and converting it into something useful rather than something destructive. It is downright painful to think how much of those 80 inches serve no purpose, just go to waste.

It would not take much, it seems to me, to justify the building of catchment systems and reservoirs both as a means of helping to protect the reef and lagoon, and as a source of additional water. But it does not seem to be happening. The rains keep falling, and washing away more top soil, stifling more coral, eroding more roads…..What are people waiting for?????

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On an entirely different note, one of the best, if not the best, program on KRNM, the CNMI’s local public radio station, is “Justice Talking.” It airs Sunday mornings from 10am to 11am, and again Wednesday evenings, from 8pm to 9pm. The program takes major issues, such as free speech and the first amendment, animal rights, political asylum, medical marijuana, assisted suicide, and spends the hour debating its pros and cons. Moderated by Margot Adler, each program features at least one expert from each side of the particular topic under discussion who together argue, debate, discuss their separate points of view.

The program is initially done before a live audience, members of which also get a chance to ask questions of the experts.

What makes the program such a stand-out in my opinion is that often very controversial subjects are openly and intelligently discussed in a civil setting—there is no yelling and screaming and calling of names, just calm and reasoned debate—by people who disagree with each other, but who know and understand the issue and know how to express themselves clearly. In addition, the program often bring out new information, additional aspects, or background information that leads listeners to a better understanding of the question.

I would wish the program aired an hour earlier, so more and younger school students could also listen. The program is not only informative, but provides a wonderful model of how to effectively discuss controversial subjects. KRNM can be heard at 88.1 or 89.1 on the FM dial. And if you haven’t sent in your contribution to its twice-early fund drive yet, do it now!!!!

(The writer is a librarian by profession, and a long-term resident of the CNMI. To contact her, send e-mail to ruth.tighe@saipan.com.)