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A biased view of the matter
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Posted on Dec 01 2008
About the story in Friday’s paper that Micronesian leaders have asked President Bush not to designate the waters of the CNMI’s northernmost islands a national monument: it should be noted that the only reason given for the rejection was that it went against the wishes of the indigenous people of the CNMI, as demonstrated by the fact that the majority of the CNMI’s elected leaders opposed it.
The truth of the matter is that while a number of elected officials as well as many government officials do object to the monument, these people are as often as not protecting their jobs and the jobs of family members by not publicly going against the biased position that powerful lobby groups have persuaded the governor and his minions to take.
On the other hand, it has been shown again and again that once people understand just what the monument declaration will do for the CNMI, they are eager to see it come to fruition. Thousands of island residents DO support the proposed monument designation.
The objection by the Micronesian leaders, as is true of several similar organization letters recently reported in the paper, appears to be based solely on misinformation given them by our illustrious governor. Hopefully unknowingly, they are getting a biased view of the matter, which leads them to take a biased position.
According to the story, there was no mention of how the people may have felt. Nor was there any discussion, in the message of those leaders to the President, of the benefits such a designation could bring, not only to the people of the CNMI, but also to the entire Micronesian region.
Loyalty to fellow leaders is all very well, but in this case, where the CNMI governor’s position is not based on logic, or reason, but on self-interest, such statements cannot and should not be given credence.
[B]Ruth Tighe[/B] [I]Tanapag, Saipan[/I]
