Living in paradise

Photos of a yellow 4-wheel drive stuck on a beautiful sandy beach known as nesting ground for threatened green sea turtles at Laulau Bay were posted on social media a few days ago.

Before that, there were social media photos of fancy tourist rental cars burning or turned belly up by the roadside or driven—and then stuck—in the waters of the iconic Saipan Lagoon.

And most of us have personally experienced this: Beach Road traffic comes to a halt while tourists driving rental cars stop in the middle of the road to take photos, without regard to road laws, rules, and other road users.

And then there are stories of tourists defecating on the beach.

What followed the most recent posting of photos of a 4WD stuck on a sandy beach was a barrage of criticism, commentaries, and proposed solutions.

People pointed to the lack of education among suspected tourists about CNMI environmental and traffic laws, the CNMI government’s lack of enforcement of these statutes, whether any additional gaming revenue has already gone to regulatory and law enforcement agencies to enforce the laws, whether vehicle rental companies or tour agents should also be held liable to a certain degree, and the price the CNMI has to pay for being unable to strike a delicate balance between new tourism money and the wellbeing of residents and environment.

The influx of moneyed tourists on island territories’ shores, including the CNMI where the U.S. government temporarily waived the requirement of a U.S. tourist visa for Chinese and Russian tourists, is pretty much welcome economic news.

They beef up government revenues, shore up investments, create jobs for residents, and—ideally—fund the impact on and provide more for public safety, public health, public education, power, water, sewer, roads, and other public infrastructure.

But where does one island community like Saipan draw the line between getting as many tourists as possible for the economic activity they bring and raising peoples’ standard of living without degrading the natural environment, without sacrificing peace and order and without corrupting those in public offices?

While some would argue that the CNMI still has among the cleanest and most pristine beaches in the world or still among the safest communities, a lot needs to be done now before it’s too late to make sure the islands remain as beautiful, peaceful and orderly if not more pristine for future generations.

Ironically, some of the very same officials who legalized Saipan casino legislation that has irreversible impact on the environment, the landscape and the island way of life—without public consultation despite voters’ earlier direct rejection of the proposal twice—are now touting a slow and steady growth plan.

To quote concerned citizen Glen Hunter, “There was nothing slow or gradual about that whole process…It seems that immediate, fast and improperly planned development was behind the push to get an exclusive casino license handed to a specific bidder…The only thing slow about this whole process has been transparency.”

As for the current executive and leadership, another one said, “Looks like BS has the best government it could imagine.”

But it’s also true that the government you elect is the government you deserve. We’ll see this once again when voters go to the polls this November for the midterm elections.

Alex Sablan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, once again called on the government to focus on a controlled and planned development. Previous calls fell on deaf ears. Hopefully this time there will be positive response.

The basic idea, he said, is to look at development “in terms of backtracking and fitting out where the CNMI is in terms of its worker pool and determining how many rooms the CNMI can open up with that worker pool; getting contractors to move into the project-oriented H-visas, and getting professional level CWs into other visas to see what the real CW needs are, for example.”

The government’s turtle pace in reviewing and updating its land use plan long before, during, and after allowing a promised $7.1-billion integrated casino resort on Saipan by an exclusive investor group also does not inspire trust and confidence.

Functioning power, water, road, and other public infrastructure are barely sufficient to address the needs of the present population. What more when all the touted additional developments come to full fruition and more tourists are being planned to bring in for these developments, considering the government’s perennial lack of infrastructure planning?

The government cannot even enforce its decades-old anti-littering laws, what more enforcing no-driving on beaches laws when the limited number of enforcement personnel cannot be in most of the popular beaches all the time?

The CNMI was among the first island territories in the Pacific to ban shark finning, but needs to do more to enforce such law.

Just two months ago, three dead juvenile sharks without fins and tails were found on Saipan. Makes one wonder just how much demand there is for shark fin soup, despite what’s supposed to be a monumental law in place against shark finning.

And just what portion, if any, of supposedly additional revenue from all gaming-related business activities in the CNMI goes to enforcement of environmental laws or making sure the hospital stays open even without millions from the U.S. federal government?

The continued absence of casino tax for an exclusive Saipan casino license holder is also very much telling of the kind of governance and leadership there is. A comparison made by foreign media months back showed Macau imposes a 39 percent tax rate; the Philippines, 27 percent; Vietnam, 35 percent; and Saipan, zero.

Now, it’s true the casino license holder pays business gross revenue tax just like what every business ought to do, pays a license fee that’s expected of an exclusive license holder, and donates to any causes they can get their hands on, but they remain exempt from the jackpot tax and casino tax which is unheard of in successful casino destinations.

Moreover, one can argue that social, environmental, economic disparity, safety and security, and corruption problems have been in the CNMI long before a new wave of tourism has reached its shores. While that has some truth, who is to argue against doing more to address what appears to be more blatant, more pronounced disregard for laws?

What the CNMI is experiencing now in dealing with a new wave of tourism is just a sample of what’s to come, unless the U.S. government halts the visa-waiver program for Chinese and Russian tourists.

Palau cut the number of flights from China to ease the pressure on its environment, its infrastructure and island way of life from a spike in tourist numbers. Palau conceded it simply does not have the infrastructure to cope with soaring visitor numbers so it had to take a stand before it’s too late.

Just like the CNMI, Palau has natural attractions that draw tourists to its shores. However, it is also for this reason that Palau has had to limit the number of people visiting the islands.

Unlike Palau which showed the world that new tourism money can be carefully balanced with protecting peoples’ wellbeing and environment, the CNMI has yet to chart a direction better than what it has now. As always, it is never too late to make a change for the better and the government always needs the help of community members to make that happen.