US diplomatic offensive follows detention of Samoan Minister
The detention of Samoa’s associate minister of trade and tourism Hans Joachim Keil on two counts of passport fraud has sparked a US diplomatic offensive, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urges critics to have faith in the country’s law and her diplomats work to ensure the bilateral relationship does not suffer.
More than one thousand people protested the charges in Apia in late November, while Samoan government demanded that the US drop the charges.
The US is concerned the case may have already damaged US-Samoa relations.
In an exclusive interview with Islands Business, Wellington-based US Embassy’s Dave Keegan emphasised the case was between an individual who had acquired a US passport, and the state of Missouri. “The lawyer and Mr Keil will work this case through the courts. We’ve afforded this case a lot of attention because the government of Samoa had expressed concern to us and we take that very seriously. “We want to have as good a communication with the government and the people of Samoa as we possibly can and we’ve worked very hard to do that,” Keegan said.
Keegan said the US Secretary of State had written to Samoa’s prime minister, while her senior officials in the US and the Pacific met several times with their Samoan counterparts.“[Secretary Rice] has laid out the case as we understand it, laying out our deep appreciation for Samoa, our concern to be as forthright and cooperative with them as we can,” Keegan said. He said the US immediately informed Samoa’s government of Keil’s arrest, because of the two countries’ strong relationship.
“Let’s be straight about this. Just before the arrest happened, we were informed it might happen, and that’s why we said if and when it happens, we need to inform the government of Samoa as courtesy, because this is a government we’ve worked very closely with, it’s really a model of democracy and economic progress in the Pacific, and certainly something that we have taken very seriously, that relationship is one we care about. “We didn’t do this because it was a convention, we did it because of our respect for the government and the people of Samoa. This is the kind of government where we have sent the secretary of state to go and visit,” Keegan said. Keegan said Rice’s visit underlined US interest in the region. He also suggested that Keil’s case would not harm US-Samoa relations:
“[Rice’s visit] was a very dramatic reminder of how important the Pacific is to the United States, how much we want to continue to play a role and how from our perspective Samoa is a place that is doing the right things, and that we want to work very cooperatively with, and I think we’ll continue to do that. “We understand why the people in Samoa are concerned about this. We are doing everything we can under the law to be responsive to their concerns to keep the communication up.
“But fundamentally this is a case about an individual in the US courts and we want to be very cautious about what we say about it because we want to respect his rights. We want his case to be heard in a way that he and his lawyers find most appropriate,” Keegan said.
—By Duncan Wilson
Marianas’ new delegate to US Congress
“It’s still sinking in,” Gregorio “Kilili” C. Sablan told Islands Business days after leading the historic November 4 race for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) first non-voting delegate to the US Congress. When the absentee ballots were counted on November 18, Sablan sealed his victory in the nine-way congressional race. It was just in time for the orientation in Washington, D.C. for new members of the US House of Representative for the 111th Congress. Indeed, the 53-year-old Sablan has reasons to be overwhelmed by the significance of the November 4 polls in the CNMI, a 14-island US territory in the Western Pacific whose capital island of Saipan is some 120 miles north of Guam.
It was the first time that the tropical tourist destination held an election to choose their non-voting delegate to the US Congress 30 years after the islands became a commonwealth of the United States in January 1978, and 22 years since the territory’s qualified residents became US citizens in November 1986. CNMI is the last US jurisdiction to be granted representation in the US Congress.Guam, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands have long had non-voting delegates, while Puerto Rico has long had a resident commissioner.
“The election of the first delegate from the CNMI to the US House of Representatives is an important event for the people of CNMI and our nation,” Guam Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo said in a statement.
“I congratulate delegate-elect Sablan and the people of CNMI on this occasion and I look forward to working with him when the 111th Congress is sworn in next year.” A delegate to Congress is a non-voting member of the US House of Representatives who serves a two-year term. While unable to vote in the full house, a nonvoting delegate may vote in a house committee of which he is a member.
Anyone who is elected as a delegate receives compensation of almost US$170,000 a year, benefits, and franking privileges (free outgoing US Mail) similar to full house members.For decades, CNMI was represented in the United States by a “resident representative” who was elected by CNMI voters and whose office was paid for by the CNMI government. The conduct of a delegate race resulted from a law signed by President George Bush in May that also puts CNMI’s immigration under federal control as early as June 2009.CNMI Governor Benigno R. Fitial congratulated Sablan and all of his campaign volunteers for “a job very well done,” as well as the other candidates for entering the arena of politics and waging very impressive political campaigns. When he is officially sworn into office on January 6, 2009, Sablan, a former executive director of the Commonwealth Election Commission who ran as an independent candidate, has to represent CNMI’s interests in the US Congress.
The wish list includes convincing US lawmakers to provide more to improve CNMI’s ailing economy, addressing the unintended consequences of the federal immigration takeover law like the loss of immigration status of some groups of individuals, and technical and financial support to explore alternative energy sources for the islands. To top it all off, Sablan will have to send a message to national politics and the media that the CNMI of today is far better off than the days when the islands were mired in the Jack Abramoff controversy, when scores of Asian garment workers living and working in sweatshop conditions, and when the national media painted a picture of CNMI as “paradise lost,” alleging rampant prostitution and forced abortions.
- By Haidee V. Eugenio
Pacific could learn from Singapore experience
The Pacific could perhaps learn from the Singaporean experience of rehabilitating offenders who have been able to find jobs after leaving prison through the assistance of the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprise (SCORE). SCORE chief executive Desmond Chin who was guest speaker at the recent meeting of Heads of Pacific Corrections Services held in Fiji, told participants that rehabilitating prisoners is a collective effort and should not be done single-handedly by any organisation.
The conference with the theme, “Towards a Better Correctional Practice for the Pacific”, was aimed at emphasising the continued commitment of correctional leaders to promote, maintain and strengthen co-operation between individuals, institutions and organisations interested in corrections. SCORE, which was established in 1976, was primarily aimed at securing employment for offenders on the completion of their sentences. It has a staff of 130, of which about 15 percent are ex-offenders and a database of 1747 employers who are willing to employ offenders. Last year, SCORE was able to find jobs for 2475 inmates and ex-offenders. It also does the laundry for 95 percent of Singapore’s hospitals and has the capacity of washing 55 tons of linen a day.
In addition, SCORE’s bakery has a capacity of producing 1200 loaves of bread an hour and provides two meals per day for the Singaporean Prisons Service. While SCORE has been successful in achieving its objective, Chin reminded prison heads of the Pacific that it was able to do so through the cooperation of other organisations. “Effective rehabilitation and reintegration is not possible if we do not work closely with our community partners to provide for the multi-faceted needs of the inmates. “Firstly, it is important to keep up-to-date with the market trends and employment opportunities as well as the needs of our inmates to ensure they are well prepared for the real world outside.
“Secondly, while employment is very important we must understand that employment cannot be viewed in silo. Just like you and I, there are a lot of other things that matter in our lives beyond employment including family and faith and we need to take a holistic approach when helping our inmates reintegrate back to society. “Thirdly, no man is an island. A single organisation will not be able to provide for all the inmates’ integration needs. We need to recognise the diverse avenue of help available in our communities, leverage on their strengths and work closely together to make the greatest impact,” Chin says.
Solomon Islands former prisons head, Brian Aupsey believes that while the church is influential in the rehabilitation of prisoners, the community on the other hand has a strong say in the development of custodial alternatives.
“Whilst much of the colonial inheritance is relatively punitive, in Pacific cultures the church plays a major role and so as individual pastors on the lives of prisoners. “Visiting, praying and church services are mainstream activities in Solomon Islands’ prisons and certainly much more so than would have been the case in Australia during those post-independence decades. “So in some aspects, the Pacific prison cultures have been more restorative and correctional in focus than those in Australia. In real sense, there is humanity and existence of a rehabilitative ideal based on persona repentance and godliness. “Empowering communities to take responsibility for maintaining peace at local levels will also enable the formal sector to concentrate on more serious matters. “Fundamentally, there needs to be an open dialogue with regards to the role of the churches in the development of less formal alternatives,” Aupsey says. As highlighted during the conference, Pacific prisons are filled with young people of 19 to 20 years. Meanwhile, Fiji’s deputy prisons commissioner, Auta Moceisuva said it was important to have appropriate programmes in prisons that are suitable for young offenders to curb the growth of crime and prevent them from graduating into hardened criminals.Discussions at the conference focused mainly on the post-conflict scenarios, community based correctional frameworks and prison infrastructure.
— By Elenoa Baselala
