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JULY 2, 2010
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| Guam firm at fault for propane shortage MEC General Manager David Paul is angry. And he wants MEC customers to know that his anger is directed at the company on Guam that he says has dropped the ball on delivering propane gas to Majuro. Many Majuro businesses ran out of propane earlier this week when MEC could not secure delivery of product from Guam’s Shell company. “We are now looking at getting an alternative supplier using Reef Shipping,” Paul said. Paul said MEC paid for the delivery, but the Guam company did not get the tank to Matson in time to make the last ship. Jurelang on state visit to Taiwan At the invitation of President Ma Ying-jeou, President Jurelang Zedkaia and First Lady Hannah Jurelang Zedkaia are on a state visit to the Republic of China/Taiwan that started Wednesday. Zedkaia’s delegation is accompanied by ROC Ambassador Bruce J.D. Linghu and will be in Taiwan from June 30 through July 5. Jack, Fred off to see ADB Finance Minister Jack Ading is heading to Manila this week to meet with Asian Development Bank officials to discuss a major loan to the Marshall Islands. Ading said the proposed loan, which is approximately $14 million, is mainly aimed at stabilizing the Marshalls Energy Company. The government’s negotiation of this loan is linked to reforms being undertaken at MEC, Ading said. The point of the plan with the ADB is to replace a current loan with Bank of Guam with a low-interest loan, which will immediately improve MEC’s cash flow by reducing expenses. Places you shouldn't go swimming in Majuro Only four of 12 Majuro lagoon areas were unfit for swimming and fishing during May, according to a Coastal Water Quality monitoring report by the RMI Environmental Protection Authority. This is an improvement over April, when water testing showed nine of 21 sites were contaminated by pollution. In May, the four unsafe areas were identified as: Alwal (end of Rita), Jenrok I and II, and Small Island. |
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English: The language of education
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| The success of Pacific islanders who “embrace and practice more than one language and culture” is based on a solid basic education that includes a strong emphasis on English language, US Ambassador Martha Campbell (pictured right) told last week’s Pacific Islands Bilingual and |  |
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| Bicultural Association meeting in Majuro. “The United States believes that educated people will choose freedom, free people will choose democracy, and democracies will choose peace,” she said. “Those who receive a solid education and take advantage of it, are generally happier, more productive, and more successful in life. For a nation, a reliable educational system is the only way to generate growth and energy for innovation for the future.” While pointing out that Marshallese language is strong and thriving, she said that for Marshall Islanders and others in small Pacific islands to prosper, “many more citizens need more than a passing knowledge of a world language, which, in this part of the world, is English.” The US Ambassador said that Marshallese language, culture and history should not be ignored. But there needs to be a strong focus on English, she said. “The curriculum for all schools needs to be taught in | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| English, starting with kindergarten, when young minds can absorb a new language most readily,” she said. “Without ignoring or forgetting the cultural and historical significance of the languages of the Pacific Islands, the fact remains that English is critical for all students in this region, those who are pursuing academic advancement and those who are seeking to gain practical life and work skills.” The challenge for most islands is “how to blend the rightful desire to hold onto their unique histories and cultures and a need to embrace modernity,” she said. Renewed interest in the languages and cultures of the Pacific can rekindle a healthy patriotism and greater interest in the study of the history of the region. “It will lead each country to find a workable solution on how to retain its own culture while blending into the modern world: true biculturalism,” she said. She cited the unhealthy eating habits adopted by Marshallese as a negative aspect of western culture that “has become such a health threat that the Pacific Island Health Officers Association recently declared a health emergency in the region.” She added: “Lifestyle is one area where a revival of traditional native cultural practices could directly improve the health and therefore the future of these Pacific Islands and their citizens and should be an area of emphasis for this organization.” The US Embassy in Majuro is funding “creative programs for reviving some exciting practices of traditional Marshallese culture,” she said, citing the examples of teaching traditional ways of building, sailing, and navigating sailing canoes; guiding Marshallese women to redevelop the skills of fine weaving; and combining traditional and Western technology to help the fragile coral atolls adapt to the effects of climate change. “In short, we recognize that people can only understand one another if they understand themselves first,” she said. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IRI on Coast Guard A-list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GIFF JOHNSON Just days after receiving high marks from a European ship monitoring group, the Marshall Islands ship registry was named to the US Coast Guard’s “Qualship 21 list” for 2010, the Trust Company reported Tuesday. The US Coast Guard again named the Marshall Islands Registry, managed by International Registries Inc., to its Qualship 21 roster in the annual Port State Control in the United States annual report 2009. The Qualship 21 list recognizes the top-performing foreign flag ship registries that meet US safety standards. The Coast Guard’s announcement comes during the ongoing attempt to stop an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico involving an oil rig that was registered in the RMI. The Marshall Islands has been the target of media criticism that registration in the RMI allowed the oil rig Deepwater Horizon to avoid more stringent US Coast Guard inspections and rules. But the RMI is on the US Coast Guard’s top 16 list. This year’s Qualship 21 list was cut from 20 registries to 16, and includes the Marshall Islands, Barbados, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Isle of Man, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. The Marshall Islands is the only one of the top-five registries in the world to be included on the Coast Guard’s list. In a letter to the Marshall Islands ship registry recognizing it for making the Qualship 21 list last year, US Coast Guard Commander J.F. Williams said “the criteria for inclusion are very strict and less than 10 percent of all foreign flagged ships that operate in the United States have earned the Qualship 21 designation.”The commander recognized the Marshall Islands ship registry “for your exceptional commitment to quality.” The Marshall Islands ship registry is also on a |
“white list” issued by a European group that monitors shipping globally. The white list includes 39 ship registries around the world that achieved the best ship safety rating, which was announced last week. The RMI’s ship registry was ranked above both those of the United States and Panama, the world’s largest — both of which are on the grey list. “The white list represents quality flags with a consistently low detention record of its vessels,” said a statement from a European group that rates ship registries worldwide. The Marshall Islands was listed in the middle of the 39 best flags, according to a release from a Netherlands-based organization that monitors “port state control.” The white listing for the Marshall Islands “is a testament to the hard work our registry staff worldwide perform every year,” Marshall Islands Trust Company spokesman Baron Bigler told the Journal at the weekend. The Marshall Islands registry has been on the white list for several years, he said. Regional port state control was initiated in 1982 when 14 European countries agreed to coordinate their port state inspection effort under a voluntary agreement known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU). “A flag’s ranking is taken into account when targeting ships for inspection and ships flying flags listed on the ‘black list’ are liable for banning from the region after multiple detentions,” said the release from the Paris MoU. Port state control is a check on visiting foreign ships to see that they comply with international rules on safety, pollution prevention and seafarers’ living and working conditions. According to the Paris MoU statement, there are 23 ship registries on a black list, two more than last year. A total of 19 flag states — including the United States — are on the grey list. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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