Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News
Winds of change
By DICK KLEINER
SAIPAN — (NE A) -
Words and phrases which
most Americans have never
heard — “reintegration” and
“status talks” and "free as
sociation" — have the west
ern Pacific area in a tizzy.
Micronesia, an area as big
as the continental United
States, is facing a political
crisis that could have major
international significance.
Since World War 11, the
more than 2,000 islands that
make up this vast and ro
mantic part of the world
have been governed by the
United States, under a trus
teeship granted by the
United Nations.
Increasingly, the 100,000
Micronesians have become
restless. But there is no una
nimity as to what they
want. Some, particularly in
the Marshall Islands and
those in and around Truk,
favor complete independ
ence. Others, mostly around
Guam (Guam, although part
of Micronesia, is not part of
the Trust Territory; it has
been a U.S. possession since
1898) and Saipan and the
other Marianas Islands, want
statehood or “reintegration."
And others favor a kind of
commonwealth arrangement
they are calling “free asso
ciation.”
A series of status talks has
begun in Palau between
representatives of the U.S.
Congress and State Depart
ment and members of the
Congress of Micronesia. The
object is to come to some
kind of agreement on the
area’s future.
There have been similar
talks before, without any
conclusion. Even if an agree
ment is reached, it must be
ratified three times—by the
U.S. Congress, the Congress
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of Micronesia and the peo
ple in a plebiscite — before
it can be formalized.
One point that the United
States will insist on is a con
tinuance of its military bases
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Micronesia's violent past and present: U.S. Rep. Wayne Aspinall inspects the burned-out
concrete shell that was once the home of the American high commissioner. A tourist, right,
explores a relic of World War 11, a crumbling Japanese bunker on Saipan.
in the area, particularly an
air base on Tinian and mis
sile testing installations on
Kwajalein and Eniwetok in
the Marshalls.
But there are some Mi
cronesian extremists who
shake Pacific paradise
want the United States out,
everywhere.
Saipan is the seat of the
TTPI — Trust Territory of
the Pacific Islands—and ex
tremism has taken its toll
Micronesia's 2,000
islands, scattered
across 3,000 miles
of ocean, have
been a United
States trust since
World War 11.
Some of the not
so-happy islands
have other ideas
for the future.
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here. The home of Edward
Johnston, the high commis
sioner, was burned down and
is today just a concrete shell
sitting high on a hill. John
ston will not say that the
fire was the work of inde
pendence advocates, and
others insist the arsonist was
just a “nut.”
But the fire was only one
in a series of incidents.
Johnston’s wife, has been
harassed by petty annoy
ances, like the air being let
out of her car tires. Rocks
have been thrown at them.
Slogans have been painted
on their home and car.
What makes Johnston, a
Hawaiian, maddest is that
the fire consumed his most
prized possession, the pen
President Eisenhower used
to sign the Hawaiian state
hood act.
“This is only happening on
Saipan,” he says. “It’s a
small but vocal minority, a
group who want to
take over.”
The entire Micronesian
situation is a confused one,
mainly because the area is
so vast and encompasses
people of varying sorts. Nine
languages are spoken in the
TTPI’s six districts. The
Micronesians vary from the
urbane Saipanese to primi
tive people on remote is
lands.
They have many strains,
dating from the native Mela
nesian and Polynesian, to
the addition of Spanish,
German and Japanese from
previous owners. There is
still a strong pro-Japanese
feeling in the Marshall and
Palau districts, long under
Japanese occupation. Many
of these people have Japan
ese blood.
America’s trusteeship is
either hotly defended or
severly criticized, depending
on whom you talk to. John
ston admits that the area
has a long tradition of en-
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