When Reality Pushes People to Escape

Dear Editor,

Palau is in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that our leaders refuse to address with any seriousness. The reality is simple: the scale of our economy does not allow ordinary people to make ends meet. Wages remain stagnant, essentials are taxed, and the government operates as if its primary duty is to collect from the people rather than support them. The result? People are trapped in a cycle of financial stress, poor health, and more dangerously increasing drug use.

It’s no surprise that alcohol has always had a strong presence in Palau. But now, we have a far more destructive force: methamphetamine, or “ice.” It is spreading in our communities like a disease, not because people wake up one day wanting to destroy their lives, but because the gap between our reality and our expectations is unbearable. When people cannot afford the basics, when they see no path to improving their lives, they look for an escape. Some leave Palau. Others turn to drugs or alcohol to fill the emptiness.

What makes this worse is the complete failure of leadership? Government should not live off the people; the people should live off the government. That is what governance is supposed to mean, minimizing the cost of living, ensuring access to essential goods, and protecting the well-being of citizens.

Yes, tax imports. But food and fuel, essentials that every Palauan needs to survives should be tax-free or at the very least subsidized. Instead, we have PGST slapped on top of everything, raising the cost of daily life. And yet, the same leaders who pushed for this tax now try to blame the rise of drug use on outside influences, pointing fingers instead of fixing the problem.

Good policy, supported with the right resources, is the only way forward. But what we see is the opposite. Take PPUC, for example. Leaders criticize the agency without telling the public the whole truth. When the water and sewer department was taken back by PPUC, the law you passed forbade them from using electricity revenue to pay for water services. So, where were they supposed to find the money? You created the problem, then you stand on the sidelines blaming them for high rates.

And what about measuring the impact of PGST? Where is the government department tracking the change in the cost of living from before PGST to now? Nowhere. Instead, supporters post pictures of grocery prices in other countries to “prove” that our cost of living isn’t that bad. Well, I don’t live in those countries. I live in Palau. I make Palauan minimum wage. I pay Palauan prices with PGST on top. And unlike the leaders and their close supporters, I don’t have a comfortable government salary or allowances to cushion the blow. The disconnect between leaders and the people is staggering. Leaders complain, but they don’t bring solutions. Some even have direct knowledge, like those who used to work at PPUC and remain silent. That’s not leadership. That’s complicity.

This cost-of-living crisis is feeding our greatest health and social problems. Non-communicable diseases are already our leading killers, made worse by overconsumption of cheap, unhealthy food because healthier options are too expensive. Add the stress of trying to survive on one of the lowest wages in the Pacific and the result is predictable: people drink too much, overeat, or turn to drugs.

Leaders, wake up. Our people are dying not just from ice, not just from alcohol, not just from diabetes, but from the slow suffocation of a system that makes life unaffordable and unbearable. If you truly care about the future of this country, stop playing politics and start creating policies that put food on the table, keep fuel affordable, and give our people real hope.

Because until you do, the escape routes whether on a plane out of Palau or in a glass pipe will keep claiming our people. And that is on you.

Your Humble Servant

Al Kahalic