Overview:
Senate Bill 12-38 aims to reshape Palau’s Sports Commission, but does it address what athletes and sports organizations actually need? In this opinion piece, Dudalm Kelulau argues that Palau needs greater investment in sports facilities, equipment, coaches and year-round programs — not another layer of bureaucracy.
Dear Editor:
Senate Bill 12-38 claims to strengthen sports in Palau. The intent may be good, but the bill shows a troubling gap between leaders who came from the sports community and their understanding of what that community needs.
The bill would steer the Sports Commission toward sports tourism and facilities and let it oversee national events and bids for regional games. The Palau National Olympic Committee and our National Sports Federations already do that work, and do it well, as the 2025 Pacific Mini Games proved.
The bill also drops the requirement that Commission members represent a sport. It deletes the duty to coordinate year-round sports for all ages. And it adds no new funding. For a nation of our size, we keep building bureaucracy that looks good on paper and fails in practice.
Our athletes are not held back by a shortage of governing bodies. They are held back by a shortage of resources: facilities, equipment, coaches, and steady operating funds. PNOC President Frank Kyota and all of the sports federations submitted joint recommendations in January 2026, as the Senate committee requested. None of them made it into the bill. That is not consultation. It is a formality.
The real crisis is our health not who organizes or represents sport in Palau. According to Palau’s own 2025-2030 NCD Strategic Plan, non-communicable diseases now cause nearly 80 percent of all deaths in Palau, up from 70 percent a decade ago. Three in four adults are overweight or obese. The World Bank warns that unchecked NCDs could shrink our economy by 5 to 6 percent by 2040. Our children are on the same path. Nearly one in three school-age children is overweight or obese. Only 28 percent of our youth are active for an hour on five or more days a week. These are scary numbers and we are still arguing who organizes what?
Since 2015, ten percent of alcohol and tobacco taxes have gone to NCD prevention. Yet the numbers keep getting worse. If the senator truly wants to help our youth and communities, he should pass a law that directs a set percentage of NCD funds to sports and schools. The NCD plan itself names PNOC and sports federations as partners in getting students active. Give our children places to play, coaches to guide them, and programs that run all year. That is prevention that works.
Senator, you know what needs to be done. Being elected does not make anyone the expert. Sit down with the people who do this work every day and ask them one question: how can we help make your work more effective? I voted for you. But the way you have spoken about our history and our sports organizations makes this feel more personal than a sincere effort to make Palau better.
Our athletes and our communities deserve better. Everything for Everyone and Nothing for Ourselves.
Your Humble Servant
Dudalm Kelulau
The Silent Majority