Please remember we live in a democracy, not a dictatorship. Your superiors have no right to put a gag-order on you because you work for the government, you are entitled to voice your own opinion and can vote for who you think can make Palau a better place. for you and your children without getting threatened. We do not live in Surangel-land, and politicians are still” elected by us Palauans last time I checked, even if it seems they can now buy their way into office. .
It is TIME TO HOLD LAWMAKERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR SPENDING AND ACTIONS WHILE IN OFFICE. I am very disturbed by what is happening to our country, and am hereby exercising my right to freedom of speech … Before you vote this year, carefully consider and do not be afraid to ask hard QUESTIONS:
1) Has this administration improved your standard of living, or are you having a hard time paying your bills?
2) Has this government provided any incentive, support or tax break to Palauans with their own business to boost our local economy?
Reality is more Palauan families are leaving Palau than ever before becau.se it is too expensive to live, here now. · · .
3) We need Palauan’s doctors, nurses, and teachers to earn their degrees and come back to Palau, but why should they?
What opportunities or programs has this administration come up with to get young Palauan graduates to return and live on Palau?
4) Is the tax money used to improve our health or education services, or has it been used for more government expenses?
5) Our retirees are depending· on pension and social security payments, but our cost of livi.ng has increased over 30% since the ill-timed PGST tax was introduced. Why hasn’t the government increased retirees’ payments by 30% too? How are they going to prevent our retirees from falling into poverty while the government keeps increasing their budget and tax?
6) Shouldn’t the government stop wasting· money on non-urgent government travel abroad and instead use those funds to implement community ‘programs to benefit our Palauans here in our country? Why do we have to send huge delegations around the world at high cost when one or two people could do the job?
ISSUES TO THINK ABOUT
We· now have a USD 129 million-dollar budget to run a government for 20,000 people, and we still have to beg for hand-outs from abroad to improve our infrastructure. Maybe our top-heavy government needs to learn to live within their budget, stop spending money they do not have, and focus spending on what is important to make Palauans able to live in their own country, providing support to small Palau an-owned businesses and. young -Palauan graduates. Privatize bad-functioning government agencies like PPUC and PNCC already, so we can have reliable and affordable power and internet f PPUC is charging 17 thousand dollars for a used power post you can order on line for 500, why is this government ripping off our own people when they are not even providing us the service we are paying for? After a large ADB loan to fix our sewer, the selected contractor went bankrupt and we are back o using our old sewer system, with raw sewage regularly overflowing into our precious Unesco World Heritage Site…but we will now get charged a sewage fee too, why, when the new system is not even connected/working, and why is no one ever being held accountable for these badly handled government projects?
Our recent Compact review was signed by the President and rushed through congress before anyone even knew what was in the document or had a chance to properly review it. Was that in the best interest of the Palauan people? Make sure you vote for congressmen who focus on the issues important to Palauans, not on who they can align with for personal gain…Palau will get a lot less money than the Marshalls or FSM, and those islands do not have to give up their land to place radar systems that will make Palau a target in time of war…
The US Military is now building up Palau, and while their presence benefits Palau’s economy, it also has a huge impact on our islands, wildlife and way of living. There are many support and infrastructure programs available through the US Military for such situations, but our National government, who are supposed to negotiate on the behalf of our states and people, did not bother to investigate this or look out for the best interest of our people, until those from impacted states started complaining. .
PGST-they lied to our people about how this tax works, and as a result of now taxing our water, power, food, freight, fuel, and personal items, our cost of living has increased over 30% since this tax was introduced. Big companies can write most of it off, foreign front companies operate cash only now to avoid paying tax at all, and who are actually paying the tax and suffering, we Palauans and our small businesses! The government only benefits…why are we punishing our own people? Don’t be fooled by receiving a small tax-refund check now before the elections, this is your own money they collected, and you should not have to pay to begin with …some of the tax implementation may even constitute double taxing in violation of our constitution, something that shou d be thoroughly investigated… · . . ·
Increased minimum wage across the board right before elections sounds nice, but is useless if the price of goods and tax are so high the private sector cannot support these wages, they will just end up hiring less people. Palauan cannot afford a gardener or helper anymore, and foreign workers cannot afford to live on Palau anymore …Palau is out-pricing itself for tourism too, with-22% added for room and PGST tax, so the good tourists are staying away, and we are back to cheap Chinese and Taiwanese front businesses with tourists whose cash never makes it into Palau’s economy or the tax system …Not all Palauans should work for the government, we need a healthy private sector with Palauan owned businesses to become independent as a .country, and should encourage our children to start their business.
Why are our power bills still going up? As confirmed by several senators, Palau is paying over 200K per month to a PI company for a non-functioning solar power project, on leased land in Ngatpang belonging to the president and his father, even though public land was available. This. land was also mortgaged to get an 18-million-dollar project loan from Australia to this same PI company, incorporated in Palau with 0 employees … And Palauans end up with ever higher power bills and no working solar … There were other bids for this project where Palau would only have to pay on power performance basis, with all infrastructure provided to make it work, but these bids were not considered, why: …Conflict of Interest anyone? Are the government bidding procedures even actually being enforced? We Palauans should be asking these questions of our congressmen, who should ensure we have a transparent government without corruption .. .
Other questions that bother me are why we had a foreign police Director during this administration who was not even present or live on Palau, could not present credentials, but still got paid by Palau because the president who hired him refused to fire him? Now at election time we finally get a Palauan in charge…How did Surangel’s obtain an Airai residential lease for the largest commercial building intown for only $25/year, while surrounding leases to Palauans Tmetuthl, Yano and Etpison are paying thousands of dollars for much smaller lands? These are not rumors, bat facts that can be verified by anyone who bothers to investigate…Since the president finally nominated a Special Prosecutor again, hopefully she can look into some of these matters, although good SP’s seem to have a short lifespan in Palau…
PRESIDENTIAL REPORT CARD
As a Palauan I have to give this president a failing grade.
I voted for this president the last term, but will never do so again…why would you?
We need a leader who puts self-interest aside to protect the future of our country and people, not someone who just blindly implements policies in Palau without considering the hardship it causes ·other Palauans or the damage it does to our economy. ·
JOSHUA KOSHIBA
concerned citizen, former President of the Senate and Ambassador for Palau Compact Negotiations