Suicide By
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
Dollar Aid?
The millions of US dollars floating into Micronesia in federal assistance may lead the islands to “national suicide”, writes Dan Gibson from Guam, quoting Yap senator Petrus Tun.
The funds discourage islan ders’ self-sufficiency and transform imported goods into “basic needs”, the senator claims.
“If people continue to believe that luxuries are basic needs, then, in the end, it will be hard if not impossible to end handout programmes,”
Tun says.
The senator from Yap, generally considered the most conservative Micronesian dis trict, particularly assailed federal mass-feeding pro grammes.
Rather than teaching islan ders to improve their local diets, the programmes just substitute imported surplus federal foods, which “do not necessarily have higher nutri tional values”, Tun says. “If I am not mistaken, breadfruit
and taro have greater nutri tional value than bleached flour and polished rice.”
If poor diets result from “poor eating habits and sim ple ignorance then education, not feeding programmes, is needed”, he says.
Tun believes that federal programmes should serve a positive function, such as con tributing towards Microne sian self-government, emphasising self-help, con tributing to economic development, and generally making Micronesians more self-reliant.
Petrus Tun,Yap