Letters
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Micronesia!
It is now more than 30 years ago since the American troops occupied Micronesia and they are still there! For what reason? Naturally to incor porate the territory into the USA. Similar has happened before to Hawaii.
In 1899 just 15 years be fore the outbreak of World War I American troops occupied Hawaii and de stroyed the freedom and independence of the small Hawaiian kingdom forever.
The Americans spread the rumour that the royal family was insane an old trick used by the Americans against those who oppose them and the
royal family was disposed of.
And that leads us to Pearl Harbour, 1941. The Japanese did not attack an American ter ritory but an island illegally
occupied and colonised by
Americans. The crime per petuated by the Americans in 1899 was so much worse than Pearl Harbour. Of the original 100 000 true Hawaiians only a few hundred have survived.
To acquire Micronesia the Americans do not hesitate to use varying tactics. Micronesia is, of course, a potentially very rich country, possibly much richer than any Arab country.
There could be vast oil fields and on the sea bottom large de posits of manganese nodules, all of which the Americans
want to grab. So they spread
the rumour that Micronesia is a very poor country unable to support itself. They also direct its economy so that it will be dependent on America. The Americans are using propa
ganda, brainwashing, coercion
of different kinds, as well as traitors and immigrants to
achieve their goal incorpora
tion of Micronesia into the
USA and ultimately hegemony
of all the Pacific. An act of self determination would be like
the one in Irian Jaya.
We know that Micronesia has been under colonial rule for more than 300 years, first under the Spanish, then the Germans and Japanese, last named treating it as part of Japan, and now the Americans.
Have the people of Micronesia developed into a race of serfs some kind of serfs of the Pa cific willing to be ruled by their white, colonial masters 15 000 km away or are they as proud and independent as the Ton gans and Western Samoans?
Only by demanding full free
dom and complete indepen
dence can the people of Micronesia show that they are a noble people.
There should be in the United Nations Charter a law that any people under UN Trusteeship must attain absol
ute independence. Rights to
exploration and exploitation
should be carefully supervised
directly by the United Nations.
Then what is happening in Micronesia could not happen.
Never has a UN Trusteeship been treated in such a shocking way as Micronesia. One need only mention Bikini with its radioactive bomb craters and its people suffering from dis eases of radioactivity, or the slum areas of Kwajalein, the only one in the Pacific beside
Pago Pago’s.
It is a dark page in the his tory of mankind when a country of 200 million Americans are trying to bull doze 100 000 Micronesians from the surface of the earth as they did to the Red Indians.
The book “ Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” could then in dicate the fate of the Micronesian people too!
France and England have a fine record of decolonisation, and Australia can be proud of the way they handled the
independence of Niugini:
“Niugini must get indepen
dence whether they want it or not.” It has proved a great suc cess.
In Niugini only persons with at least two grandparents born in the Territory were automati cally considered citizens a very clever move by the Pan ginians. For Micronesia it should be similar, but with an addition. Anyone who has or has had American or other foreign citizenship should be
forthwith excluded from citi zenship rights for at least 10 years.
The independence of Micronesia is the most import ant issue in the Pacific of today.
Let us insist that no other country be granted indepen dence until Micronesia has got its place as a free and indepen dent nation among the brother hood of free nations.
Noumea
Kaliou
New Caledonia
Free Advice
On Engines!
PIM may remember me in the Sixties as the Marine Man ager of Thornycroft (Aust) Pty Ltd until taken over in ’62 by AEC Ltd. I cannot remember or trace the name of the then advertising manager for PIM but we often commented on the fact that I started advertis ing marine engines etc years ago very beneficially and the opposition soon followed suit not that I worried much.
I am now “more or less” retired and living in Queensland. I occasionally see PIM and sometimes a letter from BSIP. As I have plenty of time now, perhaps a little para graph or note in PIM may help any reader who has a Thor nycroft or Stuart Turner engine and finds difficulty in solving any relevant problems.
A governing factor in my ap proach is that I retained all my personal records of all engines sent to the Territories, and all books, details, drawings, etc.
They would be the only ones in Australia. In addition, I introduced Stuart Turner engines to Australia as I had known them with our Singa pore branch. I still correspond with the Stuart works. Thor
nycroft’s marine engines are
still manufactured by the AEC- Leyland company but from enquiries and contacts, the number coming to Australia is small. Before the company take-over I visited the Islands every two years Norfolk Island, Vila, Santo, the Solomon Islands, Rabaul, Wewak, Madang, Lae, Samarai and some of the missions.
Whether the business is as good nowadays would be bet ter known to you. I am not interested in any financial
angle but there may be people in the Islands wanting to know engine or marine information.
I would be happy to endeavour to clear up any problems for them. After a lifetime in this field one does not lose interest.
I am still retaining membership of the Institute of Marine
Engineers, UK, which keeps
me up-to-date.
T. G. Lashmar
6/21 First Avenue Broadbeach. Qld. 4207. • PIM does indeed remember Mr Lashmar, who knows his stuff. His offer no doubt will be appreciated by many Islands people, who should write to him direct.
Power In Png
Reading Percy Chatterton’s
reference to the establishment in Papua New Guinea of mini
hydro-electric projects (PIM,
May, p 27), makes me ask, “For whose benefit?”. I hap pened to be at Simbai in the highlands of the Madang Prov ince when the first of these schemes was opened by the Minister for Public Utilities.
In his speech, he mentioned how the people would be able to use electricity for cooking and ironing and keeping their beer cold. Good in theory, but the output is not sufficient for cooking. But who are the
people who have electricity?
Only those who live on the government station. We have a mission station with a level four community school next door, but no power goes there.
We have asked for it and a sur vey is being done now. The estimated cost is Kl 2 000 to bring the power to us and there is no certainty of any help
coming from Rural Improve
ment funds. The Local Government Council offices are also next door, but they do not have power either. Not far away the local people have a large bulk store no power there either. No village ben efits. Certainly the scheme is small; it is beautiful - no pol lution, it fits into the landscape.
But it is not improving the quality of rural life, except for those who live on the govern ment station.
Jeremy Ashton (Rt Rev’D)
Bishop of Aipo Kongo Anglican Church of PNG Lae, PNG