Saipan's offer

Briefly

Saipan's offer - of sorts

By David North

Following the earthquake in Kobe, the government of the Northern Marianas made an intriguing offer to Japan. It was partially a humanitarian gesture towards the thousands of home less in the Japanese port city. And it was partially a remarkably innovative eco nomic development idea for CNMI.

The offer was to allow the Japanese government - presumably at its cost to use public lands on Saipan for the construction of temporary housing for the Kobe homeless.

Acting Governor Jesus C. Borja made the offer on behalf of Governor Froilan Tenorio. Borja’s offer was in a letter hand-delivered to Japanese Prime MinisterTomiichi Murayama.

After expressing concern for the fate of the victims, and speaking of “the gen erosity that the Japanese people have shown to our Commonwealth govern ment,” Borja got into the specifics: “Our Administration is prepared to offer for up to two years the temporary use of our public lands for the con

struction of residential

housing ... our modern

port facilities make it accessible for the ship ment of prefabricated material for temporary housing structures.

Additionally, those who would choose to tem porarily relocate in Saipan would find a year-round temperate climate ... and a local community that would warmly welcome our Japanese friends.”

The letter also said such temporary resi dents could live in CNMI with a tourist visa extended for the two years.

What was not offered was equally interesting. There was no mention of money, goods or skilled people to help in Kobe, the typical response in the case of a disaster.

Nor did the CNMI offer to let the Japanese have refugee visas and the right to spend the rest of their lives in the islands, which is how the government in

Washington sometimes

handles such situa

tions. For example, it provided refugee visas (and the opportunity for citizen ship later) to people displaced by a vol canic eruption in the Azores (Portuguese islands in the Atlantic Ocean.) Nor did the Governor’s letter indi-

cate who would own the housing once the Japanese had left - would it be used ultimately to improve the housing con ditions of CNMI’s notoriously badly treated alien work force?

There was no immediate reply from Prime Minister Murayama.

An earthquake victim weeps outside the rubble of her home in Kobe