Closing out the 2nd Millennium
As we march down the road into the next millennium, we should consciously engage in individual and collective planning over the future of these isles in the first quarter of the Year 2000.
These should include the formulation of an “Education Master plan” taking into account educational programs fully aligned with the Information Age or superhighway. The work of putting this master plan together is daunting, but educational planners must work in this regard in concert with teachers, students and the NMI community.
The reality of scarce financial resources makes it imperative that bureaucrats and politicians begin major reorganization of government. Merging of redundant responsibilities among agencies or individual posts is a must, followed by trimming of excess baggage however unpopular it may be.
It is also time to seriously consider reducing the bicameral legislature into a unicameral system so we can accomplish two things: 1). Reduce the current annual budget from $4.8 million to $2.8 million. 2). It would discourage the introduction of any frivolous legislation, i.e., legislating morality such as adultery.
Furthermore, turn the role of lawmakers into a part-time profession. It gives swivel chair warmers an opportunity to understand and appreciate issues that hurt people they represent at the grassroots level by working on other jobs in the private sector.
Reorganization of government has to be substantive limiting departments and agencies down to basics. After all, the primary role of government is the disposition of our tax contribution which must be funneled, for the most part, into education, health and public safety. Any other agency must be secondary and if need be, abolished altogether. For instance, there are too many “affairs” offices today. Little is done to improve the well-being of the indigenous people because we haven’t gone past the acknowledgment level.
Something better has got to happen in bringing all the assorted affairs into a single affair so it focus on substantive undertakings.
The current economic slide ought to give leaders from both sectors a perfect view of the fragility of island economies which slides deep south when external influences assault a fickle industry solely reliant upon a market in the Land of the Rising Sun. Tourism would rebound in trickles given the uncertainty of whether in fact the regional flu has abated or is it still lurking somewhere nearby. Japan is out to create some 700,000 jobs this week as it struggles to create more jobs for the three million-plus unemployed all searching for work. This issue alone should give tourism planners a view that although the industry may rebound, tourism won’t be the same “as we know it”.
Business expansion and future investments look bleak derailed by the confluence of a federal takeover and local policies that further stifle any significant growth. How ironic that the economic report (see yesterday’s banner story) sponsored by, you’ve guessed right, US Department of Interior speaks strongly of the difficulty of replacing the apparel industry’s role in the NMI. And we have basically five years to plan a substitute for the day that the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff kicks in supplanting the competitive advantage of the industry here.
We should be forward looking and converging more often so that all sectors can contribute towards fending a potential disaster to our last Ace in Palm, the apparel industry that now leads as the strongest contributor to the local government coffers. In short, this is where real leadership comes into play from both sectors. The task is indeed daunting and we must begin putting our act together today. Si Yuus Maase`!
