Islanders ask for more attention from US gov't

HONOLULU, Hawaii (East-West Wire/PIDP/CPIS) — Pacific island leaders are writing a letter to President George Bush to “ask for help” and greater attention to their region, the new head of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders Standing Committee said today at a news conference.

“We’ll ask him to think the ‘Pacific Way,'” said Leo A. Falcam, president of the Federated States of Micronesia. Falcam took the helm from Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of Fiji.

The two-day conference, January 30-31, on the topic, “In an Era of Globalization: How Do We Care For and Share With Others,” was sponsored by the East-West Center.

Ratu Mara, Fiji’s first prime minister and considered the senior statesman of the region, first coined the term “Pacific Way” in which “people of different races, opinions and cultures can live and work together for the good of all, can differ without rancor, govern without malice, and accept responsibility as reasonable people intent on serving the interests of all.”