Strategic registration from metropolis to periphery in the republic of the Marshall Islands

Journal of Pacific History

Volumn 37, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 299-312

  Fraenkel, Jon ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 1942492332     PISSN: 00223344     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0022334022000047849     Document Type: Review

References (64)

1. Kessai note's key goal: confidence in government', Marshall Islands Journal, 12 Jan. 2001;
2. th 1999', 2000.
3. Meaning that the US has the right to deny military access to the islands bv other nations, and an option to establish military bases.
4. See C.J. Lynch, 'The 1979 constitution of the Marshall Islands - a hybrid?', The Parliamentarian, 41 :4 (1980);
5. Alice De Jong, The Constitution of the Marshall Islands: its drafting and current operation (Sydney 1993).
6. At the first session of the Nitijela after each election, only a single nomination was lodged.
7. Norman Meller, 'On matters constitutional in Micronesia', Journal of Pacific History, 15 (1980), 83.
8. Sandelmann, cited in Norman Meller, The Congress of Micronesia (Honolulu 1969), 135.
9. Alexander Spoehr, Majuro: a tillage in the Marshall Islands (Chicago 1949), 93-4.
10. Francis X. Hezel, Strangers in Their Own Land: a century of colonial rale in the, Caroline and Marshall Islands (Honolulu 1995), 279.
11. th 1951, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, OPNAV P22-100-M (Washington 1951).
12. Leonard Mason, 'The Marshall Islands: tenure from subsistence to star wars', in R. Crocombe (ed.), Land Tenure in the Atolls (Suva 1987), 20;
13. CJ. Lynch, Traditional Leadership in the Constitution of the Marshall Islands (Honolulu 1984), 3.
14. Dan C. Smith, 'Marshall Islands: tradition and dependence', in R. Crocombe (ed.), Politics in Micronesia (Suva 1983), 74;
15. Lawrence M. Carucci, 'Iooj Ro Ad: measures of chiefly ideology and practice in the Marshall Islands', in G.M. White and L. Lindstrom (eds), Chiefs Today: traditional Pacific leadership in the postcolonial state (Stanford 1997), 205.
16. Mason, cited in De Jong, 'The constitution', 45.
17. Giff Johnson, 'Politics in the Marshall Islands', in Ron Crocombe et al. (eds), Micronesian Politics (Suva 1988), 81.
18. With 20 votes, Imata Kabua defeated rivals Wilfred Kendall (six votes) and Kessai Note (six votes).
19. 'Report of the Commission of Inquiry', Warrant Number 1996-001, 19 Sept. 1996;
20. 'Report of the Commission of Inquiry', Warrant Number 1997-002, 30 Jan. 1998.
21. 'Public demands: gut gambling', Marshall Islands Journal, 13 Mar. 1998.
22. 'A member shall not vote on any matter in which he has a distinct, individual, pecuniary interest' ('Rules and Procedures of the Nitijela', Section 29).
23. Imata Kabua, Philip Muller and Tony DeBrum v. Kessai Note & Joe Riklon, Civil Action No 1998-091, High Court, Republic of the Marshall Islands.
24. Majuro, Supreme Court S. CT. Civil No. 98-03, Fields, C J. Goodwin, A.J. & King, A J. On subsequent debates between the lawyers of both sides
25. th Constitutional Regular Session, Interpretation of the Constitution and Rules and Procedure of the Nitijela', Chief Justice Daniel Cadra, Majuro, 29 Sept. 1998.
26. Majuro, Supreme Court Civil Action No. 1993-004.
27. V7AB Radio, 1 Oct. 1998
28. The 1979 constitution specifies that 'every member of the Nitijela should represent approximately the same number of voters; but account shall also be taken of geographical features, community interests, the boundaries of existing administrative and recognised traditional areas, means of communication and density and mobility of population' (Art. 4. S. 2. [4]).
29. The 1979 Constitution, Art. 4. Section 3 (3).
30. ' Mason, 'Marshall Islands', 5, 8-9;
31. Jack A. Tobin, 'Land tenure in the Marshall Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 11 (1952).
32. Tobin, 'Land tenure', 20.
33. See the list identified in Laura by Carmen Milne and Michael Stewart, 'Inheritance and land rights in Laura', The Laura Report: a field report on training and research in Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands (Honolulu 1967), 15-16.
34. William H. Alkire, An Introduction to the Peoples and Cultures of Micronesia (British Columbia 1977), 70;
35. Mason, 'Marshall Islands', 9.
36. Milne and Stewart, 'Inheritance and land rights', 24.
37. Tobin, 'Land tenure', 5, 6, 7;
38. Norman Meller, The Congress of Micronesia (Honolulu 1969), 133, 136;
39. 'The 1979 Constitution, Article X, Section 1.
40. See 'Con-Con: a microcosm of sweeping Pacific change', Marshall Islands Journal, 23 Mar. 1990;
41. Elections and Referenda Act Pt III. S. 109. (2).
42. 'High Court dismisses Wotho, Mejit complaints', Marshall Islands Journal, 7 Jan. 2000, p. 14.
43. These sources of electoral roll inflation may help, in part, to explain the discrepancy between the widely reported turnout figure of 80% + for the 1999 polls (see the figure cited by Frederick DeBrum, Secretary of Internal Affairs, Marshall Islands
44. cited in Philip Stover, 'Marshall Islands', in D. Nohlen, F. Grotz and C. Hartmann (eds), Elections in Asia and, the Pacific (Oxford 2001), 693) and the 61% figure calculated using recorded votes and the electoral rolls.
45. For newspaper reports suggesting much larger than average electorates at the absentee polling stations on Majuro - at the courthouse, Internal Affairs and Gibsons - than at the polling stations strictly for Majuro-registered voters, see Marshall Islands Journal, 1 Dec. 1995, 26 Nov. 1999.
46. The Electoral Act provides for postal votes for those who 'reside outside the Republic', but rules for casting overseas postal ballots are complex. Absentee voters are required to complete an affidavit with local election officers and mail this home before the deadline (Elections and Referenda Regulations, 1993, Pt IV, S. 118), provisions that probably account, in part, for a low turnout amongst overseas Marshallese.
47. The slowdown in the growth rate of the Marshallese population over 1988-99 (see Table 1) is widely attributed to a sizeable rise in outward migration, particularly to mainland USA (see 'Census shocker: only 50,865 in RMI', Marshall Islands Journal, 17 Dec. 1999).
48. I am indebted to Jack Niedenthal, Bikini Trust Liaison Officer, for this point.
49. One of these seats went to Majuro chief, and deputy Speaker, Jurelang Zedkaia, who was associated with Imata Kabua's faction.
50. Likiep Atoll was settled by the Capelle and DeBrum families, who acquired a social status equivalent to that of iroij on other islands. For example, an 'owner' from Likiep sits on the Council of Iroij.
51. Alison Quentin-Baxter, 'The constitutions of Niue and the Marshall Islands: common traits and points of difference', in P. Sack (ed.), Pacific Constitutions (Canberra 1982), 108.
52. John Connell, Migration, Employment and Development in the South Pacific, Country Report ,No. 8: the Marshall Islands (Noumea 1983), 23.
53. Michael A. Rynkiewich, 'The ossification of local politics: the. impact of colonialism on a Marshall Islands atoll', in D.T. Hughes and S.G. Lingenfelter (eds), Political Development in Micronesia (Columbus 1974), 165.
54. Some 12% of the Rongelap voters, e.g., had been re-registered prior to the 1999 polls from various other atolls (as calculated by Senator Abacca Maddison, senator for Rongelap, pers. comm.).
55. De Jong, 'The constitution', 38:
56. Smith, 'Marshall Islands', 75.
57. Even by Apr. 2002, six months before the newly imposed Nov. 2002 deadline, Electoral Commissioner Joseph Jorlang reports larger than normal numbers of re-registration applications (pers. comm.).
58. General Accounting Office, U.S. Funds to Two Micronesian Nations had little Impact on Economic Development(Washington 2000), 56-7 (http: //pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/special/cofa-special.htm).
59. Deloitte & Touche, General Purpose Financial Statements and Independent Auditors' Report, year ended 30 Sept. 2000.
60. Task Force on Accountability, Interim Reports 1-4
61. reproduced on the 'Pacific Islands Report' website, PIDP, East-West Center, Hawaii.
62. Conversely, one of the Kwajalein senators broke ranks, and backed Note's administration.
63. JoAnn Wypijewski, 'This is only a test', Harper's Magazine, Dec. 2001. 70.4% of those on Kwajalein, 78.8% of those on Bikini/Kili and 85.6% of those on Rongelap voted against the Compact in the 1983 plebiscite, whereas Utrik and Enewetak/Ujelang voted respectively 72.1 % and 74.6% in favour
64. (Austin Ranney and Howard Penniman, Democracy in the Islands: the Micronesian plebiscites of 1983 (Washington 1985), 98-9).