People of Bikini Atoll: ask your questions, make your suggestions
This blog has been setup for the people of Bikini Atoll.
It is our hope that this will provide you with a forum where you can ask questions of the Bikini Atoll Local Government Council. We also welcome your suggestions or your concerns. Kajen majol or kajen belle, am bebe.
The rules are simple: let us know your questions and suggestions and we will try to answer them as soon as we can.
We reserve the right to remove any inappropriate posts and/or language.
Wone,
You are definitely right Wone; Mr. BikiniJack has been very, very uncooperative with the council members during the budget process, and, is just not him but our Mayor Mr. Kelen he’s even worse than BikiniJack.
UJibas, Kili Islands said this on February 9, 2010 at 1:07 pm |
I am stunned by some of these comments, which are obviously being made by people living in the U.S. who were not involved in any of the Council meetings surrounding the FY 2010 the budget. I see a lot of them are Jibas’s. Amazing, Kathaejar would be ashamed of all of you, I know this as he was one of my best friends let alone my boss for over a year. And to UJibas who seems to not like the Mayor: at no time in the last 30 years has a mayor had a harder job, all of our leaders are struggling with the budget issues, and I will remind you the one who chose him to be acting mayor was Kathaejar himself. My feeling is that regardless of who the Mayor is, especially now, you need to support him. In 2011, if you don’t like him, then you can choose someone else and support them as I will. To tell you the truth, all of you guys sound like a bunch of bellyaching Americans… Maybe you need to come back to the RMI for a while and recharge your manit.
The budget process, just so everyone knows, is driven by what Interior allows us to spend. This year it was a very, very small $5.2 million, because our trust fund lost value in the world wide economic downturn. It was either reduce the budget or lose the trust fund, and there is no way Interior is going to allow that to happen. The Council had to make a hard choice. My only role was to provide a working budget for the Council as an example. In my budget that I provided them I had scholarships, 24 hour power on Kili, lease payments, supplemental food for Kili, and more money for funerals. How did I do this? I cut our $2.2 million payroll almost in half. I eliminated all of those people in the US who get paychecks for doing absolutely nothing for the people of Bikini but still get paid (you know who you are, some of them are the very ones saying what a rotten person I am in this thread).
The Council rejected the budget I gave them, which is their right, and did their own budget eliminating scholarships, lease payments, supplemental food and many other things so the $2.2 million payroll could remain untouched, so those of you getting paychecks and living in the US could still get paid.
For those of you still getting paychecks and living in the US, how do you feel about that? There is only 10 hours of power a day on Kili, they can’t keep their food frozen. I am sure those of you living in the US and getting paychecks have 24 hour power. BPD had to layoff about 20 people because their budget is so small, some of these are Bikinians supporting their families on Kili. There are only about 8 houses on Ejit that have power, and many Bikinan people in Majuro have no power. How do you feel cashing that check each month knowing this?
Again, re the comment about the t-shirts. Woneo (who, via the IP#, I see is the same person as UJibas) acts as if this is some secret, again it is not, I even mention it in my post. I get this money in return for a service (i.e., for work I am doing): maintaining the website and promoting Bikini Atoll with dive T-shirts, a book and historical DVDs. And again, it is not that much money, especially if I got what they should be paying me for these services that were outside my contract. The RMI spent over $20,000 on their website, just so you know how much this kind of web service can run. When MISSA asked for quotes to build their website one of the quotes was $10,000, I did it for them for nothing. In 2009 I made exactly $1,622.16 from internet sales (t-shirts, etc), that works out to $135 a month to maintain a website that over 3 million people have visited and that has been partially responsible for bring in over $5 million for the people of Bikini via the dive program, not to mention telling the Bikinian’s story to the world. Anyone at anytime can come to my office and I can show them the accounting for this,I have nothing to hide.
Again, what I receive is for working… At least one of the posters in this thread gets a $250 paycheck for waking up in the morning in the US and brushing his teeth (hopefully).
bikinijack said this on February 9, 2010 at 2:04 pm |
To; U.Jibas
Kon jouij im jab jetak kin et in bwe elap an aolep im jele ke lolap eo jema Urantha Jibas ej joun ian uan ro ilo ra eo an Executive eo umin tol im kar ko an Hon. Mayor Alson Kelen.
U.Jibas whomever you are,
You don’t play fare but you play very drity politics
TO; Jack
Mokta jen ao bar koman ao melele ijin eokwe, eowor joun ao kajitok ne komaroun in delete i comment eo an U.Jibas kin ke ekoman tarbok nan armij kin ke armij in em ej likit etan U.Jibas ej jab eman an jetak kin et in etan lolap eo jema. Men in ejab joun men eo eman ilo an jabrewot jetak kin bar etan joun emaam. Joun im joun ren kwalok aer boran ilo ejelok mijak in kwalok etami ilo website bwe kom man kalbuuj. So Jack i ask you to remove this comment by U.Jibas. Komoltata im ilo kautiej.
Jack.
Kon jab kajeen in ton likit ke elap wot an Jibas bok konaer ilo website in. Eteke elukun bin am admit e ke koj kojerebal wesite in nan personal business ko am? Kio ijab erre ilo am ton kajeen in likiti im koman men in an naj armij bok im lomnak ke men ko komij ba re nana. Jack be professional im jab ba ke Jibas family ilo site in elap aer bok konaer. Lolap eo jeman Kathaejar ej joun eo ejimwe an jerebal, im kin men in ijab erre ibem Jack ke Kathaejar make enaj kar jook ilo joun im rou weween ko. Na ijele kin mour eo an uncle eo ao. Ilo ao ba men in ij ba ke lukun mol ne ar mour wot Kathaejar ilo tore in, enaj kar kwalok an erre ilo men ko kajojo armij rej tomak im rej loi ke rejimwe. Em Jack elap am eletok melele ejjelok kobaer and you don’t play fare by dragin my family name into this subject. Ne baj na eo, Ijab ba Neidanthal ran. Men eo re in im ij ba bwe ne koj kojerebal website in nan business ko am make inem na, im ijele elon ro jet (ejab Jibas family wot) rejab erre ilo men im ijle elaplok an naj kar BABA Kathaejar jab erre ilo jokjok in eo im kom armij in Bikini ( again, ejab Jibas family wot) komij jab bilo jene. Jack elap am kar me-eoeo iben rojet mok ta. Eokwe ikonaan ba nan kwe ke Welcom to the new BIKINI WORLD. Aolep comment kein ao im naj walok ilo Rimajol.com bar einwot Yokwe.net
Peterson U Jibas said this on February 9, 2010 at 4:43 pm |
Peterson, aren’t you a Jibas? Did you know Kathaejar bought shirts from me all the time to give to his family? Go ahead, ask them. He had no problems with what I am doing, he understood. I explained why I do this quite clearly above. You don’t agree, and that is your right. No problem. Again, what I do with the website is payment for me maintaining the website, and $135 a month is not a lot of money for that amount of work.
Quite frankly, I like the idea that you use your own name when you post here, most people wouldn’t do that. When you use my name, Niedenthal, you are talking about my entire family. My wife, my kids, my grandkid, or my wife’s relatives, all of whom are Bikinians, might read these comments.
U.Jibas and Woneo are the same person, so I assumed that was a Jibas, too. So far the only people raising these issues have the last name Jibas. Whomever it is can say whatever they want to about me, I am happy to answer.
So Peterson, I answered all of your questions. I posted all of your comments (and the other Jibas’s comments, which I will not take down because he is talking about me, not you) even though they say really nasty things about me that your grandfather Uraiah, your uncle Kathaejar and your father would not agree with. No problem. As you said, it is a new Bikini World. Sad as this may be, you are right. I wish it were still the old Bikini world where the older people like Uraiah had complete respect for what I do. We traveled together many times, and he was always kind to me, he always treated me with respect even though he didn’t agree with me sometimes. Some of the young Bikinian people living in America like yourself are different, really different. Part of the new Bikini World is one where Bikinian people, regardless of where they live, are going to have to take care of themselves and their families and not rely on a the trust fund, and I understand that that makes people angry. It makes me angry. I along, with your leaders are trying to fix this, but it is not an easy time we are heading onto. Even so, your leaders have not stopped trying to come up with solutions to very difficult problems.
Now I ask you, Peterson, since I answered all of your questions, could you answer my questions to you? Is it fair for a Bikinian to get a paycheck of $250 a month ($3000 a year) from the Council when that person lives in America and does no work for the Council while at the same time Bikinians are losing their jobs on Kili and people on Kili only have 10 hours of power? Please answer this, I am curious to know how people feel about this kind of “personal gain.”
bikinijack said this on February 9, 2010 at 5:30 pm |
Jack,
Winin an ejelok woneen ro jit, kin ke elap woneen;
1. Jonathan
2. Jack
3. Mayor
4. senator
5. Council Members
Maybe and just maybe ne cut naj apply nan armij rein bolen emaroun wor woneen ro jit. Jack keep in mind that
money kein rejab an KBE Local Government eo. Winin an wor MONEY kinke ejoraan Bikini. Talking about bikini you and i both know that … Burej ko an armij rejoraan. So aet ejelok joran ne Na Peterson eo im joun ian ro rej bok payment ko ilo ao bed im jab jerebal ako kin ke, money kein reja ao wot. Again winin an wor money kin ejoraan burej. Ne Bikini aer jab joraan inem aolep ren kar bok aer mour jen burej ilo naan in, kowainini.
Jack na(i’m) armij im mour eo ao ej bedbed ion burej ko ao rejoraan ako fire station(costlee store) en kili elon woneen, old school building eo ilo kili rej bar einwot bok wonaer…(so ijaje eo fair in koj konono kake) ako Jack, ne mol eo in ke an KBE money kein im rejab an armij ro ejoraan burej ko aer, Inem eokwe ko maroun jolok men ne woneo eniin koj kwalok ijin. $250.00 joun alon. Ako ilo eja weween in wot ikijeen armij ro rej loose i jerebal ko aer, Eokwe imaroun in bar answer yuk ilo ao ba ke kem, laptata na. Ikar kwalok ao jab erre ilo FY ne me kar weben jen KBE Local Gov’t. Iar kwalok ke 5.1 ej joun jonok eo erik nan an KBE jerebal i jerebal ko an.
Kio elak wor cut, armij bikini moktata. Ako kojele ne en kar na Mayor, eokwe inkar jino ao koman cut jen kwe Jack, council members im ritol ro jit laptata Jonathan ilo DC.
Eliktat
Jack, ijab ba etan family ne am, ako kwe eo im kwe eo kio koj ba etan my family name ao. Kwe ne ejelok am respect. Ejelok am maroun in letok kin lolap eo jimao im ro jet jema ijin. Ijab emonono ilo am ba jit melele ko kin this and that ilo weween am use i im ba etan family member ro ao. Jouij im jab.
Na Peterson Jibas. Ejab na Kathaejar nor Jima Uraiah.
Peterson U Jibas said this on February 9, 2010 at 7:09 pm |
Peterson, I think we are having an interesting conversation. I won’t use your family name anymore, I apologize for that. I only mentioned them because they were part of the Old World and acted differently when facing issues.
It is interesting that you suggested that those 5 groups of people should get their salaries cut: That is exactly what I proposed to the Council last summer, including myself, the mayor, the attorney, the Council and everyone else on the payroll. I thought it was more important to have scholarships, lease payments, 24 hour power and supplemental food money, but the Council didn’t agree, which is okay as it is their decision and I totally respect that, it was only my job to provide an idea. I was totally willing to give up a sizable portion of my hard earned check so people on Kili could live a better life.
I respect the Council, they had some really hard decisions to make. I felt really sorry for them when they had to do this, it was very painful to watch because no Bikinians made any mistake, the world financial markets just crashed. And for your information, Jon Weisgall got his salary cut in half this year. There are many people when getting their salary cut like that would have quit in an instant. I admire him for staying on as this is the guy who got you ALL of your money. Again, you are from the new generation, and in your new Bikini World it seems you don’t want to recognize or respect someone for working hard and doing a good job. The old world guys remember when they were starving until Weisgall came along, they also completely understood why my job was important, why it was important to make sure all of your money is accounted for, as we have been for the last 25 years with me in the office…
You are getting two different payments mixed up. The 177 payment that pays you and all the Bikinians every quarter is paid to you for the damage caused to Bikini. That is the Bikini Claims Trust Fund. The Resettlement Trust Fund that pays the payroll is exactly that, a payroll for people who work. Do you think that it is fair that someone can live in America and get $3,000 a year, and someone else is on Kili working every day getting the exact same thing (or even less) from the exact same fund from the exact same payroll? You do not get that payroll check because you have land rights, you get that because the mayor chose you to do a job for the Council. If people only got their paychecks because they are Bikinians and have land rights on Bikini, then why aren’t any of my kids on the payroll? There are hundreds of other Bikinians living in Arkansas and Oregon and Hawaii and Oklahoma who are not on the payroll, yet they have the same rights on Bikini as you. Do you see my point?
The Council made the decision not to fire anyone who has left for the US because, I think, they care about everyone and they don’t ant to see anyone get hurt. What they don’t seem to see is that by doing this they are hurting people, it is not fair. That is their choice, but I don’t agree with it. I wonder if I left for the US to live would I still get my paycheck even though I wasn’t working???
I think you should pay people for the work they do, just like I get the sales (averaging $135 a month for 2009) from the website as a form of payment for work I do, not because I have land rights on Bikini.
bikinijack said this on February 9, 2010 at 8:12 pm |