Former FSM president says Chuuk independence 'crazy'

A former Federated States of Micronesia president says the Chuuk Independence Movement is crazy if it thinks it can be successful in efforts to secede.

John Haglegam Photo: RNZ

Next March people in Chuuk will take part in a secession vote and the movement claims it has the majority support of the 50,000 inhabitants of the state.

Last week Robert Riley, the American ambassador to FSM, warned that sovereignty would come at a cost, and that the current Compact of Free Association, an agreement governing the relationship between the FSM and the US, did  not cover a separate entity.

Former president John Haglegam, who now teaches history at the College of Micronesia in Pohnpei, said the secession and separation from the states of Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap was unconstitutional.

"In every society you encounter crazy people, these are clinical crazy people. They say that they are going to go if they secure the vote from the Chuukese population and then they will come and ask the other three states to amend the Constitution to allow them to seperate."

Mr Haglegam advised the movement to stop their work as it is put the FSM in a bad light.

He said the independence movement needed to stop and think about the consequences of their actions.

"The movement was counting on US financial support very heavily. They wanted to have another Compact and now the US has told them, the US is not going to give them any Compact. So they are going to lose any benefit, all the benefits that Chuuk receive under the Compact."