Roman Tmetuchl

Roman Tmetuchl (February 11, 1926 – July 1, 1999) was a Palauan political leader and businessman. He grew up in Japanese-controlled Palau and joined the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, during World War II. After the war, he became the leader of Palau's Liberal Party. He worked in the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1964 to 1978 and advocated for Palau gaining a separate status from the rest of Micronesia. He became governor of Airai and engaged in three unsuccessful Palauan presidential campaigns. As a businessman, Tmetuchl led several construction projects for his business holdings and for the Palauan community, including the Palau International Airport (which was later renamed in his honor) and a Seventh-Day Adventist clinic.

Early life Tmetuchl was born in the Eloklsumech clan of Airai in 1926. He grew up in Koror while Palau was under Japanese control. He attended a Japanese elementary school in Koror and excelled in mathematics. During this time, he worked as a janitor and paperboy. Tmetuchl was also a sprinter and jumper and was, according to William Vitarelli, regarded as the fastest sprinter in Palau and Guam in 1949.

In 1943, he was recruited to work for the Kempeitai, the Empire of Japan's military police in World War II. On April 9, 1956, he succeeded his brother Toribiong Uchel as president of Palau's local legislature Olbiil era Kelulau era Belau (Palau's House of Whispered Decisions). He became governor of Airai in January 1981 and acted as a negotiator in three workers' strikes against Remeliik's administration. Remeliik was shot and murdered in 1985. Olbedabel cast suspicion of the murder on Tmetuchl's nephew, preventing Tmetuchl from running for president in August 1985. Faced with political defeat once again, Tmetuchl decided to focus on his business holdings and his family life. The next year he donated some of his land and money for the construction of a new Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ngchesar. He died in 1999 while the church was still under construction.

On April 11, 2006, Palauan senators Reklai, Koshiba, Seid, Diaz, and Dengokl on April 11, 2006, proposed to rename Palau International Airport as the Roman Tmetuchl International Airport. The senate passed this resolution on May 4, 2006, which stated that, "The Roman Tmetuchl International Airport is a fitting name for Palau's international airport due to Mr. Tmetuchl's numerous years of valuable services he provided to the Republic and for the assistance he provided in developing the airport." In 2008, the Tmetuchl family built a chapel at Belau National Hospital to honor and continue Roman's legacy.