Letter from Majuro
A 'New' Pacific
The Pacific region was long divided along colonial lines; for years there was little communication between the French-controlled islands and Britain’s colonies, let alone any back and forth with the American territories to the north. The tremendous expansion in regional organizations, media and technology throughout the region has put those days behind us, connecting the islands within the north and south sub-regions.
Still, the equator seems to act as a real barrier to north/south communications and travel. Which is why the decision by Pacific Magazine and Islands Business magazines to join forces in one publication with two editions is a significant step toward linking a historically divided region. Such a step would have been impossible just five short years ago. But the age of electronic communication has finally taken root, allowing for the kind of partnership that this January issue kicks off between once sub-regionally focused south and north media. While both magazines will maintain their distinct sub-regional personalities, much of our material will be shared, bringing to our readers the most interesting news and comment from both ends of the Pacific.
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This latter point we’d like to emphasize. Although technology is allowing this merger to happen, technology doesn’t produce a good read: that still comes from reporters on the beat. We think that the partnership will offer news from a pool of very talented writers in the region. Our readers have always been important to us and we hope that you like what you see here, a product that will continue to evolve in the coming months as our north-south partnership grows.
On the subject of technology, we can’t resist a smile over the American presidential election. Such a high-tech, world-leading society and what happens? The presidential election all came down to a hand-recount and interminable delays waiting for a few thousand absentee votes to wander in 10 days after the election. The U.S. is getting to experience the suspense and uncertainty that more than a few island countries are forced to tolerate every national election because of hand-counted ballots on isolated islands.
A year ago November in the Marshall Islands, for example, incumbent Ailuk Atoll Senator Hemos Jack and challenger (now Senator) Maynard Alfred were locked in an election struggle whose count changed almost on a daily basis as new absentee votes trickled in from the outer islands, such that for more than two weeks after the election, the final outcome wasn’t known. Alfred ultimately prevailed by three votes—similar, relatively speaking, to the margin of victory that determined the American presidency.
The U.S. election may be moderately more important on a world scale than Ailuk’s, but like Ailuk, the fact that the U.S. election came down to just a handful of votes in one state demonstrates just how powerful the individual vote is.
One final thought. In reviewing our American Samoa correspondent Fili Sagapolutele’s story on the Miss South Pacific pageant, we got to thinking about the fact that in our region, women have generally lagged far behind men in access to educational opportunities. Both because many Pacific women are no longer prepared to take a back seat to men, and as international donors put greater priority on women, this unfortunate picture is improving. At the Miss South Pacific event, we read about a pageant featuring competition among college graduates, auditors, law students and other future professionals: it’s a healthy sign for the Pacific.
