Briefs
People
After serving 19 months as chief executive officer of Royal Tongan Airlines under government secondment, Semisi Taumoepeau has returned to his position as director of the Tonga Visitors Bureau, an office he has held since 1980. Taumoepeau, whose term as CEO with the airline was not free of controversy, expressed satisfaction at being back in his old chair and predicted that tourism would bring in revenue of more than $T16 million over the next 12 months. He anticipates visitor arrivals of some 40,000 during that period, and looks forward to additional overseas investment in the kingdom’s tourism, saying that two or three multi-million dollar tourism projects will be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
—ND
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Palau President Tommy Remengesau, Jr. called the world Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa a disappointment in the fight against global warming. He said that climate change is a growing threat to Palau. He said Palau will not join Tuvalu in a lawsuit against the U.S. government over global warming. “We’re putting our hopes in the international community coming to its senses,” Remengesau says.
—RS
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David Cohen, the new U.S. Department of Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, has only been in office for about three months. But he’s already made three separate trips to the Pacific to pursue a variety of projects involving the major U.S. territories in the region — American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — and the Freely Associated States of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau. “I thought it was import to get out as soon as possible to meet the people that I have to deal with,” Cohen says. The Freely Associated States and the territories are different, he emphasized, “but if we don’t have a coherent vision of what we’re trying to achieve ... we’re just going to be in a state of drift ... when it comes to how we use our funds. You have to have a strategic plan in order to be effective.” And now, following on-site visits and in-depth discussions with Island officials, that’s exactly what he plans to create from his Washington base.
—AH
Ta‘ilagi Galea‘i Mauga Asuega is the newest member of the board of directors of the government-owned Development Bank of American Samoa. Her nomination by Governor Tauese Sunia was approved by the Senate in early September. Asuega retired from Hawaiian Airlines in June after serving as the airline’s Pago Pago station manager for 15 years.
—FS
Lawmakers passed two separate resolutions to honor and commend Tupulua Taase Jr., and Captain Jeannette Tausisi‘i Shimasaki Tuaua. Taase, a 7th grade teacher at Olomoana Elementary School in Aoa, was commended for his dedication and service as an educator that determined his nomination as the Department of Education’s Territorial Teacher of the Year and later receiving the award. Captain Tuaua retired from the Department of Public Safety early this year after 30 years of service. She was the first female to enroll and successfully graduate at the top of her class at the Police Academy, with the highest academic scores in 1972 and was the highest ranking female officer within the Department of Public Safety upon her retirement.
—FS
American Samoa Governor Tauese Sunia has appointed a former cabinet member to head the Territory Emergency Management Coordination Office (TEMCO). The Governor said that Dr. Toafa Vaiagae, is designated disaster assistance coordinator whose duties include direction and management of TEMCO.
—FS
After a three-month search process, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) announced in early September the selection of Dr. Ho Luong Tran as the organizations’ new president and CEO. “We are very excited about Dr. Ho Tran taking over the helm of the Health Forum,” says Dr. Arthur Chen, Chairperson of the APIAHF board of directors. “She brings with her a deep and grounded set of leadership skills with her background as a respected leader in the Asian American community, as an accomplished state public health official, and as an advisor at the federal level.” Currently, Tran serves as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Philip J. Flores, president and chairman of BankPacific on Guam, has announced that Anthony C. Barcinas has joined the bank as a commercial lending officer. “Tony rejoined the bank after a brief sojourn at another regional bank. He brings more than eight years of bank lending experience to our organization. We are fortunate to have Tony on our team once again, and we welcome him back into the BankPacific family,” says Flores.
Former American Samoa Chief Justice Grover Joseph Rees was named in early September by U.S. President George W. Bush as ambassador to the newly independent nation of East Timor. From 1986 to 1991 Rees was an associate justice and then chief justice of the High Court of American Samoa.
—FS
Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita of Tonga recently paid an official visit to French Polynesia. While there, the Princess visited pearl farms in the Tuamotus and held discussions with organizations providing English language services on satellite television. She also extended official thanks to the territory for assistance given Tonga following a hurricane last New Year’s Eve. The princess was accompanied by her husband, Tuita, governor of Tonga’s Vava’u Islands.
—ND
Adrian Smith, Catholic archbishop of Solomon Islands, described as a “dangerous precedent” the murder of Fr. Augustine Geve, on Guadalcanal’s Weather Coast. Fr. Geve, who held a cabinet position at the time of his murder, had been suspended from church duties after he entered politics at the country’s last election. Harold Keke, head of the Guadalcanal Liberation Front, in effective control of the Weather Coast, has claimed responsibility for Geve’s killing. According to Archbishop Smith: “It’s the first time that someone holding the office of priest or government minister has been murdered and ... it is making us all ask the question how much more do we have to endure.”
—ND
Dr. Harold Allen, President of the University of Guam, has announced the appointment of Dr. Helen Whippy to the position of senior vice president for academic and student affairs. Whippy has 27 years of higher education experience in the Pacific at the University of the South Pacific, the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, and the University of Guam, where she has worked for the past 14 years.
A former diplomat and politician has been hired as the new editor of Samoa’s biggest and most influential newspaper, the Samoa Observer. The Samoa Observer is co-owned by Savea Sano Malifa and his wife Jean. In August, the Samoa Observer said Afamasaga Toleafoa, the former diplomat and politician, is the new editor for its weekday editions. Publisher and editor Malifa is promoted to editor-in-chief. Jean Malifa has been named publisher of Samoa Observer and retains control of finance and advertising.
—FS
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Miss Tahiti Nui, Rava Maiarii, left on September 5 for the beginning of a journey to represent Tahiti at the Miss World paqgeant in Nigeria. Before arriving in Nigeria in November, she will start studies in Paris, France, where she will take a degree in biology. The 19-year-old Maiarii gets a lot of support from Tahitian people and companies. She will take such Tahitian products as vanilla, coconut oil and cosmetics to Lagos, Nigeria.
—PINA
Jim Burton, long time devotee of the Pacific Islands and the people who therein dwell, or have dwelt in times past, has embarked on the daunting project of producing an up-to-date Who’s Who of island personalities. Called South Pacific Identities, the aim of his ambitious work is to obtain biographical details of people who have lived, worked in or otherwise made some contribution to the islands. To facilitate his monumental task, a questionnaire is available for those who want to grab their 15 minutes of fame. The questionnaire and other details of Burton’s research may be downloaded from his recently-launched website, http://southpacificidentities.com.
—ND
Vanuatu’s young singing sensation Vanessa Quai is heading for an international competition for children after hundreds watched her perform in Honiara. She and the band had been invited to Honiara for fundraising performances organised by the Solomon Islands South Pacific Games committee.
Vanessa’s father and band manager, Nigel Quai, said Vanessa and the band will next go to Romania. Vanessa is one of the finalists for an International Competition for Children, he said. Her latest album, Beautiful Pacific Islands is about the Melanesian way of life.
“All our songs are original and focus on the Melanesian lifestyle,” Quai said.—PINA
In Memoriam
Former Guam legislator and civic leader Jesus Unpingco Torres died on August 27 at age 75.Torres served eight years in the Guam Legislature between 1963 and 1974. In addition, he was the chairman of the University of Guam’s Board of Regents from 1983 to 1998. He also was the state chairman of the Democratic Party of Guam from 1962 to 1968. A practicing attorney, he served as a pro-tem judge in the Superior Court of Guam since 1983.
—FW
Michel Law, widely regarded as the main political figure of Tahiti’s Chinese community died at the age of 71 after a long illness. Law was born in Papeete and attended school in New Caledonia and France. During the 1960s he worked as an accountant in the French territory and established the first political party representing the Chinese community in the following decade. Law was elected to the territorial assembly in 1972 and remained an important figure in Tahitian politics until 1981, becoming something of a symbol of the Chinese community’s integration into local affairs.
—ND
—Fili Sagapolutele, Norman Douglas, Frank Whitman, Albert Hulsen, PINA
