Whispers
Whispers
Lesson to learn: If there is one lesson the Pacific might take from the Tikopia fiasco it is this: do not count on the rich guys in Canberra, Paris and Wellington - especially over the Christmas break. Four days after Cyclone Zoe hit Tikopia, a near empty Royal Australian Air Force Hercules flew over the silent Tikopia. Why not drop a radio or some preliminary relief supplies? The answer from the air force was that this was a reconnaissance mission, not a supply one. Besides, they argued, they might hit somebody and Tikopians would not know what to do with a radio. This from a country that parachutes highly trained soldiers into Tora Bora Mountains to kill Talibans. Why not drop some men to check things out? Canberra had not thought of it. And Wellington was convinced no helicopter could make it to Tikopia; Foreign Minister Phil Goff then blamed his officials when it turned out that cameraman Geoff Mackley flew in on a Jetranger from Vanuatu. New Zealand, which publicly rationalises its defence force as being necessary to help out the neighbours in a disaster, did not have a single operational aircraft or ship capable of helping out.
Hurricane watchers worry: Keep it quiet, but veteran hurricane watchers, apparently a sadly dwindling breed, have reservations about the proficiency of greenhorn successors. But then veterans of all kinds usually do worry about greeny qualities, don't they? In hurricane tracking circles some of the oldies have an impression that greenies tend to unconsciously over-estimate wind speeds because the drama of grappling with super-hurricanes, fortunately a rare breed, has more dramatic appeal.
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Goff's mouth of the month: Award for the profound remark of the month goes to New Zealand's Foreign Minister Phil Goff. As the world waited a week to find out what was happening, he agreed that had Tikopia been a ship with 2000 American tourists on board, it would have already been rescued. "There is one important difference," he said, "Tikopia is not sinking." That would have been a relief to the islanders watching as their villages were swept away.
Pacific low on priority list: The cost of an Australian search and rescue of a drowning French yachtswoman, Isabelle Autissier, in 1997: A$6 million. It was her career third rescue, and she would have to be rescued again a couple of years later. The cost of Australia's high profile Southern Ocean rescue of solo British sailor Tony Bullimore: A$10 million. The amount Australia spent in the week of silence around Tikopia, unaware of whether its nearly 2000 people were in trouble or not: A$150,000. Answer: Not Pacific Islanders.
Still on Tikopia: Paris, a friend of the Pacific, did nothing for a week then found another "lost" island to rescue in Vanuatu. In a huff, they then sent a high-speed jet over Tikopia (after Mackley had landed and checked it all out) and said as far as they could tell from the comfort of the Falcon seats, everything was fine. Diplomatic sources say that despite the Australia-France-New Zealand treaty to coordinate relief during disasters, nobody in Paris was available to do anything for about five days. Enter the Red Cross. Their big moment was to send Tikopia lettuce seeds. Of doubtful nutritional value, lettuce is something Tikopians do not eat. Besides, they lack fresh water and the land to grow the crop. As one cynical soul noted, now that lettuce has been sent in, perhaps they will also need vingarette too? Or thousand island dressing?
Change of mind: American Samoa puts its foot in it in December by including Fiji in a list of 25 Muslim countries whose citizens, in the very unlikely event that they would wish to appear in Pago Pago, now need advance permission from the local government, which fears they might be terrorists intent on blowing up the town's tuna canneries, or something. Fiji has about 60,000 Muslims. For the most part they are a very quiet lot, some being not averse to a stiff whisky and pork pie on the side. They felt offended, however, and so was their government which objected to having Fiji on any terrorist list. The United States embassy was slightly embarrassed, explaining lamely that while American Samoa was a United States territory, it was allowed to decide what foreigners visited it. Later in January, having been made to feel stupid, the American Samoans changed their mind; Fijian mullahs and other Fijians, were taken off the list.
Tikopia obsession: Was it guilt or just the silly season? The world media became tremendously excited over the Tikopia story with front-page stories across the world. It grew into an obsession even after it was known, thankfully, that nobody had died. Zoe was the big summer story, so what about Chata'an, the super typhoon which killed 40 people in Chuuk? For some reason, the latter was not a story.
The efficient Kiwis: In the space of 48 hours New Zealand managed to assemble and have ready to board ships a force of 1363 men and equipment. Nearly a week after a cyclone, New Zealand manages to persuade a Solomon Islands company to lend it a small ship to send a bit of rice and water to Tikopia, reaching it a week later. Oh, the first one, the efficient one, happened in 1914 when Wellington got the order to invade Samoa.
Wind Song for display? Windstar Cruises wants permission from French Polynesia's ministry of the environment to sink the fire damaged four-masted, 134-metre, 900-tonne 74-cabin sailing cruiser Wind Song, 12 nautical miles off its coast. Scuba divers want the cruiser to become a dive attraction. Since existing government regulations require the Wind Song to be sunk to more than 2000 metres (6,562 feet), a trifle deep for divers, they could be disappointed. Tourism Minister Brigitte Vanizette backs the divers, saying, "After honeymooners, scuba diving is the second (biggest) tourist market segment." Wind Song is tied up at the French Navy base in Papeete Harbour after having been severely damaged by a fire in December as she cruised off Taha'a in the Leeward Islands.
Travel note angers Fiji: Fiji was mortified again in January when Australia issued an advisory telling Australians that if they holiday in Friendly Fiji they are at a high risk of being robbed, sexually harassed, killed in road accidents on bad roads, drowned in unsafe inter-island boats and caught in a hurricane or an earthquake. The Foreign Office in Suva sent a stiff complaint to the Australians. That surprised a lot of Fiji Islanders accustomed to being robbed, mugged, raped, and having near miss experiences on local roads and in local boats. Opposition leader Mick Beddoes, long a tourism industry personality, backed the Australians saying that not a single citizen took seriously a claim by the Home Affairs minister that the crime rate was falling. Lots of victims didn't bother about reporting crime to the police, he said, since they felt it was a waste of time.
Moorea Club Med in doubt: During a farewell party in Paris for Philippe Bourguignon, the resigning Club Med chief mused: "We still have a Club Med on Bora Bora (150 rooms), but still don't know whether the one on Moorea (700 rooms) will be rebuilt." Bourguignon will be replaced by Club Med's deputy managing director in charge of financing, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, and son of a former French President. There's been no further word since a Les Nouvelles de Tahiti report that Club Med Moorea will reopen as a bed and breakfast place in February or March after some renovation. It closed in October 2001, so it could be demolished and replaced by a smaller (250 rooms) but swisher place. However, a minority group of property owners rejected a new rent offer.
Chinese contribution: The Marshall Islands has joined the list of Pacific Islands countries that wonder about the true value of the communities of mushrooming mainland Chinese hosted by them. As in Tonga, Fiji, the Solomons, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea, it's becoming clear that for every dollar "invested" by the new arrivals, usually in small businesses that put locally owned ones out of business, many more thousands are sent back home to please the bosses in the now capitalist-minded Beijing.
