Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
Fiji
VP Charged With Treason
Things were tense at Government House in Suva as Fiji Vice President Jope Seniloli and another four men, including Sports Minister Isireli Leweniqila, appeared in the magistrate court May 8, charged with two counts each of May 2000 coup-related offenses.
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Seniloli, Leweniqila, Viliame Volavola, Peceli Rinkama and Viliame Savu were charged with capital offenses, namely treason and taking an unlawful oath to engage in seditious enterprises—both of which are punishable by death. All five men had participated in a swearing-in ceremony of a “civilian government” purportedly established by coup leader, George Speight, meters from the conference room where deposed prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and his government were held hostage for almost two months.
“It may be advisable that you four [excluding Seniloli] seek legal counsel during the adjournment,’’ chief magistrate David Bal Ram told the accused in a packed court room.
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The five men did not enter any plea; they are on bail with a $10,000 surety bond. All were ordered by the court to surrender their passports. The case was continued to June 11.
Mixed Messages on Security
Without a police chief and with an on-going reported clash between the government of the day and its military chief, Voreqe Bainimarama, security fears resurfaced in the past month after the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Joji Kotobalavu, confirmed the office was aware of new coup rumors. And the nation witnessed on national television two different statements from the high office when Kotobalavu condemned Bainimarama’s decision to pull out military security personnel for Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, and then Qarase calmly claimed the security personnel provision was just being returned to the police department, the traditional security providers for both offices. The government reportedly asked Bainimarama to end his investigations into coup-related offences. Bainimarama vowed he would do all he could before his term expires next February. Concerns have also been raised over arms still available to civilians with continuous bank robberies featuring guns.
Qarase Overrules Commerce Commission’s TV Choice
Although Fiji’s Commerce Commission decided against another term of exclusive service for Fiji Television, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase publicly stated he would intervene to ensure another exclusive term. Fiji Television has enjoyed exclusivity and tax-free conditions since its inception some ten years ago, but daily newspaper editorial columns are inundated with complaints about its services and programming.
Qarase’s interference in a state agency that is supposed to be an independent body was heavily criticized. Economist Dr. Wadam Narsey said the government’s dilemma was not about economic policy, but rather “how to choose between two opposing political interests.” Narsey was referring to “the small but influential group of indigenous Fijian shareholders allied with a powerful Indo-Fijian company” and “the wider long-term development needs of the whole Fiji community.”
In another instance of apparent interference, Qarase has also reportedly told the Finance Ministry to reinstate sacked Fiji Development Bank managing director Isoa Kaloumaira. Kaloumaira was Qarase’s protégé. When Qarase left FDB for the Merchant Bank, he recommended Kaloumaira as his replacement.
—Matelita Ragogo
Yap Leader Takes Over as New FSM President
Joseph J. Urusemal of Yap State was elected the sixth President of the Federated States of Micronesia at the opening session of the Thirteenth Congress on Sunday May 11. The 16-year veteran of the FSM Congress had been expected to ascend to the executive branch, though many had predicted he would be named to the vice president’s post, which has instead gone again to Chuuk’s Redley Killion, who served in the number two spot for the past four years under President Leo Falcam of Pohnpei.
Urusemal is the first Yapese to lead the FSM since John Haglelgam served in the post from 1987-1991. Urusemal, 51, is from Woleai, an outer atoll in Yap. Prior to his entry into politics in 1987, the new president was a schoolteacher and counselor at Outer Islands High School in Ulithi Atoll. Killion, like Urusemal, is 51 and was also first elected to the Congress in 1987.
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Martin Yinug administered the oath of office to Urusemal and Killion.
Following election of Urusemal and Killion to the executive branch, Pohnpei Senator Peter M. Christian was selected Speaker of the Congress. Senator Claude H. Phillip of Kosrae remains as Vice Speaker seat with Senator Henry Asugar of Chuuk taking on the role of Floor Leader that Urusemal held for the past eight years.
The FSM Congress chamber was packed with traditional leaders, state political leaders and FSM citizens. The election of Urusemal and Killion opens four-year seats in the Congress from those two states that will be filled in special by-elections shortly.
—Giff Johnson
Dengue Outbreak Spreads
At least 1,500 people are reported to have been affected by an outbreak of dengue fever in New Caledonia and at least eight deaths have resulted. The disease, evidence of which appeared in January, spread rapidly following the damage to infrastructure caused by Cyclone Erica in mid-March. However, three children had died from the disease earlier in the year. Additional deaths occurred at Gaston Bourret Hospital in Noumea.
The response of the territorial government has been to raise public awareness of the disease through media campaigns. Extensive spraying by plane of insecticides in order to stop the spread of mosquito larvae has also taken place. The territory’s health department fears that the actual number of cases may be up to three times higher than those officially recorded. Although New Caledonia is regarded as being malaria free, it shares with other island countries in the Pacific a susceptibility to dengue, another mosquito borne disease, which is stubbornly resistant to treatment. Symptoms of the disease include a rash and severe aching in the joints. In earlier times the condition was known as “break-bone fever”. Medical authorities describe the disease as “self-limiting,” that is, lasting for a certain length of time whether or not it is treated.
—Norman Douglas
Threats Close Banks
In Solomon Islands, three commercial banks closed their doors May 12 due to threats by disgruntled patrons of a pyramid scam. The next day, Westpac and the Solomon Islands National Bank resumed operations, but ANZ branches remained closed after staff were allegedly threatened by the promoters of a the pyramid investment scheme, the Family Charitable Trust Fund. Police arrested the leader and founder of the Fund, Jean Betty Maeniua Hebala and two of her associates on the same day as the bank closures.
Fund investors were promised payouts of several hundred thousand dollars as return on investments of as little as US$37. When angry scheme customers pressured for their payouts, the “Charitable” Trust Fund first blamed the Central Bank, then tried to open an account at ANZ, but were refused. The Fund’s principals then threatened ANZ, provoking the bank closures.
ANZ spokesman Paul Edwards told Radio Australia, “We’re optimistic about reopening, and this builds on the action of the government. We’re very pleased with the swift action of the government on this and we feel our action in closing branches facilitated the authorities acting on this matter, which is probably overdue.”
—Scott Whitney and Radio Australia
Islands Voice AIDS Concerns
The Pacific Islands have all the ingredients for an AIDS epidemic. There is a high incidence of youth pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. There are mobile populations, economic instability, and in some cases, culturally condoned male promiscuity. You also have complacency because for the moment, there are relatively few cases in the islands. And you have barriers to the awareness because traditional cultures avert sex talk, and strong churches seem more eager to toss AIDS into the bin marked Sinner and leave it alone.
That was the message from speakers at the first regional AIDS summit among U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands held in Palau in April. The group is called Pacific Island Jurisdictions AIDS Action Group and speakers pointed to other places like Africa, India and China, where AIDS is prevalent. “We meet all the criteria,” says Maire Bopp, founder of the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation.
Summit attendees hope to devise programs that will cast away the undue stigmas around HIV/AIDS that put people in hiding and stifle treatment and prevention efforts. Bopp bravely offered her own story to illustrate the power of the stigma. In 1998, her partner was so ashamed of having HIV, he never told her. “What the hell have we done to our people when they can’t tell the ones (they) love,” she thought then. Bopp, a Tahitian of 28 years, would later test positive. “It gave me the strength to step up and say that is enough.”
In all the Pacific Islands, there are 7,000 reported cases of HIV, about two-thirds in Papua New Guinea, Bopp said. Most islands have very small numbers. Palau, the site of the summit, has only two. But in Chuuk, a state in the Federated States of Micronesia, two cases of HIV spread to 20 people in two years, said Xuan-Lan Doan, project director of Hawaii Multicultural Resource Project. The potential to spread is real.
—Scott Radway
Layoffs and Borrowing Ahead
In his first State of the Island address last month, Gov. Felix Camacho laid out his administration’s goals and plans to solve Guam’s economic problems and to turn the economy and the government around.
According to the Pacific Daily News the governor recapped his government’s efforts to cut costs by reducing the number of government agencies and also through privatization, outsourcing, reorganization and strong financial management. According to Camacho, many of the government’s problems can be solved by bond money. He wants to be allowed to borrow more money on the bond market than the $246 million currently approved by lawmakers. The governor also announced new initiatives, including a plan to decentralize the administration of the public school system and a proposal to borrow money to improve Guam Memorial Hospital. Furthermore, the governor is scheduled to visit Japan during the next several days to promote the summer tourism campaign, which is intended to bring 180,000 tourists to Guam. Click here to read our interview with Governor Camacho.
—Pacific Daily News and Michelle Isidro
Phil Goff: Tonga Not Democracy
The New Zealand Foreign Minister, Phil Goff, has told Parliament that New Zealand is not satisfied with the level of democracy in Tonga.
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Goff was responding to a question from the United Party leader Peter Dunn during question time. He said while the Tongan constitution provides for many of the freedoms and rights considered essential for modern democracy, Tonga falls short of the criteria, which define a fully democratic state.
He said executive government is not elected by universal franchise and restrictions on the freedom of the press are two examples of that. New Zealand-based Taimi o Tonga newspaper has been banned by the monarchy in a long-running dispute between the monarchy and it’s publisher, Kalafi Moala. (Click here to see the story.)
Dunn then asked whether New Zealand would withdraw its three million U.S. dollars of annual aid until the state embraced democratic principles.
“The answer is no because the people that may be deprived of the rights that he supports would, if we withdrew our aid, also be deprived of basic education, health and good governance provisions that are designed not to help the government, but to help the people.”
—Pacnews and Scott Whitney
Celebrating Gauguin Centenary
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The paintings and sculptures have been assembled from a number of museums and private collections, including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The centenary’s showpiece is one of Gauguin’s most famous oils, Le Cheval Blanc (The White Horse), which arrived in Tahiti on the Easter weekend, accompanied by the Musee d’Orsay’s head curator, Gauguin’s name has become a commercial commodity in French Polynesia. Much is also made of his association with the territory by Tahiti’s tourism office. There is a good deal of irony in all of this, because during his time in French Polynesia the artist was heartily disliked by officials and French settlers alike, most of whom were quite relieved when he died on May 8, 1903.
—Norman Douglas
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