Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
Kiribati
Anote Beats Big Brother
In presidential elections, age doesn't matter. Just ask Anote Tong, who voters chose ahead of his older brother Dr. Harry Tong in the July 4 presidential election in Kiribati.
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An election celebration at the residence of president-elect at Teaoraereke, South Tarawa was ongoing for several days after the hotly contested campaign. The three-way race included former MP Banuera Berina. But the real battle was between the two Tongs. In the final count, Anote received 13,558 votes, Dr. Harry received 12,457 and Berina 2,591.
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Anote, who represents Maiana and is a graduate of the London School of Economics, even defeated his two rivals on their own home grounds of South Tarawa, the national capital.
He has his work cut out for him as his party, Boutokaan te Koaua Party, holds only a minority within the Parliament. "Although BKP is in minority at Parliament, it's possible that I'll have to ask for support from my left and right," the new president said shortly after confirmation of his election. "When my foundation is on solid ground, then I have to implement what I have promised the people of Kiribati to fulfill, to attain more reliance and benefits from the government."
The swearing in ceremony of the new President was held on July 10, two days before Kiribati celebrated its 24th independence anniversary. Kiribati has been without a president since late last year, except for a short period when Teburoro Tito won election, but he was ousted shortly afterward when a budget bill he introduced was defeated in Parliament.
-Batiri Bataua
Palau
The United States has proposed amending immigration provisions in Palau's 9-year-old Compact of Free Association with the apparent aim of tightening homeland security. The proposed amendments mirror provisions in the new compacts with the Marshalls and the Federated States of Micronesia now before the U.S. Congress. The Palau amendments would be added to the bill authorizing those new compacts. But, unlike those countries negotiating new 20-year Compacts, Palau has six years left in its compact with the United States and the proposed changes were sprung on Palau during the annual bilateral talks held in Koror, President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. says.
In part, the changes would close a perceived back-door for migration to America. The loophole was discovered when the Republic of the Marshall Islands was selling passports to foreigners who attempted to migrate visa-free to the United States as natural-born islanders could do. The changes would stop foreigners who obtain Palauan passports from receiving the U.S. immigration privileges. It is not a big issue in Palau, a country that does not permit anyone without Palauan blood to be naturalized. But Remengesau says that it would take some time to review other proposed changes, including one that appears to give the U.S. greater control over Palau citizens migrating legitimately into the United States. Immigration privileges were a bedrock component in Palau agreeing to sign the compact in 1994, he says.
Remengesau also expressed concern that it appears the U.S. was tying the acceptance of the immigration changes to U.S. approval of a longstanding request from Palau that the country be included in a U.S. telephone subsidy program. Officials from the United States also proposed including an amendment in the Marshalls/FSM compact bill before U.S. Congress that would remove all legal debate about whether Palau is eligible for the U.S. domestic programs. Remengesau said he would agree to move forward with that enabling legislation because it ties the issue to the compacts for the Marshalls and FSM, which must be signed by Oct. 1 when the old ones run out. The telephone program is expected to drastically reduce Palau's high long distance rates to the U.S. But Remengesau insists the telephone issue should not be quid pro quo for the immigration issues.
-Scott Radway
Solomon Islands
The foreign ministers of 16 Pacific Forum nations have agreed to the formation of an Australia-led multi-national force to intervene in the deteriorating situation in Solomon Islands. The Solomons Parliament has also voted their approval. The decision has met with general, if at times cautious, support in the region.
However, concerns about the precedent-setting nature of the action have been expressed by some Forum countries. Vanuatu said it would supply peacekeeping troops for the intervention force, but that they would not participate in direct military activity. In the Solomons, a social worker claimed that foreign intervention may further provoke rebel leader Harold Keke, inciting him to more killing. But in reality, Keke seems fearful of the intervention and has released several hostages and signed a ceasefire agreement.
On Guadalcanal's Weather Coast, 1,245 people are said to have been displaced by the continued violence.
Australia is expected to provide about 1,500 troops and police. New Zealand will commit up to 200 troops and 40 police to the force. Half the Forum member states have offered assistance with personnel. The decision is being seen as compatible with the Biketawa Declaration, adopted at the 2000 Forum meeting in Kiribati, a guide to how Forum countries should react to regional crises. The intervention force will operate under the Solomon Islands Commissioner of Police, William Morrell.
In Sydney, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that other Pacific nations may also require Australia's intervention. "The best thing we can do is to take remedial action and to take it now." He said the new policy represented a significant shift in regional relations, but that Australia's Pacific neighbors were "looking for leadership and we promise not to fail them." (See further analysis of the Solomons situation on page 14 of this issue.)
-Norman Douglas
American Samoa
American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono urged government employees during his Flag Day address on July 3 to adhere to the cornerstone and guiding principles of his administration, which are love and honesty-the same principles that were laid out by the late Gov. Tauese Sunia.
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Due to the sudden passing of Tauese on March 26 followed by the mourning period, the annual Flag Day Celebration, usually set on April 17, was postponed to July 3 and 4. It was also the first time in many years that American Samoa officially marked the 4th of July Independence Day of the United States with planned activities.
Gov. Togiola said that with modern day advances in communications, people are reacting quickly to events, expressing their opinions and showing their knowledge. He said this has given rise to provocative and volatile views. He said there is nothing more important than doing one's job with love and honesty, as with these principles, Togiola said a person would overcome other obstacles.
He recalled one of Tauese's now famous statements, that you cannot use a balanced budget to feed families, and it's important that government workers have jobs. Togiola said his administration is following the same principle, the need to continue to have jobs for the territory's workforce.
-Fili Sagapolutele
American Samoa
On June 24, Hawaiian Airlines cancelled all flights between Honolulu, Hawaii and Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa after two of its planes were damaged by intake of debris from the airport's damaged runway surface. Flights finally resumed on July 10 after acrimonious finger-pointing between Hawaiian and airport administrators in American Samoa. Hundreds of ticketed passengers were stranded at both ends of the route, in Honolulu and in American Samoa.
Passengers who expected the airline to assist them with accommodation or meal vouchers were disappointed, since the airline said the fault was with the American Samoa airport and not with them. Hawaiian is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and this sequence of events-the damage to two aircraft, the cancellation of tickets and requests for refunds will cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Some passengers routed themselves through Auckland and Apia on Air New Zealand or on the once-weekly Honolulu-Apia flight of Polynesian Airlines.
U.S. mail destined for Pago Pago was also backed up by the Hawaiian flight cancellations. The U.S. postal service finally chartered a flight into Apia and a barge from Upolu to Tutuila so that 16 tons of mail could get to the territory.
For some time, the Territory of American Samoa has been seeking alternatives to Hawaiian's monopoly of the route. Passenger satisfaction has never been high and, adding insult to injury, Hawaiian raised the Pago Pago-Honolulu fares dramatically several months ago. One regular traveler told the Honolulu Advertiser, "They treat us like cattle."
-Scott Whitney
Federated States of Micronesia
Pres. Urusemal Promises Action
The sixth president of the FSM, Joseph Urusemal, was inaugurated July 13. In his speech to the nation, the new president said, "Those of you who know me well know that I am of few words; I am a man of action. Action, not words, must be our national focus."
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He also mentioned new Compact II funding, which he said must be "properly and efficiently managed. And I stress, properly and efficiently managed. This will enable us to move forward...The dream of economic security and self-sufficiency can now become a reality." Despite criticism from some legislators that new accountability provisions threaten FSM's sovereignty, Urusemal told his audience, "Let me assure you, our national sovereignty is not threatened by the Compact of Free Association."
-Jason D. Aubuchon
The Region
The United Nations Development Program issued its Human Development Report 2003 in July. The report is part of the U.N.'s worldwide poverty reduction agenda adopted at its Millennium Summit in September 2000. The study looked at income levels, literacy rates, gender equity and child mortality trends for 189 countries. This data is assembled into what the UNDP calls its Human Development Index.
In the Pacific region, the report names four countries whose health, education and income have been steadily declining between 1990 and 2001-Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands and the Federal States of Micronesia. The four were named among 50 troubled, "top priority" countries, most of the others being in sub-Saharan Africa. Papua New Guinea is rated in the second tier of UN worry, called "high priority."
By targeting these countries, the UNDP hopes that by 2015 it will be able to reduce the number of people living on less than one US dollar a day, achieve a two-thirds drop in child mortality rates and bring down by half the number of people without access to clean drinking water. The UNDP report can be accessed on line at www.undp.org.
In the same week as the UNDP report's release, Otago University's School of Medicine reported that cancer death rates had increased for Maori and Pacific peoples living in New Zealand, but had decreased for European New Zealanders. Pakeha New Zealanders' life expectancy improved in the same period of study, but that of Maori and Pacific Islanders worsened.
Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Don Matheson added that, "Cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease also make a substantial contribution to differing survival rates. Of particular note, Maori bowel cancer death rates have nearly doubled in the past 20 years, while Pacific people's bowel cancer death rates have increased approximately ten-fold."
The report says the mortality trends coincide with major social and economic changes in New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s.
Matheson said the figures were "unacceptable," and added that the New Zealand government was to spend NZ$400 million in the next three years for primary health care. "We believe that by making low-cost primary healthcare more accessible we can make a real difference to improving the health of New Zealanders, particularly Maori and Pacific peoples." For more information on the study, access the New Zealand Ministry of Health Web site at: www.moh.govt.nz.
-Scott Whitney
Fiji
Fiji police claim their handling of the South Pacific Games in July resulted in an event that was, according to police spokesperson Mesake Koroi, "incident free, drug free and crime free." Koroi applauded the force, whose performance he described as "gold medal."
The force moved on from the games to prepare for the tight security needed for the African, Pacific Caribbean trade ministers meeting which began July 21. Fiji hosts the Eighth ACP Ministerial Conference on Sugar to be held at the Fijian Resort in Nadroga.
The antidrug operations during the South Pacific Games have led to the establishment of a special police unit consisting of officers from all stations in the West. They use road checkpoints while also targeting raids in areas identified to be "hot spots."
Divisional Crime Officer Western Superintendent Vijay Singh said a team of about 50 officers moved up to Keiyasi to conduct a day-long operation targeted in the rural highlands to keep illegal drugs from the country's urban centers.
"We are trying to stop all the drugs coming down from the highlands," Singh said. Since operations began about a week before the games, police encountered no resistance.
"We are fortunate because up until now we have never encountered resistance but there are safety measures in place to deal with any situations that might arise," he told the Fiji Times.
-The Fiji Times, Scott Whitney
Hawaii - Samoa
Soccer Team Gets New Shoes
With the cooperation and generosity of several companies, the Samoa Football Federation team (soccer, in U.S. parlance) has brand new Adidas soccer shoes for their trip to the British Isles, where they played in the annual Milk Cup tournament being held this year in Belfast. They also participated in friendly matches in Manchester, home town to the Samoa national coach, David Brand, and did cultural presentations at several British schools.
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In June, Pacific Magazine editor Scott Whitney listened to an interview of coach Brand done by Radio Australia. In the interview about the upcoming Milk Cup, Brand mentioned that his boys had to practice barefoot, since few of them had proper "soccer boots." Whitney contacted the Radio Australia reporter who passed on contact information for coach Brand. Whitney called Brand and promised to try to find shoes for the team.
"Our magazine tries to follow sports in the Pacific," Whitney says, "but our parent company, PacificBasin Communications, is even more involved in sports. Through connections at our sister company, Hawaii Sports Network, we got the proper shoes with the proper sizes. We ended up purchasing 24 Adidas soccer shoes."
Buying the shoes turned out to be the easy part. Getting them to Samoa was the challenge, especially since Hawaiian Air had temporarily stopped flying into neighboring American Samoa and there were hundreds of people on the waiting list for Polynesian Airline's once-weekly Honolulu to Apia flight. In Apia, coach Brand secured Polynesian Airlines' commitment to carry the shoes to Apia at no charge. A few days later, PacificBasin Communications was able to find a passenger on the flight willing to "adopt" the two boxes of shoes.
The shoes languished in Customs for a few days, but they were personally released by the Customs Commissioner and the team had their black, red and silver soccer boots. "The boys were just over the moon," coach Brand said. "We cannot thank Pacific Magazine and Polynesian Airlines enough for their support. The smiles on the boys' faces will remain with me for a long time."
-Pacific Magazine
West Papua - Indonesia
Indonesia's chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has renewed his government's warning to separatists in Papua province. He says they will face tougher action from security forces should they go ahead with their secessionist campaign.
The statement came just one day after a pro-independence activist was shot dead, two were wounded and two others arrested after they had raised a separatist flag in the highlands town of Wamena.
The Jakarta Post reported that, prior to the shooting, police had spoken with the separatists for an hour to try and dissuade them from hoisting the flag.
In July, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Indonesia's treatment of peaceful independence activists. "Moves towards greater political freedoms and respect for freedom of expression are being undermined by the prosecution and imprisonment of peaceful political, labor, independence and other activists," said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia division director. "With less than one year to go before Indonesia's first direct presidential elections, to be locking up individuals who criticize the government is an alarming development for the electoral process."
-The Jakarta Post, PINA Nius
