Pacific Magazine > Magazine > February 1, 2004

Regional Briefs

Regional Briefs

Pay move condemned

Solomons' Parliament... government unable to service domestic and foreign debts.

In a move criticised by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian High Commission in Honiara asked Solomon Islands trade unions to drop a demand for a 2.5 percent pay increase for civil servants it said the government couldn't afford. The unions said the government was hypocritical about resisting the increase since a pay rise of US$1500-US$2000 a year had been recommended for members of parliament. Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza admitted his government was unable to service domestic and foreign debts amounting to nearly US$300 million.

Treason charges for Tongan prince?
Prince Uluvalu Tu'ipelehake, a Tongan Member of Parliament and nephew of King Taufa'ahau Tupou, has heard that he may be prosecuted for treason for seeking Australian help in making Tonga's form of semi-feudal government more democratic. In January, the government made first use of its new, internationally condemned press control laws to seize copies of a banned newspaper, Times of Tonga, imported from New Zealand, where it's published.

Political status for Hawaiians
The United States has approved a bill and a US$100,000 appropriation for the opening of an Office of Native Hawaiian Relations as part of the United States Department of the Interior‹the United States equivalent of a colonial office. The United States invaded Hawaii in 1899, stripped the indigenous people of most of their land and imposed policies intended to destroy the local language and culture. The remnants of the Hawaiian people are now far outnumbered by alien settlers. Daniel Akaka, the state senator for Hawaii, sponsored the bill as a means of achieving some degree of separate political status for Hawaiians.

Samoans on peacekeeping duties
Samoa is sending 20 officers to join an international peace force in Liberia. Fifteen other Samoan police will return from the Solomon Islands in March after assisting with restoring stability. Australia has asked for them to be replaced. The Samoan government says it may also send police to Sudan.

Vanuatu embassy in Beijing
Vanuatu has signed an agreement with China for the opening of a Vanuatu embassy in Beijing. The latest Chinese aid for Vanuatu, US$3.3 million, will be used to extend the University of the South Pacific's law school in Port Vila and begin the construction of an agricultural college.

Fiji's Delhi mission to open April
A Fiji diplomatic mission at Delhi, India, will open in April. About 43 percent of Fiji's population is of Indian origin. Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry asked India's foreign office to block the opening because, he said, Fiji still has an unconstitutional government. Chaudhry is awaiting a high court ruling on the number of seats his party is constitutionally entitled to be offered in the cabinet of his political opponent, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

More police to be recruited
Fiji's Australian police commissioner, Andrew Hughes, has suggested that the government let him recruit 100 extra officers so that the force can always have 100 men available for international peacekeeping jobs without eroding its domestic manpower level. He says such a deployment would be worth about F$6 million (about US$3 million) annually in foreign exchange earnings. More than 70 Fiji police are already with peace forces in the Balkans and Liberia.

Hawaii rejoins council
Having left it seven years ago after deciding it wasn't getting value for money, Hawaii, a United States state, has rejoined the Pacific Basin Development Council it formed with American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in 1980. Hawaii's governor, Linda Lingle, said the state was linked geographically, culturally and economically with the three other United States territories. She hopes that resumed membership will bring Hawaii a leadership role. The council's purpose is to deal with the region's social and economic problems.

Death penalty abolished
Having not hanged anyone from 52 years, Samoa has abolished the death penalty. A bill to do so was backed by opposition and government MPs. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said hanging hadn't deterred murders. Two cabinet ministers were sentenced to death several years ago after being convicted of having a third cabinet minister assassinated. But the sentences were quickly commuted to life imprisonment.

Guam's former governor charged
Guam's former governor, Carl Gutierrez, has been charged with using more than US$64,000 worth of government materials and government aid workers for the construction of a house for himself./p>