Flosse Fries Foreign Rice

Hina Kennedy lights a Malboro Light and blows a stream of smoke impatiently skyward. "I am never interested in politics," she exclaims. "I never got involved."

Now she is‹indirectly. Kennedy, a chef, is holidaying in Rarotonga but is still annoyed about what is happening in her home in French Polynesia. To her beloved brand of rice.

"All my life, every where I go, in Tahiti, or in Hawaii or in New Zealand, there is always this one rice, Sunlong Rice, and now I cannot get it any more because Flosse has banned it."

French Polynesia has banned imports of rice from Fiji saying it's bad quality. A statement from Flosse's office said the rice importer has been notified of the decision after tests revealed that the rice imports did not conform with specifications set down in the import tender.

Not satisfied with seeking to outlaw the iconic Le Truck two years ago, Flosse is turning his attention to smaller targets.

"Now the rice, it must come from France," says Kennedy. "It's crazy!" About 1100 kilometres north east of Rarotonga, French Polynesian President, Gaston Flosse, was looking anything but crazy.

Buried under the usual mountain of flowers from adoring supporters as he arrived back at Faaa airport from Paris, he declares himself "satisfied" with the passage of the new autonomy laws passed last December by the French Senate, and, last month, by the Lower House of the French Parliament. Among other things, say opposition critics in Pape'ete and Paris, the new autonomy laws give Flosse more power. These are on top of near "monarchical" powers he already has, they say.

Back in Paris, left wing socialist deputies found the new laws so frustrating they made the "teeth squeak." Even some of those who supported the autonomy measures were discomforted by the way they were pushed through without a referendum or much debate, either in France or French Polynesia. Béatrice Vernaudon, one of two deputies to the French Lower House, "will have at least given a small gleam of honesty by admitting that: "perhaps the method used‹a senatorial amendment‹is, indeed, democratically contestable," concluded Tahiti Pacifique in an editorial last month.

There was evidence, however, that not everything went Flosse's way. First, there was the country's Constitutional Council. Justice, Police, Immigration and control of territorial waters were removed from the freshly approved autonomy by the council, saying "public safety must remain an attribute of the state," reported Le Monde.

Constitutional councillors also knocked back article 19, which appeared to be aimed at limiting the impact of immigration by favouring land deals involving those with Polynesian parents. Official documents at the Public Records Office also remain under the control of France.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing for Flosse, was the council's rejection of articles which would have given French Polynesia the same prestige as New Caledonia‹the right to make and approve its own laws.

French Polynesia, noted council members, did not have any provinces like New Caledonia to balance the powers of the territorial assembly and its executive.

Then, there was Flosse himself. He lost no time expressing thinly veiled impatience. "We will continue to build Polynesia," Flosse told Tahiti Presse, one of several news services linked to the big man of French Polynesian politics. "The statutes are a tool that always need improvement. I will await the next constitutional reform to improve certain weaknesses that will be detected in the text of the new laws."

Flosse may have missed out on a bigger regional role, but he has gained wider powers at home. The Conseil Constitutionnel did not object to wholesale changes to the electoral boundaries. Noting it was the "third statute given in 20 years by the French Parliament to this overseas community," the council maintained its legislative watchdog role of concerning itself only with areas "contrary to the Constitution."

Gerrymandering not being one of them, apparently. Along with redrawn electoral boundaries, new autonomy measures add a third district. These moves are widely seen as cutting back what small advances the opposition has made over the years.

Tahiti Pacifique scathingly noted that, "thanks to the fiddle suggested, the majority party, which already has 60% of the seats with 48% of the voices, will now have 80% of elected officials!"

Some Tahitians worry that the Flosse "potentate" may get increasingly petty.