A View From Auckland

Everyone is talking about terrorism. Se-curity in the islands nations figures on top of the agendas of most trans-Tasman forums. The refrain is that the Pacific islands nations are sitting ducks for terrorist attacks aimed at Australian, New Zealand and western interests. But Pacific security‹or for that matter security anywhere‹shouldn't be seen from the exclusive perspective of terrorist activity.

International crime is inextricably linked with terrorism. And the islands nations are in fact far more susceptible to the machinations of international criminal organisations than to terrorists. But security policy pronouncements in Australia and New Zealand tend to concentrate almost exclusively on terrorism.

Speaking at the Pacific Counter-Terrorism Round Table that was attended by senior officials of key islands nations in Wellington, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said that small neutral countries were no longer safe from terrorist activity. The bombings of United States facilities in Kenya and Tanzania that killed several hundred innocent people of those countries were examples of this, she pointed out.

Australians and New Zealanders who comprise the largest tourist segment visiting the islands are at risk if ports of entry are not equipped with the right security devices and procedures. Fears have also been raised about using the islands as safe havens for planning terrorist activities and lying in wait to regroup for later action. A Bali-like incident is guaranteed to take a heavy toll on tourism in the region and send the mainly tourism-dependent regional economies into a dangerous tailspin‹which would doubtless snowball into yet another concern for Australia and New Zealand.

The New Zealand government has committed NZ$3 million to help Pacific islands nations beef up their security environments particularly at ports of entry. The assistance will cover baggage scanning equipment and training of personnel in security procedures both for passengers and containers. Education on bio-security and helping the islands nations draft out their own respective counter-terrorism legislations are much-needed and welcome measures included in this ongoing funding.

But these measures seem primarily centered around the two big brothers' security concerns. The perception of terrorist threats may be very real but what is of greater and more immediate concern to the small islands nations is the steady proliferation of international criminal activity. There have been growing incidences of organised crime, many times accompanied by brutal violence involving foreigners. Drug running, human trafficking, illegal trading and money laundering are all on the rise. And the islands nations are hardly equipped to handle such violations.

International crime and terrorism are comrades in arms. Any game plan to counter terrorist activity must take into account the growing operations of crime syndicates and their networks, which in most instances provide financial muscle and logistic support to terrorist activity. Left unchecked, crime inevitably worms its way into administration affecting governance sooner than later. Australia and New Zealand would do well to include advice, training and mechanisms aimed at curbing international criminal activity into any package that aims at tackling terrorism effectively in the Pacific islands region. A more holistic approach needs to be put in place.

Pacific passports, anyone?

Not everybody feeds on terrorist fears. Some of the rich and famous from countries like South Korea seem almost clinically paranoid with the fear of long-lost neighbours across their northern border. The fear that nuclear North Korea‹widely perceived as a rogue state‹may attack at any time has gone a long way in justifying a large United States military presence in the leading Asian tiger for as long as one can remember.

Now, the paranoid rich of South Korea are apparently looking for safe sanctuaries in the Pacific neighbourhood. And a New Zealand businessman has made his services available to supply them passports of Pacific countries‹so that they can migrate without ado in the event that North Korea nukes them.

Selling passports is not a new business in the Pacific islands. A few years ago Tonga made a neat little pile selling its passports with help from an American wheeler-dealer (remember the court jester of Tonga's royalty?) This time round it's Niue. Though Niue cannot issue passports being a country in free association with New Zealand (Niue residents hold New Zealand passports), the promoters of the scheme have been trying to influence the island country's leadership by suggesting a via media through new legislation to allow issuing some kind of document that will permit entry and residence.

New Zealand is alarmed at this development because this would give such a passport or permit holder an automatic entry into the country. The foreign ministry is trying hard to impress upon the microstate's leadership not to get into this, even if the businessman has projected that the activity would rake in $75 million. And that's big bucks for the cyclone-ravaged island.

Names of some other beleaguered islands nations considering this lucrative business are also flying in the air‹Nauru being one of them. If anything like this happens, all regional security strategies will come to naught: terrorists could buy their way into the region -and legally at that!

That goes some way to illustrate how crime and terrorism could be so symbiotically linked.

Firmly grounded

Weekend shoppers like me at St. Luke's Westfield Mall‹Auckland's sprawling shopping complex‹were taken unawares by a group of children and teenagers practicing karate in the lobby outside the array of swanky designer stores. They seemed to be at it in right earnest, appropriately robed, poker-faced and punching and kicking the air with great gusto. Our perplexity turned to sympathy as we learnt what was going on. Bold letters on a blackboard screamed, "Grounded by Royal Tongan Airlines", followed by some notes scribbled below by way of explanation.

The group of 38 students and their instructor Angie Fuhiniu, of Auckland's Sei Shin-Ryu Karate Club, had paid for tickets to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands to participate in an international karate event there. With Royal Tongan Airlines suspending operations without notice after having their only jet taken away, the young Karatekas were left stranded with neither a refund nor an alternative mode of travel. The team members had worked months to raise the amount to pay for the fares.