The Islands Desperately Need An Image Doctor

Sun, sand, sea, sky. That alliterative, touristy stereotype sums up all things positive about the Pacific islands states in the western media especially those of Australia and New Zealand. Fortunately, in more recent times, the islands have been spared the other's' sex that was used so profusely and with such great relish by controversial anthropologists and s-grade novelists of the last century!

Other than the odd travel article tucked away in one of the weekend supplements extolling the virtues of paradise three hours away made alluringly possible by plunging airfares, there is little else that appears by way of anything that could be seen as positive about the islands.

When it is not the swaying palms, azure seas and coral reefs teeming with littoral exotica, it is the hardy staple of cyclones, corruption, a region that is a potential breeding ground for terror and a growing threat to the environment that make up the Pacific pages.

Last month, the papers were pregnant (pun intended) with more bad news about the islands and islanders. For one, the issue of Tongan women being subjected to a pregnancy test before being issued a visa to visit New Zealand loomed for weeks. Apparently, the New Zealand immigration service had found that over 400 Pacific women had had babies in the country last year under the government's free medical system‹a service they were not entitled to (also, birth in new Zealand grants automatic citizenship‹widely seen as a means of back-door entry for parents). This gave rise to a regime of extreme vigilance when it came to giving visas to women. The tests were meant to check the trend, said the official stand.

Matters reached a head when a senior functionary of the Tongan government who was travelling to an official regional conference in Rotorua was asked to take the test. Amidst protests, the government went on the defensive and even apologised but maintained that the tests would continue and the staff in Nuku'alofa would be advised to use discretion before asking women to undergo the tests. Some women from Fiji and Samoa had also been asked to do the tests after the policy was enforced last October, say reports.

The heightened concern and fears of all cross-border matters‹especially in this post-911, terror-laden world‹may be understandable, but one wonders if such concerns are linked in some way to stereotypes and notions that develop over the years.

Results of a survey conducted by a New Zealand university on Kiwi perceptions about immigration in the year 2002 that were revealed recently showed that a significant number of Kiwis wrongly believed that Pacific islanders were the largest ethnic immigrant group.

In actual fact, Asian immigrants have far outstripped Pacific islanders settling down in New Zealand over the past few years. Yet, the public perception seems to be otherwise. What could have led to that erroneously exaggerated perception? Could it be the popular fact that Auckland is the world's largest Polynesian city? Or the great ³Polynesian melting pot² that it is described as in tourist brochures? Perhaps. But then New Zealand Maoris are counted among those Polynesians and would quite easily outnumber other Polynesian immigrants from Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands (who indeed are New Zealanders given their special relationship) and French Polynesia.

Worse, a whopping three quarters of those surveyed had the impression that Pacific islanders were the single biggest ethnic group responsible for crime in New Zealand and just a thin minority thought that islanders were good for the economy. Another survey some weeks ago put Pacific islanders at the bottom of the pile of wage earners across migrant ethnic groups.

These perceptions doubtless play their role subliminally as governments take a fresh look at their immigration policies every so often. Tongan leaders have already pointed out that the number of Tongans migrating to New Zealand has fallen considerably this year in the period corresponding previous years‹well below the official quota for Tongans.

Last month, Amnesty International's annual report for 2003 had put the entire islands region in the dock for growing corruption, dereliction of duty among administrators, nepotism and favouritism, misuse of official funds by bureaucrats and elected officials, growth in international crime and so on. In a word, worsening governance.

As is mostly the case, media reports tended to lump the islands together rather than discussing country-wise specifics. And of course the front page billing that the busting of the drug factory in Suva received was yet another pointer to the islands as a potential theatre for international crime and terrorism.

Pacific islanders are too amorphous a group and have no champion to espouse their cause at least as far as the media are concerned. Too busy with the business of survival at the bottom rung of wage earners, most of these migrants tend to feed into the stereotypical images that have formed over the years.

As part of their agenda for the Pacific islands and islanders, organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum need to urgently arrive at a strategy and set up an office to deal with Pacific related issues in the media world to promote a better understanding of Pacific islanders' concerns in the developed neighbourhood.

At present, the apex organisation's media role is restricted to issuing press statements. That ought to grow into a pro-active organisation that would be equipped to counter the snowballing negative publicity that accompanies Pacific islanders wherever they go‹many times for no fault of theirs.

The image of a poor, aid-seeking, disaster-prone paradise whose people only want to migrate has to change. Sure, the islands have their problems. But there is an emerging brighter side‹for instance, the islands region has been recently acknowledged as having grown into a market that is US$11 billion in size. That's the sort of thing that must find its way into western media along with the sun-sand-sea-sky routine.

Food for thought for the Forum leaders at the forthcoming August meet in Apia?