Ending Personal Politics

Donald Kalpokas

Our colonial history is unique in the Pacific in that we had two colonial masters at the same time. The French navy sailing from New Caledonia and the British navy, sailing from Fiji, both plied our waters protecting their traders and missionaries, but neither held dominance. So they signed a protocol in 1914 in order to facilitate a joint administration with equal influence over this archipelago, which was made for their convenience, that is to say, taking care of their subjects. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the development of the islands and its people.

For ni-Vanuatu, this created more than a little confusion in our minds. We, ni-Vanuatu, had no formal recognition under the system, being treated merely as "Natives," to be cared for by our masters. But the British and French disagreed on many issues and we watched as their competition affected our people. They called it the Condominium but we came to see it as the Pandemonium.

All the while, without rights, we were losing our land.

In 1971, we decided to start the New Hebrides Cultural Association. On September 17th, 1971, the association was renamed New Hebrides National Party, a fully-fledged political party. The party wanted to practice the policy of "friends to all and enemies to none" and therefore allied itself with the non-aligned movement, during a time when east and west tensions were high between communist and non- communist countries.

Our demands were simple: speedy development and independence in 1977.

That year the party was renamed the Vanua'aku Pati, meaning "the Party of my Land."

We in the Vanua'aku Pati never lost the certainty with which we fought our struggle for independence, but in the decade after 1991 everyone was a little confused. Our coalition governments were driven by their short sightedness. Many got rich during that time but no one seemed to want to help the grassroots build a better nation. It is important to realize, and this I want to stress, that this growth in individualism and personal gain began to dominate the characteristics of the coalition governments since 1991 and this has been the major cause of the downfall and frequent turnovers in government that have plagued Vanuatu for the past 13 years.

Our very recent history is replete with near misses and potential disasters brought about by politicians acting in self-interest rather than the common good, brought about by hubris. As recent events showed, it is perilous to stumble towards the future blindly. Vanuatu needs stability and leadership. Exactly half our Parliament is composed of independents and minor parties. It is getting harder and harder to agree on anything anymore.

As always, we ni-Vanuatu find comfort and strength in our stories about the past, in our history. We are proud of the diversity of our customs. We are also proud of more recent history, about the strength of our faith as Christians. We live through our history.

Our community leaders "story" in the nakamal (our traditional meeting houses) and transmit knowledge and customs from one generation to the next. In our nakamal in Port Vila-the national Parliament-Vanuatu's political leaders must also learn the lessons of the past.

Today, we need to remember our history, about what is possible when we are united. The Vanua'aku Pati was the only party that dreamt of independence and was able to carry out a democratic process in governance, but as long it is split it will never gain its majority again to run a government on its own right. Coalition governments, divided and divisive, like the condominium, will dominate Vanuatu unless we can turn the tide of personal politics.

Donald Kalpokas is a former prime minister of Vanuatu and founder of the Vanua'aku Pati. This is an edited version of a speech he delivered to the Center for Democratic Institutions in Australia in February.