People Briefs
People Briefs
American Samoa's
Board of Higher Education in March voted to renew Dr. Adele Satele Galea'i's contract
as president of the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) for another two years.
She will be serving her third two-year term as president of ASCC.
Former Senator Ramon S. Guerrero has been hired as a consultant by Governor Juan
N. Babauta to advise the administration on the water and power for the La Fiesta
Mall complex. Guerrero's contract is for six months at $50,000. The controversial
La Fiesta Mall was acquired by the government last year for the Pacific Gateway
project of the Northern Marianas College. The college returned the mall last year
to the Governor's Office, saying it could not afford the price tag. Babauta wants
to move the offices of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC) to the mall
rent-free to save the cash-strapped agency $500,000 a year. Former
Guam airport Executive Manager Gerald Yingling was found guilty of two charges
related to the misuse of a government credit card. He faces a maximum sentence
of four years in prison and a $6,000 fine. Yingling, former Governor Carl Gutierrez,
and former top Gutierrez aide Gil Shinohara were acquitted last year of charges
that they diverted airport resources to build a beach house for Gutierrez. However,
Gutierrez and former Government of Guam Retirement Fund Director John Rios face
a June trial on charges that they improperly enhanced Gutierrez's payments from
the retirement fund. The longest serving staff member of the Fiji-based
Forum Secretariat, Melania Tunidau, was specially recognized during a ceremony
to marking International Women's Day on March 8. Tunidau, a divisional assistant
in the Corporate Services Division, joined the agency in October 1974 when it
was housed in an office at the University of the South Pacific.
The U.S. Navy announced that Rear Admiral (Select) Charles J. Leidig will become
the new commander of U.S. Naval Forces Marianas. He is currently the commandant
of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Leidig's service background
includes a number of submarine assignments. He replaces Rear Admiral Arthur Johnson
who has been assigned as commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Fifth/Seventh Fleet
in Misawa, Japan. On March 18, cancer claimed the life of longtime
Palau businessman Frank Ho at his hamlet in Medalaii. Ho was the owner of Palau
Trans Pacific Airlines and the now closed, Crystal Palace restaurant. After returning
from his father's funeral in Los Angeles, Christopher Farrell Ho will take over
the administration of airline operations. Fatima Strickland-Lloyd,
founder and managing director of Le Vai Ltd., Samoa's leading manufacturer and
supplier of bottled water, traveled to Frankfurt, Germany in March to receive
the International Arch of Europe gold category award on behalf of Le Vai. The
award is part of the annual awards program to recognize excellence in business,
organized by Business Initiative Directions of Germany. The
American Samoa Fono (Legislature) has confirmed two more cabinet members for Governor
Togiola Tulafono. Faleseu Eliu Paopao is now the director of the Department of
Commerce and Fa'afiti Pita Tauanu'u is director of the Office of Protection and
Advocacy for the Disabled. Fiji's Vasiti Valatia Ritova,
formerly of Pacnews, won the Island Journalist Award at the 2005 Developing Asia
Journalism Awards (DAJA) in Tokyo in late March. The event, sponsored by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) Institute, included prizes in four categories for journalists
in the Asia and Pacific region. The four winners were picked from among 140 entries
from ADB member nations.
Taiwan
Ambassador to Kiribati Samuel Chen in March presented a check for $522,047 to
Education Secretary Reina Timau-the final installment on a $2 million grant for
transportation for students. The half a million dollars will go for the purchase
of 48 trucks to help students travel long distances to school, which are often
an obstacle preventing school attendance, Timau says. Malaysian billionaire
Datuk Tiong Hiew King has defended the Papua New Guinea operations of his timber
company, Rimbunan Hijau, saying it was "legally sanctioned." The Asian timber
tycoon recently told Malaysian newspaper The Star the PNG subsidiary of his company
did not engage in illegal activities and denied the RH Group was involved in logging
in Indonesia. "Our group of companies never had any timber operation in Indonesia,
nor do we have any such plans in the foreseeable future," Tiong says. Fonotoe
Nuafesili Pierre Meredith is Samoa's most recent parliamentarian after winning
the by-election for the Anoama'a West parliamentary constituency. The vacancy
was created when former cabinet minister Tuala Sale Tagaloa resigned to take up
the presidency of the Lands and Titles Court. Fonotoe contested the by-elections
under the banner of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party. He was a former
secretary of justice and has since been working as a barrister and solicitor.
Australian politician Charlie Lynn has urged his government to abandon its "White
Australia Policy" that allegedly nullified Papua New Guineans' eligibility to
apply for Australian working-holiday-visas. The New South Wales Upper House parliamentarian
told the NSW Parliament the Australian federal government's unofficial migration
policy continued to "bite" its relationship with its former colony despite the
existence of working-holiday-visa arrangements between Australia and 17 other
countries. He decried plans by Australian rural-based Sunraysia Mallee Economic
Development Board to import 10,000 temporary fruit and vegetable pickers from
China, saying Papua New Guineans could do the job. |
