The Complicated

Politics Of

Polynesia

From Judy Tudor in Papeete The French have taught French Polynesia their own brand of com plicated politics and, in many respects, French Polynesians have improved on the chaos. To this extent then, the recent election of M. Alfred Poroi as new Senator to France, as described in the December PIM (p. 73) is only half the story.

THE victory of M. Poroi can justly be described as popular but it certainly isn’t popular with everyone and certainly not with the party led by Mr, Tony Bambridge.

Before the French Polynesian elec tions of October 14, for the local Assemblee Territoriale, the Poroi and Bambridge interests were united in the political party known as UNR, generally regarded as conservative.

Before the elections the UNR split on the question of representation in the French Senate and they faced the electors as the UTD, led by M. Poroi and the UT led by M. Bambridge.

The result was that the RDPT, which has been variously described as every thing from “Communist” to “im mature” in its time, is now the party with the biggest representation in the new Assemblee, although no party now holds a clear majority.

The Assemblee has 30 members and after the October election it was made up as follows:

Rdpt 14

UT 8

Utd 5

Independents 3 The UT is stronger in the outer islands than the UTD but the latter was much stronger in the muni cipalities—M. Poroi has been Mayor of Papeete for 20 years and M.

Marcel Hart, also a UTD man, has been Mayor of Uturoa, Raiatea, for some years. (He is also one of the present Vice-Presidents of the As semblee Territoriale.) The UTD’s strength in the right places therefore resulted in M. Poroi emerging

triumphant as the new Senator. (Senate election is not by universal suffrage but by the Assemblee mem bers and a similar number of other office holders).

The discussion of local politics with outsiders is, on the whole, not a popular pastime in French Polynesia.

And not very profitable to the out sider, either.

The views of local participants are likely to be coloured by their loyal ties; the opinion of foreigners domi ciled there, which might be regarded as reasonably unbiassed, is unforth coming as a general rule in that too much opinion about such matters is unlikely to endear them to the authorities. The official view, on the other hand, is that as local politics are largely influenced by Polynesian family considerations, religion and re gional loyalties they are thus likely to be “immature” in the Western sense; and that there is no desire for “inde pendence” whatsoever, one reason for this being French Polynesia’s unviable economy and the large amounts of money France pours in there.

"Practical People"

If you point out that other countries whose economies were just as vulnerable have been swept by nationalism and have achieved an in dependent state, it is waved aside— and probably with some justification.

It is possible that French Polynesians have a much better idea than most just on which side their bread is buttered.

As much as you can get a con census of opinion in Tahiti, few in or out of official circles see anything very significant in the fact that the RDPT is now the biggest single party in the Assemblee, and the conserva tives are split in two. The referendum of September, 1958, in which French Polynesia decided to remain French, still holds good.

The RDPT is at present led by M. Jacques Taurua and seems to have lost a great deal of its fire since the muddled but vigorous leadership of ex-Senator Pouvaana a Oopa. It still regards itself as the “people’s party” but its greatest unifying force is the desire to have Pouvaana released from the exile in France to which he was banished in 1959 for his now famous attempt at insurrection.

It is agreed by everyone not in the party, however, that the RDPT hasn’t got Buckley’s chance of having Pouvaana returned to Polynesia. It is alleged, moreover, that he is quite well and content under minimum sur veillance in France at the country’s expense, and that he even has matri monial intentions there.