New Governor
pp. 37-165 · Read in the full issue
Soon For French
Polynesia
From a Papeete correspondent Mr. Jean Sicurani, Governor of French Polynesia for the past four years, left Tahiti to return to France on January 13 to take up the important post of director of the office of the President of the
National Assembly.
Mr. Sicurani, 53, has been one of French Polynesia’s most forceful and respected Governors. He travelled more widely within the territory than any of his predecessors, and saw more transformations and innovations.
Milestones of his four-year term included : the inauguration of nuclear testing in the Tuamotus; the con struction of airports on a number of outer islands; the opening of a television station in Papeete and a Gauguin museum at Papeari, Tahiti; the enlargement of Papeete’s harbour and the beautification of the Papeete waterfront; the exhaustion of the Makatea phosphate deposits; the establishment of an air service between South America and Tahiti through Easter Island; and numerous developments in the tourist industry.
Mr. Sicurani arrived in Papeete on January 21, 1965, to find himself confronted with a public servants’ strike that had virtually brought the territory’s business to a standstill. In typical fashion, he proposed an immediate conference, the result was that the strike was settled within 24 hours.
Issues warning
In his speeches, Mr. Sicurani always drew attention to the economic advantages that the nuclear testing project have brought to the territory, and he never showed any sympathy for the majority parties in the local Territorial Assembly who have been campaigning strongly for internal self-government during the last couple of years.
In a speech over Radio Tahiti on New Year’s Eve, Mr. Sicurani warned against placing the territory’s admin istration and public service under the control of the dominant parties in the Assembly.
“French Polynesia had that ex perience 10 years ago,” he said. “It was followed by trouble and an after
(Continued on p. 189)
math that are still in everyone’s memories. Despite that, some ap petites are still not satisfied and the temptation to repeat the experience is not dead.
“It is a dangerous temptation. In fact, it is the only danger that menaces this truy happy country.
“I hope that French Polynesians will always be able to see this, and will always have the will to save themselves from it.”
Mr. Sicurani’s warning came barely a week after the majority parties in the Territorial Assembly had succeeded in ridding themselves of one of their nominees in the local Council of Government (cabinet) for not doing enough to promote the cause of internal self-government.
The nominee in question is Mr.
Jean Roy Bambridge, who, with four other nominees of the pro-autonomy coalition led by Messrs. Francis Sanford and John Teariki, was elected to the Council of Government by the Territorial Assembly in November 1967 {PIM, Dec., 1967, p. 19).
After having consistently refused to espouse the causes of the Sanford- Teariki parties recently, Mr. Sanford asked Mr. Bambridge to resign. When Mr, Bambridge refused to do this, the Sanford-Teariki coalition moved a vote of no-confidence in the council at a special meeting of the Assembly, and all seats in it were declared vacant by a vote of 18-0, with eight abstentions.
At a subsequent sitting. Mr.
Romulad Allain, secretary-general of the mayor’s office at Faaa, was elected to replace Mr. Bambridge. while the other former members of the council—Messrs. Leon Assaud.
Jacques Laurey, Jean Juventin and Andre Lorfevre—were re-elected.
The manoeuvre to replace Mr.
Bambridge showed that the Sanford - Teariki parties can now count on three-fifths of the votes in the Ter ritorial Assembly.