Up Front

with the Editor

Western Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Mata’afa had the knack of making himself one of the surrounding company without loss or dignity and thus he was regularly to be seen playing bil liards or a game of cards at the Returned Soldiers Association club as just one of the boys.

And yet on other occasions he could be a strict believer in protocol, insisting on correct dress and speech.

The fact is he understood the re quirements, and responsibilities, of both business and pleasure, and didn’t confuse them.

Mata’afa is now dead, at 53, but this attribute of his is shared by those other Island leaders who have come to power in the South Pacific during the last 10 years. They’ve formed an elite club of men with mutual respect for each other, and now for the first time their member ship has been broken by death. 1 refer to Mata’afa and President Deßoburt of Nauru, Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara of Fiji, and Premier Sir Albert Henry of the Cook Islands.

These are what I think of as “the originals”, the men who spelled out the need for independence in the South Seas, and then all at the same time put it into practice with firm ness, skill and Islands charm.

They were the pathfinders. Each in his own way got his people to gether and asked for their support, and then battered at the doors of the colonial governments, the UN, the South Pacific Commission, de manding a place in the sun. They have fought for independent airlines and shipping companies, attacked trade barriers and overseas combines, and often appealed directly to the overseas public for a hearing when they felt the metropolitan govern ments were not working fast enough to give them relief.

They made a good team, those leaders. Without exception they have been men of purpose, competence, political skill and humanity.

As a result of their team spirit, independence is a fact of life in the South Pacific now. Mata’afa was the first to see his country achieve it, and his wise leadership in the early

days of Samoan independence, I do believe, made it easier for his friends and neighbours to convince their masters that they too were respons ible People. And his friends P and neighbours recognise it. *

I ‘ Cs Mis Vt?

nl lfr P ay * t

s as remarkable as a De- T ?“ mttic chTrm ,h! h 31 ,he chans :

X ity to ?e’t

should be and * h thmk j to lose Lk n prepa, : ed has been shown tIV J ar ’ ™ hlch his lone fisht V agam . in to § h D f pite eVery,hin « we hear about breakaway movements, PNG recoe- M P ichael -on toT

feadtr. /'"tellere"'nobody 8 / Tl

c nobody else but

fnXfhuXs ofThe £5 ° V6r

rh® D f last tbree years f 5011111 Pa cific nations have for the manage , d to find tbe man tinuf h * and ° ng may that COn ' e *

Stuart Inder