Pacific Report

Sedition Charges Booming In Solomons

Three men charged with sedition since independence in July that is the performance chalked up by Solomon Islands. First to face the courts was Lemuel Loefanua Maealatha, who col lected a three-month sentence in late September for publishing a poem in the official newspaper, Solomons News Drum, which was judged by the court to be designed to provoke ill-will and hostility between the people of the Western Province and peoples of other provinces, with seditious intentions. Then in October George Atkin, publisher of the newspaper Solomons Toktok, and Colin Bently, the writer of a letter published in Atkin’s paper, faced similar charges. Bently’s letter ended with the words; ‘lf you want any local war between Malaita and Suadalcanal (two of the Solomons’ main islands) okay let us go.’ Both men pleaded not guilty and were released on SSI 100 Dail each, with their cases adjourned to December. In a follow-up :o the first case, the central government offered a sum of $7OOO :o the Western Provincial Assembly as compensation from the :entral government information service. The assembly haughtily ejected the offer, saying that local custom demanded a greater >um.

Yew Political Party In New Hebrides?

Fhe tangled politics of the New Hebrides saw new developments when; the Vanuaaku Party issued a statement in October effec lively rejecting the government’s offer of seven ministerial posts PIM November) and demanding the dissolution of the present Representative Assembly: and the Minister for the Interior, Vin cent Boulekone, announced he had resigned from his party, the moderate’ Union des Communautes des Nouvelles Hebrides ’UCNH), and intended to form a new party. Mr Boulekone’s statements on resignation expressed markedly conciliatory atti udes to the Vanuaaku Party.

V. Samoa Demands No Pacific N-Tests

call for an early end to nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific vas made at the United Nations General Assembly in October >y Western Samoa’s Finance Minister Vaovasamanaia Filipo.

Voicing the hope that the Pacific environment could be restored d ‘something approaching its original purity’, he said that if the ’acific people had been consulted on the question in the first >lace they would have wanted the area to be nuclear-free.

Lumpy Start For New Us Policy

he new-look US policy of closer interest in Pacific Island affairs PIM November) got off to a bumpy start when the question of JS membership of the proposed South Pacific fisheries agency ireatened to split the South Pacific Forum in Niue in September, lut the State Department’s man at the South Pacific Con srence, Bill Bodde, told PIM: ‘We remain hopeful that by work ig together we will find a mutually satisfactory solution.’ For is part, Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, in Port loresby in late October, said Australia would work to ensure lat any agency which emerges is established along lines vanted by the Island countries themselves. Said he; ‘lt’s the ma ority view of the Pacific Island countries that matters.’

Iji’S Drug-Running Christina/Susan

22-year-old New Zealand girl, in court as Christina Doreen kipper, appealed against a six-year sentence handed down in iji on drug-running charges. She succeeded in having her sen dee on a heroin-related charge reduced to five years. But ppeal judge Mr Justice Williams showed he was not in a gener us mood by adding a three-year sentence on a second Indian emp charge, and ordering that the sentences be served con scutively. Result: after appeal, an eight-year sentence instead f six years. The prisoner will spend most of her time sewing

and gardening in the precincts of the women’s wing of Suva gaol with a super-close watch no doubt being kept in the gar den on her choice of plants for cultivation. The case took a bizarre turn when a New Zealand housewife, Mrs Christina Doreen Whitaker (nee Skipper), claimed that the girl under sen tence had improperly used her name on a passport application.

The girl’s true name is believed to be Susan Florence Jay Ren nie.

Torres Islanders Okay New Border

Torres Strait Islanders in November voiced approval of the terms of the draft treaty being negotiated between Australia and Papua New Guinea on their border running through Torres Strait. Even Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen seems willing to go along with it.

Palikir Is A New Capital

The capital of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) will be in the Palikir area, on Ponape, Caroline Islands. An official an nouncement of the decision said that in the interests of local landowners ‘that portion of Palikir which is presently used by

homesteadersforfarming’willbeexcludedfromthegeneralareaof

the capital. The FSM will consist of the districts of Yap, Truk, Ponape and Kosrae, which in July approved by referendum the proposed FSM constitution. The Marshalls and Palau districts rejected the constitution.

Coalition Musical Chairs In Png

PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister Julius Chan announced on November 7 in Parliament that he was withdrawing his People’s Progress Party support from Prime Minister Michael Somare’s coalition government. Mr Chan accused Mr Somare of leading PNG into a ‘highly personalised form of government’ and said the PPP could not allow itself to be used just to keep the co alition’s numbers up. Mr Somare, who had a few days earlier reshuffled his cabinet to the PPP’s disadvantage, the following day announced a new coalition with the United Party, lambakey Okuk’s Opposition numbers being made up by the support of the PPP. The situation, at press time, remained fluid with a ‘no confidence’ motion pending.

Okuk’S ‘Significant Australians’

Speaking at a state dinner to welcome Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Eraser in Port Moresby in October, Papua New Guinea’s parliamentary opposition leader, lambakey Okuk, declared: ‘I have just returned from a visit to Australia where regrettably I was not able to meet you. However I met your deputy prime minister, I met Mr Whitlam, and I met the Premier of Queensland. Now that I have met you I am sure I have now spoken to all the most significant people in Australia. Mr Fraser was in PNG for the formal opening of PNG’s national library, Australia’s independence gift to the new nation. He took the opportunity to assure PNG that Australian aid, which at present represents about a third of the PNG budget, would continue after the current agreement expires in 1981.

‘Sexual Blackmail’ - Fiji Reaction

The story ‘Fiji: Where a girl may have to pay to get a job’ (PIM October) aroused keen public controversy in that country. PIM correspondent in Suva, Robert Keith-Reid, sought some local reactions. His report: Mr Jack Meyer, director of the Fiji Em ployers’ Consultative Association, read the article and said: ‘lt’s a lot of bloody crap.’ He had no doubt that there were ‘certain liaisons going on’. But to suggest that Fiji’s working girls were the victims of mass assault was ridiculous. If this were the case ‘it would be attracting a lot more expatriates here’. A member

of the board of the Fiji Young Women’s Christian Association who did not want to be named said; ‘I am certain sexual black mail is used. It is particularly despicable in the Fiji situation of gross unemployment. A lot of young women are forced to use their bodies to hold down their jobs. I believe this is most frequent in small commercial businesses and shops.’ The head of the Fiji National Council of Women, Mrs Gyan Paras Ram, said she was ‘most concerned’ about the allegations in the story but did now want to comment until she had thought about it more.

Micronesia’S ‘Christmas Drop’ On Again

Micronesia’s traditional ‘Christmas drop’ programme will be on again this year from December 12-21. The 54th weather recon naissance squadron of the US air force parachute-drop gifts col lected on Guam to outer islands of Micronesia. Begun about 20 years ago, the ‘Christmas drop’ was suspended in 1973 due to the fuel crisis. But it resumed last year, with the military drop ping about 25 000 kg of gifts to people on more than 50 Micronesian islands.

Top Golfers At Fiji’S Pacific Harbour

Fiji played host in October to leading amateur golfers from 24 countries at the world amateur golf championships played on the Pacific Harbour course at Deuba, near Suva. The men’s event, for the Eisenhower trophy, was won by the US, with Canada and Australia second and third. Fiji finished third from the bottom, but the leading Fijian player, E. Koroi Lutunatabua, had a four-round total of 319, good enough to rate him among the world’s best 20 amateur golfers. The women’s event, the Espiritu Santo trophy, was won by Australia by one stroke from Canada.

Png Students Act On Irian Issues

A Committee for Melanesian Refugees has been formed at the University of Papua New Guinea with the aim of providing em ployment and health care, and meeting other needs, of refugees in PNG from Irian Jaya. Earlier, the UPNG Students’ Represen tative Council had made an appeal for funds to hire a lawyer for an appeal against the conviction by a PNG court of Irian Jaya rebel leaders Jacob Prai anad Otto Ondawame (PIM November).

Strike By Condominium Workers

Two hundred daily-rated employees of the New Hebrides con dominium administration went on strike in October demanding compensation at end of service with the condominium on the same basis as British National Service staff. They marched to the main government offices to present letters stating their de mand.

Yanks To Salvage Mainline Wreck

An American company, Coral Surf Resort Ltd, will finish the building of a luxury hotel on Fiji’s coral coast which has lain incomplete since its Australian builders Mainline Corporation, went bust in 1974. The 250-bed project will be managed by Hyatt International and known as Hyatt Regency Fiji. It should be ready for guests next year.

Tt Officials Beat Path To China

Two senior agricultural and fisheries officials from the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands were in the People’s Republic of China in October-November for a two-week seminar on small and medium-scale industrial development. They were the second group of TT officials to visit China. Senior TT medical personnel recently attended a seminar on health care delivery systems in China.

New Floating Dock For Guam

The US Army Corps of Engineers plans a floating dock in Apra Harbour, Guam, for use by pleasure motorboats and yachts, and to provide safe berthing facilities for small sailboats.

Were Irianese Rebels Double-Crossed?

An Irian Jaya spokesman in Papua New Guinea claims that rebel leaders Jacob Prai and Otto Ondawame, now in gaol in PNG (PIM November), were victims of a double-cross when they were arrested in Vanimo in September. The spokesman, known as Srigala, says the two men had travelled to Vanimo with the approval of the PNG Government to receive medical treatment, and to hold discussions with PNG officials among other matters on the possibility of granting asylum to an Irianese chaplain in the Indonesian army whom they were holding at the time. The Irianese, according to Srigala, be lieve the double-cross was organised by white Australian advisers in the PNG Prime Minister’s Department, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Visa-Free Entry To Micronesia

Visitors from countries other than the US can now enter Micronesia without a visa. If they do not intend to seek employ ment or stay more than 30 days they need show only passport (or other evidence of citizenship) and air ticket for departure from the territory.

Anti-Typhoid Action In American Samoa

Health officials in American Samoa are urgently investigating local water and sewerage systems in a bid to control the recent outbreak of typhoid (PIM November). Eleven cases were reported in late September, and two in the first half of October.

Western Samoa has not been affected by the outbreak. Health officials in Apia say that in the January-October period only four cases of typhoid were recorded.

Air Niugini Charters For Usa

Air Niugini has been granted unrestricted charter rights into the USA, opening the possiblity of a Pacific charter circuit operated by the airline together with American Airlines. However, Air Niugini sources said they did not expect to be allowed to operate charter flights into Australia.

Tongan Students Slam Smoking

Students at Tonga High School have launched a campaign against smoking, with emphasis on its dangers to health. A pet ition prepared by them calls for legislation to ban cigarette adver tising, and for ‘health hazard’ warnings to be printed on packets of cigarettes and tobacco. (Political Currents, Apia; Smoke of Battle).

Old Hurricane To Blow Again

A remake of the film Hurricane, first shot in 1937, is being done at Bora Bora, French Polynesia. The plot of the original novel, set in American Samoa in the 19205, has been changed to a love affair between an American girl and a Polynesian chief, rather than between two Polynesians. American Samoa was re jected as the setting because it was considered not picturesque enough and had no low islands for a hurricane to roll over.

TONGA RUNS OWN DEFENCE - IT’S OFFICIAL Last year’s transfer of command of the Tonga Defence Services from a New Zealand to a Tongan officer has been formalised with the handing over of a ceremonial sword by Air-Marshal R.

B. Bolt, chief of the New Zealand Defence Staff, to Crown Prince Tupouto’a, Colonel-in-Chief of the Tonga Defence Services.

Latest On Noumea’S Parking Meter War

Noumea has for months been involved in fierce public contro versy over parking meters. The affair took a new turn when a court ruled the meters illegal. It appeared that the authorities had failed, as required by law, to put up signs on the city’s access roads announcing that parking meters were in use. The ruling wiped out unpaid fines of up to SASOO for some offenders.

Immediately it was announced, the authorities ordered a crash programme for erection of the signs, and the city’s female park ing police returned to the fray with a new edge of aggressive ness.