Pacific Report

Strike Paralyses Fiji Sugar Mills

Fiji's vital sugar-milling industry was paralysed in November when most of the 220 members of the Fiji Sugar-Milling Staff Association objected to the appointment of an Australian as chief engineer at the Fiji Sugar Corporation’s Labasa mill. The unionists, who hold senior supervisory jobs in the FSC’s four mills, claimed a ‘local’ should have got the job. All four mills were closed within two days of the outbreak of the strike, and 690 000 tonnes of cane worth about SF2I million was in danger of being left to rot unharvested, only a few weeks short of the end of the 1980 harvest. About 3700 mill workers faced premature lay-offs, and 14 000 part-time cane cutters were idle. The engineer’s position had been advertised in local newspapers in July, but no local engineer had applied. After five days of intense effort by the independent chairman of the sugar industry lan Thomson and Minister of Agriculture Jonati Mavoa, the dispute ended up before Fiji’s Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. What happened at the meeting has not been made public, but suddenly the strikers were ready to return to work, and did, the ‘offending’ engineer was transferred, and a three-man indepen dent committee was being appointed to examine the causes of the dispute. The FSC management board later claimed that Ratu Mara had ‘humiliated’ the corporation, and ‘undermined’ its authority. The board said it appeared that displays of militancy would be allowed to override any rational or ethical stances.

Hurricane Hits Moruroa

A hurricane hit the French nuclear-testing site of Moruroa Atoll, French Polynesia, on November 28. Despite official claims minimising damage, the Papeete daily La Depeche estimated it would cost about CFPIOO million to repair. The atomic testing centre’s desalination plant which provides the centre with fresh water was put out of action. Due to advance warning, personnel were able to take shelter, but about 30 people were reported to nave suffered slight injuries.

Png Pm In Australia, Indonesia

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, made a brief visit to Australia in December and appealed to Australian industry to invest more heavily in his country. Sir Julius said he was disappointed that few Australian investors had taken up opportunities now available to establish export industries in PNG to supply Australian markets. He believed that such arrange ments, which were provided for under the PNG-Australia Trade and Commercial Relations Agreement, were to the benefit of both countries. Sir Julius was speaking in Canberra to the newly formed Australia-PNG Business Cooperation Committee. He said that Australian businessmen at times were risking their capital in unstable overseas environments while ignoring the safer opportunities in PNG close to home. Sir Julius praised the Australian aid programme to PNG. He described it as ‘the most noble and dignified arrangement ever made between a former administering country and its past colony’. Sir Julius held talks with several Australian cabinet ministers before leaving for an

official visit to Indonesia. President Soeharto of Indonesia discussed regional and bilateral issues with Sir Julius in Jakarta, and gave an assurance that Indonesia did not wish to interfere with the affairs of its neighbours. This was seen as a direct response to often-voiced fears by Papua New Guineans that the land border between the two countries was a gateway for Indonesian influences. The talks between Sir Julius and President Soeharto touched on the role in which PNG sees itself as a bridge between South-east Asia and the Pacific.

Santo’S ‘Government In Exile’

Former French residents of Santo who fled to Noumea are ‘for all practical purposes’ operating as a government in exile, according to John Beasant, official spokesman for the government of Vanuatu. In a December press interview, he said that the ‘government in exile’ comprised a core of some 40 former French colons who were still trying to promote the secession of Santo. Mr Beasant said the government would declare Arnaud Lizop, French lawyer, a prohibited immigrant because of his role in promoting Santo secession (see p2l). It has already taken this step, and for the same reason, in relation to Jean-Jacques Robert, former French resident commissioner in the New Hebrides. Meanwhile the Vanuatu Government an nounced on ‘Unity Day’, November 29, that there would be no pardons granted until all persons charged in connection with the secessionist revolt on Santo had been tried. Pardons would only come after completion of the court hearings against the 100 or so people who were then still to stand trial.

‘Boycott Japan’ Call In Micronesia

The Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) has urged the FSM president to open talks with other Pacific countries with a view to organising a boycott of Japanese goods should Japan go ahead with plans to dump nuclear waste ‘north of the Mariana Islands or elsewhere in the Pacific Basin’. The resolution, carried by the congress late in November, noted that nations and territories of the Pacific ‘imported hundreds of millions of dollars in goods from Japan', and that the threat of a unified boycott by these nations should discourage the government of Japan from proceeding with its dumping plans.

Adoption of the resolution followed the visit to Ponape in mid- November of a team of Japanese experts to explain the Japanese plans to FSM officials. Earlier, the state legislatures of Ponape, Truk and Yap had adopted resolutions opposing the nuclear dumping plans.

Northern Marianas Disaster Area’

President Carter has declared the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands a major disaster area following November 22’s devastating Typhoon Dinah. Tinian and Saipan suffered severe damage from winds which reached 185 kph.

Federal assistance from the president’s disaster relief funds will include temporary housing assistance for disaster victims, low interest loans from the Small Business Administration, and emergency loan assistance from the Farmers’ Home Adminis tration. The cost of removal of debris and restoration of public facilities will be shared on a 75%-25% basis by Federal and Commonwealth agencies.

Fijian Nationalists Woo Soviets

The Fijian Nationalist Party, which was responsible for the defeat of the ruling Alliance government in the 1977 general election, has asked the Soviet Union to help it to organise for the general election due in 1982. A vice-president of the party, who had met the Soviet Ambassador to Australia in Canberra, said the Russians were ready to offer training to people from Fiji ‘subject to (Fiji) Government approval’. Aid for the Nationalist Party had been discussed but ‘no commitment’ had been given, he said.

Fiji Says ‘No Asylum’ For Chileans

The Fiji Government in December refused the request of five Chilean men for political asylum. Denying charges of ‘inhumanity’ on the part of the government, Minister for Labour and Immigration Ratu David Toganivalu said that the men had left Chile for Hong Kong on valid passports. Arriving in Australia, they were allowed to stop at Brisbane as transit passengers. Between Hong Kong and Brisbane they had ‘lost their passports’. They had applied for refugee status in Australia, but ‘for reasons best known to Australian immigration’ were refused. The Chilean ambassador told them to return home by Lan Chile airlines.

When they arrived at Nadi there were representations by various public people that the government should receive them.

However in view of the data’ it had collected, the government be^ 0 u 6C L the A y should move on as ducted by their ambassador and by the Australian Government. Ratu David said he ‘did not think there was any inhumanity on the part of government in exercising its duties on this basis, and therefore they returned to uniie .

Nz Aid Under Microscope

The level of New Zealand’s overseas aid has been criticised by a committee that advises the government on its aid programmes The committee has championed the target figure of 0 7% of the gross national product as the level of official aid. In its latest a x nn . U ?'T, port notes that the fi 9 ure for 1978 was 0.34%. A peak of 0.52 /o was reached in 1975. The committee said that the question of priorities in the distribution of aid was another important concern. It said: ‘A large proportion of New Zealand a| d goes to the Pacific. This is our region and there are sound political and economic reasons for this choice. However the volume of aid now flowing into the Pacific does raise serious questions. These Island nations do not suffer the same degree of poverty as other developing countries.’ The emphasis on the Pacific has meant restricted programmes in such countries as India and Bangladesh where desperate human need exists on a vast scale. But Dr Tom Davis, Cook Islands premier, who was in New Zealand at the time the report was released, still expects an •Hcrease in New Zealand aid to his country. In a statement published two days after release of the committee’s report, he said that in 1964 New Zealand budgetary aid met 75% of’the Cooks’ total budget. The figure was now 23%. ‘lt has decreased over the years, which is the way we mutually wanted it to go and still wish it to go, said Dr Davis. ‘But we’d like to keep it at its present level because of all the things left undone, like maintenance of the roads.’ Dr David declined to say how much extra aid the Cooks sought, but concluded: ‘The outcome I think, will be an increase in New Zealand’s contribution ’

Permanent Hq For Games

Permanent headquarters for the South Pacific Games were established in November in Noumea. Head of the new office Roger Kaddour has appealed to Games officials throughout the region to send him all available documents relating to the organisation of the Games for SPG archives he is in the process

of establishing.

Fiji To Join Sparteca

Fiji has decided to join SPARTECA (the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement) after at first declining to do so. The agreement provides duty-free unrestric ted access to Australia and New Zealand for most products exported by South Pacific Forum countries. One of Fiji’s difficulties was over orange juice, where it was felt that Sparteca did not give it the assured access it needed on the New Zealand market. However, after talks between New Zealand’s Minister of Trade and Industry Lance Schneider and Fiji officials it was agreed that New Zealand would review its Sparteca arrange ments for orange juice when the Fiji product comes ‘on stream’ in 1982. Fiji then announced its intention to join.

Behind The Cooks Joining Spc

The Cook Islands’ accession to full membership of the South Pacific Commission (PIM Dec p 15) is important in the international field, ‘where there is little understanding of the significance of self-government and the Cook Islands’ special relationship with New Zealand,’ according to Jim Gosselin, the Cooks’ secretary of external affairs. Mr Gosselin added: ‘The membership is also part and parcel of our application to accede to the Lome Convention. The premier stated in a letter to the (South Pacific) Conference that the move was significant in that it was the first time the Cook Islands had become party to a multilateral agreement which includes Britain and France. Now our point is that if we can become a party to a multilateral agreement here, there is no reason why we couldn’t become party to the Lome Convention which also includes Britain and France.’ Other countries admitted as full members of the SPC at the recent conference in Port Moresby were the Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Republic of Vanuatu, and Niue.

Mmy Stevens’ ‘Wife’ Who Wasn’T

There were red faces in Australian media circles in December when a woman presented at a book launching as Ravae ‘the 27th wife of Jimmy Stevens’ turned out to be a Sydney actress simply

playing a part. She fooled Sydney’s newspapers, television anon hac'a W r h r P?^ formance - Tha young woman, Isobel Gidlews has an English father and a Vanuatuan mother. She has in recenn times been active promoting drama in Vanuatu. She appeared ini as a Stevens wife at the launching at a Sydney hotel oo ? h d °° k ’ Cwonut War, by Australian journalist Richaroi rhff^inlt 6 t b th°o ls Said t 0 take a '•'Qht-hearted, tongue-inn mLh* c k 3 tha + Santo secessionist revolt of May-August 19800 Matters reached the point where Jimmy Stevens himself wa°e interviewed on the subject in gaol in Port-Vila by an Australian* pressman. An incredulous Stevens said: ‘Ravae? Ravae? Who H Ravae? I have no wife called Ravae.’ He added: ‘I don’t even* tlfat 0 Q t 7 wives / 1 th'Hk 't’s 20.’ The reporter expressed his doubld that Stevens had in fact ‘married’ even 20 women. He wrote:e 9 u V ? S im P ression that on e marriage was “solem-n msed but is reticent about the remainder which fall under th©r category of custom” marriages.’

The Saga Of The Chidiock Tichborne

Late last year when he made landfall at Cairns, Queensland t 38 -y ear -°|d w ebb Chiles completed a two-yearj 13 68S km crossing of the Pacific in his open 5.5 m boat, ChidiockA: Tichborne. On May 10 1980 in Vanuatu waters his boat hit a half-t submerged object and was swamped. He took to his rubben* hferaft and secured to the crippled Chidiock Tichborne, driftedb 480 km in 14 days before being washed over a reef on an islandb in Vanuatu. He was rescued by villagers, flown to hospital withfi acute malnutrition and badly infected feet. After recuperatinq hee repaired the boat and set sail for Australia on October 9 Thee remar k able voyage started from San Diego, California, onn November 12 1978. Chiles, who has previously circumnavigatedb solo in a much larger yacht, writes books and magazine articless about his voyages. He does it, he says, ‘because I want to go toe he edge of human experience’. His boat, with no protection fromr the elements, is so small that he has to sit on the floorboards andt steer by hand. He sleeps stretched out in the bottom of the boat which has no bunks. He has to wear protective clothing andt sunscreen in the heat of the tropics to prevent illness through r severe exposure. * NEW PAPERS BURST OUT ALL OVER (3) Derson Ramon, Federated States of Micronesia Information Specialist, writes: ‘Under your Pacific Report (PIM Nov p 6) you forgot to mention the FSM newspaper in the item ‘New Papers Burst Out All Over’. The FSM Government has started a bi weekly newspaper, The National Union. This paper is for the government and people of the FSM.' Thank you, Derson Ramon.

Fiji To Push ‘Up-Market’ Soaps

A slice of the quality toilet soap market in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada and on the United States West Coast was the prize being sought by a Fiji Government mission which toured those parts in October-November. At a press conference in Sydney sponsored by the office of South Pacific Trade Commissioner Ron Hegerhorst, members of the mission pointed out that Australia alone imports $2 750 000 worth of ‘up market’ soaps every year. With the admitted packaging problems faced by Fiji s two soap factories overcome, members of the mission believed that Fiji could capture about 5% of the Australian market in 18 months. They pointed out that the strength of the Fiji product lay in its high proportion of coconut oil; from 25% to 100%, depending on the brand. Soaps generally available on the Australian market contain as little as 10% - 12%. With prices of quality European soaps skyrocket ing, they believed that the Fijian product would be extremely competitive. The mission was funded by Britain’s Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation.

Off-The-Record On France-Oz Ties

The Paris correspondent of the Noumea weekly Corail, Hubert Chavelet, reports an alleged off-the-record comment by French Foreign Minister Jean Frangois-Poncet on the General Barthelemy affair (PIM Nov p 5). Mr Frangois-Poncet is reported to have said: ‘We can’t do anything in the South Pacific that upsets the Australians. We have too great a need for their mineral resources coal, uranium, and so on. We must give in to them on whatever they ask of us.’ (General Barthelemy, former commander of French armed forces in New Caledonia, was abruptly recalled earlier this year after he had written to the Australian Consul in Noumea accusing Australia of ‘direct participation in repressive operations’ against French citizens on the island of Santo, Vanuatu.)