Pacific Report
pp. 5-6 · Read in the full issue
Palau Plebiscite Postponed
The plebiscite to decide the political future of Palau was postponed for a month from January 11 (PIM Jan p 5) to February 10. President Reagan’s personal representative for negotiations on Micronesia’s future, Fred M. Zeder, said the delay had been requested by the Palau Government to give residents more time to study the various issues. Voters will be asked to approve or reject a “compact” of free association with the USA. If they reject the compact, they are to state whether they prefer independence or a still closer association with the USA which has administered Palau under United Nations trusteeship.
Amaraich Raps U.S.A. On Information Program
Chairman of the Federated States of Micronesia Commission of Future Political Status and Transition, Andon Amaraich, has criticised the United States for “their failure to provide adequate funding for the public information program” designed to educate the people on the Compact of Free Association before the plebiscite. Speaking at a meeting of the FSM Plebiscite Com mission, Mr Amaraich said the FSM submitted a proposed SU.S.I million budget for the information program with detailed justifications 10 months ago but had only received $lOO,OOO and no assurances of further funding. The $lOO,OOO would not even cover the cost of translating the compact document into eight languages, said Mr Amaraich. The Marshall Islands and Palau, with their much smaller populations, apparently were receiving more money than the FSM. “This is merely another example of the failure of U.S. bureaucrats to honor the commitments and responsibilities of their government to our people,” he said. FSM Vice-President Petrus Tun, elected chairman of the Plebiscite Commission, said the U.S. Ambassador for Micronesian status negotiations, Fred M. Zeder, had recently suggested in a letter to FSM President Tosiwo Nakayama that the plebiscite should be held in April or May.
“Trade Prospects Bright” Mccabe
The Trade Commissioner in Australia for South Pacific Forum countries, Bill McCabe, has said there will be a big expansion of sales promotion activities this year. Mr McCabe said Forum countries believe sales on the Australian market could be significantly increased. He said they have been encouraged by the results of a recent display of South Pacific goods at the Australian Government’s International Trade Development Centre in Sydney. Mr McCabe, who recently returned from a two-month tour of Forum countries, said the display is expected to result in about $1 million worth of new business in the coming year. He said contracts already signed with Australian importers following the display are worth about $150,000.
Filipino Company Loses Out In Png
A Filipino company has lost the right to develop Papua New Guinea’s largest timber resource. PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare said after a December cabinet meeting that the company, Hetura Meja, had lost the contract to develop the multi-million dollar Vanimo timber project in West Sepik pro vince, near the Irian Jaya border. Hetura Meja had failed to lodge detailed proposals with the government by the deadline of Christmas Day. The future of the Vanimo project is now in doubt.
In a controversial decision earlier last year, the then government of Sir Julius Chan over-ruled the advice of its own expert negotiating committee and signed an agreement with Hetura Meja, which had no previous experience in the timber industry.
The company had said it would be able to raise $l4O million in development capital for the project. Vanimo Timber was to have been Papua New Guinea’s third largest development project, after the Bougainville and OK Tedi copper and gold mines. The executive director of the National Investment Development Authority, Wep Kanawi, has claimed that PNG had lost at least $27 million in potential foreign investment during 1982. because of bureaucratic bungling. Mr Kanawi said he doubted that several investment projects, including Vanimo Timber, would ever get off the ground.
Greyhound Controversy In Fiji
The Fiji Government has appointed a committee to advise whether Australian bookmaker Bill Waterhouse should be
allowed to introduce greyhound racing to the country. Mr Waterhouse wants to run greyhound racing in the town of Nausori, near Suva. Nausori town council supports the plan, because rent paid by Mr Waterhouse for the local stadium would solve its financial problems. But Fiji’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is against it. The society claims Mr Waterhouse plans to import up to 1000 greyhounds from Australia, and says abandoned greyhounds would add to the long-standing problem of wild dogs in Fiji. The problem arises in part from the reluctance of Hindus to kill animals.
Young Kanaks Study English In Vanuatu
Twenty-five Melanesian students from New Caledonia recently completed a six-week English-language course organised by the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu. The course for the students, aged between 15 and 20, was jointly arranged by New Caledonia’s Independence Front and the Port-Vila section of the university. It is the second such course to be conducted.
W. Samoa Tackles School-Leavers’ Problem
The government of Western Samoa plans to encourage more vocational training to help alleviate the serious problem among school-leavers. A spokesman for the Education Department said only about one-tenth of the 4000 young people leaving school in Western Samoa each year were finding jobs. The spokesman said the situation was worsening, but it was hoped that an increase in vocational training would widen the employ ment prospects of school-leavers.
Vanuatu Trade Mission In New Caledonia
A trade mission from Vanuatu visited New Caledonia in Decem ber. Its leader, Joseph Laloyer, said working groups would be introduced to study problems of transport, health and customs regulations. He said a similar mission from New Caledonia would visit Vanuatu in April to discuss the conclusions arrived at by the groups.
Second Tv Channel For New Caledonia
New Caledonia will get a second television channel by Christ mas, according to a statement by the director of the French broadcasting service, France Regions Three, Fred Jouhaud. Mr Jouhaud said it would be called Radio Telefusion Outre-Mer, and would share its evening news with the present channel but apart from this would present different programs, covering a wider range of subjects than at present. However, Mr Jouhaud said the new channel would not be operating at its full capacity until 1985.
Fiji Reassures Vanuatu On Islands Claim
Fiji has told Vanuatu that a boundary agreement reached between Fiji and France (RIM Jan p 5) does not in any way prejudice Vanuatu’s claims to Matthew and Hunter Islands. Fiji’s Foreign Minister Mosese Qionibaravi said he gave this assur ance in a letter to Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Father Walter Uni.
The agreement defines territorial borders where Fiji’s 200-mile economic zone overlaps that of the French possessions of New Caledonia in the south, and Wallis and Futuna Islands in the north. Mr Qionibaravi told parliament in Suva that it had been agreed that the accord would be drawn up in such a way as not to prejudice Vanuatu’s territorial claim.
Pornography Flood Worries Png
Papua New Guinea customs officials are worried about an increase in the amount of pornography entering the country.
Controller of Customs Paul Loki said 1800 pornographic items were seized in 1982 in Port Moresby compared with only 800 in 1981. He said the pornographic books, films, magazines and photographs were mostly from Australia, West Germany and the USA. Mr Loki said that as numbers for other ports had yet to be added to the Port Moresby figure, the trend was “quite
alarming.”
Somare Speaks Up For Press Freedom
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare says one of the finest achievements of his country’s independence is a free press. Mr Somare was commenting on advice from a firm of advertising and marketing consultants that PNG’s newspapers and radio news services should be made to report more favorably on government activities. The prime minister said he
rejected any such idea. Mr Somare said some developing countries had muzzled their news media, but PNG had managed to keep the press free and independent. There was “no way” the government would limit freedom of the press for short-term political gain.
Png Bans Sugar Imports
Papua New Guinea has announced it will ban imports of sugar from February 1 three months ahead of schedule. The ban is to protect the country’s new sugar industry in the Ramu Valley, where milling began last August. It will cut out imports which have recently amounted to 30,000 tonnes a year, mostly from Australia.
Png To Join Intelsat
Papua New Guinea is to join an international telecommunica tions satellite organisation Intelsat. This will give the country access to the 12 satellites at present provided by Intelsat over the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, linking almost 400 earth stations in more than 140 nations around the world. PNG’s earth station is to be built during the next 12 months at a cost of about $3.4 million. Prime Minister Michael Somare said the country’s two submarine cables from Madang are nearing the end of their design life, and, without Intelsat, PNG would be left with only the Port Moresby to Cairns cable by the end of the decade for all international communications.
Usp Pulls In Financial Horns
The University of the South Pacific has decided not to extend the contracts of teaching staff because of the university’s current financial difficulties. The decision was taken by the university’s governing council following a recommendation by a review committee. However, contracts of teaching staff with six years’ service may be extended in recognition of outstanding work at the university. The council meeting, chaired by Donald Kalpokas of Vanuatu, established two special committees. One, headed by Lyle Cupit, former chief executive of the Carpenter group of companies in Fiji, will examine university staff salaries and working conditions. The other will report on the effectiveness with which the University utilises its finances and facilities.
Fiji’S Big Plunge On Forum Line
Fiji is to borrow just over $1.5 million from the European Investment Bank to help it become the Pacific Forum Line’s second biggest shareholder. The House of Representatives in Suva has given the government permission to raise the loan. Fiji will also use more than $1 million in aid from Australia to help it achieve a shareholding of 27 per cent in the Forum Line. Only Papua New Guinea, on 37 per cent, will have a larger share. A Radio Australia correspondent in Suva said Fiji had indicated earlier that it would not increase its share beyond the initial contribution of $lO,OOO. But Finance Minister Charles Walker told parliament the government had changed its mind after the line was restructured and new management took over. South Pacific Forum countries agreed earlier last year to inject $l9 million into the line to salvage it.
DELAYS WITH AIR ROUTE HIT N.C. TOURISM Delays in the opening of a new air route between Melbourne and Noumea have raised the possibility of unemployment in the island’s tourist industry. Members of the Noumea Hotel Owners’
Association have said that about 150 people would have to be laid off early in 1983 because of the delay. They said the anticipated opening of the route led to the construction of four new tourist complexes in New Caledonia, and there would be about 250 more hotel beds available by March. However, the French Government has not entered negotiations on the new route to its colony and has not offered a reason for its lack of response. The French airline, UTA, the Australian national airline, Qantas, and Australian aviation officials have all agreed to the new flights. The hotel owners say lack of definite information on when they would start meant that it was too late to publicise the new route before their February-March tourist season. They said this would mean that staff from seven hotels in Noumea would have to be laid off.
Png’S $1.4 Million Computer
Papua New Guinea’s national computer centre is to buy a new computer at a cost of about $1.4 million. The Public Service
Minister, Tony Siaguru, said a contract signed with International Computers Ltd includes five years of staff training. The new computer is to be installed during the next three months. It will replace two smaller ones being leased by the centre in Port Moresby. Mr Siaguru said new systems to be introduced by the national computer centre during the next three years would improve the administration of government funds, assets and staff throughout Papua New Guinea.
Delayed Postwar Clean-Up On Christmas
On Christmas Island, Kiribati, three Australian Navy technicians are helping with the removal of military equipment left behind after World War 11. The technicians are training local personnel in the use of clearance and salvage equipment that has been shipped to the island. It is expected that removal of the military equipment from valuable agricultural land will take about four months.
Fiji Beating Inflation?
Fiji’s official annual inflation rate for 1982 was seven per cent four point two per cent less than in 1981. It was the second consecutive drop in Fiji’s inflation rate, after the peak of 14.5 per cent in 1980. According to the acting government statistician, Tulsi Ram, all sections of the consumer price index, apart from alcohol and tobacco, rose at a slower rate this year.
Lae Airport To Nadzab Again
Papua New Guinea’s national government in January confirmed plans to shift Lae airport from its present site near town back to Nadzab an airbase in World War II which is about 40 kilometres from Lae. Transport Minister Matthew Bendumb said the shift will apply from this year. The announcement came shortly after fire destroyed Air Niugini’s passenger terminal at Lae airport, causing damage estimated at $650,000. Nadzab served as Lae’s airport until public and airline protests forced a change several years ago.
Austria Chips In With Customs Aid
Austria has given equipment to help maintain customs controls in six Pacific Island countries. The Austrian government has given scales, binoculars and dictaphones to Fiji, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tonga and Solomon Islands. The equipment is part of Austria’s aid to developing countries.
Prince Renounces Succession Rights
HRH Prince Viliami Tupoulahi Mailefihi Tuku’aho, the youngest son of Tonga’s Prime Minister, HRH Prince Fatafehi Tu’ipelehake and Princess Melenaite, has renounced all rights to succeed to the throne of Tonga as from Wednesday, January 5, 1983. The 25-year-old former prince was married to a commoner, Miss Mary Victoria Faletau, 21, on January 8. Mr Tuku’aho is a nephew of King Tafa’ahau Tupou IV, who granted the renunciation and attended the January 8 wedding together with the royal family.
New Museum For Western Samoa
Western Samoa’s first National Museum and Culture Centre was officially opened in December by Tooa Salamasina, sister of the Head of State. The opening was marked by a special exhibition of photographs of Maori carvings by a leading New Zealand photographer, Brian Brake. The museum is funded by the Western Samoan government and private overseas donors.
Png To Sell Luxury Jet
Papua New Guinea has commissioned a Danish company to sell the executive jet bought by former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan. The country’s present leader, Michael Somare, com paigned in last year’s election on the promise that he would sell the luxury plane. He said in December that World Jet Trading of Copenhagen had contracted to find a buyer and sell the jet for $B.l million within three months. The company will get a three per cent commission if it is successful. The Grumman Gulf stream G-2 cost Sir Julius Chan’s government $6.5 million.
France Helps Fiji Cultural Project
The French Government is assisting Fiji in setting up a cultural research program to help preserve Fijian traditions and cultures.
The program will be conducted by Dr Solange Petit-Skinner, an anthropologist and psychologist from the United States. France is meeting the cost of Dr Petit-Skinner’s salary and helping in the provision of technical equipment.