Islanders’ ally

Phillip Burton, Islanders’ ally

This column has already discuss ed the renewal of American in terest in the Pacific and the founding of three new regional organisations in Hawaii: the East-West Center’s Pacific Is lands Development Program, the Pacific Basin Development Council, and the Pacific Tele communications Council.

But there have been other signs of a heightened U.S. inter est in the region.

On the U.S. mainland, a small number of individuals, some with government connections and others with business inter ests, have formed the Washing ton Pacific Group (P.O. Box 14078, Washington, D.C., 20044). The main function of the group to date appears to be the publication of The Washington Pacific Report (WPR) which was launched last October. Accord ing to its own advertisement, it focuses “on actions of the U.S. federal government and the publ ic and the private sectors across the United States which impact the Pacific Basin”. WPR’s four pages appear twice a month, 24 issues a year.

In early April, 10-term U.S.

Representative Phillip Burton (Democrat-Califomia) died sud denly at the age of 56. Apparent ly, only WPR and the news media in Honolulu were aware that Burton’s death will have considerable consequences for the U.S. Territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. Congressman Burton had long been a powerful leader of liberal Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was fond of referring to him self as a “fighting liberal”, and

Time Magazine (April 25)

characterised him as a man . . with the build, voice and

vocabulary of a longshoreman

from his San Francisco district”.

Burton was a shrewd, abrasive, and aggressive but quite effective legislator committed to a variety of liberal causes in the United States. With regard to the Pacif ic, Burton gained control of the House Interior Sub-committee on Territorial and Insular Affairs in 1971. From that base he had control of all territorial legisla tion and was the dominant Con gressional force on territorial affairs.

Burton’s last public appear ance in Honolulu was in Decem ber, 1979, when he thoroughly dominated a meeting with repre sentatives of the many Samoan organisations on the island of Oahu. His performance left no doubt that he believed that he knew what was best for Pacific Islanders and that he relished his self-appointed role as their

champion.

Burton was responsible for the legislation which created the of

fices of Congressional delegates

(non-voting) for American Samoa, Guam, the Common wealth of the Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands, allowed Guamanians to sue the United States for lands taken after World War 2, changed the position of territorial governors from that of presidential appointees to elected officials, and made the islands eligible for many social and wel

fare programs originally design ed for implementation in the Un ited States.

Knowing what was best for the

islands often produced legisla

tion which, as WPR commented

. . usually included vast sums

of federal money to be spent”.

Indeed, much of the dependency on a vast array of social prog rams and U.S. dollars confront ing the emerging entities in the soon to be defunct U.S. Trust Territory is a result of Burton’s efforts.

In recent years, he occasional ly described the flow of money and programs into the islands as well intended, but with the wis dom of hindsight, not the wisest courses of action.

Nonetheless, the American flag islands have lost their most powerful ally and spokesman in Washington, and it is quite un likely that he will be replaced by any one individual with such a commitment to the Pacific. The consequences of Burton’s abs ence are not predictable.

As a couple of final notes on WPR, it certainly is to be wel comed. It complements other news publications on the Pacific and it provides the only sys tematic and regular coverage of news in the United States relating to the Pacific, and, as its name* suggests, a large portion of its coverage is the Washington scene. The main driving force behind its founding group is Fred Radewagen, the son-in-law of American Samoa’s Governor Pe ter Tali Coleman. It is interesting to note that WPR projected in advance that last October’s 22nd South Pacific Conference in Pago Pago “may be the most successful ever”. WPR may help observers follow an issue that is being discussed on Honolulu and which will be dealt with in this

column next month: Does the United States have a Pacific

Policy?

There have been a couple of developments in the Pacific Is

lands Development Program. As

anticipated in this column in March, Dr Macu Salato has been named interim director, replac

ing James Makasiale. Reports

out of the East-West Center have it that he has taken charge in a manner befitting a former secret ary-general of the South Pacific Commission, and he will be at the helm until at least September while the search for a permanent director goes on. At the January meeting of PIDP’s standing com mittee, President Tosiwo Nakay ama. Federated States of Mic ronesia, and Governor George Ariyoshi, State of Hawaii, were invited to become members of PIDP's Standing Committee.

Both have subsequently accept ed, and the committee now has a membership of eight. This move brings one of the new Microne sian states and Hawaii into the program, and Governor Ariyoshi now sits on the decision-making bodies of two of the new regional organisations, the other being the Pacific Basin Development Council composed of the gover nors of the four American flag islands. PIDP has scheduled a second Pacific Islands Confer ence for March, 1984 in Fiji. As will be recalled, the first confer ence in March, 1980, at the East- West Center served to launch

Pidp.

The Pacific Telecommunica tions Council has scheduled its mid-year board of trustees’ meet ing to be held in Wellington during the last week of July. As in past years and in conjunction with the meeting, a seminar is

being planned for ministry-level

government officials and others in the region.

A View from Honolulu Robert C. Kiste