New U.S. angles

on the islands

That American concerns in the Pacific Islands have increased in recent years is clearly reflected in a number of recent develop ments. The interest groups in volved include the academic world, the private sector, and, of course, the federal government.

In the academic arena, the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, has established a Melanesian Studies Resource Center, and the U.S.

Department of Education has provided a grant of a little over SIOO,OOO to assist with its de velopment. Apparently, a Melanesian Archive already ex ists, and the main thrust of the new project is to acquire, pro cess, preserve, and make avail able to the international scholarly community unpublished mate rials in the subject area of Melanesian studies. The scope of unpublished materials to be col lected is broad, and includes: dissertations and theses; field notes and other research mate rials from both living and de ceased Melanesianists; scarce mission accounts and govern ment documents.

Materials will be indexed by author, subject, and keywords.

Both the original documents and microform masters of the same materials will be preserved. The centre plans to provide free copies of microfiche products and acquisitions lists to the academic institutions of Melanesia. The latter move re presents a conscious attempt to improve what are described as “deteriorating relations between

the indigenous scholars of Melanesia and their colleagues around the world”. University librarian Millicent D. Abell heads the project.

The East-West Center’s Pacif ic Islands Development Program has become increasingly visible in Honolulu, the wider Pacific and Europe and there have been several recent changes at the top level of its administra tion. In September, EWC Presi dent Victor Hao Li named Fiji’s former permanent representative to the United Nations, and then current secretary for foreign af fairs, Filipe Nagera Bole, as PIDP’s new director. Former SPC Secretary-General Macu Salato had been serving as in terim director since March of this year, and was scheduled to con tinue until Bole arrived from Fiji.

A couple of months earlier, John Sablan of the Northern Marianas was named special as sistant to PIDP’s director, and has assumed many administra tive responsibilities. Sablan was formerly the deputy high com missioner of the ULSL Trust Territory. Sablan represented the EWC at the South Pacific Con ference at his old stomping grounds on Saipan in early Oc tober, and he tended the shop in Honolulu for the remainder of the month. Director Bole had not yet arrived, and interim director Salato was off to Europe on a fund-raising mission. He was ac companied by PIDP’s Research Co-ordinator, Dr Michael Ham nett, and they visited London, Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt, Brus

sels, Stockholm, Bergen and Oslo.

It is no secret that Bole’s ap pointment does create an image problem for PIDP. As many will recall, the program’s first direc tor, James Makasiale, is a citizen of Fiji, and he stepped down when he returned home to take up the position of permanent secretary for agriculture and fisheries. The fact that Salato and Bole also hail from Fiji, and that Fiji’s Prime Minister Ratu Mara chairs the standing committee which provides the overall direc tion for PIDP, has caused some island observers to view it as a Fijian program. Such sentiments were commonly heard at the SPC gathering on Saipan.

The newsletter Washington Pacific Report (PIM Jun p 25), marked its first birthday in Sep tember and is reported to be healthy as it begins its second year. The June 1 issue reported that U.S. Senator James A.

McClure (Republican, Idaho), who chairs major congressional panels which consider substan tive and financial legislation for U.S. insular areas, has requested the General Accounting Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehen sive study of federal policies for the U.S. territories and insular possessions.

The study will include four areas: (1) background and history of territorial and insular policy since 1787; (2) the relationship of that policy to U.S. foreign policy; (3) the relevance and ap plication of stateside standards in federal programs extended to the territories; and (4) the adequacy and appropriateness of the cur rent federal policy and adminis trative structures to co-ordinate delivery of services to the area.

McClure may be concerned over the transfer of affairs per

taining to the new Micronesian states of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands from the Depar tament of the Interior to the Department of State. It is report ed that a number of old territorial hands in Washington believe that State may not be well equipped to handle the provisions of the agreements delineating self government in free association with the United States because they go beyond normal foreign policy areas.

Whatever the reasons for the study, a three-man GAO team was at the South Pacific Confer ence in Saipan interviewing dele gates and observers about U.S. policy in the Pacific. They were particularly interested in learning about the Cook Islands and Niue’s relationships of free as sociation with New Zealand. The study may take a year to complete.

A previous study completed by the GAO at McClure’s insti gation appeared earlier this year.

Entitled The Challenge of En hancing Micronesian Self- Sufficiency, this 78-page publica tion reports that the governments of the above-mentioned island groups are making progress to wards self-government but will need substantial technical assist ance to enhance their institution al capabilities and to achieve self-sufficiency. It reviews ef forts at economic development, capital improvement programs, demands for social services, ad ministrative structures, and makes recommendations for fu ture actions. (The report is avail able from U.S. General Account ing Office, Document Handling and Information Services Facili ty, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithers burg, Maryland 20760, U.S.A.

First five copies are free; addi

A View from Honolulu Robert C. Kiste

tional copies are $3.25 each.) Meanwhile, word has reached Honolulu of an effort to form a new organisation on the main land, the Pan-Pacific Alliance for Trade and Development. An ear ly publication of the alliance notes that: “Trade between the Pacific Islands region and larger nations has historically been frustrated by extremely difficult and costly problems: infrastruc ture inadequacies in communica tions, transportation, financial institutions and the like.” The alliance is attempting to bring together “a group of companies well experienced in Pacific Is land trade and investment”, and “governments and commercial interests in the region”, to solve such problems.

The alliance has several goals: (a) to foster trade between Pacif ic nations and the private sector of the more industrialised na

tions, especially the U.S.; (b) provide representation for Pacific governments and promote island products in the U.S.; (c) help American business firms develop contacts in the islands; (d) de velop an information service.

The alliance’s promotional lit erature reports that the U.S.

Agency for International De velopment will be sponsoring a regional conference on U.S.- Pacific Trade Through Private Sector Development in Hon olulu, March 18-23, 1984. Ap parently, support for the confer ence is also pledged by the al liance and the Asia Foundation. (Information about the alliance may be obtained from its office at 21 Sutter Street, San Francis co, California 94104. Other de tails about this new organisation or the March conference are not known in Honolulu at this time.)

Robert C. Kiste.