relationship explained

letters

God and Nauru a special relationship explained

I would like to make some comments on the article that was dedicated to the unwar ranted frivolous criticisms of the Head of State of our country, Nauru. The criticisms, or to put it another way, the points of view, I’m referring to can be found on page 11 of the June issue, 1984 Pacific Islands Monthly.

In the first instance I must declare that I failed to under stand the reasons as to why the contents of those unsigned let ters received by the magazine, irrespective of their similarities in their criticisms, were pub lished at all.

However, as far as those points of view are concerned “President Hammer Deßoburt is a one man band, and he thinks he talks to God ” are, although very frivolous, in themselves very accurate.

It is true that he is a one man band and we like listening to him for he plays beautiful tunes.

He composes beautiful songs as well as singing them. We love his songs plus his style. The songs he sings by public de mand become golden hits.

Naturally, there are the minority that think otherwise. These are mainly expatriates with their own foreign taste, and not the Nauruan taste.

It is true to say that the President is a one man band.

He is the true servant of the Nauruan people and as a Nau ruan I wish to express the very genuine gratitude of every Nau ruan here on this small island of ours, plus those who are abroad, for having such a high powered calibre of leader in our midst. We are very fortunate for his presence in our midst and for that matter the Pacific itself Secondly, where the article stated that he (Hammer De- Roburt) thinks he talks to God it

is really the other way around, that is, God talks to him.

In short, if there is no con crete coverage that can be made then I ask your magazine to embark onto something that is more substantial than mere vexatious and childish in nature.

My country went for its inde pendence from Australia and its two other partners not because it wants to break away from the parent countries, but because of the fact that it sees its future not in these countries but in itself.

What prompted the act of independence was the treat ment that Nauru was receiving as a mandated territory very similar to the vivid situation of most developing countries with such high-rated resources as

Ours: “We Are Not Get

Ting The Best And The

Most Out Of Our Natu

Ral Resources.”

What we seek is the equal and fair opportunity of competi tion as a developing state. We are the only island state in the Pacific that does not receive foreign aid at all. That is, what we have here is an independ ence that at the original stage was our kind of independence.

We would like to maintain this without unnecessary publica tions such as your magazine has demonstrated.

Thank you.

Anthony Detsimea

“Yaren Lodge ”

Yaren District Republic of Nauru

Phosphates

and money

What we criticised in the article which so greatly pains Mr Ross felder (PIM July, pll) was mainly the very modest finan-

dal benefits the people of French Polynesia will derive from the proposed extraction of 10 million tonnes of phosphate from the atoll of Mataiva by his international consortium. The Polynesians still bear in mind the shameful deal they got when another international mining company, in the period between 1918 and 1965, ex tracted a similar amount of phosphate from the nearby is land of Makatea for the sole benefit of its foreign sharehol ders. The question they are asking (with no firm answer so far) is whether the same sort of large-scale exploitation which in other parts of the Pacific is a thing of the past, will be perpe trated again at Mataiva.

The fact that Mr Rossfelder

has nothing to say about the all-important financial aspect of the operation for which he is responsible is very strange. And the -pain he evidently experi enced on reading our article seems to us to be a sure sign that our probing knife touched a particularly sensitive part of his corporate anatomy. As for the present enthusiasm for the project shown by the inhabi tants of Mataiva as described by Mr Rossfelder it is, of course, due to recent generous hand outs of money and to their total inability to appreciate correctly the social and ecological dan gers involved.

Marie-Therese And Bengt

Danielsson

Papehue Tahiti French Polynesia

President Hammer DeRoburt and Mrs DeRoburt (foreground) with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and Adi Lady Lala Mara. Occasion was the visit to Suva by the DeRoburts for the funeral of Adi Davila Ganilau earlier this year. - Fiji Times.