Pacific Report

IRIAN JAYA f PNG, TO EXCHANGE CONSULS?

Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in October signed a revised border agreement. The new agreement covers plans for the repatriation of about 10,000 Irian Jayan refugees in PNG, and other important issues regarding the common border. It replaces a previous agreement drawn up in 1979. The signing of the revised agreement in Port Moresby by PNG Foreign Affairs Minister, Rabbie Namaliu, and his Indonesian counterpart, Dr Mochtar, followed six months of talks. The first batch of Irianese to be repatriated were from the refugee camps in the southern border areas of PNG’s Western Province. Their repatriation was to be followed by that of refugees in the northern border province of West Sepik. In discussions following the signing ceremonies Dr Mochtar suggested that PNG should establish a consulate in Jayapura. He is reported to have told Mr Namaliu: “We have nothing to hide, so why don’t you open a consulate instead of listening to this (rebel) nonsense. Have the consul verily these things on the spot. ” Noting that the idea has been floated before but never acted on, Sydney Morning Herald Foreign Editor Peter Hastings wrote; “The most likely reason for not following through on the Indonesian suggestion is that PNG would have to accept an Indonesian consul in Wewak. The last thing that some in Port Moresby want is an Indonesian presence in the sensitive border area. But this cuts both ways. Some in Jakarta would not welcome the notion of a Papua New Guinean becoming a possible rallying Coint in a Melanesian town like Jayapura, which is also near the order. The best argument lies with the Indonesians. A PNG consul in Jayapura would be able to prove to his own satisfaction, and Port Moresby’s, the wild nature of many of the OPM’s claims. ”

Eight Ministers Out In Solomons Poll

Solomon Islands’ new single-chamber National Parliament, elected on October 24, was to meet on November 14 to elect a prime minister. The favorite was outgoing prime minister Solomon Mamaloni, but it was generally believed that a former prime minister, Sir Peter Kenilorea, could possibly attract the necessary support. Mr Mamaloni lost eight of his cabinet in the elections which resulted in 18 sitting members losing their seats, and his coalition partner, the National Democratic Party, was reduced to a single member. Independents supported Mr Mamaloni in the last parliament, but only two of these retained their seats, and the five new independent members were an unknown quantity. Sir Peter’s United Party won 13 seats against Mr Mamaloni’s Alliance Party’s 12. A new party, Solomon Agu Fenua, formed shortly before the elections by disaffected young public servants, won four seats, and, as they blamed the Mamaloni regime for their troubles, they were thought likely to vote against Mr Mamaloni. There are 38 seats in the National Parliament but one seat has not been filled, that of East Kwaio (Malaita), where dissidents refused to hold an election because the government had failed to obtain payment for them of compensation claimed from Britain for loss of life and damage caused by a punitive expedition of volunteer special constables sent by the British Protectorate Government in October, 1927, to Malaita to avenge the murder of District Officer W. R. Bell.

Twenty-seven islanders were reported killed in the incident.

Three In Palau Presidential Race

Palau President Haruo I. Remeliik has announced his intention of seeking a second term of office in the elections due on November 30. Other candidates were Airai State Governor Roman Tmetuchl and Ibedul (High Chief) Yutaka Gibbons. Tmetuchl, one of the first Palauan senators elected to the Congress of Micronesia and a former chairman of the Palau Political Status Commission, commenting on the negotiations with the United States for the Compact of Free Association, said he would prefer an agreement with less U.S. control and one which respected the Palau constitution as it is (the constitution bans nuclear substances from entry). Without an ideal agreement, he said, Palau should remain under trusteeship until the establishment of a secure economic base. Ibedul Gibbons is also critical of the proposed compact but incumbent President Remeliik said he would vigorously pursue implementation of it.

N.C.: FRANCE “ON RIGHT TRACK ff LEMOINE France’s Secretary of State for Overseas Departments and Territories, Georges Lemoine, believes his government is “on the right track” in New Caledonia. Asked in an interview in Le Monde by journalist Alain Rollat, if the government’s plan was not just an “empty shell” since it had been rejected by all the major political forces in the territory, Mr Lemoine replied: ‘Tm tempted to say that rejection of the draft statute by the two main political forces the RPCR and the Independence Front in New Caledonia, forces who are no longer talking to each other, is an indication to us that we are on the right track. Just think of the evil we’d be suspected of by one side if the other had given a noisy welcome to our plan!”

Another view of French policy in New Caledonia is given by French sociologist Alban Bensa in an article in the Canberra-based Journal of Pacific History (V 01.19, No. 1). Bensa wrote: “Since May, 1981, the French Government has succeeded in putting the independents into power, without at any stage promising them independence; it has undertaken a large-scale land reform program, without actually decolonising the country; it has proclaimed the necessary recognition of Kanak cultural identity, while at the same time leaving in place a system of schooling which effectively negates this identity, and perpetuates the under schooling of Melanesians. Halfway through the life of the present French Government, its policy towards New Caledonia remains burdened with many ambiguities.”

Png Rejects Pack Rape Death Penalty

The Papua New Guinea Cabinet has rejected moves to make “pack rape” a specific crime carrying a mandatory death penalty.

Instead, Prime Minister Michael Somare said in a broadcast, flogging will be introduced if the country’s constitution allows it.

The increasing incidence of rape has brought out large crowds of demonstrators demanding extreme penalties. (PIM Nov., p 7).

Single Hander Bill Dunlop Feared Lost

Reported on and pictured by PIM (Aug., p 67) leaving Papeete on June 8 bound for Australia, American single-handed yachtsman Bill Dunlop is feared lost. Mr Dunlop, sailing his tiny 2. / m yacht, Wind’s Will, was due in Brisbane on August 10 after a planned 50-day crossing from the Cook Islands. He had still not arrived by early November. There was a flurry of publicity about his case in October when a note was found in a margarine container on a beach near Mackay in northern Queensland. The note said: “Shipwrecked on island. No food. Little water. Time running out.

Oct. 6, ’84.” But when Australian handwriting experts compared the writing with examples of Mr Dunlop’s own which were flown from the U.S., they ruled out the possibility that the note could be from him. It was also noted that the brand of margarine concerned was not on sale in Rarotonga at the time of his visit. Dunlop’s wife, Pam, flew out to Brisbane in October, and, with friends, organised a fruitless aerial search. Mr Dunlop was aiming to establish a record for smallest-ever boat sailed single-handed around the world.

Naval Exercise In Nz Waters

Destroyers, frigates, patrol craft and war planes from Australia, Canada and New Zealand are taking part in a naval exercise in New Zealand waters. Called Tasmanex, the exercise in conventio nal sea warfare is running from November 26 to December 8. The ships met in the Tasman Sea for the first phase of the exercise, then sailed through Cook Strait and up the east coast of New Zealand’s north island. Surface ships are calling at Wellington from November 30 to December 3, while the submarine Ox/ey is to visit Nelson over the same period. The exercise ends with the fleet’s arrival in Auckland on December 8.

Malaria: Good News From Chicago

A major Chicago-based foundation has announced a SA2O million research program which it said could help wipe out malaria and other parasitic diseases. The MacArthur Foundation said the effort will pull together research already in progress in developed countries and turn it on a problem that affects the people,

economies and even the politics of many third world nations. “All of us in the biomedical science community . . . have the highest expectations for this program,” James Hirsch, who will head the program’s panel of scientific advisers, said. “The payoff may be several years down the road. This is not something that can be accomplished overnight. But all the signs are positive. It will succeed. ” Money for the five-year program will be divided among research institutions in the United States, Israel, Australia and Mexico.

“LEADERS SHOULD BE WITH THEIR OWN” UNI Vanuatu Prime Minister Father Walter Lini has told an interviewer that success in any political struggle is best served if those leading the struggle remain with their own people. He was replying to a question from New Zealand journalist David Robie, who had asked him if Vanuatu would be prepared to play host to any provisional government set up by pro-independence forces in New Caledonia.

W. SAMOA LAND ROW HALTS HYDRO WORKS Work on a hydro development project in Western Samoa by the Western Samoa Electric Power Corporation has been held up because of a dispute over ownership of some of the land taken over by the corporation. The Land and Titles Court was scheduled to open legal proceedings on November 29. Meanwhile, the cost to the corporation of the stoppage was growing at the rate of between SWSIO,OOO and $12,000 a day.

New World Of Sir Pita Lus

The Papua New Guinea-based Kawas Express Corporation, of which Parliamentary Services Minister Sir Pita Lus is chairman, plans to build a K 1.2 million (SAI.S million) shopping centre on the Hubert Murray Highway at Erima. Construction is by Homibrook Construction Pty Ltd of Port Moresby. The complex, called the New World shopping centre, will have a supermarket, service station, snack bar, 11 shops and car park.

Air Guam Buys Indonesian Aircraft

The domestic airline Air Guam has signed a basic purchase agreement with Indonesia’s Nurtanio Aircraft Industry Ltd to buy two of the company’s NC-212 series 200 aircraft. Air Guam’s President Peter Shih has also expressed interest in buying a CN-235 aircraft produced by Nurtanio.

Success Of Aqua City

The Japanese freighter Aqua City (PIM Oct. p 37) successfully sailed across the North Pacific recently with two computerised sails mounted on the forecastle. The ship is a conventional 31,000 tonne diesel-driven bulk carrier to which the Nippon Kokan Company (NKK) added sails. Ordinarily it uses about 21 tonnes of heavy oil for this voyage. But with the addition of the sails and exceptionally favorable winds, fuel consumption dropped to only 13.4 tonnes. Over the long run, the ship is expected to save 10 per cent in fuel costs under normal conditions.

Somare Sends Troops To Border

The PNG government on November 9 sent detachments of troops to the border with West Irian in the area of Wutung village, south of Vanimo. The move was in response to what prime minister, Michael Somare described as “limited and contradictory” reports of clashes between Indonesian troops and OPM rebels on the PNG side of the border. It was clear, he said “that a potentially serious situation” could be developing in the area “involving the safety and security of Papua New Guineans and the security of our nation. ”

The troops will take over from police units which until now PNG has used for border patrols, partly in an effort to keep the situation on a lower political plane. Their job, said Somare, would be to prevent unauthorised border crossings.

Probing Private Uves Of Coconut Crabs

Australian scientists are to conduct a three-year study into the breeding habits in the South Pacific of the world’s largest land crab, the coconut crab. The project will be conducted in Vanuatu, on the island of Espiritu Santo. One of the project supervisors, Dr lan Brown, of the Queensland Department of Primary Industry, says the coconut crab is used regularly as part of the subsistence diet of

many people in the South Pacific. Dr Brown says catches of the crabs in Vanuatu have dwindled significantly in recent years, and there is concern that they are being over-exploited. He says the results of the study might lead to commercial breeding, particularly in outlying islands where income-generating possibilities are very limited. Dr Brown says the results will also be made available to other island countries in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean in which the coconut crab is an important food. The study, to cost more than $300,000, is to be funded by the Australian Government through its Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Fijians Urged To Reassess Traditions

Leaders of Fiji’s indigenous community have been urged to take a critical look at their traditional customs to bring them into line with modem-day living. The call was made by Chief Justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga when opening Pacific Week at tne University of the South Pacific in Suva in October. Sir Timoci suggested a reassessment to see whether what he called certain “socially retrogressive” practices in Fijian culture could be modified for the common good.

He said that clinging to old customs might be one reason for Fijians finding themselves at a disadvantage in competing for social progress in Fiji’s multi-racial community.

Carlton Buys Carpenter Brewery Share

Carlton United Breweries of Australia has bought out W. R.

Carpenter’s shareholding in the Carlton Brewery, Fiji. A senior executive of Carpenter Holdings, Jack Graham, said in Suva that just over 930,000 shares had been sold. This represented a 46.5 per cent share holding in the brewery. Mr Graham said Carpenter’s which is based in Sydney had not been in a position to sell the shareholding to any other company because of a pre-emptive rights agreement with Carlton in Australia. He said the decision to sell was in line with the policy of the Griffin Group, which bought Carpenter’s a year ago. Group policy was to function as operators of businesses rather than as minority investors.

Indonesians Damaged In Png Punch Up

Plans to begin repatriating the estimated 11,000 Melanesian refugees now on Papua New Guinea territory as a result of Indonesian Army patrolling against OPM guerrillas in West Irian suffered a major setback last month when, in an angry incident at the Black Waters camp in the province of West Sepik, in north-west PNG, a survey mission of seven Indonesian officials was attacked with sticks, stones and fists. Several Indonesians, and one or two PNG officials, received minor injuries before police managed to beat back the rioting refugees. Later, refugee spokesmen said the incident clearly showed how strongly their people feared being returned to West Irian and the arm of the Indonesian Army which, they said, treated Melanesians inhumane ly. They said they had been demoralised by the take-over of their lands, and the destruction of their homes. They wanted United Nations intervention to stop trans-migration, and the forcing of the Islamic religion on Christian Melanesians, they said, and internatio nal examination of their claim for recognition as an independent nation. Meanwhile, a fairly shrill protest has been sent from Jakarta to Port Moresby, complaining about what they called lack of proper protection for the visiting Indonesian officials.

Major Rice Project For Viti Levu

The Fiji Government is to set up a major rice project in the central division of the main island, Viti Levu, with the help of the Asian Development Bank. The money will be given to the Fiji Development Bank, which will then lend it to people interested in setting up rice farms. The ADB will provide more than $5 million in loans. The balance will be provided by the Fiji Development Company, and the Fiji Development Bank. The project will help farmers grow root crops, vegetables and maize as well as rice. At present, 30 per cent of Fiji’s rice requirements are imported. Rice is the staple diet of Fiji’s Indian community.

THEY RE SHOOTING CATS ON CHRISTMAS IS.

Wildlife wardens on Christmas Island, Kiribati, have expressed concern at the increasing number of wild cats on the island. A study has shown that the wild cats have caused havoc in the wild bird sanctuary on the island. The sanctuary’s wildlife wardens have begun shooting the cats in an attempt to curb their numbers. The agricultural division in Tarawa has sent an officer to Christmas Island to help in the eradication campaign.