Pacific Report

Wingti Heads New Png Party

A new political party, the People’s Democratic Movement, has emerged in Papua New Guinea. The party has been formed by 15 members of the national parliament expelled from the ruling Pangu Party a fortnight before by Prime Minister Michael Somare. Leader of the new party is the Opposition Leader Paias Wingti, who said it was aiming at firm and decisive leadership of the country. Mr Wingti claimed his group had pulled out of the Pangu Party because of lack of discipline and direction, which had led the people to continually beg their leaders for financial handouts. Mr Wingti said the People’s Democratic Movement would work closely with other opposition groups to win government. (See earlier reports, this issue.)

Chinese Communist Chief In South Pacific

The April tour of Australia and the Pacific by the Chinese Communist Party leader, Hu Yaobang, was to promote peace, stability and prosperity, according to Deputy Foreign Minister, Zhu Qizhen. He said that China wanted the Pacific to oecome a great ocean of peace and co-operation. Mr Zhu’s comments came in the latest edition of China’s World Affairs magazine and before Mr Hu’s tour of Australia, New Zealand, Western Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The article called Australia and China two vast countries with rich resources, able to supply and learn from each other. Mr Zhu said the $1 billion trade between Australia and China was healthy and gratifying, but the Chinese ministry of trade noted the balance was heavily in Australia’s favor and that it would have to increase imports of Chinese goods by a large margin.

Pisani Surveys His Four Hectic Months

The special French envoy in New Caledonia, Edgard Pisani, after handing President Francois Mitterrand his plan for New Caledonia late in March, said he expected the islanders would vote in a referendum on their future “in September, give or take a week”.

Mr Pisani refused in a television interview to give any details of the plan for the territory he submitted to Mr Mitterrand after a four-month mission there. But he has said consistently that he sees a vote on “independence in association with France” as the only possible solution. And he has indicated that a basic aspect of the plan is land reform. Mr Pisani has criticised a scheme presented to the French Senate by the pro-French Territorial Government leader, Dick Ukeiwe. Mr Ukeiwe is proposing partition of New Caledonia. The western half would include the capital Noumea and the major European agricultural holdings, and its population, which is mainly European and anti-independence. The Kanaks are a large majority on the eastern side and offshore islands. Mr Pisani u. a *u r- 16 an was or u P ar titi° n half (the island) independent and half French, with the eastern side having 10 to 15 per cent of the island’s wealth, and Kanaks in the western side (held as) prisoners of a white majority”. Mr Pisani has publicly praised the self-control of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, leader of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), two of whose brothers were killed in an early clash. The Kanaks are demanding that what they consider tribal land be returned to them, even when it has been long farmed by French settlers. Mr Pisani has said that there could be a lease-back arrangement, but that the Europeans were worried how their tenure would be guaranteed under such a scheme. The independence-association” plan announced some months ago by Mr Pisani would have France remain in control of internal and external security, foreign affairs and financial matters among other things. Noumea would be an autonomous region. Mr Mitterrand said on a visit to the island in January that its potential as a naval base should be developed. Asked to sum up his four months on the island, Mr Pisani, 66, a veteran French Cabinet Minister with extensive Third World experience, said; “24 hours out of 24 anxiety and tension; 15 hours out of 24, work”.

Nz Plans More Active Regional Role

The Royal New Zealand Air Force will increase its patrols over a large area of the central and south Pacific to gather military mtelhgence and police the exclusive economic and fisheries zones ot Fiji, lokelau, Kiribati, Tonga and Western Samoa. Prime

Minister David Lange told a press conference in Wellington in April that any military information obtained would be passed on to Australia and the United States under the terms of the ANZUS Treaty.

Pacific Historians To Meet In Suva

The University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva will be the venue for the fifth conference of the Pacific History Association (PHA), an organisation whose members include academics, librarians, stu dents and other devotees of Islands history. Despite its name and interests, this will be the first time a PHA conference has been held outside Australia. Held in broad conjunction with the conference will be an advanced Pacific history course taught by a team of lecturers from the USP and other Island academics. The course will run from June 24 to July 20. Successful candidates will obtain academic credit. The conference itself is expected to be opened by Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister David Toganivalu. Albert Wendt, professor of Pacific Literature at the USP, will deliver the keynote address. Topics discussed at the conference will include Regional ism and Pacific Rim Strategies, and History Teaching in the Pacific, in conjunction with such familiar areas as Early European Penetration, and Religious History. Conducting a symposium on the latter subject will be John Garrett, Suva-based historian of Pacific Christianity, and minister of the Uniting Church. Convening the event are David Routledge and Robbie Robertson of the USP’s School of Social and Economic Development. But the prime mover in organisational matters is the PHA’s current president Ron Crocombe, professor of Pacific Studies at the USP, and a relentless fighter for truth, justice and the Pacific Way. Norman Douglas.

Papeete Mayor In Tanker Protest

Mayor of Papeete Jean Juventin has threatened that the municipality might refuse to co-operate with organisers of the Fourth Pacific Festival of Arts which is due to be held in French Polynesia from June 29 (PIM Apr p 7) if the territorial administra tion of Gaston Flosse persists with a plan to station the oil tanker Le Tahitien in Papeete harbor. The vessel, which is 170 m long and displaces 25,000 t, would serve as a floating fuel tank to serve onshore needs. As long ago as last December, a petition with 9024 signatures protesting against the plan was presented to the territorial government. Mr Juventin said in a statement: “Papeete is the nerve centre of French Polynesia. All material reserves are here, the two hospitals, the two clinics, the telephone exchange, the inter-island vessels. If there was a disaster in Papeete, the whole of Polynesia would die for lack of supplies. Stationing such a dangerous source of possible fires and explosions here, in the most developed part of the territory, is an act of madness with incalculable consequences”.

France Occupies Matthew Island

A small detachment of French Marines is now permanently stationed on Matthew Island, 486 km southeast of New Caledonia.

The French claim to Matthew, an uninhabited outcrop of volcanic rock, and to Hunter Island, about 100 km further from New Caledonia, has been contested by Vanuatu. The reason for the French insistence on their claim to the islands was well expressed by the headline in the March 12 issue of the Tahiti newspaper La Depeche which reported the presence of the troops. It said “These soldiers at the end of the world . . . alone on Matthew, they are protecting France’s maritime zone ...”

Marianas N-Dump Protest Group In Japan

A 30-man delegation from the Northern Marianas has been to Japan to present an anti-nuclear dumping petition to the government. The petition, with 7523 signatures, was handed to Japan’s Foreign Minister, Mr Shintaro Abe, and Science and Technology Agency director, Mr Reichi Takeuchi. The delegation was told that Japan would dump nuclear waste, but only if safety was proved and there was regional consensus on the matter.

U.S. Territories Oppose Compacts

A United States Congressional inquiry into the impact on U.S.

territories of the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Micronesian Trust Territories has revealed opposition to the Compact from the U.S. states of Alaska and Hawaii and the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas. Fofo Sunia, American Samoa’s representative to Congress, and others appearing before the inquiry said that, although they supported self-government for the Territory, the Compact would give the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia an unfair advantage as they could trade freely with the U.S. without having to abide by minimum wage or environmental protection laws.

Ok Tedi Reopens Official

The PNG Cabinet has officially authorised the re-opening of the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine in the Star Mountains on the border with Irian Jaya. The mine was closed on government orders because of the failure of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd to make firm plans for the second phase of the operation, the mining of the copper. An agreement has been reached between the government, which has a 20 per cent share, and the company providing for copper mining on the basis of an economic test to be applied early in 1987.

Malaysians In Png Timber Venture

Papua New Guinea’s East Sepik provincial government is going into partnership with the Malaysian Overseas Investment Corpora tion (MOIC) in a timber logging and plantation venture, with the government holding 70 per cent of the shares and the Malaysian corporation the 30 per cent balance. The corporation has also agreed to build an international class hotel in Port Moresby using profits from the timber logging and plantation to be established on 81.000 hectares of jungle in the East Sepik. The corporation is already in partnership with the Macuata Provincial Council on Fiji’s second largest island of Vanua Levu in a project to develop a sports stadium, shopping complex, hotel and bus station on Fijian-owned land at Labasa, and in partnership with the Fiji Government in a SFIS million hotel project in Suva.

Fui To Make “Wooden” Car

The Fiji Government has approved establishment of a factory in Fiji to manufacture and export the newly-invented Africar, a plywood car, invented in England by Tony Howarth. Five different models will be produced, including luxury cars and four-wheel drives. All metal parts, including the engine, will be imported and local plywood will be used for the body. The company, Africar International, will provide jobs for about 300 people. Mr Howarth said they were looking at Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States and the Pacific Islands as possible markets for the new vehicle. It is expected that Fiji will approach the Australian and New Zealand governments in an attempt to get the car included in the SPARTECA agreement schedule under which exports from the Islands enter Australia and New Zealand free of tariff.

Sydney-Hobart Race Report Points Finger

A report prepared by an Australian pleasure-boat insurance company on last December’s disastrous Sydney-Hobart yacht race is sharply critical of yacht designers, builders, and crews. One life was lost and only 45 of the 151 starters completed the race which started on Boxing Day. Winds gusting to 50 knots hammered the yachts for almost three days. The head of Australia’s largest pleasure boat insurance company, Marine Hull Insurance, Fred Wilson, blamed poor seamanship, design and hull construction for most of the withdrawals. Mr Wilson warned that if there were no change of attitude, pleasure-boat insurance companies would have to consider placing much heavier premiums on ocean racing yachts built from exotic materials. “Our report shows yacht designers and builders are using insurance companies to pay for their experi ments,” Mr Wilson said. “If their construction methods have been wrong and the hulls fail, the insurance companies are expected to pay not the designers and builders.” The report prepared by Marine Hull Insurance, is likely to have a world-wide impact on ocean yacht racing. The company initiated the investigation of the race. It had the majority of entries insured. The company’s national claims manager, Duncan Van Woerden, echoed Mr Wilson’s words, saying he was alarmed at the attitude of some of the sailors competing in the race. Mr Van Woerden, who has more than 100.000 ocean sailing miles to his credit, said some crews had adopted a totally cavalier and dangerous attitude to the race. “One yacht suffered what most yachtsmen would consider serious

rigging damage within a few hours of the start of the race,” he said.

“A good seaman would have realised there was no chance the yacht could have continued in the race without suffering more serious damage and posing a threat to the safety of the yacht and the crew. But this crew pressed on and turned what was initially SIOOO damage and little danger into SIOO,OOO damage.” Mr Van Woerden said the report showed that yachts built from composite construction techniques, using exotic materials such as carbon fibre, Kevlar and foam cores, were an enormous risk for insurance companies. While yachts built from these materials represented only 23.5 per cent of the fleet, they accounted for 32 per cent of the yachts forced out with serious structural damage. No exotic material, composite-construction yacht under three years old completed the course, Mr Van Woerden said.

Part-Maori Is New Nz G-G

The Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand, Archbishop Paul Reeves, has been named as New Zealand’s next Governor- General. Oxford-educated Archbishop Reeves, a 53-year-old part-Maori, will replace Sir David Beattie later this year. He will be the fourth New Zealand-bom man and the first of Maori blood to be appointed to the position.

Vanuatu Govt. In Housing Cutback

The Vanuatu Government in April announced further spending restraints in an economy-saving measure. In one of the moves, the housing committee has given civil servants living in government owned houses in Port-Vila three months to find new accommoda tion. Members of the police force will take over the government housing. The government has also decided that some civil servants will no longer qualify for a housing allowance. Earlier, the government had ordered government departments to cut their budget this year by up to 10 per cent. The savings are supplementary efforts to rebuild schools, hospitals, church homes and other houses and properties damaged during cyclone Nigel in January.

Thio Nickel Mine Starts Up Again

In New Caledonia, mining resumed in the first week of April for the first time for four months at the territory’s largest nickel mine in Thio. Seventy Melanesians returned to work in a “goodwill” gesture. Negotiations were to be held on Melanesian claims for a new balance between Melanesian and European personnel at the mine. The Melanesians also want more senior posts, along with wages for part of the period when disturbances halted work.

Meanwhile, in Paris, France’s President Mitterrand was studying proposals from his special envoy, Edgard Pisani, to give New Caledonia independence in association with France.

Fiji Senator Attacks Labor Party Plan

A Fiji Senator has strongly attacked the country’s trade unions, claiming they have too much power and should place the interests of the nation before their own. Senator Rakoto also said the Fiji Trades Union Congress was going too far in planning to establish a Labor Party. He said it would gain little support from the rural community. He said an attempt to form a national union of farmers had failed because most people in rural areas, from which Fiji’s two main political parties drew their support, were content with the present political set-up. The Acting Director of the Suva office of the International Labor Organisation (ILO), Ruben Dudley, has said the ILO will not support any move to form a Labor Party, as such support would run counter to the ILO’s role.

Niues Busy Post Office

The Niue branch of the New Zealand Post Office has reported that receipts for the last financial year totalled $NZ3,403,259 and payments $NZ3,928,342. Money orders received totalled $1,979,808. This is an indication of the financial support the island gets from Niueans living in New Zealand.

Self-Help Settlement For Moresby

The PNG Government has begun development of a K 138,000 ($A172,500) self-help settlement for under-privileged groups at Moitaka outside Port Moresby. The first of 200 families will move in about September. The settlement is planned to provide jobs and improve the social and economic standards of the inhabitants. To qualify for residence at the settlement, persons must have lived in Port Moresby for more than five years, be unemployed, not own land in the city and be able to engage in self-help projects.