'deflating’

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Flosse return 'deflating’

THE very sad news of the comeback of Gaston Flosse has left me very deflated. If the Maohi people of French-occupied Polynesia have allowed this man back into office, they will have only themselves to blame.

Flosse is a foremost member of that

depressing cacotocracy (government by

the worst people) of elitist “demis” who lord over Tahitian politics like spoiled royalty. In my opinion, both their vision and prime agenda is strongly questionable. The outer extents of their vision seems to be simply to beg France for more money, and their prime agenda seems to be the maintenance of their ridiculously out of place European lifestyles in what is essentially a third world Tahiti.

These “pseudo-Tahitian” elites consistently betray the trust of the vast majority, the “Kaina”, by keeping them in the dark. They insist that the only key to prosperity is to cling to France for eternity, with all the radiation induced cancer and growing AIDS cases (the highest in the Pacific Basin) that such a policy entails. Their battle cry is “Autonomy”, while the sad fact is, as long as France pulls the purse strings, autonomy, in any form, is a cruel joke.

It is so sad. These “demis”, which are supposed to be Tahiti’s best educated, and potentially best equipped to find a successful path to a prosperous

independence, are the very one’s that preach Maohi defeatism that only Europeans can succeed, and Maohi’s can’t make it on their own.

There must be a new day in Tahiti. A day when “sincere” Tahitians like Oscar Temaru step forward and lead “Eastern”

Polynesia into an era of native-born prosperity. Then we can tell the spoiled elites like Gaston Flosse to shut-up and sup their Croissants and sip their Moet.

Ivan Vernon Me Kinney Jnr,

Friends of Polynesia!Pacific PS. The word “cacotocracy’’ is a new and still obscure terms on the English language scene. It will take some time before it becomes common in all dictionaries.

Central pivot is money

YOUR December 1990 issue (Vol. 60 No. 12) indicated that there has been some earlier correspondence relative to Western values being imposed upon Pacific Island States.

In very simplistic terms I believe that the main difference between a “European” outlook and that of a Pacific Island State is that the former has money as the principal objective, whereas the latter has the extended family as the central pivot.

Until such time as recognition is achieved throughout the world that money should be used as a commodity to assist the well-being of the family (and not the other way around) there will continue to be problems.

Unfortunately, isolated, small and independent Island States will never be able to truly influence the much larger

“European” type outlook/systems.

Unity of the Pacific Island States could, on the other hand, be a significant step towards forcing the “European” outlook to re-think its objectives ... particularly when relating to any aspect relative to the Pacific Ocean. And if this unity could be further extended ...?

Alan Hornsby

Wellington , N£

Still ‘paranoid’, still late

HOW curious that Mike Forster, trade spokesman of the interim government off Bougainville, should be so concerned (PIM April 1991) about my report oftheNFlP conference which he was not even at. And almost six months after the event!

He mentions my “failing to report” a Bougainville resolution. This was just one 0f46 resolutions passed at that conference.

In any case my article was actually about Palau, the Fiji issue and divisions within the movement not about Bougainville.

It might have been more productive, Mr Forster, to question why some of the paranoid local conference organisers were so determined to effectively gag journalists, (And why there was no representative for republican Bougainville there.) I was one of only three journalists at Pawarenga for the conference and we were all excluded from the plenary session when the resolutions were passed. Organisers sending out an “official” list of resolutions almost one month after the conference is of little use to new media. I stand by my comment about the failure of the movement.

David Robie

Auckland