Freedom of

Letters

Freedom of Press not so free in Vanuatu

Sir,

In August, Vanuatu Trading Post pub

lisher Mark Neil-Jones expressed con cern over what he termed “excessive” criticism against Prime Minister Maxime Carlot, with reference to a story published in Pacific Islands Monthly_( August).

He said he had expressed the same concerns to the recent PINA convention in Tonga, a longer version of which appeared as a letter to the editor in the September issue of the magazine.

All these expressions were made along the same lines; that is, that the Vanuatu Trading Post under Korman is free to print any story it wants without govern ment interference and the Vanuatu Trading Post praises the Korman govern ment for this.

For Neil-Jones to write this is quite ironic: Everyone (both in Vanuatu and overseas) who is even slightly familiar with the freedom of Press issue here must have viewed with cynicism his attempts to praise the same regime that on several occasions has put pressure on him.

Neil-Jones himself recalls in his letter being served with a notice from the Immigration Department advising him without specifying any reason - that his residence permit could not be renewed and that he could not stay in Vanuatu after October 20, 1995.

Similar threats were made by the pre vious government if the paper did not carry a French section. At an opposition Press conference on July 11 at Club Vanuatu, in front of over a hundred peo ple, Neil-Jones pointed at Willie Reuben Abel, Dinh Van Than, Walter Lini, Serge Vohor and Willie Jimmy, saying all of them had threatened him at one stage or another when they were in power. In front of him were leaders who had been top officials in at least three governments

since November last year.

Therefore, it is quite funny to read in his letter to PIM:“The Trading Post is pio neering freedom of Press in Vanuatu despite the odd outburst and the odd threat which are only to be expected and, for that reason, Korman should be congratulated.”

Yes, the situation has improved in the past few years as stated in my story ( PIM August). It is now possible to write about freedom of Press and therefore contribute to the debate and advancement of the issue (which would have been inconceiv able only a few years ago).

However, this improvement does not justify making such unreserved praise and

stopping altogether from writing about

restrictions on freedom of Press in Vanuatu, which are still a reality.

Patrick Decloitre

Vanuatu