198 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998

Flosse has thus become a passionate French advocate of the meeting. In the year 1996–97, territorial Presi- In another move designed to endear dent exerted renewed the territory to regional leaders, Flosse efforts to promote a favorable impres- bestowed honors on three heads of sion of the French presence in the government in mid-1996. The French region. His mission was helped by the Organic Law of April 1996, granting fact that any fears the French testing expanded autonomy to the territory, center might reopen for business are conferred the right for to freely dissipating as the site’s facilities are determine its own distinctive symbols. being completely dismantled. Regret- The new statutory law allowed the tably, territorial political life is still rife creation of a territorial system of with corruption, most notably with honors, entitled Order of Tahiti Nui, the dismissal of eleven territorial coun- which was passed into legislation by cillors for electoral fraud. The national the Territorial Assembly in June 1996. assembly elections in Tahiti held few The first recipients of the new honors surprises, with candidates from the were Fiji’s Sitiveni Rabuka, Vanuatu’s conservative ruling coalition winning Maxime Carlot Korman, and the Cook both seats. The government’s continu- Islands’ Sir Geoffrey Henry. ing popularity is in part assured by its After the end of the nuclear test launching of a splendid range of major series, Flosse took it upon himself to public works projects subsidized by announce that a conference would be the postnuclear funds from . held in Paris in September for Pacific This review concludes with a brief leaders to discuss the postnuclear role tribute to the life of Francis Sanford. of France in the Pacific. The hasty In the wake of the final series of choice of date proved ill advised, as it French nuclear tests in the Pacific, was scheduled only ten days after the Gaston Flosse continued his diplo- meeting of the South Pacific Forum, matic campaign to redeem France’s which had still to decide whether to image among island governments and readmit France into the Post-Forum raise the territory’s (and his own) Dialogue after its suspension the previ- profile in regional affairs. To this end, ous year because of the final test series. at the fifth Pacific leaders’ conference As a result of this poor timing, in July held by the Pacific Islands Develop- Flosse announced that the Pacific ment Program (pidp) in Suva in July, leaders’ meeting in Paris would be Flosse promised us$200,000 on behalf deferred until an undetermined date in of and France to 1997. ensure the financial viability and At the Forum meeting itself, held in continuation of the conference. The Majuro on 2 September, a Tahitian pidp meeting represents one of the few delegation caused a minor diplomatic opportunities for Flosse to participate incident when a territorial minister and as an equal among island leaders, an adviser to President Flosse arrived given that Tahiti is ineligible to be a uninvited to press the case for France’s member of the South Pacific Forum. readmission to the Post-Forum political reviews • polynesia 199

Dialogue. Although the Tahitians were to sever all links with the EU” (Tahiti politely excluded from the Forum’s Pacifique, March 1997, pp 8, 53). deliberations, ultimately on 3 Septem- An earlier vote by the French Senate ber the leaders did decide to readmit in July had provoked concern along France, effective immediately. As a similar lines. The Senate voted in favor result, at the Dialogue meeting held a of a bill that abolished the requirement few days later France was represented of a return airfare for metropolitan by the French minister for European French traveling to overseas French Affairs, Michel Barnier, possessions. This move revived fears in and Gaston Flosse. Tahiti that there would be an uncon- While progress is being made in trolled influx of people seeking work Tahiti’s relations with its Pacific neigh- and residence in a territory that is bors, the same cannot be said for its already struggling to combat high attitude to the European Union (eu) unemployment. with which it is associated as an over- The dismantling of facilities at the seas territory. In early February, Flosse Moruroa test site has been progressing launched into a passionate diatribe slowly. Virtually everything will be against the European Union. “Be destroyed, except for five blockhouses European, yes. But not at any price!” used to monitor the atmospheric tests, He invoked the dangers of an invasion the airport runway, and port facilities. of European immigrants to the terri- French Atomic Energy Commission tory in view of new directives that, if authorities predict it will take two applied, would allow eu citizens easy years to complete the process. This access to set up residence and seek time frame will allow for the gradual employment in the territory. He also voluntary separation of some four accused Europe of giving the overseas hundred employees of the test center. territories only 10 percent of the finan- President Flosse confirmed that France cial aid granted per capita to overseas would maintain a permanent labora- departments. tory for radiological surveillance and On 20 February, Flosse moved and several technicians to run it. Flosse passed a resolution in the Territorial also reported that Moruroa is unsuit- Assembly that “the obligations able for any commercial enterprises, imposed [by Europe] on FP largely such as tourism, because of the high outweigh the advantages that she gets costs of transporting goods and . . . she demands immediately that the services to the isolated atoll. power granted by her statute be recog- The remaining medium- and low- nised and protected from all incursions level nuclear waste at the test sites has by European law. [The Territorial been interred in deep shafts and cov- Assembly was] convinced that the free ered with concrete. According to a installation of Europeans would pose a French military spokesman, General grave risk of social disequilibrium. . . .” Michel Boileau, the atoll will be Flosse further warned that “if at the returned to its “original state” follow- outset of negotiations we do not get ing a program of revegetation. Boileau satisfaction, I think we will be driven insists that no radioactivity remains on 200 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998 the surface of either Moruroa or Court of Appeal. Flosse will be judged Fangataufa. The extent of any surface for passive corruption and complicity radioactivity and the likelihood of relating to clandestine casinos in his future leakage from radioactive municipality of Pirae in 1991 and substances underground should be 1992. Juventin must face similar clarified in a forthcoming report by the charges concerning casinos in Pape‘ete International Atomic Energy Agency, in 1988. The casinos were managed by due to be released early in 1998. Julien Li Lem, alias Hombo, who is As part of France’s new policy of facing charges of active corruption and transparency, in October a press dele- running illegal casinos. Hombo has gation, and later a delegation from the publicly declared that Flosse and French parliament, were invited to Juventin accepted bribes for their per- inspect the dismantling of facilities and sonal gain and for their respective cleaning up at the atolls. The parlia- political parties in return for turning a mentary delegation represented the blind eye to the casinos’ operations. As three major parties and included a in the past, concluding these court specialist on nuclear wastes, Mr cases has proved painfully slow. Bataille. He sought guarantees that In a shock move on 25 March, the France would fulfill its responsibilities state-run Administrative Tribunal and ensure that monitoring of the test annulled the election of eleven territo- sites continued not just for ten years, rial councillors from the last election but for several generations. The dele- held in May 1996. Their alleged elec- gation also noted that the French toral fraud involved the misuse of parliament has a right to call for inde- funds designated to assist the outer pendent verification of radioactive islands to facilitate the election of monitoring at Moruroa in addition to members of the government majority, that undertaken by the French Atomic that is, the Tahoeraa party of Flosse. Energy Commission and the military, The commission deciding distribution though whether it will exercise this of these funds, presided over by a right is unclear. (For more on nuclear Tahoeraa member, had provided hous- issues, see the Region in Review, 1996 ing benefits to inhabitants of the Lee- [Contemporary Pacific 9:448–457; ward Islands just prior to the 1996 1997].) territorial elections to influence voting Territorial political life was as color- preferences. Flosse was named in ful as ever in respect to corruption alle- connection with dubious practices in gations and continuing court cases. the Marquesas, where he gave his During the year, a number of mayors approval for the construction of a were convicted for corruption and football field and provided materials forced to pay fines and give up their and labor for the project from the public offices. In November, a corrup- territorial public works service. These tion case implicating Flosse and the incidents led to the dismissal of eleven former Pape‘ete mayor-cum-national Tahoeraa councillors, three from the deputy, Jean Juventin, was sent to the Marquesas and eight from the Lee- Correctional Tribunal in Paris by the ward Islands. political reviews • polynesia 201

The tribunal’s move to rein in elec- September 1995. When Temaru sought toral fraud comes after many years of the right of reply on rfo, his request allegations that public funds, services, was refused. and jobs have been routinely used to In another blow to the Tahoeraa influence voters, particularly in favor majority, its parent party and metro- of parties incumbent in government. politan ally, the Rassemblement Pour The standing down of more than a la Republique, was toppled from third of the governing majority is power in May. The governing conser- unprecedented. Moreover, by-elec- vative coalition in France made a tacti- tions for eleven members of the forty- cal error in deciding to hold early one-seat assembly could tip the bal- elections for a new National Assembly. ance of power if voters turn against A backlash over unemployment, immi- Tahoeraa due to its implication in gration policy, and relations with the fraud. In view of the dire consequences European Union saw the conservatives the government faces as a result of by- ousted, and a coalition dominated by elections, on 1 April Flosse launched the socialists came to power. It remains an appeal to the Council of State in to be seen whether the territorial France to overturn the Administrative government will have stormy relations Tribunal’s decision. At the time of with the socialists as it has done in the writing the outcome of this appeal was past, although President Chirac can be not known. New elections are sched- expected to continue protecting the uled for these electoral districts in late interests of his protégé and friend, 1997, though the pro-independence Gaston Flosse. leader, Oscar Temaru, has called for The national election results were new elections to be held throughout somewhat different for the two candi- the territory. dates chosen to represent French In a separate development, for the Polynesia. As the poll was held a week first time the courts judged that the earlier there than in metropolitan French Overseas Radio and Television France, voters were unaffected by the network, rfo, had exhibited bias in its tide of discontent that turned against allocation of air time to different polit- Jacques Chirac’s Rassemblement Pour ical parties prior to the territorial elec- la Republique. Instead, conservative tion. The court condemned the fact candidates from the territory’s govern- that in the first four months of 1996, ing coalition won majorities in the first rfo had provided five times as much round without having to contest a coverage to the governing Tahoeraa second run-off. In the eastern elector- party as it had to opposition parties, ate, Emile Vernaudon, the mayor of including the pro-independence party Mahina and leader of the Ai‘a Api of Oscar Temaru. Subsequently, in party, which is allied to Tahoeraa, won April, rfo came under fire again for its comfortably with 58.9 percent of the partial treatment of politics. Flosse had votes cast. In the western district, accused Temaru on rfo tv of having Michel Buillard, a Tahoeraa minister been responsible for the riots that led and mayor of Pape‘ete, won with a to the destruction of the airport in narrower margin of 51.5 percent. 202 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998

Nevertheless, Buillard was given a run has provoked considerable opposition for his money by Oscar Temaru, the from local residents, mayors, and envi- pro-independence leader and mayor of ronmentalists. Apart from a not-in- , who gained a strong vote of 41.6 my-backyard attitude, reasons for this percent. opposition include that Papenoo is Overall, the pro-independence party subject to the highest rainfall level in Tavini made solid gains throughout Tahiti, the site is close to a river most of the archipelagoes, especially in system, and the long road servicing the the Windward Islands, but Tahoeraa site would need to undergo constant kept its grip on the Marquesas. As repairs to accommodate the heavy always though, it is difficult to draw traffic of garbage trucks. firm conclusions from trends in In the year under review, the territo- national elections held in Tahiti. rial government decided on several Knowing that the outcome will not major public works projects and other have a direct impact on local politics, socioeconomic initiatives, to be largely voters can use these elections as a pro- financed by the special postnuclear era test vote against the incumbent govern- funds granted by President Chirac. ment without necessarily supporting These projects are meant to improve independence or transferring their infrastructure and social services, votes to opposition parties when it create jobs, and generally boost the comes to territorial and municipal elec- ailing economy. On the health front, tions. The real extent of support for there will be a new hospital to replace Tavini and other opposition parties the one in Mamao, a new psychiatric will be demonstrated in the forthcom- hospital to replace the old institution ing territorial by-elections. in Vaiami, and a cardiology clinic. The problem of disposing of Tahiti’s With regard to public housing, the waste remained unresolved and was a government made a commitment to source of contention throughout the building seven thousand new lodgings year. In mid-1996, for the third time in over the coming decade. A new build- as many years, the date for the closure ing to house the Territorial Assembly’s of the over-full Faaa municipal dump administration will be constructed at a came and went in the absence of alter- cost of 1.2 billion fcfp, and the presi- native rubbish sites being developed. dential office will move to a historic Sitom, the public company charged building, Caserne Broche, to be refur- with resolving the waste issue, proved bished at a cost of 600 million fcfp. incapable of fulfilling its mission. In In September, President Flosse February, the government established a revealed an ambitious plan to build a new semipublic company to deal with tunnel under the lagoon to connect the the urban waste problem, the Polyne- Faaa airport with Pape‘ete’s seaport. sian Environment Society, in which the This was proposed to alleviate the territory would retain a majority share. chronic traffic congestion in the capi- A site in the valley of Papenoo was tal. The tunnel is estimated to cost 12 identified to host the new waste dis- billion fcfp. The idea is for the tunnel posal facility. The choice of location to be constructed privately and eventu- political reviews • polynesia 203 ally recoup its costs via a toll of 100 directly involved in the execution, is fcfp each time a vehicle uses it. It is the forthcoming debut of a new luxury hoped that by a year after its opening, cruise ship. The Paul Gauguin luxury 25,000 cars will travel via the tunnel liner of 16,000 tonnes will carry 320 each day. However, considerable passengers and is destined to cruise doubts have been aired in the public mainly around the . It is domain about whether it is feasible for presently under construction, with an island that accounts for only plans for a launching in January 1998. 40,000 vehicles to recoup the costs of Though Tahiti will benefit from the the tunnel. visiting tourists, the liner will be regis- On 31 October, Flosse launched tered in Wallis and Futuna and man- another grand project, this time to aged by an American company. An establish the territory’s own interna- additional project to stimulate tourism tional airline. The decision to proceed is the planned construction of a new was based on three years of feasibility hotel of 252 rooms in Arue. This hotel studies. Initially called Tahiti Airline, it will be targeted at an older clientele, later underwent a name change to Air principally retired metropolitan French Tahiti-Nui with a view to removing the civil servants. anglophone connotations. The first In September, the government plane to be acquired will be an Airbus implemented legislation to create a 340–300 with a passenger-carrying youth employment initiative. The new capacity of 380. The first airbus will measure is directed toward low-skilled, be delivered in April 1998. It will unemployed young people of 17 to 26 mainly service routes connecting Tahiti years of age, with a view to subsidizing with the United States, Japan, and their employment in the private sector Korea. for up to eight months and providing The Territorial Assembly has voted them with supplementary training. to contribute 10 percent of the initial This policy was in part prompted by capital for the airline to encourage the large involvment of unemployed private investors to take the plunge. It youth in the September 1995 riots. is expected that the airline will post a Concern over unemployment was loss of 250 million fcfp in its first year shown to be warranted once official of operation, but that it will produce figures were released by the Territo- profits of 300 million and 1 billion rial Institute of Statistics (itstat) in fcfp in the subsequent two years. If all October. goes according to plan, another plane The latest statistics on employment will be acquired. The government is were collected in 1994. At that time confident that Air Tahiti-Nui will there were ostensibly 9,320 unem- promote tourism and generally fare ployed out of an active population of better than many of the unprofitable 79,120 people, which translates into airlines run by neighboring Pacific an official unemployment rate of 11.8 microstates. percent. However, the real rate has Yet another project, supported by been estimated to be in the vicinity of the territory even though it is not 16,000 unemployed. The public and 204 the contemporary pacific • spring 1998 private sectors account for 17,876 and approved territorial legislation for a 26,864 jobs respectively, with an addi- modest Contribution to Territorial tional 5,000 in the liberal professions, Solidarity tax in March that is meant leaving the remaining 30,000 workers to cover increased public health costs. (or 44 percent) in the traditional sector In February the Territorial Assem- of subsistence agriculture and fisheries. bly also adopted legislation to imple- Ninety per cent of people of working ment a value added tax to take effect age are resident in the Society Islands, in January 1998. A report by itstat which confirms the inexorable exodus (Jan 1997), assessing the pros and cons of people from the outlying islands to of such a goods and services tax, noted the urban areas. several potentially negative outcomes. In December, provisional results First, the tax would not be egalitarian from itstat’s census of the territory’s because it was likely to have a greater population in September were impact on poorer households. Second, released. A total of 219,521 inhab- it is likely to provoke inflation, which itants were divided among the archi- would in turn deter investment and pelagoes as follows: Windward Islands tourism. Inflationary pressures could (including Tahiti) 162,686; Leeward also be brought to bear on salaries, Islands 26,838; Marquesas 8,064; especially those of the public service, Tuamotu-Gambiers 15,370; Australs which are indexed to the cost of living. 6,811. The island of Tahiti, where the The end result could thus be a redistri- capital, Pape‘ete, is situated, accounts bution of wealth in the territory from for 68.6 percent of the territory’s the private sector to the public sector. population. In French Polynesia, Several categories of goods and 94,651 of the inhabitants (or 43 services will be exempt from the value percent) are less than twenty years of added tax, including medical services, age. Population growth since the last education, cultural activities, financial census eight years earlier has been at a services, water, and goods sold by rate of 16.3 percent, or 1.9 percent per farmers and fishermen. Key categories year. This represents a decrease com- to be subject to the tax include the sale pared to the previous census period of of new products, port and airport 1983–1988, which registered a growth services, telecommunications and of 2.6 percent per year. computers, energy distribution, and Fiscal reform to reduce the territo- transport. The standard rate of tax will rial government’s dependence on be 3 percent, while some goods and import duties, which account for 70 services, including food, nonalcoholic percent of collected revenue, has been beverages, publications, hotel services, a long-standing source of contention in and interisland transport, will be sub- territorial politics and also in the terri- ject to a lower tax of 1–2 percent. The tory’s relations with the French state. government’s plan is not to add to the The territory has to date had no form total tax burden, but to substitute the of income tax. After years of to-ing value added tax for existing duties on and fro-ing over constitutional issues, imports, which will be phased out over the French National Assembly finally five years. However, given that the political reviews • polynesia 205 value added tax will still weigh heavily goals of ending the tests and expand- on new products imported from ing autonomy meant that for many abroad, it is unlikely to make a huge years the French state would not budge difference to the current reliance on on either. At one point he became so import duties. frustrated in his quest that he threat- With sadness I report the passing of ened to push for independence, but Francis Ariioehau Sanford, who died eventually settled for a limited statute at his home in Faaa on 21 December at of autonomy in 1977. Sanford retired 84 years of age. I had the good fortune from politics in 1985, yet, as a to interview this key player in Tahitian respected elder statesman, he remained politics during my last visit to the terri- in great demand as an adviser to the tory. His career spanned a diverse new generation of politicians. range of roles in the public service and karin von strokirch politics. He worked first as an admin- istrator in the , and later in Bora Bora throughout the Second World War. After a period of teaching, Hawaiian Issues he became secretary to the French gov- A heated debate erupted in Honolulu ernor in 1963. His foray into politics in the summer of 1996 regarding the began with his election as the first State of Hawai‘i–sponsored plebiscite mayor of Faaa in 1965, a position he on the question of Hawaiian sover- held until 1983. He was elected to the eignty. The plebiscite was the state’s National Assembly in 1967 and held response to the “taro roots” march of this office until 1978. Sanford was the seventeen thousand Hawaiians on driving force behind the Ai‘a Api party, ‘Iolani Palace (former governmental which he cofounded in 1965. He led seat of the Hawaiian Kingdom) in the territorial government in coalition January 1993 demanding sovereignty, with the Here Ai‘a party from 1967 to or political control over Hawaiian 1972, and again from 1977 to 1982. Trust Lands, and denouncing the He fell from power after his party was hundred-year-old illegal American decimated in the 1983 elections. presence in Hawai‘i. From 1967 onward, Sanford In November of the same year, the became known for his relentless oppo- United States Congress serendipi- sition to the French nuclear testing tously passed what has become known program, a campaign he took to the as the Apology Bill (US Public Law French National Assembly and even to 103–150) that gave additional the United Nations. His strategy of support to the return of lands to collaborating with the French and Hawaiians. The 1993 Apology Bill, global antitesting movement certainly signed by President Clinton, admitted hastened France’s decision to cease that in 1893 America illegally invaded atmospheric testing in 1975. He also Hawai‘i and illegally overthrew the fought long and hard for an expansion democratically elected Hawaiian of the territory’s autonomy in relation government. The Apology Bill further to France. Sanford’s linkage of the two stated that “the indigenous Hawaiian