Political Reviews • Polynesia 133 Jon Tikivanotau M
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political reviews • polynesia 133 ment established a new Ministry of implied a new cultural orientation, Sports and prepared to celebrate the away from the French influence and fortieth anniversary of Cook Islands back to the country’s Maohi (indige- self-government on 4 August 2005. nous Polynesian) roots, as well as jon tikivanotau m jonassen toward a more pan-Pacific perspec- tive. Three events in particular embodied these tendencies. References On 12 July, the new government celebrated the annual autonomy CIH, The Cook Islands Herald. Raro- tonga. Weekly. holiday parade. Thousands of people participated, while several guests of CIN, Cook Islands News. Rarotonga. honor from other Pacific Islands Daily. countries were present. The new pres- ident changed the holiday from 29 June to 12 July to honor Francis San- ford, the father of the territory’s first French Polynesia statute of autonomy of 12 July 1977. Events in French Polynesia in the Flosse had made the holiday 29 June period under review were essentially when he created another, enlarged characterized by political upheaval autonomy statute, which passed on and unrest, with an elected govern- that date in 1984 (NT, 28 June 2004; ment ousted in a “legal coup,” only TP, 12 July 2004). to return after another by-election. In early August, President Temaru The country experienced a period of achieved an even greater triumph instability but also an unprecedented when he attended the Pacific Islands mobilization of peaceful popular Forum in Apia, Sämoa, and French protest, culminating in the largest Polynesia was granted long-awaited demonstration march ever seen in observer status in that organization. Tahiti. The president welcomed the reintegra- Before the crisis started, the islands tion of his country into the Pacific were in a state of enthusiasm during family and invoked his vision of a July and most of August 2004. The more closely integrated Pacific com- new coalition government of the munity in the future. He also formal- Union for Democracy (upld), Fetia ized the demand that French Poly- Api, and No Oe E Te Nunaa parties nesia be reinscribed on the UN list was headed by pro-independence of Non–Self-Governing Territories. leader Oscar Temaru, who had been However, he was careful to present elected president in June after the this in his capacity as political party almost twenty-year reign of pro- leader, not as president, in order not French Gaston Flosse. The new lead- to create tensions with his anti-inde- ership’s motto, “Taui” (“change” in pendence coalition partners (Temaru Tahitian) was not only conceived in 2004; TP, 6 Aug 2004). the purely political sense but also Finally, the Taui also proved its reflected a determination to set the vitality among institutions outside whole society on a new course. It the political spectrum, when in mid- 134 the contemporary pacific • 18:1 (2006) August the Evangelical Church of bly hall, seen by many as an assault French Polynesia, the country’s largest on the secular character of the state denomination, renamed itself Protes- (TP, 13 Aug, 18 Aug, 30 Aug 2004). tant Maohi Church (TP, 16 Aug Temaru tried to appease the dissi- 2004). dents’ anger by making concessions. While the dynamism of Taui made In a dramatic act he personally society aware of the dawning of a climbed on a ladder in the assembly new era, the actual business of gov- hall to take down the cross (TP, 17 ernment was a challenge for Temaru Sept 2004). Eventually he was able to and his inexperienced collaborators. reconcile with Tefaarere and Teroro- Not only were they unfamiliar with tua, and both returned to the assem- the political system put in place by bly’s majority group. Tetuanui and Flosse and his French bureaucrats, Frébault, however, refused to do like- but the latter had also used a wise and on 24 September they for- “scorched-earth” strategy after their mally resigned from Temaru’s group, defeat, leaving almost no records in leaving the latter without a majority the offices when the new government in the assembly (TPM, Oct 2004). moved in (TPM, July 2005). In order Together with independent repre- to get an overview of the financial sentative Temauri Foster, the two situation of the country, Temaru eventually approached Flosse’s ordered an audit by a renowned Tahoeraa opposition, giving it a new French agency. His determination to majority. After a televised speech in uncover irregularities during Flosse’s which Temaru warned the population administration reportedly scared the of a planned attempt to overthrow ex-president and his supporters and his government, Flosse declared on made them even more determined 4 October that a “motion of censure to sabotage the new government is not on the agenda” (TPM, Oct (Regnault 2004, 153–154). 2004). However, less than twenty- The crisis began in late August four hours later, such a motion was when two upld representatives in the filed by both Tahoeraa and a newly Assembly of French Polynesia, Hiro founded assembly group called Te Ara Tefaarere and Ronald Terorotua, both (“The Awakening”), consisting of with strong labor-union ties, followed Tetuanui, Frébault, Foster, and three by their colleagues Noa Tetuanui and Tahoeraa representatives—apparently Jean-Alain Frébault (who had previ- a puppet party set up by Flosse to ously crossed the floor from Taho- give his motion the added legitimacy eraa), announced their intention to of being a two-party initiative (TPM, resign from the upld and form their Nov 2004). own parliamentary group. They The extraordinary assembly session argued that Temaru’s government of 8 October, which was called to had not kept its electoral promises, debate this motion, became a forty- especially in the field of social policy. eight-hour ordeal. Temaru, with his The second issue that roused their ministers and representatives, gave discontent was the cross installed by long speeches testifying to their Speaker Antony Geros in the assem- achievements, and tried to convince political reviews • polynesia 135 Noa Tetuanui to give up his “treach- long as there was no blockade of the ery” and return to the upld, on country’s political institutions (TP, whose list he had been elected. But all 12 Oct 2004). attempts were unsuccessful, and late On 16 October, Tahiti experienced on the night of 9 October, the motion the largest demonstration in its his- of censure passed with a slim majority tory when more than 22,000 people of 29 to 28 votes (TP, 9 Oct 2004; (official estimate) marched through TPM, Nov 2004). the cities of Faa‘a and Papeete to After only four months in office, support Temaru’s call for the dis- Oscar Temaru’s government had been solution of the assembly and fresh ousted. From then on the situation elections (TPM, Nov 2004). Among became increasingly confusing. the marchers were deputies from the According to the Statute of French opposition French Socialist Party, the Polynesia, a government overthrown most notable being Christian Paul, in a motion of censure remains in former minister for overseas territories power as a caretaker administration in Lionel Jospin’s left-wing govern- until the assembly elects a new presi- ment (1997–2002), as well as Hawai- dent. However, the two sides could ian independence activist Henry Noa. not agree on a date for this vote to A petition demanding the dissolution take place (TP, 12 Oct 2004; TPM, was signed by almost 43,000 people Nov 2004). during the following weeks (TP, 17 While the parties fought a legal Nov 2004). Flosse’s followers, on the battle over scheduling the vote, other hand, could mobilize only about Temaru and his followers began 300 participants for a counter-demon- to organize their resistance against stration in early December (TP, 4 Dec Flosse’s return to power. Even before 2004). the vote of censure, Temaru had Unimpressed by the October asked the French government to march, Lana Tetuanui, the assembly’s dissolve the assembly and call for third vice speaker from Tahoeraa, fresh elections in order to create a opened an assembly session for the clearly mandated majority (TP, 6 Oct presidential vote, and on 22 October, 2004). This request was supported by Flosse was unanimously elected presi- large sections of the country’s popula- dent. Under Flosse’s orders, the tion as well as the opposition parties assembly building had been occupied in France. However, the ruling right- by a militia made up of members of wing government of French President the Groupement d’Intervention de la Jacques Chirac refused to comply. Polynésie (gip; see below), who intim- French Minister for Overseas Terri- idated all non-Tahoeraa supporters tories Brigitte Girardin—who had present, including Assembly Speaker already contributed to political desta- Geros (TPM, Dec 2004). Geros con- bilization in Tahiti after the elections tested the legality of the session in May by stating that “the electoral presided over by Lana Tetuanui, process is far from being completed” as there was no legal basis for his (TPM, June 2004)—said that there replacement by one of the vice speak- was no reason for a dissolution as ers (TP, 22 Oct 2004). French High 136 the contemporary pacific • 18:1 (2006) Commissioner Michel Mathieu, how- ments and did not know which one to ever, had given written orders to Lana be loyal to. All this increasingly para- Tetuanui to open the session (TP, 18 lyzed the economic life of French Oct 2004), thereby violating his Polynesia. Brigitte Girardin, however, required neutrality in local politics. still refused to dissolve the assembly, Finally, on 25 October, the date set using the argument that there was still by Geros for the election session (for “no institutional blockade,” even which Flosse had filed his candidacy though there obviously was (TP, 23 and thereby implicitly recognized the Oct 2004; TPM, Nov, Dec 2004).