Political Reviews

Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 taberannang korauaba, kelly g marsh, clement yow mulalap, christina sablan, tyrone j taitano

Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, christina newport, forrest wade young

The Contemporary Pacic, Volume 27, Number 1, 209–293 © 2015 by University of Hawai‘i Press

209 political reviews • 257

Cook Islands Party being out-polled References by the Democratic Party, the result highlights “the disparity in the value cih, Herald. Rarotonga. Weekly. of a vote across the Cook Islands” (cin, 23 July 2014), with the balance cin, Cook Islands News. Rarotonga. Daily. of power ­sitting with smaller voter Cook Islands Government. 2013. ­constituencies. Kaveinga Tapapa: Climate and ­Disaster The Democratic Party, now with Compatible Development Policy 2013– eight seats, saw their leader Wilkie 2016. August. Rarotonga: Office of the Rasmussen lose his seat by 10 votes. Prime Minister. http://www.mfem.gov The Mitiaro seat they won on election .ck/images/Climate__Disaster_Compatible night came back tied after the recount, _Development_Policy_Final_copy.pdf [accessed 23 June 2014] with both candidates garnering 50 votes each (cin, 18 Jul 2014). A by- Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority. election will be needed to sort out the 2014. Frequently Asked Questions. deadlock unless a petition to the court http://www.seabedmineralsauthority.gov proves successful for either party. .ck/index.php/about-us/15-faqs [accessed 1 July 2014] On that note, by the 25 July dead- line, nine electoral petitions had been Fayle, Tom. 2014. Cook Islands Solar lodged with the Cook Islands High Energy Project Causing Concerns. Court. As the post-election ­caretaker Interview with Steve Anderson, Radio ­government, the Cook Islands Party , abc, 2 January. http://www will now have to wait for the outcome .radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/ program/pacific-beat/cook-islands-solar of the court actions. With the con- -energy-project-causing-concerns/1241848 stitutional provisions to enable the [accessed 30 June 2014] caretaker ­government to operate with one quarter of the 2013–14 govern- pifs, Secretariat. ment appropriations until the end of 2013. Forty-fourth Pacific Islands Forum, Majuro, Republic of the . September, the pressure is now on the Forum Communiqué. Suva: pifs. judiciary and Chief Justice Thomas http://www.forumsec.org/resources/ Weston, rather than the voting public, uploads/attachments/documents/2013 to determine the country’s govern- _Forum_Communique_Final.pdf ment for the next four years. While [accessed 1 July 2014] the year has featured a full range of political challenges and government- led reforms that have been contested and debated by the public, it is likely that the upcoming celebrations of fifty years of Cook Islands sovereignty will The political situation of French provide a positive focus for 2014–15. Polynesia during the period under christina newport review was in two ways fundamen- tally different from previous periods. First, as a result of May 2013 elec- tions, there is a two-thirds majority for ’s anti-independence 258 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015)

Tahoeraa Huiraatira Party in the mittee of the UN General Assembly, legislative assembly that is most likely which is charged with to remain for the full term, setting issues. On 14 October, the commit- the present situation apart from the tee adopted a draft resolution to be preceding decade-long instability introduced to the floor of the 68th caused by ­constantly changing politi- UN General Assembly as a follow-up cal majorities. Yet the pending retrials to the reinscription resolution of the of President Flosse (who was earlier previous session in May. The draft sentenced to jail terms for corruption, ­followed Temaru’s and Tuheiava’s which he had appealed) as well as his advice in recommending a long period advancing age (he turned eighty-three of political education in order to over- in June 2013) make it doubtful that he come decades of French indoctrination will retain the presidency for the entire and propaganda before a meaning- five-year term. ful referendum of self-determination Second, due to the tireless efforts of could be conducted in the country Flosse’s pro-independence predecessor ( Web tv 2013; ti, 9 and his administration Oct, 21 Oct 2013). to reinscribe the country on the United While the resolution was tabled to Nations list of Non-Self-Governing be voted on by the General Assembly Territories (nsgts), which succeeded floor, attempts by President Flosse and literally on Temaru’s last day in Office his government to undo, block, or stall in May 2013, French Polynesia is the UN decolonization process were now regarded by the international not successful. Despite yet another community as a territory to be decolo- resolution passed by Flosse’s two- nized, although keeps resisting thirds majority in the French Polynesia what it regards as UN interference in Assembly on 28 August denouncing its domestic policies. The new inter- the UN activities as “interference in national status of the country gives the bilateral issues between France the pro-independence opposition and French Polynesia” and lobbying unprecedented possibilities to expose efforts by Flosse to influence Pacific the country’s problems before interna- Island leaders during the Pacific tional audiences and to promote their Islands Forum meeting in September long-term goals of building a sover- in Majuro to support this position (ti, eign state. 28 Aug 2013), the leaders preferred Temaru and his confidant, Senator to be silent on the issue, and the final Richard Ariihau Tuheiava (one of the communiqué of the Forum did not country’s two representatives in the contain any mention of French Poly- French Senate), thus continued their nesia (pifs 2013). Previously, at the lobbying at UN institutions, where Polynesian Leaders Group (plg) meet- they are now able to be admitted as ing in Auckland on 30 August, Flosse, official representatives of an nsgt who became president of the orga- and no longer need to find a friendly nization for a year on a principle of country to include them in its national alphabetical rotation, had convinced delegation. On 8 October 2013, the the other leaders of the Polynesian two testified before the Fourth Com- countries to include in their communi- political reviews • polynesia 259 qué a note acknowledging “the resolu- him personally by alluding to his black tion adopted by the French Polynesia Caribbean (= slave descendant) heri- Assembly reaffirming the democratic tage. Lurel was infuriated and accused choice of its population to remain the Temaru’s , the largest strongly autonomous overseas country constituent party within upld and that it is” (plg 2013), although the official local ally of the ruling French plg declined to make any concrete , of disloyalty (tpm, Dec commitments in support of Flosse’s 2013). The minister seemed to forget, position in the international arena. however, that it was the Socialist Party The French government, on the that broke the partnership agreement other hand, also frustrated Flosse, in the first place by opposing UN rein- since his demand for an immediate scription, which the two parties had ­referendum on independence that agreed to in 2004 and 2011. Temaru’s would not restrict the electorate to party had hitherto dutifully fulfilled its long-term residents—which most part of the agreements by constantly likely would turn out a majority lending local support to Socialist poli- against independence—fell on deaf ticians on the French national level. ears. When Minister of Overseas A year earlier, in a similar speech ­Territories Victorin Lurel visited before the Congress of in late November and gave a program in Nouméa, Lurel had admitted that speech before the French Polynesia France “never knew how to decolo- Assembly, he declared that there nize” but added that “here [in New was no reason for any independence Caledonia] we are inventing a new referendum, neither according to UN formula” (ti, 24 Nov 2012). Given standards on decolonization nor under the attitude of his government toward current French electoral law. Instead, French Polynesia throughout the year, Lurel asked all local political forces to as well as other recent colonial poli- collaborate with the French govern- cies such as the départementalisation ment in developing the country (ti, (ie, annexation as a supposed part of 30 Nov 2013). metropolitan France) of the Comorian Temaru and his coalition of opposi- island of Mayotte in 2011 despite its tion parties, Union Pour La Démocra- contested international legal status, tie (upld), boycotted and protested one could conclude that France is Lurel’s visit, insisting that the Flosse creating a “new formula” only for government was illegitimate since it New Caledonia but remains clueless was run by the “mafia” (referring to on how to decolonize the rest of its the multiple criminal convictions of crypto-colonial “overseas” empire. Flosse for corruption, all of which In the old colonial fashion of were undergoing appeals at the time). his right-wing predecessors, Lurel Some protestors went as far as depict- accepted and replicated Flosse’s ing Lurel, a Socialist politician from discourse by claiming that the 2013 the Caribbean island of , election results should be seen as a as a “house negro”—in order to plebiscite against reinscription. This portray him as a sellout/colonial col- line of argument has frequently been laborator and simultaneously insult used by French governments whenever 260 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) pro-French parties held the majority of reinscription during the campaign, the seats in the local assembly and reflects absence of the topic in the manifestos an unfortunate tradition in French makes it even more of a stretch to con- political culture of misinterpreting strue votes for the two parties as votes elections of candidates to office as against UN reinscription. plebiscites on issues, and vice versa. At the same time, however, However, in a legal analysis written Tahiti-based French historian Jean- a few days after the UN reinscription Marc Regnault considers the French vote, University of New Caledonia Polynesia Assembly resolution of Law Professor Mathias Chauchat August 2011 (in which the then upld argued that a local election and a majority expressed itself in favor referendum of self-determination of reinscription) a tactical mistake. should not be confused. Furthermore, According to Regnault’s analysis, this even the rejection of a particular self- resolution tied the issue down to one governing status in a plebiscite should of majority support, which would not be equated with a vote in favor of eventually backfire on upld, as it no integration and therefore precipitate longer represents the majority since a removal from the nsgt list, as, for the 2013 elections. In contrast, the example, was not removed Kanak pro-independence umbrella from the list when its voters did not group flnks (Front de Libéra- consent in sufficient numbers to a tion Nationale Kanak et Socialiste) ­status of free association with New achieved New Caledonia’s reinscrip- Zealand in 2007. Echoing Lurel’s tion in 1986 without ever attempting Nouméa statement, but without the to get a majority vote of the territo- hypocrisy of the latter, Chauchat rial institutions of New Caledonia argued that “in New Caledonia the and instead relied on international [French] Republic commits itself to legal principles that protect minori- a progressive, peaceful and irrevers- ties, especially indigenous minorities ible process of decolonization, which ­(Regnault 2013, 197, 223 n423). has not turned against her. Her policy Unimpressed by the French and would become incomprehensible, and French Polynesia governments’ oppo- quickly counter-productive, if she sition, the UN General Assembly on would not be able to see the Pacific 11 December unanimously passed the as it is today, as the Anglo-Saxons draft as resolution 68/93. The resolu- have been able to, and would offer no tion once more affirms French Poly- future perspective for French Polyne- nesia’s inalienable right to self-deter- sia” (Chauchat 2013). mination and calls on France and the Besides these fundamental legal local government to cooperate with arguments, it is also worth noting that UN agencies in order to implement neither Tahoeraa nor the pro-French this right and, specifically, “to develop opposition group A Tia Porinetia political education programmes for the (atp) mentioned opposition to rein- Territory in order to foster an aware- scription in their campaign manifestos. ness among the people of French Poly- While it is true that leading candi- nesia of their right to self-determina- dates of both parties agitated against tion in conformity with the legitimate political reviews • polynesia 261 political status options.” Furthermore, cies from accelerating their engage- the resolution “requests the Secretary- ment with the territory. General, in cooperation with relevant On 26 March, the UN Decoloni- specialized agencies of the United zation Committee released its first Nations, to compile a report on the working paper on the country, giving environmental, ­ecological, health and an overview of its political, economic, other impacts as a consequence of the and social situation; listing the resolu- 30-year period of nuclear testing in the tions and documents issued hitherto Territory” (UN 2013c). by the United Nations in its regard; Whereas the first sections of the and providing summaries of the testi- resolution have merely symbolic mony given by Temaru and Tuheiava value as long as both and the before various UN bodies (UN 2014a). country government continue refus- The document was released in prepa- ing any cooperation with the United ration for the annual regional seminar Nations on the matter—Flosse once of the Decolonization Committee, more denounced the resolution as an which took place 21–23 May in ­“unacceptable interference” (ti, 13 Nadi, Fiji. While France participated, Dec 2013)—the section on nuclear its submission referred only to New testing is of great significance. Up Caledonia and mentioned not a word until now, the debate on the effects about French Polynesia (Government of French nuclear testing (1966 to of France 2014). Senator Tuheiava, 1996) was held within the constraints in his submission as an expert from of French domestic institutions; the an nsgt, denounced the hypocrisy of resolution officially declares the the French government in adhering consequences of French nuclear test- to UN principles only when it fits its ing an international matter that must interests, and he called on the Special be addressed at the UN level. Since Committee to include a passage to French Polynesia, unlike some totali- that effect in a draft resolution for the tarian regimes, is not cut off from the upcoming sixty-ninth General Assem- outside world, France will hardly be bly session. The senator furthermore able to prevent the compilation of the mentioned the control of France over UN report on nuclear testing effects, the resources in the territory’s Exclu- even if Paris refuses direct cooperation sive Economic Zone as well as over its with UN agencies in the matter. airspace as exemplary evidence for the In the annual UN General Assembly lack of true self-government (Tuheiava report on the nsgts, released on 17 2014). March 2014, one could see that of all At the meeting of the Decoloniza- seventeen nsgts on the list, the only tion Committee at the UN headquar- one for which the administering power ters in New York, 30 June–1 July, the had not transmitted information as scene from Fiji was repeated. After the required under article 73e of the UN section on New Caledonia, in which Charter was French Polynesia (UN French government representatives 2014b). France was thus openly defy- participated, the latter rushed out of ing principles of international law, but the chambers when the issue of French this would not discourage UN agen- Polynesia came up for discussion 262 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015)

(Overseas Territories Review, 30 June scription resolution in the UN General 2014). Assembly on 17 May 2013, the repre- If one analyzes the history of sentative of Indonesia, while endorsing French decolonization during the past the resolution, cautioned against using decades, Paris’s arrogant attitude as it as a precedent to “dismember or displayed in the UN meetings is not impair totally or in part the territorial very surprising. In his recent book on integrity or political unity of sovereign France’s “belated ” in or independent States”—referring the Pacific, Regnault described how most likely to the disputed status of it took France decades to accept New West Papua (UN 2013a). While the Caledonia’s 1986 reinscription as an latter is a more complex legal issue nsgt. UN officials were not invited to (involving a sovereignty dispute and visit New Caledonia until 1999, and the denial of self-determination in its the annual transmitting of information resolution rather than a classic case of under article 73e was only begun in denial of decolonization by an admin- 2004 (Regnault 2013, 74–76). In that istrative power), Indonesia’s concerns sense, the pattern of France’s attitude over the reinscription resolution show toward New Caledonia seems to be its potential for unforeseen far-reach- recurring now for French Polynesia, ing consequences. almost down to exact details. For Ni-Vanuatu Prime Minister Moana instance, the line of argument by the Carcasses Kalosil, Tahitian by birth Françoise Hollande administration and leading the one country that has against French Polynesia’s reinscrip- consistently supported West Papuan tion as being allegedly contrary to self-determination, certainly inter- public majority opinion is virtu- preted the resolution in this way in ally identical to the discourse of the his speech before the plenary ses- cohabitation governments of Mitter- sion of the UN General Assembly on rand and Chirac in the mid-1980s in 28 ­September. He commended the reference to New Caledonia (Regnault reinscription of French Polynesia as 2013, 225). While after decades of a recent effort to bring decoloniza- denial of colonialism some progress is tion efforts back to life at the United being made in New Caledonia, decolo- Nations, reminding the international nization of French Polynesia “still has community of other decolonization- a long history ahead” (Regnault 2013, related issues waiting to be resolved, 215). such as West Papua, as well as Besides its visible effects on the the continuing French claim over political dynamics of French Polynesia Vanuatu’s two southernmost islands and on the problem of belated French ­(Carcasses 2013). decolonization in general, the rein- Geographically closer to French scription of the country as an nsgt Polynesia, Rapa Nui also saw its also has ramifications for other issues struggle for decolonization from of decolonization and related inter- significantly affected by the resolution. national legal issues throughout the Earlier in 2013, the pro-independence Pacific region. It is interesting to note umbrella group “Rapa Nui Parlia- that during the debate on the rein- ment” had gained significant inter- political reviews • polynesia 263 national momentum by being invited the ­’s continued by the Temaru government to be a sovereignty under international law founding member of the Polynesian (Hawaiian Government blog 2014). Parliamentary Group at its inaugu- As far as domestic developments ral meeting in (ti, 4 March are concerned, the review period saw 2013). During a session of the UN two attempts to introduce new cur- Decolonization Committee on 21 rency to the country, one successful June 2013, the representative of Chile and regular in circumstances and the first expressed his annoyance that other unsuccessful and rather bizarre. a paper on Pacific decolonization Both, however, provide evidence of created in the UN Permanent Forum ongoing French colonialism. At the on Indigenous Issues that referred to beginning of the year, the Institut both French Polynesia and Rapa Nui d’Émission d’Outre-Mer (ieom, the was supposedly inaccurate, and then French for overseas he mentioned, truly inaccurately, that territories) issued a new series of the country government of French cfp banknotes, which were Polynesia had less autonomy than put into circulation during the fol- a municipality in Chile—thereby lowing months, with the old notes implicitly arguing that French Polyne- gradually phased out by September sia could not serve as a precedent for 2014. The change in banknote design Rapa Nui, which currently is admin- was intended to pay lip service to istered as a municipality within Chile the 1998 Nouméa Accord on New (UN 2013b). The statement was an Caledonia, which stipulated that the attempt to curry favor with support- future banknotes of New Caledonia ers of French Polynesian independence shall show “Kanak cultural symbols” and thereby distract from Chile’s own instead of the French colonial officials atrocious colonial record in relation to and nondescript “island paradise” Rapa Nui. scenes depicted on the previous series Even at the plg meeting in Auck- (which is issued for all three French land in August 2013, which Flosse Pacific territories). While the logi- used as a platform for his propaganda cal step would have been to create a as mentioned above, the atmosphere separate series for New Caledonia of awakening in Pacific decoloniza- satisfying the passage in the accord, tion and related issues apparently took which was originally planned and the some hold. Kamana‘opono Crabbe, designs released on a numismatic web- the chief executive officer of the Office site (Banknote News 2012), the ieom of Hawaiian Affairs, attended the eventually decided to simply create a meeting as an observer representing new series for all three Pacific territo- Hawai‘i, which was duly mentioned ries, and only one out of the four new in the communiqué (plg 2013). It notes (the 10,000 note) actu- might not be a coincidence that it ally displays Kanak cultural symbols, was Crabbe who in May 2014 would while the other denominations depict ­create a stir in Hawaiian politics generic tropical flora and fauna. when he sent an open letter to US While the ieom was making those Secretary of State John Kerry about decisions behind closed doors, the 264 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) so-called Republic of Pakumotu (a Things turned ugly, however, when self-proclaimed entity with about a police arrived at Teiri’s house on 29 hundred supporters and its headquar- January in order to carry out the sen- ters in Outumaoro, within the munici- tence and take him to jail, since he had pality of Punaauia near its boundary not shown up to the court appoint- with Faaa) announced the issuing of ment. The armed bodyguards of the its own national , called the “king” opened fire at the approaching “patu.” In mid-October, Athanase­ police cars and a gunfight ensued. Teiri, the leader of the “republic” Luckily no one was injured, and Teiri (who, strangely enough, does not and his bodyguards were arrested style himself as president but as on charges of attempted murder and “King Taginui I”), announced that his illegal possession of firearms (tpm, Feb ­“government” had issued one billion 2014). patu, which would be put in circula- The “Pakumotu” affair raises tion at the exchange rate of 145 cfp some important questions. It must be francs for one patu and would be the asked why people get arrested and only legal tender starting in January charged within days for trivial affairs 2014 (ti, 17 Oct 2013). like attempting to defraud a business Even though most observers looked of a small amount of money in the on the actions of the group with mild case of the lady at the gas station, or amusement, French prosecutor José merely for the act of producing tons Thorel announced he would prosecute of valueless fantasy money in the the group for “issuing fake money” name of a fantasy state in the case of and would confiscate their patu notes, Teiri, whereas for various politicians, even though they resemble neither such as President Flosse, who have the old nor the new ieom notes, nor defrauded the public of the equiva- do they bear any inscription saying lent of hundreds of thousands of US they have any value in cfp francs. ­dollars through embezzlement, the After a Pakumotu supporter tried justice system takes years to prosecute to pay for her gasoline with a patu them. note, the police not only arrested her Second, the phenomenon of self- but a few days later also stormed proclaimed governments—of which into the group’s headquarters, seized there are several others in French all the patu notes, and arrested Teiri Polynesia, including two more emerg- for “counterfeiting” money (ti, 11 ing during the time under review Dec 2013). Eventually, however, the (ti, 23 Oct 2013; ti, 26 April, 27 court did not follow the prosecutor’s May 2014)—must be seen in a social excessive actions, and when Teiri was context. The relative success of these sentenced to six months imprison- eccentric groups is best explained as ment on Jan 21, it was not for issuing offering a utopian alternative to the “patu” but for intimidation, since he increasingly desperate situation many had authored letters threatening ieom poor and unemployed find and the territorial government for not themselves in. This is even more the complying with his “currency-issuing” case as many of the latter become scheme (ti, 21 Jan 2014). progressively disillusioned with tradi- political reviews • polynesia 265 tional political parties, none of which job that appears especially superflu- have offered much to remedy the ever- ous since there already is a well-staffed aggravating social ills. office representing the territory in While Flosse and other pro-French Paris. In the same context of purely politicians had constantly denounced patronage politics should be seen the Temaru government for its per- the appointment of Teiva Manutahi, ceived incompetence in dealing with leader of a small political party that such issues and, instead, for its “obses- had joined Tahoeraa for the second sion” with decolonization, the new round of the 2013 elections, to the all-powerful Flosse government has similarly vague position of “mediator not done much in its first year in office of French Polynesia” (ti, 5 July 2013). to alleviate the situation either. At the In November 2013, the Flosse gov- beginning, the new government under- ernment went through its first major took a few good concrete steps such as crisis when Bruno Marty, the minister opening the country’s first shelter for for transport infrastructure, resigned homeless people in Tipaerui valley (ti, after crashing his car while driving 4 June 2013) and announcing reform drunk. The irony of the situation measures, such as the cutting of one was not lost on the opposition and thousand administrative positions (ti, the media, but, instead of punishing 3 July 2013). However, it soon became Marty’s scandalous behavior by sever- obvious that Flosse’s government ing all ties with him, Flosse announced was not interested in real structural he would appoint him director of a reforms but rather in continuing semi-public company (pir, 18 Nov “business as usual,” that is, a policy of 2013; tpm, Dec 2013). patronage and clientelism. Following Marty’s resignation triggered a this pattern, the new Flosse govern- reshuffling of Flosse’s cabinet. Not ment created new posts with question- only was his secretary, Albert Solia, able purpose, for instance, reinstalling appointed to succeed him, but Flosse the so-called High Council of French also created a ninth cabinet portfolio Polynesia (an institution supposedly for Manolita Ly, who became minister providing legal advice to the country for labor, social, and family issues, government that had previously been while the other portfolios were redis- abolished without any visible nega- tributed among the remaining seven tive consequences) and nominating ministers (ti, 17 Nov 2013). new members thereof (ti, 11 July, 29 During the final months of 2013 Aug 2013), before the controversial another controversy struck Tahitian institution ended up being declared society, namely, the attempt by Hishan illegal by the French Council of State El-Barkani, an ethnic Arab Islamic (highest administrative court) (tpm, cleric from France, to establish a March 2014). Controversies also con- mosque in downtown Papeete. Other tinued over the appointment of former than a few ethnic Arab French set- French Minister for Overseas Territo- tlers, there are virtually no Muslims ries Brigitte Girardin as the country’s in Tahiti. Al-Barkani, however, started “special representative in Paris” (tpm, a campaign to convert Tahitians to Aug 2013), a quite vaguely defined Islam, and indeed a few local individu- 266 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) als joined his congregation (nt, 15 Oct municipal district of Papeari, ­Tahoeraa 2013). Many local inhabitants were incumbent and French National outraged by this, and the specter of Assembly member Jonas Tahuaitu sur- Islamic fundamentalism was raised. prisingly lost the mayoralty. Tahoeraa On 9 November, about four hundred also lost the mayoralty of President people marched through Papeete, Flosse’s home island of Mangareva demanding the closure of the Islamic when the incumbent mayor was not community center El-Barkani had reelected. ­created in a Papeete office building Despite all predictions by pro- and supporting a liberal and secu- French leaders, upld was able to lar society (ti, 9 Nov 2003). While hold on to its stronghold of Faaa, such concerns seem understandable, where the list of ex-president Oscar it should also be recalled that Tahiti Temaru (mayor of Faaa since 1983) has for decades hosted a ­synagogue, a won a two-thirds majority in the first Chinese Taoist temple, a few revived round. Temaru’s lieutenant and former temples of traditional Polynesian Assembly Speaker Jacqui Drollet also religion, as well as churches of various won reelection as deputy mayor of Christian denominations (including his home district of Hitiaa on Tahiti’s some that are fundamentalist)—all east coast. The anticipated victory of without precipitating comparable upld in the entire East Coast munici- reactions. pality, of which Hitiaa is a constituent Party politics hit the headlines again district, was prevented by the resigna- when the municipal elections, held on tion of several Tahoeraa municipal 23 and 30 March 2014 in a complex councilors, which precipitated fresh two-round system, were approach- by-elections. A similar tactic was used ing. The results mainly confirmed the in the Western Taiarapu municipality. existing political landscape, but the These cases aside, upld was not able “orange wave” of 2012 and 2013, to further extend its municipal power referring to the Tahoeraa Party colors, base, since it lost the Moorea island did not continue. Most of the mayors municipality when its upld incum- affiliated with Tahoeraa kept their bent mayor, Raymond Van Bastolaer, offices, and Tahoeraa actually gained missed reelection. two more municipalities, but at the atp, the third political force, held price of losing two others. Papeete on to its strongholds. Incumbent atp Mayor Michel Buillard (Tahoeraa) mayors Ronald Tumahai of Punaauia was reelected, and in Pirae, Flosse’s and Philip Schyle of Arue were con- son-in-law and French National firmed in office, as well as former Assembly member Edouard Fritch, President , who who had already been mayor from retained the mayoralty of . 2000 to 2008, won an overall major- The city of Uturoa on Raiatea, as well ity against atp-affiliated incumbent as Ua Pou island in the Marquesas, Béatrice Vernaudon. In Mataiea, upld remained in the hands of atp, and incumbent Tina Cross was defeated Mangareva’s new mayor is an atp by Tahoeraa candidate Tearii Alpha in affiliate as well (ti, 26 March, 1 April the first round, but in the neighboring 2014; tpm, April 2014). political reviews • polynesia 267

The elections were overshadowed the election loss in May 2013, upld by multiple strikes of municipal was still a force to be reckoned with. employees throughout the coun- On the first anniversary of the coun- try. According to Tahiti-Pacifique try’s UN reinscription, a monument ­Magazine editor Alex du Prel, the was unveiled in Faaa at the end of strikes gave evidence, first, of the a commemoration march that was ­corruption of trade union leaders attended by about four thousand sup- who have regularly been using strikes porters and sympathizers (tpm, June– as a sort of protection racket to get July 2014). ­concessions from politicians, and, Support for upld was also shown second, of the impracticality of new during the European Parliament elec- municipal ­service standards that have tions on 25 May, when the majority been imposed by France as binding of votes cast in the country were won by the beginning of 2014 but that are by the Tavini-supported Socialist list. beyond the capacities of most munici- However, participation was extremely palities (tpm, April 2014; pir, 26 low, with only 14.97 percent vot- March 2014). ing in an election that most people The municipal by-elections in the see as irrelevant for the territory. Tahiti East Coast municipality on 15 Tahoeraa had decided to boycott the and 28 June brought no change, as vote, mainly as a strategy to then upld-affiliated Dauphin Domingo proclaim the overwhelming number won the mayoralty, rendering the of abstentions as actual votes in favor Tahoeraa challenge to the original of ­Tahoeraa—a contentious logic results a waste of taxpayer money. furnishing a fit occasion for upld to Since French law no longer allows for denounce Flosse as a hypocrite and the concurrent holding of national question his self-proclaimed loyalty to assembly membership and local the institutions of the French Repub- political office, Edouard Fritch had to lic. In any case, besides the hot air resign from his national assembly seat thus created, the election proved not on his inauguration as mayor of Pirae, practically relevant for the country, which necessitated a by-election for since the three seats assigned to French the first constituency (including the overseas territories in the EU parlia- municipalities of Papeete, Pirae, and ment were won by candidates from Arue on Tahiti as well as the Tuamotu other overseas possessions (ti, 25 and ), also held May, 26 May 2014). on 15 and 28 June. Unsurprisingly, In terms of economic development, Tahoeraa candidate Maina Sage won the Flosse government did take a few in the second round, but the score promising steps to encourage foreign of opposing upld candidate Tauhiti investment in the country. In Decem- Nena (41.98%) was significantly ber, Flosse visited China to initiate higher than that of Fritch’s 2012 upld the negotiation of business deals with opponent Pierre Frébault (36.78 %) various Chinese companies (tpm, Jan (ti, 30 June 2014; tpm, Aug 2014). 2014). One of those projects, which Overall it became clear that despite has been in the making for several doomsday scenarios predicted after years, is the creation of a tuna farm in 268 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) the lagoon of one of the atolls of the tion of French civil law in the nine- Tuamotu Archipelago. On 25 Febru- teenth and early twentieth centuries ary, the country government signed a over previously existing customary contract with the Chinese company land systems. Land tenure issues also Tian Rui International Investment, surfaced near the golf course in Atima- which promised to invest 150 billion ono, where Flosse ordered the eviction cfp francs (approximately us$1.66 of families living on what the govern- billion) over fifteen years in order ment considers public land in order to to create the fish farm. The lagoon make place for another joint venture of Makemo atoll was chosen as the with Chinese capital (ti, 7 Jan 2014). site of the aquaculture project (tpm, Another project that has long been March 2014). It is interesting to note in the planning stages by the Papeete that the negotiations for the project Port Authority, supported by both had started under the Temaru govern- previous and current country govern- ment and that as long as Flosse was in ments, is to upgrade the commercial the opposition, he had denounced this port of Papeete to serve as a regional and other Chinese investment projects trade hub for the Southeastern Pacific, as evidence that Temaru was “selling similar to the way Suva does for the out our country to the Chinese.” Southwestern Pacific. However, tpm Whether the project will ever be editor du Prel cautioned against being realized or, like so many before, will too optimistic about this scheme, remain an empty promise doomed to since currently port operations are economic failure is still unclear. Only six times more expensive in Papeete a few months after the contract was than in Suva and since the potential signed, the project was once more foreign destinations to be supplied revised, with the location moved to by Papeete (Cook Islands, Pitcairn, Hao atoll instead of Makemo. As ) are minimal in size, the site of a former French naval and with merely one-tenth of the domes- air force base that supported nuclear tic population of French Polynesia testing on the atolls farther southwest, and a much lower purchasing power, Hao has an existing infrastructure that thus making a port with high costs of would facilitate the building of the operation even less attractive for them farm (ti, 9 May 2014). The new site (tpm, March 2014). choice precipitated new controversies, On 14 April, the government however, since the project required the released a stimulus plan, elaborated expropriation of land, which many of by Vice President and Finance Min- Hao’s inhabitants were not happy to ister Nuihau Laurey. It consisted give up (ti, 1 June 2014), having had mainly of a few suggestions to reduce many of their lands already expropri- bureaucracy, while at the same time ated for the military base. creating new bureaucratic entities and Conflicts like these remind us of new subsidies to stimulate economic the complex issue of land tenure in growth but nothing that touches the the country, which has been a source basis of the economic system. Du of contention for more than a century, Prel commented that local economy starting with the colonial superimposi- “essentially consists of a bubble fed political reviews • polynesia 269 by the transfers and subsidies from imported (ti, 3 June 2014). All three France,” which feed an artificial sys- diseases are mosquito-borne and thus tem of economy based on consump- more heavily affect the poorer sec- tion, a “colonial trading post economy tions of the population, who live in that is limited to the urban population crowded shanty settlements on the and the politico-administrative caste bottom of valleys, with no window of Tahiti” (tpm, May 2014). screens and surrounded by puddles How important a major overhaul and rubbish items that provide ideal of the entire economic system and the breeding sites for mosquitoes. creation of genuine economic growth As the poor neighborhoods are would be is dramatically shown by infested with mosquitoes, the ruling the enormous French subsidies that classes are infested with corruption. constitute the lifeblood of the coun- Reynald Temarii, the former Tahi- try. According to official statistics, in tian football star involved in a major 2012 France spent 173.813 billion cfp corruption scandal of the Fédération francs (us$1.937 billion) in French Internationale du Football Association Polynesia, of which only 42 percent (fifa) in 2010, once more featured in was spent exercising French govern- negative headlines, as he turned out to ment responsibilities (defense, internal be one of the top fifa officials who security, justice, audiovisual communi- were bribed to award the 2022 World cation, tertiary education, etc), while Cup to Qatar (tpm, June–July 2014). 51 percent went toward the territorial The more sinister affair of the alleged government and 7 percent toward murder of anti-Flosse journalist Jean- the municipalities (tpm, May 2014). Pascal Couraud (known by his byline, While New Caledonia is moving away jpk) by henchmen of the presidential from such extreme levels of depen- militia Groupement d’Intervention de dency, and socioeconomic reforms are la Polynesie (gip) in 1997 received a slowly being implemented there, the new twist, as new testimony alleged structural problems of French Poly- that another former gip member who nesia remain unsolved. As Regnault committed suicide in 2003 had been commented, “In [French] Polynesia it part of the team, along with Tino seems that, to the contrary, the elites Mara and Tutu Manate, who have entrench themselves behind their been accused of having abducted and privileges and refuse any fundamental killed jpk in 1997 on orders of gip reform” (2013, 213). commander Léonard Puputauki. At As if the aggravating economic situ- the end of the review period, the case ation was not bad enough, the country was still under investigation, even was also plagued by tropical diseases. though murder charges against Mara An epidemic of dengue hit Tahiti and Manate have been dropped (tpm, throughout 2013, and, in addition, June–July, August 2014). for the first time there occurred an Flosse’s government created yet ­epidemic of the Zika virus, a disease another controversy when it decided similar to dengue but less virulent (ti, to remove a monument commemorat- 31 Oct 2013), and later the Chikun- ing the victims of nuclear testing in gunya virus from Africa was also the form of a (traditional place 270 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) of worship and burial), which had to bad financial management and been built by the test victims associa- competition from electronic media. tion Moruroa e Tatou (MeT), from its Tahiti thus became a “one-newspaper prominent position in a seafront park. island,” with La Depêche remaining Whereas the Temaru government had as the only daily. This is regretful, renamed the park “2 July 1966” to since Les Nouvelles usually provided commemorate the first nuclear test, deeper and more critical analyses of Flosse decided to re-rename it after local politics (nt, 23 May 2014, tpm, former French President Jacques June–July 2014). Chirac instead (ti, 12 June 2014). The review period also saw the In a press release, MeT declared its passing of three important local per- shock and outrage. After the firing of sonalities. On 21 August 2013, Marc nuclear-testing expert Bruno Barillot Maamaatuaiahutapu, more commonly from his position in the government, known as Maco Tevane, passed away the dissolution of the government’s at age 76. A surveyor and government Orientation Council for the Follow- interpreter by profession, Tevane was up on the Consequences of Nuclear one of the most prolific orators and Testing (coscen), and the elimination authors in the and of MeT representation in the Eco- one of the cofounders in 1972 of the nomic, Social and Cultural Council Tahitian Academy, of which he served (cesc, a lawmaking advisory body as the president for many years (tpm, consisting of civil society representa- Sept 2013). tives), the removal of the monument Another prolific writer in Tahitian was denounced as Flosse’s final insult and member of the Academy, Turo a to the victims of nuclear testing (ti, Raapoto, died on 7 May 2014 at age 16 June 2014). 66. A trained linguist and theologian, To put a good face on the matter, Raapoto contributed to the academic shortly after the monument removal, study of the Tahitian language, for the government celebrated the coun- which he created one of the two cur- try’s pan-Polynesian connections, rently used orthographic systems. albeit in a cultural-only, politically Within the country’s largest religious “safe” way, by naming a neighbor- denomination, which was then called ing seafront park after the visiting the Evangelical Church of French ­Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a. Polynesia and under his influence In the center of the park another became the Protestant Church marae was built, which President in 2004, he was probably the most Flosse inaugurated by conferring the influential Tahitian intellectual in the on the Hōkūle‘a’s second half of the twentieth century. navigator Nainoa Thompson (ti, Aug Initially joined by his colleague Henri 2014). Hiro, Raapoto developed a Polynesian A major change in the local media liberation theology, in which tradi- landscape occurred in May, when the tional is syncretized daily newspaper Les Nouvelles de with biblical ideas as a way of defend- Tahiti stopped publishing after more ing Maohi (native Polynesian) identity than five decades in existence, due against French materialism and the political reviews • polynesia 271 destruction of sacred land through local political culture. Even toward the nuclear testing. As a key figure in the end of his life he continued this erratic cultural renaissance of the 1970s and course, only recently switching from 1980s, Raapoto promoted the term Temaru’s Tavini Huiraatira to Gaston Maohi (hitherto rather obscure) as Tong Sang’s pro-French To Tatou Aia a self-designation for the indigenous Party (now a part of atp), yet profess- population of the country. With more ing to still be pro-independence and than a dozen theological and linguistic tirelessly advocating for a judicial books published exclusively in Tahi- rehabilitation of Pouvanaa. tian, Raapoto made a lasting contri- Céran-Jérusalemy was lucky to bution to the still meager corpus of witness before his passing one of the high-quality Tahitian-language texts. few positive actions by the French The country lost one of its politi- government during the review period, cal veterans providing links between namely, steps toward retrying the current politics and those of the 1959 case against Pouvanaa. After mid-twentieth century when, on a colonial show trial on trumped-up 15 May, Jean-Baptiste Heitarauri charges, Pouvanaa had been sentenced Céran-Jérusalémy passed away at to a decade of forced exile because the ­remarkable age of 93 (dt, 16 France considered him a nuisance to May 2014). A printer and trade- its plans to build the nuclear-weapons union activist, Céran-Jérusalemy testing facility that was being planned had assisted Pouvanaa a Oopa in the at the time. As a kind of would-be 1940s to found the party Rassemble- founding father of a nation on the ment Démocratique des Populations verge of independence in the late Tahitiennes (rdpt), the first political 1950s, Pouvanaa is today regarded as movement to institutionalize Tahitian a quasi-national hero by a wide politi- anticolonial nationalism and a prede- cal spectrum, epitomizing the tragic cessor to later autonomist and pro- history of a country led astray from independence parties. A colorful per- the regular path of decolonization by sonality, Céran-Jérusalemy had been French nuclear . Pouvanaa’s deputy throughout most In late February, French Minister of of the 1940s and 1950s but had then Justice announced fallen out with the latter and actu- that she would initiate a retrial (ti, ally campaigned against him in the 26 Feb 2013). Based on evidence 1958 referendum on the new French gathered through the tireless research constitution, after which Pouvanaa by historian Regnault in various was arrested and imprisoned. Since the hitherto ­classified French archives, 1960s, Céran-Jérusalemy had not been the Assembly of French Polynesia had in elected office but, after reconciling unanimously voted in early 2013 to with Pouvanaa, continued to support send an official request to the Ministry various political movements that he of Justice for the retrial. saw as carrying on Pouvanaa’s legacy, The affirmative reaction to the developing a pattern of frequently request, which was commended with switching allegiances, which became great satisfaction by both Tahoeraa a quasi-ubiquitous phenomenon in and upld, shows that the Hollande 272 the contemporary pacific • 27:1 (2015) administration can make a positive Hawaiian Government blog. contribution to decolonization. It is http://hawaiiankingdom.org/blog/ regrettable that this attitude has not [accessed 29 Aug 2014] spread to other fields of French policy. nt, Les Nouvelles de Tahiti. Daily. Tahiti. To repeat Regnault’s statement, indeed http://lesnouvelles.pf in French Polynesia “decolonization Overseas Territories Review. still has a long history ahead.” http://overseasreview.blogspot.com lorenz gonschor [accessed 8 Oct 2014] pifs, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. 2013. Forum Communiqué. Forty-Fourth References Pacific Islands Forum, Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, ­September. Banknote News. 2012. New Caledonia 3–5 http://www.forumsec.org/resources/ New Banknote Designs Approved for 2013 uploads/attachments/documents/ Intro. 26 April. http://banknotenews.com/ 2013 _Forum_Communique_Final.pdf files/cc1386d67b0fd08abca0cecfa5eb3225 [accessed Aug ] -2068.php [accessed 19 Aug 2014] 21 2014 Carcasses Kalosil, Moana. 2013. State- pir, Pacific Islands Report. Daily Internet ment by the Right Honourable Moana news. Honolulu. http://pidp.eastwestcenter Carcasses Kalosil, Prime Minister of the .org/pireport Republic of Vanuatu, before the 68th plg, Polynesian Leaders Group. 2013. Session of the United Nations General Communiqué and Outcomes. 3rd Polyne- Assembly, UN Headquarters, New York, sian Leaders Group Meeting, ­Auckland, 23 September. http://gadebate.un.org/sites/ , 30 August. Posted on default/files/gastatements/68/VU_en.pdf French Polynesian Presidency website [accessed 20 Aug 2014] http://web.presidence.pf/files/3rd Chauchat, Mathias. 2013. La ­réinscription _POLYNESIAN_LEADERS_GROUP de la Polynésie française sur la liste des _MEETING_COMMUNIQUE pays à décoloniser. Posted on the website­ _FINAL.docx [accessed 25 July 2014] of the Laboratory for Economic and Legal Regnault, Jean-Marc. 2013. L’onu, la Research, University of New Caledonia, France et les décolonisations tardives: 19 May. http://larje.univ-nc.nc/index. L’exemple des territoires françaises php/14-analyses-arrets-decisions/droit d’Océanie. Aix-en-Provence: Presses -compare/420-la-reinscription-de-la ­Universitaires d’Aix-Marseille. -polynesie-francaise-sur-la-liste-des-pays -a-decoloniser [accessed 20 Aug 2014] ti, Tahiti Infos. Daily Internet news. Tahiti. http://www.tahiti-infos.com dt, La Depêche de Tahiti. Daily. Tahiti. http://www.ladepeche.pf tpm, Tahiti-Pacifique Magazine. Monthly. Tahiti. http://www.tahiti-pacifique.com Government of France. 2014. Statement of France. Pacific Regional Seminary on Tuheiava, Richard Ariihau. 2014. Presen- the Implementation of the Third Inter­ tation by Mr Richard Ariihau Tuheiava national Decade for the Eradication of (Expert). Pacific Regional Seminary on the Colonialism, Denarau, Nadi, Fiji, 21–23 Implementation of the Third International May. Posted on UN website http://www Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, .un.org/en/decolonization/pdf/CRP.21 Denarau, Nadi, Fiji, 21–23 May. Posted on %20Statement%20by%20France.pdf UN website http://www.un.org/en/ [accessed 22 Aug 2014] decolonization/pdf/DP.2%20Richard political reviews • polynesia 273

%20Ariihau%20Tuheiava.pdf ing of the 68th session. 8 October. [accessed 22 Aug 2014]. http://webtv.un.org/watch/fourth -committee-4th-meeting-68th-general UN, United Nations. 2013a. Official -assembly/2732447142001/ [accessed Records. UN General Assembly, 67th 20 Aug 2014] session, 82nd plenary meeting, Friday, 17 May. A/67/PV.82. http://www.un.org/ en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/67/ PV.82 [accessed 20 Aug 2014] Māori Issues ———. 2013b. Press Release. As Session Concludes, Special Committee on Decolo- Before considering how decolonization nization Reaffirms Inalienable Right of manifests itself for Māori, we must French Polynesian People to Self-Determi- pause to remember those we have lost nation. Special Committee on Decoloniza- over the past year. Among our leaders tion, 9th Meeting, 21 June. http://www we bade farewell to were three who .un.org/News/Press/docs/2013/gacol3258 left important legacies. In September .doc.htm [accessed 23 Aug 2014]. 2013, we lost Denis Hansen of the ———. 2013c. Question of French Poly- (tribal nations) of Ngāti Kahu and nesia. Resolution adopted by the General Ngāpuhi. He had worked tirelessly for Assembly on 11 December. UN General the Māori community and was a love- Assembly, 68th session. A/RES/68/93. able rogue who lit up any gathering http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc he walked into. Thousands of people .asp?symbol=A%2FRES%2F68%2F93 had attended his eightieth birthday &Submit=Search&Lang=E [accessed 20 Aug 2014]. celebration in June. In February 2014, we lost Nin ———. 2014a. French Polynesia: Working Tomas of the Ngāti Kahu and Te paper prepared by the Secretariat. Special ­Rarawa nations. As an associate Committee on the Situation with regard to professor of law, Nin had trained a the Implementation of the Declaration on generation of Māori lawyers, some of the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, 26 March. whom are now judges. They turned up A/AC.109/2014/19. http://www.un.org/ga/ in large numbers for her search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A%2FAC (funerary ceremony) at the University .109%2F2014%2F19&Submit=Search of Auckland’s Waipapa marae. She &Lang=E [accessed 20 Aug 2014] had fought for recognition of the first law of New Zealand, tikanga Māori ———. 2014b. Report of the Secretary- General. Information from Non-Self-­ (Māori law), and its application to Governing Territories transmitted under environmental issues. Article 73e of the Charter of the United In May 2014, Morvin Simon of Nations. UN General Assembly, 69th Te Ātihaunui a Pāpārangi iwi passed session, 17 March. A/69/69. http://www away. He was a leading music com- .un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol poser and had dedicated his life to =A%2F69%2F69&Submit=Search&Lang tutoring (dance), compos- =E [accessed 20 Aug 2014]. ing songs, and preserving the language United Nations Web tv. 2013. Video and customs of his people of the broadcast of statements made before the Whanganui. Fourth Committee during its fourth meet- For Māori, decolonization is about