Wallis and Futuna Do Not Share a POLITICAL REVIEW * POLYNESIA I77 Common Identity
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I990 THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC * SPRING program, intended to reduce Tokelau’s &- isolation, and authorized by the Gen- WALLISAND FUTUNA eral Forro in April 1987,was postponed The French territory of Wallis and indefinitely. However, New Zealand Futuna has long been considered a undertook to begin construction if and trouble-free spot, forgotten in the mid- when Tokelau considers it is ready to dle of the Pacific, its people living introduce air service in the atolls, with under the paternalistic authority of costs met by allocations over and customary law, the Catholic church, above New Zealand’s annual budget- and the French administration. Gaul- ary grant. list Senator Benjamin Brial was regu- New Zealand’s budget aid covers larly reelected with over 90 percent of more than 80 percent of Tokelau’s the votes. In spite of a somewhat low requirements, with the balance raised standard of living, the people were free through shipping and freight charges; to migrate to New Caledonia where the sale of handicrafts, coins, and post- well-paying jobs could ~t~~i~illybe age stamps; customs duties; and radio found relatively easily. Remittances and telegram excises. The main expen- could then sustain ii higher standard of ditures include education, transport living for relatives back home. Thus and communications, and public ser- these islands driftcd dong, seemingly vice salaries and expenditures. With far removed from the great winds 346 Tokelauans employed as of 31 sweeping the world. However, the March 1988, the Tokelau Public Service events of 1988-1989 litive shown that remains the main source of regular some uphenvnls m:iy he brewing below income in Tokelau. the calm surface. Additional New Zealand aid is But first sonie facts. Wnllis, whose devoted to particular projects, includ- population todiiy is approximately ing the work on the reef channels. 9000,wiis settled three thousand years Tokelau receives further assistance ago by a Polynesian people who were from various regional and interna- subsequently conquered by Tongan I tional organizations, particularly the warriors over the course of long wars. I United Nations Development Program Common historical ties were estab- ( UNDP). A UNDP indicative planning lished between the island of Wallis (or figure of about one million dollars was Uvea in Polynesian) and the Tongan l set for the period 1987 to 1991,with the archipelago, especially in the cultural I upgrading of Tokelau’s communica- and linguistic spheres. On the other l tions equipment (destroyed during hand, the 4000 people of Futuna, l 1987storms) representing the single located some two hundred kilometers largest project. Plans were also under- from Wallis, speak a Samoan language i way for UNDP to assist in providing and share many cultural characteristics I new power generators for the atolls, with the people of the islands of I STEPHEN LEVINE Samoa. As a result, in spite of joint I French administration and a mutual l belief in the Catholic faith, the peoples of Wallis and Futuna do not share a POLITICAL REVIEW * POLYNESIA I77 common identity. In fact, Futuna is of the incumbent candidate, Benjamin reluctantly tied to Wallis and its leaders Brial. Instead the outcome weambig- have often expressed the wish to form a uous. The Conseil Constitutionnel separate territory. (Constitutional Council) canceled the The superior administrator of the results and called for a new election, territory resides in Wallis, where most which the rival candidate won with a of the main administrative services are landslide 57.44 percent of the votes. located. Wallis has a more solid infra- An official candidate of the Presi- structure than Futuna. There are roads dential Majority Party (which supports and public services, almost every François Mitterrand), the new senator household has running water and elec- has little in common with his predeces- tricity, and taped television programs sor. While Benjamin Brial comes from are regularly sent over from Noumeä; a part-Caledonian and part-Wallisian Some seven hundred residents are sala- family, and has a background in busi- ried employees of the administration, ness, Kamilo Gata is a thirty-year-old the territory’s biggest employer. Futunan living in Wallis, who studied Futuna is somewhat isolated and at law in France and later headed a a geographical disadvantage. There are department in the territorial adminis- no roads and no cars, and the island is tration. one tall, abrupt mountain, with no Brial represented the status quo, the coastal plain. The tiny airfield has been tie between custom and church author- open for barely a decade. Administra- ity. He embodied the traditional order tive jobs are rare, and there are few and perhaps also power held too long signs of development. While conditions with no sharing and little real opposi- are relatively affluent in Wallis, life in tion. This static image was rejected by Futuna is much harder. Customary law voters in favor of Kamilo Gata’s more in Wallis has lost some of its power, modern image and capacity to initiate and various forms of acculturation a real political debate. As a Futunan have occurred, while in Futuna it has living in Wallis, Gata is also able to remained relatively intact. Within this rally voters from both communities basic context a new internal political and to encourage them to overcome debate is taking place, and signs of traditional antagonism. structural change have begun to appear Gata is associated with the Mouve- beneath skies which, though calm, are ment des Radicaux de Gauche, a small not devoid of unstable patches. left-of-center political party in France The election of the single represen- that has always preferred compromise tative in Paris of the approximately to confrontation. He expresses careful 14,000Wallisians and Futunans has and moderate views. However, he also always sustained the interest of the represents, on a deeper level and with political parties in metropolitan his own distinctive “Oceanian” style, France, who fight for a majority in Par- the will for political change prevalent liament and sometimes scrape for a few among educated youth. Without votes. The June 1988 elections did not doubt, Kamilo Gata and the young result in the usual overwhelming return advisers who surround him represent 178 THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC . SPRING1990 the emergence of a new political gener- expressed the need to establish their ation characterized by its desire for own political framework in order to greater modernity. avoid remaining the unconditional fol- Kamilo Gata’s victory was also due lowers of the RPCR. to a set of favorable external circum- In the sanfèvein, a new party made * stances. François Mitterrand’s election up of Wallisians and Futunans was in France enabled him to benefit from established in Noumea to compete in the “legitimist reflex” of the population New Caledonia’s provincial elections of both islands, who are inclined to go on II June 1989. The Union Océani- . along with the majority in France. enne kept an equal distance from both Developments in New Caledonia also main parties, the RPCR and the FLNKS, played a role. The Wallisian and and asserted the will of the Polynesian Futunan population in Noumea num- emigrant community to follow an bers 15,000, slightly more than live in “Oceanian” line, thereby reducing fric- the islands. As a result, the continued tion with Melanesim parties. The prosperity of many families in Wallis - party captured 6.2 percent of the votes and Futuna and the social stability of in the Southern Province, and gained the islands depend on the existence of two seats in the provincial legislature. this migrant community. Its return to Kamilo Gata’s election and the crea- the islands would be considered cata- tion of the Union Océanienne in Nou- strophic. Anything that affects the mea signal changes in a situation that Grande Terre is bound to have impor- has remained static for a long time. But tant repercussions in these two isolated what seems even more significant is the islands, structural link that now closely ties the The dialogue between the Rassem- situation in Wallis and Futuna to blement Pour la Calédonie dans la events, whether happy or unhappy, in République ( RPCR) and the Front de New Caledonia. Libération Nationale Kanak et JOEL BONNEMAISON Socialiste (FLNKS) in New Caledonia, which led to the signing of the WESTERNSAMOA Matignon Accord in August 1988,was 1988, t approved, if only because it brought On 26 February some 20,000 peace. Nonetheless, it puzzled Walli- matai (chiefs) and 2000 individual vot- sian and Futunan voters used to rather ers (people of European and part- more Manichaean political patterns. In European descent) out of Westem the face of a shifting political scene, the Samoa’s population of 175,000 went to change in voting patterns is an indica- the polls (SMH,29 Feb 1988).The tion that most Wallisian and Futunan usual mass creation of matai titles that voters have chosen to wait and see and precedes every election had taken place to adopt a neutral position. The major- throughout the previous year. Matai ity who supported Kamilo Gata did not voters increased from 16,500 in 1985to support the pro-independence move- almost 20,ooo in the 1988 election (IB, ment, but rather asserted their own April 1988).Outgoing Prime Minister identity and autonomy. They Vaai Kolone and Tupua Tamasese Efi, The Contemporary Pacific *- A ]o u maI of Is la n d Affairs 1 Volume 2 Num ber .... 'a, University of Canter- 1 rland :e, University of Hawaii, :titute of Applied Social and ear&, Papua New Guitzea Spring 1990 pring and Fall. Articles and disciplines in the social Sci- ,comprehensive coverage of CENTER FOR PACIFIC ISLANDS STUDIES egion, including Melanesia, s are the responsibility of the e5 s on the inside back cover.