Political Reviews

Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 michael lujan bevacqua, landisang l kotaro, monica c labriola, clement yow mulalap

Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 peter clegg, lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, christina newport, steven ratuva, forrest wade young

93 134 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017)

Development Report, 2014 Global Gover- Fenua Communication already owns nance and Policy Space for Development. the weekday newspaper Tahiti-Infos. New York: United Nations. Unsurprisingly this change in owner- ship transformed tpm, once feared by local oligarchs for its investigative reporting and scathing editorials, into French Polynesia a more docile publication. While du In the often-turbulent recent politi- Prel continues to write good editori- cal history of French Polynesia, the als occasionally and the magazine year under review was a relatively still contains investigative articles, the calm one. Against all odds, Edouard publication has clearly become more Fritch consolidated his power as the mainstream and now contains a lot country’s president, transforming his of trivia, missing some of the intellec- tenuous tenure in office into one based tual depth of the old monthly edition. on a comparatively solid majority, and Also, for outsiders, the both reliable uniting under his leadership all politi- and manageable chronicle of impor- cal forces that oppose both indepen- tant political and social events that dence and Fritch’s predecessor Gaston tpm provided is being missed. Flosse. Meanwhile, for the first time What remained the dominant in over a decade, the country hosted a topic in local politics for the first half French presidential visit, which made of the review period, however, was some hopeful impressions, but at the the ongoing power struggle between same time the French government con- President Edouard Fritch and his tinues to stubbornly refuse to engage predecessor, Gaston Flosse, until it with United Nations institutions to was essentially won by the former work with them toward the country’s in early 2016. In September 2014, decolonization. when Flosse was removed from office The review period started with because of a definitive conviction in a yet another unfortunate change in corruption case, his longtime confi- the local media landscape. In August dant and former son-in-law Fritch had 2015, at the end of the summer break routinely taken over the presidency (as one of its many anachronistic with the understanding that Flosse colonial absurdities, French Polyne- would continue to hold the reins of sia follows the French metropolitan power from behind the scenes. Fritch, calendar and is thus the only country however, developed his own taste for in the southern hemisphere to have its political power, and tensions between long “summer vacation” during the the two soon become apparent. In pleasant austral winter and not during May 2015, the majority party Taho- the very hot season at the beginning eraa Huiraatira split when Fritch of the year), the formerly monthly formed his own caucus in the local news magazine Tahiti Pacifique (tpm) assembly named Tapura Huiraatira, became a weekly, after having been and on Flosse’s order all members of sold by its founder and editor Alex the new formation were expelled from W du Prel to local Chinese business Tahoeraa. Fritch subsequently formed tycoon Albert Moux, whose company a minority coalition government with political reviews • polynesia 135 the small anti-independence opposi- namely, that assembly backbenchers tion party A Tia Porinetia (atp), while are tempted to cross the floor toward Flosse’s “rump-Tahoeraa” several whichever political formation is in times attempted to block the govern- power if some types of advantages ment by withholding support in criti- or minor government positions are cal budgetary votes. However, Flosse offered to them or their family mem- failed in efforts to enlist the support bers—Fritch was able to extend his of the pro-independence Union Pour majority throughout the remainder of La Démocratie (upld), which would the year. Starting off with 16 members have been necessary to create a new in June, over the following months majority and overthrow Fritch in a Tapura Huiraatira was able to woo 5 no-confidence vote. more Tahoeraa members into turn- Meanwhile, the process of formally ing their back on Flosse and joining splitting Tahoeraa into two mutu- them. Finally, in the first week of ally hostile organizations was far December, even one of upld’s mem- from over, as both factions attempted bers, Joëlle Frébault of the Marquesas to gain control over the party as a Islands, defected to the government whole. After an unsuccessful attempt side, which, including the 8 seats of by Flosse to oust Fritch from Taho- Tapura’s coalition partner atp, now eraa, in which he continued to hold added up to 29 seats—a bare but the vice presidency, in mid-August workable majority that no longer 2015, Fritch fought back and filed a necessitated any tradeoffs to gain complaint with the local courts ask- upld’s tacit support in passing laws ing them to declare Flosse removed or making budgetary appropriations. from the party’s leadership, arguing Consequently, on 9 December Tapura that as a convicted felon he cannot be and atp merged into a common cau- Tahoeraa’s chairman according to the cus named Rassemblement pour une party’s statutes (ti, 15 Aug 2015). Majorité Autonomiste (autonomiste The complaint dragged along in local political discourse meaning in through the notoriously slow and support of the current political system inefficient court system and hear- but opposed to independence; ti, ings were several times postponed 7 Dec 2015; dt, 9 Dec 2015). (ti, 12 Oct 2015), but it was soon As the next step, Fritch and atp rendered obsolete by more solid leader Teva Rohfritsch prepared the political maneuvers to consolidate merger of the parties themselves, Fritch’s power outside of Tahoeraa. implying that the president had By mid-November, Assembly Speaker definitively given up any attempts to Marcel Tuihani, second-in-command wrest control over Tahoeraa from within the Flosse loyalist “rump-Taho- Flosse. As Fritch’s group and atp eraa,” opined in an interview in Tahiti were essentially identical in terms of Pacifique that between Fritch and his their platforms—opposing both Flosse party, “reconciliation was no longer and independence—the merger was conceivable” (tpm, 13 Nov 2015). less an issue of harmonizing politi- Following one of the most basic cal ideas than of trading offices and “natural laws” of local politics— posts within the hierarchy of the new 136 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) party. Finally, on 20 February 2016, discourse appealing to nostalgia of the merger was formalized during a the “good old times” when Flosse founding convention in the Aorai Tini was president (occasionally laced with Hau congress hall in Pirae, Fritch’s Tahitian nationalist and anticolonial home municipality, where he is the rhetoric to woo voters who would mayor. Attended by at least 8,000 otherwise support upld), the octo- people, the convention confirmed the genarian but vital Flosse might well new party’s name as Tapura Huiraa have yet another comeback in the next tira, its logo and color (red), as well as elections in 2018. its basic platform. The party claims to On the other hand, the more stand for more transparency and hon- consistently anticolonial, “sovereign- esty in politics and to support innova- tist” upld (the term independence tion and reform (ti, 20 Feb 2016). having been increasingly replaced by While the latter sounds good, it sovereignty in their discourse) is now seems rather doubtful whether the only the third-ranked political force, party seriously stands for these values, holding ten assembly seats. But despite as Fritch’s tactics of majority forma- having lost significant numbers of tion in the assembly are virtually votes in the last territorial election as indistinguishable from those of earlier well as several municipalities in the majorities under former presidents town council elections that followed, Flosse, Temaru, and Tong Sang. Fur- upld still has large numbers of core thermore, the leading team of Tapura supporters, among rural and working- Huiraatira consists almost exclusively class Tahitians as well as urban intel- of former Tahoeraa cadres—unsurpris- lectuals, along with an unbreakable, ingly so, since just like Tapura, atp broad popular majority in the city of and its predecessor parties are virtually Faaa, the country’s largest municipal- all earlier splits from Tahoeraa arising ity, where Temaru has been mayor from personal differences with Flosse. since 1983. The triumph of having A truly innovative political movement succeeded in mobilizing the majority that seriously aims at political reforms of UN member states to the country’s has been needed for many years but reinscription on the list of non-self- currently seems nowhere in sight. governing territories (nsgts) in 2013 But Fritch’s success in wresting was certainly no small achievement power from Flosse should not be and has helped to consolidate sup- misinterpreted as a definitive defeat of port among the party’s followers. Tahoeraa, as the “Old Lion” and his While many youths see upld as just as party are far from having sunk into dominated by a fossilized oligarchy of obscurity. With eighteen members, old-generation political leaders as the Tahoeraa still has the second largest pro-French parties, there are also some caucus in the assembly, and in Faaa rising stars within the sovereigntist on 28 November, Tahoeraa held its movement, including Moetai Broth- party convention, which was also well erson, a young intellectual gaining attended by thousands of delegates prominence as a confidant and pos- (dt, 30 Nov 2015). With his crude sible successor to Oscar Temaru. but electorally successful populist In all these political developments, political reviews • polynesia 137 women play an increasingly important French regional elections. As French role, a role that was certainly never Polynesia has an electoral system of as pronounced during the last century proportional representation, the new and a half or so. As in other Eastern law resulted in a dramatic increase Polynesian societies, women in leader- in the number of female assembly ship positions were quite prevalent members, from only a few to almost during the nineteenth century in 50 percent after the 2001 election, several of the islands that are now part the first conducted under the new of French Polynesia. Queen Pomare law. That year, the new assembly IV of Tahiti (who reigned 1827–1877) also elected its first female speaker, is quite well known, but many of the Lucette Taero (Tahoeraa, in office monarchs of the smaller kingdoms in 2001–2004). the Leeward and Austral Islands prior Of course, being enforced by a to their colonization by France were law from the outside, the new situa- female as well (Gunson 1987). While tion did not at first correspond to real in the late nineteenth and early twen- distributions of power, and a male tieth centuries all these monarchies candidate headed virtually every party were formally dissolved and replaced list in 2001. With the small number with the patriarchic colonial regime of of overall seats in the assembly and France, some aspects survived far into the fragmentation of the political the 1900s, and matriarchs of promi- landscape, this meant that the actual nent local families, usually of chiefly proportion of women in the assembly descent, retained influence in local was still significantly less than half. In politics throughout the twentieth cen- the long run, however, a trickle-down tury. One such example was Tuianu Le effect could be observed, and the Gayic (1922–1995), a descendant of gender parity law has contributed to the Teva chiefly family, who as mayor raising the profile of female participa- of Papara on Tahiti’s southern coast tion in politics. For the 2004 elec- during most of the 1980s and 1990s tions, a significant number of party was one of the first women to lead a lists had female head candidates, and local municipality. Nonetheless, such there have been two small political public political careers were the excep- parties created and lead by women— tion for women, and electoral politics Nicole Bouteau’s No Oe E Te Nunaa, on the territorial level remained fairly and Sandra Levy-Agami’s Te Mana exclusively men’s domain until the Toa—both founded in the first decade turn of the twenty-first century. of this century and at one point each In 2000, however, the French holding one assembly seat. Since the national legislature passed a gender early 2000s, there has also been an parity law that radically changed increase in the number of municipali- that situation. From that year on, all ties headed by female mayors. How- party lists for the election of assembly ever, as in most other Pacific Island members were required to alternate societies, top leadership positions are between male and female candidates still difficult for women to achieve, (Government of France 2000), based and none of the major political parties on an older law requiring the same for has yet had a chairwoman or a female 138 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) candidate for the country’s presidency. that have been expressed by pro- Even Taero, who was not very popular independence activists for many years as assembly Speaker, did not pursue a about the country being “invaded” career of higher political offices after- by French settlers are thus most likely ward, and so far all her successors as justified to some degree. Speaker have been male. Population increases on com- While gender parity is far from paratively small islands lead to an achieved, the country faces a variety increased scarcity of land, and thus of other statistical challenges as well. inevitably to conflicts about land According to the most recent census, titles. For many years, the local court there are more than 271,000 inhabi has been inundated with land cases, tants (ti, 31 Aug 2015). This figure many of which take years or decades makes one worry about the carrying to be resolved, if at all. In the hope of capacity of the islands—less so on speeding up some of these cases, the the outer islands, but certainly on French Ministry of Justice announced Tahiti, where about two-thirds of the the creation of a separate land court in population lives. While the return of January 2015, after the idea had been outer-island people from urban Tahiti contemplated for quite a while (ti, 12 to their home archipelagos has been Jan 2015). Later in 2015, it became increasing, the process of urbaniza- clear that this time the land court was tion of more and more parts of the indeed a serious project, as the French coastal plain of the main island as state acquired the property of the well as some of its valleys and ridges former psychiatric hospital complex is continuing as well. Since fertility at Vaiami in western Papeete (ti, 23 rates have lowered to an average of June 2015), and later it was officially fewer than two children per woman, announced that the land court would the ongoing population increase (up be headquartered there (ti, 15 Sept from about 250,000 a decade ago) is 2015). Construction and remodeling most likely due to increasing French is to begin in September 2016 and immigration, even though the statistics the court is to be operational in early say that more people are leaving the 2017. territory than moving in. The absence The land court is a controversial of ethnic statistics since 1988 makes it project, however, since many Tahitian hard to clarify, but it appears the out- land rights activists dispute whether migrants are mainly indigenous Tahi- French law and French courts have tians while the immigrants are chiefly jurisdiction over the matter in the first French. In comparison, independent or place. Indeed, when King Pomare V fully self-governing Polynesian coun- and several district chiefs of Tahiti tries like Sāmoa or the Cook Islands signed the annexation agreement have either a stable or a decreasing between the Kingdom of Tahiti and population, because out-migration France in 1880, a clause explicitly of Islanders there is balanced only exempted land matters from the by natural growth of the domestic transfer of authority and reserved population and not by any significant these to be judged by Tahitian courts. foreign immigration. The worries Unsurprisingly, in reaction to the land political reviews • polynesia 139 court announcement, heir apparent finally became available. The vaccine of the Pomare dynasty Teriihinoiatua has been authorized in Mexico, but Joinville Pomare, speaking for many not yet in French Polynesia, because like-minded activists, reiterated his the French permit for the product is long-standing demand for the creation still pending (ti, 9 Dec 2015). Preven- of customary councils to deal with tion of a tropical disease like dengue land disputes under Tahitian custom- is a low priority for French health ary law instead (ti, 13 Jan 2015). bureaucrats, even though it is a high The intrusion of French colonial priority for the tropical overseas ter- legislation into local society and its ritories, which once again get the short harmful effect on Polynesian ways end of the deal. of living was nowhere as evident as One of the more recently intro- in a French metropolitan law made duced mosquito-borne infections, the applicable to the country in August Zika virus, became a global pandemic 2015. This law, which prohibits in 2015–2016, to the point of raising payments in cash over 119,300 cfp concerns at the United Nations and francs (us$1,115) immediately created the World Health Organization. When a variety of problems on the outer the epidemic hit French Polynesia in islands, where most people have no 2013–2014, it was considered rather bank accounts—as on many of the harmless compared to dengue and to smaller islands there is no bank—and chikungunya, the other new virus, as receive their wages or salaries in symptoms were milder and no fatali- cash, which they keep at home. These ties occurred. But later a correlation people typically need to pay more than was established between an unusu- 119,300 cfp francs in cash occasionally high occurrence of microcephaly ally, for example, to purchase larger (smaller-than-normal heads) among items such as vehicles, agricultural babies born during the French Poly- and fishing machinery, or boats, or nesia Zika epidemic, which alerted to pay for their repair (ti, 31 Aug health authorities worldwide to the 2015). Ostensibly passed as a measure danger of the disease (Honolulu Star- against money laundering, the law Advertiser, 2 Feb 2016). might make some sense in France, but Overall, with the repeated epidem- it clearly is an absurdity in French ics and their often-fatal effects, the Polynesia, or any Pacific country with continuous laxity and ineffectiveness small outer islands, for that matter. of mosquito eradication programs Another example of the effects of and other protective measures in the colonial policies (both French and country is astonishing. Governmen- local) is the negligent way the authori- tal authorities are not the only ones ties deal with the new mosquito-borne to blame. To this day, in contrast to viral diseases that increasingly ravage several other Pacific Island countries, the Pacific Islands. Dengue fever, the barely any house in Tahiti, even of oldest of those, coming to the coun- wealthier people who could easily try in repeated epidemics since the afford it, is equipped with screens in 1980s, has been researched for several its doors and windows. decades, and in 2015 a vaccination In February 2016, attention turned 140 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) again to the uneasy relationship sanitary, social, and economic conse- between Papeete and Paris, as French quences of the atomic weapons tests President François Hollande visited conducted in the territory from 1966 the country for several days, the first to 1996, and he agreed that France French head of state to do so since owed the country redress for these Jacques Chirac in 2003. Hollande consequences. In his speech, Hollande has had a rather lukewarm relation- also admitted that the 2010 Morin ship with Papeete’s political class. The Law providing for the compensation local pro-French leaders are allied of nuclear-test victims had been virtu- with Hollande’s right-wing oppo- ally of no consequence, as only very nents, and he had betrayed the local few individuals have actually received allies of his French Socialist Party, the compensation, and he announced that pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira the law would be modified by decree party (which is the main component within the current year in order to of upld) by opposing their ultimately enable all victims of radiation-caused successful bid for reinscription on the health problems to receive appropriate UN decolonization list despite hav- compensation. Furthermore, the presi- ing previously promised in writing to dent announced the appropriation of support it. financial and technical resources to During his visit, however, Hollande continue the cleanup of irradiated or sent out two important positive sig- otherwise polluted former test sites nals. Very significant was his gesture and military support bases, as well to place a wreath on the tomb of as the creation of an information and Pouvanaa a Oopa (1895–1977), the documentation center on the tests country’s early nationalist leader who in Tahiti and French government had been imprisoned on trumped-up subsidies for the oncology section of charges by the French colonial admin- the territorial hospital in Taaone in istration in the 1950s and whose Pirae so that radiation-induced cancer descendants have repeatedly asked for patients can be treated locally (dt, 23 a formal rescinding of his unjust crimi- Feb 2016). nal conviction. Hollande’s act was all Nonetheless, the president’s speech the more significant as he breached the also contained inaccuracies about normal order of protocol by honoring Tahiti’s history, since Hollande grossly Pouvanaa first, before laying another exaggerated the historical depth of the wreath at the cenotaph in downtown islands’ political ties to France, claim- Papeete to honor the local soldiers ing that “in the eighteenth century fallen in French wars (ti, 22 February the destiny of your people became 2016). united with that of France” (ti, 26 Feb Second, Hollande acted in stark 2016). In fact, the first islands of what contrast to his predecessors by being is today French Polynesia were not responsive to the demands made on taken into possession by France until him by representatives of Moruroa e 1842, and it was not until the turn Tatou and other nuclear-test-victim of the twentieth century that all its associations. Without reservation, he islands came under French rule. admitted to the heavy environmental, The Moruroa e Tatou associa- political reviews • polynesia 141 tion remained skeptical (ti, 22 Feb respectively the “father figures” of 2015), since as of August 2016 the the “autonomist” and “pro-indepen- promised modification of the Morin dence” political ideologies and now Law has yet to be enacted. Nonethe- advocates of a further political evolu- less, Hollande’s plans found fertile tion toward either free association soil in Fritch’s government. After (Flosse) or full sovereignty (Temaru). more detailed discussion with Paris, Where Fritch’s and Hollande’s inter- Fritch announced in early June that ests coalesce is that both would like to the country’s government would create a “new deal” that looks good make a formal agreement with Paris but does not call into question the before the end of 2016 to redefine current political framework of French mutual relations, which he dubbed Polynesia being an overseas political the “Papeete Accords” in the style of entity within the French Republic. the 1998 “Nouméa Accords” of New Both hope that such a “deal” could be Caledonia. A central point of these used in making a claim to the United accords will be a formal recognition of Nations that the 2013 reinscription the damages done by nuclear-weapons as a non-self-governing territory was testing and of France’s obligations to unnecessary. provide redress, as Hollande outlined As part of this master plan, Fritch in his February speech. Furthermore, has also been very active in regional the accords are to contain pledges politics, especially within the Polyne- by Paris to provide for the improve- sian Leaders Group (plg), in which ment of the country’s infrastructure he is emerging as the second-most and telecommunications systems, as important leader after Sāmoa Prime well as for the support of Polynesian Minister and plg founder Tuilaepa culture. The candidacy of the classical Sailele Malielegaoi. In July 2015, Polynesian temple complex of Marae Fritch hosted a special plg meeting Taputapuatea on Raiatea to be listed in Raiatea on Marae Taputapuatea as a world heritage site with unesco itself, where the plg leaders solemnly is to be officially promoted by France. signed the Taputapuatea Declaration Generally, all areas in which the coun- on Climate Change—a significant try lags behind France in socioeco- contribution to raising Fritch’s profile nomic terms are to be gradually raised in the region (rnzi, 16 July 2015). to French standards—a policy that Later during the review period, Fritch resonates with Hollande’s program traveled to Sāmoa to sign partnership to eliminate inequalities between the agreements, mainly concerning tour- “mother country” and the overseas ism development (Samoa Observer, 24 territories (ti, 9 June 2016). April 2016), and made a demand to The planned accords are clearly the Pacific Islands Forum demanding part of Fritch’s grand strategy of full membership for French Polyne- leaving a permanent mark on the sia, for which he apparently received political landscape and thereby support from New Zealand (pir, 3 raising his profile as a local states- May, 26 May 2016). The signing of man, stepping out of the shadow of the Taputapuatea declaration was his predecessors Flosse and Temaru, followed up by another plg meeting 142 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) in Papeete in late June 2016 (pir, 29 General Assembly to adopt another June 2016). resolution reminding administrative Between Hollande’s new com- powers to submit the information mitment to provide redress for past requested on their respective nsgts wrongs and to set relations between without delay (United Nations 2015a). Paris and Papeete on a new course, Before the annual meeting of the UN and Fritch’s increasingly proactive Decolonization Committee on 24 regional diplomacy, one could indeed June, international decolonization get the impression that the country is expert Carlyle Corbin testified that on a positive postcolonial trajectory. French Polynesia’s so-called “auton- However, a deeper analysis shows that omy does not meet international stan- this is not so, and any resemblance to dards” (otr, 30 June 2016), echoing the Nouméa Accords for New Cale- similarly critical testimonies presented donia is symbolic at the most. Unlike to the committee by upld representa- the latter, the planned Papeete Accords tives Richard Ariihau Tuheiava and would not include any upgrade in the Moetai Brotherson (otr, 27 June, 28 degree of self-government granted June 2016). to the country government. Second, A month earlier, new French High unlike in New Caledonia, there is no Commissioner René Bidal assumed attempt to reach a consensus among office, succeeding Lionel Beffre (ti, 30 the main political parties of French May 2016). While the replacement of Polynesia, but instead there would the high commissioner every few years merely be a convention between Paris is routine, it is indeed remarkable and the majority of the day in the that since 1977, when the title of the Papeete assembly. Finally, there is no French government’s representative timeline leading to a self-determina- was changed from governor to high tion referendum on the political status commissioner, almost all officeholders of the territory. have been white metropolitan French- Unsurprisingly, institutions of the men, the one exception being a white United Nations and UN-affiliated metropolitan woman in the early experts have been far from impressed 2000s. If indeed Hollande’s govern- by France’s efforts in dealing with the ment is insisting on full equality of the territory, or rather with the absence overseas territories within the French of such efforts. During its seventieth Republic, one might wonder why his session, the UN General Assembly government is not appointing a person once more noted France’s lack of of color from one of the other over- cooperation with UN authorities seas territories to this position. regarding the territory, French Polyne- Given all these pieces of evidence, sia being for the second time in a row decolonization indeed still has a the only one of the seventeen territo- long way to go in French Polynesia. ries on the nsgt list about which the Yet, like others in the Pacific, the administrative power refused to trans- country is in a process of transition mit information as obligated under in this regard, as there has been an article 73e of the UN charter (United increased interest in looking back on Nations 2015b). This prompted the and appraising the colonial past, from political reviews • polynesia 143 the nineteenth century to the second attended by both Oscar Temaru and half of the twentieth—an assessment Senator Lana Tetuanui of the pro- enlarged on in a recently published Fritch camp (ti, 5 Jan 2016). book by Tahiti-based French anthro- lorenz gonschor pologist and political scientist Bruno Saura (2015; tpm, 11 Dec 2015). Several important people joined the References ancestors during the review period. In early December 2015, Jacques-Denis dt, La Depêche de Tahiti. Daily. Tahiti. Drollet passed away at age ninety-two. http://www.ladepeche.pf Through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Government of France. 2000. Loi orga- Drollet was an important local politi- nique no 2000-612 du 4 juillet 2000 ten- cal figure in Pouvanaa’s Rassemble- dant à favoriser l’égal accès des femmes et ment Démocratique des Populations des hommes aux mandats de membre des Tahitiennes party, although he later assemblées de province et du congrès de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, de l’assemblée de la joined other local politicians in oppor- Polynésie française et de l’assemblée ter- tunistic switches of allegiance. He also ritoriale des îles Wallis-et-Futuna [Organic became known to the tabloid press as Law No. 2000-612 of 4 July 2000 to the father of Hollywood actor Marlon facilitate equal access by women and men Brando’s son-in-law, who was mur- to the positions of provincial assembly and dered by one of Brando’s sons in the congress member of New Caledonia, of 1990s (tpm, 11 Dec 2015). Another assembly member of French Polynesia, and important twentieth-century Tahitian of territorial assembly member of Wallis politician from Pouvanaa’s entourage, and Futuna] https://www.legifrance.gouv Daniel Millaud, died on 21 June at age .fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT eighty-seven. Millaud had succeeded 000000216538&categorieLien=i [accessed 24 July 2016] Pouvanaa as French Polynesia’s senator in Paris and held the Senate seat Gunson, Neil. 1987. Sacred Women Chiefs from 1977 until succeeded by Gaston and Female “Headmen” in Polynesian History. The Journal of Pacific History Flosse in 1998 (ti, 23 June 2016). Among the deceased was also an 22 (3): 139–171. important descendant of Tahitian Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Daily. Honolulu. royalty and, to return to the theme of http://staradvertiser.com this year’s reviews, a powerful female otr, Overseas Territories Review. Blog. community leader. On 31 December http://overseasreview.blogspot.com 2015, Geneviève Moeterauri Tetupaia pir, Pacific Islands Report. Daily Internet i Hauviri Salmon-Pomare departed news. Honolulu. http://pidp.eastwestcenter this world at the age of ninety-one. .org/pireport The princess was the great-great-great- granddaughter of Queen Pomare IV rnzi, Radio New Zealand International. Daily radio and Internet news. Wellington. and the adopted granddaughter of http://www.rnzi.com Queen Marau, King Pomare V’s con- sort. With many local political leaders Samoa Observer. Daily. Apia. descendants of the old arii (chiefly) http://www.samoaobserver.ws class, the funeral was prominently Saura, Bruno. 2015. Histoire et mémoire 144 the contemporary pacific • 29:1 (2017) des temps coloniaux en Polynésie fran- fortnight of each other. Of Te Rōroa, çaise. Pirae, Tahiti: Editions Au Vent des Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Whātua, Manos Iles. had an extensive background in ti, Tahiti Infos. Weekday newspaper and woodcarving and sculpture, having Internet news. Tahiti. http://www.tahiti carved the meeting house of his -infos.com Matatina Marae in Waipoua Forest tpm, Tahiti-Pacifique Magazine. Formerly (Tamati-Quennell 2015). Colleen, of monthly; weekly from August 2015. Te Popoto o Ngāpuhi ki Kaipara and Tahiti. http://www.tahiti-pacifique.com Te Rarawa, was world renowned for her clay work, which has been exhib- United Nations. 2015a. Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmit- ited throughout New Zealand and in ted under Article 73 e of the Charter of the the United States, the United King- United Nations. Resolution adopted by the dom, Australia, and Canada (Tamati- General Assembly on 9 December 2015. Quennell 2015; Creative New Zealand a/res/70/94. http://www.un.org/en/ga/ 2015). Te Rarawa lost a greatly loved search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/94 leader, Gloria Herbert. She was the [accessed 27 Sept 2016] chair of their iwi authority, served on ———. 2015b. Question of French Poly- the Waitangi Tribunal, and was well nesia. Resolution adopted by the General known as being caring and gentle but Assembly on 9 December. UN General also very determined. Ngāreta Mete Assembly, 70th session. a/res/70/100. Jones of Te Rarawa was a lifelong http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc worker for change for Māori. She was .asp?symbol=A/RES/70/100 [accessed 27 one of the founders of Kawariki, the Sept 2016] movement that brought out a new generation of northern youth in the 1980s to protest the Crown’s failure to honor Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Māori Issues Māori-language treaty between Māori Over the past year we lost a num- and the queen of England (Waatea ber of leaders who spent their lives News 2015b). Waereti Pōpata (Wal- fighting for justice for Māori. In ters) of Te Paatu, Ngāti Kahu, was a September 2015, Lady Emily Latimer fearless Māori rights advocate and one of Whakatōhea passed away. She of the first Māori community health was a staunch supporter of Māori in workers. her work with the Māori Women’s In November 2015, we lost Dr Welfare League and Māori Wardens Bruce Gregory of Ngāti Te Ao, Te and was a tireless supporter of her Rarawa. He was the member of Par- husband, Sir Graham Latimer, who liament (mp) for Northern Māori from died nine months after his wife in June 1980 until 1993. He dedicated his life 2016; he had chaired the New Zea- to Māori health and the sovereignty of land Māori Council for many years. his hapū (group of extended families) September 2015 was a particularly sad (Collins 2015b). In January 2016, month. Two of our best-known clay it was Andy Sarich of Ngāpuhi. He artists, Manos Nathan and Colleen was dedicated to the retention of the Waata Urlich, passed away within a Māori language in Te Taitokerau (the