Political Reviews
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Political Reviews 0LFURQHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV-XO\ WR-XQH david w kupferman, kelly g marsh, donald r shuster, tyrone j taitano 3RO\QHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV-XO\ WR-XQH lorenz gonschor, hapakuke pierre leleivai, margaret mutu, forrest wade young 7KH&RQWHPSRUDU\3DFL²F9ROXPH1XPEHU¥ E\8QLYHUVLW\RI+DZDL©L3UHVV 127 3RO\QHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV -XO\WR-XQH 5HYLHZVRI$PHULFDQ6ëPRD&RRN controversies over two projects of the Islands, Hawai‘i, Niue, Tokelau, new government: a bill to reform the Tonga, and Tuvalu are not included country’s land legislation and a reso- in this issue. lution to reinscribe the territory on the United Nations List of Non-Self- French Polynesia Governing Territories (nsgts). During the period under review, politi- A bill for a loi de pays (country cal stability slightly improved as, for law, ie, an act of the French Polynesia the first time in many years, no change Assembly with legal standing slightly in government took place and no lower than French national law) to attempt was made to overthrow the regulate the acquisition of landed current one through a no-confidence property by the country government motion. However, the severe eco- in the case of a landowner dying nomic crisis partly caused by years of without heirs met with strong negative instability continued, and no major reactions as soon as it was introduced changes in financial and economic in the assembly in mid-August. The policy to improve the situation appear bill’s opponents—led by heir to the to be in sight. On the other hand, Tahitian royal family Teriihinoiatua there were significant advances in the Joinville Pomare, land rights activist international plea for the country’s Monil Tetuanui, and assembly mem- decolonization by the current govern- bers Sandra Manutahi Lévy-Agami ment under President Oscar Temaru. and Sabrina Birk—accused Temaru’s At the end of the review period, a government of attempting to acquire change of the executive government private lands in order to resell them and legislative majority in France took for profit (tp, 16 Aug, 19 Aug 2011). place, with the prospect of a new deal Despite reassurances by Vice President in relations between Paris and Papeete Antony Geros that the bill would not in the near future. At the same time, be less favorable to landowning fami- a comeback of Gaston Flosse and his lies than the current legal situation party is happening in local politics, (tp, 7 Aug 2011), the protests went as shown in their surprise win of the on and eventually led to an indefinite elections for local representatives in postponement of the bill (TPM, Sept the French National Assembly. 2011), even though the issue later With Temaru’s coalition govern- reemerged, with Pomare accusing the ment of his own Union Pour La upld of “neo-colonialism” (DT, 2 Nov Démocratie (upld) and the outer 2011). islands party Te Mana O Te Mau The main focus of Temaru’s gov- Motu (tmmm) in power since April ernment throughout the review period, 2011, the review period started with however, was to pursue the country’s 151 152 the contemporary pacific 25:1 (2013) reinscription on the UN List of Non- representatives had been elected on Self-Governing Territories. For the pro-French lists and had only recently last six decades, the absence of French crossed the floor and therefore lacked Polynesia from that list, having been the mandate to vote for the country’s unilaterally removed by France in decolonization (tp, 22 Aug 2011). 1947, has represented a great anomaly This line of argument is rather absurd in the Pacific, since virtually all other and hypocritical since, first of all, in dependent territories in the Pacific a representative democracy members have been listed. of Parliament are free to change their On 18 August, after passion- opinions on issues and, second, all ate debates, the assembly adopted a three opposition parties had earlier resolution asking the French president been part of Temaru-led coalition gov- to reverse the removal of the terri- ernments and found nothing wrong tory from the list. The vote for the with working under a pro-indepen- resolution was a historic moment in dence president as long as it gained the country’s history, since French them ministerial portfolios. Poly nesia’s government now for the More reasonable in her approach first time had received an explicit was tmmm representative Eléanor mandate to pursue decolonization on Parker, who in her speech identi- an international level. The decoloniza- fied herself as an opponent of inde- tion issue had always been the fracture pendence but argued that only a point in Temaru’s earlier governing decolonization process under UN coalitions, since they included anti- oversight could guarantee a reasonable independence politicians who accused debate on the topic and a fair vote of Temaru of breaking assurances of self-determination, without fear of neutrality on the independence ques- manipulation by the French govern- tion made in coalition agreements. ment (tp, 18 Aug 2011). In that sense, This time, however, Temaru had made it is indeed difficult to understand support for reinscription an explicit what local pro-French leaders fear precondition for any coalition agree- from the territory’s re-listing as a non- ment, so it passed rather smoothly self-governing territory, since listing with support from all but one (who does not imply independence unless abstained) of the thirty-one member expressly wished for by the popula- upld-tmmm majority (tp, 18 Aug tion. The only rational motivation for 2011). those ferociously opposed to reinscrip- On the other hand, members of the tion might be the fact that almost all three opposition caucuses—Tahoeraa of them were members and associates Huiraatira (leader Gaston Flosse), of the corrupt and authoritarian Flosse To Tatou Aia (Gaston Tong Sang), government before 2004 (see below), and Ia Ora Te Fenua (Jean-Christophe and one could assume they might Bouissou)—reacted with fierce hos- worry about the country being too tility bordering on hysteria. Among thoroughly audited and examined by other issues, opposition leaders argued a neutral outside body such as the UN that the resolution was not legiti- decolonization committee. mate because several of the tmmm The assembly’s resolution had political reviews polynesia 153 broad repercussions across the Pacific. passage referring to French Polynesia The Pacific Conference of Churches, in the 2012 Forum Final Communiqué at its fiftieth annual reunion in Apia, was visibly reduced from what was 6ëPRDLQWKHSUHVHQFHRI3UHVLGHQW originally expected. Instead of sup- Temaru, passed a resolution support- porting reinscription, the communiqué ing French Polynesia’s reinscription merely mentions recalling the Forum’s (tp, 29 Aug 2011). Similarly, Fijian “2004 decision to support the prin- interim Prime Minister Voreqe Baini- ciple of French Polynesia’s right to marama declared himself in favor self-determination” and reiterates an of reinscription during the second “encouragement to French Polynesia “Engaging with the Pacific” meeting and France to seek an agreed approach in Nadi, Fiji, on 1–2 September. With on how to realise French Polynesia’s Senator Richard Ariihau Tuheiava right to self-determination” (Pacific attending as Temaru’s special envoy, Islands Forum 2011, 11). Since, the Final Communiqué of the meet- unlike in New Caledonia, France has ing includes a resolution in favor of refused for decades to such an “agreed reinscription, which besides those approach” for French Polynesia, the of Fiji and French Polynesia, carries passage in the Forum Communiqué signatures representing the govern- sounds rather ironic. ments of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, A crucial factor in the absence of Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, strong pif backing was the lack of Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Nauru, the support from New Zealand and Aus- Marshall Islands, and the Federated tralia, both of which have abandoned States of Micronesia (Government of their once strong espousal of decolo- Fiji 2011). nization of French territories and are The French government, on the now increasingly cooperating with other hand, showed itself to be hostile France in political and military mat- toward reinscription and started a ters. Australian Parliamentary Secre- vigorous campaign before the annual tary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Marles later reiterated that his govern- (pif) on 7–8 September in Auckland, ment only supports a bilateral process Aotearoa/New Zealand, in order to between Paris and Papeete but no rein- lobby Forum member states into drop- scription at the UN level (abc Radio ping or watering down the proposal. Australia, 17 April 2012). Apparently alarmed by Temaru’s Despite the disappointing outcome obtaining increasing support for of the pif meeting, individual Pacific reinscription Pacific-wide, Paris for Island states continued to support the first time sent its foreign minister, French Polynesia more intensively. In Alain Juppé, to attend the Forum as late September, the prime ministers an observer alongside a delegation of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, including Gaston Tong Sang. Meltek Sato Kilman Lituvanu and Despite Temaru’s and Tuheiava’s Danny Philip, demanded the country’s efforts as official representatives of reinscription in their speeches on the their country, French lobbying proved floor of the UN General Assembly at least partially successful, since the (Kilman Lituvanu 2011; Philip 2011), 154 the contemporary pacific 25:1 (2013) DQG6ëPRDªV3ULPH0LQLVWHU7XLODHSD the 239 billion cfp francs spent in Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi allowed 2009. Temaru and Tuheiava to be included In September, the French and in the Samoan UN Delegation. Within territorial governments formally the UN organization, no less than announced the construction of a Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had second prison on the south shore of shown genuine interest in Temaru’s Tahiti, the current one in Nuutania quest for reinscription while attending in Faaa being run down and heav- the Auckland pif meeting (tp, 7 Sept ily overcrowded.