Dr Satish Chand*
The New Year has already dawned upon us.  For some it brings with it the sign of hope, for others it reminds us that the every-day struggles are only likely to get worse as our economies continue to sink and the international climate begins to turn sour.  Many return visitors from the islands tell me that the Pacific is paradise!  I agree, but only if you have lived within the resorts such as those on Iririki (Port Vila) and Denarau (Nadi).  The ordinary folks are lucky to having been to these places.  Rising levels of violence, sometime even against the State, is a new and emerging threat.

Post-colonial Pacific has mostly been peaceful.  We have had our occasional flare-ups in terms of coups – four in the past 20 years in Fiji, riots, and secessionist struggles in a few of the islands.  These, on the whole, have not been violent.  We are, however, slipping towards greater unrest in several of the islands.  The one issue that strikes me most in terms of a shift for the worse over the recent past has been that of increasing State fragility. 

Tame colonisation and a tranquil transition to independence

Most of the island states of the Pacific were under colonial rule until the early 1960s.  Samoa was the first to having gained independence in 1962, followed closely by Nauru in 1968, Fiji in 1970, PNG in 1975, Solomon Islands in 1978, and Vanuatu in 1980.  A few of our island neighbours – New Caledonia and French Polynesia (French), and American Samoa, Guam and Northern Mariana’s (USA) - remain under colonial rule, a couple (Cook Islands and Niue) are ‘governed in free association’ with New Zealand, while the Northern Pacific States of FSM, RMI, and Palau have ‘Compacts of Free Associations’ with the USA.  Tokelau remains a self-administering territory of New Zealand.  Tonga remained a monarchy all its history, albeit being a British Protectorate from 1900 to 1970.  None of the island states had to put up much of a fight to regain sovereignty – a relatively tame colonisation and a placid transition to independence.

The island-Pacific has every shade of sovereignty: from full independence to ‘being governed’, often arms-length, from an industrialised metropolis.  Being colonised late, if at all, has left many of the traditional institutions intact.  The survival of customary land tenure system, for example, is due principally to its protection by the colonialists – a sharp contrast to what was witnessed in many of the earlier colonies.  Western forms of government were set up in parallel with many of the traditional institutions.  The colonial authorities, while present, ensured that their norms prevailed over the traditional norms whenever these were in conflict.  Leases on customary land, for example, were enforced via the courts as per legislation passed in parliaments.  The departure of the colonisers has seen some of these arrangements unravel.  This unravelling, in a few cases, has eroded the sanctity of the modern state. 

Creating a State that never existed

Many within the islands repeatedly remind me that what we now call countries were never nation states.  They argue that rebuilding something (a state in this case) that never existed is futile.  True, I admit.  But the imperatives of state-building if we are to partake in global exchange remains.  Many states were created simply to defend the communities it housed.  The Pacific was fortunate in not having to defend itself from external aggression, but communities within the now etched out states have had to do this infinitum.  Internal strife in some of our more fragmented nations is already tearing communities apart. 

Things may be changing, however.  I was really struck by the statements made by Honourable Patteson Oti, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Solomon Islands, to the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding the presence of Australian peacekeepers in his country.  He claimed in his speech of 2nd October 2007 in relation to the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) that his Government was: " too nationalistic … to become captive to the fortunes which justify our perpetual retention under siege [and we remain] unmoved by Australian resistance to our attempts to reclaim our sovereignty and independence."

Solomon Islands, as I have argued before, needs RAMSI for a good decade at least if peace is to prevail and the memories of the recent conflict is to fade away into history.  But the call to see off Australian occupation, even if concocted, may be what is required to generate the patriotism amongst its citizenry to birth a new nation – one that did not even exit in the past.  Yes, if prize for expelling RAMSI is the birth of a cohesive and unified nation, then it may be the very medicine the doctor ordered.  But the risk of rollback into another conflict on the dismantling of RAMSI is a real concern.  If Mr Oti and his Government can contain this risk, then I am for their proposal.  Otherwise, lets fix rather than even contemplate dismantling RAMSI.  Australia may want to consider making RAMSI more multilateral, possibly by attracting UN involvement.  The goal of RAMSI, however, should remain in making itself redundant – only then will this mission be considered successful.  Solomon Islanders call for regaining their sovereignty is normal and healthy.

Signs of hope

Fissures are appearing in several of our island nations.  Problems in Fiji, if left to fester, have the potential to exacerbate state fragility.  Tonga sits on an uneasy calm.  Vanuatu, many tell me, is not as peaceful as may appear from the surface.  PNG has always struggled with keeping its disparate parts together.  It is a wonder that this very diverse nation has managed to retain itself as one for the past 32 years.  In many respects, it remains the most robust of the democracies within the island Pacific.

We would need a lot more than a threat of an Australian invasion in the other fracturing states to cement their shattering pieces together.  A colleague of mine has suggested national sporting teams playing Australia and New Zealand to create greater patriotism.  I am as Fijian as any, but only when our Rugby 7s team are on the field in an international competition.  A battle on the sporting field is great fun to watch, but if it helps induce the birth and maturation of a nation then this is a real bonus. 

*The Australian National University 20 December, 2007