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Education is key: Madam Lu tells islanders
They hardly had anything on. But they were there, curious and watching as a seven-vehicle convoy carrying a total stranger with police siren blaring rolled into the gates of the Sea King Restaurant in Honiara on February 1.
The stranger was none other than Annette Lu, the first female Vice-President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Pre-arrival publicity created a sense of curiosity amongst Honiara’s 50,000 residents, including children, who raced to the roadside just to get a glimpse of what the fuss was all about wherever the convoy went.
That Friday evening she was hosting a banquet to mark her first visit, possibly her last as vice-president, to the Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan’s staunchest supporters in the Pacific.
She was on the final leg of her official visit to three of Taiwan’s six allies in the Pacific: Marshall Islands, Nauru and Solomon Islands.
Inside, the seafront restaurant was packed with government ministers, senior officials and members of the Chinese community in Honiara. There, Madam Lu related how, on the way in, in the fading light of the setting sun over Honiara, her eyes met theirs—kids from the nearby Mamana water settlement.
The encounter which lasted no more than a few seconds had a powerful impact on her.
“It was so powerful she departed from a prepared speech that evening. It reminded her of her own past,” Taiwanese Ambassador to Solomon Islands, George Chan said later.
“The fact that the children, including girls were standing there, naked and in bare feet, reminded her of her own past, how she too had struggled to get back, relying on others to put her through school,” Ambassador Chan said.
Earlier that afternoon, she met with Prime Minister Derek Sikua and his cabinet. They discussed wide ranging issues, including Taiwan’s US$3 million a year offer to pay for piloting free education over two years in Solomon Islands.
To-date, bureaucrats are yet to meet Taiwan’s requirements that the project be costed out with details on the number of schools, students, and so on.
Taiwan’s offer was first mooted in March 2007 when former Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare met Madam Lu in Taipei. When told education was not free, she urged her guest to consider free education as a matter of priority.
“I cannot emphasise enough the importance of education in Taiwan—as a matter of fact, anywhere in the world today. This is a knowledge-based century. Education is the key,” vice-president Lu told her guests.
She told of how Taiwan had achieved its per capita income of US$60,000. “It is a direct result of education,” she said. Half a century earlier, it was a mere US$115.
Before she rose to fame, Lu had a very difficult beginning. Things were so bad in Taiwan that her own family almost gave her up for adoption.
“But my brother and sisters were good to me. They helped look after me and put me in school,” she told guests that evening.
Her message to the Honiara government appeared blunt: Taipei is willing to help those naked, barefooted children she saw on her way to the banquet to have a decent education, but the government must do its part.
Madam Lu is a remarkable, giant of a woman in what she does. In education, she possesses an impressive academic record—results of years of hard work and persistence.
Her rise to prominence in politics was not without severe setbacks. In 1979, she delivered a 20-minute speech criticising the authoritarian government at the International Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung City, a speech she had paid dearly for in the end.
In August 2005, Lu established the Democratic Pacific Union [DPU], an international organisation committed to enhancing greater cooperation among Pacific democracies.
For Pacific women trying to solve the region’s political ills, Madam Lu, I am certain, would have a few tips to share.
—By Alfred Sasako
Guam buildup attracts regional interest
While the expansion of Guam as a United States military base exposes the region to security threats, talks for the time being are concentrated on the good of it—how the region can tap into the multi-billion dollar window of opportunity it opens up.
Negotiations have begun between our two ‘big neighbours” Australia and New Zealand and Guam on ways of assisting Guam through the provision of labour, construction materials and other investment opportunities.
A total of 8000 marines and an estimated 9000 family members are expected to move from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam—an exercise that will cost around US$13 billion (US$6.1 billion to be footed by Japan).
They are expected to boost Guam’s economy and current population of about 173,000.
While the first phase of construction is still two years away, the Guam government is already preparing itself for big changes.
It has received a preliminary report from KPMG assessing the Guam buildup on infrastructure, economy and social issues.
The report outlined the cornerstone challenges as physical infrastructure, health and human services, labour, environment, economic development and master planning. With Guam not being consulted but informed of the bilateral agreement between the United States and Japan on the relocation, Guam’s governor, Felix Camacho, has asked the US to assist them in finding funds for the buildup.
“We are US citizens and our people are very patriotic,” Camacho said in a meeting with the Federal Regional Council (FRC) last December.
“However, this buildup will have far greater impact than just the military’s needs and we now look to the federal government to support Guam’s needs in this.”
Michael Cruz, lieutenant governor of Guam, also echoed the same sentiments.
“We are proud to be the ‘tip of the spear’ but the federal government needs to assist us to make sure the quality of life outside the military fence line is better not worse after the marines come,” Pacific Islands News Association’s news service, PACNEWS, reported.
“Look, no jurisdiction in the States would tolerate such a big buildup in such a short time. This growth has to be balanced inside the fence and outside.”
The expansion will see the US dispatching “major-league” military kits that include Trident submarines, a ballistic missile taskforce, navy special operations forces and air force F-22 fighter jets.
Guam’s population is expected to increase by almost 30 percent but it would also benefit from higher tax revenues estimated to increase by as much as US$200 million.
For the construction of military facilities, housing and barracks, about 12,000 skilled workers will be needed—something Guam cannot provide. Australia has expressed interest in sending a labour force. It invited Camacho on a fully-funded trip last month where the latter was able to visit Cairns, Townsville, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney and also meet with the Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean.
“Australia can play a critical role in the Guam buildup and the development of Micronesia because we can relate to many of the same issues,” a release from Camacho’s office said.
Camacho told the Australians of his country’s labour shortage and how Australia could provide a “regional” solution to many issues such as providing labour.
Australia’s answer was that it could help Guam solve some of its infrastructure problems in ports, roads, wastewater, water and more.
The two countries’ departments of labour are expected to discuss the issue further.
AUSTRADE has also been invited to attend the Guam Industry Forum to be held this month. This is the second time the forum is being held and is an information sharing opportunity for individuals interested in taking advantage of the many opportunities.
New Zealand, which is also interested in Guam, sent a trade delegation to the country last October. About 21 companies were part of the mission, which focussed on exploring new opportunities in the construction, building materials, machinery supplies and consultancy sectors.
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, on the other hand, has been approached by the US Government to provide 3000 workers.
Forum sources have confirmed the approach. But it is expected to be discussed as one of the “side issues” during the Trade Ministers meeting scheduled sometime soon.
However, sources told this magazine the Forum Secretariat would prefer a senior US Government official to brief the trade ministers about the offer.
—By Elenoa Baselala
Cooks tables FOI legislation
The Cook Islands has made history by being the first Pacific islands country to introduce an official information or freedom of information legislation into parliament. Once passed, the act will give the public greater access to government information. The act will be administered by the ombudsman’s office.
Coronation plans firming up
A week of celebrations will mark the coronation of Tonga’s monarch, King George V, at Nuku’alofa on July 30 to August 3. According to Matangi Tonga, the tentative programme will start with a Taumafakava or a Royal Kava Ceremony at Pangai Lahi followed by fireworks. On July 31, a royal luncheon will follow a government reception, and then a dinner hosted by HRH Crown Prince Tupouto’a Lavaka. The coronation will be held on Friday (August 1) at the FWC Centenary Church, Saione. Official invitations have been extended to the Imperial Highnesses of Japan, the English Royal Family, and the royals of Norway, Netherlands, Monaco, Thailand and Bhutan.
Aust to continue aid to Nauru
Nauru will continue to be aided by the Australian government despite the closure of an Australian refugee detention centre, reported Radio Australia. The Australian parliamentary secretary for the South Pacific, Duncan Kerr said aid arrangements may change in the Pacific, but Australia still has interests in a secure and stable Nauru.
Meanwhile, Australian taxpayers spent almost $300 million (US$275 million) to keep asylum seekers detained on remote Pacific islands—a cost Labor has put at $2500 (US$2295) a week per person, according to a report by The Mercury. Immigration official Dermot Casey said 1637 asylum seekers had been held on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island under the Howard Government’s Pacific Solution. Casey said the cost of the programme was $289 million (US$265) between September 2001 and June 30, 2007. But sources have confirmed the overall cost of the Pacific Solution was likely to be far higher, since the figure quoted by Casey only represented the department’s expenses.
Guam real estate prices rising
House prices on Guam are rising as the island prepares for a major US military build-up. By 2012, 8000 US marines would have relocated from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam. As a result, international investors are targeting Guam’s property market. Siska Hutapea, of Captain Realty, one of Guam’s largest real estate firms, says the figures are staggering. She said between 2001 and 2003, real estate sales on Guam totalled about $US130 million annually. However, in 2007, real estate sales totalled $US686 million—nearly five times what it was in the downturn.
Health shakeup
The Papua New Guinea Government has ordered a shake-up of the country’s medical supplies system after ABC exposed incompetence and corruption within the health department. Foreign Correspondent programme revealed about 25% of expensive snake anti-venom brought in from Australia goes missing. PNG health officials admit the problem goes much deeper. The government’s medical supply branch cannot account for a quarter of its entire pharmaceutical budget. Four consultants have been called in and it was likely the future procurement and distribution of medical supplies would be outsourced.
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