NOVEMBER 2009

Bumpy ride for PM Sevele

The past few months have proved to be a bumpy ride for Tongan Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele.
The unfortunate Ashika ferry disaster, one of the worst in the country’s recent maritime history that took over 70 lives in early August and the late September tsunami that struck its northernmost islands—the Niuas—causing widespread damage to property and nine deaths has given grist to his detractors’ mills.
To top this, the cash economy has been hit by reduced remittances following the global economic downturn, estimated to be down by about 15 percent.
But the latest controversy that has sought to challenge the Prime Minister is the ire he has drawn from some women’s groups for his stand on CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women). He has argued against Tonga signing the convention both within Tonga and at international forums such as the United Nations.
The leader of one of the groups, former parliamentarian and union activist Mele ‘Amanaki, had undertaken an indefinite hunger strike at her home and petitioned King George Tupou V to relieve Sevele of his prime ministerial duties because of “poor governance and refusal to give equal status to women,” as ‘Amanaki told ISLANDS BUSINESS at her home in Nuku’alofa on the 14th day of her fast.
Sevele has argued both at home and at the UN that Tongan women have traditionally and culturally a pride of place in the Tongan family structure. “We Tongans place our women on a pedestal,” he told ISLANDS BUSINESS in an interview. “The difficulty with CEDAW is that its ratification goes against several matters that relate to traditional Tongan customs, many of which have been enshrined in our constitution, which happens to be the third oldest written constitution in the world,” he said.
Several people ISLANDS BUSINESS spoke with agreed that clauses in the CEDAW document contradict clauses in the Tongan constitution especially to those relating to succession laws and land ownership.
“It could open a can of worms,” said one academic who did not wish to be named. “So far, it has worked well for Tonga all these centuries and the general view is that there is no need to change it. But there are always people with views that we ought to be more aligned with the Western societies and go by their ideals of egalitarianism.”
‘Amanaki says the system is loaded against women and supports her argument with the fact that there have been no more than half a dozen women elected to Parliament. She   wants an assured number of seats for women in the interests of gender balance. 
Tonga is in the process of reforming its political system and its Constitutional and Electoral Commission will present its latest report to the Tongan Parliament this month. The kingdom goes to the polls next year and it remains to be seen if the House would take on board the commission’s suggested reforms in time for implementation before the elections.
“We are in the process of reform with a view to moving towards greater democracy,” said Sevele. “In view of that, a demand to reserve seats for women actually contradicts democratic principles of equal opportunity for all. Under the new constituency system, which is one of the scenarios being suggested, it makes it possible for women to contest elections like everyone else who is eligible.”
Sevele said his government favoured the proposed number of 26 to 30 members of parliament, comprising nine Noble Representatives and 17 People’s Representatives. If necessary, the Prime Minister could appoint four to fulfill the entire complement.
These elected members, in the constituency system, will in turn elect the Prime Minister to be then officially appointed by the King. Once appointed, the Prime Minister would then choose his cabinet.
Opinion among Tongan politicians, however, is divided on the proposal of carving up the country’s electorate into constituencies. At present, the country does not have geographic constituencies.
“Having constituencies takes democracy to the grassroots,” said Sevele. “I cannot understand the rationale for opposing that if democracy is what you are after.”
The country’s Boundaries Commission will be tasked with carving up the constituencies once the House accepts the recommendations.
While aiming to bring a greater measure of say for the common people, the institution of the Tongan monarchy will remain intact. In a speech to Parliament in early October, Dr Sevele quoting a clause of the constitution said, “King George, his heirs and successors should reign as sovereign of a Constitutional Monarchy forever, as Head of State, Tu’i Kanokupolu and traditional leader.”
The reduced remittances because of the economic downturn hadn’t severely affected the economy, Sevele said. This was thanks to the prevalence of the subsistence economy, which was a “big natural cushion against external financial pressures”.
Despite the great tourism potential, Tonga has always had a lukewarm response to tourism development when compared to the great strides in the sector that comparable economies like neighbouring Samoa, the Cook Islands and even Vanuatu have made.
Sevele puts it down to a number of socio-cultural factors but said the government was now seriously looking at developing some sites and locales that had unique attributes in the South Pacific, particularly centered around the Vava’u group of islands.
Meanwhile, Tonga continues its impressive performance on the latest United Nations’ Human Development Report and is on track to achieving most its Millennium Development Goals. It continues with its top position among the Pacific Islands countries both in ranking and per capita expenditure on such indices as health care, early education, access to drinking water and sanitation.
Pointing out to this repeated success on the development index, Sevele said, “It looks like the Tongan political system has after all got it right, despite all the criticisms it gets. The well-being of the people is at the very centre of our idea of a constitutional monarchy. That is probably the reason why Tonga is so far ahead of the rest of the Pacific Islands in living standards as published by the UN reports.” — By Dev Nadkani

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Sikua’s TRC prepares for January kickoff

When its elected government was toppled in a civilian coup almost a decade ago, Solomon Islands was dubbed a failed state.
Many rejected the description. However, what followed the historical event on June 5, 2000 had all the hallmarks of a failed state…a shattered economy, thousands of lost jobs and a nation that appeared to have lost its way.
In those dark days, Honiara, its capital, was ruled by the barrel of the gun. Its government, installed after the coup, was all but dysfunctional.
Nine years and two months on and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by a regional force to restore law and order, Solomon Islands appears to have come full cycle.
Today, this island nation of 558,000 people is at a crossroad. It is an economy in transition. It’s feeling its way around. As part of the efforts to rebuild itself, it appears the nation has reverted to its most recent past to find its future.
Prime Minister Derek Sikua, has appointed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC], the first of its kind in this part of the world, to help dig into the past in order to find the future.
The TRC was set up following a visit to Honiara by South Africa’s clergyman, Bishop Desmond Tutu, last April. His visit coincided with moves by the country’s 50-member Parliament to approve the necessary framework for the five-member commission.
If anything, Bishop Tutu’s visit has bolstered the need for such a commission. Shortly after the South African clergyman’s whirlwind visit, Parliament unanimously passed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2008.
Today, the TRC is up and running. It’s a body being seen through different lenses. While some see it as the nation’s roadmap to the future, if not the oracle for changes, others see it as the only way to rid the nation of its past and start all over again.
The five members of the commission appointed and sworn in last April, comprises three men and two women, including two international commissioners. Anglican Priest, the Reverend Father Samuel Ata is Chairman with Sofia Matcher of Peru his deputy. Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi of Fiji is the other overseas commissioner.
George Kejoa of Guadalcanal, a former finance minister, and Caroline Laore of Western Province, a one-time permanent secretary, are the local commissioners.
The United Nations Development Program [UNDP] is paying the cost of engaging the two international members from its US$500,000 contribution to the TRC.
Australia and the European Union have also contributed, with Canberra providing AU$500,000 and Brussels committing 1.5 Euros.
With hearings set to begin in January, there’s a flurry of activities as the commission sorts out its administration, including arrangements for the year-long hearings. Funding or lack of it continues to stand in the way, with members of the commission making a direct appeal to Sikua to “use your good office to contact former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clarke, about the UNDP funding” for the commission.
 The delay in funding has not deterred staff as they set about their work. One of the first issues it dealt with was deciding what form the hearings would take. That, according to the staff, is now out of the way. Most will be public hearings, others would be held in camera.
According to the Truth and Reconciliation Act 2008, the “objectives and functions [of the commission] are to promote national unity and reconciliation. To get there, the TRC is empowered by the Act to examine:
• The nature, antecedents, root causes, accountability or responsibility for and the extent of the impact on human rights violations or abuses which occurred between January 1, 1998 and July 23, 2003, including the destruction of property, deprivation of rights to own property and the right to settle and make a living.
As well, the commission is empowered to:
• investigate and report on the causes, nature and extent of the violations and abuses…to the fullest degree possible, including their antecedents, context in which the violations and abuses occurred, the question of whether those violations and abuses were the result of deliberate planning, policy or authorisation by any government, group or individual, and the role of both internal and external factors in the conflict.
The Act defines human rights violations as killings, abduction, enforced disappearance, torture, rape, sexual abuse, persecution of any identifiable group, forced displacements, deprivation of liberty and serious ill-treatment of any person.
The impact the social unrest has had on health, education, courts and other sectors will also come under scrutiny. Emphasis however will be on traumatised individual victims.
One of the challenges for the TRC is getting traumatised victims to appear before it. Members are banking on the adage: time heals.
Also up their sleeves is the fact that the  commission will provide an opportunity for victims in particular to speak openly and freely without intimidation about what they went through.
Support by victims, backed by churches, is strong and growing, former soccer international turned Anglican priest and now TRC chairman, Rev Fr Ata told ISLANDS BUSINESS in an exclusive interview in Honiara recently.
Given the wide ranging powers to investigate their past, many fear being charged and prosecuted with the possibility of going back to jail. Their fear is understandable, given that they have already done time behind bars.
“We’ve told them no, you will not because our report will not even be given to police,” Ata said.
Not only that, the Act states in section 7[1]: “No statement written or oral made by any person before the commission shall be admissible against the person in any action, suit or proceeding”.
Chairman Ata expects nationwide support to be even stronger even from provinces that had little to do with the civil uprisings in the late 90s.
The commission will be mounting an awareness programme using radio, television and the print media – an area David Tuhanuku, former head of the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers [SINUW] will be responsible for.
As executive officer, Tuhanuku is in charge of the commission’s overall administration.
“This is the first of its kind in the region. There’s no model here to follow so it is going to be a very interesting time ahead,” he said.
One of the sticky issue the commission will tackle is investigating the faces—behind the break-in at the nation’s armory at Rove on 5 June 2000—the day the elected government led by the late Bartholomew Ulufa’alu was forced out of office by armed militants.
Ulufa’alu died in office as a Member of Parliament two years ago.
Just as sticky is its mandate to examine the root causes of the social unrest, dubbed “Ethnic Tension” which resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and forced closures of many companies, including Gold Ridge, the country’s first gold mine on Guadalcanal.
The commission’s work will be restricted to activities which occurred between 1998 and July 2003—the year the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands [RAMSI], a combined team of military and police personnel, set foot on Guadalcanal.
Perhaps, one other difficult questions the commission will deal with between now and when the public hearings begin is the thin line between the commission and the court.
On one hand the commission is not a court. For example, witnesses will not be forced to give incriminating evidence against themselves or their blood relatives if they’re not willing to do so. Nor will the commission provide its final report to police for further investigation and prosecutorial purposes.
But that’s probably where the dissimilarity ends. In terms of enforcing its mandate, the commission is a court.
Its powers are wide ranging and equivalent to those of the High Court. It has, for example, the powers to issue summons and subpoenas. — By Alfred Sasako

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Hawaii, Guam’s Compact funding

Hawaii and Guam are to receive $US30 million in Compact Impact funding.
US Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Anthony M. Babauta has sent a letter to Governors Linda Lingle and Felix Camacho to notify them that they will be receiving US$11,228,742 and US$16,827,026.
Section 104 (e) of Title One of the amended Compacts of Free Association describes financial assistance, otherwise known as the Compact Impact grant, as committed by the United States Federal Government to the State of Hawaii, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.
The goal of the grant is to provide through 2023, $30 million in grants to affected jurisdictions to aid in defraying costs incurred as a result of increased demands placed on health, educational, social, or public sector services, or infrastructure related to such services, due to the residence of qualified non-immigrants from the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or Palau.
Distribution of the $30 million is based on a ratio allocation to the government of each affected jurisdiction on the basis of the results of the most recent enumeration. At a minimum, enumerations must be conducted every five years. The most recent enumeration was completed in 2009 and the results were used to determine the distribution of the $30 million.
The Compact Impact grant payments for the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa are still pending