I never had the pleasure of getting to know you when I was director of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (1995-‘00). But I did know the late Robert-Reid and enjoyed his provocative writings in ISLANDS BUSINESS.
  It is reassuring to know that as the magazine’s editor-in-chief, you have not only carried on the legacy he left behind but have also shown that as Pacific Islanders, we too can do as well. We also can and do speak for ourselves and our minds! 
  Your January 2010 issue carries number of insightful stories authored by Pacific islanders, i.e. Dr. Aqorau’s “(PNA) Asserting control and securing greater rights”; former Forum Secretariat’s media adviser, Alfred Sasako’s “But would other islands follow Nauru’s way?”, and, of course, your “Controversial Funding Bid Turned Down”, etc.
  However, what’s annoying though is the piece in Viewpoint by Dr Roman Grynberg, a former Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Director of Economic Governance, Trade and Economic Policy. He laments the refusal by Fiji of Chakriya Bowman’s entry to assume her post not only as damaging to the Fiji Islands but also to the entire Pacific Islands Forum membership.  He even surmises that Samoa might be the next host of the Forum Secretariat as a consequence.
  Dr Grynberg writes: “Bowman is part of the new Australia management team that is pointing the Forum in the direction that will make sure that Australia and New Zealand’s interests as key members and financiers of the Forum are front and center of its concerns and actions”.
  If Dr Bowman is in fact part of “the new Australian management team”, then that in itself is reason enough to not only bar her from entering Fiji, but also to disqualify her from assuming the Forum Secretariat post. 
  Many Fijians, for no valid reason at all, were denied transit through Australia or New Zealand to elsewhere in the Pacific. Admittedly, Australia and New Zealand are major funders of the Forum’s budget. But being the major financier does not give these two metropolitan countries in our midst the right to ram their agenda down Pacific Islands’ throats. (This did not happened during my watch at FFA!)
  As if that was not enough, Dr Grynberg further observes: “While many in the region may be uncomfortable with the direction the Forum’s executives may be taking the Forum Secretariat as an unashamed instrument of Australia and New Zealand policy in the islands, the decision by Fiji to block its work simply adds fuel to those who want to remove the Forum Secretariat from Fiji”. 
  The foregoing revelations raise some eyebrows. Is the incumbent Forum management executive going to allow their characterisation stand without demanding a retraction or at least some explanation? And if he harboured such an attitude and inclination towards his job, why was Dr Grynberg hired in the first place? Would the appointing authority of a successor ensure the next official does not toe the Australia/New Zealand line to the exclusion of the other 14 Forum members?
 
....Victorio Uherbelau
    Former FFA Director
    PALAU