Islands Business - China in the Pacific: CHINESE COURT BANABA DESCENDANTS

Kiribati motion triggers secessionist fears.

Samisoni Pareti
In rejecting a motion concerning payment of pension to elderly Banaba islanders now living overseas, has the Kiribati Government re-opened old wounds of secession?

Teitirake Corrie... pension issue reopens secession wounds.

Many people like former president Teburoro Tito certainly think so. In fact just days after the defeat of the motion, one of Banaba's two representatives in the Maneaba ni Maungatabu (parliament) uttered what many people were fearing; that Banaba or Ocean Island will split from Kiribati and attempt to cede itself to Fiji.

This representative, Teitirake Corrie, is himself one of the 5000 Banaba descendants now living at the Fijian island of Rabi, the then British colonial government bought for them using Banaba phosphate money.

Worried about the serious ramifications of that statement, Corrie's appointing college, the Rabi Council of Leaders quickly distanced itself, pointing out that its representative was voicing his own opinion.

Contacted by ISLANDS BUSINESS, Corrie confirmed that his separatist comment was his own. But he insisted he was reflecting the wishes of many on Rabi Island. This desire was again expressed by island leaders during celebrations last December to mark their 60th year of arrival in Fiji.

Corrie said people were quickly forgetting that Banaba used to be an autonomous island and it was not until 1916 that it became annexed by Kiribati.

Tito, on the other hand, believed the secession remark was uttered in frustrations over the defeat of the pension motion. He told ISLANDS BUSINESS he could understand Corrie's feelings given the tenor of the debate on the motion in the maneaba last December.

“They only served to re-open old wounds,” Tito said by telephone from his Tarawa home.To say that Banabans living on Rabi do not belong to Kiribati is not right.”

Tito was one of the few who spoke in favour of the motion. He said although they're living outside of Kiribati, Banabans on Rabi are recognised in the Kiribati constitution as being part of the republic. “We also felt that the Banabans on Rabi were entitled to the pension because the pension fund itself was partly financed from our reserve fund built from phosphate funds mined from Banaba Island.

“And since the Kiribati government was saying it wanted all the people of Kiribati to enjoy the benefits of its rule, we thought these should also include the Banaban community in Fiji.”

Tito, who lost power to President Anote Tong in July 2004, said he and the opposition party would not support any move that would see Banaba or any other island of Kiribati seek secession.

It was Corrie who moved the motion that the less than 100 Banaban settlers now living on Rabi be included in the monthly pension of US$23 that the Kiribati Government pays to those 70 years and over. Corrie had argued that the pension is sourced from Kiribati's Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund, which started in 1956 with phosphate royalties from their original home island of Banaba.

President Tong agreed that phosphate money was the base of the reserve fund when he spoke in parliament. However, he not only spoke against the motion, he also used his numbers in the maneaba to defeat it.

His envoy in Fiji, Reteta Rimon later told a Fiji newspaper that Banabans living on Rabi would receive the pension if they returned to their original island, a suggestion Corrie rejected as preposterous. ]The airfares alone from Fiji to Kiribati cost A$2000, he pointed out.

“It would be reasonable and humane for the Kiribati Government to grant that small pension to Banaban elders, many of whom are living in very poor conditions and with only minimal support for their welfare,” argued Corrie, in the Fiji Times newspaper. It is preposterous to suggest that they must once again leave their homeland and relocate to Kiribati simply to claim that pension.

“Who will look after our elders there when their families are all in Fiji?”

In the midst of all these claims and counterclaims came reports that the Rabi Council of Leaders is courting officials of the Chinese Government. This magazine has confirmed that Rabi council chairman Teatu Rewi had met officials of the Chinese embassy in Fiji.

Corrie said he was aware of the meeting but directed all questions to Rewi who was back at Rabi and could not be raised on the telephone.

Kiribati's High Commissioner Rimon said they had heard of the meeting but “lacked proof” on whether it took place.

This magazine sent two sets of queries to the Chinese ambassador in Fiji, Cai Jinbiao, on the purpose of the meeting, but no questions were answered by press time.

Specifically, Ambassador Cai was asked to confirm the meeting with the Rabi chairman and what was on the agenda of the discussions. He was also asked to confirm or deny whether the issue of the Banaban Island was raised and whether Beijing was interested in relocating its satellite tracking station to the island.

While Banabans may argue that the Kiribati constitution gives them “full rights and control” of Banaba, many believe this does not mean running their own foreign affairs policies.

Kiribati is one of six Pacific countries that enjoy full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, not China, and it was this decision by President Tong in 2004 that prompted Beijing to withdraw its ambassador in Tarawa and dismantle its satellite tracking station on central Tarawa.

“Banaba is listed in schedule 2 of the constitution as one of the 33 islands that comprise the territory of the Republic of Kiribati,” explains Teweiariki Teaero, a i-Kiribati national teaching at the University of the South Pacific.

“While giving the Banabans on Banaba and Rabi special treatment, chapter 9 clearly does not provide Banabans with the power to determine their external affairs.

“The legal implication here is that it clearly makes it improper, illegal and unconstitutional for the Banaba Island Council and the Banabans, resident on either Banaba or Rabi, to entertain intrusions from alien powers on the island. That prerogative is legally in the ambit of the Kiribati Government through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not with the Banabans on Banaba or Rabi.”

Tito who is now an opposition MP believes Banabans on Rabi are lashing out in anger at the Tong government's refusal to support their motion. “I will urge the present government to play a fatherly role in all of this,” said Tito.

“In rejecting the motion, it has been very careless, very un-fatherly. I think the Kiribati Government should say sorry and humble itself.”