'Custom'

I often find myself returning to this poem. It's by Grace Mera Molisa (Black Stone, 1991). It's probably controversial, and it obviously doesn't present the complexity of custom, and it's somewhat negative...but I still like it...I like it aesthetically and it's a bit of a touch-stone for me to come back to when people are challenging me about my "right" to be writing on the issues faced by Melanesian women when I'm a white woman.

If it were about my own experiences, I'd change "Custom" to "religion".

'Custom'

misapplied

bastardised

murdered

a Frankenstein

corpse

conveniently

recalled

to intimidate

women.

Blogging on 'trouble in paradise' and 'the arc of instability'

The Coming Anarchy has been hosting a series on security issues in Oceania. Bloggers include Opinio Juris, The Strategist (focusing on Melanesia) and Phil at Pacific Empire. It's good to see some more coverage of issues in the South Pacific (albeit negative ones) in cyberspace.

Opinion piece: Tim Costello on doing right by our region

Hmmmm...generally a good piece, but I'd query some of the assertions..."improve agricultural techniques?" Maybe "improved logging practices" is more to the point! I'm also far from convinced that concert attendances and the wearing of fashion accessories is indicative of an interest in structural change! Finally...while I agree that aid and development assistance can reduce migration, I'm wary of linking aid and development, security, and migration too closely...it entrenches notions of "us vs them", and the idea that refugees are bad and a security threat...

Finally, I realise that there is a place for pragmatism, but I believe that there is also a place for compassion, a place for moral imperatives. While I think this is generally a great piece, and I generally argue in these terms myself, there is also another part of me that is disappointed that Tim - one of the few highly popular religious leaders this country has - would opt for arguments based on pragmatism, arguments based on "our" economic and physical security, over those based on compassion and moral imperatives. In Christian terms, part of me wishes he had be prophetic.

IT IS indisputable that many of the nations of the Pacific confront enormous challenges to overcome poverty, unrest and violence. The magnitude of
these challenges is underscored by World Vision research that shows 22 developing nations in the Pacific and South-East Asia are failing to meet one or many of the global goals set out to combat poverty through the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

One critical element in this failure has been the lack of properly targeted aid funding by rich nations, and a lack of predictability in the aid that has been given.

There is a global shortfall in overseas aid, causing United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to this week warn that the broken promises of developed nations were strangling efforts to eradicate poverty. And nowhere is this failure more critical for Australia than in its own neighbourhood, the Pacific and South-East Asia. In many ways Australia has dropped the ball in its handling of the challenges facing the Pacific region.

While we have helped to re-establish law and order in some of our nearest neighbours, like East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, if such interventions are to be successful in the long term, this must be the start of our help, not the end.

The next step is to tackle the underlying causes of the unrest — issues such as the lack of economic opportunities, the breakdown in local governance and the increasingly degraded environment. And while it is the right thing for Australia to do, it is also in our own interest. If we fail to assist in resolving these underlying issues, our troops will be back in very quick time.

This is why Australia's overseas aid is an investment in our future, not simply charity.

Well-targeted overseas aid increases people's access to basic health and education, it builds basic infrastructure that increases economic growth and creates jobs. It also builds demand in our nearest neighbours for good governance.

Therefore I welcome Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd's call for a rethink on
Australia's response to the economic and social problems of the Pacific. His commitment to boost overseas aid funding to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2015 will double the amount of aid we give. While not the 0.7 per cent of GDP that our Government promised to the world's poor in 2000, it is the minimum amount required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

In the Pacific and in South-East Asia it has the potential to make a profound impact. If delivered, the extra aid could allow Australia to do all of the following: reduce child deaths by 140,000 each year, cut maternal deaths by 4200, reduce by at least 29,000 deaths from AIDS and by 31,000 deaths from tuberculosis each year. It could also provide access to safe drinking water to almost 37 million people.

Creating jobs for people in their own countries will reduce refugees. Promoting improved agricultural techniques and alternative fuel sources will reduce environmental degradation and climate change. Increasing the incomes of people in our region will create new markets for Australian businesses.

This is one of the reasons that some of Australia's largest corporations are becoming much more interested in reducing poverty in our region. A recent report by Allen Consulting warned that poverty in the Asia Pacific region would directly threaten the prosperity of corporate Australia.

The report prompted business leaders to urge the Federal Government to partner with corporate Australia in fostering more effective investment in emerging Asia Pacific markets.

In Canberra last month the Business for Poverty Relief Alliance — which includes leading companies such as the ANZ Bank, Grey Global Group, IAG and Visy Industries — said the Government had a key role to play through our overseas aid program, which could be better targeted to create an environment that allows successful and socially sustainable investment.

Globally, the importance of foreign aid has not been lost on other world leaders. The new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has made the fight against global poverty a key plank of his premiership.

Historically, Australia has traditionally punched above its weight in international affairs. Both sides of the political divide have contributed greatly to international action: to end apartheid in South Africa, to create the International Criminal Court, to aid successful elections in Cambodia and to press for change in Zimbabwe, as well as the critical interventions in East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

Australia's leading role in the Cairns Group, which has pressed for free trade to help poorer nations, is also laudable. Unfortunately, over the past decade we have failed to show international leadership on the critical issue of levels of overseas aid.

Australia is badly lagging other developed nations on the level of overseas aid it gives, ranking equal 15th out of 22 of the world's richest countries. And while there were some welcome initiatives in the latest federal budget, there is a greater capacity to help — at relatively little cost and with the potential to reap benefits of our own.

It is in our own interests to ensure stability and growth in the countries that surround us. It is also in our interests to do what we can to foster environmental sustainabilty and an adherence to human rights in the emerging superpowers of Asia.

No doubt Kevin Rudd's call for a rethink on the Pacific and a pledge to boost aid has been partly inspired by the massive support in Australia for the Make Poverty History campaign.

Last year, 15,000 people attended the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne, while almost 100,000 Australians joined more than 23 million people worldwide to stand up for poverty, and more than 800,000 Australians bought white wristbands to show their support for the cause.

This is an issue Australians understand, an issue people care about. It is my hope that it will now be an issue that increasingly captures the attention of our political leaders.

Tim Costello is chief executive of World Vision Australia.

Praise the Lord, and DON'T pass the ammunition

Rudd vows lift in Pacific island aid
July 05, 2007

FEDERAL Labor leader Kevin Rudd has promised a big increase in Australian aid to Pacific island nations to end instability in the region.

Mr Rudd last onight said a “radical rethink” of the nation's role in the Pacific would focus on economic improvement to avoid costly military interventions and a flow of refugees to Australia.

He said a Labor government in its first term would undertake auditing and planning with each Pacific neighbour and, if re-elected, it would commit to a “significant” investment program over time.

Labor would seek to reach an overall overseas aid target of 0.5 per cent of GDP by 2015-16 - about twice current levels.

The Opposition Leader will detail what he's calling a Pacific partnership for development and security in a speech to the Lowy Institute in Sydney this morning.

“What I'm proposing is a radical rethink about Australia's engagement with the states which form part of our arc of instability,” Mr Rudd told ABC TV.

“If we don't act to change now, what I fear most is in the future we're going to have more costly military interventions.

“What we'll have is states fail in the region, or more of them fail ... you'll then have the risk of significant refugee outflow from the island states of the region into Australia.”

In the past decade Australia has twice sent troops to East Timor and continues to lead a Solomon Islands peacekeeping mission.

Mr Rudd said the change in policy would prioritise economic development so security problems would be come more manageable.

“Right now we're simply dealing with the military or security symptom of an underlying economic development challenge.”

In addition to one-off military interventions and refugees, Mr Rudd said he was concerned about the threat to public health in Australia.

“When you talk about the collapse of public health in Papua New Guinea, you're looking at HIV-AIDS infection rates of something about two per cent of the population and the exposure of our communities in the Torres Strait and in north Queensland.”

Mr Rudd agreed he was also concerned about other nations supplanting Australia as the principal power in the region.

“If we fail to act effectively then I think we're going to see a long-term drift in Australia's strategic standing right across this region as well.”

Tired...and watching events in the Pacific

For the last two days I've been doing the IDSS course in PPA in a Disaster Context...'twas fantastic, and now I'm exhausted. Tomorrow it's back to work, and then visiting Suva, Nadi, Vila, Honiara, POM, Lae and Madang all before Christmas...eek!!!!

Let's hope I don't find myself in the midst of a crisis while travelling.

There's presently fears of a coup in Fiji, and the PM's saying he won't resign.

Vanuatu's certainly not hitting the headlines in Australia at the moment, but there is the ongoing saga involving Moti, which is 'interesting' to say the least. PM Sogavare continues to threaten to order Australian troops to leave the Solomons. PNG hasn't really been in the news recently, but there was a volcanic eruption which disappeared from the media as quickly as it erupted, and via various email groups I'm on, Bougainville might not be hitting the headlines in Australia, but that doesn't mean everything's fine.

Here's a gratuitous shot of the volcanic eruption...I need more pictures on this blog, and it's better than the shots of dead people that arrived in my inbox courtesy of some friends overseas (thanks guys, I know you wanted to remind me what a bleak place the world can be, but I much prefer the cheesy "Why God Loves Women" emails!)

Huge clouds of ash billow from Mt Tavurvur after it erupted.
Photo: AAP

Edit 23/11/06: a new piece up on Radix, "VOLCANIC AND OTHER VICISSITUDES: THE DEEP-SEA PORT OF RABAUL" by James Lewis, October 2006. See here.

Pacific Islands Forum meeting: day 2

More Pacific news as the Pacific Islands Forum meets this week:

PNG leader unleashes outburst at Australia

The Age
Brendan Nicholson, Nadi, Fiji
October 24, 2006

AUSTRALIA'S relations with South Pacific nations have reached a new low after Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare accused the Federal Government of treating neighbouring countries with arrogance and contempt.

Sir Michael's anger boiled over at a regional leaders summit in Fiji, being attended by Prime Minister John Howard, as three other Melanesian nations also joined PNG in lashing out at Australia. The anger centred on last week's raid on the office of the Solomon Islands Prime Minister by local police and Australian officers, a raid the PNG leader suggested had been ordered by Canberra. More...

Howard to stare down Pacific critics

The Australian
Steve Lewis, Nadi, Fiji

October 24, 2006

JOHN Howard will today stare down efforts to scale back theAustralian-led mission to maintain law and order in Solomon Islands, despite being accused of being arrogant and treating Pacific leaders with contempt.

On the eve of what promises to be a stormy Pacific Island Forum, Australia was yesterday accused of undermining Solomon Islands' sovereignty.

Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu signed a tough communique condemning last Friday's raid on the office of Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. More...

PNG, so near yet so far from friendly

The Australian
Charlie Lynn
October 24, 2006

What we need is a minister for Melanesia to deal with the arc of instability to our north.

"YOU can't let them kill my guide just because they think he's a sorcerer!" I bellowed to the police at the end of my 37th expedition across the Kokoda Track last year.

A couple of recruits I had engaged had decided that one of my older guides, from a neighbouring village, was a sorcerer. So they felt obligated to kill him. The impending execution was not apparent to my Western mind. We had trekked together, sung traditional songs of an evening together, and they had worked assiduously to ensure every one of my band of trekkers completed their journey safely.

As we sat down to dinner in Port Moresby, we reflected on their selfless devotion to us and agreed they were proud sons of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. But they had unfinished business in their own tribe, and by the time we finished our meal the alleged sorcerer was dead.

After 15 years of roaming Papua New Guinea - climbing mountains, exploring burial caves, attending Highland "sing-sings", leading numerous expeditions across Kokoda and meeting politicians at the national, provincial and local government levels - I thought I was beginning to understand this land of 1000 cultures. But PNG is the land of the unexpected: as soon as you think you are beginning to understand it, something or other takes you completely by surprise. More...

Climate refugees here by 2016

The Australian
Steve Lewis, Nadi
October 24, 2006

AUSTRALIA has been warned it may face a flood of environmental refugees within a decade as the Pacific's smallest island states face submersion under rising seas.

The alarmist message was issued by Kiribati's leader, Anote Tong, as fellow leaders of endangered nations gathered in Fiji to discuss their worsening plight. More...

Pacific Plan gains welcome

Postcourier
24 October 2006

Leaders of the Pacific Islands Smaller Island States yesterday welcomed the considerable progress made in implementing the Pacific Plan. SIS leaders said there were many significant initiatives gaining momentum under the Plan and support from regional organisations and development partners had been a strong and positive feature to date. The SIS leaders held their 15th summit yesterday at the Westin Hotel, Danaurau, Fiji, and was attended by leaders from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and the Republic of Palau. More...

Pacific Islands Forum meeting: day 1

The Pacific Islands Forum meets in Fiji this week. Some hits below...

Solomons anger erupts on peace force

The Age

Brendan Nicholson, Nadi
October 23, 2006

TENSIONS over the Australian-led peacekeeping operation in the Solomon Islands have erupted before today's meeting of Pacific leaders, with claims by a senior Solomons minister that local public opinion is turning against the operation. More...

Pacific split over Canberra campaign

The Australian
Steve Lewis
Chief political correspondent
In Nadi, Fiji

October 23, 2006

DIVISIONS have emerged among Pacific nations over how to deal with Australia's hardline push to stamp out corruption in island states.

Fiji and the grouping of small island states attending this year’s Pacific Island Forum have declined to join in condemnation of Australia’s involvement in last Friday’s raid of the office of Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare over the Julian Moti affair. More...

Prime Minister to press Pacific islands for improvement

The Australian
October 23, 2006

PRIME Minister John Howard says he will press Pacific island countries to improve standards of governance and economic management in return for continued Australian aid. More...

Howard, Clark united on Pacific

The Australian
Steve Lewis and Patricia Karvelas
October 23, 2006

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand will forge a united front in telling Pacific leaders they must be prepared to stamp out corrupt practices if they want to continue receiving generous aid funding. More...

Commonwealth chief to visit SI

Solomon Star News
23 October 2006

COMMONWEALTH Secretary-General Don McKinnon will travel to Fiji Islands to attend the 37th Pacific Islands Forum Summit which starts today.

He will later travel to Solomon Islands to meet with the government and civil society groups.

“Good governance and a healthy democratic culture, as recognised in the Pacific Plan, have become crucial issues and prerequisites for stability and sustainable economic growth in the region,” Mr McKinnon said on the eve of his departure. More...

Raid inflame SI-Aust row

Solomon Star News
23 October 2006

A POLICE raid on the Office of the Prime Minister last Friday has further inflamed the ongoing diplomatic row between Honiara and Canberra.
Six officers – three locals and three Australians serving with RAMSI – reportedly stormed the office and removed a fax machine, in the absence of Mr Sogavare who is currently in Fiji for the Forum meeting. More...

Diplomatic row impacts on national economy - Huniehu

People First
23 October 2006

The Opposition spokesman for Finance and Treasury and MPR for East Are'are, Edward Huniehu says the continued diplomatic row and standoff between Australia and Solomon Islands will have wider financial implications for the national economy if they are not resolved quickly. More...

Fiji to benefit from meet, says Tavola

Fiji Times
Timothy Naivaluwaqa
23 October 2006

Fiji stands to benefit immensely from the Pacific Leaders Forum which starts in Nadi today, says Foreign Affairs Minister, Kaliopate Tavola.

Mr Tavola said the people of Fiji would benefit from all issues discussed by the 16 heads of government attending the week-long meeting. More...

300 officers for forum talks

Fiji Sun

Police will be deploying more than 300 officers to Denarau, the host hotel for the 37th Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting that starts today. Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations Samuela Matakibau said police had deployed more than 300 officers to provide security. "Police presence in Denarau will be spearheaded by the elite Police Tactical Response Unit and officers from the Special Operations Unit. The exercise has been dubbed Operation Bose Ni Pacifika," he said. More...

Pacific leaders converge

Fiji Sun
By CHRISTOPHER HILL
Assistant Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington

I'm very pleased to arrive this week in Fiji, which is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum and Post Forum Dialogue meetings that bring together the heads of government of the wider Pacific Islands region.

The United States, though not a member of the Forum, is honoured to have been invited to a special session with PIF leaders on October 25. When I attended the Forum last year in Papua New Guinea, the clear message I received is that our partners in the region are looking for more active involvement from the United States. More...

Urwin says RAMSI must continue

Pacific Magazine, 23 October 2006
Samantha Magick

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Greg Urwin says it is essential the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) continues, as controversy continues over the future of the regional initiative. More...

Guns in the South Pacific

More on the links between youth unemployment, boredom and civil security, courtesy of the Age:

Gun demand could trigger threat: ALP
Brendan Nicholson
October 23, 2006

LARGE numbers of military weapons stolen or bought from police and soldiers pose a dangerous threat to stability in the Pacific region, Labor has warned.

The Opposition's Pacific spokesman, Bob Sercombe, said Australia should use the Pacific Islands Forum, which begins in Fiji today, to push for uniform gun-control laws across the 16 member countries.

He said violence in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Bougainville, Fiji and Vanuatu highlighted the increasing availability of arms and their role in regional instability.

The weapons were significantly worsening the impact of political conflict, tribal warfare, crime and domestic violence and pushing young and under-resourced states to the limit, Mr Sercombe said.

He released a discussion paper, "In the Line of Fire: Addressing Illicit Small Arms in the Pacific", which warns that the increasing demand for guns could trigger major arms trafficking in the region.

Many guns were in the hands of young unemployed men who used them to earn an income at the expense of their communities, Mr Sercombe said.

"Unemployment and boredom are factors behind the attraction of guns which are increasingly rented out or used in robberies as a means of livelihood," he said.

Australian researcher Philip Alpers said that of 7664 M16 and SLR assault rifles delivered to the Papua New Guinea defence forces since 1971, only 26 per cent remained in stock and similar numbers were missing from police armouries.

The discussion paper says there is evidence of urban raskol gangs emerging in Papua New Guinea's troubled Southern Highlands province.

"Concerns that the province suffers similar grievances and tensions that led to the 10-year conflict in Bougainville are disturbing," the discussion paper says.

The increasing number of guns in the Highlands posed a grave threat to democratic institutions and could bring serious violence during the coming elections.

The paper says many countries in the region do not record firearm details and only a few have computerised records of small arms owned by civilians.

Penalties vary considerably across the member countries.

Mr Sercombe said the threat could be reduced by cutting the flow of ammunition.

There was little use in the Pacific for the AK-47 automatic rifle because it was hard to find ammunition for it, he said.

Australia could help improve security at military and police armouries, he said.

Land tenure

In a letter to the editor of the Solomon Star News on 25 April 2006, one writer writes that,

"I have been predicting for a long, long time the events of the last few days. Solomon Islanders as a whole are a passive and peaceful people, but even their patience has been stretched to the breaking point.
...

Let’s look at the situation here. ... Yes, we have an elected government, but Asian money is running this country and dictating the terms. Any Asian, who wants land – just ask for it and there is one of our corrupt leaders to give it to him (see Kukum labour line and below the Catholic Cathedral). This goes to the point that every square inch of land between Henderson and White River is owned by Asians, with no room left for the owners of this country, Solomon Islanders. Their rapacious appetite has no boundaries. ..."

Land in Solomon Islands is held according to custom. As is the case elsewhere in the Pacific (indeed, much of the world, including the indigenous inhabitants of Australia) land in Solomon Islands is not merely an economic asset, but has religious, political and social significance. Most of the customary rules relating to the use and transfer or customary land are closely associated with the religious beliefs of the people. Leadership and interests in land are passed on by inheritance, and land tenure is governed by the histories of the ancestors, preserved in genealogies and in the landscape of the places they belonged to. Understanding the intimate connection between land an identity enables one to see why the ownership of land by Asians would be seen as so outrageous.

Furthermore, land in Solomon Islands is held by kin groups, which comprise a number of families that claim descent from the first settlers of the land. Under the Land and Titles Act, transactions of customary land must be made according to the current customary usage applicable to the land concerned (NB: I'm not aware of the extent to which land in and around Honiara is regulated according to custom or another system). Historically, various people could have different rights to the same piece of land. While there are competing interpretations of kastom, there is no doubt that the advent of the cash economy has encouraged misinterpretations of land tenure emphasising exclusivity of land rights. The individualisation of tenure has resulted in some rights being extended beyond their traditional extent and scope at the expense of others. As a result, there is much controversy about who has acquired land legitimately and who hasn't - this was a key cause of the anger directed towards Malaitans during the Tensions, and the letter above suggests it plays a role in the anger now directed towards the Chinese.

Mass media coverage of crises

It's incredibly frustrating to see the manner in which 'disasters', 'emergencies' and 'crises' are reduced to a pithy, catchy headline. As the writers below state, "reducing complex historical problems to labels and scare mongering" does nothing to assist in finding a way forward - if anything it compounds and entrenches the roots of natural disasters or civil conflict by proposing simplistic solutions to complex problems.

Greg Sheridan: Melanesia a huge disaster
Canberra was right to pursue a Pacific activism in the post-9/11 era, but there is no real solution for the region
The Australian, 20 April 2006

The reply to Greg Sheridan which the Australian declined to publish...

School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics The University of Queensland
21 April 2006

Dear Sir,

Greg Sheridan’s scare mongering, in calling Melanesia “a huge disaster” (The Australian, 20 April) is insulting and unproductive. The riots that occurred in Honiara were the expression of deep-seated frustrations at flawed political processes and a lack of reconciliation needed after the earlier unrest. They were sparked when RAMSI mishandled the situation at Parliament. RAMSI ignored the plea by the Speaker, Sir Peter Kenilorea, not to use tear gas on his people.

The Melanesian way is to respect their elders and several of the ex-Prime Ministers (including Sir Peter) were willing to talk to the people who had gathered at Parliament. RAMSI did not give them a chance. The result was violence and destruction.

RAMSI has never been able to deal with a central conundrum: the conflict between strengthening the government apparatus, and having to also prop up a government that was flawed and of which the people remain suspicious. The new Prime Minister Snyder Rini is from the old government.

There is quite obviously a deep resentment against Asians, particularly but not only the Chinese. The democratic process is indigenously controlled but business is not. Perceived inordinate Asian influence on the political process frustrates the average Solomon Islander.

There is not a Solomon Islands-wide crisis, and certainly not a “Melanesian-wide crisis”. Mr Sheridan’s Melanesia is full of rampant sexual transmitted diseases and failing states. Has he ever noticed that eighty-five percent of the people of Melanesia are living happily in villages? This is a Honiara-centered crisis. Democracy and egalitarian behaviour is basic to Melanesian culture. Imposed government structures more suitable to First World nations are not. And neither is having forces outside Parliament buying votes in Parliament.

Though it is little acknowledged by those who think RAMSI was the beginning and end of progress in the Solomons, the 400 thousand-odd village majority of the country maintained its own law and order for five years without police presence or functioning courts. How long would Mr Sheridan give Cronulla if all police, firefighters and other public services evaporated? Weeks? Days? Hours? To label the people of the Solomons primitive on the back of two days of rioting is not only insulting but profoundly ignorant. Reducing complex historical problems to labels and scare mongering does disservice to Solomon Islands and undermines Australia's efforts to assist.

The Australian government and RAMSI needs to spend a little more time learning to understand Solomon Islanders and their cultural triggers.

Yours faithfully,
Dr Clive Moore, CSI, History, University of Queensland (c.moore@uq.edu.au)

Professor Kevin Clements, Director, Australian Center for Peace and Conflict Studies University of Queensland (k.clements@uq.edu.au)

Dr Anne Brown, Australian Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Queensland (anne.brown@uq.edu.au)

Dr Volker Boege, Visiting Fellow, Australian Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Queensland (v.boege@uq.edu.au)

Dr John Roughan, Honiara (jroughan@welkam.solomon.com.sb)

Paul Roughan, Islands Knowledge Institute (proughan@gmail.com)