Priceless fence
There’s a fence being built around a Pacific institute of learning. Students and staff raised FJ$170,000 to build the fence two years ago.
Only last month did work on this barrier actually begin. News from this place of learning is that a recent Finance Committee meeting has been told that a massive savings of some
FJ$50,000 has been made due to skillful management of the project.
Now the students and staff want to know whether they will receive any of the savings. It’s understood the savings may be used now to replace the shortfall in other parts of the institution.
Pohnpei waits
On Pohnpei, there’s been a two-year wait for the beginning of a new campus for a regional learning institution.
Promises have been made, agreements signed and the waiting started around two years ago. Despite the promises, there has been no sign of the new faculty on the ground or virtually.
The local partners on Pohnpei have now reached out to the institution and asked for the head honcho to visit the island where the people wait to roll out the red carpet and hear an update on the campus. It’s unclear whether the red carpet will be real or virtual.
Social injustice
What might Pope Francis say about the failure of the Roman Catholic church in Kanaky and Maohi Nui (New Caledonia and French Polynesia) to stand up for the atrocities committed against the local people?
A proponent for social justice and liberation theology since his days as a parish priest in Argentina, Francis would have been disappointed with the analysis by Protestant pastors of the Catholic church in regional politics. In Fiji, the church has stood for indigenous rights and against state-sponsored thuggery. Not so in the French territories where the church is seen as complicit in the deaths of local freedom fighters and silent on issues which affect the people.
Samoa’s media rules
So much for Samoa’s strict rules around the media in order to treat King Charles with respect during the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Annoying journalists were herded like cattle and forced to take images from an organised pool of official video operators and camera people. All well and good.
That was until a Samoan—yes, a local, and not even a journalist—positioned himself in front of the King and took a selfie! The look on the face of Samoa’s head of government was a mixture of shock, horror and disgust. Priceless.
Brother and sister
The sister moves on from that regional organisation which employs her brother in a management position questioned over several years by observers, insiders and staff.
Will the brother last, or is he to be among those swept out by the new boss?
Staff and management alike are holding their breath to see what happens next. But some breathing space has been given, with the new CEO suffering a short illness and returning to his home country to recover. The clock is ticking.
Revolving door
No manager seems to last very long at the television station where the Sri Lankan CEO has described his operation as a sinking ship.
The station has been hemorrhaging technical staff to its competitor for the last 18 months, and its news manager recently fled along with the IT boss and a key presenter. It’s said that concerns and complaints raised with the Big Boss have gone nowhere.
And wait for it, the CEO believes that the company can be saved by outsourcing all its major roles – including programme production and news gathering.
Flying low
Now what about the national airline which turfed out a highly recognisable manager without giving him a reason for the end to his contract? Once extremely visible on social media, the manager was gone in a flash.
He had replaced another highly visible social media figure who transitioned to a career on the periphery of international rugby after some post- COVID fallout around the airline. In recent weeks, the most recent fire has actually taken to social media to highlight his case.
It remains to be seen whether his friends in the local media association will take up the case. And it’s not as if the airline needs negative publicity.
Media matters
In the Solomon Islands, litigation around social media posts is the new money-making exercise.
A trade dispute boiled over onto Facebook and now a social media post has cost around $20,000 in damages after a court order. It looks like Solomon Islanders must be very careful about what they say about unpaid bills and workers’ rights. That’s if they want to avoid even higher legal bills and fines.
Fiji the new porn hub
Fiji is quickly gathering a name for itself as a regional porn hub. This month it ejected two porn stars who were believed to be on the hunt for Australian and New Zealand school boys as raw talent for their videos.
But after an alert from Australian authorities, Fijian law enforcement agencies were notified and the women experienced a premature end to their activities in the islands. Fiji has been cited among the 10 most prolific porn consuming nations per head of population.
Ironically, Fiji’s efficiency in dealing with errant sex tourists is overshadowed by its failure to deal with the night— and more recently daytime—activities of members of the world’s oldest profession on its streets.
First hand experience
Imagine the horror of the MP who took his son to hospital only to be told there were no doctors available. His political party has provided leadership to the country for close to two decades yet there was no doctor, nurses were on break and the X-ray facilities were closed for the weekend.
The MP’s son was forced to wait three days (it was a long weekend) before he could be treated at a public facility where X-ray machines were available and there was a doctor on duty.
We wait to see whether the parliamentarian will attack his colleagues for the state of affairs in the country’s hospitals.
Island travel woes
Imagine the perplexed looks on the faces of Pacific Islanders as the major regional airline announce its new services to Cairns for under FJ$1000 return from Nadi, Fiji. Nadi is 3000km from Cairns, 2200km from Tarawa and 1000km from Funafuti.
But flights to Tarawa which is only two thirds the distance cost twice as much as the trip to Cairns. And Funafuti —one third the distance—costs the same as the Cairns flight. And then there’s Vava’u in Tonga – 900km away at a cost of FJ$1500.
Extractive defences
Once again the ugly creature of colonialism and extractive industry rears its head, this time in Papua New Guinea.
Fearful of China’s continued advance, Australia is considering the recruitment of Papua New Guina nationals to serve in the Australian Defence Force. There’s unlikely to be a lack of volunteers.
But the question is, how long will Australia continue to exploit the Pacific people as cannon fodder – literally and figuratively? In the 1960s, Australia— with the United Kingdom and the US— sold out the people of West Papua and gave them to Indonesia.
That was to place a buffer between Australia and the so-called advancing tide of communism. Sixty years later, the country which wants to be a member of the Pacific Family is exploiting the region again
