Temaru upbeat on independence

All members of the Polynesian Leaders Group have pledged their support for French Polynesia’s re-inscription on the United Nations’ list of non self-governing territories.

Getting his country’s name onto that list is the first step in president Oscar Temaru’s campaign to secure Tahiti Nui’s independence from France, so naturally he is buoyed by the backing of his Pacific brothers.

The list contains the names of those countries that have not been decolonised and are remnants of the neo-imperial empires carved out before World War II.

The United Nations has appointed a committee to annually review the status of those countries on the list, bearing in mind a UN decree that non self-governing territories are entitled to self-determination and independence.

French Polynesia – or, as Temaru refers to it, French-occupied Polynesia – made it onto the list in 1946. A year later France pushed for the elimination of Tahiti Nui and New Caledonia from the list.

”Afterwards many things happened in our country. France just does what they want. If our country was back on that list the international community (would say) ‘You can’t do that’,“ Temaru told media yesterday.

Years later New Caledonia lobbied successfully to be reinstated, but Tahiti Nui’s cries went unheeded.

Temaru desperately wants back on the list, and is asking his Pacific brothers and sisters to stand behind him in solidarity.

Last year he obtained the support of the majority of French Polynesia’s Assembly, and of the Pacific Conference of Churches, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the non-aligned movement and the Melanesian Spearhead Group, and on Saturday he earned the unanimous support of Polynesian leaders.

”What’s more democratic than the way we (have) used to get our country back on that list?“ Temaru asks.

The president, whose mother is of Atiuan descent, says Saturday’s Polynesian Leaders Group meeting marked an ”historic time“ in his bid for independence.

”Maybe it’s the environment. This is also our country, our homeland, so that’s why we’re surrounded by that very special spirit. We are the same people who have the same blood – Polynesian blood,“ he said.

He has faith that the Forum communiqu will reflect the Polynesian leaders’ endorsement of French Polynesia’s right to self-determination. In fact, he says, he is ”very hopeful“ that he will be able to take that endorsement to New York in October.

Temaru says that while ”democratically we have the majority“, he still anticipates resistance from New Zealand and Australia. This, he says, is puzzling, as before 1996 both countries were outspoken in protest of France’s nuclear testing activity in French Polynesia.

”I am asking myself what’s going on there, where is really the dignity of Australia and New Zealand? Because there’s no more nuclear testing then they come close together (with France).“

He hopes this Forum will mark a turning point in his bid for independence. On the home front, he will continue to rally for the support of his people.

”We have to prepare, educate our people how important (it is) to us, to us as a nation to be able to control our own destiny, to be ourselves. We have so (much) wealth and (so many) resources in this huge Pacific Ocean – it belongs to us.“