Articles by Utopia Support

Party politics non-issue with NZ

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Local

Finance minister Wilkie Rasmussen has called CIP leader Henry Puna’s criticism of next month’s joint ministerial forum with New Zealand as ‘out of touch’. Last week Puna told CI News there was concern that the forum may be perceived as a show of support by NZ of a government now embroiled in political turmoil. Indeed, […]

Thank you minister

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear editor Kia orana, I am writing to offer my apology for the incorrect news that was printed in Monday’s newspaper dated 8 March 2010. It’s a mistake made on my part because I didn’t really check – it’s the T & M Heather of Arorangi that came to mind first thing. So the correct […]

Let Aitutaki benefit

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, We cannot but share the frustration of Aitutaki in the way their cyclone recovery has been taken over by a bureaucracy based in Rarotonga. Consider that Aitutaki has direct shipping from New Zealand and Rarotonga and it has good communications with mobile phone coverage and the internet. Aitutakians are certainly no less intelligent […]

CIP silent on 'excessive' spending until now

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, For the last 10 years, the CIP leadership has been silent while Maoate-led governments step-by-step blew out the budget. In 1999, only 1300 government jobs had survived the reform while presently there are close to 2000. The CIP should have objected to every staff addition because the 1996 reform demonstrated that 1300 persons […]

Political power for self-gain

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, It concerns me greatly that the prime minister of this country is calling for the public to support political reform when it is clear as daylight that his stitched-up government goes directly against the grain of what people recognise as good governance and political stability. Don’t preach what you cannot practice prime minister […]

Govt not dictating to Aitutaki: minister

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Sir, Aitutaki should never be a political football. Unfortunately, it has become so. However here are some basic facts and I hope it will make the public understand: 1.Rarotonga (presumably, the central government operation based in Rarotonga) is not dictating to Aitutaki. A day after the cyclone struck, the government began working with Aitutaki. […]

Kata - March 22, 2010

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Aitutaki's building code

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

A smoke signaller writes: “Before Aitutaki mayor Tai Herman makes too much noise about interference from the capital island, perhaps he can explain how it is that no one has enforced the building code in Aitutaki during his tenure? Most of the buildings damaged or destroyed were built ‘island-style’ without regard to codes or good […]

Fun and skill in five-a-side soccer

Monday 22 March 2010 | Published in Football

There was plenty of fun and skill in the Rarotonga annual five-a-side competition which kicked off last week, Thursday. In the women’s division Arai-Te-Tonga comprised of national player Melanie Wilson who guided her team to a comfortable win over TSL by 3- 0. In the men’s division new comers Waka Boys comprised of the Tupapa […]

Govt must explain budget blowout: CIP

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Local

THE Cook Islands Party is calling on government to tell the public what the true state of its finances are following revelations of a budget blow out of at least $4 million for the next financial year. Party leader Henry Puna says government must provide answers on the issue of finance. “Right now government needs […]

Rakei Toa get new look

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Local

Te Rakei Toa student Callum Richmond (11) and tutor Turori Matutu show off their new uniforms sponsored by the Mariti Community Fundraising group. Te Rakei Toa, an educational programme developed by league great Kevin Iro, is for boys aged 11 to 14. It focuses on creating pathways for students to return to the school system […]

NY embraces Manuia exhibit

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Features

The Manuia exhibit, which debuted in a New York City gallery last week, drew a large crowd of interested onlookers. Curator Ben Bergman of Beachcomber Contemporary Art said that about 70 people attended, and “interest and feedback (were) strong”. “In the extremely competitive art environment that is NYC, we were thrilled at the attendance and […]

Toku ngutuare Tangata

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Features

The students have written stories in Maori on what they do together with their families – ‘Eaa taku e rave kapiti ana e toku ngutuare tangata’. Teacher Terangi Elika explains that at the start of the unit, the students had to write stories about themselves. The next stories will be about their relationships with the […]

Islands not immune to tsunami

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Features

The article “Why our tsunami threat is minimal” in last Saturday’s Cook Islands News, (13 March 2010), is a very good, well-researched piece, but it does have a few points that, I think, need addressing. 1. The 2009 Samoa event was relatively small in the Cook Islands BUT the bulk of the main energy that […]

Parties being self-righteous

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

The political parties calling the PM “self-serving” are like the pot calling the kettle black, a smoke signaller says. “CIPs and Demos pretending to be holier-than-thou are a hilarious exercise in hypocrisy. They, self-serving? Never! There must have been 8000 persons less 19 on Rarotonga laughing at that headline. One friend said, “Maybe the parties […]

'An old sailor' greeting

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, As a Silver Surfer (old age pensioner) I came across your Cook Islands News website and it brought back many memories. I was in the Royal Navy in the 1950s and I served on HMS Warrior we had the good fortune to come to Rarotonga in 1956. The welcome we got from the […]

Chinese car claims 'baseless'

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Reference is made to your front page article “Audit looks into claimed Chinese car kickbacks” on 16 March 2010. My response is to make corrections to your headline article that purposely seeks to defame my character publicly with unprofessional baseless report findings. It is unfortunate that your article irresponsibly refers to use of […]

Kata - March 20, 2010

Saturday 20 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Three local Harvest student graduates all in ministry today

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Church Talk

This Photo is of a 1997 graduation from Harvest Bible College in Melbourne. Harvest Bible College is a Pentecostal College recognised by the Assemblies of God in Australia and open to people from across the Christian spectrum. Three Cook Islanders – Charlie Hosking (far right back row), Nooroa George (far right in second row) and […]

Bible is key to evangelism

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Church Talk

The main purpose of this article is to try and direct God’s people back to the Bible for the work of evangelizing the world. The Bible is crucial to world evangelisation. This makes the Bible an essential tool or ingredient in finding out how we do evangelism? Who the participants are? And why we do […]