My birth country, which is fractured and divided as never before, has held a presidential election leaving half the country cheering for victory and the other half grieving the loss of cherished ideals and gob smacked at the power now wielded by leaders they do not trust. By Linda Kavelin-Popov.
Dear Editor, I agree with much of what Thomas Wynne has been writing in the Cook Islands News over the last three Saturdays with regard to re-examining the Albert Henry Case of 1978-79
I am writing to you as a continuing returning tourist whose family have rewardingly participated in most tourist activities the island has to offer over approximately a 20-year period.
I wish to comment briefly on “The Last of the Pooh-Bahs”, by Thomas Tarurongo Wynne, 18 November 2023, although I do not wish to relitigate the “fly-in voters” case.
On Thursday, November 24, the whole of America stopped to celebrate Thanksgiving, and thankfully, missiles of mass destruction stopped falling on the Gaza strip as part of a 4-day ceasefire with negotiations to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, writes Ruta Mave.
Dear Editor, I too have been dismayed and concerned about Thomas Wynne’s scurrilous article “The last of the pooh-bahs” in the Cook Islands News (Saturday, November 18) attacking Sir Gavin Donne and others of the Albert Henry saga.
How do we stop family violence? How do we heal multi-generational abuse?
Me ruru koe i te pu rakau, matakite eaa te ka pururu mai, if you shake the tree, be careful what falls out, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.
Meitaki maata our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Awakened in the early hours of Friday, November 24, to a most extraordinary sound of music so nice, cool, silent and gentle but lo, it was only raindrops falling.
I am writing to you as a continuing returning tourist whose family have rewardingly participated in most tourist activities the island has to offer over approximately a 20-year period.
Dear Editor, I did not witness the earlier years of Albert Henry’s reign so cannot comment on his contribution in that period, but when I returned to Rarotonga to work as a lawyer in 1975, Albert had become a tyrant committed to staying in power. This was at the expense of hundreds of Cook Islands families who stood up against the abuses of government. Most were forced to leave their homeland to survive.
The women of the Cook Islands have little to celebrate after one, trying to stop an alcohol fuelled brawl at Rehab was punched in the face by a man who was fined all of $500, given his passport and a get out of jail card, and allowed to return to Australia.
The petition started by Miss T Koteka bringing sense, focus and some clarity to the Courts and the Police regarding the Rehab nightclub brawl … public uproar seemed to have clearly made some difference.
I saw Wesley Roberts photo after winning gold in swimming.
I saw a disturbing greedy photo the other week of one family on one boat showing their catch of the day, three marlin and two yellow fin tuna. No catch and release, they landed them all. There is no way they could eat one of those fish let alone all of them. I wonder if the boat company shared the lottery win with them when they sold them off at $20 to $30 per kilo.
Dear Editor, Norman George’s rebuttal to Thomas Wynne’s opinion piece is spot on (A rebuttal to ‘The last pooh bah’, Cook Islands News, November 23).