‘Give the Tahitians a chance’

Takitumu chief Pa Marie Ariki has implored New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to hear French Polynesia President Oscar Temaru’s cries for self-determination.

On Tuesday night she pleaded with Key to consider the situation of French Polynesia – or, as Temaru has called it, French-occupied Polynesia.

“They (the Tahitians) are our cousins, they are our family, and they (deserve) freedom just like any country,” Pa Ariki told Cook Islands News.

“Oscar (Temaru) has been trying very hard for a long time to be recognised, for his country’s rights to be recognised.

“As an Ariki I support that he should be given a chance to be decolonised.”

Temaru’s quest to achieve self-determination for his country began in 1977, and has led him through five terms as president and throughout the world.

“I have spoken with John Key and pleaded with him that the Tahiti people are our cousins and for a long time they’ve been trying to take their own land and their own country back.

“A lot of bad things have happened to them (under French occupation) which is unfair to them.

“The French can walk into Tahiti and buy land and that’s unfair.”

Pa Ariki says the world should “give the Tahitians a chance”.

She also believes the Polynesian Leaders Group should admit the Maori, Maoli and Rapa Nui people.

In a communiqu released yesterday, Forum leaders reiterated their support for the principle of French Polynesia’s right to self-determination.