SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands – Members of both the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI) told Governor Benigno Fitial that CNMI must find its own solutions to immigration and minimum wage issues, and not cave to pressure from Washington.  The CNMI economy depends heavily on foreign workers and tourism, and S. 2483 would federalize CNMI’s immigration policies, which have been dealt with locally since CNMI became a United States dependent territory.

Jim Arenovski, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, said, “We need to be able to rely on our own organizations to go out there and tell them about the state of our economy.  We need to be able to go out there and meet with the folks in the committees that have jurisdictions over us.”  [Note: CNMI does not currently have a delegate to the United States federal government, an anomaly among the dependent territories.]  Arenovski believes that S.2483 was drafted to solve problems that no longer exist in CNMI.  “Our economy is completely different,” he said, “it no longer stands on two legs, it stands on one leg and that’s tourism.  We need to come up with some solutions.”

HANMI chairwoman Lynn Knight enumerated four reasons S.2483 is inappropriate for CNMI: it will cause population decline because of its cap on foreign workers, it does not provide a long-term solution for the CNMI workforce, the H-visa system is too inflexible to work for CNMI, and the tourist waiver would be inadequate for CNMI to maintain its current markets.

For more information, please see:

Marianas Variety – Fitial: NMI may lose foreign workers by 2013 if federalization bill becomes law – 06 March 2008

Saipan Tribune – ‘4 reasons why S.2483 won’t work for us’ – 06 March 2008

Saipan Tribune – ‘NMI must have a plan, alternative to S.2483’ – 09 March 2008

SUVA, Fiji – Observers are concerned that actions taken by the current regime indicate an unwillingness to remain committed to holding democratic elections in March 2009.  Additionally, Public Service Chairman Rishi Ram has announced that the appointment of a supervisor of elections will be delayed by two months.  There appears to be a lack of interest in the position, and those who have applied have been of “low calibre” the Fiji Times reports.

United States senior government official Glynn Davies was unimpress

SUVA, Fiji – Former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase brought suit on Wednesday challenging the legality of the December 2006 takeover.  Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama maintains that his coup was necessary to remedy the failure of government, community, and religious leaders to deliver what the populace needs.  Nye Perram, QC, said in his opening statement that Qarase is still the prime minister of Fiji and that the takeover was not allowable under the Fijian constitution.

Perram said, “We are saying that Qarase was still Prime Minister and it was not constitutionally possible for the President to appoint the Commodore as interim Prime Minister. […] What has happened is simply not expressed in the Constitution.”

Lawyers for the state have indicated that they do not intend to call any witnesses.  They have also filed submissions regarding the accessibility of certain documents relevant to the case, namely Cabinet minutes, presidential advice, and discussions between senior state officials.  The issue of executive privilege has been raised.

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo’s official secretary, Rupeni Nacewa, was deposed on Friday with Iloilo’s permission.  The court will determine whether those affidavits will be admitted when it resumes on Tuesday.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times – Bainimarama tells why – 05 March 2008

Fiji Times – Lawyer: Qarase still PM – 06 March 2008

Fiji Village – Qarase is Still the PM – SDL Lawyer – 06 March 2008

Radio Fiji – People have a right to know coup events: lawyer – 07 March 2008

Radio Fiji – No State witnesses in Qarase case – 07 March 2008

Fiji Times – Details in affidavit, court hears – 08 March 2008

By Hayley Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PAPEETE, Tahiti –- More than 8,000 Tahitians marched through torrential rain on Saturday to protest a political deal that effectively turned the leader of the smallest party in Parliament into the President of French Polynesia.

The Tahitian government has long been plagued with instability. In the last four years, there have been seven governments and five different presidents. While Tahiti has its own assembly, president, and budget, it is still a semi-autonomous territory of France, and receives subsidies, education, and security from the French government.

Before the election, Gaston Tong Sang, of the Tatou Aia party, was favored to win the presidency after his coalition won 27 of the 57 seats in Parliament, only two short of an absolute majority. Gaston Flosse, leader of the Tahoeraa Huiraatira (People’s Rally) party, was sworn into office last month after winning only 10 seats.

Flosse was elected after making a deal with his political foe, Oscar Temaru, who was also the leader of Parliament’s second largest party, Union for Democracy, which won 20 seats. The coalition combined enough seats in Parliament to win Flosse the election. On Friday, Temaru was made Speaker of the French Assembly.”The last one in the race is running the land” Tong Sang said.

Following Friday’s political deal, Flosse’s coalition immediately dropped from 30 to 28.“Tomorrow they will only be 20,” hinted an official to Tong Sang’s eight-party coalition, referring to a possible motion of no confidence against Flosse’s new government directly following the municipal elections.

News of the Flosse- Temaru political coalition was ill-received in Paris where the ruling party, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), condemned the deal as “against nature.” Although once supportive of Flosse’s party, the UMP announced it would cut all ties to protest the election.

Saturday’s demonstration was also aimed at mobilizing Tahitians to vote against Flosse’s party candidates in the upcoming municipal elections which are scheduled for March 9 and March 16.   

For more information, please see:

The Sydney Morning Herald — Political deal angers French Polynesians — 3 March 2008

Tahiti Presse — Some 8,500 Tong Sang supporters march to protest Flosse’s election — 3 March 2008

Pacific Magazine — French Polynesia’s Flosse Unveils Coalition Government Line-up — 3 March 2008

Pacific Magazine — Close To 10,000 In Post-Election Pape-ete March — 3 March 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Nearly 9,000 march in French Polynesia against political deals — 3 March 2008

SUVA, Fiji — Australian publisher Russell Hunter’s expulsion fro Fiji last week has led Deposed Opposition Leader Mick Beddoes and others to ask questions about the interim government’s respect for the rule of law.  Specifically, Beddoes questions an amendment to the Immigration Act of 2003 that took effect the day after Hunter’s removal, which stipulated that orders of removal cannot be reviewed by the judiciary.  Beddoes said, “They’re saying it is pure coincidence that the law was brought in when Mr Hunter was being expelled and they think for some reason that the citizenry in Fiji are a bunch of idiots, and we can’t see through the lies that are being told to the people.”

Beddoes also believes that the change to the law represented a direct subversion of the judiciary.  He has questioned whether or not the judges issuing the injunction of Hunter’s removal were aware of the change or in the law, or if “the ink on the new law still drying when the court decision was handed down.” 

The interim government insists that the timing of the change in the immigration law was purely coincidental.  Interim Immigration Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau said, “It would have been better for Government had this law come in before Russel Hunter was removed but it didn’t come into force until the day after. And I think the current immigration act was sufficient to actually effect the decision by Government to remove Russel Hunter on the grounds that he had breached the conditions of his work permit.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International — Fiji immigration law change not linked to Hunter expulsion, says interim minister — 03 March 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji Immigration law amended to stop challenge over Hunter expulsion – Mick Beddoes — 03 March 2008

Fiji Times — Regime’s vote of no confidence — 04 March 2008