Go forward looking back
There is a notion in Pacific oral tradition that when you start to lose confidence in the direction of where you are heading, it is advisable to stop and look back, trace where you’ve come from, and then take stock of where you might be, and then proceed carefully.
South Pacific nations that have often been confident of their pathway to the future are beginning to ask very good and needful questions as to where they are actually going? What benefits are there for their people in the direction they are taking?
I am talking here about political, economic, and social directions.
As one head of state confided recently in another Pacific island diplomat, ‘it seems like we are going nowhere… we are becoming more dependent on aid, and we are no longer the determiner of our own destiny’.
The so-called pathways to the future are no longer straight lines, but are more like cycles of repeated history, particularly the part of history we never learn from, and would rather forget.
But let us do some reflection on our most recent past, and see how our present situation compares. This reflection will have to focus on leadership, for it is in leadership ‘that things rise or fall’, as one leadership consultant guru says.
When Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoa’s head of state, died in 2007, he was the last of a generation of leaders in the Polynesian Pacific who took their nations from the independent visionary development aspirations of the 20th century into the cautious hope for economic miracles of the 21st.
Malietoa, which means “Brave Warrior” took Samoa to independence in 1962, and was head of state for 43 years from 1963 to his death. At the time of his death at 94, he was the oldest national leader in the world. He was the head of a Samoan governance structure, politically and socially, that provided stability and growth for decades.
His counterpart in the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Davis, was prime minister from 1978 to April 1983, and then again in November 1983 to July 29, 1987. Mr Davis died in 2007 at 90, just a couple of months after Malietoa.
A medical doctor, he was known for his innovative reforms as prime minister of the Cook Islands, and he was an ardent community man.
King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV ruled Tonga as king for 41 years, but prior to that, as Crown Prince Tungi; prime minister for 16 years under his mother, Queen Salote Tupou III. He was at the helm of Tonga’s government, as prime minister and king for a combined period of 57 years.
Despite being controversial on a number of occasions, he is credited with bringing Tonga forward in modernisation and national development especially in building an education system that do Tongans proud, with a high literacy rate, normalisation in the country of tertiary education, and a high rate of postgraduate students.
Taufa’ahau passed away in 2006 at age 88, and was succeeded by his eldest son, who reigned as King George Tupou V, and ushered in democratic reform in 2010.
Across in Fiji, the island nation with the biggest population in the Polynesian Pacific, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, a contemporary of Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, and also a blood relative, had passed away in 2004 at the age of 83.
He was Fiji’s first prime minister at independence in 1970, and was at the helm for 22 years. He became president in 1993 until 2000. As paramount chief and Tui Lau, he was arguably Fiji’s most effective leader since independence.
These four leaders of the Southern Polynesian island nations, were not only contemporaries, but also led a generation of leaders who impacted each of their nations, and in the process reached out beyond to build a sense of Pacific regionalism culminating in the formation of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and working together to serve the interests of the Pacific islands.
These postwar Pacific Island leaders stood at the forefront of their nations as they struggled to modernise, internationalise, and come to grips with the realities and indeed challenges of a world that was becoming more complex, not only politically but more so economically.
But these leaders are gone, and most probably the greatest contribution they made to each of their nations, and to the region in general, was that of peace and political stability. Not that everything went smoothly during their reign but they were able to steer their canoes through the rough waters of modernisation and economic difficulties, and came through fine, handing the next generation of leaders the opportunity to take their nations and the region further into peaceful co-existence, self-determination, and hopefully prosperity.
That is a hard act to follow, however. The world of the 21st century in which the current leaders operate is a complex one, in which the values of independence are shifting into that of inter-dependence, and self-reliance is a notion that may need to be redefined; for no one, including the highly developed nations of the West can honestly talk about being self-determined.
There are many factors —economic, political and social— that must be taken into account. Like the notion of independence, there may not be anyone who is really independent. Interdependence may be the new independence of the 21st century.
Leadership in any society, and especially in the South Pacific, requires men or women of vision. The “four kings” of Polynesia – Tupou, Malietoa, Mara, and Davis – were men who had the luxury of a lot of years at the top. They had time to try and bring transformation to their island nations.
The leaders who follow them won’t have the longevity or political stamina to last that long, simply because there are a lot more candidates vying for leadership, each with their “promised solutions” to the problems.
So far, the formation of the Polynesian Leaders Group (PLG), a brainchild of the Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has not done much but there have been useful discussions on issues relevant to Polynesian Pacific.
As founding member of PLG, Toke Talagi, outgoing chair of Pacific Islands Forum, has been quite controversial in his criticism of Commodore Bainimarama of Fiji, urging the people “to rise up” against the government.
Talagi has only been in power since 2008. His Samoan counterpart, prime minister Tuilaepa, who is also a strong critic of Bainimarama and Fiji, is currently the longest-serving leader in the Polynesian Pacific, being in power over the last 15 years.
Henry Puna of the Cook Islands became prime minister in 2010; and Lord Tu’ivakano of Tonga also became prime minister in 2010. Both leaders are yet to prove themselves worthy of their political positioning.
President Anote Tong of Kiribati has been in power over those “sinking islands” for the last 12 years, and he is one of the most visionary and is certainly the best communicator of the current generation of Pacific leaders.
Effective leaders are those with vision, forging their vision into the life, laws, and policies of their nations.
Samoa’s Tuilaepa may be the most effective prime minister in Polynesian Pacific, not only because he is a visionary leader, but he is also decisive, as he did with the changing of the dateline for Samoa, as well as the altering of the driving side in the nation. He made decisions he deemed beneficial for Samoa. He’s lasted 15 years, and maybe more.
Pacific peoples want to follow strong decisive leadership. Unfortunately, most of the leadership in the Polynesian Pacific lack vision, lack resolve, and have outsourced decision making to their development partners and donors.
Fiji’s Bainimarama may be credited with taking Fiji forward, despite his coup tactics.
It is interesting however that the two most effective leaders of Polynesian Pacific are men who do not see eye to eye, and who are at odds with one another, but examined under their respective administrations, they are taking their nations politically, economically, and socially forward.
