Review by: Erika Morishita
Huia Publishers, Edited by Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles, 2012, ISBN 978-1-77550-013-1
In an article that I wrote about ‘nation-building and identity in Melanesia’ I put forward the notion that after 30 years of independence, building states in the Melanesian region is a process that goes beyond governance and globalisation to include history and culture. Nation building projects are an evolving phenomenon and modern state systems are relatively new and culturally foreign. In this context, the transition from custom economies and societies to modern nation states presents a myriad of challenges and conflicts. New Flags Flying: Pacific leadership is a valuable work that offers rare, insiders´ perspectives of these challenges and canvasses the journeys to independence for fourteen Pacific countries through the lenses of Pacific leaders. The book was launched in the region at the Pacific Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji on 9 October 2012.
Background work on the book began around 1992 when Ian Johnstone, a broadcaster/writer, began gathering interviews with leaders from Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In 2009, in response to concerns relayed by Pacific island students, on ‘how difficult it is to find information about the recent history of their countries’ Johnstone, in partnership with Michael Powles – a former senior diplomat- looked at ways to make the leadership interviews more widely and easily available. Initially the interviews were assembled into seventeen-part website and later transformed into a 328 page collection including pictures, maps, brief background information on each country and an audio CD with 20 interviews with Pacific leaders.
Fourteen chapters of the book are dedicated to presenting the conversations held with Pacific leaders recounting historical information relating to the various transitions from colonies to independent or self-governingstates. Pacific leaders interviewed include Tui AtuaTupuaTamaseseTa´isi Efi and Tofilau Eti Alesana (Samoa); John Webb and Sir Tom Davis (Cook Islands); Dr Ludwig Keke (Nauru); HM King Taufa´ahauTupou IV (Tonga); Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (Fiji); Mititaiagimene Young Vivian and Robert Rex (Niue); Sir Michael Somare (Papua New Guinea); Solomon Mamaloni and Sir Peter Kenilorea (Solomon Islands); Hon. Bikenibeu Paeniu (Tuvalu); Sir Leremia Tabai (Kiribati); Fr Walter Lini (Vanuatu); John Haglelgam (Federated States of Micronesia); Kessai Note (Marshall Islands); and Sandra Sumang Pierantozzi (Palau).
Through their stories, they share personal reflections on hard-won insights on leadership, how they managed to achieve their goals and lessons learned in the process. Apart from Tonga, the only Pacific country never colonised, these Pacific island leaders poignantly describe the treatment and attitudes of colonial powers and the moves they made on the way to self-government and independence. Pacific leaders also share personal insights relating their hopes, fears and challenges lying ahead in achieving a truly independent future. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara for example, had no sense that the colonial period was ending, acknowledging, ‘we were part of the Queen´s regnum; we were happy – why should we change things?’ (p95).Bikenikbeu Paeniu expressed reservations about his country becoming independent, saying, ‘no time from nation-building, for planning at all… we know in those days Britain was letting go their colonies, the empire was breaking down’ (p171). Others such as Samoa and Cook islands wanted self-government as soon as possible and Fr. Walter Lini expressed a strong desire to give freedom to the Ni-Vanuatu people, stating ‘we wanted to make sure we did not lose our land in Vanuatu, that´s why we struggled … It was easy to achieve independence because we had a common cause, but it was more difficult to govern because we had not experienced the art of decision-making…”(p213).
A particularly interesting chapter is dedicated to womens’ perspectives of leadership in the Pacific. The authors point out that ‘across the pacific, male domination of politics had long been the norm, which is not to say that women were without authority’ (p266). This is portrayed through the traditional role of women in different parts of the region and in the stories of Hon. Fiame Na Fiame Naomi Mata´afa, a Samoa MP since 1975. She says, ‘in Samoa we don´t believe there should be parliamentary seats set aside for women’ (p267) and Dame Carol Kidu former MP remarked on Papua New Guinea that, ‘women are powerful in the private sphere, very powerful, but that power was not translated into the public sphere… and this is where we´ve got to make that quantum leap, to give women the space in the public sphere’ (p283).
The final chapter reflects on the interviews and summarises these Pacific voices on the challenges of decolonisation, aid and governance, leadership and political systems and mentions the ‘old flags’ that are still flying in the Pacific. Some Pacific people are still aspiring for independence such as the indigenous Kanak of New Caledonia. This book provides a fascinating portal into the past that will enrich the perspectives of students, academics and professionals interested in the Pacific and beyond.
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