Australia and the South Pacific: A Vanuatu perspective

By Father Walter H. Lini

To mark the 100th anniversary as of 20 October of the Condominium government, which eventually lead to Vanuatu gaining political independence in 1980, the Vanuatu Daily Post published this speech by the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Fr Waiter H. Lini. The address was presented by Father Lini to a conference held at the Australian National University in February 1982. The speech was printed at that time by the Australian Institute of International Affairs journal- Australian Outlook.

 In the face of ever present threats to world peace, the affairs of a small island primary producing state such as Vanuatu may appear insignificant, and to some, even of no consequence.

Yet, when one considers that it is states such as my own which together constitute nearby half of the membership of the Commonwealth, the matter assumes a dif­ferent proportion. As isolated in the geographical sense as many of the island states like my own are, none of us over the years has escaped the acquisitive gaze of western man, and the historical conse­quences of this continue, even though many of us now enjoy varying degrees of political and economic freedom.

The fact that the winds of economic difficulty which now blow so roughly over the landscape of industrial society often reach hurricane force when they reach our shores is yet further proof that in practical terms or isolation exists in name only.

I could not help thinking on my way to the Canberra conference, travelling in far, far more comfortable conditions than those of any ancestors who first arrived on the shores of this country, how very much the world has indeed reduced in

size by the immediacy of modern communications and the consequences of these small states such as my own.

What is equally true is the speed with which decisions taken in Canberra, more often than not, even when there is no direct intention; produce an effect in the capital of my country, Port Vila.

Australia and Vanuatu are linked by history containing within it cultural, polit­ical and social ingredients which have produced a relationship of almost a Siamese-twin nature. Given the nature of the society my Government and people are striving to create, there does exist a ­very real need for our aspirations and our expectations, based very much on our tra­ditional values, being understood in Aus­tralia, if we are not, over the years, to experience the pain of pulling in separate directions,

Indeed, I would be as bold as to say this and to say it in terms which none can fail to understand, and, in doing so answer the question contained within the subject you have asked me to address you upon. It is plain and it is simple;

Australia's relations with the island states of the Pacific are essentially going to depend, if such a relationship is to avoid confrontation, on a practical acknowledgement of the fact that our new found free were fought for, to a sig­nificant degree, in order that a renais­sance of Melanesian values, principles and expectations could take place.

I speak only for Vanuatu when I say that such a renaissance will take place, and I hope and pray that the journey my Government and people embarked upon on 30 July 1980 will not be open to mis­interpretation. On that day, addressing those distinguished people who had so kindly travelled to Vanuatu to witness the birth of our nation, I made the following comments:

"There are many visitors here today from countries far and near, and they all I am sure, testify to the fact that there is no such thing as an 'Independent State'.  ‘Independent' that is, in the sense given by the dictionary. Indeed all the countries of the world are becoming less and less independent. In the sense, both financially and economically, we can expect to be less independent than many States.

We shall, for several years to come, depend on external aid, not just for capital or devel­opment needs, but also for our ordinary Gov­ernment services such as education, health and public works.

In order, however, to be even politically independent, we shall depend on the good will and generosity of foreign aid donors. We are entitled to hope that we shall be able to exercise freedom of choice, in other words independence, in the way in which we pro­vide public services and change our society as we develop.

At the same time, we have to face the fact that there may be external pressures on us from both large companies and foreign gov­ernments, to conform to their ideas rather than our own when. the tow may differ.

This, itself will be a test of our determina­tion and ability as well as a test of their gen­erosity and spirit, and the result will, of course, be the greater or a lesser degree of independence for Vanuatu."

In view of the fact that Vanuatu receives, and is grateful for, a significant degree of financial and technical assis­tance from Australia, I think it appropri­ate that I recall sentiments I expressed on the occasion of our Independence. It is essentially an attitude of mind. I represent, to give one basic example, a 'land using' culture. European oriented Aus­tralia represents a land 'owing' culture.

The western concept of regarding land as a marketable commodity, is not just alien to the Melanesian, but considered impracticable and positively immoral. Land exists to be used by the communi­ty for its needs.

This is by any definition a socialist principle, but one which we practised hundreds of years before Marx, Engle's or indeed Lenin were even born let alone heard of.

Chapter 12 of our Constitution enshrines this principle: ‘All land in the Republic belongs to the indigenous cus­tom owners and their descendants’. This again is a socialist principle, but essen­tially Melanesian socialism; the total rejection of the freehold concept of land does not mean that we. are quite sud­denly and quite miraculously in tropical Vanuatu going to have snow on our boots.

That the spirit and intent behind such a renaissance of Melanesian values will be open to misinterpretation and misun­derstanding by the West and in Western orientated societies such as Australia is in no doubt.

The leader of the newly independent countries who make practical attempts to dilute values and national practise which were inherited during the colonial period now accept, as indeed I do, that such criticism is almost an occupational hazard.

Indeed, we only have to give a side glance eastwards and we are immedi­ately accused of courting the communist world. I have yet to visit a socialist soci­ety or, if you prefer, states that profess communism.

As I have already indicated, I have no need to go there to understand or indeed accept the principles of socialism.

Even allowing for the fact that my colleagues and I in the Government of Van­uatu existed for so long in the suffocating embrace of external influ­ence, we remain products of Melanesian socialism.

I have said that a visit to the commu­nist world would not necessarily make me a communist, but visiting Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand or indeed any country which practises the market economy does not, most certainly, inspire me to become an apostle of the capital­ist system.

My concern on the market-economy has been expressed in precise terms with particular emphasis on the future rela­tionship. terms and with particular emphasis on the future relationship between those countries which practise it in undiluted form and the Third World, or as I prefer it, the primary production nations. Speaking at the 36th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September of last year, I remarked:

Much depends, both in terms of justice and international welfare on the future relationship that will exist between the manufacturing countries, industrialised society, and those who supply the basic raw materials upon which industrialised socie­ty so vitally depends.

The world must turn away from concepts of dominance and dependence to the reality of interdependence and the imperatives of change which this produces. The improvement in the quality of welfare for so many who desperately need it depends on a practical recognition by industrialised society that it is no one's interests for a national profit to be pursed at the expens­es of international poverty; that the con­tinuance of such a circumstance can only result in the inflammable structures of injustice mounting higher and higher, trade structures which do not allow half of the world to earn a decent living, consumption patterns that strain and pollute the world's resources, and economic systems which benefit the few at the expense of the many.

In expressing such criticism I was regis­tering my concern that those who operate the capitalist system should recognise that the West and Western orientated society will sooner rather than later have to 'come off the drug of ever increasing affluence and that if their societies are not to experience severe withdrawal symptoms they had better start educating them in the new international reality of interdependence. ­

For the primary producing countries will no longer remain passive while the multinational companies take their natural resources on their own terms, like marauding cavemen of old. And when the primary producing states take measures to protect themselves that too must not be matter for misunderstanding, given the enormous capacity for misunderstanding to take place in such matters. Julius Nyerere commented some years ago, following a visit he had just undertaken in China.

"I wish we could just speak of simple facts. If you take me to see General Motors in America, I will marvel. If you take me to London I will say 'How wonderful'. Last year I visited Holland, a small country but a very advanced one, and they are spending vast sums of money to push back the sea. Well; all I can say is Wonderful'. But it is irrelevant to what I can do in my country. The assembly plants in North America and Europe are irrelevant.

China is different, China is a backward country, but it has pulled itself up through its own efforts. You could see the steps and you say, Boy why didn't we think of that. We should do that. It is a question of what we are capable of. We are using hoes. If 2 million farmers in this country could jump from the hoe to the plough, it would be a revolution. It would double our living stan­dard, triple our product. With the kind of thing China is doing, the stage of such development is relevant to us. I wish I could state this as an observed fact and nothing more but when you say 'From China you can learn' they say you are going Red."

I have used this example given by Julius Nyerere, because quite it cannot be bettered to illustrate the point. The great adventure of Independence and the duty of presenting over the rebirth of our identify and purpose, and to preserve without inhibition our God given right to develop our own way and in accordance with our own values and expectations essentially means casting aside many of the inherited attitudes that at present bolster natural which are alien to the Melanesian mind. Inde­pendence has given us the right and the duty to formulate a nature of administra­tion and the establishment of a society that is in concert with the needs and ideas of the people of Vanuatu.

Again it is a question of an attitude of mind. Our institutions must be geared and tuned to servicing and nurturing the cre­ation of a social, political and economic order born of the environment of Vanuatu. An order that is in keeping with the desires and needs of the greater majority and not one coloured by notions of a society that basically has little in common with the indigenous society of Melanesia.

For Australia particularly, this is going to be the test. Is the Melanesian renaissance going to be viewed as a festival of spirit or collection of hostile acts? I have here before me a story from the London Telegraph of 2 March 1978, filed from Canberra, which quotes officials there talking seriously of the danger of Russia and Cuban interests, then Ladies and Gentlemen, would you believed it, even of 'Tanzanian influence' on my gov­erning Vanua'aku Party.

Perhaps Mr Denis Warner, who wrote the article, will feel vindicated by me having quoted today, with all sincerity, the good thoughts of my Comrade Julius Nyerere. However, time has passed, and I hope you have confidence that the Government and people of Australia will not misinterpret or misunderstand­ing the re-emer­gence of Melanesia values which is taking place and which continue to take place in Vanuatu.

If I may sketch briefly for you the basic ingredients of our colonial experience and the fabric of our indigenous soci­ety, which that experience tore asunder, it will, I am sure, be the much clearer to you why we in Van­uatu are inspired to revive those of our tra­ditional values which can, as I have remarked, serve our people as well as they did in the past. I well understand that many of you may be in possession of such facts; indeed some of you may even have written about the matter based on your own research. But hear it from a Melanesian.

It has been written that the arrival of the European in the Pacific was, for the indige­nous people, a 'Fatal Impact'. But Me1ane­sians demonstrated a marked resilience in the matter of survival, doing so in the face of alien disease to which no immunity exist­ed, and, in the case of Vanuatu forced transportation of labour. However, the indigenous culture and the priorities of val­ues which were an important and essential aspect were drastically influenced by Euro­pean practice and indeed undermined by them.

Pre-European Melanesia was strongly characterised by a sustained awareness for the need of communal discipline. It was a disciplined society in the very best sense that the term can be used, for it was a discipline based on an awareness of the community where the individual was not to consider himself or his private interests tak­ing precedence over the general interests of the community.' Giving was based on one's ability to do so. 'Receiving' was based on one's need.

The fabric of this society, with its inher­ent communal discipline as I remarked, tom by the arrival of European commercial practices which carried with it the message of materialism, together with the creed of enlightened self-interest.

Both aspects were a direct contradiction of Melanesian values and priorities.

The introduction into Melanesia of Chris­tianity added a further element of division and confusion in the minds of the people. While the Christian religion was widely compatible with the ethic and principles of Melanesia communalism, with its empha­sis on mutuality, compassion and caring for one another, it was a practice that very few of the European appeared to self-interest which was followed by the majority of Europeans.

Added to this was the resentment caused by the insensitive way all things 'native' in the form of spiritual and cultural activities were deemed to be evil. There were honourable and notable exceptions, but generally there was not due regard for the opinions, feel­ings, customs and values born of the Melanesian experience and environment. Practices which had very real social and spiritual value were out­lawed by many of the early exponents of the Christian religion.

A wide and damaging attitude of cultural arrogance existed. In short, there were imposed upon the subjects people of Melanesia, alien concepts of materialism, individualism and a narrow, insensitive brand of organised religion, all of which ran contrary to and therefore rup­tured the indigenous concept of communalism, or as I prefer to describe it, ‘Me1anesian social­ism’.

But we in Vanuatu have defied the usual consequences of an alien and aggressive man­ner of living, and while we will take with us into the future those aspects of European prac­tice which undoubtedly are of benefit, we will also take with us into the often turbulent seas of nationhood, those aspects of our traditional manner of living without which social cohesion will not be ours.

It is this that must be understood a respect­ed by Australia and indeed by those other states which would almost certainly view the resur­rection of Me1anesian socialism as acts contrary to their interests.

The capacity for misunderstanding is enormous, but there need to be no conflict of interests. Perhaps it is not possible to have totally shared expectations, totally shared assump­tions, to at least let us strive to understand them, and what is more, acknowledge that within them lie self-evident truths.

I said earlier that I speak on this occasion essentially for \fu1uatU. What I can do is to wel­come the recent news that the states of Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Is, Kiribati, the Solomon's, Nauru and Palau, together with the Federated States of Micronesia, are to sign a fisheries co-operation agreement.

The agreement is designed to co-ordinate exploitation of common fisheries resources, strengthen the bargaining position of island countries in their dealings with Japan, Tai­wanese and other foreign fishing nations are regulate the issue of licences to foreign fishing companies.

It is my hope that in the years that lie ahead we will see the birth, whether within a Peder­a1 structure. I know not at this time, of a com­mon trade policy, a pooling of common services and perl1aps a common foreign policy among the states of Melanesia. It is my considered opinion that much will depend upon such a vision of the future being fulfilled.

Certainly such an association of Me1anesian States would hasten the day when we could finally rid ourselves of the inhibition of requir­ing foreign aid. For while I have been talking about domestic strategy, the awakening and gaining of strength in the islands of the Pacific will undoubtedly and quite rightly influence us to draw closer together in order to generate yet further strength.

This in turn will assist us towards develop­ing a regional strategy, which I hope will include a common policy on foreign relations.

Vanuatu’s marine economic zone is a poten­tial source of great economic strength, and we intend to safeguard it and to see that it is utilised for the greater majority of our people. It will only be by a coming together of the island states that we will maintain our hard won Independence in a dangerous and pre­carious world. The Pacific is one of the last regions of the world where the heavy hand of colonialism continues to be played.

These remains of the past must be lifted from our ocean, for in all truth, and as I have remarked before, until all of us are free, none of us are. We will be watching Australia with the greatest of interest in this regard, and if at times we become bolder in international mat­ters, then our reasons for so doing will, I hope, be understood in Canberra and other capitals.

I hope that my Government's decision of early February to prohibit two American war­ships from visiting fun Vila, because no assur­ance could be given by the Government of the country that nuclear devices were not being carried on board, was understood and appre­ciated. That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is just one small piece of evidence as to how bold we hope to be in the future.

There was a book written some years ago called The ugly American, which spoke of an aggressive American influence in South-East Asia.

I hope that there will never because for a work to be written called The Ugly Australian.

I hope and believe not. It has been said by another and at a different time that Australia is a 'white island in a brown sea'.

There are good and encouraging signs, par­ticu1arly among the young in Australia that the natural commitment their country has to the Pacific has to be practically acknowledged. There are good and positive signs that this is so in the Government of Australia and I applaud it.

The success of Australia's relations with the Pacific island states will be based upon the prac­tical and sustained recognition that no one cul­ture is basically superior to another; that each and every culture, together with its social, polit­ica1 and economic ingredients, has a meaning and value to the people who gave birth to it, and it remains the hope of the Government I lead that such a principle will colour Australian Pacific policies in the years that lie ahead.

Published by the VDP 21 Oct 06