NEWSPAGE 29 November
2010

(Photos: eventpolynesia.com)

(Photo: Sun Media Ltd.)

SAMOA: The South Seas champions who put Samoa on the map
Source: Herald Scotland

Samoa have been sitting near rugby’s top table for so long now it is sometimes hard to remember a time when they were anywhere else.

Yet, when they turned up in the United Kingdom to take part in the 1991 Rugby World Cup, there was such a sense of novelty around them that some of the coverage suggested they had come from the far side of a distant galaxy.

By the time they left, everyone knew who they were. Samoa - or Western Samoa as they were then - were the sensations of the tournament, the smiling psychopaths from the South Seas who chopped down their opponents with ferocious tackling, yet charmed the crowds with the irrepressible good humour of their overall approach.

Australia might have won the Webb Ellis Cup in ’91, but Samoa won more friends.

Not many of them Welsh, it has to be said. They were greeted with a few sniggers when they arrived in Cardiff for their opening game that year, but derision turned to respect when they blew the competition wide open by beating Wales 16-13. The result, which effectively denied Wales a place in the knockout stages, was the making of Samoan rugby.

Matt Vaea remembers the occasion well. These days he is manager of the Samoa team, but back then he was a chirpy and elusive scrum-half, playing only the third game of his international career. Vaea went up against Robert Jones, a Test Lion in Australia a couple of years earlier, and accounts suggest he edged the individual battle just as his side came out on top in the bigger scheme of things.

The patronising approach of rugby’s old guard to the Samoans reflected rugby’s old colonial past. What nobody seemed to have noticed was that they came into that year’s World Cup on the back of a 15-game unbeaten run that stretched back more than two years.

They also had players who were already stars of the New Zealand provincial scene - among them a young flanker by the name of Pat Lam who won the first of his 34 caps in that match against Wales. Another debutant was Frank Bunce, who would later switch to New Zealand - as was still allowed in those days - and win 55 caps for the All Blacks.

“It was huge for us,” recalls Vaea. “Aside from the rugby, it put the country itself on the map.

“When we arrived, we weren’t allowed to do our war dance, the Siva Tau. We were told a lot of things by the organisers because we were the new team, the unknowns, but after that win in Cardiff we were allowed to do a lot of things. It was a great experience and we actually had a lot of support from the home unions. They were very supportive of our campaign.”

From being the jokers in the Pool 3 pack, the Samoans were suddenly a serious side. Yet the scheduling that has historically counted against the World Cup minnows gave them a particularly raw deal as it put them up against Australia in Pontypool just three days later. Despite that, they still put up an epic fight, losing just 9-3. Vaea, who had scored eight points with his kicks against Wales, landed their solitary penalty.

Four days later, they beat Argentina 35-12 in Pontypridd. By now, the entire rugby world had woken up to the Samoans.

Finishing second in their pool - they had been seeded fourth - their quarter-final took them to Edinburgh. Scotland had come through their group unbeaten, but had never hit top form. After what had happened to Wales, there were real fears in the Scottish capital that another upset was on the cards. So Ian McGeechan, the Scotland coach, hatched a plan.

At the heart of it was Gavin Hastings. Scotland would play the Samoans at their own game, and Hastings was the human battering ram to do it. “We wanted to meet fire with fire,” said Scotland’s scrum-half that day, Gary Armstrong. “Bringing Gavin in, basically from the stand-off position meant he provided a physical presence in the rough and tumble of rucks and mauls that our forwards could work on. Basically, the strategy worked like a dream.”

Vaea, Armstrong’s direct opponent, admits now that his side were caught cold. “I think that after the pool games and especially going close against Australia, we were still on a high,” he explains. “We expected a different game plan from Scotland, with John Jeffrey and Finlay Calder in the back-row. But they brought in all the other aspects of the game, used Gavin Hastings quite a lot on the short side and had a good kicking game.”

Scotland won 28-6, two tries from Jeffrey their highlight. But while their World Cup ended a week later with an agonising 9-6 loss to England - the hero Hastings became the villain with his infamous penalty miss from in front of the posts - Samoa flew home in triumph.

“There are only 180,000 people in Samoa,” says Vaea, “but most of them came to welcome the boys home in the early hours of the morning.” A sporting nation had been born.

Samoa have played in every World Cup since, clocking up a respectable nine wins - including another over Wales in 1999 - in 20 games. They have never beaten Scotland in any competition, though, a 15-15 draw in the 1995 friendly at Murrayfield being the best they have achieved.

But as they found out in Cardiff 19 years ago, there’s a first time for everything in this game.

Photo Caption: Manu Samoa team manager, Tuala Matthew Vaea.
 

(Photo: B. Fa’amausili / Samoa News)

AMERICAN SAMOA: "Styling with Trash": Aua Elementary's innovative fashion show
Source: Samoa News

A creative, innovative environmental event was held at Aua Elementary School on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 aptly named "Styling with Trash". School teachers, students, and parents worked together as a coalition to create fashions from everyday trash that they gathered during their campus clean up.

The motto of the day was "Recycle Reduce Reuse", and the students put the motto to good use.

The judges for the event were Francis Le'iato from Land Grant, Darryl from the Department of Commerce (DOC), and Evaga Tuna from Samoa News. Each class was judged by their banner, song and cheer, poems, fashion, skit, turkey, and the Mr. and Mrs for their class.

The event began with a parade of ECE students along with the rest of the school as they displayed the variety of fashions created from bottle caps, soda cans, milk cartons, snack wrappers, old newspapers etc. Some taupou were dressed in trash bags and young boys were covered in newspapers as they danced their way in front of the judges.

Parents did their part to support the children. Along with helping with the show, they also sold food and beverages near the classrooms. Samoa News spoke to Aua Elementary School Principal Ma'asoama Falemalama before the event and she explained, "This is our first time having an event like this today, and I am very excited to see what the students have made from trash."

Everything started when Ilene Malae (chairman) taught sixth grade in 2008 and established the Environmental Protection Science Club at Aua Elementary back in 2008. Ilene's idea of a science club had a great impression on students and faculty members. The school principal Falemalama noted, "That's when we decided to involve the whole school in this program."

She added, "I want to thank Koti Fuimaono who is the President for the Science Club, and I would also like to thank Co-Chairman Fale Ula Sapa for combining the idea of presenting English and Science together. I want to thank the judges and the parents for their support. We want to teach the kids the importance of the environment and consequences in not keeping the environment clean." she stated.

The science club has recorded data on the amount of trash collected over the years. The science club recorded trash in 2008 and then again in 2009, and the data showed an increase in school trash. Co-Chairman Faleula Sapa commented, "The message is to encourage other schools to clean up and to make our island a better place to live."

Photo Caption: Aua elementary school’s Level 8 taupou and manaia (Mr. and Miss) during the taualuga portion of their program held Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. The school dedicated their pre-Thanksgiving program to sending out a message about beautifying the school and the environment.
 

(Photo: Fiji Times)

FIJI: Province focuses on education
Source: Fiji Times

Education and development are two main issues addressed during the Nadroga/Navosa Provincial Council meeting at Sigatoka village.

Senior assistant roko Rupeni Kunatoga said the council started an annual $80,000 scholarship programme for their students.

Mr Kunatoga said 20 students had been awarded scholarship with the allowances also paid out to all tertiary students.

In addition, the council is responsible for the school fees of all the Nadroga/Navosa Form Five and six students.

"Education is crucial for us," he said.

"Every year we give $80,000 for education, we also bought a house in Suva to cater for all our students."

Mr Kunatoga said apart from education, special emphasis was directed to development.

He said the council would be constructing a new office and a residential property to house an assistant roko at Keiyasi in Navosa.

"We are also planning to construct a $300,000 building at Lawaqa to be used for future meetings.

"The construction work will commence new year and this will service all the rural villages in the hills of Navosa."

"At the moment we have only $70,000 and once we completed all other small projects then we will start constructing the new building.

Mr Kaunitoga said the Land Bank issue was another issue tabled at yesterday's meeting that required awareness to all landowners.

"The council has made the right decision for the issue to be decided by the grassroot people before any submission is made," he said.

Photo Caption: Saimoni Camanasiga at the provincial council meeting.
 

NEW CALEDONIA: New Caledonia’s unrealised legacy 
Source: The Diplomat

New Caledonia's role in the South Pacific has been largely ignored. But both strategically and economically it could be a key player.

Unlike earlier in its eventful history, New Caledonia today rarely captures public and media attention—whether Australian or international—except perhaps as a tourist destination. Yet ignoring it would be a mistake, as even a cursory look at the islands’ potential underscores the territory’s varied strategic importance to the region.

A country’s strategic importance tends to be measured in several ways. Political elements are often considered, including military potential and capacity. However, while these are important considerations, in the future, factors such as the levels and diversity of resources a region or territory possesses will become increasingly important. Placing more weight on such considerations will be especially vital in the coming decades, where sustainability and supporting growing human populations will be of paramount importance to human survival.

Chrome, iron, cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, lead, copper and particularly nickel dominate New Caledonia’s mineral resource portfolio. Over 25 percent of the world’s nickel ore reserves lie here, and although price fluctuations in the world market have recently been volatile, there’s no question that this metal will remain—if not increase—as a staple of industry, including for the production of vehicles, construction materials and components for electrical goods and machinery.

Just how valuable these minerals will become, and the extent to which New Caledonia will develop to refine and export these resources, remains to be seen. New Caledonia’s mineral export partnerships are, however slowly though, shifting, and will likely continue to do so as the industrial thirst of Asia’s developing economies grows. If this occurs, future competitive tensions with fellow mineral export giant Australia can’t be discounted. But while the land down under may boast its own mineral resources, having New Caledonia’s nearby and secured might actually be a positive for Australia in the foreseeable future.

But there are potential problems ahead for the territory. Although New Caledonia’s per capita GDPis larger than New Zealand’s, its imbalanced economy poses a serious challenge to its political future. Currently, it’s being kept afloat and protected by France’s own economic trade portfolio. However, what would happen if New Caledonia were no longer part of this type of larger trade framework? Its economy would need full restructuring to avoid vulnerability in its key trade sectors, and it would have to swiftly find new trading partners.

One of its most vulnerable sectors is energy. Energy is the lifeblood of New Caledonia’s mineral wealth, as its home-grown energy resources are modest and hydroelectricity remains a problematic alternative to a heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels. The vast quantity of energy that mineral extraction consumes also leads to another problem—one of the highest per capita carbon footprints in the Pacific.

To counter this, New Caledonia’s nascent renewable energy sector is growing, and presently supplies 16 percent of the country’s domestic needs, notably from wind generation, but also using solar and other energy sources. Like the rest of the Pacific Islands, New Caledonia presents a challenging, but promising investment opportunity for Australian and other investors in the renewable energy sector.

New Caledonia’s living resources should also be considered. The archipelago boasts a diversity of terrestrial animals, plants and bird life unmatched in such a comparatively small area, and it is considered one of the most important areas of biodiversity in the world. Sitting astride the East Australian current as it approaches Australia from the Equator, New Caledonia may play a significant role in food chains and life cycles of species throughout the South Pacific. Since the collapse of one marine ecosystem may irrevocably affect fish stocks in neighbouring countries, New Caledonia, Australia and other Pacific neighbours must not only work to protect marine resources, but also more broadly share information on maritime security.

New Caledonia’s sea-life assets are not its only marine resources. Its Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) area is 1,740,000 kmsquare—bigger than metropolitan France and its EEZ combined. France has recently secured a dramatic increase in New Caledonia’s offshore territory, through its successful 2009 Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The resources that lie beneath the sea will become ever more valuable as humankind continues to consume the world’s terrestrial resources, and as exploration and extraction technology improves. The ZoNéCo (Zone Économique de Nouvelle-Calédonie) project currently underway seeks to map and understand the under-seabed resources within its EEZ and the ECS claim, and in time will reveal the true richness of their potential.

New Caledonia’s resources alone are sufficient to deserve regional and global consideration. However, its very presence in the South Pacific is equally significant.

Beyond its land mass, New Caledonia’s EEZ flanks those of Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, with New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Polynesian and Micronesian island countries’ EEZs nearby. New Caledonia therefore assumes a regional centrality that makes it a logical staging base for all trans-Pacific endeavours. This strategic advantage strongly influenced France’s decision to annex the territory in 1853, and remains a key factor in the tripartite France-Australia-New Zealand (FRANZ) agreement for cooperative maritime surveillance, disaster responses and humanitarian assistance in the Pacific.

All this means that it’s unquestionable that New Caledonia is—and will remain—a fundamental element of Pacific strategic affairs. Whether it remains part of France, given greater autonomy or is even granted independence, New Caledonia must continue to develop and deepen ties with its Pacific neighbours and its South-east Asian trade partners. Attaining full membership of the Pacific Islands Forum and representation at peak bodies such as the Melanesian Spearhead Group provide New Caledonia will offer a vital opportunity to engage important forums and foster mutual trust, confidence and understanding.

In addition, New Caledonia’s ongoing and active participation within organisations such as the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Forum Fisheries Agency adds significant cohesion to the Pacific hemisphere.

That said, fostering regional ties is a two-way street, and there needs to be an equal effort on the part of both New Caledonia and its neighbours to acknowledge and encourage potential mutual benefits.
 

(Photo: Ding Lin / Xinhua)

WORLDWIDE: Fiji, Samoa celebrate 35th anniversaries of diplomatic ties with China
Source: Xinhua

Fiji and Samoa celebrated their 35th anniversaries of diplomatic ties with China last Friday (November 26, 2010) in Beijing.

The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and China-Oceanic Friendship Association (COFA) hosted a reception to mark the event.

About 80 guests from China, Fiji and Samoa, including Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiataua, speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa; Du Qiwen, China's special envoy to the China-Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue; and CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin attended the reception.

When addressing the reception, Li Xiaolin, also the Vice President of COFA said, Fiji and Samoa were the first Pacific nations to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1975. Bilateral communication and cooperation have achieved fruitful results in various fields over the past 35 years.

Fijian ambassador to China and Samoan ambassador to China spoke highly of the development of diplomatic relations with China in recent years in their respective addresses at the reception. They hailed the great achievements in China's economic and social development, and thanked China for unconditional assistance to their countries.

Photo Caption: The reception held in Beijing, capital of China, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Fiji, and between China and Samoa.