NEWSPAGE
23 November
2011

(Photo: Maori Party)

SAMOA: OFC Stage 1 Qualifiers 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™
Source: OFC Media Press Release

The OFC Stage 1 Qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ kick off in just two days at J.S. Blatter Stadium in Apia, Samoa. First up it's American Samoa taking on Tonga at 3:00pm before the feature match between Cook Islands and Samoa at 5:30pm (local time). Here's a look at the action that's in store.

American Samoa vs. Tonga - 3:00pm, Tuesday 22 November

Tonga will go into the opening match as favourites having beaten American Samoa twice before in FIFA World Cup qualifiers. At the 2007 South Pacific Games - their most recent encounter - the Tongans came out 4-0 victors while at the 2002 preliminaries they enjoyed a 5-0 win. In all World Cup qualifiers, they have the best record of the four participating teams with seven wins and nine losses.

But Tonga is very much an unknown threat this time around as the locally based players have spent most of the year training at home with Australian coach Chris Williams. Only twice have they ventured offshore in 2011 with a trip to New Zealand in September as well as a tour of Fiji last week where they lost to Lautoka 2-1. On both occasions they chose to play club sides, meaning their opposition have had no chance to see how they stack up against other Pacific Islands nations.

American Samoa will be the underdogs having lost all 12 of their FIFA World Cup qualifying matches since entering the competition in 2001. But they will no doubt be targeting this match as arguably their best chance of picking up a historic result.

With the benefit of proximity, they were the first to arrive in Apia and will be well suited to the humid conditions as temperatures look set to rise to 30 degrees on Tuesday, compared to the mild 23 degree highs in Tonga at present.

American Samoa have been put through a rigourous training schedule by Thomas Rongen, who was one of the inaugural coaches in the MLS before taking charge of the United States U-20 national team. All in all, it is expected to be a physical and fiercely competitive contest.

In their own words

"I don’t think they’re the underdogs at all. They’ve played more competitive matches than we have and they have a very experienced coach. So we’ll give them the utmost respect. For me, no one knows what to expect from us and, to a degree, we don’t know what to expect from ourselves as well." - Chris Williams, Tonga Coach

“This is a significant occasion - the qualification process for one of the biggest sporting events in the world. In terms of preparations, our technical staff have been training this team since the beginning of the year and we gained valuable experience at the recent Pacific Games in New Caledonia." - Iuli Alex Godinet, President of Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS)

Cook Islands vs. Samoa - 5:30pm, Tuesday 22 November

Match two could prove to be one of the games of the tournament as both teams fancy their chances of qualifying for the second stage. The Oceania minnows have met just once before in FIFA World Cup qualifying back in 1997 when Samoa edged the Rarotongans 2-1.

The hosts will go into the match with confidence after a 1-0 win over Suva in their final hit out on Saturday. One of the key players for coach Tunoa Lui will be 27-year-old striker Desmond Fa’aiuaso, who has an international career spanning 12 years and was picked up by top New Zealand club YoungHeart Manawatu back in 2009 before returning home due to injury.

But Fa’aiuaso and the rest of Samoa’s attack will need to work hard to get the ball past goalkeeper Tony Jamieson who showed impressive form at the recent Pacific Games in Noumea. Cook Islands not only picked up international experience at “Les Jeux du Pacifique” but also tested themselves against Waitakere United and Auckland City development teams last week.

Adding to the strong preparations is the fact that they are led by an experienced coach in Shane Rufer who knows the pressures of top level football with 20 New Zealand caps to his name. But the Cook Islands have a poor record in qualifying tournaments, with just one win in 15 matches. They will have to be at their best to see off a determined Samoan squad.

In their own words

“We’ve prepared for this game. They’ve got the home advantage they’ll have the home support but also that brings with it a bit of pressure from their perspective so we need to take our opportunities and stamp our authority on the game. We want to play to the best of our ability and if we do that it will give us a good chance of winning the tournament. The key for us now will be integrating the new players from Australia and New Zealand in a short time, but we’re confident going into our first game.” - Shane Rufer, Cook Islands Coach

“I think this will be the toughest match. Our approach will be to keep the ball as much as possible, to try and score early and then keep our shape. We’ve only seen one video of the Cook Islands from the Pacific Games but apart from that I don’t know too much about team to be honest. But we will focus on our own game and hopefully get off to a winning start, which is crucial in this tournament.” - Tunoa Lui, Samoa Coach

EXTRA INFORMATION

Team records - FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

American Samoa

Overall
Appearances: 3 (2002, 2006, 2010)
Wins: 0
Draws: 0
Losses: 12
Goals for: 2
Goals against: 129

2002 Qualifiers
vs. Fiji 0-13
vs. Samoa 0-8
vs. Australia 0-31
vs. Tonga 0-5

2006 Qualifiers
vs. Samoa 0-4
vs. Vanuatu 1-9
vs. Fiji 0-11
vs. Papua New Guinea 0-10

2010 Qualifiers
vs. Solomon Islands 1-12
vs. Samoa 0-7
vs. Vanuatu 0-15
vs. Tonga 0-4

Cook Islands

Overall
Appearances: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Wins: 1*
Draws: 1
Losses: 13
Goals for: 8
Goals against: 55

*Cook Islands' one win came against OFC Associate Member Tuvalu

1998 Qualifiers
vs. Tonga 0-2
vs. Samoa 1-2

2002 Qualifiers
vs. Solomon Islands 1-9
vs. Vanuatu 1-8
vs. New Zealand 0-2
vs. Tahiti 0-6

2006 Qualifiers
vs. Tahiti 0-2
vs. Solomon Islands 0-5
vs. Tahiti 0-0
vs. Tonga 1-2
vs. New Caledonia 0-8

2010 Qualifiers
vs. Fiji 0-4
vs. New Caledonia 0-3
vs. Tuvalu 4-1
vs. Tahiti 0-1

Samoa

Overall
Appearances: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Wins: 5
Draws: 0
Losses: 9
Goals for: 24
Goals against: 42

1998 Qualifiers
vs. Cook Islands 1-2
vs. Tonga 0-1

2002 Qualifiers
vs. Tonga 0-1
vs. American Samoa 8-0
vs. Fiji 1-6
vs. Australia 0-11

2006 Qualifiers
vs. American Samoa 4-0
vs. Vanuatu 0-3
vs. Fiji 0-4
vs. Papua New Guinea 1-4

2010 Qualifiers
vs. Vanuatu 0-7
vs. American Samoa 7-0
vs. Tonga 2-0
vs. Solomon Islands 0-3

Tonga

Overall
Appearances: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Wins: 7
Draws: 0
Losses: 9
Goals for: 18
Goals against: 70

1998 Qualifiers
vs. Cook Islands 2-0
vs. Samoa 1-0
vs. Solomon Islands 0-4
vs. Solomon Islands 0-9

2002 Qualifiers
vs. Samoa 1-0
vs. Australia 0-22
vs. American Samoa 5-0
vs. Fiji 1-8

2006 Qualifiers
vs. Solomon Islands 0-6
vs. Cook Islands 2-1
vs. Tahiti 0-2
vs. New Caledonia 0-8

2010 Qualifiers
vs. Solomon Islands 0-4
vs. Samoa 1-2
vs. American Samoa 4-0
vs. Vanuatu 1-4
 

(Photo: Australian High Commission)

AUSTRALIA: Australia Supports Healthy Lifestyle Week

The Australian High Commission this week put its best foot forward in support of the Ministry of Health’s Healthy Lifestyle Week.

On Thursday, 20 members of the High Commission team joined a big group of public servants and members of the public for an aerobic session in front of the Government Building.

“Australia wants to help promote sports participation and healthy lifestyles in Samoa. We are very happy to help the Ministry of Health promote Healthy Lifestyle Week,” Australian High Commissioner Stephen Henningham said.

“It ties in with AusAID’s focus of supporting the Government of Samoa’s strategies to manage and reduce non-communicable diseases.”

“We support efforts to continue the enthusiasm demonstrated in Healthy Lifestyle Week”

To promote healthy lifestyles, and in the lead up to Samoa’s 50th anniversary of independence, the Australian High Commission is holding the G’day Samoa Fun Run/Walk.

The next Fun Run/Walk, which is supported by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education Sport and Culture, will be held in Apia on Saturday 10 December.

Participants can walk the 3km or run the 5km, get a free breakfast and go into the draw to win two return tickets to Australia, flying Polynesian Blue (drawn June 2012).

Participants will also have the chance to meet the Miss South Pacific Pageant contestants and are encouraged to wear a Samoa Victim Support Group ribbon to support peace in the home. There will also be a free rugby league clinic for kids.

Photo: Australian High Commission's participation in Healthy Lifestyle Week.
 

NAURU: The changing faces of Nauru's leadership crisis
Source: Knox Weekly

FREDDIE Pitcher does not hold the record for serving the shortest presidential term of the century (that title belongs to Pedro Carmona Estanga who led Venezuela for two days in 2001), but he'd probably come a close second.

Pitcher was sworn in on November 10 as president of Nauru. Then on Tuesday morning, just after the Lord's Prayer was recited in the House, a motion of no confidence was read out, politely discussed, then put to vote. Pitcher lost his presidency nine votes to eight. He didn't see it coming - not by a long shot.

''They just bulldozed it through and had the motion passed and we were removed, without any debate or any explanation,'' a dazed Pitcher says.

But then again, he had never expected to be president. A long-time parliamentarian, he had left for 10 months to live in Brisbane where his son was undergoing treatment for leukaemia. He was coaxed back by fellow MPs to take up the presidency. Marcus Stephen, who then held the office, had become embroiled in a corruption scandal and needed a successor on his wavelength.

The whole sorry episode, set on a tropical island with a population of just 10,000, has unfolded rather like a chapter of an airport novel. The subject of intrigue, however, is not spies, diamonds or state secrets, it is phosphate, the active ingredient in chemical fertiliser. Alliances are forged and broken, graft accusations over phosphate traded and, at the climax, two presidents fall in the space of a week.

It is not a good look for the tiny island nation, known universally for the fabulous phosphate wealth it acquired then squandered, now trying to get back on its feet.

In good times and in bad, parliamentary scuffles and deadlocks are part of the landscape. The Westminster system was designed for political parties, of which there are none in Nauru. MPs run as independents, forging alliances that are typically fluid and elastic. In this climate, claims and counter-claims of graft are commonplace and more often than not, they allege dodgy phosphate deals.

Last year, Marcus Stephen alleged that the Australian phosphate dealer Getax was trying to influence the make-up of Parliament to ensure continued dealings with Nauru. The Australian Federal Police later launched a 15-month investigation into Getax over allegations that foreign officials had been bribed. The investigation led to no arrests, and was closed in September.

In recent weeks, the tables turned on Stephen. He faced similar allegations after then opposition MP David Adeang uncovered an email citing an alleged correspondence between Stephen and a phosphate dealer in Thailand. ''It gave us the right ammunition at the right time,'' Adeang says. ''It came from somebody very close to the president himself. It seems to me that the circumstances of the person was that they lost a certain privilege and position and was privy to a lot of instructions in the inner circle. It needed very little work on our part to circulate it, we just emailed a couple of guys and they circulated it.''

Those on the island who had not actually read it, knew of its existence, thanks to the ''coconut wireless'', transmitting gossip by text message and word of mouth. On the day that Adeang was expected to read out the email under parliamentary privilege, the visitors' gallery was almost full. But if spectators had expected a sideshow, they would have returned home disappointed. Adeang went about his business, without derision or interruption. The email seemed to speak for itself. The most incriminating part of it was a message from ''Marcus'' to Alex about a phosphate deal.

''As we speak now and if you want to get a contract for 25,000 metric ton, the price should be around $115. If you agree to this price, I think you will get one shipment for 25,000 MT. Put extra $1 or $2 so we can get some money, what do you think?''

A few paragraphs down, ''Marcus'' details to Alex a ''personal business proposal''.

''I want to bring and sell one container of soft drinks - Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Pepsi 330ml cans. I want one container around 1000 boxes of 24 cans.''

Alex is understood to be Alex Ying Jie Ke, Nauru's consul-general to Thailand. But is ''Marcus'' Marcus Stephen, the former president of Nauru?

Stephen said that the correspondence was taken out of context, but fell short of denying that he had wrote it. His supporters make the point that subtleties in meaning are lost in a literal reading of the correspondence, and that the pronoun in the most incriminating sentence ''so we can get some money'' actually refers to the people of Nauru.

But either way, it didn't look good. When Stephen resigned last week, he said in a statement that the ''office of the president was being devalued'' by attacks from the opposition.

But for all the wrangling and backstabbing in parliament, Nauru is limping along in better shape than it has been for years. About a decade ago, the island suffered a devastating financial crash, which saw it plunge in status from the second richest country in the world per capita, only behind Brunei, to one of the poorest in the Pacific. How did it happen?

Imagine an island of 10,000 people with a fleet of five planes, myriad shelf companies set up for money laundering, luxury cars and more cash floating around than could reasonably be invested on the island, and you get a sense of the value ascribed to money.

David Aingimea, a minister at the Assembly of God church, tells the story of one landowner who received $100,000 every three months, and threw wild parties on payday. One night he went to sleep with his takings under his pillow and in the morning it was gone. ''He didn't even shout or call police, it was easy come, easy go.''

Quite simply, Nauru's government ran out of money. Mining ground to a halt and public service wages went unpaid as much of the island reverted to subsistence living. Nauruans refer to this period as ''the bad years'', now that it's more or less behind them.

More than half of the population still lives below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank, and the unemployment rate is about 35 per cent. But, propped up by foreign aid, the country bears most, if not all the hallmarks of a functional state; salaries are regular, healthcare is free and of a high standard, primary school education is universal, power supply is, for the most part, consistent, and the streets and beaches are swept clean.

More importantly, perhaps, the phosphate machinery is churning again. Although yields are nowhere near what they were in the mining heyday, the industry is once again viable, accounting for about 40 per cent of Nauru's gross domestic product. There's an estimated $1.5 billion of the resource in the ground, and amid worldwide shortages of phosphate, companies are clamouring to get hold of it.

On the back of its modest revival, Nauru has even managed to attract foreign investment. The Irish-owned mobile phone company Digicel set up shop there in September 2009, bringing the first mobile phone service to Nauru. It now has more than 6000 subscribers, accounting for about 60 per cent of the island's population.

''The first thing that we noticed here was that Nauru was a country that was piecing back together all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to build back its economy,'' says Paul Gilligan, Digicel's general manager in Nauru.

Gilligan was in Australia when Nauru's leadership crisis unfolded this week.

''It was obviously a bit of a shock, it came right out of left field, and I don't think anyone was really expecting it, but that's politics. It wouldn't bear any major concern for me or for the business here in Nauru, I think we would stay extremely positive.''

Nauru and Australia share close and historical ties that are often fraught. The island is the closest Australia has ever come to having a colony; it supplies Australia with most of its phosphate, and is home to two decommissioned detention centres that the Nauruan governments, past and present, are keen to resurrect.

In the past, when Nauru has sneezed, Australia has been inclined to look for other symptoms. But the events of the week were greeted in Canberra with little more than a shrug. In a brief statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that the allegations against Stephen were a matter for the ''relevant authorities in Nauru''.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, who visited Nauru earlier this year with Tony Abbott, said: ''Our discussions about reopening the processing centre on Nauru have been with all members of the Nauruan parliament, where there has been unanimous support. There is no reason to believe at this stage why there would be any reason for a change in position.''

The new President, Sprent Dabwido, takes the same official line on the detention centres as his predecessors; that if Australia needs help with its asylum seekers, Nauru will assist.

But he says if the two detention centres are to reopen, he would prefer open camps in which asylum seekers ''are free to roam the island, to go to schools here and to enjoy the public facilities''.

''As far as I'm concerned, these people are looking for help and they are looking for a better life than what they have come from, and if they come here and we lock them up, that can't do them any good,'' Dabwido says.

The President is inheriting a troubling legacy. There are no banks left on the island. Its landscape is barren and not conducive to agriculture, and there are few other viable industries aside from mining.

Nauru is propped up largely by foreign aid. It accounts for about 50 per cent of its GDP and Australia is the island's biggest donor. In 2001, AusAid pledges jumped from $3.1 million a year to $22 million, and since the closure of the centres, the money has kept flowing.

Russia also provides money to Nauru. The island nation is among only a handful of countries to recognise the breakaway republics South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the result of Russia's 2008 incursion into Georgia.

Nauru's former foreign minister Kieren Keke insists that Nauru, itself a new nation that struggled for independence, feels a genuine sense of kinship with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But economist Helen Hughes, of the Sydney Institute, is dubious.

''Clearly the only reason was for the money they were getting from Russia, there can be no other reason,'' she says. ''It's absurd to think of a small island in the Pacific playing power politics in Transcaucasia.''

Hughes considers Nauru a mendicant state, and says that Australia should help the island regain self-sufficiency by allowing Nauruans to work there across many vocations.

''There is no way that that barren island can support 10,000 people, and what's more, that that barren island can give a satisfactory life to young people.''

These are all long-term problems that the new government will inherit, but for the time being, it still faces a crisis of image.

''Three changes [in the presidency] definitely doesn't look good. The question here is how we recover from this,'' President Dabwido says.
 

(Photo: Prime Minister's Office)

TONGA: Tonga's Mr. Paula P. Ma'u elected Vice President at APT 12th General Assembly
Source: Prime Minister's Office Press Release
 
At the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT)'s Preparatory Meeting (November 14-15), for its 12th Session of the General Assembly held on November 16-18, Tonga's Mr. Paula Pouvalu Ma'u, the Government of Tonga's Secretary for Information and Communications, was among those elected for candidacy for the office of Presidency and Vice Presidency of the APT.

Hosted and organized by the Korean Communications Commission (KCC), in the Jeju Islands, Republic of Korea, the 12th Session of the APT's General Assembly, has announced its two newly-elected Vice Presidents, to be Tonga's Mr. Paula Pouvalu Ma'u and Afghanistan's Mr. Zakaria Hassan, whilst the office for President was elected to the Republic of Korea's Mr. Young Kyu Noh replacing Dato Dr. Halim Bin Man from Malaysia.

According to Article 8, Paragraph 7, of the Constitution of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, the President and two Vice Presidents will be elected from among the representatives of the Members of the Telecommunity at each ordinary session of the General Assembly of the APT.

The holders of these offices will be for a three year-period, until the next ordinary session of the General Assembly, and whereby the holders of office is eligible for re-election to the same office but no more than two consecutive terms.

At its 12th Session, key topics of discussion for this General Assembly not only included the elections process for offices of President and Vice Presidents for the General Assembly, but also the election process for the next Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity for the next term, 2012-2015.

The elections for these offices were awarded to Mr. Toshiyuki Yamada of Japan, who won by 28 votes against Dr. Kyu Jun Wee of Republic of Korea who only received 9 votes during the ballot.

Mr. Yamada was re-elected as Secretary General of the APT where his Deputy Secretary position re-elected Thailand's Mr. Kraisorn Pornsutee who was the only lone runner for this position.

Among the main topics of discussions at the General Assembly, were important considerations submitted by the Report of the Management Committee on activities of the APT during 2009-2011; the APT's Strategic Plan for 2012-2014 including its Annual Budget discussions and general administrative issues of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity's Members and International organizations affiliations

The next General Assembly will be considered at the APT Management Committee Meeting which will be held next week from 21-24 November, 2011.

Prior to the General Assembly, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati from the Pacific Islands were among new members who have been accepted by APT.

APT is one of the key organizations of government spearheading development and innovation programs in cooperation with telecom service providers, manufacturers of communication equipment and research and development organizations in the field of Communications and Information Technology.

APT serves member countries on ICT in the Asia Pacific Region, of which Tonga is a member.

Photo: Mr. Paula Pouvalu Ma’u elected Vice President at APT 12th General Assembly.
 

(Photo: www.mvariety.com)

HAWAII: Pacific island leaders meet with Obama, Clinton
Source: Marianas Variety
 
HONOLULU - Heads of state and special envoys from eleven Pacific island nations met with President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and other top U.S. and international officials in a special series of meetings organized by the East-West Center in parallel with the recently completed APEC leaders’ week in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Tonga were represented. Peter O’Neil, prime minister of Papua New Guinea, was selected as the delegation’s chairman, with Niue’s Premier Toke Talagi, serving as vice chairman.

The island leaders and envoys held a brief meeting with Obama, at which he remarked that he too is a Pacific islander, having been born and raised in Hawaii. The leaders discussed climate change issues, already a pressing threat for many low-lying island states.

At an earlier, more extensive “whole of government” meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Daniel Inouye, Pacific forces commander Adm. Robert Willard and a “who’s who” of federal agency officials, discussions focused on such issues as fisheries and natural resource management in the region, climate-change threats and access to climate adaptation funding, disaster management, and the region’s growing health crisis from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.

The delegation also attended speeches by Obama, Clinton, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. Their meeting with Sang at the East-West Center marked a historic first time that a Vietnamese head of state had met with Pacific island leaders. In addition, the delegation attended the APEC CEO Summit and met with top executives of such companies as Visa and Johnson & Johnson.

At a special regional security briefing with top officers at Pacific Fleet led by Adm. Patrick Walsh, topics included disaster assistance, terrorism, piracy, and protection of exclusive maritime economic zones. The security briefing was followed by a private visit to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

In addition, the leaders and envoys attended several receptions with leaders of the APEC economies and top U.S. and Hawaii officials, including Inouye, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle.

In presentations and discussions with scholars and experts at the East-West Center, the delegation explored such issues such as possible undersea mining of rare earth discoveries in the Pacific, climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness, China’s expanding activities in Oceania, and regional health threats.

Photo: President Obama greets Pacific islands delegation members, from left, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna, Federated States of Micronesia President Emanuel Mori and Palau President Johnson Toribong.