Need for cultural balance

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 15

Need for cultural balance

Political reporter The situation in Fiji and the stand-off in New Caledonia may have given the world the impression that the South Pacific was in turmoil, but that would be absurd, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Marshall. But for editorial writers in Washington or Paris it was easy to generalise and view everything through the distorting lens of distance.

An inference was being drawn that upheaval in one country had a direct and immediate impact elsewhere and that the whole South Pacific was in danger of becoming an area of conflict, Mr Marshall said.

That was manifestly absurd, but there were farreaching implications in what had happened —

implications that New Zealand was just coming to grips with. "Are we simply the land of the ‘Wrong White Crowd,’ as one of our neighbours described us?” asked Mr Marshall. Was New Zealand trying to impose Western values in a South Pacific situation? Should it be giving more weight to the Pacific Island perceptions of regional issues? To answer these questions, New Zealand had to look at where it was coming from and where it was going. As the Pacific Island and Maori sectors in its population grew, New Zealand’s values would increasingly reflect those parts of its society, he said. Yet at the same time New Zealand was likely to retain much that had its

origins in its Western European background.

New Zealand could expect to end up with hybrid values, some of which were pakeha and'some of which were Polynesian. "A regime backed by military force,” is how Mr Marshall described what had emerged in Fiji. That was no recipe for prosperity and stability, as many in Fiji realised. The future shape of New Zealand’s relations with Fiji was receiving close attention amongst the Commonwealth and would be considered by the Cabinet again today, Mr Marshall said.

The Fijian coup had reminded everyone that the aspirations of indigenous people, whether in Fiji or New Caledonia, were a powerful political force in the South Pacific

area. But the difficulty was to strike a balance that served the rights and interests of all genuinelycommitted inhabitants of multi-racial societies, Mr Marshall said. It was a question of which New Zealand had to be conscious.

The coup had thwarted the option being discussed of a multi-racial consensus.

The difficulties of finding a solution in New Caledonia, which ensured stability and prosperity for everyone, were enormous too, Mr Marshall said. In New Caledonia, time was running out. The divisions in society there were becoming deeper. The young Kanaks might well become Impatient with their leaders,

who had. been an unrecognised force for moderation in the buildup to the recent referendum on independence, Mr Marshall said. The situation in New Caledonia could easily deteriorate, he said, and that would leave plenty of opportunity for troublemakers such as the Libyans to stir the pot.

There were some who would argue that, given the problem in New Caledonia, a French presence would always be required to maintain stability.

One view of what had happened in Fiji might support that, but conversely what had happened in Fiji should show how powerful a political force the aspirations of indigenous people were, Mr Marshall said.