Posted on 02/14/2005 4:50:41 AM PST by NZerFromHK
French anti-corruption leader views Tahiti as classic case of corruption
(Tahitipresse) - As some 110,000 Windward Islands potential voters prepare for Sunday’s by-election, a visiting French anti-corruption leader described Tahiti as a “good example” of political corruption.
Tahiti is a good example because even though it is smaller than France, when examined under a magnifying glass, “one encounters all that one finds elsewhere—cronyism, rigged markets, fictitious employment, financial channels and even pressures that one can exert on civil servants or judges,” Eric Halphen said Friday.
Halphen, a former powerful and controversial examining judge in France who has turned to politics, is the chairman of the sponsoring committee of the Association of Elected Officials Against Corruption, known as Anticor. He autographed copies of his book, “Sept ans de solitude” (Seven Years of Solitude) at a Papeete bookstore Friday. With him, Anticor President Séverine Tessier also autographed copies of her just published book, ““Polynésie, les copains d’abord – L’autre système Chirac” (French Polynesia, Pals First—Chirac’s Other System”. Ms. Tessier’s book denounces more than 20 years of alleged “political clientelism by (French President) Jacques Chirac’s strongman, Gaston Flosse”.
Halphen plans to stay until day after Sunday’s election
While Ms. Tessier is scheduled to leave Tahiti on election night, Halphen said he plans to stay until the day after Sunday’s voting for 37 Windward Island seats in the 57-seat French Polynesia Assembly.
Halphen emphasized that corruption has no political color. Corruption is neither political leftist or rightist, but “is on all sides” of the political fence, he said. “But in (French) Polynesia’s particular case, there is, nevertheless, a system on one side and a desire on the other side, a desire to change things, to acting with more democracy.
“One can hope that with Oscar Temaru, it won’t be the same,” Halphen said, referring to pro-independence party leader Oscar Temaru, whose six-party Union for Democracy (UPLD) coalition is squaring off Sunday against pro-France, pro-autonomy leader and French Polynesia president, Gaston Flosse. There are five other lists of candidates in the election, the most popular of which, according to two recent newspaper polls, appears to be the Alliance for a New Democracy (ADN) led by Nicole Bouteau and Philip Schyle.
Halphen “pleasantly surprised” by political campaign atmosphere
Despite local media reports describing Tahiti’s current political campaign as being conducted in a “violent” atmosphere, Halphen said he had been “very pleasantly surprised” by what he had found. “From encounters, political meetings, people met in the streets, there’s lots of kindness, solidarity, sympathy, which we don’t have at all in France. It’s almost a kind of example,” he said, adding that incidents involving Flosse vs. Temaru supporters reported in the media were “rather minor compared to the climate of (political) campaigns in France”.
Halphen confirmed that a branch of Anticor had been created in French Polynesia, but declined to reveal the names of those involved.
In France, Anticor was created on April 21, 2002, the day after the first round of voting in the presidential election.
My wife and I have booked a Tahiti cruise for this upcoming September. Is this a safe area to travel in for Americans?
I can't vouch for what's going to happen. In light of unstable parliamentary seats distribution I suggest watch the news and closely monitor the situation before you go.
Tahiti did have a history of occasional unrest - 196x, 1978, 1995. In 1995 riots even broke out at the only international airport at Faa'a on Tahiti island. I was there in November 2003 and I sensed the locals (even the ethnic Chinese there as well, who were already better off than Islanders) hold the French Gendarmerie in contempt, and in the French police (I sense they are Metro French, meaning they are French from France proper) treat the locals like kindergarten children. It does not look very stable to me.
Doncha just love the term "fictitious employment"? Trouble is, the paychecks are real, and they're financed by the few who still have real jobs.
I was in Tahiti 25 years ago, and even then the Tahitians were resisting the French, but passively, by not showing up for their jobs.....hotels were chronically short of help and many hotel workers were quite rude or at least inattentive to the guests, a little trick they no doubt picked up from the French. I would not go back to Tahiti.
Fiji, on the other hand, was just wonderful, clearly showing the difference between French and Brit colonization. I hear that today Fiji has its troubles too, but some speculate that it's caused by outside agitators.
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