New Caledonia’s Great Chief William Boarat has been found dead and police have arrested a 24-year-old man as investigations continue.

Great Chief Boarat was found dead in the early hours of yesterday in circumstances described as involuntary homicide.

Public prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement that initial findings on the crime scene in the village of Ouaco pointed to an initial assault from a 24-year-old man on a woman he was in a de facto relationship with.

Chief Boarat, 66, who was present at the scene, reportedly tried to stop the man from hitting his partner in their village residence.

The young man, believed to be under the influence of alcohol, is then reported to have grabbed a wooden post and hit the chief on the head.

A medical team later found the old chief unconscious, with severe head wounds.

Attempts to revive him proved unsuccessful.

The suspect has been taken into custody, and investigations are ongoing.

He faces charges of murder and assault against his de facto partner.

Witnesses are also being questioned as part of the inquiry.

A post-mortem has been ordered to further establish the exact cause of death.

The Boarat clan is the main chiefly entity of the Koumac area, which itself belongs to the chiefly area of Hoot ma Waap (one of the eight chiefly areas represented in New Caledonia’s Customary Senate).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs has endorsed the reinstatement of a lease distribution policy with the iTaukei Land Trust Board.

The decision was reached by interim council members who met on Bau Island yesterday shortly after the historic re-establishment of the council, which was abolished in 2007 by then prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The lease distribution policy outlines the payment scheme for revenue generated through Fiji’s complicated system of native land leases which can be tens of millions of dollars a year or even more than that for the wealthier tribes.

The former FijiFirst government removed the policy and introduced Equal Rent Distribution in 2011.

This meant every member of the mataqali, or landowning unit, received the same amount from lease payments, regardless of their status.

The Minister for iTaukei Affairs, Ifereimi Vasu, said the chiefs endorsed the reinstatement of the original policy at a reduced percentage.

This means after the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB), which oversees all native leases takes its 10 percent poundage fee, the remaining funds are to be distributed as follows:

• 5 percent for the Turaga iTaukei (Village Chiefs)
• 10 percent for the Turaga Qali (Village Elders)
• 15 percent for the Turaga ni Mataqali (Clan Leader)
• 70 percent to be shared equally among remaining members

Vasu said concerns had been raised with them that some mataqali members around Fiji take their lease money and do not contribute to the vanua or the village’s development.

“Most of our visits to the province, most stated that the equal distribution is not helping, it really is not helping those that are leading the vanua, they are really struggling.

“In a sense, now that we are having equal distribution, people don’t bother about what is happening on the vanua, they have taken their share, they have gone, and all the responsibilities are handled by the chiefs.”

Ifereimi Vasu said it was also decided that a development fund be set up to cater for future iTaukei development needs.

“As an outcome of the discussion, the meeting endorsed the setting up of a special fund for the future, iTaukei Development Funding, which will be sourced from the percentage of the TLTB poundage and the percent of the lease money,” he said.

Chiefs to hear from review committee
Apart from the lease distribution policy, the chiefs also agreed to hear back from a committee conducting a review of the Great Council of Chiefs which will guide the form and function of the new council.

The review team, led by Ratu Jone Baledrokadroka, has until the end of July to complete their work.

A final report will be presented to the council upon its completion.

Ratu Baledrokadroka said the council — which was accused of being a racist organisation in the past — has indicated a willingness to open up as a body for all Fijians, which is a positive endorsement of the work his team is carrying out.

He said, in reinventing itself, it is important for the council to keep out of politics.

“The GCC is willing to open up the institution making it more apolitical. We are trying to make sure that, into the future, it doesn’t commit the mistakes of the past,” Ratu Baledrokadroka said.

“That has been the biggest mistake for the GCC that it had delved into politics which had seen it disestablished by the previous government.”

Speaking after the presentation to the meeting yesterday, Ratu Baledrokadroka said their brief presentation on what they had been able to gather so far was well received.

“We have done nine provinces. What they are wanting is inclusiveness, that the GCC represents all ethnicities and all sections of society, the youth, the women.

“We give our recommendations on what people say. What we will produce is what the people have said.

“What has come out very strongly today is that the GCC and the chiefs are for all, not just for iTaukeis; they are willing to take on that responsibility for all.”

Ratu Baledrokadroka said the traditional ceremonies of apologies and forgiveness that took place at the opening ceremony augured well for the way Fiji was moving.

Future membership
Minister of iTaukei Affairs Vasu confirmed yesterday that the current membership of the GCC was temporary.

He said the re-establishment of the GCC was scheduled for May.

“Its actual make up will come from what the Review Team finalises. The people and the chiefs will decide how the GCC will move forward,” Vasu added.

Vasu said calls made for the inclusion of other races and groupings in the GCC membership would have to be decided when the review team “come back and give us their final analysis of what the people and the chiefs are saying”.

The meeting of the interim council members continued today on Bau Island and was expected to conclude this afternoon.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Nadroga Navosa paramount chief Na Ka Levu Ratu Tevita Nabekwahiga Makutu says his province will not take part in the “disrespectful” land bill public consultations carried out by Fiji government.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Ratu Tevita explained the province’s exemption from the consultations following the passing of the Bill in Parliament last month.

“Sir, you are fully aware of the position of the vanua on the new amendment to the iTaukei Lands Trust Act,” he stated in the letter.

“It is disconcerting to learn that after the law has been amended, your ministry and the iTaukei Land Trust Board officials saw fit and proper to do awareness in the province to the very people who should have been consulted in the very first place.

“This demonstrates a gross disrespect to the dignity of the landowners or the iTaukei community in general.

“The action of your government undermines the trust of the landowning units (LOUs) vested to the board for the efficient and effective administration of iTaukei land.”

He said the vanua must be recognised and respected.

Vanua served faithfully
“History will reveal that the vanua has faithfully and diligently served its functions and purposes for socio-economic development of the nation.

“The government cannot operate in isolation or with a sense of distrust with people who have elected them to Parliament.

“We are the true voices of the people of Fiji, must and should be, consulted on pertinent matters relating to our land.”

Questions sent to the permanent secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister, Yogesh Karan, remained unanswered when this edition of The Fiji Times went to press.

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Traditional chiefs, members of the Council of Pilung from the four main islands of Yap, have written to the Yap Legislature in a bid to persuade the Federated States of Micronesia Congress to declare a Pacific Island Times correspondent persona non grata.

Joyce McClure is a US citizen resident in Yap who is a correspondent for the Pacific Island Times, although the chiefs describe the name of the publication as “Pacific Time magazine news website”, reports editor Bruce Lloyd.

The 10 traditional chiefs, charged under the Yap State constitution with overseeing matters of tradition and culture, said in a lengthy letter to Speaker Vincent Figir of the Yap State Legislature that McClure’s journalistic activities “[have] been or may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”.

READ MORE: ‘Holding the line’ Pacific Island Times editorial

Journalist Joyce McClure … under local fire in Yap for her investigative articles. Image: Twitter

The letter also demanded that the FSM Congress declare “this particular American citizen” persona non grata.

“As the paramount authority of the land, we the Council of Chiefs find this lady’s activities are rather creating unnecessary turmoil in our small society that is entirely not called for.

-Partners-

“Therefore, we are collectively seeking assistance in the removal of Ms. Joyce McClure from the State of Yap and banning her publication of unverified information pertaining to the State of Yap and its People.”

Nine of the 10 chiefs signed off on the view that McClure “has treated the local people of Yap State as uneducated fools and deemed irresponsible of how they should run their local government [sic].”

Accused of ‘malpractice’
The letter accused McClure, a veteran journalist and marketing expert who most recently was contracted to advise on the successful MicroGames in Yap, of journalistic malpractice:

The embattled McClure has previously offered to meet with the Yap State Legislature and the Council of Pilung to provide proof of her work and respond to the allegations directly.

The chief’s letter also attacked the Pacific Island Times, claiming, “[it] has proven to be the first ever fake-news agency in the Pacific Ocean/Island Nations given all of her published articles of Yap State without verifications containing biased strong opinions against Asian ethnicity, government and/or business in general creating confusions amongst local people and fuming [sic] the fire under the minority who are also anti-Asians.”

The letter also suggests that the traditional chiefs have taken it upon themselves to create a list of prohibited journalistic “sanctions” for Yap, which is at odds with the US First Amendment and Article IV, Section 1 of the FSM Constitution, including satire that uses “humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events”.

In a Pacific Island Times publisher’s statement, Mar-Vic Cagurangan condemned the “attempt to silence a journalist and curtail freedom of the press”.

“We regret the Council of Pilung’s demand to have Joyce McClure sent out of Yap and declared persona non grata. We regret such an attempt to silence a journalist and curtail freedom of the press,” the editorial said.

The publication described McClure, an American citizen who has been a resident of Yap for three years, as the Times’ correspondent in Yap. She was also writing for other regional and international media outlets.

Investigative stories
“Among the recent stories Ms Joyce has written include a private company’s apparent attempt to bribe the newly installed state officials. Ms Joyce reported that Yap Gov. Henry S. Falan and Lt. Gov. Jesse John Salalu rejected the gift bag containing a bottle of Chivas Regal and an envelope filled with crispy dollar bills amounting to $4000, which the company sent during the officials’ January 14 inauguration.

“Last year, we published Ms McClure’s investigative story about Chinese commercial vessels harvesting Yap fish with local help,” the Pacific Island Times said.

Cagurangan said the website’s management team supported Ms McClure – “We have confidence in her competence and integrity”.

According to the magazine, the Pacific Island Times is published in Guam by the Pacific Independent News Service LLC with the slogan “Fearless, fair and focused”.

“Our goal is to be the most comprehensive, accurate, analytical and most interesting source of news on politics, government affairs, economy and business, arts and culture in Guam and in the region,” the Times says.

It also describes its editorial team as having 75 cumulative years of local experience.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz