Foundation for Development Cooperation: South Pacific
Futures Conference
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| (Left to right) Roland Rich, Joseph Foukona, Gordon Nanau, Henry Okole, Peter Aitsi, Bill Standish |
The Foundation for Development Cooperation hosted the Development Research Symposium: South Pacific Futures in Brisbane on 22-24 July 2002 with over 80 participants from Australia and the region. The former Member of Parliament from Vanuatu Hilda Lini delivered the keynote address in which she challenged the assumptions underlying western representative democracy and argued for more emphasis on Melanesian systems of democracy. This address set the scene for three days of discussion on the state of modern democracy in the Pacific and the role of custom in modern governance processes.
On 22 July Roland Rich chaired a session of the conference focusing on the role of the State in Pacific governance and democracy. Presentations looking at the Solomon Islands were delivered by Joseph Foukona and Gordon Nanau. Joseph's research demonstrated the way a traditional form of dispute resolution, the payment of compensation by one group to another to put an end to a blood feud, has been distorted in the Solomon Islands as a means to extort money from the state. Gordon's paper described the reform process in the Solomon Islands and the way traditional forms of governance need to be reintegrated into the system.
There were also presentations on the chaotic elections in PNG from Henry Okole, Bill Standish and Peter Aitsi. Peter Aitsi, President of the PNG Media Council, described the war on corruption being waged by the media in PNG in cooperation with other members of civil society. His paper shows that civil society must take a stand when the political system falls prey to corruption. Peter's transparencies taken from newspapers in PNG showed the conference a graphic illustration of the power of the media in fighting corruption.
Conference program
| Peter Aitsi - Media and Politics
in PNG | Joseph Foukona
- State Powers and Institutions in Solomon Islands' Developing Democracy
| Gordon Nanau - Uniting the
Fragments: Solomon Islands Constitutional Reform
