November 11th 2017, Panel Session at the 15th Asia Pacific Conference
Pacific Island Panel Team (Left to Right): Mr. Simon Bahau, Dr. Dvorak Greg, Ms. Yano Ryoko, Dr. Tateyama Hirokuni, Dr. Funaki Kaitu'u 'i Pangai
Dr. Funaki explaining his research framework
With APU Alumni at the Reception
With Jen (left) from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Dr. Greg Dvorak and Hanako (right) from the Marshall Islands after the Conference
Sighting with Dr. Dvorak at the Sea Hell (Umi Jigoku) in Beppu city (Oita Prefecture, Japan).
The 15th Asia Pacific Conference was held at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) with a theme, "Global Perspectives in Changing Local Landscapes" on November 11th-12th 2017. Dr. Funaki organized and chaired a panel session with 5 Pacific Island scholars titled: "Contributions from the Pacific Island Countries to the Era of the Asia Pacific."
Submitted Abstracts:
Oceania consists of more than 25,000 islands, comprising 80% of the total number of islands in the world. Papua New Guinea holds the most land with 70%, New Zealand has 20%, and the remaining 10% is shared among the more than 20 nation states encompassing Oceania. Taking the size of these nations to include their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), the region covers 1/3 of the surface of the Earth with about 165 million square kilometers. Moreover, the Pacific with its marine resources contributes significantly to world food security and, with proper management, a sustainable supply for future generations. In addition, the region also contributes land resources and other reserves mostly found in Melanesian countries. More potential is further realized through the discovery of manganese deposits and other seabed resources throughout the region.The scattering of PICs among their EEZ space represents global security issues as for shipping routes include threats related to terrorist activities. This global security resource plays a significant role in regards to cooperation between the PICs and leading economies of the world on mechanisms about threats that could affect the lives of global citizens.
As global transactions and population are concentrating more in the Asia Pacific region, it is a period to put together, collect, revisit, build up, revive and redefine the concepts of global perspectives. This panel aims to share knowledge from the PICs through researches conducted in the three regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. While PICs adapt to the systems introduced through the process of development, it is a mistake to ignore their value system and traditions to be considered in the discussions of the regions’ future. In spite of current problems and challenges, this panel wishes to concentrate on contributions from the PICs through interdisciplinary perspectives.
Presenter 1: Mr. Simon Peter Bahau, Professor, Center for International Education and Research (CIER), University of Toyama, Japan. (Nationality: Papua New Guinea). Title: Pacific Connection Revisited
It is unfortunate to say that discussions of global perspectives overlook the past and future of the Pacific Island Countries. Many traditional nations are built upon enormous efforts but almost forgotten in the process. Thus, history that was the foundation of these very countries has been buried or otherwise left out. However, this could be the very source of reflection where the Pacific Island Countries need to revisit, ponder over, and after careful selection, utilize what ought to be for the betterment of their lands and its impact on other cultures. The presentation is twofold. The former depicts the contributions to commercialization and administration between Samoa and Papua New Guinea (then New Guinea) during the colonial times of the late 19th to early 20th century. The latter elaborates on local intellectuals by reflecting and advising on the aftermath of the former after the 1970s. It was a period when independence was gained whereby the Islanders tend to have adapted to the new necessity to be reconfirmed, not the least but for the sake of identity. All in all, should the past be overlooked and impersonated, revelation and grounding occur. On the other hand, with due account and reflection on the past together with the current status, the administration of the day would then be fairer in intertwining the original ways of governance with the ones introduced for the current and future nation building of the Pacific Island Countries. The presentation will discuss how the experiences from PNG could benefit other countries with similar situations.
Presenter 2: Dr. TATEYAMA Hirokuni, Associate Professor, Education Development and Learning Support Center, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), Japan. (Nationality: Japan) Title: Beyond the Climate Refugee: A Historical Analysis of the Relocation of the Carteret Islanders of Papua New Guinea
It is unfortunate to say that discussions of global perspectives overlook the past and future of the Pacific Island Countries. Many traditional nations are built upon enormous efforts but almost forgotten in the process. Thus, history that was the foundation of these very countries has been buried or otherwise left out. However, this could be the very source of reflection where the Pacific Island Countries need to revisit, ponder over, and after careful selection, utilize what ought to be for the betterment of their lands and its impact on other cultures. The presentation is twofold. The former depicts the contributions to commercialization and administration between Samoa and Papua New Guinea (then New Guinea) during the colonial times of the late 19th to early 20th century. The latter elaborates on local intellectuals by reflecting and advising on the aftermath of the former after the 1970s. It was a period when independence was gained whereby the Islanders tend to have adapted to the new necessity to be reconfirmed, not the least but for the sake of identity. All in all, should the past be overlooked and impersonated, revelation and grounding occur. On the other hand, with due account and reflection on the past together with the current status, the administration of the day would then be fairer in intertwining the original ways of governance with the ones introduced for the current and future nation building of the Pacific Island Countries. The presentation will discuss how the experiences from PNG could benefit other countries with similar situations.
Presenter 3: Ms. YANO Ryoko, PhD Candidate,Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Japan, (Nationality: Japan) Title: Why did the residents of Samoa resist the New Zealand Administration? : The Mau movement between 1926 - 1929
In 1919, the former German colony of Samoa became a New Zealand mandate. Mau movement refers to series of non-violent agitations during New Zealand’s administration period. About 80 percent of Samoa’s population participated in the Mau. This study considers the rationale of why the residents of Samoa resisted the New Zealand Administration. In previous studies, many researchers attempted to examine the purpose of the Mau from the perspectives of chiefs and leaders of the movement. However, since people from different levels in the community including mixed races and women other than leaders also participated in the Mau, these multi-dimensional viewpoints are relevant in interpreting the historical records. Through historical records collected from Archives New Zealand, the researcher found several petitions submitted by the movement and analyzed to be written by various groups for various purposes. The result indicate that discontentment with the New Zealand Administration was the common factor for participants but different when analyzing the place of the activities, time of the events and participants’ position in the community. The research concludes that the motivations behind the resistance were based on various phases of the movement and differs with social position of the participants.
Presenter 4: Dr. Greg Dvorak, Associate Professor, Waseda University Graduate School of International Communication and Cultural Studies (Undergraduate School of International Liberal Studies), Tokyo (Nationality: USA). Title: Re-invading “the Martial Islands”: American and Japanese Militarism, Marshall Islander Resistance
Contemporary Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands is a place where Pacific pasts, presents, and futures coincide in the reefs of the largest inhabited lagoon on earth. It is a microcosmic symbol of the multiply colonized, militarized, and masculinized seascapes that exist throughout Micronesia and other parts of Oceania; and more importantly, it is also a powerful symbol of enduring Islander resistance, resourcefulness, creativity, and strength despite over seventy years of US military occupation and thirty years of Japanese colonization before that. Not long after the Compact of Free Association was renewed between the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the United States in 2003—which included an option for the Kwajalein lease to be extended until 2086—landowners began a campaign to protest American hegemony in their islands by refusing to sign the Land Use Agreement (LUA) needed to finalize the agreement. Disgruntled that their own government had neglected their demands for better compensation and treatment and enraged by the prospects of allowing Americans to use their land and lagoon with insufficient funding and inadequate living conditions for Marshallese base workers and their families on Ebeye islet, they vowed to oust the U.S. military from their lands by 2016, when their original LUA had been set to expire. 2016 thus became a utopian future for many of the people of Kwajalein, who imagined a cultural revival, a return to subsistence living, and new ways to thrive. Yet this dream dissipated in 2011, when leaders quietly cashed in on increased payments from the US and signed away the future of their atoll, to conflicting reactions from their people. Meanwhile, as rising waters increasingly threaten the very existence of land in the Marshall Islands as a whole, new challenges, questions, and possibilities have emerged. In this talk, we will visit both the envisioned 2016 of the past and the 2016 of last year in the larger context of Kwajalein’s deeper reef-time, considering the broader implications for the region and the challenges faced by the new generation of politicians, activists, and artists who will navigate these Micronesian waters next.
Presenter 5: Mr. FUNAKI Kaituu I Pangai, PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), Japan. (Nationality: Tonga), Chair. Title: New methods for Foreign Aid from the perspectives of the Pacific Island Countries: Proposing Gross National Generosity (GNG)
The GNG framework is a proposed method from the researcher’s Ph.D dissertation on Official Development Assistance (ODA) by examining the approaches of Australia, France, Japan and China from the perspectives of aid policy makers in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Through case studies in Vanuatu, Tonga, and Kiribati, the research reveals new discovery through exploring the concepts of Priority, Disbursement, Dependency and Leverage. Through the theoretical applications of Development theory, Common Pool Resources, Schismogenesis and Gift Giving theory, the research analyze and interpret the characteristics of donor nations’ approaches to ODA from the perspectives of recipient countries. It finds that the efforts of multiple donors operating various foreign policies clashes with expectations of traditional societies that shares the common characteristic of being connected by the sea of islands. Aid has turned into a necessity in the PICs, but due to lack of competence to follow procedures required by traditional donors, recipients tend to seek the second best. The research focuses on how PIC governments approach the practical operation of aid transactions, based on data gathered from qualitative and interpretative interviews with aid policy decision makers.
The research offers a critical rethinking of donor-recipient relationships and proposes a Pacific centered, counter-intuitive model of Gross National Generosity (GNG). GNG proposes an alternative vision for foreign aid where reciprocity is advocated through fostering of generosity. GNG framework identifies moral contributions of recipient countries to balance ODA from donor nations that are overlooked mainly as they are intangible and immeasurable in character. GNG is designed to liberate developing nations having similar characteristics, from the chains of indebtedness. This presentation will outline the research outcome and discuss the six indices of GNG in detail with a hope to collaborate with other views towards the future framework of the Asia Pacific through promotion of generosity.