{"id":11265,"date":"2024-08-12T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=11265"},"modified":"2024-08-10T08:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T22:46:03","slug":"populist-forces-pacific-voices-does-pacific-leadership-also-need-a-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/populist-forces-pacific-voices-does-pacific-leadership-also-need-a-step-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Populist forces, Pacific voices: Does Pacific leadership also need a \u2018step up\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEAN JACOBS<\/a>  | <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the lead up to Brexit, European Union (EU) critics pointed to the EU\u2019s<\/a> 265 page and 60,000-plus word constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to the 4,600-word US version, which established the most powerful nation on earth, the EU\u2019s unwieldy foundational intricacies \u2014 with stipulations on everything from fraud and customs to arts and sciences \u2014 became a symbol of bureaucratic largesse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxpayer money was sent to Brussels, Brexiteers noted, feeding the EU machine while simultaneously failing \u2014 at least in the views of critics \u2014 to produce any meaningful \u2018on the ground\u2019 outcomes on UK streets or within institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever one\u2019s misgivings of the Brexit outcome, I only use the above as a small device to highlight where issues can become a runaway train if not addressed, and where trust and legitimacy are required to offset the mounting governance issues presenting in Pacific democracies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Brexit is a world away from the 15 nations of the South Pacific, emerging themes and patterns of discontent are becoming clearer as these nations approach the first quarter of the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papua New Guinea (PNG), for example, the region\u2019s largest nation, began<\/a> 2024 with alarming unprecedented nation-wide riots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arising from a supposed PNG Government pay \u2018glitch<\/a>\u2019, the deeper reality was that such violence tapped a powder keg of palpable resentment experienced by PNG\u2019s citizens \u2014 both high and low income \u2014 as they wearily interface with both PNG\u2019s private and public institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I wrote<\/a> at the time, one can see this firsthand in PNG, from long lines<\/a> for petroleum (driven by a lack of foreign exchange), constant banking<\/a> and telecommunications network failures<\/a>, through to daily power cuts<\/a> to homes, hospitals and schools. A chronic police shortage further gives rise to brutal<\/a> instances of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustration \u2014 and indeed a sense of humiliation \u2014 is palpable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no serious end is in sight for any of these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning to the neighbouring Solomon Islands, its strategic tilt<\/a> away from Australia and the United States toward Beijing \u2014 spearheaded<\/a> by recent outgoing Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare \u2014 has been set without a strong public mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While strategic ties and decisions are the domain of the Executive branch of government \u2014 as in any Westminster democracy \u2014 Sogavare has clearly walked a thin line with such moves, given that his government\u2019s links to Beijing have served domestically<\/a> \u201cas a lightning rod for renewed ethnic tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the Solomon Islands Government dropping its recognition of Taiwan, a majority of Solomons MPs appear to have been paid directly<\/a> by Beijing, which stoked obvious domestic resentment against the backdrop<\/a> of riots in late 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As some readers will appreciate, state collapse is far from hypothetical in the Solomons. The nation plunged<\/a> into chaos in 2003, with Australian troops deployed to stabilise the country before its regional assistance mission formally finished in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turning to Polynesia, Samoa made headlines in 2021 after Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi refused<\/a> to step down, provoking a constitutional crisis, appearing at loggerheads with the Supreme Court and refusing to accept the appointment of current Prime Minister Fiam\u0113 Naomi Mata\u2019afa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malielegaoi had not been a Prime Minister, with an early reform agenda, on the cusp of bearing fruit \u2014 he had been in power for 22 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Mata\u2019afa \u2014 defecting from Malielelgoaiai\u2019s party \u2014 ultimately prevailed as Prime Minister, and has instituted a series of much-needed anti-corruption measures, analysis<\/a> suggests a great deal of such oversight remains an uphill challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning briefly away from political performance to market competition, analysis<\/a> suggests the region\u2019s consumers may not be getting the best deal possible \u2014 an observation that has been recorded<\/a> for some time. Reform<\/a> to the Pacific\u2019s \u201cchallenging business environment\u201d remains slow, in addition to a lingering skepticism<\/a> of freer trade, despite the neoliberal agenda supposedly penetrating<\/a> every aspect of Pacific life. The Government of Samoa\u2019s Polynesian neighbour Tonga, for example, continues<\/a> to run a range of state-owned industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true in PNG, despite decent liberalisation measures to its telecommunications sector. Its crippling energy poverty, which debilitate so much of PNG\u2019s advancement, arise from the fact its electricity sector is ultimately managed<\/a> by a state-owned board \u2013 Kumul Consolidated Holdings \u2013 and largely immune from any expectations on equity return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result here is not one of minimal profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It, quite simply, fails PNG\u2019s poor. And it serves as a sad reminder for a majority of Papua New Guineans \u2013 and indeed other Pacific citizens \u2013 who not only bear the brunt of bad policy making but also see their political leaders mount poor decisions and even live large on the public purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A noticeable watermark of this emerged in 2021, when it was divulged<\/a> the PNG Government spent almost $6M PGK \u2014 a conservative estimate \u2014 on an ensemble of 62 COP26 delegates to Glasgow\u2019s climate change summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say presence at international fora is unimportant. But in the context of seismic challenges at home it, clearly, is not a great political look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another low yet visible watermark is the PNG Government\u2019s fleet of Maseratis \u2014 purchased<\/a> in 2018 as part of APEC \u2014 now mothballing in a government warehouse. As PNG\u2019s Foreign Minister confirmed<\/a> last year, little can be done with the fleet, given that PNG cannot export second-hand cars and PNG\u2019s foreign offices cannot receive them as diplomatic vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacific citizens \u2014 like citizens anywhere \u2014 expect their political representatives to offset national and sub-national challenges, solve problems and create better outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many readers will remember the Pacific \u2018step up\u2019 was not just about external assistance doing more in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also about<\/a> Pacific leaders guiding outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here \u2014 for the sake of both legitimacy and livelihoods \u2014 there remains so much to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean Jacobs<\/strong> is a Papua New Guinean-born Brisbane-based writer,<\/a> government relations and public policy specialist, and Industry Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEAN JACOBS  |  In the lead up to Brexit, European Union (EU) critics pointed to the EU\u2019s 265 page and 60,000-plus word constitution. Compared to the 4,600-word US version, which established the most powerful nation on earth, the EU\u2019s unwieldy foundational intricacies \u2014 with stipulations on everything from fraud and customs to arts and sciencesContinue reading “Populist forces, Pacific voices: Does Pacific leadership also need a \u2018step up\u2019?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":11266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1170,2064,2153,1021,1731],"tags":[969,2254,1050,990,2255,935,1117,658,1022,1747,1023,1027],"class_list":["post-11265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-governance-and-diplomacy","category-pacific-outlook-feature-series","category-pacific-outlook","category-sdg16","tag-pacific-islands","tag-pacific-leadership","tag-pacific-outlook","tag-pacific-step-up","tag-pacific-voices","tag-papua-new-guinea","tag-politics","tag-populism","tag-samoa","tag-sean-jacobs","tag-solomon-islands","tag-tonga"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Jill Moriarty","yoast_head":"\nPopulist forces, Pacific voices: Does Pacific leadership also need a \u2018step up\u2019? | Griffith Asia Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SEAN JACOBS  |  In the lead up to Brexit, European Union (EU) critics pointed to the EU\u2019s 265 page and 60,000-plus word constitution. 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