PACIFIC BRIEFS

W. Pacific forum plan progresses

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – During an official visit to Tonga, New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff told reporters that he is open-minded about a proposal to establish a new West Pacific Forum organization.

Indonesia and Australia earlier said they will proceed with organizing the forum, in an effort to improve relations in the troubled region.

Other West Pacific Forum countries could include East Timor, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and possibly other Melanesian area nations.

Guam land reform

HAGATNA, Guam – President Bill Clinton recently signed into law a bill giving Guam first priority for the use of territorial land vacated by the U.S. government.

Previously, federal agencies offered excess military and other land to other federal agencies before making it available locally.

Under the new law, 10,000 acres – one-tenth of the U.S. Pacific territory – soon will be returned to the people of Guam, said Robert Underwood, Guam’s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Bail refused for alleged Fiji heroin smuggler

SUVA, Fiji – A restaurant owner, charged in connection with a huge heroin drug bust in late October, has been denied bail for safety reasons.

The court hearing Tak Sang Hao’s case, said he is in danger of being assassinated by others involved in the drug ring.

Heroin estimated at $45.6 million street value was seized from Hao’s Ming Palace restaurant and a Namadi Heights home in October.

The drugs were believed to have been on their to Australia at the time of the Olympic games when they were delayed as a result of martial law being declared during the May 19 coup attempt.

Canoe culture thriving in Pacific

APIA, Samoa – UNESCO’s promotion of the art of building voyaging canoes in the Pacific has been so successful that further funding probably will not be needed to keep the program alive, said Mali Voi, the U.N. organization’s cultural advisor in Samoa.

He said there has been an enormous revival in the Pacific’s traditional maritime culture, which earlier appeared to have been dying out.

He said the younger generation in the Pacific is interested in learning from elders about traditional seafaring methods of using the stars, moon, wind and sea current patterns.

“We are people of the sea who like traveling and exploring beyond what our eyes can see,” Voi said. (Pacific Islands Report)