By MICHAEL POWLES
Saying sorry to Samoa needs more than lip-service," wrote Tapu Misa in her Dialogue column. For sure it does. But whether or not New Zealand apologises to Samoa for dreadful episodes in its colonial administration, more than lip-service is needed if we are to manage our relations with our neighbours to our best advantage and to the best advantage of Pacific Island countries.
Our neighbourhood is changing and, like many regions of the world, changing quickly. New challenges and new opportunities are affecting governments, private sectors and others in both New Zealand and Pacific Island countries.
Vibrant economic growth is offering new opportunities in some of our Pacific Island neighbours, while rising economic and social expectations, sometimes combined with poverty and malnutrition, are putting an increasing strain on governance and management in others.
Ethnic or communal tensions, tragically played out in the Solomons and Fiji but existing elsewhere as well, highlight governance challenges throughout the region and increase the need for sensitive but sophisticated approaches.
Unprecedented movements of peoples are increasingly affecting Polynesian countries particularly and in New Zealand irrevocably changing our society, drawing us closer to our island neighbours and creating a new alignment of constituencies and interest groups.
New challenges from rising ocean levels threaten whole communities in the region, casting new shadows which will be felt increasingly acutely.
Increasing aid and political involvement by outside powers, particularly from Asia, are making New Zealand a less significant influence in our home region than we have ever been.
New leaders in island countries are looking for new approaches and solutions to old as well as new problems. They are much less inclined to accept automatically solutions suggested to them by their major aid donors or to embrace universal human rights or Western notions of democracy.
At the same time, global changes are making us more dependent on Pacific Islands support on the world stage if New Zealand is to be influential in the United Nations and elsewhere internationally.
In short, we have a changing and more complex neighbourhood.
Are we adapting to these new challenges? Or are we doing our best to box on with old, under-resourced tools? Pondering arguments for and against making an apology to Samoa may be important. But also we need some new practical thinking.
What do we have going for us?
First, we should recognise that the forces which have created these new challenges have also given us some new assets.
The most important of these has been the immigration of Pacific Islanders. As a result, our social and political landscape is changing and voters with Pacific Island connections have unprecedented political weight.
Also, New Zealand remains the developed country closest to the Pacific Island countries in many ways - geographically, demographically and even in per capita income among Pacific rim countries.
More important is the growing recognition and acceptance of the importance of Maoritanga and, overall, of the Maori and, therefore, Polynesian aspect of New Zealand's heritage.
Our place, in all senses, in our immediate Polynesian neighbourhood is, therefore, increasingly important to us.
Realising our potential as a truly South Pacific country, with all New Zealanders identifying as tangata pasifika, is thus vitally important to us for our own identity as a nation. It provides the underpinning for our regional and foreign relations aspirations.
Of course, it in no way limits our need or capacity to trade or make friends on the wider world stage but it reflects what we are, our identity.
Have we developed approaches taking advantage of these new challenges and new assets? Little has changed.
The New Zealand private sector has kept on, continuing to make profits, if not relatively great ones, in the region. The Government has continued to play a useful role in some areas but there is no doubt our influence is diminishing.
Our media coverage of the region seems less than it has ever been. What other country of the world would presume the luxury of virtually ignoring its closest neighbours in this way?
What is needed is a Pacific Foundation that would provide a means of engaging more effectively within our immediate neighbourhood, fostering better co-operation and dialogue between the various New Zealand sectors and interests engaged in the region.
It would also encourage and stimulate greater awareness of the new challenges and opportunities, as well as promote better interaction by New Zealand business with island country counterparts to their mutual benefit.
A Pacific Foundation would also be a means of encouraging New Zealand as a centre of research and excellence in the region, particularly Polynesia. And of finding ways of increasing by better media coverage our awareness and understanding of regional developments and issues.
Asia 2000 has operated successfully in enhancing New Zealand's engagement, particularly economic, with Asia.
A Pacific Foundation would aim to increase and improve our overall interaction with our immediate neighbours to the benefit of both us and the island countries and all sectors within each country.
It would need to be a small stand-alone body, independent politically but sustained by Government and private-sector support.
Perhaps we do owe Samoa an apology. We certainly owe ourselves and our neighbours better practical arrangements so we can all make the most of relationships in our neighbourhood.
* Michael Powles is a former New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu
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