Dear Editor,
On Sunday November 4, 2018, the people of New Caledonia went to the polls in a referendum. The results are that over 56 per cent voted to remain as part of the Republic of France.
Some might say that it was a democratic process and therefore democracy won. But what was the process that this little island with a population of some 269,000 inhabitants, including children, according to France’s 2014 census, went through? Only just over 174,000 of those with longstanding links to the territory are entitled to vote in the referendum.
The following information is not a creation of my person but was researched. I would not want to be accused of plagiarism. I will quote when such is required.
New Caledonia has been under French rule for 165 years; in other words, since 1853. So how did it come the vote for independence? Let us take a journey through history. Source a discussion paper presented in Quito, Ecuador, May 30 to June 1, 2012, The third international decade for the Eradication of Colonialism by the Kanak Development Agency. It is established that New Caledonia is a “Non Self-Governing Territory.”
I quote from this document which reads as follows: “The rendezvous is based on the legal rights to self-determination for which the United Nations General Assembly have attributed a wide scope and have brought many changes in International Law. The indigenous population of New Caledonia, according to a 2009 census, consisted of 40 per cent of the total population which unfortunately is decreasing,” end of quote.
Another quote from the same document: “When New Caledonia was inscribed or re-inscribed on the UN list of non-self-governing territories on December2, 1986, many hoped that the UN specialized agencies would provide the necessary assistance to prepare the population to exercise their right to self-determination. But France maintained its long resistance to UN involvement in its overseas departments and territories,” end of quote.
Can you imagine France, a signatory to the United Nations Charter, resisting the involvement of the UN? I am not surprised. France had a budget deficit of 4.3 per cent in 2015. There were no repercussions or let me say instructions from the European Commission although legally it should not have exceeded the 3 per cent ceiling.
Continuing with the independence issue. It is said that in the 1970s the radical Kanak demands were met with a direct response from the conservative French Government. How did France deal with this issue? Quote: “Massive immigration to the territory to swamp the Kanak independence was evident,” end of quote.
The results, and I quote again: “In 1988 the confrontation became extremely tense and turned into a colonial war engaging land, sea and air French forces against Kanak freedom fighters until the newly elected government of France finally agreed that the concerned population of New Caledonia should determine by referendum their own future,” end of quote.
An agreement was signed in 1988. This came after a bloody civil war in New Caledonia in the 1980s, and I quote, “that culminated in the massacre of 19 Kanaks by French commandos in1988, and the assassination in 1989 of the great Melanesian pacifist independence campaigner, Jean Marie Tjibaou,” end of quote.
The Noumea Accord was signed in 1998 and the Organic Law in 1999. These laws specified the time frame,15 to 20 years, within which the new responsibilities should be transferred to the New Caledonians. I will not go into all the quotes again, but in summary, certain powers were transferred to the island – namely Economic Affairs, industrial relations and external trade – took place in 2000. In 2004 another group of powers was to be transferred and a third to be transferred in 2009. A group consisting of French state and New Caledonia during a congress voted to postpone this third transfer until 2011.
Note the timeframe from 1988 to 2011, 23 years have already gone by. For the next five years starting in 2014, 3 referenda can be conducted on whether New Caledonia should assume the final sovereign powers (justice, public order, Defence, currency and foreign affairs). If a date has not been proposed by Congress within its first four years of this mandate (i.e. y 2018), then the Noumea Accord commits France to conduct the referendum. Hence the referendum held on Sunday, November 4, 2018, 30 years later.
We all know by this time the metropolitans have gained the majority in New Caledonia. As you may recall, the French census of 2009 proved that the indigenous people were on the decline. What the French government did was to delay the process until the influx of metropolitans was to the point where they represent the majority.
I am completely convinced that the islands of the Dutch Kingdom, Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the so-called public entities will suffer the same fate because we are playing by rules they have created but they are not complying with. These islands are economically, geographically and strategically positioned for trade and commerce.
In conclusion as it refers to New Caledonia which is located 18,000 kilometers from mainland France: The island is a key supplier of nickel to the world and it also gives France a strategic economic and political foothold in the Pacific as China expands its influence in the region. It is an economic benefit for the Republic of France.
George Pantophlet
