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Letters to the Editor

Week ending Wednesday, February 10, 2009

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We will not publish any material which we consider to be defamatory

Irreversible damage done
How lucky can you get?
Tap should remain locked up in the closet
PM, please explain your ‘Chosen One’
Spare me, please
Critic answers concerns
Profile all the MPs, please
Prayer study unconvincing
The Rarotongan hits back
Picking fruit 6000m below
Go back to the people, please
‘Fruit picking’ is based on invalid science
Let the people decide
Wrong to silence the minority
Service, lies, police
Maori only
Fishing promises come to nothing
Tap calling Nemo
It’s about open dialogue
Rotten egg

Dear Editor,

We, the people of this country, address these issues directly to prime minister Jim Marurai.

1. As PM, all cabinet portfolios belong to you but you delegate them amongst your ministers.

2. As chairman of cabinet, you chair all cabinet meetings and you are the only one who can call cabinet to meet.

3. You as PM have the power to overrule any of your ministers and you have the right to demand access to all government documents secret, confidential or otherwise.

4. Every decision made by your cabinet is presumed to be made with your knowledge and approval; otherwise they simply cannot be valid.

5. To continually deny access to Toagate documents, agreements and settlements, is clearly a position of your own making. Did you deliberately avoid reading them or having access to these documents to enable you to hide and dodge all the responsibilities?

6. There is growing evidence that you choose not to see, not to know and not to be aware of these, to give you a clear escape route of denying all responsibilities or as a means of distancing yourself from all the consequences.

7. There can be only one conclusion that you have behaved irresponsibly, by disavowing the trust and confidence the people of this country and parliament once had in you. Your negligence and failure to uphold the supremacy, trust, duty and dignity of the office of prime minister has done irreversible damage to the highest office in our country and your own reputation.

8. As the British public did in 1938 to remove Prime Minister Chamberlain from office, for displaying cowardly subservience to Adolf Hitler, the British public simply said to Chamberlain – “in God’s name, go!!”

9. When Jim?

Sleepy Joe

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

When one looks at the Toagate scandal one cannot help noticing the easy way Brett Porter makes millions of dollars without spending a cent – settlement out of court $1.75milliion, 8 years of guaranteed profit at $1.2 million a year, $9.6 million dollars, a total of $11.35million without ever contributing a dollar!

How could the country’s minister of finance be so negligent and irresponsible? How can someone like Porter be so lucky!

There was once a mafia mobster called Lucky Luciano during the roaring 30s of Al Capone’s time in Chicago. Luciano got his nick name Lucky because he escaped assassination but bore a bad knife scar on his cheek. He was called that for his lucky escape.

Now, who shall we call unlucky? Answer: The taxpayers of the Cook Islands.

And who shall we call Lucky? Answer: The man who did not spend a dollar!!

Who shall we call stupid? Answer: The Minister of Finance responsible.

You can call me Al

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

I am glad that the five cabinet ministers are dragging their feet on the seabed mining adventure as Tap Pryor suggested in his editorial. What’s the rush, Tap? Do you really think that our current government can manage billions of dollars when they are struggling to manage the few millions we have?

Perhaps Tap and those in government who strongly support the seabed mining should consider watching the movie Avatar because their attitude toward mining is similar to the sky people in the movie.

I am aware that the highest ocean biodiversity in our region lies to the north where the nodules are concentrated. So are we going to ignore that fact? Unless we are guaranteed that the environmental impact is zero or minimal, we should not pursue this path.

To my understanding, the prevailing ocean current pattern in the northern Cooks flow towards the western Pacific. Hence the reason why countries to the west including us were strongly protesting against the French nuclear testing at Mururoa in the 1970s to the 1990s.

Obviously, if fine sediments and other byproducts were to be resuspended in the mining process, this could potentially affect coastal waters and fisheries of islands to the west such as Samoa, Niue, Tonga, and Fiji. I am certain that these neighbouring countries will strongly oppose the mining if they realise the potential environmental impacts to their waters.

In the event that government is still adamant about mining, there should be an EIA carried out before any exploratory mining is conducted. An independent group not associated with or influenced by the mining company or by our government should carry out the EIA to ensure that the process is not biased.

Already the ocean is suffering from the impacts of climate change (ie, elevated temperatures and in particular ocean acidification in the Southern Hemisphere). We should not be adding to these problems!

Where are those who attended the climate change conference in Copenhagen? They should be the ones at the forefront of this issue. And Environment Service, isn’t this the Year of Biodiversity? Step up and do your job! You have a responsibility to protect the environment.

Tap Pryor seems to think there is no life down there. How convenient for someone who is pushing for mining! And Tap, please don’t call yourself a marine biologist. It is a disgrace for those in this discipline to be associated with someone who is pushing for the potential destruction of the marine environment just for some financial gain! Perhaps you should remain locked up in the closet.

Finding Nemo

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

The Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council has every right to be concerned and angry about the new found power and influence that businessman Tata Crocombe seems to have acquired in recent months and the way in which he is in full control of the new destination sales and marketing committee.

While I fully agree with the council’s view that Tata needs to both justify and clarify how the new marketing strategy will benefit the smaller operators in the tourism industry, I strongly believe the prime minister needs to come clean and honestly explain to the public why Tata is being treated like the ‘Chosen One’. After all, it is Jim and his cabinet who are allowing Tata to behave in an authoritarian manner.

One minute the guy is simply the owner/manager of what I believe is a very average hotel which is staffed almost entirely by non-Cook Islanders. Now, the guy seems to be more powerful and influential than the PM himself.

And who on earth allowed the guy free rein to tell us what’s best for political reform? And who allowed him to gallop off to Wellington like the Lone Ranger so that he could hold meetings with the NZ government officials to discuss what is best for our country? This is ludicrous and should be halted immediately.

I cannot speak for everyone but I do know this. Every person that I have spoken to about Tata – both within the public service and those in the private sector – is extremely worried about Tata’s growing influence and power. Moreover, all these people are also very concerned at the way in which Tata’s political influence has grown exponentially. This is so wrong.

If Jim Marurai and his cabinet feel that they need Tata’s influence to manage the future governance of this country, then for goodness sake please resign and allow other politicians – who don't need Tata’s blessing – to step up to the mark and lead the country forward.

Very concerned voter

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

I am replying to Kenny Valoa’s letter of February 2.

Thanks Kenny for the unchristian, personal abuse you heaped upon me in your pathetic, irrelevant, raving and rambling sermon, which I found enlightening only in the fact that it highlighted your bigotry and intolerant attitude towards the other major religions in the world.

My letter was simply a short, flippant attempt to emphasise the absurdity of your God taking sides in our current political imbroglio.

That you didn’t recognise that my letter was intentionally tongue-in-cheek, suggests a lack of mental discernment on your part.

However, being more charitable than you, as a Priest I grant you forgiveness, but please spare me any further tedious, vitriolic lectures.

Les Priest

Matavera

Dear Editor,

It’s good to see criticisms and comments flowing into CINews concerning the nodule opportunity. There were two Wednesday morning I’d like to address.

The first – ‘Let’s sit on the golden egg’ – has a good point. No doubt metal prices will rise in the years ahead.

Someday copper might be worth as much as gold is today. However, the writer’s concern reminds me of a friend who always wants to buy a computer, but feels he should wait because they will be better next year. Yes, they will be. Meanwhile, there’s a cost of opportunities lost.

I should add that although there’s towards $2 trillion of value down there at today’s metal prices, no company would bring up more than the market will bear. They want the prices to keep rising, too. That means they will suck up a very small percentage annually, but still enough to make the Cook Islands financially very comfortable.

The second letter found my suggestions ‘horrifying’, and in particular Ms Francis wants to know before government allows any company to commence mining ‘what they will be using to extract the metals from the seabed and how they plan on disposing of unwanted tailings’.

Ms Francis added that she wanted to know what previous experience any seabed mining company may have had and what impact on the seabed there will be. Again, all good concerns.

It’s worth repeating that the first company to apply is not asking to mine nodules, but to explore for them. “To explore,” says my Oxford dictionary, “is to travel through a country to learn about it” and “to inquire”. Besides exploring, the company will have to prepare itself in the event it wants to follow up with a mining licence. To do that it must answer all your questions, especially with regard to environmental impact.

No doubt they will hire a world class, independent EIA group of specialists to do so. As for method, they will probably suck them up just as if you could vacuum golf balls off the floor.

Tap Pryor

Dear Editor,

With all political turmoil we are experiencing, some of us don’t know much about the politicians really.

Would it be possible for you to publish short biographies of them? It could be spread out a few at a time.

It would be better if the public knows a bit more about them such as constituency, last election count, age, place of birth, education, previous and present occupations, business involvement, other positions held,also political party affiliations, as I understand a few of them have – can I be polite – changed course once or twice.

I realise this is quite a lot of research but would hesitate to trust these biographies if they were provided solely by the political party machines.

As I firmly believe in separation of church and state in politics, I would prefer their religious affiliations were not included, to minimise prejudice unless of course the church has been their occupation.

Just another voter

(Name and address supplied)

Editor: As a gauge of reader opinion on this suggestion, please text your approval/disapproval to Cook Islands News on 188.

Dear editor

In Kenny Valoa’s letter of Tuesday February 2 he refers to a study by Dr R C Byrd published in the Southern Medical Journal in 1988 which claimed that intercessory prayer had a positive effect on coronary patients.

Being intrigued as Valoa suggests many might be, I downloaded Byrd’s study and read it. I found it less than convincing.

The study was deeply flawed in that it failed to account for the very real possibility that patients in the control group would also have had intercessory prayer conducted on their behalf by family and friends or even by the patients themselves.

Byrd admits this and also admits that there was no attempt to interview the patients in either the control or target group to see if they had prayed for themselves or believed that prayer might be beneficial. He seems to have greatly underestimated the extent to which his study was compromised by the failure to control the control group.

Furthermore his comment “how God acted in this situation is unknown” and his thanks to God in the paper’s acknowledgements demonstrate a pre-existing bias towards his eventual conclusions. It is also important to note that almost all the patients themselves believed that prayer helped and thus contributed to a bias.

In the study 26 variables were tested. The author based his conclusions on differences of less than 7% for six of these. Thus, while 6 variables showed a small effect, 20 variables showed no effect.

It is difficult to see how an unbiased person could draw such positive conclusions from his data as Byrd did.

Phil Evans

Nikao

Dear Editor,

This is in response to Albert Tini’s letter to the editor in the Cook Islands News edition of February 1, 2010.

The Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa has for many years paid three separate incentive bonuses to all wage earners in addition to their flat rates.

These bonuses are paid out weekly and are as follows:

10 percent individual bonus – which is awarded if the individual performance of each staff member is according to the 12 criteria of this bonus; 100 percent five star bonus – which is awarded to a staff member whose performance is assessed to ensure standards and procedures are achieved to a five star standard in all respects throughout the entire week.

Team bonus – is calculated on a range of criteria, some of which incorporates the above schemes, and is designed to assess the performance of teams/departments. Part of the team bonus assessments looks at the feedback received from the guests as well as management on the performance of the overall team/department.

HDWR nominations - A staff member is awarded $5 for every nomination received from our guests’ comments in the Resort ‘How Do We Rate’ comment forms.

Heavy emphasis is placed on multi skilling and as such, we offer extensive trainee programmes for all levels whether you are front line staff or a manager.

These programmes are as follows;

Resort trainee programme

– for students that have successfully graduated from college or an institute and looking for a career in the resort/hotel industry.

Graduate trainee programme – for students that have successfully graduated from university and looking for a career in the resort/hotel industry.

Management trainee programme – for potential and current managers.

To have well-rounded experience, we believe each trainee in the abovementioned programmes, is required to learn all aspects of each of the four core departments of the resort, being housekeeping, food & beverage, front office and sales & marketing.

Once you have grasped the concept of each department and what role it plays in the entire operation, the trainee progresses to the next department.

In addition to the abovementioned trainee programme, the resort offers the following internationally recognised courses;

WELTEC – Wellington Institute of Technology - City & Guilds diploma and certificate level courses in food & beverage, culinary arts, front office operations, and housekeeping for New Zealand passport holders/locals only. This is delivered on site by WELTEC tutors.

AH&LEI – the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute - hospitality management and food & beverage diploma courses. This is available to all staff (Cook Islanders and non-Cook Islanders). This is distance learning course and well recognised in 115 countries worldwide.

I am proud to advise that a Cook Islander was the first staff member and manager to achieve her hospitality management and food & beverage diplomas.

AHMA Professional Certification – the American Hotel Motel Association Professional Certification – this is purely assessment based for those that have many years of experience and little qualifications.

Red Cross first aid – all staff are required to be qualified first aiders.

USP hotel management degree – we are currently in the process of offering these courses to all staff.

I am proud to say our management team at both resorts are locally born and bred. Positions such as the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa manager, HR manager, executive housekeeper, duty manager, activities & entertainment manager, front office manager, reservations manager, purchasing manager, chief security officer and executive head chef are currently filled by Cook Islanders.

All our Cook Island managers have grown, developed and gained internationally recognised qualifications through the abovementioned trainee programmes and courses.

As you can see, what you see on the outside doesn’t necessarily mean that it stops there. I invite you to visit our resort and I will be most happy to show you around and will proudly introduce you to our outstanding Cook Islanders who are also graduates of our programmes and top role models for our staff and aspiring young Cook Islanders.

Kind regards

Taa Pera

Human resources manager

The Rarotongan Beach

Resort & Spa

The Aitutaki Lagoon

Resort & Spa

Dear Editor,

The letter writer “Finding Nemo” is concerned about the impact of sucking nodules off the bottom and that’s good.

However, he/she says that “Tap seems to think that there’s no life down there”. In fact, the several previous explorations had taken thousands of close-up photos of the seabed that is 6000 metres below.

Back in the mid-90s when the Bechtel Corporation was evaluating commercial prospects, I examined hundreds of these from the library-museum’s collection for hours and hours. I felt as though I had actually travelled several metres above the bottom from Aitutaki to Manihiki. I never detected a sign of life.

This is not to say there’s nothing living down there, but whatever is there is either microscopic, very rare or camera-shy. Of course, the nodules are obvious in the photos. In the dense areas, they are packed cheek to jowl for up to 50 kilos per square metre.

Most are about the size of a golf ball. They are all seated on the surface. If you packed a billiard table with as many golf balls as you could, then sucked them up with a vacuum device, you will have simulated the most probable harvest method. The substrate is probably a clay-like ‘ooze’, not a powder, so it’s unlikely that the suction will bring up more than the nodules.

However, since the proposed exploration this year will be taking samples, no doubt with a camera and lighting device at the lift point, good evidence will be available for the independent EIA team to evaluate.

Personally, I think “mining” is a misnomer. A better term would be “harvesting”.

It’s more like picking fruit off the ground.

Tap Pryor

Dear Editor,

A lot of public opinion has been aired about government’s plans, through the proposals for political reform presented by both Crocombe and Short.

The 12-point reform proposal put forward by Tata and Iaveta has in one way or other preempted the people’s views on what direction we should be taking. This planned initiative is dangerous, unorthodox and undemocratic in today’s society and it goes against the very foundations of policy formulation.

In other words, it’s saying to the people, this is what we the selected few want, give us your views, whether you like it or not. This top down way of policy formulation is tantamount to a dictatorship style of running a business, organisation or for this matter, a government.

It appears that the prime minister has given Tata and Iaveta a free rein to do whatever reform plan they come up with.

The only true platform that the people can fairly and openly express their rights is through a public referendum approved by parliament. One only needs to look at the bottom of the public notice advert to see the words ‘...interested individuals and parties should present submissions as soon as possible’.

It’s less than seven months away from the general elections. This last minute down-your-throat proposal is a desperate reaction from self interested individuals who are trying to fix a long term problem from a quick and short term solution.

In order to carry out a thorough and systematic approach to political reform, government needs to take a more comprehensive and strategic approach by first reaching out to all the people, discussing the best options and mapping out an agreed plan for adoption, say within 24 months after this coming election.

Amendments to our constitution and Electoral Act are necessary. A review into the powers of the Queen’s Representative is critical, as this rubber stamp political seat is dysfunctional and has shown supreme power that was not intended for it in the first place.

This hurried and rushed way of carrying out such an important task shows that this whole framework of political reform has not been carefully planned but a knee jerk reaction to a long term problem.

Government simply cannot expect the people of this country to bow down to such scare tactics.

A good example is the reaction from the people of Mitiaro. The people, including the ui ariki and ui mataiapo, have unanimously stated that no one is going to combine their seat with Mauke. Well, fair enough, what do Crocombe and Short have to say to that.... do we listen to you two or do we listen to the voice of the people?

The same principle applies to the other proposed combined seats. The introduction of the American political model with the Commonwealth model is absolutely crazy.

What planet are these two guys on?

The problem with our current political system is not the system itself, but the integrity and ability of the current members of parliament.

If we changed our current system to what Tata and Iaveta are proposing, then what guarantee do we have that corruption and misuse of political power will go away or stop. What guarantee do we have that future governments will run smoothly?

I believe now is the time to strategically plan and seek dialogue with the people through a referendum, and implement a framework for constitutional and electoral amendments that the newly elected government in September/October will introduce 24 months from election.

The momentum and timing for political change is strong, the community and certain pressure groups are all eager. The public and political will, will demand that the next government push for these needed changes.

We ask the prime minister to stop what Tata and Iaveta are doing and please go back to the people – this is the only democratic way, for the people and by the people.

Don’t let Tata and Iaveta dictate our political future.

True Reformer With No Agenda. (Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

In response to Tap Pryor’s editorial equating harvesting nodules to picking fruit, I have issue with the few details he provided.

He claims there ‘may’ be life down there, but most likely not because of the photographs he examined in the 1990s. Let’s take a closer look at the size of the area he examined and if we can make a scientifically valid argument for him.

Tap claims to have examined hundreds of photographs of the ocean floor spanning from Aitutaki to Manihiki. Let’s say each photograph shows 25 square metres of floor that you can identify the substrate and if there are organisms living in the area.

Let’s say that 10,000 photographs were taken in total. That would give an approximate area of 250,000 square metres of area examined by photographs.

The exclusive economic zone of the Cook Islands is around two million square kilometres. Let’s be generous and halve this area for Tap’s purposes as the nodules are concentrated in the Northern group. So if you examined 250,000 square meters in a one million square kilometre area, you would have examined 0.000025 percent of this total area.

The rule of thumb in science is to survey at least five percent of the total sample to be statistically valid. I believe Tap’s examinations have fallen far short of this five percent. His claims that there is nothing down there and if there is life, that it’s microscopic, camera-shy, or rare is INVALID and MUST NOT be used for any decision making.

Such small sampling in science runs the risk of a false negative (type II error), which is more dangerous than a false positive (type I error).

What Tap is claiming is potentially a false negative. A false negative in a medical analogy is alarming because you have been advised by your doctor that you are not ill when you actually are and you later suffer a terminal illness which you did not expect or had the chance to do something about.

To date, this whole adventure of this so-called ‘fruit picking’ has not been based on credible science.

People like Tap are not going to be around when the mistake they make could potentially be irreversible.

The question is, are we willing to pursue the ‘fruit picking’ in an environment we know nothing about? Or base our decisions on invalid science?

This is the beauty of dragging our feet on this whole endeavor, eventually the right people will be in place to ensure that we do this right rather than rushing and suffering the consequences in the long run.

Finding Nemo

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

I agree with letter writer, Very Concerned Voter in Thursday’s paper.

If cabinet, which by the way includes the PM and his four ministers, can’t see that Tata Crocombe has a clear and direct conflict of interest as chairman of the Cook Islands Tourism board and the owner of two major hotels, then let’s all go back to school.

He also by all accounts has a heavy hand in the newly-created Destination Sales and Marketing Committee. What else does government need ... for him to start writing the tourism cheques out?

This is where integrity and honesty comes in to play. It’s no use talking about the economy and big business when the same person preaches his gospel but does something else.

Wake up for goodness sake. There is plenty of academic literature on governance and corruption which spells out the behaviour of wealthy and connected people who will go to extremes to set up contracts, committees, boards and affiliations, so that they themselves will derive some personal benefits.

The time is ripe to abolish all the boards and committees set up by the previous finance minister for Tata. Let the people decide its political and economical future.

Another Concerned Voter

(Name and address supplied)

Dear Editor,

It is wrong for this ‘government of five’ to merge the seats of Manihiki and Rakahanga, and Mitiaro and Mauke into one seat each in parliament.

The initiative is based on roughly 500 voters to one seat that the islands do not yet meet and is therefore disqualified on this basis alone.

However the initiative excludes other equally important factors like the individual islands Maori persona, their culture and language, their home-based cottage industries and businesses, their contributions in the public and private sector of their islands, their marine and land resources, their visions for their children’s education, their environment and conservation practices, the health of their people, social security issues and matters of border control and police, quality of telecommunications, consistency of inter island transportation and shipping, potentials of eco tourism for their islands, inter-island and international aviation, consistency of information technology and tertiary education.

This government of five will deny these islands their democratic rights to speak and voice their visions in parliament because of their small numbers. This government of five will deny these islands their democratic rights to dream the things they want for their islands.

But it is wrong to take those dreams away from them.

It is wrong for this government of five to even contemplate that parliamentary representation for our people on Manihiki, Rakahanga, Mitiaro and Mauke is a privilege that they have the right to take away – that right which belongs to the people of these islands.

It is wrong of this government of five to use Rarotonga’s bigger population of voters to silence those islands with smaller populations in their proposed public referendum.

It is wrong of this government of five to penalise the brave and patriotic few who have resisted the temptations to migrate and stayed on these islands, by denying their islands a seat in parliament. It is wrong to take away their island mana and make them powerless.

It is wrong of this government of five to punish them for keeping the fires of their family and tribal lands burning, so their children and their children’s children can enjoy their legacies and be proud of who they are.

It is wrong of this government of five to deny the future generations of these islands the symbols of their islands that makes them special and unique in everything they are today. It is wrong of this government of five to destroy these symbols of knowledge and wealth.

It is wrong of this government of five to dictate to us not to think tribally or in terms of party affiliations. It is wrong to take away these private things we value and destroy the sense of belonging that makes us a people and a nation. It is nave of this government of five to think that removing our blood ties and political affiliations will increase nationalism.

It is wrong of this government of five to centralise and focus everything on Rarotonga, for a tsunami and cyclone can destroy Rarotonga in a flash. It is right however to diversify and start building the economies of each of our 15 islands – those 12 inhabited and those three uninhabited - to their full potential.

It is right to put in place a business plan for each island prepared by the people of each island. It is right to set aside from our total revenue a percentage to each island to achieve for their islands in seven years. It is right to perceive each island as a business owned and run by the island for the people.

Most importantly it is time for this government of five to go back to parliament so that all the elected members of parliament can vote on this issue of political reform if indeed his government is genuine and sincere about her intentions to reform our political system.

Kia orana e kia manuia.

Makiuti Tongia

President, Democratic Party

Dear Editor,

Hi, I am writing in regards to a few things.

Customer service, lies and the police.

I have witnessed how our people treat their visitors. People are no longer friendly and there are hardly any smiles, when making purchases in shops.

At the check out ready to pay, the attendant didn’t even smile or say hello!

Rough with the scanning of our veggies, I said to her “Excuse me, you know I’m actually buying those tomatoes aye?” Oops, sorry! The tomatoes were bruised.

I was also shocked when a taxi driver lied to a European family (tourist of 2 adults 3 young children) saying that they had missed the last bus and that they should get into his vehicle. He just wanted the money (rip off). How sad. My husband told the driver to get lost and we offered to drop them off for free!

Stores on the side of the road. If they know you are a visitor and you ask for prices, before you get a reply, you hear them speaking Maori saying things like just lie and put the price up -- the customer won’t know!

The shock on their faces when I replied in Maori, saying if this is the way you treat people, surely your business will die. Just be honest!

Almost all the shops I went to had really bad customer service. Even passengers on our flight back to New Zealand said that they hated the service as well and felt ripped off! I am actually ashamed to even be called a Raro. If people could just smile it would make Rarotonga a better place.

Police stops? They stop you, say hello and then send you on your way. No licence checks. No rego or WOF check. They just let us go. This actually happened three times.

So when I got stopped again, I lied that I had been drinking just to see what would happen. How many bottles did you have? I had a six pack of bourbon.

They then said can you still drive home? Answer is yes! Then they said okay you can go, but just make sure you get home safely. What is up with that? Man after that time I was so shocked at how easy it would be to drink and drive and not get caught. I don’t understand. What about the safety of the public?

I got pulled over and was fined for having a child sit in front of my motorbike. When asked why I had the child in front, I said I didn’t know. I was just doing what everyone else does.

I questioned the officer, how was I supposed to know, that I was at fault? When I did my licence, I didn’t receive any notice of any kind saying that you can’t do such. I wouldn’t have done it if I had been told. Then the officer admitted that she too does it as well and still gave me a $100 fine!

Double standards I’d say. Question -- are police targeting tourist and visitors for tickets and fines.

Any explanation?

Shocka

(Name and address supplied)

Police commissioner Maara Tetava replies to the portion which mentions Shocka’s experience with police:

Shocka should consider herself fortunate that she did not get a ticket. A police officer has discretion as to whether or not to issue a ticket for minor offences such as no annual licence, no warrant of fitness etc. I am not able to explain why Shocka did not get one without getting the full details of what took place from her and the officer concerned.

Conducting drink driving tests is also at the discretion of the police officer dealing with suspect drink drivers. If the police officer does not have an excess breath alcohol testing machine with him or her at the time, this officer will use observation skills, interview of the driver and a sobriety test as the basis for deciding whether or not the driver is under the influence of alcohol to such extent that she/he is incapable of handling the motor vehicle. As Shocka admitted to lying to the officer, the officer is probably smarter than she thinks as he was able to determine sobriety and driving capability based on his observation which led him to allow her to continue driving which she did safely.

Riding a motorcycle with a passenger in front of the driver is prohibited by section 91(2) (a) of the Transport Act. This law has been in place since 1966. Shocka should have known this if she holds a Cook Islands driver’s licence as it is one of the questions on the test paper for a driver’s licence. This information is also on the information pamphlet provided to applicants for drivers licences at the Police National Headquarters. The fine for this offence is $20 and not $100 as stated. It is most probable that the ticket was for this offence and others or would Shocka be taking us for a ride on this one just as she did the officer she lied to.

Police do not target tourists and visitors for tickets and fines as alleged. We issue tickets to anyone, local or tourist, who breaks our road laws. We do so not to make money but to try and change the attitude of all motorists and in the process address the causes of crashes.

Dear Editor,

Since moving to Aotearoa eight years ago, I have noted that the tangata whenua (NZ Maori) have become the manuhiri (strangers) in their own land.

I do not want this ever to happen back home. Therefore I am suggesting that our Constitution be amended so that no one can ever become a member of our legislature (PM, MP or cabinet minister) unless he or she is descended from a Cook Islands Maori.

Ngereteina Puna

Auckland, NZ

Dear Editor,

I read with interest but also with great concern that ‘pressure’ is put on the minister to bend, in many ways, under the thumb of some unscrupulous businessmen who have no regards for what others feel or think about their ways and strategies.

The last time the fishing licences were granted, despite the fear from the public by luring the minister and his secretary by their promises, they went their way and fished the Cooks stock of fish without paying as promised.

It was not until the renewal came up for their 16 licences that they were faced with the bill ... ‘TO PAY’.  So, looking back at what they promised back then, the people of Penrhyn and the Northern group, nothing came through and I think I told you before that none of the infrastructure will ever take place in those islands (processing plants, freezers, locally fish buying for export, fuel supply etc).

What has happened since then, after one year?  Nothing but just these foreigners fishing here and no word of any local market structure established.

No development but those fellows going to Pago or elsewhere to unload without us knowing exactly what is going on out there. We, the public own the EEZ, fees are paid to the public treasury and government is there to police all of that. Now, here is the worry. ‘Pressure’ means that the minister can see some problems by allowing them to have these licences but they insist that he say YES despite all this.

Insisting or pressuring may cause the applicant to break his way through like they did for the last licences. Then the minister found himself in the ‘frying pan’ when reports showed that they were not paying the fees as promised. He also found out that none of the promised developments in the Northern group took place, as per the planned strategy laid before marine resources. Mr Epati’s contribution to the plot is of concern. The pressure you mentioned in the news last Thursday (February 4) can be very strong from the high ranking public servant, the public service commissioner.

What if there is still a NO from the minister?  You can imagine what pressure can be applied by this person, the boss of the secretaries of ministries, ex-secretary of the marine resources, who helped form the legislation guiding the licensing laws of our nation.   So we want to know how far is too far?  How far can greed go and power control over our institution? Are we, the owners of the EEZ fishing ground going to drop our pants, so to speak, and be abused by some power-hungry foreigners?

Tahiti has been in this situation for some years, so I heard, and now things are looking ugly there. Last reports available at MMR states that many fishing vessels in Tahiti were ‘given’ licences by the government for locals to go out fishing.

But what did they find out there when they went fishing? Nothing left from the foreign exploitation of their EEZ!  No more fish. The fridge was empty and the boats left with very little to bring home. Do we want that here too?

Speak to any local guys like Tapi Taio and Bill Doherty and they will tell you that already the fish is scarce here, around Raro.

Any future development in the fisheries of our nation should see some contribution to local groups of people in the islands or here in Rarotonga.

None of these fellows fishing up north are willing to unload down here nor setup a export plant from the islands or use those here.

What they have in mind is to allow foreign bullies reap our resources and move on when the damage is done.

We want to say NO MORE! Fishing licences are OK. But bring the fish to us first then we want to see some export plants with locals involved to export the extra fish overseas.  How many licences? The minister is assigned to have good judgment on this and to keep in mind local business people in priority, but none of these ‘masquerade’ companies.

If licences are given out, local involvement should be clearly seen with a return to our local economy.

1Drop2Many

(Name and address supplied)

Acting Editor: would like to point out that Navy Epati responded to that article on February 4 by way of a letter which was published last Saturday, February 6.

Dear Editor,

May I try one more time to respond to the ever persistent writer, “Finding Nemo”?

Nemo seems to think that somehow I am both the chief scientist and chief engineer of a company that seeks to obtain a seabed exploration license under the new legislation. I am neither.

I am a member of the Deep Sea Mining Association, I have published a cover story in Undersea Technology on the nodule opportunity here and I was co-director of the $1 million study undertaken by Bechtel Corporation in the mid-1990s.

However, in 2010 I am simply someone who is eager to see a $30 million study undertaken by competent and experienced persons. Nemo says that the right people should be studying the seabed, not one retired biologist, and I agree. Let’s get on with that exciting fourth voyage of discovery.

Tap Pryor

Dear Editor,

The comments by Makiuti Tongia in his letter to the editor on Monday is distasteful and dangerously misleading.

In other words his comments show the state of mind of a bitter disturbed person wilfully exploiting the courage of the current government and hoping to spin it into dead-end conclusions. In my view he is downright deceitful and shows no due regard for the truth but only an obsession to discredit the government.

What has been put to the public of the Cook Islands for consideration are just some of the options of how this country’s political system could be reformed. The people are encouraged to propose their own suggestions and there will be lots and lots of consultation with the people of the country.

All cabinet did was authorise for the political reform options to be put into the public arena because it is healthy for debate on these matters to take place and the government believes that it is the fundamental and constitutional right for the people of the Cook Islands to have their say. Essentially, it is giving back the “mana” to the people to decide.

Makiuti Tongia knows that at the end of the day, parliament passes a law that gives form to the changes to our political system if there are changes to be made at all. But he draws conclusions and binds cabinet to his conclusions.

This is very much an assumption but much worse than that, it shows the thinking of a self-proclaimed contradictory spokesperson for things Maori.

As a Maori, I speak for myself, my “hanau”, “kopu tangata”, “hiti tangata” and my “henua” because I have the authority. I also speak for many, many other Cook Islanders.

Cabinet has now started an open dialogue with them and in the end we will come to a transparent agreement. Isn’t that a great start for this good and innovative government?

By the way, Makiuti Tongia is of course the person that I heard say on radio that supporters of the Democratic Party should not question their leader but just support him. Oh please, give us a break.

Kia  mau te Selenga

Wilkie Rasmussen

MP for Tongareva and

Minister of the Crown

Dear Editor,

I am concerned for the country’s future in regards to the proposed manganese mining. Has anyone done any research on the environmental and health effects?

From what I have researched so far, if you let the mining in you will not be sitting on a golden egg but a rotten one.

Rob Thurnham

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