June 18 2008
By Michael Field
Cook Island police are searching for a New Zealand undertaker who sparked coup fears in the normally dreamy isles by persuading traditional chiefs to sign up with a shadowy group of Americans to trade manganese nodule futures on a non-existent market.
Bruce Ruatapu Mita got ariki or chiefs to issue a proclamation declaring they had seized sovereignty from Queen Elizabeth II, ordered the government to leave office and said they were taking over.
He told them they were the owners of “billions of dollars” of manganese nodules on the Pacific seabed that could be sold, un-mined, to the Americans on futures trading.
Deputy Prime Minister Sir Terepai Maoate attacked the “unscrupulous foreigner”.
Government sources said Mr Mita of Rotorua, who lives in Sydney and until recently ran a funeral parlour, faces sedition charges.
Rarotonga’s paramount chief Pa Tepaeru Ariki wanted treason charges laid.
Attempts to reach Mr Mita were unsuccessful and had checked out of the hotel he was in.
He convinced Cook Islanders in Sydney to give him $40,000 so he could sell the futures trading idea to the government.
Several who witnessed his pitch described it as unbelievable and it was quickly dismissed by the government.
Mr Mita then used the money to fly members of the House of Ariki to Rarotonga. The House, which currently has 15 members, constitutionally advises on land and customary issues but has no power.
Eight ariki demanded Queen’s Representative Sir Frederick Goodwin surrender sovereignty and that the government of Prime Minister Jim Marurai hand over power.
Over the weekend affairs grew tense and rumours of a coup grew but the key ariki then left Rarotonga for outer islands.
Calls are mounting for the Mr Mita to be charged and for ariki to be stripped of royal honours, just as the Cook Islands founding Premier Albert Henry lost his knighthood for electoral fraud in 1979.
Yesterday Sir Terepai, who is also minister in charge of the House of Ariki, told the tiny Parliament they lived in a peaceful country.
“Last week a misguided and irresponsible event took place involving some of our au Ariki who were persuaded by an unscrupulous foreigner to make public statements that have no credibility with government and thinking Cook Islanders,” he said.
It had led to fears of “some sort of internal turmoil” leading to negative reports that impacted on tourism.
The Ariki would not be allowed to remove the sovereignty of the Crown and trample on people’s democratic rights.
“Many Cook Islanders find this claim offensive and have been hurt and disappointed by the actions of some ui Ariki.
“Some of these ui Ariki have been awarded honours by Her Majesty the Queen, it now appears that they have demonstrated disloyalty and disrespect for He Majesty and the very honours bestowed upon them by the Crown.”
Rarotonga’s Pa Ariki said Mr Mita had hijacked the House.
She saw the presentation based on mineral rich nodules that are hundreds of metres deep and with current technology cannot be mined.
“So he said, you don’t need to mine it, we will just give you a price for it,” she said.
“He is saying some rich people in America, four or five of them, big time traders, want to put money into nodules…. It’s into the billions.”
The House now had to be abolished as they had failed their people: “their hearts are in the right place but why let this man do this to them?”
She was critical of the government letting Mr Mita remain in the country.
“It is big trouble. Its treason, that is what is happening. They have broken the law, it is illegal what they have done. Why let this guy ruin them? He and the chiefs should all be charged with treason.”
Cook Islands is a self-government state in free association with New Zealand. Its 21,900 people are New Zealand citizens.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY SIR TEREPAI MAOATE
Copyright: Michael Field
