NIUE Tangata Conspiracy?

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 9, 27 October 1977, Page 1

NIUE

Tangata Conspiracy?

ine l ook islands government took advantage of opposition party member Mr Pomani Tangata during his recent ill health in order to get rid of one of their most outspoken opponents. This is the feeling among many Cook Islanders living in New Zealand. Mr Tangata. who belongs to the Cook Islands DEMO Party, was seized by Fijian police several months ago and later committed to Oakley Hospital in,Auckland after his reportedly “strange behaviour"' while staying at a Fijian hotel. About two days after Mr Tangata’s committal, the Cook Islands’ government announced a by-election in his constituency of Atiu. Mr Tangata challenged the circumstances under which he was committed and the constitutionality of the by-election. The Auckland Supreme Court upheld his appeal but the court acknowledged that it had no jurisdiction over Cook

Islands attairs. The subsequent hearing in Suva heard evidence of Mr Tangata’s illness and the refusal of a New Zealand government official to give evidence at the hearing although he had made the final decision over Mr Tangata’s committal. Some Cook Islanders in New Zealand say he was suffering from a type of ‘hypnosis’ and that traditional Island medicine has since cured Mr Tangata of his sickness. The justification for committing him in a New Zealand mental hospital was very flimsy they say. There is a general feeling that the committal was planned by the Cook Islands’ government. The New Zealand official’s refusal to testify in Suva indicated “something fishy,’’ maintain some New Zealand Cook Islanders. Although Mr Tangata has taken his case to court, he has said that it is unlikely that Continued on page 5