The eighth floor of the Tempo building in Jakarta became the setting for a gathering rich with meaning.

What brought together community leaders, politicians, academics, religious figures, journalists, and the family of the late Thom Beanal was not merely a book launch. It was an earnest attempt to revisit the essence of struggle, leadership, and hope for the land of Papua.

The event, which took the form of a discussion and review of a three-volume book series on Thom Beanal, opened with greetings in multiple traditions — from an Amungme war cry to salutations representing all major tribes in Papua.

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That gesture alone reflected the very spirit of the man being honoured: a leader who embraced diversity and respected every single man and woman.

The gathering coincided with three historic moments, making it even more significant.

First, it marked exactly 27 years since Thom Beanal, standing before President B. J. Habibie, boldly expressed the heartfelt desire of his people. With courage and clarity, he called for recognition as a nation that wanted to cooperate honestly, peacefully, and democratically.

Second, the event served as a memorial, three years after Beanal’s passing — a man who left a deep imprint on the struggle of Indigenous Papuans.

Third, it celebrated the culmination of two years of work by a writing team, resulting in a trilogy that chronicles the journey of a lay pastor, a tribal chief, and what many now call a “father” to the indigenous Papuan.

From lay pastor to Indigenous defender
Thom Beanal was no ordinary leader. Born on 11 July 1947 into the Amungme tribe in Timika, he completed his education from primary school to a Catholic theological academy, then served as a catechist teacher in Wamena and Paniai and as a lay pastor in several parishes.

Yet behind his calming smile and disciplined demeanour lay a profoundly thoughtful mind.

Witnessing firsthand the human rights abuses and ecological destruction caused by PT Freeport Indonesia, Beanal resigned from his pastoral duties. He felt a more urgent calling: to defend indigenous communities whose lands and lives were being uprooted.

In 1994, he founded LEMASA, the Amungme Traditional Deliberative Council, as a vehicle for indigenous advocacy. Two years later, he took an audacious step — suing Freeport in a New Orleans court. That legal action set a precedent: for the first time, a Papuan had dared to take on a multinational giant on foreign soil.

His fight did not stop there. Beanal went on to push for a one percent allocation of mining revenue for affected communities. Although limited in scope, that achievement brought a measure of justice to people who, for decades, had borne the negative impacts of mining without enjoying the wealth of their own land.

Reform era and a unique role
Entering the reform era, Beanal’s role expanded. Together with other Papuan figures and students, he helped establish FORERI, a forum that channelled Papuan aspirations during the early wave of reform.

When the Papuan Council (Dewan Papua) was formed in 2000, he served as its vice chairman. He later became chairman of the Papuan Traditional Council from 2002 to 2007. Remarkably, President Abdurrahman Wahid — known as Gus Dur, a leader with genuine concern for justice in Papua — appointed Beanal as a commissioner of PT Freeport Indonesia.

Serving until 2018, Beanal found himself in a unique position: an indigenous rights fighter sitting on the board of the very company he had long opposed.

Yet despite those strategic roles, speakers at the book launch event described Thom Beanal as a humble man, disciplined and rich in metaphor. He never offered instant answers.

Instead, he opened spaces for collective reason to search for truth. In every balance of history, he arrived precisely when the Papuan people were not in a good state. And sadly, three years after his passing, the reality facing Papua remains far from encouraging.

A grim reality for Papua today
The presentations at the Tempo building painted a grim picture. Terms like genocide, ecocide, and ethnocide were mentioned as ongoing threats to Indigenous life. Papua’s gold and other natural resources, it was argued, remain mortgaged until 2061 under a contract deemed uncivilised because it ignores the basic rights of the customary landowners.

Suffering, the speakers said, is still the daily bread of Papuans. It is against this backdrop that the three books on Thom Beanal were written — not to lament the past, but to read the present clearly and to weave solutions for the future.

The 47 contributors to the third volume, divided into six sections, provided reflections and testimonies that enrich the books. They came from diverse backgrounds: family members, prominent figures of the Amungme tribe, academics, activists, and religious leaders.

The head of the writing team, Markus Haluk, expressed his highest appreciation to everyone who supported the two year process. Moral support and advice from religious, traditional, and political leaders were cited as a key source of strength.

Special thanks were directed to the book’s reviewers, including Dr Budi Hernawan, Dr Suraya Afiff, Yorrys Raweyai, Inayah Wahid, and Emanuel Gobay, for their critical engagement with the content.

Six strategic demands for the future
More than a launch, the event became a platform for six strategic recommendations and hopes. First, the books should serve as historical source material and references for young Papuans and the wider public. The concern that the struggles of national figures might vanish with time underscores why documentation and dissemination are so urgent.

Without conscious efforts to write and spread the stories of past heroes, dark chapters could repeat, and the sacrifices of predecessors might become meaningless.

Second, the book launch was not meant to be a time for complaining or blaming one another. Instead, it is time to speak honestly about Papua’s current realities and then collectively formulate comprehensive, strategic solutions.

This constructive mindset is a legacy of Beanal’s way of thinking — seeing problems as challenges to be solved, not excuses for despair.

Third, participants were called to continue the prophetic voice exemplified by several great figures. Mentioned were bishops such as Monsignor Staverman, Monsignor Monninghoff, Monsignor Laba Ladjar, Monsignor John Philip Saklil, Father Neles Tebay, Monsignor Yanuarius You, and Monsignor Bernardus Baru OSA.

Among executive leaders, two presidents known for their deep concern for Papua — B. J. Habibie and Gus Dur — were hailed as models of dignified, peaceful struggle. The goal is noble: to save the people, culture, and natural world of Papua, which remains the last remaining lung of the Asia Pacific region. Achieving this requires genuine solidarity across sectors and religions.

Fourth, a firm call was directed at the Indonesian government, especially President Prabowo Subianto and relevant ministers: stop the mortgaging of Papua’s natural wealth, stop the gold theft, and stop the destruction of the universe that is the Papuan people’s home.

The contract binding Papua until 2061 is seen as a form of structural injustice that must be corrected. Rejection of all forms of natural resource pledging for the benefit of a few — especially to foreign parties — was voiced loudly before dozens of attendees.

Fifth, recognition of and respect for the rights of the Papuan people over politics, land, natural resources, and human dignity are non negotiable demands. The threats of genocide, ethnocide, and structural violence must be halted immediately. The absence of genuine recognition of these basic rights has been the root of decades of conflict and suffering in the land of Papua.

Sixth, and perhaps most fundamental, is the call to build honest, peaceful, and democratic negotiations between the Papuan people and the Indonesian government. This is not a new idea. It is precisely what Thom Beanal himself voiced when he stood at the State Palace on 26 February 1999.

He laid before the president the sincere desire of his people, offering equal dialogue based on honesty and peace. Twenty seven years later, the same call must be repeated — proof that a massive homework assignment still lies before the Indonesian government.

Continuing the struggle, not grieving
The subsequent discussion session opened the floor for strategic ideas from participants. The emphasis was that this gathering was not for grieving or lamenting fate, but for continuing the struggle. Attendees were encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and contribute according to their capacities.

An academic might contribute through critical research, a journalist through balanced and in-depth reporting, a politician through pro-people policy advocacy, a religious leader through moral and spiritual reinforcement, and an artist through works that raise awareness.

The event closed with a beautiful, touching metaphor drawn from Thom Beanal himself. He once reflected on the rain that welcomed his funeral in Timika. In his poetic logic, he hoped that the words spoken by those who continue his struggle would water the still thirsty soil of the fight.

The land of Papua, with all its natural wealth and cultural diversity, has long been like an arid field waiting for the rain of justice, recognition, and respect from the wider Indonesians.

A test of national commitment
The gathering at the Tempo building ultimately served as a test of Indonesia’s national commitment. Do we truly want to learn from a figure like Thom Beanal? Can we draw wisdom from the journey of a lay pastor who left his religious duties to pursue social justice? Do we have the courage to admit that for decades, systematic structural injustice has occurred in Papua?

And most importantly, do we possess the political will to stop all forms of exploitation and violence, and to build equal, dignified dialogue?

The trilogy on Thom Beanal, launched that day, is not merely a collection of stories from the past. It is a mirror for understanding today’s reality, and a compass for stepping into the future. It is a document of courage from a child of the nation who chose not to remain silent, despite great risks.

It is a legacy for young Papuans so they do not lose their historical roots, and for young Indonesians outside Papua, so they do not lose empathy and a sense of justice.

In the end, the gathering affirmed that Thom Beanal’s struggle is unfinished. His legacy still needs many hands to carry it forward. Amid threats of genocide, ecocide, and various forms of structural violence, prophetic voices like those modelled by the bishops, priests, and presidents who dared to side with justice are still desperately needed.

Will the Indonesian government listen? Will today’s leaders — including President Prabowo Subianto and his ministers — respond to the call to stop mortgaging natural wealth and to start honest, democratic negotiations? These questions still hang in Jakarta’s hot air, while in Timika, the rain may continue to fall, waiting for the words that can water the still thirsty land.

Laurens Ikinia is a Papuan lecturer and researcher at the Institute of Pacific Studies, Indonesian Christian University, Jakarta. He is also an honorary member of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) in Aotearoa New Zealand, and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report.

Tributes are pouring in for an acclaimed American Samoan poet and teacher who was murdered last Saturday in Apia allegedly by a fellow poet.

According to local police Dr Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard, a retired professor from the University of Hawai’i Manoa, was found dead at the Galu Moana Theatre in Vaivase-Uta.

The Samoa Observer reported last Sunday that police had charged playwright and poet, Papalii Sia Figiel, with manslaughter with the death but on Monday upgraded the charge to murder.

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The 78-year-old Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard, who was also a historian and environmentalist, has been described as a peaceful and calm person.

The Samoa Observer reports a friend of Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard said she was completely shocked and saddened when she found out.

She said Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard was a kindred spirit, a brilliant writer, and a supporter of writers.

“Someone who did not deserve to die like that. She was a very private person despite being a giant in the literary world,” they told the Observer.

Shocked literary friends
Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard’s death has also shocked many of her literary friends, who have been posting messages of condolence, and resulted in an outpouring of grief on social media reacting to the news.

In 2022, Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard warned of the implications of the Samoa government’s inaction to address concerns about the adverse effects of paraquat. She was part of the group advocating for the ban on the dangerous weedkiller.

Born in 1946, she was an American Samoan academic, writer, poet, and environmentalist and was the first Samoan to become a full professor in the United States. She is the sister of American politician Mike Gabbard and the aunt of politician Tulsi Gabbard.

She was born in Utulei village in American Samoa and educated at Sonoma State University, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawai’i.

Her PhD thesis called ‘Traditional Comic Theatre in Samoa: A Holographic View’. She taught creative writing at the University of Hawai’i for nearly 20 years and was an associate professor of Pacific literature at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

In 2002, she published her collection of poetry, Alchemies of Distance and in August 2020, she was named by USA Today on its list of influential women from US territories.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

By Aisha Azeemah in Suva

With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli Hau’ofa, a name renowned across the Pacific as writer, as artist, as mentor, as friend.

The great Hau’ofa certainly wore many hats and made his mark on many lives, and his influence did not end the day his breath did in 2009.

The Tongan-Fijian writer and anthropologist was, among other things, the founder of the University of the South Pacific’s Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies.

• READ MORE:  Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies

A man who recognised the need for a place where fellow creatives could create, he can be credited with nurturing several generations of Pacific writers and artists.

His own work, particularly his side-splitting short stories and his 1993 paper titled “Our Sea of Islands” which sought to destroy the notion that Pacific Islands were small and insignificant in the larger world around us, will live on forever in the hands of academics.

But now, those who knew and loved the man have gone the extra step to ensure his name lives on. On March 7, 2024, a book titled “Remembering Epeli Hau’ofa: His Life and Legacy” was launched at the University of the South Pacific’s Laucala Campus in Fiji.

The book, a compilation of the memories of and odes to Hau’ofa, was compiled and edited by Eric Waddell, Professor Vijay Naidu and Dr Claire Slatter.

Poetry opening
Current director of the Oceania Centre for Arts and a renowned artist himself, Larry Thomas, called the book launch to order. Professor Sudesh Mishra read out a poem he wrote about Hau’ofa that can be found in the opening of the book itself.

The book was officially launched by USP Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga, sharing the tale of a younger Hau’ofa amused at Dr Paunga’s very formal tie to an otherwise informal event years ago, a look he recreated for the launch event.

“Remembering Epeli Hau’ofa is a book about a visionary,” the book’s foreword by Archbishop Emeritus of the Anglican Church, New Zealand and Polynesia, Winston Halapua says.

“Epeli was a leader who opened our eyes to the pulsing reality around us, the reality which sustains and connects us.

“This book, written in his memory, draws a portrait of a man with great mana who will continue to have wide influence on thinking and action throughout the region.”

Hau’ofa’s love for the Pacific and our oceans is legendary. As such, the book would have been incomplete without an excerpt of his own words expressing the feeling of belonging shared by all Pacific Islanders. Hau’ofa wrote:

“Wherever I am at any given moment, there is comfort in the knowledge stored at the back of my mind that somewhere in Oceania is a piece of earth to which I belong.

“In the turbulence of life, it is my anchor. No one can take it away from me. I may never return to it, not even as mortal remains, but it will always be homeland.

“We all have or should have homelands: family, community, national homelands. And to deny human beings the sense of homeland is to deny them a deep spot on earth to anchor their roots.”

Enlivened by humour
The book launch, a highly emotional event for some attendees but enlivened by humour in every speech and conversation in a very Hau’ofa style was an apt way to celebrate the comedic genius’ life.

His own family, community, and fellow nationals, it seems, will never forget him.

Several notable art pieces were displayed at the Oceania Centre for the book launch, including the piece by Lingikoni E. Vaka’uta that serves as the cover art for the book, an oil on canvas piece titled “The Legend of Maui slowing the sun”.

Another is “Boso”, a 1998 welded scrap metal sculpture of Epeli Hau’ofa himself, by artist Ben Fong.

The event was attended by noted academics, artists, friends, fans of the late Epeli Hau’ofa, and several members of the Hau’ofa family, including his son and aforementioned grandson.

Epeli Hau’ofa’s stories are sure to knock the wind out of you.

• The book “Remembering Epeli Hau’ofa: His Life And Legacy” is free to download here.

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

The University of Auckland is to bestow a posthumous honorary doctorate on the late Tongan academic, author and sociologist Professor ‘Epeli Hau’ofa.

Hau’ofa was described at the time of his death by The Sydney Morning Herald as an “inspirational writer, satirist and scholar  . . . . truly a man of the Pacific, one of the region’s leading writers who promoted a positive vision of Oceanian culture and history”.

Tongan academic Dr Melanaite Taumoefolau said the university would honour Professor Hau’ofa at a graduation ceremony at the Fale Pasifika on Saturday, October 14.

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The ceremony will be held from 10am to midday followed by lunch.

Dr Taumoefolau said there would be a small kava circle with Dr Malakai Koloamatangi and Professor ‘Okusi Māhina and a few others.

It is expected there will be about 100-150 guests, mostly Tongan academics and family from the community.

The ceremony will begin with a prayer, followed by speakers who are expected to include  Tongan poet and academic Konai Thaman and Sione Tu’itahi.

This will be followed by foaki e mata’itohí, then entertainment from the TAUA Tongan students Association. Sione Tu’itahi will be MC.

‘Extraordinary vision’
Hauʻofa was born in Papua New Guinea to Tongan missionary parents. He went to school in PNG, Tonga and Fiji and then attended the University of New England and the Australian National University (ANU) in Australia and McGill University in Canada.

He graduated from the ANU with a PhD in social anthropology.

He taught at the University of Papua New Guinea and was a research fellow at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. From 1978 to 1981 he was keeper of the palace records in his role as Deputy Private Secretary to King Tupou IV.

While in Tonga, he and his wife Barbara edited the literary magazine Faikava. He became the first director of USP’s Rural Development Centre, based in Tonga, in 1981.

He taught sociology at USP in Suva, eventually becoming head of the Department of Sociology.

In 1997, Hauʻofa founded the university’s Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture. Through the centre he was mentor to a new generation of artists, sculptors, dancers and musicians at the USP in Suva.

Hau’ofa was a noted writer. His books included Mekeo: Inequality and Ambivalence in a Village Society, based on his PhD thesis, a novel, Kisses in the Nederends and probably his best known work, Tales of the Tikongs, a lively satire of contemporary South Pacific life, featuring multinational experts, religious fanatics, con men, villagers and corrupt politicians.

Hauʻofa died in Suva on 11 January 2009. At the time of his death, an academic colleague said: “His vision and person were extraordinary.”

Dr Philip Cass writes for Kaniva Tonga and is editor of Pacific Journalism Review. Republished with permission.

Marjorie Tua’inekore Crocombe (née Hosking) was born in 1930 in Rarotonga, the youngest of 11 children of Dr Rupert and Vaevae Hosking of Titikaveka.

Marjorie was educated at Titikaveka Primary School (1936-44) and in 1944 won a Maui Pomare scholarship to finish her secondary schooling in New Zealand, initially at Epsom Girls Grammar School (1945-6) and later at Whanganui Girls College where she became the first Polynesian head prefect (1947-50).

It wasn’t until many years later that she realised that her time at the school had been instrumental in allowing more New Zealand Māori girls to complete their secondary schooling at Whanganui Girls’.

In an interview with Katrina Lintonbon (Cook Islands News, 13 June, 2020), Marjorie recalled that: “When she thinks about it now, there were only three students that weren’t European when she was at the college. She used to wonder why “Miss Baker” would come to see her every night to see how her studies were going.

“All those years later I finally realised what she was doing, she had been fighting with the school’s board of governors to allow Māori girls to attend the school,” she says.

“There was so much racism back then.”

Trained as teacher
In 1951, Marjorie trained as a teacher at Ardmore Teachers Training College, graduating in 1952. After a year’s teaching at Henderson Primary School, Auckland (1953-4), she returned to Rarotonga to begin work for the Cook Islands Department of Education, and in 1955 became the first Cook Islands female lecturer at Nikao Teachers College.

During this time, she also worked on developing primary school readers in the Cook Islands Māori language.

At a dance in 1955 she met her future partner, Ron Crocombe. Ron had come to Rarotonga initially as Clerk of Works in the Public Works Department and was then appointed as Resident Agent on Atiu.

As Marjorie recalled to journalist Katrina Lintonbon, Ron was on his way back to New Zealand from Atiu and asked if she would join him.

“I said to him, ‘No way! For a start I don’t even know you.’”

“He replied, ‘We can get to know one another on our way back to New Zealand.’”

They were married in 1959 in Masterton, NZ, and a 50-year partnership began.

That same year, Marjorie accompanied Ron to Canberra where he had been offered a PhD scholarship in Pacific history. She was initially barred from entering Australia under the racist “White Australia” policy, but finally, under protest, was allowed entry.

Ethnohistory works
While Ron worked on his thesis, Marjorie commenced work on The Works of Ta’unga; Records of a Polynesian Traveller in the Southern Seas, 1833–1896 (ANU Press, 1968). This work (co-edited with Ron) “combined the two strands of ethnohistory and an Islands-focused historiography” to become one of the foundational texts of Pacific history (Lal and Munro, 2006).

In 1962, Ron and Marjorie and their family moved to live and work in Papua New Guinea following Ron’s appointment as executive officer, and from 1965, director of ANU’s New Guinea Research Unit. In Port Moresby, Marjorie became a lecturer at the Teachers College and the Administrative College, as well as conducting a regular ABC radio broadcast “Malanga Moana” covering Pacific music and current affairs (1966-9).

In 1965 during sabbatical, she undertook a part-time anthropology degree at the University of California (Los Angeles) and in 1968, studies in Pacific history at the University of Hawai’i.

In 1967, she began a degree at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), studying creative writing under Ulli and Georgina Beier and publishing her research into the work of the influential Mangaian missionaries to Papua, Ruatoka and his wife Tungane. All this was achieved in addition to bringing up two children without added help, for Ron and Marjorie refused on principle to employ domestic servants.

In Port Moresby, Marjorie was again forced to confront racial discrimination as Ron later recalled.

“The first time she went to buy meat at the main Burns Philp shop in Port Moresby she was refused service. She came home in tears after being told that natives can only be served through the outside hatch. She had been in many countries but never treated like that. She never went back, but it was a small part of the accepted code of the Australian system in Papua New Guinea.”

In 1969 the family moved to Suva, following Ron’s appointment as foundation professor of Pacific studies at the newly established University of the South Pacific. At USP, Marjorie completed her Arts degree majoring in history and education. Influenced by her creative writing teachers at UPNG, she helped establish and became first president of the South Pacific Creative Arts Society (SPACS), a post she retained for 23 years (1977-2000).

Battling established thinking
Once again she was required to battle established thinking, this time within a university that, at the time, placed greater emphasis on economic and social development than on the creative arts.

SPACS provided a platform for a “New wave of Pacific writers” through its journal Mana with Marjorie as editor. Many of the early writers published in Mana, including Albert Wendt, Konai Thaman, the late Alistair Te Ariki Campbell and the late Grace Molisa, were or became internationally famous writers and scholars, leading the Cook Islands academic Emily Powell to wonder, would there have been a Pacific literature at all if Marjorie and her colleagues had not established SPACS and sustained Mana with their own tireless work?

“Writers and publishers from the wider region,” writes Dr Linda Crowl, “owe a deep debt to Marjorie’s foresight and generosity.”

In 1974, Marjorie completed her Master of Arts degree at UPNG with a dissertation entitled – “Maretu’s Narrative of Cook Islands History” – later published as Cannibals and Converts: Radical Change in the Cook Islands (USP Press, 1983).

At USP, both Ron and Marjorie were indefatigable advocates of a decentralised university with Ron writing and teaching the first ever degree level correspondence course offered by USP Extension, An Introduction to Pacific Land Tenure in 1974.

At the same time, Marjorie worked as director of the Fiji Extension Centre, then at the Solomon Islands Extension Service, and finally as director of USP Extension Studies (1983-88), with responsibility for delivering extension studies to the university’s 12 member countries.

In September 1987, Marjorie was sitting in her office at USP’s Laucala campus when soldiers arrived with orders to “off the (satellite) machines” as Fiji’s September coup was under-way.

Uncowed by threats
Uncowed by threats of violence, Marjorie spent a brief afternoon in detention, guarded by a young and apparently respectful armed soldier, musing how she might overpower him and “pin him to the ground in one helpless pile of jungle greens”.

For their 20 plus years in Suva, Ron and Marjorie’s home at 6 Mariko Street, was a refuge for Pacific students — in John Herrmann’s words — “a marae, in essence ‘a home away from home’ for many students and staff members from across the region … (providing) a homely outing, a quiet exchange, some informal counselling, and above all else, some island songs from home”.

Following her retirement from USP in 1988, Marjorie was appointed senior lecturer and foundation director at the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland (1990-1993).

Returning to the Cook Islands she was appointed deputy chair of the Cook Islands Media Council, a member of the Biodiversity Committee, and of the Education Sector Review, the Higher Appointments Committee, the Cultural and Historic Places Trust, and the Cook Islands Research Association while also supporting innumerable NGOs and lecturing at USP Cook Islands.

Following Ron’s death in 2009, she co-edited (with Rod Dixon and Linda Crowl) a book on his life and work, entitled Ron Crocombe: E Toa: Pacific Writings to Celebrate His Life and Work.

Despite advancing age, Marjorie continued to champion poetry and literature, and, as Rachel Reeves noted, remained “outspoken about encouraging Pacific writers to analyse contemporary life through poetry, art and stories”.

This bore added fruit in 2003 with the publication of the 400-page Akono’anga Māori – Cook Islands Culture featuring 25 local authors writing on aspects of Cook Islands culture, economy and society, followed in 2016 by Art and Architecture of the Cook Islands (co-edited again with Rod Dixon and Linda Crowl).

Woman of the Year
Among her honours, Marjorie was named by Islands Business their 1990 Pacific Islands Woman of the Year, and in 2000 the Cook Islands Business and Professional Women’s Association as their Woman of the Year. In the 2009 New Year Honours List, Marjorie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Cook Islands, the Pacific, education, literature and the community

In 2011, her alma mater honoured her with the award of a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) in recognition of “her exceptional academic, literary and community achievements”. The citation included 6 full pages recording all of Marjorie’s published works covering subject areas including Pacific History, Pacific Literature, Education, Current Affairs, Information Technology, and Pacific Women as well as 22 edited publications.

The following year, USP Cook Islands campus commissioned a full-length portrait from the Pacific artist Nanette Lela’ulu. The artist pictured Marjorie in doctoral robes with bare feet on a woven mat emphasising her “groundedness” in the Pacific.

Ron’s empty chair standing beside her in the portrait depicted the now absent “other half” of a 50-year partnership.

On the university’s 50th Anniversary in 2018, USP Cook Islands celebrated Marjorie’s pivotal role in the development of Pacific Literature with publication of the book Mana – 50 Years of Cook Islands Writing, a tribute to Marjorie Crocombe.

In the same year, Marjorie fulfilled another goal by successfully lobbying the university to develop a full degree programme in her much-loved Cook Islands Māori language. Attending the opening of the Confucius Classroom at USP Cook Islands, Marjorie took the opportunity to question the vice-chancellor as to why the university taught Chinese but not Pacific languages.

As the university approached its 50th Anniversary, she argued, that the teaching of Pacific vernacular language programmes would help affirm the university’s commitment to regionalism. The then Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna had been recently installed in the largely ceremonial, yet influential, role of chancellor of the university and Marjorie was quick to lobby him for a degree in Cook Islands Māori.

Pacific language degrees
The degree was introduced in 2018 and once established, was followed by Tongan and Niuafo’ou, Vagahau Niue, and Rotuman. The first students with a Diploma in Cook Islands Māori graduated in 2021.

Anyone who has borrowed books from the Crocombe’s extensive library will have noticed an ex-libris plate on the inside front cover of each book containing the words of the French-American Quaker missionary Stephen Grellet, which reads: “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show, to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”

In living a fulfilling life, not deferring nor neglecting but actively seizing opportunities to do good, helping innumerable lives along the way, Marjorie and Ron lived up to their exacting life motto.

Their combined efforts have impacted and inspired uncountable others. We were privileged to know them.

Marjorie is survived by by four children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Rod Dixon is a former University of the South Pacific centre director. This article was first published in the Cook islands News and is republished with permission.

References
Gray, Geoffrey and Doug Munro (2018). “Ron & Marjorie Crocombe and Harry Maude: Partnerships, Ethnohistory and Publishing”, in Bérose – Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l’anthropologie, Paris.

Lintonbon, Katrina (2020, June 13). Pages from the book of Marjorie Crocombe’s life, Cook Islands News.

Reeves, Rachel (2016, June 6). Marjorie Crocombe honoured and described as a beacon of light, Cook Islands News.