page_title: Ralph Regenvanu
section_title: First term as Member of Parliament
hierarchical_section_title: Ralph Regenvanu / Political career / First term as Member of Parliament
caption_attribution_description: English: Vanuatu Parliament in Port Vila Français&#160;: Le parlement du Vanuatu à Port-Vila Italiano: Il Parlamento dello Stato Shqip: Kuvendi i Vanuatusë Русский: Парламент Вануату Čeština: Budova parlamentu Српски / srpski: Зграда парламента Hrvatski: Vanuatuvski parlament u Porta Vilu Piemontèis: Ël palass dël parlament Occitan&#160;: Parlament de Vanuatu a Port Vila.
context_page_description: Ralph John Regenvanu is a Vanuatuan anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet for most of the period from December 2010 to January 2012 and then from March 2013 to June 2015, and was the Director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council from 1995 until December 2010.
  He has been a leading figure in Vanuatu's cultural world, primarily as a promoter of cultural knowledge preservation and sustainable development as a researcher, but also, to a lesser extent, as a painter and illustrator. He has represented Vanuatu and its culture in the international sphere, notably through UNESCO. His transition to politics came suddenly in 2008, at a comparatively young age; his successful campaign to be elected to Parliament generated popular and media support. As a Member of Parliament, he sought to publicise his activities and discuss political issues directly with members of the public; he also used his parliamentary allowance to help finance student scholarships and youth business projects. Three months after his election, he was arrested and charged with aiding prisoners who had escaped from gaol.
context_section_description: He was elected to Vanuatu's parliament representing Port Vila as an independent candidate on 2 September 2008. Les Nouvelles calédoniennes and Islands Business reported that he had received a record high number of votes. Transparency International Vanuatu applauded his election and his first days in office:
  "Port Vila MP Ralph Regenvanu was elected by the “Protest Vote” – essentially by those people who were sick and tired of the traditional politics, and it is encouraging to see him exercising his mandate. This is democracy at work [...]. It is an encouraging sign that a member of the Opposition in Parliament is doing what is normally expected in properly functioning democracy - namely to highlight discrepancies between Government statements and Government actions."
  Despite remaining an independent, Regenvanu described politicians Ephraim Kalsakau and Moana Carcasses as people "I can work with and have respect for". Caracasses is leader of the Green Confederation, and was -in the immediate aftermath of the election- whip of the parliamentary Opposition to Prime Minister Edward Natapei's government. The press initially described Regenvanu as being a member of the Opposition. Following a Cabinet reshuffle in November 2009, however, he became part of a new parliamentary majority supporting Prime Minister Natapei, as member of "The Alliance" political bloc headed by Sato Kilman, who was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade in the November Cabinet reshuffle. The Alliance, supporting the government, consisted in MPs from a variety of small parties (including Carcasses' Green Confederation) and three independent MPs. Regenvanu, who did not seek a role in Cabinet, then described himself as a government backbencher; he was also described as "an independent MP in the government coalition" and a "government MP", though he was not a member of Cabinet.
  In January 2009, he announced that he would use part of his allowance as Member of Parliament to set up and finance scholarships for students undertaking Foundation-level studies at the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila. In March, twelve students were selected to receive financial assistance under his scholarship scheme. The initiative was praised by the head of the University's Vanuatu campus. The following year, nineteen more scholarships were awarded under the scheme he was continuing to fund, now with the assistance of an anonymous Australian donor. The year after that, in 2011, twelve more students received scholarships funded from his allowance.
  Also in March 2009, Regenvanu began to finance a "Youth Solidarity Micro-Credit Scheme" out of his parliamentary allocation, providing loans to assist several young people in setting up "small business projects". This was in keeping with his campaign promise that he would attempt to encourage emerging local businesses. He subsequently continued to personally fund programmes from his parliamentary allowance. In 2010, he donated 200,000 vatu (one tenth of his annual allowance) to a campaign to clean up litter in Port Vila. The same year, he donated 50,000 vatu and a printer to the Port Vila Town Youth Council, to register and promote youth groups. In February 2012, he donated rainwater catchment material to a community on Espiritu Santo.
  In February 2009, he participated in a symposium entitled "Building successful partnerships: Government, the Academy, Industry and Civil Society in the Changing Pacific", at Deakin University in Australia. He had been invited to participate "in recognition of his leading role in building partnerships between Government, research institutions and civil society in Vanuatu".
  Also in February, he criticised what he described as an excessively short period of notice given to MPs before a parliamentary debate on a number of bills:
  "How is it possible for MPs to consult with their constituencies about the bills if they have not yet received them less than a week before Parliament is due to sit to discuss them? If MPs cannot consult with their electorates about the bills, how can they 
caption: The Parliament of Vanuatu
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