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Category: Asia Report

  • HRW demands police drop treason charges against Papuan activist Yeimo

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on the Indonesian police to drop politically motivated treason charges against West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Victor Yeimo.

    Yeimo was arrested for calling for an independence referendum for Papua which he expressed in 2019 during the anti-racism protests and riots in Papua and West Papua province.

    Human Rights Watch said that the Indonesian government had discriminated against indigenous Melanesians in Papua and West Papua for decades.

    President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is being asked to publicly direct security forces involved in operations in Papua to act in accordance with international law to be held to account for violence there.

    “Indonesian police should investigate the deadly violence and arson attacks in Papua in 2019 but not use that as a pretext to crack down on peaceful activists,” said HRW Asia director Brad Adams in a statement.

    In August 2019, Papuans held protests in at least 30 cities across Indonesia in response to a racist attack against Papuans at a student dormitory in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya.

    Videos show soldiers shouting words such as “monkeys” at the students. Police also fired teargas into the dormitory and arrested scores of students.

    Triggered riots
    The polemic over this triggered riots in the form of attacks, looting and the torching of public facilities in Jayapura, Manokwari, Sorong and Wamena.

    In the aftermath of this, HRW noted that at least 43 protest Papuan protest leaders and KNPB activists were charged with treason and sentenced despite the fact that they were not involved in violence.

    HRW said that it takes no position on Papuan claims to self-determination, but supports everyone’s right, including independence supporters, to express their political views peacefully without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal.

    “The Indonesian authorities should ensure that all security force operations in Papua are carried out in accordance with the law and that peaceful activists and other civilians are not targeted,” added Adams.

    Separately, lawyers from the Coalition for Upholding the Law and Human Rights in Papua said that Yeimo’s arrest on Saturday, May 9, was not in accordance with arrest procedures under Law Number 8/1981 on the Criminal Procedural Code.

    This is because the arrest was made on that day while the warrant was received by Coalition lawyers more than a week later on May 19 at 6 pm at the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters (Mako Brimob) investigators office in Kotaraja, Abepura, Jayapura.

    “The coalition could not assist or directly accompany Victor F. Yeimo yet he is not just being charged under Article 106 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) or the articles on makar [treason, subversion, rebellion] but he is also charged under Article 170 Paragraph (1) of the KUHP where in the process lawyers can sit alongside their client,” said the Coalition’s litigation coordinator Emanuel Gobay.

    Prevented from helping
    Gobay also stated that they were prevented from assisting Yeimo because they were unable to directly accompany him. Yeimo was then transferred from the Papua regional police to the Mako Brimob without the Coalition’s knowledge.

    At the Mako Brimob, meanwhile, Yeimo is said to have been placed in a cell far away from any sources of fresh air and is said to have asked prison guards to move him to a more comfortable cell.

    Furthermore, Gobay revealed that his client also asked police why only he had been arrested if the pretext for the arrest was because he gave a speech during an anti-racism protest on August 19, 2019.

    “Many other people also gave speeches (during the action) such as women figures, religious figures, youth figures and so forth. Aside from this [the action] was also attuned by the Papuan provincial governor, the speaker of the MPR [Papua People’s Council], members of the DPRP [Papuan Regional House of Representatives], several SKPD [Regional Administrative Work Unit] members as well as OAP [indigenous Papuans] and non-OAP. But why am I the only one that has been arrested and charged while the others haven’t,” said Yeimo as conveyed by Gobay.

    Yeimo was a fugitive from the law who had been on the police wanted persons list (DPO) since 2019.

    He is alleged to have committed crimes against state security and makar and or broadcasting reports or issued statements which could give rise to public unrest and or broadcasting news which is unreliable or news which is excessive or incomplete.

    He is also alleged to have insulted the Indonesian national flag, language and state symbols as well as the national anthem and or incitement to commit a crime.

    Koman named as lawyer
    In London, Pelagio Doutel of the Indonesian human rights advocacy group TAPOL said UN rapporteurs should call for Yeimo’s immediate and unconditional release.

    An urgent appeal on behalf of Yeimo has been submitted by TAPOL and lawyer Veronica Koman to the UN Special Procedures mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.

    Yeimo had been living in exile in Papua New Guinea since the crackdown against the so-called Papuan Uprising and had recently returned to his homeland.

    “Lawyers have been prevented from accompanying Mr Yeimo during interrogations,” said Pelagio Doutel.

    “No family member or anyone else has been able to pay him a visit. He is practically in solitary confinement and currently arbitrarily detained at the Police’s Mobile Brigade Headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Abepura. He was moved there without prior notice to his lawyers.”

    Veronica Koman reported that “Papua’s police chief Mathius Fakhiri has publicly indicated that extra charges will likely be put against Victor Yeimo until he ‘gets old’ in prison.

    ‘History of torture’
    “Victor Yeimo has a history of being subjected to torture. Therefore we will be in close communication with UN officials to update them on developments including additional interrogation and maltreatment.”

    To support his lawyers on the ground, Yeimo has appointed Koman as his international lawyer.

    Veronica Koman is the international advocacy coordinator of the Jayapura-based Association of Human Rights Lawyers for Papua (PAHAM Papua).

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “HRW Minta Polisi Cabut Tuduhan Makar Jubir KNPB Victor Yeimo”. The Human Rights Watch statement in English is here.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Palestine: Hold Israel accountable for crimes against journalists, says IFJ

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Media offices have been bombed and Palestinian and international journalists arrested, beaten and threatened by Israeli forces amid escalating violence in Gaza, reports the International Federation of Journalists.

    The IFJ has declared in a statement that it stands in solidarity with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and all Palestinian and foreign media workers that have been targeted.

    It demands immediate international action to hold Israel accountable for its deliberate targeting of journalists and the media.

    On the night of May 11, the Israeli military bombed the Al-Jawhara tower, located in Gaza, which hosts the offices of 13 media institutions and NGOs. The PJS said the attack was deliberate and targeted.

    There were no injuries as journalists evacuated their offices after the Israeli army warned some of the media that the building would be bombed.

    However, media organisations lost their equipment. The IFJ said the Israeli government must compensate the media for their financial losses.

    The offices of the media organisations – the National Information Agency, Palestine newspaper, Al-Arabi Channel, Al-Ittijah TV, Al-Nujaba TV, the Syrian TV, Al-Kufiya Channel, Al Mamalaka channel, APA Agency, Sabq Agency 24, Bawaba 24, the Palestinian Media Forum, the Palestinian Forum for Democratic Dialogue and Development – were completely destroyed.

    The offices of Al Jazeera TV, adjacent to the targeted building, were also damaged

    Spanish news agency EFE’s correspondent in Jerusalem said on Twitter that their correspondent in Gaza had to flee its office at Al Jawhara tower after a warning message from the Israeli military.

    In addition to the targeted attacks against media organisations in Gaza, the PJS reported that the Israeli forces arrested photojournalist Hazem Nasser in the West Bank on May 12.

    Since the beginning of the clashes in Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities have arrested at least 27 media workers in what the PJS and other press groups denounced as a clear attempt to silence media reporting on the ground.

    The PJS said in a statement: “The PJS calls on all the guarantors of freedom of journalistic work, especially the United Nations and its organisations and the Red Cross to provide urgent field protection for journalists, and to activate Security Council Resolution 2222 so to obligate the occupation to implement and respect it.”

    IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “We stand in solidarity with all the Palestinian journalists and the PJS during these hard moments. The international community cannot turn a blind eye to the systematic violations of human rights and the deliberate targeting of media and journalists. Urgent actions must be taken to hold those responsible for these crimes internationally accountable”.

    In December 2020 the IFJ submitted two complaints to the UN Special Rapporteurs over Israel’s systematic targeting of journalists working in Palestine and its failure to properly investigate killings of media workers.

    The complaint stated that this was “a violation of the right to life, freedom of expression and in breach of international law and may amount to war crimes”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesia condemns Israeli attack on Al Aqsa mosque – call for strong NZ stand

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo has condemned the Israeli police violence against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the holy city of Jerusalem, reports Anadolu News.

    Widodo emphasised that the expulsion of Palestinian civilians from their homes and the use of force against them at the Al Aqsa Mosque must not be ignored.

    “Indonesia condemns such acts and urges the UN Security Council to take measures on the repeated violations carried out by Israel,” Widodo posted on his official Twitter handle.

    Widodo added Indonesia would continue to stand with the people of Palestine.

    Israeli police on Monday stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and attacked the Palestinians who were on guard to prevent raids by extremist Jews.

    Al Jazeera reports that the Israeli military has continued its bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, targeting several areas after rockets were fired from the enclave.

    Health authorities in Gaza said at least 32 Palestinians – including 10 children – were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Strip since late on Monday, after Hamas launched rockets from the coastal territory towards Israel.

    Gaza ultimatum
    The rocket fire came after Hamas, which rules Gaza, issued an ultimatum demanding Israel stand down its security forces from the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem after days of violence against Palestinians.

    Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent said some of its employees were prevented from entering the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

    Thousands of Palestinians staged protests in the Al Aqsa Mosque complex, located in the old city of Jerusalem, after performing the dawn prayers on Monday. They stayed inside to guard the mosque from the raids of extremist Jews.

    Setting up barricades at some points of Haram al-Sharif, the main building of Al Aqsa, they chanted slogans and said they would not leave there.

    Extremist Jews had announced to storm Al Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the anniversary of the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, as “Jerusalem Day” according to the Hebrew calendar.

    Extremist Jewish organisations had called for raids on Al Aqsa Mosque on Sunday and Monday to mark Jerusalem Day, to celebrate occupation anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar.

    Police raided mosque
    The Israeli police then raided the mosque, using tear gas shells, rubber bullets, and stun grenades in clashes with the Palestinians, who responded by throwing stones.

    Palestinian resistance group Hamas has said that Israel was waging a “religious war against Palestinian worshippers” in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

    “What is happening in the Al Aqsa Mosque at the time of storming and assaulting worshippers is proof of the brutality of the Zionist occupation,” Muhammad Hamadeh, the movement’s spokesman for the city of Jerusalem said.

    He called on the Palestinians to “remain steadfast”.

    Golriz Ghahraman & Marama Davidson
    Green MPs Golriz Ghahraman and Marama Davidson (co-leader) mark World Keffiyeh Day. Image: Golriz Ghahraman FB

    The Hamas spokesman held Israel responsible for its “incursion into the Al Aqsa Mosque,” saying: “The occupation will pay a heavy price.”

    In New Zealand, yesterday — World Keffiyeh Day — was marked by Green MPs in solidarity.

    “We celebrate Palestinian culture, humanity, and life, as we continue to call for an end to the terrifying violence suffered right now in Palestine at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers. Our [government] must speak!” Golriz Ghahraman said in a social media posting.

    Don’t be ‘complicit’, says PSNA
    Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chair John Minto has called on the New Zealand government to make a strong statement, not be “complicit” with ethnic cleansing by remaining silent. The statement said:

    “The Palestinian people deserve the New Zealand government’s voice on their side rather than our ‘complicity through silence’ which usually accompanies Israeli racism and systematic brutality against Palestinians.

    “In speaking out we urge you not to use anaemic language such as ‘calling for calm’ or ‘urging restraint on both sides’ because those statements in effect mean New Zealand siding with Israel’s racist, ethnic cleansing policies.

    Posted by Kia Ora Gaza on Sunday, May 9, 2021

    “Please intervene with a strong, clear voice which condemns both Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Palestine and the brutality meted out against them by the Israeli police and armed forces. New Zealand should be demanding equal rights and equal treatment for all people living under Israeli occupation and control.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • It’s not surprising Indian-Australians feel singled out. They have long been subjected to racism

    ANALYSIS: By Sukhmani Khorana, Western Sydney University

    In the past five years, the number of overseas-born migrants from India grew more than any other group in Australia, increasing from 449,000 to 721,000. Indian residents leapfrogged New Zealand-born and China-born migrants in the 2020 government figures to rank second in the country, behind only those from England.

    Despite their increasing numbers and growing political voice, it appears those of Indian origin still do not matter enough in the mainstream Australian public sphere.

    This is most apparent in the recent travel ban imposed by the federal government on flights from covid-ravaged India. Not only are Australian citizens prohibited from entering their own country, they also risk fines of up to A$66,000 or five years’ jail time if they attempt to do so.

    This has left stranded 9000 Australians who have signalled an interest in returning home, including 650 classified as “vulnerable”. Critics have decried the punitive nature of the travel ban as racist.

    After attacks, a stronger voice
    People of Indian descent have long experienced discrimination and racism in Australia.

    In 2009–10, a series of savage attacks on Indian students in Melbourne shook the community and resulted in widespread protests, blanket coverage in the Indian media and plummeting student enrolment numbers.

    Protesters burn an Australian flag
    Protesters burn an Australian flag in response to the attacks on Indian students in Melbourne. Image: Sanjeev Gupta/EPA

    The racially motivated attacks were significant enough to force the Australian government to apologise and compel then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to mend diplomatic relations by making a visit to India and setting up the Australia India Institute.

    It was widely thought at the time that Rudd did so to rescue the Australian higher education industry, which had become increasingly reliant on international students from India.

    In 2013, my colleagues and I organised the first conference of the Indian diaspora in Australia. This was in response to an Australia India Institute report in the wake of the student attacks, which found the Indian-Australian community was not politically active and “flying under the radar”.

    My research on the attacks showed the Indian-Australian community had in fact transformed from being “de-wogged migrants” to “rabble rousers”. This means that due to India’s greater economic strength on the global stage, those migrating to other countries have higher levels of pride in their home country. This, in turn, makes them more likely to speak up against perceived discrimination in Australia.

    Why do Indian-Australians feel singled out now?
    The current crisis over Australian residents being stranded in India has not elicited a similar reaction from the government.

    Even though the nation’s chief medical officer has warned Australians could die during the travel ban — and doctors, human rights groups and the Indian-Australian community have forcefully criticised the move — Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stood firm.

    How can such a decision be explained? Some commentators have said the government is trying to deflect attention from the failures of its own quarantine system by introducing such a punitive measure on health grounds.

    The real question is why those flying from India are being singled out. Such drastic steps were not in place when the US, the UK and Europe were going through similarly deadly and infectious covid outbreaks in the past year.

    One possible explanation is the Indian community in Australia is simply an easy target, especially when India is in an unprecedented crisis. Indian officials and media are likely to be preoccupied with more pressing domestic matters and may not complain about the treatment of Indian-Australians the way they did during the student attacks a decade ago.

    And despite the Indian-Australian community growing in size in Australia and being increasingly represented in the media and politics, it appears those of Indian origin are still largely perceived as an “other” or a “model minority”.

    Indian-Australians and their allies have more platforms than ever to express their legitimate anger over the travel ban, but that doesn’t mean those in power are listening.

    How the Indian community can amplify its voice
    On the one hand, the Australian government ought to have learned the lessons of the Melbourne student attacks and should take the lead in changing negative perceptions of its multicultural communities.

    This is more important than ever with the rise of racist incidents towards Asian people since the onset of covid.

    Even before the pandemic, those of Indian heritage living in Australia reported experiencing high levels of “subtle racism” in their everyday lives. Anecdotally, this can range from being told to “go back to where you came from” in public places, to being asked to prove one’s worth and qualifications when carrying out jobs that are not regarded as stereotypically “Indian”.

    On the other hand, there is still more the Indian diaspora could do to have a political voice that is take seriously in times of crisis. This is not just about speaking up for one’s own interests through formal political representation. A political voice can be achieved in other ways, such as

    • listening to the voices and concerns of their younger generations and encouraging them to speak out in appropriate public forums
    • showing solidarity with other communities that are subject to racism and discrimination
    • using community groups to work constructively with politicians.

    While there is more work to be done by the Indian diaspora in Australia to be politically proactive, it does not absolve elected leaders of the responsibility they owe to all Australian citizens to protect them. Migrants report increased feelings of belonging and civic engagement when they feel cared for.

    The Conversation
    Dr Sukhmani Khorana is a senior research fellow, Western Sydney University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • It’s not surprising Indian-Australians feel singled out. They have long been subjected to racism

    ANALYSIS: By Sukhmani Khorana, Western Sydney University

    In the past five years, the number of overseas-born migrants from India grew more than any other group in Australia, increasing from 449,000 to 721,000. Indian residents leapfrogged New Zealand-born and China-born migrants in the 2020 government figures to rank second in the country, behind only those from England.

    Despite their increasing numbers and growing political voice, it appears those of Indian origin still do not matter enough in the mainstream Australian public sphere.

    This is most apparent in the recent travel ban imposed by the federal government on flights from covid-ravaged India. Not only are Australian citizens prohibited from entering their own country, they also risk fines of up to A$66,000 or five years’ jail time if they attempt to do so.

    This has left stranded 9000 Australians who have signalled an interest in returning home, including 650 classified as “vulnerable”. Critics have decried the punitive nature of the travel ban as racist.

    After attacks, a stronger voice
    People of Indian descent have long experienced discrimination and racism in Australia.

    In 2009–10, a series of savage attacks on Indian students in Melbourne shook the community and resulted in widespread protests, blanket coverage in the Indian media and plummeting student enrolment numbers.

    Protesters burn an Australian flag in response to the attacks on Indian students in Melbourne. Image: Sanjeev Gupta/EPA

    The racially motivated attacks were significant enough to force the Australian government to apologise and compel then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to mend diplomatic relations by making a visit to India and setting up the Australia India Institute.

    It was widely thought at the time that Rudd did so to rescue the Australian higher education industry, which had become increasingly reliant on international students from India.

    In 2013, my colleagues and I organised the first conference of the Indian diaspora in Australia. This was in response to an Australia India Institute report in the wake of the student attacks, which found the Indian-Australian community was not politically active and “flying under the radar”.

    My research on the attacks showed the Indian-Australian community had in fact transformed from being “de-wogged migrants” to “rabble rousers”. This means that due to India’s greater economic strength on the global stage, those migrating to other countries have higher levels of pride in their home country. This, in turn, makes them more likely to speak up against perceived discrimination in Australia.

    Why do Indian-Australians feel singled out now?
    The current crisis over Australian residents being stranded in India has not elicited a similar reaction from the government.

    Even though the nation’s chief medical officer has warned Australians could die during the travel ban — and doctors, human rights groups and the Indian-Australian community have forcefully criticised the move — Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stood firm.

    How can such a decision be explained? Some commentators have said the government is trying to deflect attention from the failures of its own quarantine system by introducing such a punitive measure on health grounds.

    The real question is why those flying from India are being singled out. Such drastic steps were not in place when the US, the UK and Europe were going through similarly deadly and infectious covid outbreaks in the past year.

    One possible explanation is the Indian community in Australia is simply an easy target, especially when India is in an unprecedented crisis. Indian officials and media are likely to be preoccupied with more pressing domestic matters and may not complain about the treatment of Indian-Australians the way they did during the student attacks a decade ago.

    And despite the Indian-Australian community growing in size in Australia and being increasingly represented in the media and politics, it appears those of Indian origin are still largely perceived as an “other” or a “model minority”.

    Indian-Australians and their allies have more platforms than ever to express their legitimate anger over the travel ban, but that doesn’t mean those in power are listening.

    How the Indian community can amplify its voice
    On the one hand, the Australian government ought to have learned the lessons of the Melbourne student attacks and should take the lead in changing negative perceptions of its multicultural communities.

    This is more important than ever with the rise of racist incidents towards Asian people since the onset of covid.

    Even before the pandemic, those of Indian heritage living in Australia reported experiencing high levels of “subtle racism” in their everyday lives. Anecdotally, this can range from being told to “go back to where you came from” in public places, to being asked to prove one’s worth and qualifications when carrying out jobs that are not regarded as stereotypically “Indian”.

    On the other hand, there is still more the Indian diaspora could do to have a political voice that is take seriously in times of crisis. This is not just about speaking up for one’s own interests through formal political representation. A political voice can be achieved in other ways, such as

    • listening to the voices and concerns of their younger generations and encouraging them to speak out in appropriate public forums
    • showing solidarity with other communities that are subject to racism and discrimination
    • using community groups to work constructively with politicians.

    While there is more work to be done by the Indian diaspora in Australia to be politically proactive, it does not absolve elected leaders of the responsibility they owe to all Australian citizens to protect them. Migrants report increased feelings of belonging and civic engagement when they feel cared for.

    The Conversation
    Dr Sukhmani Khorana is a senior research fellow, Western Sydney University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • #HoldTheLine – hundreds of Maria Ressa supporters post ‘pressure’ videos

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    On World Press Freedom Day 2021, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the #HoldTheLine coalition launched an innovative campaign of solidarity with journalist Maria Ressa, who faces a possible lifetime in prison in the Philippines.

    A new website features hundreds of videos from prominent supporters around the world – with a call for public contributions – that will stream on a continuous loop until all charges are dropped against Ressa and the media outlet Rappler.

    Ressa, the founder and CEO of the online media outlet Rappler, whose courageous journalism and stand for press freedom in the Philippines were recognised by UNESCO.

    Developed in partnership with French advertising agency BETC, the solidarity website features content on a steady loop that will stream until the Philippine government drops all the charges and ceases its pressure campaign.

    Members of the public are encouraged to submit their own videos to be added to the stream.

    “The Duterte regime’s vicious attacks against Maria Ressa are attacks on journalism itself, and on democracy,” said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

    “At RSF we have been proud to stand in solidarity with this courageous journalist, and now we call for the international public to mobilise in her support, which could provide her with vital protection as she faces the escalating threat of a possible lifetime in prison.”

    Video contributors
    Prominent supporters and video contributors include former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay; US Nobel Economics Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz; Tiananmen Square activist and Chinese dissident Wu’er Kaixi; the former White House Press Secretary under President Clinton, Mike McCurry; and the executive director of the National Press Club in Washington, Bill McCarren.

    At least nine cases are currently open against Ressa in the Philippines, where she has also faced 10 arrest warrants in under two years.

    The cases against her include three cyber-libel cases as well as criminal tax charges. Ressa was convicted on the first cyber-libel charge in June 2020, which carries a possible prison sentence of six years if not overturned on appeal.

    #HoldTheLine is an international coalition that has come together in support of Maria Ressa and independent media in the Philippines.

    It consists of more than 80 groups led by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    The Philippines is ranked 138th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian families remember victims of Bali submarine disaster – 53 die

    By Ardila Syakriah and Reno Surya in Jakarta and Surabaya

    The hopes of the families of the sailors aboard the Indonesian Navy’s KRI Nanggala-402 submarine were dashed at the weekend after the vessel was found in pieces on the seabed north of Bali and all 53 crew members were declared dead.

    The Indonesian Military (TNI) announced it had located the submarine 838m below sea level about 1.3 kilometers south of the location from which it had made its last contact.

    “With great sadness, I, the TNI commander, announce that the great soldiers of the Submarine Unit have died on duty in the sea north of Bali,” TNI commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said during a press briefing.

    The announcement ended a four-day international search effort. Personnel from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and the United States had helped scour the 10 square nautical miles believed to contain submarine.

    Al Jazeera reports that the submarine – one of five in the Indonesian Navy – was found cracked apart on the seafloor.

    Rescuers found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those on board the 44-year-old submarine, which lost contact as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.

    Authorities said they received signals from the location early on Sunday and used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by Singapore to get a visual confirmation.

    On Saturday, the navy said fragments of the submarine, including items from inside the vessel, had been retrieved but its location had yet to be confirmed.

    Objects – including prayer mat fragments and a bottle of periscope lubricant were found near the submarine’s last known location.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian families remember victims of Bali submarine disaster – 53 die

    By Ardila Syakriah and Reno Surya in Jakarta and Surabaya

    The hopes of the families of the sailors aboard the Indonesian Navy’s KRI Nanggala-402 submarine were dashed at the weekend after the vessel was found in pieces on the seabed north of Bali and all 53 crew members were declared dead.

    The Indonesian Military (TNI) announced it had located the submarine 838m below sea level about 1.3 kilometers south of the location from which it had made its last contact.

    “With great sadness, I, the TNI commander, announce that the great soldiers of the Submarine Unit have died on duty in the sea north of Bali,” TNI commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said during a press briefing.

    The announcement ended a four-day international search effort. Personnel from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and the United States had helped scour the 10 square nautical miles believed to contain submarine.

    Al Jazeera reports that the submarine – one of five in the Indonesian Navy – was found cracked apart on the seafloor.

    Rescuers found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those on board the 44-year-old submarine, which lost contact as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.

    Authorities said they received signals from the location early on Sunday and used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by Singapore to get a visual confirmation.

    On Saturday, the navy said fragments of the submarine, including items from inside the vessel, had been retrieved but its location had yet to be confirmed.

    Objects – including prayer mat fragments and a bottle of periscope lubricant were found near the submarine’s last known location.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesia slammed for inviting Myanmar coup leader to ASEAN

    By Ryan Aditya in Jakarta

    Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti has condemned the invitation to Myanmar coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN ministerial conference in Jakarta at the weekend as revealing Indonesia’s true colours — that it is accepting of human rights violators.

    “Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival actually shows that Indonesia is indeed very apologetic towards human rights violators not just domestically but internationally,” said Maulidiyanti.

    Maulidiyanti said that Indonesia had acted the same way when it received Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary leadership conference in 2016.

    Yet, according to Maulidiyanti, Al-Bashir was a dictator and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    “Indonesia once did the same thing during the OIC Conference in 2016 when Indonesia also invited Omar Al-Bashir,” she said.

    Based on the reception of these two human rights violators, Maulidiyanti questioned Indonesia’s position — which is actually reflected through President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo — with regard to protecting human rights.

    The arrival of the Myanmar military junta leader is regrettable because it was as if Indonesia was paying no heed to the violence taking place in Myanmar.

    Jakarta not heeding violence
    “So here there is actually a question, what face is Indonesia presenting through President Joko Widodo and government officials by not heeding the violence occurring in Myanmar. The aim, rather than inviting the leader of the military junta, is to open dialogue,” she said.

    Maulidiyanti questioned what the real aim was in inviting the lead of the Myanmar military junta to Jakarta.

    Maulidiyanti emphasised that Indonesia should have invited the Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) to the ASEAN meeting on Saturday afternoon.

    “The government should have instead invited the NUG who are the elected representatives of the Myanmar people,” she said.

    On the other hand, Maulidiyanti said that ASEAN had a very important role to play in resolving the problems in Myanmar. ASEAN should immediately take firm measures over the violence being committed by the Myanmar government.

    The invitation of Min Aung Hlaing to the ASEAN conference proves that ASEAN was not a safe place for the protection of human rights.

    “It can be seen from the cooperation where they don’t want to heed the situation or the importance of acting immediately against the Myanmar government today, meaning ASIAN is not a safe place for protecting human rights”, she said.

    Widodo’s response
    President Widodo said that the violence in Myanmar must stop. This was one of the points he stressed during the meeting with the eight leaders of ASEAN countries at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta.

    “At the meeting earlier I conveyed several things. First, the situation developing in Myanmar is something which is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue,” said Widodo during a virtual press conference on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel.

    “The violence must stop. Democracy and stability as well as peace in Myanmar must be restored immediately. The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority,” he said.

    Second, Widodo emphasised the importance of General Min Aung Hlaing making two commitments.

    An end to the use of violence by the Myanmar military and that all parties must restrain themselves so that tensions can be eased so that a process of dialogue can be begun.

    “Political prisoners must be released immediately and an ASEAN special envoy needs to be established, namely the ASEAN secretary general and chairperson to promote dialogue between all parties in Myanmar,” said Widodo.

    Third, he asked that access be given for humanitarian aid from ASEAN which would be coordinated by the ASEAN secretary general and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center).

    Widodo also asserted that Indonesia wass committed to overseeing the above three commitments so that the crisis in Myanmar could be resolved.

    “We thank God that what has been conveyed by Indonesia will turn out to be in accord with what has been conveyed by ASEAN leaders so it can be said that ASEAN leaders have reached a consensus,” said Widodo.

    “The ASEAN secretary general has conveyed five points of concusses which will be conveyed by the ASEAN secretary general or chairperson. The contents are more or less the same as those that I conveyed earlier in the national statement which I conveyed earlier,” added the president.

    The ASEAN leaders meeting which was held today in Jakarta was attended by the leaders of the nine countries in Southeast Asia: President Joko Widodo, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Hassin, Laos Foreign Affairs Minister Laos Saleumxay Kommasith, Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Soroti Kehadiran Min Aung Hlaing, Kontras: Indonesia Apologetik kepada Pelanggar HAM”.

    https://www.indoleft.org

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesia slammed for inviting Myanmar coup leader to ASEAN

    By Ryan Aditya in Jakarta

    Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti has condemned the invitation to Myanmar coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN ministerial conference in Jakarta at the weekend as revealing Indonesia’s true colours — that it is accepting of human rights violators.

    “Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival actually shows that Indonesia is indeed very apologetic towards human rights violators not just domestically but internationally,” said Maulidiyanti.

    Maulidiyanti said that Indonesia had acted the same way when it received Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary leadership conference in 2016.

    Yet, according to Maulidiyanti, Al-Bashir was a dictator and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    “Indonesia once did the same thing during the OIC Conference in 2016 when Indonesia also invited Omar Al-Bashir,” she said.

    Based on the reception of these two human rights violators, Maulidiyanti questioned Indonesia’s position — which is actually reflected through President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo — with regard to protecting human rights.

    The arrival of the Myanmar military junta leader is regrettable because it was as if Indonesia was paying no heed to the violence taking place in Myanmar.

    Jakarta not heeding violence
    “So here there is actually a question, what face is Indonesia presenting through President Joko Widodo and government officials by not heeding the violence occurring in Myanmar. The aim, rather than inviting the leader of the military junta, is to open dialogue,” she said.

    Maulidiyanti questioned what the real aim was in inviting the lead of the Myanmar military junta to Jakarta.

    Maulidiyanti emphasised that Indonesia should have invited the Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) to the ASEAN meeting on Saturday afternoon.

    “The government should have instead invited the NUG who are the elected representatives of the Myanmar people,” she said.

    On the other hand, Maulidiyanti said that ASEAN had a very important role to play in resolving the problems in Myanmar. ASEAN should immediately take firm measures over the violence being committed by the Myanmar government.

    The invitation of Min Aung Hlaing to the ASEAN conference proves that ASEAN was not a safe place for the protection of human rights.

    “It can be seen from the cooperation where they don’t want to heed the situation or the importance of acting immediately against the Myanmar government today, meaning ASIAN is not a safe place for protecting human rights”, she said.

    Widodo’s response
    President Widodo said that the violence in Myanmar must stop. This was one of the points he stressed during the meeting with the eight leaders of ASEAN countries at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta.

    “At the meeting earlier I conveyed several things. First, the situation developing in Myanmar is something which is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue,” said Widodo during a virtual press conference on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel.

    “The violence must stop. Democracy and stability as well as peace in Myanmar must be restored immediately. The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority,” he said.

    Second, Widodo emphasised the importance of General Min Aung Hlaing making two commitments.

    An end to the use of violence by the Myanmar military and that all parties must restrain themselves so that tensions can be eased so that a process of dialogue can be begun.

    “Political prisoners must be released immediately and an ASEAN special envoy needs to be established, namely the ASEAN secretary general and chairperson to promote dialogue between all parties in Myanmar,” said Widodo.

    Third, he asked that access be given for humanitarian aid from ASEAN which would be coordinated by the ASEAN secretary general and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center).

    Widodo also asserted that Indonesia wass committed to overseeing the above three commitments so that the crisis in Myanmar could be resolved.

    “We thank God that what has been conveyed by Indonesia will turn out to be in accord with what has been conveyed by ASEAN leaders so it can be said that ASEAN leaders have reached a consensus,” said Widodo.

    “The ASEAN secretary general has conveyed five points of concusses which will be conveyed by the ASEAN secretary general or chairperson. The contents are more or less the same as those that I conveyed earlier in the national statement which I conveyed earlier,” added the president.

    The ASEAN leaders meeting which was held today in Jakarta was attended by the leaders of the nine countries in Southeast Asia: President Joko Widodo, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Hassin, Laos Foreign Affairs Minister Laos Saleumxay Kommasith, Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Soroti Kehadiran Min Aung Hlaing, Kontras: Indonesia Apologetik kepada Pelanggar HAM”.

    https://www.indoleft.org

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Indonesia slammed for inviting Myanmar coup leader to ASEAN

    By Ryan Aditya in Jakarta

    Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti has condemned the invitation to Myanmar coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing to attend the ASEAN ministerial conference in Jakarta at the weekend as revealing Indonesia’s true colours — that it is accepting of human rights violators.

    “Min Aung Hlaing’s arrival actually shows that Indonesia is indeed very apologetic towards human rights violators not just domestically but internationally,” said Maulidiyanti.

    Maulidiyanti said that Indonesia had acted the same way when it received Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) extraordinary leadership conference in 2016.

    Yet, according to Maulidiyanti, Al-Bashir was a dictator and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    “Indonesia once did the same thing during the OIC Conference in 2016 when Indonesia also invited Omar Al-Bashir,” she said.

    Based on the reception of these two human rights violators, Maulidiyanti questioned Indonesia’s position — which is actually reflected through President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo — with regard to protecting human rights.

    The arrival of the Myanmar military junta leader is regrettable because it was as if Indonesia was paying no heed to the violence taking place in Myanmar.

    Jakarta not heeding violence
    “So here there is actually a question, what face is Indonesia presenting through President Joko Widodo and government officials by not heeding the violence occurring in Myanmar. The aim, rather than inviting the leader of the military junta, is to open dialogue,” she said.

    Maulidiyanti questioned what the real aim was in inviting the lead of the Myanmar military junta to Jakarta.

    Maulidiyanti emphasised that Indonesia should have invited the Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) to the ASEAN meeting on Saturday afternoon.

    “The government should have instead invited the NUG who are the elected representatives of the Myanmar people,” she said.

    On the other hand, Maulidiyanti said that ASEAN had a very important role to play in resolving the problems in Myanmar. ASEAN should immediately take firm measures over the violence being committed by the Myanmar government.

    The invitation of Min Aung Hlaing to the ASEAN conference proves that ASEAN was not a safe place for the protection of human rights.

    “It can be seen from the cooperation where they don’t want to heed the situation or the importance of acting immediately against the Myanmar government today, meaning ASIAN is not a safe place for protecting human rights”, she said.

    Widodo’s response
    President Widodo said that the violence in Myanmar must stop. This was one of the points he stressed during the meeting with the eight leaders of ASEAN countries at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta.

    “At the meeting earlier I conveyed several things. First, the situation developing in Myanmar is something which is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue,” said Widodo during a virtual press conference on the Presidential Secretariat YouTube channel.

    “The violence must stop. Democracy and stability as well as peace in Myanmar must be restored immediately. The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority,” he said.

    Second, Widodo emphasised the importance of General Min Aung Hlaing making two commitments.

    An end to the use of violence by the Myanmar military and that all parties must restrain themselves so that tensions can be eased so that a process of dialogue can be begun.

    “Political prisoners must be released immediately and an ASEAN special envoy needs to be established, namely the ASEAN secretary general and chairperson to promote dialogue between all parties in Myanmar,” said Widodo.

    Third, he asked that access be given for humanitarian aid from ASEAN which would be coordinated by the ASEAN secretary general and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center).

    Widodo also asserted that Indonesia wass committed to overseeing the above three commitments so that the crisis in Myanmar could be resolved.

    “We thank God that what has been conveyed by Indonesia will turn out to be in accord with what has been conveyed by ASEAN leaders so it can be said that ASEAN leaders have reached a consensus,” said Widodo.

    “The ASEAN secretary general has conveyed five points of concusses which will be conveyed by the ASEAN secretary general or chairperson. The contents are more or less the same as those that I conveyed earlier in the national statement which I conveyed earlier,” added the president.

    The ASEAN leaders meeting which was held today in Jakarta was attended by the leaders of the nine countries in Southeast Asia: President Joko Widodo, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Hassin, Laos Foreign Affairs Minister Laos Saleumxay Kommasith, Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Soroti Kehadiran Min Aung Hlaing, Kontras: Indonesia Apologetik kepada Pelanggar HAM”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Police scuffle with protesters against Myanmar junta leader at ASEAN

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Police have forced protesters demonstrating at the weekend against the attendance of Myanmar military commander General Min Aung Hlaing at the ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference (KTT) in Jakarta away from the meeting into the nearby Agung Al-Azhar Mosque area, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The peaceful action was organised by the Leaders and Organisers of Community Organisation in Asia (LOCOA) in front of the ASEAN secretariat building in South Jakarta on Saturday.

    The police then asked the protesters to move back from the ASEAN secretariat building.

    A scuffle broke out when police began forcing demonstrators away from the meeting venue. Police eventually maneouvered the protesters into the Agung Al-Azhar Mosque area.

    Metro Jaya regional police traffic director Sambodo Purnomo Yogo said that the police had intentionally forced the protesters away in order to “sterilise” Jalan Sisingamaraja or the area in front of the ASEAN secretariat building.

    “State guests will be passing through the Sisingamaraja route, so we pushed them further inside so that it would not disrupt the passing guests,” he said.

    Yogo emphasised that they did not prohibit the demonstrators from conveying their views. “Please go ahead (and demonstrate) but inside,” he said.

    Legitimate government not invited
    In a media release, LOCOA said it regretted that the ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference to discuss the Myanmar crisis did not invite the legitimate government of Myanmar.

    “LOCOA strongly condemns ASEAN and its member states because they invited the military junta to the KTT ASEAN”, read Saturday’s official release.

    LOCOA also slammed the military junta for its violent actions against peaceful protesters and for committing illegal killings, arrests, torture and imprisonment with total impunity.

    They demanded that the military end the violence against peaceful demonstrators and civilians and urged the United Nations to immediately send a monitoring and humanitarian support mission to Myanmar.

    Myanmar’s military commander General Min Aung Hlaing who launched the coup d’etat against the civilian government attended the meeting.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Polisi Sekat Pedemo Junta Myanmar di Kawasan Masjid Al-Azhar”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Police scuffle with protesters against Myanmar junta leader at ASEAN

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Police have forced protesters demonstrating at the weekend against the attendance of Myanmar military commander General Min Aung Hlaing at the ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference (KTT) in Jakarta away from the meeting into the nearby Agung Al-Azhar Mosque area, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The peaceful action was organised by the Leaders and Organisers of Community Organisation in Asia (LOCOA) in front of the ASEAN secretariat building in South Jakarta on Saturday.

    The police then asked the protesters to move back from the ASEAN secretariat building.

    A scuffle broke out when police began forcing demonstrators away from the meeting venue. Police eventually maneouvered the protesters into the Agung Al-Azhar Mosque area.

    Metro Jaya regional police traffic director Sambodo Purnomo Yogo said that the police had intentionally forced the protesters away in order to “sterilise” Jalan Sisingamaraja or the area in front of the ASEAN secretariat building.

    “State guests will be passing through the Sisingamaraja route, so we pushed them further inside so that it would not disrupt the passing guests,” he said.

    Yogo emphasised that they did not prohibit the demonstrators from conveying their views. “Please go ahead (and demonstrate) but inside,” he said.

    Legitimate government not invited
    In a media release, LOCOA said it regretted that the ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference to discuss the Myanmar crisis did not invite the legitimate government of Myanmar.

    “LOCOA strongly condemns ASEAN and its member states because they invited the military junta to the KTT ASEAN”, read Saturday’s official release.

    LOCOA also slammed the military junta for its violent actions against peaceful protesters and for committing illegal killings, arrests, torture and imprisonment with total impunity.

    They demanded that the military end the violence against peaceful demonstrators and civilians and urged the United Nations to immediately send a monitoring and humanitarian support mission to Myanmar.

    Myanmar’s military commander General Min Aung Hlaing who launched the coup d’etat against the civilian government attended the meeting.

    Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Polisi Sekat Pedemo Junta Myanmar di Kawasan Masjid Al-Azhar”.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • RSF 2021 Index: Censorship and the disinformation virus hits Asia-Pacific

    Reporters Without Borders

    The Asia-Pacific region’s authoritarian regimes have used the covid-19 pandemic to perfect their methods of totalitarian control of information, while the “dictatorial democracies” have used it as a pretext for imposing especially repressive legislation with provisions combining propaganda and suppression of dissent.

    The behaviour of the region’s few real democracies have, meanwhile, shown that journalistic freedom is the best antidote to disinformation, reports the RSF World Press Freedom Index.

    Just as covid-19 emerged in China (177th) before spreading throughout the world, the censorship virus – at which China is the world’s undisputed specialist (see panel) – spread through Asia and Oceania and gradually took hold in much of the region.

    This began in the semi-autonomous “special administrative region” of Hong Kong (80th), where Beijing can now interfere directly under the national security law it imposed in June 2020, and which poses a grave threat to journalism.

    Vietnam (175th) also reinforced its control of social media content, while conducting a wave of arrests of leading independent journalists in the run-up to the Communist Party’s five-yearly congress in January 2021. They included Pham Doan Trang, who was awarded RSF’s Press Freedom Prize for Impact in 2019.

    North Korea (up 1 at 179th), which has no need to take lessons in censorship from its Chinese neighbour, continues to rank among the Index’s worst performers because of its totalitarian control over information and its population. A North Korean citizen can still end up in a concentration camp just for looking at the website of a media outlet based abroad.

    China (177th)

    In censorship’s grip

    Since he became China’s leader in 2013, President Xi Jinping has taken online censorship, surveillance and propaganda to unprecedented levels. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), an agency personally supervised by Xi, has deployed a wide range of measures aimed at controlling the information accessible to China’s 989 million Internet users. Thanks to its massive use of new technology and an army of censors and trolls, Beijing manages to monitor and control the flow of information, spy on and censor citizens online, and spread its propaganda on social media. The regime is also expanding its influence abroad with the aim of imposing its narrative on international audiences and promoting its perverse equation of journalism with state propaganda. And Beijing has taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance its control over online information even more.


    Countries that block journalism
    At least 10 other countries – all marked red or black on the World Press Freedom map, meaning their press freedom situation is classified as bad or very bad – used the pandemic to reinforce obstacles to the free flow of information.

    Thailand (up 3 at 137th), Philippines (down 2 at 138th), Indonesia (up 6 at 113th) and Cambodia (144th) adopted extremely draconian laws or decrees in the spring of 2020 criminalising any criticism of the government’s actions and, in some cases, making the publication or broadcasting of “false” information punishable by several years in prison.

    Malaysia (down 18 at 119th) embodies the desire for absolute control over information. Its astonishing 18-place fall, the biggest of any country in the Index, is directly linked to the formation of a new coalition government in March 2020.

    It led to the adoption of a so-called “anti-fake news” decree enabling the authorities to impose their own version of the truth – a power that the neighbouring city-state of Singapore (down 2 at 160th) has already been using for the past two years thanks to a law allowing the government to “correct” any information it deems to be false and to prosecute those responsible.

    In Myanmar (down 1 at 140th), Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government used the pretext of combatting “fake news” during the pandemic to suddenly block 221 websites, including many leading news sites, in April 2020. The military’s constant harassment of journalists trying to cover the various ethnic conflicts also contributed to the country’s fall in the Index.

    The press freedom situation has worsened dramatically since the military coup in February 2021. By resuming the grim practices of the junta that ruled until February 2011 – including media closures, mass arrests of journalists and prior censorship – Myanmar has suddenly gone back 10 years.

    Pakistan (145th) is the other country in the region where the military control journalists. The all-powerful military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), continues to make extensive use of judicial harassment, intimidation, abduction and torture to silence critics both domestically and abroad, where many journalists and bloggers living in self-imposed exile have been subjected to threats designed to rein them in.

    Although the vast majority of media outlets reluctantly comply with the red lines imposed by the military, the Pakistani censorship apparatus is still struggling to control social media, the only space where a few critical voices can be heard.

    Pretexts, methods for throttling information
    Instead of drafting new repressive laws in order to impose censorship, several of the region’s countries have contented themselves with strictly applying existing legislation that was already very draconian – laws on “sedition,” “state secrets” and “national security”. There is no shortage of pretexts. The strategy for suppressing information is often two-fold.

    On the one hand, governments use innovative practices often derived from marketing to impose their own narrative within the mainstream media, whose publishers are from the same elite as the politicians. On the other, politicians and activists wage a merciless war on several fronts against reporters and media outlets that don’t toe the official line.

    The way India (142nd) applies these methods is particularly instructive. While the pro-government media pump out a form of propaganda, journalists who dare to criticise the government are branded as “anti-state,” “anti-national” or even “pro-terrorist” by supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    This exposes them to public condemnation in the form of extremely violent social media hate campaigns that include calls for them to be killed, especially if they are women. When out reporting in the field, they are physically attacked by BJP activists, often with the complicity of the police.

    And finally, they are also subjected to criminal prosecutions.

    Independent journalism is also being fiercely suppressed in Bangladesh (down 1 at 152nd), Sri Lanka (127th) and Nepal (up 6 at 106th) – the latter’s rise in the Index being due more to falls by other countries than to any real improvement in media freedom.

    A somewhat less violent increase in repression has also been seen in Papua New Guinea (down 1 at 47th), Fiji (down 3 at 55th) and Tonga (up 4 at 46th).

    Other threats
    In Australia (up 1 at 25th), it was Facebook that introduced the censorship virus. In response to proposed Australian legislation requiring tech companies to reimburse the media for content posted on their social media platforms, Facebook decided to ban Australian media from publishing or sharing journalistic content on their Facebook pages.

    In India, the arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship. After being bombarded with complaints generated by troll armies about The Kashmir Walla magazine, Twitter suddenly suspended its account without any possibility of appeal.

    Afghanistan (122nd) is being attacked by another virus, the virus of intolerance and extreme violence against journalists, especially women journalists. With no fewer than six journalists and media workers killed in 2020 and at least four more killed since the start of 2021, Afghanistan continues to be one of the world’s deadliest countries for the media.
    Antidote to disinformation

    A new prime minister in Japan (down 1 at 67th) has not changed the climate of mistrust towards journalists that is encouraged by the nationalist right, nor has it ended the self-censorship that is still widespread in the media.

    The Asia-Pacific region’s young democracies, such as Bhutan (up 2 at 65th), Mongolia (up 5 at 68th) and Timor-Leste (up 7 at 71st), have resisted the temptations of pandemic-linked absolute information control fairly well, thanks to media that have been able to assert their independence vis-à-vis the executive, legislature and judiciary.

    Although imperfect, the regional press freedom models – New Zealand (up 1 at 8th), Australia, South Korea (42nd) and Taiwan (43rd) – have on the whole allowed journalists to do their job and to inform the public without any attempt by the authorities to impose their own narrative.

    Their good behaviour has shown that censorship is not inevitable in times of crisis and that journalism can be the best antidote to disinformation.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • RSF 2021 Index: Censorship and the disinformation virus hits Asia-Pacific

    Reporters Without Borders

    The Asia-Pacific region’s authoritarian regimes have used the covid-19 pandemic to perfect their methods of totalitarian control of information, while the “dictatorial democracies” have used it as a pretext for imposing especially repressive legislation with provisions combining propaganda and suppression of dissent.

    The behaviour of the region’s few real democracies have, meanwhile, shown that journalistic freedom is the best antidote to disinformation, reports the RSF World Press Freedom Index.

    Just as covid-19 emerged in China (177th) before spreading throughout the world, the censorship virus – at which China is the world’s undisputed specialist (see panel) – spread through Asia and Oceania and gradually took hold in much of the region.

    This began in the semi-autonomous “special administrative region” of Hong Kong (80th), where Beijing can now interfere directly under the national security law it imposed in June 2020, and which poses a grave threat to journalism.

    Vietnam (175th) also reinforced its control of social media content, while conducting a wave of arrests of leading independent journalists in the run-up to the Communist Party’s five-yearly congress in January 2021. They included Pham Doan Trang, who was awarded RSF’s Press Freedom Prize for Impact in 2019.

    North Korea (up 1 at 179th), which has no need to take lessons in censorship from its Chinese neighbour, continues to rank among the Index’s worst performers because of its totalitarian control over information and its population. A North Korean citizen can still end up in a concentration camp just for looking at the website of a media outlet based abroad.

    China (177th)

    In censorship’s grip

    Since he became China’s leader in 2013, President Xi Jinping has taken online censorship, surveillance and propaganda to unprecedented levels. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), an agency personally supervised by Xi, has deployed a wide range of measures aimed at controlling the information accessible to China’s 989 million Internet users. Thanks to its massive use of new technology and an army of censors and trolls, Beijing manages to monitor and control the flow of information, spy on and censor citizens online, and spread its propaganda on social media. The regime is also expanding its influence abroad with the aim of imposing its narrative on international audiences and promoting its perverse equation of journalism with state propaganda. And Beijing has taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to enhance its control over online information even more.


    Countries that block journalism
    At least 10 other countries – all marked red or black on the World Press Freedom map, meaning their press freedom situation is classified as bad or very bad – used the pandemic to reinforce obstacles to the free flow of information.

    Thailand (up 3 at 137th), Philippines (down 2 at 138th), Indonesia (up 6 at 113th) and Cambodia (144th) adopted extremely draconian laws or decrees in the spring of 2020 criminalising any criticism of the government’s actions and, in some cases, making the publication or broadcasting of “false” information punishable by several years in prison.

    Malaysia (down 18 at 119th) embodies the desire for absolute control over information. Its astonishing 18-place fall, the biggest of any country in the Index, is directly linked to the formation of a new coalition government in March 2020.

    It led to the adoption of a so-called “anti-fake news” decree enabling the authorities to impose their own version of the truth – a power that the neighbouring city-state of Singapore (down 2 at 160th) has already been using for the past two years thanks to a law allowing the government to “correct” any information it deems to be false and to prosecute those responsible.

    In Myanmar (down 1 at 140th), Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government used the pretext of combatting “fake news” during the pandemic to suddenly block 221 websites, including many leading news sites, in April 2020. The military’s constant harassment of journalists trying to cover the various ethnic conflicts also contributed to the country’s fall in the Index.

    The press freedom situation has worsened dramatically since the military coup in February 2021. By resuming the grim practices of the junta that ruled until February 2011 – including media closures, mass arrests of journalists and prior censorship – Myanmar has suddenly gone back 10 years.

    Pakistan (145th) is the other country in the region where the military control journalists. The all-powerful military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), continues to make extensive use of judicial harassment, intimidation, abduction and torture to silence critics both domestically and abroad, where many journalists and bloggers living in self-imposed exile have been subjected to threats designed to rein them in.

    Although the vast majority of media outlets reluctantly comply with the red lines imposed by the military, the Pakistani censorship apparatus is still struggling to control social media, the only space where a few critical voices can be heard.

    Pretexts, methods for throttling information
    Instead of drafting new repressive laws in order to impose censorship, several of the region’s countries have contented themselves with strictly applying existing legislation that was already very draconian – laws on “sedition,” “state secrets” and “national security”. There is no shortage of pretexts. The strategy for suppressing information is often two-fold.

    On the one hand, governments use innovative practices often derived from marketing to impose their own narrative within the mainstream media, whose publishers are from the same elite as the politicians. On the other, politicians and activists wage a merciless war on several fronts against reporters and media outlets that don’t toe the official line.

    The way India (142nd) applies these methods is particularly instructive. While the pro-government media pump out a form of propaganda, journalists who dare to criticise the government are branded as “anti-state,” “anti-national” or even “pro-terrorist” by supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    This exposes them to public condemnation in the form of extremely violent social media hate campaigns that include calls for them to be killed, especially if they are women. When out reporting in the field, they are physically attacked by BJP activists, often with the complicity of the police.

    And finally, they are also subjected to criminal prosecutions.

    Independent journalism is also being fiercely suppressed in Bangladesh (down 1 at 152nd), Sri Lanka (127th) and Nepal (up 6 at 106th) – the latter’s rise in the Index being due more to falls by other countries than to any real improvement in media freedom.

    A somewhat less violent increase in repression has also been seen in Papua New Guinea (down 1 at 47th), Fiji (down 3 at 55th) and Tonga (up 4 at 46th).

    Other threats
    In Australia (up 1 at 25th), it was Facebook that introduced the censorship virus. In response to proposed Australian legislation requiring tech companies to reimburse the media for content posted on their social media platforms, Facebook decided to ban Australian media from publishing or sharing journalistic content on their Facebook pages.

    In India, the arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship. After being bombarded with complaints generated by troll armies about The Kashmir Walla magazine, Twitter suddenly suspended its account without any possibility of appeal.

    Afghanistan (122nd) is being attacked by another virus, the virus of intolerance and extreme violence against journalists, especially women journalists. With no fewer than six journalists and media workers killed in 2020 and at least four more killed since the start of 2021, Afghanistan continues to be one of the world’s deadliest countries for the media.
    Antidote to disinformation

    A new prime minister in Japan (down 1 at 67th) has not changed the climate of mistrust towards journalists that is encouraged by the nationalist right, nor has it ended the self-censorship that is still widespread in the media.

    The Asia-Pacific region’s young democracies, such as Bhutan (up 2 at 65th), Mongolia (up 5 at 68th) and Timor-Leste (up 7 at 71st), have resisted the temptations of pandemic-linked absolute information control fairly well, thanks to media that have been able to assert their independence vis-à-vis the executive, legislature and judiciary.

    Although imperfect, the regional press freedom models – New Zealand (up 1 at 8th), Australia, South Korea (42nd) and Taiwan (43rd) – have on the whole allowed journalists to do their job and to inform the public without any attempt by the authorities to impose their own narrative.

    Their good behaviour has shown that censorship is not inevitable in times of crisis and that journalism can be the best antidote to disinformation.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • SAFEnet finds digital attacks targeted academics, journalists and activists

    By Dian Erika Nugraheny in Jakarta

    The Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) recorded 147 digital attacks in Indonesia during 2020, the majority of which targeted groups that are often critical of the government such as academics, journalists and activists.

    “Throughout 2020 we found 147 incidents of digital attacks. As many as 85 percent of attacks were directed at critical groups. One of which was our academic colleagues,” said SAFEnet executive director Damar Juniarto during a discussion titled Freedom of Expression, the Law and the Dynamics of Development last week.

    Juniarto said that journalists often experience doxing – the disclosure and dissemination of private data. Activists meanwhile experienced far worse incidents.

    READ MORE: West Papua media freedom articles

    Juniarto gave as an example cases in Papua where activists have had their social media accounts taken over by unknown parties. Others have received food deliveries from online delivery apps which were never ordered.

    “This kind of situation never occurred during the period of the previous (administration)”, said Juniarto.

    Also speaking at the discussion, Airlangga University Faculty of Law lecturer Herlambang P Wiratraman said that the silencing of critics by the authorities had become increasingly complex.

    Attempts to gag critics tended to take the form of digital attacks such as doxing, or disclosing and disseminating private data. On the other hand, efforts by censors, persecution and the jailing of critics were still taking place.

    Producing hoaxes
    “Things today are complex. In concert with technological development the method [used] to silence critics of the organisers of power isn’t by blocking access but through attacks by irrelevant information,” said Dr Wiratraman.

    In other words, explained Dr Wiratraman, silencing critics in the digital era was also done by producing hoaxes. And the more complex the silencing of the media becomes the more it influenced the retreat of democracy in Indonesia.

    Dr Wiratraman gave an example of when epidemiology expert Dr Pandu Riono from the University of Indonesia criticised the development of covid-19 drugs after which his social media account was hacked.

    Then there was the case of Gajah Mada University student and resource persons in a study of the constitution in relation to impeaching the president.

    “What became a question mark was that the committee, the discussion organisers could be stopped and [the discussion] closed down through digital attacks,” he said.

    “They were even terrorised by means of sending food which hadn’t been ordered using an online motorcycle taxi, visited by unknown individuals, getting door-knocked,” he continued.

    Nevertheless, Dr Wiratraman said that these two incidents were not surprising given that similar incidents had happened in the years before.

    Journalists arrest
    He also touched on the arrest of journalists and documentary film director Dandhy Laksono on the night of September 26, 2019.

    Laksono was questioned by investigators from the Metro Jaya regional police special crimes detective directorate over alleged hate speech.

    He was bombarded by 14 questions about a tweet on his Twitter account related to Papua and Wamena on September 23, 2019.

    “Such as when Mas [Brother] Dandhy Laksono was brought in by police”, said Dr Wiratraman.

    “Indeed digital attacks as well as attacks on campus have been unrelenting and even recorded since 2015”, he added.

    Translated by James Balowski of IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Mayoritas Serangan Digital Menyasar Akademisi, Jurnalis dan Aktivis”.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • SAFEnet finds digital attacks targeted academics, journalists and activists

    By Dian Erika Nugraheny in Jakarta

    The Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) recorded 147 digital attacks in Indonesia during 2020, the majority of which targeted groups that are often critical of the government such as academics, journalists and activists.

    “Throughout 2020 we found 147 incidents of digital attacks. As many as 85 percent of attacks were directed at critical groups. One of which was our academic colleagues,” said SAFEnet executive director Damar Juniarto during a discussion titled Freedom of Expression, the Law and the Dynamics of Development last week.

    Juniarto said that journalists often experience doxing – the disclosure and dissemination of private data. Activists meanwhile experienced far worse incidents.

    READ MORE: West Papua media freedom articles

    Juniarto gave as an example cases in Papua where activists have had their social media accounts taken over by unknown parties. Others have received food deliveries from online delivery apps which were never ordered.

    “This kind of situation never occurred during the period of the previous (administration)”, said Juniarto.

    Also speaking at the discussion, Airlangga University Faculty of Law lecturer Herlambang P Wiratraman said that the silencing of critics by the authorities had become increasingly complex.

    Attempts to gag critics tended to take the form of digital attacks such as doxing, or disclosing and disseminating private data. On the other hand, efforts by censors, persecution and the jailing of critics were still taking place.

    Producing hoaxes
    “Things today are complex. In concert with technological development the method [used] to silence critics of the organisers of power isn’t by blocking access but through attacks by irrelevant information,” said Dr Wiratraman.

    In other words, explained Dr Wiratraman, silencing critics in the digital era was also done by producing hoaxes. And the more complex the silencing of the media becomes the more it influenced the retreat of democracy in Indonesia.

    Dr Wiratraman gave an example of when epidemiology expert Dr Pandu Riono from the University of Indonesia criticised the development of covid-19 drugs after which his social media account was hacked.

    Then there was the case of Gajah Mada University student and resource persons in a study of the constitution in relation to impeaching the president.

    “What became a question mark was that the committee, the discussion organisers could be stopped and [the discussion] closed down through digital attacks,” he said.

    “They were even terrorised by means of sending food which hadn’t been ordered using an online motorcycle taxi, visited by unknown individuals, getting door-knocked,” he continued.

    Nevertheless, Dr Wiratraman said that these two incidents were not surprising given that similar incidents had happened in the years before.

    Journalists arrest
    He also touched on the arrest of journalists and documentary film director Dandhy Laksono on the night of September 26, 2019.

    Laksono was questioned by investigators from the Metro Jaya regional police special crimes detective directorate over alleged hate speech.

    He was bombarded by 14 questions about a tweet on his Twitter account related to Papua and Wamena on September 23, 2019.

    “Such as when Mas [Brother] Dandhy Laksono was brought in by police”, said Dr Wiratraman.

    “Indeed digital attacks as well as attacks on campus have been unrelenting and even recorded since 2015”, he added.

    Translated by James Balowski of IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Mayoritas Serangan Digital Menyasar Akademisi, Jurnalis dan Aktivis”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • We know how to cut off the financial valve to Myanmar’s military. The world just needs the resolve to act

    ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Liljeblad, Australian National University

    Since the coup in Myanmar on February 1, the international community has struggled to agree on coherent action against the military (also known as the Tatmadaw).

    Tough action by the UN Security Council has been stymied by China, Russia, India and Vietnam, who see the Myanmar crisis as an internal affair.

    Outside the UN, a strong, coordinated response by Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has also been lacking due to their reluctance to interfere in each other’s affairs. Thai political expert Thitinan Pongsudhirak called it an “existential crisis” for the bloc

    This reluctance, which has now cost the lives of over 500 civilians, rules out the use of military force to stop the violence, peacekeeping operations or even a humanitarian intervention.

    It has left the international community with one remaining option for a coordinated response that could change the military’s behaviour: the imposition of economic sanctions. But even this action has been subject to much debate.

    Follow the money
    General sanctions that try to change the behaviour of authoritarian regimes by damaging their economies have proven problematic in the past.

    Many leaders have invariably found ways around the sanctions, meaning civilians have disproportionately borne the costs of isolation.

    In contrast, targeted sanctions against the specific financial interests that sustain authoritarian regimes have been more effective. These can impose pressure on regimes without affecting the broader population.

    This is where the international community has the greatest potential to punish the Tatmadaw.

    Since the US and other countries pursued more general sanctions on Myanmar in the 1990s and 2000s — with mixed results — the international community has gained a greater understanding of the Tatmadaw’s transnational revenue streams.

    In particular, in 2019, the UN Fact-Finding Mission (UNFFM) on Myanmar released a report detailing the diverse Tatmadaw-linked enterprises that funnel revenue from foreign business transactions to the military’s leaders and units.

    More recently, this list of potential targets has been expanded by non-government organisations and investigative journalists.

    Researchers have also outlined the Tatmadaw’s dealings in illegal trade in drugs, gemstones, timber, wildlife and human trafficking.

    The extent of information on the Tatmadaw’s financial flows shows just how vulnerable the military’s leaders are to international pressure.

    Tracking the military’s legal and illegal business dealings makes it possible to identify its business partners in other countries. Governments in those countries can then take legal action against these business partners and shut off the flow of money keeping the junta afloat.

    To some degree, this is starting to happen with Myanmar. The US and UK recently decided, for instance, to freeze assets and halt corporate trading with two Tatmadaw conglomerates — Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanma Economic Holdings Limited. Both of these oversee a range of holdings in businesses that divert revenues directly to the Tatmadaw.

    Pray for Myanmar protest
    Demonstrators flash the three-finger salute and hold placards during a “Pray for Myanmar” protest against the coup in Yangon. Image: The Conversation/Nyein Chan Naing/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

    Myanmar’s trading partners can do more
    This is only a starting point, though. To tighten the pressure on the junta, targeted sanctions need to be imposed against the full suite of entities identified by the UNFFM. These include groups like Justice for Myanmar and journalists.

    The sanctions need to be accompanied by broader investigations into the Tatmadaw’s revenues from illicit trade. To counter this, Human Rights Watch has urged governments to enforce anti-money laundering and anti-corruption measures, including the freezing of assets.

    Singapore’s central bank has reportedly told financial institutions to be on the look-out for suspicious transactions or money flows between the city-state and Myanmar. Singapore is the largest foreign investor in the country.

    Moreover, for maximum impact, targeted sanctions need to be imposed not just by the West, but by Myanmar’s largest trading partners in the region. This includes Singapore, along with China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

    Business leaders in these countries have historically had the closest ties with Myanmar’s military and business elites. But their participation in a multi-national targeted sanctions strategy is not out of the question. For one, this would not require direct intervention within Myanmar, something they are loath to do. Imposing targeted sanctions would merely entail enforcing their domestic laws regarding appropriate business practices.

    International action is becoming more urgent. Beyond the concerns about the killings of unarmed civilians, there is a larger issue of the violence extending beyond Myanmar’s borders. There are growing fears the crisis could turn Myanmar into a failed state, driving refugee flows capable of destabilising the entire region.

    In short, this is no longer an “internal” matter for Myanmar — it is becoming a transnational problem that will affect regional peace and security. The tools are there to stop the financial flows to the Tatmadaw and curtail their operations. It is critical to act before the Myanmar crisis grows into an international disaster.The Conversation

    Dr Jonathan Liljeblad is a senior lecturer at the Australian National University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • We know how to cut off the financial valve to Myanmar’s military. The world just needs the resolve to act

    ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Liljeblad, Australian National University

    Since the coup in Myanmar on February 1, the international community has struggled to agree on coherent action against the military (also known as the Tatmadaw).

    Tough action by the UN Security Council has been stymied by China, Russia, India and Vietnam, who see the Myanmar crisis as an internal affair.

    Outside the UN, a strong, coordinated response by Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has also been lacking due to their reluctance to interfere in each other’s affairs. Thai political expert Thitinan Pongsudhirak called it an “existential crisis” for the bloc

    This reluctance, which has now cost the lives of over 500 civilians, rules out the use of military force to stop the violence, peacekeeping operations or even a humanitarian intervention.

    It has left the international community with one remaining option for a coordinated response that could change the military’s behaviour: the imposition of economic sanctions. But even this action has been subject to much debate.

    Follow the money
    General sanctions that try to change the behaviour of authoritarian regimes by damaging their economies have proven problematic in the past.

    Many leaders have invariably found ways around the sanctions, meaning civilians have disproportionately borne the costs of isolation.

    In contrast, targeted sanctions against the specific financial interests that sustain authoritarian regimes have been more effective. These can impose pressure on regimes without affecting the broader population.

    This is where the international community has the greatest potential to punish the Tatmadaw.

    Since the US and other countries pursued more general sanctions on Myanmar in the 1990s and 2000s — with mixed results — the international community has gained a greater understanding of the Tatmadaw’s transnational revenue streams.

    In particular, in 2019, the UN Fact-Finding Mission (UNFFM) on Myanmar released a report detailing the diverse Tatmadaw-linked enterprises that funnel revenue from foreign business transactions to the military’s leaders and units.

    More recently, this list of potential targets has been expanded by non-government organisations and investigative journalists.

    Researchers have also outlined the Tatmadaw’s dealings in illegal trade in drugs, gemstones, timber, wildlife and human trafficking.

    The extent of information on the Tatmadaw’s financial flows shows just how vulnerable the military’s leaders are to international pressure.

    Tracking the military’s legal and illegal business dealings makes it possible to identify its business partners in other countries. Governments in those countries can then take legal action against these business partners and shut off the flow of money keeping the junta afloat.

    To some degree, this is starting to happen with Myanmar. The US and UK recently decided, for instance, to freeze assets and halt corporate trading with two Tatmadaw conglomerates — Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanma Economic Holdings Limited. Both of these oversee a range of holdings in businesses that divert revenues directly to the Tatmadaw.

    Pray for Myanmar protest
    Demonstrators flash the three-finger salute and hold placards during a “Pray for Myanmar” protest against the coup in Yangon. Image: The Conversation/Nyein Chan Naing/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

    Myanmar’s trading partners can do more
    This is only a starting point, though. To tighten the pressure on the junta, targeted sanctions need to be imposed against the full suite of entities identified by the UNFFM. These include groups like Justice for Myanmar and journalists.

    The sanctions need to be accompanied by broader investigations into the Tatmadaw’s revenues from illicit trade. To counter this, Human Rights Watch has urged governments to enforce anti-money laundering and anti-corruption measures, including the freezing of assets.

    Singapore’s central bank has reportedly told financial institutions to be on the look-out for suspicious transactions or money flows between the city-state and Myanmar. Singapore is the largest foreign investor in the country.

    Moreover, for maximum impact, targeted sanctions need to be imposed not just by the West, but by Myanmar’s largest trading partners in the region. This includes Singapore, along with China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

    Business leaders in these countries have historically had the closest ties with Myanmar’s military and business elites. But their participation in a multi-national targeted sanctions strategy is not out of the question. For one, this would not require direct intervention within Myanmar, something they are loath to do. Imposing targeted sanctions would merely entail enforcing their domestic laws regarding appropriate business practices.

    International action is becoming more urgent. Beyond the concerns about the killings of unarmed civilians, there is a larger issue of the violence extending beyond Myanmar’s borders. There are growing fears the crisis could turn Myanmar into a failed state, driving refugee flows capable of destabilising the entire region.

    In short, this is no longer an “internal” matter for Myanmar — it is becoming a transnational problem that will affect regional peace and security. The tools are there to stop the financial flows to the Tatmadaw and curtail their operations. It is critical to act before the Myanmar crisis grows into an international disaster.The Conversation

    Dr Jonathan Liljeblad is a senior lecturer at the Australian National University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Myanmar: The student voice as frontliners tackle the junta

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Graeme Acton

    As the military junta in Myanmar continues its brutal attempt to subdue nationwide protests following February’s coup, New Zealand-based Myanmar students are keeping in contact with family and colleagues back home.

    It is a scary period, with internet services cut for many hours every day, and people disappearing from their homes without explanation.

    In Myanmar’s major cities of Yangon and Mandalay, students have been in the front line of pitched street battles with the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) units who have been responsible for around 500 deaths since they deposed the elected government on the morning it was due to begin its second term.

    The Tatmadaw have always regarded universities as hotbeds of organised resistance , and university authorities in Myanmar estimate roughly a third of those arrested over the past two months have been students, teachers, or academic staff.

    Myanmar’s students have fought the army on the streets many times before, including protests against a military government in 1962, and the vicious conflict in 1988.

    In the 1980s, the Tatmadaw employed the same tactics we are seeing again play out – hundreds of civilians killed, and protest leaders imprisoned.

    Back then the army moved directly against the universities, stripping them of autonomy and moving campuses to the outskirts of major towns .

    Higher education unavailable
    Many were simply closed altogether and for many years higher education was unavailable in Myanmar.

    The country’s immediate future is opaque, but students in New Zealand and Myanmar are determined they will not be heading back to the dark days of the early 1990s.

    Zet is a student currently in Mandalay, having completed studies at Victoria University last year, and he is terrified at the way the army is operating.

    “There’s been fatalities across the city,” he says, the last few days the military have been on holiday so its been quiet, but the army is like a gang now .. it’s a real struggle between the people and the Tatmadaw.”

    “Both sides are standing firm, but the Tatmadaw won’t give up, that’s their history , they don’t give up”…

    “The public mood though is very strong, stronger than in the past .. and getting stronger.”

    Back in Wellington, Zet’s student colleagues from the Myanmar Students Association are keen to keep up with what is happening on the streets with the protest movement.

    Concerned about families
    But they are also extremely concerned about their families.

    Jacqueline Swe says her family is away from any major protest area, but like everybody they are living with the constant fear the army can simply enter their homes and take anything they want.

    “It’s a bit terrifying, and its crazy too, we now have the army attacking the people instead of protecting them.”

    “We have no line of defence anymore, and we can’t depend on the police and that’s scary.”

    “It’s just a big mess now.”

    Wayne is from Yangon , and says he has been hearing about the dire conditions in some parts of the city.

    “I’m hearing from my mother that the soldiers are chasing kids into strangers homes, they are looking at people’s cellphones on the street to see what social media accounts you control and what’s on there.

    New posts deleted
    “So my mother, whenever she goes out she has to delete any new posts she doesn’t want the army seeing.”

    Students in New Zealand are doing what they can to support those on the barricades, and while the junta continues its old-school attempts to root out protest organisers they face a uphill battle against a generation of young people who lived and breathed democracy in Myanmar between 2011 and 2020.

    Digital access to a globalised world has exposed Myanmar’s students to updated forms of protest organisation and activism using social media.

    While the Tatmadaw may use the 1980s playbook to shut the universities, they may find it harder to erase the foundations of democratic politics which have taken root in Myanmar.

    With most major figures in the country’s NLD government now under house arrest, a new grouping, the CPRH, has emerged.

    Myanmar’s parallel civilian government, the CPRH or Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw was formed by legislators who were removed following the coup. Its spokesperson is Mahn Win Khaing Than, former speaker of the house.

    In Wellington, Myanmar-born student Peter is among those suggesting the CPRH must be viewed as the country’s legitimate government.

    ‘Do not recgnise the junta’
    “The most important thing New Zealand could do would be to recognise the CPRH as the legitimate government of Myanmar – and not the junta,” says Peter. 

    ”I know New Zealand has said they won’t work with the junta and I know there are sanctions in place but personally I don’t believe [the sanctions] work in Myanmar.

    “I think the primary focus for the [New Zealand] government should be recognising the CPRH.

    “ASEAN also plays a role,” says Peter, but South East Asian nations has power in its trade with Myanmar … “those countries need to put more pressure on Myanmar through trade.”

    For student Zet in Mandalay, pressure from the outside world still seems to be having a minimal impact on the generals.

    “I think it’s quite obvious the Tatamadaw has been relying on China and Russia, partly India as well ..”but international pressure won’t really impact [on] the Tatmadaw I think , unless China would somehow change the game.”

    “China is the key to the Tatmadaw, only China can change their behavior.”

    What actual change?
    But what might be the actual change China could force on the junta, apart from convincing the generals to stop killing their own people? … and can Myanmar move back to some sort of democratic model after all the violence?

    Peter is among those who see a future role for the NLD, even if it has been accused of not listening to its voters.

    “I know the National League for Democracy can have a role in future if they are more inclusive, if they allow more ethnic groups to have a voice,” he says.

    Others, like Zet, feel a change might involve a future move to a federal system, where Myanmar’s states run themselves to a large extent, watched over by a central government in Naypyidaw.

    Inside Myanmar, student leaders suggest a major nationwide revolt is a possibility, led first by ethnic armies from Myanmar’s restive provinces, and joined by the protesters and other anti-military groups.

    NZ-based members of the Myanmar Students Association, exhibit a quiet determination to prevent their country sliding back into a military-induced coma.

    “In NZ mostly it’s the older generation that know about this,” says one. “The younger Kiwis need to know more about this.“

    Graeme Acton joined the Asia Media Centre as manager in February 2020, moving from the position of foreign news editor with RNZ in Wellington. His experience in media stretches back to the 1980s, and he has held a series of senior editorial positions with RNZ, as chief reporter, Morning Report deputy editor, and regional editor.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Myanmar: The student voice as frontliners tackle the junta

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Graeme Acton

    As the military junta in Myanmar continues its brutal attempt to subdue nationwide protests following February’s coup, New Zealand-based Myanmar students are keeping in contact with family and colleagues back home.

    It is a scary period, with internet services cut for many hours every day, and people disappearing from their homes without explanation.

    In Myanmar’s major cities of Yangon and Mandalay, students have been in the front line of pitched street battles with the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) units who have been responsible for around 500 deaths since they deposed the elected government on the morning it was due to begin its second term.

    The Tatmadaw have always regarded universities as hotbeds of organised resistance , and university authorities in Myanmar estimate roughly a third of those arrested over the past two months have been students, teachers, or academic staff.

    Myanmar’s students have fought the army on the streets many times before, including protests against a military government in 1962, and the vicious conflict in 1988.

    In the 1980s, the Tatmadaw employed the same tactics we are seeing again play out – hundreds of civilians killed, and protest leaders imprisoned.

    Back then the army moved directly against the universities, stripping them of autonomy and moving campuses to the outskirts of major towns .

    Higher education unavailable
    Many were simply closed altogether and for many years higher education was unavailable in Myanmar.

    The country’s immediate future is opaque, but students in New Zealand and Myanmar are determined they will not be heading back to the dark days of the early 1990s.

    Zet is a student currently in Mandalay, having completed studies at Victoria University last year, and he is terrified at the way the army is operating.

    “There’s been fatalities across the city,” he says, the last few days the military have been on holiday so its been quiet, but the army is like a gang now .. it’s a real struggle between the people and the Tatmadaw.”

    “Both sides are standing firm, but the Tatmadaw won’t give up, that’s their history , they don’t give up”…

    “The public mood though is very strong, stronger than in the past .. and getting stronger.”

    Back in Wellington, Zet’s student colleagues from the Myanmar Students Association are keen to keep up with what is happening on the streets with the protest movement.

    Concerned about families
    But they are also extremely concerned about their families.

    Jacqueline Swe says her family is away from any major protest area, but like everybody they are living with the constant fear the army can simply enter their homes and take anything they want.

    “It’s a bit terrifying, and its crazy too, we now have the army attacking the people instead of protecting them.”

    “We have no line of defence anymore, and we can’t depend on the police and that’s scary.”

    “It’s just a big mess now.”

    Wayne is from Yangon , and says he has been hearing about the dire conditions in some parts of the city.

    “I’m hearing from my mother that the soldiers are chasing kids into strangers homes, they are looking at people’s cellphones on the street to see what social media accounts you control and what’s on there.

    New posts deleted
    “So my mother, whenever she goes out she has to delete any new posts she doesn’t want the army seeing.”

    Students in New Zealand are doing what they can to support those on the barricades, and while the junta continues its old-school attempts to root out protest organisers they face a uphill battle against a generation of young people who lived and breathed democracy in Myanmar between 2011 and 2020.

    Digital access to a globalised world has exposed Myanmar’s students to updated forms of protest organisation and activism using social media.

    While the Tatmadaw may use the 1980s playbook to shut the universities, they may find it harder to erase the foundations of democratic politics which have taken root in Myanmar.

    With most major figures in the country’s NLD government now under house arrest, a new grouping, the CPRH, has emerged.

    Myanmar’s parallel civilian government, the CPRH or Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw was formed by legislators who were removed following the coup. Its spokesperson is Mahn Win Khaing Than, former speaker of the house.

    In Wellington, Myanmar-born student Peter is among those suggesting the CPRH must be viewed as the country’s legitimate government.

    ‘Do not recgnise the junta’
    “The most important thing New Zealand could do would be to recognise the CPRH as the legitimate government of Myanmar – and not the junta,” says Peter. 

    ”I know New Zealand has said they won’t work with the junta and I know there are sanctions in place but personally I don’t believe [the sanctions] work in Myanmar.

    “I think the primary focus for the [New Zealand] government should be recognising the CPRH.

    “ASEAN also plays a role,” says Peter, but South East Asian nations has power in its trade with Myanmar … “those countries need to put more pressure on Myanmar through trade.”

    For student Zet in Mandalay, pressure from the outside world still seems to be having a minimal impact on the generals.

    “I think it’s quite obvious the Tatamadaw has been relying on China and Russia, partly India as well ..”but international pressure won’t really impact [on] the Tatmadaw I think , unless China would somehow change the game.”

    “China is the key to the Tatmadaw, only China can change their behavior.”

    What actual change?
    But what might be the actual change China could force on the junta, apart from convincing the generals to stop killing their own people? … and can Myanmar move back to some sort of democratic model after all the violence?

    Peter is among those who see a future role for the NLD, even if it has been accused of not listening to its voters.

    “I know the National League for Democracy can have a role in future if they are more inclusive, if they allow more ethnic groups to have a voice,” he says.

    Others, like Zet, feel a change might involve a future move to a federal system, where Myanmar’s states run themselves to a large extent, watched over by a central government in Naypyidaw.

    Inside Myanmar, student leaders suggest a major nationwide revolt is a possibility, led first by ethnic armies from Myanmar’s restive provinces, and joined by the protesters and other anti-military groups.

    NZ-based members of the Myanmar Students Association, exhibit a quiet determination to prevent their country sliding back into a military-induced coma.

    “In NZ mostly it’s the older generation that know about this,” says one. “The younger Kiwis need to know more about this.“

    Graeme Acton joined the Asia Media Centre as manager in February 2020, moving from the position of foreign news editor with RNZ in Wellington. His experience in media stretches back to the 1980s, and he has held a series of senior editorial positions with RNZ, as chief reporter, Morning Report deputy editor, and regional editor.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian suicide bombing rocks Makassar Cathedral on Palm Sunday

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    A bomb believed to have been detonated by two suicide attackers in Indonesia exploded outside a Catholic cathedral in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Sunday morning, wounding at least 20 and killing the assailants.

    According to the National Police, the bombers arrived at the cathedral on a motorbike, reports Gisela Swaragita in The Jakarta Post.

    A church security guard was trying to prevent the vehicle from entering the church’s grounds when the bomb exploded.

    “There were two people riding on a motorbike when the explosion happened at the main gate of the church. The perpetrators were trying to enter the compound,” National Police spokesman Brigadier General Argo Yuwono said.

    The blast occurred just after the congregants finished a service for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week leading up to Easter and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

    “I strongly condemn this act of terrorism and I have ordered the police chief to thoroughly investigate the perpetrators’ networks and tear down the networks to their roots,” President Joko Widodo said in an online broadcast following the attack, reports Al Jazeera.

    Father Wilhelmus Tulak, a priest who was leading mass at the time of the explosion, told Indonesian media the church’s security guards suspected two motorists who wanted to enter the church.

    Confronted by guards
    One of them detonated their explosives and died near the gate after being confronted by guards.

    He said the explosion occurred at about 10:30am (03:30 GMT) and that none of the worshippers was killed.

    Security camera footage showed a blast that blew flame, smoke and debris into the middle of the road.

    Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto said the blast could have caused far more casualties if it had taken place at the church’s main gate instead of a side entrance.

    Police have previously blamed the JAD group for suicide attacks in 2018 on churches and a police post in the city of Surabaya that killed more than 30 people.

    Boy Rafli Amar, the head of the country’s National Counterterrorism Agency, described Sunday’s attack as an act of “terrorism”.

    Religious makeup
    Makassar, Sulawesi’s biggest city, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority and followers of other religions.

    “Whatever the motive is, this act isn’t justified by any religion because it harms not just one person but others, too,” Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister, said in a statement.

    Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, described the attack as a “cruel incident” as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, and urged people to remain calm and trust the authorities.

    Indonesia’s deadliest attack took place on the tourist island of Bali in 2002, when bombers killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

    In subsequent years, security forces in Indonesia scored some major successes in tackling armed groups but, more recently, there has been a resurgence of violence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian suicide bombing rocks Makassar Cathedral on Palm Sunday

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    A bomb believed to have been detonated by two suicide attackers in Indonesia exploded outside a Catholic cathedral in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Sunday morning, wounding at least 20 and killing the assailants.

    According to the National Police, the bombers arrived at the cathedral on a motorbike, reports Gisela Swaragita in The Jakarta Post.

    A church security guard was trying to prevent the vehicle from entering the church’s grounds when the bomb exploded.

    “There were two people riding on a motorbike when the explosion happened at the main gate of the church. The perpetrators were trying to enter the compound,” National Police spokesman Brigadier General Argo Yuwono said.

    The blast occurred just after the congregants finished a service for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week leading up to Easter and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

    “I strongly condemn this act of terrorism and I have ordered the police chief to thoroughly investigate the perpetrators’ networks and tear down the networks to their roots,” President Joko Widodo said in an online broadcast following the attack, reports Al Jazeera.

    Father Wilhelmus Tulak, a priest who was leading mass at the time of the explosion, told Indonesian media the church’s security guards suspected two motorists who wanted to enter the church.

    Confronted by guards
    One of them detonated their explosives and died near the gate after being confronted by guards.

    He said the explosion occurred at about 10:30am (03:30 GMT) and that none of the worshippers was killed.

    Security camera footage showed a blast that blew flame, smoke and debris into the middle of the road.

    Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto said the blast could have caused far more casualties if it had taken place at the church’s main gate instead of a side entrance.

    Police have previously blamed the JAD group for suicide attacks in 2018 on churches and a police post in the city of Surabaya that killed more than 30 people.

    Boy Rafli Amar, the head of the country’s National Counterterrorism Agency, described Sunday’s attack as an act of “terrorism”.

    Religious makeup
    Makassar, Sulawesi’s biggest city, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with a substantial Christian minority and followers of other religions.

    “Whatever the motive is, this act isn’t justified by any religion because it harms not just one person but others, too,” Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Minister, said in a statement.

    Gomar Gultom, head of the Indonesian Council of Churches, described the attack as a “cruel incident” as Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, and urged people to remain calm and trust the authorities.

    Indonesia’s deadliest attack took place on the tourist island of Bali in 2002, when bombers killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

    In subsequent years, security forces in Indonesia scored some major successes in tackling armed groups but, more recently, there has been a resurgence of violence.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • OPM isn’t a ‘terrorist group’ – the Indonesian state is, says Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesia has been accused of a ‘disgraceful attack on the people of West Papua’ by considering listing the pro-independence militia Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) as a terrorist organisation.

    The exiled interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda has condemned the reported move by Jakarta, saying Papuans are generally in support of the OPM struggle for a free and independent West Papua.

    “In reality, Indonesia is a terrorist state that has used mass violence against my people for nearly six decades,” Wenda said in a statement.

    The ULMWP statement said the people of West Papua were forming their own independent state in 1961.

    “On December 1 of that year, the West New Guinea Council selected our national anthem, flag, and symbols. We had a territory, a people, and were listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the UN Decolonisation Committee,” Wenda said.

    “Our flag was raised alongside the Dutch, and the inauguration of the West New Guinea Council was witnessed by diplomats from the Netherlands, UK, France and Australia.

    “This sovereignty was stolen from us by Indonesia, which invaded and colonised our land in 1963. The birth of the independent state of West Papua was smothered.

    Launched struggle
    “This is why the people of West Papua launched the OPM struggle to regain our country and our freedom.”

    The ULMWP said that under the international conventions on human rights, the Papuans had a right to self-determination, which legal research had repeatedly shown was “violated by the Indonesian take-over and the fraudulent 1969 Act of No Choice”.

    “Under the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, we have a right to determine our own political status free from colonial rule,” Wenda said.

    “Even the Preamble to the Indonesian constitution recognises that, ‘Independence is the natural right of every nation [and] colonialism must be abolished in this world because it is not in conformity with Humanity and Justice’.”

    Indonesia’s anti-terrorism agency wanted to designate pro-independence Papuan movements OPM and KKB as “terrorists”.

    “Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians to intimidate a population for political aims. This is exactly what Indonesia has been doing against my people for 60 years. Over 500,000 men, women and children have been killed since Indonesia invaded,” said Wenda.

    “Indonesia tortures my people, kills civilians, burns their bodies, destroys our environment and way of life.

    ‘Wanted for war crimes’
    “General Wiranto, until recently Indonesia’s security minister, is wanted by the UN for war crimes in East Timor – for terrorism.

    “A leading retired Indonesian general this year mused about forcibly removing 2 million West Papuans to Manado – this is terrorism and ethnic cleansing. How can we be the terrorists when Indonesia has sent 20,000 troops to our land in the past three years?

    “We never bomb Sulawesi or Java. We never kill an imam or Muslim leader. The Indonesian military has been torturing and murdering our religious leaders over the past six months.

    “The Indonesian military has displaced over 50,000 people since December 2018, leaving them to die in the bush without medical care or food.”

    Wenda said ULMWP was a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), “sitting around the table with Indonesia”.

    “We attend UN meetings and have the support of 84 countries to promote human rights in West Papua. These are not the actions of terrorists. When 84 countries recognise our struggle, Indonesia cannot stigmitise us as ‘terrorists’.

    OPM ‘like home guard’
    “The OPM back home is like a home guard. We only act in self-defence, to protect ourselves, our homeland, our ancestral lands, our heritage and our natural resources, forests and mountain.

    “Any country would do the same if it was invaded and colonised. We do not target civilians, and are committed to working under international law and international humanitarian law, unlike Indonesia, which will not even sign up to the International Criminal Court because it knows that its actions in West Papua are war crimes,” Wenda said.

    “Indonesia cannot solve this issue with a ‘war on terror’ approach. Amnesty International and Komnas HAM, Indonesia’s national human rights body, have already condemned the proposals.

    “Since the 2000 Papuan People’s Congress, which I was a part of, we have agreed to pursue an international solution through peaceful means. We are struggling for our right to self-determination, denied to us for decades. Indonesia is fighting to defend its colonial project.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • OPM isn’t a ‘terrorist group’ – the Indonesian state is, says Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Indonesia has been accused of a ‘disgraceful attack on the people of West Papua’ by considering listing the pro-independence militia Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) as a terrorist organisation.

    The exiled interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), Benny Wenda has condemned the reported move by Jakarta, saying Papuans are generally in support of the OPM struggle for a free and independent West Papua.

    “In reality, Indonesia is a terrorist state that has used mass violence against my people for nearly six decades,” Wenda said in a statement.

    The ULMWP statement said the people of West Papua were forming their own independent state in 1961.

    “On December 1 of that year, the West New Guinea Council selected our national anthem, flag, and symbols. We had a territory, a people, and were listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the UN Decolonisation Committee,” Wenda said.

    “Our flag was raised alongside the Dutch, and the inauguration of the West New Guinea Council was witnessed by diplomats from the Netherlands, UK, France and Australia.

    “This sovereignty was stolen from us by Indonesia, which invaded and colonised our land in 1963. The birth of the independent state of West Papua was smothered.

    Launched struggle
    “This is why the people of West Papua launched the OPM struggle to regain our country and our freedom.”

    The ULMWP said that under the international conventions on human rights, the Papuans had a right to self-determination, which legal research had repeatedly shown was “violated by the Indonesian take-over and the fraudulent 1969 Act of No Choice”.

    “Under the 1960 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, we have a right to determine our own political status free from colonial rule,” Wenda said.

    “Even the Preamble to the Indonesian constitution recognises that, ‘Independence is the natural right of every nation [and] colonialism must be abolished in this world because it is not in conformity with Humanity and Justice’.”

    Indonesia’s anti-terrorism agency wanted to designate pro-independence Papuan movements OPM and KKB as “terrorists”.

    “Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians to intimidate a population for political aims. This is exactly what Indonesia has been doing against my people for 60 years. Over 500,000 men, women and children have been killed since Indonesia invaded,” said Wenda.

    “Indonesia tortures my people, kills civilians, burns their bodies, destroys our environment and way of life.

    ‘Wanted for war crimes’
    “General Wiranto, until recently Indonesia’s security minister, is wanted by the UN for war crimes in East Timor – for terrorism.

    “A leading retired Indonesian general this year mused about forcibly removing 2 million West Papuans to Manado – this is terrorism and ethnic cleansing. How can we be the terrorists when Indonesia has sent 20,000 troops to our land in the past three years?

    “We never bomb Sulawesi or Java. We never kill an imam or Muslim leader. The Indonesian military has been torturing and murdering our religious leaders over the past six months.

    “The Indonesian military has displaced over 50,000 people since December 2018, leaving them to die in the bush without medical care or food.”

    Wenda said ULMWP was a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), “sitting around the table with Indonesia”.

    “We attend UN meetings and have the support of 84 countries to promote human rights in West Papua. These are not the actions of terrorists. When 84 countries recognise our struggle, Indonesia cannot stigmitise us as ‘terrorists’.

    OPM ‘like home guard’
    “The OPM back home is like a home guard. We only act in self-defence, to protect ourselves, our homeland, our ancestral lands, our heritage and our natural resources, forests and mountain.

    “Any country would do the same if it was invaded and colonised. We do not target civilians, and are committed to working under international law and international humanitarian law, unlike Indonesia, which will not even sign up to the International Criminal Court because it knows that its actions in West Papua are war crimes,” Wenda said.

    “Indonesia cannot solve this issue with a ‘war on terror’ approach. Amnesty International and Komnas HAM, Indonesia’s national human rights body, have already condemned the proposals.

    “Since the 2000 Papuan People’s Congress, which I was a part of, we have agreed to pursue an international solution through peaceful means. We are struggling for our right to self-determination, denied to us for decades. Indonesia is fighting to defend its colonial project.”

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • RSF condemns Myanmar’s military junta for ‘eliminating’ independent media

    Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the restoration of media pluralism and unrestricted internet access in Myanmar, where the military, in the weeks since staging a coup d’état on February 1, has reasserted full control over news and information.

    The military has “engineering the disappearance of the last independent newspapers” and imposed tight curbs on online access, RSF says in a statement.

    There is no longer a free press in Myanmar, says RSF.

    The only print media have been official newspapers controlled by the military since  March 17, after the last independent daily in circulation, The Standard Time (San Taw Chain in Burmese), took the same decision as its four rivals and suspended its print edition, citing distribution problems since the coup.

    Ten days after the Information Ministry told media to stop using the terms “junta” and “coup d’état” or face sanctions, the Myanmar Times suddenly suspended operations on  February 21 “for three months,” according to the welcome message on its website.

    The website of the newspaper The Voice has not been updated since March 1.

    The military had to use stronger pressure to get two other newspapers, 7 Day News and Eleven, to stop publishing.

    It was only after the military authorities rescinded their licences on March 8 that they resigned themselves to stop publishing. The Eleven group nonetheless continues to post news on its website.

    News access endangered
    The military authorities have meanwhile been carrying our raids and seizing equipment – on March 8 at the offices of the Myanmar Now news agency and then, the next day, at the offices of the Mizzima News multimedia news group and the Kamayut Media video news website.

    The latter’s licence was not rescinded but two of its executives, Nathan Maung and Han Thar Nyein, have been arrested, preventing it from continuing to operate.

    Legal proceedings were initiated against the online media The Irrawaddy on March 14 under article 505 (a) of the penal code. This article has often been used to convict journalists critical of the military but this is the first time that an entire news organisation has been targeted.

    Ten journalists are currently facing up to three years in prison for covering the street protests against the coup.

    Other journalists have been the targets of reprisals for covering the protests against the military government. Two were abducted on March 19 while following the trial of Win Htein, one of the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party whose government was brought down by the coup.

    One of the two, BBC correspondent Aung Thura, was released on March 22 after three days of interrogation and sleep deprivation. Like other reporters, he had to sign an undertaking to stop covering the events taking place in Myanmar.

    The other, Mizzima News journalist Than Htike Aung, is still being held. Of the at least 45 journalists arrested since the coup, 25 have been released. The others are still being held.

    Finally, the military authorities are now imposing drastic restrictions on access to the internet, which was the only way to see reliable, independent reporting.

    Fixed-line internet is disconnected every night, mobile internet has been blocked for the past 11 days, and access to public wi-fi networks has been reduced for the past week, according to the internet freedom watchdog NetBlocks.

    “The actions taken by the military junta to eliminate news pluralism and press freedom and to persecute those journalists trying against all odds to keep working have unfortunately succeeded and access to news and information has not been in such danger in Myanmar since its democratisation in 2011,” RSF editor-in-chief Pauline Adès-Mével said.

    “After targeting the newspapers, the military authorities led by General Min Aung Hlaing are now blocking the digital domain in order to prevent Myanmar’s people from keeping informed about the military’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators.

    “We urge them to immediately restore press freedom, restore internet networks and stop targeting the journalists still daring to report in the field.”

    Hide or flee
    Thein Zaw, an Associated Press journalist held for more than three weeks, was finally released yesterday after charges were dropped against him. He had been violently arrested while photographing policemen during a demonstration on February 27.

    Robert Bociaga, a Polish photo-journalist arrested nearly two weeks ago, was also released yesterday and is awaiting deportation.

    The only solution envisaged by most journalists to avoid arrest and police violence is to hide or flee to the remotest regions.

    According to The Irrawaddy, hundreds of journalists have chosen one or other of these options and, despite all the problems, some are continuing to work. Others have fled to regions that are rebel strongholds, such as the eastern state of Karen.

    Last week, RSF referred the military crackdown on media and journalists to the UN special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in Myanmar and on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

    Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • RSF condemns Myanmar’s military junta for ‘eliminating’ independent media

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the restoration of media pluralism and unrestricted internet access in Myanmar, where the military, in the weeks since staging a coup d’état on February 1, has reasserted full control over news and information.

    The military has “engineering the disappearance of the last independent newspapers” and imposed tight curbs on online access, RSF says in a statement.

    There is no longer a free press in Myanmar, says RSF.

    The only print media have been official newspapers controlled by the military since  March 17, after the last independent daily in circulation, The Standard Time (San Taw Chain in Burmese), took the same decision as its four rivals and suspended its print edition, citing distribution problems since the coup.

    Ten days after the Information Ministry told media to stop using the terms “junta” and “coup d’état” or face sanctions, the Myanmar Times suddenly suspended operations on  February 21 “for three months,” according to the welcome message on its website.

    The website of the newspaper The Voice has not been updated since March 1.

    The military had to use stronger pressure to get two other newspapers, 7 Day News and Eleven, to stop publishing.

    It was only after the military authorities rescinded their licences on March 8 that they resigned themselves to stop publishing. The Eleven group nonetheless continues to post news on its website.

    News access endangered
    The military authorities have meanwhile been carrying our raids and seizing equipment – on March 8 at the offices of the Myanmar Now news agency and then, the next day, at the offices of the Mizzima News multimedia news group and the Kamayut Media video news website.

    The latter’s licence was not rescinded but two of its executives, Nathan Maung and Han Thar Nyein, have been arrested, preventing it from continuing to operate.

    Legal proceedings were initiated against the online media The Irrawaddy on March 14 under article 505 (a) of the penal code. This article has often been used to convict journalists critical of the military but this is the first time that an entire news organisation has been targeted.

    Ten journalists are currently facing up to three years in prison for covering the street protests against the coup.

    Other journalists have been the targets of reprisals for covering the protests against the military government. Two were abducted on March 19 while following the trial of Win Htein, one of the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party whose government was brought down by the coup.

    One of the two, BBC correspondent Aung Thura, was released on March 22 after three days of interrogation and sleep deprivation. Like other reporters, he had to sign an undertaking to stop covering the events taking place in Myanmar.

    The other, Mizzima News journalist Than Htike Aung, is still being held. Of the at least 45 journalists arrested since the coup, 25 have been released. The others are still being held.

    Finally, the military authorities are now imposing drastic restrictions on access to the internet, which was the only way to see reliable, independent reporting.

    Fixed-line internet is disconnected every night, mobile internet has been blocked for the past 11 days, and access to public wi-fi networks has been reduced for the past week, according to the internet freedom watchdog NetBlocks.

    “The actions taken by the military junta to eliminate news pluralism and press freedom and to persecute those journalists trying against all odds to keep working have unfortunately succeeded and access to news and information has not been in such danger in Myanmar since its democratisation in 2011,” RSF editor-in-chief Pauline Adès-Mével said.

    “After targeting the newspapers, the military authorities led by General Min Aung Hlaing are now blocking the digital domain in order to prevent Myanmar’s people from keeping informed about the military’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators.

    “We urge them to immediately restore press freedom, restore internet networks and stop targeting the journalists still daring to report in the field.”

    Hide or flee
    Thein Zaw, an Associated Press journalist held for more than three weeks, was finally released yesterday after charges were dropped against him. He had been violently arrested while photographing policemen during a demonstration on February 27.

    Robert Bociaga, a Polish photo-journalist arrested nearly two weeks ago, was also released yesterday and is awaiting deportation.

    The only solution envisaged by most journalists to avoid arrest and police violence is to hide or flee to the remotest regions.

    According to The Irrawaddy, hundreds of journalists have chosen one or other of these options and, despite all the problems, some are continuing to work. Others have fled to regions that are rebel strongholds, such as the eastern state of Karen.

    Last week, RSF referred the military crackdown on media and journalists to the UN special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in Myanmar and on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

    Myanmar is ranked 139th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • How the Milk Tea Alliance has teamed up with the ‘West Papua Spring’

    By Jasmine Chia in Bangkok

    It is an unlikely combination: the white stars of the West Papuan and Myanmar flags, side by side.

    “West Papua Stands with Myanmar,” the sign said, posted by Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman. In another poignant picture, a small group of West Papuans stand at Simora Bay at the port town of Kaimana holding a sign that reads: “We Stand With Myanmar.”

    Popular activist Twitter account @AllianceMilkTea responds: “And solidarity with you West Papua!”

    The latest member of the Milk Tea Alliance is a little-known region in ASEAN, south of the Pacific Ocean and bordered by the Halmahera, Ceram and Banda seas.

    West Papua is better known for its Raja Ampat or “Four Kings” Islands, the majestic archipelago which contains the richest marine biodiversity on earth. But, like other members of the Milk Tea Alliance, it is a region scarred by subjugation and tyranny.

    Milk Tree Alliance Tweet
    The Milk Tree Alliance tweet.

    While the brutality of Min Aung Hlaing’s army is horrifyingly public, West Papuans protest killings and an independence movement that has largely been erased from history.

    In December 2020, Benny Wenda, a political exile in Britain, declared himself head of West Papua’s first government-in-exile under the Papua Merdeka “Free West Papua” movement. That same month, the United Nations Human Rights Office called on all sides – West Papuan separatists and the Indonesian security forces – to de-escalate violence in the territory that has seen the deaths of activists, church workers and Indonesian officials.

    As the Papua Merdeka campaign picks back up, this article surveys the history and recent state violence in the region. Flickers of a “Papuan Spring” seem faint in a March that has emboldened Southeast Asian dictators. But that the voices of a region long suppressed are being heard is an achievement in and of itself.

    History of West Papuan independence claims
    History is always a fraught tool in the battle between states and their challengers. Indonesian claims to control over West Papua date back to the “restoration” of the region to the Republic of Indonesia in a pivotal 1969 referendum, the ironically named “Act of Free Choice” (AFC).

    Central to the AFC’s controversy was the musyawarah (consultation) system, agreed upon by the Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Netherlands, which decreed that the vote for West Papuan “restoration” would be conducted by a select group of representatives rather than the entire West Papuan population.

    The AFC was overseen by representatives from the UN Secretary-General’s team, giving the Indonesian government its desired stamp of international legitimacy.

    Yet, as studies produced by the University of Sydney show, since 1963 President Suharto’s military government worked to deliberately quash expressions of a unique Papuan identity. Shows of Papuan culture were declared “subversion”, West Papuan nationalists were placed under detention, and representatives were carefully selected for what the musyawarah.

    The script is familiar to any observer of Thailand’s equally controversial 2016 “constitutional referendum”. As an AFP correspondent noted in 1969, “Indonesian troops and officials are waging a widespread campaign of intimidation to force the Act of Free Choice in favor of the Republic.”

    President Suharto declared that voting against the AFC was an act of treason. Eventually, 1026 voters were chosen of a population of 815,906, all of whom voted unanimously for integration.

    Detained West Papuan activists 1969
    Prominent West Papuan activists placed under detention during the 1969 “Act of Free Choice” referendum. Source: John Wing and Peter King, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney

    In the aftermath of the AFC vote, West Papua was immediately declared a Military Operation Zone. West Papuan historians like John Rumbiak highlighted the military and police repression that soon followed, especially against activists protesting the appropriation of traditional land and forests by mining firms and timber estates.

    Thousands of troops were deployed in response to growing protest movements in the 1990s, with planned “black operations” against independence leaders.

    Ever since, West Papua has been caught in a cycle of violence. Indonesian armed forces accuse guerillas of inciting separatist violence, justifying their crackdowns on various villages.

    Under Indonesian law, raising the West Papuan flag carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Separatists like the armed West Papua National Liberation Army continue to wage a low-key insurgency in their quest for self-rule.

    According to rights group Human Rights and Peace in Papua, 60,000 West Papuans have been displaced in the conflict.

    “Our independent nation was stolen in 1963 by the Indonesian government,” Wenda said in an interview with the New York Times, “We are taking another step toward reclaiming our legal and moral rights.”

    Wenda, like the authors of the University of Sydney study, argues that there is a “silent genocide” taking place in West Papua, as thousands of Indonesians are killed by Indonesian state actors in their battle against West Papuan separatists.

    A 2004 Yale Law School report similarly concluded that “the Indonesian government has committed proscribed acts with the intent to destroy the West Papuans,” including subjecting Papuan men and women to “acts of torture, disappearance, rape, and sexual violence.”

    This is compounded systematic resource exploitation, compulsory (and often unpaid) labor, as well as the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and malnutrition.

    West Papuan claims to independence date back to 1961, according to then Papua People’s Congress leader Theys Hiyo Eluay.

    Eluay, later murdered by Indonesian Kopassus soldiers, insisted that Papua had never been culturally and politically integrated with Indonesia – a claim seemingly reinforced by the ethnic difference of the majority Papua population that inhabit the region.

    In the narrative both Eluay and Wenda have shared, West Papua declared sovereignty on 1 December 1961 as the Dutch gave up claims to Indonesia.

    “This same vision of West Papua’s history and sovereignty can be found among ordinary Papuan people,” writes academic Nino Viartasiwi.

    Papuan Spring? The 2019 Uprising
    West Papuans’ newfound alliance with the Milk Tea Alliance is part of its renewed attempt to bring international attention to the violence they have faced at the hands of Indonesian security forces for half a century.

    Last year, a #PapuanLives Matter campaign spotlighted the death of a 19-year old student at the hand of security forces as part of the global focus on police brutality. Activists highlighted the racialized elements of the West Papuan struggle.

    In the words of UK-born Indonesian actor and activist Hannah Al Rashid, quoted in The Guardian: “I stand in solidarity with Papuan Lives Matter, because…I have observed the way in which people of darker skin [in Indonesia] have been treated unfairly.”

    These 2020-2021 movements are smaller resurrections of the larger 2019 West Papua Uprising, or simply, ‘The Uprising.’ From August to September 2019, protests swept 22 towns in West Papua and 3 cities in Indonesia in response to an incident in which Indonesian soldiers shouted ‘monkey’ repeatedly at West Papuan students in Malang.

    In response, over 6000 members of the Indonesian security forces were deployed to quell the Uprising. 61 civilians – including 35 indigenous West Papuans – died in the crackdown.

    According to TAPOL, a campaigning platform for human rights, peace and democracy in Indonesia, 22,800 civilians were displaced during the Uprising.

    The cycle of resistance and crackdown is not new to Southeast Asia. West Papuans face the additional struggle of opposing a security force that they do not claim as their own, but it is an experience the Karen, Kachin, Chin or Wa peoples in Myanmar currently share.

    Their solidarity with the Milk Tea Alliance is fitting, drawing on a movement that has built regional solidarity and momentum for other struggles against authoritarianism.

    With any luck, the unlikely solidarity across the two starred flags may bring the West Papuan struggle back into the international spotlight. If not, the conflict will continue in the shadows, as it has done since the dawn of the 21st century.

    Jasmine Chia is a writer and contributor to the Thai Enquirer.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Dear President Widodo, be honest with Papua about the military operations

    OPINION: By Theo Hesegem in Wamena, Papua

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly made trips to two of Melanesian provinces, Papua and West Papua, in the easternmost part of Indonesia.

    However, the working visits made by the head of state to the land of Papua have actually not produced the results expected by indigenous Papuans.

    The President always prioritises infrastructure, while the hopes of indigenous Papuans have been that the President would be serious about handling and resolving cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua.

    The visit of the head of state is only ceremonial. It is as if the father comes and the child is happy. He does not have good intentions to resolve cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua.

    The president always prioritises the interests of the nation and the state, and never thinks of the interests of “humanity”. He should see the real interests for Papuans are self-esteem and dignity.

    Meanwhile, the conflict in Papua continues to claim casualties. As a president, he should think about the people who are experiencing casualties and also the refugees who have now lost their leader.

    As executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation and a world human rights defender, I would say that the ability of a president is very limited and immeasurable, even though he has served for two periods as President of the Republic of Indonesia.

    In our encounters with the president, he has been aware that all this time the conflict in Papua continues to claim a lot of casualties. It appears that the president is unable to handle and resolve cases of alleged human rights violations in the Land of Papua.

    Indonesia’s focus is always on the strength of the military apparatus in Papua, thus they always send non-organic troops to carry out military operations.

    According to the president, sending thousands of troops to Papua is considered addressing the problem of Papua, and thus human rights violations in Papua will end. I believe the conflict will increase greatly.

    Does this president have no solutions and policies?
    In my opinion, no. The president seems incapable and he has no new policies and no initiatives against the violence that has just an adverse impact on civil society as his own citizens. He sits on a soft and comfortable chair and just orders the commander and the chief of police to send troops to West Papua.

    As a citizen of this country, I am ashamed that the president’s policy of always sending an extraordinary numbers of troops in Papua, thousands of Indonesia Military (TNI) and Police (POLRI) forces have now occupied the land of Papua.

    We know several countries around the world have highlighted Indonesian and the human human rights violations. However, the President has not taken this spotlight seriously, perhaps because he considered it is an ordinary thing.

    So, the situation of human rights violations in Papua are not taken seriously and resolved with the heart.

    Law enforcement operations?
    President Widodo needs to explain the status of the conflict in Papua to the Papuan people and the international community.

    Is it a military operation or a law enforcement operation? So that the Papuans and international observers can know clearly.

    The reason why the president has to explain these two things is that the status of the conflict in Tanah Papua is not yet clear, even though law enforcement officials often say that the operations in Nduga and Intan Jaya are for law enforcement.

    This situation is very worrying because civilians who do not have weapons and do not know about any problems are always victims. Therefore, this impacts seriously on indigenous Papuans experiencing an extraordinary humanitarian crisis, and almost every time there are victims.

    Failures and wrong operations
    Previously, we knew that the operations in Nduga and Intan Jaya regencies were law enforcement operations. However, law enforcement operations have failed.

    Law enforcement operations of the Indonesia military and police officers have not succeeded in arresting Egianus Kogoya and his friends who are alleged to have carried out the massacre at Mount Kabo on December 2, 2018, until now – three months into 2021.

    The capabilities and actions of the officers are actually worse in the process of searching for the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) suspects. To this day, we have never heard that the group led by Egianus Kogoya and his friends have been arrested and processed.

    Where are the thousands of military troops who have been assigned to Papua?

    The law enforcement process has not gone well according to the expectations of the Indonesian government.

    People who were suspected of being OPM have been immediately executed on the spot and members of the TNI only submitted evidence to the law enforcement apparatus without being accompanied by the person arrested.

    Is it by means of submitting evidence without the person that the law enforcement process can be run.

    The TNI/POLRI military apparatus needs to learn professional law enforcement processes, so that the application of the law in the field can be carried out in accordance with the mechanisms or laws in force in Indonesia.

    Civilians who were arrested were shot, then the authorities put the gun on their chest or body to show it as having belonged to them, then the TNI apparatus handed over only the evidence – pistol – to the law enforcement apparatus.

    Law enforcement officials do not dare to prove in an honest and fair investigation that the weapons really belonged to the OPM or were engineered by officers in the field.

    Missing serial numbers on firearms
    The law enforcement process is very important, so that anyone who has committed a violation of the law must be processed according to the applicable law in Indonesia.

    The confiscation of evidence of weapons in the hands of the OPM was a success of the TNI/POLRI apparatus, only the weapons in question could not be proven in the law enforcement process.

    For example, the police, as law enforcement officers can prove with the serial number of the pistol or weapon seized in the hands of the OPM to be able to prove it with the serial number registered in each police or military institution. This is ecause all weapons and pistols used by the TNI and POLRI officers have been officially registered with their respective institutions.

    Thus the serial number of the weapon needs to be proven. If the serial number of the weapon or pistol is not registered, it means that the weapon or pistol belongs to the OPM.

    Then in the process of proving the serial numbers of weapons and pistols registered with the military institution or POLRI, it means that there has been manipulation in the field by the authorities.

    For this reason, proving a weapon’s number is very important, but to my knowledge, the authorities as law enforcers have never done it. A serious failure.

    This is why I argue that the operations in Nduga and Intan Jaya are law enforcement operations that have failed and gone wrong.

    President does not respect citizens
    President Widodo does not respect its own people, which to this day, the indigenous Papuan people, as citizens, have always been victims of violence, but a president just chooses to remain silent.

    As a human rights defender, I am very disappointed with the attitude of a president who does not protect civilians, indigenous Papuans, as citizens who have the right to live and to freedom.

    The president also does not respect the international community which always urges open access to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations and foreign journalists to enter Papua.

    Perhaps, according to the president, the humanitarian crisis in Papua is considered an ordinary thing, not an extraordinary thing, so that Jakarta always sends troops to carry out military operations in Papua.

    Honourable President, I, as a human rights defender in Papua, am very surprised and feel sad about the attitude of a president who always sends troops using warships to lean on Jayapura for military operations in Papua Land.

    I appeal to you, President Widodo, to please convey honestly to us as the Papuan region about sending of troops in such excessive numbers.

    If indeed Papua has been designated as a Military Emergency Operation area, we need to know that! Being honest is an important part of being a President.

    Theo Hesegem is the executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation and a world human rights defender. This article was contributed to Asia Pacific Report.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • For this Filipina journalist, every day is a battle with fear – and defying silence

    Women journalists, feminists, activists, and human rights defenders around the world are facing virtual harassment. In this series, global civil society alliance CIVICUS highlights the gendered nature of virtual harassment through the stories of women working to defend our democratic freedoms. Today’s testimony on International Women’s Day is published here through a partnership between CIVICUS and Global Voices.

    By CIVICUS in Manila

    There has been a hostile environment for civil society in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took power in 2016. Killings, arrests, threats, and intimidation of activists and government critics are often perpetrated with impunity.

    According to the United Nations, the vilification of dissent is being “increasingly institutionalised and normalised in ways that will be very difficult to reverse.”

    There has also been a relentless crackdown against independent media and journalists.

    Threats and attacks against journalists, as well as the deployment of armies of trolls and online bots, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, have contributed to self-censorship—this has had a chilling effect within the media industry and among the wider public.

    One tactic increasingly used by the government to target activists and journalists is to label them as “terrorists” or “communist fronts,” particularly those who have been critical of Duterte’s deadly “war on drugs” that has killed thousands.

    Known as “red-tagging” in the Philippines, this process often puts activists at grave risk of being targeted by the state and pro-government militias.

    In some cases, those who have been red-tagged were later killed. Others have received death threats or sexually abusive comments in private messages or on social media.

    Rampant impunity means that accountability for attacks against activists and journalists is virtually non-existent. Courts in the Philippines have failed to provide justice and civil society has been calling for an independent investigation to address the grave violations.

    Filipina journalist Inday Espina-Varona tells her story:
    ‘Silence would be a surrender to tyranny’

    The sound of Tibetan chimes and flowing water transformed into a giant hiss the night dozens of worried friends passed on a Facebook post with my face and a headline that screamed I’d been passing information to communist guerrillas.

    Old hag, menopausal bitch, a person “of confused sexuality”—I’ve been called all that on social media. Trolls routinely call for my arrest as a communist.

    But the attack on 4 June 2020 was different. The anonymous right-wing Facebook page charged me with terrorism, of using access and coverage to pass sensitive, confidential military information to rebels.

    That night, dinner stopped at two spoonsful. My stomach felt like a sack with a dozen stones churning around a malignant current. All my collection of Zen music, hours of staring at the stars, and no amount of calming oil could bring sleep.

    Strangers came heckling the next day on Messenger. One asked how it felt to be “the muse of terrorists”. Another said, “Maghanda ka na bruha na terorista” (“Get ready, you terrorist witch”).

    A third said in vulgar vernacular that I should be the first shot in the vagina, a reference to what President Rodrigo Duterte once told soldiers to do to women rebels.

    I’m 57 years old, a cancer survivor with a chronic bad back. I don’t sneak around at night. I don’t do countryside treks. I don’t even cover the military.

    Like shooting range target
    But for weeks, I felt like a target mark in a shooting range. As a passenger on vehicles, I replaced mobile web surfing with peering into side mirrors, checking out motorcycles carrying two passengers—often mentioned in reports on killings.

    I recognised a scaled-up threat. This attack didn’t target ideas or words. The charge involved actions penalised with jail time or worse. Some military officials were sharing it.

    Not surprising; the current government doesn’t bother with factual niceties. It uses “communist” as a catch-all phrase for everything that bedevils the Philippines.

    Anonymous teams have killed close to 300 dissenters and these attacks usually followed red-tagging campaigns. Nineteen journalists have also been murdered since Duterte assumed office in 2016.

    Journalists, lawmakers, civil liberties advocates, and netizens called out the lie. Dozens reported the post. I did. We all received an automated response: It did not violate Facebook’s community standards.

    It feels foolish to argue with an automated system but I did gather the evidence before getting in touch with Facebook executives. My normal response to abusive engagement on Facebook or Twitter is a laughing emoji and a block. Threats are a different matter.

    We tracked down, “Let’s see how brave you are when we get to the street where you live,” to a Filipino criminology graduate working in a Japanese bar. He apologised and took it down.

    Threat against ‘my daughter’
    After I fact-checked Duterte for blaming rape on drug use in general, someone said my “defending addicts” should be punished with the rape of my daughter.

    “That should teach you,” said the message from an account that had no sign of life. Another said he’d come to rape me.

    Both accounts shared the same traits. They linked to similar accounts. Facebook took these down and did the same to the journalist-acting-as-rebel-intel post and page.

    The public pressure to cull products of troll farms has lessened the incidence of hate messages. But there’s still a growth in anonymous pages focused on red-tagging, with police and military officials and official accounts spreading their posts.

    Some officers were actually exposed as the masterminds of these pages. When Facebook recently scrapped several accounts linked to the armed forces, government officials erupted in rage, hurling false claims about “attacks on free expression.”

    This reaction shows the nexus between unofficial and official acts and platforms in our country. It can start with social media disinformation and then get picked up by the government, or it leads with an official pronouncement blown up and given additional spin on social media.

    Official complaints
    We’ve officially filed complaints against some government officials, including those involved with the top anti-insurgency task force. But justice works slowly. In the meantime, I practise deep breathing and try to take precautions.

    Officials dismiss any “chilling effect” from these non-stop attacks because Filipinos in general, and journalists in particular, remain outspoken. But braving dangers to exercise our right to press freedom and free expression isn’t the same as having the government respect these rights.

    Two years ago, journalist Patricia Evangelista of Rappler asked a small group of colleagues what it could take for us to fall silent.

    “Nothing,” was everyone’s response.

    And so every day I battle fear. I have to because silence would be a surrender to tyranny. That’s not happening on my watch.

    Inday Espina-Varona is an award-winning journalist from the Philippines and contributing editor for ABS-CBNNews and the Catholic news agency LiCASNews. She is a former chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the first journalist from the country to receive the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Prize for Independence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.