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  • Helen Hill: for social justice and Timor-Leste’s independence

    COMMENTARY: By Sandy Yule

    When Melbourne-born Helen Hill, an outstanding social activist, scholar and academic, died on 7 May 2024 at the age of 79, the Timorese government sent its Education Minister, Dulce de Jesus Soares, to deliver a moving eulogy at the funeral service at Church of All Nations in Carlton.

    Helen will be remembered for many things, but above all for her 50 years of dedication to friendship with the people of Timor-Leste and solidarity in their struggle for independence.

    At the funeral, Steve Bracks, chancellor of Victoria University and former premier of Victoria, also paid tribute to Helen’s lifetime commitment to social justice and to the independence and flourishing of Timor-Leste in particular.

    Further testimonies were presented by Jean McLean (formerly a member of the Victorian Legislative Council), the Australia-East Timor Association, representatives of local Timorese groups and Helen’s family. Helen’s long-time friend, the Reverend Barbara Gayler, preached on the theme of solidarity.

    Helen was born on 22 February 1945, the eldest of four children of Robert Hill and Jessie Scovell. Her sister Alison predeceased her, and she is survived by her sister Margaret and her brother Ian and their children and grandchildren.

    Her father fought with the Australian army in New Guinea before working for the Commonwealth Bank and becoming a branch manager. Her mother was a social worker at the repatriation hospital.

    The family were members of the Presbyterian Church in Blackburn, which fostered an attitude of caring for others.

    Studied political science
    Helen’s secondary schooling was at Presbyterian Ladies College, where she enjoyed communal activities such as choir. She began a science course at the University of Melbourne but transferred to Monash University to study sociology and political science, graduating with a BA (Hons) in 1970.

    At Monash, Helen was an enthusiastic member of the Labor Club and the Student Christian Movement (SCM), where issues of social justice were regularly debated.

    Opposition to the war in Vietnam was the main focus of concern during her time at Monash. In 1970, Helen was a member of the organising committee for the first moratorium demonstration in Melbourne and also a member of the executive committee of the Australian SCM (ASCM, the national body) which was based in Melbourne.

    She edited Political Concern, an alternative information service, for ASCM. In 1971, Helen was a founding member of International Development Action. Helen was a great networker, always ready to see what she could learn from others.

    Perhaps the most formative moment in Helen’s career was her appointment as a frontier intern, to work on the Southern Africa section of the Europe/Africa Project of the World Student Christian Federation, based in London (1971-1973). This project aimed to document how colonial powers had exploited the resources of their colonies, as well as the impact of apartheid in South Africa.

    In those years, she also studied at the Institute d’Action Culturelle in Geneva, which was established by Paulo Freire, arguably her most significant teacher. The insights and contacts from this time of engagement with global issues of justice and education provided a strong foundation for Helen’s subsequent career.

    In 1974, Helen embarked on a Master of Arts course supervised by the late Professor Herb Feith. Helen had met student leaders from the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola in the Europe/Africa project, who asked her about East Timor (“so close to Australia”).

    East Timor thesis topic
    Recognising that she, along with most Australians, knew very little about East Timor, Helen proposed East Timor as the focus of her master’s thesis. She began to learn Portuguese for this purpose.

    Following the overthrow of the authoritarian regime in Portugal in April 1974 and the consequent opportunities for independence in the Portuguese colonies, she visited East Timor for three months in early 1975, where she was impressed by the programme and leadership of Fretilin, the main independence party.

    Her plans were thwarted by the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975, and she was unable to revisit East Timor until after the achievement of independence in 2000. Her 1978 Master of Arts thesis included an account of the Fretilin plans rather than the Fretilin achievements.

    Her 1976 book, The Timor Story, was a significant document of the desire of East Timorese people for independence and influenced the keeping of East Timor on the UN decolonisation list. She was a co-founder of the Australia-East Timor Association, which was founded in the initial days of the Indonesian invasion.

    Helen was a founding member of the organisation Campaign Against Racial Exploitation in 1975. She was prolific in writing and speaking for these causes, not simply as an advocate, but also as a capable analyst of many situations of decolonisation. She was published regularly in Nation Review and also appeared in many other publications concerned with international affairs and development.

    Helen was awarded a rare diploma of education (tertiary education method) from the University of Melbourne in 1980. From 1980 to 1983, she was a full-time doctoral student at Australian National University, culminating in a thesis about non-formal education and development in Fiji, New Caledonia and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (the islands of the north Pacific).

    Helen participated in significant international conferences on education and development in these years and was involved in occasional teaching in the nations and territories of her thesis.

    Teaching development studies
    In 1991, she was appointed lecturer at Victoria University to teach development studies, which, among other things, attracted a steady stream of students from Timor-Leste. In 2000, she was able to return to Timor-Leste as part of her work for Victoria University.

    An immediate fruit of her work in 2001 was a memorandum of understanding between Victoria University and the Dili Institute of Technology, followed in 2005 with another between Victoria University and the National University of Timor-Leste.

    One outcome of this latter relationship has been biennial conferences on development, held in Dili. Also in 2005, she was a co-founder of the Timor-Leste Studies Association.

    Helen stood for quality education and for high academic standards that can empower all students. In 2014, Helen was honoured by the government of Timor-Leste with the award of the Order of Timor-Leste (OT-L).

    Retiring from Victoria University in 2014, Helen chose to live in Timor-Leste, while returning to Melbourne regularly. She continued to teach in Dili and was employed by the Timor-Leste Ministry of Education in 2014 and from 2018 until her death.

    Helen came to Melbourne in late 2023, planning to return to Timor-Leste early in 2024, where further work awaited her.

    A routine medical check-up unexpectedly found significant but symptom-free cancer, which developed rapidly, though it did not prevent her from attending public events days before her death on May 7. Friends and family are fulsome in their praise of Helen’s brother Ian, who took time off work to give her daily care during her last weeks.

    Helen had a distinguished academic career, with significant teaching and research focusing on the links between development and education, particularly in the Pacific context, though with a fully global perspective.

    Helen had an ever-expanding network of contacts and friends around the world, on whom she relied for critical enlightenment on issues of concern.

    From Blackburn to Dili, inspired by sharp intelligence, compassion, Christian faith and a careful reading of the signs of the times, Helen lived by a vision of the common good and strove mightily to build a world of peace and justice.

    Sandy Yule was general secretary of the Australian Student Christian Movement from 1970-75, where he first met Helen Hill, and is a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia. He wrote this tribute with help from Helen Hill’s family and friends. It was first published by The Age newspaper and is republished from the DevPolicy Blog at Australian National University.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Latest Puncak Jaya massacre reveals West Papua ‘is a time bomb’, claims Benny Wenda

    Asia Pacific Report

    A brutal killing of three Papuan civilians in Puncak Jaya reveals that occupied West Papua is a ticking time bomb under Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, claims the leader of an advocacy group.

    And United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Benny Wenda says the Melanesian region risks becoming “another East Timor”.

    The victims have been named as Tonda Wanimbo, 33; Dominus Enumbi, and Murib Government.

    Their killings were followed by riots in Puncak Jaya as angry indigenous residents protested in front of the local police station and set fire to police cars, said Wenda in a statement.

    “This incident is merely the most recent example of Indonesia’s military and business strategy in West Papua,” he said.

    “Indonesia deliberately creates escalations to justify deploying more troops, particularly in mineral-rich areas, causing our people to scatter and allowing international corporations to exploit the empty land – starting the cycle of bloodshed all over again.”

    According to the ULMWP, 4500 Indonesian troops have recently been deployed to Paniai, one of the centres of West Papuan resistance.

    An estimated 100,000 West Papuans have been displaced since 2018, while recent figures show more than 76,000 Papuans remain internally displaced — “living as refugees in the bush”.

    Indonesia ‘wants our land’
    “Indonesia wants our land and our resources, not our people,” Wenda said.

    The Indonesian military claimed that the three men were members of the resistance movement TPNPB (West Papua National Liberation Army), but this has been denied.

    Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Candra Kurniawan claimed one of the men had been sought by security forces for six years for alleged shootings of civilians and security personnel.

    “This is the same lie they told about Enius Tabuni and the five Papuan teenagers murdered in Yahukimo in September 2023,” Wenda said.

    “The military line was quickly refuted by a community leader in Puncak Jaya, who clarified that the three men were all civilians.”

    Concern over Warinussy
    Wenda said he was also “profoundly concerned” over the shooting of lawyer and human rights defender Christian Warinussy.

    Warinussy has spent his career defending indigenous Papuans who have expelled from their ancestral land to make way for oil palm plantations and industrial mines.

    “Although we don’t know who shot him, his shooting acts as a clear warning to any Papuans who stand up for their customary land rights or investigates Indonesia’s crimes,” Wenda said.

    Indonesia’s latest violence is taking place “in the shadow of Prabowo Subianto”, who is due to take office as President on October 20.

    Prabowo has been widely accused over human rights abuses during his period in Timor-Leste.

    “Will he form militias to crush the West Papua liberation movement, as he previously did in East Timor?” asked Wenda.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The price of representation in Indonesia

    Ask the average Indonesian voter what they believe it takes to be a winning legislative candidate and you’re likely get the response: “harus punya duit”—“[they] must have money.”

    These voters’ intuitions are backed up by plenty of research showing that political campaigns in Indonesia are expensive—and that costs are on the rise. To stand a chance in any legislative election, would-be politicians must pay the salaries of sprawling campaign teams, purchase mountains of campaign paraphernalia, and hand out envelopes of cash to voters on election day. These costs can come to over US$50,000 for a candidate at the district or city level; for national parliament, political aspirants can spend upwards of US$2 million. Individual candidates, rather than their party, foot the bill, and failure to win office can lead to financial ruin. Given the obvious advantages that personal wealth affords a candidate in such a system, it is little surprise  that businesspeople and oligarchs are entering politics in growing numbers.

    All of these realities were on display in February 2024, when Indonesia held elections for city, district, province and national legislatures alongside its presidential ballot. Legislative candidates we’ve spoken to described the campaign as financially “brutal”, with the huge sums of money spent by tens of thousands of candidates prompting some to conclude that this year’s elections were the most expensive in Indonesia’s democratic history.

    Given the spiralling costs of campaigning, it’s unsurprising that voters believe only the wealthy can run for office.  But just how wealthy does one need to be to win a seat in parliament in Indonesia? And do some candidates need more money than others? So far, researchers haven’t had the kind of data that can systematically investigate the effect of legislative candidates’ personal wealth and campaign spending on their chances of electoral success. To fill this gap, we used the 2024 elections to conduct a unique survey of candidates that for the first time allows us to test the extent to which wealth begets representation in Indonesia’s local legislatures. We also explore the extent to which money offsets countervailing factors thought to hurt candidates’ chances of success. Do candidates who face “demographic headwinds”—for example, women—need more money to offset their electoral disadvantage? On the flip side, do some candidates need less money, like those with dynastic connections, who can use their name and networks for electoral gain?

    The data

    To explore these questions, we use the first panel survey of legislative candidates ever conducted in Indonesia. Starting in November 2023 we worked with Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting to survey a random sample of candidates running for seats in city (kota) and district (kabupaten) level legislatures (DPRD Tingkat II). Out of feasibility concerns, we imposed several restrictions on the pool of candidates, restricting our sample to candidates in the first three positions on their party lists, and who were running with parties that were polling above 1% as of 1 October 2023. We also excluded candidates running in Papua and Maluku over concerns about the costs associated with surveying respondents in hard-to-reach areas.

    Our survey was a panel, meaning we attempted to survey the same 800 candidates three times: twice before the election, in November 2023 and January 2024, as well as once after the election, in April 2024. In the end, we obtained an 81% recontact rate, meaning approximately 650 candidates were surveyed in all three waves. We believe these data thus offer a uniquely fine-grained portrait of the evolving attitudes and behaviours of legislative candidates over the course of their campaigns.

    The findings

    We establish several stylised facts about the relationship between wealth and representation in Indonesia, which characterise a larger phenomenon we intend to explore in a series of related articles using this new dataset. First, in Figure 1, we find a striking linear relationship between wealth and electoral success (the dotted red line represents the overall chance of victory, i.e., ~20%). The richer the candidate, the more likely they are to win a legislative seat. To put this finding in concrete terms: compared to the poorest candidates (those who earn less than Rp5 million per month), the richest candidates (those who earn more than Rp30 million per month) are more than fifteen times as likely to win their race.

    Figure 1: relationship b/w candidate income and probability of victory

    Because campaigns are chiefly self-funded at the local level in Indonesia, wealthy candidates spend more than their poorer peers. But what do wealthy candidates spend their money on to secure higher chances of victory?

    Our survey reveals no changes in the composition of their spending: wealthier local candidates continue to spend considerable sums of money on baliho (banners) and the purchase of votes. In other words, richer candidates are not more likely to adopt different and more sophisticated campaign strategies. Instead, what we unearth is evidence that richer candidates are simply able to build larger campaign teams (tim sukses). Figure 2 shows the size of candidates’ campaign teams according to their monthly income, showing that richer candidates are able to spawn patronage networks that are three times as large as their poorer challengers.

    Figure 2: relationship b/w candidate income and campaign team size

    These findings will not come as a surprise to observers of Indonesian politics. Our principal interest in this project, however, is in understanding the extent to which money matters in Indonesian elections. On this count, the magnitude of our finding merits a second look. Money simply dwarfs other conventional predictors of success: in comparison, consider that men are only two and a half times more likely to win than women; those with tertiary degrees are three times as likely to win compared to those with only a high school diploma; and, the oldest candidates are only twice as likely to win as the youngest.

    In short, the advantage enjoyed by wealthy candidates outstrips virtually every other feature thought to be predictive of electoral success. We explore these results in greater depth in Figures 3 and 4. Take gender, in Figure 3, for example. Rich men generally perform better than rich women. And men tend to be richer than women. But, rich women perform considerably better than poorer men. For instance, a woman who reports earning more than Rp30 million per month has a 42% chance of success, which is approximately eight times larger than the 5% chance of success reported by a man who earns less than Rp5 million per month.

     Figure 3: relationship b/w candidate income and probability of victory, by gender

    In Figure 4, we conduct an analogous analysis looking at a candidate’s status as a member of a political dynasty (or not). With Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s recent election as vice president on Prabowo Subianto’s ticket, analysts of Indonesian politics are rightly attuned to the influence of nepotism in structuring electoral politics. But Figure 4 reveals that one’s status as a dynast is in fact inconsequential when viewed in light of the electoral advantage of wealth. Indeed, it may be the case that dynasts and incumbents perform better simply because they are wealthier than their competitors—not because of any inherent advantage conferred by the political networks coming with those positions. Figure 5 shows, consistent with this, that wealthy dynasts have equivalent electoral prospects to wealthy non-dynasts—and that this relationship holds across the income distribution.

    Figure 4–Relationship b/w Candidate Income and Probability of Victory, by Dynasty

    One exception to our findings concerns the role of incumbency. Figure 5 shows that, once in office, poorer candidates do approximately as well as their richer peers—although a slight electoral disadvantage continues to exist. To cite concrete numbers, 40% of incumbents who earn Rp10 million a month won their contests, compared to 60% of incumbents who earn more than Rp30 million a month.

    The attenuated relationship between wealth and victory among incumbents likely derives from their ability to deploy state resources to their electoral advantage, rich or poor, once in office. Consistent with this interpretation, non-incumbents exhibit the same positive relationship between income and probability of victory. Though, once a non-incumbent candidate earns more than 30 million per month, their probability of winning the election is statistically indistinguishable from an incumbent’s.

    Figure 5: relationship b/w candidate income and probability of victory, by incumbent status

    Conclusion

    The survey data paint a remarkably clear picture of the role that wealth plays in Indonesia’s legislative elections. We’ve known for some time that “money matters”.  But the relationship we uncover here between income, spending, and electoral success is arguably more dramatic than existing studies have suggested. Of particular significance is how these data illustrate the advantage that wealth affords political candidates over and above other characteristics often assumed to play a determining role in electoral victory, such as dynastic connections. There is little doubt that entrenched patterns of clientelism and under-financed political parties have, over the last two decades, driven up the cost of politics and created barriers to entry for less wealthy candidates.

    Related

    Explaining the Prabowo landslide

    Prabowo’s win was made possible by his enduring strongman appeal and a playing field tipped in his favour by Jokowi.

    Sana Jaffrey & Eve Warburton 17 February, 2024

    Analysts have a less firm grasp on precisely what it means for the quality of Indonesia’s democracy if the country’s representative institutions become accessible only to the very rich. On the one hand, some of the classic work on politicians’ backgrounds suggests class has little impact on the kinds of things they do in office—primarily in contexts where there is a strong programmatic party system such that politicians’ actions are constrained and shaped by party ideology and platform.

    On the other hand, in a political system like Indonesia’s, where programmatic politics are weak, class backgrounds potentially matter more for how politicians behave in office, what they prioritise, and what kind of policies they pursue. The data we present here suggest this is an important line of enquiry for future research, given there is little to indicate that rising political costs will reverse any time soon.

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    The post The price of representation in Indonesia appeared first on New Mandala.

    This post was originally published on New Mandala.

  • PANG talks to journalist David Robie on Pacific decolonisation issues

    PANG Media

    The PANG media team at this month’s Pacific International Media Conference in Fiji caught up with independent journalist, author and educator Dr David Robie and questioned him on his views about decolonisation in the Pacific.

    Dr Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy chair of Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), a co-organiser of the conference, shared his experience on reporting on Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua’s fight for freedom.

    He speaks from his 40 years of journalism in the Pacific saying the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum need to step up pressure on France and Indonesia to decolonise.

    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024
    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024

    This interview was conducted at the end of the conference, on July 6, and a week before the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) leaders called for France to allow a joint United Nations-MSG mission to New Caledonia to assess the political situation and propose solutions for the ongoing crisis.

    The leaders of the subregional bloc — from Fiji, FLNKS (Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of New Caledonia), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu — met in Tokyo on the sidelines of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10), to specifically talk about New Caledonia.

    They included Fiji’s Sitiveni Rabuka, PNG’s James Marape, Solomon Islands’ Jeremiah Manele, and Vanuatu’s Charlot Salwai.

    In his interview with PANG (Pacific Network on Globalisation), Dr Robie also draws parallels with the liberation struggle in Palestine, which he says has become a global symbol for justice and freedom everywhere.

    Asia Pacific Media Report's Dr David Robie
    Asia Pacific Media Report’s Dr David Robie . . . The people see the flags of Kanaky, West Papua and Palestine as symbolic of the struggles against repression and injustice all over the world.

    “I should mention Palestine as well because essentially it’s settler colonisation.

    “What we’ve seen in the massive protests over the last nine months and so on there has been a huge realisation in many countries around the world that colonisation is still here after thinking, or assuming, that had gone some years ago.

    “So you’ll see in a lot of protests — we have protests across Aotearoa New Zealand every week —  that the flags of Kanaky, West Papua and Palestine fly together.

    “The people see these as symbolic of the repression and injustice all over the world.”


    PANG Media talk to Dr David Robie on decolonisation.  Video: PANG Media


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • PNG oil and LNG shipments face foreign waters ban if waste oil problem not sorted

    By Matthew Vari in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea will face a grim reality of a ban on its shipping of oil and hydrocarbons in international waters if it continues to ignore the implementation of a domestic waste oil policy that is 28 years overdue.

    The Conservation and Environment Protection Authority’s Director for Renewable Brendan Trawen made this stark revelation in response to queries posed by Post-Courier Online.

    In the backdrop of investment projects proposed in the resource space, the issue of waste oil and its disposal has incurred hefty fines and reputational damage to the nation, and could seriously impact the shipments of one of the country’s lucrative exports in oil and LNG.

    “International partners are most protective of their waterways. Therefore, PNG has already been issued with a warning on implementation of a ban of oil and hydrocarbon shipments, including LNG from PNG through Indonesian water,” he said.

    In addition, the issuing of a complete ban on all hydrocarbon exports from Singapore through Indonesian waters to PNG.

    “In light of growing international concern about the need for stringent control of transboundary movement of hazardous waste oil, and of the need as far as possible to reduce such movement to a minimum, and the concern about the problem of illegal transboundary traffic in hazardous wastes oil, CEPA is compelled to take immediate steps in accordance with Article 10 of the Basel Convention Framework,” Trawen said.

    He indicated CEPA had limited capabilities of PNG State through to manage hazardous wastes and other wastes.

    Safeguarding PNG’s international standing
    The government of PNG had been “rightfully seeking cooperation with Singaporean authorities since 2020” to safeguard PNG’s international standing with the aim to improve and achieve environmentally sound management of hazardous waste oil.

    “Through the NEC Decision No. 12/2021, respective authorities from PNG and Singapore deliberated and facilitated the alternative arrangement to reach an agreement with Hachiko Efficiency Services (HES) towards the establishment of a transit and treatment centre in PNG.

    “In due process, HES have the required permits to allow transit of the waste oils in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea for recycling.”

    Minister of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change Simon Kilepa acknowledged that major repercussions were expected to take effect with the potential implementation ban of all hydrocarbons and oil shipments through Indonesian waters.

    Political, economic and security risks emerged without doubt owing to GoPNG through CEPA’s negligence in the past resolving Basel Convention’s outstanding matters.

    “It is in fact that the framework and policy for the Waste Oil Project exists under the International Basel Convention inclusive of the approved methods of handling and shipping waste oils. What PNG has been lacking is the regulation and this program provides that through,” he said.

    “CEPA will progress its waste oil programme by engaging Hachiko Efficiency Services to develop and manage the domestic transit facility.

    “This will include the export of waste oil operating under the Basel and Waigani agreements dependent upon the final destination.”

    CEPA will proceed with the Hazardous Waste Oil Management Programme immediately to comply with the long outstanding implementation of the Basel Convention requirements on the management of Hazardous waste oil.

    A media announcement and publicity would be made with issuance of Express of Interest (EOI) to shippers and local waste companies

    A presentation would be made to NEC Cabinet and a NEC decision before the sitting of Parliament.

    Matthew Vari is a senior journalist and former editor of the PNG Post-Courier. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • When media freedom as the ‘oxygen of democracy’ and hypocrisy share the same Pacific arena

    Pacific Media Watch

    Many platitudes about media freedom and democracy laced last week’s Pacific International Media Conference in the Fijian capital of Suva. There was a mood of euphoria at the impressive event, especially from politicians who talked about journalism being the “oxygen of democracy”.

    The dumping of the draconian and widely hated Fiji Media Industry Development Act that had started life as a military decree in 2010, four years after former military commander Voreqe Bainimarama seized power, and was then enacted in the first post-coup elections in 2014, was seen as having restored media freedom for the first time in almost two decades.

    As a result, Fiji had bounced back 45 places to 44th on this year’s Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index – by far the biggest climb of any nation in Oceania, where most countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have been sliding downhill.

    One of Fiji’s three deputy Prime Ministers, Professor Biman Prasad, a former University of the South Pacific economist and long a champion of academic and media freedom, told the conference the new Coalition government headed by the original 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka had reintroduced media self-regulation and “we can actually feel the freedom everywhere, including in Parliament”.

    The same theme had been offered at the conference opening ceremony by another deputy PM, Manoa Kamikamica, who declared:

    “We pride ourselves on a government that tries to listen, and hopefully we can try and chart a way forward in terms of media freedom and journalism in the Pacific, and most importantly, Fiji.

    “They say that journalism is the oxygen of democracy, and that could be no truer than in the case of Fiji.”

    Happy over media law repeal
    Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Information and Communication Technology Timothy Masiu echoed the theme. Speaking at the conference launch of a new book, Waves of Change: Media, Peace, and Development in the Pacific (co-edited by Professor Prasad, conference chair Associate Professor Shailendra Singh and Dr Amit Sarwal), he said: “We support and are happy with this government of Fiji for repealing the media laws that went against media freedom in Fiji in the recent past.”

    Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica
    Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica . . . speaking about the “oxygen of democracy” at the opening of the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva on 4 July 2024. Image: Asia Pacific Media Network

    But therein lies an irony. While Masiu supports the repeal of a dictatorial media law in Fiji, he is a at the centre of controversy back home over a draft media law (now in its fifth version) that he is spearheading that many believe will severely curtail the traditional PNG media freedom guaranteed under the constitution.

    He defends his policies, saying that in PNG, “given our very diverse society with over 1000 tribes and over 800 languages and huge geography, correct and factful information is also very, very critical.”

    Masiu says that what drives him is a “pertinent question”:

    “How is the media being developed and used as a tool to protect and preserve our Pacific identity?”

    PNG Minister for Information and Communications Technology Timothy Masiu
    PNG Minister for Information and Communications Technology Timothy Masiu (third from right) at the conference pre-dinner book launchings at Holiday Inn, Suva, on July 4. The celebrants are holding the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review. Image: Wansolwara

    Another issue over the conference was the hypocrisy over debating media freedom in downtown Suva while a few streets away Fijian freedom of speech advocates and political activists were being gagged about speaking out on critical decolonisation and human rights issues such as Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua freedom.

    In the front garden of the Gordon Street compound of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), the independence flags of Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua flutter in the breeze. Placards and signs daub the walls of the centre declaring messages such as “Stop the genocide”, “Resistance is justified! When people are occupied!”, “Free Kanaky – Justice for Kanaky”, “Ceasefire, stop genocide”, “Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world” and “We need rainbows not Rambos”.

    The West Papuan Morning Star and Palestinian flags for decolonisation fluttering high in downtown Suva
    The West Papuan Morning Star and Palestinian flags for decolonisation fluttering high in downtown Suva. Image: APMN

    ‘Thursdays in Black’
    While most of the 100 conference participants from 11 countries were gathered at the venue to launch the peace journalism book Waves of Change and the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review, about 30 activists were gathered at the same time on July 4 in the centre’s carpark for their weekly “Thursdays in Black” protest.

    But they were barred from stepping onto the footpath in public or risk arrest. Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly Fiji-style.

    Protesters at the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre compound in downtown Suva in the weekly "Thursdays in Black" solidarity rally
    Protesters at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre compound in downtown Suva in the weekly “Thursdays in Black” solidarity rally with Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua on July 4. Image: APMN

    Surprisingly, the protest organisers were informed on the same day that they could stage a “pre-Bastllle Day” protest about Kanaky and West Papua on July 12, but were banned from raising Israeli’s genocidal war on Palestine.

    Fiji is the only Pacific country to seek an intervention in support of Tel Aviv in South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague accusing Israel of genocide in a war believed to have killed more than 38,000 Palestinians — including 17,000 children — so far, although an article in The Lancet medical journal argues that the real death toll is more like 138,000 people – equivalent to almost a fifth of Fiji’s population.

    The protest march was staged on Friday but in spite of the Palestine ban some placards surfaced and also Palestinian symbols such as keffiyehs and watermelons.

    The "pre-Bastille Day" march in Suva in solidarity
    The “pre-Bastille Day” march in Suva in solidarity for decolonisation. Image: FWCC

    The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji and their allies have been hosting vigils at FWCC compound for Palestine, West Papua and Kanaky every Thursday over the last eight months, calling on the Fiji government and Pacific leaders to support the ceasefire in Gaza, and protect the rights of Palestinians, West Papuans and Kanaks.

    “The struggles of Palestinians are no different to West Papua, Kanaky New Caledonia — these are struggles of self-determination, and their human rights must be upheld,” said FWCC coordinator and the NGO coalition chair Shamima Ali.

    Solidarity for Kanaky in the "pre-Bastille Day" march
    Solidarity for Kanaky in the “pre-Bastille Day” march in Suva on Friday. Image: FWCC

    Media silence noticed
    Outside the conference, Pacific commentators also noticed the media hypocrisy and the extraordinary silence.

    Canberra-based West Papuan diplomacy-trained activist and musician Ronny Kareni complained in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “While media personnel, journos and academia in journalism gathered [in Suva] to talk about media freedom, media network and media as the oxygen of democracy etc., why Papuan journos can’t attend, yet Indon[esian] ambassador to Fiji @SimamoraDupito can??? Just curious.”

    Ronny Kareni's X post about the Indonesian Ambassador
    Ronny Kareni’s X post about the Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji Dupito D. Simamora. Image: @ronnykareni X screenshot APR

    At the conference itself, some speakers did raise the Palestine and decolonisation issue.

    Speaker Khairiah A Rahman (from left) of the Asia Pacific Media Network
    Speaker Khairiah A Rahman (from left) of the Asia Pacific Media Network and colleagues Pacific Journalism Review designer Del Abcede, PJR editor Dr Philip Cass, Dr Adam Brown, PJR founder Dr David Robie, and Rach Mario (Whānau Community Hub). Image: APMN

    Khairiah A. Rahman, of the Asia Pacific Media Network, one of the partner organisers along with the host University of the South Pacific and Pacific Islands News Association, spoke on the “Media, Community, Social Cohesion and Conflict Prevention” panel following Hong Kong Professor Cherian George’s compelling keynote address about “Cracks in the Mirror: When Media Representations Sharpen Social Divisions”.

    She raised the Palestine crisis as a critical global issue and also a media challenge.

    "Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world" poster
    “Palestine is a moral litmus test for the world” poster at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre compound. Image: APMN

    In his keynote address, “Frontline Media Faultlines: How Critical Journalism Can Survive Against the Odds”, Professor David Robie, also of APMN, spoke of the common decolonisation threads between Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua.

    He also critiquing declining trust in mainstream media – that left some “feeling anxious and powerless” — and how they were being fragmented by independent start-ups that were perceived by many people as addressing universal truths such as the genocide in Palestine.

    PJR editorial challenge
    Dr Robie cited the editorial in the just-published Pacific Journalism Review which had laid down a media challenge over Gaza. He wrote:

    “Gaza has become not just a metaphor for a terrible state of dystopia in parts of the world, it has also become an existential test for journalists – do we stand up for peace and justice and the right of people to survive under the threat of ethnic cleansing and against genocide, or do we do nothing and remain silent in the face of genocide being carried out with impunity in front of our very eyes?

    “The answer is simple surely . . .

    “And it is about saving journalism, our credibility, and our humanity as journalists.”


    Professor David Robie’s keynote speech at Pacific Media 2023.  Video: The Australia Today

    At the end of his address, Dr Robie called for a minute’s silence in a tribute to the 158 Palestinian journalists who had been killed so far in the ninth-month war on Gaza. The Gazan journalists were awarded this year’s UNESCO Guillermo Cano Media Freedom Prize for their “courage and commitment to freedom of expression”.

    Undoubtedly the two most popular panels in the conference were the “Pacific Editors’ Forum” when eight editors from around the region “spoke their minds”, and a panel on sexual harassment on the media workplace and on the job.

    Little or no action
    According to speakers in “Gender and Media in the Pacific: Examining violence that women Face” panel introduced and moderated by Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) executive director Nalini Singh, female journalists continue to experience inequalities and harassment in their workplaces and on assignment — with little or no action taken against their perpetrators.

    Fiji journalist Lice Movono speaking on a panel discussion about "Prevalence and Impact of sexual harassment on female journalists"
    Fiji journalist Lice Movono speaking on a panel discussion about “Prevalence and Impact of sexual harassment on female journalists” at the Pacific International Media Conference in Fiji. Image: Stefan Armbruster/Benar News

    The speakers included FWRM programme director Laisa Bulatale, experienced Pacific journalists Lice Movono and Georgina Kekea, strategic communications specialist Jacqui Berell and USP’s Dr Shailendra Singh, associate professor and the conference chair.

    “As 18 and 19 year old (journalists), what we experienced 25 years ago in the industry is still the same situation — and maybe even worse now for young female journalists,” Movono said.

    She shared “unfortunate and horrifying” accounts of experiences of sexual harassment by local journalists and the lack of space to discuss these issues.

    These accounts included online bullying coupled with threats against journalists and their loved ones and families. stalking of female journalists, always being told to “suck it up” by bosses and other colleagues, the fear and stigma of reporting sexual harassment experiences, feeling as if no one would listen or care, the lack of capacity/urgency to provide psychological social support and many more examples.

    “They do the work and they go home, but they take home with them, trauma,” Movono said.

    And Kekea added: “Women journalists hardly engage in spaces to have their issues heard, they are often always called upon to take pictures and ‘cover’.”

    Technology harassment
    Berell talked about Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) — a grab bag term to cover the many forms of harassment of women through online violence and bullying.

    The FWRM also shared statistics on the combined research with USP’s School of Journalism on the “Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Harassment on Female Journalists” and data on sexual harassment in the workplace undertaken by the team.

    Speaking from the floor, New Zealand Pacific investigative television journalist Indira Stewart also rounded off the panel with some shocking examples from Aotearoa New Zealand.

    In spite of the criticisms over hypocrisy and silence over global media freedom and decolonisation challenges, participants generally concluded this was the best Pacific media conference in many years.

    Asia Pacific Media Network's Nik Naidu
    Asia Pacific Media Network’s Nik Naidu (right) with Maggie Boyle and Professor Emily Drew. Image: Del Abcede/APMN

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji, anchor of Indonesian diplomacy in the Pacific – a view from Jakarta

    Indonesia’s commitment to the Pacific continues to be strengthened. One of the strategies is through a commitment to resolving human rights cases in Papua, reports a Kompas correspondent who attended the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva earlier this month.  

    By Laraswati Ariadne Anwar in Suva

    The Pacific Island countries are Indonesia’s neighbours. However, so far they are not very familiar to the ears of the Indonesian people.

    One example is Fiji, the largest country in the Pacific Islands. This country, which consists of 330 islands and a population of 924,000 people, has actually had relations with Indonesia for 50 years.

    In the context of regional geopolitics, Fiji is the anchor of Indonesian diplomacy in the Pacific.

    Fiji is known as a gateway to the Pacific. This status has been held for centuries because, as the largest country and with the largest port, practically all commodities entering the Pacific Islands must go through Fiji.

    Along with Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) of New Caledonia, Fiji forms the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

    Indonesia now has the status of a associate member of the MSG, or one level higher than an observer.

    For Indonesia, this closeness to the MSG is important because it is related to affirming Indonesia’s sovereignty.

    Human rights violations
    The MSG is very critical in monitoring the handling of human rights violations that occur in Papua. In terms of sovereignty, the MSG acknowledges Indonesia’s sovereignty as recorded in the Charter of the United Nations.

    The academic community in Fiji is also highlighting human rights violations in Papua. As a Melanesian nation, the Fijian people sympathise with the Papuan community.

    In Fiji, some individuals hold anti-Indonesian sentiment and support pro-independence movements in Papua. In several civil society organisations in Suva, the capital of Fiji, the Morning Star flag of West Papuan independence is also raised in solidarity.

    Talanoa or focused discussion between a media delegation from Indonesia and representatives of Fijian academics and journalists in Suva, Wednesday (3/7/2024).
    Talanoa or a focused discussion between a media delegation from Indonesia and representatives of Fiji academics and journalists in Suva on July 3 – the eve of the three-day Pacific Media Conference. Image: Laraswati Ariadne Anwar/Kompas

    Even so, Fijian academics realise that they lack context in examining Indonesian problems. This emerged in a talanoa or focused discussion with representatives of universities and Fiji’s mainstream media with a media delegation from Indonesia. The event was organised by the Indonesian Embassy in Suva.

    Academics say that reading sources about Indonesia generally come from 50 years ago, causing them to have a limited understanding of developments in Indonesia. When examined, Indonesian journalists also found that they themselves lacked material about the Pacific Islands.

    Both the Fiji and Indonesian groups realise that the information they receive about each other mainly comes from Western media. In practice, there is scepticism about coverage crafted according to a Western perspective.

    “There must be open and meaningful dialogue between the people of Fiji and Indonesia in order to break down prejudices and provide space for contextual critical review into diplomatic relations between the two countries,” said Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, a former journalist who is now head of the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific (USP). He was also chair of the 2024 Pacific International Media Conference Committee which was attended by the Indonesian delegation.

    ‘Prejudice’ towards Indonesia
    According to experts in Fiji, the prejudice of the people in that country towards Indonesia is viewed as both a challenge and an opportunity to develop a more quality and substantive relationship.

    The chief editors of media outlets in the Pacific Islands presented practices of press freedom at the Pacific Media International Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji on Friday (5/7/2024).
    The chief editors of media outlets in the Pacific Islands presented the practice of press freedom at the Pacific Media International Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji on July 5. Image: Image: Laraswati Ariadne Anwar/Kompas

    In that international conference, representatives of mainstream media in the Pacific Islands criticised and expressed their dissatisfaction with donors.

    The Pacific Islands are one of the most foreign aid-receiving regions in the world. Fiji is among the top five Pacific countries supported by donors.

    Based on the Lowy Institute’s records from Australia as of October 31, 2023, there are 82 donor countries in the Pacific with a total contribution value of US$44 billion. Australia is the number one donor, followed by China.

    The United States and New Zealand are also major donors. This situation has an impact on geopolitical competition issues in the region.

    Indonesia is on the list of 82 countries, although in terms of the amount of funding contributed, it lags behind countries with advanced economies. Indonesia itself does not take the position to compete in terms of the amount of funds disbursed.

    Thus, the Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji, Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu, Dupito Simamora, said that Indonesia was present to bring a new colour.

    “We are present to focus on community empowerment and exchange of experiences,” he said.

    An example is the empowerment of maritime, capture fisheries, coffee farming, and training for immigration officers. This is more sustainable compared to the continuous provision of funds.

    Maintaining ‘consistency’
    Along with that, efforts to introduce Indonesia continue to be made, including through arts and culture scholarships, Dharmasiswa (a one-year non-degree scholarship programme offered to foreigners), and visits by journalists to Indonesia. This is done so that the participating Fiji community can experience for themselves the value of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika — the official motto of Indonesia, “Unity in diversity”.

    The book launch event on Pacific media was attended by Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad (second from left) and Papua New Guinea's Minister of Information and Technology Timothy Masiu (third from left) during the Pacific International Media Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji, on Thursday (4/7/2024).
    The book launching and Pacific Journalism Review celebration event on Pacific media was attended by Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad (second from left) and Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology Timothy Masiu (third from left) during the Pacific International Media Conference 2024 in Suva, Fiji, on July 4. Image: USP

    Indonesia has also offered itself to Fiji and the Pacific Islands as a “gateway” to Southeast Asia. Fiji has the world’s best-selling mineral water product, Fiji Water. They are indeed targeting expanding their market to Southeast Asia, which has a population of 500 million people.

    The Indonesian Embassy in Suva analysed the working pattern of the BIMP-EAGA, or the East ASEAN economic cooperation involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines. From there, a model that can be adopted which will be communicated to the MSG and developed according to the needs of the Pacific region.

    In the ASEAN High-Level Conference of 2023, Indonesia initiated a development and empowerment cooperation with the South Pacific that was laid out in a memorandum of understanding between ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

    At the World Water Forum (WWF) 2024 and the Island States Forum (AIS), the South Pacific region is one of the areas highlighted for cooperation. Climate crisis mitigation is a sector that is being developed, one of which is the cultivation of mangrove plants to prevent coastal erosion.

    For Indonesia, cooperation with the Pacific is not just diplomacy. Through ASEAN, Indonesia is pushing for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). Essentially, the Indo-Pacific region is not an extension of any superpower.

    All geopolitical and geo-economic competition in this region must be managed well in order to avoid conflict.

    Indigenous perspectives
    In the Indo-Pacific region, PIF and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) are important partners for ASEAN. Both are original intergovernmental organisations in the Indo-Pacific, making them vital in promoting a perception of the Indo-Pacific that aligns with the framework and perspective of indigenous populations.

    On the other hand, Indonesia’s commitment to the principle of non-alignment was tested. Indonesia, which has a free-active foreign policy policy, emphasises that it is not looking for enemies.

    However, can Indonesia guarantee the Pacific Islands that the friendship offered is sincere and will not force them to form camps?

    At the same time, the Pacific community is also observing Indonesia’s sincerity in resolving various cases of human rights violations, especially in Papua. An open dialogue on this issue could be evidence of Indonesia’s democratic maturity.

    Republished from Kompas in partnership with The University of the South Pacific.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji protesters call for freedom and justice in the Pacific – and Palestine

    Asia Pacific Report

    The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights and other protesters took to the streets of Fiji’s capital Suva yesterday in a rare demonstration demanding freedom, decolonisation and human rights in Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua.

    The peaceful “pre-Bastille Day” protest came after recent events in Kanaky New Caledonia led to 10 deaths and a heavy build-up of French police and paramilitary forces.

    It also followed ongoing human rights abuses and violations by Indonesia in West Papua.

    “As France commemorates Bastille Day on July 14 and celebrates their own principles of ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity’, its own action in the Pacific contradicts the national day,” said West Papuan activist Rosa Moiwend of the Pacific Network on Globalisation.

    Rosa Moiwend and Asia Pacific Media Network's Del Abcede in Suva
    PANG’s Rosa Moiwend of West Papua and Asia Pacific Media Network’s Del Abcede of New Zealand in Suva . . .  French actions in Pacific “contradict Bastille Day” principles of liberty. Image: APMN

    “French colonisation of Pacific territories and its continued acts of suppression in Māohi Niu and Kanaky New Caledonia are quite the opposite of what the French revolution achieved.

    “Today, they are symbolic of the Bastille and the monarchy oppressing and abusing the people and denying their right to self-determination in their own lands,” she said.

    The May riots and unrest in Kanaky New Caledonia has led to 3500 security personnel being deployed from France.

    “At best, this is based on the severely misguided notion that the challenges of the decolonisation process can be resolved by force,” Moiwend said.

    France’s true objectives ‘disguised’
    “However, it is becoming clearer that the restoration of order and peace is just a disguise for France’s true objectives — a deliberate retrenchment and extension of colonial control.”

    Liberation for Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua.
    Liberation for Kanaky, Palestine and West Papua. Image: FWCC

    Almost two months after the outbreak of violence, tensions remain high and there is serious concern about the continuing restrictions on Kanaks.

    Widespread reports of atrocities and police brutality against Kanaky youth have angered protest groups across the Pacific.

    French authorities have extradited seven indigenous Kanak activists to prisons in France while awaiting trial on “conspiracy” charges over the rioting.

    “French President Emmanuel Macron must be responsible for the current state of Kanaky New Caledonia,” said PANG in a statement.

    “Blaming Kanak leaders and having them arrested and detained in France is a coverup and tactic to assert power. We call on President Macron to release the Kanak leaders and allow them legal representation.”

    Olivia Baro from the Pacific Conference of Churches added that the issue of West Papua and the ongoing human rights abuse must not be forgotten, and Indonesia must be held responsible.

    West Papuan voices ‘silenced’
    Indonesia’s ongoing influence on the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum has continued to silence the voices of West Papuans.

    As Pacific peoples, we will continue to stand in solidarity with West Papua and their right to self-determination.

    “As we commemorate the Biak massacre this month and remember the many lives lost in West Papua, the continuous suppression of West Papua by Indonesia is a similar struggle to Kanaky New Caledonia, Palestine and many human rights struggles globally,” said Baro.

    Despite restrictions set by authorities to prevent Palestine flags and banners at the march, the coalition stands in solidarity with our brothers, sisters and families in Palestine.

    The Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji and their allies have been hosting vigils at the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre compound for Palestine, West Papua and Kanaky every Thursday over the last eight months.

    The call on the Fiji government and Pacific leaders to support the ceasefire in Gaza, and protect the rights of Palestinians, West Papuans and Kanaks.

    “The struggles of Palestinians are no different to West Papua, Kanaky New Caledonia,” FWCC Coordinator and NGOCHR Chair Shamima Ali.

    “These are struggles of self-determination, and their human rights must be upheld.”

    Fiji police at Parliament yesterday on watch for the Pacific human rights protest
    Fiji police at Parliament yesterday on watch for the Pacific human rights protest. Image: Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Amid decline in mainstream media trust, Pacific Journalism Review remains a beacon

    Professor Vijay Naidu’s speech celebrating the launch of the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review at the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva, Fiji, on 4 July 2024. Dr Naidu is adjunct professor in the disciplines of development studies and governance in the School of Law and Social Sciences at the University of the South Pacific. 

    ADDRESS: By Professor Vijay Naidu

    I have been given the honour of launching the 30th anniversary edition of the Pacific Journalism Review (PJR) at this highly significant gathering of media professionals and scholars from the Asia Pacific region.

    I join our chief quests and others to commend and congratulate Dr Shailendra Singh, the head of USP Journalism, and his team for the organisation of the 2024 Pacific International Media Conference.

    This evening, we are also gathered to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pacific Journalism Review/Te Koakoa.

    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024
    PACIFIC MEDIA CONFERENCE 4-6 JULY 2024

    At the outset, I would like to warmly congratulate and thank PJR designer Del Abcede for the cover design of 30th anniversary issue as well as the striking photoessay she has done with David Robie.

    Hearty congratulations too to founding editor Dr David Robie and current editor Dr Philip Cass for compiling the edition.

    The publicity blurb about the launch states:

    “USP Journalism is proud to celebrate this milestone with a journal that has been a beacon of media excellence and a crucial partner in fostering journalistic integrity in the Pacific.”

    This is a most apt description of the journal, and what it has fostered over three decades.

    Dr Lee Duffield and others have written comprehensively on the editorials and articles covered by the Pacific Journalism Review.

    The 30th anniversary of Pacific Journalism Review edition
    The 30th anniversary of Pacific Journalism Review edition. Image: PJR

    I will just list some of the diverse subject matter covered over the past 10 years:

    The editorial in the 30th anniversary double edition manifests this focus — “Will journalism survive?”, by David Robie

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    The launch of the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalist Review. . . . Professor Vijay Naidu (from left), Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Dr Biman Prasad, founding PJR editor Dr David Robie, Papua New Guinea Minister for Communications and Information Technology Timothy Masiu, Associate Professor Shailendra Bahadur Singh and current PJR editor Dr Philip Cass. Image: PMN News/Justin Latif

    Unfolding genocide
    Mainstream media, except for Al Jazeera, have collectively failed to provide honest accounts of the unfolding genocide in Gaza, as well as settler violence, and killings in the West Bank. International media stand condemned for its complicity in the gross human rights violations in Palestine.

    The media have been caught out by the scores of reports directly sent from Gaza of the bombings, maiming and murder of mainly women, children and babies, and the turning into rubble of the world’s largest open-air prison.

    Pacific Journalism Review designer Del Abcede . . praised over her design work. Image: Khairiah A. Rahman/APMN

    The widespread protests the world over by ordinary citizens and university students clearly show that the media is not trusted.

    Can the media survive? Indeed!

    These are not the best of times for the media.

    “At the time when we celebrated the second decade of the journal’s critical inquiry at Auckland University of Technology with a conference in 2014, our theme was ‘Political journalism in the Asia Pacific’, and our mood about the mediascape in the region was far more positive than it is today,” writes David.

    “Three years later, we marked the 10th anniversary of the Pacific Media Centre, with a conference and a rather gloomier ‘Journalism under duress’ slogan.”

    The editorial continues:

    “Gaza has become not just a metaphor for a terrible state of dystopia in parts of in the world, it has also become an existential test for journalists — do we stand up for peace and justice and the right of a people to survive under the threat of ethnic cleansing and against genocide, or do we do nothing and remain silent in the face of genocide being carried out with impunity in front of our very eyes? The answer is simple surely.

    “And it is about saving journalism, our credibility and our humanity as journalists.” (emphasis added).

    Professor Vijay Naidu and Claire Slatter
    USP’s Professor Vijay Naidu and Dr Claire Slatter, chair of DAWN . . . launching the 30th edition of PJR. Image: Del Abcede/APMN

    Contemporary issues
    Besides the editorial, the 30th anniversary edition continues the PJR tradition of addressing contemporary issues head on with 11 research articles, 2 commentaries, 7 book reviews, a photo-essay, 2 obituaries of Australia’s John Pilger and West Papua’s Arnold Ap, and 4 frontline pieces. A truly substantial double issue of the journal.

    The USP notice on this 30th anniversary launch says “30 years and going strong”. Sounds like the Johnny Walker whisky advertisement, “still going strong”. This is an admirable achievement as well as in PJR’s future.

    It is in contrast to the NZ Journalism Review (University of Canterbury), for example, which survived only for nine years.

    Founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994 by David Robie, PJR was published there for four years and at the University of the South Pacific for a further four years, then at Auckland University of Technology for 18 years before finally being hosted since 2021 at its present home, Asia Pacific Media Network.

    According to Dr Robie, Pacific Journalism Review has received many good wishes for its birthday. Some of these are published in this journal. For a final message in the editorial, he recalled AUT’s senior journalism lecturer Greg Treadwell who wrote in 2020:

    “‘Many Aotearoa New Zealand researchers found their publishing feet because PJR was dedicated to the region and interested in their work. PJR is central to journalism studies, and so to journalism and journalism education, in this country and further abroad. Long may that continue’.

    “In answer to our editorial title: Yes, journalism will survive, and it will thrive through new and innovative niche forms, if democracy is to survive.

    “Ra whānau Pacific Journalism Review!

    "Pacific Journalism Review . . . 30 years going strong"
    “Pacific Journalism Review . . . 30 years going strong” – the birthday cake at Pacfic Media 2024. Image: Del Abcede/APMN

    Steadfast commitment
    I have two quick remaining things to do: Professor Wadan Narsey’s congratulatory message, and a book presentation.

    Professor Narsey pays tribute to David Robie for his steadfast commitment to Pacific journalism and congratulates him for the New Zealand honour bestowed on him in the King’s Birthday honours. He is very thankful that David published 37 of his articles on a range of issues during the dark days of censorship in Fiji under the Bainimarama and Sayeed-Khaiyum dictatorship.

    I wish to present a copy of the recently published Epeli Hau’ofa: His Life and Legacy to Professor David Robie and Del Abcede to express Claire Slatter and my profound appreciation of the massive amount of work they have done to keep PJR alive and well.

    It is my pleasure to launch the 30th anniversary edition of PJR.

    ‘Far more than a research journal’
    In response, Dr Robie noted that PJR had published more than 1100 research articles over its three decades and it was the largest single Pacific media research repository but it had always been “far more than a research journal”.

    “As an independent publication, it has given strong support to investigative journalism, sociopolitical journalism, political economy of the media, photojournalism and political cartooning — they have all been strongly reflected in the character of the journal,” he said.

    “It has also been a champion of journalism practice-as-research methodologies and strategies, as reflected especially in its Frontline section, pioneered by retired Australian professor and investigative journalist Wendy Bacon.

    “Keeping to our tradition of cutting edge and contemporary content, this anniversary edition raises several challenging issues such as Julian Assange and Gaza.”

    He thanked current editor Philip Cass for his efforts — “he was among the earliest contributors when we began in Papua New Guinea” — and the current team, assistant editor Khairiah A. Rahman, Nicole Gooch, extraordinary mentors Wendy Bacon and Chris Nash, APMN chair Heather Devere, Adam Brown, Nik Naidu and Gavin Ellis.

    Griffith University's Professor Mark Pearson
    Griffith University’s Professor Mark Pearson, a former editor of Australian Journalism Review and long a PJR board member . . . presented on media law at the conference. Image: Screenshot Del Abcede/APMN

    He also paid tribute to many who have contributed to the journal through peer reviewing and the editorial board over many years — such as Dr Lee Duffield and professor Mark Pearson of Griffith University, who was also editor of Australian Journalism Review for many years and was an inspiration to PJR — “and he is right here with us at the conference.”

    Among others have been the Fiji conference convenor, USP’s associate professor Shailendra Singh, and professor Trevor Cullen of Edith Cowan University, who is chair of next year’s World Journalism Education Association conference in Perth.

    Dr Robie also singled out designer Del Abcede for special tribute for her hard work carrying the load of producing the journal for many years “and keeping me sane — the question is am I keeping her sane? Anyway, neither I nor Philip would be standing here without her input.”

    The Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) team at Pacific Media 2024
    The Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) team at Pacific Media 2024 . . . PJR assistant editor Khairiah A. Rahman, PJR designer Del Abcede, PJR editor Dr Philip Cass, Dr Adam Brown, PJR founding editor Dr David Robie, and Whanau Community Hub co-coordinator Rach Mario. Whānau Hub’s Nik Naidu was also at the conference but is not in the photo. Image: Khairiah A. Rahman/APMN

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • What is the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)?

    Today, the United States is leading the world’s largest multinational maritime war exercise from occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i. 25,000 personnel from 29 nations, including NATO allies and other strategic partners, are participating in the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, under the command of the US Pacific Fleet, a major component of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).

    With RIMPAC now underway, the lands and waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are being intensively bombed and shelled as participating forces practice amphibious landings and urban combat training, and the Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) find their sovereignty once again violated after more than 130 years of colonization by the US.

    RIMPAC aims to fortify the colonization and militarization of the Pacific, ensuring the security of the West’s imperialist agenda against the rise of China and other threats to the US-led capitalist system.

    In the interest of advancing a political education around the history and purpose of INDOPACOM as part of U.S. militarism, the Solidarity Network for the Black Alliance for Peace has published this comprehensive Fact Sheet on INDOPACOM.

    WHAT IS INDOPACOM?

    U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, or INDOPACOM, is one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s eleven unified combatant commands that together span the globe. INDOPACOM’s area of responsibility (AOR) covers half of the earth’s surface, stretching from California to India’s western border, and from Antarctica to the North Pole. INDOPACOM claims 38 nations within its AOR, which together comprise over half of the world’s population. Its AOR includes the two most populous countries in the world, China and India, while also encompassing small island nations, such as Diego Garcia, Guam, Palau, and Samoa, all of which are under some form of U.S. colonial occupation. INDOPACOM comprises multiple components and sub-unified commands. They include U.S. Forces Korea, U.S. Forces Japan, U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, and U.S. Army Pacific.

    According to INDOPACOM, this large and diverse area is optimal terrain to implement its “combat credible deterrence strategy.” This includes an estimated 366 bases and installations across 16 nations–more than any other command structure due to large concentrations in Guam, Hawai’i, Japan, Korea, and Okinawa. Many of the military installations strategically surround China and major trade routes.

    Headquartered at Camp H.M. Smith of occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i, INDOPACOM claims to enhance stability and ensure “a free and open Indo-Pacific” through military and economic partnerships with countries in the region. Nonetheless, it also claims to advance “U.S. national security objectives while protecting national interests.” INDOPACOM states its mission is to build a combat-ready force “capable of denying its adversaries sustained air and sea dominance.”

    THE HISTORY OF INDOPACOM

    INDOPACOM is the U.S. military’s oldest and largest combatant command. It is the result of a merger between three commands–Far East Command, Pacific Command and Alaskan Command–which were established after World War II in 1947. The first commander of the Far East Command, General Douglas MacArthur, was tasked with “carrying out occupation duties of Korea, Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, the Bonin Islands, the Philippines and the Mariana Islands.” From the end of WWII to 1958, the U.S. military conducted 67 nuclear tests throughout the Marshall Islands under “Operation Crossroads.” It conducted another 36 nuclear detonations at Christmas Island and Johnston Atoll in 1962 under “Operation Dominic,” which permanently destroyed the natural biomes.

    Against the backdrop of the Korean War, the key predecessor to INDOPACOM, Pacific Command, was primarily oriented toward combat operations in Korea and later, the Philippines. The ongoing Korean War has resulted in millions of casualties as well as the demarcation of North and South Korea since 1953. By 1957, Pacific Command saw a major expansion and strategic reorientation of its AOR, absorbing the Far East Command and most of the Alaskan Command. Camp H.M. Smith of occupied Honolulu, Hawai’i was selected as the new headquarters because the U.S. Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, the largest maritime invasion force in the world, was already located there.

    Throughout the U.S. war on Vietnam, Pacific Command controlled all U.S. military forces, including South Vietnamese assets, and operations within the country. Leading both the U.S. Pacific Air Forces and Pacific Fleet, Pacific Command’s brutal campaigns resulted in some of the most egregious atrocities, such as the My Lai massacre in 1968. Pacific Command’s operations also included some of the heaviest aerial bombardments, like “Operation Rolling Thunder.” In its numerous campaigns, which also included “Operation Bolo,” “Linebacker I and II”, “Ranch Hand,” and “Arc Lightdropping,” Pacific Command dropped over 5 million tons of bombs and at least 11 million gallons of the highly corrosive herbicide known as “Agent Orange” on Southeast Asia. Pacific Command was also responsible for covert bombing operations targeting Cambodia and Laos during the war, dropping over 2.5 million tons of bombs through “Operation Menu.”

    Pacific Command saw subsequent alterations to its AOR after U.S. forces fled Vietnam in 1973. Responsibility for Afghanistan and Pakistan was delegated to US Central Command after its inauguration in 1983, while Pacific Command assumed new responsibility for China and North Korea that same year. U.S. Secretaries of Defense Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield respectively oversaw territorial expansions to Pacific Command’s AOR in 1989 and 2002, into INDOPACOM’s current formation.

    INDOPACOM NOW

    The United States continues to view the Asia-Pacific region as pivotal to the pursuit of its material interests, emphasizing that the region is home to some of the largest and fastest-growing economies and militaries. The Obama administration’s 2011 “Pivot to Asia” marked a stronger push by Pacific Command for confrontation not only with China but any nation or movement that poses a threat to U.S. hegemony in the region.

    In 2018, Pacific Command was rebranded to Indo-Pacific Command, or INDOPACOM, as it is known today. This move was meant to recognize the strategic importance of India, following heightened aggression toward China during the Obama and Trump presidencies. INDOPACOM regularly conducts joint naval training exercises in the South China Sea with countries like Japan and Australia in clear violation of international law and even secretly stationed U.S. special-operations and support forces in Taiwan since 2021.

    Massive military exercises like the largest international maritime warfare training, the “Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC),” and others like “Cape North” and Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center trainings occur frequently in occupied Hawai’i and Guam, without the consent of the Indigenous populations. In 2023, INDOPACOM carried out new iterations of its“Talisman Sabre” exercise in Australia and its “Super Garuda Shield” exercise in Indonesia. These exercises involved tens of thousands of military personnel from 13 and 19 nations, respectively, including the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Tonga for the first time.

    INDOPACOM’s major military partners in the Asia-Pacific region include Japan and South Korea. The U.S. military holds significant leverage over each nation’s armed forces via agreements undergirding the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), essentially commanding additional joint military structures with their own distinct mission, vision, and objectives in support of INDOPACOM. USFK continues to prevent reunification in Korea as part of its mission to “defend the Republic of Korea,” while USFJ remains committed to the colonial occupation of Okinawa as part of its mission of “provid[ing] a ready and lethal capability…in support of the U.S.-Japan Alliance.”

    BAP AGAINST INDOPACOM

    INDOPACOM works to extend U.S. military influence throughout the Asia-Pacific region and to promote the militarism and violence required to fulfill the material interests of the U.S. ruling class. By portraying China as a global bogeyman, INDOPACOM serves to obfuscate the indigeneity and legitimacy of liberation movements like those occurring on the occupied islands of Guam, Hawai’i, Okinawa, and Samoa, as well as nearly every other nation across the region from Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines. INDOPACOM’s aggressive role in the region serves to create the very instability it uses to justify its own existence and mask the responsibility of U.S. officials provoking new wars.

    The Black Alliance for Peace stands against the influence and power of INDOPACOM, and the ever-increasing militarization of the region. Informed by the Black Radical Peace Tradition, we understand that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the achievement, by popular struggle and self-defense, of a world liberated from nuclear armament and proliferation, unjust war, and global white supremacy. As referenced in our Principles of Unity, BAP takes a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire–one based on war, aggression and exploitation–to the domestic war against poor and working-class African/Black people in the United States.

    The post What is the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM)? first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Independent PJR ‘far more than a research journal’, says founder

    Pacific Media Watch

    Pacific Journalism Review founder Dr David Robie says PJR has published more than 1100 research articles over its three decades of existence and is the largest single Pacific media research repository.

    But it has always been “far more than a research journal”, he added at the launch of the 30th anniversary edition at the Pacific International Media Conference in Fiji yesterday.

    Speaking in response to The University of the South Pacific’s adjunct professor in development studies and governance Vijay Naidu who launched the edition, he spoke of the innovative and cutting edge style of PJR.

    APMN's Dr David Robie talks about Pacific Journalism Review
    APMN’s Dr David Robie talks about Pacific Journalism Review at the launch of the 30th anniversary edition in Suva. Image: NBC News/APMN screenshot

    “As an independent publication, it has given strong support to investigative journalism, sociopolitical journalism, political economy of the media, photojournalism and political cartooning — they have all been strongly reflected in the character of the journal,” he said.

    “It has also been a champion of journalism practice-as-research methodologies and strategies, as reflected especially in its Frontline section, pioneered by retired Australian professor and investigative journalist Wendy Bacon.

    “Keeping to our tradition of cutting edge and contemporary content, this anniversary edition raises several challenging issues such as Julian Assange and Gaza.”

    He thanked current editor Philip Cass for his efforts — “he was among the earliest contributors when we began in Papua New Guinea” — and the current team, assistant editor Khairiah A. Rahman, Nicole Gooch, “extraordinary mentors” Wendy Bacon and Dr Chris Nash, APMN chair Dr Heather Devere, Dr Adam Brown, Nik Naidu and Dr Gavin Ellis.

    Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad etc
    Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad, PNG Information and Communcations Technology Minister Timothy Masiu, USP’s Associate Professor Shailendra Singh and Dr Amil Sarwal at the PJR launch – the new Pacific media book “Waves of Change” was also launched. Image: NBC News/APMN screenshot

    Paid tribute to many
    He also paid tribute to many who have contributed to the journal through peer reviewing and the editorial board over many years — such as Dr Lee Duffield and Professor Mark Pearson of Griffith University, who was also editor of Australian Journalism Review for many years and was an inspiration to PJR — “and he is right here with us at the conference.”

    Among others have been the Fiji conference convenor, USP’s associate professor Shailendra Singh, and professor Trevor Cullen of Edith Cowan University, who is chair of next year’s World Journalism Education Association conference in Perth.

    Dr Robie also singled out designer Del Abcede for special tribute for her hard work carrying the load of producing the journal for many years “and keeping me sane — the question is am I keeping her sane? Anyway, neither I nor Philip would be standing here without her input.”

    He also complimented AUT’s Tuwhera research publishing platform for their “tremendous support” since the PJR archive was hosted there in 2016.

    The new book, Waves of Change: Media, Peace, and Development in the Pacific, was also launched at the event.

    Meanwhile, New Zealand media analyst and commentator Dr Gavin Ellis mentioned the Pacific Journalism Review milestone in his weekly Knightly Views column:

    On a brighter note

    Pacific Journalism Review's 30th anniversary edition cover
    Pacific Journalism Review’s 30th anniversary edition cover. Image: PJR

    This month marks the 30th anniversary of Pacific Journalism Review, the journal founded and championed by journalist and university professor David Robie. PJR has provided a unique bridge between academics and practitioners in the study of media and journalism in our part of the world.

    The journal is now edited by Dr Philip Cass, although Robie continues to be directly involved as associate editor and editorial manager. The latest edition (which they co-edited) explores links between journalists in the South Pacific with the conflict in Gaza, together with analysis of the wider role of media in coverage of the plight of Palestinians.

    A special 30th anniversary printed double issue is being launched at the Pacific International Media Conference in Fiji. The online edition of PJR is now available here.

    Sustaining a publication like Pacific Journalism Review is no easy feat, and it is a tribute to Robie, Cass and others associated with the journal that it is entering its fourth decade strongly and with challenging content.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • David Robie talks media challenges, education and decolonisation on Radio 531pi’s Pacific Mornings

    PMN Pacific Mornings

    A major conference on the state and future of Pacific media is taking place this week in Fiji.

    Dr David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy chair of Asia Pacific Media Network, joins #PacificMornings to discuss the event and reflect on his work covering Asia-Pacific current affairs and research for more than four decades.

    Pacific Journalism Review, which Dr Robie founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994, celebrated 30 years of publishing at the conference tonight.

    Other Pacific Mornings items on 4 July 2024:
    The health sector is reporting frustration at unchanging mortality rates for babies and mothers in New Zealand. PMMRC chairperson John Tait joined #PacificMornings to discuss further.

    Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni joined #PacificMornings to discuss the political news of the week.

    We are one week into a month of military training exercises held in Hawai’i, known as RIMPAC.

    Twenty-nine countries and 25,000 personnel are taking part, including New Zealand. Hawai’ian academic and Pacific studies lecturer Emalani Case joined #PacificMornings to discuss further.

    Republished with from Pacific Media Network’s Radio 531pi.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • SCYTALYS powers Indonesian Armed Forces’ Next-Gen Interoperability Project

    Athens, 18 June 2024. SCYTALYS, a pioneering provider in Defense Interoperability Systems and part of EFA GROUP, proudly announces the successful handover of the System Interoperability Kodal (SIK) program to the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) following the successful completion of a $49 million contract awarded by the Indonesian Ministry of Defence. The SIK Program represents […]

    The post SCYTALYS powers Indonesian Armed Forces’ Next-Gen Interoperability Project appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • Indonesia plans to expel 103 Taiwanese caught in cybersecurity crackdown

    Indonesian authorities said Friday that they had arrested scores of Taiwanese citizens in Bali this week for suspected roles in online scams and would be deporting them for misusing their visas. 

    Slapping cybercrime charges on the 103 suspects from Taiwan, who were taken into custody Wednesday, would be difficult because they allegedly confessed that their victims were outside Indonesia’s jurisdiction, immigration officials said. 

    “The foreign nationals did not arrive in Indonesia simultaneously but through several airports,” Saffar Muhammad Godam, Indonesia’s director of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement, told reporters on Friday.

    “Their activities are suspected to be inconsistent with their visa purposes, allegedly conducting cybercrimes targeting individuals outside Indonesia, including Malaysia.”

    He said the 91 men and 12 women were being held at the immigration detention center in Denpasar before deportation.

    Indonesian authorities said the detainees were not linked to a recent cyberattack by the Lock Bit ransomware group. 

    The group hacked Indonesia’s national data center on Monday and demanded a ransom of U.S. $8 million (130 billion rupiah) for the release of encrypted data, Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said. Government officials refused to pay.

    Prior to the arrests of the Taiwanese, authorities launched a surveillance operation targeting the foreign citizens and seized 450 mobile phones, dozens of laptops, printers, power supplies, routers and identity cards.

    Indonesian immigration officials show passports and mobile devices seized while Taiwanese citizens arrested during a cybersecurity investigation are presented at a news conference in Bali, June 28, 2024. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP)
    Indonesian immigration officials show passports and mobile devices seized while Taiwanese citizens arrested during a cybersecurity investigation are presented at a news conference in Bali, June 28, 2024. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP)

    Beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, an immigration team conducted covert surveillance on a villa in Marga, a district in Tabanan regency, according to Godam. 

    At 2 p.m., the team received information about foreign citizens’ activities at the location. Three hours later, 103 foreigners were detained.

    “At 6 p.m. the Bali Becik task force secured all the foreign nationals along with preliminary evidence found at the location. They are temporarily placed at the Denpasar immigration detention house,” Godam said.

    “I reiterate to all foreign nationals in Indonesia, especially in Bali, always comply with the prevailing regulations and laws,” he said.

    Mepi Lin, a staff member of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) representing the Republic of China in Indonesia – acknowledged the report. The Republic of China is the official name for Taiwan.

    “It was handled by the TETO Surabaya division. Previously, there were only about 14 Taiwanese nationals. However, according to the latest data, it appears that many more Taiwanese nationals are involved,” she said.

    Common phenomenon

    Cybersecurity analyst Alfons Tanujaya, with computer security firm Vaksincom, said arrests of scammers were an increasingly prevalent global phenomenon.

    “It’s not just in Indonesia – scamming often targets certain countries while being based in another,” he told BenarNews.

    “This is common. For instance, Cambodia has many scammers,” he said, adding that the nation has a negative reputation as a haven for gambling operators.

    Alfons said scammers typically operate from foreign countries to avoid severe penalties. 

    “If they were in their own country, the laws would severely punish them, but in another country, at worst, they get deported,” he said.

    Taiwanese citizens are led out following a news conference at an immigration detention center in Bali, June 28, 2024. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP0
    Taiwanese citizens are led out following a news conference at an immigration detention center in Bali, June 28, 2024. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP0

    Ardi Sutedja, a cybersecurity analyst and chairman of the Indonesia Cyber Security Forum, highlighted the persistent issue of cybercrime, attributing it to the government’s lack of action.

    “Evidently, tourists arriving in Indonesia often lack clear origins and purposes, potentially resulting in a criminal influx due to the absence of a screening mechanism,” he told BenarNews.

    “It’s time for the government to wake up and implement restrictions – targeting mass tourism should not come at the expense of declining visitor quality,” he said. “We neglect to filter them. When we travel abroad, we face stringent questioning, even about our savings.” 

    The challenge, Ardi said, lies in the overlapping regulations that inadvertently threaten Indonesia’s national cybersecurity. 

    “We need to profile visitors, but Indonesia lacks the human resources for this. Hence, the government is encouraged to collaborate with community organizations. For instance, in Bali, involving local security groups like Pecalang,” he said.

    BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tria Dianti for BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Decolonisation, the climate crisis, and improving media education in the Pacific

    Global Voices interviews veteran author, journalist and educator David Robie who discussed the state of Pacific media, journalism education, and the role of the press in addressing decolonisation and the climate crisis.

    INTERVIEW: By Mong Palatino in Manila

    Professor David Robie is among this year’s New Zealand Order of Merit awardees and was on the King’s Birthday Honours list earlier this month for his “services to journalism and Asia-Pacific media education.”

    His career in journalism has spanned five decades. He was the founding editor of the Pacific Journalism Review journal in 1994 and in 1996 he established the Pacific Media Watch, a media rights watchdog group.

    He was head of the journalism department at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1993–1997 and at the University of the South Pacific from 1998–2002. While teaching at Auckland University of Technology, he founded the Pacific Media Centre in 2007.

    He has authored 10 books on Asia-Pacific media and politics. He received the 1985 Media Peace Prize for his coverage of the Rainbow Warrior bombing — which he sailed on and wrote the book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior — and the French and American nuclear testing.

    In 2015, he was given the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) Asian Communication Award in Dubai. Global Voices interviewed him about the challenges faced by journalists in the Pacific and his career. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

    MONG PALATINO (MP): What are the main challenges faced by the media in the region?

    DAVID ROBIE (DR): Corruption, viability, and credibility — the corruption among politicians and influence on journalists, the viability of weak business models and small media enterprises, and weakening credibility. After many years of developing a reasonably independent Pacific media in many countries in the region with courageous and independent journalists in leadership roles, many media groups are becoming susceptible to growing geopolitical rivalry between powerful players in the region, particularly China, which is steadily increasing its influence on the region’s media — especially in Solomon Islands — not just in development aid.

    However, the United States, Australia and France are also stepping up their Pacific media and journalism training influences in the region as part of “Indo-Pacific” strategies that are really all about countering Chinese influence.

    Indonesia is also becoming an influence in the media in the region, for other reasons. Jakarta is in the middle of a massive “hearts and minds” strategy in the Pacific, mainly through the media and diplomacy, in an attempt to blunt the widespread “people’s” sentiment in support of West Papuan aspirations for self-determination and eventual independence.

    MP: What should be prioritised in improving journalism education in the region?

    DR: The university-based journalism schools, such as at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, are best placed to improve foundation journalism skills and education, and also to encourage life-long learning for journalists. More funding would be more beneficial channelled through the universities for more advanced courses, and not just through short-course industry training. I can say that because I have been through the mill both ways — 50 years as a journalist starting off in the “school of hard knocks” in many countries, including almost 30 years running journalism courses and pioneering several award-winning student journalist publications. However, it is important to retain media independence and not allow funding NGOs to dictate policies.

    MP: How can Pacific journalists best fulfill their role in highlighting Pacific stories, especially the impact of the climate crisis?

    DR: The best strategy is collaboration with international partners that have resources and expertise in climate crisis, such as the Earth Journalism Network to give a global stage for their issues and concerns. When I was still running the Pacific Media Centre, we had a high profile Pacific climate journalism Bearing Witness project where students made many successful multimedia reports and award-winning commentaries. An example is this one on YouTube: Banabans of Rabi: A Story of Survival

    MP: What should the international community focus on when reporting about the Pacific?

    DR: It is important for media to monitor the Indo-Pacific rivalries, but to also keep them in perspective — so-called ”security” is nowhere as important to Pacific countries as it is to its Western neighbours and China. It is important for the international community to keep an eye on the ball about what is important to the Pacific, which is ‘development’ and ‘climate crisis’ and why China has an edge in some countries at the moment.

    Australia and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand have dropped the ball in recent years, and are tying to regain lost ground, but concentrating too much on “security”. Listen to the Pacific voices.

    There should be more international reporting about the “hidden stories” of the Pacific such as the unresolved decolonisation issues — Kanaky New Caledonia, “French” Polynesia (Mā’ohi Nui), both from France; and West Papua from Indonesia. West Papua, in particular, is virtually ignored by Western media in spite of the ongoing serious human rights violations. This is unconscionable.

    Mong Palatino is regional editor of Global Voices for Southeast Asia. An activist and former two-term member of the Philippine House of Representatives, he has been blogging since 2004 at mongster’s nest. @mongster Republished with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Hawai’i’s Rimpac war games begin, but academic condemns them as harmful ‘how to invade’ actions

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Te Aniwaniwa Paterson

    Hawai’ian academic Dr Emalani Case has condemned the 2024 Rimpac military exercise that began off the coast of Hawai’i today, saying the military personnel from 29 countries taking part are “practising to invade”.

    “They call it practising defence but they’re really learning how to defend an empire while putting indigenous people at risk,” she said.

    Hawai’i has been heavily impacted on by militarisation.

    Dr Case, a senior lecturer at Auckland University, said her people had had to deal with military harm and damage to their people and environment for more than 100 years.

    The kingdom of Hawai’i was invaded by the US in 1893. The monarchy was overthrown, and the islands have stayed under US control since, with several large military bases.

    Dr Case said the military made it a hard place to live when the land and people were routinely dismissed and disregarded.

    The US Navy had publicly said it was committed to the environment and reducing harm.

    Nonetheless, it had had a highly destructive track record when it came to pollution and environmental harm, she said.

    For example, SINKEX was an activity during Rimpac where various navies shoot ammunition at decommissioned ships off the coast of Kauai island.

    Dr Case told Te Ao Māori News, “The ships just sink and they leave them there. So there are toxins leaking out into our ocean.”


    Anti-war groups demand end to war games as Rimpac begins.  Video: Hawai’i News Now

    Tourism paradise?
    Te Ao Maōri News asked Dr Case why Hawai’i was known as a “paradise” tourist destination but many people did not know about the violent history.

    Dr Case referenced the works of the late Dr Teresia Teaiwa, an I-Kiribati and African-American scholar, who had said tourism and military worked together to dispossess and displace Hawai’ians.

    “‘Militourism’ is a phenomenon by which a military or paramilitary force ensures the smooth running of a tourist industry, and that same tourist industry masks the military force behind it.”

    — Teresia Teaiwa

    Tourism masked the military violence by placing a flower over it, or a swinging hula girl, Dr Case said.

    “[Hawai’i] is beautiful but the US military is one of the biggest abusers of that beauty.”

    The people of Hawai’i were often left behind and focus placed on tourists, yet residents were without enough water or resources to house and care for the people. Dr Case said this explained the “enormous diaspora of Kānaka Maoli” living outside Hawai’i.

    “We cannot be thinking about relying on the 25,000 personnel who are going to be coming, bringing their dollars, but also bringing their violence, bringing the increase in sex trafficking, bringing in an increase in violence against women.”

    The only year there was not an increase in sex trafficking and violence during Rimpac was in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic, which downscaled Rimpac and meant military personnel were not able to go ashore, she said.

    “That’s what they’re bringing to our islands.”

    Violent attack on akua
    Kānaka Maoli say they have a spiritual and genealogical connection to the oceans and lands. This includes Kanaloa and Papahānaumoku, the gods of ocean and earth, which is similar to Tangaroa and Papatūānuku in Aotearoa.

    Papahānaumoku is the akua in Hawai’i that births their moku, islands.

    “Any assaults against our akua, our gods, is an assault against us, it’s an assault against our whakapapa, it’s an assault against everything that we stand for,” Dr Case said.

    Dr Case grew up and her whānau still live in Waimea, 45 minutes from Pōhakuloa, one of the largest military training facilities. She grew up feeling and hearing bombs all the time.

    “I grew up hearing and feeling bombs all the time and it’s a kind of pain you don’t ever want to experience because you know what’s happening to Papa, what’s happening to your family. We view land, mountains, rivers, ocean as family.”

    — Emalani Case

    Rimpac and Palestine, West Papua and Kanaky
    Rimpac was an international issue, Dr Case said, and a gateway event.

    “We’ve got to think about these colonial nations coming together to train and provide so-called security and safety to the world while really putting all of us at risk, who have never been deemed human enough to be worthy of that same safety and security,” she said.

    The nations participating in Rimpac include Israel and Indonesia.

    Dr Case said her homeland was being turned into a training ground for “imperial genocidal regimes” which learned, practised and honed their skills to then commit genocide in Palestine and West Papua.

    She also cited the participation of France, which had no proximity to the Pacific but had “oppressed Pacific brothers and sisters in the French-occupied Kanaky”.

    “Militarism is upheld by and supports settler colonialism. It supports white supremacy.”

    Dr Case said calling for an end to Rimpac and demanding that New Zealand withdraw was not just about saving Hawai’i.

    She said boycotting Rimpac was about peace, demilitarisation, decolonisation and climate justice.

    “The US military is one of the largest contributors of pollutants into the environment.”

    Rimpac and FestPAC
    Dr Case was in Hawai’i for Protecting Oceania, part of FestPAC — the festival of Pacific arts and culture hosted by Hawai’i this year.

    She said there was a lot of discussion about Rimpac during Protecting Oceania.

    “Rimpac and FestPAC didn’t happen at the exact same time but it’s interesting to think about the convergence of these cultural celebrations and violent military detonations around the same time, in the same waters, and on the same land.”

    She was pleased to see people holding banners saying “STOP RIMPAC” in the closing ceremony at FestPAC. She said culture and politics went hand in hand.

    Te Aniwaniwa Paterson is a digital producer for Te Ao Māori News. This article is republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesia accused of subverting Pacific push for UN rights mission to Papua

    By Stefan Armbruster, Victor Mambor and BenarNews staff

    An unheralded visit to Indonesia’s Papuan provinces by a leading Pacific diplomat has drawn criticism for undermining a push for a United Nations human rights mission to the region where pro-independence fighters have fought Indonesian rule for decades.

    The Melanesian Spearhead Group’s Director-General, Leonard Louma, has not responded to BenarNews’ questions about the brief visit. It occurred just days after the most recent clash between Indonesian forces and the Papuan resistance, which resulted in four deaths and hundreds of civilians fleeing their homes in Paniai regency in Central Papua province.

    Indonesia has capitalised on the visit earlier this month to portray its governance of the contested Melanesian territory, generally referred to as West Papua in the Pacific, in a positive light.

    State news agency Antara said Louma had declared Papua to be in a “stable and conducive” condition.

    A highly critical UN Human Right Committee report on Indonesia released in May highlighted “systematic reports about the use of torture” and “extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Indigenous Papuan people.”

    The Indonesian government’s sponsorship of the visit is “another attempt to downplay a global call, including from the MSG, to allow the UN Human Rights Commission to visit and assess human rights conditions in Papua,” said Hipo Wangge, an Indonesian foreign policy researcher at Australian National University.

    “It’s also another attempt to neutralise regional concern over deep-seated discrimination against Papuans,” he told BenarNews.

    UN human rights rebuff
    For several years, Indonesia has rebuffed a request from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to carry out an independent fact-finding mission in Papua.

    The Pacific Islands Forum, a regional organisation of 18 nations, has called on Indonesia since 2019 to allow the mission to go ahead.

    20230821 MSG DG Louma.png
    MSG Director-General Leonard Louma at the opening of the 22nd MSG Leaders’ Summit foreign ministers’ meeting in Port Vila on 21 August 2023. Image: Kelvin Anthony/RNZ Pacific

    The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) — whose members are Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia’s Kanak independence movement FLNKS — has made similar appeals.

    It is unclear whether the comments attributed to Louma by Antara and an Indonesian government statement are his own words. The Antara article, published last week on June 19, in English and Indonesian, is more or less identical to a statement released by Indonesia’s Ministry of Information and Communications.

    An insurgency has simmered in Papua since the early 1960s when Indonesian forces invaded the region, which had remained under a separate Dutch administration following Indonesia’s 1945 declaration of independence from the Netherlands.

    Indonesia argues its incorporation of the mineral rich territory was rightful under international law because it was part of the Dutch East Indies empire that is the basis for Indonesia’s modern borders.

    Papuans, culturally and ethnically distinct from the rest of Indonesia, say they were denied the right to decide their own future and are now marginalised in their own land. Indonesian control was formalised in 1969 with a UN-supervised referendum restricted to little more than 1000 Papuan voters.

    Arrived from PNG
    The Indonesian statement said Louma, his executive adviser Christopher Nisbert and members of their entourage arrived on June 17 at the Skouw-Wutung border crossing after traveling overland from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

    They were met by an Indonesian diplomat and then traveled to Jayapura accompanied by Indonesian officials.

    On June 19 they took part in a conference organised by Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was purportedly to address security concerns in Melanesia.

    Yones Douw, a Papuan human rights activist based in Paniai, said a properly conducted visit by the Melanesian Spearhead Group should have had wide public notice and involved meetings with churches, customary leaders, journalists and civil society organisations, including the independence movement.

    “This visit is just like a thief — in secret. I suspect that the comments submitted to the mass media were the language of the Indonesian government, not on behalf of the MSG,” he told BenarNews.

    000_34YV43T.jpg
    Soldiers from the Indonesian Army’s 112th Raider Infantry Battalion sing during a ceremony at a military base in Japakeh, Aceh province, on 25 June 2024 before their deployment to Papua province. Image: BenarNews/Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP

    “This way can damage the togetherness or unity of the Melanesian people,” he said.

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), an independence movement umbrella organisation, said it should have been notified of the visit because it has observer status at the MSG. Indonesia is an associate member.

    ‘A surreptitious visit’
    “We were not notified by the MSG Secretariat. This is a surreptitious visit initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Markus Haluk, the ULMWP’s executive secretary.

    “We will file a protest,” he told the MSG’s chair, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai.

    Indonesia, over several years, has stepped up its efforts to neutralise Pacific support for the West Papuan independence movement, particularly among Melanesian nations that have ethnic and cultural links to Papuans living under Indonesian rule.

    It has had success in ending direct criticism from Pacific island governments — many of which had used the UN General Assembly as a forum to air their concerns about human rights abuses — but grassroots support for Papuan self-determination remains strong.

    Wangge, the ANU researcher, said the Indonesian government had been particularly active with Melanesian nations since Louma became director-general of the MSG’s secretariat in 2022.

    At the same time it had avoided addressing ongoing reports of abuses in the Papuan provinces, he said, and militarisation of the region.

    Indonesia’s military offered a rare apology to Papuans in March after video emerged of soldiers repeatedly slashing an indigenous man with a bayonet while he was forced to stand in a water-filled drum.

    Regional security meetings
    Among the initiatives, Indonesian police have facilitated regional security meetings, the Indonesian foreign ministry established an Indonesia-Pacific Development Forum, fisheries training has been provided, and the foreign ministry is providing diplomacy training for young diplomats from Melanesian countries and the MSG’s secretariat.

    There was nothing to show, Wangge said, from the MSG’s appointment last year of Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as special envoys to Indonesia on West Papua.

    The two leaders met Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose second five-year term finishes in October, at a global summit in San Francisco in November.

    Following the meeting, there was no agenda to facilitate a dialogue over West Papua, he said.

    Marape is due in Indonesia mid-July for an official state visit.

    “One thing is clear: the Indonesian government will buy more time by initiating more made-up efforts to cover pressing problems in West Papua,” Wangge said.

    Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • How former Greens MP Keith Locke often became a voice for the Pacific

    OBITUARY: By Philip Cass of Kaniva Tonga

    A New Zealand politician and human rights activist with a strong connection to Tonga’s Democracy movement and other Pacific activism has been farewelled after dying last week aged 80.

    Keith Locke served as a former Green MP from 1999 to 2011.

    While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights.

    He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.

    Locke was often a voice for the Pacific in the New Zealand Parliament.

    In 2000, he spoke out on the plight of overstayers who were facing deportation under the National Party government.

    As the Green Party’s then immigration spokesperson, he supported calls for a review of the overstayer legislation.

    Links to Pohiva
    “We are a Polynesian nation, and we increasingly celebrate the Samoan and Tongan part of our national identity,” Locke said at the time.

    “How can we claim as our own the Jonah Lomus and Beatrice Faumuinas while we are prepared to toss their relations out of the country at a moment’s notice?”

    Locke had links to Tonga through his relationship with Democracy campaigner and later Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, who died in 2019.

    Tongan Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pōhiva
    The late Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva … defended by Keith Locke in 1996 when Pohiva and two colleagues had been jailed for comments in their pro-democracy newspaper Kele’a. Image: Kalino Lātū/Kaniva News

    Locke defended Pohiva in 1996 when he was a spokesperson for the Alliance Party. He said he was horrified that Pohiva and two colleagues had been jailed for comments in their pro-democracy newspaper Kele’a.

    He criticised the New Zealand government for keeping silent about what he described as a “gross abuse of human rights.”

    In 2004, Locke called on the New Zealand government to speak out about what he called the suppression of the press in Tonga.

    Locke, who was then the Greens foreign affairs spokesman, said several publications had been denied licences, including an offshoot of the New Zealand-produced Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper.


    Tribute by Asia Pacific Report editor David Robie.

    ‘Speak out as Pacific neighbour’
    “We owe it to the Tongan people to support them in their hour of need.  We should speak out as a Pacific neighbour,” he said.

    In 2007, ‘Akilisi was again charged with sedition, along with four other pro-democracy MPs, for allegedly being responsible for the rioting that took place following a mass pro-democracy march in Nuku’alofa.

    Flags of the countries of some of the many causes Keith Locke supported
    Flags of the countries of some of the many causes Keith Locke supported at the memorial service in Mount Eden this week. Image: David Robie/APR

    “As the Greens’ foreign affairs spokesperson I went up to Tonga to support ‘Akilisi and his colleagues fight these trumped-up charges. I was shocked to find that the New Zealand government was going along with these sedition charges against five sitting MPs,” Locke said in an interview.

    “I was in Tonga not long before the 2010 elections with a cross-party group of New Zealand MPs. We were helping Tongan candidates understand the intricacies of a parliamentary system.

    “At the time I remember ‘Akilisi being worried that the block of nine ‘noble’ MPs could frustrate the desires of what were to be 17 directly-elected MPs. And so it turned out.

    “Despite winning 12 of the popularly-elected 17 seats in 2010, the pro-democracy MPs were outvoted 14 to 12 when the votes of the nine nobles MPs were put into the equation.

    “However, in the two subsequent elections (2014 and 2017) the Democrats predominated and ‘Akilisi took over as Prime Minister. I am not qualified to judge his record on domestic issues, except to say it couldn’t have been an easy job because of the fractious nature of Tongan politics.

    “And ‘Akilisi has been in poor health.

    Political tee-shirts and mementoes from Keith Locke's campaign issues
    Political tee-shirts and mementoes from Keith Locke’s campaign issues at the memorial service in Mount Eden this week. Image: Del Abcede/APR

    ‘Admirable stand’
    “As Prime Minister he took an admirable stand on some important international issues, such as climate change. At the Pacific Island Forum he criticised those countries which stayed silent on the plight of the West Papuans.”

    Locke said that Tonga may not yet be fully democratic, but that great progress had been made under Pohiva’s “humble and self-sacrificing leadership.”

    Keith Locke was also an outspoken advocate for democracy and independence causes in Fiji, Kanaky New Caledonia, Palestine, Philippines, Tahiti, Tibet, Timor-Leste and West Papua and in many other countries.

    His remembrance service was held with whānau and supporters at a packed Mount Eden War memorial Hall on Tuesday.

    Philip Cass is an editorial adviser for Kaniva Tonga. Republished as a collaboration between KT and Asia Pacific Report.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Benny Wenda’s plea to back new West Papuan ‘liberation front’ for freedom

    The president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has welcomed the launch of a new political front, urging support for this new initiative on the “roadmap to liberation”.

    Benny Wenda said the launch of the West Papua People’s Liberation Front (GR-PWP) was a  new popular movement formed to execute the national agenda of the ULMWP.

    He reaffirmed the three-fold strategy as:

    READ MORE: Other West Papua reports

    • A visit to West Papua by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;
    • ULMWP Full membership for ULMWP of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG); and
    • An internationally-supervised self-determination referendum.

    “Our roadmap is clear — we will not stray in this or that direction, but remain totally focused on our end goal of independence,” Wenda said in a statement.

    “By pursuing this threefold agenda, we are rebuilding the sovereignty that was stolen from us in 1962. The ULMWP roadmap is West Papua’s path to liberation.”

    Wenda said that all West Papuan organisations or affiliated groups were welcome to participate in the GR-PWP, including political activists, student groups, religious organisations, Indonesian solidarity groups, the Alliance of Papuan Students, and KNPB.

    ‘National agenda for self-determination’
    “The Liberation Front is not factional but will carry out the national agenda for self-determination. It will deepen the ULMWP’s presence on the ground, supporting the cabinet, constitution, governing structure and Green State Vision we have already put in place,” Wenda said.

    “The GR-PWP has been endorsed by the Congress, the highest body of the ULMWP according to our constitution.”

    Wenda said GR-PWP would have a decentralised structure, being spread across all seven customary regions of West Papua.

    The capital of Jayapura would not dictate decisions to the coasts or islands — all regions would have an equal voice in the movement.

    “Unity is essential to our success. Our liberation movement will only succeed when West Papuans from all regions, from all tribal groups and political factions,” Wenda said.

    “The agenda belongs to all West Papuans.”

    A massive crowd at the launch of the new West Papuan "liberation front"
    A massive crowd at the launch of the new West Papuan “liberation front”. Image: ULMWP

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Aotearoa Caravan for Free Palestine reaches Auckland, joins downtown rally

    Asia Pacific Report

    The Aotearoa Caravan For a Free Palestine arrived in Auckland at the weekend and was greeted and supported by a large rally and march downtown before heading for Hamilton on the next stage.

    “260 days of wives becoming widows.  260 days of mothers becoming children-less.  260 days of schools being bombed, of mosques being bombed, of churches being bombed,  260 days of hunger, of starvation, of deprivation of necessities,” said a speaker at the rally describing the human cost of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

    Green Party MP Steve Abel condemned the weak role of both politicians and news media in New Zealand over the war, saying a major problem was a “lack of political analysis and lack of media analysis”.

    He called on the Fourth Estate to do better in informing the public about the “truth of the war – it’s not a war, it’s genocide”.

    The Aotearoa Caravan for Palestine arrives at Whānau Maria in the central Auckland suburb of Ponsonby last night
    The Aotearoa Caravan for Free Palestine arrives at Whānau Maria in the central Auckland suburb of Ponsonby last night. Image: David Robie/APR

    A solidarity organiser, Reverend Chris Sullivan, said the caravan of protesters were travelling from Cape Reinga to Parliament to urge the New Zealand government to take stronger action to end the war and unfolding genocide in Gaza.

    The caravan participants also hope to help build a lasting peace based on a just solution to the suffering of the Palestinian people.

    Last night they were welcomed to Auckland by local solidarity acitivists with shared kai at the Whānau Maria in Ponsonby.

    The caravan called on the government to:

    • Issue a clear public statement condemning Israel’s war crimes and affirming the ICJ ruling on the plausibility of genocide. Demand that Israel adhere to international law, including the Genocide Convention which recognises Palestinians’ right to protection from genocide; and demand an end to the illegal occupation and apartheid.
    A message for the New Zealand government from members of the Cape-Reinga-to-Wellington
    A message for the New Zealand government from members of the Cape-Reinga-to-Wellington caravan for Palestine at today’s Palestine solidarity rally. Image: David Robie/APR
    • Sanction Israel until it complies with international law and respects Palestinian rights. Following the precedent set by the Russia Sanctions Act 2022, New Zealand should act with similar resolve against Israel and any entity aiding its war crimes and genocide.
    • Recognise Palestinian Statehood: This is a vital step towards ensuring justice for Palestinians and is the foundation for full equitable participation in international relations. While New Zealand endorses its support for a two-state solution, it does not recognise Palestine as a state, only Israel. This lack of recognition leaves Palestinians who are living under illegal occupation, vulnerable to ongoing settler violence.
    • Grant visas to Palestinian New Zealanders’ families: Allow the families of Palestinian New Zealanders in Gaza to reunite in safety. Similar visas were granted to Ukrainians within a month of Russia’s invasion. Palestinians deserve the same consideration.
    • Increase UNRWA funding: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides critical humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and surrounding regions and the New Zealand government should meet its legal and humanitarian responsibilities by increasing aid funding to a level that reflects the severity of the humanitarian crisis. 
    Green Party list MP Steve Abel speaking at today's Palestine solidarity rally in Auckland
    Green Party list MP Steve Abel speaking at today’s Palestine solidarity rally in Auckland supported by fellow MP Ricardo Menéndez March . . . critical of media failure to report the full “truth” of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Image: David Robie/APR

    Reverend Sullivan drew attention to a statement on June 20 by the Irish Catholic Bishops that called for “courageous world leadership” to stop the war in the Holy Land:

    “This war is an attack on all of humanity.  When people are deprived of basic human dignity and of necessary humanitarian aid, we are all made poorer,” the statement said.

    “Efforts by the United Nations to address the humanitarian crisis are welcome.  But, the people of the Holy Land — and around the globe — need clear and courageous leadership from world leaders.

    A Kanaky flag at today's Auckland solidarity rally for Palestine
    A Kanaky flag of independence at today’s Auckland solidarity rally for Palestine. Image: David Robie/APR

    “Who is prepared to put the plight of people and the dignity of every human person as the overriding priority in bringing this outrage to an end?

    “In the words of Pope Francis during his Angelus address on June 2, ‘it takes courage to make peace, far more courage than to wage war.’  Let us pray that leaders will show courage now at this vital moment.”

    Catholics, and all people of good will, were invited to pray and to lobby members of Parliament for the New Zealand government to provide that “clear and courageous leadership” for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Former Green MP and ‘conscience of the year’ Keith Locke dies, aged 80

    RNZ News

    Former Green MP Keith Locke, a passionate activist and anti-war critic once described as “conscience of the year”, has died in hospital, aged 80.

    Locke was in Parliament from 1999 to 2011, and was known as a human rights and nuclear-free advocate.

    His family said he had died peacefully in the early hours this morning after a long illness.

    “He will be greatly missed by his partner Michele, his family, friends and colleagues. He kept up his interest and support for the causes he was passionate about to the last.

    “He was a man of integrity, courage and kindness who lived his values in every part of his life. He touched many lives in the course of his work in politics and activism.”

    The son of activists Elsie and Jack Locke of Christchurch, Keith was politically aware from an early age, and was involved in the first anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid marches of the 1960s.

    After a Masters degree at the University of Alberta in Canada, he returned to New Zealand and left academia to edit a fortnightly newspaper for the Socialist Action League, a union he had joined as a meatworker then railway workshop employee.

    He joined NewLabour in 1989, which later became part of the Alliance party, and split off into the Greens when they broke apart from the Alliance in 1997, entering Parliament as their foreign affairs spokesperson in the subsequent election two years later.

    Notable critic of NZ in Afghanistan
    While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights including in the case of Ahmed Zaoui.

    He also long advocated for New Zealand to become a republic, putting forward a member’s bill which would have led to a referendum on the matter.

    Commentators dubbed him variously the ‘Backbencher of the Year’ in 2002 — an award he reprised from a different outlet in 2010 — as well as the ‘Politician of the Year’ in 2003, and ‘Conscience of the Year’ in 2004.

    He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.

    In a statement today, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick said Locke was a dear friend and leading figure in the party’s history, who never wavered in holding government and those in positions of authority to account.

    “As a colleague and friend, Keith will be keenly missed by the Greens. He has been a shining light for the rights of people and planet. Keith Locke leaves a legacy that his family and all who knew him can be proud of. Moe mai ra e te rangatira,” they said.

    “From 1999 to 2011, he served our party with distinction and worked extremely hard to advance causes central to our kaupapa,” they said.

    Highlighting ‘human rights crises’
    “Not only did Keith work to defend civil liberties at home, but he was vigilant in highlighting human rights crises in other countries, including the Philippines, East Timor, West Papua and in Latin America.

    “We particularly acknowledge his strong and clear opposition to the Iraq War, and his commitment to an independent and principled foreign policy for Aotearoa.”

    They said his mahi as a fearless defender of civil liberties was exemplified in his efforts to challenge government overreach into citizens’ privacy.

    “Keith worked very hard to introduce reforms of our country’s security intelligence services. While there is much more to be done, the improvements in transparency that have occurred over the past two decades are in large part due to his advocacy and work. We will honour him by ensuring we carry on such work.”

    Former minister Peter Dunne said on social media he was “very saddened” to learn of Locke’s death.

    “Although we were on different ideological planets, we always got on and worked well together on a number of issues. Keith had my enduring respect for his integrity and honesty. Rest in peace, friend.”

    ‘Profoundly saddened’
    Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher said she was also sad to hear of the death of her “Mt Eden neighbour”.

    “We worked together on several political campaigns in the 1990s. Keith was a thoughtful, sincere and truly decent person. My condolences to Keith’s partner Michele, sister Maire Leadbeater and partner Graeme East.”

    Peace Action Wellington said Locke was a tireless activist for peace and justice — and the organisation was “profoundly saddened” by his death.

    “His voice and presence will be missed,” the organisation wrote on social media.

    “He was fearless. He spoke with the passion of someone who knows all too well the vast and dangerous reach of the state into people’s lives as someone who was under state surveillance from the time he was a child.

    “We acknowledge Keith’s amazing whānau who have a long whakapapa of peace and justice activism. He was a good soul who will be missed.”

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • No breakthrough in hostage Kiwi pilot talks held by West Papuan rebels

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist

    All parties, including West Papuan pro-independence fighters who took Phillip Mehrtens hostage, want the New Zealand pilot released but freeing him is “complicated”.

    In February 2023, Mehrtens, a husband and father from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian airline, Susi Air, when he landed his small Pilatus plane on a remote airstrip in Nduga Regency in the Papua highlands.

    He was taken hostage by a faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) commanded by warlord Eganius Kogoya.

    The rebels, who also torched his aircraft, later claimed he had breached a no-fly order that they had issued for the area.

    Sixteen months on, and despite failed attempts to either rescue or secure Mehrtens’ release, there’s been very little progress.

    A Human Rights Watch researcher in Indonesia, Andreas Harsono, said it was a complex situation.

    “It is complicated because there is no trust between the West Papuan militants and the Indonesian military,” he said.

    Harsono said as far as he was aware Mehrtens was in an “alright physical condition” all things considered.

    In a statement in February, the TPNPB high commander Terianus Satto said they would release Mehrtens to his family and asked for it to be facilitated by the United Nations secretary-general.

    Failed rescue bid
    Harsono said the situation was made more difficult through a failed rescue mission that saw casualties from both sides in April.

    “Some Papuans were killed, meanwhile on the Indonesian side more than a dozen Indonesian soldiers, including from the special forces were also killed. It is complicated, there is no trust between the two sides.”

    United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) executive secretary Markus Haluk — speaking through a translator — told RNZ Pacific space for all parties, including the West Papua National Liberation Army, needed to be made to discuss Mehrtens’ release.

    “They never involve TPNPB as part of the conversation so that’s why that is important to create the space, and where stakeholders and actors can come together and talk about the process of release.”

    Meanwhile, in a statement sent to RNZ Pacific, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Mehrtens’ safety and wellbeing remained MFAT’s top priority.

    “We’re doing everything we can to secure a peaceful resolution and Phillip’s safe release, including working closely with the Indonesian authorities and deploying New Zealand consular staff.

    “We are also supporting Phillip’s family, both here in New Zealand and in Indonesia,” the spokesperson said.

    RNZ has contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington for comment.

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Queen Mary Uni to host tribunal on ‘environmental violence, profiteering’ in West Papua

    Asia Pacific Report

    The Centre for Climate Crime and Justice at Queen Mary University of London will host a Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on State and Environmental Violence in West Papua later this month.

    A panel of eight tribunal judges will hear evidence on June 27-29 from many international NGOs and local civil society organisations, as well as testimonies from individuals who have witnessed human rights violations and environmental destruction, said a statement from the centre.

    West Papua is home to the world’s third-largest rainforest, currently under threat from industrial development. Due to its global significance, the ongoing state repression and environmental degradation in the region have far-reaching impacts.

    This tribunal aims to bring global attention to the need to protect this crucial rainforest by exploring the deep connection between democracy, state violence, and environmental sustainability in West Papua, said the statement.

    “There are good reasons to host this important event in London. London-based companies are key beneficiaries of gas, mining and industrial agriculture in West Papua, and its huge gold and other metal reserves are traded in London,” said Professor David Whyte, director of the Centre for Climate Crime and Justice.

    “The tribunal will expose the close links between state violence, environmental degradation, and profiteering by transnational corporations and other institutions.”

    The prosecution will be led by Dutch Bar-registered lawyer Fadjar Schouten Korwa, who said: “With a ruling by the eminent Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on the crimes against the Indigenous Papuan people of West Papua and the failure of the state of Indonesia to protect them from human rights violations and impunity, we hope for a future without injustice for West Papua.”

    ‘Long history of destruction’
    A leading West Papuan lawyer, Gustaf Kawer, said: “The annexation of West Papua into the State of Indonesia is part of a long history of environmental destruction and state violence against Papua’s people and its natural resources.

    “Our hope is that after this trial examines the evidence and hears the statements of witnesses and experts, the international community and the UN will respond to the situation in West Papua and evaluate the Indonesian state so that there can be recovery for natural resources and the Papuan people.”

    The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on State and Environmental Violence in West Papua seeks to initiate a series of events and discussions throughout 2024 and 2025, aiming to engage the UN Human Rights Council and international civil society organisations.

    The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on West Papua will take place on Thursday, June 27 – Saturday, 29 June 2024, at Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus.

    The panel of judges comprises: Teresa Almeida Cravo (Portugal), Donna Andrews (South Africa), Daniel Feierstein (Argentina), Marina Forti (Italy), Larry Lohmann (UK), Nello Rossi (Italy), and Solomon Yeo (Solomon Islands).

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ULMWP accuses Indonesian govt of ‘hypocrisy’ over Israel condemnation

    By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist

    West Papuan pro-independence supporters are calling Indonesia’s condemnation of Israel hypocritical considering its occupation of Papua for 61 years.

    The Indonesian government, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President, has condemned the Israeli government’s handling of the conflict in Gaza.

    In a statement, a United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) spokesperson said: “Indonesia’s stance on the international stage contrasts with its actions in Papua”.

    “Indonesia mediates conflicts in several Asian countries but lacks a roadmap for resolving the conflict in Papua.”

    The group is calling for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to immediately form a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights violations. They have also asked for a review of Indonesia’s UN membership.

    In November last year, the Pacific Islands Forum appointed the Fiji and Papua New Guinea prime ministers as special envoys to Indonesia to “address the West Papua issue“.

    The ULMWP are asking for Indonesia to let the two leaders visit Papua.

    Hard to compare with Gaza
    Human Rights Watch researcher in Indonesia Andreas Harsono said the situation in West Papua was hard to compare to Gaza.

    “Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank, of course, is recognised by more than 130 countries, members of the United Nations. Meanwhile, West Papua is being discussed mostly among seven or maybe 10 other countries, so this is difficult to compare.”

    He said Indonesia — the most populous Muslim majority country — had religion in common with Palestine.

    But Harsono said West Papua did need more international attention and there was little understanding of the conflict inside Indonesia because of propaganda.

    ULMWP executive secretary Markus Haluk reiterated calls for a UN fact-finding mission.

    “We want the UN to send their fact-finding mission to West Papua to witness and to prove that there is a slow-motion genocide, ethnocide and ecocide happening in West Papua,” Haluk said, speaking to RNZ Pacific through a translator.

    It is an ongoing plea for the United Nations to visit. In 2019, the Indonesian government agreed in principle to a visit by the Human Rights Commissioner but that promise has not been fulfilled.

    Haluk said the “big brothers” in the region — referring to New Zealand and Australia — could bring up the UN fact-finding mission when the nation’s leaders meet with their Indonesian counterparts.

    “There has been several visits by the leaders but it seems like the issue of West Papua is not as important as the other issues such as trade,” he said.

    ‘Refusing to take responsibility’
    Former New Zealand Greens MP Catherine Delahunty said she felt frustrated that West Papua had not got the attention it should, especially considering it was in “our own backyard”.

    Nearly all foreign media has been banned from entering West Papua.

    “Anyone that criticises the regime has great difficulty getting into that country to report and local journalists are subjected to sustained threats and so we’re in a very unhealthy situation in terms of public understanding of just how drastic the situation is,” she said.

    Delahunty said Indonesia had been intimidating smaller nations, while larger ones like New Zealand and Australia were “refusing to act”.

    “They are refusing to take responsibility for their own part in allowing this to continue.”

    She said New Zealand and Australia could create consequences for Indonesia if it continued to not allow the fact-finding mission, by doing things like stopping military exchanges.

    A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said New Zealand “follows human rights developments closely, and takes all allegations of human rights violations seriously”.

    “New Zealand continues to register concerns about the human rights situation in Papua via appropriate fora. New Zealand encourages Indonesia to promote and protect the rights of all its citizens, and to be transparent in policy relating to Papua.

    “New Zealand recognises Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including in Papua.”

    In a statement to RNZ Pacific, the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington said the government of Indonesia was committed to accelerate the development of all provinces, “including our brothers and sisters in Papua”, to lead and enjoy a prosperous way of life.

    “Papua is highly respected as an honourable region and will continue to be maintained as such,” it said.

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


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • French Polynesia hosts ‘Marara’ military exercise for Asia-Pacific

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    French Polynesia has just played host to a 15-nation “Marara” military exercise aimed at increasing “interoperability” between participating armed forces.

    From May 27 to June 8, the exercise involved about 1000 military from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Canada, the Netherlands and Peru.

    For the occasion, Japan’s helicopter carrier LST Kunisaki was used as a joint command post in what is described as a realistic simulation of an international relief operation to assist a fictitious Pacific island country struck by a grave natural disaster.

    Military transport planes and patrol boats were also brought into the exercise by participating countries.

    “Marara 2024 illustrates France’s commitment to reinforce security and stability in the Pacific . . . and its ability to cooperate with nations of the region for the benefit of the people,” the French Armed forces in French Polynesia said in a media release.

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The workers paying the price for Indonesia’s nickel boom

    On 13 June 2024, a nickel smelting furnace at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi caught fire and exploded, sending two workers to hospital. A year earlier, on 24 December 2023, a smelting furnace at the same facility also caught fire and exploded, killing 13 workers on the spot; several others late succumbed to their injuries later in hospital, resulting in the death of 21 workers. Another 39 workers suffered severe burns in the 2023 incident, with some becoming disabled and unable to work.

    These tragic events expose a major flaw in the Indonesian government’s ambition to establish the country as the world’s nickel processing hub. Indeed, the Indonesian government’s policy of resource nationalism, particularly through nickel downstreaming, has successfully transformed Indonesia’s position in the global markets for this newly ‘critical’ mineral, with rising production figures, an increasing market share.

    According to the International Nickel Study Group, Indonesia’s share of global nickel exports surged from 20% in 2015 to 80% in 2020. The export value of nickel-related commodities, particularly stainless steel, ferronickel, and battery materials, soared from US$6 billion in 2013 to US$30 billion in 2022. As of July 2023, Indonesia had 43 nickel smelters in operation, with an additional 28 under construction and 24 in the planning stages. The majority of investors are from China, with additional investment coming from the United States, Brazil and Australia.

    The nickel downstreaming policy has been spruiked by the government as a boon for workers as well as the national balance sheet. As President Joko Widodo said during a visit to a Sulawesi smelter, downstreaming “…will create jobs, for instance, 27 thousand workers can be recruited in this company. Also, it will generate tax income for the country”.

    In reality, downstreaming prioritises economic value and tax revenue over worker welfare. Officials have portrayed it as Indonesia’s  path to becoming a developed country, while turning a blind eye to pressing social and labour concerns arising from the policy.

    An industry too important to regulate?

    A focus on the business practices of two major nickel groups: Tsingshan Holding Group and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry reveal the contradictions in the downstreaming policy. The influence of these Chinese companies in Indonesia’s nickel industry is undeniable. They are the backbone of the downstreaming effort, controlling over half of the nation’s nickel production and operating vast smelters employing thousands of workers.

    Tsingshan operates two smelter parks: IMIP in Central Sulawesi, and the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) facility in North Maluku. Each park houses dozens of companies involved in the extraction and processing of minerals. Up until now, IMIP in general has employed approximately 120,000 workers, approximately 90% of whom are Indonesian; the rest are Chinese. Meanwhile, IWIP claims to have employed more than 24,000 local workers in 2021 with a goal of 36,000 in 2022.

    Jiangsu Delong has three smelting companies: Obsidian Stainless Steel (OSS) and Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) in Southeast Sulawesi, and Gunbuster Nickel Indonesia (GNI) in Central Sulawesi. Since 2023, VDNI and OSS together have employed more than 10,000 workers, and GNI has also employed more than 10,000 workers.

    Most of the nickel processing facilities, including those owned by these two groups, have been classified by the Jokowi administration as part of the National Strategic Projects (Proyek Strategis Nasional, or PSN). The majority of Chinese-funded energy and infrastructure projects are included in the PSN (e.g., Jakarta–Bandung high speed rail, industrial parks, toll roads) and receive policy and security prioritisation. In addition, the Widodo administration has strengthened the protection of investments in the nickel and smelting sector through the enactment of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation 2022 and its derivative regulations.

    Often hailed as investments that can boost the economy and create jobs, these smelters pose significant problems. These problems include poverty, pollution, tax evasion, low wages, poor working conditions and poor occupational safety and health (OSH) standards. A recent report found that smelters benefit only a handful of people, while workers struggle to make ends meet and neighbouring communities remain impoverished. In 2017, IMIP was reported to be in tax arrears and faced a fine of IDR 60 billion (US$3.7 billion). Similarly, since 2021 VDNI has owed IDR 74.5 billion (US$4.6 billion) in tax arrears and has yet to pay the amount, despite repeated requests from the tax office.

    Workplace fatalities and impunity

    Another issue of great concern in the nickel smelting sector is the risk of occupational diseases and recurrent fatal accidents at work. According to some reports, since IMIP began its operations in 2015, there have been tens of thousands of cases of respiratory disease among workers. Similar conditions have been experienced by workers at IWIP and OSS. These illnesses are caused by coal pollution, ore dust, and sulphur odours caused by chemicals used in nickel processing.

    Other reports also document the recurrence of fatal accidents at nickel processing facilities over the past decade. A database of workplace accidents I compiled from various sources, including company reports and local media outlets, shows that  between 2019 and 2024, 96 accidents occurred at nickel smelters in Indonesia, resulting in the deaths of 97 workers. Of these, 43 accidents occurred at Tsingshan smelters, resulting in the deaths of 56 workers, and 33 accidents occurred at Jiangsu Delong smelters, resulting in the deaths of 26 workers.

    The number of work accidents in the nickel and smelting sector is indeed a relatively small percentage of the number of work accidents in Indonesia. In 2021 the number of work accidents was 234,370; in 2022, this figure rose to 265,334; and in 2023, it rose to 350,826.

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    However, in all cases of workplace accidents, the government often sees them as isolated events born of individual misconduct. In the case of occupational diseases in the nickel and smelting sector, for instance, workers can be blamed for not wearing personal protective equipment properly, whereas in terms of work accidents, workers can be blamed for not following work procedures.

    But the issue of workplace accidents is in fact a structural problem. In the nickel and smelting sector, the data shows that workplace accidents have a similar pattern: explosions, fires, and heavy vehicle collisions. This is a systemic problem arising from weak regulations and lack of government supervision, which leads employers to apply poor OHS standards, seen in the form of long working hours, overtime, and the use of dangerous chemical substances and poorly maintained work equipment.

    In this context, corporations conduct their business with impunity guaranteed by the government. Such impunity is usually reserved for politically and financially influential investors, especially those whose companies are included in the PSN. Following the fatal accident at IMIP on 24 December 2023, police named two Chinese workers as suspects for causing the explosion in the smelter furnace. One of these suspects was a financial supervisor. Many critics have condemned the police action as an attempt to scapegoat the foreign workers.

    In fact, top management should be held accountable because there is a chain of responsibility in the workplace and in the organisation of production in general. Labour inspectors are also responsible for failing to conduct routine inspections in the workplaces where fatal accidents have occurred repeatedly. The legal case of this accident is still unclear. The police have submitted the IMIP case to the prosecutor’s office, but no further action has been taken.

    Union demands

    An alliance of trade unions at the local level in the nickel smelting area and their affiliates in the national level, along with NGOs, have repeatedly demanded improvements in working conditions in the workplace and the strengthening of OSH systems in the nickel smelters. Some of their more detailed demands include the need for a robust OSH regulation in the mineral processing sector, particularly nickel. Unlike related sectors such as mining, the smelting sector does not yet have such regulations. This type of regulation will ensure clear and systematic oversight from the national level to the workplace level.

    In addition, this advocacy coalition is demanding an increase in the number of specialised inspectors in heavy sectors such as mining and smelting, and the assignment of these inspectors near accident-prone industrial areas where they can be easily reached by trade unions. So far, labour inspectors have only been stationed in provincial capitals with limited supervisory capabilities and tend to collude with company managements. The unions are also calling for the establishment of an independent national OSH commission with oversight and investigative powers to monitor business practices, including those in the mining and smelting sector. Indonesia already has a National OSH Council, but it only provides advice to the Ministry of Labour and has no oversight authority over employers.

    Finally, unions advocate for the involvement of workers and themselves in the monitoring of OSH in the workplace. Although within-firm OSH committees are mandated by existing regulations and their members consist of both labour and management representatives, these committees often serve only as an advisory bodies to management and lack independent oversight. The involvement of unions makes OSH oversight more independent and there is no fear of retaliation from the workers to report companies’ misconduct.

    So far, there has been no policy from the government and smelter companies in response to genuine demands from unions. On the one hand, the Jokowi administration has repeatedly warned smelters to improve working conditions and prioritise worker safety, yet has made no attempts to strengthen labour supervision and law enforcement. On the other hand, smelters have become more aggressive in spending on public relations campaigns: the GNI smelter paid Kompas, a major newspaper, to write a series of coverage on implementation of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

    International pressure

    As the Widodo administration nears its end, it’s likely that president-elect Prabowo Subianto will maintain his predecessor’s nickel policy without making substantial changes. However, Indonesia’s significant role in the global nickel market has put the country in the international spotlight. International pressure is needed to add strength to the pressure already put forward by workers and trade unions in the country.

    After the passage of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, some US senators have objected to opening their market to Indonesia, citing issues related to human rights, environmental protection, and labour rights. The IRA restricts access to the US market for essential mineral exports from countries that do not have specific free trade agreements with the United States. Of course, the IRA is inseparable from underlying geopolitical tensions with China, and the trade war and de-risking in response to them. However, Indonesia appears concerned about the Act’s implementation. Jokowi has lobbied Biden on this matter, but as of now, no resolution has been reached.

    Australia also needs to put pressure on Indonesia. Australia already has a Modern Slavery Act in place, which requires that certain entities operating there report on the risks of modern slavery within their supply chains, regardless of whether those risks occur domestically or internationally. The Sydney-based company Nickel Industries Limited, is currently investing in IMIP and IWIP. The US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report has in 2022 and 2023 highlighted the risks of forced labour in one or more nickel mining companies it says are ‘affiliated with the PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative’, likely an allusion to Tsingshan and/or Jiangsu Delong. Unions and NGOs in Australia should stand in solidarity by putting pressure on the government and its corporations to warn Indonesia of the poor business practices in the nickel and smelting sector.

    The growing demand for nickel, driven by the energy transition, will continue to seduce nickel-producing countries and corporations to force their workers to work overtime to increase productivity. Therefore, it’s crucial to continue mounting fierce international and domestic pressure to support unions and workers in fighting for their rights.

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