Category: Self Determination

February 6, 2021

Waitangi Day: Emerging Generation B changes face of Aotearoa
SPECIAL REPORT: Koro Vaka’uta, an RNZ Pacific journalist, reports on a Māori-Pasifika culture shift in Aotearoa New Zealand as the country today marks 181 years since the signing of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between indigenous Māori and the British crown colonisers.

A brown, bicultural generation is changing the face of New Zealand.

That’s according to the Minister for Pacific Peoples, ‘Aupito Sua William Sio, who has previously told RNZ Pacific that as many as two thirds of New Zealand born-Pasifika now had Māori whakapapa as well.

He says that although the Māori-Pasifika dynamic is not a new phenomenon, there is definitely a more apparent and visible presence now.
READ MORE: Ardern at Waitangi: ‘I do not shy away from need’ to fix Māori issues

LISTEN TO RNZ: ‘Waitangi 2021: Koro Vaka’uta (Duration 15:08
“You go back to the 1960s and 70s when New Zealanders invited the Pacific workforce to fill the booming manufacturing industry, the freezing works and the forestry and you trace where the people were in South Auckland, in the Waikato regions in Tokoroa, Rotorua and up north, and you will find people who descend from relationships during that workplace,” he says.

“Now that our communities have migrated to the regions, they are settled, they’ve got jobs and are really putting their roots in the ground. I’m seeing that more and more.

“And I’m trying to describe it as the Generation Six Bs – people who are brown, obviously, but they’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.”

Minister for Pacific Peoples ‘Aupito William Sio … “I will have ongoing conversations with my Māori caucus colleagues.” Image: Koro Vaka’uta/RNZ

“They’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.” – ‘Aupito William Sio

So how does this shape the minister’s approach to what the government does?

Collaborating at grassroots level
Since 2018, ‘Aupito has wanted to formalise the so-called “tuakana-teina” relationship between Māori and Pacific people in an effort to collaborate more at grassroots level.

“I will have ongoing conversations with my Māori caucus colleagues, I think in the last three years in regional New Zealand, we were recognising this and so were my Māori ministers, and so interestingly enough when I said to the Minister of Provincial Growth Fund at the time, I was saying ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing with this diversity of young Pasifika who whakapapa to Māori?’

“He said, ‘yes I am starting to see these long names on the land register’, and even the Minister of Youth Affairs at the time was also acknowledging that he was capturing that diversity.”

‘Aupito said these conversations would continue to see how best Māori and Pasifika could work together.

However, he conceded data could often be unreliable when it came to Pasifika and Māori people, as those collecting the information often lumped them together.

Lourdes Vano is one person who refuses to be put into a single box.

Of Cook Island, Samoan and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa stock, the university student and aspiring politician was on a journey of learning about all three cultures.

‘Learning my ancestry’
“It’s just learning all the different words, and also learning my ancestry, learning about my tupuna, and how they all fit together and where they all come from and what our family tree history is.”

Lourdes Vano stood for the Green Party in the last election. Image: Jogai Bhatt/RNZ

Vano’s efforts were not just for her.

“I’m also doing this so that my siblings don’t have to make too much of a trip to find out about themselves, which is a really, really important sort of taonga, a gift that I want to pass on to them.

“I’ve always felt strongest when I know when I learn more about myself and I learn more about my tupuna and where I’ve come from, and I want to be able to give them that feeling as well.”

Vano says she doesn’t want her whānau to face as many barriers as she had.

“A lot of those barriers include what has happened in the process of colonisation where things have been cut off from us or gatekept from us where we have to pay money or we have to jump through a couple of loops to get to our own history.”

For Vano, straddling multiple cultures can be challenging.

‘Including my islands’
I have found myself in the past leaning into different parts of myself, depending on my environment, depending on where I am. But recently I’ve been trying to notice when I’m doing that. One of the ways that I’m trying to break out of that is including my islands in my pepeha and never refusing any part of myself.”

She points to Green MP Teanau Tuiono as inspiration. From Ngāpuhi and Atiu in the Cook Islands, he talked about his whakapapa during his maiden speech to Parliament in December.

Green MP Teanau Tuiono … talked about his whakapapa during his maiden speech to Parliament. Image: RNZ

People had asked if he was half Māori and half Pasifika.

“Nah, bro. If anything, I’m whole,” Tuiono said in the House.

“I don’t think anyone is half anything. If anything, I’m double. If I was a beer, I would be Double Brown. If I was the flavour down at the dairy, I’ll be twice as nice but the only half the price. I am two peas in the cultural pod.”

Vano says she has now grown to see the beauty of being both Tagata Pasifika and Tangata Whenua.

“I did struggle with it at first trying to figure out where I fit in but I think the more I learn about these things, the more beautiful it becomes to me and how lucky I am to be able to connect to so many different places and so many very cool places.

Many different communities
“I’m really glad that I am a part of so many different communities that work so well together and have always worked so well together and we were doing amazing things thousands of years ago.They were sailing the ocean hundreds of people at a time and hundreds and hundreds of miles away to get to an island,” Vano says.

Hine Funaki is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua, Ngāi Tahu and Tongan heritage and is a doctoral student at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University.

Hine Funaki … on a journey that began when she was a toddler at Kōhanga Reo and primary school where she learnt in a full immersion Māori environment. Image: RNZ

She is also on a journey. One that began when she was a toddler at Kōhanga Reo and primary school where she learnt in a full immersion Māori environment.

However, things changed at high school.

“I just went straight into mainstream thinking that, you know, it wasn’t going to get you anywhere. I kind of bought into their narrative, better off learning Spanish or Mandarin or something else so that you can travel and make money and all this Pākehā or Western concept of success. So I started trying to follow that path and it wasn’t working for me.”

Funaki dropped out of high school at 16, with no qualification, thinking that was her lot in life. She then fell pregnant at 19 and had her son at 20. Her moment of clarity.

“I just knew that he couldn’t go down that same path that I went down, and believe those lies.”

Pivotal moment
So Funaki enrolled as an adult university student and reached another pivotal moment when meeting someone who would eventually become her mentor.

“In my third year of undergrad, I had Cherie Chu, she was in Pacific education and her courses were completely different to the two years that I was doing prior to that, I was with Pākehā lecturers all the time.

“The assignments I didn’t understand, I didn’t understand the literature. I just felt so unconfident and inadequate. And then in my third year, I finally met somebody who made the class inclusive, assessments inclusive and accessible. The literature, I understood it.”

Funaki continues to play it forward, mentoring young Māori and Pacific students as they try to navigate a world which has not always welcomed them.

“I can’t turn off the fact that I walk in these multiple different worlds. And so I carry that lens with me all the time and so I think of spaces all the time, physical spaces, relational spaces, theoretical spaces, and so if that space feels safe with certain people, then I feel like I can navigate it a bit more smoothly. Even if I’m still figuring it out. I can do it without feeling ashamed.

“Like I can mess up, and it’s okay, but if it’s in a space like predominantly Pākehā, Western, white spaces, if that whakamā is there, I won’t feel safe to even try and instead I just try and push back or I select spaces that I go to that I know I will feel more comfortable.”

But when Funaki and her colleagues addressed a workshop about how more professors could be Māori and Pasifika, she realised it was important to share stories for change.

Changing the dynamic
Funaki says it is about claiming spaces and changing the dynamic so that she comes from a perspective of pushing for change and not delivering trauma on a silver platter for others to consume.

Funaki keeps advocating for her people, driven by her heritage, both from the Pacific and Aotearoa.

“I can’t just be quiet and complacent. I can’t not say anything or call anything out when injustice is happening, like I feel the need to even more speak up because of my ancestors. When you know you have Pasifika descent in your family who migrated over for the idea of wanting better, or the land of milk and honey.

“You feel this obligation to give back and to do something with that sacrifice they have given. So having this Tongan inside of me and knowing that even though I’m not immersed fully in the Tongan culture, I still feel proud that that’s in my blood.”

Funaki says her Māori heritage and the struggles in institutions like universities, gave her even more motivation.

But still, it could be physically, mentally and spiritually tiring. Funaki said it was her pride in who she was that maintained her.

“That ancestral link, that blood that we have. What our people did to even get here. That’s not by chance or accident. That was navigation, that was intelligence. That’s science. Our people are smart and always have been, for generations. So I’m proud to be Māori and Tongan.”

Proud of his mixed heritage
Haereiti Hetet is someone else who is proud of his mixed heritage. The Fijian rugby international represented his mother’s whakapapa, from Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Tuwharetoa, when he turned out for the Māori All Blacks in 2019, ironically against Fiji. He said being involved in that team made him want to learn more of the Māori language.

Haereiti Hetet, 17, represented the Maori All Blacks against Fiji in 2019 … rugby allowed greater access to both his cultures. Image: RNZ/PHOTOSPORT

Although born and bred in Otorohanga, and surrounded mostly by his Māori whānau, Hetet said rugby had allowed greater access to both his cultures. When it came to his time with the Flying Fijians in 2020 and the Māori All Blacks the year before, both teams took time and made space to acknowledge their wairua, whether it be Fijian prayers and hymns sung multiple times during the day, or karakia and waiata with the Māori team.

“I’m probably still trying to really, fully connect. I want to understand both languages still, it’s still an ongoing journey,” Hetet says.

However, it was challenging trying to connect and learn two cultures and languages in the course of what has become a busy life.

“Throughout the day, you run out of time, you go to work, I’m still trying to train regularly to stay in good condition, just in case somebody comes up. I also have a small family as well, so it’s just finding a balance.”

Hetet says he is trying to find an hour, or a half an hour to keep his learning going. He hopes one day to get to his father’s [former Fijian international Joe Veitayaki] island of Matuku to take his cultural journey to the next level, but in the meantime he will continue to connect via his marae and community in Aotearoa.

And as Aotearoa marked another Waitangi Day, he believes it is a good opportunity for Māori to have their voice heard as they continue to fight for land and rights as tangata whenua.

Waitangi Day unsettling
But for Hine Funaki – Waitangi Day is unsettling.

“To me it’s like this constant reminder of, let’s pretend we have this romanticised lens of a bicultural partnership and then let’s even claim multiculturalism, because we are a multi-ethnic nation and it’s like this time to celebrate and put on these pretty window dressings for another year.”

But Funaki says it is lies.

“Where’s the part where you acknowledge your treaty roles, where’s the part where partnership actually means something and doing something together as equals? That doesn’t mean junior partnerships,” she says.

Te Tii Marae, Waitangi in 2017 … the 1840 Tititi o Waitangi means bicultural partnership. Image: Claire Eastham-Farrelly/RNZ

Lourdes Vano understands that hurt. For her, the day is an opportunity for education and information.

“If you don’t know what to do on Waitangi Day and you’re scared of contributing to something that you don’t know completely about, use it as a day for education. Ranginui Walker’s Struggle Without End is a really good starter book about Māori history and New Zealand/Aotearoa and really sets the scene and gives so much context for Waitangi Day.”

Vano says people could also use it as a day to find out how they could support tangata whenua.

They sound like words from this growing Generation B – so named by ‘Aupito William Sio – Brown, Brainy, Beautiful, Bicultural, Bilingual and Bold.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
February 6, 2021

Waitangi Day: Emerging Generation B changes face of Aotearoa

SPECIAL REPORT: Koro Vaka’uta, an RNZ Pacific journalist, reports on a Māori-Pasifika culture shift in Aotearoa New Zealand as the country today marks 181 years since the signing of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between indigenous Māori and the British crown colonisers.

A brown, bicultural generation is changing the face of New Zealand.

That’s according to the Minister for Pacific Peoples, ‘Aupito Sua William Sio, who has previously told RNZ Pacific that as many as two thirds of New Zealand born-Pasifika now had Māori whakapapa as well.

He says that although the Māori-Pasifika dynamic is not a new phenomenon, there is definitely a more apparent and visible presence now.

“You go back to the 1960s and 70s when New Zealanders invited the Pacific workforce to fill the booming manufacturing industry, the freezing works and the forestry and you trace where the people were in South Auckland, in the Waikato regions in Tokoroa, Rotorua and up north, and you will find people who descend from relationships during that workplace,” he says.

“Now that our communities have migrated to the regions, they are settled, they’ve got jobs and are really putting their roots in the ground. I’m seeing that more and more.

“And I’m trying to describe it as the Generation Six Bs – people who are brown, obviously, but they’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.”

Minister for Pacific Peoples ‘Aupito William Sio … “I will have ongoing conversations with my Māori caucus colleagues.” Image: Koro Vaka’uta/RNZ

“They’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.” – ‘Aupito William Sio

So how does this shape the minister’s approach to what the government does?

Collaborating at grassroots level
Since 2018, ‘Aupito has wanted to formalise the so-called “tuakana-teina” relationship between Māori and Pacific people in an effort to collaborate more at grassroots level.

“I will have ongoing conversations with my Māori caucus colleagues, I think in the last three years in regional New Zealand, we were recognising this and so were my Māori ministers, and so interestingly enough when I said to the Minister of Provincial Growth Fund at the time, I was saying ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing with this diversity of young Pasifika who whakapapa to Māori?’

“He said, ‘yes I am starting to see these long names on the land register’, and even the Minister of Youth Affairs at the time was also acknowledging that he was capturing that diversity.”

‘Aupito said these conversations would continue to see how best Māori and Pasifika could work together.

However, he conceded data could often be unreliable when it came to Pasifika and Māori people, as those collecting the information often lumped them together.

Lourdes Vano is one person who refuses to be put into a single box.

Of Cook Island, Samoan and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa stock, the university student and aspiring politician was on a journey of learning about all three cultures.

‘Learning my ancestry’
“It’s just learning all the different words, and also learning my ancestry, learning about my tupuna, and how they all fit together and where they all come from and what our family tree history is.”

Lourdes Vano stood for the Green Party in the last election. Image: Jogai Bhatt/RNZ

Vano’s efforts were not just for her.

“I’m also doing this so that my siblings don’t have to make too much of a trip to find out about themselves, which is a really, really important sort of taonga, a gift that I want to pass on to them.

“I’ve always felt strongest when I know when I learn more about myself and I learn more about my tupuna and where I’ve come from, and I want to be able to give them that feeling as well.”

Vano says she doesn’t want her whānau to face as many barriers as she had.

“A lot of those barriers include what has happened in the process of colonisation where things have been cut off from us or gatekept from us where we have to pay money or we have to jump through a couple of loops to get to our own history.”

For Vano, straddling multiple cultures can be challenging.

‘Including my islands’
I have found myself in the past leaning into different parts of myself, depending on my environment, depending on where I am. But recently I’ve been trying to notice when I’m doing that. One of the ways that I’m trying to break out of that is including my islands in my pepeha and never refusing any part of myself.”

She points to Green MP Teanau Tuiono as inspiration. From Ngāpuhi and Atiu in the Cook Islands, he talked about his whakapapa during his maiden speech to Parliament in December.

Green MP Teanau Tuiono … talked about his whakapapa during his maiden speech to Parliament. Image: RNZ

People had asked if he was half Māori and half Pasifika.

“Nah, bro. If anything, I’m whole,” Tuiono said in the House.

“I don’t think anyone is half anything. If anything, I’m double. If I was a beer, I would be Double Brown. If I was the flavour down at the dairy, I’ll be twice as nice but the only half the price. I am two peas in the cultural pod.”

Vano says she has now grown to see the beauty of being both Tagata Pasifika and Tangata Whenua.

“I did struggle with it at first trying to figure out where I fit in but I think the more I learn about these things, the more beautiful it becomes to me and how lucky I am to be able to connect to so many different places and so many very cool places.

Many different communities
“I’m really glad that I am a part of so many different communities that work so well together and have always worked so well together and we were doing amazing things thousands of years ago.They were sailing the ocean hundreds of people at a time and hundreds and hundreds of miles away to get to an island,” Vano says.

Hine Funaki is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua, Ngāi Tahu and Tongan heritage and is a doctoral student at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University.

Hine Funaki … on a journey that began when she was a toddler at Kōhanga Reo and primary school where she learnt in a full immersion Māori environment. Image: RNZ

She is also on a journey. One that began when she was a toddler at Kōhanga Reo and primary school where she learnt in a full immersion Māori environment.

However, things changed at high school.

“I just went straight into mainstream thinking that, you know, it wasn’t going to get you anywhere. I kind of bought into their narrative, better off learning Spanish or Mandarin or something else so that you can travel and make money and all this Pākehā or Western concept of success. So I started trying to follow that path and it wasn’t working for me.”

Funaki dropped out of high school at 16, with no qualification, thinking that was her lot in life. She then fell pregnant at 19 and had her son at 20. Her moment of clarity.

“I just knew that he couldn’t go down that same path that I went down, and believe those lies.”

Pivotal moment
So Funaki enrolled as an adult university student and reached another pivotal moment when meeting someone who would eventually become her mentor.

“In my third year of undergrad, I had Cherie Chu, she was in Pacific education and her courses were completely different to the two years that I was doing prior to that, I was with Pākehā lecturers all the time.

“The assignments I didn’t understand, I didn’t understand the literature. I just felt so unconfident and inadequate. And then in my third year, I finally met somebody who made the class inclusive, assessments inclusive and accessible. The literature, I understood it.”

Funaki continues to play it forward, mentoring young Māori and Pacific students as they try to navigate a world which has not always welcomed them.

“I can’t turn off the fact that I walk in these multiple different worlds. And so I carry that lens with me all the time and so I think of spaces all the time, physical spaces, relational spaces, theoretical spaces, and so if that space feels safe with certain people, then I feel like I can navigate it a bit more smoothly. Even if I’m still figuring it out. I can do it without feeling ashamed.

“Like I can mess up, and it’s okay, but if it’s in a space like predominantly Pākehā, Western, white spaces, if that whakamā is there, I won’t feel safe to even try and instead I just try and push back or I select spaces that I go to that I know I will feel more comfortable.”

But when Funaki and her colleagues addressed a workshop about how more professors could be Māori and Pasifika, she realised it was important to share stories for change.

Changing the dynamic
Funaki says it is about claiming spaces and changing the dynamic so that she comes from a perspective of pushing for change and not delivering trauma on a silver platter for others to consume.

Funaki keeps advocating for her people, driven by her heritage, both from the Pacific and Aotearoa.

“I can’t just be quiet and complacent. I can’t not say anything or call anything out when injustice is happening, like I feel the need to even more speak up because of my ancestors. When you know you have Pasifika descent in your family who migrated over for the idea of wanting better, or the land of milk and honey.

“You feel this obligation to give back and to do something with that sacrifice they have given. So having this Tongan inside of me and knowing that even though I’m not immersed fully in the Tongan culture, I still feel proud that that’s in my blood.”

Funaki says her Māori heritage and the struggles in institutions like universities, gave her even more motivation.

But still, it could be physically, mentally and spiritually tiring. Funaki said it was her pride in who she was that maintained her.

“That ancestral link, that blood that we have. What our people did to even get here. That’s not by chance or accident. That was navigation, that was intelligence. That’s science. Our people are smart and always have been, for generations. So I’m proud to be Māori and Tongan.”

Proud of his mixed heritage
Haereiti Hetet is someone else who is proud of his mixed heritage. The Fijian rugby international represented his mother’s whakapapa, from Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Tuwharetoa, when he turned out for the Māori All Blacks in 2019, ironically against Fiji. He said being involved in that team made him want to learn more of the Māori language.

Haereiti Hetet, 17, represented the Maori All Blacks against Fiji in 2019 … rugby allowed greater access to both his cultures. Image: RNZ/PHOTOSPORT

Although born and bred in Otorohanga, and surrounded mostly by his Māori whānau, Hetet said rugby had allowed greater access to both his cultures. When it came to his time with the Flying Fijians in 2020 and the Māori All Blacks the year before, both teams took time and made space to acknowledge their wairua, whether it be Fijian prayers and hymns sung multiple times during the day, or karakia and waiata with the Māori team.

“I’m probably still trying to really, fully connect. I want to understand both languages still, it’s still an ongoing journey,” Hetet says.

However, it was challenging trying to connect and learn two cultures and languages in the course of what has become a busy life.

“Throughout the day, you run out of time, you go to work, I’m still trying to train regularly to stay in good condition, just in case somebody comes up. I also have a small family as well, so it’s just finding a balance.”

Hetet says he is trying to find an hour, or a half an hour to keep his learning going. He hopes one day to get to his father’s [former Fijian international Joe Veitayaki] island of Matuku to take his cultural journey to the next level, but in the meantime he will continue to connect via his marae and community in Aotearoa.

And as Aotearoa marked another Waitangi Day, he believes it is a good opportunity for Māori to have their voice heard as they continue to fight for land and rights as tangata whenua.

Waitangi Day unsettling
But for Hine Funaki – Waitangi Day is unsettling.

“To me it’s like this constant reminder of, let’s pretend we have this romanticised lens of a bicultural partnership and then let’s even claim multiculturalism, because we are a multi-ethnic nation and it’s like this time to celebrate and put on these pretty window dressings for another year.”

But Funaki says it is lies.

“Where’s the part where you acknowledge your treaty roles, where’s the part where partnership actually means something and doing something together as equals? That doesn’t mean junior partnerships,” she says.

Te Tii Marae, Waitangi in 2017 … the 1840 Tititi o Waitangi means bicultural partnership. Image: Claire Eastham-Farrelly/RNZ

Lourdes Vano understands that hurt. For her, the day is an opportunity for education and information.

“If you don’t know what to do on Waitangi Day and you’re scared of contributing to something that you don’t know completely about, use it as a day for education. Ranginui Walker’s Struggle Without End is a really good starter book about Māori history and New Zealand/Aotearoa and really sets the scene and gives so much context for Waitangi Day.”

Vano says people could also use it as a day to find out how they could support tangata whenua.

They sound like words from this growing Generation B – so named by ‘Aupito William Sio – Brown, Brainy, Beautiful, Bicultural, Bilingual and Bold.

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

This post was originally published on Radio Free.
February 6, 2021

A bruising 24 hours in the Pacific – three key questions about regionalism
Former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna … narrow win over Micronesian candidate in PIF leadership vote. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ
By Jonathan Pryke in Sydney

After a divisive marathon meeting into the early hours of Thursday, Pacific leaders have emerged with a new Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Cook Islands’ former Prime Minister Henry Puna was elected 9–8, with one abstention.

A break from the consensus tradition of the Forum, the appointment leaves the region bitterly divided.

To make matters worse, the Fiji government appears to have used the distraction of the meeting to swoop in and deport University of South Pacific vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The university, seen by many as a beacon of Pacific regionalism, had been embroiled in a long and very public dispute between the new VC and the old guard backed by the Fiji government.

The move to deport the VC sends this dispute nuclear, with many of the same red-eyed leaders who just wrangled over the new secretary-general also members of the university’s governing council, and now facing the potential of an emergency special meeting to discuss this latest move.

The past 24 hours have been incredibly damaging for Pacific regionalism and unity, the repercussions of which will be felt for years to come.

The very fabric of Pacific regionalism looks to be tested unlike any time in recent history.

Where does this leave North Pacific?
Some immediate questions are clear.
1. Where does this leave the North Pacific? Adamant that it was a Micronesian’s turn to run the Forum, five members had coalesced around former minister and current US ambassador Gerald Zackios of the Marshall Islands as their candidate. Some Micronesian leaders had threatened to leave the Forum if Zackios were not chosen, and from reports of their moods since the vote, they may look to follow through. Even if they don’t take that step, don’t expect them to be too involved in the Forum in the near future.
2. What happens next for the leadership struggle at the University of the South Pacific? Even if the governing council can convince the Fiji government to overturn the deportation of the VC, the damage has been done. It is highly unlikely he would return, or that any high-calibre international candidate would be interested in taking his place while the serious allegations of financial mismanagement at the university remain unresolved. The donors and Pacific nations which contribute towards financing the university may look to place the USP in some form of administration to sort it all out – likely in the face of protests from Fiji.
3. Where does this leave Fiji? Its government had already ruffled feathers by nominating a candidate for the secretary-general position (who did not make it to the final round of voting) so soon after fully re-engaging with the Forum. Now, by moving against USP’s vice-chancellor at the same time as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama was sitting in a Leaders Meeting, aggravated bilateral tensions will linger in every corner of the Pacific.
With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

Fiji needs charm campaign
Fiji is looking to host the 2021 Forum Leaders Meeting in August, with Bainimarama going so far as to extend an invitation to US President Joe Biden.

Fiji will have to roll out the charm campaign across the region in the next few months if they expect Pacific leaders to push for the meeting to go ahead at all.

USP’s Australian Professor Pal Ahluwalia … deported on a flight to Brisbane on Thursday. Image: PMW screenshot

Finally, where does this leave Pacific regionalism? Outsiders can be forgiven for thinking the Pacific is a unified bloc, thanks to their prominent advocacy on climate change.

The past 24 hours, however, reveal just how divided the Pacific can be. While we don’t yet know which candidates each country voted for, there is a clear rift right down the middle of the Pacific.

With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

How regionalism can be revitalised in an era of deep division and no physical interactions is an incredible challenge.

Freshly elected Secretary-General Puna has a massive job on his hands dealing with the fallout, to say nothing of the larger challenges the Forum was already facing.

Jonathan Pryke is director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Programme. His research is interested in all aspects of the Pacific Islands, including economic development in the Pacific Islands region, Australia’s relationship with the Pacific, the role of aid and the private sector in Pacific Islands development and Pacific labour mobility. This article was republished from The Interpreter with permission.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
February 6, 2021

A bruising 24 hours in the Pacific – three key questions about regionalism
ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Pryke in Sydney

After a divisive marathon meeting into the early hours of Thursday, Pacific leaders have emerged with a new Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Cook Islands’ former Prime Minister Henry Puna was elected 9–8, with one abstention.

A break from the consensus tradition of the Forum, the appointment leaves the region bitterly divided.

To make matters worse, the Fiji government appears to have used the distraction of the meeting to swoop in and deport University of South Pacific vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.
The university, seen by many as a beacon of Pacific regionalism, had been embroiled in a long and very public dispute between the new VC and the old guard backed by the Fiji government.

The move to deport the VC sends this dispute nuclear, with many of the same red-eyed leaders who just wrangled over the new secretary-general also members of the university’s governing council, and now facing the potential of an emergency special meeting to discuss this latest move.

The past 24 hours have been incredibly damaging for Pacific regionalism and unity, the repercussions of which will be felt for years to come.

The very fabric of Pacific regionalism looks to be tested unlike any time in recent history.

Where does this leave North Pacific?
Some immediate questions are clear.
1. Where does this leave the North Pacific? Adamant that it was a Micronesian’s turn to run the Forum, five members had coalesced around former minister and current US ambassador Gerald Zackios of the Marshall Islands as their candidate. Some Micronesian leaders had threatened to leave the Forum if Zackios were not chosen, and from reports of their moods since the vote, they may look to follow through. Even if they don’t take that step, don’t expect them to be too involved in the Forum in the near future.
2. What happens next for the leadership struggle at the University of the South Pacific? Even if the governing council can convince the Fiji government to overturn the deportation of the VC, the damage has been done. It is highly unlikely he would return, or that any high-calibre international candidate would be interested in taking his place while the serious allegations of financial mismanagement at the university remain unresolved. The donors and Pacific nations which contribute towards financing the university may look to place the USP in some form of administration to sort it all out – likely in the face of protests from Fiji.
3. Where does this leave Fiji? Its government had already ruffled feathers by nominating a candidate for the secretary-general position (who did not make it to the final round of voting) so soon after fully re-engaging with the Forum. Now, by moving against USP’s vice-chancellor at the same time as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama was sitting in a Leaders Meeting, aggravated bilateral tensions will linger in every corner of the Pacific.
With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

Fiji needs charm campaign
Fiji is looking to host the 2021 Forum Leaders Meeting in August, with Bainimarama going so far as to extend an invitation to US President Joe Biden.

Fiji will have to roll out the charm campaign across the region in the next few months if they expect Pacific leaders to push for the meeting to go ahead at all.

USP’s Australian Professor Pal Ahluwalia … deported on a flight to Brisbane on Thursday. Image: PMW screenshot

Finally, where does this leave Pacific regionalism? Outsiders can be forgiven for thinking the Pacific is a unified bloc, thanks to their prominent advocacy on climate change.

The past 24 hours, however, reveal just how divided the Pacific can be. While we don’t yet know which candidates each country voted for, there is a clear rift right down the middle of the Pacific.

With the covid-19 crisis and border closures forcing countries to look inwards more than ever, regionalism was already struggling, and the Forum was facing a slow-burning relevance crisis.

How regionalism can be revitalised in an era of deep division and no physical interactions is an incredible challenge.

Freshly elected Secretary-General Puna has a massive job on his hands dealing with the fallout, to say nothing of the larger challenges the Forum was already facing.

Jonathan Pryke is director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Programme. His research is interested in all aspects of the Pacific Islands, including economic development in the Pacific Islands region, Australia’s relationship with the Pacific, the role of aid and the private sector in Pacific Islands development and Pacific labour mobility. This article was republished from The Interpreter with permission.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
February 3, 2021

Mana Wāhine inquiry hearing: Original claimant Ripeka Evans gives evidence
By Māni Dunlop, RNZ News Māori News Director

New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal has heard the voices of Māori women have been marginalised for far too long and the impact of colonisation has caused the negation of rights over their bodies, minds, and beliefs.

The Mana Wāhine Inquiry is underway in Kerikeri – it is the first of the pre-hearings – which are exploring the tikanga of mana wāhine and the pre-colonial understanding of wāhine in te ao Māori; of which will set the context for the inquiry.

The inquiry includes a number of wāhine-related claims – but the original claim was made in 1993 by 16 leaders – Dame Areta Koopu, Dame Whina Cooper, Dame Mira Szaszy, Ripeka Evans, Dr Erihapeti Murchie, Dame Georgina Kirby, Dame June Mariu, Violet Pou, Hine Potaka, Dame Aroha Reriti-Crofts, Dr Papaarangi Reid, Donna Awatere-Huata, Lady Rose Henare, Katerina Hoterene, Te Para (Mabel) Waititi, and Kare Cooper-Tate.
- LISTEN: Waitangi Day with RNZ’s Julian Wilcox and Māni Dunlop
Lawyer for the original claim Natalie Coates had said the wāhine had much support behind them from others at the time it was presented in person 28 years ago.

The claim was triggered by the removal of Dame Mira Szaszy from the shortlist of appointees to the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission.

The inquiry will examine the inherent mana and iho of ngā wāhine Māori; the systemic discrimination, deprivation and inequities experienced by wāhine Māori; and the extent to which the Crown’s conduct in this respect had been, and is, Treaty non-compliant.

Hineahuone was truly present at Turner centre in Kerikeri as claimants, their lawyers, and whānau packed into the room to begin the first pre-hearing of the inquiry.

First to give evidence
One of the original claimants, Ripeka Evans, who also put in a claim on behalf of the hapū and iwi of Te Tai Tokerau alongside Dr Papaarangi Reid, was first to give evidence yesterday.

Fighting back tears, she urged the tribunal to complete the claim in her lifetime – something that some of the original claimants were unable to witness. She said it would be remiss of her to not acknowledge how special this moment was.

After many joined her in acknowledging the significance of the beginning of these hearings, Evans told the tribunal and a packed public gallery – it was “time for business”.

She emphasised the inherent power, authority and status of wāhine in te ao Māori and the role of her tīpuna who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, who she called the founding mothers.

The Mana Wāhine Inquiry in Kerikeri … traditional roles of men and women as essential parts of the collective whole. Image: RNZ

She described the traditional roles of men and women as essential parts of the collective whole, both forming part of the whakapapa that linked Māori to the beginning of the world and women in particular played a key role in linking the past with the present and the future.

Evans provided the historic context of the impact of colonisation.

“The colonial frame in which the colonising culture that looked to men as leaders and chiefs – this caused the negation of wāhine Māori mana motuhake and rangatiratanga over their whenua, taonga, mātauranga, hearts, bodies, minds and beliefs.”

Power, authority and status the bottom lines
She hoped that the inquiry would look at the power, authority and status as the three bottom lines that claimants were there to address at these tūāpapa hearings, to not just talk about, but find solutions for the future.

When asked by the tribunal to go back to what triggered the original claim and the role of the Crown in removing Dame Mira from the shortlist, she talked to the wider context of the Crown’s role in being silence on these particular.

Evans said, although the Crown had provided funding for the inquiry, this was not enough to show they had learnt a lesson after 28 years.

“The fact that we are here today, I have to call it out, the Crown funding for this claim is for the Crown to bring it – not for me – not for the claimants to come and tell their stories.

“It beggars belief that the lesson of the last 28 years his that the Crown has not woken up yet about mana wāhine and about the opportunities that that presents for those big issues.”

“And we are still looking to the tribunal as our ray of hope – we don’t have deep pockets.”

The hearing is set down until Thursday and will hear from more original claimants and other notable wāhine Māori leaders.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
January 26, 2021

State-sanctioned racism against West Papuans ‘shows Jakarta’s true agenda’
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk

More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda.

“Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian elites have made clear their racist plans to destroy Melanesian West Papuans as a distinct people,” said Wenda in a statement.

Last month retired General Hendropriyono, former head of the Indonesian intelligence agency (BIN) and special forces (Kopassus) general, claimed that two million West Papuans should be separated from their Melanesian brothers and sisters in the Pacific and moved to the island of Manado in Indonesia.
- READ MORE: Wah Natalius Pigai confided about racism in Papua with the American Defence Minister
- The 2019 West Papua Uprising
“This is racial ethnic cleansing, a genocidal fantasy at the highest levels of the Indonesian state,” Wenda said.

Last week, one of President Jokowi’s most prominent supporters called a leading West Papuan human rights defender a “monkey”, the same racial slur that sparked the 2019 West Papua Uprising.

Ambronicus Nababan, chair of the Pro Jokowi-Amin Volunteers (Projamin), made the racial comment about Natalius Pigai, former head of Indonesia’s leading human rights group.

“These remarks stand in a long tradition. When Indonesia invaded our land, General Ali Moertopo said the Papuan people should be transferred to the moon,” Wenda said in the statement.

‘Obstacle to development’
“In 2016, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be transferred to the Pacific. Indonesia’s rulers have always seen us as sub-human, as an obstacle to ‘development’ that needs to be ethnically cleansed and killed.

“My people rose up against this racism and colonisation in 2019. Thousands of students returned from the rest of Indonesia in an exodus from racism, dozens were killed by Indonesia, and hundreds arrested.

“The Indonesian state punished those who spoke out with over 100 years of collective prison time. The killers and racists in the army, police and state-backed militias were allowed to go free.”

These are not just statements from Indonesian officials, Wenda’s statement said.

They were linked to the military operations that had displaced more than 60,000 people since December 2018. The racist attitudes “justify treating us as second-class citizens, torturing and imprisoning us for exercising our rights to free expression under international law”.

Indonesia’s settler colonial project in West Papua had been built on racism.

Wenda said this was why the ULMWP provisional government was formed on December 1 last year.

‘We are no longer accepting Indonesian law’
“We are no longer accepting any Indonesian law, policy or proposal. We will not bow down to Indonesian rule any more. The provisional government is issuing the following four points:
1. We reject all forms of Indonesian law enforced in West Papua;
2. We support the 83 countries demanding Indonesia allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua;
3. The solution to West Papuan suffering is an independence referendum; and
4. All West Papuans must unite behind the provisional government.
“It is time to end this: no more torture, no more displacement, no more killing, no more discrimination. To all my people, those who are working in the Indonesian government, in the civil service, professionals, exiles, lawyers, those inside, in the highlands, coasts, islands and towns – we are no longer Indonesian citizens.

“We are forming our own Melanesian nation. Come behind the provisional government, and we will peacefully reclaim our country and refuse Indonesia’s illegal occupation of our territory.”
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
January 15, 2021

Controversy over renaming Tahiti’s hospital after Chirac amid covid crisis
SPECIAL REPORT: By Ena Manuireva in Auckland

It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80.

The local territorial government was indeed saddened about the loss and sent its condolences to the grieving family and relatives.

The opening of Mā’ohi Nui’s borders two months earlier on July 15 by the French High Commissioner, Dominique Sorain, in consultation with Tahiti’s President Edouard Fritch – who promptly agreed due to economic reasons – has led to today’s covid-19 pandemic crisis.
- READ MORE: Other articles about the covid-19 pandemic impact on Mā’ohi Nui
- Tahiti’s covid-19 death tally rises to 122 – 17,000 plus cases
The latest figures at the time of writing show 124 covid-19 deaths, 40 people in hospital (including 19 patients on ventilators), and 80 new cases, making it a total of more than 17,400.

About 17,500 vaccine doses were available last week on January 7 for more than 8000 people but, unfortunately, one expects more deaths before the injection programme is rolled out.

Mā’ohi Nui and covid-19, as many deaths as days since the first fatality on 11 September 2020 (as at January 13). Image: Tahiti-Infos

These are sobering figures when entering January 2021 on the Gregorian calendar – and equally the Tahitian chart speaks of the Pleiades constellation, or Matari’i i Ni’a, foretelling abundance that extends from November to May.

Sadly, for the mourning families the only season of abundance appears to be the losses of the most vulnerable in our society – our elders.

It is also quite revealing that information about covid-19 cases are on a drip-feed from the Ministry of Health, with its minister doctor Jacques Raynal comparing covid-19 from the beginning to a mere flu.

And sometimes he was at pains to explain the differences between “cured” and “convalescing” patients.

It is clear that the local government, along with the highest representative of the French government, were unprepared and remained ill-equipped with this pandemic, a déjà-vu situation.

The spectre of Jacques Chirac and nuclear past
The most populated islands of the Society archipelago (Tahiti and Moorea) have been under curfew from December 14 to January 15, 2021, and that might be extended.

The only hospital centre of French Polynesia is at Ta’aone in Tahiti and that caters for the covid-19 patients. It has done so to the best of the hospital staff’s abilities. The same hospital complex is now at the centre of another dispute between pro-independent member of the Parliament Eliane Tevahitua and Health Minister Raynal, who sent an open invitation to the members of the hospital board (Tevahitua being a member), confirming in a ministerial letter that the name of the hospital would become Jacques Chirac, named after the late former French president.

For good measure, the family of President Chirac gave their approval and are honoured by such a gesture.

It is believed that the trade-off is that the Jacques Chirac Square in the capital Pape’ete (a name given to it by former Tahitian president Gaston Flosse) will be renamed “Tahua Tumarama” which in the indigenous language Mā’ohi means the “stage of rising light” (resembling the aftermath of a nuclear bomb).

The naming of the Chirac square was more than 20 years ago, which was in itself very controversial at the time, due to the fact that a plaque was erected not far from that very square to commemorate the people who had died (and are still dying) from the 30-year French nuclear testing programme started on 2 July 1966.

President Chirac resumed the suspended nuclear testing from September 1995 to May 1996.

Some historical information about the Jacques Chirac hospital complex should be shared. It was a former military base reserved for French military personal and kitted with bungalows.

The hospital opened in 1966 for the Centre of Experimentation of the Pacific (CEP) where the majority of French military were based before or after their missions to Fangataufa, Hao, Mangareva and Moruroa.

As children, we used to enjoy Ta’aone since the maritime military base gave onto a beautiful beach where we sunbathed and surfed, a popular place with the local population.

Those memories seem to send us back to the nuclear testing period some two generations ago and it might be fitting that such a hospital complex should carry the name of one of the French presidents.

What is more telling – or unfortunate – is the fact that the name Jacques Chirac appears to carry the signs of death whether related to the square next to the monument dedicated to those who died from the nuclear testing, or to this new hospital where people are being cared for but where unfortunately 124 people have so far died from covid-19, and many more from diseases related to nuclear fallout.

Pro-independence party parliamentarian Élaine Tevahitua … challenge over the naming of Tahiti’s main covid hospital after the late French President Jacques Chirac. Image: La Depeche de Tahiti

The reply of independent parliamentarian and Oscar Temaru
Back to the request of joining the local government in naming the hospital, pro-independence parliamentarian Tevahitua’s response to such an invitation did not fail to tell the health minister and the local government of the independent party Tavini Huira’atira’s (and her) “deep disappointment and disapproval” of such a neo-colonialist stand “to the detriment of the indigenous Polynesian people”.

“While the Mā’ohi people are trying to regain their own history and at a time when your government is promoting the use of the Mā’ohi languages in public space, it would have been more judicious to name the hospital Tiurai, an indigenous traditional tahu’a (doctor) who dedicated his life to caring and healing people’s pain for free”.

Ironically, Tiurai died from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

In the same vein through my latest communication with Oscar Temaru, the leader of the independence party Tavini Huira’atira, has shown how his approach to local toponymy favoured illustrious and respected Mā’ohi figures who deserved to be honoured by the people, instead of the name of some coloniser.

While at the helm of the country as president (on and off from 2004 to 2009), Temaru changed the name of one of the most important avenues of the capital Pape’ete from Avenue Bruat (the first French governor) to Avenue Pouvana’a a O’opa after the famous indeopendence leader. A judicious political move as this historical avenue is considered to be the heart of the political and administrative arena.

Old Avenue Bruat (left) in the heart of Pape’ete … now known as Avenue Pouvana’a a O’opa after the Tahitian independence hero. Image: Tahiti Heritage

This was a move that evidently did not please the French authorities, although naming rights is a competence held by the local government.

Not without irony
It is not without some irony that Temaru declared that there are some Tahitian politicians who are more French than the French and who reluctantly adhered to the new name.

According to Temaru, it is more “the mentality of our own people that he has been trying to change from the very beginning of his struggle against the French colonial power”.

Unfortunately, today a pro-France local government has turned the clock back and are perpetuating the neo-colonialism agenda.

It would have been more appropriate to maintain the original name of the hospital as Ta’aone, which means the rolling of the sand.

Most of the hospitals in Pape’ete and its neighbouring districts carry a colonial name (Chirac, Prince, Malardé and Cardella) apart, from a psychiatric hospital with an indigenous name of Vaiami and a clinic called Paofai.

It might give us an idea of how we, the indigenous people are been perceived and how, while we name buildings by their geographical location, colonisers are obsessed with seeing names of illustrious figures on temporary edifices in an effort to give them permanence and relevancy.

Ena Manuireva is a Mangarevian originally from the south of “French” Polynesia who has lived in New Zealand for many years and is currently a doctoral studies candidate in Te Ara Poutama at Auckland University of Technology. He contributes articles for Asia Pacific Report.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
January 9, 2021

A sad Papuan human rights tale – the torture and death of Mispo Gwijangge

Cremation at the funeral of Papuan teenager Mispo Gwijangge … he was wrongly accused, jailed and then set free to his death from torture. Image: Tabloid Jubi

Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

West Papuans are facing the start of 2021 with sorrowful news about the death of Mispo Gwijangge, a victim of accusations and torture over alleged crimes he did not commit.

Some human rights advocates and lawyers, including Amnesty International Indonesia, have expressed their condolences for his death in Wamena on January 6, reports Tabloid Jubi.

Amnesty International Indonesia says Gwijangge was charged over the killing of 17 PT Istaka Karya workers in Nduga at the end of 2018.

The Papua Advocacy Team found a number of irregularities in the case.

Gwijangge, who was not fluent in the Indonesian language, explained through the help of an interpreter that he did not commit the murders he was accused of.

He said he was in a refugee camp in Wamena when the murder of PT Istaka Karya took place on December 2, 2018. Gwijangge was sentenced to death, even though he was still under age, who should not have been given a death sentence, say advocates.

Amnesty International Indonesia turut berduka cita sedalam-dalamnya atas kepergian Mispo Gwijangge, orang asli Papua korban penyiksaan dan rekayasa kasus pembunuhan di Nduga tahun 2018. pic.twitter.com/DPg2SMp1rS

— Amnesty International Indonesia (@amnestyindo) January 7, 2021

Michel Himan, one of Gwijangge’s defence lawyers who handled the case, while expressing his deep condolences, said that Gwijangge had been arrested on 12 May 2018. He was only 14 years old when he was detained at the Jayawijaya police headquarters.

In prison cell for 333 days
For 333 days, he remained in a prison cell and was often tortured.

Himan said that without the knowledge of his family Gwijangge had been transferred to Jakarta for “security reasons”, while the trial of another case at the same time went smoothly.

Gwijangge was forced to accept this unjust legal process. He had never committed the murder, say advocates.

Himan, who is known as a prominent young lawyer from Papua in the Indonesian capital, recalls his conversation with Gwijangge at Salemba prison in Jakarta.

“Mispo said, ‘I never went to school. I can’t read and write and have never been out of town, always live in the village, I’ve never been involved as alleged, I don’t know anything.’

“’I just wanted to go home because no one takes care of my mum. My mum is alone in the jungle [temporary refugee camp], Mispo told Himan while staring at the clouds.

“My head is dizzy, and I am worried about my mother, I just wanted to get back to Papua as soon as possilble,” Himan recalls about what Gwijangge told him.

Pneumonia, back pain
Gwijangge was badly sick with pneumonia and back pain as a result of the torture he had received.

“We were all worried about his situation at that time. We have done our best to help him for the sake of healing,” said Himan.

Tabloid Jubi reports that according to Mispo’s older sister with initials DG, Gwijangge had still been traumatised after being arrested in the middle of last year. He was accused of being involved in the murder of dozens of Trans Papuan Highway workers in Nduga regency in early December 2018.

“He didn’t want to take medication. He was worried that someone would try to find fault with him, and then he would be arrested again,” said DG.

Gwijangge’s family decided to take care of him from home.

Nduga refugees volunteer Raga Kogeya said it was natural that Mispo Gwijangge had still been traumatised. The youth had been arrested and accused of crimes he did not commit.

At that time, the threat was the maximum of a death penalty.

Luckily, the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court, who tried the Gwijangge case, rejected all of the charges against him by the public prosecutor.

The judges were willing to consider various irregularities presented by Gwijangge’s legal team. Finally, they decided to drop the prosecution and to free him from detention.

This report has been compiled by a special Pacific Media Watch correspondent. Tabloid Jubi articles are republished with permission.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.
December 23, 2020

Papuan students succeed in NZ – ‘the golden generation from Papua’
By Laurens Ikinia

As late South African President Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe also believes this.

Enembe made a remarkable decision to provide scholarships to Papuan students to obtain education overseas such as in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, the US and other countries across the world.

He has realised that having West Papuan students in many world ranking universities will help raise the profile and dignity of Papuans on the global stage.
- READ MORE: Coronavirus threat to Pacific, Papuan students in NZ and a starfish scourge
This year, six Papuan provincial government scholarship recipients have graduated from several universities in New Zealand. About 160 Papuans are currently studying in New Zealand.

Marius Elabi graduated with Master of International Relationship and Security Studies from Waikato University on December 8, and Anggie Freesia Maritje Kapisa with a Bachelor of Science major in microbiology and Stephanie Verneytha Dike with a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition from Otago University on December 16.

Fredy Nawalyn with a Bachelor of International Business Management, Erli Enambere with a Bachelor of Contemporary International Studies and Prisilia Samori with a NZ Diploma in Tourism and Travel also graduated from the Institute of the Pacific United New Zealand on December 18.

Kapisa, who is the first child of her family to achieve education overseas said she was so humble and grateful to set an example for her younger sisters.

Even though Otago University did not hold its usual full graduation ceremony, a graduation ceremony was staged for Pacific students at the university campus.

Grateful for study opportunity
Kapisa said that she was so grateful to have a Pacific community at Otago University, so her West Papuan friends who were studying in New Zealand could come and celebrate the graduation together.

“I am so grateful to have my Pacific community here and West Papuan friends because my family could not attend my graduation,” said Kapisa.

Kapisa always stayed close to her family said that during her study she had encountered a lot of challenges knowing that came from a non-English speaking country and a different education system.

But with her commitment and perseverance and with the support from the people around her, she completed her study.

Governor Lukas Enembe … he realises that having West Papuan students in many world ranking universities will help raise the profile and dignity of Papuans on the global stage. Image: West Papua Today

“Off course, I was homesick, but I must keep my health. It is not only my physical health but also my mental health,” she said.

“As you don’t know what I am going through, so it is important for me to have someone to talk to.

“I know that if I could make it, other girls can also make it,” said Kapisa.

Governor Enembe’s scholarships
Stephanie Verneytha Dike, who also graduated from Otago University, said she was extremely grateful to all the lecturers and academic supports staff who had helped her during her study.

She said she was so grateful to the government of Papua province and particularly Governor Enembe for granting her the scholarship to study in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Being an international student and studying overseas in a new environment and social life was always challenging, Dike said.

Dike who is also the first born in her family said that she faced a number of challenges that she managed to overcome.

She said the language barrier was the first challenge she faced along with social life.

Papuan microbiology graduate Anggie Kapisa at Otago … “I know that if I could make it, other girls can also make it.” Image: APR

Another challenge was the study because students were very competitive in class, so she had to study really hard.

“The challenges came from various factors, from education, the life like socialisation, and living far away from family – but the biggest challenge was competition in class,” she said.

‘Motivation to study hard’
“We have to pass the paper because we have the scholarship from the government, and we don’t want to waste the chance that the [Papua provincial] government has provided for us.

“Even though it is a pressure, we need to take it as our motivation to study hard,” said Dike.

Marius Elabi, who graduated from Waikato University, said that getting an opportunity to obtain knowledge from one of the universities in New Zealand was a fulfillment of his dream.

He said students needed to be grateful for the current provincial government’s programme to send students to pursue education in developed countries like New Zealand.

Elabi left his wife and children in West Papua and said it is really hard to be a student when you have got a family. But he was grateful to have a supportive family.

“I am so fortunate to have such a great wife and beautiful children who always get my back.

“My wife is a civil servant, but she is a great woman like other Melanesian and Pacific women,” he said.

“We West Papuans are capable to compete with other students here in New Zealand and in other countries, but we don’t have much opportunity,” said Elabi.

Father of three
Elabi, who is the father of three children, said that studying in New Zealand was not like in Indonesia where he had completed his undergraduate studies.

He said the challenges were similar to what Kapisa and Dike experienced, but one other issue that challenged him throughout his study was “family burdens”.

In order to be able to provide needs for his family back in West Papua, he did part time work as a cleaner and fruit picker.

“Even though I have to study and complete my thesis, I spent a couple of hours to do cleaning,” he said.

“During school break, I work with other West Papuan students at the farm.

“When you are students, never be shy to do any kind of work,” said Elabi.

Kapisa, Dike and Elabi said that they hoped the government of Papua province would send more Papuan students to New Zealand so that they could have a chance to know their brothers and sisters in the Pacific from New Zealand.

Presented achievements to family
The graduates said they presented their achievements to their mother, father, brothers, sisters, wife, children, extended family and all West Papuans.

Marveys Ayomi, a scholarship coordinator for Papuan students in New Zealand, said he was extremely proud of all the West Papuan graduates from Waikato, Otago and IPU New Zealand.

“First of all it is a big achievement for the people of Papua and we also need to acknowledge such an important role of the government of Papua plays from the very beginning since the establishment of the programme, specially a big thanks to our Governor bapak Lukas Enembe for providing this opportunity to many of our Papuan students.

“This is once in a lifetime opportunity for many of them and some of them in fact never travel out of Papua. Most of the students are highly motivated and driven to succeed.

“Now over the last three or four years we are averaging over five sometimes 10 students graduating over the last few years,” said Ayomi.

“This is the example of how successful the programme has been.”

Ayomi, a Papuan who has been living in New Zealand for 20 years and is a lecturer at the IPU New Zealand, said that there were many challenges that every student faced.

Adapting to new culture
Every student faced challenges like adapting to the new culture, academic system and other things.

Coming from Papua and culturally as a Melanesian and with a Pacific background, he said that New Zealand was a very unique and beautiful country for Papuans to be. He said in terms of the culture, there was a lot of similarity between Papuan culture and Māori culture.

“It is a different country, but I think culturally speaking we share a lot of commonalities and also similar cultural practices and traditions,” he said.

“The people of Papua have got a lot of hope for a bigger, better, brighter Papua in coming years. I call this day, the Golden Generation of Papua.”

He hopes everyone will succeed in their studies and enjoy their experience as much as possibly they can, take a lot of positive things that they can learn from New Zealand – “the beautiful nation and its people”.

Transfer some of those skills to your own people when you return home at some point,” said Ayomi.

“But if you still continue your studies, continue to do well and always put people in your land first before anything else.”

Laurens Ikinia is a Papuan Masters in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology who has been studying journalism. He is on an internship with AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

Papuan students in New Zealand pictured with Governor Lukas Enembe. Image: APR
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
December 14, 2020

Echoes of the Rainbow Warrior – have the lessons been learned?
The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior happened 35 years ago this year. The event had ramifications across the Pacific, and politicised a generation of New Zealanders. But in this age of climate change and global pandemic, have Kiwis held onto the lessons they learnt on that winter’s night in 1985? Matthew Scott investigates.
- Browse the full article
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
December 1, 2020

Academics, journalists, students raise Papuan flag in NZ ‘solidarity’ gesture

West Papua flag-raising in Auckland … “I will say the things they cannot say because it puts them at risk”. Image: Jim Marbrook/PMC

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Academics, journalists and students today raised the West Papuan flag – an act banned in Indonesia and punishable by up to 15 years in jail – at a Pacific Media Centre-hosted symposium in Auckland today.

The protest marked the 59th anniversary of the day West Papuans first raised their flag of independence, known as the Morning Star, on 1 December 1961.

Organisers said the symbolic flag-raising was done during the centre’s “highlights and new horizons” symposium at Auckland University of Technology in solidarity with Papuan students studying in New Zealand and in protest against human rights violations by Indonesian security forces.

A human rights advocate at the event, Del Abcede, spoke on behalf of the students at their request, declaring: “I will say the things they cannot say because it puts them at risk”.

She appealed for more support from New Zealand and Pacific countries for the West Papuan self-determination cause.

“I will say the two things that the students cannot say directly themselves without being put at risk over their safety,” she said.

One was about raising the flag or speaking about the jailings. The other was about a petition for independence.

15 year jail sentence
“Filep Karma is a Papuan independence activist. On 1 December 2004 he helped raise the Morning Star flag at a caremony in Jayapura together with other activists. he was sentenced to 15 years in prison,” she said.

“Yusak Pakage, one of the activists was sentenced to 10 years. Pakage was released in 2010 by presidential pardon.

“But Filipe Karma refused a pardon. He was released on 19 November 2015 after [serving] more than 10 years due to pressure from the international community,” Abcede said.

“In January 2019, West Papuan activists delivered a petition to the United Nations demanding a referendum on West Papuan independence.

“The position of the United Liberation Moivement for West Papua (ULMWP) is clear – it advocates the right to self-determination through an independence referendum, not Indonesian-controlled ‘autonomy’.

In solidarity with the Papuan students, about 50 academics and media people held the flag aloft and sang two traditional songs.

The symposium delivered presentations on a wide range of topics from the future of journalism research methodologies to documentary and journalism collaboration, project journalism in the Asia-Pacific Region, media diversity and publication.

Speakers praised the Stuff news portal that this week published an apology for 163 years of biased reporting on Maori issues, with centre director Professor David Robie describing the “courageous” move as a “game-changer’ on media and race relations.

The centre publishes Asia Pacific Report, Pacific Media Watch and PMC Online online news platforms, and also the 26-year-old Pacific Journalism Review.

Green Party MPs Marama Davidson and Teanau Tuiono (far right) attend a demonstration at parliament to mark the 59th anniversary of the day West Papuans first raised their nationalist Morning Star flag. 1 December, 2020. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ Pacific

Protest outside NZ Parliament
In Wellington, dozens of people demonstrated in support of West Papuan independence outside New Zealand’s parliament, reports RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades.

New Zealand Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and several other MPs attended the demostration in Wellington.

They spoke to a crowd of more than 50, saying the denial of Papuans’ right to self-determination was a Pacific regional problem.

Papua’s 1 December anniversary is marked by similar demonstrations around the world, including in Melbourne, Oxford, Honiara and The Hague.

April Henderson speaks at the annual December 1 Flag Day demonstration in support of West Papuan independence. 1 December, 2020. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ Pacific

This post was originally published on Radio Free.
November 25, 2020

Stop funding military repression in Papua, plead TAPOL speakers

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Campaigners at a TAPOL-hosted global webinar have called on the people of Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and other countries to stop funding military training for Indonesian security forces who are “killing innocent West Papuans”. Rosa Moiwend, a member of the War Resisters International, said West Papuans wanted to live peacefully without any oppression by the military – this was the hope of the indigenous Melanesian people. “If your government is actually behind this scenario, I think the main thing you have to do is to go and talk to your government, Parliament members and question them about your tax money,” she said. “Where does your tax money go? Does it go to pay [for] the war or is the tax money used for the purpose of human lives?” Moiwend said many people across the world loved peace and justice, so they were anti-military and war. Stopping governments funding military training was a must for activists. Moiwend, a strong Melanesian and Pacific woman, gave an inspiring message to activists around the world to stand up firmly and speak out about the arms business that was violating human rights and killing people everywhere, “including the lives of innocent West Papuans”. Sharing militarist experiences An organiser said a key objective of the webinar was to give an opportunity to lawyers, activists, and supporters of a Make West Papua Safe campaign to share their experiences of militarisation and militarised policing. Other speakers in the London-hosted webinar on Monday included Elijah Dacosta, a TAPOL campaigner; Yohanis Mambrassar, a lawyer for West Papuan human rights activists; Yones Douw, head of the justice and peace department of the Papua Kemah Gospel Church; author and researcher Jason MacLeod, co-founder of Make West Papua Safe; and Zelda Grimshaw, a Make West Papua Safe campaigner. TAPOL (Tahanan Politik) is a British-based organisation campaigning for human rights and democracy in Indonesia. “TAPOL was founded in 1973, and in the beginning the TAPOL campaign was focusing on releasing political prisoners in Indonesia,” said Dakosta. But later the seriousness of military occupation became increasingly important. “We have expanded to raise awareness on human rights issue in Aceh, East Timor and West Papua,” said Dakosta. The Make West Papua Safe logo … campaign against Indonesian militarism. Image: PMC screenshot Yohanes Mambrasar, a West Papuan lawyer gave an illuminating description on what has been happening over human rights violence by state institutions towards indigenous people of West Papua. “There has been increasing repression. We are seeing violent actions by the TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) and police against unarmed peaceful civilians who are gathering to express their political aspirations. We can really see this increasing year by year, even month by month,” said Mambrassar. Human rights advocacy Mambrassar who has been working on human rights advocacy said that during 2019 and 2020 “we are seeing this crackdown on protesting West Papuans.” But they were also seeing a lot of violence towards villagers, who were suspected of supporting independence or having “separatist sympathies”, such as in Nduga, Intan Jaya, and other regions. He said the violence was now extended to the virtual world where some people who disseminated information on social media such as Facebook and YouTube would face cyber-attacks. They were even physically attacked by the police or armed forces. RNZ Pacific reports that Indonesian military denied shooting civilians in Papua. Papua’s police chief said that reports of a new military operation in the troubled Nduga regency were a “hoax”. Church advocate Yones Douw … “right through until today the violence has continued.” Image: PMC screenshot However, Yones Douw, head of the justice and peace department of KIMI church (West Papua Kemah Gospel Church), said that violence had never stopped since Indonesia had occupied West Papua. “Really the violence has not changed since 1961 to 1969, 1969 to 2020, and 2020, when special autonomy was declared here in West Papua – right through until today the violence has continued,” said Douw. Douw, a human rights activist, said that when special autonomy was introduced, Jakarta said that West Papuans would be 90 percent independent. Promises ‘only words’ He said this was “only words – in fact, we have been seeing increasing violence”. “So, if special autonomy went the way it was supposed to, West Papuan people should be protected and cared for. But that has not happened at all,” Douw said. “Why is [the violence] increasing like this? Well, if you find a pastor who is speaking about the suffering of his congregation, he will be called a separatist. Anyone who speaks about human rights will be called as separatist, anyone who speaks about the welfare of Papuan people will be labelled as separatist,” he said. He said that the Indonesian laws granting freedom of expression did not hold in West Papua. Even journalists, human rights activists, and some church leaders could not work without feeling a sense of fear. “These are school students who are being shot, these are student who are walking around their own villages and without even any question they are being shot. “Imagine what it is like if you are an older person, there is just no freedom at all to move,” said Douw. Author Jason MacLeod … responding to students’ “go to hell” message to the Australian and New Zealand governments. Image: PMC screen shot Stopping foreign support Jason MacLeod, co-founder of Make West Papua Safe, said he had collaborated with New Zealand activist Maire Leadbeater and Rosa Moiwend in launching this campaign. The campaign was “to stop foreign government support for the Indonesian police and military,” said MacLeod. He said it was a peaceful movement seeking to stop New Zealand and Australian government funding and training for the Indonesian police and military which every day brutally repressed the indigenous people of West Papua. Brisbane-based MacLeod, who has been working on West Papua issues for the last 30 years, said the motivation behind the founding of the Make West Papua Safe campaign was in response to students speaking out in Jayapura. Asked what they had thought about the New Zealand and Australian governments’ help for the Indonesian military, the students replied that both governments “can go to hell”, said MacLeod. The activists, lawyers, and human rights defenders called on the people in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, the Pacific, Africa, Caribbean, Europe and Asia to raise their voices support of stopping military oppression in West Papua. Contributed by a postgraduate communication studies student at Auckland University of Technology.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.