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Decolonisation in New Caledonia – who decides the future?

July 28, 2018

In this second of three articles from Noumea, Dr Lee Duffield learns about multicultural New Caledonia and the events that led to their referendum on independence due on November 4.

What is the shape of decolonisation in the present time, now long after the rush to independence that went on in countries around the world from 1960 to 1980?

Who will be there on November 4 and how did they come to the point where they will be voting together on a still uncertain future?

New Caledonia: What next? Part 2 of Lee Duffield’s series

The thoughts of three best-informed persons are consulted here to provide answers – an historian, a lawyer and a leader in the indigenous Kanak community.

History of troubles and reforms
Luc Steinmetz, the historian and jurist has made detailed studies of the territory’s contested, sometimes blood-stained story.

He gave a recent long interview analysing the progression of different laws made in Paris for ruling the territory to the Noumea newspaper Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes.

It traces repeated changes, following the swinging interests of French governments, left-wing or right-wing, with one main event – a new law in 1963 transferring power back from a local elected government to French administration – that set off a period of conflict.

Historian Luc Steinmetz … France “did not want to provide loudspeakers to voices that would be too critical.” Image: France TV 1

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Nuclear testing – political trouble in New Caledonia
That was done after France having “lost” Algeria decided to move its nuclear testing programme to the Pacific, and, says Steinmetz, it “did not want to provide loud speakers to voices that would be too critical.”

While the nuclear decision generated trouble and harm all over the Asia-Pacific, many historians also saw the taking-back-of-powers as the beginning of campaigns by Kanaks in New Caledonia for “revendication” – give us back our land.

Optimistic beginnings
The story had begun optimistically in 1958 with the conversion of New Caledonia from a colony to a partly-autonomous territory immediately after the Second World War. New Caledonia and its people had supported General Charles de Gaulle and the Allies against the Japanese.

It got an elected governing Council, including local ministers — and for the first time allocation of French citizenship to the Kanak population.

Kanaks were a majority then, and most of their leadership did not show much interest in independence at the time being achieved by former colonies in Africa.

In this analysis the change in 1963, reducing the elected Council to consultative status only, produced bad blood, and despite later changes back towards autonomy, it came to violence during elections held in 1984, after an “active boycott” by the Kanak political alliance, the FLNKS.

Insurrection and reforms
That was the time of an insurrectionist movement; the “outside” population from France had grown and received the vote, beginning to outnumber the local Kanaks, and in 1988 the tragic conflict on Ouvea Island saw the deaths of six police and 19 pro-independence militants.

The following reforms – the Matignon and Noumea agreements –which set up the referendum process, included creation of “custom” territories for Kanak tribal groups and the present elected system of government.

Futures
The historian judges the present system to be the best ever tried. He suggests that if the referendum supports staying with France, it could be improved with more revenue and power shifted from the Noumea government to the three provinces, and a possible new federal constitution.

A move to full independence with changing elected governments would need guarantees of stability and individual rights, against the risk of break-down, such as the military takeovers in Fiji.

French lawyer Philippe Bernigaud representing indigenous Kanak groups negotiating over land rights. He has lived in Noumea for 17 years but cannot vote in the referendum. Image: Lee Duffield

Two cultures, two systems and the land
Philippe Bernigaud is a French lawyer from Burgundy, aged 50, who has lived in Noumea for 17 years and represents indigenous Kanak groups negotiating over land.

Like at least three other long-term residents consulted for this inquiry, he cannot vote, under provisions of the Accords restraining the number of French electors not in residence before 1988 – but he avers that the law was made clear at the time he moved there and so cannot complain.

Identity and land rights under the law
He explains a system with two distinct sets of official identity for persons (Kanak and others), and a strategic, strict land rights law for indigenous communities.

Kanak citizens have full rights and obligations under French law but also have an official “Custom” status, and can share in owning land zoned as “Reserve” property.

There are extensive Reserve lands, in the case of Northern province covering probably more than half the territory, which can only be held jointly by a tribe or clan, not individually, and cannot be mortgaged, subdivided or sold.

“When village owners have wanted to develop their land, and bring in outside investors, we have had to be creative”, Bernigaud said this week.

Working on cases
“For example in a district called Bako it was possible to enable investment in buildings for a shopping centre, for a set time, but not to buy or even lease the land underneath.”

A process has also been going on, the “revendication”, where tribal groups can get back land taken up by settlers, to make it a Reserve.

When there is an application to sell Private land, the lawyers are obliged to report it, a state agency called ADRAF may investigate and determine there is a case for returning it to custom ownership, and so it will exercise a priority right to make the purchase, and hand it to a claimant tribe, at no cost to them.

Bernigaud said such acts, now not too frequent, became important during a time of crisis.

“Especially in the East Coast region, around 1988, when New Caledonia was close to civil war, a lot of settlers left their land and it was handed back”, he said.

One ‘big day’
He had worked on a large claim, for half of one valley, three years ago, where under French law he was required to hold a meeting with owners to explain the transaction.

“This became a big day”, he recalled.

“I was in front of hundreds of people, with heads of the provincial government, there was music, dancing and a custom welcome, a big meal, and special symbols were brought out.

“Every participant had to plant a tree on the land and I had my tree.

“The chief explained why I had intervened, and I was given an honorary membership in that Tribu.

“It was a great memory.”

Marriages, births and deaths
He outlines other aspects of enforceable traditional law that applies to Kanaks as persons with Custom status.

Identity is with the tribe or clan, an individual does not exist under this system. In marriage, all property acquired after the wedding must be jointly owned by the couple, nothing separate. In death, the tribal group decides who will benefit from the estate, a provision causing difficulty now in the case of mixed couples with a “non-custom” partner or others wanting to act individually to give something to their own children. A recent law is being tested, which aims to provide some priority rights to spouses and children in such cases.

Future times
Bernigaud believes coexistence is possible under provisions like the 1988 Matignon Accord where the Kanak and settler communities recognised each other’s right to be in New Caledonia and agreed to live together.

If there was full independence, the laws would probably change only slowly, but both communities could endure hardship at the level of day-to-day life, for a long time, as investment and French government funding was withdrawn.

“For example you might pay double for the internet, and in an accident there would be no helicopter to take you to a beautiful hospital,” he says.

“Being prepared might have needed more than the 30 years at first thought, in 1988, but after some hard years people may succeed through working together.”

The experience might be seen differently, he says, in Kanak communities, where younger people – who would “watch Disney channel in the Tribu” and use modern audio-visuals in school – were becoming more “occidental” than their elders, but where a priority in life continued to be belonging to your land and having ownership there.

Kanak community leader and Radio Djiido coordinator Andre Qaeze Ihnim … sharing is key to the Melanesian way of life and is the main argument of the Kanak political organisation, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – FLNKS. Image: Lee Duffield

Sharing as a way of life
Andre Qaeze Ihnim confirms that sharing is key to the Melanesian way of life and is the main argument of the Kanak political organisation, the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – FLNKS.

A leader in the Kanak community and coordinator of the famed indépendentiste media outlet Radio Djiido, he says the community has been maintaining a traditional way of life while also in transition to modern practices.

“We have been following the route laid out when our leaders signed the documents in 1988, as a kind of guideline to go on to sovereignty and independence”, he says.

‘We are ready … we are not against them’
“We recognised the differences between ideology and reality, and have spent 30 years getting experience in managing the country — and showing that now we are ready.

“That is our understanding of what our leaders signed on to.

“You know that French interests want to maintain the status quo; we can understand that, and we want to explain that we are not against them — we just ask that now we can do things together.

“We can share and we can manage it together.”

Qaeze says the idea of sharing is in step with the Melanesian way of life and can include sharing with other French people.

‘Importance of the human being’
In terms of spending and wealth, his movement demanded more priority be given to public welfare – better access to work, health care and education, where there was still “not enough sharing”.

“The most important things is the human being”, he said.

“With not even 300,000 people, we are a small society and cannot do things like a big society; we have provided the country, the land, French people have brought technology and expertise, and we must cooperate. “

A main part of identity for Kanak people also was to be part of the Melanesian society throughout Oceania, to share culture and work on equal terms with neighbours, in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji or Papua New Guinea, and Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Lee Duffield is an independent Australian journalist and media academic. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the Pacific Journalism Review editorial board. This second article in his series was first published by EU Australia, and the final article will be published by Asia Pacific Report tomorrow.

Reference
Philippe Frediere, En Caledonie, les statuts successifs ont fait le yoyo, (In New Caledonia constitutional laws have come up and down like a yoyo). Interview with Luc Steinmetz. Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, Noumea, 18 July 2018, pp 2-3.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Lifetime of devotion to Māori and Pacific student success

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 27, 2018

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Tui O’Sullivan (right) with Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop at the Pacific Media Centre recently when retiring. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

PROFILE: By Leilani Sitagata

Educator and kuia Tui O’Sullivan has recently retired from Auckland University of Technology after close to 40 years of service.

Born and breed up North in the heart of Ahipara, she says choosing to do tertiary study was the right choice for her.

“Growing up as a young girl you were told to pick from three directions – academic, commercial or homecraft,” O’Sullivan says.

“I never had a burning desire to become a teacher, but it just seemed like the best fit for me to follow that path.”

Over the years, O’Sullivan (Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu) gained a Bachelor of Arts, Master’s in Education (Māori), a Diploma in Ethics and a Diploma in Teaching.

“Coming from a town where you didn’t know names, but everyone was Aunty or Uncle, Auckland was by far a change of scenery.”

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O’Sullivan was appointed as the first Māori academic at AUT, then AIT.

Tui O’Sullivan at her recent Auckland University of Technology farewell on Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Evening classes
She says she taught evening classes on literacy twice a week and had many people from the Pacific wanting to improve their written and oral skills.

“A number of them were members of church groups who wanted to polish up for competitions involving writing and speaking.”

Alongside the night classes, O’Sullivan was involved in the formation of the newspaper Password.

“We formed a newspaper which explained certain things about living in New Zealand, among other things like the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori culture.”

O’Sullivan says there was an increasing number of immigrants to her English classes and Password helped with their immersion into a new culture.

While working in general studies, she says she helped teach communications English and basic skills to full time students, predominantly young men.

However, women started to come along to O’Sullivan’s teaching and the numbers slowly grew.

Tui O’Sullivan (right) with fellow foundation Pacific Media Centre advisory board member Isabella Rasch. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

First women’s group
O’Sullivan was part of the creation of the very first women’s group on campus.

“A senior lecturer approached a couple of us women staff asking if we could keep an eye out for the young women and be an ear should they need that.

“From there Women on Campus developed which looked after the interests of women students and staff members.”

She said they switched the name of the group over the years because what they originally chose didn’t have a ring to it.

“We were called Women’s Action Group for a while, but WAG didn’t sound too good.”

Another first for the university was the establishment of the Ngā Wai o Horotiu marae in 1997 which Tui said she’ll forever remember.

When the marae was officially opened more than 1000 people turned up to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Students and staff at the Pacific Media Centre’s farewell for Tui O’Sullivan. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Emphasis on diversity
The marae opening signified AUT acknowledging the Treaty of Waitangi and further emphasised the diversity within the university.

“The majority of staff here have had this willingness and openness to support and promote success for Māori and Pacific students.”

When asked what was one of the most gratifying times for her during her time at AUT, O’Sullivan simply says applauding the young people who cross the stage.

“I always seem to end up with lots of those lolly leis because people end up with so many, and they get off-loaded to me.”

O”Sullivan says that over the years she’s never missed a graduation for her faculty regardless of how many there are.

“Seeing students wearing their kakahu or family korowai, and others who have grown to learn more about their whakapapa and their place in the world.

“Those are the most rewarding times for me.”

O’Sullivan was the equity adviser for the Faculty of Creative Technologies and lectured in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and community issues. She was also a strong advocate of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) and a foundation member of the advisory board for AUT’s Pacific Media Centre from 2007.

She insists she hasn’t left a legacy but has been part of an ever evolving journey that AUT is going through.

Tui O’Sullivan (centre) with Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie and advisory board chair Associate Professor Camille Nakhid. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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New Caledonia celebrates Bastille Day and thinks about independence

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 27, 2018

By Dr Lee Duffield, recently in Kanaky/New Caledonia

The Quatorze Juillet (14 July) events in Noumea this month, as in any small French city, reflected the grand military parade down the Champs Elysees in Paris – ranks of soldiers and a senior officer taking the salute.

It was like a refrain from colonial times, kepis under the coconut palms, as if no breath of a wind of change was anywhere being felt.

The impression of total normality was strong also the evening before at the informal public celebrations concentrated on Noumea’s town square, the Place des Cocotiers.

This was patriotic enough, red-white-and-blue everywhere, (even with a can-can, and a visiting Army band from Australia), anticipating the joy of France’s victory in the World Cup football a few nights later. Mostly a big fete being enjoyed by a highly multicultural community.

Signs of the future
A taste of the inter-communal character of New Caledonia was given at the tail-end of the day’s parade, by a local cadet platoon slow-marching to a Melanesian chant.

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It was not in the tradition of the Grande Armee of Napolean; it was imaginably the young officer corps of an independent country.

Not that a full independence is greatly expected from the coming vote, mandated under agreements made by the country’s political groups with the French government – the Matignon Accord (1988) and Noumea Accord (1998).

Opinion polls have been running strongly against it and even many in the indigenous Kanak community can be heard to say it is “not yet the time”.

Voices from other times

Dr Lee Duffield’s New Caledonia seminar to be hosted by the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology today.

Certainly the weekend events of Bastille Day and then the World Cup made it “France Week”, not the best time to talk change.

“People realise the independence idea is not practical”, said “Jacques”, a fifth-generation member of the European settler society, the Caldoches.

A well-established and prominent business owner, he was uneasy about speaking under his own name on the divisive issue of the referendum – exposure would create difficulties of one kind or another.

But he was prepared to recite the standard analysis of the anti-indépendentiste cause, beginning with the observation that French investment and a high standard of living had won a lot of hearts.

“Even in the Loyalty Islands province, which is a big Kanak area, the opinion polls which always showed a strong ‘yes’ vote for independence – as much as 70 percent, are now showing 50/50 or even a slight ‘no’,” he says.

“Things have been slowly improving with the circumstances of life for most people, and I would agree some change and reform is a good thing, but slowly — it needs to be long-term.

“Women are helping. In the tribus, the villages, they do so much of the work providing for the household and raising children, and they are the practical ones.”

Three flags of Noumea – European Union, French tricolour and the independent Kanak ensign. Image: Lee Duffield

Keeping watch on the future
Jacques admits to being worried about what the future may hold, “only a little worried” over the idea of violence or revolt affecting his family.

He does take some comfort being able to tell of a precautionary doubling of the paramilitary Gendarmerie and National Police forces, reinforced from France with the approach of referendum day on November 4 – together with the availability of an extra intervention force in Tahiti.

Yet his most serious concern is about what can be agreed on next among the different parties.

“We don’t know what will take place after November 4, or what it will be like here in another 10 or 20 years.

“We definitely need a road map, and we should manage all this together.”

That is a common position of the Caldoche and the general settler community, which began falling back on prepared positions after the violent confrontations of the 1980s that brought new Caledonia close to civil war.

Even the most strongly “French loyalist” anti-indépendentiste parties, barring a few on the margins, want just the status quo – no fast forward but no winding back the clock.

They have committed to abiding by decisions of the referendum and have not talked of any attempts at stamping out the independence movement.

Gone are the days when the local European gentry had the ear of French ministers who were themselves brought up in the colonial era, and could hold off change.

New order
Instead the territory has been through 30 years of managed change, including ingenious and effective reforms, all falling short of a full independence, but all focused on the referendum process now about to start.

The changes:

Power sharing in an elected territory parliament and executive Council, with both indépendentiste and anti-indépendentiste members.
The formation of a consultative Senate for customary or traditional Kanak leadership (not unlike the body envisaged by Indigenous Australians in their Uluru proposals – struck down unexpectedly this year by Prime Ministerial decree). It gives additional representation to people from the Tribus, tribes or clans, who have a special customary legal status as well as their full French citizenship, and are subject to customary laws.
Major funding of the government from France.
A safety valve provision that says, independence will follow a “yes” vote, but after a “no” indépendentistes in the parliament can still get it reconvened, to have a second, or even third referendum.
Three provinces with extensive powers and sustainable budgets set up after 1988, one of which (South province on the main island, Grande Terre) is predominantly “French”, the other two (North province and the Loyalty Islands) are Kanak territory and mostly run by local Kanak politicians.

Experience in government, money and Big Nickel
It all amounts to actual experience in governing a modern democratic state, more than just practising, with the idea that over the three decades the whole society would be “ready” for the decision to be taken at the referendum.

Money is important in setting up the lines of argument and conditioning people’s views about what they hope to obtain in their future.

Three big nickel mines with refining plants and modern ports produce more than 10 percent of the territory’s wealth but crucially well over 80 percent of its export earnings. All arguments come back to the importance of the industry to the economy and ways to get good returns that will benefit the local population.

The point is made everywhere on the anti-indépendentiste side and among neutral observers that actual independence would prompt likely reductions in French government support, over time, and a fall in investor confidence in France or countries like Australia.

Investment from China would almost certainly fill the gap – there is much worry about Chinese interest and ambitions in the Pacific region. Would a newly independent government, strapped for cash to provide benefits to its people, use its powers over immigration and economic policy to admit more participation from China?

What is the direct French financial commitment at this time?

Future security
France has already handed over all powers to the autonomous government in New Caledonia, except for military and foreign policy, immigration, police and currency – and the specific issue in this year’s referendum is whether those will be passed on as well.

The bulk of French national spending on the territory is to pay the soldiers, police and public servants including teachers – bringing up again the sound of marching boots on July 14.

Also various grants come to the local treasury through Paris, like $80 million over 4-5 years for economic development and professional development of personnel, from the European Union.

France is partnered with Australia and New Zealand in guaranteeing security in the South Pacific region. These have a protective role for the 278,000 French citizens in New Caledonia, but the regional connections are strong, so their decision-making this year is being watched closely far and wide.

Dr Lee Duffield is an independent Australian journalist and media academic. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the Pacific Journalism Review editorial board. This article was first published by EU Australia, and the next two articles will be published by Asia Pacific Report over the weekend.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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An open letter to Israel: The global ‘blockade busters’ sail in peace

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 26, 2018

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By Chris Graham on board the Al Awda

By the time you read this, I’ll be sailing on an old, converted fishing trawler from Sicily, Italy, headed for Gaza, Palestine, the tiny sea port in the bottom right corner of the Mediterranean Sea.

I’m on board the Al Awda as a journalist, covering the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, an event staged every year or so to challenge the Israeli naval blockade that has been imposed on the Palestinian community for just over a decade.

Gaza is home to more than 2 million Palestinians. It’s a small strip of land that takes less than an hour to drive, from north to south. It borders Israel in the north, and Egypt in the south and is regarded as the world’s largest open air prison.

It’s called that because the people of Gaza do not have freedom of movement, like other global citizens. Their nation is occupied by Israel, which has prevented travel to and from by an air and land, in addition to the sea.

Israel’s rationale is that Hamas, the democratically elected leadership of Gaza, is a “terrorist” organisation that fires rockets.

Hamas does occasionally fire home-made, unguided rockets into Israel. Israel, by contrast, fires shells, sends drones, tanks, soldiers, naval ships, and American-built jet fighters. It has one of the most powerful armies on earth, as the body count – hopelessly one-sided in favour of Israel – should remind anyone.

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That’s part of why I’m going to Gaza. I visited the West Bank in 2016, but was denied entry to Gaza by Israel. It is a nation with a long history of preventing journalists from scrutinising its actions.

Staring down Israeli army
I’m also going to report on the activists who are going to stare down one of the world’s great armies.

I’ve spent the past 10 days with dozens of them. I’m surprised at how inspired I’ve been.

In 2010, the Israeli Defence Force attacked the Mavi Marmara, a ship in the Flotilla with almost 700 activists on board. 10 were killed, at least six of them execution-style, including two journalists.

Israel was also subsequently found by the United Nations to have tortured hundreds of other activists in the days that followed.

The activists in the 2018 Flotilla also know that in the past few months, Israel has shot and killed more than 130 unarmed Palestinian protesters, during the Great Return protests, which have seen thousands more injured.

Footage of Palestinians – unarmed, waving flags – being sniped dead by Israeli soldiers on the other side of the border fence is shocking, and yet there has been barely any international response, including from Australia, which urged “both sides” to show restraint.

US ‘blind eye’
The Flotilla activists also know that there is little to no international sanction against Israel for its repeated violations of international and human rights law. Israel has a powerful friend in the United States, which routinely turns a blind eye to its violent excesses.

And yet, the 2018 Flotilla activists – featuring almost three dozen activists and three boats in total (a fourth has had to drop out) – are still prepared to get on boats and sail to Gaza, to try and break the Israeli blockade.

As a journalist, the threats I face are markedly reduced to those faced by the activists. I’m likely to be targeted in the initial raid by the Israelis, which, based on past experience, will be hyper-aggressive and violent.

But once the raid is over – once the Flotilla is under Israeli control – I’m likely to be treated far better than the activists on board.

I face at most a few days in jail, before being deported – ironically for illegally entering Israel. Of course, at no stage will I ever voluntarily enter Israel. I’m on a boat bound for Gaza, a city of another nation.

But instead, Israel will forcibly board the Flotilla in international waters, take the crew and passengers captive, and force them to an Israeli prison.

For this too, there will be no international sanction, although it pales into comparison compared to what the people of Gaza, and Palestinians in the West Bank face every day.

Deafening silence
The threat from Israel to journalists trying to report on the Freedom Flotilla is that all of your equipment will be confiscated, you’ll be jailed for a brief period, and you’ll then be deported, thus affecting international travel from that point forward.

But those threats are precisely why journalists should stare them down. They’re precisely why journalists should go on the Freedom Flotilla, and should find ways to get into Gaza, whether the Israeli military approve it or not.

Bad things happen when good people stay silent, as history well records. But horrendous things happen when media are prevented from scrutinising the actions of a state.

I hope to bring you stories from Gaza if the Flotilla breaks the blockade. But more likely, I’ll bring you stories of Israel once again flouting international and humanitarian law, and the deafening silence that inevitably follows from the international community.

I’ll file as soon as I’m able.

Chris Graham is the publisher and editor of New Matilda. He is the former founding managing editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine. Graham has won a Walkley Award, a Walkley High Commendation and two Human Rights Awards for his reporting. Asia Pacific Report republishes this article with permission. New Zealand trade unionist Mike Treen is also on board the Al Awda.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Mediterranean update from the Gaza ‘blockade busters’

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 26, 2018

Former Israeli Air Force “rescue” pilot Yonatan Shapira calls for a boycott of Israel. Video: RealNews

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The three Gaza “blockade busting” flotilla boats (the Al Awda, Falistine and Freedom) with prominent human rights defenders representing nearly 20 countries, are now on the eastern Mediterranean heading for the port of Gaza.

The fourth boat the Mairaed will not continue with the flotilla at this time.

Here is an update from the leading boat, the Al Awda, with the New Zealand representative, trade unionist Mike Treen, on board:

Update from the crew of #Alawda (25 July 2018):

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“We have now sailed 5000 nautical miles from Bergen towards Gaza – with solidarity and medical equipment.

“Morale is high on board. It’s hard to understand how our politicians can sit to look at what happens when we see all that support from ordinary people who want to help other ordinary people. People who put human rights in front of political decisions.

“Put pressure on our elected officials, end the blockade and let us through. Greetings from the ship, 600 miles from breaking the blockade.”

Asia Pacific Report, through the Pacific Media Centre, is sharing Gaza Freedom Flotilla coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop Media.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Sylvester Gawi: Papua New Guinea, a dream of the new Singapore?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 25, 2018

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Silvester Gawi … “Our politicians should stop coming to Singapore for medical treatment alone, they should start focusing on making PNG become the next Singapore.” Image: Silvester Gawi

By Sylvester Gawi in Singapore

I hope you are reading this with ease and a positive mindset to help change the course of this beautiful country of ours – Papua New Guinea. My first time experience here has made me raise questions about how our economy has been mismanaged over the last 40years.

I’ve come to know this place from reading books, magazines, watching videos, documentaries and even looking it up on the internet.

From the countless travel magazines in secondhand shops in Lae in the 1990s to the LCD screens of the most sophisticated smartphones accessed by almost all school age kids in PNG today, Singapore has literally changed in front of our eyes.

I read with much interest about how Singapore has transformed itself from a small island nation to become one of the most developed countries in the world.

Singapore’s rise to power
Singapore has a rich history of civilisation. It was once colonised by the British empire. During the Second World War it was invaded by the Japanese, and later taken over again by the British after the war when Japan surrendered to the Allies.

The failure of Britain to defend Singapore during the war forced the people to cry for merdeka, or self governance. It 1963, Singapore became part of Malaysia, ending 144 years of British rule on the island.

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Since gaining independence from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, Singapore has since progressed on to be the host of one of the biggest and busiest air and sea ports in the world.

Lessons for PNG
Papua New Guinea has some of the world’s largest natural resource deposits in gold, copper, timber and now the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or the PNG LNG Project which is worth US$19 billion.

Papua New Guinea’s GDP per capita in 2017 was US$2401. The highest so far was in 2015 when our GDP per capita was US$2402.

Singapore’s GDP per capita continues to grow annually and it is now US$55,235.

Singapore has been able to made its way to becoming a developed country in just under 53 years of Independence. Its government subsidises housing, medical bills, education, public transport and so on, and increases economic opportunities for middle to low income earners.

It is an island country without any gold, copper, nickel mines, LNG project, organic coffee, timber or any other natural resources. It is a very strategic port of transition where goods and raw materials are brought here first then transported elsewhere across the world.

We also have the Lae port in PNG, which is one of the the most most strategic ports in the Southern Hemisphere. It is where cargoes from across the world transit into the Australia and even the Pacific.

The Lae port and the production line of businesses operating in Lae generates well over K111 million for the national government coffers annually as internal revenue. The Lae port serves as the only seaport that controls import of raw materials and exports of organic coffee, cocoa and other organic products for international markets.

Better roads, schools
We could have better roads being built, good schools, hospitals and life improving facilities for every tax payer in the city. Our SME sector should have fully flourished by now if we have the government putting its paper policy to work.

Squatter settlements and law and order won’t be major impediments for growth and development. People’s mindset would have changed and people’s movement in search for better service delivery would have been narrowed down.

Everyone here in Singapore respects each other despite their color, ethnicity and religion. There is no littering, loitering or even people sleeping on the streets. You will get caned by the police if you don’t dispose your rubbish in the right place.

The Singaporean government has made it its responsibility to ensure every citizen learns to appreciate and look after the environment. There are separate rubbish bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable. No smoking in public or even spitting as you will be fined and dealt with accordingly.

All this boils down is a need to for a change in attitude in Papua New Guinea. If we change our attitude and start respecting each other and the environment we live in, we will create a good future for our children.

Since we don’t change ourselves, we have kept on voting self-centered individuals to represent our interest in Parliament for the last 40 years.

A politician once told me, he has plans and dreams to reclaim the beauty of the city he grew up in the early 70s. But he added that that dream would only be achievable if the people changed their mindset. Also one member of Parliament won’t make the change happen, it needs the majority to stand up for the people’s needs.

Last generation
“represent the last generation of Papua New Guinean kids who have used a kerosene lamp, a payphone, drank from a Coke bottle and listened to music on cassette players while growing up. We have anticipated so much to change for the better, but we are seeing it the other way around.

Life is getting tougher.

Our politicians should stop coming to Singapore for medical treatment alone, they should start focusing on making PNG become the next Singapore.

A wise man once said, if we continue to tell lies, it will surely become the truth. If the government can fool us for 40 years, they might continue to sell PNG’s resources for their own interest.

Sylvester Gawi is a Papua New Guinean journalist who blogs at Graun Blong Mi – My Land.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Bid to unite Asia-Pacific press councils takes off in Timor-Leste

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 25, 2018

Former Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta (second from left) in the front row during the Dili Dialogue. Image: Bob Howarth/PMW

By Bob Howarth in Dili, Timor-Leste

The Dili Dialogue Forum, sponsored by UNESCO and organised by the Timor-Leste Press Council, will be held again next year after the inaugural successful one last week.

It is a forum of Asia/Pacific press councils and it hopes to become an alliance of all press councils in the region by next May. May 3 is World Press Freedom Day.

This year Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) and Thailand were represented. It was held in an US$8 million auditorium (capacity 400) in the high-rise new Ministry of Finance building.

Topics included country reports of press freedom, ethics, training, social media issues and cybersecurity for journalists.

The TL Press Council impressed delegates.

Timor-Leste at 95 has the highest Asian ranking in Reporters Sans Frontiers World Press Freedom Index.

-Partners-

The TL Press Council was established two years ago with seven directors (two appointed by the government but possibly for the last time), mostly veteran newsmen.

Solid funding
It has solid funding sourced from the Timor-Leste government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New Zealand, Japan and the Netherlands (but not Australia).

The council has 38 full time staff including media monitors, trainers, IT and a transport team with nine cars and 21 motorbikes in well-equipped premises (50 PCs) opposite Dili University.

The government has no influence over its operations and has enshrined freedom of speech in its national constitution.

The council runs regular monthly training and certification of graduates, backed by UNDP, for young reporters and students in all formats of print, TV and the most popular medium radio.

One objective is to become an avenue for resolution of media complaints instead of costly legal action, similar to Australia’s Press Council and New Zealand’s Media Council.

Current campaigns include lobbying Google to include Tetum, one official language alongside Portuguese, and seeking assistance from Facebook to include Tetum-speaking content monitors to quickly react to reported offensive posts, a major issue in the country’s recent elections.

Next year it is hoped countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon islands and Vanuatu will attend the Dili Dialogue.

The next forum will be held on May 9-10 next year.

Bob Howarth, a media consultant and correspondent for Reporters Without Borders, was a delegate at the Dili Dialogue Forum and is a regular contributor to Pacific Media Watch.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘Blockade busters’ flotilla on way to help provide relief for Gaza

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 24, 2018

On their way … bound for Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The four international Freedom Flotilla coalition boats have left Palermo in Sicily overnight in their bid to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.

A coalition statement said the boats that make up this year’s Freedom Flotilla are not only bringing much needed medical supplies with them, but the boats themselves will also be donated to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) that represents Gaza’s fishers) once they arrive in the Strip.

New Zealand unionist and peace activist Mike Treen is on board the Al Awda (Return) and is filing reports for Kia Ora Gaza.

Spokesperson for the Ship to Gaza-Sweden campaign Jeannette Escanilla said: “The illegal Israeli naval blockade has devastated the Palestinian economy, and in particular has hurt the fishing industry in Gaza, so these boats will provide important economic opportunities for Palestinians.”

The boats in this year’s “Just Future for Palestine” mission departed Sicily yesterday for the last leg to Gaza after more than 2 months at sea visiting 15 European ports.

Five times flotilla boats have successfully reached Gaza (before 2010) and organisers say they maintain the hope that it can be done again with this year’s mission, “but to do this we need our amazing network of passionate supporters to amplify our message”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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‘It’s up to God and the land’ on Vanuatu’s Ambae volcano isle

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 23, 2018

What the documentary team found on Ambae: “Volcanic ash is ever-present. Roads are carpeted with it, creating an uncannily smooth ride—where vehicles can still pass. Drone footage of an abandoned village on the approaches to the volcano shows a house constructed of timber and local materials that’s been flattened by the weight of ash upon it.” Image: Vanuatu Daily Post

By Dan McGarry in Port Vila

Over the course of a week earlier this month, a French/Ni-Vanuatu documentary team ventured to the summit of Ambae’s Mount Lombenben to see for themselves the effects of the Manaro-Vui volcano in Vanuatu.

What they saw was an island transformed.

One team member, a Ni-Vanuatu man, told the Vanuatu Daily Post how he had spoken to one Ambaean woman who was nearly ready to give up on trying to grow food.

The crops kept dying, she said, and she kept planting. All she can do now, she told him, is hope that her garden would survive.

“It’s up to God and the land,” she said.

The Ambae volcano article as it appeared in the Vanuatu Daily Post at the weekend.

-Partners-

Throughout Ambae, and particularly in the western half of the island, communications are sparse, travel is becoming increasingly difficult, and supplies are alarmingly short. Water is a particular concern in the west.

The two roads joining the western and eastern ends of the island are cut by mudslides.

According to eyewitnesses, the roads are impassable to vehicles, so all travel and transport between the two sides has to go by boat or by plane.

Supply shortages
This appears to be leading to supply shortages in the west. According to one report, a 36-litre carton of bottled water now costs VT2400 (NZ$32).

But the biggest worry is what is on top of the island. The Manaro-Vui volcano, situated at the summit of Mount Lombenben, has utterly transformed its immediate vicinity, and a growing area around it.

The approach to the summit is tortuous, according to Philippe Carillo, whose video production company, Fusion Productions, has operated in Vanuatu since June last year.

The team was advised that fog descends on the summit by mid-morning most days, so in order to ensure clear skies for the crew, they departed from the area of Ndui Ndui village shortly after midnight.

The team struggled for eight hours through a morass of mud, muck and ash. Ash has blanketed a substantial area, killing all vegetation in a ring that’s now several kilometres in diameter.

Outside that area, volcanic ash is ever-present. Roads are carpeted with it, creating an uncannily smooth ride—where vehicles can still pass. Drone footage of an abandoned village on the approaches to the volcano shows a house constructed of timber and local materials that’s been flattened by the weight of ash upon it.

In some villages, ash is ankle-deep on the ground.

Shocking transformation
The higher you go up the mountainside, the more shocking the transformation. Even kilometres away from the caldera, a deep blanket of ash has choked all life. Deep runnels carved by rainwater make the path a tricky one.

The ashfall is so heavy in some areas that even locals no longer recognise the place. The group’s guide lost his bearings at least twice, sending the team casting about across the hillside waste land, trying to find their way.

After a gruelling eight-hour slog, the team finally crested the last hill overlooking what used to be lake Vui. It has been replaced by a kilometre-wide ash plain, reminiscent of a lunar landscape.

A tiny vestige of the lake remains, coloured brilliant red because evaporation has left it super-concentrated with iron and other minerals.

The scale of the devastation is hard to grasp from the ground. But drone imagery shows the true size of the cone that’s risen from the waters. Human figures almost are almost vanishingly small in this post-apocalyptic landscape.

The visuals are stunning, but the implications for the island are cause for concern. With this volume of ash, much of it still not packed down by wind and rain, the prospect of further damage downhill rises as the rainy season approaches.

Tree trunks and large limbs killed by the ashfall could well accompany the large volumes of mud that will inevitably flow down the hillsides. These could block existing streams and creeks, sending mud and water elsewhere and potentially posing an additional danger to villages, which are often situated near watercourses.

Mud damage risk
The Geohazards Unit has already issued advisories concerning this risk, and has identified an area covering more than two-thirds of the island as being at risk of damage from mud and water.

The team returned from the summit the late in the day, and later shared their results with local villagers. One member, Terence Malapa, assured the Daily Post that the team had shown deep and sincere respect for the strong tabu associated with the volcano.

They performed kastom ceremonies with the relevant chiefly authorities, he said, and went nowhere without permission.

Will they be returning soon? No, says Philippe Carillo. The walk to the summit was arduous.
“It was a once in a lifetime journey,” he said.

The team voluntarily briefed the National Disaster Management Office, who thanked them for their contribution.

Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group. This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Mike Treen: Gaza Freedom Flotilla sets sail from Sicily

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 23, 2018

By Mike Treen on board the Freedom Flotilla

After months of preparation and training, the Freedom Flotilla is ready to depart for Gaza today.

The converted fishing trawler I am travelling on, the Al Awda (Return), along with three sailing yachts have been under constant guard as previous flotillas have been sabotaged in foreign ports by the Israeli secret services trying to stop the attempts to break the blockade.

I have met up with my fellow Kiwi of Palestinian descent, Youssef Sammour, a sailor and yacht engineer currently working in Dubai, who leaves Palermo after 45 days at sea.

He has been sailing on the flotilla yacht Freedom since Amsterdam. If the boats are intercepted and the crew arrested they will all be subjected to a 10-year ban on re-entering Israel.

As a third generation refugee, Youssef does not want to rule out the possibility in the future of visiting his homeland.

-Partners-

Youssef considers himself a Kiwi as he has spent half his life in New Zealand at school and university. His father Khalil got work in New Zealand as a surgeon at Greymouth Hospital on the West Coast of the South Island.

My mum, Joan, grew up in Blackball, a small mining town just outside of Greymouth, and went to school in Greymouth. My Granddad, Walter Kirk, was a miner and a unionist, and part of the “red” Federation of Labour, the first national union federation formed in 1920 which had its national headquarters in Blackball.

Famous figures
Famous figures of the New Zealand Labour movement – Paddy Webb, Bob Semple, Walter Nash, Harry Holland – were household names, friends or colleagues.

Granddad was also one of the first, if not the first, Kiwi to play rugby league professionally in Australia for at least one season in the early 1900s.

For mum, Blackball was home, and it was where she wanted her ashes spread when she died which we were able to do five years ago. The only problem is she wanted them spread at the top of a steep mountain range behind Blackball known as The Creases.

I was back on May Day this year to commemorate the fifth anniversary of her death.

Youssef’s dad didn’t actually want to go to Greymouth – too small, isolated, and cold. He left his wife and son in Auckland and visited when he could.

Yet three years later, by the time he had finished his contract in Greymouth, Youssef says his father left in tears as he had come to love the place his colleagues, patients, and the wonderful people of Greymouth.

Youssef’s family’s story is both typical and special. Youssef’s dad was born on May 15, 1948 – the day known in Palestinian history as the Nakba – the day of “catastrophe”. The Jewish settlers proclaimed the state of Israel and presided over the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians.

Traumatised by events
Youssef’s grandmother went into labour while on the road from Palestine to Lebanon. She gave birth to Khalil and was so traumatised by the events that she could not breast feed her child. They were forced to crush almonds for the milk to feed him along the way.

His parents were childhood friends, growing up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Dad went to Cairo to become a surgeon and Samira, Youssef’s mum stayed in Beirut to study Chemistry. They ended up meeting again a few years later as they found themselves working in the same hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

They are still happily married today, Khalil is in his last year of work as chief of the surgical department in a private hospital in the Emirates.

They are looking to move back to NZ and finally get some well earned R&R. For a Palestinian family, home can be Beirut, Auckland or Greymouth, but often never Haifa, the home of their birth, even to scatter their ashes as I was able to do for my mum.

The Al Awda, one of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s four boats. Mike Treen is on board for the final leg of her voyage to Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

My own place on the Al Awda, I am taking over from another young Palestinian scholar, Awni Farhat, who grew up and Gaza and completed a master’s degree in human rights conflict studies in the Netherlands, but can’t return like a normal person to visit his family.

Such are the many small, but cruel, ironies of life in occupied Palestine.

Al Awda was a Norwegian fishing trawler. Scandinavians have been strong supporters of the decade-long campaign to breach the blockade from sea. Like New Zealand, these countries have strong fishing industries.

Blockade inhumanity
One aspect of the inhumanity of the blockade is stopping the fishing people in Gaza from plying their trade – even within the 12-mile maritime boundaries.

A reign of terror is maintained. Boats are fired on several times a day, dozens of fishers are wounded and a few killed each year. Just this last few weeks a limit of three nautical miles has been imposed. Several boats in Gaza that were planning to meet our small armada were singled out to be bombed in port.

Swedish sailors and campaign supporters were instrumental supplying the three yachts – Freedom, Mairead and Falestine – that have been part of the flotilla from the beginning of the journey in May. A Danish Socialist MP, Mikkel Gruner, is on the Al Awda. We have a professional chef from a leading restaurant as our personal cook.

Torstein Dahle, a city council member in the port city of Bergen and leader of the Red Party in Norway has spearheaded getting a fishing boat ready that can be donated to the fishers of Gaza and be able to carry the crew and volunteers to break the blockade.

This work to transform the ship began in January this year. A volunteer team of engineers, mechanics, carpenters and electricians have laboured for hundreds of hours to complete the work in time for the sailing part of the journey to begin.

In many ways this is a project of direct solidarity from workers and fishers in Scandinavia to the fishers of Gaza. They have generously allowed some others to join them because we have our own positions in our own societies and can amplify their message across the globe.

Workers intervene
Other workers have intervened to ensure the boats can reach their goal. The port authorities near Lisbon, Portugal, tried to prevent the ship’s entry until the port workers union Sindicato Dos Estivadores E Da Actividade Logistica told them they would have a serious problem if they tried.

That has been the pattern through the journey. Usually national governments and the police try to make life hard, while local governments and the people’s organisations welcome the boats.

One yacht was rammed and damaged by French police boats in Paris. In Palermo where we are at the moment, the mayor, Leoluca Orlando, who comes from people’s campaigns against corruption and Mafia control of the Church and the state in Sicily has announced that port will be renamed in remembrance to the historic Palestinian national leader Yasser Arafat who died, or more likely murdered by Israel, in 2004.

He is also fighting to preserve the city as a place of safe haven for refugees and beat back attempts by the right-wing and fascist forces in Italy to blame refugees for the social problems created by the capitalist Europe project which has resulted in nothing but austerity, welfare cuts and growing unemployment for working people across Europe.

The Freedom Flotilla participants were also warmly welcomed by thousands of Italian and Spanish supporters of refugee rights and open borders in a joint march through the fantastically beautiful city at night.

Everything is on Mediterranean time here. The place comes alive from 7pm when many central city streets are closed to cars, and families (including young children which made my Anglo-Kiwi mind a bit uncomfortable) enjoy meals on street tables until late at night.

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily and has a history going back 2700 years. It has been governed and settled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans. It is a historical and cultural centre for the meeting points between west and east in Europe.

Mike Treen (left) and Youssef Sammour with the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy, Dr Mai Alkailla. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

Ambassador’s visit
The Ambassador from Palestine to Italy, Dr Mai Alkaila, came to visit on July 18 during our training session to express solidarity and support. There was an unplanned and tearful reunion with Dr Swee Ang, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon; author of From Beirut to Jerusalem and the ship’s doctor.

Dr Ang’s journey with Palestine began as a volunteer surgeon in Gaza Hospital in Beirut’s Sabra Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in 1982. About three weeks after her arrival, more than 3000 of them were massacred.

These events traumatised the young surgeon and Dr Ang describes how the love and generosity of the Palestinian people helped bring her back to a purposeful meaningful life – but now one forever intertwined with the fate of the Palestinian people.

Dr Ang served in Gaza in 1988-89 during the first Intifada and again in 2009 after the Israeli invasion of Gaza in December 2008 that left thousands of casualties.

The ambassador generously offered to bring lunch the next day which she duly delivered and then served it herself – bodyguards discretely in the background. That day she spoke to Youssef and myself to say how she had delivered a special message of thanks to the NZ Embassy in Rome for New Zealand taking up the sponsorship of a UN Security Council resolution in December 2016 critical of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

This resolution was significant because the US abstained rather than veto it as they usually did anything critical of Israel. This is not a new stance for New Zealand but one of the original sponsors had pulled out and it seems that then NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully agreed to sponsor it without checking with the Prime Minister.

It led to Israel withdrawing its ambassador to New Zealand and barring the New Zealand ambassador in Israel. Diplomatic relations were restored in June 2017 after then Prime Minister Bill English wrote a cowardly letter to Israel expressing “regret” over the fallout from the resolution.

Peters not happy
The current Foreign Minister and NZ First leader, Winston Peters, who has a strong personal bias towards Israel, was not happy. The resolution features in the Labour-New Zealand First coalition agreement, which states a commitment to “record a Cabinet minute regarding the lack of process followed prior to the National-led government’s sponsorship of UNSC2334”.

Ambassador Alkaila also expressed her delight at the decision of NZ artist Lorde to boycott performing in Israel.

A city reception was also held and then the mayor and the ambassador joined and spoke at a support function in the evening of July 19.

We have had intensive training from US professionals in non-violent resistance. Tips have been given from those arrested, abused, or tasered by the Israeli military on previous expeditions on what might be expected.

Only one previous Gaza blockade shift saw casualties. In 2010, a six-boat flotilla led by a Turkish ship the MV Mavi Marmara, with almost 500 passengers was assaulted in the middle of the night and 10 were killed and dozens injured. This led to a prolonged diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel. Turkey as a NATO member is one of the few majority Muslim countries to maintain friendly relations with Israel.

Since then Israel has usually just boarded the ships, towed them to port and deported the participants after a few days of questioning.

My fellow passengers on the Al Awda are an extraordinary group. I hope to have a chance to talk to them more during our journey and get to tell their stories over the next few weeks.

Blockade must end
Whatever happens on this trip to Gaza, the siege and blockade will end.

lsrael is increasingly revealing its racist, authoritarian character. There are 13 million Palestinian people. Seven and a half million are displaced or in exile. Six and a half million Palestinians continue to live in historic Palestine alongside six and a half million people of Jewish descent.

A way must, and will be found to destroy the apartheid system that seeks to preserve the ethnic superiority of one group over another and allow that majority of people in the the region who want to live in peace and security to do so.

Mike Treen is the New Zealand representative on the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla determined to break through Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza. The national director of the Unite Union and a veteran human rights defender is reporting here in rthe first of a series of reports for Kia Ora Gaza. The reports are being shared on Asia Pacific Report by arrangement.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Kiwis on board Freedom Flotilla in bid to break illegal Gaza blockade

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 22, 2018

The situation in Gaza “is criminal and genocide”, says Injustice author Miko Peled in an interview about the latest Israeli bombing attack on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. Video: RT

BACKGROUND: By Lois Griffiths of Scoop Independent News

Once again, a small number of individuals from several countries are trying to break the illegal siege imposed on the people of Gaza by sailing from Europe to Gaza on four small Scandinavian boats: Al Awda (The Return), Freedom, Falestine (Palestine) and Mairead (named for Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire)

But this year? After what’s been happening, the killing and maiming of unarmed marchers – 140 dead since March 30, including children, medics, journalists – by expert IDF snipers?

Why don’t they give up?

Who are the activists, where do they come from and why are they doing this?

-Partners-

Uneasy calm in Gaza after Hamas-Israel deal

Mike Treen (left) and Youssef Sammour with the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy, Mai Alkailla. Image: Lois Griffiths/Scoop

Two New Zealanders are on board the flotilla. Kiwi-Palestinian Youssef Sammour, an experienced sailor, has been with the flotilla for the entire long journey, beginning at Copenhagen.

He has sent many photos of the friendly welcomings they have received at ports along the way.

Unite Union organiser Mike Treen has joined the flotilla for the last leg, from Sicily to Gaza. Both Kiwis can be followed at the Kia ora Gaza website.

Does New Zealand genuinely have an independent foreign policy?

Challenge to NZ
If so, I challenge the New Zealand government to demand that Israel allow the Freedom Flotilla to enter Gaza.

The flotilla hopes to deliver basic medical supplies – gauzes and sutures – to Gaza where the doctors have been overwhelmed by the number of direct killings and serious woundings from skilled Israeli snipers.

The Freedom Flotilla is on a humanitarian mission. They pose no threat to Israelis.

The Al Awda, one of the Gaza Peace Flotilla’s four boats. Mike Treen is on board for the final leg of her voyage to Gaza. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

At least three of the participants are Americans.

One of them, Joe Meadors, is a survivor of the 1967 Israeli deadly attack on the USS Liberty, that killed 34 American servicemen.

President Lyndon Johnson and his Defence Secretary, Robert McNamara, declared that the bombing was an “accident”. They refused to conduct an inquiry but the survivors have never forgotten what they believe really happened.

Meadors is a past president of USS Liberty Veterans Association, founded in 1982. In a Common Dreams interview on July 12, Joe Meadors said,

“This trip is happening right after the protests called the Great March of Return, when so many people in Gaza were killed and wounded because they were demanding the right to return to the villages they were forced to flee in 1948.

“The Great March of Return is part of a 70-year struggle for the Palestinians’ right to live in the ancestral lands their families left behind.”…

“I want to show the people of Gaza that we care, that we are willing to put our lives on the line for them. We are willing to face the risks that they face every day. I hope we make it to Gaza but even if we don’t, our effort will inspire the people there and help bring world attention to their cause.”

Ex-CIA analyst
Elizabeth Murray is a retired CIA analyst. She specialised in Middle Eastern political and media analysis. She is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Writing in Consortium News on May 22, Elizabeth Murray explains:

“I feel proud and privileged to join a group of international passengers aboard the Norwegian ship Al Awda.

“Along our route we hope to raise awareness and educate people about the plight of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, who are denied the basic freedoms and human rights the rest of us take for granted.

“As the Freedom Flotilla embarks on its peace odyssey, it is our hope to bring a light of hope and solidarity to the people of Gaza, who deserve the peaceful, dignified and joyful existence that is their right.”

Ann Wright is a retired US Army colonel and diplomat. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is one of three State Department officials who publicly resigned in direct protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

She has been active in Palestinian solidarity since 2009 helping take groups to Gaza. Ann Wright took part in the 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016 Gaza Flotillas

“As a US citizen, I must challenge my own government’s complicity in the horrific conditions imposed on Palestinians by Israel,” she said.

Canadian activist Ron Rousseau from Yukon … “as an Indigenous activist … we feel that it’s necessary to be defending Palestine.” Image: Scoop

First Nation activist
One of the Canadians taking part is Ron Rousseau, First Nation activist from Yukon, Canada. Rousseau is president of the Whitehorse Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Aboriginal vice president of the Canada Labour Congress.

When interviewed by journalist Dimitri Lascaris, Ron Rousseau said:

“You know, as an Indigenous activist, as you know, it is, we feel that it’s necessary to be defending and making people aware of what’s actually happening inside of Palestine, and the people that live there, and how they are under siege.

“As we look at our history, you know, we were some 200 million in North America. And you know, our people were slaughtered.

“Our people were, had bounties on us, and even up to the point of where they were moved onto reservations where we needed a pass system to leave the reservation, even to go off for medical, you needed to ask permission to leave.

“So we were inside like a landlocked jail as well, up until the ’50s.”

Ron Rousseau explained that he learned about Palestine through union activities.

“The first article I read was probably 10 years ago. It was a full bulletin put out to all members that went out to every postal worker in Canada, and then I went to an intensive four-week education for unionism, and we spent the whole day talking about Palestine.

“And I was, I was shocked, and I couldn’t take it off my mind, and been following it all the way along and making sure that people understood what was going on with family, friends, and everybody I talked to.”

Israeli participant
At least one Israeli is taking part. Zohar Chamberlain Regev is an Israeli citizen (born and raised in Kibbutz Kfar Hahoresh, near Nazareth) who has lived in Spain for the last 14 years. When asked why she was taking part, she replied,

“As a human being first of all, but also as an Israeli of Jewish origin, I am appalled by what is being done by Israel in Palestine in general and in Gaza in particular. We have always been told ‘how could the world be silent during the Holocaust’, now we know how…we have to stand by our Palestinian sisters and brothers in Gaza to save our own humanity.

“As an amputee, I can only begin to imagine what it is like for people in Gaza who have lost their limbs in the brutal attacks and are still waiting to be fitted with prosthetic limbs, as one of the many consequences of the illegal Israeli blockade.”

Malaysian Dr Fauziah Mohd Hasan is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She has received international recognition for her medical humanitarian work in many countries including Kosovo, the Moluccas islands, Acheh Indonesia, Afghanistan, Gaza, Syria and Bangladesh.

Before departing to take part in the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza, Dr Hasan explained,

“My participation is not in my individual capacity but representing my family, my women folks, my nation and all Muslims and humanity the world over.

“This humanitarian mission involves women only, just to show that there is a united voice in ending the blockade of Gaza, beyond gender, race, religion and geographical boundaries. It is purely a humanitarian mission to ensure freedom is given to all, for as Nelson Mandela once said:

‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

“To the people of Gaza, you are always in our prayers.”

Every participant – the Scandinavians, the two MPs, from Spain and Algeria – has a story to tell.

I’ve chosen the ones I thought would be most interesting to New Zealand readers.

Someone should write a book someday, about all the participants in all of the attempts to reach Gaza by sea, since the siege was imposed.

It’s inspiring to learn of humanitarian people from many parts of the world. Some efforts to reach Gaza have been successful.

Youssef Sammour’s boat Freedom. Image: Lois Griffiths/Scoop

The late Italian journalist Vittoria Arrigoni was overjoyed when his boat reached Gaza in August 2008 (see Freedom Sailors, edited by Greta Berlin).

History is us

History is not cowardly governments

with their loyalty to whoever has the strongest military

History is made by ordinary people

everyday people, with family at home and a reular job

who are committed to peace as a grat ideal

to the rights of all to staying human.

History is us who risked our lives

to bring utopia within reach

to offer a dream, a hope, to hundreds of thosands of people

Who cried with us as we reached the port of Gaza

Our message of peace is a call to action

for other ordinary people like ourselves

not to hand over your lives

to whatever puppeteer is in charge this time round

But to take responsibility for the revolution

First, the inner revolution

to give love , to give empathy

It is this that will change the world.

We have shown that peace is not an impossible utopia

Or perhaps we shown that sometimes

utopia can be possible

Believe this

Stand firm against intimidation, fear, and despair

And simple remain human.

Lois Griffiths is reporting for Scoop Independent News on the Freedom Flotilla. Other flotilla articles and images are at Kia Ora Gaza. Asia Pacific Report is sharing coverage with Kia Ora Gaza and Scoop.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Indonesia’s Papua ‘cover-up reflex’ prompts police dormitory raid

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 21, 2018

A video of a demonstration marking the bloody Biak massacre of 6 July 1998 staged last year. Video: BBB Times

By Michelle Winowatan

Dozens of Indonesian military and police personnel raided a student dormitory in Surabaya on July 6 to stop the screening of a documentary about security force atrocities in Papua.

It is the latest example of the government’s determination not to deal with past abuses in the country’s easternmost province.

Security forces carried out the raid following social media postings about the planned screening of the documentary Bloody Biak (Biak Berdarah).

The film documents Indonesian security forces opening fire on a peaceful pro-Papuan independence flag-raising ceremony in the town of Biak in July 1998, killing dozens.

A Guardian report about a “citizens’ tribunal” hearing about the 1998 Biak massacre published on 13 December 2013. Image: PMC

-Partners-

Security forces said the dorm raid was necessary to prevent unspecified “hidden activities” by Papuan students.

The raid is emblematic of both the Indonesian government’s failure to deliver on promises of accountability for past human rights abuses in Papua and its willingness to take heavy-handed measures to stifle public discussion about those violations.

The government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has not fulfilled a commitment made in 2016 to seek resolution of longstanding human rights abuses, including the Biak massacre and the military crackdown on Papuans in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003 that killed dozens and displaced thousands.

Killing with impunity
Meanwhile, police and other security forces that kill Papuans do so with impunity.

Media coverage of rights abuses in Papua are hobbled by the Indonesian government’s decades-old access restrictions to the region, despite Jokowi’s 2015 pledge to lift them.

Domestic journalists are vulnerable to intimidation and harassment from officials, local mobs, and security forces.

The government is also hostile to foreign human rights observers seeking access to Papua.

Last month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said he was “concerned that despite positive engagement by the authorities in many respects, the government’s invitation to my Office to visit Papua – which was made during my visit in February – has still not been honoured”.

The raid in Surabaya signals the government’s determination to maintain its chokehold on public discussion of human rights violations across Indonesia.

This suggests that the government’s objective is to maintain Papua as a ”forbidden island” rather than provide transparency and accountability for human rights abuses there.

Michelle Winowatan is a Human Rights Watch intern. The Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project monitors Asia-Pacific rights issues.

The scene at the Indonesian police raid on Papuan student quarters in Surabaya over the film Bloody Biak. Image: Suara.com

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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RSF condemns killing of radio journalist – shot in Philippines

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 21, 2018

Philippine radio journalist Joey Llana … shot at least 14 times in ambush as he drove to work at Radio DwZR in Legazpi City. Image: RSF Paris

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the killing of Philippine radio journalist Joey Llana near Legazpi City, at the southeastern tip of the island of Luzon, and has called on the authorities to do everything possible to find those responsible.

Joey Llana, 38, was gunned down yesterday as he drove to work at Radio DwZR in Legazpi City, where he hosted a morning radio programme, reports the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF.

Local police said he was hit at least 14 times in the head and body by shots fired by five unidentified gunmen.

The police have not yet identified a motive but a relative said Llana had recently received death threats, which suggested that he had been targeted in connection with his work.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, condemned the murder and said it would be investigated by the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

“We condemn radio journalist Joey Llana’s murder in the strongest terms as it is a serious press freedom violation, and we welcome the decision by the president’s office to open an immediate investigation and its declared desire to render justice to the victim,” a statement from RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said.

-Partners-

“The Philippines, which is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in Asia, must do everything possible to effectively combat violence against the media and impunity for this violence.”

Third journalist killed
If the initial suspicions are confirmed, Llana will be the third journalist to have been murdered this year in the Philippines in connection with their work, reports RSF.

Newspaper journalist Dennis Denora was slain in a similar fashion in the southern province of Davao del Norte in June, as was radio show host Edmund Sestoso in the central province of Negros Oriental in May.

At least six other journalists have been killed in connection with their work since Duterte, who is prone to virulent verbal attacks on the media, was elected president in 2016.

The Philippines fell six places in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 133rd out of 180 countries.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Connecting the dots – Pacific disasters, cyclones, climate featured in latest PJR

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 20, 2018

A “natural” seawall constructed out of giant bamboo poles built at the Semarang village of Demak Timbulsloko in an attempt to reduce “rob” flooding damage. Image: Del Abcede/PJR

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

“Rob” flooding in the Indonesian city of Semarang, Cyclone Winston’s devastation and social media in Fiji and “backpack journalism” in Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are among many issues featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review.

This is the second edition of the New Zealand-based media research journal focused on climate change and global warming.

The first, published year, featured the Fiji and Pacific leadership at COP23 with a series of research papers.

Pacific Journalism Review 24(1)

This latest edition, published next week, is timely as the Pacific faces increasingly extreme and more frequent weather onslaughts.

Indonesian academics Dr Hermin Indah Wahyuni, Andi Awaluddin Fitrah and Fitri Handayani along with the Pacific Media Centre’s director, Professor David Robie, offer a comparative study on social adaptation to maritime disaster between Java and Fiji in a collaboration with the Centre for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

-Partners-

Another CESASS colleague, Dr Budi Irawanto, presents a paper on narratives of natural disaster survivors in Indonesian media.

The edition is also a collaboration with the University of the South Pacific whose Dr Shailendra Singh and Professor Vijay Naidu analyse the coverage of extreme weather in Pacific nations.

Post-disaster recovery
Dr Amanda Gearing of the Queensland University of Technology argues the case for a state-sponsored post-disaster recovery scheme and Monash journalism academic Dr Johan Lidberg offers a comparative study of Australian media coverage of COPs 15 and 21.

USP’s Glen Finau and colleagues analyse social media and disaster communication, Auckland University’s Norman Zafra analyses convergent technologies in disaster journalism while Unitec’s Dr Philip Cass assesses “a plan nobody hopes they will need” – what New Zealand needs to do about climate change migration and the future.

Dr Robie provides a case study of Bearing Witness 2017, the second year of a Pacific climate change storytelling project in Fiji that has produced dynamic and inspiring results.

Among unthemed articles, Dr Catherine Strong of Massey presents findings from a NZ women newspaper editors study and Steve Ellmers of Unitec offers a “tale of two statues” in Baghdad.

Two obituaries of two remarkable New Zealand journalists, investigative reporter and editor Pat Booth (profiled by A Moral Truth author Dr James Hollings) and Yasmine Ryan (penned by Evening Report editor Selwyn Manning) are also featured by PJR.

The journal has a strong review section including The General’s Goose on coup-struck Fiji, A Region in Transition, Grappling With The Bomb, “And there’ll be NO dancing” and After Charlie Hebdo.

This edition has been co-edited by Professor David Robie and Khairiah A. Rahman (AUT), Dr Hermin Indah Wahyuni and Dr Vissia Ita Yulianto (CESASS-UGM), Dr Philip Cass (Unitec) and Dr Shailendra Singh (USP).

Papers from the edition are available online at AUT’s Tuwhera platform.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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PMC Seminar series: Lead-up to the independence referendum for New Caledonia

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 20, 2018

French soldiers on parade on Bastille Day in Noumea, New Caledonia, last week. Image: Lee Duffield/PMC

Event date and time:

Friday, July 27, 2018 – 16:30 – 18:00

LEAD-UP TO THE INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM FOR NEW CALEDONIA
Has 30 years of preparation under the Matignon Accords, signed in Paris, allowed New Caledonia to vote on independence this year on November 4 in full confidence? Dr Lee Duffield, an experienced Australian journalist and researcher, attended this year’s Bastille Day celebrations in Noumea. He says it might have been the last time the French National Day, July 14, would be officially commemorated in New Caledonia. Hear his report on the current independence debate after his conversations with leading figures in Noumea and people in the street.

Who: Dr Lee Duffield, research associate of the Pacific Media Centre

When: Friday, July 27, 2018 4.30pm-6pm

Where: Sir Paul Reeves Building, Auckland University of Technology,
City Campus Room, WG903A

Contact: Dr David Robie

Event on Facebook

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

Toktok No 37 / Winter 2018

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 20, 2018

toktok-pmc-no37-winter2018-550wide-jpg — ]]>

Pacific Media Centre

ISBN/code: ISSN 1175-0472

Publication date: Friday, July 20, 2018

Publisher: Pacific Media Centre

GLOBAL PRESS FREEDOM SUMMIT INCLUDES PMC
The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders recently hosted press freedom defenders from the Asia-Pacific for a summit in the French capital.
Invited participants included Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie and delegates from Australia and Papua New Guinea among the 23 correspondents from 17 countries or territories.

The representatives were from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Hongkong, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Tibet along with a team of Paris-based RSF advocates.

Asia Pacific head Daniel Bastard said the consultation was part of a new strategy making better use of the correspondents’ network to make the impact of advocacy work faster and even more effectively than in the past.

Dr Robie is convenor of the Pacific Media Watch freedom project which has employed post graduate students in part-time reporting/editing/research roles.

Also:
Tui O’Sullivan retires after outstanding career

PMC director condemns ‘targeting’ of journalists and silence on West Papua

Elite groups ‘contain’ nuclear food safety debate

PMC events photo gallery

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

PNG needs to ‘pull its weight’ over Bougainville vote, says Momis

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 19, 2018

john-momis-bougainville-ramumine-680wide-jpg — ]]>

Evening Report

PNG needs to ‘pull its weight’ over Bougainville vote, says Momis

00:00 /

Bougainville President John Momis … considering going to the United Nations for advice. Image: Ramumine

By RNZ Pacific

The President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville has raised concerns that the Papua New Guinea Government is not pulling its weight as the region prepares for its referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea next year.

Two weeks ago John Momis met with PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in a meeting of the Joint Supervisory Board tasked with preparing for the vote.

However, outstanding financial commitments of hundreds of millions of kina which the PNG state owes to the Autonomous Bougainville Government remain an obstacle to preparations.

LISTEN: Momis speaking on Dateline Pacific

After a long wait, PNG finally made a payment of $US1.49 million to Bougainville last week, but then the cheque bounced.

Momis said in an interview with RNZ Pacific’s Dateline Pacific programme Port Moresby was continually failing to deliver on commitments and he was considering approaching the United Nations, New Zealand or Australia for advice.

-Partners-

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Housing issue not just ethnic – Pākehā leaders have ‘failed’, says author

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 19, 2018

hall-and-company-aut-rbhattarai-680wide-jpg — ]]>

AUT Policy Observatory’s Dr David Hall (from left, podium) with fellow “fair borders” panellists Dr Arama Rata, Andrew Chen and Dr Evelyn Masters at last night’s discussion. Image: Rhahul Bhattarai/PMC

By Rahul Bhattarai

Author and researcher David Hall has criticised anti-immigration rhetoric in New Zealand’s housing crisis, saying a more serious problem is “Pākehā leaders … failing to take action”.

Speaking at a panel discussion at Auckland University of Technology last night, Dr Hall, editor of the book Fair Borders: Migration Policy in the 21st Century, said harm and hurt from such rhetoric created side effects impacting on migrants.

Negativity directed towards home buyers with Chinese sounding surnames diverted attention from “long lines of people with British sounding surnames” that held and continued to hold powerful and influential positions over the housing issue.

Although there is an ethnic dimension to housing crises, he said that the most significant issue was that “Pākehā leaders supported by electorates with Pākehā majorities [were] failing to take action.”

Dr Hall, senior researcher of AUT’s Policy Observatory, was joined by three of the book’s contributors, Andrew Chen, Dr Arama Rata and Dr Evelyn Masters, to discuss how New Zealand’s borders impacted on its citizens, recent immigrants, and on people barred from the country.

Dr Hall said that over emphasis and over simplification of the role of immigration was not just a way of avoiding taking action, it was a way of avoiding responsibility for taking action and that helped nobody – “not even Pākehā and I say that as a Pākehā myself”.

-Partners-

He pointed out that one continuous theme was the failure of successful decision makers to make the tough decision that might have made a difference, such as the mayors of Auckland going back to the 1990s or the housing ministers.

“There is bit of pattern here,” he said.

‘Tricky’ issues
Dr Hall said that house prices had been rising since 1990s and only eight years ago there were more people leaving the country than were arriving, yet the house prices rose during the negative migration period.

The issue was “very tricky” with some of the genuine social strains such as housing affordability and policy and its relationship to migration.

The debate treated “immigration as an economic medicine that might taste a little bad and people just need to put up with which also doesn’t do anything to address peoples’ genuine worries”.

This was not his story to tell as no one ever challenged him based on the colour of his skin.
“As a Pākehā this isn’t really my story to tell because no one ever challenges me on whether I belong here, no one ever suggests to me that I shouldn’t be speaking English in public and no one tells me to leave by virtue of my appearance but this happens all the time to people,” he said.

Dr Arama Rata, a research officer at the University of Waikato, said that in New Zealand there was a border in place which was established by the invaders.

Māori border ignored
But the “Māori border has been ignored, a new imposition of state authority is being imposed, borders have been closed around the nation state to allow certain desirable white migrants in and to exclude others, and now we have a very secure racist structure in place”.

She said borders needed to be in place but, “it should be controlled more by our values rather than just purely economic incentives and the way I think we need to stop framing immigration as a problem”.

Dr Evelyn Masters, with Pākehā lineage and Cook Islands heritage that she is really proud of, said she struggled in explaining her New Zealand identity because people judged her based on her appearance.

Dr Masters, research manager of NZ Institute for Pacific Research, said people struggled to understand that she had multiple lineage in her blood line and wanted to be known as a New Zealander.

She did not have to be just one race because she looked brown, she said.

“I just want to say that I am a New Zealander, because my experience is I am multiple – I have brown people and white people in my family, why do I have to be just one as you see me.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Traumatised Papuan villagers flee Indonesian military in Nduga

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 18, 2018

Evening Report

Traumatised Papuan villagers flee Indonesian military in Nduga

00:00 /

By RNZ Pacific

Thousands of West Papuan villagers have reportedly fled from their homes in a remote regency due to conflict between Indonesian military forces and pro-independence fighters.

This follows a string of deaths in Nduga regency where Indonesian security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army have exchanged gunfire in recent weeks.

Three people were killed in an attack on police at the local airport two weeks ago during regional elections. A faction of the Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC: West Papuans tired of ongoing conflict

Following the attack, about 1000 extra police and military personnel were deployed to the remote regency as part of a joint operation.

They have been conducting an aerial campaign over the Alguru area in pursuit of the Liberation Army, with unconfirmed reports saying at least two Papuans have been shot dead and others injured in recent days.

-Partners-

A police helicopter was reportedly fired on by a faction of the Liberation Army last week, although it is unclear whether it was in response to rounds of aerial artillery fired by the military over Alguru.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has accused the Indonesian military of bombing in Nduga.

‘Bombing, burning’
“Bombing, burning houses, and shooting into villages from helicopters are acts of terrorism,” the Liberation Movement’s chairman Benny Wenda said.

“The Indonesian government’s horrific acts of violence against the Melanesian people of West Papua are causing great harm and trauma.”

The Nduga regent, Yarius Gwijangge, last week made a plea to the security forces not to shoot from the air because he feared this could lead to civilian casualties.

With the situation in Nduga remaining tense, a local Liberation Army field operations commander, Egianus Kogoya, confirmed a number of Alguru villagers had fled from their homes.

“All the (Liberation Army) soldiers scattered back into the forest with 50 heads of family from Alguru village without possessing or not carrying their possessions, in order to save themselves from the death threats of Indonesian military and police bombs,” Kogoya said.

“The Indonesian military helicopters fired the bombs, four times with huge explosion through air strikes at Alguru village. As a result of this attack, the gardens and houses of the people in Alguru’s village are flattened with the ground.”

However, Indonesia’s military published a statement saying reports that security forces were conducting airstrikes or dropping bombs were a hoax.

Liberation stronghold
It said military forces were working with police in “law enforcement activities” in Alguru which is considered a stronghold of the Liberation Army and the OPM Free West Papua Movement.

Indonesian authorities have described the Liberation Army as armed criminals rather than by their pro-independence moniker.

Meanwhile, Responding to the attacks, the largest organisation of Christian Churches in Indonesia called for the country’s human rights commission to open offices in Papua region.

The Communion of Churches (PGI) urged Indonesian authorities to stop repressive action and adopt a strategy of persuasion.

It said the National Commission on Human Rights should open an office in Papua, citing a government mandate under Papua’s special autonomy laws.

PGI spokesman Irma Riana Simanjuntak said Indonesia’s government should establish a fact-finding team to verify deaths in recent attacks and guarantee the public’s safety.

Indonesian authorities did not give permission to the KNPB to hold a demonstration, so police and military forces blocked the procession of demonstrators who aimed to petition the Papuan Legislative Council.

Human rights workers, journalists and medical workers should also be able to access Papua, Simanjuntak said.

Indonesia officially ended restrictions on access to Papua in 2015 but human rights groups and journalists continue to face hurdles when trying to travel there.

Trauma revisited
Young people in Nduga are tired of violence triggered by politics, a West Papuan from the regency said.

Speaking from the Papua provincial capital Jayapura, Samuel Tabuni said he had been in contact with friends and family in Nduga.

Thousands of Nduga villagers had fled from the regency since the violence surged during last month’s elections, Tabuni said.

The villagers were terrified by recent developments which echoed shootings and killings that took place in previous Indonesian military deployments to the remote region, he said.

The recent influx of Indonesian military had brought back memories from 1996 in particular, when Indonesian military commander Prabowo Subianto led special forces into the same area on a campaign to save hostages held by the Free Papua movement commander Kelly Kwalik.

“That’s why when a lot of troops… army and police coming in to Nduga, Kenyam, most of our people are afraid, you know, that the same thing is going to happen,” Tabuni said.

“So we are deeply traumatised. That’s why when a lot of troops… army and police coming in to Nduga, Kenyam (the regency’s capital), most of our people are afraid, you know, that the same thing is going to happen. ”

Special Autonomy Status
Special Autonomy Status was granted to Papua by Jakarta in 2001 with the promise of developing its human potential but in Mr Tabuni’s view this had not transpired.

“Conflicts in Special Autonomy is more than in the past because of this politics,” he said.

“The regional politics as well as the politics in terms of campaigning (for) being head of regency and governors. So these two politics kill many Papuans, honestly, especially those that are young.”

Tabuni said many young Papuans wanted dialogue between Indonesia’s government and those pursuing independence to find a peaceful solution.

“We don’t want to be invoved in all this politics and conflict and war. We have to have open dialogue to solve all the problems.”

Meanwhile, human rights activists urged the security forces to withdraw their join operation in Nduga, saying it was having a major impact on the lives of local villagers.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Indonesia risks ending up with a doomed ‘can’t-do’ climate plan

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 17, 2018

By Warief Djajanto Basorie

Three hundred schoolchildren from the greater Jakarta area sat on a red carpet covering the cavernous Soedjarwo auditorium—named to honour the country’s first forestry minister—at the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry in January this year.

They were there to participate in the government-led Climate Festival; the theme was “Three Years of Climate Change Achievements”.

Dr Nur Masripatin, the then Director General of Climate Change (she stepped down in February 2018), tossed the kids a question on climate change: what will become of Indonesia if nothing is done about climate change by 2030?

An elementary schoolboy said the country would become hotter and drier. Another two students added to his answer, talking about global warming and the greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.

The director-general beamed broadly. Dr Nur Masripatin, who has a PhD in forest biometrics from Canterbury University in New Zealand, has been a veteran negotiator for Indonesia at the annual United Nations climate conference since 2005.

Indonesia is a country of islands, with a majority of the population living along coasts vulnerable to climate change, she explained to the assembled pupils. The government hopes that such an event will equip children with information on climate change that they’ll carry into adulthood.

-Partners-

Reaching Indonesia’s targets
The event also sought to inform the public on the progress made in implementing international agreements and national policies, such as the Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contribution, related to climate change. Government projects such as this one are only deemed successful if the people meant to benefit from the project feel that they have a stake in the issue, and commit to seeing it through.

The Paris Agreement, reached at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015, is a legally binding international contract to limit global warming “well below” 2˚C, through lowering carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and the degrading of forests. The ultimate aim is zero carbon emissions worldwide by 2050.

In undertaking to realise the Paris Agreement, Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, sets a target of cutting emissions by 29 percent against a “business as usual” scenario (in which no planned action is taken) and by 41 percent with international cooperation. This climate action plan is due to be implemented from 2020 to 2030.

One of the many documents handed out to participants of the Climate Festival was the country’s NDC Implementation Strategy, listing nine programmes with assigned activities spanning from ownership and commitment development to implementation and review. Also included was an academic paper on the draft government regulation for climate change.

The festival, and its accompanying books, talks, and handout material produced by the director general and her team, outlines an ambitious climate agenda. Yet what’s not covered is interesting, too.

While the NDC Implementation Strategy cites projected greenhouse gas emission levels, it does not provide details on whether, or how much, emissions have already been reduced since 2011, when the government issued its national action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020. Nor does the NDC explain the formula it uses to reduce emissions in the five slated sectors: land-use, energy, IPPU (industrial processes and product use), agriculture and waste. The first two sectors alone produced 82 percent of the country’s carbon emissions in 2010–2012.

Despite its absence in the Climate Festival’s documents, information on emission reduction is provided by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas). From 2010–2017, Indonesia has cut greenhouse gas emission by only 13.46 percent. It’s a figure the Indonesian government aren’t eager to publicise—it’s a long way from their target. The government doesn’t officially state how much carbon emissions has been reduced because the NDC does not start until 2020, a government official explained.

“The government shall regularly provide emission reduction achievements in line with the NDC target it has committed to after Indonesia ratified the Paris Agreement. This is in line with our commitment to the NDC up to 2030. The information can be accessed in SIGN SMART prepared by the Environment and Forestry Ministry,” says Dr Agus Justianto, Head of the Ministry’s Agency for Research, Development and Innovation.

A major emitter of greenhouse gases
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), Indonesia is the world’s sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the largest contributor of forest-based emissions—an unsurprising fact if one thinks back to the devastating forest and peat fires in 2014 and 2015. Images from the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released in 2014 and 2015 show dense smoke blanketing parts of the country and its neighbours. Those two years were exceptionally bad, but such burning takes place annually.

In September 2017, WRI Indonesia published a 36-page working paper on how Indonesia can achieve its climate change mitigation goal. The organisation found that existing policies in the land-use and energy sectors, even if fully implemented, are inadequate if the country is really serious about reaching the 29% target by 2030. Using its own methodology, WRI Indonesia estimated that the existing policies would only result in a 19% reduction.

A failure to achieve its mitigation target means that Indonesia won’t be able to contribute its declared share in global fulfillment of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Rethinking policies
Reaching the NDC goal would require revisiting existing policies, particularly in agriculture and energy.

In agriculture, the government wants to double the output of the highly lucrative oil palm by 2020. This would require the clearing of more forest and peatland to add to the 14 million hectares of oil palm plantations already present in the country—a move that would surely lead to more carbon emissions. The policy also undermines a forest moratorium, in place since 2011, on the issuing of permits to convert primary forest and peatland to oil palm plantations, pulp and paper estates and other land-use change activities.

Dr Agus denies any planned clearing of peatland, insisting that the moratorium is still in place. What the government wants to increase, he stresses, is productivity per hectare on existing oil palm plantations.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo also has a plan to boost the country’s energy capacity by 35,000 megawatts during his current term, which comes to an end in 2019. Only 2000 megawatts of that energy will come from renewable energy; 20,000 megawatts will come from coal-fired plants, another major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Oil and gas, as well as hydropower, will provide the rest.

This matter of generating 20,000 megawatts of energy from coal-fired plants was put to Bambang Brodjonegoro, Indonesia’s Minister for National Development Planning and Head of Bappenas, at the Southeast Asia Symposium jointly organised by Oxford University and the University of Indonesia’s School of Environmental Science.

The “best solution”, advocated by environmentalists, would be to phase coal-fired plants out completely and embrace renewable energy sources. It’s in line with the call of the “Powering Past Coal” alliance, a partnership of over 20 governments who intend to move away from coal. No Southeast Asian government has joined the alliance thus far.

Brodjonegoro, a former dean of the University of Indonesia’s School of Economics, replied that Indonesia’s plan relies on the “second-best solution”: new coal-fired power plants will use clean coal technology, and that renewable energy, such as solar, wind or biomass, will be developed for isolated areas that are not yet part of the country’s power grid. Energy is required for economic growth, he argued, and Indonesia has abundant coal deposits to meet that energy need.

But Indonesia might not need as much energy as policymakers initially thought. According to the Electricity Supply Business Plan 2018-2027 drafted by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, a projection in Indonesia’s additional power needs dropped from 78 gigawatts under the 2017–2026 plan to 56 gigawatts in the 2018–2027 plan. The decrease was due to overestimating the growth in demand; if the government had followed through with the initial plan, it would end up overspending by building unused power plants.

Plans are also underway to increase the portion of renewable energy—while renewable energy only provided 12.52 percent of Indonesia’s energy in 2017, it’s expected to rise to 23 percent in 2025. Coal is expected to decline as a source of energy from 58.3 percent in 2017 to 54.4 percent in 2025. But environmental groups say it’s still not good enough.

“Many nations like India, China and even Saudi Arabia have altered their investment direction to renewable energy, whereas Indonesia still depends on coal for more than 50 percent of its power source,” said Hindun Mulaika, Greenpeace Indonesia’s climate and energy campaigner, in a recent press release.

Other organisations have called for more ambitious action from the Indonesian government. Germanwatch and Climate Action Network pointed out in their 2018 Climate Change Performance Index that Indonesia has the potential to further develop renewable energy, particularly since it has relatively large amounts of hydropower. WRI Indonesia recommended other mitigation actions, such as strengthening and extending the forest moratorium, restoring degraded forest and peatland, and implementing energy conservation efforts.

According to WRI Indonesia, increasing renewable sources in the energy mix will require implementing multiple policies, such as a carbon tax on fossil fuel power plants, the replacement of coal-fired plants with wind or solar sources, and the provision of subsidies for the promotion of renewable energy.

Indonesia already has bilateral and multilateral agreements for cooperation in climate change, such as an accord with Norway signed in 2010, where the Scandinavian country pledged up to USD1 billion for “significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and peatland conversion”. The financial contribution is made based on a verified emissions reduction mechanism. However, an influential coal lobby makes it difficult for the country to take bolder steps away from coal power plants.

A target that cannot be achieved
As it stands, Indonesia’s 29 percent NDC target is not achievable, says a government technocrat.

“It is not based on what sectors knew, what the energy sector knew, what the road transport sector knew. No one has reliable data. Everyone has some sense of statistics,” says the technocrat, who has asked to remain anonymous as he’s not authorised to speak to the press.

The distinction between data and statistics is an important one—while statistics present a snapshot of one aspect of an issue, data is a real mapping of what exists, providing a more holistic picture. A good NDC should have reliable data from every sector, disaggregated to show the reality in each of Indonesia’s 465 sub-national districts and town governments. While there might be a political aspect to this process, politics should not be dominant, the official added.

“No one has reliable data. Everyone has some sense of statistics”

The lack of data is a big problem with a major impact on the way targets have been set. The government arrived at the 29% target via inter-sectoral meetings where each of the five mitigation sectors (energy, land-use, industry, agriculture, waste) stated how far they were willing to go in terms of reductions. But if the various groups only have “some sense of statistics” without actual reliable data, the targets set could easily be off the mark.

Hopes for a future generation
Indonesia’s climate future is not bleak; there’s still hope for significant progress moving forward. Beyond government policy and programmes, numerous civil society organisations are actively working on the issue.

One example is Climate Reality Indonesia, which had a booth at the Climate Festival. Its members, who have participated in Al Gore’s climate course, are from all walks of life: students, academics, public officials, business people, homemakers, journalists, artists, clerics. They’re committed to spreading climate awareness among their own circles to encourage a ripple effect that will increase public knowledge across the country.

“Climate change can be viewed from different angles: water, air, marine resources, forests, agriculture, energy, education, laws. Hence it’s important to break down the issue of interest to understand the ground sentiment,” says Amanda Katili Niode, manager of Climate Reality Indonesia.

There are signs that the public are interested. In 2015, a survey by the Pew Research Centre found that 63 percent of the country supported limiting greenhouse gas emissions as part of an international agreement. Climate Reality Indonesia is thus working on creating visual materials on specific climate change impacts and solutions to use in their outreach programmes.

Following Climate Change Director General Nur Masripatin’s session, Hidayatun Nisa, a 24-year-old university graduate, delivered a rousing speech before the assembled schoolchildren. She told them about her work as a facilitator in the Care of Peat Village project run by the Peat Restoration Agency in a village in Jambi province on the east coast of central Sumatra, calling on students to study how to protect the environment for a better future.

“I do hope the children can learn to be sensitive to living things and protect the environment where they live. This also applies to their parents as the educational process that has the greatest effect is the education at home,” says Nisa.

Without a change in gear for a more ambitious and robust emphasis on renewable energy and the safeguarding of the environment, Indonesia’s climate change ambitions could end up amounting to little more than a can’t-do plan. As it is, the current generation is already not on track to meet its own stipulated goals. If the country does not undertake a course correction soon, today’s Indonesian children will find themselves having to pick up the slack in the future.

Warief Djajanto Basorie is a contributor to New Naratif, an independent research and journalism publication. He has reported for the domestic KNI News Service in Jakarta 1971-1991 and concurrently was Indonesia correspondent for the Manila-based DEPTHnews Asia (DNA, 1974-1991). DNA is a feature service reporting on development in Asia for Asian media in English and the vernacular. This article is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Indonesian anti-corruption watchdog arrests nine, including House member

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 16, 2018

A masked supporter of Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) holds up a poster declaring “I am KPK” during a 2015 protest in support of the commission. Image: VOA file

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators have arrested nine people during a raid in Jakarta, including a member of the House of Representatives, an expert staffer, a driver and a businessman, reports the Jakarta Post.

The KPK also seized Rp 500 million (US$34,692) as evidence, the newspaper said.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo alleged the evidence confiscated was related to a transaction involving the House’s Commission VII overseeing energy, mineral, research and technology and the environment.

Reports circulated that the lawmaker in question was Eni Saragih, the deputy leader of Commission VII, and that she was arrested in the residence of Social Affairs Minister Idrus Marham. Both are Golkar Party politicians.

Agus said the arrests were conducted of Friday following anonymous tip-offs, reports the Post.

Golkar politician Maman Abdurahman immediately dismissed the report of the arrest, saying that the KPK had merely “picked up” his colleague “ES” from Idrus’ residence while the minister was throwing a birthday party for his youngest child.

-Partners-

Maman was also present at the party.

“I didn’t know what reason the KPK had for picking her up. We should wait for the KPK to release an official statement. I hope she stays strong,” he said in a statement.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Contrasting accounts of Indonesian genocide and betrayal in West Papua

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 16, 2018

BOOK REVIEW: By David Robie

Two damning and contrasting books about Indonesian colonialism in the Pacific, both by activist participants in Europe and New Zealand, have recently been published. Overall, they are excellent exposes of the harsh repression of the Melanesian people of West Papua and a world that has largely closed a blind eye to to human rights violations.

In Papua Blood, Danish photographer Peter Bang provides a deeply personal account of his more than three decades of experience in West Papua that is a testament to the resilience and patience of the people in the face of “slow genocide” with an estimated 500,000 Papuans dying over the past half century.

With See No Evil, Maire Leadbeater, peace movement advocate and spokesperson of West Papua Action Auckland, offers a meticulously researched historical account of New Zealand’s originally supportive stance for the independence aspirations of the Papuan people while still a Dutch colony and then its unprincipled slide into betrayal amid Cold War realpolitik.

Peter Bang’s book features 188 examples of his evocative imagery, providing colourful insights into changing lifestyles in West Papua, ranging through pristine rainforest, waterfalls, villages and urban cityscapes to dramatic scenes of resistance to oppression and the defiant displays of the Morning Star flag of independence.

Some of the most poignant images are photographs of use of the traditional koteka (penis gourds) and traditional attire, which are under threat in some parts of West Papua, and customary life in remote parts of the Highlands and the tree houses of the coastal marshlands.

Besides the photographs, Bang also has a narrative about the various episodes of his life in West Papua.

-Partners-

Never far from his account, are the reflections of life under Indonesian colonialism, and extreme racism displayed towards the Papuan people and their culture and traditions. From the beginning in 1963 when Indonesia under Sukarno wrested control of West Papua from the Dutch with United Nations approval under a sham “Act of Free Choice” against the local people’s wishes, followed by the so-called ‘Transmigrassi’ programme encouraging thousands of Javanese migrants to settle, the Papuans have been treated with repression.

‘Disaster for Papuans’
Bang describes the massive migration of Indonesians to West Papua as “not only a disaster for the Papuan people, but also a catastrophe for the rainforest, eartyn and wildlife” (p. 13).

“Police soldiers conducted frequent punitive expeditions with reference to violation of ‘laws’ that the indigenous people neither understood nor had heard about, partly because of language barriers and the huge cultural difference,’ writes Bang (p. 11). The list of atrocities has been endless.

“There were examples of Papuans who had been captured, and thrown out alive from helicopters, strangled or drowned after being put into plastic bags. Pregnant women killed by bayonets. Prisoners forced to dig their own graves before they were killed.” (p. 12)

A “trophy photo” by an Indonesian soldier from Battalion 753 of a man he had shot from the Lani tribe in 2010. Image from Papua Blood

A book that provided an early impetus while Bang was researching for his involvement in West Papua was Indonesia’s Secret War by journalist Robin Osborne, a former press secretary for Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan, the leader who was later ousted from office because of his bungled Sandline mercenary affair over the Bougainville civil war. Osborne’s book also influenced me when I first began writing about West Papua in the early 1980s.

After travelling through Asia, a young Peter Bang arrived in West Papua in 1986 for his first visit determined to journey to the remote Yali tribe as a photographer and writer interested in indigenous peoples. He wanted to find out how the Yali people had integrated with the outside world since missionaries had first entered the isolated tribal area just 25 years earlier.

When Bang visited the town of Angguruk for the first time, “the only wheels I saw at the mission station were punctured and sat on a wheelbarrow … It was only seven years ago that human flesh had been eaten in the area” (p. 16).

During this early period of jungle trekking, Bang rarely “encountered anything besides kindness – only twice did I experience being threatened with a bow and arrow” (p. 39). The first time was by a “mentally disabled” man confused over Bang’s presence, and he was scolded by the village chief.

Political change
Ten years later, Peter Bang again visited the Yali people and found the political climate had changed in the capital Jayapura – “we saw police and military everywhere” following an incident a few months earlier when OPM (Free Papua Movement) guerrillas had held 11 captives hostage in a cave.

He struck up a friendship with Wimmo, a Dani tribesman and son of a village witchdoctor and healer in the Baliem Valley, that was to endure for years, and he had an adoptive family.

On a return visit, Bang met Tebora, mother of the nine-year-old boy Puwul who was the subject of the author’s earlier book, Puwul’s World. At the age of 29, Puwul had walked barefooted hundreds of kilometres across the mountains from the Jaxólé Valley village to Jayapura, and then escaped across the border into Papua New Guinea. A well-worn copy of Puwul’s World was the only book in the village apart from a single copy of the Bible.

Years later, Bang met tribal leader and freedom fighter Benny Wenda who, with the help of Australian human rights activist and lawyer Jennifer Robinson, was granted asylum in the United Kingdom in 2003: “I felt great sympathy for Benny Wenda’s position on the fight for liberation. By many, he was compared to Nelson Mandela, although he was obviously playing his own ukelele” (p. 81)

A local chief in red sunglasses and bra talks to his people about the dangers of Indonesian administration plans for Okika region. Image: Peter Bang

Wenda and Filip Karma, at the time imprisoned by the Indonesian authorities for 15 years for “raising the Morning Star flag”, were nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

Bang founded the Danish section of the Free West Papua Campaign and launched an activist Facebook page.

One of the book’s amusing and inspirational highlights is his secret “freedom paddle” on the Baliem River when Peter Bang used a yellow inflatable rubber boat and a pocket-sized Morning Star flag to make his own personal protest against Indonesia (p. 123). This was a courageous statement in itself given the continued arrests of journalists in West Papua by the military authorities in spite of the “open” policy of President Joko Widodo.

As a special section, Bang’s book devotes 26 pages to the indigenous people of West Papua, profiling some of the territory’s 300 tribes and their cultural and social systems, such as the Highlands communities of Dani and Yali, and the Asmat, Korowai and Kombai peoples.

Fascinating insight
This book is a fascinating insight into West Papuan life under duress, but would have benefitted with tighter and cleaner copy editing by the English-language volunteer editors. Nevertheless, it is a valuable work with a strong sociopolitical message.

Peter Bang concludes: “Nobody knows what the future holds. In 2018, the Indonesian regime continues the brutal crackdown on the native population of West Papua.”

In contrast to Bang’s authentic narrative of life in West Papua, Maire Leadbeater’s See No Evil book – launched yesterday – is an activist historical account of New Zealand’s shameful record over West Papua, which is just as disgraceful as Wellington’s record on Timor-Leste over 24 years of Indonesian illegal occupation (tempered by a quietly supportive post-independence role).

Surely there is a lesson here. For those New Zealand politicians, officials and conservative journalists who prefer to meekly accept the Indonesian status quo, the East Timor precedent is an indicator that we should be strongly advocating self-determination for the Papuans.

One of the many strengths of Leadbeater’s thoroughly researched book is she exposes the volte-face and hypocrisy of the stance of successive New Zealand governments since Walter Nash and his “united New Guinea” initiative (p. 66).

“A stroke of the pen in the shape of the 1962 New York Agreement, signed by the colonial Dutch and the Indonesian government, sealed the fate of the people of West Papua,” the author notes in her introduction. Prior to this “selling out” of a people arrangement, New Zealand had been a vocal supporter of the Dutch government’s preparations to decolonise the territory.

In fact, the Dutch had done much more to prepare West Papua for independence than Australia had done at that stage for neighbouring Papua New Guinea, which became independent in 1975.

Game changer
Indonesia’s so-called September 30th Movement crisis in 1965 – three years after paratroopers had been dropped on West Papua in a farcical “invasion” – was the game changer. The attempted coup triggered massive anti-communist massacres in Indonesia leading to an estimated 200,000 to 800,000 killings and eventually the seizure of power by General Suharto from the ageing nationalist President Sukarno in 1967 (Adam, 2015).

A West Papua cartoon by Malcolm Evans (who also has a cartoon featured on the book cover) first published by Pacific Journalism Review in 2011. © Malcolm Evans

As Leadbeater notes, the bloodletting opened the door to Western foreign investment and “rich prizes” in West Papua such as the Freeport’s Grasberg gold and copper mine, one of the world’s richest.

“New Zealand politicians and diplomats welcomed Indonesia’s change in direction. Cold War anti-communist fervour trumped sympathy for the victims of the purge; and New Zealand was keen to increase its trade, investment and ties with the ‘new’ Indonesia.” (p. 22)

The first 13 chapters of the book, from “the Pleistocene period” to “Suharto goes but thwarted hope for West Papua”, are a methodical and insightful documentation of “recolonisation” and New Zealand’s changing relationship are an excellent record and useful tool for the advocates of West Papuan independence.

However, the last two contemporary chapters and conclusion, do not quite measure up to the quality of the rest of the book.

For example, a less than two-page section on “Media access” gives short change to the important media role in the West Papuan independence struggle. Leadbeater quite rightly castigates the mainstream New Zealand media for a lack of coverage for such a serious issue. Her explanation for the widespread ignorance about West Papua is simplistic:

“A major reason (setting aside Radio New Zealand’s consistent reporting) is that the issues are seldom covered in the mainstream media. It is a circular problem: lack of direct access results in a dearth of objective and fully rounded reporting; editors fear that material they do receive may be inaccurate or misrepresentative; so a media blackout prevails and editors conflate the resulting limited public debate with a lack of interest.” (p. 233)

Mainstream ‘silence’
Leadbeater points out that the mainstream media coverage of the “pre-internet 1960s did a better job”. Yet she fails to explain why, or credit those contemporary New Zealand journalists who have worked hard to break the mainstream “silence” (Robie, 2017).

She dismisses the courageous and successful groundbreaking attempts by at least two New Zealand media organisations – Māori Television and Radio New Zealand – to “test” President Widodo’s new policy in 2015 by sending crews to West Papua in merely three sentences. Since then, she admits, Indonesia’s media “shutters have mostly stayed shut” (p. 235).

One of the New Zealand journalists who has written extensively on West Papua and Melanesian issues for many years, RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades, is barely mentioned (apart from the RNZ visit to West Papua). Tabloid Jubi editor Victor Mambor, who visited New Zealand in 2014, Paul Bensemann (who travelled to West Papua disguised as a bird watcher in 2013), Scoop’s Gordon Campbell, Television New Zealand’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and Tere Harrison’s 2016 short documentary Run It Straight are just a few of those who have contributed to growing awareness of Papuan issues in this country who have not been given fair acknowledgement.

Also important has been the role of the alternative and independent New Zealand and Pacific media, such as Asia Pacific Report, Pacific Scoop (both via the Pacific Media Centre), West Papua Media and Evening Report that have provided relentless coverage of West Papua. Other community and activist groups deserve honourable mentions.

Even in my own case, a journalist and educator who has written on West Papuan affairs for more than three decades with countless articles and who wrote the first New Zealand book with an extensive section on the West Papuan struggle (Robie, 1989), there is a remarkable silence.

One has a strong impression that Leadbeater is reluctant to acknowledge her contemporaries (a characteristic of her previous books too) and thus the selective sourcing weakens her work as it relates to the millennial years.

The early history of the West Papuan agony is exemplary, but in view of the flawed final two chapters I look forward to another more nuanced account of the contemporary struggle. Merdeka!

David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre and editor of Pacific Journalism Review. He was awarded the 1983 NZ Media Peace Prize for his coverage of Timor-Leste and West Papua, “Blood on our hands”, published in New Outlook magazine.

Papua Blood: A Photographer’s Eyewitness Account of West Papua Over 30 Years, by Peter Bang. Copenhagen, Denmark: Remote Frontlines, 2018. 248 pages. ISBN 9788743001010.
See No Evil: New Zealand’s Betrayal of the People of West Papua, by Maire Leadbeater. Dunedin, NZ: Otago University Press, 2018. 310 pages. ISBN 9781988531212.

References
Adam, A. W. (2015, October 1). How Indonesia’s 1965-1966 anti-communist purge remade a nation and the world. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-indonesias-1965-1966-anti-communist-purge-remade-a-nation-and-the-world-48243

Bang, P. (1996). Duianya Puwul. [English edition (2018): Puwul’s World: Endangered native people]. Copenhagen, Denmark: Remote Frontlines.

Osborne, R. (1985). Indonesia’s secret war: The guerilla struggle in Irian Jaya. Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Robie, D. (1989). Blood on their banner: Nationalist struggles in the South Pacific. London, UK: Zed Books.

Robie, D. (2017). Tanah Papua, Asia-Pacific news blind spots and citizen media: From the ‘Act of Free Choice’ betrayal to a social media revolution. Pacific Journalism Review : Te Koakoa, 23(2), 159-178. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v23i2.334

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Freeport’s $3.8b divestment mine deal – what it actually means

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 15, 2018

By Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman in Jakarta

Four Indonesian ministers gathered to witness the signing of an agreement between state-owned mining holding group PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) and Freeport-McMoran (FCX) to take over Papua’s PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in complex deals worth $3.85 billion.

Under the agreement, Indonesia will take control of 51 percent of Freeport Indonesia’s equity, and hold a majority stake in the company that operates the world’s largest gold mine, Grasberg in Papua.

The signing was the culmination of years of negotiations, preceding the current administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and a tug-of-war between Indonesia and the American company.

The presence of four ministers at the signing was an indication of the economic and political importance of the deal to the Jokowi administration. But it is not yet a done deal, as officials have liked to claim.

The agreement requires the two parties to conduct further negotiations to finalise the details of the divestment. The government expects to finish ironing out the details sometime in August.

Freeport’s footprint in Indonesia
Here is your guide to understanding the seemingly never-ending negotiations, and why it matters for Indonesia to cement the deal as soon as possible:

Freeport-McMoran has operated in Indonesia since it signed its first contract in 1967 in a deal that was good for 30 years. In 1997, it received an extension for its operation until 2021. The two contracts in essence covered mining for copper, with gold and silver treated as associated resources found alongside copper ores.
Both contracts were signed during the regime of president Suharto. The first contract in 1967 was widely hailed as a landmark moment, symbolising the ushering in of Indonesia’s open-door policy to foreign investment under the pro-Western General Suharto, who had just taken over power from the socialist-leaning Sukarno a year earlier.
Developing the mines deep in the mountainous jungles of Papua required huge initial investment to build core infrastructure, including roads, housing and power plants, as well as preparing the pool of workers. In return for this investment, Freeport received generous tax breaks.

-Partners-

Freeport’s first phase of operations exploited the Ertsberg Mountain in Mimika regency. Once the mountain was flattened, Freeport turned to mining the adjacent Mt Grasberg, which turned out to contain even larger reserves. Freeport is looking to mine the large gold reserves underground, assuming the latest agreement holds.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that the reserves at the world’s biggest gold deposit and second-largest copper mine are worth about $14 billion.

Freeport-MacMoran’s operations in Indonesia accounted for 47 percent of its operating income in 2017, according to Bloomberg.

Freeport’s huge profits have been a source of contention with long-standing criticism that the tax and royalty revenues paid to the Indonesian government represent only a pittance of its true income.

Indonesia’s 9.36 percent stake in PTFI, as stipulated in the 1991 contract of work (CoW), also does not amount to much, particularly as Freeport has at times withheld paying dividends.

For example, PTFI paid Rp 1.4 trillion in dividends in 2017 after three years of failing to make any payments, according to the Finance Ministry.

Freeport has also attracted controversy for the environmental and social impacts of its operations in the heart of Papua.

Last year, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) came out with a damning report claiming that Freeport had caused $13 billion in environmental damages.

Wind of change for Freeport
In 2009, Indonesia passed the Coal and Mineral Mining Law, or Law No. 4/2009. The law requires all foreign mining companies to divest 51 percent of their shares to the Indonesian government, state-owned or regional-owned enterprises or private Indonesian companies within 10 years of the start of operation.

Freeport has managed to work its way around the regulation by indicating that it is operating under a CoW, which is good until 2021.

In January 2017, the government issued a new regulation requiring all mining contracting companies to switch to special mining permits (IUPK) in order to export products in the form of concentrates, which is one step above ore but still not refined.

Freeport refused to fully comply, arguing that the IUPK was not a nailed-down scheme because the stipulations, including the taxation scheme, could change according to changes in government regulations.

In February 2017, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry issued PTFI an IUPK saying the company had finally agreed to the terms, paving the way for the divestment deal signed on Thursday.

Series of agreements
In August 2017, following pressure from the government to divest its shares in PTFI, Freeport-McMoran’s top management agreed to increase Indonesia’s share in PTFI to 51 percent, as well as to develop a smelter and increase Indonesia’s revenue from PTFI’s tax and royalty payments.

The Indonesian government chose state mining holding company Inalum to become the majority shareholder in PTFI.

However, questions remain regarding the price tag and how Inalum will pay for its stake in Freeport. Inalum president director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Thursday that the company would have to pay $3.85 billion in August and that it had already secured loans from 11 banks.

What are the benefits of majority ownership in Freeport?

Bisman Bakhtiar, the executive director of the Center for Energy and Mining Law (Pushep), said it was time for Indonesia to take control over the huge gold reserves in Papua, as 50 years had passed since PTFI began operations.

“Too much of our resources have been exploited. Surely after 50 years, we have the capability to operate it ourselves,” Bisman said.

Indonesia will reap the largest share of the profits and dividends, which in the past had almost entirely gone to PTFI. The government will also continue to enjoy taxes, royalties as well as a cut of the revenue.

“There are many ways to maximise the benefits from PTFI for the people, and divestment is one of them,” he said.

However, Bisman urged the government to ensure that Indonesia benefited from the next phase of negotiations to finalise the divestment deal.

“Even though we will finally become the majority owner in August, we need to look at the tax, royalty and revenue sharing arrangements. Are they better or not?”

Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman is a journalist with The Jakarta Post.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Five Palestinians cheering for France at the World Cup 20 years on

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 15, 2018

French football fans hold a minute of silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the November 13 Paris attacks ahead of the 2018 World Cup group A qualifying football match between France and Sweden at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on November 11, 2016. Images: FIFA.com

By Marwan Bishara

Twenty years ago, I was asked by the General Council of the Parisian suburb Seine-Saint-Denis to invite four Palestinian youth to attend the World Cup in France and to organise their visit.

At the time, football was the last thing on my mind. I was finishing my doctorate in France, doing my research on Israel/Palestine and, in between, participating actively in human rights campaigns.

But then, this wasn’t just about football and the World Cup. It was also about an act of solidarity and fraternity that French progressives wanted to undertake.

So, I accepted the mission, only to realise that this would turn into an experience of a lifetime for me and for the lucky four who made it from Palestine to Paris.

In order to pick the four young Palestinians, I ran a lottery in a weekly newspaper called, Fasl Al Maqal, published in Nazareth but distributed throughout Palestine. I ended up with four lucky winners from the Galilee, the West Bank and Gaza.

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The French consulate in Jerusalem was just as excited as we were and issued the visas rather swiftly to enter France. That was the easy part. Leaving Israeli-controlled Palestine was another matter.

At every checkpoint we had to pass, we were stopped and questioned. At Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, it was even worse.

More harassment
Once the security officers heard where we were going and what we were going for, their jealousy transformed into more questioning and harassment.

The winner from Gaza was not let in on the flight. The poor guy had to turn back, go to Rafah, cross into Egypt and fly to Paris from Cairo. He, too, made it in the end, albeit a bit late.

Once in France, we were accommodated in a youth facility in a suburb west of Paris along with youth from France and elsewhere. As my Palestinian companions kicked around the ball with their French peers, their only common language was football and that’s all they needed to communicate.

When we made it to the Stade de France stadium, located in Seine-Saint-Denis, for the semi-finals between France and Croatia, to our surprise, we found out that all five of us were in fact VIP guests at the council’s special suite.

It is difficult to describe the scene of four young men who had never been outside their camp, town or homeland being introduced to Parisian elegance.

Imagine, young Palestinians in jeans and sneakers and with a big passion for football walking into the VIP lounge of Stade de France and mingling with the French elites and international celebrities.

Imagine them strolling across the lounge, past beautiful hostesses, and onto the open balcony that overlooked the pitch where 22 football superstars were lining up to the cheers of 80,000 fans.

Best French cuisine
And that wasn’t all, for me at least: The menu featured the best of French cuisine and wines. As the guys cheered, I ate.

When the match started, one of the Palestinians whispered in my ear: “Isn’t this just a perfect place to plant a Palestinian flag?” And it was. One of them had brought a small flag along just in case so we put it up.

Our French hosts were generous and gracious with the Palestinian boys. And the most excited and passionate among them was a progressive French Jew. He was also the funniest. This added yet another twist to our journey, for until that moment a couple of my travel companions had never met a Jew who wasn’t a soldier or a settler.

And here they were – on an exciting trip, watching a World Cup match, in an amazing city, at a spectacular stadium, hanging out with wonderful people.

Oh, and what a match it was! France beat Croatia 2-1 in a thrilling 90 minutes!

It was our win too. It was heaven on earth. There was no fear, no hate, just bonheur.

And it went on. Three days later, on July 11 we went to the playoff for the third place at the Parc des Princes stadium where Croatia beat the Netherlands.

Back to reality
After that match, the reality came back to the Palestinian four, as we began to prepare for the departure. One or two began to wonder why they had to leave, or more accurately, how they could go back, how they could live a normal life after all they had seen.

But this wasn’t going to be the end of the wonderful trip. I had a surprise for them: We were going to the World Cup final! We were going to see France and Brazil play. They just couldn’t believe it.

My ticket from the 1998 World Cup final between France and Brazil. Image: Marwan Bishara/Al Jazeera

July 12 was an unforgettable day. The match was exciting. Zinedine Zidan scored twice, France won 3-0. But it seemed the sweetest victory that that day belonged to my young Palestinian companions. They saw it all and they were going to tell and retell that story for decades to come.

After the game, we went to Champs Elysees to celebrate along with thousands of French fans until the early hours of the morning. One of us even got a French kiss.

When in Paris, you kiss and tell. And what happens at the World Cup doesn’t stay at the World Cup.

Now there was an urgent need to go home and tell the story about a dream come through.

I think about these young men and those glorious days every four years when the World Cup kicks off. And I bet, these four Palestinians, who are now grown-up middle-aged men, will be rooting for Les Bleus today, just like I will.

Dr Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. This article is republished with the author’s permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Nauru, Fiji and Pacific Facebook gags criticised in Asia-Pacific media freedom summit

By David Robie -

July 14, 2018

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – [embedded content]
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire talks about the global threat against journalists.
Video: Café Pacific

By David Robie in Paris
WHEN Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire introduced the Paris-based global media watchdog’s Asia-Pacific press freedom defenders to his overview last week, it was grim listening.

First up in RSF’s catalogue of crimes and threats against the global media was Czech President Miloš Zeman’s macabre press conference stunt late last year.

However, Zeman’s sick joke angered the media when he brandished a dummy Kalashnikov AK47 with the words “for journalists” carved into the wood stock at the October press conference in Prague and with a bottle of alcohol attached instead of an ammunition clip.

RSF’s Christophe Deloire talks of the Czech President’s anti-journalists gun “joke”.
Image: David Robie/PMC

Zeman has never been cosy with journalists but this gun stunt and a recent threat about “liquidating” journalists (another joke?) rank him alongside US President Donald Trump and the Philippines leader, Rodrigo Duterte, for their alleged hate speech against the media.

Deloire cited the Zeman incident to highlight global and Asia-Pacific political threats against the media. He pointed out that the threat came just a week after leading Maltese investigative journalist – widely dubbed as the “one-woman Wikileaks” – was killed in a car bomb blast.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated outside her home in Bidnija on 16 October 2017 after exposing Maltese links in the Panama Papers and her relentless corruption inquiries implicated her country’s prime minister and other key politicians.

Although arrests have been made and three men face trial for her killing, RSF recently published a statement calling for “full justice’” – including prosecution of those behind the murder.

Harshly critical
While noting the positive response by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the journalists’ safety initiative by RSF and other media freedom bodies, Deloire was harshly critical of many political leaders, including Philippines President Duterte, over their attitude towards crimes with impunity against journalists.

In the Philippines, for example, there is still no justice for the 32 journalists brutally slain – along with 26 other victims – on 23 November 2009 by a local warlord’s militia in to so-called Ampatuan massacre, an unsuccessful bid to retain political power for their boss in national elections due the following year.

Rappler published a report last year updating the painfully slow progress in the investigations and concluded that “eight years and three presidential administrations later, no convictions have been made”.

Ironically, Rappler itself – hated by President Dutertre – has also been the subject of an RSF campaign in an effort to block the administration’s cynical and ruthless attempt to close down the most dynamic and successful online publication in the Philippines (133rd in the RSF World Media Freedom Index – a drop of six places).

NUJP’s Jhoanna Ballaran … worrying situation
in the Philippines. Image: David Robie/PMC

Founded by ex-CNN investigative journalist Maria Ressa, Rappler has continued to challenge the government, described by RSF last year as the “most dangerous” country for journalists in Asia.
Duterte’s continuous attacks against the media were primarily responsible for the downward trend for the Philippines in the latest RSF Index, with RSF saying: “The dynamism of the media has also been checked by athe emergence of a leader who wants to show he is all powerful.”

The media watchdog also stressed that the Duterte administration had “developed several methods for pressuring and silencing journalists who criticise his notorious war on drugs”.

Test case
The revocation of Rappler’s licence by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is regarded as a test case for media freedom in the Philippines.

The RSF consultation with some of its Asia-Pacific researchers and advocates in the field has followed a similar successful one in South America. It is believed that this is the first time the watchdog has hosted such an Asia Pacific-wide event.

Twenty three correspondents from 17 countries or territories — Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Hongkong, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Tibet — took part in the consultation plus a team of Paris-based RSF advocates.

Asia Pacific head Daniel Bastard says the consultation is part of a new strategy making better use of the correspondents’ network to make the impact of advocacy work faster and even more effectively than in the past.

Curtin University’s Associate Professor Joseph Fernandez …
keeping tabs on Australia’s media freedom.
Image: David Robie/PMC

The Pacific delegation – Associate Professor Joseph Fernandez, a journalist and media law academic who is head oif journalism at Curtin University of Australia (19th on the RSF Index), AUT Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie of New Zealand (8th) and former PNG Post-Courier chief executive and media consultant Bob Howarth of Papua New Guinea (53rd) – made lively interventions even though most media freedom issues “pale into insignificance” compared with many countries in the region where journalists are regularly killed or persecuted.

Nauru’s controversial ban on the ABC from covering the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) this September was soundly condemned and the draconian 2010 Media Industry Development Decree in Fiji (57th) and efforts by Pacific governments to introduce the repressive “China model” to curb the independence of Facebook and other social media were also strongly criticised. (Nauru is unranked and China is 176th, four places above the worst country – North Korea at 180th).

Media highlights
Highlights of the three-day consultation included a visit to the multimedia Agence France-Presse, one of the world’s “big two” news agencies, and workshops on online security and sources protection and gender issues.

RSF’s Asia-Pacific head Daniel Bastard (left) and his colleague
Myriam Sni (right) with some of the Pacific and Southeast Asian
press defenders. Image: RSF

No sooner had the consultation ended when RSF was on the ball with another protest over two detained local journalists in Myanmar working for Reuters news agency.

An RSF statement condemned Monday’s decision by a Yangon judge to go ahead with the trial of the journalists on a trumped up charge of possessing secrets and again demanded their immediate release.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have already been detained for more than 200 days with months of preliminary hearings.

They now face a possible 14-year prison sentence for investigating an army massacre of Rohingya civilians in Inn Din, a village near the Bangladeshi border in Rakhine state, in September 2017.

RSF secretary-general Deloire says: “The refusal to dismiss the case against the journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo is indicative of a judicial system that follows orders and a failed transition to democracy in Myanmar.”

The chances of seeing an independent press emerge in Myanmar have now “declined significantly”.

The Pacific Media Centre’s David Robie was in Paris for the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific consultation. Dr Robie is also convenor of PMC’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

This article was first published on Café Pacific.]]>

Protests gather force over Nauru ban on ABC from Pacific Forum

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 14, 2018

ABC ban … “The Nauruan government should not be allowed to dictate who fills the positions in an Australian media pool.” Image: David Robie/PMC

By Mong Palatino

Protests have been gathering force over the Nauru government ban on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from entering the country to cover the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit in September.

Nauru accused ABC, which is Australia’s public broadcaster, of biased and false reporting.

The summit is an annual gathering of Oceania’s heads of state, where important matters concerning the region are addressed.

Nauru … restricted media access because of “very limited accommodation”. Image: LoopNauru

On July 2, 2018, the Nauru government issued a statement restricting the number of people who can attend the summit because of “very limited accommodation.” But it singled out ABC and explained why it banned the broadcaster:

…no representative from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation will be granted a visa to enter Nauru under any circumstances, due to this organisation’s blatant interference in Nauru’s domestic politics prior to the 2016 election, harassment of and lack of respect towards our President in Australia, false and defamatory allegations against members of our Government, and continued biased and false reporting about our country. It is our right, as it is the right of every nation, to choose who is allowed to enter.

-Partners-

ABC aired a documentary in 2016 alleging torture and child abuse linked to Australian government’s offshore asylum-seeker processing centers, which are managed by Nauru. It also published a report which alleged that Nauru’s president and some of his ministers received bribery from an Australian phosphate dealer.

Nauru condemned both reports as “racist” and “biased political propaganda”.

The small island nation was a mining site for several decades until phosphate deposits were exhausted in the 1980s. It received aid from Australia and hosted an Australian immigration detention facility.

ABC news director Gaven Morris criticised the decision of Nauru:

The Nauruan Government should not be allowed to dictate who fills the positions in an Australian media pool.

It can hardly claim it is “welcoming the media” if it dictates who that media will be and bans Australia’s public broadcaster.

The Nauru government quickly responded by describing the ABC statement as “arrogant, disrespectful and a further example of the sense of entitlement shown by this activist media organisation.” It added:

We remind the ABC that we – like Australia – have every right to refuse a visa to any person or organisation that we believe is not of good character, and that entry into our country is a privilege not a right. The Australian media do not decide who enters Nauru.

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Nauru’s decision was “regrettable” but refused to intervene on behalf of ABC.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, an Australian network of media workers, said the government should pursue the issue with Nauru officials:

This is an attack on press freedom that our government needs to condemn in the strongest possible terms. Recognising the sovereignty of another nation does not extend to accepting they have the right to prevent free and open reporting.

Australia’s Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery threatened to boycott the event in Nauru:

If the ban is not reversed, the media pool will be disbanded. If one cannot go, none will go.

We oppose the Nauru edict because it is wrong in this instance and because it sets a dangerous precedent. What other Australians might be banned from a similar group by another government in future? We stand for a free press, not a banned one.

Red Ink of Australia’s Nine Network expressed support to ABC:

ABC is our competitor, and a tough one at that, but there is something bigger at stake here than beating a rival.

The ABC ban was also denounced by other media groups in the region. The New Zealand Parliamentary Press Gallery said:

This decision follows already restrictive conditions, limiting the number of journalists who can attend this important regional summit. While infrastructure constrains play a role in limited pooling numbers, we are appalled by this attempt to control media coverage.

Dan McGarry, the media director of Vanuatu Daily Post, explained why the newspaper will not be sending a delegate to Nauru in September:

I instructed the Daily Post’s editor to withdraw our reporter from the Vanuatu media delegation allotted to covering this event.

This isn’t a self-righteous, moralising action. It’s a survival tactic. If we allow ourselves to get into a situation where our ability to report is predicated on how positive our coverage is, then we can’t do our job.

Pacific Island News Association urged Nauru to reconsider its decision to promote media diversity:

The Pacific is on display and can be proud of its media diversity and efforts to strengthen our communities through dialogue and communication.

The International Federation of Journalists said Nauru had set a dangerous precedent:

Governments, leaders and politicians must remember the role of the media, and not use their powers to control and stifle press freedom. The Nauru government is setting a dangerous precedent by barring ABC journalists’ from covering the Pacific Island Forum.

The September event hosted by Nauru is the 49th Pacific Islands Forum.

Pacific Media Watch reports that the New Zealand-based Pacific Media Centre condemned the selective ban by the Nauru government in what it said was an authoritarian affront to media freedom in the region.

Director Professor David Robie, who also criticised Australian hypocrisy over Pacific media freedom, said:

Clearly the Nauru government is determined to gag any independent efforts to speak truth to power …

This is shocking and painfully obvious that Australia has much to hide in the region just like the Nauru government.

Nauru is unranked in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index. However, the Nauru ban was criticised at an RSF Asia-Pacific media freedom summit in Paris last week.

Mong Palatino is an activist contributor to Global Voices and a two-term congressman in the Philippine House of Representatives. He blogs at Mongster’s Nest. This article is republished from Global Voices under a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

]]>

Pacific Media Centre condemns ‘flagrant’ Nauru ban on ABC at Forum

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 14, 2018

The New Zealand-based Pacific Media Centre has condemned the selective ban by the Nauru government in what it says is an authoritarian affront to media freedom in the region.

“Clearly the Nauru government is determined to gag any independent efforts to speak truth to power,” said director Professor David Robie.

“The fact that the ABC has gained Nauru’s displeasure is because the public broadcaster has exposed outrageous human rights violations in the Australian-established detention centre for asylum seekers and aired allegations of corruption on a higher level than many other media.”

To accuse the ABC of “biased and false reporting” when the Australian public broadcaster had by far one of the best and most comprehensive coverage of the South Pacific was disingenuous, he said.

Dr Robie also criticised the hypocrisy of the Australian government and the silence of other Forum member countries.

“Australia has spent large sums of money in journalism training in an effort to raise standards and strengthen the quality of independent media in the past two decades and yet stands meekly by in the face of this flagrant violation of media freedom.

“This is shocking and painfully obvious that Australia has much to hide in the region just like the Nauru government.”

The PMC director called on Nauru authorities to review its decision and rescind it.

Republic of Nauru’s media statement

Nauru government’s move ‘disgraceful’

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Why Gareth Morgan’s TOP failed

By Bryce Edwards -

July 13, 2018

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Why Gareth Morgan’s TOP failed

[caption id="attachment_13635" align="alignright" width="150"]

Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption] There was always a big problem with The Opportunities Party – no one really knew what it stood for, and no one really knew what type of voters it was appealing to. Yes, it claimed to exist to promote “evidence-based policies”, but to some extent all parties say this and it’s simply not a compelling enough reason for voters.

In terms of its target voter, TOP itself didn’t seem to know who it was trying to appeal to. Even Gareth Morgan seems to admit today on Twitter that he and deputy leader, Geoff Simmons, differed in who they were focused on: “Geoff’s interest was always only in millennials, the children of the urban property-owning elite who hang out at universities. Mine is more in working class people who are underpaid while the urban elite is protected from the tax break on income from owner occupied property”. The bigger problem was that many conservatives saw the party as politically “liberal” and many liberals saw the party as “conservative” – partly because it tried to be all things to all people, and hence failed to be anything very clear at all. Or as Liam Hehir puts it, TOP was “Too woke for talkback town, too talkback for woke town” – see: TOP, we hardly knew ye. Hehir elaborates on this liberal-conservative confusion: “What was TOP’s constituency? Where was its power base? It was a populist movement whose leader displayed disdain for the stupidity of common voters. It was an anti-establishment party that was going to rise up against the entrenched way of doing things from its base in, er, bureaucratic Wellington. It railed against personality driven politics while earning free media on the basis of celebrity.” This ideological confusion was there, Hehir says, from its very first day: “The muddled waywardness of TOP was there at its inception. Immediately following his announcement of the party, Morgan compared himself to Donald Trump. Then he took that back and said distanced himself from Trump. Finally, he said he was a bit like Trump. This was all at the same press conference, by the way.” Perhaps the lesson is that TOP was attempting to be a populist party in a country where there is currently little appetite for any sort of anti-Establishment political movement. This is the message of Giovanni Tiso’s blog post, Don’t let the garage door hit you. Tiso explains that the modus operandi of Morgan: “was to follow the playbook of the likes of Berlusconi, Trump and other contemporary populists. Beginning with chapter one, which instructs to seek controversy, always, in order to monopolise the news cycles and bamboozle the political debate.” However, the problem is those voters who might be interested in such a populist message seem to have departed from active participation in the political system: “the victims of our economic system are also largely excluded from the democratic process: so populists simply have no-one to appeal to – at least no-one who can be relied upon to vote. These are the very same conditions that stand in the way of genuine progressive alternatives.” Credit is given by Tiso for TOP’s taxation policies: “TOP was the only party that sought to shift the balance of taxation away from wages and towards capital, including capital tied in real estate. That Labour and the Greens have abandoned any serious attempt to shift this burden – or even admit, in the face of record level of unaffordability, that lower house prices may be a good thing – is one of the New Zealand left’s most enduring shames. And if there is a useful challenge to carry forward from TOP’s failed experiment, it should probably be this.” Tiso also criticises Morgan for simply not having the patience to progress his policies, which is what is normally required by new political formations. This is also the main point made by blogger No Right Turn, who says “Morgan’s biggest problem is that he is impatient” – see: TOP and the politics of impatience. No Right Turn makes the argument that other small parties like the Greens have played the long-game, and have ultimately been successful in bringing about some major changes. Here’s his main point: “Building consensus behind policy and changing political priorities requires time and patience. It requires convincing people. Morgan didn’t have patience, either for the process or with the people he was trying to convince. And that is why he was doomed to failure.” Claire Trevett’s obituary for TOP makes a similar point, saying the party “stood a chance of getting somewhere had it persisted. It was no mean feat getting to 2.4 per cent less than a year after setting up and in an election in which support for the smaller parties was squeezed by the juggernauts. Parties generally build over time unless there is a lightning rod issue to elevate them” – see: The slow, sad demise of Gareth Morgan’s TOP. [caption id="attachment_16685" align="alignleft" width="253"]

Gareth Morgan, leader of The Opportunities Party (TOP). Image sourced from Wikipedia.org.[/caption] Morgan himself is aware of this problem and seems aware of his own impatience, saying, “to change the voting public’s political priorities requires a massive investment of time – time that individuals who have other options might more productively apply on other projects” – see his interview with Duncan Greive: ‘I enjoyed pissing off the flakes and groupies’: Gareth Morgan on TOP, RIP. The same interview has plenty of other nuggets from Morgan on why the party failed. For example: “Our market research analysis indicates that policy is of minor interest to all but a small subset of the voting public, that in essence there is a massive Establishment party inertia, which in part explains why the policy differences between Labour and National are so minor, even trivial. The way I’d express all that is that the electorate is too fat, content and complacent to respond to radical policy change”. Morgan also explains some of the decision-making that led to him calling it quits, essentially saying that the party failed to find a new leader to replace him. This point is elaborated on by Sean Plunket in an opinion piece yesterday: “Since the election Morgan has attempted in several different ways to transition the party from the perceived rich man’s hobby to a more sustainable and less dictatorial organisation. A new high-profile leader was recruited, and work was proceeding to launch him and TOP.2 early next year. It was that individual’s decision to pull out of the role, made for totally justified personal reasons, that was the final nail in TOP’s coffin” – see: Is The Opportunities Party over? Presumably, the new leader who was supposed to take over from Morgan was Lance O’Sullivan. Plunket also announces that he’s very keen to keep TOP going, lamenting that Morgan has unilaterally killed off the party: “If TOP had any semblance of membership-driven authority that wouldn’t have been his decision to make alone. Those who were inspired and motivated by the type of politics TOP sought to promote now have a clear choice. They can revert to picking from the established political players and cynically write-off TOP as the cat man’s pet project, or pick up the torch and give it another crack.” Deputy leader Geoff Simmons has today published his own account of the party’s demise, and also seems interested in keeping the project alive: “A new party was never going to immediately upset the cosy grip of the Labour/National cartel over our parliament like Gareth wanted to. It is pretty clear that was an unrealistic goal, given that two thirds of NZers vote pretty much automatically for the same party every time. This is frustrating because those two parties are actually the closest to one another on policy. Breaking this cosy cartel is a very long term game and will probably require some kind of crisis to break established patterns. However, we learned that making an impact and coming close to getting into Parliament is doable. Now we just need to build on that” – see: What I learned from Gareth Morgan and the TOP adventure. Simmons sees major change is likely to occur in New Zealand politics and society: “Given the global trends, it looks like some sort of policy revolution is inevitable. The current system isn’t working. The only question is whether it we can make it a revolution for good, or let it descend into a Trump-style kickback that makes things worse.” There seems to be a consensus that TOP’s demise is another warning sign that the New Zealand party system is in danger of getting too small. As No Right Turn says, “it means we’ll be down to only 12 registered political parties (and only 5 in Parliament). Which isn’t a lot of options for voters to choose from. One way of measuring the health of a democracy is by the number of registered political parties. And on that metric, ours seems to be in slow decline” – see: TOP-less. This issue is examined in much more detail in Claire Trevett’s column (The slow, sad demise of Gareth Morgan’s TOP), which outlines all of the other small parties on the “scrap heap”. She laments that New Zealand voters are less interested in ideological diversity: “In New Zealand the diet is more restricted, perhaps by common sense or indifference as much as population size. But the diet is at risk of getting too bland if fringe parties fall by the wayside completely and NZ First or the Greens suffer the same fate as other minor parties have in government. Should the pool of parties shrink further, there will inevitably be calls to revisit the 5 per cent threshold required to get into Parliament.” But perhaps it’s simply a problem with “parties set up by moguls”, says Peter Dunne, who catalogues all the other parties led by business people that have failed to last, concluding: “The common threads of all these moves are that political parties formed and funded by wealthy business leaders do not last, because those who form them quickly lose enthusiasm for the vehicle they have established and invested so much of their own capital in when they fail to get a sufficient return at the next election. The art of politics is, after all, vastly different from the world of the business takeover, and success in business is no assurance of success in politics” – see: Another National ‘mate’ burns out. Some similar points are made by Brigitte Morten, who says that “vanity parties” are inherently unstable and unable to sufficiently incorporate their supporters: “Vanity parties generally start with a bang and fizzle out quickly. This is because there are not solid foundations to the party. A wealthy or charismatic leader starts a party based on their own view of the world, it does not come from a group of people with a shared view of the world. People generally join political parties because they want to be heard, want to have a say on policy and want to have a sense of ownership of making it better. A party built around a dominant central figure – like Gareth Morgan – fail to provide people in the long term with that ability” – see: TOP demise shows fate of vanity parties. There is now some attention being focused on what future political parties might arise, and where TOP’s supporters might go – see Alex Braae’s With TOP gone, where will the protest vote go next? And some of the existing political parties will be keen on soaking up some of that 2.4 per cent TOP vote – see Sophie Bateman’s David Seymour appeals to Opportunities Party voters while holding cats. Finally, one of the potentially bright lights that has come of the demise of TOP is a new think tank set up by a number of former party candidates, such as Jenny Condie and Jessica Hammond – you can find out more at their Civic website and their Facebook page.]]>

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 13 2018

By Bryce Edwards -

July 13, 2018

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 13 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. [caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.[/caption] Nurses’ strike RNZ: Nurses strike: ‘That is the offer’ – David Clark Press Editorial: Nurses’ strike over staffing levels, pay and priorities Herald: Acting PM Winston Peters to striking nurses: Offer is as good as it gets Catherine Groenestein (Stuff): No more cash for nurses, Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says RNZ: DHBs consider final recommendations on offer to nurses Anneke Smith (RNZ): Nurses set to return to work as national strike ends Point of Order: Why striking nurses expect more from Labour Ministers Katarina Williams and Thomas Manch (Stuff): Doctors acknowledge ‘heightened risk’ of patients deteriorating overnight during nurses’ strike Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): ‘Crazy’: Palmerston North Hospital safer on the day of strike, nurses say Melissa Nightingale (Herald): District Health Boards coping well despite nurses’ strike Katarina Williams and Thomas Manch (Stuff): More staff and volunteers than planned arrive at hospitals Zane Small and Cleo Fraser (Newshub): Nurses’ strike: Volunteer surge has kept hospitals functioning – DHBs RNZ: Nationwide strike: ‘There are no nurses to fill gaps’ ODT: Blunder as staff not told of cancellations Waikato Times: Nurses make their views known as hundreds protest outside Waikato Hospital Stuff: Striking nurses: ‘This isn’t just about the money’ Stuff: Nurses striking across the country Stuff: Nurses on strike: NZ, this is what you don’t see Stuff: This is why I can’t take part in the nurses’ strike Stuff: How a brutal assault made one nurse leave mental health nursing Matthew Rosenberg (North Shore Times): ‘Not about money’: Nurses picket outside North Shore Hospital during strike Blanton Smith (Stuff): Taranaki nurses take part in national strike Jennifer Eder and Matt Brown (Stuff): Greedy or amazing? For and against the nurses strike in Blenheim Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Striking Timaru nurse says job pressures are ‘intolerable’ Mike Houlahan (ODT): Nurses turn out in force for strike Michael Neilson (Herald): ‘Just pay them more’: Young Auckland woman’s plea after surgery postponed due to strike Janika ter Ellen (Newshub): Patient supporting nurses’ strike despite searing pain, surgery delay Newshub: Kiwi calls nurses ‘invaluable’ despite having cancer surgery postponed Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): ‘Be fair to those who care’: New Zealand hospitals in chaos as 30,000 nurses strike Environment and conservation Blanton Smith (Stuff): Govt quietly grants mining exploration permit inside Māui dolphin sanctuary Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Minister wouldn’t have signed off on Taranaki seabed mining permit Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Government’s shock mining exploration permit in Māui dolphin sanctuary Patrick Gower (Newshub): Exclusive: 1080 dumpsite uncovered in Stewart Island national park Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Consultation on 1080 drop near Taupō inadequate, Waikato Regional councillor says David Williams (Newsroom): DOC’s culture wars revealed Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): How do we decide which endangered species to save? Jake McKee Cagney (Stuff): Coromandel groups lobby Government to extend mining ban Te Aroha Tess Brunton RNZ): Multi-million dollar complex plan in Fiordland National Park creates tension Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Carbon neutral goal reliant on electric cars – Govt Rob Maetzig (Stuff): Fuel for thought as average emissions continue to drop Andrew McRae (RNZ): NZ businesses sign up to action against climate change Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Sixty major NZ companies make climate change pledge Rohan MacMahon (Newsroom): Let’s make tech work against climate change Matthew Rosenberg (Stuff): World heritage status for Auckland volcanoes? One councillor is ‘optimistic’ Annette Lambly (Stuff): DOC proposes to close 24 tracks to protect kauri Anneke Smith (RNZ): Northland iwi insist threatened kauri Tāne Mahuta in safe hands Newshub: Retail New Zealand says Government should set standards of plastic bags Emma Hurley (Newshub): Too much confusion about plastics recycling in New Zealand – Commissioner Leith Huffadine (Stuff): Plastic confusion: All you need to know about biodegradable and compostable plastics Kate Gudsell (RNZ): A ‘bewildering array of claims’ about biodegradable plastics 1News: Niue to ban single-use plastic bags Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Not hard to be cynical about recycling Collette Devlin (Dominion Post): If Wellington’s whale is gone, the Matariki fireworks are on Justice and police Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom):Navigating a justice minefield Jo Moir (RNZ): Advisory head pleas for evidence-based approach on crime and justice Claire Trevett (Herald): Former National Party MP Chester Borrows says politicians should not to cave to ‘hard on crime’ line Herald: Former National MP Chester Borrows to head justice reform group Andrea Vance (Stuff): Government appoints another panel: To review justice system Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Andrew Little kicks off ‘real change’ to the justice system Māori TV: First steps in fixing ‘broken’ criminal justice system announced Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Youth voice important for Justice reforms – lawyer James Oleson (Newsroom): NZ judges reject confines of three strike straightjacket John Cousins (Bay of Plenty Times): Sexual assault counsellor has misgivings over paedophile information reward Chelsea Boyle (Herald): Nash says new iwi community justice panel not a soft option Stuff: ‘Real dangers’ of jail house witnesses were addressed, appeal told Liam Stretch (RNZ): TradeMe rejects one in four police requests for information Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Police requested Trade Me member data nearly 1350 times in last year RNZ: Police failed to monitor suicidal man properly – IPCA Primary Industries Newshub: SAFE reveals proof of illegal pig stalls on South Island farm Sam Clarke (1News): Investigation underway after complaint about ‘cruel’ sow stalls on South Island pig farm Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Farmwatch’s claims of illegal crates disputed by pork industry Gavin Evans (Newsroom): Avoid fate of ‘dirty’ dairy, forestry warned Richard Laven (The Conversation): Eradicating cattle disease M. bovis in New Zealand may be costly, even impossible, but we must try Gerard Hutching (Stuff): MPI to begin second round of milk testing for cattle disease Mycoplasma Heather Chalmers (Stuff): North Canterbury dairy farm infected Ele Ludemann: Co-ops work for farmers Free speech Simon Wilson (Herald): Arming ourselves with free speech Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Free Speech Denialism Is Fascism In Action Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): A ferocious debate between three implacable enemies about free speech ODT Editorial: A democracy needs many views David Farrar: The Smear Off strikes again Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): All the times our new Free Speech Coalition really hated free speech Alex Birchall: For Free Speech or the Liberal Left? I’m With Free Speech International relations and trade Anne-Marie Brady (Herald): University links with China raise questions Matthew Hooton (Herald): Realism is back in foreign policy RNZ: ‘Words matter’ when it comes to China – Todd McClay Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): New Zealand must stand up to Trump Patrick Keyzer and Dave Martin (The Conversation): Why New Zealanders are feeling the hard edge of Australia’s deportation policy Grant Bradley (Herald): New Zealand passports slip down Henley Index power ranking Employment Bryce Edwards (Newsroom): Working for Families is corporate welfare Herald: Job-seeking misery: Are older Kiwi workers shunned? Jacob McSweeny (Wanganui Chronicle): Jobseeker’s misery: 32 applications, five interviews, no work Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): New workplace laws to boost wages, ASB economists say Listener Editorial: The Bazley report exposes New Zealand’s workplace drinking problem Susan Edmunds (Stuff): What’s a wage rise got to do with the price of fish? BusinessDesk: Minimum wage hike lifts fast food prices Business/economy/tax Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): A GDP recipe of sweat, toil and migration Brian Fallow (Herald): NZ running faster, but productivity falling behind John Milford (Stuff): Climate of uncertainty is at the heart of a fall in business confidence Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Wellington’s business confidence drops, chamber blames labour reform Corin Dann (1News): Q+A Business Podcast: Climate change and ageing infrastructure, big financial challenges facing councils (video) Damien Venuto (Herald): Government spent $350K on campaign to get Kiwis interested in tax Victoria Carter (Herald): Women definitely bring new thinking to company boards Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Tackling gender bias in business: How Deloitte closed its gender pay gap Provincial Growth Fund 1News: Government’s multi-billion dollar provincial growth fund will make big money for benefactor Gia Garrick (RNZ): ‘It’s murky’: Questions over use of Provincial Growth Fund Lucy Bennett (Herald): Taranaki gets another $1.5m from Provincial Growth Fund Catherine Groenestein (Stuff): Taranaki company gets $950k from Government for hydrogen fuel project Housing Anne Gibson (Herald): Thousands of new state homes planned in Mangere, near Auckland Airport Housing: Housing Minister Phil Twyford reveals plan for 10,000 new Mangere homes Henry Cooke (Stuff): Up to 10,000 new homes will be built in South Auckland Collette Devlin (Dominion Post): Wellington residents voice concerns about proposed Housing NZ redevelopment Eric Crampton: Kiwibuild lotteries No Right Turn: Time to fix renting Mandy Te (Stuff): Can flatmates reject potential applicants because of their race? Newshub: Non-homeless beggars still need help – Auckland City Mission Don Franks: Auckland Herald covers for drug dealers Simon Hartley (ODT): Central still least-affordable spot Chris Morris (ODT): Vow to keep building after ‘nonsense’ ruling RNZ: MBIE rules Aramoana man’s structure is a house, not a boat Health Jonathan Guildford (Stuff): Study links regular teen drinking to adult booze problems, highlights purchasing age reform 1News: Regular drinking in teenagers leads to future alcohol problems study finds Diana Clement (North & South): Are retirement villages milking the elderly for profit? 1News: Kiwi woman documents her struggle to obtain medicinal cannabis in TVNZ1 doco Pot Pursuit Lana Hart (Herald): Thank you, taxpayers, for keeping my kids alive Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): Karl and Christine Laulu continue to grieve for two babies lost after vaccinations in Samoa Newshub: Whangārei doctor suspended for seeing female patients alone Census RNZ: Stats NZ defends census response rate Henry Cooke (Stuff): Census response rate drops as survey moves to online focus The Opportunities Party Sean Plunket (Newshub): Opinion: Is The Opportunities Party over? Geoff Simmons (Spinoff): What I learned from Gareth Morgan and the TOP adventure Claire Trevett (Herald): The pity of Gareth Morgan’s demise to the lipstick on a pig Brigitte Morten (RNZ): TOP demise shows fate of vanity parties TV Siena Yates (Herald): The Spinoff TV is $700,000, self-proclaimed ‘nonsense’ Damien Venuto (Herald): The World Cup shows that TV is far from dead Rat poison attack on Nick Smith RNZ: Rose Renton: ‘I stand by what I did’ Samantha Gee (Stuff): Rose Renton guilty of offensive behaviour after poison incident RNZ: Rose Renton found guilty of charge relating to rat poison accusation Herald: Rose Renton guilty of rubbing rat poison on Nelson MP Nick Smith Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Rose Renton found guilty after rubbing rat poison on politician Education RNZ: Makeovers considered for run-down schools Herald: Teacher’s apology, confession after hitting child in Motueka saves his licence Nestlé Newshub: Over 50 jobs on the line in Nestlé New Zealand sell-off RNZ: Job losses at Nestle NZ after decision to sell off brands Kristin Price (Herald): Jobs to go under Nestlé plan to exit lolly-making in New Zealand Welfare 1News: ‘We’ve got it wrong’ – WINZ apologises to young family with baby for refusing emergency accommodation Herald: ‘Inhumane’: Winz worker’s appalling treatment of homeless pregnant mum slammed Local government Anne Gibson (Herald): Should Auckland Council sell its $500m worth of carparks? Charlie Gates (Press): Public art fund made big difference with little money Charlie Gates (Press): Public art fund scrapped in Christchurch City budget Logan Church (RNZ): Council to consult over Akaroa freedom camping ban Laurel Stowell (Wanganui Chronicle): Irate Whanganui man finds error in Horizons’ interim rating information Newshub: Rotorua’s Mayor on her city (video) Culture Georgina Harris (Idealog: More than a koru, part one: What role does Māoridom play in New Zealand’s design identity? Herald: ‘Maori Collection’ fragrances stuns Kiwi shopper in Moscow Te reo Māori Sally Blundell (Listener): Who are the politicians making an effort to learn te reo Māori? Peter Calder (Listener): Why this Pākehā is learning te reo Māori Other Newshub: Wastewater testing shows more meth use in New Zealand than Europe RNZ: Signs NZ Pasifika anti-violence program working Bree Loverich (Press): ‘Thousands’ more immigrants wanted says ChristchurchNZ George Block (ODT): KiwiBank closure petition off to parliament Point of Order: Feedback is sought on revised Bill on country-of-origin food labelling Fiona Farrell (ODT): Memorial represents thousands of objectors Todd Niall (Stuff): Eden Park’s first concert backed six to one with submissions closing Liam Dann (Herald): Retirement boss Diane Maxwell: I wish I’d been better with money when young Tom Hartmann (Herald): Get Sorted: KiwiSaver gets even better Northern Advocate: Northlanders love online shopping – spending $120m last year When Owen (1News): Te Tari – The Office: Inside Speaker Trevor Mallard’s office, full of history and old wigs Dave De Lorean (Stuff): ‘I thought I was a freak’: One man’s experience with gay conversion therapy Herald Editorial: Overseas holidays within reach of many families now]]>

Why Indonesia must ratify the global nuclear weapon ban treaty

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 13, 2018

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Say No to Nuclear … Members attend the signing ceremony for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on September 20, 2017 at the United Nations in New York. Image: Jakarta Post

By Deandra Madeena Moerdaning in Vienna

A year ago on July 7, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that pushes forward a new treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The agreement is the first of its kind that categorically prohibits nuclear weapons and hence focuses merely on disarmament. The treaty will only enter into force once 50 nations have ratified and acceded to it.

As a nation whose representative was among vice-presidents leading negotiations of the treaty and as a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons, it is crucial that Indonesia ratifies the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty immediately.

Here are the key reasons why:

As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and a coordinator of its working group on disarmament and nonproliferation since 1994, Indonesia was among co-sponsors of the resolution.
Indonesia signed this UN Treaty on September 20, 2017, the day when it opened for signature at the UN headquarters in New York. Ironically, Indonesia is not among the ten nations that have ratified the treaty through national legislation.

It is of vital importance that Jakarta maintains its leadership role and show commitment to shared international security interests of developing countries, the majority of NAM member states. Jakarta and NAM have always been vocal about attempts to eliminate double standards in international security, particularly regarding nuclear security.

Excellent example
On top of being an excellent example to ASEAN countries regarding compliance with non-proliferation regimes, Jakarta continues to encourage ASEAN member states and beyond to improve the persistently slow progress of the nuclear disarmament.

In a joint effort with ASEAN member states to combat the threat of nuclear weapons, during its chairmanship of the Association Jakarta opened the door for consultations between member states and nuclear-weapon states (NWS), to encourage the latter to sign the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ).

-Partners-

Jakarta was praised for its efforts in promoting the spirit of the treaty beyond the region.

By ratifying the new Treaty, ASEAN member states would prove their determination to disarmament and making the region free from all kind of nuclear threats. Currently, only Thailand and Vietnam have ratified the treaty.

Others, including Indonesia, were had signed the deal, while Singapore chose to abstain.

Indonesia should immediately follow the path of Thailand and Vietnam and together persuade Singapore to support the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty in the spirit of Southeast Asia’s nuclear weapons-free zone.

Once all ASEAN member states have ratified the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, they can continue pressing wider acceptance of SEANWFZ to nuclear weapon states.

Previous failure
The previous 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference was dubbed a failure due to absence of consensus on nuclear disarmament. Thus all parties including Indonesia must prepare themselves better for the next 2020 Conference and keep trying to achieve a shared vision on disarmament.

The 2015 conference manifested the non-nuclear-weapon states’ concerns over the scale and pace of disarmament.

These states believe there have been too many restrictions and demands for them regarding peaceful use of nuclear technology. They also think nuclear weapon states have been ignoring their obligation to disarm their nuclear arsenals.

The 2020 Conference will be an excellent platform to reaffirm Jakarta’s demand for nuclear disarmament and security as well as to pressure nuclear weapon states to manifest their commitment to nuclear disarmament.

Indonesian delegates should continue expressing concerns about international security, including the US administration’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

According to the Foreign Ministry, Affairs, Indonesia regrets this decision as Jakarta believes that the JCPOA is an achievement of diplomacy and can maintain stability in the region and the world. Indonesia is still optimistic about the future of JCPOA and hence urges other JCPOA’s signatories to maintain support for the agreement.

Nuclear weapons present a real and imminent threat to humanity, thus Indonesia should not loosen efforts towards nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Ratifying the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons means Jakarta is greatly concerned about the slow pace of disarmament.

Deandra Madeena Moerdaning earned her master’s degree from King’s College in London’s War Studies Department. She is interning at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Colin Peacock: New era heralded in broadcasting – or more of the same?

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 13, 2018

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Minister Claire Curran … “shameful and embarrassing” how public broadcasting spending in other countries dwarfs NZ. Image: Richard Tindiller/RNZ

ANALYSIS: By Colin Peacock of RNZ’s Mediawatch

The allocation of $15 million for public broadcasting will be split between RNZ, New Zealand on Air and a new fund targeting “under-served audiences”. It’s the biggest single boost for public broadcasting for a decade, but will it make a big difference?

“It’s the beginning of a new era,” said Broadcasting and Digital Media Minister Claire Curran, announcing the new funding arrangements.

She flourished a graph from a report showing how spending on public broadcasting in other countries dwarfs our own.

It was “shameful and embarrassing,” she said.

“This increase … is just the beginning.”

Labour went into the last election talking a good game too.

-Partners-

It pledged $38 million a year more for RNZ and public broadcasting funding agency New Zealand On Air to deliver “quality New Zealand programming and journalism modeled on the ABC in Australia”.

Multimedia platform
Curran said the bulk of the money would create a new multimedia platform called RNZ+ and a TV channel on Freeview was part of the plan.

But once in government, Labour earmarked only $15 million more for public media in the Budget in May. Plans for a TV channel were talked down and are now spoken of as merely “an aspiration” for the future.

The new money will now be split four ways.

RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson described the $4.5 million added to RNZ’s $35 million annual public funding as “a dose of steroids”.

“We’ll make you proud, Minister” said NZOA’s chair Dr Ruth Harley, welcoming a $4 million boost to its $100 million-a-year budget for local TV shows and digital content.

The minister said a further $6 million will go into a new “Innovation Fund” to create “more public media content for under-served audiences such as Māori and Pacific Peoples, children and regional New Zealand.”

Both RNZ and NZOA jointly suggested this idea, but suggested only $2 million for the new fund, leaving $8.5m for “stage one of the RNZ+ plan”.

Independent producers
The content will appear on RNZ platforms but it will be made by independent producers commissioned by NZ On Air, the minister said.

Other media companies had opposed the funding increase and TV and film production companies jointly called for $20 million extra for New Zealand on Air instead.

Last year, MediaWorks chief executive Michael Anderson claimed RNZ+ could wipe out his business and hired a lobbyist to talk the minister out of it. New Zealand on Air funding is a significance source of finance for some of its local programmes on TV channel Three.

He was happy with this week’s announcement.

“It targets the right communities and gives RNZ support and extra funding for NZ On Air makes sense,” he told Mediawatch.

The minister’s advisory group – after many weeks chewing over the issues – appear to have tried to keep RNZ, NZOA and independent programme-makers happy with a roughly even split of the fresh funds.

“Keeping our entities happy is not how I would describe it but I don’t see that as being a bad thing,” Curran told Mediawatch.

Better collaboration
“This is stage one. We are working on how to make better collaboration happen across the other public media such as Māori TV, Pacific media and state-owned TVNZ,” she said.

Clearly more money is welcome for organisations that have not had a substantial boost for years and it could go a long way. (Certainly further than the 200 hours of content local TV producers say they could generate with $20 million more funding).

The minister’s instance that there will be more money for media in future is also a comfort for them.

But in the end this is an incremental change which puts more money into the existing system – not a transformative one.

The remaining $500,000 of the new funding will be spent on researching how “Crown-funded media agencies can use their assets more efficiently.”

Perhaps it would be better if that had been done before the new funding arrangements were made. State-owned TVNZ for example has substantial assets – and big audiences – but no public mandate at all any more.

It has no role in the funding revealed this week.

Australian comparison
“Compared with Australia, the $216 million spent on broadcasting in 2017/18 is clearly inadequate,” Curran said at the announcement.

Her chart – from a PWC report commission by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage – showed Australia spends $1.6 billion on public broadcasting.

That is about $67 per person a year as opposed to just under $50 a head here. But Australians get a lot more public broadcasting for their money. They get commercial-free ABC TV channels, on-demand video and local and national radio as well ethnic-focused SBS radio and TV and indigenous channel NITV.

The ABC – the model for Labour’s policy according to its pre-election manfesto – is entirely funded directly by the government and is accountable for all of it.

How much you spend isn’t always the issue, but how you spend it.

The Pacific Media Centre has a content sharing partnership with RNZ Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 12 2018

By Bryce Edwards -

July 12, 2018

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 12 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. [caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.[/caption] Nurses’ strike Gordon Campbell: On the nurses strike RNZ: Nurses strike begins: What you need to know Katarina Williams (Stuff): Negotiations between DHBs, nurses will resume after strike 1News: Nurses on strike nationwide after rejecting latest District Health Board pay offer Stuff: Nurses begin strike action across the country Herald: Nurses to strike nationwide from 7am after rejecting latest pay offer Herald: Nurses strike from 7am today after last-minute negotiations fail Newshub: Nurses still on hand for emergencies during strike Emma Russell (Herald): Woman instructed to drive two hours to care for her ill mum while nurses strike Stuff: Nurses moving forward with July 12 strike action after 11th-hour negotiations fail Herald: Nurses’ strike going ahead tomorrow after last-minute negotiations fail Alex Baird (Newshub): Nurses’ strike to go ahead after negotiations fail Katarina Williams (Stuff): Nurses to forge ahead with planned 24-hour strike RNZ: DHBs await final recommendations on nurses pay dispute Zane Small (Newshub): Finance Minister Grant Robertson rules out using surplus to increase nurses’ offer Katarina Williams (Stuff): It’s inconceivable the nurses’ strike will be called off, says doctors’ union Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Christchurch nurses prepare for nationwide strike on either side of the picket Erin Kennedy (Stuff): Why we’re going on strike: a Wellington nurse’s viewpoint Broadcasting Bill Ralston (Stuff): Radio New Zealand will lose out thanks to the threeway split of broadcasting funding Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): RNZ funding back to square one Richard Harman (Politik): Minister to review future of TVNZ Brent Edwards (NBR): Extra money will make a difference to programmes by Xmas, says RNZ CEO Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Behold, a new era in public media – but how much has really changed? Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Clare Curran & NZ on Air – feeding the echo chambers Lucy Bennett (Herald): Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran still keen on television channel for RNZ Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): RNZ misses out on public broadcasting fund windfall – but still pockets $4.5m Leah Te Whata (Māori TV): $6 million allocated for under-served audiences, Māori Lucy Bennett (Herald): Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran reveals who gets what in Budget funding RNZ: RNZ gets $4.5m extra funding this year Newshub: RNZ and NZ On Air to split $15 million from Government for boosted content Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Warnings to Government ahead of media funding decision Defence Audrey Young (Herald): Winston Peters dismisses rebuke by China, saying NZ is a sovereign nation Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Winston Peters stands by defence paper following ‘stern’ reaction from China Chris Trotter: The Costa Rican Solution Point of Order: NZ’s foreign policy has a new hue – but China sees red Guyon Espiner (RNZ): New Defence purchase deserves close scrutiny Point of Order: More goodies for Defence to be aired before Christmas Pete George: Golriz Ghahraman cops more criticism for inaccurate claims Kirsty Lawrence (Stuff): Mayors back No 5 Squadron’s move to Ōhakea Andre Chumko (Stuff): Digital memorial to reconnect whānau to stories of Māori war vets Housing Sophie Bateman and Ben Irwin (Newshub): Renters United announces plan to fix renting in New Zealand Kate Nicol-Williams (RNZ): Rent advocacy group launch plan to ‘fix renting’ in NZ RNZ: Renters group pushes for tougher laws for landlords Stuff: Renters United’s blueprint for change explained CPAG: The time for tame reforms of tenancy laws is over Stuff: Blueprint for ‘fair deal’ for renters is recipe for two-tier housing market Rob Stock (Stuff): Landlords group hits back at Renters United’s claims Julie Iles (Stuff): Threat of blacklist reportedly stopping tenants from using Tenancy Tribunal 1News: $142 million to be spent on helping insulate homes for low-income Kiwis – ‘Too many homes are cold and damp’ Joel Ineson (Stuff): Warmer Kiwi Homes insulation programme will make 52,000 homes warmer over four years RNZ: New home insulation scheme under way Newshub: The next step for KiwiBuild registrants – the pre-qualification Mānia Clarke (Māori): Twyford indicates Kiwibuild homes for Te Kauwhata Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Almost 3,000 homes to be built in Te Kauwhata Aroha Treacher (Māori TV): Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters drops in Debrin Foxcroft and Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Once dubbed a ‘working man’s hut’, now it’s a home for Joy Morris Julie Iles (Stuff): Auckland housing becomes slightly more affordable as regions rise Anne Gibson (Herald): Queenstown area house prices drop $67K: but don’t think it’s affordable yet Nicki Harper (Herald): Hawke’s Bay home affordability on rise – Massey University report Amanda Saxton (Stuff): Auckland’s phoney homeless make $100 a day on the streets Logan Church (RNZ): Chch streeties label plan to address begging and homelessness ‘crap’ Andrew McRae (RNZ): Urban intensification grows with rise in dwelling consents Environment and conservation Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom): Miners given access to Māui dolphin sanctuary Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): The ark, the algorithm and our conservation conundrum Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Ten critically endangered critters with the craziest stories James Renwick (Spinoff): I’m excited by this big business pledge on climate. Now let’s hold them to it Jihee Junn (Spinoff): The giants of NZ business pledge bold action on emissions. Is this the real deal? Jamie Morton (Herald): 60 leading Kiwi CEOs commit to climate action Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Businesses band together to tackle climate change Tim Grafton (Herald): Adapting to climate change as important as fighting it Mere McLean (Māori TV): Te Arawa have say on Zero Carbon Bill RNZ: More native bush tracks may close in fight against kauri dieback Evan Harding (Stuff): Southland caught up in nationwide recycling crisis Newshub: Wellington’s ‘Matariki’ whale spotted off south coast Thomas Manch (Dominion Post): The Wellington Harbour whale ‘waves goodbye’ after a Matariki visit 1News: Stunning photo shows Wellington’s beloved whale frolicking off south coast as Air NZ plane flies overhead Matthew Tso (Stuff): Wellington whale can thank Thomas Edison says former whaler Northland Age: Far North sand dunes need protection from vehicles – Te Rarawa 1News: Niue to ban single-use plastic bags Auckland Council venue ban for Southern and Molyneux Craig Tuck (RNZ): Freedom of speech – the more you know, the less you fear Andrew Geddis (Pundit): Southern and Molyneux: hard questions and no easy answers Tim Watkin (Pundit): The unnecessary martyrdom of Southern & Molyneux and the need to win the argument Simon Connell (Pundit): Freedom of speech means what we want it to mean Laura O’Connell Rapira: Free speech as a cover for hate Todd Niall (Stuff): Phil Goff’s tweets may have unwisely bought ratepayers a costly battle Stuff: Don Brash says people have a right to air racist views in New Zealand Nick Truebridge (Stuff): Don Brash’s son calls free speech court action against Auckland Council ‘terrible idea’ Vice: Free Speechers Prepare Court Action After Far-Right Speakers Denied Auckland Venue The Standard: Free Speech Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Will Freedom of Speech debate become our ‘deplorables’ moment? Heather Roy: Governance or GOFF-ernance? Point of Order: If Don Brash is in favour – well, something must be wrong and he should be denounced Health Don Rowe (Spinoff): How terrible food is killing New Zealand’s poor Alexandra Nelson (Newshub): Rise in obesity in New Zealand inevitable, reveals world-first study Nicholas Jones (Herald): ‘Anti-sugar man’ joins Health Minister David Clark’s team Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Leading sugar tax advocate, Dr Rob Beaglehole, hired as advisor to Health Minister Kurt Bayer (Herald): Exclusive: Security risk at killers’ unites Rachel Graham (RNZ): Cannabis medication for kids with epilepsy can cost ‘up to $100k’ Southland Times Editorial: So that’s all right then? Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): St John defends response to Twizel medical callout Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): Unicef and World Health Organisation helping Samoa investigate vaccination deaths RNZ: Cooks lift MMR vaccine suspension Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): Private hospital for Queenstown? Newshub: Ezekiel Raui, the Māori 20yo who’s already met the Queen and Obama Justice and police Jo Moir (RNZ): Chester Borrows to head criminal justice advisory reform group Herald: Former detective Al Lester, top lawyer Nigel Hampton call to decriminalise all drugs Isaac Davison (Herald): Family Court not equipped to deal with parental alienation, Otago University study says Newshub: Auckland police officer under investigation Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Christchurch cop accused of sending inappropriate texts quits Education and training Luke Kirkness (Herald): Horrific catalogue of early education care complaints detailed in Ministry report Adele Redmond (Stuff): Poor hygiene, smoking, lice, abusive practices identified at daycare centres RNZ: Hundreds of complaints filed over child abuse at centres Merepeka Raukawa-Tait (Rotorua Daily Post): Charter schools should be a choice for parents Jared Nicol (Stuff): Hutt Valley school bus doubles price but company says it’s running at a loss Herald: Tertiary student leaders call for action after research shows many struggle with mental health Raniera Harrison (Māori TV): Tai Tokerau language expert calls for exclusive Northern wānanga Emma Jolliff (Newshub): Calls for Govt to introduce apprentice quota to meet skills shortage Local government and regions Collette Devlin (Stuff): City council boss slams Wellington councillor for publicly criticising staff Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): More than half of Wellington’s most quake-prone buildings secured as deadline looms Tess Brunton (RNZ): Queenstown hospitality businesses fear a bed tax could ruin their livelihoods Julian Lee (Press): New parts of Christchurch water supply may be chlorine-free next month Newshub: What Napier is getting from the Labour Government RNZ: Queenstown playground cost blows out by more than $300k Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): The treehouse, the council and ‘kids being kids’ David Clarkson (Stuff): Real estate agent admits industrial park property fraud Edward Gay (RNZ): ‘It wasn’t uncommon to see rotten meat and used sanitary products’ Newshub: Building expert praises action on jailed property developer Census Philip Matthews (Press Editorial): Online Census a bold experiment that backfired 1News: Peters has ‘no idea’ why census levels low, turn-out raises ‘serious questions’ say National Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Concern over low rate of census response David Farrar: Census failure Trade Me Meghan Lawrence (Herald): Flatmates-wanted discrimination: ‘We won’t be able to accept people from India’ Newshub: Trade Me property listing specifies ‘no Indians’ Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Police quiz Trade Me about drugs, stolen goods, child exploitation Herald: Police went on Trade Me to hunt criminals 1350 times last year International relations and trade Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): China and U.S trade war coming to a head Henry Cooke (Stuff): NZ’s Sir Don McKinnon signs letter to Trump decrying ‘deteriorating relationship’ with western allies Daily Blog: Union leader Mike Treen to join ship trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza Transport Herald: The challenge to build light rail in Auckland will be tested on Dominion Rd Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland’s $6 billion plan for modern trams could extend to Kumeu Laura Dooney (RNZ): New Wellington bus routes good for some but not all Gender and sexuality Melissa Gibson (Stuff): Impact of being told ‘no cake for you’ – why discrimination matters Amy Baker (Rodney Times): Lesbian couple will not take legal action over baker’s wedding cake refusal Aaron Hendry (Spinoff): Hey Christians, Jesus would have baked the cake Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Hard to stay abreast of these shifting terf wars Newshub: Gay conversion therapy: Kiwi Paul Stevens shares harrowing experience Russell McVeagh report Geoff Plimmer (Newsroom): Others could take a leaf out of Bazley’s book Tom Hunt (Stuff): Lawyers at the heart of Russell McVeagh allegations have practising certificates renewed Employment Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Inland Revenue asked to ‘check again’ by Revenue Minister Stuart Nash that worker contracts are legal Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Employment law needs a shakeup to prepare for the future Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Babies Animals used in research Eva Corlett (RNZ): Increase in animals being used for testing and research – report Esther Taunton (Stuff): Scientists use more animals for research The Opportunities Party Giovanni Tiso: Don’t let the garage door hit you Martyn Bradbury: The glee over TOPs demise Awanui Black allegations David Fisher (Herald): Shock over Awanui Black abuse allegations impossible to measure Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Iwi offers reward for info about Awanui Black claims Herald: $10k reward for information on Awanui Black child sex claims Other Bryce Edwards (Newsroom Pro): Working for Families is corporate welfare RNZ: NZ work visas hit record high despite immigration changes Susan St John (Daily Blog): Policy changes to a festering sore are sadly in the far distance Erik Frykberg (RNZ): Farmers face possible one percent loss over Fonterra disagreement 1News: Watch: Police special tactics officers rappel down Beehive for training Morgan Godfery (Māui Street): Unions join Mana Wahine Claim Newshub: Six times MPs have sworn in Parliament Audit blog: Ethical leadership. It’s not a hat. Jacqueline Rowarth (Herald): Rigorous research needed around synthetic food Heath Moore (Herald): ‘Cultural misappropriation’: Kiwis slam use of Poi E in US TV series RNZ: Banks come through financial stress testing RNZ: More ancestral remains to be returned this week RNZ: Civil Aviation Authority seek tougher rules on recreational drone use Kera Sherwood-O’Regan (Spinoff): Rangatahi take the UN… again Stuff: Anthem girls confirmed to sing at domestic rugby final Robert Smith (RNZ): Women behind the camera: ‘There is a real push for it’]]>

Danish rescue diver praises Thai ‘cool’ kids in Mission Impossible

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 11, 2018

Search and rescue coordinator Narongsak Osotthanakorn (centre) announces that all 12 boys and their coach have been safely rescued from their cave in Thailand. Image: Bangkok Post

A Danish diver involved in the mission to successfully save 12 boys and their football coach from flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand has hailed the children as “incredibly strong”, reports the Bangkok Post.

Ivan Karadzic, who runs a Thai diving business, described their treacherous escape journey as unprecedented.

“They [are being] forced to do something that no kid has ever done before. It is not in any way normal for kids to go cave diving at age 11,” he said Ivan Karadzic.

“They are diving in something considered [an] extremely hazardous environment in zero visibility. The only light that is in there is the torch light we bring ourself,” he told the BBC in an interview.

The boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach, ventured into Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district on June 23.

They became trapped when heavy rains flooded the cave. Two British divers found them on July 2 on a slope in pitch darkness 4km inside the cave.

More than 100 divers have helped with the extraction. Conditions were so dangerous a retired Thai Navy Seal died on Friday while trying to lay out oxygen tanks underwater in a tunnel, and the rescue chief at one point dubbed the operation “Mission Impossible”.

-Partners-

Oxygen tanks
Karadzic, who was stationed about half-way along to replace oxygen tanks, said the rescue workers had feared the worst.

“We were obviously very afraid of any kind of panic from the divers,” Karadzic said.

“I cannot understand how cool these small kids are, you know?

“Thinking about how they’ve been kept in a small cave for two weeks, they haven’t seen their mums. Incredibly strong kids. Unbelievable, almost,” he added.

The chief of the Tham Luang mission officially announced last night that the rescue of all 13 people trapped in the cave had been accomplished and the restoration of the area would follow.

Rescue operation chief Narongsak Osotthanakorn told a media conference at the Pong Pha Tambon administration organisation near Tham Luang cave that the last group of five trapped people had been extracted.

A doctor and three divers who had been with the 13 people since their discovery had also already reached the main entrance of the cave.

All rescued … the Thai boy cavers. Image: Bangkok Post

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 11 2018

By Bryce Edwards -

July 11, 2018

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – July 11 2018 Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. [caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.[/caption] Nurses vote to strike 1News: Nearly half of nurses believed to oppose Thursday’s 24-hour strike Richard Harman (Politik): Robertson under siege from the nurses Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom): Winston Peters says nurses don’t want to strike 1News: Nurses’ strike will cause ‘disruption to health services nationwide’ after ‘highest pay increase in 14 long years’ rejected – Winston Peters Anneke Smith (RNZ): Hospitals prepare for nurses strike Stuff: Up to 8000 procedures may be affected by nurses strike Amy Wiggins (Herald): Nurses strike: Up to 8000 people to have treatment rescheduled Jenny Carryer (RNZ): Strike action: Nurses need to hear out under-pressure government Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Government’s offer to nurses is generous – but they have a right to strike Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Nurses’ deal: How does it compare? RNZ: Why are nurses striking? Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Explainer: The effect of the nurses’ strike Katarina Williams (Stuff): Nurses’ Organisation ordered into facilitation with DHBs ahead of Thursday’s strike Lucy Bennett (Herald): Government hoping for last-minute breakthrough in talks to avert nurses’ strike Frances Cook (Herald): Nurses vote to strike but acting PM says there is no more money Anna Bracewell-Worrall, Emma Hurley and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): ‘We haven’t got the money’: Winston Peters on nurses’ strike Stuff: Acting PM Winston Peters ‘very disappointed’ by nurses strike decision Newshub: Nurses reassure public ahead of Thursday’s strike RNZ: Nurses reject pay offer, strike will go ahead Mike Houlahan (ODT): Nurses’ strike affects 450 patients Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand teachers and nurses to hold first mass strike in a generation New York Times: New Zealand Nurses’ Strike Spotlights Fiscal Challenge for Government Defence Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): China to NZ: ‘Correct your wrong words’ Laura Walters (Stuff): China fires back at NZ, calls remarks on South China Sea and Pacific politics wrong Point of Order: The Poseidon venture is important for firming NZ’s military alliances Guyon Espiner (RNZ): New Defence purchase deserves close scrutiny Gordon Campbell: Five reasons not to spend billions on replacing the Orions Dominion Post Editorial: $2.3b Poseidon purchase is a questionable adventure for Defence Force Laura Walters (Stuff): ‘New Zealand needs to stop investing in war industries’ – Greens Gia Garrick (RNZ): Defence force urged to replace 50-year-old Hercules fleet Gerald Cunningham (ODT): Is Dunedin’s planned memorial an affront? Corrections, justice and police Jane Patterson (RNZ): Ministers and Corrections at odds on Waikeria prison contract Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Government scrutinised over Waikeria Prison PPP deal Katie Doyle (RNZ): Holding children in police cells a ‘disaster waiting to happen’ Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom): Rape info released in privacy blunder George Block (ODT): 82 cases upheld in South Anna Leask (Herald): Auckland cop facing suspension, under investigation over alleged inappropriate behaviour with women Health Amy Wiggins (Herald): Obesity inevitable as report shows Kiwis surrounded by junk food Hannah Martin (Stuff): New Zealand’s high rates of obesity ‘inevitable’ – study Newshub: Fast food advertising targets young and disadvantaged – study RNZ: Māori public health org wants healthier food policies at sports clubs RNZ: NZ fast-food portions getting bigger – what’s that doing to our health? Emma Russell (RNZ): Sugary drinks advertised on Facebook putting young people at risk 1News: Winston Peters rails against ‘namby-pamby state’ potentially imposing a sugar tax, telling Jack Tame people can run their own lives Luke Kirkness (Herald): Frequent teen drinking leads to problems with alcohol and drug use in adulthood, study finds Emily Ford (Stuff): Nurses and doctors in high demand at Middlemore Hospital Dave De Lorean (Stuff): Samoan infants died after MMR vaccine. Here’s why an expert says Kiwis shouldn’t fear for their kids Vaimoana Tapaleao and Andrew McMartin (Herald): Samoa has seized all MMR vaccines after deaths of two toddlers Point of Order: Research underscores the need for Māori experts on health review panel Stuff: Quirk of assessment for rest home cost reaches Court of Appeal Warren Gamble (Stuff): Teen’s mental health campaign going to Parliament Government Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Twyford opens chequebook for regions Bay of Plenty Times: Government announces $158m in loans to Tauranga City Council 1News: Interest-free government loans for Tauranga and Waikato councils to improve water infrastructure Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Why is it NZ First MPs are the ones splashing the cash? David Farrar: Can we keep Winston as Acting PM? Chris Ford (Newsroom): An open letter to Grant Robertson Herald: Te Aroha welcomes baby Neve with a photo, a soak and some jam Auckland Council venue ban for Southern and Molyneux Newshub: Government divided over far-right speakers Brian Rudman (Herald): Phil Goff got ban on supremacists right Emma Hatton (RNZ): Auckland Council to be taken to court over ban on right-wing speakers Sophie Bateman (Newshub): Don Brash’s free speech group raises $50k to sue Auckland Council Herald: Auckland Council faces legal action: Free speech campaign raises $50k after ban of far-right speakers Nick Truebridge (Stuff): Free speech group raises $50k to challenge Auckland Council over far-Right speaker ban Stephen Franks: Goff: freedom of speech – partisan abuse of political power Karl du Fresne: The money has been raised and the judicial challenge will proceed No Right Turn: Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons Greg Presland (The Standard): The free speech coalition that is actually quite expensive Housing Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Where will the 100,000 KiwiBuild homes be built? ODT: KiwiBuild Otago figures revealed Henry Cooke (Stuff): Quarter of people waiting 150 days for public housing. One waited 3103 days Newshub: More than half of Kiwi landlords unprepared for healthy home legislation Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Tenants claim landlords lagging on healthy home moves 1News: Are you eligible? Expert encourages Kiwis to take up new government funding for home insulation Ryan Boswell (1News): Salvation Army warns homeless people will die this winter unless urgent action taken Mitch McCann (Newshub): Salvation Army says Government’s new housing project isn’t enough Mānia Clarke (Māori TV): Caution new Auckland city 280 unit block doesn’t become ghetto Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): 280 new apartments to support homeless in Auckland CBD Nick Loughnan (ODT): Housing rules need change Frank Newman: KiwiBuild bargains Newshub: Could there be a cheaper way than KiwiBuild? (video) Census David Williams (Newsroom): Census red flags raised in March Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Drop in census response rate prompts Stats NZ to plug gaps with other data The Opportunities Party Liam Hehir (Pundit): TOP, we hardly knew ye Jane Patterson (RNZ): Gareth Morgan’s The Opportunities party won’t contest 2020 election Alex Braae (Spinoff): With TOP gone, where will the protest vote go next? Sophie Bateman (Newshub): David Seymour appeals to Opportunities Party voters while holding cats No Right Turn: TOP and the politics of impatience National Party The Standard: Nicky Wagner’s “You are a bitch” redacted Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The mystery of the disappearing ‘bitch’ at the heart of NZ’s democracy Henry Cooke (Stuff): National’s Nicky Wagner calls Labour’s Deborah Russell ‘a bitch’ in Parliament Herald: National MP Nicky Wagner apologises for calling Deborah Russell a ‘bitch’ in heated debate Emma Hurley (Newshub): National MP Nicky Wagner called Labour MP a ‘bitch’ Julie Iles (Stuff): Sir Bill English appointed to board of Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Parliament Andrea Vance (Stuff): Helen Clark: Put more women on party lists Herald: Mum MP calls for travel cap change to help politicians with babies The Standard: Unparliamentary Language Chlöe Swarbrick: Guide to making a submission on the Election Access Fund Bill International relations and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Amid Brexit turmoil, a significant announcement RNZ: NZ meat and dairy industry prepare for US-China trade war fallout Lucy Bennett (Herald): Don McKinnon among signatories on letter to Trump urging support for NATO Michael Reddell: Choices: New Zealand and the PRC Primary industries Robin Martin (RNZ): Farms fined $99k for effluent discharge in waterways Andrea Vance (Stuff): Businesses in the clear says vet at centre of M. bovis investigation Heather Chalmers (Stuff): Neighbouring M. bovis farms restock after being given all-clear Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): If John Wilson continues at Fonterra, he may simply make the diary giant a target Artificial meat Ian Taylor (Herald): Artificial meat can be part of New Zealand’s future Sharon Stephenson (Stuff): Fake meat disrupting our industry one burger at a time Cas Carter (Stuff): The Impossible Burger may be one of those things we don’t know we need Environment and conservation Jim Salinger and Alan Mark (Herald): Opinion: How do we achieve NZ’s new climate goal? Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Environmentalists lobby to shut developments polluting marine reserve Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Council systems to stop sediment runoff aren’t working – expert Alison Ballance (RNZ): Southern right whales returning to mainland New Zealand Anneke Smith (RNZ): Calls for prosecution after damage to Māori archaeological site Jamie Morton (Herald): Study highlights NZ’s 750-year biodiversity tragedy Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Ancestor’s dinners gives new insight into NZ biodiversity Jacob Anderson (Herald): What’s the beef with genetic technology? ODT Editorial: The building blocks of recycling Matt Brown (Stuff): Jawbone held by DOC as whale buried Diplomat rental dispute RNZ: Diplomat gets out of paying landlords due to immunity Newshub: Wellington landlord can’t recoup $20k EU diplomat owes in rent, damages Education Lucy Bennett (Herald): Advisory group of principals and teachers to be set up to consult on NCEA review Koroi Hawkins (RNZ): NZ kindy fighting to save Pacific languages bags prestigious award Herald: Study: Tertiary students struggling with mental health, considering quitting university Laura Tupou (Newshub): Majority of students considering leaving university – NZUSA Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): ITPs look to embrace Māori innovation Catrin Owen (Stuff): Director of unregistered private training school must wait for sentence Sinead Gill (Herald): How a sexual harassment scandal brought down student campaign for sexual violence Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Otago college first-year nicknames slammed as ‘straight-up bullying’ Animal testing Chelsea Boyle (Herald): Quarter of a million animals used in research, testing and teaching in 2016 Newshub: Animal testing on the rise in New Zealand Gender and sexuality Rachel Stewart (Herald): Let’s eat cake and laugh at the state of the world Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Can a business reject customers based on religious beliefs or sexual orientation? No Right Turn: Wedding cake bigotry is illegal Amy Baker (Stuff): Residents weigh in on Auckland cake maker’s refusal to create cake for same-sex couple Newshub: Government urged to ban gay conversion therapy Vice: Is New Zealand Ever Going to Ban Gay Conversion Therapy? Transport Collette Devlin (Stuff): Push for law to guarantee airport access for council-run public transport buses RNZ: Is Auckland dodging the regional fuel tax? Sam Warburton (Interest): Auckland’s new regional fuel tax is regressive and is really hurting poor families Newshub: ‘Horrifying incident’: Public transport industry reeling after death on double-decker bus Auckland Council development Anne Gibson (Herald): Auckland Council golf courses a $2b-plus development bonanza Anne Gibson (Herald): Three billboards outside Esmonde Rd, Takapuna: campaign to block Auckland Council development plans Ringatu John Boynton (RNZ): Ringatū commemorates 150 years since being founded Aroha Treacher (Māori TV): Ringatu commemorates 150 years Awanui Black allegations David Fisher (Herald): ‘I put him on a pedestal’ Anihera Black reveals life with alleged paedophile RNZ: Police look into accusations against iwi leader Te Awanuiārangi Black Newshub: Police speak to Te Awanui Black’s widow over paedophilia allegations Herald: Police speak to Awanui Black’s wife about paedophilia allegations Other Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Prominent business figure Rob Campbell takes shot at doomsday brigade Brian Easton (Pundit): Are Loans Income? Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Privacy overhaul ‘not sufficient’, privacy commissioner John Edwards tells MPs Tim Dare (Newsroom): Tread carefully with big data ethics Jane Clifton (Listener): The AM Show-Winston Peters farce raises a more troubling issue Pacific Media Centre: Journalist tells of Rainbow Warrior bombing, Pacific fallout on ABC (audio) Cherie Sivignon (Stuff):Call-blocking tech brings relief to Nelson couple, national trial planned Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Hotel developer battles to demolish “decaying, doomed, eyesore” heritage building RNZ: ANZ employs digital assistant ‘Jamie’ to help customers Newshub: Advertisement claiming prayer could improve medical condition amended after ASA complaint RNZ: ‘The NZ voice is so different’ – Film Commission head Annabelle Sheehan RNZ: Pacific women artists with a mission in Aotearoa RNZ: Countdown withdraws frozen veggie product after Australian recall Newshub: Countdown recalls frozen vegetables amid fears of dangerous listeria strain Edward Gay (RNZ): Property developer jailed after ‘gross’ offending]]>

‘Sick joke’, threats cited in Asia-Pacific declining media freedom summit

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 11, 2018

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire talks about the global threat against journalists. Video: Café Pacific

By David Robie in Paris

When Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire introduced the Paris-based global media watchdog’s Asia-Pacific press freedom defenders to his overview last week, it was grim listening.

First up in RSF’s catalogue of crimes and threats against the global media was Czech President Miloš Zeman’s macabre press conference stunt late last year.

RSF’s Christophe Deloire talks of the Czech President’s anti-journalists gun “joke”. Image: David Robie/PMC

Deloire cited the Zeman incident to highlight global and Asia-Pacific political threats against the media. He pointed out that the threat came just a week after leading Maltese investigative journalist – widely dubbed as the “one-woman Wikileaks” – was killed in a car bomb blast.

-Partners-

Although arrests have been made and three men face trial for her killing, RSF recently published a statement calling for “full justice’ – including prosecution of those behind the murder.

Asia-Pacific correspondents gather for the opening session of the RSF consultation in Paris. Image: David Robie/PMC

Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association vice-president Hujatullah Mujadidi holds an image of a murdered journalist at the Asia-Pacific consultation. Image: David Robie/PMC

Founded by ex-CNN investigative journalist Maria Ressa, Rappler has continued to challenge the government, described by RSF last year as the “most dangerous” country for journalists in Asia.

Duterte’s continuous attacks against the media were primarily responsible for the downward trend for the Philippines in the latest RSF Index, with RSF saying: “The dynamism of the media has also been checked by athe emergence of a leader who wants to show he is all powerful.”

The media watchdog also stressed that the Duterte administration had “developed several methods for pressuring and silencing journalists who criticise his notorious war on drugs”.

Test case
The revocation of Rappler’s licence by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is regarded as a test case for media freedom in the Philippines.

NUJP’s Jhoanna Ballaran … worrying situation in the Philippines. Image: David Robie/PMC

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines advocate Jhoanna Ballaran says the situation is very worrying.

Asia Pacific director Daniel Bastard says the consultation is part of a new strategy making better use of the correspondents’ network to make the impact of the advocacy work faster and even more effective than in the past.

RSF’s Asia-Pacific director Daniel Bastard (left) and his colleague Myriam Sni (right) with some of the Pacific and Southeast Asian press defenders. Image: RSF

A workshop on online media security and “how to block hackers” by Nico Diaz of The Magma cited Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu’s quote: “To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” Image: David Robie

No sooner had the consultation ended when RSF was on the ball with another protest over two detained local journalists in Myanmar working for Reuters news agency.

An RSF statement condemned Monday’s decision by a Yangon judge to go ahead with the trial of the journalists on a trumped up charge of possessing secrets and again demanded their immediate release.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have already been detained for more than 200 days with months of preliminary hearings.

They now face a possible 14-year prison sentence for investigating an army massacre of Rohingya civilians in Inn Din, a village near the Bangladeshi border in Rakhine state, in September 2017.

The chances of seeing an independent press emerge in Myanmar have now “declined significantly”.

The Pacific Media Centre’s David Robie was in Paris for the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific consultation. Dr Robie is also convenor of PMC’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

[embedded content]

Czech President Miloš Zeman’s “joke” threat against journalists. Video: The Young Turks

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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This week in history – the Rainbow Warrior bombing as told to ABC’s Nightlife

By David Robie -

July 10, 2018

Evening Report

This week in history - the Rainbow Warrior bombing as told to ABC's Nightlife

00:00 /

Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. –

Journalist, media educator and author David Robie … Rainbow Warrior bombing reflections
after 33 years. Image: PMC

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk
Pacific environmental and political journalist David Robie has recalled the bombing of the original Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior 33 years ago in an interview with host Sarah Macdonald on the ABC’s Nightlife “This Week in History” programme.

Dr Robie, now professor of journalism and director of the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology, wrote the 1986 book Eyes Of Fire: Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior that has been published in four countries and five editions.

LISTEN: Terrorism in Auckland in 1985

The 2015 edition of Eyes of Fire with the Rongelap
evacuation on the cover. Image: LIP

He spoke of the humanitarian voyage of the Rainbow Warrior to Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands to fetch the islanders to safety in a four-voyage relocation mission.

The Rongelap community had been ravaged by the fallout and the long-term health impact of US nuclear testing.

Dr Robie was awarded the 1985 Media Peace Prize by the NZ Peace Foundation for his coverage.

His reflections were broadcast in a 23-minute programme broadcast at the weekend marking the bombing by French secret agents on 10 July 1985.

David Robie’s cover story for the Fiji-based Islands Business on the Rainbow Warrior bombing in August 1985.
Image: PMC

This article was first published on Café Pacific.]]>

Translation as struggle and resistance: Re-translating 19th century Tagalog revolutionary texts

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 10, 2018

Event date and time:

Wednesday, July 25, 2018 – 16:30 – 18:00

PACIFIC MEDIA CENTRE SEMINAR: Indigenous meanings and epistemologies tend to be forgotten and buried, and even erased, by non-indigenist interpretations and translations. This seminar is an exploration of an ‘indigenist hermeneutic’ to a re-translation of key texts of the Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, a 19th-century anti-colonial movement in the Spanish colony of Filipinas, the present-day Philippines. That the Katipunan used the indigenous language, Tagalog, in all their communications and not the language of their colonisers, Spanish, signified a delinking from European constructs epistemically, ethically and politically. An indigenist re-translation aims to recover indigenous meanings erased or concealed by modernising translations; and it challenges and offers an alternative interpretation to the prevailing notion in Philippine historiography that the Katipunan movement was essentially influenced by ideas from the European Enlightenment. Translation becomes a struggle and resistance against erasure, and incorporation into modernity’s Eurocentric epistemic territory.

Who: Pia Cristóbal Kahn, Master of Indigenous Studies, Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago.

When: Wednesday, 25 July 2018, 4.30-6pm

Where: WG703, City Campus

Contact: Dr Sylvia Frain

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>

Police claim raid on Papuan students to block ‘Bloody Biak’ film screening

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 10, 2018

The scene at the Indonesian police raid on Papuan student quarters in Surabaya over the film Bloody Biak. Image: Suara.com

By Pebriansyah Ariefana in Surabaya

Indonesian police have revealed that police and military officers raided a Papuan student dormitory in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya in Indonesia at the weekend because the students were allegedly planning to screen the documentary film Bloody Biak (Biak Berdarah).

Tambaksari Sectoral Police Chief Police Commander Prayitno claimed that security personnel went to the Papuan student dormitory in order to prevent an incident such as one that occurred in Malang earlier in the week from happening in Surabaya.

“[According] to information we received, they announced on social media that they would show the film Bloody Biak. So we went to the dormitory to anticipate this,” he said.

However, the planned screening of the film Bloody Biak on Friday was cancelled, and replaced by a screening of World Football Cup matches.

“If the discussion had still gone ahead. Apparently the film Bloody Biak [was to be screened] which tells the story of the massacre of Papuan people. I don’t know if this was true or not”, he said.

A joint operation by hundreds of TNI (Indonesian military), police and Public Order Agency officers (Satpol PP) raided the Papuan student dormitory located on Jl. Kalasan No. 10 Surabaya on Friday.

-Partners-

The dormitory is home to hundreds of students and Papuan alumni from various tertiary education institutions in Surabaya.

Security personnel sealed off the Papuan student dormitory because of suspicions that there would be “hidden activities”.

Inside the dormitory, they were to hold a discussion and wanted to screen the film Bloody Biak that evening.

Background
On July 6, 1998, scores of people in Biak Island’s main town were wounded, arrested or killed while staging a peaceful demonstration calling for independence from Indonesia.

Earlier last week on July 1, police violently closed down a discussion by West Papuan students at Brawijaya University in the East Java city of Malang marking the 47th anniversary of the proclamation of independence in 1971 by the Free West Papua Movement.

Police claimed that they closed own the discussion following complaints from local people.

Translated from the Suara.com story by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was “Film Biak Berdarah, Alasan Polisi Kepung Asrama Papua di Surabaya”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

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Journalist tells of Rainbow Warrior bombing, Pacific fallout on ABC

By Pacific Media Centre -

July 10, 2018

Evening Report

Journalist tells of Rainbow Warrior bombing, Pacific fallout on ABC

00:00 /

Journalist, media educator and author David Robie … Rainbow Warrior bombing reflections after 33 years. Image: PMC

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Pacific environmental and political journalist David Robie has recalled the bombing of the original Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior 33 years ago in an interview with host Sarah Macdonald on the ABC’s Nightlife programme.

LISTEN: Terrorism in Auckland in 1985

The 2015 edition of Eyes of Fire with the Rongelap evacuation on the cover. Image: LIP

He was awarded the 1985 Media Peace Prize by the NZ Peace Foundation for his coverage.

He spoke of the humanitarian voyage of the Rainbow Warrior to Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands to fetch the islanders to safety in a four-voyage relocation mission.

The Rongelao community had been ravaged by the fallout and the long-term health impact of US nuclear testing.

-Partners-

His reflections were broadcast in a 23-minute programme broadcast at the weekend marking the bombing by French secret agents on 10 July 1985.