AsiaPacificReport.nz

The government of the Federated States of Micronesia has thanked Papua New Guinea for connecting both countries through air services that are being operated by Air Niugini.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Aviation of the Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure, Massy Halbert, said this new flight route would strengthen trade links and provide more business opportunities.

It would also promote a sense of “Pacificness” between both countries.

Halbert also added that it was historical and both countries will work together to ensure this service is sustained.

“Absolutely, I will continue to do my part, so plans for December to begin the passenger schedule service can proceed,” he said.

Air Niugini has begun operating the special services to Chuuk and Pohnpei in FSM and is flying a special service to FSM for the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit whose preparatory meeting opens tomorrow.

There were 70 divers, and others, by chance were booked on the first flight PX 4072, operated by Boeing 737-700.

After 2 hr 40 min, the Bird of Paradise touched down at Chuuk. From Chuuk, it took another hour to Pohnpei.

Sharing costs
Air Niugini chief executive officer, Simon Foo, says the partnership is about sharing costs involved in operating this service.

Industries like tourism will be promoted.

“It will be twice a week, from Port Moresby to Chuuk then Pohnpei and back the next day,” he said.

This service saves time and cost.

A passenger, Quinton Devlin who works in the Solomon Islands, said it now only took three hours to Pohnpei rather than connecting through different countries.

“From Honiara, this is the best route with less time,” he said

It’s always a privilege for operating crews, like Ethel Samlai, because normally they are randomly selected.

“I am very privileged and I thank Air Niugini for selecting the team which I was part of,” she said.

Foo said the establishment of this direct service from Papua New Guinea to the Federated States of Micronesia represented a major expansion of Air Niugini in the Pacific and for Port Moresby to become the Pacific’s “hub in the aviation industry”.

EMTV News reporter

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Patty Pasion in Manila

Victims of horrifying acts of torture during Martial Law in the Philippines have recounted their painful experiences before Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Etta Rosales, former chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) who experienced the atrocities of the dictatorship under Ferdinand Marcos, recounted: “They had a gun and they threatened me to answer the question, otherwise they [would] shoot [me].”

She was also raped, tortured, and went through electric shock and Russian roulette.

Rosales is among the petitioners asking the Supreme Court to stop the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, which President Rodrigo Duterte had allowed supposedly for the country to be able to move on from that period of history 1972-1981.

Another petitioner in one of the cases, Trinidad Herrera, told the Chief Justice about her terrible experience under the dictatorship.

“‘Pinatanggal nila ang aking blusa at ‘nilagay ang linya ng kuryente sa suso ko. Pumasok pa ang kuryente sa katawan ko hanggang di ko na nakayanan,” Herrera tearfully recalled during oral arguments on the petition against a hero’s burial for the late president Ferdinand Marcos.

(They ordered me to remove my blouse and they applied electric shock on my breast. Electricity went through my body until I couldn’t take it anymore.)

“They even put water on the floor so that the electricity would enter my body,” she added in Filipino.

‘Touching me’
Another victim, Fe Mangahas, shared: “They would scare me again by touching me and breathing down my neck and then I felt something like naihi ako (I peed). I figured it was blood because at the time I did not realize I was two months pregnant.”

“When they found out I was pregnant I was released, but I was asked to report weekly about my whereabouts. I had to do this every Saturday for a year,” she added.

Other victims also detailed what they went through when they were captured by uniformed men.

Maria Christina Rodriguez said her captors burned her skin with cigarette. Her fingers were swollen because of bullet-pressing.

Maria Christina Bawagan said her thighs were hit until they looked like rotten vegetables. She was sexually abused, with her captors inserting objects into her vagina and touching her breasts while blindfolded. She said she may never know who exactly tortured her, but she clearly remembered their voice.

Each of these women remembered the exact date they were captured and went through the life-scarring experience.

Sereno asked the petitioners, who are claimants for compensation under Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparations Act, to speak before the court. (What the gov’t still owes Martial Law victims)

She told them, “The Court is listening.”

Not about the money
During her interpellation of former Akbayan Representative Ibarra Gutierrez III, lawyer for one of the petitioning groups, Sereno asked if the monetary compensation for the victims was not sufficient.

Gutierrez responded: “No, your Honor, because the law explicitly acknowledges to recognize the [victims and their heroism and sacrifices].”

He also said that money is not equivalent to the restoration of dignity of the victims.

The late strongman’s state burial, he said, would “prolong and extend” the suffering of the victims.

Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) Chairperson Lina Sarmiento, who was one of the resource persons invited, said that out of over 75,000 claims, they have only finished processing 17,000.

HCRVB can only start distributing the compensation after every case has been settled because the P10 billion funds allotted will be divided according to the intensity of human rights violations experienced by each victim.

Sarmiento said they are hoping to finish the work before May 12, 2018, when their office expires.

Non-repetition
Also appearing as a resource person, CHR Chairperson Chito Gascon said the state has an obligation for “non-repetition” of the trauma they experienced during Martial Law.

“There is a commitment on the part of the state [to] non-repetition, [that] the victims should not be exposed to re-traumatization,” he told Chief Justice Sereno.

Gascon stressed that local and international laws acknowledge reparations as a “positive act that the stake must undertake to [prevent] impunity.”

Patty Pasion writes for Rappler.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

ANALYSIS: By Dan McGarry

Justice Richard Chetwynd acquitted the three men accused of intentional assault on Florence Lengkon on Friday, accepting the defence’s submission that they had no case to answer on those specific charges.

The people of Vanuatu, however, have still to answer for their silence.

Judge Chetwynd ruled that there was indisputable evidence that Ms Lengkon was struck once “forcefully” on the head on March 13, and said that if that was the case then it is impossible that all three men could be guilty of landing the blow.

But the police officers didn’t ask some very basic questions during that interview, such as how Worwor knew they were involved, whether he actually saw them strike Lengkon, and if so, which of the three of them actually struck her.

Ultimately, the evidence was ruled inadmissible. The three men charged with the assault on Florence Lengkon had no case to answer, and they were therefore acquitted of this serious charge.

But… Justice Chetwynd paused meaningfully before continuing. He scanned the packed courtroom and stated that the fact that over 50 people could have seen what happened and not one of them stepped forward to identify the culprit is “an indictment” on our society.

Evident ignorance
Anyone who has been following the case is within their rights to criticise the lack of thoroughness shown by the investigating officers. Their evident ignorance of basic interrogation and investigative procedure certainly contributed to the lack of a conviction on the assault charge.

One wonders what their Australian Federal Police (AFP) advisers have been doing this past decade.

The judge had no alternative but to acquit the three accused of assault because there was nothing that conclusively proved that any one of them struck the blow that left Lengkon’s eye bruised and swollen shut. We know that someone hit Florence Lengkon, but we still don’t know who it is.

It is admittedly a difficult thing to confront—even passively—a large group of angry men. Florence found that out yet again when she sat alone in the witness box last Tuesday and gave her testimony. Her bravery should be an example to us all.

As the week wore on, more and more people turned up to show support, but on Tuesday she stood alone.

It’s possible to sympathise with the difficult role the police play when they are required to confront an angry crowd, such as the group that gathered that day in March when tempers flared over events down at the wharf.

But let’s not make any bones about it: It’s a tough job, yes. But that’s the job you choose when you choose to join the police force.

Two-way street
In fairness to the police, though, this is a two-way street. If people showed a little more respect for the uniform, if they showed a little more respect for the law, then maybe these situations wouldn’t be so fraught.

One thing that was certainly missing then, and is still missing today, is a common understanding of the basic principles of justice and the law. It’s all well and good to complain that the law is an artificial and imposed construct that doesn’t match well with Melanesian sensibilities. That’s all true.

But that doesn’t mean it’s without value. The basic principle that each person has the same rights as all the others is a good thing. The principle that nobody is above the law is a belief that this nation cleaved to when the bribery case was unfolding.

And if we accept those two precepts, then we have to accept that every single one of us has a responsibility to act to uphold the law.

Justice Chetwynd had the unenviable task of defending the accused against the inadequacy of their prosecution. He would never have been placed in that position had even one of the more than 50 men who saw what happened actually believed in the law enough to take a stand against brutality.

That is an indictment against our society.

Dan McGarry is editorial director of the Vanuatu Daily Post group.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Len Garae in Port Vila

Vanuatu gender and human rights advocate Jenny Ligo has called on the Minister of Justice to “revisit resources” made available to curb violence against women.

Ligo, chairperson of Women Against Crime and Corruption (WACC) and Gender Equity in Parliament, made the call after the Supreme Court on Friday acquitted the three drivers – Glen Kovoi, Ben Koro and Charlie Kasuali – on charges of intentional assault against tourism manager Florence Lengkon.

She said the acquittal of the three bus and taxi drivers accused of the assault of Lengkon at the Main Wharf last March 13, confirmed that Vanuatu had many “dishonest individuals”.

Justice Richard Chetwynd acquitted the three men on the grounds that they had no case to answer to because no witness came forward to identify them as the assailants of the victim.

Although three names were recorded in statements provided by two police officers, there was no evidence on how Elton Worwor (president of Port Vila Land Transport Association) knew that the three individuals were involved in the assault.

Ligo said it was sad that more than 50 drivers of the PVLTA were present at the Main Wharf on the day and yet none of them could come forward to identify the person or persons who caused the brutal attack on Lengkon.

Kidnapped from workplace
The victim took the case to court after she was kidnapped from her workplace and driven to the Main Wharf, where she was punched, leaving one of her eyes swollen and closed, and forced to apologise to the drivers for criticising their aggressive behaviour at the wharf on Facebook.

The outspoken North Ambaean leader said what happened indicated that women would continue to be denied their right to justice.

“This is especially true when our leaders often remind us that no one is above the law and justice is for everybody,” she said.

Ligo said a second investigation should be ordered into the assault, and the justice system revisited with a view to making relevant changes where necessary.

“When one woman is denied [her right to] justice, then how many other women are also denied their rights?” she asked.

Ligo said what it “boils down to” was an abuse of women and girls’ human rights.

She said she was not afraid to speak out for the voiceless when the public seemed indifferent to “barbaric criminal acts” against women and girls or were too afraid to speak out against the perpetrators.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

‘No nation is immune from a changing climate,’ says President Barack Obama. Video: The White House.

President Barack Obama addressed Pacific Island leaders and acknowledged their efforts towards dealing with rising temperatures and sea levels that are posing severe threats to the low-lying islands.

During his speech at the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders 2016, in Honolulu, Hawaii last week, Obama noted the effects on agriculture as well as forced relocation as consequences of climate change.

“Few people understand stakes better than our Pacific Island leaders because they are seeing already the impact,” he said.

“While some members of the US congress still seem to be debating whether climate change is real or not, many of you are already planning for new places for your people to live.

“Crops are withering in the Marshall Islands.  Kiribus brought land in another country because theirs may someday be submerged. High seas forced villagers from their homes in Fiji,” said Obama.

‘Turning point’

According to Reuters the US and China, the worlds highest emitters of greenhouse gases, ratified the Paris deal at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China on Saturday.

The Paris deal aims to limit warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Obama said the the Paris deal is a “turning point” for our planet.

• A UN report states that Small Island Developing States (SIDs) like those in the Pacific, are responsible for less than one percent of global green houses gases, yet they are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Denise Yeo

The AUT Food Network has celebrated the commercial launch of the Nothing Else bar, a milestone achievement after years of rigorous research and taste trials.

The Nothing Else bar is a healthy snack bar, made up of just eight simple ingredients – the date and almond flavour contains oats, dates, almonds, oat bran, manuka honey, sunflower oil, flaxseed (linseed) and cinnamon.

The bars are not only more nutritious than typical muesli bars, but also have a low glycaemic index (GI) to keep hunger pangs at bay for longer.

The bars are now being manufactured and distributed by South Auckland food manufacturer AB Foods, in consultation with Auckland University of Technology’s professor of nutrition Elaine Rush and advertising creativity lecturer Dave Brown, who created the Nothing Else brand.

The product has been four years in the making, and was commercialised through AUT Enterprises Ltd (AUTEL).

Professor Rush says the collaboration brought organisations, experts and partners from many disciplines together, with the goal of providing a healthier food choice for consumers.

“Globally, there is a call for better value food. Yet there’s no shortage of unhealthy food in the market, so we need to work harder to improve the nutrition of New Zealanders – one bar at a time,” she says.

Ingredient transparency
On the creation of the Nothing Else brand, Brown explains it was specifically designed to be transparent about products’ ingredients.

“Consumers are surrounded by product labels with tempting yet questionable health claims. By being upfront and displaying the familiar, natural ingredients that go into Nothing Else products, we’re making it easier for customers to make their own choices,” he says.

The Nothing Else team has also introduced a vegan option for consumers, adding to the original date and almond bar with the addition of a cranberry and cashew version.

“The new flavour contains the sugar in the sweetened cranberries, rather than honey, making this bar a suitable option for consumers following a vegan diet,” says Professor Rush.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

Wilson Security has confirmed that it will not renew its contract for its security service in the controversial Papua New Guinea and Nauru detention centres.

This means, the Australian government-run centres will no longer have operating security where evidence of ongoing abuse have been reported.

The company’s decision follows the announcement of its sub-contractor, Broadspectrum, who will also be ending their contract in the detention centres.

A media release confirms both contracts for these providers will conclude in October 2017.

Earlier last month the Australian government confirmed that both detention centres will be closed.

Amnesty International said this was the “first step” in ending the human rights abuses of refugees and children that are happening in the centres.

But a time frame for the closure of the detention centres has still not be confirmed.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

Sir Michael apologised in a statement to the people of East Sepik and the country as a whole for the shame and embarrassment caused by a report in Singapore about a money laundering case that names him.

A Singaporean woman and her American husband were both jailed for sentences for five years or longer in a money laundering case involving US$3.6 million, according to The Straits Times. They reportedly plan to appeal.

The Grand Chief said he would be seeking legal advice on the matter in a few days’ time.

“I wish to make this address to the nation of Papua New Guinea in response to recent reports from Singapore.

“A court case has found two persons in Singapore guilty of money laundering offences and subsequently names me as a recipient of some funds.

“I have taken steps to get clarification and legal advice on this matter, but I would like to state from the outset that at no time in my political career have I received inducements or bribes.

“At first glance these charges say otherwise. Therefore, during the next few days, I will consult with my family and legal counsel and consider how to address this matter.

Apology to the nation
“Nonetheless, I take this opportunity to apologise to the people of Papua New Guinea, my people of East Sepik and my family for the shame and embarrassment these reports may have caused.

“I have no further remarks to make at this time.”

The Singapore court found a married couple guilty for laundering US$3.6 million from Papua New Guinea in 2010 meant to set up community colleges in the country – then gave US$784,000 of it to the country’s then Prime Minister, Sir Michael.

According to The Straits Times, Singaporean Lim Ai Wah, 61, was given five years’ jail last Thursday (September 1), while her 68-year-old American husband Thomas Doehrman got five years and 10 months.

They were each found guilty on one count of falsification of accounts and five charges of transferring the benefits of criminal conduct.

Doehrman had been the trustee of a fund set up by the PNG government to establish community colleges in the country.

The Straits Times reported that in June 2010, the trust hired ZTE Corporation for US$35 million to supply telecom equipment for the project and the couple conspired with a ZTE employee, Li Weiming, 34, for the company to pay a secret “commission” to them.

Concealing payment
The news source stated that to conceal the true nature of the payment, Doehrman and Lim acquired a British Virgin Islands shell company, Questzone Offshore, and signed a fictitious US$3.6 million contract with ZTE.

No services were provided, but a Questzone invoice was created.

Doehrman and Lim gave Li, a Chinese national, US$850,000 via two transactions to his wife’s Hong Kong bank account, according to the newspaper account of the case.

They gave Sir Michael three cheques worth a total of USD$784,000 in late 2010, all of which were paid into his Singapore bank account.

In their police statements, Lim and Doehrman said bribes had to be paid to the then-Prime Minister, Sir Michael, in order to get business from PNG.

Freddy Mou is chief reporter of Loop PNG.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Sue Bradford

For decades activists and intellectuals as diverse as Bruce Jesson, Annette Sykes, Brian Easton, Jane Kelsey and Bryce Edwards have lamented the lack of any progressively oriented policy institution capable of mounting a serious challenge to the neoliberal hegemony which has dominated New Zealand’s political life since the 1980s.

The NZ Business Round Table, the Maxim Institute, the NZ Institute and more recently the NZ Initiative have all played major roles as think tanks influencing and advocating on economic and social issues.

When I commenced doctoral research (2010 – 2013) exploring the reasons why we had no major left think tank in New Zealand, two of the most frequent responses received were that we’d never succeed because we don’t have the money and because the left is too fragmented and factionalised.

On the question of money, there is no question that ESRA is very much on the back foot.  There is no secret source of funding for ESRA and so far no substantial donors have emerged, although of course such support will always be welcomed as long as our kaupapa remains uncompromised.

What has enabled us to commence and sustain the project so far has been the tremendous goodwill, time and commitment shown by a large group of skilled activist and academic volunteers, backed by a comparatively low but steady stream of donations and automatic payments from supporters.

We don’t have enough money, but we make the most of what we have… and every dollar you contribute is another step towards our sustenance and growth.

At the core of ESRA’s being we are the opposite of the major think tanks mentioned above. While we don’t have their financial resources, we do have the ability to harness and nurture a collective determination to build a counterhegemonic institution capable of quality research, acute comment, and the generation of lively public debate and thoughtful policy development.

In touch with realities
We will become a very different kind of think tank to those which already exist, grounded in the unions and community-based organisations whose interests we wish to serve, and closely in touch with the realities of life for the ever growing numbers of people who are paying the price in poverty, homelessness, alienation and despair for New Zealand’s love affair with neoliberal capitalism.

The second barrier raised to the potential development of a major think tank on the left was that traditional left factionalism had the potential to impede such a project right from the start.  This has not proved to be the case at all.  In the slow, careful process of establishing ESRA we have aimed to put a stake in the ground, inviting those who support the initiative to become part of it, but not seeking to colonise or take over people and organisations whose political interests lie elsewhere.

ESRA in fact looks forward to the day when other substantial left think tanks will emerge.  Meanwhile, we will always welcome debate and interaction with other entities, no matter their place on the political spectrum.

It is cautious, deliberative work building an organisation without major funding support.  Our ability to progress all the activities in which we would ideally like to engage is inhibited by a lack of paid staff and resources.

But we have come a long way already and feel sure that our current model of quiet, determined long-haul organising will lay the groundwork for a thriving ESRA, working for the better, more hopeful future to which we are committed.

Sue Bradford is a former Green MP, researcher and activist. She gave this address at the launch of ESRA at the Counterfutures conference at Victoria University of Wellington on Friday night.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Peter S. Kinjap in Port Moresby

The University of Papua New Guinea administration’s decision to ban eight students from continuing their studies is illegal, claims lawyer Peter Dumu, a former member of the Students Disciplinary Committee at UPNG.

The students were protest leaders during the recent two months of boycott of classes and demonstrations against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill that climaxed with PNG police opening fire on peaceful protesters on June 8, wounding up to 30 people.

Dumu, who was a UPNG disciplinary committee member in 2013, said the decision was procedurally wrong and unconstitutional for these reasons:

1. Firstly, according to the bylaws of UPNG (Students Disciplinary Committee statute), a student who has breached any laws must be given 7 or 14 days’ notice by the SDC to respond to their charge(s) in writing. The SDC will then call up a meeting to hear the student’s response, which means there must be a quorum to hear students matters. Following the hearing, the SDC would make its ruling or decision to whether suspend or terminate students from studies depending on the nature of the offence.

2. Secondly, students will then be awarded their rights under the regulations to appeal to the Students Disciplinary Appeal Committee.

3. If the appeal committee upholds the decision of the SDC then the aggrieved student(s) will have no option but to go to the National Court for a judicial review after exhausting the administrative procedures.

Lawyer Dumu said: “We all understand crystal clear that the administration of UPNG or the University Council have no power at all under the laws, either with the UPNG Act or SDC statute, to terminate students right away. The harsh decision made by the UPNG administration is ultra-vires and illegal from the start.

“I would say its unconstitutional because their right to be heard (principles of natural justice) was not awarded to them accordingly. Therefore, the UPNG administration should reconsider its decision, and at least go by the book,” he said.

‘Lessons needed’
There are many similar case precedents, he said.

Some lessons needed to be learned by people “advising the administration on legal stuff”.

Student Representative Council vice-president Arthur Amos said in a press conference yesterday that some of the excluded students who had already received their termination letter by hand had written back to the school administration asking it to reconsider their decision and reinstate the students.

Amos said the school showed no sign of allowing any verbal communication between both parties but only through written documentation.

He and a handful of his terminated SRC members have done as requested.

In the meantime, they will await the Council Appeals Committee’s decision after they go through the students appeal.

Classes are scheduled to start on Monday.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Café Pacific video at the Tupunis festival on Tanna island.

By Odile Guiomar in Lenakel, Tanna

Tanna Island has hosted the first Slow Food festival in Vanuatu – Tupunis Slow Food Festival – and it was a resounding success.

Tupunis, in Tannese language, is a term used for the people in charge of taking care of the land and sea resources.

Tupunis Slow Food festival on Tanna Island last week promoted and highlighted Melanesian traditional food and preservation methods that have been used for years by the ancestors, which ensures Melanesian people live a good healthy life in their islands.

Local food crops play a huge part in times of disaster that are part of every day life in Vanuatu such as cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, and a “modern” danger — non communicable diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity.

The Slow Food movement is a global movement that was initiated few years ago to promote and revive the traditional and local foods endangered by the fast food global wave.

Everybody knows “fast food” — processed food, genetically modified seeds that resist bugs and pests, but never germinate, industrial farms and slaughter, loss of old crops, overuse of processed food wrapped under plastic, overuse of preservatives, colorants, chemicals and other additives.

Fast Food plays an important place in our diet, even if it is not healthy and the traditional and local recipes are lost.

Tupunis Food festival, organised by the Slow Food committee in Vanuatu, and funded by Christensen Fund gave a wonderful opportunity to gather some representative foods from different Melanesian countries – Kanaky, Solomon Islands, PNG and Bougainville, and Fiji with the aim to showcase local crops and local recipes and talk about tradition, culture and resilience in their own culture.

Representatives of Minister of Agriculture and Bio-security, Minister of Climate Change, Health, and a panel of specialists and fieldworkers shared their knowledge, while Torba, Penama, Shefa, Tafea, Sanma and Malampa participants showcased their local recipes, local crops and traditional preservation methods, in the purpose to revive and highlight their ability to face climate disaster – cyclone, drought, or heavy rains.

Tupunis Slow Food festival re-enforces the benefit to keep Melanesian traditions alive.

Odile Guiomar is a Vanuatu Daily Post reporter.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

Forgotten Dawn Children’s official trailer.

By TJ Aumua in Auckland

Filmmakers Joshua Iosefo and Corey Larry Sio found out this month that their short film Forgotten Dawn Children will be screened in Sydney later this year at the Pasifika Film Festival.

The best friends are still overwhelmed saying it is a dream come true to have a film accepted into a festival.

Originally made for final year assignment at university, Sio, the films producer, says he is “shocked but humbled” at the news.

“I didn’t think we would submit it into anything…but he did!” Sio laughs pointing to the films director, Iosefo, who is sitting next to him.

“As we were making it I was like, yeah, this is going be in a film fest!” 22-year-old Iosefo admits.

“I just had this big dream that even though this was supposed to be an end of year assignment, I wanted to make it way more than that.”

“For it to be recognised in a film festival adds value to the film,” says Iosefo.

This is especially important to a film that is based on a shamefully true event that itself, has received little value and little recognition in New Zealand’s history.

 The film follows main character, Ioane, a middle-aged man, who is haunted by his memories of the dawn raids, and the struggle of growing up as a Pacific Islander in mid-1970s Auckland.

While going about his daily life, Ioane’s flash backs, show us the unjustifiable arrests of many Pacific Islanders whose homes were raided by police in what is now today’s trending suburbs of Ponsonby, Grey Lynn and Mount Albert.

 Honoring the struggle

“The Dawn Raids is not taught in New Zealand schools- it’s not in the curriculum,” Iosefo explains.

It wasn’t until a year-12 drama teacher in high school taught him about the dawn raids when he became “obsessed” with learning about it.

“I feel that, that was quite late in my life to learn something that concerns my people and my history in New Zealand,” Iosefo says, who is a proud Samoan/Niuean.

“Hence Forgotten Dawn Children.

“I felt that there needed to be something to honor that, to honor the struggle, as well as the memories of people…memories that have just been forgotten.”

‘Our people’

‘We don’t take credit for the film,’ they both say. ‘We are just telling the story of our people and what happened.’

Twenty-eight-year-old Sio, says seeing the film come to life has created a new found respect for his Pacific family.

“It’s made me realise how strong and resilient our people are. We are some of the greatest survivors of all time. We really, really, really are strong!

“It makes me even more proud to be Samoan.”

When asked of the most memorable moment in the film, Sio said it was the last scene.

“It was this police scene we filmed on a street in Māngere. We had cops chasing five Pacific Islanders down the street-we had to shoot it so many times.

“People were coming down the street, I think people thought it was real, seeing everyone watching-that will forever stay in mind.

“We were almost done, that was our last and biggest scene and we had no energy left.”

“We were so exhausted that night,” Iosefo adds.

“I fainted in the car…while I was sitting down!” he laughs.

‘Home grown’

It took an eight-member-crew made up of fellow students in their class to make the film which they refer to as “totally home grown”.

Family, friends, and a childhood music teacher were also “shoulder tapped” and generously donated their talent, time and money to making the film.

“At least three quarters of the cast are my family,” says Iosefo.

He credits his dad, who not only acted in the film, but also played the role of transport, errands runner and provided food for the cast and crew throughout the long hours of shooting.

Both Sio and Iosefo say they will be launching a new film project next year.

In the meantime, they are still feeling overwhelmed by their films success and will be flying to Sydney in November for the screening of Forgotten Dawn Children at the Pasifika Film Festival.

We wish them all the best!

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Bob Makin in Port Vila

Some eight years of negotiations on the legal texts have gone into deciding what the Pacific free trade agreement would comprise.

The last day of such discussions was on Friday in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The whole idea, with the best of intentions of all the island states and the two big wealthy countries, Australia and New Zealand, has been to create jobs, raise standards of living and encourage sustainable economic development in the island countries.

Trade ministers from all the island members of the Pacific Islands Forum have been discussing final texts and where their talks have reached politically.

There is no agreement as yet. And there is an interesting point of view from Vanuatu.

A petition calling for suspension of any decision until there was more worker representation arrived at last week’s New Zealand conference of ministers and officials.

Lack of worker representation was expressed. And prior to that Papua New Guinea declared its withdrawal from the agreement.

Fiji reservations
Fiji was still expressing reservations leading up to the final conference.

Vanuatu wants all of the government MPs to view the whole text before it decides whether to join or not.

A Council of Ministers’ decision a fortnight ago said exactly that when chief negotiator Sumbue Antas released drafts of some of the texts to government MPs at that time.

This is the position as described by Lands Minister Regenvanu on Tanna last week.

In the past, government MPs have never seen the texts of these trade details before they are signed by trade officials, and then the minister responsible.

They are then just obliged to vote on them in Parliament, without actually seeing them in full first of all.

Eleventh hour
This was when the likelihood of Vanuatu joining the World Trade Organisation had reached the eleventh hour.

Ill-informed legislation can lead to problems within a country and political movements.

MP Ralph Regenvanu voted against the WTO accession and that led to his being removed from government at that time.

The Council of Ministers is now getting big issues like this one, PACER-Plus, better into perspective.

Elected MPs will actually have the advantage of seeing what they are voting on first of all: the full text, and in writing. They will know it all before they vote on it.

And those who haven’t paid much attention to what PACER-Plus really is should get to know a lot more about it now.

The negotiations are said to offer an opportunity to help Pacific Islands Forum countries benefit from enhanced regional trade and economic integration.

Bob Makin is an independent journalist and contributor to Vanuatu Daily Post and Vanuatu Daily Digest.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Peter Kinjap in Port Moresby.

The University of Papua New Guinea (UNPG) Administration has permanently excluded all the Student Representative Council (SRC) members and student leaders who led the recent strike against the PNG Prime Minister,Peter O’Neill, last June.

The accused students received letters from the UPNG acting pro-vice-chancellor, professor Mange Matui, which stated they have been de-registered from studies and are no longer UPNG students from 2016 and beyond.

A student leader said they had been given two-weeks to appeal the decision.

Abstracts from the letter read: “The University of Papua New Guinea administration has credible evidence that, in your capacity as the SRC member of 2016, you have been involved in the 2016 May to July student unrest and boycott.

“Based on the reports I have received, and after careful considerations of relevant evidences and circumstances, you have breached all laws of Papua New Guinea, including the Criminal Code Act and the Summary Offences Act.

“By virtue of the disciplinary powers bestowed on me by section 7 of the Student Discipline Statute Ch. 169, and acting in accordance with the powers granted under section 5 (3)(b) (i) of the Student Discipline Statute Ch. 169, you are hereby excluded permanently from the University of Papua New Guinea.”

Mammoth task

Meanwhile, the SRC’s lawyer, Laken Lepatu Aigilol, has been sued by UPNG for aiding the students.

Aigilol said he hopes to challenge the action taken against him when it is heard in court next month on September, 13^th.

“I call upon all the excluded student leaders to provide me copies of your termination letters so that I can look at seeking the court’s mercy and review this decision.

“It would be a mammoth task defending myself and the student leaders,” the lawyer said.

More members of the SRC are expected to receive the letter.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Peter Kinjap in Port Moresby.

The University of Papua New Guinea (UNPG) Administration has permanently excluded all the Student Representative Council (SRC) members and student leaders who led the recent strike against the PNG Prime Minister,Peter O’Neill, last June.

The accused students received letters from the UPNG acting pro-vice-chancellor, professor Mange Matui, which stated they have been de-registered from studies and are no longer UPNG students from 2016 and beyond.

A student leader said they had been given two-weeks to appeal the decision.

Abstracts from the letter read: “The University of Papua New Guinea administration has credible evidence that, in your capacity as the SRC member of 2016, you have been involved in the 2016 May to July student unrest and boycott.

“Based on the reports I have received, and after careful considerations of relevant evidences and circumstances, you have breached all laws of Papua New Guinea, including the Criminal Code Act and the Summary Offences Act.

“By virtue of the disciplinary powers bestowed on me by section 7 of the Student Discipline Statute Ch. 169, and acting in accordance with the powers granted under section 5 (3)(b) (i) of the Student Discipline Statute Ch. 169, you are hereby excluded permanently from the University of Papua New Guinea.”

Mammoth task

Meanwhile, the SRC’s lawyer, Laken Lepatu Aigilol, has been sued by UPNG for aiding the students.

Aigilol said he hopes to challenge the action taken against him when it is heard in court next month on September, 13^th.

“I call upon all the excluded student leaders to provide me copies of your termination letters so that I can look at seeking the court’s mercy and review this decision.

“It would be a mammoth task defending myself and the student leaders,” the lawyer said.

More members of the SRC are expected to receive the letter.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Pasifika Voices group have secured a contract to feature on the soundtrack of the much anticipated Hollywood Disney animation, Moana.

The choir which includes members from Fiji and the Solomon Islands is led by well-known performing arts creative, Igelese Et, who is also the Head of Performing Arts at the USP Oceania Centre in Suva.

An elated Ete said this contract is a feat of great magnitude and acknowledgement to the talents of the people of the Pacific.

“It is fair to say that a Hollywood Disney animation is the ‘olympics’ of the entertainment world,” he said.

The choir will attend the global premiere of Moana in November-“rumour has it the Hollywood megastar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson will be attending,” Ete said.

AsiaPacificReport.nz

By David Robie on Aneityum, Vanuatu

She had the most enchanting smile, even though she had lost her baby teeth. Her toothless grin turned out to be perfect for the role.

The five-year-old girl had her face painted with a black anti-nuclear symbol – different motifs on both her cheeks.

Beside her was a neatly sketched poster: “No nukes: Please don’t spoil my beautiful face”.

This was the scene in Port Vila’s Independence Park in 1983 during the region’s second Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific Movement conference.

It was during the heady days of nuclear-free activism with Vanuatu, the world’s newest nation only three years old and founding Prime Minister Walter Hadye Lini leading the way.

I was there that day as an independent journalist taking many photographs for my series of articles for Pacific and international media.

One person who really stood out was the little girl with the beautiful smile. But I never knew her name back then.