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Duterte warns more of his appointees will be sacked over corruption

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

President Rodrigo Duterte … popular on social media and the subject of a host of computer games over his “crime busting” methods in spite of more than 7000 reported extrajudicial killings. Image: Rachfeed

By Pia Ranada in Manila

President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that he will fire more government personnel in “coming days”.

“In the coming days, I’m going to fire additional people whom I have appointed in government. There are many of them, I’m still trying to figure out how it was done,” Duterte told reporters after his visit to the wake of two soldiers killed in action and to injured troopers at the Army’s 4th Infantry Division headquarters at Camp Edilberto Evangelista in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro.

The President fired his own campaign spokesman from his post as National Irrigation Administration chief after being told of alleged corruption.

He has also sacked two of his fraternity brothers from their posts in the Bureau of Immigration.

Although he did not give the exact number or the names of those whom he will boot out of office, the President said in Cagayan de Oro, “Marami ’yan (there are many of them).”

He warned public officials who are suspected of committing unlawful acts or abusing their power.

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“This is my warning to those in the government: whether you are a director or CESO or civil service eligible, I’m telling you stop it – at least for 6 years, while I’m still sitting in office,” he said.

‘Corruption will stop’
“Corruption will stop and it will stop, I am telling you I will put a stop to it,” he added.

WATCH VIDEO: Duterte: Say ‘No’ to corruption

The President also said he wanted to know why plunder was removed from the list of crimes punishable by death in the House of Representative’s version of the death penalty bill.

“I really would like to know the rationale,” Duterte told reporters when he was asked if it was okay with him that plunder was not in the list of capital offences.

Duterte, as a presidential candidate, promised to crack down on government corruption.

Asked if the absence of plunder from the death penalty bill was inconsistent with his administration’s hardline stance against corruption, he said he never said he wanted corrupt politicians dead.

“I said I’d stop corruption, but I didn’t say that I’m going to kill the plunderer. What was in my mind was, corruption will stop. Sinabi ko sa inyo, hintuin ko ‘yan (I told you, I will stop it),” he said.

Plunder, as defined in the plunder law, is when a public officer acquires ill-gotten wealth amounting to at least P50 million (NZ$1.5 million).

It is punishable by life imprisonment or death. This was modified to only life imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished in 2006.

Lawmakers, including Duterte’s allies in the House of Representatives, have said they decided to take out plunder and rape from the crimes punishable by death to make the controversial bill easier to pass.

The bill now punishes only drug-related crimes with capital punishment. More than 7000 people have died in extrajudicial killings as part of a “war on drugs” since the president came to power last July.

Pia Ranada is a Rappler journalist. This report included a file by Bobby Lagsa.

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Te Reo Māori should be compulsory in NZ primary schools, says pop-up survey

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Both Māori and Pākehā think that Te Reo Māori is an important part of New Zealand’s national identity and should be compulsory in primary schools, according to a new survey. Image: Te Wiki o te Reo Maori

A new online survey by Te Ipukarea, the National Māori Language Institute at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), confirms that attitudes towards Te Reo Māori are changing.

“Both Māori and Pākehā think that Te Reo Māori is an important part of New Zealand’s national identity and should be compulsory in primary schools. This is what people want for their children and grandchildren,” says Professor Tania Ka’ai, director of Te Ipukarea.

Professor Tania Ka’ai … the rest of the world looks to New Zealand for inspiration and guidance on how to keep indigenous language alive. Image: Te Ipukarea/AUT

The vast majority of survey respondents agree or strongly agree that the Māori language should be compulsory in New Zealand primary schools, including 83 percent of Māori, 80 percent of New Zealand European/Pākehā and 78 percent of other ethnicities.

An even larger proportion – 95 percent of Māori, 94 percent of New Zealand European/Pākehā and 90 percent of other ethnicities – agree or strongly agree that the Māori language is an important part of New Zealand’s national identity.

The pop-up survey was completed by 5391 visitors to the Te Aka Māori-English Dictionary online.

Conducted in partnership with the Māori Language Commission, the survey sought to gather data on how the online dictionary is used, the language proficiency of users and attitudes towards Te Reo Māori.

Those surveyed identified as Māori (58 percent), New Zealand European/Pākehā (35 percent) and other ethnicities (7 percent). They were evenly distributed by age. And, the largest groups by occupation were professionals (37 percent) and students (20 percent).

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Looking for inspiration
Professor Ka’ai says the rest of the world looks to New Zealand for inspiration and guidance on how to keep indigenous language alive.

Scandinavian countries like Finland, Norway and Sweden are exploring Māori language immersion models such as Kura Kaupapa and Kohanga Reo – the latter of which was the archetype for Hawai’i’s Pūnana Leo.

“We are world leaders in language revitalisation. The next step is for government to make Te Reo Māori compulsory in primary schools. Now, let’s lead the world in this,” says Professor Ka’ai.

According to Statistics New Zealand, 377,073 students were enrolled in New Zealand primary schools in 2016 – 72 percent received no Māori language education, 25 per cent studied Māori as a subject or equivalent and 3 percent were involved in Māori language immersion.

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Coal comfort: Pacific nations on carbon collision course with Australia

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Wesley Morgan in Suva

Uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of a warming world, Pacific island countries have long been considered the front-line of climate change, so it’s not surprising that they are also leading the fight to tackle the problem.

These tiny nations have vowed to challenge major polluters to cut emissions and, this year, they have coal exports from their biggest neighbour firmly in their sights.

For the first time, a Pacific island country is head of global negotiations aiming to limit “dangerous interference” with the Earth’s climate system. Fiji, which last week marked the first anniversary of the devastation caused by the strongest cyclone ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, has vowed to use its presidency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to make the world sit up and take notice.

This must be a matter of concern in Australia’s capital, Canberra; Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama is an outspoken critic of his neighbour’s climate policy.

He has labelled Australia a prominent member of the “coalition of the selfish” – a group of industrialised nations that put the welfare of their carbon-polluting industries before the environment, and even the survival of Pacific island countries.

It’s difficult to deny that Bainimarama has a point. Australia is one of the wealthiest nations on earth, and the world’s largest coal exporter. The country has doubled exports of coal – the dirtiest of fossil fuels – over the past decade.

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Far from scaling back on coal as part of global efforts to reduce emissions, Australia is currently planning public subsidies for new coal mines and considering financing new coal-fired power plants.

A diplomatic challenge
Abroad, Australian diplomats are tasked with improving coal’s reputation. Late last year, for example, they lobbied the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to ensure multilateral finance would be directed toward so-called “clean coal” power plants in the region.

Australia’s aggressive promotion of coal has angered Pacific island governments, which have repeatedly called for a global moratorium on the development of new coal mines.

In October 2015, Bainimarama issued a special plea for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to “impose a moratorium on the development of further reserves of Australian coal.”

Pacific island countries are uniquely vulnerable to changes wrought by global warming. Image: Jason Reed/The Conversation/Reuters

Australia’s continued promotion of coal is also firmly at odds with the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C above the pre-industrial average. To have a reasonable chance of achieving that goal, there is little doubt the vast majority of the world’s coal reserves must stay in the ground.

Wary that Fiji and other Pacific island countries will again target Australia at the COP23 climate negotiations in December 2017, Australian Ambassador for the Environment Patrick Suckling was dispatched to island capitals in February 2017 to promote Australia’s climate change “credentials”.

Having been set the task of promoting carbon emissions to people on low-lying atolls – surely the 21st century equivalent of selling ice to Eskimos – Ambassador Suckling visited Tuvalu, Samoa and Fiji to explain that “clean coal” would be part of the world’s energy mix for decades.

Perhaps it is not surprising that he was happy to promote the benefits of coal; in his previous role as ambassador to India, Suckling encouraged the Indian firm Adani to invest in a new coal mine in the Australian state of Queensland.

In July 2014, he described the proposed Carmichael mine — which, if completed, will be the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere — as an “outstanding project”.

Suckling’s island tour, and his support for coal, sparked outrage from Pacific island civil society and church groups, who penned an open letter to the ambassador calling on the Australian government to do more to reduce emissions.

Wolves and sheep
While in Fiji, Ambassador Suckling suggested Australia would work closely with the country to ensure the 2017 global climate negotiations would be a success. He also made much of Australia’s role as co-chair of the UN’s Green Climate Fund, suggesting new finance would help Pacific communities build resilience to a changing climate.

Graphic: The Conversation/RNGS Reuters

This year, Australia co-chairs the Green Climate Fund with another nation that has the dubious honour of being a leading exporter of carbon: Saudi Arabia. By 2020, Australia is expected become the world’s largest exporter of both coal and natural gas.

When that happens, Australia’s total carbon exports look set to exceed that of Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest oil exporter.

Pacific island states are no doubt wary of wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are well aware that both Australia and Saudi Arabia have a history of dragging their feet on global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. In the lead up to negotiations for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, for example, Australia was isolated with Saudi Arabia (and other OPEC members) and Russia as the minority of laggard states.

The ‘Australia clause’
At the climate negotiations that followed, the country insisted on special exemptions – subsequently known as “the Australia clause” – that allowed it to meet international commitments even while domestic emissions from burning fossil fuels increased. Concerned with safeguarding its oil exports, Saudi Arabia has long been accused of outright obstruction in climate negotiations.

Pacific island governments are familiar with Australia’s repeated attempts to weaken their position at UN climate negotiations. Indeed, at each major milestone in the global talks, Australia has exercised an effective veto power at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) – the region’s premier annual political meeting – to water down positions put forward by its small, impoverished neighbours.

In 1997, for example, island leaders wanted to issue a declaration calling for a global agreement that included legally binding commitments to reduce emissions. But they were “bullied into submission” by then Australian prime minister John Howard, who secured a toned-down declaration.

In the lead-up to negotiations for the 2015 Paris Agreement, Australian officials again worked hard to ensure the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ statement accommodated Australia’s position in the global talks.

Most pointedly, the 2015 Forum leaders’ declaration on Climate Change Action failed to repeat earlier calls by Pacific island leaders for a global agreement to limit warming to below 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average.

Pacific island states insist that warming beyond this 1.5 degrees threshold would threaten the very survival of low-lying states in the region, such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

A vital role
Fiji has vowed to use its UNFCCC presidency to maintain the momentum that was established by the 2015 Paris Agreement. Widely seen as a diplomatic breakthrough, that agreement represents a shared political commitment to reducing carbon emissions.

But global climate talks now stand at an important crossroads. Officials are still finalising the rule book to accompany the agreement, even as the first global stocktake of pledges made under it is planned for next year.

It is crucial that ambitious and transparent pledges are made. Polluting nations must reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, before catastrophic rates of warming are locked in.

Pacific island countries have a special role to play in convincing the international community to start the needed shift to a zero emissions global economy. With the world’s eyes on them at COP23, which is already being labelled the “Pacific COP”, island leaders have the opportunity to highlight what must be done to give low-lying Pacific countries a fighting chance at a future.

But first they must continue to shine the spotlight on their recalcitrant neighbour, and take care to avoid being muzzled by Australia’s “climate diplomacy”.

Dr Wesley Morgan is a lecturer in politics and international affairs at the University of the South Pacific. This article is republished from The Conversation with the author’s permission and under a Creative Commons 4.0 licence.

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Seven Pacific states blast Indonesia for human rights violations in West Papua

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Vanuatu cabinet minister has delivered a stinging condemnation of Indonesia over the “grave situation” on human rights violations in West Papua.

Ronald K Warsal, Minister of Justice and Community Development, speaking on behalf of a coalition of seven Pacific countries – Palau, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu – made the criticisms in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council yesterday.

He spoke of Indonesian state violence, including reports of extrajudicial executions of activists, arrests, beatings and fatal shootings of peaceful demonstrators, and persistent violence against Papuan women.

Warsal called on the council to request the High Commissioner to produce a consolidated report on the situation in West Papua.

Indonesia, speaking in a right of reply, denied the allegations, saying that they did not reflect the situation in Papua.

As a democracy based on the rule of law, Indonesia said, it always investigated allegations of human rights violations and delivered justice, and it promoted the rights of its people in Papua.

Vanuatu should not politicise the issue of Papua for its domestic political purposes, Indonesia said

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The full statement by Ronald K Warsal, MP and Minister of Justice and Community Development, Republic of Vanuatu

34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Geneva, Switzerland, 1 March 2017

Mr President

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Republic of Vanuatu is very pleased to address this meeting.

Today, I am speaking on behalf of both Vanuatu and six other nations of our Pacific region: Tonga, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, and the Solomon Islands

Mr President, we seven have come together today and in a separate written joint statement in order to draw the attention of the distinguished members of the UN Human Rights Council to the grave situation in West Papua.

Mr President, specifically, we focus your attention on a number of recent pronouncements by mandate holders of this Council about serious Indonesian violations of the human rights of indigenous Papuans:

The recent joint letter issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

We also draw attention to other accounts of Indonesian state violence in West Papua, including: communications from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, referring to killings and arrests of Papuans; numerous well-documented reports of extrajudicial executions of activists and the arrests, beatings and fatal shootings of peaceful demonstrators, including high school students; and reports of persistent violence against Papuan women.

We note that in the last 15 years the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights has collected evidence of gross human rights violations by Indonesian security forces in three principal areas of West Papua: Wasior, Wamena, and Paniai. The Commission has described the sets of cases in the first two places as crimes against humanity, which are punishable under Indonesian and international laws.

We want further to highlight another broad aspect of human rights violations the Indonesian government policy over many decades and continuing until today of the migration of non-indigenous Papuans to West Papua, leading to a dramatic decline in the percentage of the indigenous Papuan population.

Mr President, to date, the government of Indonesia has, however, not been able to curtail or halt these various and widespread violations. Neither has that government been able to deliver justice for the victims. Nor has there been any noticeable action to address these violations by the Indonesian government, which has, of course, immediate responsibility and primary accountability.

Furthermore, the Indonesian government has consistently been unable to submit the required periodic human right reports and reviews, which are an essential international norm by which the United Nations secretariat and member states monitor human rights around the world. These written assessments are critical to identifying and eradicating torture, racial discrimination and human rights violations generally.

Mr President, in light of these violations and the Indonesian government’s inaction, we call on the UN Human Rights Council to request the High Commissioner for Human Rights to produce a consolidated report on the actual situation in West Papua.

The High Commissioner’s report needs to take account of the information in existing Treaties, Special Procedures, and the Universal Periodic Review, as well as reports from other international and regional organizations and non-governmental organisations.

The report should also detail the various rights under the International Bill of Human Rights and the related conventions, including the right to self-determination.

And the report must make recommendations for immediate action to halt the pattern of human rights violations as attested to by the numerous Special Procedures and other bodies noted earlier.

Finally, we ask for full and unreserved cooperation with the High Commissioner in the fulfilment of this mandate, including provision by Indonesian authorities of complete access to any persons in West Papua deemed appropriate to meet in the compilation of this report.

Mr President, as I close, we believe that challenges of West Papua must be brought back to the agenda of the United Nations.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to express my views in this forum. Long God Yumi Stanap. In God we stand. Thank you.

 

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Freeport mine shares granted for local administrations in Papua

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Miners working underground in Tembagapura, Papua, last July. Image: Jakarta Post/Kompas File

Local administrations in Papua will get shares from PT Freeport Indonesia when the company divests its 51 percent shares, as required by a new regulation, says Indonesia’s Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.

“Yes, they [the administration] will get [the shares]. The percentage of shares will be discussed later,” Luhut said after meeting Mimika Regent Eltinus Omaleng in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by tempo.co.

Luhut said the central government would also discuss with relevant parties the mechanism for which the shares would be transferred to local administrations.

READ MORE: Indonesia stands firm as Freeport mine threatens to cut production

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Eltinus said Luhut mentioned the figure would be between 10 percent and 20 percent, which Luhut said had been demanded by the regent.

Eltinus said the shares for Papuans would be distributed to the Papua administration, Timika administration and the people holding rights to customary communal land near the copper and gold mining site.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed on January 11 Government Regulation (PP) No. 1/2017, a revision to PP No. 23/2010 on the implementation of the mineral and coal mining business.

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Under the regulation, mining companies are required to construct a smelter as a precondition for them to export the concentrates.

The companies, including Freeport, are also required to change contracts of work (CoW) to a special mining licence (IUPK). With the IUPK, foreign companies are also required to divest 51 percent of their shares.

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Across the Ditch: NZ Labour Has New Dep Leader + Lorde’s New Album Released Friday

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Across the Ditch: Australian radio FiveAA.com.au’s Peter Godfrey and EveningReport.nz’s Selwyn Manning deliver their weekly bulletin, Across the Ditch. This week: Weather + Headlines + NZ Labour Has New Dep Leader + Lorde’s New Album Released Friday + Cricket! New Zealand and South Africa set for a decider on Saturday in the five match one day international series. ITEM ONE – Labour signals a generational shift promoting Jacinda Ardern to deputy leader one week after her significant and defining win in Auckland’s Mt Albert by-election last weekend. ITEM TWO – New Zealand’s international singing sensation LORDE has announced her second album will be officially released 8am NZ time this Friday. But the singer kept true to her Auckland fan-base on Wednesday night, dropping hints that a sneak preview may be had at several locations around the city. It was like a treasure hunt of sorts after Lorde, Ella Yelich O’Connor, tweeted to her 4.5 million followers locations on a map graphic. Within minutes images appeared of an eery green glow emitting from a car, another saw a green script depicting a lyric projected onto a wall and the first sound of a yet-to-be released single, Green Light, played on a loop. Overseas she is quite a big deal too. Elton John referred to her as the future of pop music. And last year she was chosen to perform in honour of the late David Bowie at the Brit Awards where she sang a haunting rendition of Bowie’s Space Oddity. ITEM THREE – It a nail biter of a one day international series against South Africa who are touring here at the moment. The Blackcaps have played four matches so far, and both sides have won two matches each. NZ had a big win Wednesday night with Martin Guptil driving the side to a strong win with his 180 runs. Now it is to the deciding fifth match in a five game series to be played at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday!. Across the Ditch broadcasts live on Australia’s FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nz and Livenews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.]]>

‘We never thought we’d make it to Hollywood’, say Tanna stars

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

The making of the Vanuatu love story film Tanna. A Wall Street Journal video

By Len Garae of the Vanuatu Daily Post

For the first time since the magnificent Vanuatu Convention Centre was opened last year, a powerful custom dance from Tanna surged into the entrance hall to celebrate the live streaming of the winners of the Oscars Awards in Hollywood.

For Tanna to be able to reach the top category of five best foreign language films where the Iranian film The Salesman won an Oscar, is a high enough springboard to place Vanuatu on the world map.

For this, the people of Vanuatu can thank the Australian government and directors of the movie and their Tannese cast, for dreaming of making it big with Tanna because they have made an important impact in Hollywood for Vanuatu in particular.

All actors and actresses in the movie never went to acting school.

Parliamentary Secretary and MP Johnny Koanapo from Tanna praised the actors and actresses for making use of their God-given talents to act in Tanna without attending acting school.

On the other hand, it is the norm for all actors and actresses in the United States and Europe to qualify to act in movies only after graduating from acting schools.

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Livestreaming of the awards
Dain and Wawa joined the crowd in the Convention Centre in Port Vila yesterday to view the Oscars ceremony on Australian Channels 9 and 10 in collaboration with Telsat and VBTC

Dain said he never dreamed the movie would make it to Port Vila let alone as far as Hollywood.

 “I thought it would be for local consumption, that’s all,” he said with honesty in his eyes from the podium.

Wawa was content not to speak.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Joe Natuman who is himself from Tanna, will lead a government delegation to Yakel village on south-west Tanna, to say thank you to the community for their historic role which catapulted the foreign language film to join the top five competing for the Oscars.

Yakel village amateur actresses at the Vanuatu Convention Centre on Monday. Image: Dan McGarry/Vanuatu Daily Post
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Possibility of Telecommunication Universal Service in the Pacific Islands: Case studies of Vanuatu, PEACESAT and USPNet

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Pacific Media Centre

Research


Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Abstract

This thesis examines the meaning of telecommunication for the remote islands and rural areas of the Pacific Islands through the application and assessment of the ‘Capability Approach’, which was developed and used by Amartya Sen in his book, Development as Freedom (1999), in which he argues that development means freedom of choice and achievement. This research also makes a major contribution to the study of ICT4D (Information and Communications Technology for Development) and the development of telecommunications in the Pacific Islands, by examining the historical background of communication, and case studies of Vanuatu and PEACESAT with USPNet. In the Pacific, thousands of small islands are scattered in the ocean, which occupies a third of the surface area of the Earth. Each small island is far from the major economic centres and many have small populations. Due to their economic scale, uneven developments and Western colonization policy, many islands did not have a telecommunication service for a century after telecommunication was developed globally in the 19th century. In the 1970s, during the Cold War, many Pacific Islands had an opportunity to use a free second-hand satellite from the United States, which enabled them to provide higher education services and to manage their fisheries. In the 2000s, deregulation and competition were introduced to the Pacific Island counties (PICs) and Universal Service (which provided a telecommunication service to the whole population) was finally achieved in some PICs, such as Vanuatu. This study presents research in measuring the capability of ICT users, policymakers and providers, with interviews in Vanuatu using the ‘storytelling approach’ and policy document research on USPNet and PEACESAT. The results of this research (both archival and fieldwork) tell us about the dynamism of development and people using ICT to magnify their Capability. Other case studies tell us that Capability does not belong to technology but to people and what they want to do.

Supervisor: Dr Jenny Bryant-Tokalau

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Worlds of Journalism global research project produces NZ findings

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Report by David Robie. This article was first published on Café Pacific

The latest Pacific Journalism Review … publishing for 22 years. Image: Hans Tommy/AUT
From Asia Pacific Report

NEW ZEALAND journalists are working longer hours, and feeling more pressure, both ethically and resource-wise, than they were only two years ago, a new research survey has found.

A survey of New Zealand professional journalists, published today in Pacific Journalism Review, also shows for the first time that women journalists are paid less than men, despite making up the bulk of the workforce.

The survey shows female journalists, despite predominating in the profession, are significantly disadvantaged in terms of promotion and income.

The average before tax income of all journalists was $69,400 (in 2015 dollars) but the median after-tax salary of women was 26 percent lower than that of men of equivalent rank and experience.

READ MORE: Pacific Journalism Review on the new Tuwhera platform

The biggest factors affecting journalists’ income, in order, are experience, where they work (with those in provincial areas are paid less) and gender.

Women were also disadvantaged in terms of promotion; while only half of men work in non-manage¬ment roles, which is the case for two-thirds of women.

The median age was 44 years and the mean age 43.l6 years.

The survey, part of the Worlds of Journalism project involving 64 countries and 27,500 journalists, was led by Dr James Hollings, head of journalism at Massey University. The research team included Professor Folker Hanusch of the University of Vienna, Austria; Dr Ravi Balasubramanian of Massey; and Associate Professor Geoff Lealand of Waikato University.

Dramatic changes
The dramatic changes in news brought about by the switch to digital dissemination and the rise of social media are reflected in journalists’ perceptions of change in their industry.

The survey asked them to rate 23 elements that may have altered over the past five years in New Zealand, with 1 being “weakened a lot” and 5 being “strengthened a lot”.
PJR editor Professor David Robie … journal also features Pacific media research. Image: Hans Tommy/AUT

“Social media, such as Facebook or Twitter” strengthened the most, with a mean rating of 4.8, followed by “the use of search engines” (4.63), “user-generated content, such as blogs” (4.4), “Profit-making pressures” (4.35), “Advertising pressures” (4.07) and Working hours (4.03).

There are significant shifts from a previous survey in 2013—while the ranking of the top three change elements is the same, the amount of perceived change has strengthened. Also, advertising pressures and working hours have now entered the top five, replacing ‘The importance of technical skills’ (4.0) and “Audience feedback” (also 4.0).

The increasing commercial pressures on journalists also showed in those elements identified by respondents as having weakened the most. These were “time available for researching stories” (1.76), “the credibility of journalism” (2.25), “ethical standards” (2.4), and “journalists’ freedom to make editorial decisions” (2.69).

It is concerning that journalists feel these changes have affected news quality, with a perception that the credibility of journalism, ethical standards and freedom to make editorial decisions have all fallen.

Another concern is that despite evidence of some improvement, Māori, Pasifika, and Asians remain under-represented in newsrooms. Māori make up only 7.9 percent of the journalism workforce, despite making up 15 percent of the general population.

Better educated
On the positive side, journalists are better educated than they have ever been, and overall adherence to ethical standards remains high.

Almost all respondents (96 percent) agreed with the statement “Journalists should always adhere to codes of professional ethics, regardless of situation and context”.

Also, job satisfaction remains high. Almost four in five (78.6 percent) stated they were “some¬what” or “very satisfied” with their job, compared with 82.1 percent in 2013.

It is clear that New Zealand journalists, despite these pressures, continue to take their role as guardians of democracy very seriously.

The large number of independent operators captured in this survey suggests that the digital revolution is opening new opportunities for journalists to start their own smaller outlets, a challenge that appears to have been taken up especially by older journalists.

The researchers interviewed 539 New Zealand professional journalists in December 2015 and January 2016.

This is 23.6 percent of the 2415 journalists invited to participate, giving the survey a margin of error of 3.8 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, or 5 percent at the 99 percent confidence level.

Pacific media research
PJR is an international research journal published by AUT’s Pacific Media Centre in the School of Communication Studies and the editor, Professor David Robie, director of the PMC, says this survey is the most important study to have been completed on New Zealand journalism.

He says the latest edition of the journal also features important Pacific journalism research, including several papers from last year’s World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC16) conference hosted at AUT.

Topics include last year’s student upheaval in Papua New Guinea climaxing in police opening fire on peaceful protesters, journalism training in the Solomon Islands and “cyberbullying” in Fiji.

Dr Robie paid tribute to the University of Papua New Guinea, where the research journal was founded in 1994, and the University of the South Pacific for their contribution in developing Pacific Journalism Review in earlier years.

He also praised the NZ Institute for Pacific Research for enabling several regional media academics to be funded to go to WJEC16 and to follow through with publications in PJR.

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NZ journalists working harder, women disadvantaged, says PJR research

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand journalists are working longer hours, and feeling more pressure, both ethically and resource-wise, than they were only two years ago, a new research survey has found.

A survey of New Zealand professional journalists, published today in Pacific Journalism Review, also shows for the first time that women journalists are paid less than men, despite making up the bulk of the workforce.

Dr James Hollings … lead researcher. Image: Massey

The survey shows female journalists, despite predominating in the profession, are significantly disadvantaged in terms of promotion and income.

The average before tax income of all journalists was $69,400 (in 2015 dollars) but the median after-tax salary of women was 26 percent lower than that of men of equivalent rank and experience.

The biggest factors affecting journalists’ income, in order, are experience, where they work (with those in provincial areas are paid less) and gender.

Women were also disadvantaged in terms of promotion; while only half of men work in non-manage¬ment roles, which is the case for two-thirds of women.

The median age was 44 years and the mean age 43.l6 years.

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The survey, part of the Worlds of Journalism project involving 64 countries and 27,500 journalists, was led by Dr James Hollings, head of journalism at Massey University. The research team included Professor Folker Hanusch of the University of Vienna, Austria; Dr Ravi Balasubramanian of Massey; and Associate Professor Geoff Lealand of Waikato University.

Dramatic changes
The dramatic changes in news brought about by the switch to digital dissemination and the rise of social media are reflected in journalists’ perceptions of change in their industry.

The survey asked them to rate 23 elements that may have altered over the past five years in New Zealand, with 1 being “weakened a lot” and 5 being “strengthened a lot”.

PJR editor Professor David Robie … journal also features Pacific media research. Image: Hans Tommy/AUT

“Social media, such as Facebook or Twitter” strengthened the most, with a mean rating of 4.8, followed by “the use of search engines” (4.63), “user-generated content, such as blogs” (4.4), “Profit-making pressures” (4.35), “Advertising pressures” (4.07) and Working hours (4.03).

There are significant shifts from a previous survey in 2013—while the ranking of the top three change elements is the same, the amount of perceived change has strengthened. Also, advertising pressures and working hours have now entered the top five, replacing ‘The importance of technical skills’ (4.0) and “Audience feedback” (also 4.0).

The increasing commercial pressures on journalists also showed in those elements identified by respondents as having weakened the most. These were “time available for researching stories” (1.76), “the credibility of journalism” (2.25), “ethical standards” (2.4), and “journalists’ freedom to make editorial decisions” (2.69).

It is concerning that journalists feel these changes have affected news quality, with a perception that the credibility of journalism, ethical standards and freedom to make editorial decisions have all fallen.

Another concern is that despite evidence of some improvement, Māori, Pasifika, and Asians remain under-represented in newsrooms. Māori make up only 7.9 percent of the journalism workforce, despite making up 15 percent of the general population.

Better educated
On the positive side, journalists are better educated than they have ever been, and overall adherence to ethical standards remains high.

Almost all respondents (96 percent) agreed with the statement “Journalists should always adhere to codes of professional ethics, regardless of situation and context”.

Also, job satisfaction remains high. Almost four in five (78.6 percent) stated they were “some¬what” or “very satisfied” with their job, compared with 82.1 percent in 2013.

It is clear that New Zealand journalists, despite these pressures, continue to take their role as guardians of democracy very seriously.

The large number of independent operators captured in this survey suggests that the digital revolution is opening new opportunities for journalists to start their own smaller outlets, a challenge that appears to have been taken up especially by older journalists.

The researchers interviewed 539 New Zealand professional journalists in December 2015 and January 2016.

This is 23.6 percent of the 2415 journalists invited to participate, giving the survey a margin of error of 3.8 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, or 5 percent at the 99 percent confidence level.

Pacific media research
PJR is an international research journal published by AUT’s Pacific Media Centre in the School of Communication Studies and the editor, Professor David Robie, director of the PMC, says this survey is the most important study to have been completed on New Zealand journalism.

He says the latest edition of the journal also features important Pacific journalism research, including several papers from last year’s World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC16) conference hosted at AUT.

Topics include last year’s student upheaval in Papua New Guinea climaxing in police opening fire on peaceful protesters, journalism training in the Solomon Islands and “cyberbullying” in Fiji.

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Tanna stars hit Oscars in penis sheaths and win many global friends

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The villagers of Yakel, where the movie Tanna was filmed, show their support for the Oscar-nominated love story. Image: Tanna FB Page/Vanuatu Daily Post

Tanna may have missed out on an Oscar – but in many ways the humble South Pacific cast are the stars of the show.

The stars of Tanna have brought their unique fashion style – penis sheaths, bare bottoms and painted faces – to the Oscars, reports SBS.

Lingai Kawia, Seline Kawia and their interpreter JJ Nako from the volcanic southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu braved 13C temperatures on the red carpet for the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday.

They rubbed shoulders with Hollywood’s biggest stars but did not know who the global icons were because they have lived lives largely shut off from the rest of the world.

Australian filmmakers Bentley Dean and Martin Butler were able to film a scripted drama with members of the village, despite no electricity and many of the villagers never having watching a movie or TV show before.

The actors speak in their native Navhal and Nafe languages and managed to score one of the five foreign language Oscar nominations, a first for an Australian – or a Pacific – production.

Tweeting from Port Vila’s National Convention Centre today where the Vanuatu government staged a livestreaming encore, Vanuatu Daily Post media director Dan McGarry said, “The Oscars moment of truth has arrived … ” But he added: “You’re a winner already, Tanna. We love you”, meaning both the film and the island’s people.

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Vanuatu Tourism plans to capitalise on the film’s nomination and the ongoing media coverage it has been attracting by running a campaign to profile Tanna and Vanuatu.

It has introduced travel packages that follow in the footsteps of the film.

“As we all know, film is a powerful medium and has the ability to really put a destination on travellers’ radars. Just look at what the Lord of the Rings franchise has done for New Zealand,” said South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) chief executive Chris Cocker, reports The Vanuatu Independent.

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Duterte critics, supporters clash on EDSA People Power anniversary

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A scuffle erupts after around as Duterte supporters arrive at a rally of thousands of Duterte critics near the People Power Monument. Video: Rappler

Critics and supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte clashed along the iconic highway EDSA as the Philippines marked the 31st anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution at the weekend.

A scuffle erupted after about 7 Duterte supporters arrived at a rally of thousands of Duterte critics near the People Power Monument along EDSA corner White Plains Avenue, Quezon City, on Saturday.

The rally was scheduled at around 4pm to oppose the killings of more than 7000 people in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, among other things.

READ MORE: Aquino on EDSA 31: ‘Hindi pa tapos ang laban’

The 7 Duterte supporters reached the venue of the rally around 5 minutes after it began at 4:30 pm on Saturday. With 3 of them wearing the traditional Filipino barong, they raised their fist in trademark Duterte fashion.

Singer Jim Paredes, one of Duterte’s most prominent critics, berated the Duterte supporters.

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Paredes dared one of the Duterte supporters: “Look at me! Look at me! You can’t even look. Duwag (Coward).”

He continued: “Tell me: Gusto mo ba si Duterte? (Do you like Duterte?)”

“Of course,” the Duterte supporter said.

‘Lie to yourself’
Paredes responded: “He’s not responsible for 7000 deaths?”

“It’s still being investigated,” the supporter said.

Paredes then laughed in a mocking way: “Okay, great. Lie to yourself!”

At some point, the Duterte Youth members left the site. They were told to go to Luneta where thousands of Duterte supporters had gathered.

They asked for their banner to be returned but it was nowhere to be found.

The clash ended the way EDSA is often remembered: One of Duterte’s critics gave flowers to one of Duterte’s supporters.

  • Aside from marking the 31st anniversary of the 25 February 1986 uprising that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, many protesters were speaking out against extrajudicial killings and other ‘abuses’ under President Rodrigo Duterte.
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Vanuatu awaits the Oscars with high hopes for love story Tanna

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By Bob Makin in Port Vila

The first-ever Oscar-nominated film made in Vanuatu, Tanna, continues to receive enormous praise.

The young lovers on the edge of the Mt Yasur volcano in the film Tanna. Image: Philippe Penel/Contact Films

The movie has just been awarded the Best Foreign Language Film award by the African-American Film Critics Association in the United States. Cast and crew are reportedly delighted.

Everyone in Vanuatu is standing by for the Academy Awards today (February 26, Los Angeles time). Tanna is in the running for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

To mark this momentous occasion, the Vanuatu government is hosting a public livestream from Hollywood of the 89th Academy Awards at the National Convention Centre, Port Vila, from 4pm Vanuatu time (2pm NZ time).

Cast members and the cultural director of Tanna, Selin, Lingai and JJ pose with the Best Foreign Language Film award from the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) in Los Angeles, US. Photo: Vanuatu Digest/Tanna
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New Bougainville vice-president faces BFM criticism over mining policy

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New ABG Vice-President Masono being sworn in by Chief Magistrate Bruce Tasikul while Chief Secretary to ABG Joseph Nobetau looks on. Image: Bougainville News

Raymond Masono has been appointed new Vice-President of Bougainville and has immediately faced criticism from the Bougainville Freedom Movement.

Bougainville News reported Masono was from the Carteret Islands and is a first term MP in the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the Member for the Atolls Constituency and Minister for Public Service.

Prior to his entry into politics, Masono had a distinguished career in the Bougainville Public Service and held several senior positions, including Acting Chief Administrator, Deputy Chief Administrator Policy and Director for Panguna Negotiations.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of the Atolls people for the President’s confidence in appointing me as his new Vice-President,” Masono said at the swearing in.

“I accept this appointment with great humility, for me personally it is a great honour to serve as the Vice-President of one of the founding fathers of this nation and I want to assure the President and the people of Bougainville of my undivided loyalty and continued support to the President and ABG,” Masono said.

However, the Bougainville Freedom Movement (BFM) put out a statement condemning the appointment as not helping Bougainville’s independence from mining companies. It said:

“The young and easily influenced [former] Vice-President Patrick Nisira made it clear in March 2016  that the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) knew that the decision on the future of the mining moratorium on Bougainville was a major concern and ‘that there should be wide public debate on the issues involved’.

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‘Don’t have the funds’
“This was reiterated again, as stated by Patrick Nisira in his public leture on 28 April 2016 in Canberra.

“Yet in his next breath, Patrick Nisira advised: “But we don’t have the funds necessary for an extensive public awareness and consultation programme.”

“Now, his replacement, Raymond Masono, Director of the Office of Panguna Negotiations, Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), who originates from the Atolls, gave a lecture at  the University of Queensland’s “Institute for Sustainable Mining” on 16 December 2014.

“Under the influence of the University of Queensland’s “Institute for Sustainable Mining”, Mr Raymond Masono made it quite clear that, “Alternative Benefit Sharing Modality for a Redeveloped Panguna Mine in Bougainville, PNG”.

“Benefits from a redeveloped Panguna mine must contribute to the overall social and economic development of the all Bougainvillians, not just the mine affected landowners.

“This requires the design and implementation of a benefit sharing modality that ensures everyone shares in the nation’s wealth. The Office of Panguna Mine Negotiations has been established to coordinate the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Panguna mine affected Landowners preparations to negotiate the possible reopening of Panguna Mine in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

“President Momis, it certainly would be better that you represent your people rather than mining companies don’t you think?, asked the BFM.”

Patrick Nisira will remain as the Member of the Halia constituency until he formally resigns from the Bougainville House of Representatives to contest this year’s general election.

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Solomon Islands success over EU tuna fisheries market access earns praise

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Participants at a “tunanomics” media workshop in Nono, Solomon Islands, this week. Image: PFF

News of the return to green card status for Solomon Islands tuna into the European Union market provides much-deserved cause for celebration, says the chief of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA).

“The announcement of the lifting of yellow-card status ends more than two years of hard work led by the Solomon Islands government, other ministries working with the fisheries sector, and the industry—and we could not be more pleased that the tireless efforts to address the concerns and challenges, have finally met with success,” said Director-General James Movick.

“I know the FFA membership join our secretariat team in this hats-off moment for the Solomon Islands,” he said in response to the EU announcement yesterday.

“It is a credit to the minister and cabinet, all the officials and workers involved across the many sectors involved in meeting the health and food safety, and the industry and vessels working to ensure catch documentation and handling standards and systems are now in place.”

For its part, the Solomon Islands Ministry for Fisheries addressed a broad range of issues covering tuna management and development at the national level, staffing and engagement with a broad range of stakeholders, and enforcing rules for fish-handling, processing and food safety.

Minister John Maneniaru had noted the comprehensive reforms and administrative and the legal frameworks aligned to green card status, is a great achievement, but one that must be maintained.

Sustained self-evaluation needed
“The need for sustained and consistent standards of self-evaluation would help support that call for maintaining market access,” said Movick.

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FFA technical and advisory staff had worked closely with MFMR personnel to facilitate various aspects of enhancing IUU mitigation systems including inspection practices, legal frameworks and catch documentation.

“Sustaining strong IUU mitigation measures and associated technical and fiscal resources remains an ongoing challenge for all FFA members,” he said.

“There are many facets of tuna fisheries work that exemplify the importance of working as a team, but the EU market access work is surely one of the most formidable features for Pacific nations wanting to get tuna to global markets, and the Solomon Islands is now very familiar with the work involved,” said Movick.

Forum Fisheries Agency

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‘I will have you jailed too,’ Trillanes warns President Duterte

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Senator Antionio Trillanes … Duterte administration has “failed in its attempt to scare off critics”. Image: Rappler

By Lian Buan in Manila

After visiting Senator Leila de Lima in jail, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said that he will stop at nothing to make sure Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also serves time in prison.

“Hahabulin ko ‘tong si Duterte, the moment mawala na sya sa poder ng kapangyarihan, ipapakulong kita, hahabulin kita,” Trillanes said outside the custodial center of the Philippine National Police (PNP) where De Lima is detained over drug charges.

READ MORE: De Lima detained in Camp Crame

Aside from pushing for the investigation of the alleged Davao Death Squad (DDS), Trillanes is also accusing Duterte of having an undeclared wealth amounting to as much as P2.4 billion (NZ$66.4 million).

Trillanes said he is not at all unfazed by what happened to De Lima, who, like him, is a staunch critic of the Duterte administration.

“Ako ang susunod? Plano nga nila akong unahin e, pero sige – bring it on, do your worst,” Trillanes said.

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(I’m next? I was supposed to be their first, but bring it on, do your worst.)

He added: “I am motivated more than ever, mas ginaganahan ako na iexpose itong pagkatao ni President Duterte na siya ay isang mandarambong at mamamatay tao, hindi ako titigil hangga’t hindi namumulat ang sambayanang Pilipino, talagang pananagutin natin siya, hahabulin at hahabulin ko siya, hindi ko siya titigilan.”

(I am motivated more than ever to expose the true character of Duterte, that he is a plunderer and a murderer. I will not stop until the Filipino people realise this. We will hold him accountable, I will run after him, I will not quit.)

‘Lascañas making them nervous’
Trillanes said the Senate will start hearing the testimonies of retired Davao cop SPO3 Arturo “Arthur” Lascañas on Thursday.

Lascañas is in the center of the scandal tagging Duterte in the vigilante group “Davao Death Squad” (DDS), accused of killing more than a thousand people in Davao City when Duterte was mayor.

The retired policeman denied the existence of the DDS last October 2016, calling Edgar Matobato a liar, but turned around on his word last week and divulged in some detail some of Duterte’s alleged kill orders, including broadcaster Jun Pala.

“Palagay ko diyan sila kinakabahan talaga e, nangangatog na mga tuhod ng mga ito dun sa hearing na gagawin sa Thursday,” Trillanes said.

(I think they’re nervous, their knees are shaking thinking of the hearing on Thursday.)

“Malalaman na ng mga kababayan natin kung anong klaseng tao, anong klaseng monster si President Duterte,” he added.

(Our countrymen will know just what kind of a person, a monster, President Duterte is.)

Encouraging dissent
Trillanes said that the administration failed in its attempt to scare off critics of the government.

“Heto sana yung ayaw nilang mangyari, kaya nga nila ginawa yung illegal arrest at persecution na ito para nga sana matakot ang mga kalaban ng administrasyon, kabaliktaran yung nangyari. Ang ordinaryong tao, lumalakas ang boses,” Trillanes said.

(This is what they didn’t want to happen, they orchestrated this illegal arrest and persecution to scare off the critics of the administration, but the opposite happened. The voices of the ordinary people are getting louder.)

According to Trillanes, De Lima also feels motivated despite being in prison.

“She’s in high spirits at hindi natitinag ang kanyang conviction, tuloy ang kanyang laban, inassure ko siya na lalong lumakas ang voices of dissent,” Trillanes said.

(She’s in high spirits, her conviction has not wavered. Her fight continues. I assured her that the voice of dissent has become louder.)

Rebellion charges
Trillanes was himself also jailed on rebellion charges, but managed to win as senator in 2007. He was granted amnesty in 2010 by former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, which enabled him to legislate as a free man.

Trillanes said he gave some advice to De Lima on how to effectively perform her functions inside jail.

“She can file resolutions and bills, she can issue statements but she will not be allowed to vote and interpellate.

“I was allowed back then by President [Benigno] Aquino [III] to conduct a committee hearing inside prison, but I doubt it if President Duterte will allow her,” Trillanes said.

Lian Buan is a journalist with Rappler.

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O’Neill pays tribute to late Governor-General at state funeral

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Papua New Guinea’s late Governor-General, Sir Michael Oglio (right), pictured with the “father” of the nation, founding Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. Image: Alchetron

By Charles Yapumi in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has described the late Governor-General, Sir Michael Ogio, as a man of dignity and humility.

“Sir Michael served his country and people with high dignity (and) humility, as a teacher, long serving Member of Parliament, Minister of State, Deputy Prime Minister, and later our Governor- General,” O’Neill said today.

The prime minister made this statement when paying tribute to the country’s 9th Governor-General at his state funeral on Friday in Port Moresby.

O’Neill said Sir Michael’s vast experience in public life served him well as the country’s Head of State.

The late Governor-General was a teacher, and provincial and national politician, for 37 years. He died last weekend aged 75.

“The execution of his duties remains of very high standard but more humble and accessible by his people,” O’Neill said.

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“He has certainly laid his place in the history of our country. But more importantly the legacy he leaves behind of the work he has done in Bougainville, during the difficult period in Bougainville’s history [when he] held some very important positions.

“[Sir Michael] is the most frequent travelling Governor-General all throughout our country, he had travelled widely and engaged with our people more genuinely than any others before, and he had been a worthy supporter of many NGOs, like St Johns.”

The casket of Sir Michael departed for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville today before a royal guard of honour by PNG Defence Force personnel in Port Moresby.

Grand Chief Sir Michael Ogio is survived by his wife Lady Esmie Ogio, five children and 8 grandchildren.

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War on drugs critic Senator Leila de Lima arrested in Philippines

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Senator Leila de Lima has branded President Rodrigo Duterte a “sociopathic serial killer” after he was accused of ordering drug killings. Video: Pinas Trends

A Philippines senator and staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has been arrested by law enforcement agents after charges were filed in court alleging she received money from drug dealers inside the country’s prisons.

Senator Leila de Lima is accused of orchestrating a drug trafficking ring when she was Justice Secretary during the 2010-2015 administration of Benigno Aquino.

“The truth will come out and I will achieve justice. I am innocent,” she told reporters shortly before law enforcers escorted her away from her office today.

De Lima, her former driver and bodyguard and a former national prison official were ordered to be arrested by a local court yesterday after a judge found merit in criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice last week.

De Lima has denied the charges, calling herself a victim of political persecution and saying she has long prepared herself to be the first “political prisoner” under the Duterte administration.

“While the issuance of the warrant of arrest is questionable, I do not have any plans to evade it,” she said, calling the order premature as the court has yet to hear the response from her lawyers.

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READ MORE: Duterte accused of paying police to kill

She slept in her Senate office overnight then gave herself up to armed officers in flak jackets who put her in a van and drove into morning rush hour traffic apparently towards police headquarters.

Duterte, 71, won a presidential election last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

Since his inauguration on June 30, an anti-drug drive has seen more than 7000 people killed over suspected drug links – with about 60 percent of the deaths carried out by unknown assassins.

‘State-inspired’ claims
De Lima has previously called for foreign intervention to put an end to the “state-inspired” extrajudicial murders, which she said have been instigated by Duterte since his election to power.

De Lima also led a series of Senate investigations over allegations that police officers were involved in the killings, and that hired killers were operating under orders from police.

Aries Aruguay, associate professor of political science at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, said the senator will use her detention to highlight the president’s controversial policies.

“Senator de Lima has been taunting the Duterte administration to arrest her for months. She boldly says she is its fiercest critic… What is happening right now is she is really using this as her platform for her own politics,” Aurguay said.

De Lima’s supporters insist she is innocent and the charges are trumped up to silence one of Duterte’s most prominent critics.

In a statement, Senator Paolo Aquino condemned the “political persecution” of his fellow opposition Senate member.

“This arrest is purely political vendetta and has no place in justice system that upholds the rule of law. This is condemnable.

Victims of Duterte’s war on drugs
“We reiterate that an arrest based on trumped-up charges is illegal,” he said citing the “haste” in de Lima’s arrest.

De Lima previously claimed she was targeted because of her criticism of Duterte’s drug war policy.

During her time as head of the country’s human rights body, de Lima also led the investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings of an estimated 1000 drug suspects in Davao, while Duterte was mayor of the city.

When Duterte won as president in 2016, his feud with de Lima continued.

At one point he called on her to “hang herself”, after he ordered prosecutors to investigate the senator’s alleged links to the drug syndicate.

This week, de Lima branded the president a “sociopathic serial killer” after new allegations surfaced accusing Duterte of ordering drug killings in Davao.

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Vincent Lingga: Freeport’s arbitration threat simply ploy to block mining reform

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By Vincent Lingga in Jakarta

“PT Freeport Indonesia [FI] reserves all its rights […] including the right to commence arbitration to enforce all provisions of the contract,” Freeport-McMoRan’s CEO Richard C. Adkerson claims, referring to a protracted dispute with the Indonesian government.

That threat made on Monday is quite similar to those made by many other multinational companies, which fear decreases in their huge profits following reforms by their host governments.

Freeport McMoRan’s Richard C. Adkerson … “we cannot just give up our rights”. Image: Dhoni Setiawan/Jakarta Post

Until around eight years ago, international arbitration within the investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism had become a powerful weapon exploited by multinationals to circumvent national regulations and “bully” governments, notably in developing countries, to postpone or annul any reform or to silence environmental NGOs.

At the time of its launch several decades ago, ISDS was indeed vital to encourage foreign investment into developing countries where legal systems were still weak and where many governments were corrupt. It was a forum designed to resolve conflicts between investors and host governments.

ISDS has therefore been written into bilateral investment and trade agreements or treaties. One of the most popular arbitration tribunals is the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a unit of the World Bank.

The ISDS mechanism allows foreign investors to bypass local courts and seek compensation in international tribunals such as the ICSID, for what they claim to be damages caused by expropriation or policy or contractual changes by host governments.

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The problem is that within the ISDS scheme only investors or companies can bring lawsuits. A government may defend itself but it cannot sue a company. The mere threat of an ISDS claim by big MNCs can alarm host governments, especially those with bad international reputations, to act in favor of the investor.

Powerful threats
An 18-month study in 2014 and 2015 by the BuzzFeed News online platform on arbitration cases within the ISDS system in Indonesia, India, Africa, Central America and the United States, involving the inspection of tens of thousands of pages of legal documents, revealed how big corporations have turned the threat of ISDS legal action into a fearsome weapon to enable them to have their demands met by host governments in developing countries.

Under the ISDS scheme there seemed no longer a balance between protection of investors and the right of governments to regulate.

It was as striking for its power as for its secrecy, with its proceedings. Of all the ways in which ISDS is used, the most deeply hidden are the threats, uttered in private meetings or ominous letters that invoke those courts, the BuzzFeed study concluded.

The threats are so powerful they often eliminate the need to actually bring a lawsuit. Just the knowledge that it could happen is enough.

Arbitrators who decide the cases are often drawn from the ranks of the same highly paid corporate lawyers who argue ISDS cases. These arbitrators have broad authority to interpret the rules however they want. And there is no meaningful appeal.

Especially for Indonesia, which still grapples with many mining contracts awarded under the authoritarian Soeharto administration (1967-1998), the mere threat of an ISDS claim could trigger alarm.

Indonesia suffered the pang of an international arbitration in 2000 when the government, groaning under the economic crisis, canceled a geothermal power plant contract with Karaha Bodas, a local subsidiary of two US companies, in West Java.

Balancing rights
But Karaha went to an international arbitration tribunal, which in December 2000, awarded it US$261 million, even though the company had not yet ploughed even half that amount into the project. In other words, Indonesia owed a quarter-billion dollars to a private company for electricity it would never receive, from a power plant that had not been built.

Formerly, the dominant view in ISDS circles was simply “the sanctity of a contract must be honored” as long as it was concluded with a legitimate government, however immoral, incompetent or corrupt the leader who signed the contract.

However the perception within international arbitration tribunals now no longer sees a corporate contract as being absolute but a balance between corporate rights and fairness, and, especially, overall economic benefits. When circumstances change after a contract was signed that make it impractical, or uneconomic or inefficient, to comply with contractual obligations, courts may relieve a party of its commitments.

The prevailing opinion now even tends to excuse parties, especially governments in developing countries, from fulfilling contracts if they were entered under compulsion (duress) or corruption or if one party is not competent and the terms of investment arrangements seem imbalanced.

Even the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has criticised the ISDS regime as already going far beyond its original intention, as the system now suffers from a lack of coherence, consistency and predictability.

No wonder many governments in Asia, including Indonesia, Australia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, have decided to remove ISDS provisions from their investment or trade agreements because of the tendency of its mechanism to favor large foreign investors over national governments. Even within the ICSID there has been an increasing trend not to see corporate contracts as being absolute.

Last December an ICSID tribunal decided in favor of the Indonesian government in its dispute with mining firm Churchill, rejecting the British company?s claim over $1 billion in damages, after what the latter alleged to be the expropriation of its rights over huge coal reserves in East Kalimantan.

Vincent Lingga wrote this commentary for The Jakarta Post.

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Duterte critic Leila de Lima vows to fight charges, seeks prayers for safety in jail

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Senator Leila de Lima says her camp and police agreed the arrest would happen on Friday, but they were dismayed to find out the police planned to arrest her on Thursday night. Video: Rappler

By Camille Elemia in Manila

She had long anticipated that day to come but when it did, she was brought to tears.

Senator Leila de Lima, the fiercest critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, vowed to face her impending arrest after the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 in Manila issued a warrant.

READ MORE: Who is the judge who ordered De Lima’s arrest?

Despite questions on the legality of the warrant, De Lima reiterated that she would not evade the law.

“Katulad nang nasabi ko dati, wala po akong balak takasan ‘yung mga kaso ko, walang balak magtago, dahil haharapin ko po ang kaso na ‘yan,” De Lima said in a press conference.

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(Like what I said before, I have no plans to escape, I have no plans to hide because I will face the charges against me.)

De Lima, flanked by her colleagues from the Liberal Party, expressed her wish to go home to her family. Her voice broke as she talked about them.

READ MORE: LP senators on pending arrest of Leila de Lima

She vowed to return to the Senate early Friday morning to submit to the arresting officers.

“So uuwi po ako ngayong gabi at babalik po ako rito bukas ng umaga. Dito ko po sa Senado hihintayin ang arresting team. Hihintayin ko po sila, kusa po ako susuko sa kanila. Pero sa ngayon po, ang gusto ko na muna po makapiling ang aking pamilya sa bahay. Babalik po ako bukas ng umaga,” a crying De Lima said.

(So I will go home tonight and come back here tomorrow. I will wait for the arresting team here in the Senate. I will wait for them, I will voluntarily surrender to them. But for now, all I want is to be with my family. I will return tomorrow morning.)

After the media conference, LP senators, who earlier condemned the impending arrest, accompanied De Lima on her way home to Parañaque.

“Siyempre, malungkot tayo dahil ‘di tama yung pagsampa ng kaso sa RTC at yung kakulangan ng ebidensya (Of course we are sad because the filing of charges before the RTC is not right, and also there’s a lack of evidence),” Senator Francis Pangilinan, LP president, told Rappler.

Former president Benigno Aquino III, De Lima’s former boss, has yet to talk to the party, said Pangilinan.

Pray for me, fight is far from over

De Lima took the chance to seek prayers from the public for her security in detention – a concern she had long publicised, citing the deaths of Albuera mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr in a Leyte jail and of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in Camp Crame.

“Sa inyo pong lahat, humihiling po ako ng dasal na sana maging safe and secure po ako saan man ako dalhin, saan man ako ikukulong (To all of you, I ask for your prayers that I be safe and secure wherever they will detain me),” De Lima said.

“Alam ‘nyo naman po ang so-called charges sa ‘kin ay non-bailable. bahala na po aking abogado, kung anong legal remedy gagawin nila dyan sa questionable pagkaka-issue ng order of arrest, warrant of arrest ngayon,” she added.

READ MORE: Backgrounder: What is Leila de Lima being accused of?

(You know that the so-called charges against me are non-bailable. It all depends on my lawyers, whatever legal remedy they will do to question the issuance of an order of arrest, warrant of arrest.)

Despite the emotionally charged press conference, De Lima still managed to show her usual feisty side.

“Tuloy po ang laban ni Leila de Lima, (The fight of Leila de Lima continues),” she said.

Camille Elemia is a journalist with Rappler.

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Trump, Duterte and other ‘toxic’ leaders blamed for undermining human rights

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Amnesty International video and release of its Annual Report on the State of the World’s Human Rights. 

Toxic fear mongering by anti-establishment politicians, among them US President Donald Trump and President Roidrigo Duterte, and the leaders of Hungary and Turkey, is contributing to a global pushback against human rights, says Amnesty International.

Releasing its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world, the watchdog group described 2016 as “the year when the cynical use of ‘us versus them’ narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s”, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

Copies of the 2016/17 Amnesty International Report: State of the World’s Human Rights are seen during the Philippine launch at a media conference in Quezon City. Image: Philippine Star

Salil Shetty, the group’s secretary-general, said: “A new world order where human rights are portrayed as a barrier to national interests makes the ability to tackle mass atrocities dangerously low, leaving the door open to abuses reminiscent of the darkest times of humanity.”

Amnesty named Trump, Duterte, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among leaders it said were “wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanises entire groups of people”.

“Poisonous” rhetoric employed by Trump in his election campaign exemplified “the global trend of angrier and more divisive politics”, Amnesty said.

Refugees the ‘first target’
“The limits of what is acceptable have shifted. Politicians are shamelessly and actively legitimising all sorts of hateful rhetoric and policies based on people’s identity: misogyny, racism and homophobia. The first target has been refugees and, if this continues in 2017, others will be in the crosshairs.”

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The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Amnesty’s report cited an example of divisive propaganda in the UK.

In June, the former leader of the far-right, anti-immigration United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage, infamously unveiled a poster showing a queue of refugees with the slogan “Breaking Point: The EU has failed us all” as he campaigned for Brexit.

“The [UK] government has shirked its responsibility for the global refugee crisis, pushing thousands of vulnerable people into the hands of people smugglers.

“Its decision to prematurely close the Dubs Amendment scheme to bring unaccompanied refugee children already in Europe to the UK is shameful,” the report said.

Holding the world accountable
The annual study, “The State of the World’s Human Rights”, documented what it called “grave violations of human rights” in 159 countries in 2016, including Bangladesh, Thailand, Honduras and Myanmar, where “tens of thousands of Rohingya people – who remain deprived of a nationality – have been displaced by ‘clearance operations’ amid reports of unlawful killings”.

It said governments “turned a blind eye to war crimes, pushed through deals that undermine the right to claim asylum, passed laws that violate free expression, incited murder of people simply because they are accused of using drugs, justified torture and mass surveillance, and extended draconian police powers.”

The report added that “the big question in 2017 will be how far the world lets atrocities go before doing something about them”.

French ‘deeply discriminatory’ powers
Exceptionally, London-based Amnesty chose to launch its report in Paris.

Shetty said France had used emergency powers introduced in 2015 in the wake of attacks in an abusive and “deeply discriminatory” manner, confining more than 600 people, mostly Muslims, under house arrest and banning more than 140 protests.

“Even states that once claimed to champion rights abroad are now too busy rolling back human rights at home to hold others to account,” Amnesty said.

“The more countries backtrack on fundamental human rights commitments, the more we risk a domino effect of leaders emboldened to knock back established human rights protections.”

France’s government has repeatedly defended the emergency powers as a necessary safeguard against the severe security threat it says is facing the country, and parliament has repeatedly voted to extend those powers.

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Competition watchdog refuses Sky TV, Vodafone NZ merger plan

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Commerce Commission … Sky, Vodafone merger rejected. Image: RNZ

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission ruled today that Sky Television will not be allowed to merge with Vodafone NZ.

Rival telco Spark New Zealand said the decision to decline the proposed merger was a big positive for consumers.

Stuff reported Vodafone NZ’s chief executive Russell Stanners said: “We are disappointed the Commerce Commission was unable to see the numerous benefits this merger brings to New Zealanders.”

The country’s competition watchdog had declined to grant clearance for the merger, which was first publicly proposed last June.

Had the merger been allowed, Britain’s Vodafone would have taken a 51 percent share of the merged firm and banked $1.25 billion in cash.

“We’re generally supportive of market consolidation where it leads to better outcomes for consumers,” said Spark’s general manager regulatory affairs, John Wesley-Smith.

“However, the lack of modern on-demand options for how New Zealand sports fans can access ‘must-watch’ premium sports content today, which would have been exacerbated by the merger, meant the merger was not in the best interests of consumers and so we believe the decision to decline was the right one.

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The commission’s assessment focused on the impact of the proposed merger on competition in both the broadband and mobile telecommunications markets.

To grant clearance, the commission said it would need to be satisfied that the proposed merger would not be likely to substantially lessen competition in any market in New Zealand.

Chair Dr Mark Berry said the commission outlined its concerns with the proposed merger in a Letter of Unresolved Issues in October last year and subsequent submissions had not resolved these concerns.

As a result, the commission had not been able to exclude the real chance that the merger would substantially lessen competition.

‘Voting with wallets’
“In today’s digital age, consumers want to be able to watch their favourite sports wherever and whenever they want. Viewers have been voting with their wallets away from out-dated content bundle models that force them to pay for unwanted content, set-top boxes or service providers.

“The lack of a meaningful wholesale market today for Sky’s sports content means we and other mobile and broadband providers have been held back from offering our customers new ways to watch sports content in ways that are already the norm elsewhere in the world.

“That wholesale market would not have developed at all had the merger gone ahead, but will and must develop now.

“While Sky will no doubt be disappointed with the outcome, we believe there is still a line of sight to a promising and sustainable commercial future for Sky. Spark, alongside several other broadband and mobile providers, would welcome the opportunity to bundle modern, on-demand versions of Sky’s core sporting content with their broadband and mobile packages, if Sky is willing to create a vibrant wholesale market for its content.”

Wesley-Smith said the need for the market to be able to deliver better choice for sports fans would only grow.

“This decision recognises that the sports content market in New Zealand needs to catch up with consumer reality, as it has in many other markets around the world. Increasingly, consumers are demanding greater choice and flexibility as to how they access premium content. Today’s decision is a welcome step in the right direction.”

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PNG customary landowners call for ‘fairness’ in defence base inquiry

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Landowners make their case at a media conference in Port Moresby. Video: EM TV News

The customary landowners of Papua New Guinea’s proposed military base relocation are calling on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to include their terms of reference in the planned Commission of Inquiry.

The landowners from Manumanu and Gabadi said the petition was presented to the Prime Minister’s office yesterday in the presence of Central Governor Kila Haoda.

They want the findings of the Commission of Inquiry to come out before the Issue of Writs for the national elections due in June and July.

The controversial Manumanu land development area for the proposed new military base near Port Moresby. Image: EMTV News
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Across the Ditch: High Court Rules on Dotcom Case Technicality + NZ Cricket Beats Sth Africa

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Across the Ditch: Australian radio FiveAA.com.au’s Peter Godfrey and EveningReport.nz’s Selwyn Manning deliver their weekly bulletin of news and events from each side of the Tasman. This week: The New Zealand High Court rules on a technicality supporting the Dotcom defence claims. ALSO< New Zealand beat South Africa in the Cricket, levelling the five match series with one-win-each. The third of the five match one day international series will play at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday. INTRO: Weather comparison + FX + Headlines Roundup + Any topic you may want to raise ITEM ONE: – Kim Dotcom Case A new High Court judgment suggests the charges laid against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and colleagues were civil in nature rather than criminal (as the original arrest and search warrants stated. The technicality is a serious breach by the Crown and one which may see Dotcom have the case of alleged copyright infringement and money laundering thrown out of court. See David Fishers’ report (NZHerald.co.nz) ITEM TWO: Kiwi’s level with South Africa 1 match each in a five match ODI series. Just when we thought the Blackcaps had met their match against South Africa, the Kiwis pulled off a win against the tourists deep in earthquake country at Hagley Oval in Christchurch yesterday (Wednesday). The match was played on the sixth anniversary of the deadly Christchurch earthquake which killed 185 people. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen played a concert there the night before. The two events presented an opportunity for the city and its peoples to remember the events of six years ago when the quake struck at 12:51pm NZ time. And, gave opportunity to celebrate the good things in life. The Kiwi Cricket side, with a good competitive win against the Proteas, will be trying to reclaim its winning form with solid batting and bowling performances on New Zealand soil this summer – when it plays South Africa again on Saturday at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium.]]>

Indonesian activists seek Appeal Court ruling on Munir murder files case

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Human rights defender Munir Said Thalib … long-unsolved murder. Image: Sigid Kurniawan/Antara

By Alin Almanar in Jakarta

Activists will soon file an appeal with Indonesia’s Supreme Court against a ruling that overturned the state information body’s order to declassify the documents on the long-unsolved murder of prominent human rights defender Munir Said Thalib.

The State Secretariat, which is believed to be in possession of the files, has not obeyed the Public Information Commission’s command to make them public in October.

The Jakarta State Administrative Court overturned the commission’s order last Thursday.

According to human rights activists, the verdict legalises state crime.

“The verdict confirms that the state, through its various instruments, keeps on covering Munir’s case. We will file an appeal,” Munir’s wife Suciwati told the press in Jakarta at the weekend.

“The ruling has been surrounded by irregularities; the panel of judges did not examine the case openly, but only invited related parties to the verdict reading,” she added.

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Thursday’s ruling has angered human rights activists, who have already been upset by the State Secretariat’s claim that it does not know the whereabouts of the files.

Fact-finding team
The secretariat is tasked with providing administrative assistance to the president. Activists insist that the case files were submitted by a fact-finding team to former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in June 2005.

Munir was poisoned with arsenic during a layover in Singapore in 2004 before boarding a flight to Amsterdam.

Former pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years in prison for premeditated murder, however, the masterminds behind the murder remain unknown.

The results of the fact-finding team’s investigation have never been made public.

Alin Almanar is a journalist with the Jakarta Globe.

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Watching our words: Perceptions of self-censorship and media freedom in Fiji

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Pacific Media Centre

Ricardo Morris, a journalist and Thomson Reuters fellow from Fiji, has studied the perceptions and practice of self-censorship among journalists from his country in the years following the military coup in December 2006. He focused particularly on the period after the 2014 general election that returned Fiji to democratic rule. In his research paper, Morris examines how willing Fiji’s media workers are to self-censor, how self-censorship works in newsrooms, and what factors are influential on journalists’ work. Here’s how Morris describes his research:

The results from my survey showed a slight leaning toward self-censorship, although generally it bordered on neutrality. However, this contrasted with the responses to follow-up questions where respondents explained how self-censorship took place in various newsrooms.

It would appear that while in practice self-censorship does occur regularly, journalists in Fiji would in theory prefer it does not happen or actually believe that it does not occur. The results could also mean that even if journalists do not self-censor, editorial processes and decision-making result in self-censorship manifesting in other ways and at other levels.

Perhaps an unavoidable outcome of Fiji’s draconian media law is the normalising of self-censorship among its journalists.

When asked about their role perceptions, Fiji’s journalists without fail indicate factors such as fairness and balance, independence and fearlessness, but the perception and the practice appear to be disconnected.

Media capture’ is well and truly embedded in many sectors of the media, and it will take time, attitudinal change and legal amendments to undo this.

Despite this, journalists still hang on to some veneer of their detached watchdog role while forging a media model that accords with the mood of the times: nation-building, ethnic harmony and development ideals.

Morris, R. (2015). Fiji media regulation: Emerging from the ‘worst of times’ to the ‘best of times’. Pacific Journalism Review, 21(1), 34-39.

Morris, R. (2016). ‘Journalism of hope’ realities in post-coup Fiji. Pacific Journalism Review, 22(1), 25-37.

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PM Salwai praises leaders who ‘broke horizon’ for Vanuatu independence

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

FLASHBACK: Founding Prime Minister Father Walter Lini signs the Vanuatu Constitution on 30 July 1980. Image: Vanuatu Digest

By Bob Makin in Port Vila

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai paid a moving tribute to the late Father Walter Lini’s leadership of Vanuatu at the Anglican Church, Tagabe, today.

The anniversary memorial service was also attended by the Head of State, President Baldwin Lonsdale, and other community leaders.

Prime Minister Salwai had just returned from the home island, Pentecost, he shared with the country’s first Prime Minister. He regretted that there was no national body in place to determine how the Vanuatu people should keep such anniversaries as Lini Day and Constitution Day.

He vowed that government must see such an institution created.

Lini Day would be the day to mark leadership, Salwai said.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Anglican Church for organising the service of worship in the company of Mary Lini and other members of the Lini family.

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Father Walter Lini’s breaking through a particular horizon was Prime Minister Salwai’s main theme.

“This action guaranteed independence and the freedom we hold good today,” Salwai said.

‘Stand up strong’
“We must stand up strong to continue to maintain our independence into the future as this is what we want.”

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai saw it as equally important to pay tribute to the others who also “broke the horizon” to achieve Vanuatu’s independence and those who had carried the ideals of independence forward until today.

Salwai spoke of an issue still to be resolved – that of Vanuatu’s borders.

The border with Solomon Islands was resolved last year, but still remaining to be settled were the frontiers with Fiji and New Caledonia.

“They are still part of the struggle for independence which must be completed,” Salwai said.

  • Father Walter Lini wrote the forward to PMC director David Robie’s book Eyes of Fire.
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Scaring the menz, taming the wimmin

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Social and economic (in) justice II (click here for part one of this series) Part One on social and economic justice, ended with this: Such unequal access to power occurs throughout our society: in institutional and political policies, economic arrangements, and social practices (such as those described as part of rape culture). The whole system, and social attitudes that support it, needs changing from the bottom up. This system damages the lives and well-being of many people, including many women, people of colour, LGBTI people, and those on low incomes. In this unequal power system, social and economic (in)justices are frequently intertwined. There is an urgent need at the moment to decrease economic inequalities, to provide everyone with a living income, plus affordable, safe and secure housing. Social injustices are embedded within these economic injustices. In the course of her long participation in political and social justice campaigns and movements, Angela Davis was seen as a notorious enemy of the US state. She was charged with “aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder”, imprisoned for a period, but eventually acquitted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLIDscuc-M She’s also a respected academic and writer. Davis is no namby-pamby chardonnay feminist, whining because some man slighted her at a corporate board meeting (as anti-identity politics stereotyping would have it). Davis was a leader of the Communist Party of the US in the 1960s, supporter of the Black Power Movement, and continues to be a very vocal campaigner against the prison-industrial complex. She argues for a complete change of society, not just for a contained shift towards equal rights before the law, as she describes the civil rights movement. In a 2014 interview Davis said: At the time of its [Black Feminism’s] emergence, black women were frequently asked to choose whether the black movement or the women’s movement was most important. This was the wrong question. … We are still faced with the challenge of understanding the complex ways that race, class, gender, sexuality, nation and ability are intertwined—but also how we move beyond these categories to understand the interrelationships of ideas and processes that seem to be separate and unrelated. In a more recent article on Black Lives Matter, Davis said:

I was once asked to finish the statement, “My feminism is…” It didn’t take me long to come up with an answer. I’m a gay, black woman. My feminism is intersectional. … experiences in life are shaped by the intersection of class, race, gender, sexual orientation and identity.
The public face of feminism tends to focus on extremes: it includes those who want to convince harsh opponents, while working to increase equal opportunities within the current system; and also includes those who, like Angela Davis, are very outspoken, may seem shockingly radical, and to many may appear to be jarringly, in-your-face and uncompromising. Others, in an attempt to convince people potentially antagonistic to change, may become tame, and non-threatening. Consequently they are in danger of becoming neutralised and contained within the patriarchal capitalist system. This poses a dilemma on the most effective way forward. Some women who support social justice campaigns, don’t like the “feminist” label because, as mentioned by Davis, it is seen as white women’s thing. Annette Sykes, for instance, talks about wahine toa and mana wahine: Since the election of president Trump, debates about social justice issues have intensified among progressive or left wing people in NZ. Many of us have been attacked online for promoting “identity politics”, and often dismissed as authoritarian “identitarians”. We are told to back off and focus solely on economic injustices. We are told by some we are damaging and splitting the left, even as they try to split the core matters of the left (economic and social justice) into two unequal parts. Like Catriona MacLennan, I don’t like the term “identity politics”. Too often it is used as a stick to attack those who speak out on social justice issues, as for instance often happens to those who are critical of our society’s all pervasive rape culture. Masculine and corporate dominated, capitalist culture is damaging to life, social networks, and ultimately the economy. Others have produce in-depth, well-sourced, evidence-based arguments for a left politics on this topic. See for instance the 2014 article “Economic Inequality or Social Justice for Everybody?” by Victor Baez and Yasmin Fahimi. Many blame feminism for watering down the class struggle in the post 1980 neoliberal era. In fact, feminism has also been diminished in the same period. Social justice campaigns were not the cause of this, but another casualty of neoliberalism. Feminism has been commodified into marketable, images and lifestyle for women. Campaigns for empowerment of women throughout society, have been narrowed to individualistic, often sexualised representations of empowerment, while women struggling on low incomes have been marginalised, and too often demonised. Many women and men on the left do understand the enormous damage done by both economic and social injustice, and the way they are interwoven. And we will not be silenced. Sleater-Kinney’s song is is a jarring riot girl response to the way feminism was commodified towards the end of last century (lyrics here) Sleater-Kinney #1 must have https://youtu.be/uIP0iIxHLY4]]>

‘Grow your community roots,’ PNG political parties told

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Quintina Naime in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea’s Registry of Political Parties is encouraging political parties to cultivate and grow their roots in the communities throughout the country.

Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu said parties must not exist only in the capital of Port Moresby and in certain provinces in the country.

Dr Gelu said the Organic Law required all the parties to be nationally based, that is they must be represented in all parts of the country.

This also required them to put up candidates in all the different parts of the country.

“The Registry will be monitoring this aspect of geographical representation by parties closely,” Dr Gelu said.

“The Registry hopes that new political parties have done the ground work by connecting with the people.

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“The connection the Registry is anticipating is in the policies of the political parties,” Dr Gelu said.

He added that the people must know the policies of the parties to enable the voters to make informed decisions on who to vote for and how to vote in the election.

The Papua New Guinea general election is from June 24 to July 8.

Quintina Naime is a reporter at Loop PNG.

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PMC seminar: Time for independence from a crumbling US Empire

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Pacific Media Centre

Event date and time:
Friday, April 7, 2017 – 16:30 – 18:00
TIME FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM A CRUMBLING US EMPIRE – Murray Horton Universal revulsion at US President Donald Trump opens the way to pushing for a broad-based national campaign for a truly independent foreign policy and to get out of the American Empire. Speaker: Murray Horton, national coordinator of the Christchurch-based Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa When: April 7, 4.30-6pm Where: TBC, Sir Paul Reeves Building, AUT University Contact: david.robie@aut.ac.nz]]>

Vanuatu tourism sector calls for quick resolution over airport contract

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu aviation officials are trying their best to keep to an April timeline for breaking ground on runway repairs. Image: Dan McGarry/Vanuatu Daily Post

By Dan McGarry in Port Vila

On the day of the arrival in Vanuatu of World Bank Vice President Victoria Kwakwa, tourism industry stakeholders are reportedly calling for a quick resolution to an apparent impasse over the selection of a contractor to perform the upgrades to the Bauerfield airport runway.

In late December, a World Bank procurement expert told bidders that she hoped to be able to announce the winning bid within a month of the tenders being unsealed. Nearly two months have passed, however, and no announcement has been made.

The Vanuatu Daily Post has received reliable reports that the crux of the delay is an impasse over the preferred contractor. Sources have confirmed that there are differing opinions about which one should win, and that price is a concern for at least one of the parties.

READ MORE: Vanuatu airport runway repairs usher in new tourism era

Most parties will not speak on the record because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations, but aviation stakeholders stated last week that they were ready to ask for high level government intervention in order to break the impasse.

Over the weekend, government representatives confirmed that they were willing to intervene in the process.

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One political operative, who chose to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the affair, confirmed that a letter had been sent to a minister by tourism industry representatives, expressing concern at the economic cost of further delays.

It is widely known that several tourism operations are approaching the end of the line in terms of their ability to continue doing business at these depressed levels, and that any curbs on inflows over the upcoming peak season could spell disaster for them.

Expedited upgrade
The expedited runway upgrade bidding process had been designed with an eye to breaking ground in April, in order to ensure that any interruptions in service would not affect peak season tourist traffic.

Being able to announce completion of the runway upgrades by July might also have the effect of enticing Air New Zealand to return to scheduled service.

While arrival numbers from New Zealand are not huge, a vote of confidence from one of the most highly regarded airlines in the world would go a long way to reassuring travelers about the safety of the runway.

A completed runway upgrade might also convince Qantas to restore their code share with Air Vanuatu on their Sydney and Brisbane to Port Vila service.

Sources have confided that part of the problem stems from a lack of trust in the judgment of some parties. Vanuatu deferred to the World Bank’s choice of project manager during the emergency repair process, and later expressed regret when additional repairs were proven necessary.

Flight turned back
A Virgin Australia flight was turned back last year when additional damage was discovered on the runway, on a section that the project manager had deemed safe.

Nobody’s safety was affected because Airports Vanuatu Ltd was conducting visual inspections of the runway before every jet aircraft arrival and departure.

But the effect on the confidence of international tourism operators was palpably negative.

Parties to the negotiation have quietly accepted that the government’s position is understandable, and said that they view the Vice-President’s visit as an opportunity to “cut the knot” and move ahead with repairs to the runway.

Kwakwa is visiting the country to sign an agreement establishing a country office in Vanuatu.

She was joining at a signing ceremony yesterday by Minister of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Jotham Napat, and Finance Minister Gaetan Pikioune.

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

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Frustrated PNG gas supply landowners protest over non-payment of royalties

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

PNG landowners protesting over non-payment of their LNG royalties. Image: Loop PNG

By Freddy Mou in Port Moresby

More than 1000 villagers from Portion 152 where the Papua New Guinea LNG plant sits have gathered on site to protest over their overdue royalty payments.

Spokesperson and chairman of the Porebada Besena Association, Judah Matt Baru, said  they had not received any payment since the first shipment of LNG in 2014.

He said the government had promised repeatedly to pay its royalties but never kept its promises.

“We cannot sit and spectate on our own land. The government must come good with their promises or else we will shut the plant site for an indefinite period,” Baru said.

Baru said their petition was being given to the government but nothing had been done.

Meanwhile, police have been deployed to the site and are manning the entry gate.

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Protest condemned
The Provincial Police Commander for Central Province, Superintendent Laimo Asi, today condemned the protest.

Asi said no approval was given by authorities to stage the protest.

The commander, who was at earlier today, said he had warned landowners not to cause any damage to the plant site but to allow the operation to continue as normal.

He had advised them that the protest was illegal and while the landowners had been reluctant to back off, they promised to do it peacefully.

Asi said his men were on the ground to protect facilities and to ensure the protest did not turn rowdy.

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Freeport Indonesia chief resigns as dispute over mining policy intensifies

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Freeport Indonesia’s Chappy Hakim … “an extraordinary commitment of time”. Image: Bernadette Christina Munthe/Jakarta Globe file

Chappy Hakim has resigned as its president director, only three months after his appointment as the mining giant’s top executive, PT Freeport Indonesia announced at the weekend.

In a media release, Freeport Indonesia did not specify when Hakim, a retired air chief marshal, would officially step down.

However, it said he would move to an advisory role with the company.

“Serving as Freeport Indonesia president director involves an extraordinary commitment of time. I have decided it is in the best interests of Freeport Indonesia and my family to step down from my duties as president director while continuing to support the company in an advisory role,” Hakim was quoted as saying.

READ MORE: Freeport seeks to dodge piling problems as stalemate shuts production

Hakim’s resignation occurred as the company, a subsidiary of United States-based Freeport-McMoRan, fights against complying with the government’s latest mining policy, which stipulates that miners must convert their current contracts of work (CoWs) into special mining permits (IUPKs) in exchange for permission to continue exporting certain mineral ores and concentrates.

Freeport, which operates the huge Grasberg mine in Papua, has repeatedly said it would not agree to the contract conversion unless the government provided assurance of long-term investment stability, consisting of fiscal and legal certainty, in accordance with its CoW signed in 1991.

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Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Richard C. Adkerson thanked Hakim for his contributions to the company.

“We understand that this was a difficult decision for Pak Chappy to make. We appreciate his service to our company and his support. We look forward to his continued advice and counsel,” he said.

Chappy Hakim, also known as an aviation industry expert and prolific writer, was appointed as Freeport Indonesia’s top executive in November.

The company previously appointed retired military officer Air Vice-Marshall (ret.) Maroef Sjamsoeddin as president-director.

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Febriana Firdaus, following in the courageous footsteps of Suaru Papua editor Pogau

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Report by David Robie. This article was first published on Café Pacific


The last video posted by Oktovanius Pogau on his YouTube blog before he died early last year
– a KNPB rally in Jayapura posted on 31 May 2015.

WEST PAPUAN editor Oktovianus Pogau, who died last year aged just 23, would have been proud. An inaugural award for journalism courage named in honour of him has been presented to a brave young woman, freelance journalist and blogger Febriana Firdaus, who has been covering human rights abuses in Indonesia.

This published on Asia Pacific Report from the Pantau Foundation that has made the award, who have made a point of shunning cash prizes and extras to concentrate on the recognition:

Febriana Firdaus … winner of the inaugural Pogau Award
for journalism courage. Image: Pantau Foundation
“We want to honour our colleague, Oktovianus Pogau, a smart and courageous journalist, who edited Suara Papua newspaper and highlighted human rights reporting. He passed away at a very young age – just 23 years old. We want to honour his legacy by establishing this Oktovianus Pogau award,” said Imam Shofwan, chairman of the Pantau Foundation in a speech to a small gathering at his office.

The Pantau Foundation selected Febriana Firdaus, a Jakarta journalist, to receive the inaugural award.

Firdaus covered Indonesia’s efforts to deal with the 1965-1966 massacres, disappearances and arbitrary detentions. She also covered discrimination, intimidation, and violence against the LGBT community in Indonesia.

“LGBT is a very sensitive subject in Indonesia where many religious communities, including Muslim organisations, still consider homosexuality a psychological disorder. Febriana Firdaus is courageous to stand up for LGBT, to affirm that LGBT is nature, and to expose their side of the story,” said Shofwan.

Firdaus was born in 1983 in Kalisat, a small town in eastern Java, and graduated from Airlangga University in Surabaya in 2007.

She has worked for Jawa Pos daily, Tempo magazine and Rappler Online. She is currently a freelance journalist.

Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, a former chairman of Indonesia’s Press Council and himself an award-winning journalist, presented the award to Firdaus, welcoming the launch of the award and congratulating Firdaus.

‘Proto-fascism era’
Allan Nairn, another award-winning journalist based in New York, gave a speech, talking about courage in journalism in Trump’s “proto-fascism era.”

Nairn spoke about the challenges the press faced in covering an unpredictable president like Donald Trump. He noted that the US provides a warning to Indonesia because the same proto-fascists that rose to power in the US were also trying to achieve power in Indonesia.

On her blog, Firdaus wrote, “This award is not about me or other future winners. This is a gentle reminder of the name Okto Pogau but it’s also more than about his name. His name represents the unsolved human rights abuses in Papua.

“Every year this award will always remind us about the human rights abuses never addressed in Indonesia since the 1965 massacre.”

Oktavianus Pogau … won an Indonesian writing
competition aged 14. Image: Twitter
Oktovianus Pogau was born in Sugapa in the Central Highlands on 5 August 1992 and died on 31 January 2016 in Jayapura.

He won an Indonesian writing competition when he was 14 years old, letting him to travel away from his native West Papua and to take part in a writing course in Yogyakarta, Java.

He learned WordPress and created his own blog when he was 16 years old.

He moved to Jakarta in 2010, studying international relations and becoming a freelance journalist.

Peaceful gathering
In October 2011, he covered a peaceful gathering of thousands of Papuan men and women in Jayapura, discussing their political aspiration to be independent from Indonesia.

Indonesian police used excessive force to disperse them. They fired warning shots, beating and kicking indigenous Papuans. Three men died of gunshot wounds, around 600 were detained and five of their leaders were tried and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Pogau was upset when seeing that most Indonesian media did not proportionally cover the abuses. He decided to set up Suara Papua (Papuan Voice) on 10 December 2011 — on international human rights day — to cover rights abuses in West Papua.

He made Suara Papua a platform for young Papuans to report and to write their stories. Pogau also engaged his audience with his sharp political analysis.

He used his knowledge and networks to advocate for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for ethnic Papuans. He was also sympathetic to the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB), which is campaigning for a referendum in West Papua.

In October 2012, when he was covering one of their rallies in Manokwari, he was beaten on a street corner. Several police officers stopped him from taking photos. He suffered bruises and complained.

The West Papua police later apologised but his union, Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists (AIJ), refused to help him, arguing that Pogau was also an activist and declaring he had “crossed the line” between journalism and activism.

Restrictions on foreign journalists
Pogau wrote extensively about the restriction on foreign journalists visiting West Papua. He protested against the discrimination against indigenous Papuan journalists and the intensive use of journalists, both Indonesian and Papuan, to be military and police informers.

He indirectly contributed to President Joko Widodo in May 2015 declaring the Indonesian bureaucracy would stop restrictions on foreign journalists covering West Papua.

Jokowi’s command has not been fulfilled completely. He travelled to the US in December 2015, writing about African-Americans dealing with violence and about the similarity of the harsh treatment of Papuans.

The judges of the award included Alexander Mering (Kampong Journalism Movement in Pontianak, Kalimantan), Andreas Harsono (researcher at Human Rights Watch in Jakarta, Java), Coen Husain Pontoh (chief editor at Indo Progress news portal in New York), Made Ali (environmentalist at Jikalahari in Pekanbaru, Sumatra), Yuliana Lantipo (editor at Jubi daily in Jayapura, West Papua).

The award is to be announced every year on January 31.

When presenting the award, Imam Shofwan talked about his personal experience with Pogau: “Once he called me on my mobile and I heard gunshots in the background. I told him to run but he kept on talking, asking me to tweet. He continuously tried to bring out rights abuses in Papua.

“He died young but his courage should inspire other journalists.”

Febriana Firdaus and the Pantau award [Bahasa]


]]>

Pacific Journalism Review 22(2): ‘Journalism Education in the Pacific’

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Pacific Media Centre

Pacific Journalism Review

ISBN/code: ISSN 1023-9499

Publication date: Sunday, February 19, 2017

Publisher: Pacific Media Centre Editors: Philip Cass, David Robie

Buy now

Download

    FINDING THE PACIFIC VOICE
    Featuring JERAA, Pacific Media Centre, Media Educators Pacific and Fourth World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC16) papers on the Pacific, a major research survey on the state of New Zealand journalism in 2015 and a Frontline report on a journalism school partnership with Indigenous community organisations in Western Australia.

    Table of contents

    Pacific ‘cyber bullying’, PNG students protests, ‘free’ media featured in PJR

    ]]>

    Febriana Firdaus wins inaugural Pogau award for courage in journalism

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    AsiaPacificReport.nz

    Jakarta has a new award for courage in journalism honouring West Papuan editor Oktovianus Pogau, who died last year. The inaugural award has been made to reporter Febriana Firdaus, who has extensively covered human rights abuses in Indonesia, says the Pantau Foundation.

    “We want to honour our colleague, Oktovianus Pogau, a smart and courageous journalist, who edited Suara Papua news and highlighted human rights reporting. He passed away at a very young age – just 23 years old. We want to honor his legacy by establishing this Oktovianus Pogau award,” said Imam Shofwan, chairman of the Pantau Foundation in a speech to a small gathering at his office.

    The Pantau Foundation selected Febriana Firdaus, a Jakarta journalist, to receive the inaugural award.

    Firdaus covered Indonesia’s efforts to deal with the 1965-1966 massacres, disappearances and arbitrary detentions. She also covered discrimination, intimidation, and violence against the LGBT community in Indonesia.

    “LGBT is a very sensitive subject in Indonesia where many religious communities, including Muslim organisations, still consider homosexuality a psychological disorder. Febriana Firdaus is courageous to stand up for LGBT, to affirm that LGBT is nature, and to expose their side of the story,” said Shofwan.

    Firdaus was born in 1983 in Kalisat, a small town in eastern Java, and graduated from Airlangga University in Surabaya in 2007. She has worked for Jawa Pos daily, Tempo magazine and Rappler Online. She is currently a freelance journalist.

    Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, a former chairman of Indonesia’s Press Council and himself an award-winning journalist, presented the award to Firdaus, welcoming the launch of the award and congratulating Firdaus.

    – Advertisement –

    ‘Proto-fascism era’
    Allan Nairn, another award-winning journalist based in New York, gave a speech, talking about courage in journalism in Trump’s “proto-fascism era.”

    Nairn spoke about the challenges the press faced in covering a president like Donald Trump, who lies constantly yet was also hugely entertaining.

    Nairn noted that the US provides a warning to Indonesia because the same proto-fascists that rose to power in the US were also trying to achieve power in Indonesia, although it was not clear whether they would succeed.

    On her blog, Firdaus wrote, “This award is not about me or other future winners. This is a gentle reminder of the name Okto Pogau but it’s also more than about his name. His name represents the unsolved human rights abuses in Papua.

    “Every year this award will always remind us about the human rights abuses never addressed in Indonesia since the 1965 massacre.”

    Oktovianus Pogau was born in Sugapa in the Central Highlands on 5 August 1992 and died on 31 January 2016 in Jayapura.

    He won an Indonesian writing competition when he was 14 years old, letting him to travel away from his native West Papua and to take part in a writing course in Yogyakarta, Java Island. He learned WordPress and created his own blog when he was 16 years old. He moved to Jakarta in 2010, studying international relations and becoming a freelance journalist.

    Peaceful gathering
    In October 2011, he covered a peaceful gathering of thousands of Papuan men and women in Jayapura, discussing their political aspiration to be independent from Indonesia.

    Indonesian police used excessive force to disperse them. They fired warning shots, beating and kicking indigenous Papuans. Three men died of gunshot wounds, around 600 were detained and five of their leaders were tried and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

    Pogau was upset when seeing that most Indonesian media did not proportionally cover the abuses. He decided to set up Suara Papua (Papuan Voice) on 10 December 2011 — on  international human rights day — to cover rights abuses in West Papua. He made Suara Papua a platform for young Papuans to report and to write their stories.

    Pogau also engaged his audience with his sharp political analysis. He used his knowledge and networks to advocate for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights for ethnic Papuans.

    He was also sympathetic to the National Committee of West Papua, a large Papuan youth organisation, which is campaigning for a referendum in West Papua.

    In October 2012, when he was covering one of their rallies in Manokwari, he was beaten on a street corner. Several police officers stopped him from taking photos. He suffered bruises and complained.

    The West Papua police later apologised but his union, Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists, refused to help him, arguing that Pogau was also an activist and declaring he had crossed the line between journalism and activism.

    Restriction on foreign journalists
    Pogau wrote extensively about the restriction on foreign journalists visiting West Papua. He protested against the discrimination against indigenous Papuan journalists and the intensive use of journalists, both Indonesian and Papuan, to be military and police informers.

    He indirectly contributed to President Joko Widodo in May 2015 declaring the Indonesian bureaucracy would stop restrictions on foreign journalists covering West Papua.

    Jokowi’s command has not been fulfilled completely. He travelled to the US in December 2015, writing about African-Americans dealing with violence and about the similarity of the harsh treatment of Papuans.

    The jurors of the award included Alexander Mering (Kampong Journalism Movement in Pontianak, Kalimantan), Andreas Harsono (researcher at Human Rights Watch in Jakarta, Java), Coen Husain Pontoh (chief editor at Indo Progress news portal in New York), Made Ali (environmentalist at Jikalahari in Pekanbaru, Sumatra), Yuliana Lantipo (editor at Jubi daily in Jayapura, West Papua).

    The mandate of this award is to exclude a financial gift and a generous ceremony, hoping that it will be sustainable and making jurors concentrate only in selecting a winner. The award is to be announced every year on January 31.

    When presenting the award, Imam Shofwan talked about his personal experience with Pogau: “Once he called me on my mobile and I heard gunshots in the background. I told him to run but he kept on talking, asking me to tweet. He continuously tried to bring out rights abuses in Papua.

    “He died young but his courage should inspire other journalists.”

    Febriana Firdaus and the Pantau award [Bahasa]

    ]]>

    Thousands march against Duterte’s war on drugs, ‘violence culture’

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    AsiaPacificReport.nz

    Thousands of Catholics “Walk for Life” in Manila to protest against the drug-related killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. Video: Papua New Guinea’s EMTV

    Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital in a “show of force” today to protest against the extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug war.

    The rally, called the “Walk for Life”, gathered 20,000 people, according to the organisers.

    Manila police estimated the crowd at 10,000, reports Al Jazeera.

    READ MORE: Children and Duterte’s drug war – Lessons from the past

    The “Walk for life”protesters were also condemning the restored death sentence. Image: EMTV

    But in what was the the biggest rally yet against the killings, members of one of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions prayed and sang hymns as they marched before dawn to condemn a “spreading culture of violence”.

    More than 7000 people have died since Duterte took office almost eight months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses.

    – Advertisement –

    The move, however, has been popular with many in the mainly Catholic nation.

    “We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don’t like these extrajudicial killings,” said Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo before addressing the crowd, reports AFP.

    “I am alarmed and angry at what’s happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity.”

    The demonstrators also condemned legislation restoring the death penalty for drug-related crimes and other offences.

    Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as being “full of sh*t” and “the most hypocritical institution” for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace.

    About 80 percent of the 100 million Filipinos are Catholic.

    The Church helped lead the revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and a 2001 uprising against then-president Joseph Estrada saw him ousted over corruption charges.

    The Church had initially declined to voice opposition publicly to Duterte’s drug war but, as the death toll of mostly-poor mounted, it started late last year to call for the killings to end.

    Two weeks ago the Church branded Duterte’s “reign of terror” as creating a war against the poor.

    Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle … violence cannot be the answer to the country’s drug problem. Image: Al Jazeera/R

    “It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary,” said Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country’s highest-ranking Church official.

    “If the response to violence is also violence, then we are only doubling down on violence.”

    The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines had called on the faithful to gather before dawn at the Quirino Grandstand, in the same venue where Duterte held a huge pre-election rally in 2016.

    “Why dawn? It’s because it is during these hours that we find bodies on the streets or near trash cans. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears,” Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops’ conference, told the crowd.

    Among those who attended the event was Senator Leila de Lima, a former human rights commissioner who is one of Duterte’s most vocal opponents.

    The government on Friday filed charges against her for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring inside the country’s largest prison when she was justice secretary in the previous administration.

    De Lima, who has strongly denied the charges, said she attended the event as a show of solidarity.

    ]]>

    Freeport seeks to dodge piling problems as stalemate shuts production

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    AsiaPacificReport.nz

    A Freeport worker monitors the mineral flotation process before the mine production crisis. Image: B. Josie Susilo Hardianto

    By Viriya P. Singgih and Fedina S. Sundaryani in Jakarta

    Gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia, the country’s largest taxpayer and oldest foreign investor, is in for another rough ride as it struggles to fight the government’s demand to divest controlling ownership and resolve allegations of legislative contempt.

    Reuters reports that all work has stopped at Freeport’s Grasberg mine and its workers are planning a demonstration against the government’s move last month that halted exports of copper concentrate to boost domestic industries, a union said.

    A prolonged stoppage at the world’s second-biggest copper mine would support copper prices, near 21-month highs this week, but would also deny the Indonesian government desperately needed revenue from one of its biggest taxpayers.

    READ MORE: Freeport says it hasn’t agreed on new contract

    Freeport’s headache intensified last week when the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry claimed the company had agreed to convert its contract of work (CoW) to a special mining licence (IUPK), and required it to divest 51 percent of its shares and construct a smelter.

    In exchange, the government allowed the company to resume its exports of copper concentrate to prevent massive layoffs in its operations in the backwater regency of Timika in Papua, where Freeport has been operating for more than five decades.

    – Advertisement –

    The government has claimed its recent policy to continue the relaxation of raw and partly processed mineral exports, which many analysts and politicians deemed as against the law, has profited Freeport because the company can continue with exports despite its questionable commitment to construct a smelter in Indonesia to process its products.

    While Freeport has indicated it will fight against the share divestment while agreeing to other demands set out by the government, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan has not blinked and insists the company has to comply.

    “Why are they refusing the divestment rule? The shares will later be bought by the government or the government’s partners. What is exactly the reason behind the company’s reluctance?” Jonan said.

    Freeport, a local unit of politically wired US mining giant Freeport McMoRan Inc. (FCX), said it would not agree to the contract conversion unless the government provided a long-term investment stability assurance, consisting of fiscal and legal certainties, in accordance to its CoW signed in 1991.

    “Freeport Indonesia will keep working with the government to find the best possible solution for both sides. However, no agreement has yet to be made as of today,” Freeport Indonesia spokesperson Riza Pratama said.

    Under the CoW, Freeport is required to sell 51 percent of its stake to Indonesian entities by 2011, or 45 percent if it has sold a minimum of 20 percent in the local stock market.

    However, a string of regulations were issued along the way that eventually allowed Freeport to dodge the requirement to this date, where very few officials have made a fuss. FCX owns 90.64 percent of the company, while merely 9.36 percent is owned by the Indonesian government.

    Full Freeport report

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    Press freedom fact-finding mission to West Papua faces challenges

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    AsiaPacificReport.nz

    The WAN-IFRA fact-finding team present their report. Image: Una Sunarti/WAN-IFRA

    By Tara Nissl in Jakarta

    Eight journalists from eight Indonesian media outlets traveled to West Papua earlier this month to investigate media freedom and the safety of journalists in the region, after an international delegation called on Indonesia to address press freedom violations in 2015.

    The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) launched the investigation on January 30 in Jayapura, Merauke and Timika, where the Media Freedom Committee-Indonesia followed local journalists from Papuan news organisations for five days.

    WAN-IFIRA’s Eko Maryadi … “understanding the issues, difficulties, and problems faced by journalists in Papua.” Image: Istimewa

    WAN-IFRA’s Asian regional manager Eko Maryadi said: “We expect the programme to send eight reporters from Jakarta, from non-Papuans to do reporting, that they can understand the issues, difficulties, and problems faced by journalists in Papua.”

    The committee reported eight key findings:

    • Government officials and security personnel are discriminatory towards OAPs (“original Papua persons”)
    • Journalists are stigmatised as pro-independence or pro-Homeland, leading to intimidation and fragmentation among the journalist community
    • Environmental damage through development programmes are underreported due to heavy restrictions on the press
    • Strengthening journalism in Papua relies on an improved code of ethics, understanding of the journalist profession, use of technology and a business model that maintains the independence of the press
    • Journalists need to actively change the media perspective of Papua
    • 11 out of 16 foreign journalists who recently gained access to Papua were monitored by intelligence officials
    • Sexual harassment of female journalists in Papua is underreported
    • The quality of public services and competition depends on equitable access to communication infrastructure and information technology

    Detailed reports
    More detailed reports were documented in Bahasa on the committee’s blog, featuring daily updates and interviews with journalists from Tabloid Jubi, Papua Salam, Mongabay.co.id and many more.

    Journalists from the Papua South Post shared stories about police and government intimidation, including two publication bans in 2007 and 2008, being threatened with a criminal lawsuit, and a prohibition on reporting on President Joko Widodo’s Merauke investment programme.

    – Advertisement –

    A journalist in Timika recalled a terrifying experience of being held at knifepoint and then stabbed. Another pointed to the difficulties faced by female journalists and the prevalence of sexual harassment.

    The investigation marks two months before Indonesia will host the World Press Freedom Day in Jakarta on May 3, an event that has drawn criticism of Indonesia as host due to ongoing restrictions and violations in Papua.

    Whether any changes will be made in the near future is questionable. Just recently, Suara Papua’s website was blocked for publishing “negative” content, despite the government insisting that it does not censor journalism websites.

    Tara Nissl is a contributor to Engage Media.

    The WAN-IFRA blog on West Papua media freedom

    Map: WAN-IFRA
    ]]>

    Registrar confirms 44 parties for PNG’s 2017 general election

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    AsiaPacificReport.nz

    By Quintina Naime in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea’s Registry of Political Parties has confirmed 44 political parties will contest the 2017 National Elections.

    Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu said the registry would continue the processes of registering political parties but it would not allow them to contest this election.

    He said it takes about two months to register a political party before the issue of writs and therefore a political party must be already in the registration process.

    “It takes a process of two months therefore if anyone wants to register a political party now to take part in this elections, it will not be possible,” Dr Gelu said.

    “But the process will continue, we can register a political party but they will have to contest in the next national elections.”

    Dr Gelu added that the registry was fully aware of the increase in the number of political parties.

    – Advertisement –

    He said that while the registry believed that the number was too high, the Constitution gave citizens the right to form political parties.

    The registration fee for a political party is K10,000 (NZ$4370).

    Quintina Naime is a journalist for Loop PNG.

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