SPECIAL REPORT: By Netani Rika in Majuro

A united effort will ensure a world in which every woman and girl is valued, respected, and given the opportunity to thrive.

Envoy for Women, Children and Youth to Marshallese President, Hilda Heine, Senator Daisy Alik-Momotaro, said the most pressing issues for women and children were health, education, climate change and economic stability.

Momotaro made the comments at the opening of the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women. The conference precedes the 8th Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Women.

“Each of you, like individual droplets, contributes to the vast and powerful ocean of change and progress,” Alik-Momotaro said.

“Together, we are capable of creating waves that can transform our world.

“The theme for this year’s 15th Triennial Conference is An Pilinlin Koba Ekaman Lometo, which translates to “a collection of droplets, makes an ocean,” captures the power of collective effort.

Alik-Momotaro noted that the Marshall Islands was a matrilineal society in which women held sacred and indispensable.

Nurturers for well-being
“We are the Kora in Eoeo, the nurturers who ensure the well-being and growth of our families and communities,” she told delegates to the triennial.

“We are the Lejmaanjuri, the peacemakers who resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace.

“As Jined ilo Kobo, we are the protectors who safeguard our heritage and values.”

The Marshallese culture of Aelon Kein ej an Kora, embraces women as owners of the land who hold a spiritual role as providers and preservers of culture, tradition and philosophy.

“These roles are not mere responsibilities; they are the essence of our identity and the pillars of our society,” she said.

Alik-Momotaro recognised the presence of men and boys at the opening ceremony.

She said this underscored the importance of inclusivity and partnership in efforts to advance the wellbeing of women and communities.

Mutual respect, collaboration
“Together, we can foster an environment where mutual respect and collaboration pave the way for a better future,” she said.

“Let us remember that our shared experiences and collective voices are our greatest strengths. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and it is our duty to pave the way for the generations that follow.”

The triennial has received support from traditional leaders on Majuro and throughout the Marshall Islands.

Marshallese women have travelled from throughout the islands to take part in the conference.

Netani Rika is an award-winning Fiji journalist with 30 years of experience in Pacific regional writing. The joint owner of Islands Business magazine he is communications manager of the Pacific Conference of Churches and is in Majuro, Marshall Islands, covering the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has responded cautiously over the Melanesian Spearhead Group’s surprise denial of full membership at its leaders summit last week, welcoming the communique while calling for urgent action over Indonesia’s grave human rights violations.

In a statement released today by President Benny Wenda after the second ULMWP leaders’ summit in Port Vila, the movement said the MSG had “misinterpreted” its founding principles based on the “inalienable right” of colonised countries for independence.

Strong speeches in support of the West Papuan struggle were made at the ULMWP summit by Vanuatu’s Ralph Regenvanu, the current Climate Minister and a former foreign minister, and Barak Sope, a former prime minister.

Wenda said the ULMWP agreed to the MSG chair asking the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to ensure that the requested visit of the UN Human Rights Commissioner to Indonesia takes place, and to asking Jakarta to allow the commissioner to visit West Papua and have the report considered at the next MSG summit in 2024.

But he added the hope that the MSG chair would “honour” these commitments urgently, “given the grave human rights violations on the ground in West Papua, including the recent warnings on human rights issues from the UN Special Advisor on Genocide”.

The ULMWP also expressed:

• Scepticism about the impact of the renewed call for a UN visit, given that the visit had been continually denied in spite of the 2019 calls by the Pacific islands Forum (PIF) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS);
• Reservation on the possibility of future dialogue with the Indonesia government. Full MSG membership was a precondition;
• Reservation on the discussion of “closer collaboration” with the Indonesian government when the people of West Papua had asked for full MSG membership; and
• Reservation on the statement: “Membership must be limited only to sovereign and independent states, with special arrangements for FLNKS”.

On the FLNKS statement, Wenda said: “This appears to be a misinterpretation of the founding principles of the Melanesian Spearhead Group which state that, ‘having come together, the Melanesian Spearhead Group commit themselves to the principles of, respect for, and promotion of, independence as the inalienable right of colonial countries and people.’”

Meanwhile, as condemnation of the MSG’s position on West Papua has grown since the “disappointing” summit last week, Governor Powes Parkop of Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby, has made renewed criticism.

“I am totally disappointed but I will never give up until my last breath,” he told Asia Pacific Report.

“Our heritage is that we defend our land and our people. For thousands of years we defeated the Melayu people of Indonesia or the various Muslim and Hindu empires which tried to enter our ancestral land.

“They never succeeded. We only were overwhelmed by European superior weapons and abilities in 1800s and subsequently Indonesians took over after arming themselves with these superior weapons left by colonial powers and the Japanese invading army,” said Parkop, who has long been a critic of Papua New Guinea’s failure to take a stronger stance over Indonesia.

“I will honour our heritage and our ancestors by continuing to challenge Indonesian rule over West Papua our ancestral land. We have lost many battles, heroes and heroines, but Indonesia has and will never win the war.

“We are fighting for our rights, our dignity and our heritage and nothing Indonesia does will dent that drive and energy.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

“Grandma, can I say I’m ‘afakasi?”

I’m in the kitchen of my grandmother’s home on the North Shore, preparing for a video journalism piece on the Tongan tau’olunga.

“No, you’re palagi”, she says quietly, turning to fill up the kettle for a cup of tea.

“You don’t speak Tongan.”

She’s right, and it’s a blunt truth I’ve struggled with as I’ve tried to reconnect with my culture as an adult.

It’s a truth that makes me feel like I need to justify my Tongan-ness, and almost stopped me telling people my cultural heritage, or even applying for my current job.

But, it’s there, deep down.

Statistics NZ 2018 figures show just 40 percent of New Zealand-born Tongans can speak the language, that figure dwindling from 56 percent in 2006.

Hearing stories of my history, I can see where my own family has leaned away from some of their Tongan roots and done things the “palagi way” to access opportunities and get ahead.

​Back in the day

My grandmother, ‘Alieta Strong was born on 6th January 1934. Her mother was Louveve Tohi and she was the 6th child of 10 children. Her father was Robert Hurrell.

As a young woman, she made a vow that she would either marry a palagi or be a nun. Luckily for us grandchildren, she caught the eye of Michael Strong who was the manager at her work in Nuku’alofa, and they were married in St Paul’s Church in 1955.

I don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m not entirely sure if it was a love match. They had three children before moving to New Zealand in 1965, to a one-bedroom bach in Torbay.

My father, Gordon, remembers being the only dark-skinned boy at Torbay school when he arrived at the age of 9.

To settle into their new country, he and his siblings were only allowed to speak English at home, and only remembers a few words of Tongan now.

This attitude was still there in my youth, after many requests to learn the language or Tongan weaving and handicrafts, they were abandoned after first attempts.

My grandmother would make beautiful woven bags and hats to sell at the markets, using her own earnings to eventually purchase a car in New Zealand.

Childhood memories
My best memories of Tongan culture stem from my grandmother, and her home near Waiake beach, where she died in 2011.

She stayed connected to our family in the islands, going back to visit every year or so, and would often be picking someone up from the airport, and there always seemed to be a relative staying whenever we visited.

As a child, I remember when Telecom would do their special prices to call the islands, and Grandma would go through her black book, filled with her neat, precise handwriting.

She’d be on the phone for hours.

We’d pick up the phone downstairs and hear her and an Auntie gossiping away, followed by, “Oi! Get off the phone, you lot!” and we’d run away giggling.

Every January for her birthday we had an umu with a big puaka tunu on a spit roast.

There would be music and dancing and so much laughter.

Aunties would kiss my cheeks and uncles would bite my ear.

I’d scurry off with my cousins and we’d try to figure out how we were related, then give up and go running off to find more food or scab $2 from one of the rich uncles.

My Tongan memories are filled with music and colour, family, and food.

Pictures of my Grandma always showed her dressed beautifully, often with a grandchild in her arms, surrounded by family.

Present day
​Our household’s best effort for Tongan Language Week goes to my partner, who is an Englishman and doesn’t speak a lick of Tongan.

“Malo peto Khalia,” he says in a text, proudly repeating it when I walk in the door after a morning spent reading the news on 531pi, “malo peto”.

Although my nine-year-old chickened out of saying “Malo e lelei” in his class zoom, I can’t force him without leading by example, so I’ve signed up for online Tongan classes. They start in a few weeks with the Pasifika Education Centre.

As an adult, it is with great regret that I didn’t make more effort to learn the language, and converse with my Grandma in her mother tongue.

I am more familiar with words in Samoan and Te Reo, so the Tongan language seems more interrupted and punctuated than other flowing, vowel-heavy Pacific languages.

Being just under a quarter Tongan, I can pass for a regular Kiwi, and am aware of the privilege this has afforded me, but looking palagi doesn’t cancel out DNA.

So, I’d encourage my New Zealand-born non-speakers out there, it’s on you now. Speak to your aunties and cousins, hear their stories.

Tell them it’s OK to speak their island language around you. Sign up for some classes or learn some words or songs.

You can’t judge someone for where they are in their language journey, because everyone starts at different places, but the rest is up to you.

‘Ofa atu.

• In memory of my dear Grandma, Alieta Strong.
  

Republished from Pacific Media Network with the permission of the author.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz