By Kalino Latu in Auckland

Tonga’s King Tupou VI is reportedly still on ‘Eua island despite reports yesterday that he had been evacuated to the royal villa at Mataki’eua in Tongatapu.

The latest information about his presence in ‘Eua came last night after terrifying footage was shot of a tsunami wave crashing into the gate of the Heilala Tangitangi royal palace in ‘Eua.

In the video, which was sent to Kaniva News, a man can be heard saying: “It’s now 5.54 pm”.

“There, you see the wave is on its way to ‘Ohonua’,” he said in Tongan.

“Hang on, I will run, otherwise the wave will catch me,” he said.

“Those of you who have already been to ‘Eua look at how the wave breaks on the Matapā Tapu [Taboo Gate of the royal palace].

“Look at it. The wave reached the Matapā Tapu”.

Waves broke electricity poles
The man was also heard in another video saying the waves had broken electricity poles, sunk boats and engulfed the ‘Ovava hotel.

He can also be heard in another video saying in Tongan that the only time he took notice of the wave was when the king told him to assist two vehicles trying to flee the scene.

“Two vehicles came out there and the king noticed they appeared hesitant to enter so he told me to run and wave to them to come through,” the man said.

‘Alisi Moa Paasi, who shared the videos with Kaniva News last night, said the person speaking in the videos was her father, Tēvita Fau’ese Moa.

She said Tēvita was His Majesty’s Armed Forces’ (HMAF) Superintendent in ‘Eua. He called her in Auckland on Facebook from the palace while the tsunami hit at about 6pm (Tongan time) on Saturday January 15, shortly before Tonga’s internet was knocked out by the eruption.

Kaniva News could not independently confirm the authenticity of the videos.

‘Alisi clarified what her father was talking about in the videos as the background sound of the tsunami heard in the clips she sent intermittently distracted what her father was saying.

‘Alisi said his father was talking about two vehicles who attempted to flee the wave before they realised their only way out was the Matapā Tapu.

While the drivers appeared hesitant to enter the gate, ‘Alisi claimed the king alerted his father to allow the vehicle to drive through.

She said once the vehicles entered safely, the tsunami wave crashed into the gate.

‘Alisi contacted Kaniva News
‘Alisi contacted Kaniva News after the news website reported yesterday that the king had been evacuated to his villa at Mataki’eua in Tongatapu.

‘Alisi denied this and said the king was still in ‘Eua. She said she confirmed this with her father.

She said it may be that it was the Queen who had been escorted to the villa.

The Kaniva News report had been based on information published by Fiji’s Island Business media on its official Facebook page yesterday.

The news item read:

“Tonga’s King Tupou VI has been evacuated from the Royal Palace after a tsunami flooded Nuku’alofa today.

“A convoy of police and troops rushed the King to the villa at Mataki’eua as residents headed for higher ground.

“Earlier, a series of explosions were heard as an undersea volcano erupted, throwing clouds of ash into the sky.

“The explosions were heard on Lakeba, Matuku and in Fiji’s capital, Suva, around 6pm”.

Islands Business report
The Islands Business Facebook administration was contacted for comment.

The news was picked up by New Zealand mainstream media, such as the New Zealand Herald and RNZ Pacific.

The ‘Eua news came after the underwater volcano at the two Hungas had erupted for eight minutes, throwing clouds of ash into the sky yesterday afternoon.

#Tonga #volcano #eruption and #tsunami – 120 evacuated in #NZ’s Far North | What next? #AsiaPacificReport #tsunamitonga #farnorth #eruptionexplained #HungaTongaHungaHaapai https://t.co/lEIlLy8pkX pic.twitter.com/Hw3jljIeSi

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) January 15, 2022

Waves flooded the capital Nuku’alofa, where video footage has shown water engulfing buildings.

“The eruptions have been heard as booms or ‘thumps’ across the Pacific, in Fiji, Niue, Vanuatu, and in New Zealand,” RNZ Pacific reported.

The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island has been included in a warning about dangerous sea conditions as a result of the eruption.

The New Zealand Defence Force is currently monitoring the situation in Tonga, and said it was standing by to assist if asked to do so by the Tongan government.

Meanwhile, Shane Cronin of the University of Auckland wrote in an analysis article published by The Conversation: “Soon after the eruption started, the sky was blacked out on Tongatapu, with ash beginning to fall.

“All these signs suggest the large Hunga caldera has awoken. Tsunami are generated by coupled atmospheric and ocean shock waves during an explosion, but they are also readily caused by submarine landslides and caldera collapses”.

Kalino Latu is editor of Kaniva Tonga. Asia Pacific Report collaborates with Kaniva Tonga.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) believes that the Indonesian government has nine motives behind the branding of National Liberation Army of West Papua as terrorists.

Executive director Markus Haluk of ULMWP said this during a seminar and book discussion about Demanding Dignity, Papuans Are Punished in Jayapura on Friday.

He said it was believed that one of the reasons the Indonesian government labels armed groups as terrorists was to stem and limit ULMWP diplomacy in various Melanesian countries, the Pacific, and in other countries worldwide.

“We’ve been reading that since a few months ago,” said Haluk.

He said the Indonesian the government continued to strive to increase its influence in a number of international forums attended by the ULMWP delegation.

In these various forums, the Indonesian delegation strived to minimise the role of the Papuan delegation.

“They started with the issue [that] Papua could not afford to pay the dues (For the Melanesian Spearhead Group). Papua has already handled [the various efforts].

‘Terrorism’ issue raised again
“[Then] Indonesia raised the issue of terrorism again,” said Haluk, who delivered a presentation entitled “Revealing the government’s motivation with the terrorist label to Papua”.

According to him, the terrorist brand was also an attempt to silence and isolate the movement of indigenous Papuans.

As a result, whatever the activities of the indigenous Papuans are they would come to the attention of the Indonesian government because they were associated with the terrorist label.

“The terrorist label is a way of isolating the Papuan issue and silencing Papuans’ freedom of expression,” Haluk said.

Haluk said that the effort to silence the expressions of indigenous Papuans was part of the Indonesian government’s efforts to pass a revision of Law No. 21/2001 on Papua’s Special Autonomy.

This happened because the Papuan people continued to reject the Indonesian government’s efforts to extend the Special Autonomy Law, including by holding demonstrations and collecting the signatures of the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP).

“Clearly, there was the arrest of Victor Yeimo, spokesman for the [international West Papua National Committee] and the PRP. There have been expulsions of students from Cenderawasih University student dormitories and flats, internet access has been cut off,” Haluk said.

Easier for Indonesian weapons
“Haluk suspects that the terrorist label for armed groups (West Papua National Liberation Army) is an effort to smooth the way for procurement of weapons and combat equipment for the TNI/POLRI (Indonesia National Army/Indonesia National Police).

The designation of armed groups in Papua as terrorists would also increase the opportunity for members of the TNI/POLRI to participate in various cooperation exercises in dealing with terrorists with other countries and increase the opportunity to obtain funds for handling terrorists from the European Union, United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Haluk said that the terrorist label would also be a means of intimidation against executive and legislative officials in Papua.

In addition, the terrorist label would facilitate the state’s efforts to secure investment and the interests of national and international investors.

“Indonesian political elites play a big role in investment interests, for example in forest concession rights, selling alcoholic beverages, and mining,” he said.

The labeling of terrorists could even be used as a stage for politicians to contest the general election in Indonesia.

“[It could be] a political stage for the sake of the legislative and presidential elections in 2024, as well as for the interests of the local Papuan political stage, for example, seizing the leadership of the Democratic Party in Papua, or the 2023 Papuan gubernatorial election,” Haluk said.

‘Branding’ not new
The president of the Fellowship of West Papua Baptist Churches, Reverend Dr Socratez Sofyan Yoman, who is also a member of the Papuan Church Council, said that the label of terrorists was not new.

“The label appeared in the 1960s. [There is a label] Free Papua Organisation, separatist, KKB, KKBS, GPK, [then now] we are facing the terrorist label. It’s a repetition of all those [labels],” he said.

According to Yoman, the various labels were created to smooth over or legalise the actions of the state apparatus to commit violence against Papuans.

“Papuans continue to be tortured and killed in their own country,” said Reverend Yoman.

This article from Tabloid Jubi has been translated by a Pacific Media Centre correspondent and is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia has cut off the internet in West Papua to conceal its crackdown on the peaceful liberation movement, says a leading Papuan campaigner.

Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), has condemned the internet gag while Indonesia’s leading English-language daily newspaper, The Jakarta Post, has also criticised Jakarta’s actions.

In an editorial last Friday, the Post said that many people “suspect that the disruption to the [Papua] internet service in April was actually a deliberate move to silence anti-government critics and activists”.

“The government has been cutting off Papua from the outside world for decades by measures that included restricting foreign visitors, especially foreign journalists,” the newspaper said.

Jakarta remained “stubbornly insistent on maintaining its isolation policy for Papua”.

Erik Walela, secretary of the ULMWP’s “Department of Political Affairs”, is now in hiding, and two of his relatives — Abi, 32, and Anno, 31 — were arrested by the Indonesian colonial police on June 1.

Victor Yeimo, spokesperson of the KNPB, had already been arrested.

Stigmatised as ‘terrorists’
“I am concerned that all the ULMWP leaders and departments inside West Papua are now at risk after Indonesia has tried to stigmatise us as ‘terrorists’,” said Wenda.

“The head of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has stated that it considers the entire liberation movement, including anyone associated with me, to be terrorists.

“Anyone who stands up to injustice in West Papua is now in danger. Indonesia is cutting off the internet to conceal its crackdown and military operations, continuing its long tradition of concealing information from the world by banning international journalists and spreading propaganda.

“The only way anyone can currently access the internet inside is by standing near a military, police, or government building.”

Wenda said Indonesian authorities had tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and in 2019, “monkeys’”.

“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he said.

“I want to remind the United Nations and the Pacific and Melanesian leaders that Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”

21,000 troops deployed
More than 21,000 troops had been deployed in less than three years, including last month ‘Satan’s forces’ implicated in genocide in East Timor, said Wenda.

Densus 88, trained by the West, were also using their skills “against my people”.

These operations were being carried out on the direct order of the President and the head of the Parliament.

“My people are traumatised, scared to go to their gardens, to hunt or fish. Everywhere they turn there are military posts and bases,” said Wenda.

“How long will the world ignore my call? How long can the world watch what is happening to my people and stand by?”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Indonesian government has submitted an appeal against the Jakarta Administrative District Court’s (PTUN) decision that found President Joko Widodo and the Communication and Information Minister guilty of imposing an internet blackout in the Papua and West Papua provinces last August.

“On June 12, 2020, Defendant I filed an appeal against the Jakarta Administrative Court Decision’s ruling No. 230/G/TF/2019/PTUN-JKT dated June 3, 2020,” wrote the copy of the appeal letter received by Tempo on Friday.

In this case, the Communication and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate acts as Defendant 1, while President Jokowi acts as Defendant 2.

READ MORE: Jokowi ‘violates the law’ for banning internet in Papua

The plaintiffs are the Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI) and the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet).

AJI advocacy coordinator Sasmito Madrim confirmed that his side also received the appeal letter.

“Yes, I have (received it),” said Sasmito via short message to Tempo on Friday.

As widely reported, the government throttled the internet bandwidth in the West Papua region due to the unrest in August 2019 following mass demonstrations against racism against Papuans.

In early June, the court declared the government guilty of violating the law on emergency conditions.

Moreover, there was no initial announcement regarding the dangerous situation.

The panel of judges then sentenced the government defendants to each paying the court fee of Rp457,000 (NZ$50).

Dewi Nurita is a Tempo reporter, Dewi Elvia Muthiariny is the story English langiage translator and Markus Wisnu Murti editor.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Indonesian government’s decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua provinces last year, declaring that such a move violated the law.

The petitioners – the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), among other groups – filed a lawsuit against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the Communications and Information Ministry in January.

They said the blackout, which officials argued was put in place to prevent fake news from spreading, was flawed in authority, substance and procedure.

READ MORE: Blackout lacks ‘substance, procedures’: Jokowi sued over govt-imposed internet ban in Papua

“The court declares [the internet blackout] was a violation of the law by government bodies or officials,” the presiding judge said reading the verdict during the hearing yesterday, as reported by YLBHI activist M Isnur through his Twitter account, @madisnur.

The judges argued the government had imposed the internet blackout without the prior declaration of a state of emergency; therefore, violating the 1959 State of Emergency Law.

The bench said the government failed to prove during the trial that Indonesia was in a state of emergency that required authorities to shut down the internet.

Judges also said any decision that limited people’s right to information should be made in accordance with the law and not merely based on the government’s discretion.

Use Criminal Code for fake news, says bench
The government initially claimed that its move to shut down internet access across Papua was in line with the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. However, judges said the law could only be enforced to block access to electronic information and documents violating the law, not the entire internet.

The bench also argued that fake news should be handled by using provisions in the Criminal Code or blocking the accounts spreading such false information, rather than shutting down internet access.

The petitioners lauded the court for the verdict. “The verdict also opens the possibility for affected parties to sue the government and ask for compensation,” Isnur tweeted.

The government throttled back internet access in parts of the country’s easternmost provinces on August 19, 2019 between 1 pm and 8:30 pm shortly after widespread protests escalated in the regions in response to incidents of racial abuse suffered by Papuan students in Surabaya, East Java.

According to the lawsuit, the government imposed a blackout between August 21 and September 4, affecting 29 cities and regencies in Papua and 13 cities and regencies in West Papua.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

A West Papuan journalist, editor and media freedom advocate has lodged a protest to the United Nations about Indonesia’s internet blackout as more protests reportedly spread across the Melanesian region, including Wamena in the highlands.

Victor Mambor and Tabloid Jubi have made the protest with the help of human rights lawyers and he appealed through Pacific Media Watch for the Pacific media to “spread information about the appeal”.

Indonesian authorities claim the internet gag has been necessary to stem “fake news” which it blames for the rash of Papuan protests over the past week, with at least one death and dozens injured.

WATCH VIDEO: Protest video from Andrew Johnson

Mambor was himself the target last week of a hacker named “Dapur” who was accused by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) of maliciously “doxing” his social media web data.

The journalist group issued a statement saying that a fake Twitter account had “disseminated an unfounded attempt to discredit and intimidate” Mambor, who is a national organiser for AJI.

“We consider that what Victor has done through his media is the standard thing done by the media, which is to convey information as objectively as possible and publish it after going through a verification process,” the AJI statement said.

The AJI reminded social media users – and the security forces – that journalists carrying out their profession were protected by Press Law 40.

Hampered by blackout
Mambor said the ability of Papuan journalists to report on the protests had been hampered by the internet blackout.

RNZ Pacific reported earlier today that Victor Mambor had filed an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, David Kaye.

The Communications Ministry said blocking of the internet would continue until the Papua region was “absolutely normal”.

Mambor said the blockage violated international human rights law.

“When we talk about the ability of journalism to send the real true situation about West Papua,” he said.

“But now we cannot do it. There’s much information from the road. They send it to me, but we cannot clarify or cannot verify the information. There is a problem for journalism.”

The block has also restricted the people’s right to mobilise, RNZ Pacific reported Mambor saying.

‘Discrimination against Papuans’
“I think it’s a kind of discrimination against West Papuan people. The authorities should look for perpetrators who say ‘monkey’ to our people. They should arrest them, not block the internet.”

Mambor said people could generally tell the difference between hoax and accurate news coverage.

His appeal, made through the human rights lawyers Jennifer Robinson and Veronica Koman, also claims the internet blocking fundamentally violates the rights of all West Papuans,” RNZ Pacific reports.

“We appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur, and to the UN Human Rights Commissioner Michele Bachelet, to raise our concerns with the Indonesian government about the military crackdown and internet blocking in West Papua,” Robinson said.

She also urged the UN to call on Indonesia to ensure that Mambor and West Papuan journalists were able to report “without fear of intimidation and harassment”.

The government has deployed 1000 extra military and police to Papua, as some of the protests turned violent.

Local media outlets have been restricted in their ability to send photographs and videos of the protests.

The Jakarta Post reports that legal experts have demanded the police prove that shooting tear gas and arresting 43 Papuan students at a dorm in Surabaya on August 17 without an investigation was “necessary” just because the police suspected there were “certain items” inside the dorm.

This was the incident that triggered the widespread protests.

East Java police spokesperson Frans Barung Mangera said on Friday in Surabaya that an internal police investigation carried out late last week revealed that none of the personnel had violated standard operating procedures by using tear gas.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and other global media groups have demanded Indonesian authorities immediately restore internet access to Papua region.

The Pacific Media Centre has also condemned the internet blackout, with director Professor David Robie saying the authorities have “inflamed’ the situation with the ban by encouraging misinformation and rumours.

“Papuans, and indeed everybody, are entitled to free and unfettered information about the crisis and the reports of human rights violations,” he said.

The Guardian also reported on the expected further wave of protests in response to the racial slurs.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz