Flying Fijians head coach Simon Raiwalui says facing England in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals will be different from when they met last month in Twickenham.

The match in London saw Fiji topple the tier one nation 30-22 for the first time, two weeks away from the World Cup and was described as one of the lowest moments in English rugby history.

The two sides will face-off at Stade de Marseille in a week’s time at 3am.

“They [England] play rugby to win. They’re very talented. They’ll put a lot of pressure on us at set-piece time as well,” Raiwalui said.

“Tactically, they’ll look to take advantage of some of the things we’ve been doing, so they’re a very good team. It’s going to be a big challenge.”

He said he expected England to change their game a little bit.

“It’s a totally different match [to when Fiji beat England in August], playing a different team. There will be aspects of how they play that are similar but they will bring new stuff as well.

“It’s about us being efficient and doing the things we do well and giving ourselves the best chance to compete.

“We’ve played the team, the boys are comfortable. It’s not the first time, so I think it will be a good match.”

Pacific RWC results
Fiji just scraped into the quarter-finals losing to Portugal 24-23 in their final and deciding pool match in Toulouse on Monday morning.

Other quarter-finals will see Wales battle Argentina in Marseille on Sunday morning, before Ireland and New Zealand clash in Saint Denis the same day.

The fourth semi-final will be between France and South Africa in Saint Denis on Monday morning.

Samoa are out of the World Cup after Sunday’s 18-17 defeat to England and Tonga also had an early exit after ‘Ikale Tahi scored seven tries for a bonus point 45-24 win in Lille to record their only cup win.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Today is election day in Timor-Leste, when voters are deciding on 65 members of Parliament to represent them.

Each election is a reminder of the successful regional and international cooperation that led to Timor-Leste’s independence. It is also a reminder of the importance of Timor-Leste as an exemplar of democracy, peace and human rights as foundational values.

It is in Australia’s interest that this be nurtured.

As a small state facing many challenges, maintaining these values has regional and global resonance.

Timor-Leste is an important voice both in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. It is a successful state that, despite difficulties, has been able to be peace-loving and sustain relations with Indonesia.

By contrast, democratic regression, or the worst-case scenario of a failed state, would be an enormous setback for the entire region.

What role should Australia play in keeping this democracy strong?

Complicated relationship
The history of the Australia-Timor-Leste bilateral relationship is complicated. It includes the vital Timorese assistance during World War II and Australia’s tacit approval of Indonesia’s 1975 annexation.

It also includes Australia leading the UN International Force East Timor (INTERFET), which in turn led to Timor-Leste’s transition to independence following a referendum in 1999.

The two nations have been complexly intertwined through Timor-Leste’s journey to independence and democratic development.

Well, this is like the best thing I’ve seen in forever#TimorLeste #TimorVotes #election pic.twitter.com/gqB1CcORvp

— Marian Faa (@marianfaa) May 16, 2023

There have been instances of unease between the two countries. The most notable was the allegation of Australian spying during negotiations on the Greater Sunrise oil fields. This remains an ongoing issue with the potential to derail ties again.

But there have also been positive steps, such as Operation Astute, an Australian-led military and police deployment. This operation helped stabilise the country during the 2006-2008 political turmoil that culminated in the attempted assassination of President Jose Ramos-Horta and his medical evacuation.

In 2018, Australia and Timor-Leste concluded a treaty establishing their maritime boundaries following a United Nations conciliation process.

The complexity of the relationship means Australia needs to be respectful in relations, but it should not stop Australia from being a partner to support Timor-Leste’s democratic processes and institutions.

Supporting governance
A recent report outlines how Australia can support Timor-Leste’s governance in ways that ensure effective, capable and legitimate institutions that are responsive to people.

Australia has a track record of such programs. The eight-year, $72 million Governance for Development Programme supported Timor-Leste agencies to develop good policy and improve systems as well as helping civil society engage with government decision-making.

The programme worked in areas including public financial management, economic policy, enabling business, public service administration, law reform and financial services.

The Partnership for Inclusive Prosperity (PROVISU) will continue to support good governance and economic policy by providing support to Timor-Leste’s central government agencies and economic ministries. Through programmes like this, Australia can offer meaningful support to Timor-Leste.

Good governance that responds to citizens’ needs is a perennial problem. Timor-Leste’s nascent bureaucracy makes this a priority issue. Australia should continue to develop partnerships that strengthen institutions so they are able to deal with problems.

An example of this is PARTISIPA, a ten-year $80 million programme to improve access to quality basic infrastructure and services. It works in partnership with national and subnational governments to improve the delivery of decentralised services and village-level infrastructure, such as rural water. It continues Australia’s long-term support for the national village development programme and its community-driven processes.

Another area where Australia can contribute is in media.

Vibrant media
Timor-Leste has a vibrant media landscape that is among the freest in the region. Australian can support Timor-Leste to ensure its media are strong and robust as well as free, with public interest is at its core.

It can also work with local media to strengthen their ability to educate the general public on governance issues, to hold power to account and to promote the rule of law.

An example of this is a recent memorandum of understanding between the ABC and Timor-Leste’s public broadcaster RTTL, which includes media development programmes. The agreement recognises the vital role both organisations play in informing audiences and contributing to democracy.

The ABC will work with RTTL to establish a new English-language news service, helping staff enhance their journalism and content-making skills.

Another priority Australia can engage with is the justice system.

Consultations with Timorese civil society organisations, conducted by the Asia Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D) report, revealed a particular concern about rebuilding trust in the judicial system. It is an area with which Australia has not been greatly involved compared to Portugal.

Australia should also engage with Timorese political parties, recognising the important structural role they play in governance. This can complement continued engagement with formal government institutions and the national parliament.

Promotion of human rights
Australia should continue to invest in the protection and promotion of human rights.

Finally, Australia should be a partner for youth civic and political engagement, given the reality of a future political transition from independence leaders to younger generations.

Timor-Leste today lives with a legacy of conflict, which has far-reaching implications. There is significant pressure on government to meet the needs and expectations of the Timorese people. Australia can be a partner to support these goals.

By helping to build a stronger, resilient and prosperous Timor-Leste, Australia is investing in a more secure and stable immediate neighbourhood, which will reap mutual benefits.

Dr Melissa Conley Tyler is a honorary fellow, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne and Andrea Fahey, PhD scholar, National Security College, Australian National University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Palau, Fiji, and Samoa have announced their opposition to deep-sea mining, calling for a moratorium on the emerging industry amid growing fears it will destroy the seafloor and damage biodiversity.

The alliance was announced just as a United Nations Oceans Conference began in Portugal this week.

The moratorium comes amid a wave of global interest in deep-sea mining despite environmental groups and governments urging to ban it or ensure it only goes ahead if regulations are in place.

The alliance between Palau, Fiji, and Samoa was made by Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr at an event co-hosted by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and the World Wildlife Fund as part of a side event at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon.

It comes after Vanuatu declared its opposition to deep-sea mining with Chile announcing support for a 15-year moratorium earlier this month, joining the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea who have already taken steps against deep-sea mining.

The Pacific liaison for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition Aotearoa, Phil McCabe, said a moratorium would prevent or slow the process of mining activity.

“It’s a pause on no more exploration licences being issued, no exploitation meaning no actual mining licenses being granted and not yet adopting or agreeing to the rules around how this activity might go ahead.”

Standing ovation
The Pacific leaders were given a standing ovation for their stance against deep-sea mining.

McCabe said the issue of mining was the most engaging topic at the event.

Surangel Whipps asked: “How can we in our right minds say ‘let’s go mining’ without knowing what the risks are?”

McCabe said Pacific leaders discussed the important role the ocean had in the region.

“The deep-sea mining issue, it seems like it’s the hottest topic here at the Ocean conference, there was a real heart space discussion around in the Pacific our relationship with the ocean and this activity just really attacking the base of that relationship — just inappropriate.

“And the leaders were acknowledged and there was a standing ovation,” he said.

Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner James Hita is calling the new alliance “absolutely monumental” and said now was the time for the New Zealand government to take a strong stand on the issue.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Tuvalu government has withdrawn from a UN Oceans Conference in Portugal after China blocked Taiwanese delegates in its team.

An officer with Tuvalu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Jessica Marinaccio, told RNZ Pacific that Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe was already en route to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, for the summit on scaling up actions to protect the world’s oceans.

But Dr Marinaccio said China had blocked the credentials of three Taiwanese participants on Tuvalu’s delegation list.

The Foreign Minister made a decision to return and will land in Brisbane on Monday night instead of Lisbon.

The UN Oceans Conference is hosted by the governments of Kenya and Portugal and around two dozen heads of state and governments are expected to attend the event taking place from June 27 to July 1.

Representatives from 193 countries will also be joining the conference, including 938 civil society groups, 75 foundations, and 74 universities.

Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Meanwhile, Kofe has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He made headlines at last year’s COP 26 summit, when he addressed the summit while standing knee-deep in the ocean to highlight rising sea levels.

Kofe said he was surprised at the nomination but at the same time honoured to be considered.

He said the main message of the clip, which had gone viral online, was to recognise the plight of Pacific Island nations like Tuvalu in their fight against climate change.

Sir David Attenborough, the World Health Organisation, and Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Greta Thunberg, and Pope Francis are among the other nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The global community needs to “be inspired” to defend the world’s oceans ahead of the second United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon at the end of the month, a Fijian policymaker says.

Fisheries Minister Semi Koroilavesau said the Pacific could not protect its greatest resource through advocacy and action on its own.

Safeguarding the ocean and its resources against future dangers “to make it truly sustainable” will require the “entire world” to show more commitment, Koroilavesau said.

A former Navy commander and a self-professed marine advocate, he believes Pacific people’s future will be secured if “we will take whatever actions we must take”.

There are “enormous challenges before us and we need to turn our hopes into genuine ambition” to boost ocean action in the Blue Pacific, he told participants attending the World Oceans Day celebrations in Suva on Wednesday.

“As stewards of the Ocean, our task is to lead, to be a beacon of Blue leadership that inspires the world to turn away from the model of development that harms our ocean and threatens to strip off our life given resources,” he said.

This year’s theme for the international day — marked annually on June 8 — is “Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean”.

Collaboration called for
Koroilavesau said it calls for “wider commitment” and urged stakeholders to collaborate to realise the changes necessary to protect the ocean.

“Our shared commitment towards collaboration will inspire and ignite actions that will certainly benefit us and our future generations,” he said, adding “the health and wellbeing of the Pacific Ocean and “the state of our climate are an interconnected system.”

The Pacific Ocean spans approximately 41 million square kilometres and is a fundamental part of the livelihoods and identity of the Pacific people.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) deputy director-general Dr Filimon Manoni said the ocean was at the heart of the region’s geography and its cultures.

“It’s all we have…[and] all we return to in times of need, either for daily sustenance, for economic development, and nation building aspirations,” Dr Manoni said.

“We are inextricably linked to the ocean in all aspects of our everyday life.”

The ocean is home to almost 80 percent of all life on Earth. But its state is in decline, as it faces a range of threats due to human activity.

Critical year for the ocean
“Its health and ability to sustain life will only get worse as the world population grows and human activities increase,” the United Nations has said.

This year 2022, therefore, is regarded as a critical year for the ocean and an opportunity to reset the global ocean agenda at the Portugal conference.

This week, regional stakeholders gathered in Suva during the fourth Pacific Ocean Alliance (POA) meeting convened by the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) to prepare for the UN conference.

The gathering was scheduled to align with the World Oceans Day to drive regional and global awareness of the region’s priorities for global ocean action, according to OPOC.

Over two days, the alliance aimed to identify the collective priorities for ocean action and approaches to drive global support.

Ocean’s Commissioner and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna said “much has evolved” since the last time the Alliance met in 2019, prior to the covid-19 pandemic.

Puna said the region now finds itself “in a much more contested and challenging environment…faced with heightened geostrategic competition” as it “navigates the impacts of a global pandemic”.

Ocean health still suffers
“Yet the health of our ocean and indeed our planet continues to suffer as a result of climate change and other anthropogenic depressions,” he said.

“This challenging context will place significant pressure on our ability to realise our political and sustainable development aspirations.”

Several high-level ocean-related events have already been held this year with the Our Ocean Conference in Palau in April and the One Ocean Conference hosted by France in May.

Puna is expecting the conversations held during the POA meeting will strengthen the Pacific’s collective vision to conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans and marine resources.

“I am hopeful that this gathering of the POA will provide an opportunity for us all to share our experiences and reflect on how we can work together, how we can collaborate and engage better, and how we can do more to ensure the health and survival of our ocean,” he said.

The UN Oceans Conference will be held from June 27 to July 1.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

ANALYSIS: By Ivo Mateus Goncalves in Canberra

Today, the people of Timor-Leste will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the popular consultation, through which the nation restored the independence it had prematurely declared in 1975.

An election was held, a new president elected, new legislative members put in place and a new government sworn in as the Democratic Republic of East Timor once again came into existence following the historic referendum of 1999.

Those ceremonial sequences marked an end to colonial rule (by Portugal for 450 years and Indonesia for 24 years) over East Timor.

READ MORE: US knew Indonesia intended to stop East Timorese independence through ‘terror and violence’

A common historic feature of postcolonial countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America is that independence does not necessarily mean that a former colony is free from its former master. Timor-Leste is still heavily dependent on Indonesia in many ways, including trade.

However, an independent Timor-Leste has also become “a heaven” for Indonesian construction and banking industry players. State-owned lenders Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Mandiri are operating in Timor-Leste.

In his courtesy visit to Jakarta in 2015, then-prime minister Rui Maria Araujo told Indonesian media that Indonesia had “contributed positively to East Timor’s economic development,” citing 400 private Indonesian companies that were present in the small country.

The looming large of the Indonesian corporations, however, has sparked allegations of collusive practices between Indonesian businessmen and local compradors, who include veterans of the war, government officials as well as members of Parliament.

Fuelled by incentives
“Flight tickets to Bali, luxury hotels and deals behind the bar,” a researcher named the incentives fueling the alleged hanky-panky.

Ahead of the celebration, East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao gave the country another shock as he decided to name a new bridge at the heart of Dili after Indonesia’s third president BJ Habibie.

The decision aroused criticism mainly from civil society organiSations and survivors of Indonesia’s colonial rule. Worse, residents were evicted to pave the way for the bridge’s construction.

Just recently, a member of Parliament from the Alliance for Change and Progress (AMP) said the decision to name the bridge after the former Indonesian leader was to honour his contribution to East Timor’s independence.

Under Habibie, Indonesia signed an agreement with Portugal on May 5, 1999, that led to the popular consultation.

By putting Habibie center stage of the celebration, while ignoring the people’s resistance to colonial domination, the Timor-Leste freedom fighters and government are attempting to suck the national history into a black hole.

Jose Ramos-Horta, the diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Timor-Leste, described Habibie as Indonesia’s Charles de Gaulle for announcing the political options for East Timor in 1999.

Two sides of coin
However, like two sides of the same coin, De Gaulle has become le mal aimé (the unloved one). Speaking in front of a large crowd in Algiers on June 4, 1958, a few days after his return to power, the French president exclaimed the brief phrase “Je vous ai compris!” (I have understood you).

Like De Gaulle, Habibie became the most unpopular figure in Indonesia after his historic announcement.

In an interview, Habibie vehemently said he had come under pressure by Australian Prime Minister John Howard to release the political options on East Timor’s future.

Twenty years have passed. Infrastructure development has moved fast as Timor-Leste tries to catch up with Southeast Asian neighbors and become a middle-income country by 2030.

Nevertheless, the momentum is not really on Timor-Leste’s side, as it still struggles to secure admission to ASEAN.

Unfortunately, in terms of human resources, about 46 percent of its children aged under 5 years suffer from chronic malnutrition – considered one of the highest rates in the world, and about 70 percent of the country’s children are illiterate.

Fresh graduates enter the labour market in rapidly increasing numbers every year, only to find government institutions and the public sector unable to absorb their talent. Productive industries like agriculture and tourism seem promising, but the government has allocated a large share of its budget to other sectors.

Urbanisation tensions
Given that most of the government institutions are located in Dili, urbanisation in the capital city is difficult to check and has exacerbated social, political and economic tensions.

Basic infrastructure, such as highways and airports, built along the southern coast has failed to lure foreign investment. Most foreign investors only eye the “ambitious” plan to develop an oil processing plant, which is being negotiated with an Australian company.

One way or another, Timor-Leste remains unable to unchain itself from the colonial grip and its proxies. The country has a long history of colonialism, fought it relentlessly and won, but unfortunately has to encounter new forms of colonialism in the political and economic realms.

Apart from the historic moment, what achievement should the people of East Timor celebrate after 20 years of independence?

Ivo Mateus Goncalves is a historian and research student at the Department of Political Affairs at the Australian National University, Canberra. This article was first published in The Jakarta Post.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz