Tongan police have confirmed the death of a seven-year-old boy after he was shot.

Police report the shooting occurred at the boy’s residence at the village of Ha’ateiho, on the main island of Tongatapu, last Friday evening local time.

The boy’s father has been arrested, but police said the victim died after his four-year-old brother fired four shots while playing with the firearm.

Police said the firearm used was a .22 rifle with unlicensed ammunition.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A commemoration has been held in French Polynesia to mark the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of a leading opposition politician in the Tuamotus.

Boris Léontieff, who headed the Fetia Api party, was among four politicians travelling in a small plane on a campaign trip when it disappeared without a trace.

The commemoration was held in Arue where Léontieff was the mayor.

The case was closed 11 years ago after investigations failed to conclude why their plane vanished, with theories suggesting the pilot lacked experience and might have encountered fuel problems.

There had been speculation there may have been foul play or that the aircraft may have been diverted.

The politicians’ wives had approached the French president to explore if the United States took satellite images of the Tuamotus at the time of the presumed crash.

Nine years ago, a court rejected a request for compensation to be paid to the widow of Boris Léontieff.

Her lawyer, James Lau, told a local newspaper that it was established that Leontieff was under surveillance by the secret service of then-president, Gaston Flosse.

Lau said the same spying effort was directed at Leontieff’s advisor and journalist, Jean-Pascal Couraud, who also disappeared without leaving a trace in 1997.

Researching the affairs of Flosse
Couraud was famous for researching the affairs of Flosse, who ruled a militia known as the GIP.

An investigation was first opened in 2004 after a former spy claimed that Couraud had been kidnapped and killed by the GIP, which dumped him in the sea between Mo’orea and Tahiti.

Murder charges against two members of the now disbanded militia, the GIP, were dismissed a decade later, after incriminating wiretaps were ruled inadmissible because they were obtained illegally.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Governor-General Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae has described Papua New Guinea’s late Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil as a vibrant and visionary leader who was passionate about his people and the electorate.

He said Basil loved and dedicated his life to the people of Bulolo until his unexpected death in a tragic vehicle accident which had left the nation in shock, disbelief and agony.

“Throughout his entire political career, he committed himself to serving his people, residing and dining with them throughout the length and breadth of the huge and difficult electorate he represented,” Sir Bob said.

“I recall when the late Basil first entered politics in 2007, he was empowered with excitement, enthusiasm and unrelenting self-belief, hope and purpose to lead his people.

“It was not the kind of excitement that comes from inconceivable expectation, the kind that fades into despair and hopelessness before too long.

“Rather, his vision and passion for his people were relentless. From the very beginning, he lived among his people and was dedicated to their service to bring about much needed development and often provided personal assistance when faced with public funding issues.

“He was well loved, no doubt. We only have to look back at the last couple of days at the outpouring of grief and despair for a man, a leader who was well liked and admired, not just by his people, but throughout our country.

‘Lost a great son’
“Indeed, our nation has lost a great son.”

His style of leadership had demonstrated that development and service delivery was possible and could happen, even in the most remote of locations if leaders went down to the level of their people, listened and produced tangible results.

Sir Bob said the late Basil spoke his mind on matters, was practical and walked the talk.

“Basil was not one to shy away or back down when challenged and was not afraid to speak his mind on issues he felt strongly about and that is the kind of leadership we need in this country,” he said.

“At this juncture, I take this time to also pay tribute to the late First Constable Neil Maino who also lost his life in the tragic accident.”

First Constable Maino died on the job that he had vowed to do as a close protection officer of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, and to our Deputy Prime Minister. First Constable Maino served faithfully until he died.

“We mourn the loss of two distinct men — one an outstanding leader and servant for the people, the other a faithful CPO right to the end.”

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two children have died and at least six staff of Papua New Guinea’s National Broadcasting Corporation lost their property worth thousands of kina in a blaze in Boroko.

The fire yesterday gutted two units of a four-unit property of the public broadcaster in Tanatana Street, impacting on eight families who occupied the building.

Staff and families who reside in the NBC compound said the fire started from one of the rooms on the ground level.

Investigations have started into how the fire began.

The fire started at about 2pm yesterday with two small children trapped inside.

Firefighters tried hard to put out the fire and save the children.

NBC staff who live there have blamed the management for negligence over the rundown building.

The father of the dead children is a senior archivist with the PNG’s oldest radio station.

The children were with a female tenant in a neighbouring room at the time of the fire while the mother was doing laundry.

Firefighters from Boroko Fire Station rushed to the scene after seeing thick smoke from a distance and hastily put out the flames with assistance from tenants.

The mother of the dead children wept while the father, who had been at work, rushed home to search for the toddlers alongside firefighters, police and ambulance officers on site.

The bodies were taken to the Port Moresby General Hospital morgue.

The dead children were of mixed parentage from West Papua and Mailu in Central province.

Lina Keapu is a PNG Bulletin reporter.

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A Fiji family is mourning the loss of their son after he was killed in the devastating tornado that hit South Auckland on Saturday.

Mechanic Janesh Prasad was working at a freight hub when the tornado swept him up and he struck a container.

Prasad was carrying out repairs when the tornado hit.

He leaves a wife and two children aged 13 and 10.

Family friend Reg Prasad described him as a much-loved man.

“It’s an absolutely terrible shock to his family and his wife is absolutely shattered,” Reg Prasad said.

“Wonderful person — he’s got two beautiful kids, young kids growing up.

“He’s just one of these people who just helps out other people in this world, and a wonderful husband to Mala.

“The daughter is obviously very distressed. The younger son, it hasn’t sunk in quite yet,” Reg Prasad said.

Janesh Prasad hails from Fiji’s northern town of Labasa.

His father, Ram Naresh, told local media the family was devastated and had been left without any means of support.

Naresh said Janesh was his eldest son and the family breadwinner.

Janesh had lived in Vuci, Nausori, before leaving for New Zealand in 2014, Naresh said.

The 75-year-old said he last spoke with his son two weeks ago and Janesh was concerned about his parent’s well-being due to the covid-19 outbreak in Fiji.

Naresh said his son was a hardworking man who looked after his family well.

Naresh said he would have to rely on the government to take care of his 67-year-old wife and their disabled daughter.

He also said he would not be able to attend his son’s funeral due to the covid restrictions.

Meanwhile, Reg Prasad has started a Givealittle page to support the family. By Monday, it had raised NZ$44,000.

“We are just so grateful for all New Zealanders to support this family,” he said.

“We’ve had people bringing food, supporting, strangers coming up to the houses and helping out, got a huge network of support coming in at the moment.”

A blessing took place on Sunday at the site where Janesh Prasad had died.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Devina Halim in Jakarta

Amnesty International Indonesia is calling for justice and truth from the government over the Trisakti student shooting tragedy through legal channels.

This was revealed by AI executive director Usman Hamid in response to the 21st anniversary yesterday of the Trisakti student shootings on May 12, 1998.

On that day, four students were killed when the military fired on a demonstration opposing former President Suharto at the Trisakti University campus in Grogol, West Jakarta.

READ MORE: 21 years on, who is responsible for Trisakti riot killings?

The four students were Elang Mulia Lesmana, Hafidin Royan, Heri Hartanto, and Hendriawan Sie.

“First, Amnesty is again calling for the state to take responsibility for resolving the tragic student shootings at the universities of Trisakti, Atma Jaya, and at other campuses in Indonesia which took place during the early days of reformasi,” said Hamid.

Hamid said the victims and their families had the right to receive legal justice. This could be achieved by bringing the perpetrators to trial.

In addition to this, the victims also had the right to receive an explanation about the affair and other rights, Hamid said.

Right to justice, truth
“The victims have the right to obtain restoration, as far as is possible, of their lives which were destroyed, through a policy of repression by the state. The right to legal justice, truth and rehabilitation are the most important rights which the state is obliged to fulfill,” he said.

Amnesty is also calling for a resolution of the Trisakti tragedy to be included in the government’s agenda and by incoming members of the next House of Representatives following last month’s general election.

The tragedy reflects the limits on academic freedom and opinion in socio-political terms. Because of this, it is important to remember the tragedy so that the same thing does not happen again.

“The Trisakti tragedy is a tragedy of curbing academic freedom, including independent thinking on campus as well as independence to express views in socio-political life. Commemorating this tragedy is extremely important so that the state and the government do not do this again,” said Hamid.

Meanwhile according to documentation by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), about 681 other people were injured across various tertiary education institutions in Indonesia.

The Trisakti tragedy became a symbol and a trigger for student resistance against Suharto’s New Order regime.

Following the tragedy, student protests demanding reformasi (political reform) grew significantly and in the end forced Suharto to resign on May 21, 1998.

Background
On May 12, 1998, security forces fired into a crowd of student protesters from the Trisakti University near their campus in West Jakarta, killing four students and injuring several others.

This proved to be the spark which set-off three days of mass demonstrations and rioting in Jakarta which eventually lead to the overthrow of former president Suharto.

The then armed forces chief and Defence Minister General Wiranto, who is now the Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs, has been accused of having command responsibility for the Trisakti and other student shootings in 1998 but has never been investigated over the case.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz