CoveragePost
May 11, 2025
ANALYSIS: By Ali Mirin On April 24, 2025, Indonesia made a masterful geopolitical move. Jakarta granted Fiji US$6 million in financial aid and offered to cooperate with them on military training — a seemingly benign act of diplomacy that conceals a darker purpose. This strategic manoeuvre is the latest in Indonesia’s efforts to neutralise Pacific ... <a title="Indonesia’s Pacific manoeuvres – money, military, and silencing West Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/05/11/indonesias-pacific-manoeuvres-money-military-and-silencing-west-papua/" aria-label="Read more about Indonesia’s Pacific manoeuvres – money, military, and silencing West Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 15, 2025
ANALYSIS: By Ali Mirin Indonesia officially joined the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa — consortium last week marking a significant milestone in its foreign relations. In a statement released a day later on January 7, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this membership reflected Indonesia’s dedication to strengthening multilateral cooperation ... <a title="Indonesia joins BRICS: What now for West Papuan goal of independence?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/01/15/indonesia-joins-brics-what-now-for-west-papuan-goal-of-independence/" aria-label="Read more about Indonesia joins BRICS: What now for West Papuan goal of independence?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 17, 2024
COMMENTARY: By Laurens Ikinia in Jakarta The Land of Papua is widely known as a land full of milk and honey. It is a name widely known in Indonesia that refers to the western half of the island of New Guinea. Its natural wealth and beauty are special treasures entrusted by the Creator to the ... <a title="Papuan aspirations at stake in divided Melanesian Spearhead Group politics" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/09/17/papuan-aspirations-at-stake-in-divided-melanesian-spearhead-group-politics/" aria-label="Read more about Papuan aspirations at stake in divided Melanesian Spearhead Group politics">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 15, 2024
Indonesia’s commitment to the Pacific continues to be strengthened. One of the strategies is through a commitment to resolving human rights cases in Papua, reports a Kompas correspondent who attended the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva earlier this month. By Laraswati Ariadne Anwar in Suva The Pacific Island countries are Indonesia’s neighbours. However, ... <a title="Fiji, anchor of Indonesian diplomacy in the Pacific – a view from Jakarta" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/07/15/fiji-anchor-of-indonesian-diplomacy-in-the-pacific-a-view-from-jakarta/" aria-label="Read more about Fiji, anchor of Indonesian diplomacy in the Pacific – a view from Jakarta">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 8, 2024
By Doddy Morris of the Vanuatu Daily Post It has been 60 years since Indonesia has been refused humanitarian agencies and international media access to enter West Papua, says a leading West Papuan leader and advocate. According to Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Indonesia is “comparable to North ... <a title="Wenda challenges Indonesia’s ‘Papua never colonised’ claim as false" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/04/08/wenda-challenges-indonesias-papua-never-colonised-claim-as-false/" aria-label="Read more about Wenda challenges Indonesia’s ‘Papua never colonised’ claim as false">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 14, 2023
By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Prime Minister James Marape has made two foreign policy gaffes in the space of a week that may come back to bite him as Papua New Guinea prepares for its 48th anniversary of independence this Saturday. Critics have been stunned by the opening of a PNG embassy ... <a title="PNG’s Marape makes foreign policy gaffes over Israel, West Papua" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/14/pngs-marape-makes-foreign-policy-gaffes-over-israel-west-papua/" aria-label="Read more about PNG’s Marape makes foreign policy gaffes over Israel, West Papua">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 11, 2023
RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has backtracked on his comments that PNG had “no right to comment” on human rights abuses in West Papua and has offered a clarification to “clear misconceptions and apprehension”. Last week, Marape met Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN summit in ... <a title="PNG leader Marape denies Papua human rights comments were his" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/11/png-leader-marape-denies-papua-human-rights-comments-were-his/" aria-label="Read more about PNG leader Marape denies Papua human rights comments were his">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
September 5, 2023
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor A Radio New Zealand journalist says an Indonesian government official attempted to bribe and intimidate him at last month’s 22nd Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders’ summit in Port Vila. The Indonesian government has responded yesterday saying it would “surely look” into the claims. RNZ journalist Kelvin Anthony was in Port ... <a title="Indonesia responds after claim official attempted to bribe RNZ Pacific journalist" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/09/05/indonesia-responds-after-claim-official-attempted-to-bribe-rnz-pacific-journalist/" aria-label="Read more about Indonesia responds after claim official attempted to bribe RNZ Pacific journalist">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
June 8, 2022
A View from Afar – In this podcast, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will analyse how the Pacific region has become the epicentre of foreign policy assertions from the region's and the world's powers.
CoveragePost
April 1, 2022
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk The Post-Courier newspaper today compared Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape to the infamous emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burned over his controversial one-day Indonesian visit while facing an election in June. “And [he] was clearly despised by his people,” the paper said in a scathing editorial headlined “Tari ... <a title="Post-Courier blasts Marape for sudden Jakarta junket ‘while Tari burns’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/04/01/post-courier-blasts-marape-for-sudden-jakarta-junket-while-tari-burns/" aria-label="Read more about Post-Courier blasts Marape for sudden Jakarta junket ‘while Tari burns’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 22, 2022
Students from West Papua have been facing a stressful time in New Zealand since the beginning of the year after Indonesia said it would no longer fund their autonomous Papuan scholarships and wanted them repatriated home. One student from the Central Highlands in West Papua that RNZ Pacific has spoken to says he has had ... <a title="West Papuan students in dire straits in NZ after Indonesia cuts funding" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/03/22/west-papuan-students-in-dire-straits-in-nz-after-indonesia-cuts-funding/" aria-label="Read more about West Papuan students in dire straits in NZ after Indonesia cuts funding">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 16, 2022
COMMENTARY: By John Minto in Christchurch On December 30, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade published a tweet condemning the forced closure of two Russian human rights groups, International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre. The groups were shut down by the Russian Supreme Court which was enforcing strict laws relating to ... <a title="John Minto: The hypocrisy of NZ’s silence in calling out Israeli, Indonesian rights violations" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2022/02/16/john-minto-the-hypocrisy-of-nzs-silence-in-calling-out-israeli-indonesian-rights-violations/" aria-label="Read more about John Minto: The hypocrisy of NZ’s silence in calling out Israeli, Indonesian rights violations">Read more</a>