Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio will attend the Pacific Islands Forum in Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s stead as she recovers from covid-19.

In a statement confirming the move this afternoon Aupito, who is also the Associate Foreign Minister, said he looked forward to the opportunity to talanoa with Pacific Island counterparts at the forum in Fiji next week.

“This will be the first in-person meeting of Forum Foreign Ministers since 2019,” he said.

“It has been challenging to bring all ministers together given the impact of the global pandemic and a number of national elections under way in the Pacific, but this talanoa is essential for our region.”

Mahuta said the forum was at the heart of New Zealand’s engagement with the Pacific, and this meeting came at a “critical time” considering the climate change challenge.

She confirmed over the weekend she had tested positive for covid-19, and would be unable to attend.

Aupito said the response to broader security challenges — including maritime surveillance and illegal fishing — economic resilience, and natural disaster response were also pressing issues that would be discussed.

The Forum will also be attended by heads of state, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Leaders’ meetings will take place from Monday to Thursday next week, July 11-14.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The hopes of the families of the sailors aboard the Indonesian Navy’s KRI Nanggala-402 submarine were dashed at the weekend after the vessel was found in pieces on the seabed north of Bali and all 53 crew members were declared dead.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) announced it had located the submarine 838m below sea level about 1.3 kilometers south of the location from which it had made its last contact.

“With great sadness, I, the TNI commander, announce that the great soldiers of the Submarine Unit have died on duty in the sea north of Bali,” TNI commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said during a press briefing.

The announcement ended a four-day international search effort. Personnel from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, India and the United States had helped scour the 10 square nautical miles believed to contain submarine.

Al Jazeera reports that the submarine – one of five in the Indonesian Navy – was found cracked apart on the seafloor.

Rescuers found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those on board the 44-year-old submarine, which lost contact as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill.

Authorities said they received signals from the location early on Sunday and used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by Singapore to get a visual confirmation.

On Saturday, the navy said fragments of the submarine, including items from inside the vessel, had been retrieved but its location had yet to be confirmed.

Objects – including prayer mat fragments and a bottle of periscope lubricant were found near the submarine’s last known location.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Robertus Wardi in Jakarta

One of the Indonesian Navy’s fast missile boats has caught fire and sank while on patrol near Sorong in West Papua, becoming the country’s second naval vessel to perish in the past nine months.

All crewmembers on board the missile-carrying KRI Rencong-622 survived.

The Navy has vowed to investigate the incident on Tuesday, which followed the sinking due to bad weather of KRI Sibarau-847 in the Strait of Malacca in December.

“We hope the result of the investigation will help us to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Indonesian Navy spokesman Rear-Admiral Gig Jonais Mozes Sipasulta said.

According to initial reports, the incident occurred at around 7 am on Tuesday when a fire broke out in the ship’s engine room after the gas turbine unexpectedly shut down.

The vessel was set to return to base in Sorong to replenish its supply of fresh water.

-Partners-

The fire soon spread to other compartments, including the ammunition room, prompting the ship’s commander to issue an order to abandon ship.

Chinese missiles
KRI Rencong-622, built in in Masan, South Korea, in 1979, was one of Indonesia’s four Asheville-class gunboats.

It used to carry French-made MM-38 Exocet surface-to-surface missiles before switching to Chinese-made SACCADE C-802 missiles.

The patrol boat has been instrumental in Indonesia’s efforts to police illegal fishing since 2015. The ship used to intercept mainly Philippine and Taiwanese fishing boats entering and fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.

It formed part of the Indonesian Navy’s Third Fleet Command in Sorong and used to patrol the Banda Sea in the Maluku Islands and the Celebes Sea east of Sulawesi Island.

The government introduced a Rp 18.3 trillion (US$1.2 billion) budget in the House of Representative last week for the procurement of new ships and weaponry for the Navy next year.

The focus is on boosting Indonesia’s military capabilities in its eastern region and it includes beefing up the Sorong naval base, Air Marshal Hadiyan Sumintaatmadja, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defence, told the national legislature last week.

Robertus Wardi is a Jakarta Post journalist.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

AUT Indonesia Centre director Lester Finch and Auckland Indonesia Community representative Maman Baboe spoke strongly last night in support of Indonesian and New Zealand collaborative ventures such as the “Disasters, Cyclones and Communication” edition of Pacific Journalism Review, the first such joint media publication.

The Yoyakarta-based Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS) at the Universitas Gadjah Mada collaborated with Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre to produce this joint edition, edited by Professor David Robie and five colleagues including the evening’s MC and assistant editor Khariah Rahman and associate editor Dr Philip Cass.

The project also included research papers from the University of the South Pacific.

Photographs by PJR designer Del Abcede.

PJR climate and disasters edition launch

1. Book launch speaker Maman Baboe and MC/assistant editor of PJR Kharaiah Rahman at the launch. Image: Del Abcede

2. Mamam Baboe speaks about the launch of the Pacific Journalism Review edition. Image: Del Abcede

3. Dr David Robie and Khairiah Rahman – David praised the efforts of his co-editors and designer Del. Image: Del Abcede

4. Khairiah Rahman with A/Professor Tony Clear. Image: Del Abcede

5. Khairiah Rahman, AUT Indonesia Centre’s Lester Finch, Maman Baboe and Paul Janman. Image: Del Abcede

6. Dr David Robie, James Nicholson and Paul Janman. Image: Del Abcede

7. AUT Indonesia Centre’s Lester Finch and Little Island Press’s Tony Murrow. Image: Del Abcede

8. LIP’s Tony Murrow, A/Professor Tony Clear, Professor David Robie and Jim Marbrook. Image: Del Abcede

9. Designer Del Abcede discusses the PJR cover image of a floating” cemetery in Semarang, Central Java, impacted on by rising sea levels. Image: David Robie

10. Annie Cass and associate editor Dr Philip Cass. Image: Del Abcede

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz