AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Bryan Bruce

I spoke at my first parliamentary Select Committee hearing in New Zealand this week.

It was on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and in front of 10 parliamentarians who were all male and (as far as I could determine) all middle-aged and Pakeha. The majority of them, including the chairman, were National Party MPs.

I attended the hearing to speak to my written submission opposing the TPPA knowing that this particular Select Committee process is a waste of money and time because we cannot change a single word in the document our government negotiated in secret and signed in the Auckland Casino building last February.

I attended knowing that the Cabinet can ratify the signed TPPA document without putting it to the vote on the floor of parliament and even if they do , they will have the numbers to pass it.

I attended because I wanted the committee members to hear that if the TPPA was ratified it would not be done in my name.

Three New Zealanders gave their submissions before it was my turn and I have to say I was incredibly impressed by the intelligence and thoughtfulness of their remarks.

The woman who spoke immediately before me introduced herself in Maori. No one on the committee acknowledged her words with as much as a “kia ora”.

Flawed banking system
Naani Abercrombie then spoke eloquently about our flawed banking system and its relationship to the TPPA and how more of the profits they make will go offshore. Surely the committee would ask some questions about her engaging ideas. But no.

Thank you for coming. Next?

In the 10 minutes I was politely allocated I chose to speak about four moral and philosophical issues surrounding the TPPA.

1. I put it to the committee that trade should help to build a more peaceful world not divide it. I pointed out that we know from statements by President Obama and Prime Minister John Key that the underlying geopolitical purpose of the TPPA is (to quote Obama) that “China doesn’t rule in that area – We do!”

I said that deliberately excluding China from an Asian and Pacific trade agreement would not only continue to take us down the road to a divided world, but risk alienating our biggest trading parter.

2. I pointed out that the United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned Investor State Dispute Settlement clauses in free trade agreements as a mechanism that punishes impoverished countries, threatens the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment.

3. I told them that 100 distinguished international jurists and the Chief Justice of Australia had all warned of the perils of Investor State Dispute Settlement Tribunals and there was no reason to risk our country being sued in these dodgy kangaroo courts when we have a robust domestic legal system that overseas investors can rely upon to correct any injustice.

4. And lastly I put it to the committee that it was morally wrong to extend patents on new medicines because to do so would increase the suffering of some of their fellow New Zealanders and they would be surely signing a death warrant for some of us who would die waiting for a cheaper generic to become available.

10 minutes up
Midway through my last sentence I was told by the chairman that my 10 minutes was up.

There were no questions.

I left.

On the way home I thought…

Did I just waste half a day of my life today?

And my answer is no.

I had the opportunity to look into the face of shamocracy that day – last Thursday – and, if anything, it has made me even more determined to do my bit to make us a fairer society again – where the economy benefits the many and not the few.

Bryan Bruce is an independent documentary maker and social justice commentator. This was first published on his Facebook page and is published here with permission.

‪#‎stoptpp‬ ‪#‎nowaytppa‬ ‪#‎tppanoway‬ ‪#‎BryanBruce‬

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Arctic 30’s thank you message after their release in November 2013 – cited in Peter Willcox’s new book out next week. Video: Greenpeace

By David Robie

When Anote Tong, former president of Kiribati, a collection of 33 tiny atolls sprawling across the Pacific equator in the frontline of climate change, believed he wasn’t being listened to, he thought of a simple strategy – polar bears.

By comparing himself and his country’s meagre population of 102,000 to the endangered creature, he suddenly got more headlines.

And he got the idea after having just seen a polar bear in the wild.

“I drew a comparison that what happens to polar bears will also be happening to us in our part of the world,” he explained.

Tong feared that the bears in their Arctic habitat, like the people of Kiribati in the Pacific, were in danger of losing their homes in the near future.

Today the polar bear is the mojo adopted by Greenpeace skipper Peter Willcox on his Facebook page.

The adventurous lifetime mariner and dedicated sailor was captain of the original Rainbow Warrior on her visit to Kiribati in 1985 en route from Rongelap atoll – where the crew evacuated an entire community whose health and wellbeing had been compromised by US nuclear tests in the 1950s – to Auckland where the ship was bombed by French secret agents in a madcap sabotage operation.

Russian bear
Willcox is well known in this part of the world as the relatively young skipper at the time of the sinking of his beloved ship at Marsden Wharf, but it is the Russian bear rather than its Arctic cousin that dominates his adventures while trying to save our planet.

Six chapters of his new book, Greenpeace Captain: My Adventures in Protecting the Future of our Planet due for release next week, deal with Russian or Soviet security forces and hatchet men.

For the only captain to have skippered all three Rainbow Warriors over three decades of campaigning, the Arctic 30 arrest in 2013 – and the prospect of being imprisoned for up to 15 years for “piracy” – eclipsed the bombing shock 29 years earlier.

But his jailhouse diaries written in a clutch of bitterly cold prison cells in Murmansk and then Saint Petersburg to keep track of the saga – and his sanity – note several comparisons with his brush with French state terrorism in New Zealand.

The diaries helped keep up his spirits when facing the demoralising Kafkaesque intrigue of the Russian justice system and lack of communication with the outside world, especially his new wife of just six months at the time (he had been in prison for about a month before he was finally able to speak to Maggy who was valiantly crusading to get him set free).

Willcox had little idea of the enormous rallies and support that had spread out around the world seeking the release of him and his 29 crew and campaigners since their arrest and the seizure of their icebreaker ship Arctic Sunrise in September 2013.

Their “crime”. Attempting to scale the Gazprom “Goliath’s” Prirazlomnay oil rig in the Pechora Sea in the Arctic Circle. Willcox recalls:

“It’s an amazing feeling to realise that hundreds of ‘Free the Arctic 30’ protests demanding your release have taken place in dozens of countries around the world. Words cannot describe it, so I won’t try. The bottom line is that the international reaction makes me believe that what Greenpeace is doing is deeply appreciated and important.”

Among the supporters was folk singer and activist Pete Seeger – “We shall overcome” – a family friend who gave Willcox his first major deep-water sailing opportunity on board the Hudson River campaign sloop Clearwater.

Pete Seeger’s letter
Seeger penned a letter to President Putin at the age of 94 and then died a few weeks after Willcox was finally freed under a presidential amnesty and he had returned to his home in Maine.

“Dear, President Putin,” Seeger wrote, “I am one of the thousands now who believe you should let Captain Peter Willcox out of jail to explain why they climbed an offshore oil rig.

“Thank you very much for reading this letter. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision – the people of the world are watching.”

And Putin’s government finally did the right thing.

After the failure to pin any piracy case against Willcox and the crew – in spite of attempts to portray them as part of “an organised crime group” (i.e. Greenpeace) and that the Arctic 30 had “attacked the rig with weapons for our own personal gain”, the charge was downgraded to “hooliganism” – a vague category for any perceived enemy of the state.

The Willcox prison diaries make sobering reading – especially as he suffered from claustrophobia. Some brief highlights:

Wednesday, October 2:

“This was a bad day. The investigator met us on the ship. The first thing he did was point out that there was a bag of “drugs” in Katya’s backpack. Katya had picked a few wildflowers in Norway and was saving them to be dried and pressed … “

‘Scary charges’

Thursday, October 3:

“Half of us were dragged off to the investigator’s office today. We are now officially accused, not just suspected, and there was no reduction in the charges. The charges are quite humorous, or scary. They actually say we are not environmentalists but only pretending to be. How do they make this shit up?”

Wednesday, October 16:
“Today, I got my first phone call, but Maggy wasn’t home … I am afraid that my voice … broke at the end of the message…”

After a month, the investigators completely changed and it seemed to be back to square one.

Wednesday, October 23:
“One bit of very, very good news is the ‘marijuana’ in Dr Katya’s bag was dried flowers she was doing artwork with. I guess Hatchet-Face [the lead investigator] never saw pot before…”

Thursday, October 24:

“Red letter day, I guess. Maybe …Olysha [my translator] showed up: ‘You’re not a “pirate” any more …’ Turns out we are now ‘hooligans’ [like the Pussy Riot feminist punk collective]. The difference? Zero to seven years versus ten to 15 years.”

No wonder Willcox titled this chapter “One happy hooligan’.

Saturday, November 9:

“Spent the day (part of it) reading the Isleboro Island News [his wife’s newspaper with an editorial supporting Willcox]. I am so proud when I read ‘Maggy Willcox, editor’…”

November 2013:

The Arctic 30 were “sent to Kresty Prison – officially the ‘Investigative isolator Number One of the Administration of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments for the city of Saint Petersburg. Built in the late 1800s, it is the oldest prison in Europe and still the largest.”

Monday, November 18:
“I have now decided to take the heavenly observations of the last two days as a good sign. Not that I have always read the signs correctly. Note the rainbows in New Zealand in 1985 [just before the RW bombing] …”

Ordeal over

Finally, later that day after the judge read out a lengthy list of reasons why Willcox should be kept in jail, the indictment roll call reversed and in moments the ordeal was all over: “Bail is granted”.

They were all released after individual bail hearings.

Massive international publicity prompted Putin’s government to include the Arctic 30 in an amnesty bill passed to mark the 20^th anniversary of the post-Cold War Russian constitution.

A fascinating and gripping yarn, which will be read avidly by many Greenpeace activists and campaigners globally over the years who are named by Willcox with many amusing and endearing anecdotes about the various struggles from a dawn raid in Peru to “something toxic in Denmark” to “Al-Qaeda, guns and diamonds” to icebreaking up the Amazon.

Willcox brings alive the many campaigns that he has been involved with and he isn’t coy about acknowledging the many mistakes along the way involved in Greenpeace’s particular brand of non-violent direct action.

I had the privilege of being with Willcox on the Rainbow Warrior for more than 10 weeks on the voyage from Hawai’i to Rongelap and the evacuation of the Rongelap community – which had an enormous lifelong impact on all of us on board – and then finally to Vanuatu and New Zealand.

His style of unflappable and committed leadership impressed me. We have crossed paths at various times since then as friends, notably around the 20^th and 30^th anniversary of the bombing.

Reading his opening chapter on the tragic death of photographer Fernando Pereira and demise of the first Rainbow Warrior and the fifth chapter on Rongelap were especially poignant moments for me.

I also noted that his sailboat back home in Maine is called Eyes of Fire, named after the Cree Indian wise woman often credited with the Rainbow Warrior legend – and also the title of my own book on that fated voyage.

Yet the breadth and range of all his adventures – and the crews serving with him – in the thick of almost every inspiring environmental challenge in the past three decades make gripping reading.

Would he give it up? No way. Climate change is now the greatest challenge of our generation, and Willcox wants to help make sure we get the future right – for his daughters, wife and our next generation.

In his most recent campaigns Captain Willcox and his crews have been tackling the plundering of Pacific tuna fish stocks and bearing witness to the Fukushima nuclear disaster legacy five years ago last month.

An amusing footnote to the book is a Peter Willcox final memo to President Putin. Read it to find out.

Greenpeace Captain: My Adventures in Protecting the Future of Our Planet, by Peter Willcox (Penguin Random House, Australia, release date, April 18).

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By TJ Aumua

Six of the Auckland participants who attended the UN Commission of the Status of Women held in New York in March have had an opportunity to report back on the discussions that were held on the international stage.

An echoed concern among the participants was the lack of Pacific and indigenous representation at the commission.

Some even feel disappointed with a particular presentation and report by New Zealand’s Ministry for Women at the commission that “named and shamed” Māori and Pacific women.

At the “report back” session held by the Pacific Women’s Watch NZ (PWW), Denise Ewe, area representative for Tāmaki Makaurau and national executive at the Māori Women’s Welfare League (MWWL), said she felt honoured to participate in the commission but was “ashamed” over the ministry’s presentation.

Ewe said singling out these specific ethnicities and attaching them to domestic violence data on a world stage was “sloppy” when there were groups in New Zealand that have concerns around the same issue.

“There was over 4000 women from every country and no other country specifically and deliberately named [the ethnicity].

“That for me was one of the lows I have to say,” said Ewe.

Formal letter
Another participant who is also national president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, Prue Kapua, said the league was in the process of writing a formal letter about the issue to the ministry and will be meeting with them for a debrief within the next month.

“The issue about that particular report, and how it was used has already been raised, we have discussed that with the minister last year but it seems to find its way back into that forum.”

Kapua said the commission was a huge learning experience where she gained perspectives on the process of negotiating on human right laws.

But she was disappointed with the “invisibility” of indigenous women in the world arena.

PWW board member and former Shakti Community Council employee Sara Daneshvar was also present at the commission and told Pacific Media Watch that in future she would like to see increased Pacific “grassroots” representation.

She said the Pacific was unfamiliar territory on the world stage and urged the New Zealand government to provide assistance for island nations to attend UN conferences and commissions like this one.

“For example, Papua New Guinea was not represented but we know there are plenty of organisations doing work on the ground there, but they barely have the funds to run their services. How are they going to have the funds to go to these conferences?”

Real issues
Daneshvar emphasised the real issues affecting indigenous and Pacific women were not going to be heard unless their voices and perspectives were presented directly by them.

Her message to women in New Zealand is the need to be aware of the resources they can access if their rights are abused.

“A lot of women do not know the threats committed against them are actually [human rights] abuses. All of them need to be aware that they should be treated as equals to men, that is their right as women, and if that is abused they need to know what can they do about it.”

Beverley Turner, international secretary for PWW, said New Zealand had got a reputation of being “this first country for women to vote, but [other world countries] don’t realise all the other issues beneath the surface.

“We would very much like an action plan for women,” Turner said. “This government refuses to have a plan of action for women; categorically refused that recommendation from the Human Rights Council.”

Turner’s message: “You are women, you have the same rights as women anywhere—go for it.”

TJ Aumua is contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Asian Human Rights Commission has condemned the forced dispersal of peaceful Papuan protesters and their illegal arrest in Kampung Bhintuka-SP13 field in Mimika, Timika district, this week.

“We have been informed that 12 protesters were taken into police custody in Kuala Kencana for further investigation and questioning,” the AHRC said in a statement.

“Prior to the protest, the indigenous Papuans had informed the police of their intention to call for an end to rampant human rights violations in Papua.

“Despite this, the police suddenly forcibly dispersed the demonstration, with the claim that one of the protesters called for a referendum in his speech for indigenous Papuans who suffer from rampant violations conducted by the Indonesian security forces.”

The AHRC said it had also learned that the police had warned and intimidated local religious leaders to avoid political activities and speaking about human rights violations and referendums in churches.

“Over the last year, countless cases of forced dissolution of protesters in Papua and West Papua province have been observed. In all of these cases, the police have not taken the responsibility to examine whether or not the use of excessive force was lawful.”

At the same time, civilians did not have effective complaint mechanisms to challenge the police’s use of excessive force and abuse of power, said the AHRC.

Protection obligation
“As state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with the promulgation of National Law No. 11 of 2005, the Indonesian government is obliged to ensure that the right to freedom of opinion and assembly is protected, as noted in Article 21 of the Covenant:

“The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

The government should take the forced dissolution of protests and police excessive use of force seriously, particularly as a National Commission on Human Rights report states that the highest number of human rights violations in Indonesia, including Papua, are conducted by the police, said AHRC.

“Besides the failure of police reform, the government is also failing to evaluate its policy upon Papua and West Papua, despite the protection of indigenous Papuans being a priority of President Joko Widodo’s administration.”

The AHRC noted with concern that the law enforcement agencies and criminal justice system in Papua and West Papua provinces had themselves become part of the problem.

“As a result of the judicial mechanism failing to fulfill the right to justice for indigenous Papuans, Papuan people do not see that their rights are fulfilled and respected in the manner of Indonesian citizens by the government,” said AHRC.

“Rather, the presence of state security forces in the region has led to routine violence and the restriction of their freedom of opinion, assembly and thought.

‘Release all detainees’
“The government of Indonesia should therefore take immediate action to release all detained protesters who took part in peaceful demonstrations, and guarantee that any future peaceful protest is protected by the law and similar violations will not recur.

“The government should further evaluate the presence of the Indonesian security forces in Papua and West Papua province, particularly as the proportion of the forces is not equal to that of the local indigenous Papuans, and far from protection, their presence has only resulted in rampant human rights violations against the Papuans.

“Lastly, the government should be more consistent in implementing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and show its seriousness by enforcing the law based upon fair trial principles.”

Merdeka: Media and the case for Papuan civil resistance

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Fardah Pewarta in Jakarta

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and his delegation’s recent trip to Fiji and Papua New Guinea demonstrates Indonesia’s commitment to forging strong bilateral relations with South Pacific countries.

The Indonesian delegation arrived in Suva, Fiji, on March 30 for a visit aimed at boosting bilateral relations between Indonesia and Fiji.

Minister Pandjaitan paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, held a bilateral meeting with Fiji’s Minister for Agricultural, Rural, Maritime Affairs and National Disaster Management Ina Seriaritu, and a luncheon with Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.

The minister extended financial assistance worth US$5 million to help the victims of Tropical Cyclone Winston that hit Fiji in late February and delivered a letter from President Joko Widodo to Prime Minister Bainimarama.

In addition to the financial aid, Indonesia also sent US$3 million worth of goods for the victims of the cyclone.

The minister remarked that Indonesia would deploy engineer troops to help reconstruct Queen Victoria School on Lawaki Island.

“In early May, the TNI’s (Indonesian Defence Forces) engineer troops will arrive. We will also send 100 units of hand tractors to help develop agriculture here,” Pandjaitan said.

“I have conveyed to Prime Minister Bainimarama and Foreign Minister Kubuabola that we will be consistently present in the region,” the minister said.

Aid plan hailed
Minister Seriaritu hailed the aid and cooperation offered by Indonesia.

He said Indonesia was a key player in the Asia-Pacific region, and the country’s success in disaster management and mitigation had received international recognition.

However, he hoped that the two countries would intensify cooperation in other crucial fields such as education, agriculture, economy, and food security.

As part of the delegation’s agenda, Indonesian Chairman of the General Election Commission Husni Kamil Manik signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation for the management of general elections with his Fijian counterpart.

During the meeting with Foreign Minister Kubuabola, Pandjaitan expressed Indonesia’s keenness to become a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

Kubuabola remarked that the government of Fiji had proposed upgrading the membership status of Indonesia in the MSG from an associate member to a full member to strengthen the nation’s position in the group of Melanesian countries.

Special staff of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry on strategic issues Djauhari Oratmangun, who was a member of the delegation, noted that Fiji was Indonesia’s “good friend” in the South Pacific region.

Backing MSG membership
In the context of the MSG, Fiji is among the countries to have supported Indonesia’s bid for full membership of the group, Oratmangun stated.

Similar support was also expressed by the PNG government when Minister Pandjaitan and his delegation had visited Port Moresby on April 1 after concluding their trip to Fiji.

Indonesia’s application to become a full MSG member was being processed, and thereafter, the way to obtain the full membership status would be opened, PNG Foreign and Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato said, following a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian delegation.

Papua New Guinea will host the MSG 21st Summit in 2017.

During its 20th Summit held in Honiara in the Solomon Islands on June 26, 2015, Indonesia had obtained associate member status.

At the bilateral meeting, Pato stated that the constructive and open talks covered various cooperation opportunities including in the fields of economy, investment, trade, and energy, particularly LNG, and flights connecting the two neighboring countries.

“The model of cooperation we have discussed covers many fields ranging from culture and trade to military cooperation. We also discussed a plan to cooperate in liquefied natural gas (LNG), palm oil, and intelligence,” minister Pato said.

Narrowing differences
“Basically, this cooperation is aimed at narrowing any differences between the two countries,” he said.

They also discussed cooperation between the two nations’ police and military, especially to guard the border areas.

PNG, which will host an APEC Summit in 2018, is eager to take a cue from Indonesia on ways to organise a major international meeting.

The two countries had signed 11 memoranda of understanding and three agreements to strengthen bilateral partnership based on mutual respect, he said.

“We will also learn from Indonesia’s rich experiences in democracy, and we [PNG and Indonesia] will move together and work in tandem,” said Pato, who was accompanied by PNG Trade Minister Richard Mare and National Development Planning Minister Charles Abe.

Minister Pandjaitan remarked that the two delegations also discussed cooperation in immigration affairs, trade, and the development of the palm oil industry.

“The Indonesian trade ministry’s delegation and business mission will visit PNG in late April this year. Our relations are becoming closer,” Pandjaitan affirmed.

PNG ties strengthened
At the invitation of PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, President Joko Widodo visited Port Moresby last May 11-12 to strengthen bilateral cooperation in economic, trade, investment, and infrastructure construction fields.

The two leaders also agreed to increase the value of bilateral trade beyond trading activities in the border areas that reaches US$4.5 million a year.

To boost Indonesian diplomacy in the South Pacific region, Minister Pandjaitan proposed an appointment of an Indonesian special envoy to the South Pacific region.

The special envoy is also expected to help enhance communication between Indonesia and the governments and people of the countries in the region.

Indonesia will be consistently present in the South Pacific by sending ministers to 16 countries in the region, according to Pandjaitan.

“Diplomacy is important and we should be aggressively explaining to states in the South Pacific about the conditions and situation in Indonesia, including what we have been doing in the area of human rights,” he said.

Citing as an example, he said a number of parties in the South Pacific region thought that Indonesian people of the Melanesian race only inhabited the provinces of Papua and West Papua.

11 million Melanesians
Indonesia has at least 11 million people of Melanesian race, spreading among other things in the provinces of Papua, West Papua, Maluku, North Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Pandjaitan said.

In fact, the majority of Melanesians are living in Indonesia, approximately 80 percent of them, Kacung Marijan, Director-General of Culture at the Ministry of Education and Culture, said while Indonesia organised a Melanesian Cultural Festival in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on last October 27-30.

To promote cultural pluralism existing in countries having a Melanesian population, the festival’s theme was “Celebrating the cultural diversity of Melanesian World”.

The Indonesian government hoped that the festival to help improve the public understanding of the Melanesian race, and strengthen cooperation among Melanesian countries.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Australian trade union groups and Philippines solidarity networks have joined in protesting over the Kidapawan massacre in the southern island of Mindanao last Friday, leaving 3 dead, 87 missing and 116 wounded.

According to Interaksyon, security forces opened fire as they dispersed farmers and indigenous lumad tribespeople who were blockading the Cotabato-Davao highway in Kidapawan City.

The number of wounded had climbed to 116, according to Ariel Casilao of Anakpawis, speaking by phone from the United Methodist Church (UMC) compound in Kidapawan. But other reports have indicated a lower number of casualties.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions; Maritime Union of Australia, SEARCH Foundation; Philippines Australia Union Link; Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines, and Migrante Australia are among those who have prostested.

A protest letter has been delivered to the Philippines consulate in Sydney.

“We are outraged at the shooting of a large and peaceful protest of farmers in Kidapawan, Mindanao, last Friday morning, by the Philippines National Police,” Peter Murphy, spokesperson for the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, said today.

“We demand action from the Philippines President today, along with protests around the globe.”

The casualty figures given were smaller than those reported by Interaksyon.

A statement by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said he shootings left two people dead, and at least 37 hurt and wounded.

Many were still unaccounted for after the violent dispersal, including women, elderly and six minors.

45 arrested
At least 45 men were illegally arrested and are now under police custody at the Kidapawan Gym, while 27 women (three are pregnant and two senior citizens) were arrested and are now at the Kidapawan City Convention Center.

The rest of the protesters who are in sanctuary at the UMC’s Spottswood Methodist Center  continue to experience harassment, as combined elements of the police and military surround the church compound and restrict the entry and exit of farmers, their supporters, and churchgoers.

The farmers mounted the protest against the government’s attention to the much-needed distribution of relief goods and agricultural assistance amid the impact of the El Niño climate phenomenon.

The government had promised billions of pesos to mitigate the situation. But nothing followed.

The ICHRP called for:

1. Immediate independent investigation of the incident;
2. Pull-out of police and military elements blocking the entry and exit of protesters and support groups in the UMC compound;
3. Release of protesters illegally detained by the PNP;
4. Immediate distribution of the rice support and other calamity assistance to the farmers;
5. Relief and prosecution of police officials involved in the dispersal and shooting of farmers pending an impartial investigation;
6. The accountability of Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza and all involved officials;
7. The Philippine government to adhere to/respect the basic fundamental right of its citizens to freedom of association and assembly, and to come to its defence and aid when disasters have deprived them of their basic needs.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

April will mark the urgency of action needed to address the issue of climate change with a collaborative project between the Pacific Media Centre and the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

Two New Zealand-based journalists from the PMC will arrive in Fiji later this month to participate with students, staff and researchers in Fiji on a “bearing witness” project that aims to report on the effects of climate change in the island state.

USP’s head of journalism Shailendra Singh said climate change was chosen as the focus for this project because it was a major public interest issue that needed to be at the forefront on a constant basis.

He said the project was part of a long-standing partnership between Auckland University of Technology, where the PMC is based, and the USP journalism department as an initiative to broaden student learning.

However, students also have the advantage of covering these issues because they are reporting for independent media.

“They are not tied down so much by the priorities and considerations that mainstream media are beholden to, such as ratings and profits. In many respects, they are more free to report than mainstream media,” he said.

“They are future journalists.”

Exciting challenges
Ami Dhabuwala, a postgraduate journalist studying Asia-Pacific journalism at AUT, and Pacific Media Watch contributing editor TJ Aumua have been selected to go to Suva on the project.

Dhabuwala, who previously worked as a journalist in India, said she was excited and eager to take up the challenges she might face reporting on this issue in Fiji.

She said climate change was no longer just an environmental issue – it had become a human rights issue.

“As a journalist, I have always tried to be a voice for the unknown people. I would like to discover the untold stories of the Fijian people and their suffering because of climate change. I am interested in the issues of the people and possible solutions.”

Pacific Media Watch’s TJ Aumua, who graduated last year with an honours degree including a research dissertation on Fiji media, said this project was an opportunity to share the Pacific’s perspective on climate change with those who live outside the region.

“Living in New Zealand we are so sheltered and unaware of the direct affects of climate change. But for people living in island nations they see and have to live with the effects of climate change every day.

“The bouts of extreme weather and tropical cyclones that have caused destruction in Fiji recently are an example of this. I’m hoping the reportage from this project will be a wake a call for people who still believe climate change is a myth.”

PCF exchange
Aumua was also in Fiji last year on a Pacific Cooperation Foundation exchange.

Professor David Robie, director of the PMC, said he was delighted that AUT was able to send journalists to Fiji in another collaborative project.

“We had two student journalists in Fiji for the 2014 general election and then another couple a year later last September for the Pacific Islands Development Forum and other activities. They did tremendously well to face many challenges.”

He praised the AUT Research Office for providing a climate change grant that helped fund the journalists on their mission.

The project articles and multimedia reports will be published jointly in USP’s Wansolwara newspaper and online editions, and the PMC’s new current affairs website Asia Pacific Report.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Sharyn Graham Davies

Indonesia is experiencing an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBT sentiment.

If there was a single event that has incited the current wave of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Indonesia we might settle upon a minister’s affront at LGBT becoming visible in solidarity.

Having been advised of a university-based LGBT support group, Indonesia’s Technology, Research and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir publicly stated in January 2016 that universities must uphold standards of “values and morals” and therefore should not support organisations that promote LGBT activities.

Nasir’s supposed evidence was the existence of the Support Group and Resource Center on Sexuality Studies (SGRC) based at the University of Indonesia—it missed Nasir’s attention that SGRC was not an LGBT organisation and that the LGBT Peer Support group under its auspice was not trying to convert people but provide information to students on such things as sexual health.

The ensuing backlash against the minister’s statement resulted in Nasir stressing that he was not against LGBT and, indeed, that LGBT had the right to join organisations, like every Indonesian citizen.

Nasir further noted, “We are not against LGBTs but the activity … [T]he problem is when they are showing romance, kissing, and making love (in public).”

In other words, Nasir was not concerned about LGBT per se, but rather felt threatened by moves perceived to increase LGBT collective visibility. Similarly, the Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly and Chair of the National Mandate Party, Zulkifli Hasan, commented, “As a movement, the existence of LGBT must be opposed. We must limit its room to move. However, as individual people, they must be protected like any other citizen.”

At issue is fear of LGBT being visible in solidarity and, as anthropologist Tom Boellstorff notes, national belonging.

Sanctuary with invisibility
Invisibility has provided many LGBT people in Indonesia with some sanctuary. Invisibility has been achieved by marrying heterosexually, ostensibly reinforcing heteronormativity and being discerning in undertaking political activities.

A few individuals have been staunchly visible and transwomen such as television personality Dorce Gamalama are known by many—indeed, President Joko Widodo has appeared alongside Dorce at public events.

By and large, tolerance, and at times acceptance, has been accorded to LGBT in Indonesia through the community keeping an often reserved profile and through strategic political engagement. Considering this value of invisibility, the event that precipitated the current wave of aggression was unsurprisingly one perceived as an effort to increase a collective profile of LGBT Indonesians.

While homosexuality has never been illegal in Indonesia, persecution of LGBT is not new. Police and extremist Islamist groups, such as the Islamic Defenders Front, have previously targeted LGBT.

In 2013, the Pew Research Centre reported that 93 percent of Indonesians thought homosexuality should not be accepted in Indonesia—a higher percentage than any other Asia-Pacific country surveyed and worryingly close to Nigeria’s score of 98 percent.

We can’t take this figure as reliable though—only 1000 people were surveyed and the framing of the question was loaded towards getting a homophobic response.

While Indonesia is far more accommodating of LGBT than such a figure suggests, homophobia is not new to Indonesia. However, the swiftness and duration of this wave of anti-LGBT sentiment is unprecedented.

Nasir’s comment that universities should not support LGBT activities was reported in inflammatory headlines such as “LGBT not welcome at university”.

Media frenzy
National and international media went into a frenzy, quickly presenting the issue as LGBT being banned from attending university in Indonesia. Buoyed perhaps by the belief that their homophobic sentiments might suddenly get traction and win them support, conservative political ministers and religious leaders weighed in on the debate.

The debate became framed in increasingly polarised and violent terms. In the two months that followed Nasir’s outburst, numerous incendiary statements were issued and actions taken.

Republika, a conservative Islamic publication, ran the headline “LGBT poses serious threat to nation.”

Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organisation in Indonesia with possibly 40 million members, stated that non-heterosexual orientation is incompatible with human nature and that LGBT activities must be prohibited by law.

Berliana Kartakusumah, secretary-general of the People’s Conscience Party, claimed: “Being LGBT is an infectious and dangerous disease. LGBT must be banned, like we banned communism and drug trafficking.”

Former communications minister Tifatul Sembiring effectively exhorted his one million Twitter followers to kill any gay people they find.

Direct threat
LGBT were presented as directly threatening Indonesia, with the chair of the commission of the House of Representatives, and the person in charge of defence, foreign affairs, communications, information and intelligence, Mahfudz Siddiq, stating, “LGBT issues can damage national security, identity, culture and the faith of Indonesians.”

Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu described efforts to recognise LGBT rights as an attempt by western nations to undermine Indonesia’s sovereignty and he called the LGBT movement a “proxy war” aimed at brainwashing Indonesians.

Indonesia’s vice-president Jusuf Kalla explicitly rejected UN funding that would support work on ending stigma, discrimination and violence towards LGBT people.

The Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI) classified homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism as mental disorders and issued a statement noting, “We need to promote, prevent, cure and rehabilitate LGBT people.”

PDSKJI member Suzy Yusna Dewi commented that “We really do care about them. What we are worried about is, if left untreated, such sexual tendencies could become a commonly accepted condition in society.”

Following the World Health Organisation’s 1990 lead, Indonesia declassified homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder in 1993, although gender identity disorder remained. PDSKJI’s move to now classify homosexuality as a treatable disorder drew on Indonesia’s Law No.18/2014 on Mental Health and the Mental Disorder Diagnostic Guidelines.

While neither the law nor the guidelines mention LGBT, such omission did not stop PDSKJI from using it as support for framing homosexuals and bisexuals as ‘people with psychiatric problems’ and transgender people as having ‘mental disorders.’ That the law has been prejudicially extended to support this classification of LGBT is deeply concerning.

Radio and television bans
The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission banned radio and television stations from airing any program portraying LGBT behaviour as “normal”. This move was supported by law-makers and others who claimed that such a ban would protect children and teenagers ‘susceptible to duplicating deviant LGBT behaviours’.

Efforts were made by politicians to mandate ‘rehabilitation for every person who has LGBT characteristics’ and prohibit online content viewed as promoting homosexuality.

The fear and anxiety caused by these events forced many in the LGBT community into hiding

While it was reported that the Social Affairs Minister advocated bathing LGBT in boiling water infused with spices to cure homosexuality—she actually thinks this would only work for drug addicts—she promoted spiritual training as a cure. The world’s first Islamic school for transwomen was forced to close. A number of anti-LGBT protests took place while pro-LGBT demonstrations were supressed by police.

The fear and anxiety caused by these events, all of which occurred between January and March 2016, forced many in the LGBT community into hiding. LGBT friends in Indonesia have changed their mobile phone numbers so they cannot be contacted; they have moved out of their boarding houses to undisclosed safe houses; and they have deleted social media postings and unfriended people for fear of being identified and potentially blackmailed.

Police are checking identity cards at LGBT hangouts and detaining those without ID or from out of area. Dede Oetomo, who founded the LGBT rights group GAYa NUSANTARA in 1987, has told employees to stay away from the office for fear of harassment. Forced reclusion means, among other things, that people who need sexual health care and HIV treatment are too afraid to access services.

What is behind the intensity of current unrest? I identify six key converging factors:

First, the perception that LGBT were trying to stake a collective claim on Indonesia precipitated outbursts from high-ranking government and religious leaders.

While for Nasir and others, LGBT are not troublesome individually, as a group they are. The view that LGBT were gaining visible solidarity (under university auspice) provoked homophobic rhetoric and media furore painted the issue as an “LGBT crises”. Notably, the homophobia was not sparked by demands amongst the LGBT community for right to marry or adopt children or to ban discrimination.

Communist association
The timing of the “LGBT crises” has not gone unnoticed with at least one commentator noting that that the furore came about just as revisions were to be made to the anti-corruption law. Moreover, framing LGBT as a movement (gerakan) drew on negative connotations of the term in Indonesia, with its association with communism.

Second, once the fire was stoked, the simmering issue of perceived Indonesian moral decay rose to the surface. Tight social controls under authoritarian President Suharto (1965–98) have given way to an era of reformation, synonymous for some with sexual promiscuity.

The passing of the Pornography Bill in 2008 is one reaction to fears of sexual deviance. The current anti-LGBT movement is an extension of this fear.

Third, increasing religiosity in Indonesia is providing ammunition and support for anti-LGBT rhetoric. While religious freedom is felicitous (e.g. the 2013 revoking of a law prohibiting policewomen from wearing the veil at work), the use of Islam to justify killing LGBT, and the support that such messages are receiving, is deeply concerning.

Fourth, antagonistic relations between Indonesia and the West (primarily Australia in the aftermath of spying allegations and Indonesia’s execution of two Australian prisoners) have fuelled anti-LGBT sentiment. LGBT are framed as a western import threatening Indonesia’s sovereignty and security, a dangerous and erroneous message embraced in many parts of Indonesia.

Fifth, economic disenfranchisement among a younger generation has produced a class of men and women with little outlet for their anger. An easy target for the frustrations of neoconservative youth is the LGBT community.

Sixth, Indonesia’s embrace of social media fostered swift and widespread public engagement in the disputation. Twitter hashtags such as #TolakLGBT (RejectLGBT) quickly trended and reactions to the banning of LGBT emojis provoked comment from across the nation, propelling the debate with extraordinary fervour.

Is there hope for an Indonesia that tolerates, accepts and celebrates its LGBT community? I think so, for three key reasons. First, while much of the LGBT persecution has stemmed from a religious base, the vast majority of Indonesians follow an Islam that is accepting and accommodating of diversity.

Second, even ministers who abhor the LGBT community condemn violence and state that LGBT are part of Indonesia. And third, amidst all the malicious rhetoric and violence, the debate is making LGBT visible in a way not previously possible. There is a community of LGBT and their supporters, both in Indonesia and across the world, and while the community is discrete it is one hard to subdue.

Thanks to Dede Oetomo, Tom Boellstorff, Saskia Wieringa, Nurshabani Katjasungkana and Ben Murtagh for helpful comments and suggestions.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Matilda Simmons in Suva

As quickly as Tropical Cyclone Zena arrived, it has dissipated dramatically.

According to the latest data it would be difficult to even sustain as a category 1 cyclone.

Na Draki weather forecaster Neville Koop said the most significant impacts associated with TC Zena had already passed the west and occurred along the south coast of Viti Levu.

Squally winds, likely no more than 90kmph in gusts, were experienced around Suva and Kadavu and nearby smaller islands, but were not dangerous.

“Weather will improve in the  morning as the system moves east over Lau. Little if any effects will be experienced about the north of the country other than some squally northwest to westerly winds,” Koop said.

“We have prepared well for the risks presented to us earlier in the day. Fortunately mother nature has been kind to us and the extremely hazardous weather anticipated has failed to materialise.

“We can still expect some very strong northwest to westerly wind squalls over coming hours with a few heavy passing showers but nothing like the weather conditions that were expected.

Weather clears
“With the cyclone, or what is left of it, moving so quickly, weather will be largely clear from the western and central divisions.

“Flood waters will take some time to recede over the west, however with no more heavy rain falling and nothing further of any significance expected, river levels will start to drop quickly after sunrise about the west.”

Fiji Broadcasting News reported that a nationwide curfew, in place since 6pm last night, had been lifted.

Matilda Simmons is a Fiji Times reporter.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Transparency International New Zealand has been warning the government about weaknesses in corporate ownership and trust legislation for more than 15 years, says the organisation.

The  Integrity Plus 2013 New Zealand National Integrity System Assessment (NIS) clearly described the concerns, says TINZ chair Suzanne Snively.

It also recommended straight-forward improvements to trust structures which to date have been ignored, she added.

“These loopholes allow people to hide money gained through crime and/or money-laundering using trusts registered in New Zealand,” Snively said in a statement tonight.

The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

They indicate that weaknesses in New Zealand business ownership structures are being exploited.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which analysed the document trove, Mossack Fonseca’s services have been used to “facilitate massive money laundering, tax avoidance and criminal activity, including drugs and arms dealing”.

NZ named 60,000 times
New Zealand is named by the ICIJ as a “tax haven” used by Mossack Fonseca.

According to reports, New Zealand is mentioned more than 60,000 times in the documents.

The 2013 NIS analysed good business practice and then looked at the causes and the extent of possible corruption.

It noted that the creation of a new company in New Zealand is simple, low cost and can be completed in 30 minutes online.

This is a positive competitive advantage designed to attract good business to our shores, says the TINZ statement.

Related to this current tax haven scandal, the NIS also reported that there is:

• no requirement for permission to register or operate a private company in New Zealand, opening the door to criminal behaviour
• a lack of requirement for companies to identify their beneficial owners
• no trust registry and weak controls on trusts, allowing them to hide beneficial owners, bank accounts and other property which in many cases is not held in New Zealand.

Repeated warnings
“We have repeatedly warned that these factors are being exploited by overseas interests. They are setting up shell companies and trusts for those involved in corrupt and illegal activities, including tax evasion and money laundering,” says Snively.

“The recent amendment to the Companies Act 1993, while strengthening requirements to have a New Zealand director, fails to require companies to identify all their beneficial owners”.

She says trusts in New Zealand often do not come to the attention of tax authorities or law enforcement agencies because there is no transparent mechanism for reporting them.

They have no presence in measurements of funds held in New Zealand and are often hidden in solicitors’ trust accounts.

“The picture of New Zealand that emerges from the Panama Papers is another huge blow to its reputation as one of the least corrupt countries in the world,” says Snively.

“New Zealand’s trade – essential to our prosperity and the well being of our country’s residents – relies on our reputation for integrity.

“Immediate and substantial action must be taken by the government to demonstrate world leadership in restricting the flow of ill-gotten funds and assets”.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Auckland University of Technology honours graduate journalist TJ Aumua has been appointed contributing editor for the Pacific Media Watch freedom project in 2016.

Aumua says she is grateful for the opportunity to serve the region because the Pacific Media Centre has helped shape and direct her career while studying journalism at university.

“I have been a contributing writer for PMC since 2013. During that time I have learned a lot about Pacific issues and media from the PMC director, Professor David Robie.”

Aumua said the PMC had helped her find her “niche” in journalism.

Passion for the Pacific
“I have a passion for the Pacific and raising the presence of indigenous and minority voices in the media,” she says.

“I am constantly learning new ways of doing this at the centre, so I’m excited about the opportunities ahead in this position.

“And I am eager to get stuck into stories to contribute to the PMW project this year.

She succeeds last year’s PMW editor Alistar Kata who is now working for Tagata Pasifika.

Aumua was last year in Suva on a two-week Pacific Cooperation Foundation-funded exchange with Fiji news media and Fiji National University.

She is returning to Fiji later this month on a climate change project with the University of the South Pacific journalism programme.

Current AUT student journalists or immediate past graduates are appointed annually to the part-time role as PMW editor.

TJ Aumua stories on Asia Pacific Report

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

It is unclear how many people have died, but a teacher in one village told the ABC that five people, including children, lost their lives, and another said locals felt forgotten.

Over the past year PNG has been experiencing its most severe El Nino-induced drought since 1997-1998.

Rain in many parts of the country helped fill waterways and replenish some of the subsistence crops villagers rely on for food, but aid groups and researchers have said the rain also triggered a dangerous phase of the drought.

Australian National University agricultural scientist Mike Bourke said more people died after the rain came than during the drought because they started farming again while weak from malnutrition and disease.

“It’s when things get most difficult for people. People still don’t have food just because it rains,” he said.

“It’s more difficult. The disease level is very high. The disease rates are very high because people are more vulnerable.”

Deaths in villages
Churches and health centres have reported an increase in deaths from malnutrition and disease in smaller communities that they directly attribute to the drought.

The disaster coordination worker with the United Church in Hela Province in the PNG Highlands, James Komengi, said children in particular were still suffering from the drought’s effects.

“We are seeing little kids in classrooms telling us they are fainting, and diarrhoea is common because they are eating wild foods as well,” he said.

The ABC visited Ikumdi, in Gulf Province on the southern edge of PNG’s highlands.

Villagers said three children and at least two adults had died from lack of food or from drinking contaminated water.

“Three students from the school lost their lives from those diseases,” Ikumdi schoolteacher Samuel Alphias said.

Food distribution restricted
Aid groups have been trying to cushion communities against the worst impacts of the drought, but have been restricted in how much food they can provide by the PNG government, which said it wanted to handle food distributions itself.

Those government distributions have not reached every community, particularly villages in isolated and hard-to-access areas.

Numerous reports suggest the food has largely been distributed to provincial centres or places that were easier to access, with smaller, isolated communities missing out.

Sally Lloyd, who grew up in PNG’s Western Province, found severe food shortages in a number of communities when she returned to visit friends.

She said none had received any food aid until she made a public appeal for help.

“They feel like they’ve been forgotten,” she said.

“They mentioned that a number of times and they wanted to know why.”

Charity donations
Aid group Care International has been distributing some food — tinned fish — to certain communities, and is also providing water and sanitation supplies to many more to villages in Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western and Chimbu provinces.

The charity’s emergency response coordinator, Blossum Gilmour, said communities had been through a long period without enough food, and were still struggling to get clean water.

“Most places are not suffering water shortages now but the water quality is continuing to be very poor,” she said.

“There’s a lot of dirt in the water so the water purification tablets and water containers are very welcome.”

Gilmour said the rain had allowed some communities to begin recovering.

“We’re finding they are in the early stages of recovery. They have planted, they are starting to see some food come back,” she said.

But some communities, particularly in Western Province and the high-altitude parts of Enga Province in the highlands, are still reporting severe food shortages.

Lloyd, who is visiting Western Province again to check on villages, said the lack of food was a serious problem.

“Just because you don’t see these people, because the rains might have returned and things are green, it doesn’t mean they’re OK,” she said.        

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

The first round of Fiji Times Ltd’s legal challenge over the government’s print advertising contract will be heard on May 13 after an intense timetable hearing in the High Court in Suva on April 1.

The Times claims that the solicitor-general did not follow the government’s Procurement Regulations in awarding its contract to the Fiji Sun.

It has also demanded that the government clarify whether the Ministry of Communications also controlled the print advertising decisions of statutory bodies and government companies.

Fiji Times lawyer Jon Apted, of the law firm Munro Leys, asked Justice Deepthi Amaratunga for an expedited hearing of the judicial review case.

An expedited hearing occurs when the application for leave to issue judicial review proceedings is heard together with the substantive case.

Avoiding delays
He said this approach avoided delays in resolving issues over the legality of government decisions.

Appearing for the government was lawyer Robyn-Ann Mani, who opposed the application for an expedited hearing.

She said the government had followed all proper processes in awarding the contract.

The judge decided against an expedited hearing but ordered a short timetable for the parties to exchange evidence.

Apted told the court that the government was claiming that its advertising decisions involved purchases of less than $50,000 in value.

This meant that the government claimed it was entitled to follow a different procurement process from that claimed by the Fiji Times.

Disclose evidence
In that case, he said, the government and the Fiji Sun should disclose in their evidence all orders and invoices for government advertising in the Fiji Sun.

Emmanuel Narayan, of the law firm Patel Sharma, appeared for the Fiji Sun.

The government and the Fiji Sun have 14-days each to file their affidavit evidence opposing leave.

The Fiji Times will then have a further 14-days to file its affidavits in reply.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Palestinian author and journalist Ali Abunimah kicked off his New Zealand speaking tour addressing a packed auditorium at the Auckland Town Hall concert chamber on Sunday night.

Abunimah, editor of The Electronic Intifada, made an inspiring call for action to build the international movement for Palestine – focusing on effective boycott and divestment campaigns.

“The tide has turned,” Ali said, reported Kia Ora Gaza as support for the Palestinian human rights struggle, and condemnation of apartheid Israel grew around the world.

He spoke in Wellington last night and his Christchurch and Dunedin programme is here. Photo gallery by PMC’s Del Abcede who was at the Palestine conference.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Thompson Marango in Port Vila

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, who is also minister responsible for media, said it is important for Vanuatu’s national broadcaster to cover the whole country.

“VBTC is important to the government, as part of the 100 Days Plan, the government wants radio coverage to reach the whole country,” Prime Minister Salwai told the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) board of directors and staff during his visit to the national broadcaster late last week.

Stressing the importance of media and the role that VBTC is expected to play as the government’s mouthpiece, Salwai questioned why the state-owned institution was not functioning up to expectations.

“Media is important because information is important so people can be aware of what is happening nationally, regionally and also internationally.

“Unfortunately not everybody is reached. It is our homework to increase the coverage because it’s not only information but also educational for the people.”

The Prime Minister recalled having access to radio coverage when growing up as a child on his home Island of Pentecost during the colonial era.

“Now there is no coverage, even in rural Efate,” said Prime Minister Salwai.

Lack of coverage
“With more facilities in place like the e-govt network, submarine cable and the establishment of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), lack of coverage is a challenging issue.”

Salwai said he was concerned about the status of the institution and made it clear that he intends to get to the bottom of the issues that are affecting VBTC.

He called for more transparency and accountability, saying the institution’s annual report did not reflect the reality of the situation it was facing.

The prime minister said VBTC had an annual budget every year from the government on top of fees from other operators.

He said he would get a second opinion in terms of an audit report if needed.

“I want to find out what needs to be addressed,” he said.

Overall he said as minister responsible he would continue to support the media to work freely in the country.

In response, VBTC general manager Fred Vurobaravo thanked the prime minister for the “challenging words”, saying it would take time and a collective effort to address the issues.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Adam Harvey in Jakarta

Indonesia says it will watch foreigners more closely after actor Leonardo DiCaprio tweeted his support of a controversial environmental campaign while visiting the nation.

DiCaprio shared pictures of himself in Sumatra with environmentalists who are trying to save a rainforest from being destroyed to make way for palm oil trees.

“Palm Oil expansion is destroying this unique place,” DiCaprio said in his post.

The 41-year-old actor warned the Indonesian Leuser Ecosystem was a world-class biodiversity hotspot and one of the most important areas of intact rainforests left in South-East Asia.

After learning of the social media comments, the director-general of Indonesia’s Immigration office, Ronny Sompie, warned that the comments meant DiCaprio was in breach of his visa rules.

He came in as a tourist, so wasn’t entitled to make commentary, said Inspector-General Sompie.

“We can use the immigration act towards foreigners who disturb our country’s sovereignty,” he said.

Inspector Sompie noted that DiCaprio left the country several days ago, so he couldn’t actually be deported.

Adam Harvey is Indonesia correspondent for the ABC.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Monica Aguilar and Shivika Mala in Suva

Fiji’s Neville Koop, managing director and meteorologist at Na Draki Weather, believes scientists must do a better job communicating with the public in preparation for future severe weather events in the Pacific.

Scientists should also explain how forecasting and warning systems work so people gain scientific literacy.

“If you cannot explain to people something by coming down to their level, you might as well not say anything,” he says.

The main concerns people have is whether they will lose crops, if it is safe to drive and what are the risks to life and property.

Koop believes that it is essential that people understand the limitations of forecasting which relies on modeling cyclone behavior based on past storms.

However, cyclone Winston was “all over the place” defying past models and making it hard to give warnings with absolute certainty.

Koop believes a failure to grasp the scientific principle of uncertainty and a lack of faith in science has very dangerous potential for future weather events.

Rumours swirling
Shortly after cyclone Winston rumours were swirling on social media about it being a geo engineered man-made event.

Koop was appalled at this idea: “That’s dangerous and particularly insidious when people put this stuff out, right when people are most vulnerable because one of the things very noticeable after the Cyclone Winston was the very high level of post-traumatic stress.”

Koop was less diplomatic in an impassioned public post on Nadraki’s newsfeed calling such misinformation “a litany of lies” and “outright bullsh*t” which is “morally abhorrent”.

He says the key challenge for scientists and governments as they respond to climate change is to create policy based on the best available science while communicating to the public in a way that relates to their daily lives.

Monica Aguilar and Shivika Mala are student journalists at the University of the South Pacific.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papuan activists have met with US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake in the provincial capital Jayapura to discuss human rights, politics and US-owned Freeport Indonesia.

“The US ambassador said that Papua was important to the US, and he felt it was necessary to pay a visit to Papua. He wanted to know about Papua’s human rights and political condition,” said Yuliano Languwuyo, coordinator of local organisation Justice, Peace and Unity Secretariat (SKPKC).

Yuliano said the organisation was told in mid-2014 that the restive easternmost province of Indonesia, Papua, would have civilian leaders and see a steady downgrade of military presence in the area.

“If they disappeared, so would the violence. But it never happened,” he said.

Tight military monitoring of Freeport Indonesia sites in the province have a largely negative impact on locals, including reports of violence from officers, Yuliano said.

“We asked the ambassador if Freeport had any control over security, and if they [security personnel] have any training in human rights while performing their duties. They have to be trained by the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] so they will be less violent when protecting the areas,” he said.

Blake reportedly questioned the necessity of human rights training and refused to comment on Freeport’s security, Yuliano said.

Blake also refused to take questions from reporters after the meeting.

The meeting was held at a restaurant in Jayapura’s East Sentani district and was attended by Yuliano, chairman of the Papuan NGO Cooperation Forum Septer Manufandu, Papua Komnas HAM chairman Frits Ramandey and Papuan Peace Network activist Neles Tebay.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Thompson Marango in Port Vila

When officiating the oath of a new Supreme Court judge this week, President Baldwin Lonsdale took the opportunity to thank Chief Justice Vincent Lunabek for services rendered to the nation in the 2015 judicial year.

“2015 was a challenging year for Vanuatu [and] we have witnessed that justice system is alive and is strong,” said the Head of State.

“We continue to encourage that justice always prevails in our nation, the Republic of Vanuatu.”

President Lonsdale was referring to last year’s history-making bribery case which landed 14 MPs in jail.

Four of the leaders jailed were State ministers.

Chief justice’s pledge
The case gained national, regional and international attention for Vanuatu’s judiciary.

With the appointment of another judge, Lonsdale said he looks forward to the continuous support and cooperation in upholding the nation’s justice system.

In response, Chief Justice Lunabek thanked the President on behalf of the judiciary for the kind and encouraging words to the judges and also to the system of justice.

“I stand before you today on behalf of the judiciary to let you know that we can do what we can do, and whatever we can do we’ll try our best to do it better,” Lunabek assured the President.

Thompson Marango is a reporter with the Vanuatu Daily Post.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Tama Salim in Suva

Indonesia is looking to strengthen its diplomatic ties with South Pacific countries by appointing a special envoy to the region with a portfolio including West Papua.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has said he would propose assigning an official from the Foreign Ministry to engage with the country’s easterly neighbors and underscore Indonesia’s commitment to resolving complicated issues surrounding Papua.

Luhut said Jakarta’s eastward gaze was part of its wider efforts to counter the self-determination narrative that had thus far prevented the government from developing Indonesia’s easternmost province.

“I will propose this to the President [Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo] and the Foreign Minister [Retno LP Marsudi]. It is important that there is an envoy who can deliver our message to the Pacific island countries,” he told The Jakarta Post on board an Indonesian Air Force aircraft en route to New Caledonia.

Luhut is in the region to consolidate support from member states of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which have struggled to balance their growing ties with Jakarta with ongoing support for regional grassroots movements dedicated to protecting the rights of indigenous people of Papua and West Papua during decades of pro-independence agitation.

The MSG is a sub-regional grouping in the Pacific, comprising Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia. Indonesia is an associate member.

Luhut said it was crucial that the government start to “aggressively” inform the international community on its many undertakings in Papua, with support from MSG members a crucial factor of success.

Papuan heads invited
To this end, Luhut invited a number of Papuan regional heads and representatives of other provinces with a large Melanesian presence ­ Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara and West Papua.

“We have to thoroughly explain what’s being done ­ and we’re doing a lot,” he said.

According to him, the government is supporting Papua on a number of fronts, starting with increased regional funds, a renewed focus on health and education initiatives, the promise to resolve past human rights abuses and plans for more infrastructure and logistics projects.

Kicking off a three-day tour to countries in the region, Luhut will be in Fiji for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, and Agriculture, Maritime Development and Disaster Mitigation Minister Inia Seruiratu.

Meanwhile Luhut’s advisor Djauhari Oratmangun said the visit aimed to strengthen Indonesian ties with Fiji, consolidating the Pacific Island country’s continued support of Indonesia in the MSG forum.

Fiji, along with Papua New Guinea, has supported Indonesia’s role in the sub-regional forum as the country with the largest population of Melanesians.

Humanitarian goals
Djauhari said the trip also had humanitarian goals, with Indonesia providing Fiji with US$5 million in disaster relief as well as a container of supplies from the Indonesian Army’s engineering directorate.

Meanwhile, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Husni Kamil Manik is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Fijian government on the transfer of knowledge on election organising.

After Fiji, Luhut and his entourage plan to visit Papua New Guinea before returning to Jakarta.

Tama Salim reports for The Jakarta Post.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

OPINION: By Imrana Jalal in Suva

The Pacific Islands conjure up images of paradise: white sand beaches, transparent sparkling aquamarine seas, and happy smiling islanders.

But what lies beneath is the unacceptable treatment of women and rampant gender inequality, as the iconic tourist images mask the highest rates in the world of intimate partner sexual and domestic violence against women, ranging from around 68 percent in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Kiribati to 40 percent in Samoa.

Against this milieu, paradise is surely lost for women and girls in the Pacific.

Gender equality appears to have advanced everywhere, and so, you would think, would attitudes about wife beating. However, according to a new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young People in Asia and the Pacific, this is far from the truth.

The report highlights how in Timor-Leste a staggering 81 percent of teenage girls believe a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one reason.

The figures were slightly lower for Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa, and Vanuatu, but still speak volumes about how girls perceive their mothers’ status.

In Tonga, faring somewhat better, just over 25 percent of girls think domestic violence is acceptable in some circumstances.

Dreaming a different dream
Aren’t we asking them to dream a different dream, one that allows them lives with dignity, husbands who respect them, and a decent education followed by paid work? Not so, it seems.

Picture how the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence, actual criminal assault against women in the home, is perpetuated.

Teenage girls watch their mothers being beaten by their fathers. The father is the patriarch after all. It is he who must be obeyed. These impressionable young women consider it justifiable, because their mothers do.

They too get beaten when they are grown women, and in turn they teach their own daughters—even if it is only by subliminal socialisation—that it is acceptable too. And so the cycle continues and that’s why those 81 percent of Timorese girls think it’s fine for their fathers to beat their mothers.

This month Dame Meg Taylor, Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum and the first female leader of the regional organisation, reminded us of some of these problems in the Pacific.

In ADB’s Manila headquarters as annual Gender Month distinguished speaker, Dame Meg pointed out that the last 2012 Women’s Economic Opportunity Index, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, provided a global comparison of women’s economic opportunities including, for the first time, six Pacific countries.

The Pacific ranked very poorly in this index of 128 countries, with most of the six surveyed countries in the bottom 25 per cent. The Solomon Islands and PNG were ranked at 124 and 125, respectively.

Urgency self-evident
“The urgency of dealing with gender-based violence in the Pacific is self-evident,” she said.

It is important to remember that one cannot point to individual successful women to rationalise the advancement of gender equality, as is commonly done in the Pacific.

Gender indexes measure women’s advancement as a group. The success of individual women is laudable, but it is an anomaly, an exception to the rule.

They succeed in spite of the system, not because of it. It is important and appropriate to celebrate them for many reasons, including their importance as role models to girls and young women. But this cannot, and should not, be an overall indicator of gender equality.

For a start we need to question the fundamentals of patriarchy‎ that require fathers to reign supreme. Based on my experience representing hundreds of battered women in court, try counseling and mediation first, but if that does not work then prosecute and seek punishment.

Women should expose their husbands and partners for their criminal acts. This would send an important message to their daughters.

We must raise our daughters and sons differently than we have been. We need to tell them over and over again at home, at school and in the churches, mosques and temples that hitting a woman is a criminal assault, a violation of a woman’s human rights. The same act committed outside the home would be considered a crime. They need to understand that if their father considered their mother his equal, he would not beat her.

Defending themselves
Women have to defend themselves and say enough is enough. Ultimately they have to walk away from marriages in which men refuse to change. These small acts of dignity may turn the tide for their daughters.

All of this reminds me of why I am still a feminist. For Pacific Island women and girls, we need to keep working until paradise is regained.

A lawyer by profession, Imrana Jalal, was a commissioner with the Fiji Human Rights Commission. She is the author of the Law for Pacific Women, architect of the Family Law Act 2005, and former chair of the UN Committee on Harmful Practices Against Women. She is a member of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Women Living Under Muslim Law, the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. She is also a commissioner on the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva. This commentary was first published on the Asian Development Blog.

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AsiaPacificReport.nz

It has outlined three specific orders which it wants the Supreme Court to deliberate on.

The vote of no-confidence was dismissed by the acting Speaker and chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Private Business, Aide Ganasi.

Ganasi in his statement told Parliament that the motion lacked the number of signatures required under section 145 of the Constitution.

Opposition Leader Don Polye told the media their next step was to file an application to the Supreme Court to seek the court giving the following orders that:

• Parliament must reconvene to have the motion of no-confidence addressed,
• The motion of vote of no-confidence before the committee is valid under the various constitution sections, and within the requirements of the Standing Orders of Parliament, and
• The Parliamentary Committee will not be allowed to deliberate on it because of abusing its functions and power.

Polye said the Opposition would file every document, including the court orders for Vanimo Green MP Belden Namah, the signatures, the motion of vote of no-confidence and the signed letters confirming the signatures that had been signed on the motion.

The committee established that Namah, who is one of the signatories, is currently suspended and could not take part in the motion.

“All of these documents will be presented to the court of law and we will be depending on the court system to deliver a judgement.

“We will not stop because we know justice is very valuable, we know human rights is very important and we will continue to fight and stand up for the people.

“We will be seeking legal advice from our lawyers making sure that the matter doesn’t rest there,” said Polye.

Quintina Naime is a reporter for Loop PNG.

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