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USP faces a ‘gathering storm’ over leadership and a looming strike

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University of the South Pacific staff protesting last November in black with placards calling for “fair pay”
University of the South Pacific staff protesting last November in black with placards calling for “fair pay” and for vice-chancellor Professor Ahluwalia to resign. Image: Association of USP Staff (AUSPS)

Asia Pacific Report

The University of the South Pacific — one of only two regional universities in the world — is facing a “gathering storm” over leadership, a management crisis and a looming strike, reports Islands Business.

In the six-page cover story in the latest edition of the regional news magazine this week, IB reports that pay demands by the 12-nation institution “headline other contentions such as the number of unfilled vacancies and the strain that the unions say it’s causing staff”.

The magazine also reported concerns about the “diminishing presence of Pacific Island academics” at what is a regional institution with 30,000 students representing Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The Islands Business cover story on the University of the South Pacific this week
The Islands Business cover story on the University of the South Pacific this week . . . concerns over leadership, USP Council, declining student numbers and threatened strike action. Image: IB screenshot APR

The world’s other regional university is the Jamaica-based University of the West Indies with five campuses in 18 countries and 50,000 students.

Another factor at USP is the “absence of female academics, and questions over the way some key contracts have been handled by management”.

Staff say there are no longer any female professors at the Pacific university and the institution recently failed to renew the contract of Nobel Prize-winning academic Dr Elisabeth Holland, formerly professor of ocean and climate change and the longtime director of USP’s Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD), in controversial circumstances.

She had been one of USP’s most distinguished staff members and a key Pacific climate crisis voice in global forums.

Plunged into crisis
“In February 2021, the University of the South Pacific (USP) was plunged into crisis when vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia was unceremoniously thrown out of Fiji following a middle-of-the-night raid on his campus residence, accused by the then [FijiFirst] government of Voreqe Bainimarama of breaching the country’s immigration laws,” wrote the magazine’s Fiji correspondent Joe Yaya, himself a former graduate of the university who was a member of the award-winning USP student journalism team covering the George Speight attempted coup in May 2000.

“Within months of taking up the job in 2019, a bombshell report by Ahluwalia had alleged widespread financial mismanagement within the university under former administrations. It triggered an independent investigation by New Zealand-based accounting firm BDO and Ahluwalia’s eventual expulsion from Fiji.

“Three years later, USP finds itself beset by a host of new problems, most prominent among them an overwhelming vote this month by staff across Fiji (97 percent of academic staff and 94 percent of administration and support personnel) to go on strike over pay issues.”

USP's Professor Pal Ahluwalia
USP’s Professor Pal Ahluwalia . . . facing mounting opposition from the university’s staff with unions planning strike action. Image: Fijivillage News

Some of the concerns about pay and appointments are shared by key members of the USP Council and its senior management team.

“Leadership emerged as a major point of discussion in interviews conducted by Islands Business,” wrote Yaya.

Dr Ahluwalia reportedly retains firm support from some USP Council members, and also the student association.

However, Islands Business reported that the university management had refused to respond to the magazine’s questions.

Several interview efforts
“Over a seven-week period beginning January 22, we made several efforts to reach vice-chancellor Ahluwalia. In mid-February, his office said he would not be able to provide an interview while at Laucala Campus ‘because of his busy schedule’ (they specified ‘engagements with stakeholders and other university-related activities’),” the magazine reported.

“On March 6, Dr Ahluwalia responded in an email: ‘Many of the questions that you ask in relation to staff are being discussed with the respective unions and it is inappropriate for me to make comments through the media.

“‘Most of your other questions relate directly to matters that are the business of our Council and its deliberations are confidential so it is inappropriate too for me to discuss these matters outside of Council.’”

Islands Business also sought a response from Professor Pat Walsh, acting pro-chancellor of USP, and chair of the Council. Dr Walsh is the New Zealand government’s representative on the Council. He did not respond to Islands Business.

Former USP pro-chancellor and chair, now Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine, told Islands Business that during her term with USP, one of the “strong challenges we faced was the issue with the vice-chancellor”.

Professor Ahluwalia’s extended work contract is expected to be finalised at next month’s Council meeting which has been moved from May to April 26-27.

The vice-chancellor is due to meet the staff unions in mediation on Tuesday in a bid to avoid a staff strike.

Republished from Asia Pacific Report.

Indonesian military apologies fail to mask the harassment, gagging of Papuan leaders

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COMMENTARY: By Ronny Kareni

Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the plight of the leaders of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Markus Haluk and Menase Tabuni. Their unwavering resolve in condemning the situation has faced targeted harassment and discrimination.

The leaders of the ULMWP have become targets of a state campaign aimed at silencing them.

Menase Tabuni, serving as the executive council president of the ULMWP, along with Markus Haluk, the executive secretary, have recently taken on the responsibility of leading political discourse directly from within West Papua.

This decision follows the ULMWP’s second high-level summit in Port Vila in August 2023, where the movement reaffirmed its commitment to advocating for the rights and freedoms of the people of West Papua.

On March 23, the ULMWP leadership released a media statement in which Tabuni condemned the abhorrent racist slurs and torture depicted in the video of a fellow Papuan at the hands of Indonesia’s security forces.

Tabuni called for an immediate international investigation to be conducted by the UN Commissioner of the Human Rights Office.

Harassment not protection
However, the response from Indonesian authorities was not one of protection, but rather a chilling escalation of harassment facilitated by the Criminal Code and Information and Electronic Transactions Law, known as UU ITE.

Since UU ITE took effect in November 2016, it has been viewed as the state’s weapon against critics, as shown during the widespread anti-racism protests across West Papua in mid-August of 2019.

Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders
Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders (from left) Menase Tabuni (executive council president), Markus Haluk (executive council secretary), Apolos Sroyer (judicial council chairperson), and Willem Rumase (legislative council chairperson). Image: ULMWP

The website SemuaBisaKena, dedicated to documenting UU ITE cases, recorded 768 cases in West Papua between 2016 and 2020.

The limited information on laws to protect individuals exercising their freedom of speech, including human rights defenders, political activist leaders, journalists, and civil society representatives, makes the situation worse.

For example, Victor Mambor, a senior journalist and founder of the Jubi news media group, in spite of being praised as a humanitarian and rights activist by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2021, continues to face frequent acts of violence and intimidation for his truth-telling defiance.

Threats and hate speech on his social media accounts are frequent. His Twitter account was hacked and deleted in 2022 after he posted a video showing Indonesian security forces abusing a disabled civilian.


Thirteen Indonesian soldiers arrested over viral torture video.  Video: Al Jazeera

Systematic intimidation
The systematic nature of this intimidation in West Papua cannot be understated.

It is a well-coordinated effort designed to suffocate dissent and silence the voice of resistance.

The barrage of messages and missed calls to both Tabuni and Haluk creates a psychological warfare waged with callous indifference, leaving scars that run deep. It creates an atmosphere of perpetual unease, leaving wondering when the next onslaught will happen.

The inundation of their phones with messages filled with discriminatory slurs in Bahasa serves as crude reminders of the lengths to which state entities will go in abuse of the law.

Translated into English, these insults such as “Hey asshole I stale you” or “You smell like shit” not only denigrate the ULMWP political leaders but also serve as threats, such as “We are not afraid” or “What do you want”, which underscore calculated malice behind the attacks.

This incident highlights a systemic issue, laying bare the fragility of democratic ideals in the face of entrenched power and exposing the hollowness of promises made by those who claim to uphold the rule of law.

Disinformation grandstanding
In the wake of the Indonesian government’s response to the video footage, which may outwardly appear as a willingness to address the issue publicly, there is a stark contrast in the treatment of Papuan political leaders and activists behind closed doors.

While an apology from the Indonesian military commander in Papua through a media conference earlier this week may seem like a step in the right direction, it merely scratches the surface of a deeper issue.

Firstly, the government’s call for firm action against individual soldiers depicted in the video, which has proven to be military personnel, cannot be served as a distraction from addressing broader systemic human rights abuses in West Papua.

A thorough and impartial investigation into all reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders ensures that all perpetrators are brought to justice, and if convicted, punished with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.

However, by focusing solely on potential disciplinary measures against a handful of soldiers, the government fails to acknowledge the larger pattern of abuse and oppression prevailing in the region.

Also the statement from the Presidential Staff Office could be viewed as a performative gesture aimed at neutralising international critics rather than instigating genuine reforms.

Without concrete efforts to address the root causes of human rights abuses in West Papua, such statements risk being perceived as empty rhetoric that fails to bring about tangible change for the Papuan people.

Enduring struggle
Historically, West Papua has been marked by a long-standing struggle for independence and self-determination, always met with resistance from Indonesian authorities.

Activists advocating for West Papua’s rights and freedoms become targets of threats and harassment as they challenge entrenched power structures and seek to bring international attention to their cause.

The lack of accountability and impunity enjoyed by the state and its security forces of such acts further emboldens those who seek to silence dissent through intimidation and coercion. Thus, the threats and harassment experienced by the ULMWP leaders and West Papua activists are not only a reflection of the struggle for self-determination but also symptomatic of broader systemic injustices.

In navigating the turbulent waters ahead, let us draw strength from the unwavering resolve of Markus Haluk, Menase Tabuni and many Papuans who refuse to be silenced.

The leaders of the ULMWP and all those who stand alongside them in the fight for justice and freedom serve as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.

It is incumbent upon us all to stand in solidarity with those who face intimidation and harassment, to lend our voices to their cause and to shine a light on the darkness that seeks to envelop them.

For in the end, it is only through collective action and unwavering resolve that we can overcome the forces of tyranny and usher in a future where freedom reigns freely.

Annelle Sheline: Why I’m resigning from the US State Department

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"Shocked and appalled" . . . Why this State Department staffer resigned in protest over US policies over the Israeli War on Gaza. Image: CNN screenshot APR

COMMENTARY: By Annelle Sheline

Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people — 13,000 of them children — with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead.

Yet Israel is still planning to invade Rafah, where the majority of people in Gaza have fled; UN officials have described the carnage that is expected to ensue as “beyond imagination”.

In the West Bank, armed settlers and Israeli soldiers have killed Palestinians, including US citizens. These actions, which experts on genocide have testified meet the crime of genocide, are conducted with the diplomatic and military support of the US government.

For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office.

Resigned US State Department official Annelle Sheline
Resigned US State Department official Annelle Sheline . . . “Whatever credibility the United States had as an advocate for human rights has almost entirely vanished since the war began.” Image: AS/APR

However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible. Unable to serve an administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign from my position at the Department of State.

Whatever credibility the United States had as an advocate for human rights has almost entirely vanished since the war began. Members of civil society have refused to respond to my efforts to contact them.

Our office seeks to support journalists in the Middle East; yet when asked by NGOs if the US can help when Palestinian journalists are detained or killed in Gaza, I was disappointed that my government didn’t do more to protect them. Ninety Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been killed in the last five months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That is the most recorded in any single conflict since the CPJ started collecting data in 1992.

By resigning publicly, I am saddened by the knowledge that I likely foreclose a future at the State Department. I had not initially planned a public resignation. Because my time at State had been so short — I was hired on a two-year contract — I did not think I mattered enough to announce my resignation publicly. However, when I started to tell colleagues of my decision to resign, the response I heard repeatedly was, “Please speak for us”.

Across the federal government, employees like me have tried for months to influence policy, both internally and, when that failed, publicly. My colleagues and I watched in horror as this administration delivered thousands of precision-guided munitions, bombs, small arms and other lethal aid to Israel and authorised thousands more, even bypassing Congress to do so.

We are appalled by the administration’s flagrant disregard for American laws that prohibit the US from providing assistance to foreign militaries that engage in gross human rights violations or that restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Biden administration’s own policy states,

“The legitimacy of and public support for arms transfers among the populations of both the United States and recipient nations depends on the protection of civilians from harm, and the United States distinguishes itself from other potential sources of arms transfers by elevating the importance of protecting civilians.”

Yet this noble statement of policy has been directly in contradiction with the actions of the president who promulgated it.

President Joe Biden himself indirectly admits that Israel is not protecting Palestinian civilians from harm. Under pressure from some congressional Democrats, the administration issued a new policy to ensure that foreign military transfers don’t violate relevant domestic and international laws.

Yet just recently, the State Department ascertained that Israel is in compliance with international law in the conduct of the war and in providing humanitarian assistance. To say this when Israel is preventing the adequate entrance of humanitarian aid and the US is being forced to air drop food to starving Gazans, this finding makes a mockery of the administration’s claims to care about the law or about the fate of innocent Palestinians.

Some have argued that the US lacks influence over Israel. Yet retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick noted in November that Israel’s missiles, bombs and airplanes all come from the US.

“The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting,” he said. “Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Even now, Israel is considering invading Lebanon, which brings a heightened risk of regional conflict that would be catastrophic. The US has sought to prevent this outcome but shows no appetite for withholding offensive weapons from Israel in order to compel greater restraint there or in Gaza.

Biden’s support for Israel’s far-right government thus risks sparking a wider conflagration in the region, which could well put US troops in harm’s way.

So many of my colleagues feel betrayed. I write for myself but speak for many others, including Feds United for Peace, a group mobilising for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that represents federal workers in their personal capacities across the country, and across 30 federal agencies and departments.

After four years of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to cripple the department, State employees embraced Biden’s pledge to rebuild American diplomacy. For some, US support for Ukraine against Russia’s illegal occupation and bombardment seemed to reestablish America’s moral leadership. Yet the administration continues to enable Israel’s illegal occupation and destruction of Gaza.

I am haunted by the final social media post of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25:

“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

I can no longer continue what I was doing. I hope that my resignation can contribute to the many efforts to push the administration to withdraw support for Israel’s war, for the sake of the 2 million Palestinians whose lives are at risk and for the sake of America’s moral standing in the world.

Annelle Sheline, PhD, served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Her open article was first published here at CNN.

Caitlin Johnstone: Imagine if Russia or China did the things Israel is doing in Gaza

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Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately blockading food
Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately blockading food from an imprisoned population of millions of people. Image: caitlinjohnstone.com.au

COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was bombing and starving a walled-in population of two million, half of them children.

Seriously, imagine it. Imagine the rage and vitriol. Imagine the nonstop media coverage.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, US media coverage of that war exceeded the media coverage of all US wars in the previous three decades. If Russia were deliberately and systematically exterminating civilians in Ukraine or anywhere else, the Western media coverage of those war crimes would be many times more.

It’s almost cliché at this point to say “imagine if Russia or China did this”, but such comparisons are important for retaining a sense of perspective on just how evil the Western political-media class is being about Gaza right now.

We’re seeing articles come out in the mass media about starvation in Gaza which never once even mention the word “Israel”. Do you think that would be happening if this were being perpetrated by a government which defies the Western empire? Of course not.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately blockading food from an imprisoned population of millions of people.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was relentlessly raining military explosives on densely packed urban areas known to be full of children.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately and methodically ethnically cleansing an oppressed population for entirely racist reasons.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if evidence that Russia or China are committing horrific war crimes was surfacing on a daily basis.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China were getting caught in lie after lie after lie while carrying out such a mass atrocity.

Imagine how the Western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China tried to present them with blatantly fabricated evidence of crimes committed by the targeted population in justification of their atrocities.

We’d be living in a different political and media landscape. If Russia or China was doing what Israel is doing, entire presidential campaigns would have been built around who would oppose it most aggressively.

Every sanction and embargo in the book would have been slammed upon the perpetrating government. The Western press would be falling all over themselves to expose every atrocity and every lie and blaring those expositions as feature stories on every platform for months, and showering one another with awards for doing so.

Instead we get this. Government officials babbling nonstop about Israel’s “right” to “defend itself” and how this would all be over if Hamas didn’t keep fighting, while showering Israel with weapons to help it continue its atrocities.

The mass media churning out a constant deluge of passive-language “Gazans are having trouble finding food for some reason” headlines and continuous reminders that this is all happening because of October 7, while repeating Israeli atrocity propaganda like it’s gospel truth.

All viable US presidential candidates vowing their unconditional support for Israel while occasionally impotently finger-wagging at this or that aspect of Israel’s atrocities to avoid looking like complete psychopaths.

That contrast between how the Western political-media class is acting toward the Gaza genocide and how we all know they’d be acting if an unaligned government was doing something similar is exactly why the US-centralised empire cannot be permitted to rule our world anymore.

It pretends to stand for peace, justice, freedom and democracy, but in reality it just inflicts nonstop death and suffering upon human beings around the world and covers it up with propaganda spin from its servile mainstream press.

It purports to uphold the “rules-based international order”, but all that means in practice is that it upholds an international order in which the US empire makes up the rules as it goes along and changes them as it pleases.

Humanity cannot allow itself to be abused and tyrannised by this murderous, hypocritical globe-spanning power structure any longer. A better world is possible, but we’re going to have to find a way to pry the talons of these monsters off the steering wheel first.

Caitlin Johnstone is an independent Australian journalist and poet. Her articles include The UN Torture Report On Assange Is An Indictment Of Our Entire Society. She publishes a website and Caitlin’s Newsletter. This article was first published here and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

The Jakarta Post: Stop fighting fire with fire in Papua – it only leads to a bigger fire

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Indonesian soldiers board a transport ship for Papua
Indonesian soldiers board a transport ship for Papua as part of a routine redeployment of 450 troops, at the port in Krueng Geukueh, Aceh, in 2021. Image: Editorial screenshot APR

EDITORIAL: The Jakarta Post

It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers.

This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. One clip shows the man’s head being beaten with a rod, while another has his back slashed by a blade that looks like a combat knife.

After initially denying the assailants in the footage were military personnel, the TNI issued on Monday a rare apology and said that 13 soldiers had been arrested following the viral video.

THE JAKARTA POST

“I apologise to all Papuans, and we will work to ensure this is never repeated,” said Cenderawasih Military Commander in Papua Major General Izak Pangemanan.

That rare apology is a positive sign, but it is not enough. We have had enough pledges from the military about not inflicting more violence on Papuans, but time and again blood is spilled in the name of the military and police campaign against armed separatist [pro-independence] groups.

The resource-rich Papua region has seen escalating violence since 2018, when the military increased its presence there in response to deadlier and more frequent attacks, allegedly committed by armed rebels.


Throughout 2023 alone, there were 49 acts of violence by security forces against civilians recorded by the rights group Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in the form of, among others, forceful arrest, torture and shooting. At least 67 people were injured and 41 others lost their lives in the violence.

Also according to Kontras, some of the arrested civilians could not be proven to have ties to the armed rebel groups, particularly the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

In regard to this week’s viral videos, the TNI claimed that the man beaten in the video was identified as Defianus Kogoya, a separatist [pro-independence activist] who planned to burn down a health center in Central Papua.

Whether Defianus was a rebel or civilian, what the soldiers did to him is unjustified, because no national or international law allows the torture of members of hostile forces.

The Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols have at least seven articles banning torture. There are also other sets of regulations banning cruel or inhuman treatment of captured enemies.

National regulations also prohibit security forces personnel from committing unnecessary violent acts. Article 351 of the Criminal Code mandates two years and eight months’ imprisonment for any individuals committing torture, a provision that also applies to military personnel.

For soldiers, the punishment can be heavier as they face the possibility of getting an additional one third of the punishment if they are found guilty of torture by a military court.

The TNI also announced on Monday that it had arrested 13 soldiers allegedly involved in the incidents in the video. The investigations are still ongoing, but the military promised to name them as suspects soon.

These might be good first steps, but they may mean nothing if their superiors are not prosecuted alongside the foot soldiers. At the very least, the TNI must ensure that the 13 suspects are prosecuted thoroughly in a military court of justice.

The TNI should also work harder to prevent systemic issues that allow such violence to occur. A TNI spokesperson acknowledged on Monday that the military was far from perfect. That is good, but it would be better if the TNI actually worked in a transparent manner on how it addresses that imperfection.

Overall, the government and especially the incoming administration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto must make more serious efforts at achieving a long-lasting peace in Papua.

Sending more troops has proven to merely lead to escalation. The incoming government should consider the possibility that fighting fire with fire, only leads to a bigger fire.

This editorial in The Jakarta Post was published yesterday, 27 March 2024, under the title “Stop fighting fire with fire”. Republished from Pacific Media Watch.

Investigative author says GCSB-hosted spy system likely to be one used in capture-kill ops

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Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) organiser Murray Horton
Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) organiser Murray Horton . . . speaking against the controversial GCSB spy base in Waihopai Valley in 2021. Image: ABC screenshot APR

Asia Pacific Report

A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations.

Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 book on New Zealand’s role in global spy networks, said the controversial and unidentified foreign intelligence operation cited in a report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appeared to be an “intelligence system with a ghostly codename”.

“The IGIS report said the GCSB decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was ‘improper’ and that the GCSB ‘could not be sure the tasking of the capability was always in accordance with… New Zealand law’,” he wrote.

“The Inspector-General said: ‘I have found some of the GCSB’s explanations about how the capability operated and was tasked to be incongruous with information in GCSB records at the time’,” Hager wrote.

But the Inspector-General could not reveal details of the system to the public because they were “highly classified”.

“The name and function of the foreign spy spying equipment, the identity of the ‘foreign partner agency’ and the location of the ‘GCSB facility’ where foreign equipment was hosted all remained secret,” Hager wrote.

Hager argued that the mystery spy equipment appeared strongly to be a top secret US surveillance system that had been installed at the GCSB’s Waihopai base at the same time as the equipment in the IGIS investigation was installed at a “GCSB facility”.

25 years of investigations
Hager has worked as an investigative journalist for the past 25 years, and has been a New Zealand member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for 20 of those years.

In 2018, he was part of a reference group established by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Hager wrote that the top secret NSA spy equipment had the ghostly codename “APPARITION” and fitted with all the details presented in the IGIS report.

“APPARITION was owned by and controlled by the US National Security Agency — the world’s largest intelligence gathering agency and head of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that includes the GCSB,” he wrote.

According to Hager, the NSA internal report, written after the launch of the APPARITION system in 2008, said that it “builds on the success of the GHOSTHUNTER prototype . . .  a tool that enabled a significant number of capture-kill operations against terrorists”.

“Capture-kill operations involve lethal attacks on targeted people using drones, bombs and special forces raids,” wrote Hager.

“Human rights organisations have documented numerous deaths of civilians during capture-kill operations — many of them ‘algorithmically targeted’ by electronic surveillance systems such as APPARITION.

‘Extra-judicial killings’
“They are also criticised as being ‘extra-judicial killings’.”

For decades, protesters had been calling for the GCSB’s iconic radomes at Waihopai Valley spy base in rural Marlborough to be dismantled, saying that when that intelligence was shared with Five Eyes partners — the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia — it made New Zealand complicit in the military campaigns of those countries, among other criticisms.

However, Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) organiser Murray Horton said at the time of news of the domes’ redundancy in 2021 was nothing to celebrate, since the base itself would continue to operate at the site, “albeit without its most conspicuous physical features that stick out like dogs’ balls”.

The out-of-date domes were removed in 2022.

Indonesian military impunity, poor training condemned over torture of Papuans

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West Papuan demonstrators carry posters depicting torture
West Papuan demonstrators carry posters depicting torture during a rally in Jayapura City, Papua, in September 2022 over the murder and mutilation of four Nduga residents. Image: Jubi/Theo Kelen

Jubi/West Papua Daily

Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion.

There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement and the evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

Frits Ramandey, the head of the Papua Office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM Papua), said that since 2020, Komnas HAM Papua had handled several cases of alleged torture by TNI soldiers against civilians.

“This [case of torture against civilians] is not the first to occur in Papua,” said Ramandey said this week.

Ramandey cited the case of the torture and murder of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Intan Jaya Regency in September 2020.

He also mentioned cases of violence against people with disabilities in Merauke in July 2021.

Torture of children
In 2022, Komnas HAM Papua also dealt with cases of civilian torture in Mappi regency, as well as the torture of seven children in the Puncak regency.

In Mimika regency, four Nduga residents were murdered and mutilated, and three children were tortured in Keerom regency.

Ramandey said that the cases handled by Komnas HAM indicated that the torture experienced by civilians was extremely brutal, inhumane, and violated human rights.

According to Ramandey, similar methods of torture used by the military were employed during Indonesia’s New Order regime.

Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre),
Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre), with colleagues presenting the statement about the latest allegations of Indonesian military torture in Jayapura City, Papua, last weekend. Image: Jubi/Theo Kelen

“They tend to repeatedly commit torture. [The modus operandi] used [is reminiscent of] the New Order regime, using drums, tying up individuals, rendering them helpless, allowing perpetrators to freely carry out torture,” he said.

Ramandey emphasised that such torture only perpetuated the cycle of violence in Papua.

Human rights training
He insisted that TNI soldiers deployed in Papua must receive proper training on human rights. Additionally, soldiers involved in torture cases must be prosecuted.

“Otherwise, the cycle of violence will continue because [the torture that occurs] will breed hatred, resentment, and anger,” said Ramandey.

Ramandey called for an evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

According to Ramandey, TNI troops from outside Papua would be better placed under the control of the local Military Area Command (Kodam) instead of the current practice of under the Operational Control of the Joint Defence Region Command (Kogabwilhan) III.

He believed that the Papua conflict could only be resolved through peaceful dialogue. He urged the state to create space for such peaceful dialogue, including humanitarian dialogue advocated by Komnas HAM in 2023.

Repetition due to impunity
In a written statement last weekend, the director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said that the right of every individual to be free from torture was part of internationally recognised norms.

Usman said that Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and General Comment No. 20 on Article 7 of the ICCPR had affirmed that no one could be subjected to practices of torture/cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under any circumstances.

“No one in this world, including in Papua, should be treated inhumanely and have their dignity degraded, let alone resulting in loss of life,” wrote Usman.

Usman criticised the practice of impunity towards suspected perpetrators of various past cases, which had led to repeated cases of torture of civilians by TNI soldiers.

“These actions keep repeating because there has been no punishment for members who have been proven to have committed crimes such as kidnapping, torture, and even loss of life,” he said.

According to Jubi’s records, TNI soldiers are suspected of repeatedly being involved in the torture of civilians in Papua.

On February 22, 2022, TNI soldiers allegedly assaulted seven children in Sinak District, Puncak Regency, after a soldier from 521/Dadaha Yodha Infantry Battalion 521, Second Pvt. Kristian Sandi Alviando, lost his SS2 weapon at PT Modern hangar, Tapulunik Sinak Airport.

The seven children subjected to torture were Deson Murib, Makilon Tabuni, Pingki Wanimbo, Waiten Murib, Aton Murib, Elison Murib, and Murtal Kulua. Makilon Tabuni later died.

Killed and mutilated
On August 22, 2022, a number of TNI soldiers allegedly killed and mutilated four residents of Nduga in Settlement Unit 1, Mimika Baru District, Mimika Regency.

The four victims of murder and mutilation were Arnold Lokbere, Irian Nirigi, Lemaniel Nirigi, and Atis Tini.

On August 28, 2022, soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion allegedly apprehended and assaulted four intoxicated individuals in Mappi Regency, South Papua Province.

The four individuals arrested for drunkenness were Amsal Pius Yimsimem, Korbinus Yamin, Lodefius Tikamtahae, and Saferius Yame.

Komnas HAM Papua said that these four individuals also experienced abuse resulting in injuries all over their bodies.

On August 30, 2022, soldiers stationed at Bade Post, Edera District, Mappi Regency, allegedly committed assault resulting in the death of Bruno Amenim Kimko and severe injuries to Yohanis Kanggun.

A total of 18 soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion were suspects in the case.

On October 27, 2022, three children in Keerom Regency, Rahmat Paisei, 15; Bastian Bate, 13; and Laurents Kaung, 11; were allegedly abused by TNI soldiers at a military post in Arso II District, Arso, Keerom Regency, Papua.

These three children were reportedly abused using chains, wire rolls, and hoses, requiring hospital treatment.

On February 22, 2023, TNI soldiers at Lantamal X1 Ilwayap Post allegedly assaulted Albertus Kaize and Daniel Kaize. Albertus Kaize died as a result.

Republished with permission from Jubi/West Papua Daily.

As Israel blocks more UN aid, Gaza is on the brink of ‘most intense famine’ since WW2

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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UN Secretary-General António Guterres
UN Secretary-General António Guterres . . . travelled to the Rafah border crossing and witnessed long columns of aid trucks not being allowed onto Gaza by Israel. Image: Democracy Now! screenshot APR

DEMOCRACY NOW! Presented by Amy Goodman

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! — The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn to Gaza, where aid groups say famine is imminent after five months of US-backed attacks by Israel.

This is in spite of the historic UN Security Council resolution yesterday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Fourteen countries voted in favour of the resolution — while the US, Israel’s main ally, abstained.

The head of the UN Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, says Israel is now denying access to all UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza, even though the region is on the brink of famine.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, quote, “This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.”

On Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to the Rafah border crossing.

SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES: A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage. …

It’s time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation.

Let’s choose the side of help, the side of hope and the right side of history.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined by Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine. His new piece for The Guardian, “We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the Second World War.”

Alex, welcome back to Democracy Now! Describe what’s happening, at a time when Israel is now preventing the largest aid umbrella in Gaza, UNRWA, from delivering aid to northern Gaza, where famine is the most intense.


As Israel blocks more aid, protests mount for a free independent state. Video: Gaza famine

ALEX DE WAAL: Let’s make no mistake: We talk about imminent famine or being at the brink of famine. When a population is in this extreme cataclysmic food emergency, already children are dying in significant numbers of hunger and needless disease, the two interacting in a vicious spiral that is killing them, likely in thousands already. It’s very arbitrary to say we’re at the brink of famine. It is a particular measure of the utter extremity of threat to human survival.

And we have never actually — since the metrics for measuring acute food crisis were developed some 20 years ago, we have never seen a situation either in which an entire population, the entire population of Gaza, is in food crisis, food emergency or famine, or such simple large numbers of people descending into starvation simply hasn’t happened before in our lifetimes.

AMY GOODMAN: How can it be prevented?

ALEX DE WAAL: Well, it’s been very clear. Back in December, the Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system — and that is the sort of the ultimate arbiter, the high court, if you like, of humanitarian assessments — made it absolutely clear — and I can quote — “The cessation of hostilities in conjunction with the sustained restoration of humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip remain the essential prerequisites for preventing famine.”

It said that in December. It reiterated it again last week. There is no way that this disaster can be prevented without a ceasefire and without a full spectrum of humanitarian relief and restoring essential services.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres . . . travelled to the Rafah border crossing and witnessed long columns of aid trucks not being allowed onto Gaza by Israel. Image: Democracy Now! screenshot APR
Gaza children's empty plates
Gaza children’s empty plates . . . famine looming in spite of the UN Security Council’s immediate ceasefire resolution. Image: Democracy Now! screenshot APR

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain what the IPC is? And also talk about the effects of famine for the rest of the lives of those who survive, of children.

ALEX DE WAAL: So, the IPC, which is short for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, is the system that the international humanitarian agencies adopted some 20 years ago to try and come to a standardised metric. And it uses a five fold classification of food insecurity.

And it comes out in very clearly colour-coded maps, which are very easy to understand. So, green is phase one, which is normal. Yellow is phase two, which is stressed. Orangey brown is phase three, that is crisis.

Red is four, that is emergency.

And in the very first prototype, actually, of the IPC, this was called famine, but they reclassified it as emergency. And dark blood red is catastrophe or famine. And this measures the intensity.

There’s also the question of the magnitude, the sheer numbers involved, which in the case of Gaza means, essentially, the entire population of more than 2 million.

Now, starvation is not just something that is experienced and from which people can recover. We have long-standing evidence — and the best evidence, actually, is from Holland, where the Dutch population suffered what they called the Hunger Winter back in 1944 at the end of the Second World War.

And the Dutch have been able to track the lifelong effects of starvation of young children and children who were not yet born, in utero. And they find that those children, when they grow up, are shorter. They are stunted.

And they have lower cognitive capacities than their elder or younger siblings. And this actually even goes on to the next generation, so that when little girls who are exposed to this grow and become mothers, their own children also suffer those effects, albeit at a lesser scale. So, this will be a calamity that will be felt for generations.

AMY GOODMAN: What are you calling for, Alex de Waal? I mean, in a moment we’re going to talk about what’s happening in Sudan. It’s horrifying to go from one famine to another. But the idea that we’re talking about a completely man-made situation here.

ALEX DE WAAL: Indeed. It is not only man-made, and therefore, it is men who will stop it. And sadly, of course, even if [with a] ceasefire and humanitarian assistance, it will be too late to save the lives of hundreds, probably thousands, of children who are at the brink now and are living in these terrible, overcrowded situations without basic water, sanitation and services.

A crisis like this cannot be stopped overnight. And it is a crisis that is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is fundamentally a political crisis, a crisis of an abrogation of essentially agreed international humanitarian law, and indeed international criminal law.

There is overwhelming evidence that this is the war crime of starvation being perpetrated at scale.

AMY GOODMAN: Alex de Waal, we’re going to turn now from what’s happening in Gaza. We’ll link to your piece, “We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the Second World War.”

The original content of this programme is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence.

Amnesty urges review of Indonesian troops in Papua after torture video

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid . . . "[This toture] tramples over humanitarian values that are just and civilised." Image: CNN Indonesia/IndoLeft News

Asia Pacific Report

Amnesty International Indonesia is calling for an evaluation of the placement of TNI (Indonesian military) in Papua after a video of a Papuan man being tortured by several soldiers at the Gome Post in Puncak regency, Central Papua, went viral on social media.

“This incident was a [case of] cruel and inhuman torture that really damages our sense of justice,” said Amnesty International executive director Usman Hamid in a statement.

“It tramples over humanitarian values that are just and civilised. To the families of the victim, we expressed our deep sorrow.”

"Sadists!" . . . An Indonesian newspaper graphic of the torture video
“Sadists!” . . . An Indonesian newspaper graphic of the torture video that went viral. Image: IndoLeft News

Hamid said that no one in this world, including in Papua, should be treated inhumanely and their dignity demeaned — let alone to the point of causing the loss of life.

“The statements by senior TNI officials and other government officials about a humanitarian approach and prosperity [in Papua] are totally meaningless.

“It is ignored by the [military] on the ground,” he said.

Hamid said that such incidents were able to be repeated because until now there had been no punishment for TNI members proven to have committed crimes of kidnapping, torture and the loss of life.

Call for fact-finding team
Hamid said Amnesty International was calling for a joint fact-finding team to be formed to investigate the abuse, including urging that an evaluation be carried on to the deployment of TNI soldiers in the land of Papua.

“There must be a sharp reflection on the placement of security forces in the land of Papua which has given rise to people falling victim, both indigenous Papuans, non-Papuans, including the security forces themselves”, he said.

Earlier, a short video containing an act of torture by TNI members went viral on social media. It shows a civilian who has been placed in an oil drum filled with water being tortured by members of the TNI.

TNI Information Centre director (kapuspen) Major-General Nugraha Gumilar has revealed the identity of the person being tortured by the soldiers as allegedly being a member of a pro-independence resistance group — described by Indonesia as an “armed criminal group (KKB)” — named Definus Kogoya.

“The rogue TNI soldiers committed acts of violence against a prisoner, a KKB member by the name of Definus Kogoya at the Gome Post in Puncak Regency, Papua,” he said when sought for confirmation on Saturday.

Despite this, General Gumilar has still has not revealed any further information about the identity of the TNI members who committed the torture. He confirmed only that more than one member was involved in the abuse.

He said an “intensive examination” was still being conducted and he pledged it would be transparent and act firmly against all of the accused torturers.

“Later I will convey [more information] after the investigation is finished, what is clear is that it was more than one person if you see from the video”, he said.

Note:
The video (warning: contains graphic, violent content and viewer discretion is advised) of the Papuan man being tortured by TNI soldiers can be viewed on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJgAHYdLgVo (requires registration)

or on the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) website: ahttps://www.ulmwp.org/president-wenda-a-crime-against-humanity-has-been-committed-in-yahukimo.

[Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Amnesty Desak Evaluasi Penempatan TNI Buntut Aksi Penyiksaan di Papua”.]

Maiki Sherman named as TVNZ’s first wahine Māori political editor

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Cafe Pacific Publisher
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TVNZ's new political editor Maiki Sherman
TVNZ's new political editor Maiki Sherman . . . "This is a huge milestone for me and one I’ve worked hard for." Image: Te Ao Māori News

Pacific Media Watch

Journalist Maiki Sherman (Ngāpuhi/Whakatōhea) has been appointed Television New Zealand’s political editor, the first wahine Māori to lead the 1News political team in the channel’s history, reports Whakaata Māori’s Te Ao Māori News.

“This is a huge milestone for me and one I’ve worked hard for. I’m proud to be the first wahine Māori appointed as the political editor of a mainstream broadcast newsroom,” she said.

“That is something to be celebrated.”

The New Zealand Herald’s Katie Harris reports that Sherman said her background meant she would be able to bring a unique perspective to the role, alongside an unwavering commitment to holding political decision-makers to account.

“People want strong, fair, and impartial journalism. That’s something I’m committed to providing across the political divide,” Sherman said.

TVNZ executive editor Phil O’Sullivan said Sherman had been impressive in her role as deputy political editor for TVNZ during a turbulent time in New Zealand politics impacted on by the covid pandemic, events of national significance and highly charged general elections.

‘Calm leadership’
“Her calm leadership and strong coverage of important political issues, particularly demonstrated during her moderation of our Kaupapa Māori Debate last year, made her a natural pick for the role.”

Sherman takes over from Jessica Mutch McKay, who concluded her tenure earlier this year.

Mutch McKay resigned to become head of government relations and corporate responsibility at ANZ Bank.

1News said in a statement that Sherman first joined the press gallery in 2012, serving as a political reporter for both Whakaata Māori and Newshub before rejoining 1News.

Sherman began her broadcasting career with the state broadcaster’s Te Karere show 16 years ago.

She has also served as chair of New Zealand’s parliamentary press gallery for the past three years.

Pacific Media Watch with Te Ao Maori News and The New Zealand Herald.

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