Papua police chief Mathias Fakhiri has ordered the head of the Internal Affair Division and director of Criminal Investigation of the Papua Police to immediately investigate the actions taken by police officers.
He asked his staff to approach families and religious, community and traditional leaders, so that the arrest of Governor Lukas Enembe would not create unrest.
“I ask for the report today. If there is indeed a wrong handling, I ensure there will be law enforcement against members who do not comply with the standard operating procedures,” he said.
“I urge all parties not to spread hoaxes or information that does not match the facts,” he said.
“Let us provide moral support so that the legal process runs as it is.”
Wenda calls for governor’s release A West Papuan independence leader, Benny Wenda, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Governor Enembe.
Wenda said the arrest follows the governor’s “criminalisation” in September 2022, when he was accused of corruption and banned from travelling abroad for essential medical treatment.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) leader said Enembe’s treatment could not be separated from his increasingly vocal stance against Indonesia’s colonial policies in West Papua.
Wenda said Enembe opposed Indonesia’s division of West Papua into new provinces, which the exiled leader described as a “divide and rule” tactic designed to steal the region’s natural resources and allow further militarisation of villages.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
West Papuan independence campaigner Benny Wenda at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Tuvalu, 2019. Image: Jamie Tahana/RNZ Pacific
Fiji’s military commander stirred a wave of anxiety today with an extraordinary statement claiming concern over the “ambition and speed” of political changes since last month’s election that could have “fateful” security consequences.
Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, commander-in-chief of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), said in the statement that the military played a “guardian role” under the Constitution and “new assaults” on Fiji’s democracy would “not be tolerated”.
But he was summoned by Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua for a meeting this afternoon and Major-General Kalouniwai denied to news media that the military planned any takeover.
Fiji has had four coups in less than four decades, carried out by either the military or rogue soldiers.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka staged the first two coups in 1987, but he was the elected prime minister 1992-99, while businessman George Speight supported by rogue troops carried out the third in 2000, and then military commander Voreqe Bainimarama seized power in 2006 with a “coup to end all coups”.
Bainimarama has held power for the past 16 years, half of them as the elected leader, but narrowly lost his FijiFirst party majority in last month’s election.
All four coups have been marked by allegations of ethnic tension between indigenous iTaukei Fijians and Indo-Fijians.
RFMF ‘backs democracy’
However, in an exclusive interview this afternoon with Fijivillage News, Major-General Kalouniwai stressed that the RFMF would continue to stand for democracy, the rule of law and honour, and the government.
Fiji Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua . . . reassured the military commander that the coalition government was following the law and the Constitution. Image: FijiOne News
Home Affairs Minister Tikoduadua said after their meeting he had reassured the commander that all the actions of the new People’s Alliance-led coalition government had been guided by the law.
The minister also claimed that the commander’s statement had been “sensationalised” by media and he was concerned that state-run FBC News was “inciting and misrepresenting” what Major-General Kalouniwai had said.
Tikoduadua said the news had been “corrected” by the commander.
Major-General Kalouniwai’s statement and reaction have been widely carried by news media in Fiji.
According to The Fiji Times, Major-General Kalouniwai had raised concern in his statement over some of the rapid changes the government had undertaken in “just 16 days in office”.
He said that section 131 of the Constitution stipulated “the RFMF plays a guardian role where the excesses of the past are not repeated and any new assaults on Fiji’s emerging democracy are not tolerated”.
‘Creating shortcuts’
Major-General Kalouniwai said: “The RFMF has quietly observed with growing concern over the last few days, the ambition and speed of the government in implementing these sweeping changes are creating shortcuts that circumvent the relevant processes and procedures that protect the integrity of the law and the Constitution.
“Whilst the RFMF recognises the justifications by the current government to establish these changes, the RFMF believes that trying and failing to democratise in adverse circumstances has the potential to bring about fateful, long-term national security consequences.
“The RFMF is concerned whether these rapid changes are being pursued without a full understanding of the process and procedures or intentionally done to challenge the integrity of the law and the Constitution of this land.”
Major-General Kalouniwai said the RFMF firmly believed the separation of powers between the executive and the judicial arms of the state must be respected, reports The Fiji Times.
“It must be important to understand and appreciate that a strong rule of law is built on respect for and adherence to a clear separation of powers between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
“Whatever the reasons may be, the RFMF feels that such actions and decisions is putting at risk the very nature of the law and the separation of powers that clearly demarcate the independence of the three arms of government.”
Major-General Kalouniwai said section 131 of the Constitution also ensured the values and principles of democracy, including the checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution, were not undermined.
‘No takeover plan’ FBC News reports that Major-General Kalouniwai said he did “not plan to take over the government”.
The commander said he would not make any further comments about his earlier statement and Minister Tikoduadua would brief Fijians about their meeting this afternoon.
Major-General Kalouniwai told Fijivillage News that RFMF had spoken in defence of democracy and the rule of law before, during and after the 2022 general elections.
The commander said that today’s statement focused on ensuring that the government followed proper procedures and processes when making changes.
He said the “rule of law must be paramount”.
Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua, who is also Minister of Defence, said he had reassured Major-General Kalouniwai that all the government’s actions had been guided by the law, reports Fijivillage News.
He added that he had had a “cordial meeting” with the commander, who had assured him that he would no longer be making any public statement such as the one earlier today.
Tikoduadua said he had discussed two main issues with the commander — concerns over the government plan for sacked Fiji Airways and Air Terminal Services staff to be rehired, and over the future of Fiji diplomats abroad.
In May 2020, 758 Fiji Airways and 258 ATS staff lost their jobs due to covid-19.
Tikoduadua said the major-general had pledged support for the government.
Owen Wilkes speaking at a protest at the US base at Christchurch Airport (Harewood) in 1973. Wilkes is wearing a Halt All Racist Tours (HART) badge. The Harewood demonstration was a key event in the later government decision to cancel a proposed Springbok tour in New Zealand. Image: Walter Logeman/Peacemonger
A new book about one of New Zealand’s foremost peace activists offers insight into Owen Wilkes, the man described as the intellect behind New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stance.
REVIEW: By Pat Baskett
In the days before mobile phones and emails, there were telephone trees. They grew and spread messages like leaves, thriving on the fertile ground of common beliefs and support for a particular cause.
It worked like this: one member of a group phoned 10 others who phoned another 10, each of whom phoned 10 more. On and on . . . The caller was never anonymous, relationships were established — or you simply said, “no thanks”.
The task of spreading information, before the internet, was time-consuming and labour intensive. Photocopiers, which became widely used only in the late 1970s, replaced an invaluable machine called a duplicator. You cranked the handle, one turn for each page, hoping the paper wouldn’t stick. How long did it take to do a thousand?
Next came the mail-out — folding, stuffing envelopes, sticking on stamps if funds allowed, or delivering them by hand into letterboxes.
The process was convivial, the days were busy but there was always time. There needed to be, because the issue was urgent.
The Cold War, that period of perilous mistrust between the communist Soviet Union and the “free” West, led by the United States, engulfed us in fear of a nuclear holocaust. Barely a generation separated us from the end of World War II when nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The mutually assured destruction (MAD) these weapons promised was a fragile pseudo peace. In our neighbourhood peace groups, we understood the devastation a nuclear winter would bring and we worked out the radius of death and damage from a bomb dropped on our own cities.
An essential step
Yet more than nuclear weapons was, and still is, at stake. The movement was called the Peace Movement because banning nukes was considered the essential step in ensuring world peace.
The stockpile of nuclear weapons held by each side was more than enough to eradicate all, or most, life on earth — and it still is.
Those existential threats have a familiar ring, though the cause we face today adds another dimension. So far, the benefits of almost instant communication and dissemination of information haven’t enabled the world to devise for climate disruption what activists, uniquely in New Zealand, achieved — the 1986 nuclear weapons-free legislation.
Passed by the Labour government of David Lange, it prohibits not just weapons but nuclear-powered warships — including those of our former ANZUS allies, namely the United States.
There has never been any question of rescinding this act. It remains in safe obscurity — to such an extent that I wonder how many of our Gen X contemporaries are aware of its existence.
Yet more than nuclear weapons was, and still is, at stake. The movement was called the Peace Movement because banning nukes was considered the essential step in ensuring world peace.
In 1984, 61 percent of the population were living in 86 locally declared nuclear-weapons-free zones. Academic activists came together to form Scientists Against Nuclear Arms (SANA) and Engineers for Social Responsibility (ESR – this group now focuses on the climate disruption).
The medical fraternity formed a local branch of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
Extraordinary sleuthing talent
Much of the information which fuelled the work of all these groups was brought to light by the extraordinary sleuthing talent of one man. Owen Wilkes is described as ” . . . the intellect behind New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stance” in a recent book, Peacemonger: Owen Wilkes international peace researcher, published by Raekaihau Press in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa.
The book consists of 12 essays by friends and collaborators, themselves experts in their individual fields and who leave their own legacies of contribution to the knowledge that led to the anti-nuclear legislation.
Peacemonger . . . the first full-length account of peace researcher Owen Wilkes’ life and work. Image: Raekaihau Press
They include physicist Dr Peter Wills who was instrumental in setting up SANA and Auckland University’s Centre for Peace Studies; investigative journalist and researcher Nicky Hager; and veteran peace and human rights activist Maire Leadbeater. Two contributions are by Wilkes’s colleagues at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo Norway, Dr Ingvar Botnen and Dr Nils Petter Gleditsch.
Wilkes spent six years from 1976 working in Oslo and also at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The work is edited by Mark Derby and Wilkes’s partner May Bass. While a traditional biography with a single author may have avoided the repetition of information, the various personal anecdotes and responses result in the portrayal of an unconventional, highly talented individual.
In his introduction, Derby sums up Wilkes’s life: “Although invariably non-violent, politically non-aligned and generally law-abiding, Owen encountered official opposition, harassment and intimidation in various forms as he became internationally known for the quality and impact of his peace research.”
Wilkes was born in Christchurch in 1940 and died in Kawhia in 2005. In his early adult years he worked as an entomologist on various projects supported by the US military, including at McMurdo base in the Antarctic. These, he discovered, were connected with a US military germ warfare project.
Using official information laws
His gift was to see through, and behind, the information government made public about our relationship to our official allies, essentially the US. To do this he used our own official information laws and the American equivalent, plus any public reports to congress and US budget reports he could lay hands on.
Rubbish bags also feature in a couple of accounts.
What now may be stored as megabytes of information consists of boxes and folders of carefully catalogued material, the bulk of which is lodged at the Alexander Turnbull Library (with information also at the university libraries of Auckland and Canterbury).
The truth Wilkes was committed to appears, in retrospect, somehow simpler than that of the struggle towards a fossil-free future and a liveable planet for all. Peace is a part of this and the nukes are still there.
Wilkes documented how in many cases what was billed as civilian also had profound military implications. This was nowhere more clear than in the anti-bases campaign which Murray Horton chronicles — bases being sites in remote locations for monitoring or receiving satellite information, some of which new technology has rendered obsolete.
These include Mt St John near Lake Tekapo and Black Birch near Blenheim, and those still operating at Tangimoana in the Manawatu and at Waihopai, also near Blenheim.
Wilkes’s unconventional appearance and lifestyle — he famously wore shorts in sub-zero temperatures when skiing in Norway — made him a target for accusations of being a communist, a not uncommon slander of the peace movement.
Having sharp eyes
Maire Leadbeater, in her account of his long investigation by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, suggests his only “crime” was “to have sharp eyes and the ability to put two and two together”.
Yet there were more conventional sides to his interests. One was archaeology, beginning in his 1962 when he worked as a field archaeologist for the Canterbury Museum. This continued after he left the peace movement in the early 1990s and worked for the Waikato Department of Conservation in a variety of jobs including filing archaeological and historical records.
The truth Wilkes was committed to appears, in retrospect, somehow simpler than that of the struggle towards a fossil-free future and a liveable planet for all. Peace is a part of this and the nukes are still there.
Remarkably, Tonga's violent eruption in 2022 was caused by a volcano that lies under hundreds of metres of seawater. Image: Sung-Hyun Park/Korea Polar Research Institute
The Kingdom of Tonga exploded into global news on January 15 last year with one of the most spectacular and violent volcanic eruptions ever seen.
Remarkably, it was caused by a volcano that lies under hundreds of metres of seawater. The event shocked the public and volcano scientists alike.
Was this a new type of eruption we’ve never seen before? Was it a wake-up call to pay more attention to threats from submarine volcanoes around the world?
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano was a little-known seamount along a chain of 20 similar volcanoes that make up the Tongan part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
We know a lot about surface volcanoes along this ring, including Mount St Helens in the US, Mount Fuji in Japan and Gunung Merapi of Indonesia. But we know very little about the hundreds of submarine volcanoes around it.
Scientists have good understanding of land-based volcanoes along the Pacific Ring of Fire, but far less so about seamounts. Image: Getty Images/The Conversation
It is difficult, expensive and time-consuming to study submarine volcanoes, but out of sight is no longer out of mind.
Tongan eruption breaks records
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption has firmly established itself in the record books with the highest ash plume ever measured and a 58km aerosol cloud “overshoot” that touched space beyond the mesosphere. It also triggered the largest number of lightning bolts recorded for any type of natural event.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption has firmly established itself in the record books with the highest ash plume ever measured.
Covid hampered access to Tonga during the eruption and its aftermath, but local scientists and an international scientific collaborative effort helped us discover what drove its extreme violence.
Eruption creates a giant hole A team from the Tongan Geological Services and the University of Auckland used a multi-beam sonar mapping system to precisely measure the shape of the volcano, just three months after the January blast.
We were astonished to find the rim of the vast submarine volcano was intact, but the formerly 6km diameter flat top of the submarine cone was rent by a hole 4km wide and almost 1km deep.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai crater and caldera before and after the eruption. Graphic: Sung-Hyun Park/Korea Polar Research Institute, CC BY-SA
This is known as a “caldera” and happens when the central part of the volcano collapses in on itself after magma is rapidly “pumped out”. We calculate over 7.1 cubic kilometres of magma was ejected. It is almost impossible to envisage, but if we wanted to refill the caldera, it would take one billion truck loads.
It is hard to explain the physics of the Hunga eruption, even with the large magma volume and its interaction with seawater. We need other driving forces to explain especially the climactic first hour of the eruption.
Mixed magmas lead to chain reaction Only when we examined the texture and chemistry of the erupted particles (volcanic ash) did we see clues about the event’s violence. Different magmas were intimately mixed and mingled before the eruption, with contrasts visible at a micron to centimetre scale.
Isotopic “fingerprinting” using lead, neodymium, uranium and strontium shows at least three different magma sources were involved. Radium isotope analysis shows two magma bodies were older and resident in the middle of the Earth’s crust, before being joined by a new, younger one shortly before the eruption.
The mingling of magmas caused a strong reaction, driving water and other so-called “volatile elements” out of solution and into gas. This creates bubbles and an expanding magma foam, pushing the magma out vigorously at the onset of eruption.
This intermediate or “andesite” composition has low viscosity. It means magma can be rapidly forced out through narrow cracks in the rock. Hence, there was an extremely rapid tapping of magma from 5-10km below the volcano, leading to sudden step-wise collapses of the caldera.
The caldera collapse led to a chain reaction because seawater suddenly drained through cracks and faults and encountered magma rising from depth in the volcano. The resulting high-pressure direct contact of water with magma at more than 1150℃ caused two high-intensity explosions around 30 and 45 minutes into the eruption. Each explosion further decompressed the magma below, continuing the chain reaction by amplifying bubble growth and magma rise.
After about an hour, the central eruption plume lost energy and the eruption moved to a lower-elevation ejection of particles in a concentric curtain-like pattern around the volcano.
This less focused phase of eruption led to widespread pyroclastic flows – hot and fast-flowing clouds of gas, ash and fragments of rock – that collapsed into the ocean and caused submarine density currents. These damaged vast lengths of the international and domestic data cables, cutting Tonga off from the rest of the world.
This map shows the sites of ongoing venting after the eruption. Graphic: Marta Ribo/AUT, CC BY-ND
Unanswered questions and challenges
Even after long analysis of a growing body of eyewitness accounts, there are still major unanswered questions about this eruption.
The most important is what led to the largest local tsunami — an 18-20m-high wave that struck most of the central Tongan islands around an hour into the eruption. Earlier tsunami are well linked to the two large explosions at around 30 and 45 minutes into the eruption. Currently, the best candidate for the largest tsunami is the collapse of the caldera itself, which caused seawater to rush back into the new cavity.
This event has parallels only to the great 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia and has changed our perspective of the potential hazards from shallow submarine volcanoes. Work has begun on improving volcanic monitoring in Tonga using onshore and offshore seismic sensors along with infrasound sensors and a range of satellite observation tools.
All of these monitoring methods are expensive and difficult compared to land-based volcanoes. Despite the enormous expense of submarine research vessels, intensive efforts are underway to identify other volcanoes around the world that pose Hunga-like threats.
The twin undersea volcano beneath the twin islands of Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga erupting as shown on Al Jazeera television. Image: Al Jazeera English screenshot APR
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic volcanic eruption tomorrow, Tongan Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni spoke to RNZ Pacific’s Finau Fonua.
Hu’akavameiliku shared his experiences of the eruption and its aftermath, as well as some of the challenges left in the wake of the disaster.
Hu’akavameiliku was meeting with a local church community group when he heard what he had first thought was thunder. Within minutes he was notified of the volcano’s eruption.
Hu’akavameiliku recalls his first thoughts:
“It was scary. But at the same time, most of my time was just worrying about what’s happening, finding out what’s happening here, who’s affected, the scope of the problems and all that.
“But at the same time, we’re mindful that I’m there with my family, what will be the best course of action in terms of whether we are evacuating or staying home? But that’s what went through my mind.”
Communications cut off
For the next three days all communication services were down, and Tonga was effectively cut off from the world.
Hu’akavameiliku remembers sending people to determine the effects of the eruption in western Tonga, as well as boats to the islands who soon reported that tsunami waves were incoming.
It was later confirmed that three people had died in the disaster.
Although there was a need to determine exactly what had happened, that meant accessing satellite images of the eruption, which was not possible while communications were down.
Hu’akavameiliku explained how the priority remained with the affected people, both on Tongatapu and on the outlying islands.
“But those couple of days, it was more about finding out what’s happening and working out our response, making sure that families are safe, relocating some of the islands over down here. So that kept us busy, didn’t give us much time to worry about other stuff.”
Tongan Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni (right) with Health Minister Dr Saia Piukala. Image: Iliesa Tora/NZ Pacific
Hu’akavameiliku expressed gratitude for the international assistance Tonga received in the wake of the disaster, particularly from New Zealand, Australia and its other Pacific neighbours. The food, drinking water and building materials received were vital for the survival of those most affected by the eruption.
An aerial photo taken from a New Zealand Defence force P-3 Orion on January 16, 2022, shows Mango island in Tonga with no houses left after impact from a tsunami. Image: NZDF/RNZ Pacific
Hu’akavameiliku said the decision to resettle the islanders was based on an understanding of how vulnerable their communities had become.
This relocation has been challenging for the people of Mango and ‘Atata: “Some of them are not used to where they are right now because they grew up in very small islands and now they are in Tongatapu or in ‘Eua, so helping them get hold of that and rebuilding their livelihood.
“The way they utilise will be different in the other islands than down here. So we are helping them. We adjust their way of life to the new environment they are in, that’s one of the biggest focuses, and on a higher level, the economics.
“We are reallocating some of the resources, we are just building not just houses but infrastructure.”
To mark the anniversary of the eruption an exhibition is being held. Hu’akavameiliku also noted that Tongans also reflected on the impact of the disaster through their strong spiritual communities.
“And, on the Sunday services, is to thank the Lord that we’re still here and to acknowledge our various partners. And we hope that things will keep getting better.”
Finau Fonua is an RNZ Pacific journalist. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Dr David Robie is a New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region for international media for more than three decades.
Dr Robie is the author of several books on South Pacific media and politics and is an advocate for media freedom in the Pacific region through Pacific Media Watch. – Wikipedia
Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe . . . arrest in handcuffs over corruption allegations widely regarded as the "humiliation" of an elected Papuan leader by Indonesian authorities. Image: Liputan 6
ANALYSIS:By Yamin Kogoya
Following months of legal limbo and a health crisis, Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was arrested this week by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a dramatic move condemned by critics as a “kidnapping”.
At noon on Tuesday, January 10, Governor Enembe was dining in a local restaurant near the headquarters of Indonesia’s Mobile Brigade Corps, known as Brimob.
After the arrest the Brimob transported him directly to Sentani Theys Eluay airport — an airport named in honour of another prominent Papuan leader who was callously murdered by the same security forces in 2002, not far from where the governor was arrested.
Governor Enembe was immediately flown to Jakarta to arrive at the Army Central Hospital (RSPAD), Gatot Soebroto, Central Jakarta, reports Kompas.com.
In what seems to be a cautiously premeditated arrest, Jakarta targeted Governor Enembe while he was alone and without the support of thousands of Papuans who had barricaded his residence since September last year.
Once the news of his arrest was leaked, supporters attempted to gather in Sentani at the airport, but they were outnumbered by heavy security forces. A few protesters were shot, and several were injured, with one protester dying from his injuries.
1 shot dead, several wounded
Papua Police Public Relations Officer Kombes Ignatius Benny Prabowo said when contacted by Tribunnews.com in Jakarta: “Yes, it is true that someone was shot dead on Tuesday.”
Among those who were shot were Hemanus Kobari Enembe (dead), Neiron Enembe, Kano Enembe, and Segira Enembe.
Surprisingly, they share the same clan names of the governor himself, indicating that only his immediate family were informed of his arrest.
Hemanus Kobari Enembe paid the ultimate price at the hand of Jakarta’s calculated planning and arrest of Papua’s governor.
The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was named a suspect by the KPK and summoned by Brimob after it accused him of receiving bribes worth 1 million rupiah (NZ$112,000). This amount was then escalated into a rush of accusations against the governor, including a new allegation that the governor had paid US$39 million to overseas casinos, disclosing details of his private assets such as cars, houses, and properties.
Governor Lukas Enembe . . . ill, but heavily guarded by the BRIMOD police after his arrest. Image: CNN/APR
Voices of prominent Papuan figures
A prominent Papuan, Natalius Pigai, Indonesia’s former human rights commissioner, was interviewed on January 11 by an INews TV news presenter regarding these extra allegations.
“If that’s the case,” Pigai replied, “then why don’t we use these wild extra allegations to investigate all the crimes committed in this country by the country’s top ministerial level, including the children of the president, as a conduit for investigating some of the crimes committed by his office in this country?
“Are we interested in that? Why just target Governor Lukas?”
Papuan Dr Benny Giay . . . his view is that the arrest of Governor Lukas Enembe serves the “interests of the political elite” in Jakarta. Image: Jubi screenshot APR
Papuan public intellectual Dr Benny Giay was seen in a video saying that the arrest of Governor Enembe by the KPK in Jayapura was to serve the interests of Jakarta’s political elite, whom he described as “hardliners” in relation to the power struggle to become number one in Papua’s province.
According to him, Governor Lukas Enembe was a victim of this power struggle.
Dr Socrates Yoman, president of the West Papua Fellowship of Baptist Churches, described the arrest as a “kidnapping”. He said the governor had been arrested illegally, without following any legal procedures — and neither the governor nor legal counsel was informed of his arrest.
According to Dr Yoman, Governor Enembe is ill and in the process of recovering from his illness. Thus, this pressure exerted by the state through the military and police violated Governor Enembe’s basic rights to health and humanity.
The behaviour of the state through BRIMOB constituted a crime against humanity or a gross violation of human rights because the governor was arrested during lunchtime without an arrest warrant and while he was unwell, he said.
“The governor is not a terrorist — he was elected Governor of Papua by the Papuan people.
“This kidnapping shows that the nation or country has no law. The country is controlled by people who have lost their humanity, opting instead for animalistic rage and a senseless lust for violence.
“Our goal is to restore their humanity so that they can see other human beings as human beings and become whole human beings,” said Dr Yoman.
The governor’s health
The governor’s health has deteriorated since he was banned from traveling to Singapore for regular medical aid since September last year.
The 23 November 2022 letter from the Singaporean doctors appealing for Governor Enembe’s medical evacuation . . . ignored by the Indonesian authorities. Image: APR screenshot
Last October, Governor Enembe received two visits from Singapore medical specialists who have been treating him for a number of years.
Despite these visits, his health has continued to deteriorate, which led Singapore’s medical specialists to send a letter in November to authorities in Indonesia requesting that the governor be airlifted to Mount Elizabeth hospital.
The letter from Royal Healthcare in Singapore said:
“We have treated Governor Lukas remotely with routine blood tests, regular zoom consults and monitoring of his glucose and blood pressure levels since November 1, 2022. However, his condition has deteriorated rapidly the last week. His renal function is at a critical range (5.75mg/dl), and he may require dialysis sooner than later. His blood pressure is hovering 190-200/80-100 increasing his risk of morbidity and mortality. He has been advised on immediate evacuation to Singapore with direct admission to Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.”
The letters were ignored, and the sick governor was arrested and taken to a hospital in Jakarta, where he had previously refused to go.
Governor Enembe had previously written to KPK requesting that he receive urgent medical treatment in Singapore. Papuan police chiefs and KPK members were asked to accompany him, but this did not happen.
On November 30, 2022, Firli Bahuri, Chairman of KPK, visited the governor at his barricaded residence in Koya Jayapura, Papua, in what appeared to be a humane approach.
But what happened on Tuesday indicates that KPK had already decided to arrest him and take him to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta — almost 4500 km from his home town.
Many Papuan figures who go to Jakarta return home in coffins. Papuan protesters did not want their leader to be taken out of Papua, partly due to this fear.
Despite these protests, letters, and requests, Jakarta completely disregarded the will of the people and of the governor himself.
The plot to kidnap Governor Enembe appears to have been well planned over a period of four months since September, providing enough space for the situation in Papua to calm down and allowing the governor to leave his barricaded house alone without his Papuan “special forces”.
It was during the lunch hour of noon on Tuesday that KPK targeted him in a cunningly calculated manner.
Governor’s image in social media
Governor Enembe is portrayed in the Indonesia’s national narrative as a representative of the so-called “poor and backward” majority of Papuans, while portraying him as a man of a lavish lifestyle, owning properties and cars, and with great wealth.
Comments on social media are flooded with a common theme — portraying Papua’s governor as a “criminal”, with some even calling for his “execution”.
Some social media comments emerging from those fighting for West Papua’s liberation are echoing these themes by claiming that Governor Enembe’s case has nothing to do with the Free Papua Movement– his problem is with Jakarta only as he is a “colonial puppet ruler”.
It is true that Lukas Enembe is governor of Indonesian settler colonial provinces. However, Papuans have failed to understand the big picture — the ultimate fate of West Papua itself.
What would happen if West Papua remains part of Indonesia for the next 20-50 years?
Our failure to see the big picture by both Papuans and Indonesians, as well as the international community, is a result of Jakarta fabrication that West Papua is merely a national sovereignty issue for Indonesia. That is the crux of that fatal error.
The isolation of the governor from the rest of the Papuans as a “corruptor” and other dehumanising labels are designed to destroy Papuans’ self-esteem, stripping them of their pride, dignity, and self-respect.
The images and videos of the governor’s arrest, deportation, handcuffing in Jakarta in KPK uniform, and his admission to the military hospital while surrounded by heavily armed security forces are psychologically intimidating to Papuans.
Through brutal silence, politically loaded imagery has been used to convey a certain message:
“See what has happened to your respected leader, the big chief of the Papuan tribes; he is no longer a person. Jakarta still has the final say in what happens to all of you.”
Papuans are facing a highly choreographed state-sponsored terror campaign that shows no signs of abating.
For Papuans, the new year of 2023 should be a time of hope, new dreams, and new lives, but this has been marred once again by the arrest and kidnapping of a well-known and popular Papuan figure, as well as the death of a member of the governor’s family on Tuesday.
As human miseries continue to unfold in the Papuan homeland, Jakarta continues to conduct business as usual, pretending nothing is happening in West Papua while beating the drum of “development, prosperity, and progress” for the betterment of the backward Papuans.
With such prolonged tragedies, it is imperative that the old theories, terminologies, and paradigms that govern this brutal state of affairs be challenged.
A new paradigm is needed
The very foundation of our thinking between West Papua and Indonesia must be re-examined within the framework of what Tunisian writer, Albert Memmie, described as “coloniser and colonised”, when examining French treatment of colonised Tunisians, who emerged concurrent with Franz Fanon, the leading thinker of black experience in white, colonised Algeria.
The works of these thinkers provide insight into how the world of colonisers and colonised operates with its psychopathological manipulations in an unjust racially divided system of coloniser control.
These great decolonisation literature treasures will help Papuans to connect the dots of this last frontier to a bigger picture of centuries of war against colonised original peoples around the world, some of which were obliterated (Tasmania), able to escape (Algeria), or escaped but are still trying to reorganise themselves (Haiti).
Therefore, the coloniser and colonised paradigm is a useful mental framework to view Jakarta’s settler colonial activities and how Papuans (colonised) are continuously being lied to, manipulated, dissected, remade and destroyed — from all sides — in order to prevent them from uniting against the entity that threatens their very existence.
The real culprits in West Papua and proper Papuan justice
Most ordinary Papuans are unable to gain access to information regarding who exploits their natural resources, how much they are making, who receives the most benefits and how or why.
But Jakarta is too busy displaying Governor Enembe’s personal affairs and wild allegations in headline news — his entire existence is placed on public display, as an object of humiliation, just as the messianic Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross in order to convince Galilean followers that their beloved leader failed.
Let us not forget, however, that it was this publicly humiliated and crucified Jesus who forever changed the imperial world order and human history.
If true justice is to be delivered to colonised Papuans, then Papuans must put the Dutch on trial for abandoning them 60 years ago, and then hold the United Nations and the United States responsible for selling them, to Indonesia, 60 years ago.
In addition to arresting all international capitalist bandits that are exploiting West Papua under the disguise of multinational corporations, Indonesia should also be arrested for its crimes against Papuans, dating back over 61 years.
However, the question remains… who will deliver this proper justice for the colonised Papuans? Jakarta has certainly set itself on a pathological path of arresting, imprisoning, and executing any figure that appears to be a messianic figure to unite these dislocated original tribes for its final war for survival.
Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic/activist who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
How Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes featured the FLNKS boycott on the front page for the last of three referendums. Image: Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes screenshot APR
An Australian-based French law professor says it is up to the French people as a whole, and not the voters in New Caledonia, to decide the territory’s future statute.
Professor Eric Descheemaeker of the University of Melbourne’s Law School said New Caledonia’s three votes against full sovereignty meant that legally, the power to determine the future standing of the Pacific territory had reverted from New Caledonian voters to France as a whole.
In the three referendums between 2018 and 2021, a majority of New Caledonians rejected independence from France.
Professor Eric Descheemaeker . . . French constitutional framework still applies. Image: Merlbourne Law School
However, the last and third referendum under the 1998 Noumea Accord was boycotted by the pro-independence parties after France refused to postpone the vote to 2022 because of the covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the indigenous Kanak population.
The pro-independence Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) has been adamant that it will not recognise the referendum outcome, describing it as a humiliation of the Kanak people.
He said the rejection of the proposed sovereignty meant that New Caledonia was subject to the French constitution with its definition of national sovereignty.
The text says “no section of the people nor any individual may arrogate to itself, or to himself, the exercise thereof”.
Process not binding
Professor Descheemaeker also said the referendum process granted by Paris was not binding because a vote for independence would still have had to be approved by the French legislature and in a referendum.
He said the 1988 referendum involving all of France approved the Matignon Accords that paved the way for a vote on independence in New Caledonia within 10 years.
It did not take place, and political leaders deferred a decision by signing the Noumea Accord in 1998, which extended the deadline by another two decades.
Professor Descheemaeker said that with the referendum outcome, the provisions from 1988 could no longer be used to claim a separate entitlement for voters in New Caledonian, similar to there not being one for Parisians.
The political discussions are due to resume later this month once the FLNKS movement, which is a signatory to the Noumea Accord, has held its congress.
Formal talks on a new statute are yet to be launched, but speaking in the French National Assembly last month, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ruled out any further voting on the issue for five years.
Days after the last referendum in 2021, the then-Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he planned to have a vote in New Caledonia on a new statute by June 2023.
The last of three Kanaky New Caledonia referendums on independence on 12 December 2021 … “no validity without us”, the indigenous Kanak people. Image: FLNKS
Undertaking scuttled
But amid the political impasse and the absence of any substantive talks, the undertaking was scuttled.
The pro-French parties have said that with a new statute the restricted electoral rolls, which were brought in as part of the Noumea Accord process, must be opened to all French citizens.
Reserving voting rights in referendums and provincial elections to long-term residents and indigenous Kanaks, more than 40,000 French residents now lack full voting rights, being allowed to vote in French national elections only.
Professor Descheemaeker said that although there was no specific expiry date to the restrictions in New Caledonia, they would have to be reviewed.
He said the partial withdrawal of the right to vote from certain French citizens living in New Caledonia was contrary to the most fundamental constitutional principles.
He said the measures had only been validated by French and international authorities insofar as they were transitional.
Pro-independence parties are opposed to changing the rolls.
For them, the ringfencing of the electorate was an irreversible gain attained through the Noumea Accord.
They say this forms the bedrock of New Caledonian citizenship and identity as they pursue their campaign for an independent New Caledonia, which has been on the UN decolonisation list since 1986.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The village on Serua Island, Fiji . . . coastal erosion and flooding have caused severe damage over the past two decades. Image: Merawalesi Yee/The Conversation
Climate change is forcing people around the world to abandon their homes. In the Pacific Islands, rising sea levels are leaving communities facing tough decisions about relocation.
Some are choosing to stay in high-risk areas.
Our research investigated this phenomenon, known as “voluntary immobility”.
The government of Fiji has identified around 800 communities that may have to relocate due to climate change impacts (six have already been moved). One of these is the village on Serua Island, which was the focus of our study.
Coastal erosion and flooding have severely damaged the village over the past two decades. Homes have been submerged, seawater has spoiled food crops and the seawall has been destroyed.
Despite this, almost all of Serua Island’s residents are choosing to stay.
We found their decision is based on “vanua”, an Indigenous Fijian word that refers to the interconnectedness of the natural environment, social bonds, ways of being, spirituality and stewardship of place. Vanua binds local communities to their land.
Residents feel an obligation to stay
Serua Island has historical importance. It is the traditional residence of the paramount chief of Serua province.
A house on Serua Island is submerged by seawater. Image: A Serua Island resident/The Conversation
The island’s residents choose to remain because of their deep-rooted connections, to act as guardians and to meet their customary obligations to sustain a place of profound cultural importance. As one resident explained:
“Our forefathers chose to live and remain on the island just so they could be close to our chief.”
Sau Tabu is the burial site of the paramount chiefs of Serua. Image: Merewalesi Yee/The Conversation
The link to ancestors is a vital part of life on Serua Island. Every family has a foundation stone upon which their ancestors built their house. One resident told us:
“In the past, when a foundation of a home is created, they name it, and that is where our ancestors were buried as well. Their bones, sweat, tears, hard work [are] all buried in the foundation.”
Many believe the disturbance of the foundation stone will bring misfortune to their relatives or to other members of their village.
The ocean that separates Serua Island from Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, is also part of the identity of men and women of Serua. One man said:
“When you have walked to the island, that means you have finally stepped foot on Serua. Visitors to the island may find this a challenging way to get there. However, for us, travelling this body of water daily is the essence of a being Serua Islander.”
The ocean is a source of food and income, and a place of belonging. One woman said:
“The ocean is part of me and sustains me – we gauge when to go and when to return according to the tide.”
The sea crossing that separates Serua Island from Viti Levu is part of the islanders’ identity. Image: Merewalesi Yee/The Conversation
Serua Islanders are concerned that relocating to Viti Levu would disrupt the bond they have with their chief, sacred sites and the ocean. They fear relocation would lead to loss of their identity, cultural practices and place attachment. As one villager said:
“It may be difficult for an outsider to understand this process because it entails much more than simply giving up material possessions.”
If residents had to relocate due to climate change, it would be a last resort. Residents are keenly aware it would mean disrupting — or losing — not just material assets such as foundation stones, but sacred sites, a way of life and Indigenous knowledge.
Voluntary immobility is a global phenomenon As climate tipping points are reached and harms escalate, humans must adapt. Yet even in places where relocation is proposed as a last resort, people may prefer to remain.
Voluntary immobility is not unique to Fiji. Around the world, households and communities are choosing to stay where climate risks are increasing or already high. Reasons include access to livelihoods, place-based connections, social bonds and differing risk perceptions.
As Australia faces climate-related hazards and disasters, such as floods and bushfires, people living in places of risk will need to consider whether to remain or move. This decision raises complex legal, financial and logistical issues. As with residents of Serua Island, it also raises important questions about the value that people ascribe to their connections to place.
Serua Island is one of about 800 communities in Fiji being forced to consider the prospect of relocation. Video: France 24
A decision for communities to make themselves
Relocation and retreat are not a panacea for climate risk in vulnerable locations. In many cases, people prefer to adapt in place and protect at-risk areas.
No climate adaptation policy should be decided without the full and direct participation of the affected local people and communities. Relocation programs should be culturally appropriate and align with local needs, and proceed only with the consent of residents.
In places where residents are unwilling to relocate, it is crucial to acknowledge and, where feasible, support their decision to stay. And people require relevant information on the risks and potential consequences of both staying and relocating.
This can help develop more appropriate adaptation strategies for communities in Fiji and beyond as people move home, but also resist relocation, in a warming world.
France’s highest court has revived French Polynesia’s largest corruption case, which had been closed almost more than three years ago.
Eight people, including former president Gaston Flosse, were given jail sentences by Tahiti’s criminal court in 2013 for their roles in a kickback scheme to secure public sector contracts from the OPT telecommunications company.
On appeal in 2015, the case was thrown out over a technicality. In 2019, judicial authorities in Tahiti dismissed efforts to revisit the matter, saying the statute of limitations applied in the affair.
However, the court in Paris has now annulled their decision, saying that the relevant texts had been misunderstood.
The alleged misuse of public funds centred on French businessman Hubert Haddad paying US$2 million in kickbacks over 12 years to Flosse and his party to get the OPT contracts.
During the investigations and trial, it was established that Flosse’s secretary Melba Ortas used to collect the money as regular cash payments from Haddad’s local company, and Flosse admitted disbursing the money for private expenses.
While investigations were underway in 2009, Flosse was jailed for three weeks.
Imprisoned for three months
Haddad, who had been arrested in France, was also imprisoned for three months in Tahiti as part of the investigations, but on paying a US$800,000 bail, he secured his release.
The former head of the OPT and Air Tahiti, Nui Geffry Salmon, spent six months in preventive detention until he was freed on US$120,000 bail.
At their trial in 2013, Flosse and Haddad were given five-year prison sentences and fined US$110,000, but they appealed.
Flosse’s lawyers failed, however, in their bid to get France’s highest court to move the appeal case away from Tahiti after claiming they wouldn’t get a fair trial.
The criminal court also ordered that the OPT be reimbursed US$5.6 million.
Four months after the verdict, Flosse was elected president and within months, the lawyer acting for the OPT, James Lau, was dismissed.
Lau noted that those convicted had taken over key aspects of the impending appeal trial, likening the case to a “mafia-style affair”.
Procedural errors
In the appeal court in 2015, the case was thrown out because of procedural errors by the prosecution.
Attempts by the prosecution to revisit the case were quashed in 2019 when the case was closed.
The lawyer acting for Flosse, Francois Quinquis, said the latest decision in Paris to allow the affair to be retested is no surprise as the court tried to save the case.
He told Tahiti-infos he wished the prosecution good luck as the decisions reached so far had made the affair inextricable.
Haddad’s lawyer said the case would end once there were no protagonists left.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption has firmly established itself in the record books with the highest ash plume ever measured.
