A Papua New Guinea minister has raised concerns about “serious issues” at the PNG-Indonesia border due to a lack of proper security checkpoints.

Culture and Tourism Minister Belden Namah, who is also the member for the border electorate Vanimo-Green, voiced these concerns while supporting a new Biosecurity for Plants and Animals Bill presented in Parliament by Agriculture Minister John Boito.

He said Papua New Guinea was the only country in the Pacific Islands region that shared a land border with another nation.

• READ MORE: Other PNG-Indonesia reports

According to Namah, the absence of proper quarantine and National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) checks at the border allowed people bringing food and plants from Indonesia to introduce diseases affecting PNG’s commodities.

Minister Namah, whose electorate shares a border with Indonesia, noted that while the PNG Defence Force and police were present, they were primarily focused on checking vehicles coming from Indonesia instead of actively patrolling the borders.

He clarified the roles, saying, “It’s NAQIA’s job to search vehicles and passengers, and the PNGDF’s role is to guard and patrol our borders.”

Namah expressed concern that while bills were passed, enforcement on the ground was lacking.

Minister Namah supported the PNG Biosecurity Authority Bill and called for consistency, increased border security, and stricter control checks.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

A West Papua pro-independence leader says Indonesia is ramping up its repression of peaceful activists while people mobilise in favour of the province gaining full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

Benny Wenda said 10 activists were arrested earlier this week while handing out leaflets advertising a peaceful rally to support his United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) gaining full membership of the sub-regional group.

Wenda added that the next day rallies in Jayapura and Sentani were forcefully disbanded and 21 people arrested.

• READ MORE: West Papua solidarity group protests over arrest of 10 KNPB members
• Papua New Guinea ratifies border agreement ahead of Indonesian president’s possible visit
• Other West Papua reports

He said at the rallies activists were demanding that their birthright as a Melanesian nation be fulfilled.

Wenda said West Papua was entitled to full membership of the MSG by “our ethnic, cultural, and linguistic ties to the rest of Melanesia”.

“If Melanesian leaders needed further proof of the necessity of ULMWP full membership, then Indonesia has provided it,” he said.

“Only as full members will we be able to expose grave abuses such as these arrests on the international stage, and to defend our identity as a Melanesian people.

‘Why the quietness?’
“Indonesia claims that they are entitled to membership of the MSG because they represent other Melanesian populations. If that is the case, then why are these populations staying quiet?

“Indonesia cannot claim to represent West Papuans in the MSG, because we already have representation through the ULMWP.”

Wenda is demanding on behalf of the ULMWP and the West Papuan people “that no further arrests are made of Papuans rallying peacefully for full membership”.

He said Indonesia had nothing to fear from West Papuans returning to “our Melanesian family”.

“At the same time, they must understand that West Papuans are speaking with one voice in demanding full membership. All groups, ages, genders and tribes are totally united and focused on achieving our mission. We will not be deterred.”

The MSG is due to meet in Port Vila, Vanuatu, this month, although the dates have not yet been announced.

Last week, the Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) with trade, border arrangements and education foremost on the agenda.

However, as reported by RNZ Pacific, one topic that was not discussed was West Papua despite the countries sharing a 760km border.

An estimated 10,000 West Papuan refugees live in PNG, escaping a bloody conflict between armed separatists and the Indonesian army.

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

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to make a state visit to Papua New Guinea next month.

The one-day visit is scheduled for July 6 and comes after PNG Prime Minister James Marape’s own state visit to Indonesia in March 2022.

“Papua New Guinea will be honoured to host Indonesian President Widodo next month,” Marape said.

• READ MORE: Yamin Kogoya: 60 years ago, Indonesia invaded West Papua with guns. 60 years later, they’re still ruling with guns
• Other PNG-Indonesia reports

The two leaders are expected to discuss economic relations, as Papua New Guinea focuses on maintaining its relations with countries in the region.

Prime Minister Marape was in South Korea where he discussed new trade opportunities, and on Thursday he officiated at the inauguration of Bank of China representative office in Port Moresby.

The visit from President Widodo follows recent visits to Port Moresby from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and other Pacific leaders.

Marape added that he wants the focus of formal talks to shift from border issues to trade, business-to-business relations and people-to-people relations.

PNG and Indonesia established formal diplomatic ties in 1976 and Indonesia played a key role in PNG’s admission into the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group.

Parkop condemns ‘ignoring crisis’
The issue of West Papua human rights violations and calls for self-determination remains an issue for PNG’s civil society.

In December 2021, Powes Parkop, governor of PNG’s national capital, said the government should not keep “ignoring the crisis” in the neighbourng Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea.

In a series of questions in Parliament to then Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe, Parkop described the government as having done little to hold Indonesia to account for decades of human rights abuses in West Papua.

“Hiding under a policy of ‘Friends to All, Enemy to None’ might be okay for the rest of the world, but it is total capitulation to Indonesian aggression and illegal occupation,” Parkop said.

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

Indonesia has lodged a diplomatic protest with Papua New Guinea after the alleged shooting of an Indonesian fishing boat captain within the PNG-Indonesia border last week.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape yesterday confirmed an investigation is being conducted into the shooting.

“PNG will be conducting a full investigation into this matter and will inform the nation and Indonesia government too as to what happened,” Marape said.

• READ MORE: Post-Courier editorial: Border patrol by soldiers or navy must be taken seriously
• Other PNG border reports

The fishing vessel was allegedly shot at by a PNG Defence Force Guardian-class patrol boat within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of PNG.

The fishing vessel escaped back to Merauke in Papua with the body of its captain while two other boats were rounded up and escorted to Port Moresby.

The Australian government has denied any involvement in the incident and in any recent joint fishing patrols with PNG.

The vessel that was shot at has been identified as KMN Calvin 02 with the captain of the vessel also identified by the Indonesian authorities.

Two other boats detained
It is reported that two other vessels have been detained by the PNGDF — the KMN Arsila 77 with a crew of seven and KMN Baraka Paris with a crew of six.

Indonesian Ambassador to PNG Andriana Supandy has already communicated with various PNG government officials.

The Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby has also submitted an official diplomatic note to convey Indonesia’s various concerns.

The boats arrived in Port Moresby at midday yesterday and are being processed at the PNGDF Basilisk base.

On board these two vessels are 13 Indonesian fishermen who have also been detained.

In an interview with the Post-Courier, Ambassador Supandy said he had been advised that the boat crews would be prosecuted.

But the Indonesian government was still demanding an official explanation and a report which has not been received since their request for an investigation.

Indonesia summons officials
Ambassador Supandy said the Indonesian government had summoned PNG officials in Jakarta for an immediate investigation into this fatal shooting.

“Considering the strong and excellent bilateral relations between Indonesia and PNG, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia stands ready to proactively cooperate in the due process of law with the Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea,” Supandy said.

Last Thursday, Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned the PNG interim charge d’Affairs in Jakarta to convey a demand for comprehensively investigating the shooting incident by PNG security forces that had killed an Indonesian fisherman.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeks an explanation from the Papua New Guinea government regarding the shooting incident and presses for a thorough investigation and strict punishment to be applied if procedural violations are found, including the possibility of excessive use of force,” said Judha Nugraha, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens.

The last such shooting incident happened in 2006 with then Deputy PM Don Polye saying at the time that there would be an inquiry into the incident.

An Indonesian fisherman was shot with further three wounded in the incident.

Miriam Zarriga and Gorethy Kenneth are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has flagged a possible partnership with Indonesian state-owned petroleum corporation Pertamina as the western Pacific country deals with the current global surge in fuel prices, reports The National.

Marape, who returned from visiting Indonesia today with a delegation for trade talks, met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday as PNG looks for alternative sources of fuel.

“I remain confident that our practical discussions and the culmination of the various memorandum of understandings that will be signed will greatly complement PNG’s future socio-economic agenda and reap tangible outcomes,” Marape said after his arrival in Jakarta on Wednesday.

• READ MORE: Post-Courier blasts Marape for Jakarta junket ‘while Tari burns’
• K5m for PM Marape’s one-day state visit to Jakarta
• Police ambushed in Tari – one reservist dead, barracks burned

Marape said his visit was at the invitation of Widodo and acknowledged that Indonesia and Australia were PNG’s closest bilateral partners.

“While I have made important strides in the PNG-Australia relationship, I hope to strengthen the PNG-Indonesian relationship,” he said.

Marape said apart from the usual discussions on traditional issues relating to border management and combating cross-border crime, drug smuggling and terrorism, the talks would focus on other strategic opportunities for the two countries.

“The traditional issues are important but these are the traditional bilateral issues which are recurring in nature,” he said.

Strategic importance
“There is a place for those, but it is important that we use the opportunity to canvas other issues which are of strategic importance to us.”

Marape said the visit would focus on business, trade and investment opportunities and capacity building of human resources, among other practical and meaningful outcomes to complement PNG’s development aspirations.

Marape addressed the PNG-Indonesia Business and Investment Seminar yesterday where he was expected to invite Indonesian investors to develop downstream processing facilities in PNG to add value to its vast natural resources for export to Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other global markets.

Marape was accompanied by wife Rachael, four ministers, one governor, senior government officials, and a business delegation on the official visit who engaged in business and investment exchanges while government officials discussed sectoral issues with their Indonesian counterparts.

The PNG delegation returned today and Marape flew to Wapenamanda Airport, Enga province. He travelled to remote Maramuni to open the Wabag-Maramuni Road, part of the Enga Sepik Highway.

Republished with permission.

Two Melanesian state leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on West Papua last week.

During the 76th UNGA, both Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, James Marape, and Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Bob Loughman, expressed concern about human rights issues in West Papua.

While Marape devoted only 30 seconds of his 41-and-a-half-minute address to making some indirect remarks on West Papua, Loughman spent several minutes taking a more assertive approach.

• READ MORE: Lawyer Koman calls for inquiry into tragic death of health worker in Papua
• Other West Papua reports

Regardless, that 30 seconds was greatly appreciated by Papuans.

Here is the transcript of Loughman’s speech at the UNGA on 27 September 2021:

“In my region, New Caledonia, ‘French Polynesia’ and West Papua are still struggling for self-determination.

“Drawing attention to the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as stipulated in the UN Charter, it is important that the UN and the international community continue to support the relevant territories giving them an equal opportunity to determine their own statehood.

“In my region, the indigenous people of West Papua continue to suffer from human rights violations.

“The Pacific Form and ACP leaders, among other leaders, have called on the Indonesian government to allow the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua Province and to provide an independent assessment of the human rights situation.

“Today, there has been little progress on this plan. I hope the international community, through appropriate UN-led process, takes a serious look at this issue and addresses it fairly.”

Human rights concerns
The following is the transcript of the brief West Papua section in Marape’s address to the UNGA on 26 September 2021.

“While commenting on the United Nations peace effort on the PNG, I would also like to recall on the Pacific islands Leaders Forum (PIF) in 2019 and the out-sitting visit by the United Nations human rights mechanisms to address the alleged human rights concern in our regional neighbourhood.

“This visit is very important to ensure that the greater people have peace within their respective sovereignty and their rights and cultural dignity are fully preserved and maintained”.

The two leaders of Melanesian states expressed concern over West Papua in accordance with resolutions adopted by regional bodies, such as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (ACP) in 2019.

One of the most important features of these resolutions was the call for the root causes of the West Papua problem to be addressed.

These resolutions remain primarily concerned with human rights issues. In reality, these violations of human rights result from deeper problems that are often forgotten or ignored.

For Papuans, this deeper problem relates to sovereignty: the Papuans contend that the means by which Indonesia has claimed sovereignty over West Papua was fraudulent and immoral.

Tackling the root causes
Unless the world’s leaders and international institutions — the United Nations, the ACP and/or the PIF — address these root causes, it is highly unlikely that human rights problems will be solved.

In addition, continuing to acknowledge Indonesia’s sovereignty in these resolutions would legitimise human rights abuses, since these violations are a consequence of Indonesia’s breach of sovereignty.

During the 2016 UNGA, leaders of seven Pacific nations (Vanuatu, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, and the Solomon Islands) raised the issues of West Papua.

Many of them agreed that the root causes should be addressed. To date, we are no closer to having a conversation about these issues than we were a few years ago.

It appears that voices like those just heard from two leaders from Melanesia at the forum occur once in a blue moon and then vanish into a sea of deaf ears.

A new lens on Indonesian colonialism
The West Papua situation has since deteriorated. In West Papua, shootings continue unabated, and prominent leaders such as Victor Yeimo continue to be arrested and imprisoned.

We continue to receive reports of Papuan bodies being found in the gutter, on the street, in the bush, in hospitals, houses, and hotels. The internal world is also bombarded by images and videos that depict Papuans who have been tortured, abused, burned or killed.

Another young prominent Papuan leader, Abock Busup, died suddenly in a Jakarta hotel last Sunday.

Abock was the former regent of the Yahukimo, the Star Mountains Highlands in Papua, and the chairman of the Papua National Mandate Party’s regional leadership council.

In May, Papuans also lost the Vice-Governor of the Papuan Province, Klemen Tinal, at Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Jakarta.

In September 2020, another prominent Papuan leader from the highlands region of Papua, Lanny Jaya, Bertus Kogoya, died in a hotel room in Jakarta.

Kogoya was the chair of the Regional Leadership Council (DPW) of the Papua Provincial Working Party at the time of his death.

Jakarta dangerous for Papuans
Jakarta, the capital and most populous city of Indonesia, has been dangerous and unwelcoming for Papuans, who are punished with death upon arrival. The causes of their deaths are rarely determined by authorities.

In response to these never-ending brutalities, the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the resistance movement, retaliated. A number of deaths of security personnel and immigrants have been attributed to them.

The armed wing often claimed that their targeted victims are not ordinary immigrants, but people who have been either directly or indirectly implicated into the state’s security apparatus, which threaten Papuans throughout the land.

A military post in Sorong, in the Mybrat region of West Papua, was attacked in early September 2021, resulting in the death of four Indonesian soldiers.

Two years earlier, in December 2018, the TNPB killed at least 19 workers in the Nduga region, suspected to be members of security forces.

In recent weeks, a 22-year-old health worker, Gabriella Maelani, was killed in the Kiwirok district of Star Highlands. This, coupled with the burning of public health buildings, are only a few of the heartbreaking atrocities perpetrated in West Papua against humanity.

These shootings and killings have conflicting narratives wherein the West Papua liberation army accused their victims of being either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of Papuans.

Justifying ‘securitisation’
In contrast, the government of Indonesia has attributed all forms of violence to the liberation armed wing, which conveniently justifies their securitisation of the entire region.

A massive humanitarian crisis has resulted from these killings, displacing the residents of entire areas from their homes and forcing them into forests, causing further deaths of villagers, either through starvation, sickness, or reprisal attacks by the Indonesian military.

Human tragedies never end in the land popularly known as “the little heaven that falls to earth.”

As reported in Asia Pacific Report, lawyer and human rights activist Veronica Koman has called for an independent investigation into the death of the Kiwirok’s health workers.

But even such requests are consistently denied by the authorities. Human rights organisations, NGOs, and rights activists have pressed Jakarta to investigate these atrocities for years with no result to date.

In West Papua, people live in conditions of what French sociologist Émile Durkheim termed anomie, meaning the breakdown of the existential structure that holds human life, morality, ethics, norms, and values together.

In this world, what is justice for one is a crime against another. It is a complete breakdown of the system; it is a war of freedom and survival in a tangled world – entanglements which make it virtually impossible to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these crimes when the very system necessary to deliver justice is inherently incongruent.

That is what anomie is, in essence.

An exotic dream
West Papua may seem like an exotic dream world full of wealth and lush greenery to Indonesians and Western companies which thrive on its natural resources. These people have no concern for protecting this paradise world; instead, they go there to dig, cut, extract, and steal for their multimillion-dollar mansion in Jakarta, London, Washington, or Canberra.

This is the only place that Papuans call home on this planet. Tragically, this home has been turned into a theatre of killings.

The fate of their land and cultural identities are at stake as the colonial Indonesians and imperial West have thrust the Papuan people into a fierce struggle for survival in their ancestral homeland.

The deaths of Papuans, immigrants, and security personnel are not isolated incidents. They are the victims of big wars for global control fought behind the scenes in Rome, Beijing, Jakarta, London, Canberra, Moscow, Auckland, Washington, Tokyo, and Canberra.

The real perpetrators live in these imperial capital cities. The mourning relatives in West Papua or elsewhere in Indonesia will never meet these perpetrators nor see them brought to justice as they control the very system in which these crimes are perpetrated.

According to a report from the Asian Human Rights Commission in 2013 entitled “Neglected Genocide”, Australia provided Iroquois helicopters to Indonesia in the 1970s along with Bell UH-1H Huey helicopters from the United States.

These helicopters, among other aircraft and resources, were used by Indonesia to bomb Papua’s highland villages of Bolakme, Bokondini, Pyramid, Kelila, Tagime, and surrounding areas.

Australian-trained terror squad
Danny Kogoya, one of the key OPM commanders who died in hospital near the PNG-Indonesia border in 2013, was shot by an anti-terrorist squad trained by the Australian elites.

Kogoya died as a result of an infection caused by the amputation of his right leg after having been shot in Entrop Jayapura, Jayapura, Indonesia on 2 September 2012.

Maire Leadbeater, a New Zealand-based human rights activist, wrote an article published in Green-Left in May 2021 in which she stated: “Since 2008, New Zealand has exported military aircraft parts to the Indonesian Air Force.”

In most years, including 2020, these parts are listed as “P3 Orion, C130 Hercules & CASA Military Aircraft: Engines, Propellers & Components including Casa Hubs and Actuators”.

West Papua will see the use of this military hardware as Indonesia continues to increase its presence in the region in an attempt to crack down on the highlands, which have already suffered massive displacement in the Nduga region.

It is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the immense volume of weaponry, skills, and training the Western governments supply to Indonesia.

It is important to ask why Western governments aid Indonesia in eliminating indigenous Papuans. These questions can be answered by looking at what the Māori of New Zealand, the Aboriginals of Australia, and the Native Americans endured.

Colonisation by settlement
Colonisation through settlement has proven to be the most pernicious in human history. Tragically, this project is being undertaken by Indonesians in West Papua with the assistance of Western governments, based on the logic of exterminating one population in order to replace it with another.

Europeans have done this in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States with great success.

Currently, they are dispensing all of their knowledge, expertise, and weapons to Indonesians in order to eradicate the Papuans. They continue to supply arms to Indonesia, despite knowing the arms will be used against the Papuans.

The Indonesian government’s execution of their plan to exterminate Papuans is neither secret nor new. In 1963, General Ali Moertopo declared that the Papuan people should be sent to the moon.

Decades later, General Luhut Panjaitan said the Papuans should be sent to the Pacific.

Recently, General Hendropriyono said the 2 million Papuans should be sent to Manado Island in Northern Sulawesi.

Indonesian generals’ voices
These words are coming from Indonesia’s military generals who undoubtedly have military affiliations with those Western countries that supply those munitions.

International organisations such as the UN, the PIF, and the ACP fail to challenge Western-backed Indonesia’s pernicious logic of annihilating the Papuan people through the system of “settler colonialism”.

Both West Papua and Papua are not simply provinces of Indonesia but Indonesian settler colonies.

Viewing West Papua through the lens of a Settler Colony helps to understand all the activities conducted in region better, as Indonesia attempt to assimilate, reduce, remove, and eliminate the original inhabitants so that new settlers can occupy the vacated lands.

Without real actions, written resolutions and human rights rhetoric at UN forums are nothing more than funeral letters or platitudes intended to comfort the dying and entertain the perpetrators.

The ultimate betrayal
Papuans’ stories are reminiscent of a Hollywood movie in which deserted civilians wait for a rescue train which never arrives. The sad truth is that Papuans die every day waiting for this train.

A train did arrive on 1 December 1961, when the Dutch prepared and assisted the Papuans in joining the new global community of the independent state.

Tragically, Papuans were thrown off the train when Indonesia invaded West Papua in 1963, after being permitted to invade by those imperial planners during the controversial New York Agreement a year earlier.

A sham referendum that followed in 1969 irrevocably sealed the fate of the Papuan people, known to Papuans as the “Act of No Choice”. To date, Papuans are still awaiting another train that will bring them into the global nationhood of humanity. The question is, who controls this train?

Despite all of these tragedies, the will to live continues to ignite the flames of hope and freedom in a world encircled by the clutches of despair.

Often, that will to live is strengthened each time West Papua is mentioned at the United Nations, which motivates the Papuans to wait for the next long-awaited train, which never arrives. Rumours and news spread, and their social media accounts are filled with messages of hope, thanksgiving, and prayers.

Appreciation messages
Here are the comments of these varieties expressed in appreciation for the speeches delivered by two Melanesian state leaders recently at the UNGA.

Free West Papua Camping Facebook Page wrote the following words:

“Our Sincere Gratitude and a big thank you to Prime minister of PNG, Hon. MP. Mr James Marape, to recall the PIF Leaders’ Resolution on West Papua in 2019, on your speech (mins. 41.05-41.35) at UNGA, September 25 2021. (41.05:) (41.35). Only God knows that the 30 seconds part of your speech is highly appreciated, respected and valued by our people back home who are struggling under Indonesian atrocities and colonial system and all Papuans in exile including those that are residing in your beloved country, PNG. May God bless your leadership and your government and your people back home to become a blessing for other countries, especially, for the Melanesians and the Pacific Islanders in our region. Peace be with you and your entire country.
Long live PNG
Long live MSG countries!!
Long God yumi trustem and stanap for our freedom, dignity, justice, sovereignty, peace and cultural identities.
Freedom for West Papua, one pela day”

The campaign page also posted the following message in appreciation of the Prime Minister of Vanuatu’s speech:

“On behalf of the people of West Papua we thank you to Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Hon. MP Mr Bob Loughman, for Addresses [sic] Human Rights situations at United Nations today on his speech (at UNGA, September 25, 2021)
Long live Vanuatu, God bless VANUATU”

Papua’s fate hangs in “30 Seconds” and only God knows the outcome.

In Marape’s 41-and-a-half-minute speech, only 30 seconds were devoted to West Papua. In addition to omitting the name of West Papua, the speech was carefully constructed, avoiding certain words that may reveal the identities of those who commit heinous crimes that go unpunished.

Key message for families
Nevertheless, that 30-second speech was highly appreciated by the families of the victims.
The reality of the Papuans under Indonesian rule can be summarised in those 30 seconds.

As Papuans wait in the emergency room of an Indonesian hospital, they feel as if they are on life support as Indonesia continues to fiddle with its oxygen life support system. In that situation, time and rescue is of the essence.

Marape’s 30-second statement regarding West Papua prompted the Free West Papua Campaign to remind an unresponsive twin brother that time is running out.

In spite of it seeming inconsequential to him and the rest of the world, the Free West Papua Campaign says that “those 30 seconds are highly valued, appreciated and respected because every second counts to prevent another Papuan death accompanied by another loss of land.”

In the end, “only God knows the 30 seconds” declared the Free West Papua Campaign groups.

Both God and 30 seconds symbolised impossibilities of great magnitude and triviality, and a courageous human agent like James Marape can turn these impossibilities into possibilities to determine the fate of dying humanity and biodiversity in the land of Papua.

Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic 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.

Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Indonesia have been discussing a potential reopening of their shared border.

The border was officially closed early last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, but the illegal movement of people back and forth has continued across the porous international boundary.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape met with Indonesia’s Ambassador in Port Moresby, Andriana Supandy, and agreed that the border must be properly policed to prevent the spread of covid-19.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the PNG-Indonesian border

Indonesia’s heath system is being stretched with high covid infection rates, and PNG has also struggled to contain the spread of the virus.

No date has been given for when the border may reopen officially.

In others areas discussed, Supandy proposed for the two countries to enter into a Free Trade Agreement to boost trade and commerce, citing the potential as demonstrated in the success of vanilla trade between PNG and Indonesia.

The ambassador also informed Prime Minister Marape that Indonesia has already ratified the Border and Defence Cooperation Agreement and Land Border Transport Agreement and was awaiting PNG to do the same.

He said these agreements would pave the way for a more robust bilateral tie between the two countries.

On West Papua, the diplomat said that Indonesia appreciated the consistent position that PNG government has taken in acknowledging that the western half of New Guinea was an integral part of Indonesia.

He said the West Papuan self-determination demands remained an internal issue for Indonesia to resolve.

A release from Marape’s office also said both countries had discussed the need for joint cooperation in power connectivity to areas in PNG’s Western and West Sepik provinces.

Military donation
The Indonesian military has donated an aircraft engine to the PNG Defence Force Air Transport Squadron for one of its aircraft to be used for operations in the 2022 general election.

Marape also confirmed yesterday that US$14 million would be ballocated in 2021 and 2022 to ensure all aircraft were ready to be used next year.

The The National newspaper reports Marape saying the aircraft would also be used in enforce transborder security.

The head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Strategic Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant-General Joni Supriyanto, arrived on a Lockheed C-130H Hercules in Port Moresby yesterday with the engine.

He said transporting the overhauled Casa aircraft engine to PNG “would enhance relationship and cooperation between the armed forces contributing to security and stability in the region”.

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

Papua New Guinea’s Controller of the National Pandemic Response and Police Commissioner, David Manning, has told the public that a rumour circulating on social media about new cases of covid-19 in Port Moresby is false, the PNG Post-Courier reports.

He also cautioned the public from spreading misinformation and fake news which was detrimental to public safety.

It was also a criminal offence under the country’s cyber crime laws, he said.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – US cases pass 3 million

To date, Papua New Guinea has 11 confirmed cases of covid-19, with the last case confirmed on June 15.

The ninth case has been repatriated to his home country, Australia, while the other two last cases, which are still active, are being monitored.

The rapid response team of the National Capital District continued to conduct case investigation and contact tracing, in collaboration with the teams from the Department of Health, the PNG Defence Force, the Australian Defence Force, St John Ambulance and the World Health Organisation.

Manning said that any new cases would be confirmed and announced to the public through the National Control Centre.

Call to be vigilant
“I urge people to get your information from reliable sources and not share anything from unverified platforms. As we continue to be vigilant against covid-19, I urge you to also be mindful of the information you share,” Manning said.

He said the threat of covid-19 remained. He urged everyone to continue the “new normal” public health measures, which included:

• Anyone who is sick must stay at home and must stay away from others. Limit social gatherings and time spent in crowded places;
• Physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres must be adhered to in all public places. If physical distancing is not possible, wear a mask;
• Wash your hands often. All business establishments and offices must have hand washing facilities and make available hand sanitizers for visitors;
• Temperature checks must be consistently imposed and deny entry to those with symptoms; and
• Practice respiratory etiquette – cover your coughs and sneezes with flexed elbow or tissue.

“I emphasise once again, anyone who is experiencing flu-like symptoms, fevers, coughs, sore throats, body aches or difficulty breathing must stay at home and immediately call our toll free line 1800 200,” Manning said.

Border covid security talks
Meanwhile, the Minister for Immigration and Border Security, Westly Nukundj, has held discussions with the Indonesian Ambassador about the threat of covid-19 spreading into Papua New Guinea through the land border, reports the Post-Courier.

The Indonesians assured Nujukunj that the second batch of 100 PNG citizens will be repatriated to PNG later this month.

Nukundj on Wednesday accepted an invitation from the Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby to meet with Ambassador Andriana Sutandy.

Discussions surrounded the areas of strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two nations in the areas of visas and border protection along the PNG-Indonesian borders, border infrastructure development within the covid-19 period and cooperation between the two nations after covid-19.

The meeting was a followup to earlier discussions between Prime Minister James Marape and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia has more than 66,000 cases of covid-19, including more than 2000 in West Papua.

Repatriation of about 120 Papua New Guinea citizens from the Papua province of Indonesia to West Sepik under the Indonesian special covid-19 state of emergency (SOE) will start next week, says PNG’s Covid-19 SOE Controller David Manning.

Manning said the PNG citizens included prisoners serving various terms in Indonesian prisons – mostly in the West Papua region of two provinces –  for alleged drug-smuggling and illegal entry.

“The repatriation of 123 Papua New Guinea citizens from Jayapura will happen on either Wednesday or Thursday next week,” he said.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – WHO warns 190,000 could die in Africa

• Repatriation of PNG citizens from West Papua to begin
• Timorese woman dies from covid-19 in Northern Ireland

“The first lot of 39 Papua New Guinea citizens will be received at the border by PNG authorities from Vanimo.

“This group comprises 24 prisoners from Abepura jail in Jayapura who were serving various terms for illegal entry and 15 stranded PNG citizens with expired visas.”

Manning said that generally the situation across the country was quiet.

“But our recent focus on security is the 760km border between PNG and Indonesia,” he said.

240 confirmed cases
“And in Papua, there are 240 confirmed cases [of covid-19].

“The death toll remains at six and recoveries at 48.

“While the daily cases curve is flattening at 2.45 percent, we are taking all precautions at the border areas to ensure that this does not spread over into PNG.

“We have a strong presence of security forces in the northern and southern border provinces (Western and West Sepik) as well as the Gulf province.”

Meanwhile, Jayapura-based PNG Consul-General Geoffrey Wiri said West Sepik administrator Conrad Tilau had advised him to send the PNG citizens in batches of 30 and 40 due to their limited quarantine capacity.

“As I understand it, they have allocated a vacant property in West Tower area in Vanimo for quarantine and then the PNG citizens will be released after 14 days,” he said.

Wiri is also concerned that the PNG-Indonesian border has been shut since January 29.

‘Good bilateral relations’
“I need a copy of Manning’s emergency orders for me to inform the Papua provincial government authorities to open the gate since they are also under lockdown condition. But they are willing to open the gates because of our good bilateral relations.”

He said only the 24 Papua New Guinea prisoners jailed at Abepura Prison for illegal entry were being released.

“But not the remaining 74 prisoners serving various terms for drug-smuggling,” Wiri said.

“I understand that negotiations between PNG and Indonesian government for the repatriation for these convicted drug smugglers has not begun yet.”

Wiri said 66 prisoners were in the Doyo Baru narcotic prison in Papua province while seven were in the Bolangi narcotic prison in Sulawesi Province and one in a prison in Manokwari, West Papua province.

Clifford Faiparik is a reporter for The National newspaper.

Indonesia has denied New Zealand diplomats’ requests to visit Papua and assess the conflict and human rights situation in the turbulent region.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, a spokesperson from the New Zealand embassy confirmed the travel ban, which has been extended to diplomats from the British and Canadian embassies as well.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Kemlu, reportedly cited security concerns following weeks of violence and protest as the reason to deny entry.

READ MORE: WEST PAPUA: Veronica Koman ‘won’t be silenced’ despite daily death threats

“Security considerations were the main concern at the moment,” Kemlu spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

“We [Kemlu] follow the decision by the government to limit foreigners to visit Papua, including diplomats.”

Australian and United States diplomats had not requested permission to visit however as they feared such inquiries would cause a “diplomatic headache”.

The article said that the decision to block entry “underscored Indonesian sensitivities about the independence movement and recent violence in the provinces of Papua and West Papua”.

This follows reports that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Right has also been repetitively blocked from visiting Papua, despite being invited in 2018.

According to RNZ Pacific, UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has said the talks with Jakarta to arrange a visit had stalled.

“We have been working with the authorities, but we haven’t been able to progress it. But we will continue to talk to them because they promised to my predecessor the visit to West Papua but afterward we try to make it work and it hasn’t worked yet but I hope it will work.”

The situation in Papua has reached a crescendo in the last two weeks with reports of over 30 people killed during protests and at least 11500 fleeing violence in the highland town of Wamena, reports Fiji Village.

Reports indicate that those killed were Papuans shot by military but also non-native residents burned to death when protestors torched buildings.

Despite calls from international groups to investigate the deaths on both sides of the conflict, the Indonesian government has been focusing its efforts on finding and apprehending those it deems responsible for inciting the protests.

According to The Jakarta Post, Papuan activists arrested for treason were surreptitiously moved from the Papuan city of Jayapura to East Kalimantan, prompting condemnation from their lawyers and rights groups.

Meanwhile, a build up of Indonesian troops and a nearby shootout has prompted the border between Papua New Guinea and Papua to be closed.

While ethnic violence and anger has characterised the conflict in recent weeks, there have been instances of stirring kindness and humanity with reports of security forces protecting Papuans from Indonesian militias and Papuans protecting Indonesians from the indigenous protestors.

The Jakarta Post reports that Papuans from Wamena personally escorted non-native residents into a safe zone during the worst of the demonstrations and helped them escape the town afterwards.

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing today for state visits to Papua New Guinea, Brunei and the Philippines – and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit in Port Moresby.

During Xi’s stay in Papua New Guinea, he will also meet with leaders from the Pacific  countries that have established diplomatic ties with China amid growing political rivalries over the region, reports Xinhua news agency.

Xi was invited to pay the visits by Governor-General of Papua New Guinea Bob Dadae and APEC host Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

READ MORE: Jo Chandler’s APEC comes to PNG

He is arriving amid growing controvesy over the extravagant spending for APEC and allegations of corruption in a nation troubled by deep crises over education and health.

More than 200 Chinese media personals are already making tracks to be in PNG for the state Visit and the APEC summit.

Meanwhile, opposition Kavieng MP Ian Ling-Stuckey has severely criticised PNG’s 2019 Budget.

He said too much money had been spent on a Port Moresby-centred APEC, but now was the time to deliver the policies that could tap into all of the potential benefits of APEC and distribute them throughout the country.

The cost of the two-day APEC for PNG is reportedly more than 200 million kina (about NZ$90 million).

‘Opportunity squandered’
“This opportunity has been squandered. Instead, the 2019 Budget has dished up anti-APEC policies such as new taxes on trade and protectionist language,” Ling-Stuckey said.

“We have demonstrated that we are not being honest in our budget policy with misleading facts and hidden figures.

“This is a big-spending and fiscally irresponsible budget that abandons our new fiscal anchors. This is a disappointing day for the children of PNG, and the O’Neill/Abel government should be ashamed.

“The alternative government is a supporter of APEC. However, we have not been supportive of the expensive way that it has been implemented with numerous questions about contracts that should be referred to auditors.

“Unfortunately, items such as the Maseratis and Bentleys have unnecessarily damaged our international reputation.

As PNG prepared for its first APEC summit, it also expected to have 10,000 delegates to arrive for this meeting, reports EMTV News.

More then 1000 APEC officers are deployed in various parts of the city to ensure the safety of the visitors.

The National reports PNG police have placed a temporary embargo on the movement of people across the PNG’s border with Indonesia until the end of APEC summit amid tight security.

The purpose of this travel ban was reportedly to stop the foreigners from entering Port Moresby and to disrupt the APEC summit.

It will be attended by 21 head of the states from across the world, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

• • More APEC stories

China … China … China …

All the talk is of increasing Chinese influence in our region. But this is to wilfully see past the elephant in the room.

Contrary to most commentary, the biggest destabilising player in Melanesia over the past five years is not China but Indonesia, which through its “look east” policy has deliberately paralysed the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) while financing local MPs and political parties across the Pacific to try and stop snowballing regional support for West Papuan independence.

Indonesia already has Peter O’Neill onside in PNG, and Voreqe Bainimarama in Fiji, and is busy trying to neutralise Vanuatu, the Solomons and FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front) leaders in New Caledonia, who are resisting Indonesian influence.

READ MORE: The Vanuatu Daily Post and the photo censored by Facebook
THE BANNED PHOTO and other Ben Bohane images in his The Black Islands photoessay at Pacific Journalism Review.

The reason Vanuatu and other Melanesian nations may be turning to China is because they are more worried about Indonesia, which has directly threatened Vanuatu over its strong diplomatic support for the West Papuans.

Vanuatu might be pulling some “muscle” into its corner, feeling it can’t rely on Australia because Canberra continues in its supine support of Indonesia whatever they do – even as Jakarta directly undermines Australian and Pacific island interests.

The accumulative “strategic failure” being talked of by Labour’s Richard Marles and others, is not because Australia has failed to check Chinese influence in Melanesia, but a result of Australia’s failure to check Indonesian interference in these nations that were supposed to be “our patch”.

For decades, islanders thought their “big brothers” Australia and America would defend Pacific peoples as they did in WWII. Instead, it appears Australia has outsourced its security of Melanesia to Indonesia, giving them free reign.

‘Melanesian nation’
Despite being a Melanesian nation itself through its own Torres Strait and South Sea Islander communities, strangely Australia has not sought to join the main political grouping of its own neighbourhood, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which has now been hijacked by Indonesia with help from Fiji in particular; more blow-back from Canberra’s misguided attempts to isolate Fiji after the coup.

It is not lost on the region that while the Turnball government is warning about Chinese influence, senior members of his own party have been taking Chinese coin, from former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer spruiking for Huwei to recent Trade Minister Andrew Robb now working for the same Chinese company that controversially bought Darwin’s port.

Still, as examples like Sri Lanka demonstrate, Australia is right to flag concerns about strategic vulnerability that comes with excessive debt to China.

From a Melanesian perspective, the two biggest security issues they face are climate change and Indonesia’s increasing political interference across the Melanesian archipelago, rooted in its desire to hold onto West Papua.

Despite the mantra from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that Australia remains the “strategic partner of choice” for Vanuatu and the region, the fact is that Canberra is not listening to Melanesia’s own security concerns, but telling them what they should be concerned about, ie China.

This is not going down well and Melanesian nations are forging their own security arrangements with or without Australia, who they see as compromised when it comes to climate change and Indonesia.

In the past few months we have witnessed something of a “pincer movement”. In late December, RAAF jets were suddenly scrambled from Tindal air base near Darwin after a number of nuclear-capable Russian Tu 95 “Bear” bombers flew from Biak in West Papua, flying between Papua and Australia’s north for intelligence gathering purposes.

Russian bombers
It’s the first time Russian bombers have operated like this in the South Pacific and suggests Jakarta wanted to warn Australia and the US forces parked in Darwin that it too could bring some “muscle” into the neighbourhood. That message was likely aimed at China as much as Australia and the US.

Then last week, at the other end of Melanesia we have revelations about a potential Chinese military base in Vanuatu. The first thing to say is that it’s highly unlikely China would have asked for a military base – they are far too subtle to do that.

More likely is that they may be angling for something dressed up as a civilian project but with military applications, like the “space station” speculation floated in the Chinese press last week.

They have already built a lot of dual-use infrastructure in Vanuatu such as the big Santo wharf, so step by step, like their “salami-slicing” strategy in the South China Sea, they will move incrementally without wanting to frighten the horses.

Both of these pincer moves have their origin in West Papua’s situation. In some ways it reflects Paul Dibb’s reworking of Australian defence policy in the late 1980s to get beyond its Euro-centricity. Dibb offered a map with concentric circles emanating out from Darwin. The first circles cover East Timor and West Papua.

There are strategic consequences to Australia’s 50-year policy of not just turning a blind eye to Indonesia’s “slow-motion genocide” in West Papua, but active involvement through its Densus 88 anti-terror unit, which many Papuans accuse of not just targetting Islamic militants, but Papuan nationalists too.

At a time when Canberra is battling jihadis in the Middle East and the Philippines, it appears unconcerned by jihadi activity and Indonesian military collusion right on its doorstep, or a possible Prabowo government elected next year, backed by Islamist groups.

Bloody proxy militias
Those of us who witnessed Indonesia’s bloody use of proxy militias in East Timor have watched the same apparatus move to West Papua, with the same man – General Wiranto – still in charge.

It wasn’t always like this.

There was a time when the Menzies government in Australia supported Dutch plans for West Papuan independence throughout the 1950s and early 1960s until the US twisted arms to accept Indonesian control because of Cold War politics.

There was a time when the Australian Defence Force (ADF) worked with the PNGDF to actively secure its 800km border with Indonesia. Today the border is wide open and sources within PNGDF intelligence continue to complain that the Indonesian military routinely violate PNG sovereignty with their patrols, up to a dozen times per year, sometimes even moving the border marking pegs.

How can Australia be perceived as PNG’s security guarantor when it doesn’t even help them secure their primary border, especially with the growing threat of jihadi infiltration?

Why has the AFP been given priority over the ADF in terms of security across Melanesia? With no more engineering battalions or ADF army advisors present in camp, China has walked right in. The last ADF army adviser to Vanuatu, Major Paul Prickett, left 10 years ago and wasn’t replaced.

Many years ago I spent some time with Dick Hagen, a legendary coffee plantation manager in the Highlands of PNG, who has been there since the 1950s. He told me how in the 1960s and 70s, he and many Australians living in PNG were given basic military training so they could be a first response “militia” should the Indonesians come over the border and invade PNG.

For decades the PNG-Indonesia border was regarded as Australia’s real frontline. It was another potential “Kokoda” which didn’t happen, but Indonesia has found other ways to extend its reach.

Mohammed Hatta, one of the founding fathers of Indonesia, warned his nation against taking West Papua, saying Indonesia might not stop until it got to Fiji. That is now coming to pass. But ironically, it is China that will likely contain Indonesia’s expansion in the region, not Australia.

Some sort of deal?
I have the sense that some sort of deal was struck between Canberra and Jakarta back in the 1970s; that Australia would turn a blind eye to everything west of the border while Indonesia would not interfere in PNG and anything east of the border.

Australia has naively kept its part of the deal while Indonesia clearly has not. As a result, in the social media age when all the Pacific is now aware of climate change and what Indonesia continues to do in West Papua and beyond with tacit Australian support, Australia and the US are losing the moral – and actual – leadership of the region.

China is the result.

But it is worth remembering that Australia does much to support Melanesia in other important areas, has been a generous neighbour and will always be there for the islands in tough times. To the keyboard warriors on social media always blaming Australia for what has happened in West Papua, they would do well to understand the history; that it was US and UN decisions that sealed West Papua’s fate.

Australia and Holland initially supported their independence. Why would Australia again risk war with Indonesia over West Papua when Melanesians themselves have not united to bring the West Papuans fully into their family?

It was the MSG which let the wolf into their house, not Australia. As someone who was there in the first weeks of East Timor’s bloody liberation, amidst the burning buildings and bodies, it was an Australian-led coalition which secured East Timor. I remember wondering where are the Melanesian forces to assist and show solidarity? No PNGDF, no VMF or Fijian forces during the critical phase.

Australia must now find a strategic balance among its “frenemies” Indonesia and China. That begins with deeper engagement with the islands, leadership on climate change and working with Melanesian leaders to address their security concerns as much as Australia’s.

Only by listening and closer co-operation with Melanesian leaders can Australia assist with a robust defence of the Melanesian archipelago from Timor to Fiji and be seen as Melanesia’s “security partner of choice”.

Ben Bohane is a photojournalist and television producer based in Vanuatu who has specialised in reporting war and religion for nearly 30 years across Asia and the Pacific. He has been a frequent contributor to the Pacific Media Centre over the years.