Three Nouméa municipal policemen are now facing a prosecution after a disturbing video was posted in a Facebook neighbourhood watch group, allegedly implicating them in acts of severe violence against a Kanak man they had just arrested.

The municipal police officers are not part of the French security forces that have been sent to restore law and order, RNZ Pacific understands.

Initial investigations established that the violence took place on at 6th Kilometre, on the night of May 25-26, and that it “followed the arrest of several persons suspected of a theft attempt”, Nouméa Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a statement yesterday.

• READ MORE: Footage of French forces officer kicking Kanak man in head surfaces online
• Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports

The incident was captured in a brief video, later posted on social networks, being shared hundreds of times and going viral.

“It is the management of municipal police themselves who have signalled this to us”, Dupas said.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had verified the authenticity of the short footage which depicted a “representative of the security forces striking a violent foot kick to the head of a person sitting on the ground after he was arrested”.

On the same video, the other two officers, all equipped with riot gear, are seen to be standing by, surrounding the victim.

Dupas said a formal inquiry was now underway against the three municipal police officers who were now facing charges of “violence from a person entrusted with public authority and failure to assist a person in peril”.

“This case will be treated with every expected severity, being related to presumed facts of illegitimate violence on the part of officers entrusted with a mission of administrative and judicial police”, the statement said.

It added that “this is the first case being treated for this type of act since the beginning of civil unrest in New Caledonia” and further stressed that law enforcement agencies deployed on the ground have displayed “professionalism” in the “difficult management of the law enforcement operations carried out”.

“The victim remains to be approached by investigators in order to undergo medical examination and assess his current health condition.”

The announcement was made as part of the French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc during his daily update on the situation.

“As a follow-up to the end of the state of emergency since Tuesday, 28 May, 2024, the ban on the platform TikTok has been lifted,” a statement said.

The ban was announced on May 15 in what was then described as an attempt to block contacts between rioting groups in the French Pacific territory.

It had since then been widely contested as a breach of human rights.

Doubts had also been expressed on how effective the measure could have been, with other platforms (such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Viber) remaining accessible and the fact that the ban on Tiktok could be easily dodged with VPN tools.

World Cup 1998 winner Karembeu ‘in mourning’
Earlier this week, former footballer and 1998 World Cup champion Christian Karembeu made a surprise revelation saying two members of his family had been shot dead during the riots.

Speaking to French radio Europe 1 on Monday, Karembeu said: “I have lost members of my family, that’s why I remained silent (until now), because I am in mourning.”

“Two members of my family have been shot with a bullet in the head. These are snipers. The word is strong but they have been assassinated and we hope investigations will be made on these murders”, the Kanak footballer said, adding the victims were his nephew and his niece.

Karembeu’s career involves 53 tests for the French national football team, one world cup victory (1998), playing for prestigious European clubs such as Nantes, Sampdoria, and Real Madrid (where he won two Champions League titles), Olympiakos, Servette, and Bastia.

He is now a strategic advisor and ambassador for Greek club Olympiakos.

Reacting to Karembeu’s announcements, Chief Prosecutor Dupas told public broadcaster NC la Première on Tuesday he believed Karembeu was referring to the two Kanak people who were killed earlier this month in Nouméa’s industrial zone of Ducos.

“I do not know what his family kinship relation is with those two victims who were assassinated in Ducos,” he said.

“But concerning these facts, an investigation is underway, it has gotten pretty far already, one (European) company manager has been arrested and remains in custody. The Justice is processing all the facts, crimes, committed.”

“We have, among the civilian victims, four persons of the Kanak community and it is a possibility that some of those could be related to Christian Karembeu”, he said.

Asked on a possibly higher number of fatalities, he stressed the death toll so far remained at seven.

“We have not received any other complaint regarding people shooting civilians”, he maintained, while encouraging members of the public who would be aware of other fatal incidents to come forward and contact his office.

“We arrived in our car, I saw the roadblock, I barely had time to reverse and go back and they started to shoot. About 10 times,” the unidentified witness said, showing two bullet holes on his car.

“I have lodged a complaint for murder attempt and now the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Two other Kanaks said the following day, on May 16, while in the streets of their neighbourhood, they were shot at by balaclava-clad passengers of two driving by pick-up trucks.

“We started to run and that’s when we heard the first gunshots. My little brother managed to take shelter at a neighbour’s home, and I went on running with the 4WD behind me. When I arrived at my family’s home, I jumped into the garden and that’s when I heard a second gunshot”, he told La Première.

“We never thought this would happen to us”.

Dupas said another, wider investigation, was underway since May 17 in order to identify “those who are pulling the ropes and who led the “planning and committing of attacks that have hit New Caledonia”.

“This means anyone, whatever his/her level of implication, whether order-givers or just actors”.

Latest update
The state of emergency was lifted on Tuesday in New Caledonia following an announcement from French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in New Caledonia on a 17-hour visit last Thursday.

The end of the state of emergency was described by Macron as being part of the “commitments” he made while meeting representatives of New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement last week and to allow leaders to spread the message to people to lift roadblocks and barricades and “loosen the grip”.

However, a dusk-to-dawn (6pm to 6am) curfew remains in place, including a ban on public meetings, the sale of alcohol and the possession and transportation of firearms and ammunition, French High Commissioner Louis Le France said yesterday.

An estimated 3500 security forces (police, gendarmes and special riot squads) remain on the ground.

Taxis have announced they were now resuming service, but bus services remain closed because “too many roads remain impracticable”.

High Commissioner Le Franc said that since the unrest began on May 13, a total of 535 people had been arrested, 136 security forces (police and gendarmes) had been injured and the death toll remained at seven (including two gendarmes, four indigenous Kanaks and one person of European ascent).

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

A draft security cooperation agreement between China and Solomon Islands has been leaked on social media.

The unverified document includes seven articles, which discuss the scope of cooperation between both nations.

Massey University’s Centre for Defence and Security senior lecturer Dr Anna Powles has seen the agreement on social media.

• READ MORE: China-Solomon Islands security agreement leaked on social media
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• Solomon Is & China security agreement? – The Pacific Newsroom

She told RNZ Pacific that the document is presented as a draft: “It doesn’t have any dates, nor is it signed.

“There are still questions around its authenticity but if it is authentic, it raises some serious questions and if it’s not authentic then it also provides some interesting insights into the way in which the geopolitical dynamic is playing out domestically in the Solomon Islands,” she said.

Dr Powles said that the draft document includes a request between the Solomon Islands government and China to send armed police personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to the Solomon Islands.

“Now that raises a lot of questions obviously, what is the distinction between police and armed police, and who are the other law enforcement and armed forces that are referred to in the agreement.

‘Maintaining social order’
“It also talks about what kind of tasks that a Chinese contingent would be involved in such as maintaining social order, it’s not clear what that means, it also talks about providing assistance on other tasks and it’s also unclear what those other tasks would be.”

Dr Powles points out that the agreement refers to protecting lives and property, humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

In February, a team of Chinese police officers began working in Solomon Islands. This was two months after the Solomons government accepted Beijing’s offer to help restore law and order following anti-government riots in November 2021.

Dr Powles believes that if the draft agreement is authentic, then the deployment was a natural extension of the document.

The document also contains some concerning provisions which allow China to send ships to the Solomon’s “according to its needs”.

“The agreement states that China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of the Solomon Islands government make ship visits to the Solomons and carry out logistical replenishment and stopover and transition in the Solomons.”

She said that such provisions would need to be clarified as it was unclear what “China’s own needs” refer to.

Concerns over ‘strategic interests’
Are those strategic interests for instance? If so, that would raise a number of concerns. Particularly as to what would happen if China’s interests cut across the interests of the Solomon Islands or of its key regional partners such as Australia or Papua New Guinea.

“And it also suggests that logistical support would be provided for ship visits in the Solomon Islands and suggests that perhaps China could seek to establish a logistical supply base in Solomon Islands to support those ship visits.

The document does not specify what types of ships, but Dr Powles said “we could safely assume that they are referring to the People’s Liberation Army Naval (PLAN) ships.”

“In the Pacific, we have seen PLAN ship visits to the region. China has a strong interest in maritime issues and in the Pacific maritime domain. And so that probably is not surprising and there have been long-standing concerns and very public long-standing concerns about the potential for increased ship visits for China increasing its engagement in the Pacific maritime domain and potential implications that may have for a potential base to support those ship visits.”

Dr Powles also drew attention to one particular provision of the agreement, which raised alarm bells with respect to the control of information around security cooperation.

That provision stated that information between the Solomon Islands and China could only be released on mutual agreement by both parties.

“And that suggests that there would be the intent to control public information, to control media briefings, to control what access media has to information about security arrangements between the two countries.

“We can be legitimately concerned about lack of transparency about a degree around this agreement,” she said.

Solomon Islands switched allegiances from Taiwan to China in 2019.

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

The Lokataru Legal and Human Rights Foundation says there are two problems with the Indonesian police which have developed during the era of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration.

These two problems are “politicisation” and “police professionalism”.

“Perhaps it’s still the same as the problem before, particularly during the era of Jokowi’s administration. One of the problems is the politicisation of the police and the second is the problem of police professionalism,” said Lokataru executive director Haris Azhar during a Setroom virtual presentation broadcast by CNN Indonesia.

Azhar said the police today were a result of the democratisation of Indonesia since 1998 and there should have been institutional improvements in the police as an institution.

In the process of their development, however, the police had now become a political tool of those in power.

This was reflected by the different legal treatment afforded to groups who were pro and against the government or those in power.

“Law enforcement is discriminative, targeting groups outside of the power holders. Even if there are reports of cases from outside those in power, it doesn’t automatically mean that they will be followed up. There have been many cases like this, particularly in the lead up to elections,” he said.

Politicisation related to professionalism
Azhar said that this politicisation was also related to police professionalism.

“Because of politicisation in the end they’re not professional. But in the context of law enforcement, providing security, I think we can find a pattern. I’ve long been advocating police affairs,” he said.

Based on his advocacy work, he has found cases which are only dealt with after there is an order from above or it has gone viral on social media.

Not only this, Azhar has also come across cases where investigators ask those making reports for money so that the case would be dealt with quickly.

On the other hand, he has also found police who do work professionally.

“So this [lack of] professionalism is not just the disturbed face of the police in the eyes of the public, but they also betray other officers within the police,” he said.

Speaking on the same broadcast, the head of the National Police headquarters information bureau public relations division (Karopenmas) Brigadier-General Awi Setiyono did not deny that police officers committed violations.

Trying to improve
He said, however, that the police were endeavoring to improve.

“God willing, on the matters raised by Haris related to the handling of cases which have to wait for an order, I think we’re getting there, the police are getting better. We already have monitoring instruments, control functions,” he said.

Setiyono said that the existence of unprofessional police officers was because of the mentality of officers who were easily seduced.

“This goes back to the mentality of personnel, it’s true also that there have been temptations. And up until now on that kind of thing we have never compromised. If we straighten it out, there are many reserve players with us,” he said.

Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Lokataru Ungkap 2 Masalah Polisi di Era Jokowi”.

With just three months to go until the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit in November, the Papua New Guinean government has been buckling down to preparations.

The capital of Port Moresby is going through a series of facelifts ranging from continual road upgrades to clean up campaigns.

While these infrastructure developments are needed, they cannot conceal the social issues currently plaguing Papua New Guineans.

One serious issue is the alarming rate at which violence, more specifically gender-based violence, continues to intensify in Papua New Guinea.

According to the World Health Organisation, two out of three PNG women have experienced violence from an intimate partner.

Where intimate partners are not the perpetrators of violence, Papua New Guinean women are vulnerable to violence particularly in their mobility within communities.

In October 2017, a woman was almost burned to death by a mob who had accused her of practising sorcery.

Rescued from mob
The woman who was later identified as “Elizabeth” from Eastern Highlands was rescued by police officers and taken to a hospital before the mob could do anything else to her.

Stories like that of Elizabeth reiterate that PNG women are more vulnerable than ever and violence is near impossible to escape.

The shows that violence permeates all levels of Papua New Guinean society and a wakeup call is needed for the government to act quickly.

Critics say the level of attention that is being devoted to the APEC leaders summit should also be applied to combatting gender-based violence.

PNG cannot reach development and prosperity until violence against women is dealt with, argued Australian journalist Jo Chandler in a 2014 analysis.

At present, the response to gender-based violence has centred on implementing a 2016 – 2025 National Gender-Based Violence strategy which was officially launched in 2017.

The strategy is intended to be a guide for the PNG government to facilitate the implementation of the legislation, policies and programmes needed to eliminate gender-based violence.

Family protection law
The government has also passed family protection legislation in 2014 to criminalise domestic violence and give more power to protection orders for survivors.

These achievements are a win for gender-based violence survivors as sectorial committees such as the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC) will be more equipped to support them and their needs.

FSVAC national coordinator Marcia Kalinoe said the National Gender-Based Violence Strategy “consolidates the current work that is ongoing”.

“Fourteen years ago, there was not much sensitisation and gender mainstreaming and specialised services addressing the issue,” she said.

Kailonoe added that the various legislative changes and multisectoral response would be of great assistance to survivors for accessing support services.

Despite the PNG government’s current milestones and the support of partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donors, PNG is ranked as 140 out of 146 countries in the Gender Inequality Index.

The journey to raise more awareness on gender-based violence has not been an easy feat due to “socially and culturally constructed norms”, as outlined by the UNDP.

Constant challenges
In Durrie Bouscaren’s interview with a UNDP-trained “human rights defender” Linda Tule in June, these social and cultural constructs of unequal power relations were highlighted.

Tule talked about how she had counselled three women a week in spite of operating out of her home and on a limited budget.

She even hosts these women if a safehouse has reached its full capacity.

This is the current scenario for survivors of gender-based violence in PNG.

People like Enid Barlong Kantha, who has worked in the gender-based violence field for more than 10 years, knows the ebbs and flows first-hand.

She says that “challenges remain a constant part of the battle” despite the country’s achievements.

“Even with political will, there is still a lack of resources; human resource, financial support and infrastructure. Where there are services, a lack of capacity hinders progress and continues to frustrate many.”

She adds that the lack of coordination among stakeholders and lack of statistics deter better cooperation and collaboration in the national response to gender-based violence.

Stepping into the future
Advocates recognise that ending gender-based violence in PNG, or anywhere else in the world, cannot be done overnight.

The journey will be long and change will be incremental.

Yet, there are corrective measures that can be taken particularly by the PNG government.

For one thing, more emphasis can be placed on decentralising services to not only the outer provinces but also areas that are rural, say advocates.

This compulsive need to upgrade Port Moresby for the world’s eyes has to stop as it is failing the majority of Papua New Guineans and exacerbating unequal gender and power relations.

There is only so much advocacy and awareness that can be funnelled into eliminating gender-based violence.

Services coupled with awareness, however, can eliminate some of the social and cultural constructs at play in PNG.

As Papua New Guinean journalist Scott Waide has said, “superstition thrives where service delivery is poor”.

Pauline Mago-King is a masters student based at Auckland University of Technology and is researching gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. She compiled this report for the Pacific Media Centre’s Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course.

• APEC home page for PNG

OPINION: By Dwi Atmanta in Jakarta

After nearly 18 years of reform, public recognition of the Indonesian Military (TNI) as both defender of the state and a choice for national leadership has barely changed, although the once mighty force has stepped away from practical politics.

Candidates with military backgrounds have marked political contestation ever since democratic elections were held in 1999. Many still believe Indonesia needs the guardianship of military figures, as civilian politicians are often perceived to be unprepared to lead the nation in the face of global challenges.

After 10 years under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, once billed as a reform-minded Army general, Indonesians almost put their trust in another general, Prabowo Subianto, in the 2014 election.

Prabowo eventually lost the race to up-and-coming local politician Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, but clearly the public psyche of looking to a leader with a military background remains alive.

A recent national survey of 1225 eligible voters in all 34 provinces between January 4-15 by an organisation called the Segitiga Institute found that the current TNI chief, General Gatot Nurmantyo, could be a serious contender for president against incumbent Jokowi if the two were to go head-to-head in the 2019 election.

Previously, the more prominent polling organisation Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) discovered in its survey that the TNI was considered the country’s most credible institution, eclipsing the President, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the National Police and the nation’s political parties.

The majority of some 1200 respondents surveyed chose the TNI, identifying them with peace and stability, SMRC executive director Djayadi Hanan said.

We may argue with the validity of those findings but nevertheless, many seem to dream of a president with a military background for various reasons. Reformasi has stripped the military of its political powers, but definitely not its influence.

Civilian supremacy
The military has accepted the principle of civilian supremacy. But supremacy has turned into inferiority, as evidenced by the reluctance of the civilian regime to make the military fully committed to the universal rights that characterise democracy.

Look at cases of gross human rights violations that dragged a number of Army generals to the ad hoc human rights court. All the officers on trial were acquitted, despite mounting pressures to end impunity.

A much-awaited formal investigation into alleged atrocities committed in the aftermath of the September 30, 1965, aborted coup blamed on the communists looks unlikely to materialise, although the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has submitted its report to the Attorney-General’s Office.

In countering the demand for justice from victims and families of the 1965 tragedy, active and retired generals have repeatedly warned of “a communist resurrection”.

Even the Defence Ministry launched last year a state defence program in which civilians — including students, workers, government employees and taxi drivers — undergo a month-long military-style training program to strengthen patriotism and fight “foreign ideologies”, including communism.

Painstaking efforts to amend a law to bring military soldiers accused of ordinary crimes to civil courts have so far failed. Military resistance has stood in the way of revising the Military Tribunal Law.

The system has also kept the military safe from the radar of law enforcement institutions like the KPK, although the defence sector is highly prone to corruption because of the huge amount of money involved.

High corruption risk
In its latest survey, the global watchdog Transparency International placed Indonesia among countries with a high risk of corruption in arms procurement due to a lack of transparency and accountability.

The TNI’s absence from practical politics is by no means a setback for the military. Instead, the move away from practical politics has allowed the military to avoid corruption investigations and the protracted bickering that has tainted lawmakers as well as their political parties.

History reveals much about why the public still longs for military figures to lead the nation. The TNI typifies the characteristics of what some scholars define as a “political army”. The TNI has been involved in and has developed a close connection with all stages of the evolution of the country, similar to military regimes in other developing nations.

Since the birth of this nation, either in war or peace, the TNI has never lost its relevance. It is this historical presence that has made it unlikely, for instance, for Indonesia to promote national reconciliation, despite demands for justice for victims, survivors and relatives of 1965.

Each stage of modernisation, or development, leads to an opportunity or the perceived “need” for military political intervention. Development needs stability and the military will fulfill it; and when a crisis happens, the military jumps to the rescue.

Recently the military deployed its personnel to help farmers in many parts of the country support the government’s food sufficiency program.

Not only will the program close the gap between grassroots people and their “protectors”, it will also help the military keep its relevance and credibility intact.

The two surveys carry a stern warning for civilian politicians — they must address their inferiority complex to regain public confidence. With bickering civilian politicians constantly seeking figures in uniform to boost votes, people are left with more credible-looking alternatives, like active or retired officers, regardless of whether or not they have a blood-stained past.