Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)

Lest we forget: The Biak Massacre occurred 25 years ago .

Today, the 6 July marks 25 years since the Indonesian security forces massacred scores of people in Biak , West Papua. The victims, included women and children who had gathered for a peaceful rally. They were killed at the base of a water tower flying the Morning Star flag. Other Papuans were rounded up and later taken out to sea where they were thrown off naval ships and drowned. No Indonesian security force member has been charged or brought to justice for the human rights abuses committed against peaceful demonstrators. .
https://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com/2023/07/lest-we-forget-biak-massacre-occurred.html

THE GREENS
https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/labor-must-come-clean-about-biak-massacre-25-years-during-president-widodos?utm_source=nationaltribune&utm_medium=nationaltribune&utm_campaign=news

2) LABOR MUST COME CLEAN ABOUT THE BIAK MASSACRE 25 YEARS ON DURING PRESIDENT WIDODOS VISIT

2023-07-05

Indonesias President Widodos visit to Australia has ignited a pressing demand for an open and honest conversation about the ongoing West Papua crisis. With the 25-year anniversary of the Biak Massacre on 6th July, it serves as a stark reminder of the need for truth and accountability.

Since his election in 2014, President Widodo promised social reform for West Papua. However, the situation has only deteriorated, resulting in escalating tensions and deepening divisions between the Indonesian Government and the West Papuan people.

Almost 54 years since the ironically named Act of Free Choice referendum for West Papuan independence, the human rights abuses, colonialism and impunity for the Indonesian military have continued. Successive Australian governments have remained silent and inactive.

We know that the Australian Defence Force has concealed war crimes committed by Indonesian military police in West Papua. The Australian Government Defence Intelligence Report, dated July 17 1998, uncovers an investigation conducted by an Australian military attache and intelligence officer, shedding light on the massacre of West Papuan men, women and children by Indonesian defence and security forces on Biak Island.

The hostage-taking of Phil Mehrtens by the West Papuan Liberation Army has raised significant concerns, and while Greens strongly condone this abhorrent act, it underscores the desperate cry for international attention towards the West Papuan crisis, and Australia must actively engage.

The Au...

Investigators from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force Military Police have begun their investigations into the PNGDF Kupiano mishap, which left two soldiers dead, and another two wounded, including a civilian.

The acting Commander of NCD and Central Province Acting Chief Superintendent Laimo Asi said an investigation team went to Kupiano on Tuesday (July 4, 2023).

He said a joint police and military investigation team have now cordoned off the crime scene to ascertain the circumstances leading up to the shootings. He said the situation has been under control since Tuesday because the incident happened between the soldiers themselves.

Mr Asi confirmed that twelve suspects were arrested, and detectives have now identified the soldier responsible for discharging live ammunition that killed and injured the victims.

Acting Commander Asi said details of the suspect implicated in the shootings will be released to the media once he is criminally charged by the investigation team.

This is a very unfortunate incident involving our soldiers, and I am expecting the investigators to probe into it thoroughly," said Mr Asi.

The Acting Commander said this incident is unprecedented.

This incident is a first of its kind, where PNGDF soldiers were killed in training, in a "blue on blue situation. This means that soldiers were killed by friendly fire from their own forces.

I expect the investigators to take blood and urine samples from the main suspect as part of their investigation. They will have to ascertain whether the prime suspect was intoxicated or drugged when the shootings happened, Mr Asi said.

Mr Asi said the findings of the investigation team will bring some closure to the families and relatives of the deceased and the injured victims.

Mr Asi visited the soldiers in Kupiano and addressed them after the unfortunate incident. He expressed sorrow and thanked the soldiers for cooperating with their superiors and the police.

The wounded and dead were airlifted into Port Moresby that same day. Police investigations are continuing.

(Photographs of Mr Asi's visit...

Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner David Manning has renewed calls for the introduction of a Vagrancy Act following the recent spate of violence in the National Capital District and other parts of the country.

The call from Mr. Manning comes after a total of 56 persons were arrested by NCD Police for their alleged involvement in Monday's riot at Koki, in NCD. 

The 56 suspects were arrested on Tuesday this week and detained at the Badili Police Station cells.

Mr. Manning said there is an alarming increase in violent crimes, especially ethnic-based violence within the NCD.

This is very concerning, and whilst the causes for the increase in these violent crimes are varied and many, I am sure everyone wants to put an immediate end to this.

Given the situation, the best option now is to bring in the Vagrancy Act. This can temporarily address the violence that is spiraling out of control, especially within our urban areas until more permanent solutions are identified and activated.

We have a constant stream of people coming into the city who have no money, no jobs and nowhere to stay. They come here to look for a better life or to escape violence back in their own villages. The tough economic times are forcing people into all kinds of activities, both legal and illegal.

For the immediate term we must stop the movement of people into the cities. The Vagrancy Act will allow that and give the Government time and space to find permanent solutions to our socio-economic challenges, Mr. Manning said.

The Commissioner said that the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary will explore the option to introduce a Vagrancy Act further in consultation with the Minister for Internal Affairs, Peter Tsiamalili Junior.

Mr. Manning said whilst he acknowledges that such an Act could be seen as draconian and may deny the constitutional rights of individuals, it is necessary for the greater or common good.

He said this is suggested as a temporary measure only and going forward, drastic measures must be taken to improve the socio-economic outlook for the country, both in the rural and urban settings.

What we are experiencing now is because a large number of our people do not have access to shelter, food, water, clothes, and medicine or health care. We must improve our education and health sectors, build our infrastructures and create more employment and business opportunities for our people. Only then can we expect to drastically reduce our law and order issues, Mr. Manning said....

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has warned of potentially dangerous weather conditions accelerating across the archipelago in the coming months, as the nations meteorology agency says more than half the country has entered the dry season. Anticipate the potential for a long dry season due to El Nio, the president, known as Jokowi, told ministers at a cabinet meeting in Jakarta on July 3. Agencies across Indonesia are allocating resources and shifting policy to confront the risks posed by the emergence of the first El Nio since the Southeast Asian countrys 2015 haze crisis. That year, El Nio-driven warming of Pacific Ocean waters caused a cascade of climatic effects, which in Indonesia meant a prolonged main dry season beyond October. The dearth of rain strengthened the annual wildfires, which burned 4.6 million hectares (11.4 million acres) of land across the archipelago. Data from Indonesias Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) showed a total of 186 medium-risk hotspots across the country on July 2. The eastern regions of Papua and Maluku accounted for the largest share, with 62 hotspots, while the agency detected 38 hotspots across Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. By comparison, on July 30, 2015, the last El Nio year, the BMKG recorded 186 hotspots just in Riau, a province in Sumatra home to Indonesias largest expanse of carbon-heavy peatland. In 2015, the city of Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan province, experienced some of the worst air quality recorded in Indonesia as nearbyThis article was originally published on Mongabay

Papua New Guinea Defence Minister Win Bakri Daki has confirmed two members of the PNG Defence Force  were killed, others were injured, in Kopiano Central province early this morning.

In a statement today, Minister Daki says the soldiers were in their final field exercise for the Corporal Qualifying Course at the Goldie Training Depot.

Chief of Defence Force Major General Mark Goina

He says the other injured soldiers including a civilian have been evacuated to the Port Moresby General Hospital.

He says an investigation team from the PNG Royal Constabulary have been dispatched on site and a high level of PNGDF Team have  also been deployed to conduct an internal investigation.

Minister Daki further stated families of the deceased soldiers have been informed and details of the serving personnels will be released once all internal protocol requirements for members killed in action are completed.

The Chief of Defence Force is expected to provide more details of this unfortunate situation in a press briefing tomorrow afternoon.

Meantime, Minister Daki sincerely conveyed his condolences to the immediate family and loved ones of the deceased members giving assurance of priority support to those who were wounded.

Kalang News / PNG Today 

Also read

• Bila...

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his entourage arrived in Papua New Guinea to a red carpet welcome and 21-gun salute by the PNG Defence Force, at Port Moresby's Jacksons International airport this morning.

Mr. Widodo flew in from Sydney on his Presidential plane, after completing his State visit to Australia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo given guard of honour by PNG Defence Force [Photo by PM's Media]

The President was met at the airport by Prime Minister, James Marape, sidelined Foreign Affairs Minister, Justin Tkatchenko, NCD Governor, Powes Parkop and other ministers, Foreign Affairs Secretary, Elias Wohengu and PNG Defence Force Commander, Major-General, Mark Goina.

From the airport, President Widodo paid a courtesy visit to the Governor-General, Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae, before heading to the APEC Haus, for bilateral talks with Prime Minister Marape.

Discussions will include Indonesia-PNG Border Agreement, Trade and Investment, Business-to-Business as well as People-to-People connection.

President Widodo's trip to PNG follows Prime Minister Marape's visit to Indonesia last year, further solidifying the strong relationship between both nations.

NBC News  / PNG Today 

Next : Transparency International PNG Annual General Meeting Appoints Next Generation Of Leadership

Reforms to Papua New Guineas capital markets, Securities Commission of PNG to investigate the potential sale of minority stake in Trukai Industries, and Newmont and Newcrest told of governments expectations. Your news in brief.

Agribusiness

International Trade and Investment Minister, Richard Maru, is querying the potential sale of the 33.77 per cent of Trukai Industries held by Melanesian Trustee Services (trustee of the Pacific Balance Fund) to Australias SunRice Group (which already holds the remaining 66.23 per cent of the company).

Maru said that the sale would allow a foreign company to own and control 80 per cent of PNGs rice market. He has asked the Securities Commission of PNG to investigate the proposed deal and report back within 21 days. (International Trade and Investment Ministry of Papua New Guinea)

SMEs

Micro, small and medium enterprise owners can now access Zoneshare, a new co-working space in Port Moresby for entrepreneurs looking to broaden their networks and potentially improve their business image. The space, owned by Hitech Industries, has 30 individual workstations, free wifi and costs K90 per day to use. (The National)

Aviation

Air Niugini and PNG Air have resumed flights into Wapenamanda Airport after they were suspended on 13 June because of civil unrest in the area. (PNG Air)

Finance

PNGs stock exchange has welcomed the...

The Papua New Guinea kina is starting to experience a very gradual erosion against its key trading currency, the US dollar. While economists expect further weakness ahead, the Bank of PNGs Acting Governor Elizabeth Genia tells Business Advantage PNG she sees no cause for panic.

In light of the Bank of Papua New Guineas (BPNG) pending plans to gently return the kina to convertibility meaning trading on foreign exchange (FX) markets without restriction PNGs currency is expected to continue its gradual deprecation over the next 18 months.

While the kina has remained static against the US dollar (at US$0.2840) since February 2022, PNGs currency has demonstrated some modest, weakness against the greenback since early May, moving from US$0.2840 to US$0.2800.

The BPNGs Acting Governor Elizabeth Genia views recent changes as an attempt to get a more balanced foreign exchange market.

There are grounds for the kina to depreciate in a gradual and in a measured way, but any talk of a devaluation is unfounded, she tells Business Advantage PNG.

Currency impact

JoeMerchant writes:

https://earthsky.org/space/interstellar-meteor-papua-new-guinea-2014-u-s-space-command/

In 2019, two researchers from Harvard University Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb, both of whom had published on 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov earlier also wrote a study of this meteor, suggesting its interstellar origins. If true, then this meteor which predates both 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov by a few years would be the first known interstellar object.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/harvard-scientist-avi-loeb-claims-collected-remains-of-extraterrestrial-technology-from-bottom-of-the-pacific-101688188241635.html

Deep-sea explorers found 50 spherulesmolten droplets, about half a millimetre in diameter.

Loeb's team collected 35 milligrams of this promising material by dragging a large magnetic sled across the surface of the ocean. The astrophysicist believes that the spherules are most likely made from a steel-titanium alloy

"The spherules were found primarily along the most likely path of IM1 and not in control regions far from it," read his blog. "In the coming weeks, we will analyze their elemental and isotopic composition and report our data in a paper submitted to a peer-reviewed journal."

https://avi-loeb.medium.com/summary-of-the-successful-interstellar-expedition-61ff4467070d

These sub-millimeter-sized spheres, which appear under a microscope as beautiful metallic marbles, were concentrated along the expected path of IM1 about 85 kilometers off the coast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

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It's just un-spectacular enough to be believable.

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Original Submission

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

 Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) held its Annual General Meeting last Friday (30 June 2023) at the Holiday Inn, Port Moresby to present its annual report for the year 2022 to its members.

The 2022 Financial Statements for TIPNG were presented to the members at the AGM. Once again, the organization returned an unqualified audit which was conducted by DFK Mayberry and represented fairly the Associations financial position and of its financial performance in accordance with accepted accounting practices in Papua New Guinea and the Associations Incorporation Act 1966.

Transparency International PNG Annual General Meeting Appoints Next Generation Of Leadership

The financial members of TIPNG at the AGM elected Peter Aitsi as chair, and Belinda Kanau as secretary to serve for the coming year. Other directors re-appointed were Richard Kassman, Christopher Elphick, Michael McWalter, Bill Doa Neill, James Lunge, Stephanie Kirriwom-Sawong, Paul Barker, and Mary Udu. The two new directors to the Board of TIPNG were Jeffery Vagalia and William Koregai.

The role of the director of TIPNG is voluntary and the directors receive no payment for their leadership & service to the organization. The Board is responsible for the setting of the organizations strategy, vision, reinforcing its purpose, and oversighting its financial performance. As well as ensuring statutory compliance and with management guiding the overall performance of TIPNG.

The Board will focus on implementing the objectives contained in its Strategic Plan 2019-2023 which is now in its final year. The strategic priorities remain strengthening its brand, continuing the building of stronger and more active partnerships, ensuring financial sustainability, and strengthening organizational capabilities.

I believe TIPNG is a respected voice within our communities as well as our region and also on a global stage. Our work is driven by a sense of purpose and made more urgent by the depth and scale of corruption i...

040723 ABG EDUCATION MINISTER COMMENTS ON SCHOOL FEE ASSISTANCE SCHEME
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
The ABG member for RAMU and Minister for Education, HON THOMAS PATAAKU told the ABG House of Representatives last Friday that the ABGs School fee assistance scheme has started.
He said that the Department has started processing payments to 28 major institutions throughout Papua New Guinea.
The Minister said that funds of ONE POINT FIVE MILLION KINA released only TWO HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND KINA have been processed for the 28 Institutions.
He said they were waiting for the other, ONEPOINT FIVE MILLION KINA to be released for ABG to meet the 40 percent component of School fee assistance.
The Minister said that by the start of next semester all payments must be settled.
Minister Pataaku also stated that under the School fee assistance scheme the Department must have data on how many professionals like Accountants, Teachers, lawyers etc etc are being trained for Independence readiness.

Ends

With rice farming expanding in Papua New Guinea, the countrys largest rice supplier, Trukai Industries, is partnering with tertiary institutions to help upskill farmers on the basics of irrigation rice farming.

A part of its community out-reach initiative, Trukai Industries two-week Smart Farmer program (SFP), aims to transform local rice farmers into small holder farmers, and finally into semi-commercial and commercial farmers.

Launched in October last year, the program kicked off with a partnership between Trukai and the PNG University of Technology (Unitech) in Lae. Unitech, a long-standing partner with Trukai on numerous projects, has provided eight hectares of land at the University Farm for rice development projects and training on rice farming systems.

Unitechs Acting Vice Chancellor, Dr Garry Sali, expects the SFP program to help realise their goal of developing world-class technocrats for the real world.

In addition to expanding PNGs rice industry, he notes the SFP program is also a win-win for the university, through the promotion of academic and professional collaborative of rice research and training.

Having signed a joint venture agreement in May, Pacific Adventist University in Port Moresby is the second university to join the program. Fifteen hectares of university land are expected to be in rice by October.