Gunboat diplomacy … Indonesian navy sailors keep an eye on a Vietnamese fishing vessel after it was destroyed for illegally operating in Indonesian waters in the Riau Islands, last month. Image: Jakarta Post

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Nethy Dharma Somba in Jayapura

Indonesian  police in West Papua have said they will sink a Vietnamese-flagged fishing vessel named the KM Thank Cong, which they caught allegedly poaching in the province’s waters earlier this month.

“The police will not give up their fight against illegal fishing perpetrators in West Papua. The Vietnamese fishermen proven guilty of stealing our resources will be brought to justice in the hope that this can have a deterrent effect,” West Papua police chief Brigaduer-General Paulus Waterpauw told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

“We have coordinated with prosecutors for special measures to be taken to sink the foreign vessel,” he said. Read more »

Miners at the Grasberg Mine, operated by US-based Freeport-McMoRan, in Papua province. Image: Muhammad Yamin/Jakarta Globe/Investor Daily

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Rangga Prakoso

Papua disapproves of mining giant Freeport Indonesia’s plan to build a smelter facility outside Papua, calling the move indicative of the company’s lack of good deeds to Indonesia’s easternmost province.

Papua governor Lukas Enembe said on Friday that for the past 50 years, Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of US mining company Freeport-McMoRan, only wanted to export the raw materials without having the good intention of building an integrated processing industry in Papua.

He said integrated smelter facilities in Papua are needed. Read more »

Australian death row inmates Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan find themselves at the centre of a series of complex Indonesian political controversies.  Image: Mick Tsikas/The Conversation/AAP

One of the strongest arguments against the death penalty is that its administration is fundamentally unfair, writes  Tim Lindsey.

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Professor Tim Lindsey

One of the strongest arguments against the death penalty is that its administration is fundamentally unfair. Too often, the question of who receives a death sentence and whether and when it is actually carried out becomes more a matter of politics than of facts and law.

This is certainly the case for the two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, on death row in Indonesia. They find themselves at the centre of a series of complex political controversies, all of which could directly affect their chances of survival.

Sukumaran and Chan are the only members of the Bali Nine still sentenced to death for their role in attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of Bali to Australia in 2005. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has now rejected both Sukumaran’s and Chan’s pleas for clemency, leaving the pair facing execution by firing squad. Read more »

Indonesian security forces beating a West Papuan man during a previous and separate wave of arrests in Wamena. Image: KNPB/West Papua Media

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Helen Davidson

Indonesian authorities have conducted mass arrests and burned down the homes of West Papuan villagers in response to the deaths of two police officers, a West Papuan independence leader in exile has claimed.

Benny Wenda, who is also an international lobbyist for the Free West Papua campaign and spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, told Guardian Australia Indonesian military police raided the village of Utikini near Timika on the southern coastline last week and found pro-independence banners in the house of a villager.

More than 100 people were arrested, including women and some children, and dozens of houses were burned down, he said. Most people were released but some are still being detained. Read more »

Brimming with confidence … new Tongan PM ‘Akilisi Pohiva offers new hope for changes. Image: Iliesa Tora/Tonga Daily News

The inherent Pacific diversity makes a mockery of the naive mainstream view that there are certain ideal types of “one size fits all” Western models of democracy which non-Western states must fit into, writes Professor Steven Ratuva.

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Steven Ratuva

As the first elected prime minister of the kingdom of Tonga, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, the long-time Tongan pro-democracy campaign leader, has redefined the meaning and form of Tongan democracy in a significant way.

It is a new phase in the challenging historical evolution of Tongan political rule since 1875 when the kingdom’s constitution was born. The riots and burning in the capital Nuku’alofa in 2006 brought to the fore the urgency for reform.

The election in Tonga was just one of the few in the Pacific in 2014 (New Caledonia on 11 May, Cook Islands on 9 July, Fiji on 17 September, Solomon Islands on 19 November and Tonga on 27 November). Read more »

Al-Masry Al-Youm’s young cartoonist Makhlouf of Egypt drew himself holding up a pencil in front of a masked gunman. It says “In support of Charlie Hebdo”. Image: Anonymous

The use of mockery and caricature as a way of mocking Islamic extremism is, in fact, in some ways far more pronounced in the Middle Eastern media than it is in Europe.

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Nahrain Al-Mousawi

In the wake of the deadly attacks on the Paris satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, some are portraying the current showdown as one between Western free speech versus an angry and intolerant Islamic world. In fact, it is the Islamic countries of the Middle East that have led the way in attacking the extremists of groups such as Islamic State using the instruments of satire.

The use of mockery and caricature as a way of mocking Islamic extremism is, in fact, in some ways far more pronounced in the Middle Eastern media than it is in Europe.

Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL) has slaughtered hundreds of Iraqi civilians and soldiers, raped and enslaved hundreds of women, held public crucifixions and stonings in Syria, and staged the executions of US journalists and British aid workers. The group is revolting, abhorrent, and terrifying. Read more »

The Charlie Hebdo vigil in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie/PMC

The really important question is how we respond to terrorism. The humanity demonstrated by those who held vigils on the streets of many capitals around the world after the Paris killings was deeply touching and symbolically very important. But it is just the start, writes Simon Reich.

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Simon Reich

I grew up in London during the IRA bombing campaign of the 1970s. I lived in Pittsburgh during the 9/11 attacks when United Flight 93 was forced down not far from the city. I’m currently in Paris where I live part of the year.

Each of these cities is filled with decent, thoughtful, moderate people: people who care about their families, their communities and their country.

They may argue vehemently about politics, religion and sport. But what binds them, overwhelmingly, is their commitment to a modern set of values, liberal-democratic values that its proponents collectively define as “modernity and progress”. Read more »

French expatriates and New Zealanders flocked to the “We Are Charlie” vigil in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch

Media unions and press freedom groups from across the Asia-Pacific have joined the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in a regional show of solidarity and joint condemnation of the brutal attack that took the lives of 10 media workers in France this week.

The drama ended in Paris on Friday when two brothers suspected of a bloody attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were shot dead when anti-terrorist police stormed their hideout, while a second siege ended with the deaths of four hostages.

Around the world, global media networks have reacted strongly to the massacre of 12 people at Charlie Hebdo, with vigils and public rallies happening across the region. Read more »

Part of the “We Are Charlie” rally in Auckland today organised by French citizens living in New Zealand. Image: TV3

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch