Flags of the Melanesian Spearhead group countries … Papua New Guinea (clockwise from top left), Kanaky (host territory), Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Is West Papua’s Morning Star flag about to join them? Image: MSG Kantri

Decisions at next month’s Melanesian Spearhead Group 25th jubilee and leaders’ summit in Noumea will shape the future of the Pacific region. Topics are expected to include West Papua, the environment and the future of MSG relations with the Pacific Islands Forum. Jamie Small reports for Asia-Pacific Journalism.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Jamie Small

West Papua may become a crucial issue for the Pacific if the Melanesian Spearhead Group next month decides to offer observer status to the Indonesian-ruled region at its leaders’ summit next month.

The MSG leaders will be gathering in Noumea, New Caledonia, for the organisation’s 25th jubilee and many serious matters will be on the table.

Peter Forau, Director-General of the MSG, says the major focus of the summit will be on West Papua’s proposed addition to the group as an observer state. Read more »

An East Timorese woman casts her ballot at a polling center in Dili in last year’s general election. Image: Romeo Gacad/Jakarta Globe/AFP

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Arif Nurdiansah and Hindijani Novita in Jakarta

Indonesia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ratified in Law No. 7 of 1984. But almost 25 years later, how well are we honouring this commitment, especially the participation of women in the political realm?

Both when it comes to getting women elected and in getting their concerns onto the political agenda, there is much room for improvement.

Indonesia’s women make up 49.83 percent of the population, according to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data from 2010. So women are our largest minority ¬ and yet we seem unable to meet the legally mandated quota of 30 percent women in the House of Representatives, as stipulated in Election Law No. 12 of 2003. Read more »

Kopassus … an elite Indonesian force used against indigenous peoples of Timor-Leste and West Papua have been implicated in prison killings. Image: Kopassus/PS

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Yuliasri Perdani and Bambang Muryanto in Jakarta

Indonesia’s National Police have been criticised for showing restraint in the investigation of an execution-style murder of four detainees in the Cebongan Penitentiary, Sleman, Yogyakarta over the weekend.

The National Police Commission (Kompolnas) said the police had appeared to be under a tremendous amount of pressure in its investigation, especially after allegations that the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) could have been involved in the murder.

“This is more about the culture of superiority between the two corps. Since the National Police became a separate entity from the Indonesian military in 2000, the police still perceive the military as their  ‘older brother’,” Kompolnas commissioner M. Nasser said. Read more »

New Caledonia’s Northern Province independence leader Paul Neaoutyine … negotiated contracts with South Korea and China. Image: David Robie/PMC

Decolonisation might not look like a hot-button issue but after Australia’s Security Council win the country will now have to start taking it seriously in the Pacific. A special two-part report.

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Nic Maclellan

The successful bid for a rotating seat on the UN Security Council places Australia in an interesting place. Over the next few years, the country will be in the spotlight as the United Nations addresses hot-button international issues: maritime disputes between China and its Asia-Pacific neighbours; the prospects for Palestinian statehood; negotiations for a global climate treaty and a new compact to replace the Millennium Development Goals after 2015.

But closer engagement with the United Nations will also create a few thorny dilemmas on issues that receive less international attention.

One often ignored issue is the future of the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation and the lack of international action to complete the UN agenda on self-determination and political independence. Read more »

“Shifting from authoritarian rule to democracy brings its own challenges.” … Young Fretilin supporters show the flag in downtown Dili, Timor-Leste, before the recent general election. Image: SMH/Getty

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Jose Ramos-Horta

This is a time of remarkable change in the world and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Arab Spring, the conflict in Syria, as well as matters closer to home, the changes in Burma, the shift in economic and political balance in what is being dubbed the ”Asian Century”. And this month’s vote for Australia to become a member of the United Nations Security Council.

I know firsthand the importance of Australia’s role in supporting democracy and addressing poverty in my country, Timor-Leste. I see the valuable work many small Australian NGOs and people do to support those individuals and organisations working on the human rights frontline across the world.

Visiting Australia again earlier this month, I visited the diplomacy training programme that I helped establish more than 20 years ago at the University of New South Wales. I was reminded what a remarkable country Australia is – and also of its complex relationships with the region that it shares. Read more »

Professor David Robie presents his inaugural professorial address at AUT University last night. Image: Alex Perrottet/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet of Pacific Media Watch

Restoring public trust, engaging in critical journalism, and opening the media’s eyes to common blind spots were all on the agenda for the inaugural address of the first professor in journalism studies in New Zealand and the Pacific.

Professor David Robie spoke to a crowded conference room of almost 200 people at AUT University tonight after receiving his professorship last year.

Beginning with the current so-called Hackgate media crisis and visiting plenty of other “hot spots” throughout the presentation, Professor Robie charted the course of his life’s journey through New Zealand, Africa, Europe and back to Oceania. Read more »

The brochure for Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie’s address today on media, politics and education. Image: David Robie/AUT

Pacific Scoop:
Live Streaming – AUT University

At the heart of a global crisis over news media credibility and trust is Britain’s so-called Hackgate scandal involving the widespread allegations of phone-hacking and corruption against the now defunct Rupert Murdoch tabloid newspaper News of the World.

Major inquiries on media ethics, professionalism and accountability have been examining the state of the press in NZ, Britain and Australia.

The Murdoch media empire has stretched into the South Pacific with the sale of one major title being forced by political pressure. Read more »

West Papua National Committee (KNPB) secretary-general Mako Tabuni … bled to death from untreated wounds. Image: West Papua Media.

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Jim Elmslie

Allegations that Australia is funding death squads in West Papua have brought the troubled province back to Australian attention.

Blanket denials by both Indonesian and Australian governments – standard policy for such reports in the past, no longer cut the mustard.

The killing of Papuan activist Mako Tabuni by Indonesian police was for Jakarta a legitimate operation against a violent criminal shot while evading arrest. That Tabuni bled to death from his untreated wounds while in police custody did not rate a mention. Read more »

Riders Orlando Da Costa (left) and Antonio Almeida Pereira from East Timor taking a rest after the finish of the Tour de Timor Stage 3 in Pante Makasar, in the enclave of Oecusse. Image: AFP/Meagan Weymes

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Meagan Weymes in Dili

Night times during the Indonesian occupation meant staying indoors for Franchilina ‘Anche’ Cabral — she was too scared of the military to do anything else.

Now, 13 years after East Timor voted for independence, its fastest female cyclist and more than 300 others have cycled across the border into Indonesia on the Tour de Timor as a gesture of friendship between the two nations.

This year is the fourth Tour de Timor, but the first time the six-day mountain bike race has crossed international borders, weaving through Indonesian West Timor into the mountainous enclave of Oecusse. Read more »

Pacific Islands Forum leaders meet at their retreat on Aitutaki atoll in the Cook Islands yesterday. Image: Cook Islands News

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Shaun Tandon, Neil Sands and Rachel Reeves on Rarotonga

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has vowed the United States will remain active in the South Pacific for the “long haul” but says the region is big enough for a rising China.

Clinton announced some $32 million in new aid projects as she became the first US secretary of state to take part in the traditional dialogue after the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit, in a sign of renewed interest in the vast region.

Clinton’s visit came as many island states have been forging closer ties with China, which according to Australia’s Lowy Institute has pledged more than $600 million in low-interest and mostly strings-free loans to the South Pacific since 2005. Read more »