Strictly 4 The Islands

TO LIVE AND DIE AT MT SMART STADIUM

As Ardie Savea tackles folk in Japan, and Tana Umaga prepares to help coach the All Blacks, the plug has been pulled on Moana Pasifika. An admittedly shaky experiment in Pacific-lead rugby union has come into financial troubles to the tune of $10,000,000, leaving it unable to compete in the Super Rugby Pacific competition after this year. As a fan, it was not hard to see something like this coming—disappointing results, talent moving elsewhere, and competition in the Auckland Sporting world made the team a tough sell, and the money drying up seems to be the final blow. They have said they’re looking for investors, but who has $10,000,000 just secretly lying around? I don’t. That would be ridiculous.

Obviously, our beautiful national sport is not the only important thing happening in our sea of islands, so let's journey further out and track some interesting happenings on the island of Papua.

The government of Papua New Guinea and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) have had an interesting relationship over the decades. The largest war in the Pacific since World War II was fought between the PNGDF and the people of Bougainville, who began a struggle against foreign mining companies that transformed into a brutal war where Bougainville sought independence from PNG. In the midst of this war, PNG Prime Minister Julius Chan attempted to use foreign mercenaries to secure a quicker victory in the hopes that it would help him in election season. $36,000,000 was needed to pay for this, with cutbacks from several ministries having to be actioned without a full-cabinet vote in order to meet that number. A blockade around Bougainville and increasingly violent tactics by the PNGDF brought the war to a crisis moment, with the Australian government’s steady stream of military support (short of boots-on-the-ground) also bringing public condemnation from internal anti-war groups. This came to head with the ‘Sandline Affair’, named after the company who supplied Julius Chan with the mercenaries. After the failure of these mercenaries to change the outcome of the war, head of the PNGDF Brigadier General Jerry Singirok publicly denounced the mercenaries' involvement. A military revolt began on March 16, 1997 that saw the mercenaries disarmed and arrested. This marked a low-point for PNG, with their war on Bougainville now also tied to a huge corruption scandal and a loss of trust from the PNGDF.

While the Bougainville war has ended, the independence struggle continues, with the island of Bougainville still in talks with PNG to this day. This left the relationship between the PNG government and the PNGDF fundamentally changed, even almost thirty years after the Sandline Affair. The current Prime Minister of PNG James Marape has assumed the portfolio for defence after its previous holder, Dr Billy Joseph, has been accused of interfering with recruitment and misusing his authority over military personnel. Opposition MPs accused him of using soldiers as his own personal security and hiring several nepo-soldiers from his home district. Since then, an investigation has been launched into the allegations. Several soldiers left their post in protest after four were accused of breaking their code of conduct by releasing footage of over-aged men being recruited, and a protest by military personnel took place in Port Moresby on April 14 that involved blocking roads near the Murray Barracks. Marape has done his best to assure that those who blew the whistle on this will be protected until the investigation is complete, and it's unlikely this event could get anywhere close to the Sandline Affair. But as Bougainville independence moves forward, Australia prepares to further integrate with the PNGDF, and PNG deals with outbreaks of violence both internally and across the western border, the memories of those fateful events in the 90s are most likely at the forefront of James Marape’s mind.

The other half of the island, occupied West Papua, has seen a further escalation in violence since the last issue covered the attacks in Dogiyai. According to the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a refugee camp in Kembru, Puncak Regency, was attacked by the Indonesian military, starting with a bombing campaign from 4 attack helicopters at 5 a.m. on  April 14. As of writing this, the ULMWP claims 9 have died, and that military actions continue to be carried out in Puncak. The Indonesian government has also deployed more security forces to Dogiyai after the civilian road-blockages were cleared, and according to Antara, “the National Police headquarters has deployed 148 personnel to Central Papua Police, including 100 paramilitary officers, 10 intelligence officers, 20 criminal investigators, 14 internal affairs officers, and four inspectors.” Indonesian Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai has urged an investigation into the violence in Kembru, but this is not the first time these kinds of bombing campaigns have taken place in this region. As more civilians are displaced and more Indonesian soldiers are sent to these areas, it seems like there is no plan for actual peace between the indigenous peoples of West Papua and the Indonesian government.