STRICTLY 4 THE ISLANDS: ISSUE 12

Weekly Pacific Politics with Otis Whinney 

As these twelve weeks near their end, there is still no shortage of things going on in our sea of islands. So let's hop from island to island and round up some of the interesting and important stories going on in the moana as this trimester comes to a close.

The Solomon Islands have been in and out of the news for a while thanks to the ongoing leadership crisis, where Prime Minister Jerimiah Manele was voted out of his seat due in part to allegations of corruption. The Solomons now have the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, as a secret ballot has awarded opposition leader Matthew Wale the role as the new Prime Minister. Every article I can find is painting this as a possible move away from China, as Wale has always been a more vocal critic of how the Solomons have dealt with China in the past. When speaking after his win, Wale said “We take government at a difficult time, given what is happening throughout the world. We are not immune from the impasse of these geopolitical events.” Where this leads, only time will tell.

A journalist in Nuku’alofa, the capital city of Tonga, was held at gunpoint in late April, with police still searching for the gunman. Many claim this incident took place in response to reporting on the Comanchero motorcycle gang and their connections with Eneasi Taumoefolau, who is imprisoned in Tonga. Police are still investigating the motivations. This incident shines a light on growing issues with Tonga’s relationship with the press, and the complications brought on by the rising illicit drug trade. Tonga’s has had issues with press freedom in the past, with the military being sent to shut down Kele’a news in 2007 to silence reporters, the very same network that this targeted journalist was a part of. The Tongan monarchy have also been increasing their influence politically as of recent, with their Ministry of Foreign Affairs being replaced by an entity with increased influence from the monarchy before their latest election. The 2026 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index placed Tonga at 51st in the world, lower than last year, and the increasing pressure from all angles puts Tonga’s media in a difficult position.

Vanuatu and Australia have ironed out a deal that's been in the making for a hot minute. The Nakamal agreement has been approved by Vanuatu’s council of ministers and is closer to being signed than ever before, after years of a tense back and forth while a similar deal, the Namele agreement, with China was being negotiated at the same time. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese just has to lay pen to paper, and Australia can give itself another win in its constant battle for allies and influence in the Pacific. Australia has recently released its new aid budget, with a small increase in aid for Pacific nations coming as a result, and deals like Nakamal show how determined Australia is to keep their foothold in the region. Vanuatu’s relationship with China, however, shows no sign of shrinking, with Vanuatu keen to play all sides.

And finally, West Papua has faced further violence at the hands of the Indonesian state, with a particularly damning event at a graduation ceremony (among others) forcing many to speak out yet again. The Morning Star flag, which represents West Papuan independence, is effectively outlawed, but Papuans have never abandoned the symbol. Its use at a high school graduation ceremony on May 5 in Kobakma in Mamberamo Tengah Regency drew a response from Indonesian police, who attempted to stop its display. A back and forth with the students ensued and rocks were thrown at police, which was followed by tear gas and shots fired. Obviously, Indonesian police refute the idea that the crowd was fired upon, but Human Rights Watch claim several Papuans between the ages of 17-24 were injured, all over a flag at a high school graduation ceremony. Military operations in Tembagapura and Kembru have also seen the deaths of people as young as 5 years old. All the while, 105,878 civilians have been displaced in West Papua as of the start of this year, most being indigenous, according to the latest Human Rights Monitor Internally Displaced Peoples Update on the region. 

Pastor Jimi Koirewa, head of the human rights and justice department of the GIDI Evangelical Church of Indonesia in Papua, spoke to RNZ Pacific, where he claimed that the deaths of women and children specifically are “a part of genocide, because the women will give birth to babies, the kids, the children, the youth, they are the future of Papua, and killing them is part of a genocide. They're wiping us out. There will be no more people there standing in Papua.” Indonesia continues to deny this. In my view, this ongoing crisis remains one of the Pacific’s largest barriers to creating a genuinely united region. The indigenous peoples of West Papua cannot be left behind if we are to maintain the ‘Pacific Family’ every leader and their mother claims exists, and the lack of any meaningful response from anyone shows there are many questions to be asked about whether anyone wants to make that family a reality.