West Papua: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow

As Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs minister arrives in Honiara today, West Papua’s representative to the United Nations and former political prisoner, HERMAN WAINGGAI, provides the background to Indonesia’s occupation of his beloved country: NEW Guinea, the world’s second largest island, sits on the Pacific Rim, a few degrees south of the equator and approximately 150km north…

MSG bank governors meet

CENTRAL Bank governor Denton Rarawa was amongst Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Governors of Central Bank intensive consultations held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, yesterday. Vanuatu’s Minister of Finance and Economic Management Maki Simelum officially opened the meeting. The one-day high level consultations was attended by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Barry Whiteside; Governor…

Telekom reduces overseas call rates

OUR Telekom has announced the completion of the migration of all International voice services to their Huawei fixed Next Generation Network (NGN) platform. “From the cutover at midnight Tuesday 24th February 2015, all Our Telekom international voice circuits for mobile and fixed networks are now carried on voice over IP (VoIP) using Session Initiation Protocol…

Indonesia wants to strengthen relations

INDONESIAN Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi will visit three Pacific countries, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Fiji, with the mission to strengthen relations between Indonesia and the Pacific nations. Minister Marsudi will visit Papua New Guinea on Feb. 26-28, Solomon Island on Feb. 28, and Fiji on March 1. Indonesia is keen to strengthen…

Freedom call for Papua

Visiting Indonesian minister to expect protests in Honiara today VISITING Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs minister Retno Marsudi is expected to receive an unusual welcome reception when she arrives in Honiara this morning. Civil society groups supporting the growing West Papuan independence movement are expected to stage a peaceful demonstration over Indonesian’s occupation of West Papua. “We…

Customs import fraud probe continues

CUSTOMS investigations into vehicles imported under false documentation is progressing on well. Comptroller of Customs, Nathan Kama highlighted this after revealing a multi-million dollar bust operation involving an unidentified logging company in the country the past few weeks. This involved a consignment (container) belonging to a logging company who is currently facing a case in…