Kalafi Moala probes Tonga's key issues in new book

Staff Reporter: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher and broadcaster Kalafi Moala's new book on key development and social issues facing the kingdom of Tonga and its diasporic communities in Australia, New Zealand and the United States will be launched in Auckland next week.

The book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, lifts the lid on many contemporary social issues and dilemmas facing South Pacific nations.

The issues that led to the unprecedented explosion of violence on 16 November 2006 that resulted in the deaths of eight people and the destruction of 80 percent of the central business district of the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, are among topics explored by the book.

Executive director Ana Currie of the Pasifika Foundation Hawai'i, publisher of the book, describes it as a significant work for Tonga at this time.

Professor Ian Campbell, of the University of the South Pacific, writing in his foreword, says that while reading Moala's book, "one can imagine him seated on the floor in a circle around the tanoa talking the same way as he writes - connecting the big issues to daily life".

He believes the book can go far in teaching international experts about the "grassroots Pacific".

Associate professor David Robie, director of the New Zealand co-publisher Pacific Media Centre at AUT University, says: "For more than a generation, Kalafi Moala has inspired the Pacific region as a newspaper publisher and social conscience.

"This book is another important contribution to debate and reform about the Friendly Islands and journalism's role in a 'challenge for the soul of our very civilisation'."

>> NZ launching: Onehunga Community Centre & Library, Church St, Onehunga, Auckland, 11am-1pm, March 21.

>> Tonga launching: Tongan National Centre, Vuna Rd, 11am-1pm, March 28.

Pasifika Foundation Hawai'i
Pacific Media Centre - AUT, New Zealand
South Pacific Books

Kaumatua challenges media on culture at Samoan leader's book launch

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Centre

Ngai Tahu academic and kaumatua Sir Tipene O’Regan has called on the media to play a stronger role in keeping traditional culture alive at the New Zealand launch of a new Samoan book at the weekend.

The Samoan Head of State, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi, was hosted at AUT University for the launch of the book including contributions by him and 14 other Samoan intellectuals - Su’esu’e Manogi: In search of fragrance: Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi and the Samoan indigenous reference.

Sir Tipene, Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Māori) at the University of Canterbury, said news organisations should encourage a conversation about cultural issues.

He said the only way for an indigenous culture to “control its own evolution” was by “thinking and talking about it”.

Sir Tipene also challenged the media’s tendency to “celebrate car crashes and conflict” rather than academic work.

“It’s a big call for the media, even if it does no more than to honour the process of reflective scholarship,” he said.

The publication by the Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa, features 18 reflective chapters by Tui Atua - a literary contribution rarely seen from a Head of State - on subjects ranging from Samoan metaphors, customs and mythology to bio-ethics and legal theory.

Marking both an academic and strongly cultural event, the launch was conducted in Samoan, Māori and English. It was packed with a large tangata whenua, Pasifika and palagi audience, including Samoan Deputy Prime Minister Misa Telefoni; New Zealand MPs; AUT Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack; Dr Pare Keiha, the Tumuaki of Te Ara Poutama; and the director of AUT's Office of Pasifika Advancement, Pauline Winter.

Auckland is the world mecca of Pacific migrants - 14 percent of New Zealand’s 265,000 Pacific Islanders live there, with half of the country's Pasifika population being ethnic Samoans.

The themes of the book are “universal”, said Sir Tipene, who is an old friend of Tui Atua from university days.

Presenting a review of the book, he talked about keeping traditional culture alive by reinventing and adapting it in the face of modernisation, a subject relevant for all Pacific cultures, including Māori.

“The challenge is … how do you apply the old lessons in new ways? If our cultures are simply the replication of what our ancestors did, then we are fit only for museums,” he said.

This theme is also reflected in the book’s title.

The book’s chief editor, Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni, said: “The title is a metaphor for searching for those things that are best in our culture and trying to hold to them today and for future generations.”

Pictures: Top - Sir Tipene O'Regan speaking at the book launch. Above - Tui Atua is presented with a copy of his book. Photos by Alan Koon.

Alan Ah Mua review in the Samoa Observer
Su’esu’e Manogi at South Pacific Books

PMC welcomes Asian media pair for studies

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Centre

Two Asian journalists – from very diverse backgrounds – were welcomed by Dr Alan Cocker, head of AUT’s School of Communication Studies, in a cosy ceremony at the Pacific Media Centre today.

Wang Nan, 28, from China, and Violet Cho, 25, an indigenous Karen from Burma, will be attached to the centre while they pursue postgraduate studies at AUT.

Wang is a cultural affairs editor for China Daily.com and is on a semester-long exchange internship.

The Beijing native holds a degree in English language and literature, and counts painting and photography among her creative interests.

Her attitude reflects the mutual benefits of cultural exchange.

“If people want to know about Chinese culture and custom, I am happy to share my knowledge and work,” she said.

“But I also want to learn new things. Some of the paper courses I’m taking – like photography and design – I’ve never touched before.”

Her colleague, Cho, who writes for Irrawaddy magazine, is more interested in raising awareness about the challenges of her homeland as well as the Burmese community in New Zealand.

“It’s impossible for a people outside of a country to know what it’s really like in another society,” she said.

Cho’s childhood was spent moving between refugee camps, fleeing to Thailand because of the threats her family faced from the military due to her father’s involvement in the Karen National Union (KNU).

Now living in exile because of her activism and “dissident” reporting, Cho is this year’s inaugural winner of PMC’s Asian Journalism Fellowship. She hopes her BCS (Hons) degree will help her produce more critical media about Burmese issues.

“We can build networks and maybe help each other achieve some of our aims in activism,” she said.

At the welcome ceremony, both Cho and Wang were garlanded with traditional lei flowers and presented with AUT tee shirts.

Cho thanked Dr Cocker, PMC director Dr David Robie and the sponsoring Asia New Zealand Foundation for the “tireless efforts” in getting her to New Zealand.

Pictured: Top: Violet Cho (left) and Wang Nan at the welcome. Above: Cho, Wang and Dr Robie. Photo: Alan Koon.

China Daily
Irrawaddy
Asia New Zealand Foundation

Media needs to question 'spying', says campaigner

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Spies, surveillance and espionage are the stuff expected in television reports about Al Qaeda – or James Bond novels.

Yet right in the Pacific backyard, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has been secretly tracking, photographing, and investigating the family and friends of unsuspecting “persons of interest” for decades, allegedly in the quest for “national security”.

The news media was challenged for failing to report on the surveillance of citizens earlier.

At a seminar hosted by AUT’s Pacific Media Centre on Tuesday, Murray Horton, secretary of the Campaign against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) and a campaigner against global Big Business, described how he had been under covert investigation by the SIS for more than 30 years.

He has yet to receive his personal file from the agency, although he was informed last month in a letter from Director of Security Dr Warren Tucker, that the file is “moribund”.

The letter also stated: “You are only of interest as long as you are interested in us”.

The SIS has only recently toned down organisational policies, finally agreeing to give people extensive information from their files, if applied for.

Since then, a number of people have received their declassified records, including Green MP and Pacific affairs spokesman Keith Locke.

Philippines espionage
Horton’s colleague, author and peace advocate Maire Leadbeater, formerly of the Philippine Solidarity Network and now spokesperson of the Auckland-based Indonesian Human Rights Committee (IHRC), also spoke at the seminar.

Leadbeater, sister of Keith Locke, has had an NZSIS personal file since she was aged 10.

She spoke about spying against the Philippine solidarity activists and the "peace brigade" to the Philippines in 1989.

Due to what Horton calls an “obsession with communism”, NZSIS has monitored individuals and organisations since 1956 during the height of the Cold War, while working with other government agencies.

CAFCA, the organisation Horton helped found, recently received its file totalling more than 400 pages.

The document included information on infiltrated AGM meetings, private mail, educational and medical background of members, 10 memos about CAFCA to the CIA, as well as sensitive details about individuals’ marital problems, sex lives and “substance abuse”.

“It can be treated as a joke, but this kind of thing has the capacity to really affect people’s lives,” said Horton.

This includes things such as visa and job applications where the NZSIS can disclose private information to other agencies.

Private details
The fact much of the private details came from a source within the CAFCA circle was also disconcerting for members.

Horton questioned the role of the media as a watchdog for democracy in failing to highlight this issue earlier.

“We basically stumbled upon this ourselves – why weren’t journos asking these questions?” he said.

According to human rights groups, the NZSIS had an annual budget of more than $23 million in 2006. Stated objectives include protecting the country from sabotage, espionage, terrorist attacks, and threats to international economic well-being.

However, while Cold War-era fears of communism have since subsided, the organisation has recently turned to Islamic action as a threat to national security.

Sony Ambudi, an Indonesian who was active in human rights issues in his homeland, attended the seminar. He described his experience when he was contacted by the SIS in Auckland in 2004.

Ambudi, a Muslim, said the agent contacted him at an unlisted number and knew that he attended weekly religious meetings as well as having “insider” details about the meetings.

After the interview, he was told by the agent that their conversation “never took place”.

Yet, while such shady operations may seem unsettling, Filipina activist Del Abcede reminded seminar participants about the very real threat of knowing too much information.

“It’s happening today and it’s costing lives. In a country like the Philippines, if you’re on the list, expect to disappear any minute.”

Pictures: Top: Murray Horton at the PMC seminar. Above: Maire Leadbeater. Pictures: Alan Koon.

Profile on Murray Horton
CAFCA

Media theses feature in new Pacific national index

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Academic research on Pacific media such as Robert Loto’s work on Pacific Islanders and health in print publications and an analysis of the Fiji 2000 coup by Christine Gounder can now be easily located by students - thanks to a groundbreaking initiative co-ordinated by AUT University’s Office of Pasifika Advancement.

The project was funded by the Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences (BRCSS) Network.

The Bibliographic Index of Pacific Theses in New Zealand Universities – a publication listing references to all master’s and doctoral theses about the Pacific ever submitted to a New Zealand academy since 1900 – was launched today.

The three volume publication includes more than 1200 titles and abstracts, spanning a range of disciplines, collected from nine universities - including the pioneering University of New Zealand.

At a live video conference that included Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Georgina te Heuheu and members from the Tertiary Education Commission and the Labour Department , AUT Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack officially launched the index saying he was impressed by the “quality, breadth, depth, and scope” of the work catalogued.

“It is a statement by Aotearoa-New Zealand as a Pacific Island nation that we have an interest and responsibility to Pacific development,” he said.

AUT’s Pollyanna Rasmussen-Pa’ese, who spearheaded the project from July till October last year, said the index was an important and convenient tool for Pasifika researchers.

“It makes it easier to find what they need in one place – you can browse through one resource instead of having to search in many different places,” she said.

Available in hard copy or on CD-ROM, the items listed in the index show only bibliographical information and some abstracts. The actual theses can be accessed online, through an interlibrary loan, or by visiting the library that holds the thesis.

However, because of copyright laws surrounding intellectual property, this resource is only currently available to participating universities in New Zealand and BRCSS members.

While some participants raised their concerns about this “exclusivity”, AUT Library’s Philip Combs expressed his expectations that as free access develops the index would eventually be available more freely online.

Judy McFall-McCaffery, of the University of Auckland Library, was also optimistic about the “next stage” of the project, featuring a more web-based approach, and including honours-level dissertations or papers.

Pictured: AUT's Pollyanna Rasmussen-Pa'ese (left) and Professor of Public Policy Marilyn Waring at the launch. Photo: Tessa Prebble.

Copies of the Bibliographic Index of Pacific Theses in New Zealand Universities can be requested by email from kate.scott@aut.ac.nz

The BRCSS network
Office of Pasifika Advancement

PMC on YouTube

Check out videos from AUT Pacific Media Centre staff and students on PMC's YouTube channel.

Karen journalist in critical force for change

Violet Cho, a 25-year-old Karen journalist writing for Irawaddy magazine and living in Thailand, has won AUT Pacific Media Centre's inaugural Asian Journalism Fellowship. The fellowship is supported by an Asia: NZ Foundation grant. She arrives in New Zealand today and will join the Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) programme and be a resource journalist with the PMC for a year. Here is her story:

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

I was born in Pa-an, Burma, in January 1984. My family were farmers but we didn't have money to cultivate the land. I spent the first seven years of my life in Pa-an and Loikaw until my family fled to Huay Kaloke refugee camp in 1991.

My father was already working for the Karen National Union on the borderline so we were in a dangerous situation Even though he had a low position in the KNU, if the military realised about my father’s involvement with the resistance, my mother, brother and I could be arrested.

Later, my father called us to join him for our security. So we escaped across the border into Thailand. At that time, I was still young and I was sent to Huay Kaloke refugee camp where I could do some primary schooling.

The experience living in the camp wasn't a happy one. Almost all the time we were afraid of Burmese military attacks because the refugee camp was close to the border and not secure.

In 1998, Huay Kaloke refugee camp was attacked and burnt down by the Burmese military. Our house and all our possessions were destroyed and there was a lot of shooting.

This was my first direct experience with military oppression and human rights abuses and it is a day that I always remember. I was afraid and angry too.

By the end of 1999, my family and lots of others moved to a new camp called Umpiem Mai, where I could go to school. I was really pleased at having a chance to study again, even though resources were small.

Teenage broadcaster
I first became involved in media when I was a teenager living in Umpiem refugee camp. I volunteered for a new community radio station under Karen Student Network Group (KSNG) which I helped set up.

KSNG is a student organisation that organises Karen students in refugee camps and in the border areas of Burma to work together for the aim to find opportunities for refugee students and people without access to education, to prepare them to be leaders, to preserve and maintain the culture of Karen people, to raise awareness about human rights among youth and to work for campaigns to protect environment and human rights, such as the current Salween Dam campaign.

In KSNG, I have worked in all of these areas with a focus on community media. Through KSNG, I got a chance to study at a journalism school organised by Internews. In KSNG, I have worked as a secretary and radio and print editor.

While full time working with the student organisation on the Thai-Burmese border, I used to do some reporting and file stories to Kwekalu which is a semi-independent Karen newsletter based near the border with Southern Burma. I also did some news reporting for Burmese independent media agency Mizzima which it is now based in New Delhi.

I also spent one year working as a features reporter for Radio Free Asia. I made radio features in the Burmese language that were broadcast to Burma through shortwave. It was good because I love working in radio. Some of my stories included the problem of domestic violence in refugee camps, the daily struggle of undocumented migrant workers in Thailand and the dreams of refugee youth.

Since 2007, I have been working for Irrawaddy Publishing Group, which has a daily news website and a monthly glossy magazine. It was started by Burmese exiles and is the most prominent Burmese exiled media organisation.

It is an exciting place to work and has allowed me to get a lot of sources inside Burma and internationally. I spend most of my time writing stories for the website but I do some commentary for the magazine too. I really like to try and do investigative reporting – but since I am working with a media organisation that is unregisterered in Thailand, there are so many security challenges.

Migrant issues
At Irrawaddy, I have been interested in reporting on migrant worker issues, environmental problems and the struggles of ordinary impoverished people. I also think media should be a watchdog of UN agencies and NGOs as they play an important role in my community – so I also have written some reports about their policies and actions that are problematic.

As a person from Burma, I have a high expectation about change. I do believe that the Burmese have to know their political destination and be working hard towards it.

As a person who has worked for the change of Burma as an indigenous youth activist and an independent journalist, I will continue working with free media and community organisations in exile.

Studying journalism at AUT University will greatly help my work as a journalist. To produce critical media, I need a stronger academic background in media and a theoretical framework.

I think I will grow a lot if I can also attend university and use the skills and knowledge to work to improve Burmese media so it can be a greater critical force for change.

Irawaddy magazine
Mizzima news agency
Asia: NZ Foundation profile