Andreas Harsano reports on Indonesia for the Human Rights watch, and is one of the leading figures in press freedom and training of journalists in Indonesia. Sherry talks to Andreas on Indonesia’s history of violence and mass killings, the rise independent journalism post dictator post-suharto era, and what’s next for West Papua.
Andreas recently published his book: Race, Islam and Power on Ethnic and Religious violence, so Sherry begins by asking him to summarise his research.
In November 2019, the autonomous region and island of Bougainville held a referendum to decide whether they should express a desire for independence, instead of continued autonomy as a part of Papua New Guinea. The result of the vote saw a landslide 97.7% majority vote for independence and would see Bougainville seek to replace South Sudan as the newest country in the world.
Yet, despite this, Bougainville remains an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea six years later. The difficult transition period has resulted in political tensions rising between the island and Papua New Guinea. However the recent signing of the Melanesian agreement in June is seen by experts as a significant step towards independence for Bougainville.
To talk about why this situation has dragged on for so long and what we can expect moving forward, Producer Max spoke to Gordon Nanau, the head of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.
This week on The Wire we speak to Green Party co-leader James Shaw about Labour's immigration policy and whether the Greens are becoming too centrist. AUT Pacific Media Centre's Kendall Hutt speaks with two Papua New Guinea students Stephanie and Kenneth about the upcoming Papua New Guinea elections. bFM producer Ben Goldson speaks to Labour's spokesperson for housing, Phil Twyford, about MBIE's Housing Affortability Measure and to E Tu's assistant national secretary, John Ryall about the fight for pay equity in the mental health center. Ben also speaks to President of the Psychological Society, Quentin Abraham, about New Zealand's poor showing in Unicef's 14th Innocenti report. Amanda looks at what happened in the Grenfell Tower fire and if something similar could happen in New Zealand.
Tonight's show was actually entirely curated by bFM's own Samuel Harmony, who sent Oto and Jaycee, not just a playlist, but a stack of CDs and Casettes that he collected while he was in Indonesia as part of the New Zealand Delegation attending AXEAN Festival 2025. Whakarongo mai to experience 2 hours of Psych rock, folk, disco and more by Southeast-Asian artists playing at the festival!
Oto and Jaycee talked to bad for education about his new single - 'Close My Eyes,' and played 2 hours of Surf Rock, Indie and Grunge by independent artists from the Asian diaspora.
Happy New Year and with that Walao starts off strong with Co-Host Jaycee showing us demos and his top plays and discoveries from 2025. From Hyperpop to experimental, what a treat!
Pacific Media Centre's Jean Bell stops by the studio to discuss a group of customary land owners in Papua New Guinea regaining access to their land, the struggles of delivering education to indigenous peoples in the Philippines and a special new girl band in Papua New Guinea.
AUT students Hele Ikimotu and Blessen Tom also talk about their upcoming trip to Fiji as part of the Bearing Witness programme.
Today on the Southern Cross, Jemima talks to AUT Pacific Media Centre's reporter Rahul Bhattarai. Topics include, the iconic, internationally acclaimed human rights film on Paga Hill that was banned from a Papua New Guinea festival and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, responds to backlash against his purchase of 40 Maseratis.
This week on the Monday Wire, Jemima talks with Green-Party co-leader James Shaw about rising fuel prices and legalising drug testing. Our regular segment, the Southern Cross, covers the internationally acclaimed human rights film on Paga Hill that was banned from a Papua New Guinea festival and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, response to backlash against his purchase of 40 Maseratis. Justin reports on the Government's plan to bring teachers from overseas to solve the country's teacher shortage and asks Michael Calbral-Tarry from the NZ Post Primary Teachers' Association about this issue. Damian follows up on the Green Party's call for legal drug testing with Nathan Brown from the New Zealand Drug Foundation. Finally, Damian speaks with campaigner, Sophie Schroder, about Greenpeace launching a series of training workshops to prepare for the arrival of oil giant, OMV.
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