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Indonesia responds after claim official attempted to bribe RNZ Pacific journalist
A Radio New Zealand journalist says an Indonesian government official attempted to bribe and intimidate him at the recent 22nd Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders’ meeting in Port Vila.
The Indonesian government has responded on Monday saying it will “surely look” into the claims.
RNZ journalist Kelvin Anthony was in Port Vila to cover the MSG Leaders’ Summit two weeks ago when he was offered “a gift” after an exclusive interview with Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia, Dr Siswo Pramono.
The alleged bribe was offered between 1pm-1.10pm on Wednesday, 23 August in the carpark of the Holiday Inn Resort in Port Vila by Indonesian government representative Ardi Nuswantoro, Anthony said.
“I was offered an exclusive interview with the Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia at the MSG meeting after being told earlier in the week by Ardi Nuswantoro that his government did not like what RNZ had published on West Papua and that it was not balanced,” he said.
“I advised the delegate that RNZ makes every effort to be balanced and fair and we want to get Indonesia’s side too, but we need the chance to speak on the record.”
After communicating face-to-face and online via WhatsApp – texts and call records seen by RNZ – Nuswantoro asked Anthony to visit the Holiday Inn Resort at 12pm for the interview on Wednesday, 23 August.
“I interviewed Dr Pramono covering a broad set of questions including human rights issues in West Papua, the MSG meeting, and Jakarta’s intentions in the Pacific, which lasted over 40 minutes,” Anthony said.
“I thought I had an exclusive interview that went well for a strong story out of the meeting that touched sensitive but pertinent issues involving Indonesia, the West Papua issue, and the Pacific.”
Anthony said he was escorted out of the reception area at the end of the interview and accompanied by at least three Indonesian officials.
He said Nuswantoro, who he was liaising with to set up the interview, “asked me several times if I had a car and how I was going to get back”.
“I told them that my colleague from a local media who was with me was driving me back to town. As we walked to the car park, the same official continued to walk with me and just as we were about to approach the car, he said, ‘The Indonesian delegation would like to offer you token of appreciation’.”
“I asked him, ‘What’s that?’ He replied, ‘A small gift’.
“I asked him again, ‘But what is it?’ And he replied: ‘Money’.
“At that point I was shell-shocked because I had never experienced something like that in my career.
“I declined to accept the money and told him, ‘I cannot take money because it compromises the story and my credibility and integrity as a journalist’.”
Anthony said the Indonesian official looked visibly withdrawn at the rejection and apologised for offering money.
Due to the incident RNZ chose at the time not to air the interview with Dr Pramono.
RNZ put the claims of bribery and intimidation to the Indonesian government.
In an email response, Jakarta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Asia Pacific and African Affairs director general Abdul Kadir Jailani neither confirmed nor denied the claims.
“Bribery has never been our policy nor approach to journalists,” Jailani said.
“We will surely look into it,” he said.
Melanesian Spearhead Group flags Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
‘I felt intimidated’
The offering of money happened while a local fixer was about five metres away “seeing everything unfold” waiting at the car, Anthony said.
“My local fixer saw and heard everything and as we drove off he said I should report on it but only when I am out of Vanuatu. I immediately communicated the incident to my superiors back in Wellington to put everything on record,” Anthony said.
The local Ni-Vanuatu journalist, who was present when the alleged incident occurred, said: “I saw what was happening and knew exactly what the Indonesian guy was trying to do”.
“My advice to the RNZ journalist was to hold the story until he was out of the country because I was worried about his safety.”
RNZ has seen communications sent by the Indonesian official to the journalist, asking him when RNZ was going to publish the interview.
“I did not respond to the messages or calls. I did, however, encounter the Indonesia delegation representatives and the official who offered me the money on Thursday, August 24 at the closing reception of the MSG leaders’ meeting at the Warwick Resort Convention Centre,” Anthony said.
He said the same official kept following him around and messaged him a video clip showing indigenous Papuans carrying out violent acts.
“I felt a little intimidated but I tried to stick around with the local journalists as much as I could so I could avoid the Indonesian officials coming up to me,” he said.
Another local media representative who was at the farewell function on Thursday, 24 August, said they could “see the Indonesian delegate moving around the RNZ journalist continuously and following him everywhere he went”.
“It seemed obvious that one particular Indonesian delegate was pestering Kelvin and following him around,” they said.
In Indonesia’s official response to the allegations, Abdul Kadir Jailani said “we have no interest in following nor intimidating any journalists covering the Summit”.
MSG meeting
RNZ was the only international media which had a journalist on the ground to cover the MSG meeting for its Pacific audience.
Indonesia’s Ambassador to Australia Dr Siswo Pramono Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
The MSG is an important sub-regional bloc that includes Fiji, FLNKS – the umbrella group for pro-independence political parties in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The meeting had a packed agenda and the issue the full membership of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as a big-ticket item.
Indonesia, an associate member of the MSG, had the largest delegation at the meeting and has been on record saying it does not support or recognise the ULMWP as a representative body of the indigenous Papuans.
Dr Pramono said Jakarta views the ULMWP as a “secessionist movement” and walked out of the meeting when the movement’s representatives made interventions.
The MSG meeting concluded with leaders rejecting ULMWP’s application to become a full member of the sub-regional group.
Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders drink Vanuatu kava after signing two declarations at the 22nd MSG Leaders’ Summit in Port Vila. 24 August 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
VIA RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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