The Pacific Island Forum’s Observer Team to Tonga has congratulated election officials for their professional conduct during last week’s snap election. Wilson Waguk, from the Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia to Fiji, led the team which observed the opening polling and counting on the islands of ‘Eua and Tongatapu. The team said the Read more
Just before a visit from President Obama, Vietnam released a political dissident priest who had spent much of the last two decades in jail or house arrest. Catholic Church officials announced that Fr Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly was released from jail on Friday morning, AFP reported. President Obama started a three-day visit to Vietnam on Read more
The Melanesian Way could aptly be summed up as a democracy says Phil Fitzpatrick. He points out that there are various definitions of democracy, “but the Oxford English Dictionary probably sums it up accurately saying it is ‘a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity… are involved in making Read more
It’s a plain truth that democracies everywhere are witnessing the resurgence of religious bigotry. There are moments when it feels even as if something like a new global religious war has begun, on several fronts. Ignorant media hype, foul abuse of the faith or godlessness of others, ugly violence calculated to scare and kill: such Read more
There is something eerily symmetrical about the decision by the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, to call a referendum about what he has described as the ‘extortionate ultimatum’ of ‘strict and humiliating austerity without end’ coming from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and the European Central Bank – the troika. The country that is Read more
Amid talk of whether Vladimir Putin would leave the G20 early and numerous reports of frosty encounters between him and other summit leaders, Western media coverage has generally operated from the sometimes forcefully expressed underlying assumption that the West is dealing with an erratic and dangerous dictator whose rule damages the once-great country he leads. Read more
The massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong are partly motivated by a desire to stop China’s communist government from clamping down on Christianity. The protesters are calling for democratic elections in Hong Kong, demanding the right to vote for a leader of their choice in 2017, without restrictions from Beijing. But some commentators see a Read more
A mock election at St Peter’s College in Auckland last Friday, gave the students a chance to “practice” exercising their democratic right. St Peter’s is located in the Epsom electorate. Over the past three weeks there have been campaigns, and a leaders’ debate. In the mock vote National won the poll with 29.6 percent of Read more
It seems to us that at this time worthy politics and democracy are at risk in Papua New Guinea says Bishop Arnold Orowa President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. He says that honesty and commitment to the common good are essential ingredients of worthy politics. Moreover in a true democratic system Read more
Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong has sharply criticised a Chinese white paper that emphasises Beijing’s total control of the special administrative region. “You (the Chinese communists) can tie me up, can take me away, chop my head off, but not as a slave,” said the cardinal in an online radio programme on Read more