‘Don’t lump Pacific into Asia; we’re a region’ - Juffa
11 February 2019
EDITOR | Pacific Media Centre Editor | RNZ Pacific
AUCKLAND - The Asia-Pacific tag is a misnomer and should not be used to lump in Pacific Island countries, says Papua New Guinean opposition MP and governor of Oro province Gary Juffa.
The Pacific Islands should be considered as a region on its own because its ethnic make-up is distinct from Asia, he said.
Juffa also said the islands region’s surface area was huge and important enough to be a global region in itself.
“When we are lumped together with Asia Pacific, we are dwarfed. They are more vocal, they have their more complicated issues that they present, and we become just like a tag-along.
“I prefer that the Pacific, which is one-fifth of the world’s surface area, be recognised as a region on its own.”
Juffa said he wanted PNG, which is the biggest country in the Pacific islands, to take a lead in demanding the Pacific be recognised as its own region.
“We are totally different from the ethnic make-up of Asia, and different from the ethnic make-up of any region,” he said.
“Look at history and culture. We ought to be our own region. Why are we together with Asia-Pacific?”
The governor said this was why the issue of West Papua, the self-determination struggle of the indigenous people of Indonesian-ruled Papua region, was obscured.
“It’s seen as an Asia-Pacific issue. But it’s not. It is a Pacific issue.
“Here is another region intruding in our region, claiming our territory as its own.”
This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand
And then of course there's the Indo-Pacific.
I wonder what that means - the Cocos Islands and Hawaii?
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 12 February 2019 at 07:52 AM
BBC News lumps Pacific news into Asia, including New Zealand, and today also has items of Australian news despite also having an Australia dedicated search link. Chatham island is one helluva long way from Asia.
Posted by: Arthur Williams | 11 February 2019 at 10:28 PM