Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Namorong: Hitting Australia with running shoes on fire

BY KEITH JACKSON

"OMG the people I'm meeting a pretty high profile. Just beginning to realize the enormity of Take the Truth to Oz" [Awayang Namorong@Mangiwantok on Twitter]

THE TAKE THE TRUTH TO AUSTRALIA tour (with a program largely put together by Ben Jackson from Jackson Wells) is truly looking like a tour de force.

Tomorrow night blogger, writer and activist Martyn Namorong will hit Australia with his running shoes on fire.

He’ll have an intense two weeks of discussions, forums, media interviews and political meetings that will reach to the highest levels of the Australian government.

And the whole enterprise has been facilitated by PNG Attitude readers, especially Twivey Lawyers in PNG, who provided the funding to make the tour possible.

Australian politicians and journalists have responded splendidly to the opportunity to talk with a man who himself is not of high political, diplomatic, academic or commercial office and who represents nobody but his own people and nothing but their aspirations.

They are meeting with him because they want to hear, perhaps for the first time in their lives, from a young Papua New Guinean intellectual who seeks the best for his country and has shown himself ready to incur personal risk and hardship in doing so.

Martyn Namorong will meet with the man who advises Australian foreign minister Carr on PNG affairs (and may even touch fingers with the great man himself) and he will meet with Carr’s shadow, Julie Bishop, already signalled by PNG Attitude readers as a credible and formidable force in the Australia-PNG relationship.

It is instructive to note that parliamentary secretary for Pacific Island affairs, Richard Marles, has shown no interest in the visit.

Namorong will also meet with high profile journalists who write about PNG – people like Jo Chandler, Jemima Garrett and Rowan Callick – as well as media personalities like Phillip Adams, John Faine and John Highfield.

He will lead a seminar at the Australian National University and meet Rotary scholars at the University of Queensland. And so much more.

As I’ve remarked to anyone who will listen in recent days, this is the kind of interchange that the Australian government should be encouraging between our two countries – and which it has lamentably failed to achieve.

There have been some disappointments along the way – but none of them terminal.

The initial tour was postponed because of passport problems, but allowed the organisers to develop a richer itinerary – including an action-packed visit to Canberra.

Victoria University (which bills itself as an “international university”) shamefully reneged on its commitment of funding for the tour – a pretty disgraceful act – but we found a private donor to take up the slack.

You’ll be reading a lot about Martyn Namorong’s progress around Australia in the next couple of weeks. And whether you can make it to one of his gigs or not, we look forward to your participation through this blog.

Amid the uncertainty, hopes for a new dawn

BY JO CHANDLER
THE AGE / SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

TIGHT SECURITY AND HIGH ANXIETY underwrote the final sitting of Papua New Guinea's outgoing Parliament this week, with rumours running hot that an 11th-hour power play would derail the looming national election and plunge the troubled nation deeper into uncharted straits.

Despite Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's efforts to douse claims that MPs seeking a delay of the poll were plotting against him, conspiracy theories electrified city-dwelling citizens anxious to use their votes to end the crippling political impasse of the past nine months. (How far such concerns resonate out in the landscape of the rural majority, where many long ago gave up on services or governance, is another story.)

As MPs gathered for the showdown on Tuesday, beefed-up security and the mysterious absence of the Speaker, Jeffrey Nape, fanned suspicion that something was up. For almost two hours the burgeoning online gallery of PNG's switched-on citizenry tweeted, posted and sweated on his non-appearance.

Exploding social media has emerged as a potent force in PNG's recent crisis, informing and recruiting grassroots networks and mobilising huge street protests last month.

Now it demanded to know whether the reviled Nape - whose autocratic and erratic style has long stirred controversy - was holed up somewhere cutting a deal. Or might he have been swept up by Task Force Sweep, the anti-corruption agency that had drawn a warrant for his arrest over allegations about missing development funds? (He has been quoted denying ever getting the money.)

According to the Post-Courier the next day, the Speaker had indeed been hoping to muster numbers to delay the poll even as the bells were ringing. He took his seat after the Prime Minister and others confronted him.

''In a rare show of unity, MPs on both sides of the House put their differences aside and unanimously agreed that the writs must be issued on Friday for the polls to be held now,'' the paper reported. Parliament was dissolved.

''Despite the political challenges and the constant uncertainty PNG has done it! We're going to elections,'' tweeted ''Tavurvur'', one of PNG's leading (albeit anonymous) political bloggers. Relief swept the digital airwaves. ''That's sweet news.'' ''Thank God, now we can move forward.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/amid-the-uncertainty-nation-hopes-for-new-dawn-20120518-1yw1w.html#ixzz1vFOAHdT7

A villanelle for the people of Paga Hill

BY PETER KRANZ

My tambus gone away,
The hut is lost and chill,
There is nothing more to say.

Through broken house and way
The winds blow bleak and shrill.
Tambus forced away.

Nor is there friend today
To speak them gud or ill:
There is nothing more to say.

Why is it we are then waylaid
Around the smashed-up shell?
They all are gone away,

And our poor wantok-way
For them is giaman still:
There is nothing more to say.

There is ruin and decay
In our House upon the Hill:
They all are gone away,
There is nothing more to say.

Football: Farina’s PNG aiming to defy the odds

FIFA.COM

PAPUA NEW GUINEA MAY BE Oceania’s largest and most populace nation, but they face a massive challenge if they are to make an impression in Oceania’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers next month.

The national team hase played just three matches since 2007, although their return to the international stage under Frank Farina suggests brighter times ahead.

The second stage of Oceania qualifiers for Brazil 2014, which commence on 1 June, could prove to be a case of too much too soon for PNG. Farina’s squad has a youthful look, and even the older crop suffer from a relative lack of significant experience at club and national team level.

A tough draw dealt to the Kapuls merely adds to what is already a momentous task. PNG will enter Group B alongside regional kings New Zealand, tournament hosts Solomon Islands, and perennial Pacific contenders Fiji. 

The other group features French-speaking trio New Caledonia, Tahiti and Vanuatu, plus Round 1 qualifiers Samoa, with the four semi-finalists advancing to the third and final stage of continental qualifying. On offer to the victor of the eight-nation Round 2, which doubles as the OFC Nations Cup, will be a berth at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

Football in Papua New Guinea is finally building some momentum after years of relative inactivity at international level. Leading the charge have been Port Moresby club Hekari United, who completed a stunning rise by being crowned 2010 OFC O-League champions, before competing in the FIFA Club World Cup later that same year.

The nation’s football authorities, with further international growth in mind, last year showed their intentions with the appointment of former Australia coach Frank Farina to the national team post.

Farina’s success and extensive experience with the Socceroos aside, the appointment was, in many ways, an inspired choice, with the former Club Brugge, Bari and Lille striker having spent ten years during his childhood living in the country's capital, Port Moresby.

PNG elections. Same old, same old…..

BY PAUL OATES

CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME what the chances are of the new PNG Parliament being any different from the old? With an average of nearly 40 candidates vying for each of the 109 electorates, what possibility is there that there will be any consistency of vision and purpose evolving from the 2012 general election results?

Certainly, the PNG Constitution hasn’t been effectively altered and the jury is still out on the debate as to whether it is the best model for PNG to follow?

If one was to take a proverbial ‘helicopter view’, the build up to the 2012 general elections is in essence, a classic example of Melanesian politics. A veritable plethora of political parties that are each promising much the same to their supporters.

That central promise is one of ‘change, get rid of corruption and start to enjoy some of the riches the country earns from exporting its resources.’

Yet under this common facade, regionalism and ethnic solidarity still seem to be paramount. The notion of a common cause and national unity often appears to be on closer inspection, constantly submerged into the murky depths of rivalry for available resources and personal power.

With no commonality of purpose, can PNG ever become a viable nation or will regionalism continue to threaten the fabric of the nation and assist those who wish to divide and conquer?

How can any one politician effectively enunciate a campaign for national unity when that very notion may fly in the face of the local aspirations of his electorate? Political parties appear to be more about juggling and jostling for power and influence and the ability to gain access to financial advantage.

Much the same problem appears when the leadership of the largest political parties are currently trying to attract the greatest number of aspirants in order for their leaders to become Prime Minister.

Some current and aspiring MP’s are changing horses before the election or saying they’ll wait until after the election results to see who they might join. In other words, it’s an auction to see what personal advantage can be gained after the election rather than achieving something for the electorate.

So what chance do ordinary PNG voters therefore have to vote for any real certainty of future change and accountability?

Las momo kani, Nogat tru, Arita yamboma, …

Fears election violence could hit LNG project

BY JEMIMA GARRETT
RADIO AUSTRALIA

THE HEAD OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S $15 billion dollar ExxonMobil-led liquefied natural gas project says he is concerned about the potential for violence during next month's elections.

PNG LNG Managing Director Peter Graham has told a business forum in Brisbane that exports are set to begin as planned in 2014.

But he says he's concerned about the impact of electoral violence, and they have been planning for the risk of election violence for 12 months.

"We put a lot of effort with our contractors into preparing our camp sites, security around the campsites, ensuring that if the Highlands Highway were cut off by some protest or other, that we have stockpiled sufficient food and fuel and medical supplies and we have arrangements in place to fly stuff in if we need it," he said.

Much of the PNG LNG Project is located in volatile highlands provinces where a rapidly growing population and easy mobile phone communications is exacerbating the risk of conflicts escalating into large scale fights.

Mr Graham says with 16,000 staff in the field he cannot afford to have them unable to work.

"We can't afford to have people standing around for a day, or two days or a week if something should go wrong," he said.

"So we're pretty confident all of those plans will help us get through.

There's been speculation about the expansion of the PNG LNG plant at the plant just outside Port Moresby to double capacity.

With recent good exploration results, Mr Graham is no longer ruling that out.

"In order to install another train, similar to the trains we have today, we probably need about four or four and a half trillion cubit feet of gas," he said.

"That's about half of what we have today for the existing project ... our focus today is on delivering this project first.

"We are looking for additional gas to accumulate. It's going to take some time and some further drilling and a lot of expenditure to prove up gas for another one or two trains."

Bishop to meet Namorong as Take the Truth takes off

BY KEITH JACKSON

AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER AND deputy Liberal Party leader, Julie Bishop, is to meet Martyn Namorong as part of his Australian tour beginning Sunday.

Martyn will arrive in Sydney on Sunday night and, after a planning meeting at Jackson Wells Monday morning, will immediately move into a flurry of media interviews, seminars, political meetings and informal events in which he will meet and speak with many Australians interested in PNG affairs.

On Monday afternoon, he will host a public forum at Jackson Wells, which will be filmed for a documentary, and later attend a reception at the Kokoda Track Foundation in the Sydney CBD.

On Tuesday he will visit the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Ultimo before a private engagement with a PNG interest group. In the evening he is expected to feature on Phillip Adams’ nationally-syndicated radio show, Late Night Live together with commentator Alex Rheeney.

On Wednesday, Martyn flies to Melbourne where the tour will be managed by Linda Koerner. Here he will visit Jo Chandler at The Age newspaper and be interviewed by Rowan Callick, Asia Pacific Editor of The Australian newspaper.

He will be a guest of John Faine on his Conversation Hour on the ABC and also be interviewed for Radio Australia.

While in Melbourne, Martyn will talk with university students and members of the PNG Wantoks Group.

On the Sunday, Martyn will drive with Linda from Melbourne to Canberra to prepare for a busy two days in the national capital.

First thing on Monday 28th he will visit the new Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Memorial at the Australian War Memorial before being interviewed by Alex Sloane on ABC Canberra’s morning program.

Later in the afternoon Martyn will lead a seminar for the State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Program at the Australian National University. During the evening he will meet with Senator Bob Brown, who stepped down recently as leader of the Australian Greens.

On Tuesday 29th Martyn will meet Ms Bishop and former Labor ministers Laurie Ferguson MP and Alan Griffin MP as well as Senator Anne McEwen, who has a long-standing association with PNG. In the afternoon he will meet with PNG and other residents of Canberra at the historic Hotel Kurrajong.

We're still awaiting confirmation for a meeting with foreign minister Bob Carr.

In Brisbane, where Martyn will be from Wednesday 30th, Murray Bladwell is managing a series of public appearances, media interviews and informal social events.

Martyn will be guest speaker at a function for Rotary members responsible for PNG clubs, he will meet Rotary peace scholars and journalism students at the University of Queensland and also PNG post-graduate students from Queensland University of Technology.

By the time the tour concludes on Sunday fortnight, Martyn and Australia will have a much better knowledge of each other: the trip will be a sound model, perhaps, for reinforcing bonds between the two countries in the future.

Sonnet 3: I met a pig farmer the other day

BY MICHAEL DOM

At the foot of Mount Giluwe we met
A place where they say ice falls from the sky
We spoke of pork and the lack of good vets
As we toil’d in his village piggery
Each planning how his stock would reach market
Did we both share a wish that pigs could fly?

Agriculture is our backbone we say
(Rhetorical ruse on farmers always)
Yet in our grand plans for development
We have forgotten what that really meant
From the highlands to the coastal islands
The struggle to feed ourselves never ends

If you met those who’s unheard voices cry
You too would join me in questioning, why?

Penned at Labu Station at 3:15am on 17/05/2012.

Male initiation in Orokolo culture

BY KIRSTEN IPI ARIA

PAPUA NEW GUINEA IS SAID to have over 800 different languages, stemming from its colourful collection of diverse cultures.

I want to write about a significant part of my own culture which is fascinating in both its concept and methodology.

Unfortunately, though, the topic here - the male initiation process - has died out in practice from the Orokolo culture due to various factors.

But I believe a revisit into what was this practice will be educational and helpful for today’s young people.

The male initiation played a vital and major role in how effectively the traditional society functioned. In fact, it provided the foundation in which our traditional society took its roots.

To begin, it’s worth mentioning that in the days of our forefathers, the family unit did not live together under one roof as is the case today. This is because while the women and children lived in the family house, the men mostly dwelt in an elavo or mans-house.

The elavo, a towering structure with its pointed thatch roof jutting out menacingly at the fore, was a men-only zone. Females were strictly forbidden from entering it or even loitering about within its perimeter.

The elavo was more than a house of assembly for men. It was the arena for the male initiation endeavour.

The initiation process, or the rite of passage into manhood for a young male child, began when he was taken to the elavo at an age of between 10 and 12 years old. Upon entering the elavo, the boy was wholly entrusted into the care of his kinsmen and elders within.

This meant that he would not see his mother, nor would she see him, for the duration of his stay in the elavo. This would not be significant but for the fact that the initiation process would last over the next 15-20 years of the boy’s life.

It is for this reason that I use the term initiation ‘process’ and not initiation  ceremony as this was not a ceremony or ritual that lasted a couple of days or months but, as stated, took years to complete.

The boy who entered the elavo would have to get accustomed to growing up with the men. Having had all relations with his mother severed, he quickly learned that he had entered into the next phase of life, wherein he had to abandon any childish behaviour or mindset which he may have displayed prior to entering the elavo.

While the boys remained in the elavo, the elders decided what, how and when things would be done for them. Even the meals they took were monitored. For instance, whenever a boys’ mother brought him food, an elder would receive it and taste-test the food before giving it to the boy concerned.

A woman knew that if the elders didn’t approve of the food she brought it would be rejected. Therefore, she made sure to prepare and deliver the best meal for her son in the elavo.

My song I sing

BY MIZRAIIM LAPA

With the sun rising and enticing the
vulnerable body of the ocean
the gentle hand of the Creator was painting
the body of the ocean with the golden ink
The songs I sang to Him last night,
A song that switched stars to sleep
And blink moon to provide the path for my voice
New born babies waiting to be delivered to earth
smiled in their deep sleep
My soul was making music
My voice producing it
Angels have gone off duty
My voice only moving down the streets of gold
My Maker wants to hear me more
Wedding bells ringing on earth
Roses in heaven bloom
Love was everywhere
The presence of God was riding in the songs I sing
I sang more intimately I was in love with my God
He paused and wrapt a gift for me,
I opened this gift to find that
A brand new day He delivers to me
to sing again to Him.

Dorothy Tekwie pressured to quit electoral race

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

DOROTHY TEKWIE, THE PNG GREEN PARTY candidate for the Vanimo electorate, says she’s been pressured not to run in this year’s election by associates of rival candidate, deputy prime minister Belden Namah.

Dorothy Tekwie says she cannot submit to such pressure because the consequences of letting Mr Namah win a seat again would be disastrous not just for Vanimo but the country as well.

Ms Tekwie accused Mr Namah of abusing his power as an MP for personal gain.

She says she’d been offered six-figure sums to not run in the elections, which she has refused.

“I’ve also been threatened at times and intimidated by certain people that are associated with him,” Ms Tekwie said.

“I’m not going to step down because people ask me not to, because I’ve seen what is happening with my people in the inland where he comes from.

“People virtually have nothing. Women have one skirt for the whole year and nothing else while money that comes from their forest is being squandered to pay for political survival of certain people.”

Martyn Namorong will talk to Australians about PNG

MARTYN NAMORONG, Papua New Guinean political activist, award winning writer and much quoted blogger, will begin a two week lecture tour of Australia next week.

The privately-funded Take the Truth to Australia tour will enable one of Papua New Guinea’s new generation of writers and thinkers to speak about the issues afflicting his country – one of which he says is Australia itself.

Namorong, 25, who sells betel nut in Port Moresby’s markets to earn money to support his writing, is well known for his gritty and accurate portrayals of the struggling and increasingly depressed society that is today’s PNG

“I don’t dream anymore,” he says. “I am grounded in reality. I grapple with the facts as they are.”

In 2011 Namorong was recognised for his writing when he won the inaugural Crocodile Prize, PNG’s national literary award.

As a medical student at the University of Papua New Guinea, Namorong witnessed the troubles of PNG at first hand and now chooses to live a lifestyle no different from that of the vast majority of his compatriots.

“The system of education in this country [Papua New Guinea] is a failure trap,” Mr Namorong says.

“It is supposed to groom Papua New Guineans, but all it does is produce a lot of failures.”

Namorong has been acclaimed as the foremost of a growing group of Papua New Guinean writers unafraid to speak boldly on issues of corruption and public waste and who are using social media to stimulate pressure for social change.

In Australia he will meet with politicians, journalists and people interested in PNG affairs.

______________

Martyn will be in Sydney (21-22 May), Melbourne (23-26 May), Canberra (27-29 May) and Brisbane (30 May-2 June). He is available for media interviews

Media contact: Ben Jackson: 0417 407 565 | (02) 9904 4333 | bjackson@jacksonwells.com.au

Catholic church attitude on condoms promotes misery

BY PETER KRANZ

READERS MIGHT FIND IT INFORMATIVE to learn that, with 1.28 percent of its adult population estimated by the UN to be HIV -positive in 2006, Papua New Guinea has one of the most serious HIV/AIDS epidemics in the Asia-Pacific subregion.

The figure is substantially higher six years down the track, with PNG leaders' history of promiscuity and polygamy substantially worsening the problem, as mentioned by Dame Carol Kidu in her closing address to Parliament this week.

As if the Catholic Church’s medieval prohibitions against any birth control (apart from abstinence) were not bad enough, it has again condemned the use of public sexual education promoting condom use as 'anti-Christian'.

The PNG Education Department's new HIV/AIDS policy calls for condoms to be supplied to fight a high rate of infection among students.

But the Secretary for Education with the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, says the new requirement clashes with Catholic teaching on sexuality, and the church will not obey it.

The head of the Vanimo Catholic diocese, Bishop Cesare Bonivento, has said the use of condoms is like “a gun that instead of killing the enemy, very often exploded in the hands of the one who wanted to use it for personal defence.” He said in reality the condom was not protection but a killer.

Bishop Paul Marx of the Diocese of Kerema insists that an Australian National AIDS Council campaign "is sending out the wrong message that promiscuity is the normal, ordinary way of life.… By distributing condoms all over the place it will facilitate even further that promiscuity, which is the main breeding ground of HIV/AIDS."

Then there was the laughable argument promoted by a senior Catholic official of the Department of Health a few years ago that condoms have holes which actually promote the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus - which received prominent attention in the national media, and misled thousands.

Catholics of PNG - it's time to stand up for human rights and the lives of women and children, not the blind support of ancient religious dogma (written and promoted by men 1,000 years ago seeking to retain their power).

It is time to work to save living souls instead of condemning thousands to an early grave, and tens of thousands to a repeated cycle of poverty and misery through lack of family planning.

Further reading at the Radio Australia website here

The Mountain: articulating the enigma that is PNG

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

WHEN I WAS LOOKING FOR a copy of Drusilla Modjeska’s novel, The Mountain, I found it on the “new releases” shelf of our local department store. 

It was surrounded by lots of those glossy novels about feisty (mostly beautiful blonde) ladies tackling the rough and tumble of the outback, showing the blokes a thing or two and ending up finding true love. 

There were also a couple of the latest doomsday titles for the guys and the usual vampire / fantasy for the teens.  All of them heavily discounted because of the buying power of the chain store.

For a literary novel I thought it was an odd place for it to be displayed; normally you have to go to a real bookshop and rummage through the shelves for such things and then pay a premium price to boot.  That, or buy it on the Internet.

It is a sad fact, for men at least, that most general readers in the developed world are women and a lot of the people who write for them are also women. 

So why would a complex novel set in an obscure place like Papua New Guinea be sitting on that shelf?  Did the store buyers see the cover and make an incorrect assumption?

Having read the book it dawned on me that the reason it was there is because it operates at two levels.  On the one hand it can be read as a straight novel about “love, loss, grief and betrayal” as the blurb proclaims, but on another level, especially to those in the know, it is a complex analysis of the grappling relationship between two vastly different cultures brought together in a crucial moment of time in Papua New Guinea.

It is here that the novel excels and demonstrates that fiction leaves anthropology and history well in its wake when it comes to understanding what really happens in people’s lives.

The book is written in two sections, pre and post-independence.  It concerns the people, both black and white, involved in the halcyon and ideologically driven days of the University of Papua New Guinea and then, years later, the spillages involving them and their children.

I think this might be the first time that anyone has written about those sandal-shod, Hawaiian-shirted, mini-skirted, kaftan-clad and bearded and beaded, convention defying black and white denizens of outer-Waigani in anything other than derogatory terms. 

In that sense it is a refreshing change; the novel paints a wonderful picture of those days, especially around Hohola, including all the colour and angst.

At the beginning of the book two of the pivotal characters are standing on a hill overlooking the new university under construction and the student asks the newly arrived wife of one of the lecturers whether what they can see is, in fact, real.

The question of reality seems to be at the heart of the novel.  As the narrative progresses you begin to realise that in such circumstances what might be reality to one person may not necessarily be reality to another. 

When a white academic and a kiap, for instance, look at something they see different things, just as an educated Papua New Guinean and a bush kanaka might have done and, unfortunately, still do.

It is the student who asked the question on the hill that turns out to have the firmest fix on reality.  He becomes a smooth-talking and rich lawyer representing developers, miners and loggers and the reason he’s successful is because he’s worked out what’s going on in Papua New Guinean minds.  Whether he likes it is another matter; he can’t fix it, he’s already tried, and anyway, it butters his bread.

He knows that Papua New Guinea is a mess and was always going to be a mess and there is nothing that can be done about it.  The plunderers will continue to plunder and the locals will continue to be their own worst enemies.

One of the hapkas offspring of those early days comes back to Papua New Guinea from Europe to solve the puzzle of his identity and travels to the isolated mountain village to which the title of the novel refers. 

He is the mystical prodigal son but even those untouched people see him as a bisnis opportunity.  In a vain attempt at integrity he tries to help but as the novel ends the jealousy has begun and the scheme is falling apart even before it really begins.

One of the characters in the novel (with a vague resemblance to someone familiar to PNG Attitude readers) is puzzled by white people always needing a reason for why things happen.

And that, I guess is the enigma of Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea farewells a great dame

BY JO CHANDLER
THE AGE

AS DAME CAROL KIDU - the long-serving and lonely female of the 109 member Papua New Guinea Parliament - gave her farewell speech at Tuesday’s final sitting ahead of next month's scheduled election, the nation's burgeoning social media commentariat lit up with tributes.

''Kidu gets applause! Sir Buri Kidu would have been proud of you Dame,'' tweeted Tarurvur - one of PNG's most influential (albeit anonymous) political bloggers - summoning up the revered memory of Dame Carol's long-dead husband, the nation's first national Chief Justice.

''Who would have thought a white woman from QLD would impact PNG as you have?''

Mind you, other tweeters observed that the applause from fellow MPs was a bit muted - perhaps as a result of her passing swipe at some of them having one or two wives too many. The feisty Dame is rarely accused of failing to speak her mind.

Dame Carol was one of two lauded figures on the PNG political landscape farewelled as the Parliament dissolved yesterday - the other was former Prime Minister and noted political reformer Sir Mekere Morauta, who said he was moving aside to make way for a new generation.

Dame Carol's impact on PNG politics goes back 15 years as the Member for Moresby South and a minister under the Somare Government, and includes a raft of social development policy, from provisions recognising the rights of the street traders who make up the informal economy; to laws protecting vulnerable children; to a determined and ultimately thwarted campaign to introduce special measures to usher more women into the Parliament.

With her Women's Bill - which would have introduced 22 reserved seats for women - failing to complete its journey into law in time for this election, the odds are stacked high against a single woman taking a seat when the Haus Tambaran in the capital of Waigani next convenes. Social and political culture - and the money politics which underwrites campaigns - remain formidable obstacles to womens' candidacy.

PNG politics is the poorer for the lack of female influence, Dame Carol argues, with the agendas of critical social indicators - maternal deaths, child health, violence against women - failing to achieve the priority they deserve in the Haus.

Though she has lived in PNG for more than 40 years, arriving as a bride and raising her family according to her husband's tribal tradition, Dame Carol once told the Parliament in championing her Bill that ''I don't pretend to understand the complexities [of PNG culture]. The men were the warriors. But remember, the women were the peacemakers.''

Dame Carol's voice and influence has amplified through the past nine months of volatile political power plays. Distancing herself from the Somare camp to take on the role of Leader of the Opposition (for a while there, the only member of the Opposition), she has repeatedly urged the warring Big Men of PNG politics to be accountable to the Constitution and the citizens as the manouevreing for power deteriorated into dirty and dangerous tactics.

This past week, her fearlessness and commitment were captured on a piece of footage widely shared across PNG.

It shows the 63-year-old grandmother - on Mother's Day - confronting heavily armed police and bulldozers at Paga Hill, a site above Port Moresby where a shanty settlement was being razed in preparation for a controversial hotel development, one where questions loom over process and legitimacy.

''This is not an eviction, it's a demolition,'' she snaps at the police, instructing them to stop the bulldozers and allow the settlers to dismantle their homes themselves. ''I feel sorry for you. You're in the middle of this,'' she says to one officer. ''One day it might be your houses being bulldozed.''

Coalition to offer freed up trade & visas for PNG

BY JULIE BISHOP

FEW COUNTRIES ARE MORE IMPORTANT to Australia than Papua New Guinea and I believe that our relationship with Papua New Guinea must be one of Australia’s highest foreign policy priorities.

It is a fact that much has been said over many years about the relationship and I think it is fair for us to be judged not on what we say but on what we do, not on just our words but on our actions.

And in that regard, should the Coalition form the next government of Australia I am committed to injecting the necessary energy and leadership to ensure that the relationship continues to be a strong, continues to be one not just of the closest of neighbours but the closest of friends – the absolute best friends – for we are like family. And indeed like all families we are well aware of each others strengths and weaknesses.

And if it is anything like my family we are be each other's strongest critics but also each other's greatest supporters!

As brothers and sisters in the Pacific region it is time for us to broaden and deepen and diversify our relationship and take it to another level to better reflect the contemporary reality of where we stand in the 21st century.

It is way past time that we move on from outdated stereotypes and our aid donor and aid recipient relationship, and it is time for us to embrace each other as full economic partners.

It should be as easy to do business between Australia and Papua New Guinea as it is between Australia and New Zealand. While I welcome an Economic Cooperation Treaty, we should be aiming for a high quality, full blown free trade agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea.

If we are honoured to be the next government of this country, I most certainly commit to ensuring that we can free up the visa arrangements between Australian business people and PNG business people in particular so that we can have much easier means of doing business and investing in each other's country.

It is simply unacceptable for there to be so many bureaucratic hurdles in the way of trade and investment and doing business across the Coral Sea, and I most certainly commit to working with the PNG government to ensure that it can be the most cooperative economic relationship that we are able to achieve.

We need to see greater mobility in the labour force between PNG and Australia. I envisage some form of mobile workforce that could be supporting projects in Queensland, in Western Australia, and in PNG, and it will take some considerable will on the part of governments in both countries to achieve it but I am sure we can do it, for our mutual benefit.

Some reflections on political conflict and chaos

WE THINK YOU’LL ENJOY this short introduction to a speech made by Australia’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, to the 28th Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum and Trade Expo held in Brisbane recently.

I had planned today to begin my speech with some observations about the political landscape, and from here it all looks pretty chaotic.

The government is struggling to claim legitimacy because of the way it came to power.

The conflict between the current Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister doesn’t appear to be going away, particularly because of the nature by which the current Prime Minister came to power.

And of course there is a lot of volatility in the Parliament. The Speaker is under a cloud in relation to expenses and is concerned with his self preservation.

The Parliament is just holding together but there have been some pretty questionable deals done with some of the Members of Parliament and there is increasing concern that it could all fall apart.

But hey! That is enough on Canberra for one day!

Is 'The National' playing dirty with my reputation?

BY KEITH JACKSON

YESTERDAY I RECEIVED an interesting email from an outfit called the Barracuda Central Reputation System.

It was electronically generated and it said: “Sorry, your email was blocked based on its originating IP address having a poor reputation.”

The originating address was that of my personal email. My reaction was ‘who’d accuse me of that?’

And then the light bulb went on. The person I’d been trying to contact was a colleague at The National newspaper; a journalist who I will not name so as to protect his well-being in what seems like a pretty toxic organisation.

I protested to Barracuda (I mean, who wants to be known as a person of poor repute). And Barracuda immediately removed me from its blocklist for 30 days, while it ‘reevaluates’.

Here’s an extract from what I wrote to Barracuda:

It seems The National newspaper in Papua New Guinea has placed me on your list for a political, not for any ethical, reason.  I am dismayed that you should so list me without any attempt to ascertain my credentials.

I run a blog, PNG Attitude, in which some writers are occasionally critical of The National, and this probably explains the blocking.

PNG Attitude, is one of the most read blogs on Australia-PNG relations.

The blocking of my emails to colleagues and friends of mine at The National is a malicious act which I hope you will put to rights.

It appears almost certain that someone at The National invoked the ‘poor reputation’ slur; probably a person senior enough to act officially on behalf of the newspaper.

If this be the case, it was a low, sleazy and reprehensible thing to do.

Of course, The National is itself getting a bit of a name - for censorship. It recently banned Russell Soaba and Nou Vada from its pages and won’t even mention the name of Martyn Namorong.

Perhaps we should judge the reputation of The National accordingly.

If tomorrow never comes - for the record

BY NOU VADA
EDEBAMONA BLOG

MY LOWLY THOUGHTS. If I was advising Namah on how to overthrow O'Neill I'd put two options.

1. Might is right. Remove O'Neill by a no-confidence vote. It doesn’t matter what the Constitution of PNG says. We did it on 2 August 2011 and we'll do it again today.

2. Declare emergency. Remove O'Neill in the quasi habeas corpus state PNG will be in where he can be dragged out kicking and screaming and into a jail cell where most of his constitutional rights will be put in suspended animation when an emergency is declared.

Invoke section 246 of the Constitution and extend parliament's tenure (in other words, defer elections) by 12 months. Using the emergency powers, lock the city down and block off the court precincts.

Without the right to freedom from arbitrary search and entry and the protection of the law as guaranteed by our Constitution, arrest the judges, the Somare faction, any politicians opposing Namah, and finally all the bloggers and facebookers in this forum as freedom of expression and freedom of information are now subject to the emergency.

Then after a masquerade at Gavman Haus where the governor-general "legitimises" everything, and after a few glasses of champagne, watch the country descend into chaos as disillusioned youth unite to burn down government buildings and loot business houses.

Meanwhile Canberra and Washington will engage in emergency talks, and while their mouthpieces will tell regional media that both countries are "observing" what's happening... the truth is both countries are scared shitless.

The "Obama Doctrine" seeks the shift of US foreign policy from the Middle East to the Pacific in the interest of US energy needs - and one of the biggest investments t date is the PNG LNG.

Now the Igiri at the plant sites may, in the ensuing chaos, ransack them and bring American lives into danger. That is good grounds to initiate entry into the country, and like the Gulf of Tonkin in 'Nam, like Dodgeball's yellowcake uranium in Iraq, they'll come in to 'secure' the country.

Maybe a bit too Tom Clancy here, this is just what I think will happen.

Let's hope elections proceed, and we come back, eager for reform - real constitutional reform.

The banana tale

BY IMELDA YABARA

Dedicated to H Tuka who inspired me to write this story

A LITTLE BOY DOWN THE STREET would watch his mother every day. When the other street kids came out to play, she would ask them about their day. If they told her they had had a bad day she would look at them ever so seriously, shake her head in dismay and ask, “Was it something the teacher had to say or did someone bully you today?”

Every day she would hear their tales when evening came, feed them and send them along their way.

On school days, when morning came she would shake wake him to wake up his friends so they would not be late.

As each child burst out their front door pushing empty SP cans and Diana tuna cans out of the way she would yell, “Child come this way”. When they came over, each one was given a small plastic bag of fried flour and K1. “Just in case,” she would say.

Then, after school, it would start all over again.

“Mum,” he asked. “Why do you always ask about their day? Are you really interested in what they have to say?”

His mother would smile and reply, “It’s our way.  ”

They all grew older yet still not a day would pass without her asking ask if they were okay?

Then one beautiful sunny day he heard her ask his neighbour and best mate if he had ever heard the banana’s tale?

He shook his head and looking up with a black bruise marking his face. “I hate this place!” he raged, “I’m going to run away.”

“Shhh my child, just wait and listen to my little tale,” she said. Then she turned and called them all to gather round, something she always did when she felt an intervention was needed.

Just as they sat down, he heard his father call to him, “Son, we need to be on our way.”

You see, his father was migrating to another place but his mother refused and said she would stay!

Ten years later, the day before her funeral, he came back.  He sat on the veranda, angry with her for not going with them when they went away.

Then he looked around and noticed a difference in the place. Broken houses once filled with holes and yards filled with rubbish now had mansions in their place.  The street was in perfect state!

That night nothing disturbed this peaceful street, laughter had replaced the screams of pain, a far cry from back in the old days when many a mother would cry till daybreak because a father would come home in a drunken rage.

Only 8% of nations have an elected female leader

BY AXEL RICE

OVER THE PAST FEW DECADES the involvement of women in politics and economics as well as in many of the other professions, such as engineering, law enforcement and marine and naval organisations, originally only occupied by men, has drastically increased.

It is now common in modern day society to see women involved in a larger more respected field of professions.

In the past equality had been greatly underplayed limiting women’s opinions and freedom.

The status of women has improved over the past 70 years as evident in the progressive increase of female role models throughout the world such as multi-millionaire talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey and Australia’s first ever female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

In earlier days women were only expected and encouraged to build their profiles as a house wife who intended to cook food and take care of house hold chores.

But it is an intriguing fact that only about 8% of the world’s many countries has an elected female leader through three major points; the case of the powerful patriarchy, suffragettes and the historical roles of women.

“What is patriarchy?” Simply put it is an idea or belief in which the male figure is enforced as the primary centre of authority amongst a society labelling women and children as minor beings.

Almost all political, economic and legal organisations of the world’s countries are run under patriarchal influence, which closely hints at the reason why there are only a handful of female leaders in the world.

Take the United States of America. The modern USA has been, over time, shaped by a long list of male presidents starting with George Washington to the most recent, Barrack Obama.

The presence of male authority throughout America’s history has not led to a very diverse functioning nation. The constant appearance of male leaders (otherwise seen as role models) in the USA has ingrained patriarchy in the social, legal and political organizations of the various state cultures and most importantly the people.

This shows that patriarchy was developed over a long period of time creating the universal image that male power is and will be much more superior to that of women folk.

InterOil's LNG project under threat from government

BLOOMBERG

THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA GOVERNMENT has put InterOil Corp on notice that it will cancel its proposed liquefied natural gas project.

A notice from the Department of Petroleum and Energy given to InterOil through an “unofficial channel” said an agreement to build the $6 billion plant will be cancelled.

InterOil will meet with the government this week to discuss the project, its chief executive officer Phil Mulacek said.

Mulacek said the project is caught in a political “silly season” with PNG due to hold parliamentary elections in late June.

“The prime minister’s office has not shown any intention to cancel the project and we intend to fully abide by the terms of the 2009 agreement,” Mulacek said.

The LNG plant is being built adjacent to InterOil’s refinery and is expected to begin liquefaction by 2015. The company has already spent $81 million on its construction.

For some hours now PNG Attitude has been under a spam attack in our Comments zone. This attack takes the form of an automated device pouring down gobbledook comments on 'Martyn Namorong', clearly to try to clog up our operations. Together with our Typepad service provider we are trying to come to grips with this. But should PNG Attitude fail in the next period, you will know why. And you may even work out why...

How Twitter saw the pre-election parliamentary sitting

No move against Peter O'Neill; and a fond farewell to Dame Carol Kidu

Liam Fox ‏ @liamfoxpng - Everyone laughed as Namah paid tribute to Speaker Nape. #PNG

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - Just to make it clear Tweeps - Parliament has rescinded its original deferral motion; moved to dissolve Parliament; #PNG going to Elections!

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - All outgoing statements being made. Dame Carol as Opposition Leader making her outgoing statement now. Retires from a brilliant career #PNG

Nou Vada ‏ @nouvada - Dame Carol thanks Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare #PNG

Nou Vada ‏ @nouvada - Dame Carol thank Sam Abal for being the buscrew in the 2-person Opposition #PNG

Liam Fox ‏ @liamfoxpng - Many heads of diplomatic missions are here to see this final sitting before elections. They must be relieved like most #PNGeans.

Nou Vada ‏ @nouvada - Slight Uproar as Dame Carol observes MPs have more than 1 wife

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - There is still some ambiguity to what will be happening to certain electoral funds. Some MPs still believe they're entitled to use it #PNG

Nou Vada ‏ @nouvada - Reform Reform Reform! On #PNG Parlt's agenda at its last day...

Liam Fox ‏ @liamfoxpng - A bit of applause as Dame Carol gives her final speech as an MP. #PNG

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - Kidu gets applause! Sir Buri Kidu would be proud of you Dame. Who would have thought a white woman from QLD would impact #PNG as you have?

Liam Fox ‏ @liamfoxpng - Well #PNG, there were times when it looked like it wasn't going to happen but you're off to the elections.

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - Your comments of support have provided rays of hope in the past 10 months of what has been a tough time for #PNG. Thank you to all of you!

Tavurvur ‏ @Tavurvur - Despite the political challenges & the constant uncertainty #PNG has done it! We are going to elections. We will elect the 9th Parliament.

Thanks to Nou, Liam and the omnipresent Tavurvur for this blow by blow summary

O’Neill under threat over election timing, says ABC

PORT MORESBY CORRESPONDENT of the ABC, Liam Fox, is reporting renewed uncertainty over whether Papua New Guinea’s general election will proceed as scheduled.

Fox says many members of parliament still want the election deferred and that local media are reporting rumours of a vote of no-confidence against prime minister Peter O'Neill this week.

Australia's parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, Richard Marles, says Australia is watching to see how events unfold in PNG.

"We've been given commitments from prime minister Peter O'Neill, and indeed many of the other senior political figures in PNG, that they intend to hold the elections on time, and we can take those commitments at face value," he said.

This week is expected to see the final sitting of parliament before the elections.

Paga women screamed as bulldozers destroyed homes

BY KEITH JACKSON

DAME CAROL KIDU has issued a statement on the enforced removal of 2,000 settlers from a development site on Paga Hill in Port Moresby after she was injured by police when she tried to intervene.

Dame Carol says she does not oppose the development of Paga Hill, and has previously told the settlers that one day they would have to leave, but “bulldozing a community does not solve any problems”.

“It only complicates things and creates a huge human rights issue.

“The Governor [Powes Parkop] and I are faced with hundreds of displaced families (refugees in their own country) who are now sheltering in tents with candles for lights because their power has been disconnected.”

Dame Carol said she had watched “women being dragged from their homes screaming while bulldozers were ordered to move in.

“There [were] babies, elderly, sick people as well as the fit and some very angry young men who were kicked viciously by police and for many families everything was destroyed.”

Eventually Dame Carol said she got the police to stop the demolition because lawyers were on their way with a stay order on humanitarian grounds.

She also said that most of the police “started to rethink what they were doing, especially when they realised that their own police legacy land was involved.

“Many said ‘Thanks Mum. I hope you would fight as hard for our families if they were in danger’.

Download Statement by Dame Carol Kidu on the Paga Hill scandal

And here's some dramatic video of the incident involving Dame Carol, one real gutsy lady....

 

Women, diplomacy and the art of relationships

BY SCOTT WAIDE

MY BINANDERE CULTURE is a warrior culture.  One that once prided itself on conquest, expansion of territory and on the ability of its young warriors.

But the great battles fought over long distances to lay claim to enemy held lands wasn’t the central part of my people’s existence.

Diplomacy was of utmost importance, and the skills to prevent violence through diplomatic means was and still is highly valued.

Such skill didn’t come into play only to prevent war. It was part of everyday life.

Brothers  resolved issues by talking for hours or even days so that their present disagreements didn’t affect their relationship and their children’s relationships in future.

To offend someone physically or verbally was costly.  It was the equivalent of an expensive lawsuit in today’s justice system.  

Resolving the issue involved an apology and compensation, which included payment in the form of a pig and other gifts.

While the men provided protection as warriors of the clan or tribe, their economic power both in peacetime and in times of war rested on the women.  

A man’s wealth and status in his society, and his ability to negotiate the terms of a diplomatic solution on behalf of his family or clan, hinged on his woman’s skill to raise pigs.  The foundation of a man’s success depended on the woman.

Women were highly valued members of our society.  They were our mothers who gave us life. They were key in the man’s economic and political status and they raised the warriors who laid claim to new land and resources.

Traditionally, women were marked to become wives. But that didn’t stop girls from choosing their future husbands if they so wished.  In many instances, a girl would take her possessions and go to the family of the man she wished to marry and be accepted as part of the household.

Hell bound

BY BRIGETTE WASE

Darkness seeps into my soul
My heart is fire
A child of mortal woman,
The seed of man's desire

The bitterness of sin is sweet
Full to the brim is my cup
Shunning the goodness of light
For love is not enough

Evil plays on my mind
Its secrets I yearn to uncover
My deeds, my words are foul
Against man, I ran lower

Heaven seems quite afar
Unreachable is righteousness
At least one prayer answered
Nothing more, nothing less

Yet condemnation prevails
Man has deemed me unfit
Come Judgement Day, trial begins
At the Gates of Hell I will sit.

Brigette Wase (26) was born in Kiunga in Western Province of mixed Oro and Central Provinces parentage.  She completed studies at UPNG and works with Papua New Guinea Immigration and Citizenship Services. Her hobbies include reading, mostly fiction and history.  She occasionally writes poetry

My disability. B/ville war led to a hard luck story

BY SIMON GARANA

SITTING DOWN IN MY HOUSE in the village I decided to write this brief history of my disability, inflicted during the Bougainville Crisis.  Before the injury I was a normal healthy and physically-fit person; a top Soccer and Aussie Rules player in my younger days.

The Bougainville Crisis started in mid-1988 and was fuelled by a frustrated landowner and civil engineer, the late Francis Ona, with a mob of young relatives.

Within months Ona formed the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) to lay siege to giant company, Conzinc Rio Tinto Australia (CRA) about environmental damage and landowner benefits.

By 1989 the crisis was at its peak and the PNG Defence Force and mobile squad police were sent to Bougainville.  By 1990 the government imposed a total blockade on all services in Bougainville.  The blockade caused severe sufferings to the people. 

At that time I was teaching at Tonu High School in the Siwai District.  In October 1990 we travelled to Kieta to board MV Sankamap to go to Rabaul to do our banking and shopping, as our families were really suffering from the blockade. 

Unfortunately, the BRA chased us with guns at the Kieta wharf so we had to return to Siwai.  It was really frightening.

A car dropped me and four other people at Panguna so we had to walk all the way back to Siwai, about 100 kilometres away.  There were no vehicles as there was no fuel or petrol due to the blockade.  The situation was very tense as anyone could be easily killed by the BRA or the PNGDF.

After walking about 30 km, somewhere in the Nagovis area my legs went dead resulting in my knees becoming totally numb.  On arrival in Siwai, I was in bed for weeks as I could not walk.  There were no health services available and it was very difficult.  I just had to cope with the pain by resting and drinking lots of water.

After the pain eased, I continued teaching in Bougainville high schools until 1994.  In 1995 I took up teaching at the Divine Word University in Madang.  While in Madang two cups of green liquid was sucked out from my knees at the Madang Medical Centre. 

After two years in Madang I returned to Bougainville to take up a senior position with the Bougainville Administration.  Here, for the next ten years, I sat in a comfortable chair with the air conditioner providing cool fresh air.

In mid 2007 I had to stand down from the job as my health was getting worse.  I was admitted to Nonga General Hospital in East New Britain as the Buka General Hospital lacked proper doctors and medical drugs.

I was diagnosed with severe gout coupled with rheumatic arthritis.  Since then I have been travelling to other major hospitals seeking better medical treatment but without much luck.

Private Archibald’s spirit returns to his Country

BY ROD PLANT

ON SATURDAY IN ARMIDALE, New South Wales, the Archibald family completed the return of Private Frank Archibald's spirit to his Country.

Eighteen days after the Behiri traditional owners of the land Bomana War Cemetery stands on so carefully dug up soil from Private Frank's grave, and the graves of five of his Aboriginal comrades killed defending Papua New Guinea and Australia, he is at rest.

More than 40 Archibald descendants from four generations joined hands around the graves of Frank and Sarah, the parents of Private Frank.

The Bomana service was read in English and Gumbaynggirr, and the didgeridoo players and dancers performed exactly as they had done in Bomana.

Each relative then took tiny pieces of the soil from Private Frank's grave and scattered it on at least ten Archibald family graves around the Armidale Cemetery.

As we were finishing on a sunny afternoon, a mighty storm blew up, raged briefly, then passed.  We felt that all the spirits called from Bomana and Lae cemeteries, and from the start of the Kokoda Track, had come with Private Frank.

Perhaps they will rest with him until the relatives of the other diggers have received their soil and scatter it on the Country of each of the fallen, to help them find their way back home at last.

We trust this will bring peace to his family - a warrior returned to his Country.

Rod Plant is chairperson of the Kokoda Aboriginal Servicemen's Campaign Committee

YOUR CHANCE TO MEET MARTYN NAMORONG
SYDNEY: Monday 21 May, 2pm - Jackson Wells Board Room, Level 2, 81-91 Military Road, Neutral Bay (opp Oaks Hotel). Register here
CANBERRA: Tuesday 29 May, 4pm, Hotel Kurrajong, National Circuit, Barton. To register email Ben Jackson here
BRISBANE: Friday 1 June, 3pm, Sherwood Services Club, Corinda [cnr Browne and Clewley Sts, directly opposite Corinda Railway Station]. Email Murray Bladwell here if you’d like to attend

Kidu heavied as she protests destruction of homes

BY REUBEN GIUSU
NAMORONG REPORT

DAME CAROL KIDU, the only female MP in Papua New Guinea’s male-dominated rogue parliament, has been accosted by two policemen after she protested at the destruction of the homes of 2,000 people of Paga Hill in Port Moresby.

PNG’s opposition leader and former community development minister was told to “stop interfering” and then was threatened. That was when I took this photograph and told the two officers to back off.

A company claiming a commercial land title of the Paga Hill area had begun to demolish the houses of over 2,000 residents.

The Kikori people were the original Paga settlers who where given permission to reside on the land by the Motu Koita after World War II.

The land also includes war heritage sites, including bunkers and left over bombs, which are a very real part of our history and should be part of a national park.

It is utterly outrageous how this land has been fraudulently obtained. No one in their right mind would allow such historical landmarks to be traded as commercial land.

If we tolerate this kind of forceful action by developers, then we continue to feed this country to the dogs.

The past decade has seen some terribly corrupt events, but I'm afraid this takes my pick as one of the lowest.

The stakes are so high that human beings lose their rights, which are trampled on. Over 2,000 people affected, many of whom have spent their entire lives living in the area.

A sad day for human rights in this country!

Stop making buai traders the scapegoats

THE NAMORONG REPORT

THERE APPEARS TO BE a systematic crackdown on one of Papua New Guinea's most economically and socially integral trades, buai [betel nut].

Assistant Police Commissioner Francis Tokura issued an order last week for policemen to remove all vendors from the streets of Port Moresby. [See also this earlier story in PNG Attitude].

The deep disrespect for the rights of PNG's self-employed was revealed by the heavy-handed, abusive behaviour of the police as they broke up the buai markets.

We do not commend Asst Commr Tokura for his "efforts to clean up Port Moresby".

If you want to clean up Moresby, don't look at the buai traders but at the government.

PNG street traders are scapegoats of a corrupt system.

Think about it. The litter issue arises through inefficient public administration - isn't the government paying someone for garbage disposal?

And if markets are a magnet for crime, it is because too many of our youths are let down by a system that is profit rather than people driven.

The buai sellers and their colleagues in our markets are entrepreneurs, not criminals. If you are making up to K500 a day, you're unlikely to go out and steal handbags afterwards. So why are we treating them as criminals? 

The informal economy appears to be expanding as more Papua New Guineans shake the delusion that being a buai trader is socially unacceptable.

Recent research found urban Papua New Guineans are quitting their 9-5 jobs as they realise the buai trade offers more lucrative prospects and better social security than the so-called formal economy.

As it expands, the market infrastructure struggles to accommodate its growth, resulting in more litter and overcrowded markets.

But oppressing and removing markets is not the answer, because the informal economy is really the People's Economy, and in light of the absence an even slightly superior alternative, it will continue to grow and thrive.

It is also, unlike the formal economy's extractive-obsessed sector, economically and socially sustainable. We know the profits made from using our natural resources stay in our communities.

Forget the hype about the LNG-driven economic boom: the People's Economy offers PNG (and the Pacific) a sustainable future (just as it has sustained our peoples for 50,000 years).

The government and police, and all of us, need to change their attitudes to street markets from one of disdain to support. Only with adequate support for our nation's most vital traders will the social debris be cleaned up.

For one example, look at this example in Durban, South Africa. The result is one of the most successful dual economic and tourism ventures in the country.

Change your attitude. Stop looking at buai traders as a problem.

They are, in reality, one of the few positive examples in a city and country where corporate greed in the formal economy - the driver for our government and therefore our police - really is turning our streets into ghettoes.

Pacific tilts west to PNG & super power rivalry

BY WADAN NARSEY
PACIFIC SCOOP [Extracts]

IF PAPUA NEW GUINEA ever decides to flex its burgeoning muscles, encouraged by a belligerent Fiji, the alarm bells would be ringing loudest in Canberra and Wellington.

Without doubt, Pacific politics is tilting towards the west, drawn by the all-powerful and inexorable gravitational forces of the massive LNG and other minerals wealth being generated in Papua New Guinea (and in West Papua – another sorry saga).

But are the PNG politicians prepared for the leadership role that comes with their wealth and markets? Or will they be too bogged down in their debilitating internal squabbles for political power so as to ensure preferential access to the massive new wealth flows being created?

Relations with Australia and NZ are going to be a key factor in the direction taken by PNG and the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Understanding the complex chop suey of forces at work in the Pacific is extremely difficult, as the diversity of issues indicates.

But almost certainly, history, time and the “Pacific tilt” are not on Australia’s side.

More than a decade ago, the US withdrew its Peace Corps program from the Pacific. But in 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee not to cut the foreign aid budget, citing the growing competition with China for global influence, specifically mentioning the Pacific and its vast natural resources.

The US is now back in the Pacific with a large new US embassy in Suva, to rival the equally large Chinese embassy. The US has also now stationed a small number of troops in North Australia, a move which is seen by an annoyed China as part of the US “containment policy” towards China.

The numbers of US troops will no doubt slowly grow, alarming Australian strategy advisers who see too close an attachment to US military strategies as being potentially harmful to long term Australian economic interests, which are inextricably linked to China’s economic growth (and which was the most significant factor saving Australia from the Global Financial Crisis).

Without doubt, super-power rivalry in the Pacific is now escalating.

PNG will have far more bargaining chips than ever before, especially if its leaders are able to successfully play off one super power against another, and take a leadership role in the Pacific, including the MSG.

Papua New Guinea with its population of 7 million people is the largest market in the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA), with the others just making up less than 2 million.

Yet 10 years ago, the PNG market was not given much importance by Pacific Island companies because the largely rural PNG consumers were too poor to spend money on modern goods.

That has now totally changed with the massive economic growth now taking place in PNG, with equally large investment and consumer expenditures from both the private sector and government.

Australia and Melanesia: On bullies and respect

BY TIM ANDERSON

INSTANCES OF AUSTRALIAN LACK OF RESPECT for Melanesian leaders are many in our country’s long and sorry racial history. Patronage through aid programs helps prop up these colonial-like attitudes. The cases of Melanesian leaders standing up to Australia are less common.

That is why it is worth noting the actions of Vanuatu prime minister, Sato Kilman, in kicking out an Australian federal police contingent in retaliation for the AFP’s disgraceful treatment of Mr Kilman’s delegation when they transited Sydney airport last month.

Apparently Australian officials made the Vanuatu PM’s delegation fill out immigration forms, even though they were only in transit. Then the AFP arrested Mr Kilman’s private secretary, Clarence Marae, on money laundering charges.

Vanuatu responded last week by ordering a resident AFP delegation to leave the country.

Not since the Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare stood up to the AFP and the Howard Government in 2006-07 have we seen something similar. In that case, Sogavare’s government launched an inquiry into the April 2006 Honiara riots, an inquiry which would include examination of the role of the AFP.

Australian PM John Howard reacted angrily and AFP officers searched PM Sogavare’s office as they prosecuted government ministers. Sogavare then stood up to Howard.

The heavy handed role of the AFP in Honiara had become an aggravating factor. As Honiara Bishop Terry Roberts wrote, “the 'spark' that sent the rioters into central Honiara was the use of tear gas by the Australian RAMSI contingent”.

The Bishop said “Honiara people have never liked the Australian RAMSI contingent [who are] sullen and hostile. 'Helpim fren' has turned into 'Spoilem fren'.”

In early 2008 I was in Honiara, interviewing a number of well-educated Solomon Islanders about the AFP-dominated RAMSI mission. By then, both the Sogavare government and Howard government had gone.

A common thread emerged. Every Solomon Islander I spoke with (including some of Mr Sogavare’s political opponents) agreed with and respected Sogavare’s criticisms of Howard; but hardly any of them were comfortable about it.

Maybe it is a cultural thing, of Melanesians avoiding confrontation; maybe it is the legacy of colonial history; maybe it is the pragmatism of small groups confronting bigger powers; but there has been a profound reluctance in the region to stand up to Australian bullies. Yet bullies, like dogs, never respect people who run away; in fact they tend to chase them.

Toua Guba & Hanuabada: neighbours worlds apart

BY OALA MOI

HERE’S A SIMPLE EXERCISE. Try comparing the standard of living between the average family residing at the Toua Guba Hill suburb and Hanuabada village.

One is a wealthy Port Moresby neighbourhood, and the other a modern village left behind by the process of modernisation.

Generations back, Toua Guba Hill used to be traditional gardening land for Hanuabada clans. Now it is a suburb that boasts real estate worth million of kina with 24-hour security, water, and backup generator support.

Just a stone’s throw away, contemporary Hanuabadans are still using pit latrines and over-the-sea toilets, collecting water in buckets at the communal tap with its unpredictable water pressure, bathing in the open air, living in a crowded family houses, looking for firewood to cook their meals, attending run-down local schools, and competing for health services at a clinic that also services many other settlement communities.

It is a wonder that salaried Hanuabadans and their counterpart Toua Guba Hill residents are working for the same employers with such divergent standards of living.

How can next door neighbours live worlds apart?

Hanuabada is significant place for people from the Papuan region. In 1884, it was at Metoreia in Hanuabada where Commodore James Erskine hoisted the Union Jack to proclaim Papua as a protectorate of the Queen of England.

It was also at Metoreia where Polynesian pastors of the London Missionary Society landed in 1873 after a failed attempt at setting up camp at Manumanu village to evangelise locals.

Hanuabada was arguably the crucible of pre-independence Papua New Guinea. So how do we explain the absurdity of the present Hanuabada? Who is responsible for allowing this decline to happen?

Successive PNG governments, by action or inaction, seem to have subscribed to an assimilation policy when it comes to urban landowner rights. History shows that urban communities such as Hanuabada have been systematically assimilated as an ethnic group and as a community.

There is no denying that government laws and policies have been aimed at accelerating acculturation; pushing an urban community like Hanuabada into the waiting arms of the metropolis that is Port Moresby city.

The problem and solution could be tied to land. In the National Capital District, about 60% of land is State-owned and 40% lies under customary ownership. The Hanuabadan people cannot do anything about the State land that they once owned. The land laws and policies that govern former customary land owners are not in their favour.

Hanuabadans should not expect the government to clean up this mess. As a solution, one proposes that landowning clans that together own the remaining 40% of customary land make a decision to title part or all of their customary land.

If this is possible, each landowning clan will then come together by virtue of a trust deed and pool their land titles under a trust arrangement.

A competent board of trustees would use the titles and trust lands to create equity for each landholding clan. Under this arrangement, the board of trustees will be empowered by the landholding clans to engage with developers with a view to leasing titled clan land for commercial development and lease.

In this way, clans will directly participate in wealth creation activities, and they will have a voice and a choice in creating the desired standard of living.

A pebble in d waves

BY CARL KINGSTON

She told me she needed me
She said my girls needed me
The times were tough on us
I had to work far way

But nothing could move me more
Then the thought of my babies facing d rough without me
So I left my job to work closer to home
It's tough
But the smiles of my girls mean more than the world to me

I keep telling her to see through my eyes but she thinks otherwise
The slightest of waves move her yet again

She wants to take d kids n leave me
I tell her to b strong with me but she would rather find strength in
familiar surroundings of her family
Rather then trusting in me

I know d waves they shape a rock
n with time it becomes smooth
n finds rest in a spot on shore somewhere
and with time the tides change
Or river changes course
So Forever the pebble will remain where it lies

And so I pray that with each wave
She will learn
To hold on to what matters between us
And see d bigger picture
above d struggles of the present
And become stronger like me
Holding on
no matter how rough or strong
the currents of life may be

So that when the waves have moved us
To that one place
And d currents have done all they have been destined to do
They will move us no more
And there we shall be
Infallible
Strong
Together
Unshakable

Carl Kingston (28) says “I write in my free time and often do so as an outlet for situations I face in life”

Land ownership the Bougainville way

BY SIMON GARANA

AS THE SAYING GOES, without food and water one cannot survive.  If the saying also applies to land it is true to itself because it is only land that must provide food and water.

Therefore, whether through the matrilineal or patrilineal society one has to acquire and own land especially by inheritance.  And this inheritance must continue for many years from generation to generation.

It is very important that the trend of ownership follow the same process.  If the process is not followed it may lead to land disputes or bloodshed.

Land has a number of definitions, and the three that must be noted are the solid part of the earth surface, ground as used for farming, or a country or nation. 

In Bougainville land is acquired through the matrilineal system except for Buin which is through the patrilineal system.  Land is owned by a clan.  Every clan must have a chief who oversees all matters relating to land.  They have to make sure land is used wisely and that there is no land dispute, especially when the population is increasing.

Historically it is believed many people on Bougainville migrated from New Ireland some 28,000 years ago.  Since then people have led normal lives with fishing and gardening.

Good leadership played its role in allowing people to respect land ownership by avoiding land disputes.  It was a process emphasised throughout Bougainville to make sure the ownership was permanent with genuine understanding and respect from both sides.

Bougainville wants to overcome what has been experienced in PNG and other parts of the world especially Africa.  It wants to control and manage land for its people. 

With the establishment of its Autonomous Bougainville Government, multi-million foreign mining companies are not allowed to mine without its approval.  The experience from the Panguna mine has taught Bougainville a lesson and it is very careful with its dealing with foreign companies. 

For the villagers in Panguna can no longer go fishing or gardening because the land has been turned into a pit 700 feet deep under by a huge mining company.

Development in its definition means something that has been developed or development area where new industries are encouraged by government for employment and change.  We have to make sure development benefits the very people who own the land.  Bougainville needs development in order to progress.

Now that it has experienced the Panguna mine land dispute, negotiations have become key: negotiations to try to reach an agreement and to get over any difficulty. 

Already there have been a number of negotiations in Bougainville where foreign companies are willing to establish palm oil, fishing and mining industries.  Through the negotiation process, the Autonomous Bougainville Government is really making sure that the landowners are heavily involved.

An approach to the challenges of land tenure

HISTORY EN GRATIS

Land Law and Economic Development in Papua New Guinea by David Lea and Timothy Curtin, Cambridge, ISBN 1-4438-2651-0, USD59.99

THIS BOOK IS DEVOTED TO an analysis of alternative land tenure systems in Papua New Guinea and offers a blend of philosophical, legal, sociological and economic approaches to this issue.

The text is divided roughly into two sections. The first six chapters provide a religious, philosophical, historical, sociological and legal context in which to understand Melanesian culture and Melanesian customary land tenure, and its contemporary recognition within the country s legal system.

The early chapters review the historical approaches to customary land tenure from the pre-independence period up to and including the most recent amendments that deal with the incorporation of customary land owning groups.

In these chapters we recommend that the present system be replaced with one that gives greater emphasis to formalized forms of private individual ownership and provides answers to various cultural, social and philosophical objections to such proposals.

The latter section of the book demonstrates the economic advantages to be gained through the conversion of customary forms of individual land tenure to private ownership based on documented titling.

The economic issues considered include the serious shortage of land for other than purely subsistence food production; the inadequacy of both food and cash crop production for export when based on customary land ownership; and the failure of the new Forestry Act to promote increased levels of sustainable production by Papua New Guineans themselves.

The book concludes with examination of the scope for land registration in Papua New Guinea with reference to developments in Kenya that transformed customary ownership across much of the country into individual private ownership.

Tim Curtin has been an academic and economic adviser in Tanzania, Kenya, London, Egypt, Nigeria, and Papua New Guinea (1970–1999). He is now retired and living in Canberra. Dr David Lea teaches philosophy at the American University of Sharjah. He previously taught at the University of Papua New Guinea

P&O cruises provide a boost to PNG tourism

TRAVEL BLACKBOARD

PRIME MINISTER PETER O’NEILL has welcomed cruise company, Carnival Australia, to Papua New Guinea.

The entry of P & O Cruises is a major boost for PNG tourism and comes after years of hard work by the PNG Ports Corporation and the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority to develop the cruise tourism sector.

Carnival Australia, which operates a fleet of seven P&O and Princess vessels, recently announced that P&O Cruises will do a series of cruises to PNG beginning in October next year.

Friday’s joint announcement by Mr O’Neill and Ann Sherry, CEO of Carnival Australia, highlighted PNG’s strengths as a cruise destination.

“We are taking steps to ensure cruising becomes an important contributor to our nation,” Mr O’Neill said. “Infrastructure improvements are part of that strategy.”

In 2013-2014, Pacific Dawn [pictured] will sail to Milne Bay with calls at Alotau, Doini Island and the Trobriand Islands.

“We always believed in PNG’s potential as a cruise destination and this has been confirmed by the strong interest following the announcement of P&O Cruises’ initial three cruises to the Milne Bay area,” Ms Sherry said.

“The PNG government’s decision to accelerate funding for the port upgrade at Alotau is a positive investment to achieve the economic benefits of regular cruise ship visits.”

Ms Sherry said the Milne Bay area would be popular with Australian travellers for its exquisite scenery, its colourful culture and for its historic World War II links for many Australian families.

Authorities attack the poor who help themselves

BY KEITH JACKSON

WHAT’S A POOR FELLA TO DO? Give up and you live in abject poverty. Strive and you’re pushed aside.

Papua New Guinea’s urban economies rely heavily upon what economists term “the informal sector”.

The informal sector consists of the people who modern capitalism forgot, who became outsiders and who, to secure a job and some cash flow, found small chinks in the commercial sector which they could exploit.

They are the street vendors. They are micro-entrepreneurs.

In Sydney they wash reluctant motorists’ windscreens at traffic lights. Or sell copies of The Big Issue on street corners.

In Papua New Guinea’s cities and towns they sell cigarettes by the one, buai, lucky tickets, little trinkets to make you look good, little bits of food, even themselves….

By and large, these are not bad people. They are good people denied a reasonable opportunity and who are trying to earn a living. To support themselves and their families.

And now the Port Moresby police commander, one Assistant Commissioner Francis Tokura - who I presume lives in a half decent house, earns a half decent salary and whose kids go to a half decent school - has ordered police to remove these people from the city’s streets.

Mr Tokura claimed street vending in Port Moresby is both a safety and a crime issue. He also had a thought for the vendors – claiming they are at risk.

But he spoiled this spin by alleging their presence on the roadside provided opportunities for crimes such as carjacking.

The informal business sector constitutes the bulk of the PNG economy.

You just have to question the good sense of marginalising even further the most impoverished in the Moresby community.

People who need a bit of organisation not a heap of bureaucratic, authoritarian repression.

Lower photo: Our favourite street vendor, the award winning writer, Martyn Namorong

Can I defeat a political giant in the Lae Open?

BY LOUJAYA TONI

THIS WEEK people in the Lae Open electorate received a booklet in the mail about my campaign to win a seat in the national parliament at this year’s general elections.

A few contributors to PNG Attitude, as well as some of the entrants in the Crocodile Prize, are standing for election and I am one of them.

Along with the booklet there was a covering letter seeking financial support and setting out my bid for election.

I’m seeking to raise K220,000 for my campaign, a far cry from Belden Namah’s alleged K30 million budget.

I am also taking on a formidable opponent in Bart Philemon, who has held the seat for the last 20 years.  He is a consummate strategist and will be hard to beat.

Mr Philemon has kept the seat for so long because he has aligned himself with the Lae Chamber of Commerce and business houses in the city.  His base vote comes from public servants and private sector employees in the town.  It has been alleged that some business houses pay their employees a bonus to vote for him.

Mr Philemon opposed the recent parliamentary Bill for the 22 reserved seats for women, kept himself distant from the riots in Lae and seems uninterested in land issues involving the Ahi people, the traditional landowners of Lae City.  Mr Philemon and I are members of Ahi clans.

My focus in the campaign is the increasing lawlessness and poverty caused by immigration into Lae.  My strategy to deal with this involves the creation of ward registries so that those who have overstayed their welcome and need to return to their home provinces can be identified.

A bit drastic perhaps, but the registries will also record statistics which can be used to take stock of our human resource potential.

My campaign slogan is “Knowledge is power to change for a better quality of life”. Poverty alleviation can be achieved when we have the knowledge to make a change.  I hope people will catch my vision for change: which begins in the mindset.

I’m well-educated (MA in Communication Studies) and have a long history of community-based work.  I contested the 2007 elections in Lae and ended up fifth.  This time I hope to win.

In preparation for my tilt at power I attended a four-day training workshop to assist intending women candidates and their campaign managers conducted in March by the Department of Community Development.

There is a tendency in Papua New Guinea for women to vote the same as their men, sometimes unwillingly.  This time women and people with disabilities will be allowed separate polling booths and I am hoping this will give me an edge.

If you want to find out more about Loujaya’s policies email her at toniloujaya@yahoo.com or call her on (675) 7308 5873. And if there are more candidates out there who would like to share their vision for Papua New Guinea after 2012, PNG Attitude readers would like to hear from you

The bloody frontier

BY LEONARD FONG ROKA

“NO CLASS TODAY, BOYS AND GIRLS,” Miss Ketu, a year five student, interrupted the silent community of her classmates as she dashed for her desk. Carelessly, she raked her scattered books and biros and packed them into a nicely designed Papua New Guinean highlands bilum.

The class was disturbed and mentally despatched like a pack of sleeping wild bats. Was this related to this month’s Papua New Guinea gun-boat gunning off the coast, a few wondered?

“What is that girl doing?” a couple of contemptuous voices chorused as Miss Ketu rushed for the doorway. Their expected mid-term test was no more!

“Eh, Mrs Takinu has gone to Happy Valley to see her husband; he is leaving for the Solomons this afternoon - or tonight.”

Silence enveloped the class as the messenger left.

This was Bougainville in 1991 and Mrs Takinu was a maths teacher at Bovo Community School in Arawa. She was a newlywed and expectant mama.

Five months pregnant; she was a proud mother to be. Often she boasted about what a nice baby she would be cuddling soon.

In the school her good temperament and attitude towards the students earned her high levels of respect compared to the rest of the staff.  Lately, however, her class was often bored with her continuous complaints about headaches.

Her husband, Mr Takinu was also a fine citizen of the suffering township that had been swiftly turned into a sort of a military camp.

He had broad shoulders, light fuzzy-wuzzy hair and the slightly thick lips that Kietas often referred to as, ‘African Lips’.

Because of his sexy jokes he was considered by the students to be a sex maniac…a soul that can’t go without a bit of it for the long restive night.  Across their Namira Street, opposite Bovo School, this was the topic of the moment. The couple were often spotted kissing on their veranda, like Europeans.

Always wish for a better tomorrow but it starts with us

BY CAROLYN GAIGE

Who makes the decision?
No one is to be blamed, blame yourselves.
You only think about yourselves and money.
You eat and it’s gone down the toilet, it never returns.

Think before you do a thing, the decision you make will affect you and your future.
If you drop it, it breaks and you will be sorry.
People say eat and give it to anyone but I say, your future, your say.
Leaders are there to lead the people, some are good and some are bad.

The choice is yours.
We all need leaders to lead us but we need to choose.
You are the one who change the community and the country.
Don’t be in a hurry, otherwise you will fall in a pit.

Think big and you’ll achieve something.
Oh people, thinking about money and forgetting about tomorrow
Too much stubbornness and less development.
Wake up from your sleep and see the light, now is the time to say.

Your decision is important
You are the leader in your own right, you make the choice.
If we are wise, we’ll be okay
Foolishness comes when we only think about ourselves.

For better or for worse.
Quality leaders we need.
When it comes to decision there is one thing.
You make the choice, they make the decision.

Who will be affected, you or them?
Blame yourselves, there is no development.
It starts with you for a better tomorrow
Think before you do a thing.

Why cry for a better leader now?
Whose fault is it?
Who’s decision?
When you make the choice.

Think about your children, your choice affects them in one way or the other.
Think about that, you make the change for tomorrow.

Forward or backward, it’s up to you.

Carolyn Gaige (23) comes from Marawaka in Eastern Highlands Province.  She is a student at PNGI training to become an elementary school teacher

Women and children look to community justice

BY CATHERINE WILSON
INTER PRESS SERVICE

A NEW COMMUNITY JUSTICE program being rolled out in Papua New Guinea’s vast village court system is bringing international human rights-based laws to rural communities and boosting the protection and empowerment of women and children.

In the long term, it could help to reduce the high numbers of female and juvenile victims of abuse.

Village courts wield immense influence within the mainly rural population in Papua New Guinea. Many live in areas too remote to access the formal judicial system in the capital, Port Moresby, and main urban centres.

Equipped with 1,414 courts and 14,000 officials, the village court system, managed by provincial governments, administers justice in 90 percent of all villages and hears up to 600,000 cases per year.

Restorative justice is mainly used in the village context where mediation between parties aims to preserve social harmony. Traditionally, village court magistrates who do not have legal training employ local customary practices to deliver restorative justice.

But serious government concerns about widespread violence against women and children have prompted action to overhaul the training and capacity of village court officials and community leaders.

According to Margaret Inamuka, who presides as magistrate of the Kabiufa Village Court in the Eastern Highlands, "Most cases involve adultery, violence against women and eviction of women and children from their homes."

She hears three to five cases of violence against women per month. Children’s cases frequently involve stealing, physical abuse and neglect.

Women and children’s rights are especially critical in instances of violence, neglect, the customary tradition of marrying girls as young as 14 years old, sexual exploitation, discrimination against adopted and homeless children and those with HIV/AIDS, allegations of sorcery and the repayment of bride price in divorce cases.

Papua New Guinea ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1993, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 1995 and introduced the Lukautim Pikinini (Child Protection) Act in 2009. The nation’s constitution also contains the provision that customary practices may not be applied if they result in injustice.

But the remoteness of many communities and poor rural infrastructure has hindered effective implementation of these national and international agreements.

The Women and Children’s Access to Community Justice (Child Protection) Program, initiated by the Village Court Secretariat, began a pilot phase in 2007 with funding and technical expertise provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Its vision is to strengthen community protection of the most vulnerable members of society.

The pilot program was conducted in the Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Milne Bay, East Sepik and Western Highlands provinces. Training tailored to community and women leaders, village court officials and youth representatives addressed human rights, the right to non-discrimination, the unacceptability of violence against women, juvenile justice, the importance of building a protective environment for children and facts about HIV/AIDS.

35 MPs & public servants arrested in PNG graft bust

BY KEITH JACKSON

FOLLOWING YESTERDAY’S STARTLING revelation by Papua New Guinea’s corruption busting watchdog that graft in the country’s government departments has become institutionalised, it is reported that Task Force Sweep this morning arrested 35 people including several current and former MPs as well as 24 public servants.

Commentator Tavurvur has just reported the arrests on Twitter. They follow a report by the task force that said that illegality and secrecy is sanctioned in PNG to the extent that the nation is now a "mobocracy".

Task Force Sweep yesterday presented the final report on its seven-month investigation into malpractice across government agencies.

"Generally our investigations have revealed a very frightening trend of corruption in this country," taskforce chairman Sam Koim said.

"The level of corruption has migrated from sporadic to systematic and now to institutionalisation, where government institutions are dominated by corrupt people who orchestrate corruption using lawful authorities.

"Institutions that are supposed to practice openness and provide check and balance are now becoming a secrecy haven, where they sanction illegality and secrecy."

Mr Koim described corrupt officials as a mob and said they had turned PNG from a constitutional democracy into a mobocracy.

In an early response, prime minister Peter O'Neill is reported to have said PNG needs a permanent anti-corruption body, an initiative long advocated by PNG Attitude contyributor, Barbara Short.

PNG’s 2012 Crocodile Prize national literary contest closes at the end of May. So far 100 writers have submitted 257 poems, 55 short stories, 47 essays, 17 heritage stories and 51 student entries. There's still time to enter! Further details here

The tyranny of terrain & the chance of a railway

BYJEFFREY MANE FEBI

THEY CALL US CAMELS. They call us white horses. They call us semi-trailers. They call us many names. Names of things we don’t know much of.

We’re they who walk with the strength of our grandfathers; those bygone men who had tamed angry rivers; appeased bellowing clouds and walked with mists. Our coffee beans shall not go to waste! Our coffee beans shall not go to waste! O no – no – no; shall not go to waste!

On many a rugged hill, where clouds most often than not come to watch and cry over them that rise on any given gloomy day with sweaty brows, blistered shoulders and burdened hearts; a father, a mother, or a child continues on a journey this day; a journey that began 38 years ago. The destination however seems further still.

On a rocky ridge where violent winds come to play, a mother firmly cuddles in her weary arms a package from which a pair of sickly eyes peered into her eyes; though devoid of animation, manifests life and all its flaws quiet dramatically. It is only a matter of steps before life itself is shut out.

At the foot of a ridge, way down below, over a fast flowing river, a rope bridge swings dangerously to the left then right under a massive load. A stretcher, of wood and reinforced used-rice bags, is being ferried across on shoulders; a step at a time.

 One wrong step and death is inevitable. A skinny arm, like a dried tree bark, reaches out and attempts to grasp a side pole as if to steady the unsteady stretcher.

On a lookout, a resting place where multitudes have paused here to gaze and marvel at the beauty of the seemingly unending mountain ranges, waterfalls and the evergreen faces of those ranges; a teenager pulls out a piece of newspaper leaf from a side bag.

Before he rolls his dried tobacco leaves, he reads: …the gov…ern...ment… and stops. However the next word is pronounced and whatever the bloody hell it means isn’t going to harass his exhausted mind; not now. Soon he’ll be puffing his exhaustion into tiny circular and skinny columns of drifting mists of vapour.

These typify the struggles of many of our rural Eastern Highlanders. Places like Unavi, Gimi, Marrawaka, Unggai and Wesan, for instance are daily impoverished by the tyranny of our rugged terrains.

Other places in Papua New Guinea: Teleformin, Menyyama, and Salt-Nomane to name a few encounter similarly daunting circumstances.

The prevailing challenge is how to connect these largely organically rich and pristine areas to vital government infrastructure and or how to deliver vital government services to them on a daily basis.

Roads seem to be the answer at the outset however, over time PNG has learned that they become increasingly problematic due to neglect as we know. In addition, soil type, high tropical rain falls and sheer vastness of these ranges and the likely enormous costs of maintenance makes building roads an overwhelming challenge if it isn’t impossible.

This brings to mind railways and trains. Though untested technology in the PNG situation, it’s worth a try.

The next face of development and growth envisioned in the PNG Vision 2050 could ride on the back of trains and railways connecting the potentially rich and under-utilised rural Eastern Highlands and other rural areas of PNG.

The great

BY CARL JONES KINGSTON

On the tussle for power in the political arena in PNG

A title accorded to few
Those who earned the right to be so esteemed

Too few of such remain
Must our land continue to thirst for them?

Men of such calibre
Have no hesitance to declare
The worthiness of another
Or the promise of even the darkest of times

They show the path of greatness
A tittle born of a worthy opponent
Be it human or circumstance

They say little about themselves
Leaving that to come from the lips of others
In their moment of honour
They still choose to give
Not take
To give credit
To ascribe worthiness
To acknowledge
The greatness of the human spirit
In another
Or against circumstance

That is the essence of greatness
An honour bestowed
A title given
A life lived
A story on the lips of others
Not self proclaimed

Will we ever see the truly great?

Carl Jones Kingston (28) was born at Yaibos, near Wapenamanda, of Morobe and Oro Provinces parentage.  He is doctor and married with two children; his wife is also a doctor. He enjoys writing in his free time, especially when inspired to or compelled to find a means of expression. In his poems he tries to make people see through his eyes and hope they too will have the same sentiments that promote freedom, peace and respect and realise they can make a change and take action to bring about positive changes in their lives or circumstances.