KEITH JACKSON'S PNG ATTITUDE

An infectious disease poisoning the people of PNG

Gelab Piak

What the Opposition leader has said is true. It is time for the Somare-Temu Government to go. Sir Mekere Morauta has made a correct judgment and his call to every right thinking Papua New Guinean must not go unheard. He believes we are at the crossroads.

This country is on the brink of falling apart. The Somare-Temu Government, in power for the past seven years, has turned a blind eye to the deterioration of Works and Supplies, Health, Education, a proper welfare system. Fisheries, Foreign Affairs and Migration, and Forestry have been plagued by corrupt deals over the years.

The Defence Force has been neglected and the security of PNG is at stake. Our greatest concern in the near future is to have a large and well equipped force. The Police are falling apart. While it’s true, as claimed by the government, that millions are being pumped into the RPNGC, the funds are for operational purposes and not for housing, allowances or equipment.

The PNG police use brutal tactics such as shoot-to-kill to illustrate that if you want trouble you’ll get a bullet. The way they’re shooting criminals is disgusting. The whole Police Force is controlled by one man, the Commissioner, and he’s controlled by the Government. This poses serious questions. Are the Mobile Squads being used as a private army of the Government? If so then, whose army is it, and why? Is it used to protect special interests and corrupt deals?

A growing trend is that major conflicts are related to land owner issues. The Porgera call-out was not only about law and order and illegal mining. There were threats to the Government by landowners, with certain factions threatening to create another Bougainville. The fight in Wau was a land owner issue. And the Ramu nickel mine controversy is a land owner issue. The emerging Watut matter is a land owner issue.

Why is the Government going against the people? This Somare-Temu government needs to investigate corruption, which must run into the billions now. It was made known in the media last week that Somare and his MPs have bought mansions in Australia and have access to the best health facilities. Back home people are dying in Port Moresby General Hospital. What is wrong with the Government? Or is there something wrong with the country itself?

These are the questions that many people are asking. With a Government like this and a society riddled by poverty, is there really a bright future for us? A big nationwide protest should be organised in support of the Opposition and to show the Government that the people are fed up with this corrupt, incompetent, uncaring style of rule.

The people of PNG must stand up now or it will be too late. I ask the Opposition to call for protests. It is time, people like Sir Mekere and Bart Philemon displayed true characteristics as leaders by mobilising people and leading them in democratic protests.

Without doubt we need to get rid off this Government. It is like an infectious disease that shall poison us until it kills us.

Funding problems stall PNG race riot inquiry

It looks like a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as concerns grow that the PNG Parliament’s bipartisan committee investigating recent anti-Asian riots is going nowhere.

Committee chairman Jamie Maxtone-Graham told Parliament the committee formed in May to investigate and report on the causes of the riots had stalled due to lack of funds.

Mr Maxtone-Graham said the committee would need K3 million to conduct hearings in the four regions of the country and K1 million for the inquiry.

“We are crippled by lack of funds because we have to listen to our people,” Mr Maxtone-Graham said. “If we don’t, we will be seen to be losing touch. It is a time-bomb. How do we solve the problem? We have to go out and defuse the situation. The last thing we want is more destruction, burning and looting.”

Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta blamed the Government for allowing Asians to come in. “I do not think we need K1 million to solve the problem. The Prime Minister [and other Ministers] have to make statements of loopholes in the net that allowed Asians to swim through,” he said.

PNG Attitude believes this is one of those important issues on which the Australian Government, appreciating the critical nature of the inquiry, could help out our neighbour by offering  logistical and financial assistance.

Our politicians and bureaucrats should see that getting to the root causes of the race riots will potentially provide an important policy input into the thinking of the PNG Government about issues of social harmony and stability.

The comeuppance of the errant Private Kenna

Don Hook

Private Ted Kenna arrived at Heidelberg hospital in Melbourne in 1945 as part of a medical convoy. He’d been in Wewak. His face had been shattered by a Japanese bullet through the mouth.

The task of removing Ted Kenna’s bandages was given to Private Marjorie Rushberry, a young member of the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service who, years later, recalled the stench of unwrapping dressings applied in faraway battlefields.

Nurse Rushberry was involved in Kenna’s care from the days immediately after his admission to Heidelberg. At first, his recovery was far from certain as he lay in the one room reserved for the most serious case.

Gaining consciousness at long last, Kenna gazed at the caring face of his AAMWS nurse and said: “I’ll marry you”. And he did. And they stayed married until Kenna VC died this week.

His recovery involved many operations to reconstruct his jaw, and it was a year before he left hospital. During this time the romance with Marjorie blossomed (although they admitted later that canoodling was limited).

For a long time Kenna’s jaw was wired and a plaster frame from which spikes projected encircled his head.

But, as he recovered, Kenna frequently absented himself from his hospital ward, courting Private Rushberry. His fellow patients covered for him at roll call and inspections.

One day there was panic in the ward when a message on the PA system ordered Private Kenna to report immediately to the hospital commandant. Kenna, not unusually, was absent.

People scurried in all directions looking for him. He was found in the AAMWS quarters – an area strictly out of bounds for patients.

A sheepish Kenna, fearing the worst, presented at the commandant’s office. The door opened. The commandant saluted him. The Victoria Cross was pinned to his tunic.

And the celebrations began.

Don Hook adds: “I met Ted a few times and had the opportunity to talk quite a bit to him and Marjorie during the 1995 Australia Remembers pilgrimage to PNG. I also reviewed Gwynedd Hunter-Payne's book On the Duckboards on the history of Heidelberg Hospital - officially the 115th AGH - which opened in March 1941 in a sea of mud at Heidelberg, then on the outskirts of Melbourne.”

Keravat alumni group to form in Port Moresby

A Keravat Alumni Association is to be established at a meeting in Port Moresby on Sunday.

One of the first tasks of the group will be to coordinate sales throughout PNG of Barbara Short’s new book Tuum Est throughout PNG. The book is a history of Keravat National High School and its students from 1947 to 1986,

The book will be launched by Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane in the Gazelle Peninsula on 10 September and Barbara has announced that all profits from book sales in PNG will go to the school.

“This book tells the history of the school and from the history we can learn a lot,” says Barbara. “It may help the educational planners of today see what needs to happen to improve education throughout the country.”

Barbara says that she prays that the book, and the profits from its sale, will be a blessing for the school.

“We are all looking forward for a successful meeting on Sunday afternoon,” Sir Paulias says.

The meeting will be held at the Telikom Mambu site. “It has a Haus Win and trees all around to give us shade, benches, a BBQ place and enough parking spaces for our vehicles,” says organiser, Mannen Kuluwah.

Tuum Est will be available in August. You can contact Barbara Short about book orders  by emailing her at cbshort@bigpond.com

Ted Kenna VC, Australian Wewak hero, dies at 90

Edward (Ted) Kenna VC, who has died today three days after his 90th birthday, enlisted in the AIF in August 1940 and served in the 23/21st Battalion in Victoria and later in the Darwin area.

Later the unit was disbanded and its members sent as reinforcements to other units. Kenna was assigned to the 2/4th Battalion and embarked for New Guinea in October 1944.

On 15 May 1945, Kenna was involved in an action near Wewak, during which he exposed himself to heavy fire, killed a Japanese machine gun crew and made it possible for his company's attack to succeed. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

The citation reads:

In the South West Pacific at Wewak on the 15th May, 1945, during the attack on the Wirui Mission features, Private KENNA’s company had the task of capturing certain enemy positions.

The only position from which observation for supporting fire could be obtained was continuously swept by enemy machine gun fire and it was not possible to bring Artillery or Mortars into action.

Private KENNA's platoon was ordered forward to deal with the enemy machine gun post, so that the company operation could proceed. His section moved as close as possible to the bunker in order to harass any enemy seen, so that the remainder of the platoon could attack from the flank. When the attacking sections came into view of the enemy they were immediately engaged at very close range by heavy automatic fire from a position not previously disclosed.

Casualties were suffered and the attackers could not move further forward. Private KENNA endeavoured to put his Bren gun into a position where he could engage the bunker, but was unable to do so because of the nature of the ground.

On his own initiative and without orders Private KENNA stood up immediately in full view of the enemy less than fifty yards away and engaged the bunker, firing his Bren gun from his hip. The enemy machine gun immediately returned Private KENNA's fire with such accuracy that bullets actually passed between his arms and body. Undeterred, he remained completely exposed and continued to fire at the enemy until his magazine was exhausted. Still making a target of himself, Private KENNA discarded his Bren gun and called for a rifle. Despite the intense machine gun fire, he seized the rifle and, with amazing coolness, killed the gunner with his first round. A second automatic opened fire on Private KENNA from a different position and another of the enemy immediately tried to move into position behind the first machine gun, but Private KENNA remained standing and killed him with his next round.

The result of Private KENNA's magnificent bravery in the face of concentrated fire, was that the bunker was captured without further loss, and the company attack proceeded to a successful conclusion, many enemy being killed and numerous automatic weapons captured.

There is no doubt that the success of the company attack would have been seriously endangered and many casualties sustained but for Private KENNA's magnificent courage and complete disregard for his own safety. His action was an outstanding example of the highest degree of bravery.

Three weeks later he was shot in the mouth and spent more than a year in hospital before being discharged in December 1946. The following year he married Marjorie Rushberry, who had nursed him at Heidelberg Military Hospital.

After leaving hospital, Kenna returned to his home town. Proud of their VC winner, the people of the Hamilton district raised funds to build Kenna a house which remains the family home.

After the war he worked with the local council and played Australian Rules football for the local team. For many years Ted Kenna led the annual Anzac Day march in Melbourne.

Sources: Australian War Memorial and Anzacday.org.au

Somare threatens ban on Origin football telecasts

Sir Michael Somare has said that Papua New Guineans have “gone crazy” over the Australian Stateof Origin rugby league series, which is broadcast widely on PNG television.

He said the craze had resulted in destruction to property and loss of life. In violence linked to the game, two university students were killed at Port Moresby’s Five-Mile settlement two weeks ago after the second State of Origin encounter.

Sir Michael, who has backed a PNG team entering the Australian rugby league competition, said people had gone crazy over a game that was not played on PNG soil and not played by  Papua New Guineans.

“Many times you hear wives being bashed up, TV screens smashed, big sums of money lost through bets, but at the end of the day those players are not Papua New Guineans,” he told Parliament. “Why can’t we show the same enthusiasm and support when our own people are sweating it out in the field?”

“There is no logic at all and if I had a say, I would ban the NRL from being telecast in PNG,” he said.

Source: ‘PM: We are crazy over a game played by Aussies’, The National, 8 July 2009

A significant risk of robbery near Parlt House...

Thanks to Richard Jones and Phil Fitzpatrick for providing us with such an interesting debate in Recent Comments.

So what does the Australian Government’s Smart Traveller website have to say about the safety and security situation in PNG?

Overall it gives our nearest neighbour a ‘High Degree of Caution’ flag. Let’s face it, even taking into account  DFAT’s notorious prudence when it comes to these assessments, it’s not a real good wrap for a country in which Australia has such a vested interest - and for which we have assumed such great responsibility.

Here’s an extract, and a link to the full advisory is provided below.

We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in PNG because of the high levels of serious crime. Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.

Crime is random and particularly prevalent in urban areas such as Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen. Settlement areas of towns and cities are particularly dangerous. Violence and use of 'bush knives' (machetes) and firearms are often used in assault and theft attempts. Carjackings, assaults (including sexual assaults), bag snatching and robberies are common. Banks and automatic teller machines are increasingly targeted.

Although most crime is opportunistic, there have been incidents of robbery in which expatriates have been targeted in their homes or workplaces. There have been a small number of high profile kidnappings for ransom.

There is a significant risk of robbery and carjacking in the area near Parliament House in the Waigani suburb of Port Moresby and along the highway between Lae and the Nadzab Airport, particularly between the two and nine mile settlement areas.

Walking after dark is particularly dangerous in Port Moresby and other urban centres. All travel at night should be made by car, with doors locked and windows up.

Due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, victims of violent crime, especially rape, are strongly encouraged to seek immediate medical assistance.

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary faces a number of obstacles, including limited resources, and this may affect police response times in the event of crime. Many businesses, including the High Commission, employ private security companies to help deliver a prompt response to calls for assistance.

You can read the full DFAT travel advisory for PNG here.

Meanwhile, in PNG, after several recent high-profile murders, the death penalty is on the agenda. PNG law allows for people to be sentenced to death by hanging but it has never been enforced.

Attorney-General Dr Alan Marat said today there are no regulations governing how an execution should be conducted and he’s asked his department to draw them up. "I want to take that regulation to cabinet for endorsement but it's just not ready, but as soon as it's ready maybe we start implementing," he said.

The long uphill struggle for kiap recognition

“In March 2002 I commenced a lone campaign to have the service of Kiaps in the Australian External Territory of Papua and New Guinea formally recognised under the Australian Honours and Awards System by the Australian Government.”

So begins Chris Viner-Smith's description and analysis of a Kiap recognition project that has got somewhere, but not quite to the end of the road.

Referring to the specificity of his original goal Chris says in a summary document The Case for Kiap Recognition (you can download it here): “That campaign has been lost, other than gaining eligibility for Kiaps to the National Medal, but on the way some small victories have been achieved.”

Let’s itemise those ‘small victories’ because, in the context of an issue not yet finally resolved, they do count for something:

The Federal Government has agreed to:

Extend to Kiaps eligibility for the National Medal for service to 30 November 1973

Accept that Kiaps were sworn commissioned officers of an Australian external territorial police force, that is, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary

Mount a Kiap exhibit at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, researched by professional historians and funded by the Government to provide a means to formally acknowledge and laud the collective efforts of Kiaps in steering PNG towards independence

Sponsor a launch event to which key officials including the PNG High Commissioner would be invited to coincide with the 35th anniversary of PNG independence on 16 September 2010

Publish an article on the contribution of Kiaps in the NAA magazine, Memento

Consider a Ministerial speech in Parliament to place on public record the nation’s gratitude for the Kiaps’ contribution to the development of PNG

What the Government has not agreed to, and what is unfinished business, is more formal recognition through the presentation of a citation or certification to ex Kiaps.

In seeking this greater recognition, Chris has the support of former Governor-General Michael Jeffery who has said: “I am disappointed with [the] response and will take the matter up personally …”

Chris remains hopeful that General Jeffery might have some success in persuading the Government to recognise the incredible work Kiaps undertook on its behalf in bringing a nation to independence.

“You will understand how we feel,” says Chris, “when ADF reservists are entitled to a medal for three months service in Brisbane whilst we put our lives on the line daily for the Australian Government in a foreign country and are denied any recognition.”

You can read the submission provided to Senator John Faulkner, then Special Minister of State, earlier this year by downloading it here. It remains an important document.

In whose interest? Political ethics under scrutiny

If we hauled Australian and PNG politicians into a searching ethical spotlight, just how good would they look? PAUL OATES examines what seems to be a growing deficit in proper ethical reasoning.

Most stories and articles about PNG these days focus on the negative aspects of political corruption and malfeasance at the highest levels.

In his remarks on an article in yesterday’s Melbourne Age about today’s PNG [Dave Tacon: ‘As things fall apart’], Phil Fitzpatrick comments in PNG Attitude:

“… it’s almost a mandatory requirement for stories about PNG. I suspect that Dave Tacon knew that without the negative sensation, including the title, his story wouldn’t have otherwise been published.”

Is this therefore the situation most journalists find themselves when an editor calls for an article on PNG? Is this why. in PNG Attitude, the PNG Governor General called on PNG writers to write about only good things that are happening in PNG today?

Any ethical debate about a politician’s actions should focus on outcomes and not inputs. Otherwise, there is a tendency to start tripping over the trees while losing sight of the forest.? Could there be a more practical way? After all, what we really want are politicians who, by their actions, can improve our existence, not make it worse.

Imagine if all politicians were held accountable for their time in office and responsible for achieving what they said they would do prior to being elected. Imagine if there was a public report card on each elected member prior to the next election. Surely the acid test ought to be whether the lives of their fellow countrymen and women were demonstrably better off for a politician being elected.

How would Australian and PNG politicians stand up to assessment, I wonder?

You can read Paul’s article about ethical reasoning in the current political context in its entirety here: Ethics & Politics: Are they mutually exclusive?

Keravat school history complete and at printers

Barbara Short’s book, Tuum Est, is now with the printer. Tuum Est recounts the early history of Keravat National High School between 1947 and 1986.

Orders are now being taken for the book, which comes in three editions. The standard edition is a softback with hand-stitched and pasted cover to withstand tropical conditions. There are 380 A4 pages and 227 black and white photographs.

This edition will sell for $30 in Australia. Keravat alumni will be selling the book in PNG and will work out a local price.

The hardcover edition will cost $55 and the deluxe edition (leather bound, some colour photos) will cost $80. All the books will be available by early August.

You can contact Barbara at cbshort@bigpond.com to order your copy.

Moving backwards – the sadness of today's PNG

Today’s The Age has a must-read story for anyone with a serious interest in Papua New Guinea.

Dave Tacon, a Melbourne-based freelance writer, has penned an insightful and elegant feature on a country that, far from developing, has just been demoted to underdeveloped status by the United Nations.

Dave’s piece moves from the neglected bush to the dangerous towns covering a lot of important issues in its sweep. Thanks to John Fowkes for pointing it out to me. Here’s a taste:

Detective Andrew Mokoko, 35, walks the street outside the bank agency office in plain clothes, nonchalantly toting a pump-action shotgun. A local identity, he chats with passers-by and the betel nut vendors. Although he is officially on duty, he is earning a little extra as a security guard with a weapon from the police armoury.

This is explained to me by a former police officer. When I ask why Mokoko is out of uniform, the reply is: "Well the raskols often wear police uniforms."

In PNG, corruption is taken for granted. Still, Kerema is tame compared with the country's more populous regional centres, where a largely uneducated population flock in the hope of work. Unemployment is rife. Violent crime, driven by poverty and tribal allegiance, is out of control. In recent weeks there has been sustained rioting throughout the nation. The targets are mainly Asian-run businesses — convenient scapegoats for the disenfranchised.

Commenting on recent rioting in the nation's capital, Port Moresby, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare acknowledged the perception that his Immigration Department is so corrupt that "a six pack (of beer)" is accepted tender for a passport.

Papua New Guinea, a country with more than 760 distinctly different languages, was ill-prepared for the independence granted by Australia in 1975. To this day, the prevailing political system is based on wantok — the support of one's friends and family above all others. Superimposed into government, wantok is a system of pure cronyism and nepotism.

Fortunately for us, The Age has Dave Tacon’s full article online, and you can link to it here.

Source: As things fall apart by Dave Tacon, The Age, 4 July 2009

The Australian Department of Tourism Denial

What on earth is happening at the Australian embassy in Moscow - the embassy that also handles all visa formalities for PNG?

Embassy staff – who should be facilitating travellers and tourists who wish to visit PNG, not to mention Australia  – seem hell bent on preventing them.

Twice in two days PNG Attitude has had cases referred to it that attest to the difficulty of getting a visa from Australian consular officials in Moscow.

In the first case, a group of Russian adventurers want to visit PNG and climb Mt Wilhelm and then trek to Ramu through Bundi.

After three months of trying, the group leader Nikolay Nosov notes plaintively: “We have problems with entry permit to Papua. I visited more than 40 countries in the world - no any problem with visas. I can not understand why it is so difficult to take entry permit for tourists?”

And Bernard Oberleuter reports the disturbing case of his friend, Marat Shagiahmedov, who has been denied a tourist visa for Australia in the most dismissive way.

The so-called ‘official reason’ offered by Senior Migration officer in Moscow, a Ms Munro, was in fact no more than an assertion that she was “not satisfied that (Mr Shagiahmedov) genuinely intend[ed] to visit Australia temporarily”.

Ms Munro may have a suspicious mind, but what she offered was definitely not a reason. It was doublespeak.

Bernard comments: “It appears the Australian embassy in Moscow is stifling would be tourists. [We] spend millions of dollars advertising for tourists, but fail to provide the necessary visa for these visitors to our shores.”

I repeat the question: What on earth is going on at our Moscow embassy?

PNG-born scrum half called into Wallabies squad

Don Hook

PNG-born Will Genia has been called into the Wallabies Tri Nations squad and is expected to make his Test debut off the bench against the All Blacks at Auckland's Eden Park on Saturday 18 July.

Australian coach Robbie Deans kept a promise made some weeks ago to call up the 21-year-old Queensland Reds scrum half once he recovered from a serious finger injury received in a game against the ACT Brumbies in May.

Genia replaces incoming Brumbies scrumhalf Josh Valentine in the Australia squad.

According to a report in the Canberra Times, Deans said he'd noticed Genia last year. "He's grown physically and with that he's really grown in confidence in the game.

"Against a tiring defence, a guy like him is going to be pretty challenging and we've seen that through Super Rugby."

Deans is said to have called Genia and told him he would have been in the squad for the first four internationals but for the in jury.

Genia spent his early years in Port Moresby before being sent at the age of 12 to board at Brisbane Boys College where he learned his rugby.

Genia becomes the number two scrumhalf in the Australian squad behind Luke Burgess. It's almost certain he will start his Test debut on the bench, replacing Burgess on the field during the second half.

Footnote: Rugby must run in the Genia family.  Will's younger brother Luke is halfback for the Queensland 1 team in the Australian Schools Championship being played in Sydney. 

AusAID boss heads off into the bleak unknown

AusAID director-general Bruce Davis has left his job. It looks like a sudden departure. There is no permanent replacement and he is said to be off to fill an unknown overseas post.

Bruce is 56 and has retired after ten years in the job to “take up a diplomatic post later this year”. He joined the then Australian Development Assistance Agency (ADAB) 34 years ago at age 22. A career bureaucrat.

The Lowy Institute's Graham Dobell wrote in May, as rumours of an imminent departure circulated: "Davis has epitomised the AusAID contradiction: it controls billions but deploys little bureaucratic weight. AusAID’s distance from power is expressed by its comfortable headquarters in Civic, on the other side of the lake from Parliament and DFAT."

Specific criticisms of AusAID include allegations that it services Australian commercial interests through its procurement policies and has misused aid to support foreign policy initiatives such as the so-called Pacific Solution for processing asylum seekers.

AusAID has also been criticised from the right wing, particularly by Helen Hughes of the Centre for Independent Studies who has argued that "aid has failed PNG and the Pacific"  - a criticism of the broad policy of AusAID.

PNG Attitude has seen fit recently to take AusAID to task over its apparent 'hands off' policy in relation to PNG aid - leaving the on the ground decisions to multinational consultancies while it provides the funding.

This has led to a seeming disconnect between objective evidence of what is required at the grassroots and the large amount of money moving between AusAID and the PNG Government.

MvM recognition boosted – and now the next step

During the last week or so - and especially in the last 24 hours - there has been great media and political attention on the 1 July 1942 sinking of the Japanese prison ship, Montevideo Maru, that cost 1,053 lives.

You can find ABC-TV's report (WWII tragedy remembered) on yesterday's ceremony at Subic Bay here and SBS-TV’s report (Maritime disaster remembered) here. You'll have to forgive the ABC's interpretation of the ship's name - Motivideo Maru – and get through the SBS intro ad, but both pieces are worth a look. Our thanks to PJ Madam (SBS) and Gavin Fang (ABC) for their work.

The press coverage of the issue has been too extensive to list here but there were substantial articles in all of Australia’s major newspapers – including The Australian, Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times – as well as in many regional papers and on the internet. 

Alan Jones was particularly supportive through his nationally syndicated radio program.

And Foxtel took the opportunity of the anniversary to announce that it will screen John Schindler's two-part documentary, The Tragedy of the Montevideo Maru, later this year.

After an early hiccough, the political commentary was generous and to the point.

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Alan Griffin called for the nation to pause and remember the 1053 Australian lives lost. “War brings many tragedies and today we remember one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War,” he said.

Shadow Minister Louise Markus thanked and acknowledged the men who “made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, a sacrifice that has contributed to the peace we enjoy today”, adding: “But there is still more to do for the families of these heroes. I urge the Australian Government to do everything that it can to locate the resting place of the Montevideo Maru.”

And Australia’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Rod Smith, appended an eloquent and pertinent footnote when he concluded yesterday’s speech at Subic Bay by saying: “This tragedy is not forgotten. The families are not forgotten. These men are not forgotten. We honour them all.”

These are words that the victims’ families have wanted to hear and have so often been denied by politicians and bureaucrats down the years.

The public exposure of the Montevideo Maru issue will take a rest for a while, but the Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee will continue to prepare a submission for the Federal Government on how this tragedy can be prominently and permanently marked.

Some proposals include a memorial in Canberra and for the site of the sinking to be declared a Commonwealth War Grave. PNG Attitude reader Bob Curtis has usefully suggested that the PNGAA could take the lead in organising a public subscription for a memorial plaque.

These and other ideas will be considered by the Committee. The submission is expected to be with the Commonwealth early next year – and then will follow a vigorous process of advocacy.

We’ll keep you informed from time to time, but if you want more regular information through a monthly newsletter or to express support for these activities you can become a Friend of Montevideo Maru by emailing me here. By the way, yesterday the number of Friends passed the 100 milestone.

Photo: Andrea Williams (PNGAA) and Phil Ainsworth (PNGVR Ex-Members Association) at Subic Bay. Both are organising members of the Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee.

These men are not forgotten, they are honoured

These extracts are taken from the speech given by ROD SMITH, Australia's Ambassador to the Philippines, who presided at the Montevideo Maru memorial service at Subic Bay today

At about a quarter past ten on the night of Tuesday 30 June 1942, the United States  submarine Sturgeon patrolling northwest of Bojeador of Luzon sighted a darkened ship on a westerly course going at high speed.

The log of the submarine’s captain, Lieutenant Commander WL Wright, tells the story:

“Put on all engines and worked up to full power, proceeding to westward in attempt to get ahead of him. For an hour and a half we couldn't make a nickel. This fellow was really going, making at least 17 knots…

“Determined to hang on in the hope he would slow … sure enough, about midnight he slowed to about 12 knots. After that it was easy…

“At 0225 fired four-torpedo spread, range 4000 yards. At 0229 heard and observed explosion about 75-100 feet abaft stack. At 0240 observed ship sink stern first. He was a big one.

“A few lights were observed on deck just after the explosion, but there was apparently no power available, and his bow was well up in the air in six minutes.”

The ship torpedoed and sunk was the Montevideo Maru. To the best of our knowledge, she carried 1,053 prisoners from the Australian Territory of New Guinea, one as young as fifteen.

There were fathers and sons, civilians and troops, missionaries and traders, businessmen and administrators. They had all been captured and interned by the Japanese in Rabaul. They all died.

The youngest, the fifteen-year old, was Ivan Gascoigne, recorded as a clerk, the son of Cyril Gascoigne, who also died.

The sinking of the Montevideo Maru at 2.40 am on Wednesday 1 July 1942 was Australia’s greatest disaster at sea, then and now. It remains one of our country’s worst disasters.

This memorial to the Hell Ships of World War 2 now includes a commemorative plaque to mark the tragedy of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru 67 years ago today.

The plaque has been placed here as a result of the generosity of a number of private organisations - the NGVR/PNGVR Ex-Members Association, the Lark Force Association, the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia and the Greenbank Returned Services League Club in Brisbane.

I pay tribute today to all of you who have travelled so far to be present for this historic event in this special place.

This tragedy is not forgotten. The families are not forgotten. These men are not forgotten. We honour them all.

Opposition wants govt to fund search for MvM

Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs LOUISE MARKUS MP has marked today’s memorial ceremony at Subic Bay by calling on the Federal government to fund a search for the Montevideo Maru

The unveiling of a new plaque to commemorate Australian prisoners of war and civilians lost when the Montevideo Maru sank after being torpedoed off the Philippines in World War II is welcomed.

The sinking of the Montevideo Maru with the loss of 1053 Australian prisoners of war and civilians on I July 1942 is the greatest single tragedy in Australia’s maritime history but more importantly it is one of our lesser known.

Those who perished had been previously captured and held by the Japanese at Rabaul on the Island of New Britain in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.

It is important to thank and acknowledge those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, a sacrifice that has contributed to the peace we enjoy today.

But there is still more to do for the families of these heroes. I urge the Australian Government to do everything that it can to locate the resting place of the Montevideo Maru.

In April 2008 a spokesperson for the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd said the Government would consider the idea of a fundraising appeal to find the ship.

In June 2009 my parliamentary colleague Steve Ciobo tabled a series of petitions on behalf of 1,295 Australians calling on the Rudd Government to fund the search for the ship.

I call on the Government to respond so that families who lost their loved ones can have closure.

Australia should pause and remember: Minister

On the 67th anniversary of Australia’s worst maritime disaster, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, has called for the nation to pause and remember the 1053 Australian lives lost in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

“War brings many tragedies and today we remember one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War,” Mr Griffin said.

Speaking on indulgence in Parliament last week, Mr Griffin said the story of the sinking was an unfortunate and lesser known episode of the Second World War.

“On 1 July 1942, a United States submarine, USS Sturgeon, torpedoed and sank what it believed to be a Japanese merchant vessel. It was in fact the Montevideo Maru, carrying Australian prisoners of war and civilians who were locked in the hold with no means of escape once the ship was struck,” he said.

“On board were 1053 Australian prisoners of war and civilians who had been captured and held by the Japanese at Rabaul on the island of New Britain, in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.

“The Montevideo Maru took 11 minutes to sink.  No Australians survived.  It was not until after the war that Australian authorities discovered the tragic fate of those captured at Rabaul.

“The families and associations with connections to the Montevideo Maru have never lost sight of the tragedy that occurred 67 years ago. That some questions concerning the ship may never be answered must also add to their sense of loss.  It is something that we as a nation should never forget,” Mr Griffin said.

Mr Griffin said a local ceremony would be held in Subic Bay to remember those lost in the tragedy.

“Today the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Rod Smith, will unveil a plaque commemorating those on board the Montevideo Maru on behalf of the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles Association at the Hellships Memorial, established in memory of all the ships that carried POWs,” he said.

Mr Griffin also confirmed he has approved a $7200 grant to enhance the central plinth at Subic Bay.

“Later in the year, under a grant made by the Australian Government to the RSL Angeles Sub-Branch in the Philippines, commemoration of the Montevideo Maru at the Hellships Memorial will be further enhanced and an interpretation will be placed in a nearby museum.”

The funds have been granted through the Overseas Privately-Constructed Memorial Restoration Program, which recognises the contribution that organisations around the world make to honouring Australia’s wartime heritage.

The fateful order: ‘Continue loading copra’

Rev Neville Threlfall

The failure to evacuate civilians on the Norwegian freighter Herstein [left], in port at Rabaul in January 1942 just ahead of the Japanese invasion, occurred because of an order that the ship was to "continue loading copra".

It is usually stated that the Curtin Government made this heartless response to the request by Harold Page, Deputy Administrator at Rabaul, that Australian civilians, except for some essential personnel, be evacuated on the Herstein.

But who was actually responsible for that order? Prime Minister John Curtin had his hands full with the 8th Division fighting a losing battle in Malaya and other Australian troops fighting in North Africa, where Tobruk had just been relieved.

It is extremely doubtful that he knew about Page's request. The request was sent to the Department of External Territories, which passed it on to the Treasury because of the commercial importance of the copra waiting to be loaded at Rabaul.

Again, it is doubtful whether Treasurer JB (Ben) Chifley saw it. Some Commonwealth departments were located in Melbourne and some were in Canberra. Cabinet ministers were kept busy shuttling between the two cities (costing the lives of three ministers when their plane crashed near Canberra in 1940.) More likely a public servant in the Treasury made the decision, for that is where the reply originated.

My authority for this is an interview with the late Jim Burke in 1981. Jim was employed in the Public Service of the Mandated Territory in 1941 and, when Australian women and children were evacuated from Rabaul on the Neptuna and the Macdhui on 22 December 1941, he was posted to the Neptuna as welfare officer for the evacuees.

When he reported to External Territories in Australia he was told not to return to Rabaul and was seconded to the Treasury for the rest of the war. While working there Jim saw the original of the telegram: “Continue loading copra”.

Page’s first telegram was sent on 16 January 1942. He repeated his request on the 19th, while copra loading continued. But the only answer came from Japanese dive-bombers, which on 20 January set the Herstein’s cargo ablaze and reduced her to a total wreck.

Harold Page was a very correct public servant and had obeyed orders.

Weeks later he confided to his fellow-prisoner Gordon Thomas that he now wished that he had acted on his own initiative and carried out the evacuation without official permission; but it had not entered his head to do so at the time.

Page himself would have remained in Rabaul in any case, with a few others to maintain order; but in the end he joined the other Rabaul civilians on the Montevideo Maru who paid with their lives for the demand to “continue loading copra”.

History Channel commissions MvM documentary

On the 67th anniversary of Australia’s greatest maritime disaster, the History Channel announced it has commissioned a two-part TV documentary to commemorate the sinking of the Japanese POW hell ship, Montevideo Maru and, the publicity claims, “uncover the mystery behind it”.

The series will premiere on the History Channel in late 2009. Entitled The Tragedy Of The Montevideo Maru, it will tell the story of how, on 1 July 1942, the Japanese was torpedoed in the early hours of the morning off the Philippines’ coast by the USS Sturgeon.

What the Americans did not realise at the time was that the ship was in fact a floating prison - holding over 1000 Australian POWs and civilians. Not one of them survived.

Group channel manager for Foxtel’s History Channel, Jim Buchan, said “We’re thrilled to be able to continue our commitment to commissioning vital Australian documentaries for our national audience.

“In the tradition of event television such as The Battle of Long Tan, Beyond Kokoda, and He’s Coming South, we regard the visual documentation of Australia’s history an important part of remembering the legacy left behind by our brave men and women for the next generation.”

Mr Buchan said the documentaries will ensure that the brave Australian soldiers who served on New Britain and New Ireland, and who perished on that fateful night, will never be forgotten.

The documentary is produced by film maker John Schindler.

The fall of Rabaul and the Montevideo Maru

Elizabeth Thurston & Andrea Williams

A memorial to the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, Australia’s greatest disaster at sea, will be unveiled at a ceremony at Subic Bay at 11am this morning by Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Rod Smith.

The Montevideo Maru left Rabaul on 22 June 1942 with 1053 prisoners of war, all of whom tragically died when the ship was torpedoed on this day in 1942.

The establishment of the memorial has been coordinated by the Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee supported by the NGVR/PNGVR Ex-Members Association, Lark Force, the PNGAA and Greenbank RSL. The site is part of the Hellships Memorial dedicated to prisoners of war who suffered on Japanese vessels.

With the outbreak of World War 2, Rabaul became of strategic importance. The Army authorised the formation of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR), a militia unit formed from Rabaul’s white residents. A detachment of young Chinese men, determined to contribute, formed an Ambulance Brigade which became part of the NGVR.

In March 1941, with the threat of Japanese invasion looming, the Australian Government sent Lark Force to Rabaul - 1400 men from the 2/22nd battalion and other units. Their band comprised the Brunswick Salvation Army band from Melbourne. Soon after, the 2/10th Field Ambulance, which included nursing sisters, also arrived.

On neighbouring New Ireland, Kavieng was defended by the Commandos 1st Independent Company.

Most European women and children had been evacuated from Rabaul on the Macdhui and Neptuna by Christmas 1941. The hospital nurses were offered evacuation but remained. The army nurses were not offered evacuation. Some civilian and missionary women stayed in the Rabaul area.

Because they were not Australian citizens, Chinese and mixed-race women and children did not qualify for evacuation. The civilians who remained in Rabaul consisted of administration officers, planters, businessmen and traders. Most of the women and children evacuated never saw their husbands and fathers again.

On 19 January 1942, the Norwegian cargo ship Herstein arrived in Rabaul to load copra. When it was bombed in a Japanese air raid, the civilian population suspected it had lost its last opportunity to leave. Although no one knew it then, the Australian Government had already made the decision that the men in Rabaul were ‘hostages to fortune’.

When the Japanese invaded with 5000 troops on 23 January 1942, Lark Force had little chance. The men of the 2/22nd put up a gallant fight but were overpowered.

The order “Every man for himself” was given and the men who had survived the battle tried to escape to the north and south coasts of New Britain. Without food in gruelling tropical conditions they faced great difficulty.

The Japanese dropped pamphlets declaring they would be treated as prisoners of war and many surrendered. Most returned to Rabaul and about 150 were executed at Tol Plantation on the shores of Wide Bay. Most of the civilian men were captured early after the invasion and interned for five months in a camp at Rabaul.

On 22 June 1942, 845 members of Lark Force and 208 civilians were marched aboard the Montevideo Maru. The ship set sail for Hainan Island. On the night of 1 July, about 30 km west of Luzon, the US submarine Sturgeon torpedoed the ship which listed and sank immediately.

The captain of Sturgeon, Commander Wright, had no idea the Montevideo Maru was carrying allied POWs. The men from Rabaul were all lost. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru became the greatest maritime disaster in Australian history.

A statement by the Minister for External Territories in the Australian House of Representatives on 5 October 1945 said: “These servicemen and civilians who have lost their lives in such a tragic manner have undoubtedly given their lives in defence of Australia just as surely as those who died face to face with the enemy. To their next of kin the Commonwealth Government extends its deepest sympathy.”

Lest We Forget.

PNGAA election puts sealer on corporate renewal

The Papua New Guinea Association membership showed maturity and sophistication in the recent committee elections, the results of which were announced on Sunday.

This was the first contested committee election in the Association’s nearly 60 year history, and the first time an election had been conducted through a postal ballot of members.

Fourteen candidates contested the six committee positions and around 400 members voted, a record, demonstrating that recent constitutional changes have been effective in engaging members deeper in the affairs of the Association.

Due to the great talent on offer, a number of strikingly good candidates missed the cut.  But the real triumph was the election – for the first time – of two Papua New Guineans to the leadership of the Association.

Gima Crowdy and Deveni Temu will bring great professional skills to the PNGAA but they are also harbingers of what should be a continuation of the growth in membership numbers of the last 12 months and an extension of this membership to include many Papua New Guinean residents of Australia – who should have a stake in an organisation that bears the name of their country of birth.

We now await a statement from new President Riley Warren about where he intends to take the organisation during his two year term – and this may be made in conjunction with the first meeting of the new streamlined committee in early August.

The PNGAA didn’t announce voting numbers after the ballot, an unfortunate reminder of the organisation’s old paternalism. I think members deserve transparency around all of its affairs.

It will take the committee some time to settle in, and there are some challenges it needs to overcome because of its geographical dispersion (for the first time it includes people from Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra) - but members have high expectations of the new committee operating within an expansive new constitution.

The ‘social sauspen’ that looks like boiling over

Gelab Pelak

The PNG riots are still alive.

A newspaper report said hundreds of people went on a rampage in Popondetta on Friday looting the Bank South Pacific branch, the Air Niugini office and six Asian-owned shops.

The riot was sparked by oil palm growers who had come into town to collect money but were turned away by the bank.

It is clear the recent Asian looting was because of lack of government services. Now PNG businesses have been attacked, as the result of similar frustration. Police were unable to do anything because they were outnumbered.

I believe, as I have written on PNG Attitude previously, that this problem will not be solved unless the Government takes its citizen’s views on board and listens to their cries. Imagine how chaotic this would have been if it happened in Port Moresby.

I think the social sauspen of PNG, as it has been termed, is going to blow soon, maybe in the near future. Time will tell, and we will regret or praise.

I mean how can they do this? How can our own government do this, because it's partly the government's fault for not providing services to the rural people in the first place. That’s why they are coming to the cities and towns with false hopes of employment, and prosperity.

Not knowing men’s fate was the hardest thing

From ILYA GRIDNEFF, AAP's correspondent in Port Moresby

The hardest thing for families who lost relatives in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru during World War 2 was not knowing the fate of their loved ones.

But for those families, closure may finally come on Wednesday when a plaque is unveiled at an official ceremony marking Australia's worst maritime tragedy.

Ailsa Nisbet, 82, along with her daughter Marg Curtis and cousin Ron Hayes, will represent one of 15 Australian families at the July 1 memorial at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

They leave Melbourne today to pay respects to Ms Nisbet's brother, Private John "Jack" Groat, who was on board the Montevideo Maru when it sank on July 1, 1942, carrying 845 prisoners of war from Australia's Lark Force and 208 civilian men.

The troops had been taken prisoner after Japan invaded Rabaul in PNG in January 1942.

The unmarked Japanese ship left occupied Rabaul on June 22, 1942 but nine days later an American submarine, unaware it was carrying allied prisoners, torpedoed it off the Philippines coast.

The sinking of the ship was not reported back to Australia, and for several years the fate of the prisoners of war was unknown. Ms Nisbet said for years her brother's fate was a mystery.

"The family was first told he was missing," she said. "Then they said 'missing presumed dead', then we got a message he was a prisoner of war, then we got a letter from Jack saying he was being looked after by the Japanese. But that's all. Mum didn't hear what happened until late 1945. And there is still doubt about it," she said.

Phil Ainsworth, in the Philippines for the event, said the committee aimed to get more national recognition for the tragedy. "This memorial will give the families some comfort because even now 67 years later they still feel discomforted and in grief," he said.

Veterans' Affairs Minister Alan Griffin marked the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru in a speech to Parliament last Friday. "I've spoken to individuals who lost family members as part of the Montevideo Maru and I know these things remain with people forever," he said. "I express my heartfelt sympathy for their loss."

Source: Wartime sea tragedy to be marked by

Ilya Gridneff [AAP], The Age. 29 June 2009. Read the entire article here

Questions Australians want answered about PNG

Former PNG-based teacher and journalist Keith Jackson is passionate about building closer relationships between the people of Australia and PNG, writes MALUM NALU

An increasing number of Papua New Guineans and Australians are now turning to the ground-breaking PNG Attitude website and newsletter, two outlets with growing influence in both countries for their candid commentary on Australia-PNG affairs.

Both are published by former PNG-based teacher and journalist, Keith Jackson, 64, who is chairman of the Sydney-based public relations firm Jackson Wells. He lived in PNG from age 18 to 31 and still feels a strong sense of commitment to the country and its people.

PNG Attitude offers a range of views on current Australia-PNG issues from contributors such as Paul Oakes, Gelab Piak, Ilya Gridneff, Bernard Narokobi, Don Hook and many guest writers.

Mr Jackson is passionate about using communications processes to build closer relationships between the people of Australia and PNG. He believes the political relationship has been neglected until recently, and that the civil relationship has a long way to go. “We’re like a family that’s drifted apart,” Mr Jackson says. “We need to do something about that, on both sides.”

He says he has some crucial questions he believes Australians want answered about PNG. “I asked Sir Michael most of them a couple of months ago through an intermediary, but they obviously didn’t get to him. They’re questions Australians interested in PNG worry about.”

And what are Keith Jackson’s worrying questions that Australians would like to ask?

“We’re concerned about corruption, about public money going wrongly into private hands. Is this a serious problem? And if it is, what’s the Government doing about it.

“We’re concerned about violence. How safe would we be visiting PNG as tourists? How safe would we be living in PNG?

“It seems the public service is not really delivering for PNG. Rural infrastructure – health, education, basic services - is in bad shape and the people are not getting what they need. What’s the Government doing to fix this?

“We don’t know whether Australian budgetary support - $400 million this year - is being well spent. Can we get some assurance about this?

“Our aid agency, AusAID, spends a lot of the money Australia gives to PNG on consultants. How come these consultants are not delivering the services that are needed at the PNG grass roots?

“We’re not sure about the next generation of PNG politicians. Are they likely to be nation builders - and friendly towards Australia?

“The recent anti-Asian riots indicate a big problem for PNG. They seem to show that Papua New Guineans are being excluded from commerce in their own country. What’s going on?”

You can read Malum Nalu's full article on the website of the PNG National here.

PNGAA elects first PNG committee members

In a historic election outcome, the PNG Association has elected its first Papua New Guinean committee members. They are Gima Crowdy of Sydney and Deveni Temu of Canberra. A record 400 members voted for 14 candidates in the first contested committee election. The other people elected were existing members Juli Alcorn and Pam Foley and first timers Dennis Doyle and Chris Diercke.

MvM victims honoured in our Parliament

The Minister for Veterans Affairs, Alan Griffin MP, and the Shadow Minister, Louise Markus MP, yesterday afternoon gave speeches to the House of Representatives marking the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.  Because of their significance, PNG Attitude reports them in full:

Mr GRIFFIN (Bruce—Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) (3.53 pm)—War brings many tragedies and next week we commemorate one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War. On 1 July 1942, a United States submarine patrolling the Babuyan Channel leading from Luzon in the Philippines into the South China Sea torpedoed and sank what it believed to be a Japanese merchant vessel. It was in fact the Montevideo Maru carrying Australian prisoners of war. Its sinking is the greatest single maritime tragedy in Australia’s history, with the loss of 1,053 Australian lives. The Montevideo Maru carried no markers identifying it as a POW transport and was indistinguishable from legitimate targets of allied aircraft and submarines. The prisoners were locked in the hold with no means of escape once the ship was struck. The Montevideo Maru took 11 minutes to sink. No prisoners survived.

What we know of this tragedy comes from Japanese survivors who eventually reached Manila and reported the sinking. By the time searches were launched, it was too late. No trace of the vessel or any survivors could be found. On board were 1,053 Australian prisoners of war and civilians who had been captured and held by the Japanese at Rabaul on the island of New Britain in what is now Papua New Guinea. Among those aboard was former member for Brand Kim Beazley’s uncle and the current member for Kingsford Smith’s grandfather.

Through the war, Australian authorities sought information on the whereabouts of those captured at Rabaul. However, they were never informed that the Montevideo Maru was sunk with the loss of all prisoners during the war. It was not until after the war that Australian authorities discovered the tragic story. With 1 July this year being the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, we will pause to remember the loss.

The servicemen lost on the Montevideo Maru are among the 12,104 casualties of World War II who have no known grave.

On 1 July this year, the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Rod Smith, will unveil a plaque commemorating those on board the Montevideo Maru on behalf of the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles Association at the Hell Ships Memorial established in memory of all the ships that carried POWs. Later in the year, under a grant made by the Australian government to the RSL Angeles sub branch in the Philippines, commemoration of the Montevideo Maru at the Hell Ships memorial will be further enhanced and an interpretation will be placed in a nearby museum.

The families and associations with connections to the Montevideo Maru have never lost sight of the tragedy that occurred 67 years ago. That it is still shrouded in mystery must also add to their sense of loss. It is something that we as a nation should never forget, as I am sure all members would agree.

Mrs MARKUS (Greenway) (3.56 pm)—I rise on indulgence, Mr Speaker. I would like to associate the coalition with the minister’s remarks. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru with the loss of 1,053 Australian prisoners of war and civilians on 1 July 1942 is the greatest single tragedy in Australia’s maritime history.

More importantly, it is also one of our lesser known.

The Montevideo Maru sank after being torpedoed off the Philippines. There were no survivors. The Australian prisoners of war and civilians who perished had been captured and held by the Japanese at Rabaul on the island of New Britain in what is now known as Papua New Guinea. I note that the names of the army and air force casualties are listed on the memorial to the missing at the Bita Paka war cemetery in Rabaul, which I have had the honour of visiting.

In placing my condolences on the record today, I wish to help to bring to the attention of the Australian public this little-known sacrifice of 1,053 Australians on board the Montevideo Maru so many years ago. In particular, I wish to thank and acknowledge those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, a sacrifice that has contributed to the peace that we enjoy today.

I understand that on 1 July on the 67th anniversary of the tragedy the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines will unveil a new plaque commemorating those on board the Montevideo Maru on behalf of the PNG Volunteer Rifles Association at the Hell Ships Memorial established in memory of all the ships that carried prisoners of war. I commend this latest acknowledgement of the tragedy, but also wish to remind the House of the important and vital contribution of our veteran community, past, present and also into the future. It is important in honouring those who have served our nation and given the ultimate sacrifice and also in acknowledging the significant loss to their families that every effort is made to locate the resting place of those who lost their lives at sea on that fateful day. I ask and urge the government to do everything that it can to locate the resting place of those who lost their lives when the Montevideo Maru sank. Lest we forget.

Val Murphy seriously ill after heart attack

There is grim news from Perth this morning as we learn that Val Murphy has had a heart attack and is in a serious condition.

“Sad news for you all,” writes his dear wife, Mary. “My beloved husband of 47 years, through thick and thin in PNG and resettlement in WA has had a heart attack and is fighting for his life in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.”

Mary asks that friends not contact the hospital, but ring her on 0418 952 498 or son Mark on 0428 520 146 for updates.

Earlier this year Val was awarded life membership of the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League adding to his life membership of the WA Rugby League. He has been an outstanding advocate for rugby league in WA and, over many years, hasensured that players were given every opportunity to develop and play at the highest level.

Val was a cadet education officer at ASOPA [1961-62] and, while teaching in PNG, became prominent for his rugby league activities.

As Principal of Aranmore Catholic College in Perth, Val established the Rugby League Academy in 2001, offering new pathways for elite rugby league players in WA.

Our prayers and best wishes are with Val, Mary and their family at this time.

Griffin makes parliamentary statement on MvM

It’s been difficult to get details. We even called the Minister’s office without luck. But it seems Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin made a statement on the Montevideo Maru in Federal Parliament this afternoon.

Our first alert came from Rod Miller, who, it is clear, assiduously checks hits on his www.montevideomaru.info website, and also has great prescience. “Had a couple of hits today that I haven't seen before,” said Rod, a pre-eminent researcher on the Montevideo Maru. They were all from the ACT and two from Parliament House itself.

Chris Diercke was the first to confirm the statement to Parliament, and tried hard to get a copy. Like me, he'll have to wait for Hansard in the morning.

Then Brian Darcey reported in: “4pm today. A belated, but welcome statement from the Minister just read out in the House of Reps was no doubt prompted by your letter to The Australian. Better late than never, but his lack of any real knowledge of the tragedy was confirmed when he repeatedly mispronounced 'Rabaul'.”

Come on, Brian, let’s not be churlish.

More information as we get it. I'm in Melbourne tomorrow for a few days and might find it difficult to post. Bear with me.

Leading academic busts some myths & legends

Down the years many myths and theories developed around the fall of Rabaul and the sinking of the Montevideo Maru in 1942. In next month’s Montevideo Maru Newsletter, historian EMERITUS PROFESSOR HANK NELSON addresses some of these. A preview...

CLAIM: ‘THE POST-WAR GOVERNMENT REFUSED TO HOLD AN INQUIRY'

There are repeated statements by people of good intent about the government declining to hold an inquiry after the war. Sometimes the Pacific Islands Monthly is quoted ['Australian government will not inquire into Rabaul'].

In fact, if you go back to Chifley's speech on 28 June 1946, he said at the end of a rowdy debate that had covered many subjects that if it could be shown that men in command were guilty of 'corruption, dishonesty or treason' he would favour inquiries.

He referred to specific military failures - Dunkirk, Malaya, the Middle East - but not Rabaul. At the end of his speech, Menzies, then leader of the Opposition, said 'I personally agree with him'.

Introducing the debate, Anthony had mentioned the three incidents involving the 23rd Brigade - Timor, Ambon and Rabaul. Anthony spoke mostly about Ambon and Timor but he did include Rabaul at the end of his speech.

The Curtin government is often held responsible for the disaster of Rabaul, and Curtin as Prime Minister in January 1942 certainly had a responsibility for events occurring then.

But the Labor Government had nothing to fear from an inquiry. The Menzies and Fadden governments had made the decision to deploy the troops to Rabaul (and to other points where over 20,000 became prisoners) and Curtin inherited those decisions in October 1941. Menzies had been in power when other disasters such as Greece and Crete had taken place.

The War Cabinet papers are instructive. After the Japanese entered the war, the fate of the troops in Rabaul was reconsidered. The Chiefs of Staff advised that they should stay. They made this recommendation knowing that the invading force likely to be faced by Lark Force would be overwhelming and that Australia would be unable to strengthen or evacuate the troops.

They made this recommendation because Australia was then making strong pleas to the Dutch and the British to fight in the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong and we wanted the Americans to fight in the Philippines and to deploy forces in Australia and in the southwest Pacific. We could hardly do this and withdraw our own troops.

Also we wanted to maintain a 'forward observation line' and wanted to force the Japanese to commit troops and materiel to an invasion force. It was not so much the time taken by the troops in Rabaul in resisting an attack that was important, but the fact that their presence meant that the Japanese had to bring together an extensive force of ships (including aircraft carriers, mine sweepers, submarines, troop carriers) and aircraft.

The chiefs of staff reported that they did not have the shipping to evacuate or escort Australian troops and they did not have the aircraft to protect the ships at sea. It is true but unlikely that the Curtin government could have over-ruled the chiefs of staff.

The Chiefs of Staff also advised that civilian government in Rabaul should continue. Obviously they did not want the troops diverted to maintaining martial law and they did not want chaos on the eve of an invasion. (Kieta was looted when the civilian government left and even on Misima and the Trobriands there was a break down in law and order.)

When the War Cabinet received Page's urgent request to evacuate non-essential government personnel, it was the Chiefs of Staff who made what turned out to be the disastrously slow recommendation to Page to send a list of the numbers involved. The Chiefs of Staff were more aware by 17 December that they could not supply ships or aircraft to secure passage of civilians from Rabaul. They knew that they would be taking a great risk in encouraging people to put to sea when the skies were dominated by the Japanese. In retrospect of course that risk was worth taking.

The Curtin Government had inherited the policy of the dispersal of small forces to the north and it had acted in conformity with the best available advice. The arguments of the Chiefs of Staff were rational - even if you disagree with them. And you can read in the War Cabinet minutes Curtin asking the Chiefs of Staff for assurance that all possible was being done for the men in Rabaul. So the Labor government had little to fear from an inquiry.

PNG Attitude will bring readers full coverage of the Montevideo Maru memorial service at Subic Bay next Wednesday, the 67th anniversary of the sinking.

You can obtain the Newsletter each month by becoming a Friend of Montevideo Maru. I's free and you can be added to the email list here.

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Jim Jacobi, GP & rugby league great, dies at 83

The death has occurred in Brisbane of Sir James Jacobi, 83, a key figure in the development of rugby league in PNG. He was President of the PNG rugby league for more than 25 years and a member of the international rugby league board.

He was born in Maryborough, Queensland, in 1925 and served in the Australian Air Force in PNG in the final stages of World War 2.

Jim was also probably the best known general practitioner in Port Moresby for forty years, in the process building the largest medical practice in PNG. He was a robust, avuncular and generous man – who often led us to believe that there was no disease known to mankind that penicillin could not overwhelm.

He also was the first rugby league official to be knighted (by the PNG Government in 1991) for his service to rugby league after earlier being awarded the OBE.

He was the first president of the PNG rugby league in 1964 and during his time in this role rugby league prospered and PNG became the only nation in the world to regard it as its national sport.

Jim moved to Brisbane in the mid 1990’s and continued to work as a locum until two years ago.

“Rugby league in PNG today would not be the strong national sport it is today without his leadership and commitment,” said friend and colleague Jeff Wall. “His passing will not only cause sadness in rugby league in PNG – he will be greatly missed by the nation’s political and community leaders, and the countless thousands of Papua New Guineans who benefited from his generosity over the best part of forty years.”

Source: Off the Wall by Jeff Wall, 22 June 2009, and other sources

Maru slips minister’s radar: The Australian, Today

Mark Day must be complimented for his compelling story on the Montevideo Maru ("Mystery of the missing hell ship”, Inquirer, 20-21/6). But Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin has fumbled the issue once again.

Last week Griffin said he was “not aware of any claims regarding lost documents” in relation to the sinking of the Montevideo Maru on July 1, 1942, Australia’s worst sea disaster that cost 1,053 lives.

A central part of the story surrounding the fate of the men of Rabaul was the disappearance of a Japanese manifest and other key documents relating to the men’s fate. Failure to acknowledge this is a serious enough admission for any Australian politician but a real own goal by the man who carries the title of Minister for Veterans Affairs.

Now Griffin has told Day he “will consider any requests from the (Montevideo Maru) committee” concerning the ship. But this was a grudging admission, as the next part of the quote showed: “Australians fought and died at many locations around the world. We do a lot in recognition of this and are doing more, but it is difficult to satisfy every concern people have.”

That’s quite a putdown. In the days before the July 1 unveiling of a memorial at Subic Bay—to which his government has contributed nothing, not even the presence of an MP—why couldn’t Griffin have said simply how sorry he feels for the relatives who still grieve for their men. Why couldn’t he have said that the Commonwealth recognises this as a great tragedy. Why couldn’t he have added how Australians should remember these sacrifices with deep gratitude and humility.

And why couldn’t he have pledged that, on Thursday June 25, the last sitting day before the ceremony at Subic Bay, he would rise in the House of Representatives to deliver a tribute to the men of Rabaul, including those who died on the Montevideo Maru?

Now that would be true statesmanship.

Keith Jackson
Chairman, Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee
Neutral Bay, NSW

Source: Letter to the Editor, The Australian, Tuesday, 23 June 20009

After the consultants, a practical proposition

“At 70 you'd think a bloke'd grow up,” says the irascible JOHN FOWKE, who writes about PNG affairs with knowledge, intelligence & passion and a weather eye for lefty luvvy atrocities

Australia's cardinal mistake in PNG was to allow a Westminster-modelled, party-based system of political representation to arise in a profoundly-tribal, profoundly-egalitarian landowner society.

This gave rise to today's hegemonic, exploitative and cynical governing elite, but was compounded by another factor. The other great grey elephant in the room, looming but ignored for decades. Never spelled out.

The Aussies decided "Black Mastas shall never arise", and so a trend to mediocrity and "lefty-luvvy-ideology" became the policy in education and social development.

To hell with informed, ethical leadership during the most important decades of PNG's rise from tribal horde to Nation State.

As with most colonial powers, Australia exhibited a supine even welcoming attitude to the flood of lefty political correctness which swirled like a fog behind UN visiting missions in the sixties and thereafter.

From this time, any pretence to excellence of outcome in education was sacrificed to the dull beat of fluttering left-wings.

It is no accident that the mention of names like Kidu, Kapi, Rarua, Taureka, Bouraga, Nombri and Karukaru all bring memories of balanced, urbane, highly-educated, personable and effective professionals; men of dignity and purpose.

A generation? No, unfortunately, because of Aussie policy not a generation; just a flash in the pan. So what happened to replace this cadre of leaders?

The output of a slack, second-rate caste of ideology-driven foreign educationists foisted upon a naive PNG by multinational consultancy corporations was unable to provide a supply of focussed, disciplined, ethical leaders in the same model.

In this way, by closing the gate to a socially-engineered class of properly-educated, open-minded and pragmatic non-tribal Melanesian leaders, we closed off the only avenue whereby young people might see and aim for ethical, socially-positive and creative careers in politics and administration.

Social engineering didn’t go away. It was put into reverse. And look at the result.

Now that Australia and PNG have concluded a new and potentially hugely-valuable scholarship scheme whereby 2,000 students a year will be brought to study in Austtralia, it is time for the re-energised and re-focussed PNGAA to set its cap at something worthwhile.

Let’s get hold of the plan, appraise it and remain in constant touch with AusAID on this important issue. Let us also look at providing emergency phone and email contacts, in loco parentis services for PNG students who, faced with life in a strange environment, find the need for advice or a shoulder to cry on from time to time. This is partnership. This is meaningful.

It seems the Australian Government and its minions in DFAT and AusAID are beginning to appreciate a little of the reality of what is needed by PNG, as opposed to "what Mother orders."

Lets get in there an help in a really practical way; a way which will have a long-term positive effect. PNG is our neighbour, and we are theirs, for the rest of humanity's existence upon earth.

On this day, 1942, the Montevideo Maru sailed

On this day, Monday 22 June, in 1942, 1,053 men – military prisoners and civilian internees - were marched from their camp to Rabaul harbour.

“On other days they had walked the same route to work on the docks,” wrote Ian Hodges, “but this time they carried whatever kit they possessed and were flanked by guards with machine guns.

“Chinese and New Guinean dockside labourers saw them board a ship, the 10,000-ton Montevideo Maru…  The labourers were among the last to see her human cargo alive.”

So on this day we remember the 201 civilians, ranging in age from 15 to 63, who were marched aboard that ship, including the 23 crew members of the Norwegian merchant vessel, Herstein.

And we remember the 852 personnel from these military units, most of them attached to Lark Force:

2/22nd Battalion
2/22 Battalion Bandsmen, all members of Salvation Army Bands
1st Independent Company
Fortress Artillery
Engineers
Signal Units
No 17 Anti-Tank Battery
Anti-Aircraft Battery
No 19 Special Dental Unit
New Guinea Volunteer Rifles
2/10 Field Ambulance
Ordinance Corps
8 Division Supply Column
Canteen Services HQ
Royal Australian Airforce
Royal Australian Navy

Two emails but not a conversation as yet

 ----- Original Message -----

From: Griffin, Alan (MP)

To: Keith Jackson

Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 12:05 AM

Subject: RE: MONTEVIDEO MARU

Dear Mr Jackson

I get really sick of people who haven’t had the courtesy to put a proposal to me directly for consideration trying to conduct a campaign through the media.

Given your extensive involvement in the Labor Party for such a long period of time, I’m bloody disappointed that you know so little about how to try and have an issue properly considered. 

Given your supposed expertise on this matter I’m also surprised that  you are so unaware that Defence, not Veterans’ Affairs are responsible for support around searches for missing vessels and the recovery and identification of remains.  If you’d been paying attention you would have seen that recently with who was commenting around such matters with respect to HMAS Sydney, Fromelles and recent MIA searches in Vietnam.

As to what I said to Mark Day, I would have thought that someone with your extensive political and journalistic experience would know that journalist select quotes from interviews and the story is then edited accordingly.  Therefore, you should know that you don’t know what else I said or the context in which it was said.

And as a lobbyist I would have expected a bit more sophistication when it comes to commenting on the political process.

Best wishes

Alan Griffin

 _________________________________

From: Keith Jackson

To: Griffin, Alan (MP)

Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 07:34:42 AM

Subject: RE: MONTEVIDEO MARU

Dear Alan -

This issue has been put to Government many times. The relatives have been booted around the park, fobbed off, pushed from pillar to post. And, yes, advised that DVA was the place to go.

"Know how to get the issue properly considered", you're kidding. What do you expect people to do when they've been frustrated so many times? Meekly fade away? Hmm, I think I'm on to something there.

Mark told me he'd mentioned to you "Why not tell them what they want to hear – that you’ll find a way to give comfort". It was good advice. And you would not have been "taken out of context", if indeed you were, if you'd said something approximating those 'words of comfort' Mark referred to.

I'll ignore your final par. My colleagues and I will just keep on fighting for a group of Australians whose relatives paid a very high price for their country; a group of people who still grieve and who have been ignored for too long.

I am sorry, given your eminent position in our community, that you do not seem to be prepared to do likewise.

Regards.

Keith

Leading Pacific academic Ron Crocombe dies

One of the best known figures in Pacific Studies, Emeritus Professor Ron Crocombe, died in Auckland yesterday of a heart attack while on a bus to Mangere for a flight to his home in Rarotonga.

Prof Crocombe, 79, an historian who earned his doctorate at the Australian National University, was considered the world's foremost authority on the cultures of the Pacific. Last week he had been inducted as a fellow of the Atenisi University in Tonga.

The New Zealand born academic lived and worked in the Pacific as an administrator in the Cook Islands, director of ANU's New Guinea Research Unit in the 1960s and as Professor of Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific.

Even in retirement in the Cook Islands, he continued to consult and publish widely on Pacific affairs. “He is a phenomenon,” said one commentator, “there is no one quite like him. He is not a disciplined nor a discipline-bound scholar. Indeed, he has a healthy disregard for disciplinary boundaries and niceties.”

Prof Crocombe lived in PNG from 1962 to 1969 and returned many times. He gained an international reputation for his work on Pacific land tenure systems and his scholarly reputation will probably relate to this work.

He will also be remembered as the indefatigable encourager and publisher of works by Pacific islanders. During his directorship of the Institute of Pacific Studies, hundreds of Pacific Island students, teachers, administrators and others published big and small works of varying quality on a range of Pacific topics.

Quality was not necessarily Crocombe's primary concern. He was more concerned to boost the confidence of the island peoples' in their ability to write and reflect on their experiences.

His lifetime partner and collaborator was Marjorie Tuainekore Crocombe, until recently Director of the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.

Professor Crocombe is also survived by four children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Prof Crocombe will be buried in Rarotonga later this week. A memorial service will also be held at the Pacific Islands Christian Church in Auckland next Sunday.

How Alan Griffin doesn’t get the Ministerial role

Mark Day has a marvellous and compelling story on the Montevideo Maru in today’s Australian newspaper (you can link to it here).

But once again the trampolining Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin, who’s getting to be well known to PNG Attitude readers for his fumbling approach to this issue, has put both feet in it.

The other day Mr Griffin told Sydney Morning Herald associate editor John Huxley that he was "not aware of any claims regarding lost documents " in relation to the Montevideo Maru.

This was despite a central part of the story surrounding the fate of the men of Rabaul being the disappearance of the nominal (Katakana) roll - written in Japanese characters - and other key documents relating to the men’s fate.

A serious enough admission for any Australian politician, one would have thought, but a real own goal by the man who carries the title of Minister for Veterans Affairs.

Today, in The Australian, Minister Griffin managed to tell Mark Day that “he will consider any requests from the [Montevideo Maru] committee” concerning the ship.

But we know this was a grudging admission as the next part of the quote shows: “Australians fought and died at many locations around the world. We do a lot in recognition of this and are doing more, but it is difficult to satisfy every concern people have."

That’s quite a put down. Arrogant and unnecessary.

"Difficult to satisfy every concern people have"? Twice as many men died on the Montevideo Maru as were killed in the Vietnam conflict. I would have thought that sacrifice warranted a bit more than a dismissive statement like that.

Why couldn’t Mr Griffin have said simply - in these days before the anniversary of Australia’s greatest disaster at sea and the unveiling of a memorial at Subic Bay to which his Government has contributed nothing, not even the presence of a Parliamentarian - how sorry he feels for the relatives who still grieve for their men.

Why couldn't he have said plainly that the Commonwealth recognises this as a great tragedy.

And why couldn't he have added how Australians should remember these sacrifices with deep gratitude and humility.

And why couldn't he have said that, on Thursday 25 June, the last sitting day before the ceremony at Subic Bay, he would rise in the House of Representatives to deliver a statement of tribute to the men of Rabaul, including those who died on the Montevideo Maru?

Now that would be true statesmanship.

Photo: Alan Griffin - Australians fought and died that he might trampoline [Frankston Independent]

Macdhui a reminder Port Moresby’s dark days

Malum Nalu

A small but significant anniversary occurred on Thursday: the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the MV Macdhui by Japanese bombs on 18 June 1942.

The wreck of the Macdhui in the waters off Port Moresby Technical College at Kanudi remains one of the best-known landmarks in Moresby.

The Macdhui, 4630 tonnes, built in Glascow in 1930 was operated by Burns Philp. Her maiden voyage took place in March 1931, when she sailing to Suva via the Azores, Jamaica and the Panama Canal with a load of coal.

Macdhui then serviced the Sydney-Rabaul route with accommodation for 167 first-class passengers.

With the onset of World War II, she was used to evacuate civilians from  New Guinea and to carry Australian troops back to Port Moresby.

On 17 June 1942, Macdhui was attacked by Japanese bombers while discharging cargo to lighters in Moresby harbour. She zigzagged around the harbour but took a direct hit which caused considerable damage. The vessel went alongside the main wharf to unload dead and wounded.

The next morning at 10.45 there was an air-raid warning and Macdhui moved into the harbour and began manoeuvring. Soon after she took a direct hit and then three more. The captain headed towards shallow water where Macdhui keeled over on a reef. Ten of the 77 crew and five Australian gunners from the 39th Battalion were killed.

The sinking was filmed from a nearby hilltop by Australian cameraman, Damien Parer.

The loss of the Macdhui was a great blow to the morale of the Australian troops in Port Moresby. Until then it had been the only regular link between Australia and Port Moresby.

The wreck is now deeply pitted and corroded under the waterline. It is gradually breaking up but even if it does slip completely under the surface, part of the Macdhui will remain.  In the late 1960s the mast was removed and stands outside the Royal Papua Yacht Club as a memorial to those who died.

And one of the ship’s bells was erected in the tower of St John's Anglican Church in Port Moresby and still calls parishioners to worship.

Source: Abstracted from a story in the PNG National

Merauke 5: tough experience had a silver lining

I rarely write here about my day job because, well, there’s infrequently any significant crossover between it and PNG Attitude.

But in the last few weeks there has been an overlap of sorts, and it occurred when Jackson Wells was retained to assist the Merauke 5 secure release from their nine months detention in the Indonesian Province of Papua.

You may recall that pilot William Scott-Bloxam, his wife Vera and three friends flew a light aircraft on the one hour trip from Horn Island to Merauke for a weekend’s sightseeing last September. They were given permission to land but didn’t have visas. The Indonesian authorities were less than impressed and detained them.

I don’t want to canvass the issues here, the Merauke 5 are due home in the next few days. But in my conversations with them in Merauke recently I’ve been particularly impressed by their stories of the excellent relationship that developed between them and the people of the town (population 50,000).

“We’ve received nothing but kindness and generosity from the local people,” Scott (as he’s known) told me. “Even when we were in jail, friends we’d made brought us food. We receive small gifts from local people.”

While in gaol (mercifully a relatively brief if unpleasant part of their detention: mostly they were confined to the town limits), Scott gave English lessons and Vera learned some Indonesian.

Karen Burke commented on the “very good relationship” the Merauke 5 had with officials and locals. “They are very friendly towards us and often express sympathy regarding our situation. They are generous and bring gifts. The bemo drivers sometimes refuse payment for the fare.”  Keith Mortimer agreed, saying he’d developed a good circle of Indonesian and Papuan friends.

Hubert Hofer, who spent most of his free time in Merauke pursuing historical research and learning Indonesian, said he found the people very friendly and supportive. “I share my historical information with locals who are interested. I’ve found an Australian soldier’s grave and I’ve shared information about the wartime construction of Merauke airstrip.”

So there you have it. The Merauke 5 have had a gruelling and difficult experience, but made a bit more tolerable by the warmth of the local Papuan and Indonesian population. A silver lining indeed.

Shock: Minister unaware of nominal roll mystery

In an extraordinary admission, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Alan Griffin, has told the Sydney Morning Herald he is "not aware of any claims regarding lost documents or a cover-up" regarding the Montevideo Maru.

The Minister has thereby revealed his ignorance of one of the great mysteries surrounding the fate of the men of Rabaul and reinforced the feelings of victims’ relatives that the Commonwealth Government doesn’t know and doesn’t care.

And that's the disappearance of the nominal (Katakana) roll - written in Japanese characters - and other key documents relating to what happened to the men of Rabaul interned by the Japanese in early 1942.

Mr Griffin made his remarks in an interview by the Herald’s John Huxley for an article published today to mark the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru. The article is online here.

It tells the story of Philip "Hooky" Street who grew up in Rabaul where his father, James, was solicitor-general.

"The last time I saw him was Christmas 1940. I was only 11 years old,” Hooky says. Hooky left Rabaul to attend boarding school in Sydney. His mother followed soon after as the Japanese forces approached New Guinea. His father, along with the other men of Rabaul and the islands, stayed on.

James Street and hundreds of other civilians and troops, captured by the Japanese in the fall of Rabaul in January 1942, then disappeared – whether in the nation's worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, or in the many random atrocities that occurred in the Gazelle Peninsula. It is likely that James Street was bayoneted to death in the Tol plantation massacre.

“More than 60 years on,” Huxley writes, “Street, like thousands of others who lost loved ones in the tragedy, is still waiting for explanations, still fighting for ‘comfort and closure’, still seeking national recognition of the sacrifices made by the Australians abandoned in PNG.”

"Many people believe there's been a government cover-up from the start, to prevent panic at home,” Street is quoted as saying, “I tend to think it was more a stuff-up … a terrible blot on the nation's military history. I don't want a witch-hunt, but I want answers."

The Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee is preparing a submission for presentation to the Federal Government later this year.

It will seek to educate Parliamentarians on this issue, to gain national recognition of the tragedy of the men of the Rabaul and the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, and to spur the Government into trying to locate those missing documents, the ones Mr Griffin, despite his portfolio, is not aware of.

Source: ‘Seeking comfort and closure 67 years on’ by John Huxley, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2009

The little things that lead to electoral oblivion

Many of us who are interested in politics have pet theories about why the Howard Government so spectacularly foundered before the Rudd challenge in the 2007 Australian federal election.

The Coalition’s favourite theory for the loss is that the onset of generational change from Howard to Peter Costello, who announced this week he’s leaving politics, did not take place as it was supposed to. Certainly a contributing factor.

Labor claim it was the unpopular (with some) Work Choices legislation that put paid to the Coalition. Certainly that was cream on the cake for those voters who turned against the Howard Government.

But what was the cake?

In my analysis ‘the cake’ was the gradual accumulation of poor decisions, broken promises, ill-timed actions, stupid statements, snouts in troughs, half truths, plausible deniabilities and high handed dismissals of issues voters felt strongly about.

A steady accumulation of real and perceived wrongs and slights that gradually gave every constituency (from pensioners to students, navvies to the Navy) a reason why it should not vote for the incumbents. It took some years, but it happened.

So what’s this got to do with the Attitude, I hear you roar.

Well, I believe I’m seeing evidence that the Rudd Government is beginning to descend this slippery slope to electoral oblivion.

It won’t take a year, or even a term, but it will occur inevitably ‘as night follows day’ as former Prime Ministerial contender Andrew Peacock said as repeatedly as day follows night.

Let me take a step back. This year I’ve been engaged in a number of worthy projects for which federal government assistance is required. We’re not talking large amounts of money. Some require little lucre indeed.

National recognition of the Montevideo Maru tragedy. Cost: bugger all.

Official recognition of the contribution of kiaps to PNG. Cost: bugger all.

Putting much-needed history books into PNG schools could be done for half the price of the annual fee of an average AusAID consultant. Cost: Not quite bugger all but, in the grand scheme of government budgeting, pretty much bugger all.

In each of these recent cases, and others I could mention, I have witnessed responses drafted in the interstices of the bureaucracy put into the mouths of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries. I have read the weasel words. I have seen the eyes averted when reasonable action is sought. I have felt the negativity as if it were a physical affliction.

Negative, nay saying, disingenuous, uncooperative, hostile, responsibility-shifting words written by bureaucrats over the name of compliant Ministers to unnecessarily offend yet another constituency.

This government, despite Kevin Rudd’s inclusive rhetoric, is no more interested in engaging with rank and file citizens like you and me than it’s interested in flying economy class, staying in a three-star hotel and dining on a hamburger.

The accumulation of the little reasons that cause ultimate electoral grief has begun. We are witnessing it. Reasons so small they’re easy to ignore. But reasons so small they’re easy to fix. At least in the beginning. But in the end, reasons that give many of us a reason to say, “They’ve been there long enough”.

Meanwhile, we keep on keeping on.

Report on torpedoed ship not passed on; then lost

Exactly two weeks from today, on the 67th anniversary of its sinking, a memorial to the Montevideo Maru will be unveiled at Subic Bay in the Philippines. DON HOOK and KEITH JACKSON look at the enduring mystery behind Australia's greatest disaster at sea.

The Imperial Japanese Navy completed a report within six months into the sinking of the Montevideo Maru and provided a complete nominal roll of those on board, but the details were never passed to Australian authorities.

The Montevideo Maru sailed from Rabaul on 22 June 1942 bound for Hainan Island carrying 1,053 Australian prisoners of war and civilian internees. Nine days later, the USS Sturgeon torpedoed the ship off the Philippines island of Luzon and all prisoners died in Australia's greatest maritime disaster.

After the war ended, an Australian Army officer, Major HS Williams, was attached to the Recovered Personnel Division in Tokyo to investigate the sinking of the ship.

In a report dated 6 October 1945, Major Williams said many enquiries had been made about the fate of the prisoners by Australian authorities through the International Red Cross and the Swiss Legation in Tokyo  , but without effect.

He said three crew survivors, who reached Manila ten days after their ship went down, had alerted the Japanese Navy to the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

According to the Navy, an immediate search was ordered but due to the lapse of time no trace of either ship or men could be found.

On 20 July 1942 the Navy reported the sinking of the Montevideo Maru to the owners Osaka Shosen Kaisha.

After completing its investigation, the Navy forwarded details to the Huryo Joho Kyoku (Prisoner of War Information Bureau) on 6 January 1943. The details included a complete nominal roll of 845 POWs and 208 civilians who were on board and presumed dead.

Major Williams said the POW Information Bureau did not act on the details provided by the Navy. In fact, he said the details remained hidden in the bureau’s files until he discovered them on 28 September 1945.

When confronted, Lt-General Tamura in charge of the POW Information Bureau admitted that the details had been in the bureau’s possession since January 1943.

According to Major Williams, the general expressed regret that the information was not transmitted to Australia  but claimed it was “due to an oversight”.

In 1945 Major Williams, who was fluent in Japanese, brought the nominal (Katakana) roll back to Australia – where, incredibly, it was lost.

“I have no idea what happened to the Katakana roll,” says eminent ANU historian Prof Hank Nelson, who has extensively researched the fall of Rabaul. “It might turn up. Sometimes these things are referred to another department - say Attorney-General's, because some matter of law arises, or Foreign Affairs - and are subsequently located by accident.

“But the more people who are alerted to the fact that it is important and missing, then the chances of it turning up increase.”

And, speaking of the efforts by the Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee to get greater official recognition of the sinking and a renewed commitment to searching for the missing roll, Prof Nelson adds: “So power to your campaign.”

Country life: It's all sleet, steins & sentiment

Leiderhosen neatly ironed, stein at the ready, COLIN HUGGINS reports from the nearest hofbrauhaus in Hahndorf

Sunday in Burra is a write off. Sleet and winds from the South Pole mean only one thing. As close to a heater as possible. There are no photos at villages not there except for stones with me looking touristy in yellow pullover and matching beanie. None.

Similar conditions on Monday when Val Rivers and I set sail for the two hour trip to Hahndorf. Val can’t remember where we booked but it turns out to be a comfortable motel behind the Hahndorf Inn, blaring out hofbrauhaus music. Hahndorf is deutsche, deutsche, deutsche, could have been Bavaria.

You buy German beer in steins: Munchner Kindl Hefe Weizen, Hofbrau Dunkel, Hofbrau Pilsener. But unless there's money coming out of your ears you won't even get tiddly - a stein is $10.60.

I had one and did the hofbrau whack on the wooden table and that was that. I also sang the Drinking Song. Mario Lanza wept.

At 2 we presented ourselves at Dr Mary Guntner and Rudi's place. A Lutheran Church retirement village. The talk was Finschhafen, Dregerhafen, Butaweng, tennis, the old club, water skiing, people we could remember.

Mary recalled Gil Cook, Stu Woodger, Merv Dunkin, Judy (Peters) Duggan, Rover Leung plus kiaps and didimen Smith, Hoag, Oates and Hughes.

Val and I are now proud owners of Mary's book Doctor in Paradise. Mine is inscribed ‘With love from your tennis partner - Mary W Guntner’. That made this trip.

‘Good Book’ author Reg Thomson dies at 89

Mark Thomson & Graeme Parry

Reg Thomson was born in the Victorian goldfields in 1919. He left school at thirteen to work in a series of jobs in rural Victoria, joined the YMCA and enlisted in the Australian Army in 1941. He served in several theatres of war, including on the Bulldog Road in New Guinea and at Balikpapan in Borneo.

Following demobilisation, Reg gained admission to the University of Adelaide under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Scheme. On completion of a Diploma in Social Science he joined the colonial administration in PNG as a junior education officer. In preparation for his colonial service in early 1949 he was admitted to the ASOPA in Sydney. His association with the school lasted for 24 years, both as a student and later as a sometime lecturer.

From the late 1950s until 1973, Reg was chief of the Division of Social Development and Director of Child Welfare within the PNG Administration. This was a time of rapid social and political change, and his responsibilities were many and varied. Specialised offices in his division included child welfare, urban resettlement, training, youth work and women’s activities.

His community development officers were based in all districts. Their duties included community development projects and community education including health promotion and political education. Referrals under child welfare and adoption legislation brought them into close contact with courts and legal aid agencies. They worked with government and non government agencies in many activities including case work and counseling, migration referrals, grants in aid, pensions and sports development and the licensing and inspection of child care centres.

Prior to Reg’s arrival there were few written guidelines. Child welfare and adoption legislation were relatively new. Reg and his staff produced a range of publications which provided a “road map” through unfamiliar territory.

Through these activities and in many other ways, Reg built a number of agencies which became part of a modern social welfare system for PNG. His staff remember him with respect and affection. He was honoured by the PNG government for his outstanding contribution.

At the age of 89, Reg recently published his memoir, Looking for a Good Book. Early in his life Reg became an avid book collector. His book is a ‘tale of a gentle madness’, the story of a book collector thrown hither and thither by tumultuous events beyond his control.

Reg died on 2 June and is survived by his son Mark and daughter Julie.

PNG anti-Asian riots inquiry makes slow start

The bipartisan committee of 15 Members of Parliament established to inquire into Asian owned and operated businesses in PNG has made a slow start.

    Jamie Maxtone-Graham MP [left], the chairman of the committee has set up a blog to get feedback about the inquiry, but after thre weeks it’s pretty bare of ideas. PNG Attitude readers who have views to express may link to it here.

The terms of reference of the committee are to:

(a) investigate and report on the root causes of the spate rioting and vandalism against foreign, especially Asian, businesses;

(b) review the types of businesses owned and operated by Asians;

(c) investigate the causes of resentment by nationals against Asian businesses, whether it be:

(i) the quality of goods and services

(ii) workplace ethics and demands placed on nationals

(iii) lack of understanding of the culture in specific regions where Asians do business

(iv) whether lack of or inefficient delivery of government services, population growth and lack of development in rural areas are forcing nationals to vent their frustrations on Asian businesses

The committee is able to recommend changes to the relevant laws governing foreign involvement in PNG businesses and has been asked to “present its report and recommendations to Parliament as soon as it is able to do so”.

The committee has established four sub-committees, each of which will carry out inquiries in private and public hearings in the Momase, Highlands, Southern and New Guinea Islands regions. The Committee has called upon individuals, NGOs, businesses, churches and 14 relevant Government agencies to make representations and written submissions.

People presenting evidence will do so under the protection of Parliamentary privilege. People unable to attend public hearings may post information on the chairman’s blog.

Anti-corruption rallies in Moresby & Kokopo

An energetic Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane and PNG Transparency International chairman Peter Aitsi lead yesterday’s early morning Walk Against Corruption in Port Moresby. Despite bad weather hundreds of people also marched in Kokopo.

Ilya Gridneff of AAP, who covered the Port Moresby march, said only three Members of Parliament turned up, all of them from the Opposition.

Photo: Ekar Keapu, The National

PNG’s Winis revered footballer on western border

Richard Jones

 

PNG-born Aussie Rules coach Winis Imbi is a revered figure in Victoria's far south-west region.

As playing coach of Portland in the Western Border Football League, Imbi led the Tigers to the 2008 premiership and nine rounds into this season  Portland sits undefeated at the top of the ladder.

Imbi, 30, was born in PNG and spent the first 11 years of his life there. His mother moved the family to ortland where she had relatives.

The cold, windy winters were something of a reality check for the Papua New Guineans but they coped and Winis, in particular, thrived. He played footy in the local junior competition and by his mid-teens had caught the eye of scouts from the North Ballarat Rebels, a leading club in the TAC Cup under-18 competition.

Awarded a scholarship to St Patrick's College, Imbi moved to Ballarat. He played in the Rebels' 1997 premiership team. The side also included Adam Goodes (a Brownlow Medal star these days with the Sydney Swans) and North Melbourne's Shannon Watt.

Although overlooked in the AFL national draft despite selection in the TACCup team of the Year for '97, Imbi was eventually rookie-listed by Essendon. He made a few appearances for the Bombers in the pre-season Ansett Cup and then was cleared to North Melbourne where he had a short stint.

Injuries ended his AFL hopes so he completed a teaching degree before returning home to Portland in 2003. Since then he's won the WBFL fairest and best medal, helped the club win the flag under the coaching of former Adelaide Crows' midfielder, Brodie Atkinson, and then captained the Tigers in their 2006-2007-2008 premierships.

The hat-trick of flags was Portland's first in its 123-year history.

No longer a dashing speedster Imbi is now a stocky, bustling defender. On Saturday (June 13th) he led the Tigers to an 18.7 (115) to 15.11 (101) victory over fifth-placed North Gambier.

The Western Border Football League straddles two states. Five clubs, four of them from the City of Mount Gambier and one from Millicent, are South Australian-based. The other five clubs are from Victoria's south-west region.

With thanks to Adam McNicol and The Sunday Age

Photo: Winis Imbi [centre] leads his team off the ground

Talk to the trees: PNG’s big dollar ‘carbon trades’

PNG’s Office of Climate Change (OCC) seems to be in strife after a proposal to make $625 million from non-existent carbon trading was revealed.

Last month a PNG governors’ conference sought a probe into OCC affairs. Eastern Highlands governor, Malcolm Kela-Smith, a resolute critic of OCC, sponsored a motion that, until audit and Public Accounts Committee reports are delivered, the Office should be restrained from issuing carbon credits or approving carbon trade projects.

The governors say they don’t want OCC to be a regulator, participant or beneficiary of carbon trading. Instead they want it to operate as a normal government agency. They want it to consult with provincial governments in drawing up legislation to control the proposed trade. The governors clearly don’t trust OCC.

Furthermore, they are writing to the Norwegian government, the UN and AusAID to record their disquiet with OCC. Norway has expressed interest in buying carbon credits for the preservation of a huge forest area in the Sepik.

Let me backtrack a bit. At the centre of PNG’s climate change controversy is climate change ambassador, Kevin Conrad, who in Bali two years ago challenged the US to lead the world on climate change or “get out of the way”.

Mr Conrad is also a director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an alliance of 33 countries promoting avoided deforestation – that is, stopping trees being chopped down.

The main thrust of the Coalition is that, if rich countries want poor countries to preserve their forests as a way of reducing carbon emissions to keep the planet cool, they should pay the poor countries to stop deforesting.

At present the UN does not endorse offsets based on avoided deforestation. But the proposed process for formalising carbon trading is now the subject of international talks in Bonn and the UN and donor countries such as Norway are enthusiastic about the approach — which PNG has been promoting.

Even before agreement has been reached, a market has emerged in avoided deforestation on the assumption that, one day soon, real credits will be delivered. And the PNG Government seems to have got in early - apparently pre-emptively issuing them. At a price.

“The OCC has no legal mandate to issue any forest carbon credits,” said Prime Minister Somare’s press secretary, Betha Somare, who claimed officials are investigating how credits came to be issued. According to a report in the respected UK business magazine, The Economist, at least 39 other ‘credits’ have been issued by OCC.

One of these caused particular outrage in PNG: 800,000 hectares of virgin rainforest in Kamula Duso, one of the reasons for the crisis meeting of the governors last month.

After being confronted with a copy of the Kamula Duso credit by The Economist last week, Ms Somare said “very recently apparent irregularities within OCC have come to our attention.

“As a result the prime minister has asked for a review to be carried out and a report to be made to his office,” she said.

Kevin Conrad has commented that it’s too early to state what went wrong but says an “independent review” is underway, mounting a defence that “carbon speculators” are putting pressures on landowners in many countries to sell large tracts of forest ahead of a possible deal on avoided deforestation in Copenhagen later this year.

Some might say it’s a case of ‘give me the money or the tree gets it’.

1966 – education's year of sympathy & stability

LOCH BLATCHFORD continues to weave the history of PNG education from the voluminous files of the Blatchford Collection

1966 is a year of top level appointments which provide sympathy and stability for education. Donald Cleland retires as Administrator and is replaced by David Hay. John Gunther, rejected for Secretary of the Department of Territories, resigns and is appointed Vice Chancellor of UPNG. Les Johnson replaces Gunther as Assistant Administrator.

Ken McKinnon, after resistance from George Warwick Smith, replaces Johnson as Director of Education - even though Don Owner is acting Director for most of the year. Matthias Toliman fills the newly created position of Under-Secretary for the Department of Education. William Duncanson, formerly Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology is appointed Director of the PNG Institute of Technology, which has its site moved from Port Moresby to Lae.

1966 is a year of planning. Other departments are becoming interested in the direction of education. Johnson goes overseas to study planning. A five-year plan is produced by May, but Treasurer APJ Newman and the Economic Adviser (Bill McCasker) are not satisfied. They want the Department to conduct a policy review.

Johnson, now Assistant Administrator, agrees. Views are widely canvassed and the country’s first census, held in June-July provides useful information for planning efforts.

The cost of education is paramount. The House of Assembly suggests introducing school fees, cheaper school construction and axing secondary education allowances. Government loans to missions is replaced by a subsidy. A UN loan of £1.5 million is obtained to construct Goroka Teachers' College.

Emphasis is also placed on improving the quality of education. Course content is revised to make it more relevant to the Territory. The secondary Science and Mathematics syllabi are modified. In technical education, the syllabus for technical schools is revised. A new Mathematics syllabus is planned for primary and a revision of the primary syllabus is ready for the printer.

Measures are introduced to raise teacher status and standards. Secondary teacher training is linked to the university and teacher exchange schemes are undertaken. Attempts are made to upgrade A and B course trained teachers to C course level through correspondence courses. 700 apprentices undertake correspondence tuition.

Fifty-seven students enrol in the preliminary year of UPNG and it is anticipated the majority will enter the first year of formal degree studies in 1967.

Localisation and preparation for independence continue. Five indigenous inspectors of schools are appointed – Alkan Tololo, Tau Boga, Kwamala Kalo, Paulias Matane and Mata Tau. Senior Officers Courses are increased and a one year Senior Officer Preparation course is introduced.

The House of Assembly is expanded and given some control over internal expenditure. The Constitutional Planning Committee increases the number of open electorates from 44 to 69 and special from 10 to 15.

To reassure permanent overseas officers they are not to be treated unfairly during this process, an Employment Security Scheme is announced. It will help replaced officers find other employment or provide them with reasonable compensation.

The complete abstracts of the Blatchford Collection 1966 are now published on Attitude Extra

Thousands to march against PNG corruption

In a spectacular outpouring of public discontent, more than 4,000 people are expected to join Walks Against Corruption in PNG tomorrow.

Around 3,000 people are expected to turn out in the capital Port Moresby and 1,000 others will take part in a march in Kokopo.

The walk is organised by Transparency International in PNG and is expected to raise K325,000 to support TI’s objectives in the fight against corruption.

People from 125 corporations and 93 schools as well as 2,500 individuals will participate in the demand for greater honesty and integrity in the political, public and commercial life of PNG.

Transparency International says it has been “overwhelmed” by the level of interest in the march. It said the response was so big it had to close registration for participants.

TI chairman, Peter Aitsi, told Radio Australia that mismanagement of the country's resources are keeping it poor. "The community is obviously concerned about the current situation,” he said.

“There is an ongoing deterioration of the ability of government to deliver services to its rural majority and out of those concerns has come this overwhelming support by the public to take part in this walk against corruption.”

Marchers will assemble at Murray Barracks Oval in Port Moresby at 5.30 am and the walk will move along 3 Mile Road, Angau Drive and back to Murray Barracks Oval.

The list of sponsors of the walk is a who’s who of PNG public, private and NGO enterprise, including some organisations that probably should take a harder look at their own practices.