Still at the Windjammer, but things were different….

BARBARA SHORT

SO MICHAEL SOMARE is still at the Windjammer! It's a lovely spot and I remember sitting here with him in the 1970s, listening to the nightly news broadcast. He was a great guy.

But things were different then.

Last year Somare had to go to a Singapore hospital to be given a new lease on life. I had to go to North Sydney hospital for chemotherapy. I also know what it feels like to be at death's door.

But I have Sepik friends in Wewak who have been and are sick and have not been given treatment. Pity about them. Pity about Wewak hospital. It used to be great…

Somare's comments echo of hurt pride. He saw himself become the "Big Man", the "Chief" of Papua New Guinea.

While he was at death's door he heard how some of the younger members of parliament, his protégés, who he had made ministers and given important portfolios to, were showing him disrespect.

Someone needs to get through to Somare that, on his watch, the country has gone backwards. Wewak hospital is in a bad way. Port Moresby hospitals are in a bad way.

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?