What should Australia do? What can Australia do?

PAUL OATES / with a comment from David Kitchnoge

AUSTRALIAN COMMENTATORS AND JOURNALISTS have recently identified a large island immediately to our north.

This may well have something to do with the Papua New Guinea general elections that seem to generate a predicable array of corruption and maladministration stories so beloved of the Australian media.

Yet the real issues should be starting to polarize for anyone who has spent more than a modicum of thought about our nearest neighbour.

Put simply, why would the same or similar system of government apparently being practised in both Australia and PNG seemingly work in one country and not another? The answer is quite simply: Tribalism.

One could quickly point out that tribalism is alive and well and actively practised in Australia. Go to any State of Origin NRL match and see it on show.

Look at the sales of football jerseys in tribal colours being offered for sale and being snapped up by avid supporters of either the Blues or the Maroons who are often seen with multi coloured paint on their faces.

Cane toads and Cockroaches are tame labels when the competitive juices start flowing.

Try going to Melbourne when any AFL match is on and ignoring the tribal colours on show or girls at the stadium in skimpy skirts and bunches of streamers stirring up the emotions of the crowd prior to the match.

The ancient Romans would have appreciated the spectacle as being very familiar but probably wonder why there were referees and rules for stopping the bloodshed before too many deaths occurred.

However concerning national issues, these primordial emotions are able to be put aside when it comes time to vote in general elections or defend our country in time of war. So why is this possible in Australia but not apparently so in today’s PNG?

The issue is simply one of perspective. If a PNG person is fortunate enough to receive an education and enter a larger world, that person’s perspectives change and they become able to see the forest and without concentrating on the trees.

They themselves and their influence are then unfortunately often liable to be dismissed by the ne’er do well and labelled ‘elite’. The opportunity to use positions of power to assist tribal associates then becomes a powerful force in order not to be completely isolated from the tribe.

The problem is that the vast majority of PNG’s population has been trapped in a time warp where they still live in an underdeveloped, mostly unserviced, rural environment with very little hope of improving their everyday lives.

Old habits die hard. The tribe has been the source of communal wealth and solidarity. Why would they ignore this traditionally important aspect since there is no real alternative being offered to them?

So perhaps the question should really be asked: ‘What can Australia do?’

____________

David Kitchnoge responds:

INDEED PAUL OATES is right in saying that the chaos and madness we are seeing in the Highlands has its roots in tribalism.

But what is the difference in the PNG sense of tribalism and the Australian sense of tribalism? Australia is a country of settlers whereas we are a country of indigenous people.

It follows then that when a Papua New Guinean talks tribalism, we are talking about our own flesh and blood and not some neighbour who has no connection whatsoever to us other than the physical proximity of where we live.

So to answer Paul’s question:  What can Australia do? The honest answer is "nothing". 

One would expect the so called educated people to lead the way in changing their people’s perspectives and world views. But these are the same people who are perpetuating the raw and primordial tribal emotions.

It's a hopeless situation. Sigh…I feel beaten.

Comments

[Peter Kranz]

Paul I fully agree. Tribalism must be recognised and accomodated, but not at the expense of fair and equal treatment for all citizens.

However this reaches unique dimensions in PNG society which many Australians have little conception of.

Perhaps a more disturbing illustration of tribalism in Australia is not so much between sporting states, but between communities from different cultural backgrounds which some white Australians exploit very dangerously.

E.g. the Cronulla riots and the role played by the media shock-jocks in whipping up anti-Muslim hysteria. Not to mention the treatment of indigenous peoples over many years.

I recommend Hildebrand's rather irreverant but confronting TV series Dumb, Drunk and Racist.

The point about Phaedrus wasn't to deflect the discussion into esoteric arguments, but to support Michael's point that real experience and face-to-face debate is much more likely to find constructive solutions than written polemics traded at a distance between eg. legal commentators or academics.

Anyway - Go the Maroons! (Now that IS a deflection.)

[Paul Oates]

Peter, what Mike has raised is a good reflection on the origins of the problem. Humans are capable of doing both good and bad and the benchmarks are pretty much obvious from the results of ay action. That is, provided you have transparency and effective reporting.

The problem is that if we become too esoteric in our discussions, we tend to lose track of the ideas we want to express. Socrates' dilemma is one many in PNG inadvertently ascribe to.

They are constantly trying to draw attention to the everyday problems by making a written or photographic record of them without looking at actually doing something positive about fixing them.

Tribalism is not something exclusive to PNG as I previously laboured to point out. Yet when it comes to running a country and important areas like public health, education and other public services, tribalism must by necessity, take a back seat. The alternative is to have hundreds of individual small tribes who are not able to operate as an effective nation.

Merit selections for public service positions and awarding contracts for publically funded services and contracts cannot be predicated on tribal lines else the responsibility to all others who contribute to the public purse are excluded from benefiting from their taxes. Taxes that may be paid indirectly or directly as David and I have discussed.

Tribalism has its place in every society including those societies who created our systems of government, legislature and public service over many hundreds of years. It cannot however be used as a demonstrably effective method to promote efficiency and effectiveness if it is applied vicariously to those outside the precincts of the tribe.

Fairness and equity must be used as benchmarks in the application of government services and decisions.

That is the nub of the problem.

[Colin Huggins]

I suggest we leave Plato, Phaedrus and Socrates of way back times and get into this century.

I suggest we also leave a certain “failed” redhead of “Please Explain Claim” also out of this discussion.

As for what Australia in 2012 can do? Well I suggest, monitor developments, as I am sure other diplomatic legations to PNG are doing. Tread softly.

PNG is rapidly developing into a failed state, if not already so. A new batch of politicans have to come on board with a vision and not a plunder of the welfare of the people.

The present, total mob, are just greedy 'carpet baggers'. Them first, and ( naughty word) the country next. Just look at the roads that have been shown, the failure of infrastructure, the schools, the hospitals. Face it, the country is now a "basket case"!

It is Zimbabwee of the Pacific! Copenhagen meeting, damn lovely Copenhagen - downhill since that conference!
If Australia pulls the plug on the money sent, who will replace it? The PRC?

If that happens, then the people of PNG will be off their arses and will know, who runs what.

I do hope that some of the women of PNG are given due rights and win their electorates, the “bigmen” of the Somare, O’Neill, Namah and the others before are/were total failures.

[Paul Oates]

Peter, what Mike has raised is a good reflection on the origins of the problem. Humans are capable of doing both good and bad and the benchmarks are pretty much obvious from the results of any action. That is, provided you have transparency and effective reporting.

The problem is that if we become too esoteric in our discussions, we tend to lose track of the ideas we want to express. Socrates' dilemma is one many in PNG inadvertently ascribe to. They are constantly trying to draw attention to the everyday problems by making a written or photographic record of them without looking at actually doing something positive about fixing them in the future.

Tribalism is not something exclusive to PNG as I previously laboured to point out. Yet when it comes to running a country and important areas like public health, education and other public services, tribalism must by necessity, take a back seat. The alternative is to have hundreds of individual small tribes who are not able to operate as an effective nation.

Merit selections for public service positions and awarding contracts for publically funded services and contracts cannot be predicated on tribal lines else the responsibility to all others who contribute to the public purse are excluded from benefiting from their taxes. Taxes that may be paid indirectly or directly as David and I have discussed.

Tribalism has its place in every society including those societies who created our systems of government, legislature and public service over many hundreds of years. It cannot however be used as a demonstrably effective method to promote efficiency and effectiveness if it is applied vicariously to those outside the precincts of the tribe.

Fairness and equity must be used as benchmarks in the application of government services and decisions. That also applies to the application of the law.

That is the nub of the problem.

[Peter Kranz]

We should also cut Plato some slack when he criticised writing. In his day the time delay between writing something by hand and it being read by people who may be persuaded or legitimately disagree was years or even a generation or two.

This was no match for a real dialogue face-to-face between people who could immediately respond to each other. The art of this was Rhetoric - maybe undervalued in todays western world, but alive and kicking strongly in PNG.

So it's a bit like the difference between having a debate via snail mail printed with Gutenberg technology, or Twitter these days.

I wonder what Plato would have made of the internet? I kinda think he would have embraced it as a force for true and relevant democracy.

[Peter Kranz]

Here's a thought - Phaedrus is a bit obscure, and pretty controversial as a reference due to it's apparent celebration of pedophilia (which may be purely 'Platonic').

But one of it's themes is that writing is static and fixed and cannot engage in living debate which can lead someone to change their views and find knowledge - or love of place or of truth - which is of necessity a dynamic and changing thing.

There's also something of "you have to be there and experience things before you have the right to make comments" in Phaedrus which maybe what Michael is getting at.

In the end Socrates agrees not to committ anything to writing but to undergo purification for his mistakes. (Hence our only knowledge of Socrates is from his student Plato.)

Maybe Australians have no right to comment on tribalism in PNG because few have experienced it for themselves as part of a vibrant culture.

This certainly seems an appropriate c omment on Barker's recent article in the Fin Review which talked about 'RAMSI-style intervention' in a 'failed state'.

[Michael Dom]

I believe the Phaedrus is one in which both manias may exist. Isn't that the nature of man, who is capable of much good and much which is not good?

But I meant to use the query more literally, as the interpretation goes on:

"To practice the art [of rhetoric], one must have a grasp of the truth and a detailed understanding of the soul in order to properly persuade.

"Moreover, one must have an idea of what is good or bad for the soul and, as a result, know what the soul should be persuaded towards.

"To have mastered the tools of an art is not to have mastered the art itself, but only its preliminaries...To practice an art, one must know what that art is for and what it can help one achieve."

So in politics and governance, what is it for, what is good and what is not good, Phaedrus? i.e. choose your mania and work with it.

Everyone has a bit of the Phaedrus - which mania we adhere to is often easy to observe during election campaign time.

[Paul Oates]

Michael, your reference to Phaedrus is a trifle obscure.

"Plato distinguished two types of mania in the Phaedrus: one arising from human disease, and the other from a divine state, "which releases us from our customary habits."

One assumes you refer to the latter?

As a local red headed female politician notoriously once said: "Please explain?"

[Michael Dom]

Our future is in our own hands, for good or bad; and the decisions that we make, right or wrong, will determine our future.

Doing what is good, i.e. in the best interests of this nation, is not a question of education of our so called elites, but of their ethics.

"What is good Phaedrus? Who can tell us of these things?"

[Paul Oates]

Perspective could well be in the eye of the beholder. The further up the mountain side you climb, the better the view.

David is quite right about Australia being a land of settlers. That’s still happening on a grand scale. The US is also is the same situation.

When one looks at other nations, there are many examples of where countries were previously comprised of small independent tribes and kingdoms. Such was the case in Britain prior to the Romans invading. Such was the case in Southern Africa prior to Shaka Zulu leading his murderous armies around. Even China was constantly under threat of being invaded and so built their famous Great Wall.

The unique feature of today’s PNG is that while Australia imposed a Pax Australiana, we didn’t attempt to change the local customs and traditions, except where those customs contravened international laws.

What Australia set out to do was to give an opportunity for today’s PNG people to emerge into the modern world. Reading Paul Hasluck’s ‘A time for building’ it is quite clear that he saw what needed to be done and went about doing it.

That’s where the PNG nation is now. On the cusp of moving forward. But moving forward depends on the PNG people who have had the opportunity to see what the view is like further up the mountain side now starting to organise their own way forward.

There will always be many charlatans who try to usurp the process for their own selfish gains. A few currently contesting the general elections readily come to mind.

Unfortunately, no one ever found climbing mountains easy. Educated PNG people now need to continue the process of bringing their country men and women into a better world. The first step is to get some networks going using modern communications that are now thankfully available.

Never forget there are a group of enthusiastic and committed ‘outsiders’ who did the hard yards all those years ago and who would love to help. We just can’t do it for you.

[David Kitchnoge]

Thanks Tanya.

I understand.

But unless one of us starts making our issues sound desperate (which I believe they are,) we won't deal with them with the urgency required.

Unless we challenge the so called educated people to start demonstrating some virtues we hopefully learned from our years of learning and training, we will almost certainly fail to apply them when they are needed the most.

We must have the spine to stand up and say no when no is the right answer under the circumstances - even if that answer challenges our tribal allegiances. As Paul Oates said in one of his posts, we must have the ability to see the forest and stop worrying about the trees.

The common sense I am referring to is the basic sense of right and wrong that we all have regardless. And it baffles me to see some people simply refusing outright to listen to this basic element that separates us from the rest of the animal world.

I think we have been too nice on each other and have sugar coated the issues for so long. I am prepared to call us names and shame people into action.

[Tanya Zeriga Alone]

David, I am sad because you make it sound as if all is lost, but I refuse to subscribe to that.. I know there is hope only because a Papua New Guinean like you can see the situation for what it is. This kind of understanding is the first step to finding a solution.

Do not give-up on your country.If you do, who else is out there with your understanding, that can fix this madness? Please read your post again and ask yourself who these "educated" people you speak about?

Does that not include you and me, since we are all from the same stock? Obviously not - you are on the side that is sick and tired of this madness, I am sure there is a solution within you.

By the way, common sense is really not common, common sense has a cultural context. That is why I think the education strategy must be targeted at certain behaviors and values.

[David Kitchnoge]

It is a hopeless situation, Barbara, when you see so called educated Papua New Guineans engaging in primitive behaviour when stress tested.

You and Tanya have a point when you say that education would help. But don’t you get it? It is the “educated” people who are perpetrating the madness. How educated do people need to be to start showing some civility?

What happened to our good old God given common sense?

With regard to Allan Marat, which Doctor of Law moves goal posts midway through a court hearing and make that change retrospective to force a predetermined agenda? This practice doesn’t seem to resonate with the basic premise of having a law at the first place.

[Mrs Barbara Short]

Rubbish, David! It's not a hopeless situation! You get in touch with Tanya Zerigna Alone and Corney K Alone and other like-minded people and get the ball rolling.

I'm quite sure that there are educated people in PNG who are NOT doing what you said. I know my old friend, Sir Paulias Matane, wouldn't be doing things like that!

The people with ideas, with "visions", need to get together and appoint a leader and work out ways to educate the masses. I'm sure there would be PNG journalists who could help. I know some!

Get your thinking cap on and be positive and things will happen. It may be a slow start, but, God willing, it will grow and snowball!

There are many great thinkers in PNG who were born in the Highlands provinces where the Bigman problem seems to dominate. They have been well educated and have reached the top of their profession.

They need to get a bomb under them. They need to be motivated into "self-help". They need to stop being so quiet and get up and speak out against all the wrong things they see going on.

I know some who used to be leading debaters back in their school days. If they have life still left in them, now is the time to stand up to these bush kanakas who are getting elected to parliament and haven't got a clue how to run the place.

I heard Somare (on YouTube) denigrating Oxford University graduate, Dr Allan Marat, on his recent tour of the Gazelle. He said "he didn't know the PNG constitution"! For heaven's sake. Allen is a Doctor of Law. Surely he is allowed to comment about changes to the constitution.

I know Allan spoke out about the government and public service corruption back in 2008. Maybe he would like to help in some form of education program in "ethics and civics", recommended by Tanya Alone.

Now is the time for all able bodied thinking people in PNG to come to the aid of the whole country!