Worst people, worst places; a walk into dependency

LEONARD FONG ROKA | Supported by the Jeff Febi Writing Fellowship

ON THE SOUTH COAST of Madang town is Ward 17, Local Level Government, a precinct of some 10,000 people reached by an unkempt feeder road.

Neatly lined on either side of the road are swaying mango trees and areca nut palms that catch my breath, because I am a chewer.

I bumped into this place on a recent wet Friday with other Year 3 course mates from Divine Word University.

We were there to search for the peoples’ perceptions and experiences of community development and their willingness to undertake development.

Sadly what I heard and saw was not what I have witnessed in my Panguna District of Bougainville. Our subjects said everything they were facing, or should be done for the betterment of their community, was the responsibility of government.

For more than 30 years we have being independent, they said, so the government should bring development to us.

Our driver brought us to the section of the ward they call Baur village. I learned later that Ward 17 LLG was made up of two villages, Baur and Bilbil (the latter newcomers to the area so they don’t own much customary land).

The ward has its own primary school and a steady supply of electricity, but to connect a household needs the money to pay the bills to PNG Pawa.

We were ushered by a leader into a semi-permanent house of low standard. Surrounding it, at almost hand’s reach, were sago-thatched huts, a poorly constructed poultry pen on a muddy lawn and a lone skinny woman who kept an eye on me from one of the Stone Age shelters, her unkempt child regularly interrupting her concentration on the dialogue.

The gathered elders all complained that, apart from the feeder road, the primary school and the electricity grid line stretching through their midst, there was no government service for them.

“The government proposes development projects here but they do not execute those promises,” one leader said.

“NGOs you know of in Madang are also like the government, they come to Baur to show off and tell us of projects like water and off they go. We run after them but they will not be bothered by our presence in their office.”

I concluded from this discussion that, despite the said economic boom of Madang, the provincial administration lacks efficiency and effectiveness in it service delivery.

“Madang district administration has only a single car,” another leader said, confirming my thought, “and that is a problem when it wants to broaden its reach to the whole of Madang.”

When our team questioned him further, he added: “In Madang, we hear of money being delivered to the province but we do not know where that money ends up.”

Community development always involves self-help but the Baur people did not seem to have the have a vision to strive towards nor the will to advance their standard of living or initiate development.

To them, from youth to leaders, development is the government’s business. The government has the money and thus has to help them. The government has to build toilets, water supplies, houses, even maintain their run-down schools and churches. These were government responsibilities because they had voted them in just for that.

My eyes ached as they searched for the truth of why the indigenous people here could not attain advancement on their own land. The family houses were of bush materials; some with cartons for walls; others with blue canvass; many were deteriorated.

A younger man told me, “As natives of Madang, we do not have the freedom to claim ownership of any development in this province.”

He pointed out that between them and Madang town there are strange settlers from the Sepik and the Highlands and many others that prevail. They feel their freedom is suppressed and that their minds cannot be broadened.

I thought of the belittlement, relegation and exploitation that have come into play in this province that hosts a few of PNG’s mining boom stories.

Since arriving here in 2011, I have seen the Madang people as some of highly affected by the influx of people from other provinces.

The businesses in the filthy Madang town are controlled by outsiders and, topping the list and also increasing in dominance, are Asians. Every shop I walk into in Madang is owned by an Asian whilst the locals are the shop assistants.

I laughed last year when I saw an Asian company building DWU dormitories with Asian sub-contractors. The gods might have escaped from Madang.

The locals live in poverty often subject to the mercy of outsiders. Just last month I walked into an Asian restaurant outside DWU and there, as I peeped behind the counter, I glimpsed an Asian man caressing a local girl’s thigh. When he saw me, the Asian man jumped up to serve me.

I concluded the girl had no choice but to succumb, since you are a nobody when your world has been conquered by aliens.

The Baur people are not sick people but it is the PNG version of democracy that is killing them from being innovative.

In PNG’s democracy there sprouts a corruption that will is killing PNG.

This requires the government to rethink and reshape what democracy should be in PNG.

My people of Bougainville were the only people that used the barrel of the gun to walk out of this dirty PNG democratic culture.

As a result we have more control over our land and we have the right to decide our future.

Comments

[Sedrick Moka]

Community development is all to do with the improvement of the people's living standard in a particular area.

However it won't just happen unless there's some sort of cooperation between the community and the government.

There may be various reasons as to why the basic services are not reaching out to these affected areas. The most possible reasons out of the many reasons would be.

Because the people have elected a wrong leader to represent them in the parliament or may be the community leaders aren't bring the community's needs to the government.

Also the people must find some way to get themselves involved in income generating projects rather then waiting for the government to provide for them.

If the Sepiks and Highlanders could come and do businesses here, then what is so hard for the Madang people to get themselves into small bussinesses?

We have to think back to think forward rather then thinking forward to think back.

[John Fowke]

Well,ol lain wanbel, what are we Attituders going to do about it? I am in touch with three PNG-based Attitude regulars who have a plan, and they have been kind or polite enough to accept a couple of my own ideas for consideration. I have been thinking and writing for a long time about all this, but as 74-year-old dimdim resident in Brisbane, this is all I can do. Im about due to deliver my final sheet or two of paper on an achievable, constitutional Melanesian way to full political and resource equity for the national electorate, both urban and village-based. I do hope so much that my three friends, who I know will look at this, will try to draw many more of you in, whether my own ideas appeal or not. I find the daily news from PNG depressing. Likewise frequent reports from a couple of similar lapun dimdims of long acquaintance, both married into PNG, who still fight the good fight 24/7 in what Im afraid I nowadays think of as the "LAND OF THE MISDIRECTED"

Not a praying man, but I think of you all very often and have raised hopes when I read these great contributions to Attitude. I just wish I was young again.

John

[Kaiam Mono]

Leonard, you will be a great writer. I love reading your articles on this site. Keep it up brother.

[Zenitram Dee]

This case in the rural area in Madang is the same in any or many other rural villages or districts in Papua New Guinea.

One way to improve is through our young university gradduates, they must not fall into the shoes of the corrupt old system.

They must come out and really trying to implement what they learnt.

[Bernard Yegiora]

Are we too dependent on the national and provincial government? Can we think and act independently to develop our communities? Is our system of government conducive for development? What is meant by the term development?

Thank you LFR, a wonderful piece and a equally wonderful issue to do research on.

The 'domestic dependency development syndrome' (DDDS) in Papua New Guinea.

[Leonard Roka]

With you all. It's real disgusting when the global financial institutions and Waigani celebrate PNG's stable economic growth whilst the people that are rightfully the owners of such betterments are shrinking into the grubby socio-economic ditches.

PNG's needs are revolutionary We need sweeping reform to get on track.

[Steve Gallagher Darong]

Joe - There are some places in Madang are even worse than Bilbil. Here in Madang, you will see that public servants, from provincial to local, are just occupying the position without doing the job.

Last time I was discussing with my colleagues from Bogia they told me "our bureaucrats at provincial and local level are just occuping the office without doing much to the people".

There's an economic boom in Madang but there is also a poverty boom in rural Madang. Most of the public servants are 'old dogs', they don't even think of upgrading their knowledge and skills to cope up with a changing world.

Maybe this is a factor that contributed to the lack of service delivery in our province.

Officers are not on time for their duties, sometimes they leave early. I have seen what is happening in my district headquarter, Kinim on Karkar Island. It is very sad for local people going there in official hours and waiting to see the officers.

At the beginning of the year, I went to see them and someone told me that the officer went out drinking beer. It just hurt me, not because of myself, but my people who suffer in silence.

You can see beautiful hotels, large supermarkets and huge businesses in Madang but if you set foot in a rural village, you will see the truth about Madang.

We are not poor, we have resources and skills to do something for our communities, but there is not support from the provincial government and the district office.

[Ben Otto]

Yes, that's really true. Though the village was closed to Madang, it was so sad to see rundown schools with no proper housing for the staff. One sad thing about this country, PNG will not rank top 50 countries by 2050. Government is a like empty drum making a lot of noice.

2013 is implementing year so bring quality services to rural areas than to urban....

[Michael Dom]

A story repeated in many places.

At this rate perhaps soon even the students will not be welcome visitors.

[Joe Wasia]

Really sad. In 2009, a couple of students we visited a village close to Bogia district of Madang, and learned similar stories.

When we enter the village everyone gathered and welcome us knowing that we would raise their concerns with the people responsible. They told us similar stories of all the problems they have.

Almost all Papua New Guineans are living in similar life styles. As I have mentioned in my previous article almost all services are concentrated in the main centres and the rural majority, more than 70%, are still living without very basic services.

Political stability and economic boom that successive governments have preached about have no meaning to these people. Almost all villages have no impact at all.

Yes, the political stability and economic stability does not mean a thing in this country. It may mean something to some people. But to the majority, it may mean politicians and their cronies dipping their hands into the honey pot.