Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

The West Papua dilemma: Rockefeller and the demise of Ibu Pertiwi

KERRY B COLLISON

Kerry Collison is an author and Asia desk foreign correspondent for Washington’s Defence and Strategic Affairs. You can find out more about his books here. Kerry's latest book ‘Rockefeller and the Demise of Ibu Pertiwi’ will soon be available in hard copy and as an ebook

IT was towards the end of my tour at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta when, in 1969, West Papua became the twenty-sixth province of Indonesia after the so-called ‘Act of Free Choice’ sponsored by the UN saw the transfer of official administration from the Netherlands to Indonesia.

I have found in my travels that few understand the history of West Papua, and concerned with the growing number of nations voicing their support for the United Nations to revisit the flawed plebiscite, I decided to write this story, part-fact, mostly fiction, in an attempt to offer an insight into a scenario that could bring Australia and Indonesia into conflict.

The story of a 10,000 year old PNG civilisation - & it’s free

FR GARRY ROCHE & ANU SOURCES

Ten Thousand Years of Cultivation at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of PNG by Jack Golson et al, Terra Australis Series No 46, ANU Press, July 2017, ISBN: 9781760461157. Free download from ANU Press here

DUBLIN – It costs $75 for a print copy but ANU Press in Australia has generously made this important book on Papua New Guinea’s Kuk world heritage site available for free download.

While the book concentrates on the Kuk swamp area in the Western Highlands, there are frequent reference to pertinent research findings in other parts of PNG.

Kuk is a settlement 1600 metres up in the Western Highlands – specifically near Baisu in the upper Wahgi Valley, near Mount Hagen.

The slow death of integrity in Papua New Guinean politics

PHIL FITZPATRICK

A Remarkable Journey by Dame Carol Kidu, Longman, 2002, 161pp, ISBN-10: 0733932274, hard to get but available from Amazon Books Canada, $CAN11.01

TUMBY BAY - Notwithstanding the impotent hiatus in Australia's own federal parliament, I’ve been pondering the dysfunctional state of politics in Papua New Guinea.

In seeking explanations of how and why it has reached such abysmal levels I decided to re-read Carol Kidu’s 2002 book, A Remarkable Journey in the hope of gaining some insights and maybe seeing what the future might hold.

The reason I chose Carol’s book was because of her remarkable husband, Buri Kidu. If you want to know about integrity in Papua New Guinea he is the logical starting point.

If you read the publisher’s gushing blurb on the back of the book you could be led to believe it is about “an Australian teenager (in the days of the White Australia Policy) who dared to fall in love with a Papua New Guinean and join his struggle”.

Two new & enjoyable collections of poetry from PNG

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Moments in a Lifetime: Short Poems by Julie Mota, JTD Desktop Publishing, 2016, 28 pages, Available from Amazon Books for US$3.60 plus postage.

Silent Thoughts: Exploring Poetry by Jordan Dean, JTD Desktop Publishing, 2017, 96 pages, Available from Amazon Books for US$3.75 plus postage.

ONE of the ways of judging the success of the Crocodile Prize in its early days was to look at the number of entries coming from Papua New Guinea’s 22 provinces.

We knew that there were variables involved, not least the uneven penetration of digital services in the country, but we assumed that if a province was well represented word would spread about the competition.

Just as Simbu was one of the most highly represented provinces, West New Britain was one of the most under-represented. Sometimes there were no contributions at all from there.

New from Daniel Kumbon – ‘Survivor: Alive in Mum's Loving Arms’

A dramatic book about love, courage, respect & survival
- perfectly pitched for these turbulent PNG times

Read more about 'Survivor' & buy it at Amazon here

 

How Australia facilitates PNG’s culture of elite corruption

JASON SHARMAN

This past week, Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth, has been in the news for not reporting hundreds of instances of money laundering and is in big trouble. In this extract from Chapter 5 (‘Australia in Denial’) of Jason Sharman’s book ‘The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management’ the author explains how Papua New Guinea’s corrupt elite avails itself of a slack Australian attitude to illicit overseas funds. The book is available from The Book Depository (free shipping) which you can link to here

CORRUPTION in Papua New Guinea fits many of the patterns of kleptocracy elsewhere. Although there are problems with corruption at all levels of government, including the police force, it is the corruption of senior public officials that poses the greatest threat.

Previously it seems that most stolen funds were spent domestically, in cash, on consumer goods, and especially to buy favour before elections. However, as the scale of corruption has increased, the country’s ruling elite has become more inclined to send illicit funds overseas.

Interviews with Australian and other foreign officials working in Papua New Guinea suggest that it is an open secret that corrupt Papua New Guinean officials hold their illicit wealth in Australia.

Featuring the work of the gutsy PNG author, Mr Baka Bina

KEITH JACKSON

WE were nearing the end of the event (graciously funded by Paga Hill Estate) that marked the launch of the book, My Walk to Equality, in Port Moresby early in March.

A group of us were standing around having a last drink and finalising a robust discussion on the prospects of establishing a viable indigenous literature in Papua New Guinea.

“Anyway,” I remarked to Baka Bina,” if ever you need a hand just give me a yell.”

Whereupon Baka emitted an ear-shattering and protracted Eastern Highlands whoop that rattled the high ceilings of the elegant Stanley Hotel, toppled glasses off tables and had colleagues ducking for cover.

It was quite a yell.

The story of my new book, ‘Survivor: Alive in Mum’s Loving Arms’

DANIEL KUMBON

I WROTE in a recent article in PNG Attitude that election violence in Wabag town in the last few days reminded me of scenes I describe in my new book ‘Survivor: Alive in Mum’s Loving Arms’, which will be published shortly.

Here’s an extract from one of the book’s chapters.…

I will never forget Monday, August 4, 2003 when two gunshot explosions knocked the daylights out of me. It seemed as if my spirit had abandoned my body. All around me there was fear and confusion as the echoes of the murderous shots could be heard reverberating in the surrounding hills.

I panicked like every other public servant in the new Ipatas Centre administration building. I stumbled across to the office window and looked outside.

Global watchdog condemns media election crackdown in PNG

KEITH JACKSON

THE international watchdog on media freedom and journalists’ rights, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has condemned “the many media freedom violations” that it says have occurred during the current Papua New Guinea general elections.

In enumerating a number of specific cases of media restriction by government officials, the organisation points out that journalists covering the elections in Madang were denied access by police and the now notorious electoral commission and that media were not allowed to film or take photos in Port Moresby’s main tally room.

RSF also said that “amid many reports on social networks of vote-buying and violence” authorities also took alarming measures against citizen journalists.

It cited the case of blogger and political commentator Martyn Namorong who referred to electoral commissioner Patilias Gamato as ‘Tomato’ in one of his many posts criticising election process.

Corruption everywhere, & the journalist's job is to report it

A guide by Transparency International for journalists throughout the world has been written to help protect their work and fulfil their mission. KAYLEE FERREIRA reports. The guide can be accessed here

MANY veteran journalists, and younger journalists too, surely notice that we are being bombarded again with mentions of Watergate.

Books like George Orwell’s 1984 are on display in bookstores and an air of danger to freedom of speech and freedom of the press is spreading slowly like a dark cloud over the Western hemisphere, raising old fears.

Camelot in the Wahgi Valley

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Anna: My life from a coffee plantation in Papua New Guinea to the shores of Byron Bay, by Anna Middleton, published by the author 2017, ISBN: 978-00994555298. Available from the author for $29.95. 

WHEN I arrived in Mount Hagen in 1967 the coffee and tea plantations of the Wahgi Valley were well-established; the years of hard work, struggle and privations were mostly in their owners’ past.

What I saw was a largely privileged and powerful group of people, well off, with big houses, very comfortable lifestyles, situated in an ideal climate and with plenty of spare time to pursue a variety of leisure activities.

To my mind, and probably that of many others, they were a kind of aristocracy with a reputation something akin to that enjoyed by the early squatters in Australia.

They probably didn’t think of themselves as special but simply hardworking.

However, like any privileged group they stood out. And they had their fair share of eccentrics who were hard drinkers and uncompromising in their pursuit of the good life.

Last remaining copies of Kevin Parer’s memoirs made available

ROB PARER

MY cousin Kevin Parer is same age as me and lived in Wau and Wewak before World War II.

His father, also Kevin, owned and operate three aircraft in the Parer Air Service which was based in Wewak. The photograph below left is of him after a flight into the highlands.

Kevin flew many of our Parer family members from Wau to Port Moresby in late December 1941 as Japanese forces threatened New Guinea.

And so many of us came to be evacuated to Australia on the mine sweeper MV Katoomba – a very slow voyage as the ship had to also search for mines along the way.

There were hundreds of people sleeping on the decks and the kids had to wear life jackets in case the ship hit a mine.

EMTV turns 30 – having captured a slice of PNG history

SERAH AUPONG | EMTV News/Asia Pacific Report

WHILE Papua New Guineans know of EMTV, many do not know how the national television station started.

From humble beginnings as a community television program and children’s show, Kids Kona, in July 1987, a mighty communications medium grew.

Back then, in an effort to get the public behind the new TV broadcaster, display screens were set up in markets around Port Moresby.

A news website that leads the way in Pacific journalism

KEITH JACKSON

DAVID Robie is an academic and a journalist, vastly knowledgeable in PNG and Pacific affairs, who – among other activities – edits an informative, well-designed and important website, Asia Pacific Report.

The website is a joint non-profit educational venture between the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology and Multimedia Investments Ltd, an Auckland-based media investment company run by independent social justice journalist Selwyn Manning.

It’s a news and information source that you can find here and which I strongly commend to all readers.

Media Council tests impact of PNG Cybercrime Act on free speech

GERALDINE KALABAI | Pacific Media Watch

THE Media Council of Papua New Guinea is seeking legal opinion on the effects of the government’s Cybercrime Act on press freedom, freedom of expression and public access to state information.

”The council agreed that legal opinion should be sought on the impact that the August 2016 legislation will have on the ability of ordinary Papua New Guineans to express themselves through various communication platforms and whether the law hinders the ability of the PNG media to report without fear or favour,” the Council said in a statement.

Media Council president Alexander Rheeney (pictured) said the council supported some sections of the law that protected citizens.

However the Council was particularly concerned with sections on data espionage, defamatory publication, unlawful disclosure, spam, unlawful advertising, search powers and criminal liability of ICT service providers.

An important new book from a PNG renaissance man

KEITH JACKSON

I’ve written this Foreword to a new collection of Daniel Kumbon’s documentary stories which is to be published later this year. It’s a pioneering work for a male Papua New Guinean writers – and carries with it a great deal of power - KJ

AS A journalist, Daniel Kumbon has travelled more of our world than most people but, in addition to his notebook and pen, wherever he went he also carried with him his values as a man of Enga and a compassionate human being.

Daniel has dedicated his most recent book, ‘Alive in Mum’s Loving Arms’, “to all women past and present who died or live with regrets in their hearts due to circumstances beyond their control”.

In this collection of three powerful stories, Daniel, in his typically straightforward way, addresses the role of women in Papua New Guinea, a role that has come under immense pressure as a result of profound social change.

Positive steps needed to drive sexism out of PNG media

MICHELLE NAYAHAMUI ROONEY | DevPolicy Blog | Extracts

RECENTLY, the Post-Courier, one of Papua New Guinea’s oldest and largest daily newspapers, ran a cartoon featuring a Papua New Guinean female candidate in the 2017 national general elections.

She is dressed in a short skirt while discussing her election aspirations for a healthy democracy. Behind her a Papua New Guinean man is sweating; somewhat delirious, with red love hearts floating above his head, he is more interested in watching her paint – and watching her backside.

The underlying message is clear: try as they might to contribute to a healthy democracy, women contesting the PNG 2017 national elections are merely the objects of men’s desire.

In remote PNG, lives reconfigured amongst new wealth & power

MONICA MINNEGAL & PETER DWYER

Navigating the Future: An Ethnography of Change in Papua New Guinea, by Monica Minnegal and Peter D Dwyer, ANU Press, June 2017. ISBN: 9781760461232

A couple of years ago we asked, through PNG Attitude, for information about early patrol days at Nomad, Western Province. We have, at last, published our book about the Kubo and Febi people who live north of Nomad and, nowadays, are impacted by the PNG LNG Project. Our book is available for free download here - MM & PD

Seeking Souls, Seeking Resources
(Extract from Navigating the Future)

IN 1963, one year after the Nomad Patrol Station was established, the Asia Pacific Christian Mission (APCM) - later named the Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (ECPNG) - built an airstrip at Honinabi within Samo territory.

The small mission station was staffed by two Papua New Guineans—a pastor and medical orderly—who ran a small trade store and initiated instruction in Christian beliefs and the English language. In the late 1960s a remarkable Australian, Tom Hoey, established a mission at Mougulu within Bedamuni territory.

'The National' cries foul on political party's bias claims

KEITH JACKSON

ONE of Papua New Guinea’s major newspapers has strongly dismissed allegations that it is not providing a fair and balanced coverage of the national election campaign.

A spokesperson for The National said it always considers the public and national interests in its reportage.

National Alliance Party president Walter Schnaubelt had claimed the newspaper was anti-NA, citing an attack by prime minister Peter O’Neill on former government treasurer and NA leader Patrick Pruaitch.

“The newspaper disregarded the response from Pruaitch in its Monday edition,” Schnaubelt said, adding that it had also “buried” a response from the NA party machine.

Schnaubelt also claimed The National had “twisted” comments and ignored the party’s other press releases.

Proud headhunters & eccentric expatriates in mystery novel

AMAZON

An Island Lost by Christina Larmer, Larmer Media, 2012, 254 pp. ISBN-10: 0987187244. Kindle $2.95; Paperback $10.95. Available from Amazon

CHRISTINA Larmer is a journalist, magazine editor and author of nine books including six in the popular Ghostwriter Mystery series as well as The Agatha Christie Book Club and the non-fiction book A Measure of Papua New Guinea (Focus; 2008).

She was raised in PNG and spent several years working in London, Los Angeles and New York, and now lives with her musician husband and two sons in the Byron Bay hinterland of Northern NSW.

“I grew up in PNG,” she says of her writing, “but couldn't find stories I related to. So I wrote my own.”

Has Australian opportunism compromised our northern shield?

KEITH JACKSON

‘Australia's Northern Shield? Papua New Guinea and the Defence of Australia since 1880’ by Bruce Hunt, Monash University Publishing, March 2017. Paperback, 374 pp. ISBN 978-1-925495-40-9. $39.95

WHEN prime minister Malcolm Turnbull made his first official visit to Papua New Guinea in mid-April, a series of gaffes lit up local social media reinforcing perceptions of Australian disrespect for the country.

In PNG, social media are big (there are 700,000 Facebook users alone) and very influential in an increasingly activist middle class that an edgy O’Neill government repeatedly threatens to curb.

And the gaffes? Initially there was a fiery accusation by ex-prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta that the visit was timed to interfere with PNG’s impending national election. Then local journalists were excluded from two press conferences (the Australian High Commission later apologising for an ‘oversight’), a business breakfast faced allegations of race discrimination and Turnbull clumsily evaded questions about Australia’s marooned Manus asylum seekers.

Lost in Papua New Guinea – the saga of a book

PHIL FITZPATRICK

LET’S imagine that you’re a book. You’ve got a bright shiny cover with a distinctive Papua New Guinean theme. Below your title is the author’s proudly displayed name.

You’ve just been manufactured on one of the most sophisticated print-on-demand printers in the world in the city of Columbia in the state of South Carolina in the USA.

You are popped into a box with a dozen other identical volumes by an efficient and hardworking employee of CreateSpace, the publishing arm of the giant online retailer Amazon.

The box that holds you and your companions has been labelled and sent off along a conveyor belt to a vast despatch warehouse that runs 24 hours a day.

PNG media council blasts assault on EMTV election news crew

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH NEWS DESK

THE Media Council of Papua New Guinea has condemned the “unacceptable harassment and violence” targeting media workers covering the country’s 2017 general election campaign.

An EMTV camera crew was “harassed and assaulted” last Thursday in the Moresby South electorate in the National Capital District in an incident the Media Council called “unacceptable and unwarranted”.

The media has an important role to play in the dissemination of information and awareness about the 3,331 candidates contesting the 89 open electorates and 22 provincial seats, said council president Alexander Rheeney.

Television crew assaulted by Minister Tkatchenko's supporters

NEVILLE CHOI * | EMTV

A TELEVISION crew from EMTV has been verbally abused and a senior cameraman punched and struck with a 16 kilogram tripod by supporters of Papua New Guinean government minister and member for Moresby South, Justin Tkatchenko.

The mob demanded television footage be deleted and threatened to assault four crew members in an EMTV vehicle on Lawes Road in the national capital.

Journalists Bethanie Harriman and Stanley Ove Jr were collecting generic pictures of election banners around Port Moresby with senior cameraman Konts Kara.

After collecting footage at Gerehu the crew stopped in Moresby South.

Journalists self-censor after officials interfere in newsrooms

LOOP PNG

THE Media Council of Papua New Guinea has been alerted to incidents of government officials calling newsrooms to interfere in independent editorial processes.

This has compelled journalists and news editors to self-censor news and consequently deny Papua New Guinean readers and viewers access to factual, balanced, impartial and objective reporting. 

“Last year had its challenges for media industry personnel,” said Media Council president Alexander Rheeney (right), “and the first four months of this year appear to be no different, with news organisations alerting us to two incidents of interference by those in authority.

Publication of ‘Aitape Story’ brings back vivid memories

ROB PARER

LAST week, the book ‘Aitape Story: the great New Guinea tsunami of 1998’ was launched at the University of Papua New Guinea.

The author is Hugh Davies, professor of geology at UPNG and, while I have not seen his book, I know that Prof Davies’ humility is such that his extraordinary efforts during that terrible time are unlikely to be mentioned.

I was there and remain in awe of his compassion and the enormous contribution he made to calm the survivors and in explaining the origin and dynamics of tsunamis.

The ‘Crocodile Prize Anthology 2016’ – better late than never

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I’VE BEEN a bit reluctant to release the final and free version of the Crocodile Prize Anthology 2016 because it does not fully incorporate all the material submitted to the competition, most notably some of the prizewinning entries.

This came about because 2016 was a transition year when the competition came under sole Papua New Guinean control and there were hiccups.

Although I had volunteered to edit and publish the anthology, several breakdowns in communication meant I didn’t receive all the entries worth including in the book.

But it’s already May and I thought it would be worthwhile offering the usual free PFD, which you can find here, and if more suitable material arrives I’m happy to update the book so it is more reflective of the true merit of what was submitted to the competition.

PNG media are government propaganda machines says Polye

PNG TODAY | Edited

PAPUA New Guinea’s opposition leader Don Polye has urged media editors to create an objective forum for candidates to market their policies to voters as politicians campaign for the forthcoming election.

Commemorating World Press Freedom Day, Mr Polye accused the mainstream media of not being objective in its reporting.

He said they were acting as the government propaganda machines, an attitude reflected in their news content.

Mr Polye said the opposition was resorting to social media especially Facebook as a conduit to educate and inform citizens about issues affecting them.

PNG Army: A unique part of Australia’s colonial & military history

KEITH JACKSON

Guarding the Periphery: The Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, 1951–75, by Tristan Moss (Part of Australian Army History Series), Cambridge, hardback, ISBN: 9781107195967. $59.95. Available June – pre-order here

TRISTAN Moss’s book looks at the dual strategic role of Australia’s army in Papua New Guinea in the 25 years leading to its independence.

One was the obvious role in defending Australia’s interests from what during those years were real threats to its north and west.

The other was to manage the army’s role within Australia’s colony – the twin territories of Papua and New Guinea, which occasionally resulted in a tense relationship with the Australian colonial administration during a period of great change.

Research for a new novel

I'm working on the research for a new novel, which concerns the Chief Mate (Walter Scott Quinn) aboard the M/V Libby Island, a USMMC seagoing tow tug (196' long) which took part in a secret convoy to Manus Island reaching there in late autumn, 1944. If any of your PNG historians or writers have any recollection  of this convey or the resulting construction projects on the island -- it comprised four large, connected tugs and several caissons and barges -- I would deeply appreciate hearing from them, or from you. Best wishes to you and yours as the world gets more dangerous by the minute.... Sincerely, Richard Sutton

If you can assist Richard with his research,  email him at author@sailletales.com

 

Ian Townsend’s ‘Line of Fire’: The ‘spies’ who never came back

ROSS FITZGERALD | The Australian

Line of Fire by Ian Townsend, Fourth Estate, 309pp, $29.99

IAN Townsend’s third book, Line of Fire, a work of nonfiction, is excellent. It follows two fine novels: Affection (2007), based on the 1900 plague outbreak in north Queensland, and The Devil’s Eye, centred on the worst cyclone in Australian history.

The Queensland radio journalist and author has a talent for discovering little-known events and fleshing them out to make history come alive. His new book is a gripping yarn of espionage and war.

The novel that Francis Nii had to write

PHIL FITZPATRICK

Tears: A Novel by Francis Nii, Simbu Writer’s Association, Kundiawa, 122 pages, ISBN: 978-1544965291, US$7.00 plus postage from Amazon Books.

BACK in the 1960s, during a census patrol in the highlands, I called out a man’s name and watched him pull himself across the muddy ground to the table where I sat.

He looked up at me and grinned before affirming the details I had about him, including the cryptic observation in the notes column that he was, indeed, a ‘cripple’.

It wasn’t so much the fact of the man’s obvious and severely misshapen spine and useless legs that stayed with me but the look of fierce determination I saw in his eyes.

I encountered something similar just recently when three of Papua New Guinea’s writers travelled to Australia for the Brisbane Writer’s Festival. Among them was Francis Nii, a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair after a vehicle accident.

Flanagan concerned by PNG media blackout on economic analysis

KEITH JACKSON

AUSTRALIAN economist Paul Flanagan says he is “perplexed and worried” by the failure of Papua New Guinea’s media to cover a critical report on the PNG economy by the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Flanagan has long drawn attention to what he analyses as serious deficiencies in Papua New Guinea’s economic management and reporting.

“I can understand why the government tried to suppress this report by an independent umpire,” Mr Flanagan wrote in an earlier article. “Overall, it was a pretty damning report about the O'Neill government's economic mismanagement.

The venerable Pacific Islands Monthly gets new digitised life

JULIE WHITING | National Library of Australia | Edited extracts

Read the complete, lavishly illustrated article here

Browse the full Pacific Islands Monthly catalogue in Trove here

THE National Library of Australia has recently completed the digitisation of the entire run of the Pacific Islands Monthly magazine and all of the issues can be browsed or the text fully searched in its Trove archive.

Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM) was founded in Sydney by New Zealand born journalist Robert William (Robbie) Robson, who had moved to Australia during World War I. The first issue was published August 1930 and it ran until June 2000.

PIM was originally published by Pacific Publications in Sydney, with the company being officially registered in 1931 with a nominal capital of £1,000 in £1 shares. It was later purchased by the Herald and Weekly Times and after News Ltd acquired the Herald and Weekly Times in 1987, PIM was published from Suva, Fiji. The first issue of PIM was in newspaper format and consisted of 12 pages.

Kundu Productions – a bright new star in TV documentary making

MAX UECHTRITZ | Kundu Productions

THE kundu is an ancient message drum that tells the stories and histories of communities – which makes it a perfect symbol for a documentary company.

For the documentary production company I have founded, Kundu Productions, it has an even more special significance.

That’s because the kundu drum is from Papua New Guinea, the land of my birth and a country whose earliest known history, culture and customs were chronicled by my pioneer great grandparents.

My great grandfather, the Denmark-born Richard Parkinson, was a prolific anthropologist and author whose most classic tome ‘Thirty Years in the South Seas’ is the quintessential record of early New Guinea. His collaborator and interpreter for this and many other works was his wife Phebe Parkinson.

The ABC’s Ms Guthrie sells out the people of PNG & the Pacific

KEITH JACKSON

MARTYN Namorong and I were yarning with his parents, Charlotte and Warete, at their Hohola home the other day when I brought up the subject of Martyn’s razor-sharp and very literate English prose.

“Where,” I asked, “did this young boy at the Kumusi logging camp in the Western Province, learn to speak and write such immaculate English.”

Well, it had helped that his mother was a teacher and his father a learned man, but a large part of Martyn’s answer took me by surprise.

“It was Radio Australia,” he said. “We used to listen faithfully to the broadcasts and we learned from them.”

Top of the Crocs: Bringing to you the best of the Crocodile Prize

PHIL FITZPATRICK

WHEN Keith Jackson and I tentatively embarked on our quest to assist in the regeneration of Papua New Guinean creative writing by inaugurating the Crocodile Prize for literature in 2010, we didn’t know how far it might go or whether we would succeed.

Although we gradually garnered the support of many Papua New Guinean writers, we were always aware that the initiative was ours and that we were intruding on others’ ground and that this had the potential to be culturally tricky.

As it turned out this was not an issue, either because no one else had thought of it or wanted to do it. Apart from a couple of elevated academics, the proposal was greeted with enthusiasm by all, including the grandfathers of Papua New Guinean literature, Russell Soaba and Sir Paulias Matane.

We took special care to celebrate the once fertile past in Papua New Guinean literature and named the prize after the first novel by a Papua New Guinean, Vincent Eri’s The Crocodile.

MY WALK TO EQUALITY
5000 copies sold & on the way!
Essays, Stories and Poetry by Papua New Guinean Women
Edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell
       Buy your copy here 

  THE CROCODILE PRIZE ANTHOLOGY 2016
Sixth Annual Collection of PNG Writing
Edited by Phil Fitzpatrick
Buy your copy here
  

The VCT Clinic. It takes a brave heart to visit this place

BAKA BARAKOVE BINA | Editorial assistance by Ed Brumby & Emily Bina | Edited for PNG Attitude by Keith Jackson | With a footnote about Baka Bina’s latest book, Antics of Alonaa, Vol 1

IN EARLY 2013 Ghatane-Lulú was walking along Ela Beach at 6.30 a.m. when a young teenager, Katie (not her real name) called to him, “Fada, yu gat wan kina oh, mi no kaikai tudeis na mi laik dai ya”. [Father, do you have a kina; I haven’t eaten for two days and I feel like dying]

Well, he does meet plenty of the types, some genuine and some thugs, but has never been approached by a young lass like this. At first he ignored her, walked past but, after walking ten paces, turned around and walked back to her.

Some inner being told him to give her the ten kina he had with him to buy breakfast at the Ela Beach Service Station. Katie broke down and cried. This is her story.

A thoughtful book advocating the virtues of Melanesian law

DAVID GONOL

I HAVE always unashamedly taken huge pride in my beautiful and unique country, Papua New Guinea – the world leader in languages and cultures. And with a long tradition of law.

PNG was not in a legal vacuum when Europeans colonised its tribes. It already had customary laws governing its affairs.

The colonisers ignored these laws and imposed their own. So today about 98% of the legal principles governing PNG have their origin in English common law, which could adequately address problems back in England but not necessarily in PNG.

Our problems can be unique, but a Melanesian jurisprudence can adequately deal with them.

Indeed, our forefathers saw the weakness of English common law and duly made provision in our Constitution for us to develop our own version of it which is referred to as ‘underlying law’ or indigenous jurisprudence.

Govt department says newspaper’s allegations defamatory

KEITH JACKSON

JOHN Kali the head of PNG’s Department of Personnel Management has asked the PNG Post-Courier to retract what he terms “inaccurate and defamatory reporting” by an unnamed reporter.

Mr Kali said that two articles published in the newspaper concerned the appointment of an acting provincial administrator of Western Province.

The articles, on 18 and 20 January, were headlined ‘Corruption rates high in public offices’ and ‘Awaiting acting provincial administrator’.

The political tide that is building into a tsunami

PHIL FITZPATRICK

THERE are some interesting books coming out in the USA about the tide which brought us the seismic shock of the American election which tomorrow delivers us President Donald Trump.

This tide is the same one that has given us Brexit and the rise of far right political parties in Western democracies.

It is possible, but highly unlikely, that the same tide will wash through Papua New Guinea in 2017.

The undertow that created this tide is a growing disenchantment with conventional politics and the growing inequalities between rich and poor.

In the wash of the tide are serious questions about the very nature of democracy.

My Walk to Equality – voices of wisdom, optimism and hope

TRISH NICHOLSON

My Walk to Equality, edited by Rashmii Amoah Bell, Pukpuk Publications, 278 pages. Paperback $US10.53 or Kindle $US1.00. ISBN-10: 1542429242. ISBN-13: 978-1542429245. Available here from Amazon

MY Walk to Equality is a remarkable achievement. Not only as Papua New Guinea’s first anthology of women writers but also for its inclusiveness, breadth of vision and balance.

The 45 writers of these 81 stories, essays and poems originate from many different parts of PNG and its islands.

Their day-jobs include aircraft mechanic, nurse, educator, lawyer, home producer, student and administrator.

They write as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, friends and neighbours as well as professionals in their respective fields.

When “a great initiative” becomes a “can’t find a way” problem?

KEITH JACKSON

I HAVE never met Bronte Moules who is our (that is Australia’s) deputy high commissioner in Papua New Guinea – an important post in the PNG-Australia relationship.

But if I ever do meet her – and I hope to on a forthcoming visit to PNG – I think I’ll like her. I’ve found Bronte positive, helpful and a person who clearly has Papua New Guinean interests at heart.

Last October, Bronte was also expressing encouragement about what was the forthcoming publication of Rashmii Amoah Bell’s landmark collection of PNG women’s writing, My Walk to Equality, much mentioned in these columns of late.

“This sounds like a great initiative,” Bronte wrote to me in an email. “It’s something that we’d be interested, in principle, in supporting in some way.”

We, in this case, being the Australian High Commission.

Two Melanesian films that come with high commendation

PETER KRANZ

WELL Rose and I watched two most magnificent Melanesian films last year and both brought us to tears, so I reckon it's time for a short review.

The first was Mr Pip (yes, it came out three years ago but better late than never) starring Hugh Laurie and Bougainville actors Eka Darville, Xzannjah Matsi and Healesville Joel.

It is based on the novel by New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones and is set in Bougainville during the civil war in the 1990s. The film is marvellously shot and acted and the music is by Tim Finn of the band Crowded House.

‘Walk to Equality’ is a confidence boost for PNG women writers

INTERVIEW

THIS week My Walk to Equality, the first ever collection of women’s writing by Papua New Guinean authors was made available to the public through Amazon Books prior to its dual launch in Port Moresby and Brisbane on International Women's Day in March. Leiao Gerega of the PNG Post-Courier newspaper spoke with the book’s editor, Rashmii Amoah Bell….

Leiao - As the woman behind this remarkable project, please can you tell us a little about yourself, your journey with writing, the challenges you face and your current profession.

Rashmii - My name is Rashmii Bell and I am from Sio in the Tewaii-Siassi local level government area in Morobe Province.

Reading has always been a part of my life so it feels like a natural progression to move into writing. I grew up surrounded by books in my family home and I have been able to access community libraries in Australia.

Will 2017 be the year PNG subverts its social media?

KEITH JACKSON

ON THE eve of the new year – which is 2017 not 1984 – Papua New Guinea’s cumbersomely named ‘National Information and Communications Technology Authority’, NICTA – continued its surreptitious assault on the nation’s freedom of speech.

According to its own propaganda, NICTA is “taking steps towards addressing the gross misuse and abuse of social media in Papua New Guinea”.

While there are undoubtedly reckless cowboys using PNG’s social media, one would have thought that the existing body of law related to defamation, privacy and related issues might be sufficient to deal with the slanderers, recalcitrants and other low life that unfortunately frequent every aspect of human existence – including the internet.

But no, the social media apparently require special oppression.

Temlett Conibeer returns to a kind of civilisation

PHIL FITZPATRICK

The Melancholy Chronicle of a Reluctant Librarian by ACT Marke, Frogmouth Press, 2016, ISBN: 978-0646958057, 375 pages, AU$30, including postage, from the author, frogmouth07@live.com.au

TEMLETT Conibeer is a much misunderstood character.

And, I suspect, so too is his faithful chronicler, Andrew Marke.

Andrew likes to read 19th century Victorian novels. I think he might have read them all. And, as he has observed, people in those days knew how to write.

Essentially, what he has done in the five Temlett Conibeer novels is take a 19th century character, with all his repressed and conservative views and mannerisms, and dropped him into the 20th century - in particular the liberated 1960s and 70s.

How to get published in 2017

ANDREW MARKE

Andrew Marke is author of the Temlett Conibeer series about the adventures of a colonial PNG malaria control officer. I’ll do a review of his latest book when I’ve finished reading it. I think a lot of people don’t understand his writing and don’t realise he is taking the micky. Marke is an avid fan of 19th century Victorian literature with all its terrible repression and conservatism and he plays on that in his main characters. He worked for the Papua New Guinean malaria eradication service for around 15 years until 1975 and was a friend of our late PNG Attitude colleague, David Wall - PF

YOU HAVE written your novel and now need to get it commercially published: Why? Because it is impossible for an individual to obtain other than limited local distribution.

It also means the publisher pays for editing, proof reading, typesetting, printing and advertising, all of which are expensive.

I have written five novels and only attempted to approach publishers for the first and last.

Is there an honest politician? The emergence of Espe Lamplap

PHIL FITZPATRICK

We offer a preview of Phil Fitzpatrick’s forthcoming Inspector Metau novel, ‘The Case of the Good Politician’, available soon as a free New Year’s present on PNG Attitude. “Hopefully it will be a reminder to people to consider their vote more carefully in 2017,” says Phil. Here's an extract from Chapter 8….

WHEN the Ex-Member had won his seat in the previous term of parliament he thought all his Christmases had come at once. He had mortgaged everything he owned on the outcome and had pulled in favours and clan obligations where he could and taken out a big loan from his new friend, Mr Han.

If he had lost he didn’t know what he would do. He would be penniless and the shame would be unbearable. But that was all behind him. He had paid out all of his accumulated dinau and come to an amicable agreement with Mr Han to repay him in unspecified kind rather than money.