Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

The Mountain: articulating the enigma that is PNG

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

WHEN I WAS LOOKING FOR a copy of Drusilla Modjeska’s novel, The Mountain, I found it on the “new releases” shelf of our local department store. 

It was surrounded by lots of those glossy novels about feisty (mostly beautiful blonde) ladies tackling the rough and tumble of the outback, showing the blokes a thing or two and ending up finding true love. 

There were also a couple of the latest doomsday titles for the guys and the usual vampire / fantasy for the teens.  All of them heavily discounted because of the buying power of the chain store.

For a literary novel I thought it was an odd place for it to be displayed; normally you have to go to a real bookshop and rummage through the shelves for such things and then pay a premium price to boot.  That, or buy it on the Internet.

It is a sad fact, for men at least, that most general readers in the developed world are women and a lot of the people who write for them are also women. 

So why would a complex novel set in an obscure place like Papua New Guinea be sitting on that shelf?  Did the store buyers see the cover and make an incorrect assumption?

Having read the book it dawned on me that the reason it was there is because it operates at two levels.  On the one hand it can be read as a straight novel about “love, loss, grief and betrayal” as the blurb proclaims, but on another level, especially to those in the know, it is a complex analysis of the grappling relationship between two vastly different cultures brought together in a crucial moment of time in Papua New Guinea.

It is here that the novel excels and demonstrates that fiction leaves anthropology and history well in its wake when it comes to understanding what really happens in people’s lives.

The book is written in two sections, pre and post-independence.  It concerns the people, both black and white, involved in the halcyon and ideologically driven days of the University of Papua New Guinea and then, years later, the spillages involving them and their children.

I think this might be the first time that anyone has written about those sandal-shod, Hawaiian-shirted, mini-skirted, kaftan-clad and bearded and beaded, convention defying black and white denizens of outer-Waigani in anything other than derogatory terms. 

In that sense it is a refreshing change; the novel paints a wonderful picture of those days, especially around Hohola, including all the colour and angst.

At the beginning of the book two of the pivotal characters are standing on a hill overlooking the new university under construction and the student asks the newly arrived wife of one of the lecturers whether what they can see is, in fact, real.

The question of reality seems to be at the heart of the novel.  As the narrative progresses you begin to realise that in such circumstances what might be reality to one person may not necessarily be reality to another. 

When a white academic and a kiap, for instance, look at something they see different things, just as an educated Papua New Guinean and a bush kanaka might have done and, unfortunately, still do.

It is the student who asked the question on the hill that turns out to have the firmest fix on reality.  He becomes a smooth-talking and rich lawyer representing developers, miners and loggers and the reason he’s successful is because he’s worked out what’s going on in Papua New Guinean minds.  Whether he likes it is another matter; he can’t fix it, he’s already tried, and anyway, it butters his bread.

He knows that Papua New Guinea is a mess and was always going to be a mess and there is nothing that can be done about it.  The plunderers will continue to plunder and the locals will continue to be their own worst enemies.

One of the hapkas offspring of those early days comes back to Papua New Guinea from Europe to solve the puzzle of his identity and travels to the isolated mountain village to which the title of the novel refers. 

He is the mystical prodigal son but even those untouched people see him as a bisnis opportunity.  In a vain attempt at integrity he tries to help but as the novel ends the jealousy has begun and the scheme is falling apart even before it really begins.

One of the characters in the novel (with a vague resemblance to someone familiar to PNG Attitude readers) is puzzled by white people always needing a reason for why things happen.

And that, I guess is the enigma of Papua New Guinea.

A pebble in d waves

BY CARL KINGSTON

She told me she needed me
She said my girls needed me
The times were tough on us
I had to work far way

But nothing could move me more
Then the thought of my babies facing d rough without me
So I left my job to work closer to home
It's tough
But the smiles of my girls mean more than the world to me

I keep telling her to see through my eyes but she thinks otherwise
The slightest of waves move her yet again

She wants to take d kids n leave me
I tell her to b strong with me but she would rather find strength in
familiar surroundings of her family
Rather then trusting in me

I know d waves they shape a rock
n with time it becomes smooth
n finds rest in a spot on shore somewhere
and with time the tides change
Or river changes course
So Forever the pebble will remain where it lies

And so I pray that with each wave
She will learn
To hold on to what matters between us
And see d bigger picture
above d struggles of the present
And become stronger like me
Holding on
no matter how rough or strong
the currents of life may be

So that when the waves have moved us
To that one place
And d currents have done all they have been destined to do
They will move us no more
And there we shall be
Infallible
Strong
Together
Unshakable

Carl Kingston (28) says “I write in my free time and often do so as an outlet for situations I face in life”

Diplomatic ruckus: envoy tells off Aussie journo

BY DOUGLAS MARAU
SOLOMON STAR (Honiara)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA HIGH COMMISSIONER to Solomon Islands and Vanuatu Brian Yombon-Copio has refuted issues raised by Australian freelance journalist Susan Merrell in this paper yesterday.

Mr Yombon-Copio said his statement in The Solomon Star last Thursday on the political issues in PNG were done to clarify the adequacy surrounding certain issues raised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“This is the work of another foreigner who had damaged the country by criticising my clarification on the issues facing PNG at the moment,” Mr Yombon-Copio said.

“I simply corrected a colleague diplomat who had made remarks which were totally a mixture of facts and exaggerations based on hear-say stories which had a bad impact on my country,” he added.

The high commissioner said every diplomat has a duty to defend his or her country and that was exactly what he did.

Mr Yombon-Copio said he has no intention of defending the current Government of PNG or any particular person in the Government.

“I am a professional diplomat and I have no political affiliations with anyone in PNG,” the PNG envoy said.

He said he has no hidden agenda defending anyone in PNG for that matter as queried by Ms Merrell but simply tried to put the accurate perspective of PNG with its political issues. 

Mr Yombon-Copio said diplomats are neutral persons in politics and they are the managers of national interest from abroad.

The high commissioner said unlike in other countries where political issues translate into violence where innocent lives are lost, freedom of speech barred, and pressure groups are barred from expressing issues of concern; PNG’s case is different as the perceived political issues are manageable.

“The concerned parties are capable of resolving their issues and they do not require foreigners to set the agenda for them,” said Mr Yombon-Copio.

He warned Ms Susan Merrell to refrain from issuing statements from a distance and avoid being continuously controversial on PNG issues.

“It is also interesting to know a foreigner whom I have no knowledge of her to discuss misleading information about my personal life too.

“I think Susan Merrell has collaborated with someone in PNG to deliberately assassinate my character but seriously no price will be paid to them for such work,” Mr Yombon-Copio said.

Read Susan Merrell’s article in full here: PNG High Commissioner - 'What's your agenda?'

Media leader tells news groups to get act together

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH

PETER AITSI, A FORMER PRESIDENT of the Papua New Guinea Media Council has called on “isolated” Pacific news organisations to strike a better relationship with civil society groups to have a stronger stake in the community.

In a speech marking the World Press Freedom Day in Port Moresby, Mr Aitsi said media groups needed stronger community ties to stand up to government attempts to muzzle them.

He also called on media groups to cooperate with their rivals in campaigning for media freedom.

“In most Pacific countries we have one or two major media players; some of them are government-owned or have some form of government ownership,” he said.

“Most, if not all, of these organisations work in isolation, by that I mean they do not actively seek engagement with other media organisations because they view them as competitors.”

They also did not actively interact with the broader community in the form of NGO groups – “some say because they want to retain their independence”, Mr Aitsi said.

“The opportunity for governments to introduce media control is greater in this type of environment where the media is isolated and there is no real demonstrable – let me say that again – no real demonstrable link between them and their communities.”

In Melanesian politics, MPs often used the defence “it is in the best interest of the people”, he said.

“How many times have we heard that? Our objective is to ensure the people see that the media is part of them, that we are representing their interest it is only when we have achieved this level of relationship can we reasonably expect their support.”

It needed to be asked how civil society could be mobilised and actively involved in the process of protecting media freedom.

Peter Aitsi MBE was president of the PNG Media Council from 1999-2007. Peter Aitsi’s full speech is on Pacific Media Centre Online

Drusilla Modjeska & PNG: a long love story

BY MARC McEVOY
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

IN THE MOUNTAINS of Papua New Guinea, the forest canopy cuts out the sunlight below where leeches, mosquitoes and other parasites wait to feast on your blood.

When it rains, it can fall so heavily that it is impossible to see someone standing a metre in front of you.

Anyone who tries to climb the muddy tracks in this primordial world faces a huge physical test, as Australian soldiers in the Kokoda campaign discovered when they were debilitated by exhaustion and malaria.

In 2004, Drusilla Modjeska took it on with her friend David Baker, an oceanic art gallery owner, to meet the Omie, a tribe of fewer than 2,000 people who live on the southern flank of Mount Lamington, a volcano to the east of the Kokoda Track that erupted in 1951, killing 4,000 people.

Baker, who died in 2009, had invited Modjeska to accompany him to meet the mountain people. She was 57 but had lived in Papua New Guinea as a young married student in the pre-independence days of the late 1960s and early '70s and had an interest in the country's indigenous culture. The Omie wanted Baker to show them how to sell their barkcloth art.

To get there, the two Australians drove from Popondetta, near the New Guinea coast, towards Kokoda before heading off on foot to the remote Omie villages. The walk takes a couple of hours for locals, but Modjeska and Baker clambered for 10 hours up and down the steep ridges and slopes in the oppressive heat.

''It is a miracle I didn't die getting up there,'' Modjeska says in her home in Sydney, where she is surrounded by a vast library and indigenous artefacts.

''It was very, very hard physically, but it was very beautiful. We were fully clothed - and I would be bright red - but at the bottom of the slopes I would lie in the streams until my blood pressure and heart rate and colour returned to normal.''

Modjeska and Baker were the first white people many Omie had seen. They were welcomed with song and dance and slept for weeks on bamboo mats in grass huts. But, most importantly for Modjeska, it was the first time she had laid eyes on the Omie's beautiful barkcloth, a pummelled tree bark with designs painted exclusively by women.

The experience was ''groundbreaking'', Modjeska says, and inspired her to rework her first novel, The Mountain, which she had been writing on and off for 20 years.

Media pioneer honoured on press freedom day

PACIFIC FREEDOM FORUM

PACIFIC FREE SPEECH AND MEDIA FREEDOM continues to rest with individuals who stand up to defend those rights, says regional media freedom watchdog the Pacific Freedom Forum.

PFF chair Titi Gabi of Papua New Guinea noted that reality when she called for a minutes silence at an editors forum on media ethics and elections held yesterday in Port Moresby.

The silence honoured Yehiura Hriehwazi, one of PNG’s leading journalists, who died suddenly in January.

Hriehwazi was a fearless advocate for stronger investigative journalism and a founding member of the Pacific Freedom Forum. A print journalist who began his career with the Post Courier in 1981, he reached senior management level in a career which took him around the world.

Ms Gabi, who has initiated a national media workers union to refocus attention on the Pacific's largest country-level industry group, says the current outreach drive of PNG Media Workers Association has revealed that journalists continue to feel isolated and alone when threats occur to their journalism practice, livelihoods or personal safety.

"Levels of self-censorship, depending on where journalists live, continue to be a strong threat to media freedom in our part of the world. What we are seeing at regional and national level is a growing awareness that we can be stronger with a unified voice -- and today is a timely moment to honour Pacific colleagues who have paved the way." she said.

Rausim! Social media & political protest in PNG

BY SARAH LOGAN
CIRCUIT: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S RECENT political upheavals follow an upsurge in the use of mobile phones, the internet and social media since the country’s telecommunications sector was deregulated in 2007.

Mobile networks have expanded exponentially over the past five years to now cover some 75% of the country’s population. Phone ownership has increased apace, and some estimates suggest that over 30% of the population now has a mobile phone, dwarfing the number of fixed line connections.

Internet penetration is still relatively low, at approximately 2% of the population, but increasing numbers of Papua New Guineans are accessing the internet via mobile phones following the introduction last year of a mobile broadband service. Papua New Guineans are also using social media in ever increasing numbers.

There are over 80,000 facebook members in PNG, mostly under 40, and this figure has doubled over the past year. Statistics on twitter users are less readily available, but the #PNG and #OccupyWaigani hashtags are active and regularly break news far faster than any other source in PNG.

The past two months have seen increased internet access put to good use, as bloggers and civil society activists have taken to the net to discuss recent events which are dire even by the Machiavellian standards of PNG politics, and to protest these events both on and offline.

Events are constantly unfolding, but a standoff between the executive and the judiciary, general elections due later this year and the government’s ongoing attempts to postpone them, means politics looks set to continue in this contentious vein for the foreseeable future.

The internet and social media have two potentially important roles in this political maelstrom. The first is a part to play in facilitating political protest, and the second is an impact on the very practice of politics in PNG, particularly in terms of the role of civil society.

On the former, commentators have noted the role of social media in facilitating the organisation of events such as the large protest held over Easter in Port Moresby.

Political protests in PNG often centre around concerns regarding mining and other land use. These protests are organised around local tribal identities, a key feature of PNG political life.

In contrast, the protest held over Easter was arguably a rare example of a comparatively ‘pure’ civil society movement. This civil society identity has characterised recent protests and the social media associated with them. It has also been evident in earlier protests, following trends linking online and offline political activity.

For example, large scale marches in 2010 against changes to anticorruption laws which were also organised via a combination of social media and traditional activism, similar to a largely online protest last year which culminated in the withdrawal of controversial amendments to environmental legislation.

However, the role of social media in protest action in PNG should not be overestimated. Its impact is limited by several caveats. The first of these is the limited numbers of social media users in PNG. Although the rate of increase is striking, overall user numbers are minimal – only about 2% of the population.

The Easter weekend protest was important in that it linked online activity with significant offline organisation activity in the planning phase: the organisation was not restricted to the online sphere but included significant offline coordination between traditional and non-traditional civil society actors.

Social media is booming in the Pacific

BY MEGAN WHELAN
RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

PACIFIC LEADERS ARE BEING WARNED they need to adapt to social media, or be left out of political conversation.

A new report by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy says the number of people using social media, like Twitter and Facebook is growing rapidly, though the region’s leaders are notably absent.

Was watching the news this evening and heard the PM mention that Police had to remember the oath they swore. Got me wondering if our parliamentarians swear oaths of office.....Hello His Excellency Governor General Sir Michael Ogio, you there? Why have you been so mum? Could you dissolve the parliament and we go for elections now? ...I think Arthur Somare should just shut up and concentrate on his next moves to return in the coming elections than talking about money spent .... He is no different from them!

These comments were published on the PNG Sharp Talk group on Facebook, which now boasts almost 5,000 users.

One of its members is a blogger, who doesn’t want to be named, but uses the pseudonym Tavurvur online.

He says social media is filling a void left by traditional media in PNG.

Because PNG is quite limited in terms of, particularly media information, relayed in a timely and efficient manner, the use of social media has effectively filled that void, where we are now seeing lots of examples of social media, Twitter, Facebook, SMS texting via mobile phone, that are actually winning the war on reporting what’s happening on the ground.

Data on internet usage in the region is hard to come by, but PNG alone has nearly 90,000 Facebook users, with a growth rate of 30% over the past six months.

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy says most people are now using handheld devices, and political discussion is growing, especially in PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu.

The report says leaders need to start thinking about embracing the technology to at least be part of the conversation.

Fiji’s regime has its own blog, and leaders, including Commodore Frank Bainimarama and the attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum are on Twitter.

The institute’s Derek Brien says Fiji has stood out in engaging with social media.

That generally was seen to come out of the bloggers that were mainly anti-military government, many of which we based overseas. The Fiji government I suppose took a slightly different tack than some may have thought which was trying to shut everything down in the country, reacted by actually getting into the conversation and joining it.

Another blogger, the Australia-based Keith Jackson, says social media brings a range of views that otherwise might not be heard.

He says his blog, PNG Attitude, has doubled its readers in the past 12 months.

As the political temperature rises, towards and during the Papua New Guinea elections, people are going to be seeking out information even more vigorously than they usually do, and that puts quite a lot of responsibility back onto the editors and writers in the social media to try to ensure their information is of good quality.

In Papua New Guinea, the Government tried to crack down on what it called subversive activity on the internet.

Social media driving new chapter of consciousness

BY TAVURVUR
GARAMUT

Tavurvur – whose identity remains a secret even from PNG Attitude - is arguably the most perceptive political observer in the strong crop of social commentators writing in PNG at present. You can catch his articles regularly at http://garamut.wordpress.com

ALTHOUGH THE PAST FEW MONTHS, and particularly the last two weeks, have been tumultuous for PNG politics and Papua New Guinea in general, there are a number of positives which have since become clear in what has been a difficult period for the country.

These positives are not do so much with any change in the political decisions of the O’Namah government, although Peter O’Neill’s re-commitment to again not defer general elections 2012 is to be welcomed, but more so with the socio-political phenomena gaining traction in PNG which I am calling the opening up of PNG’s consciousness.

Yesterday’s protest march against the delay in elections and the implementation of the Judicial Conduct Act 2012 has highlighted the interesting growth of pipol pawa (people power) which began to take shape during the height of the constitutional crisis last year.

Regulatory watchdogs, non-governmental organisations, the public and particularly the young people of PNG are beginning to realize, what in the past has been a somewhat hazy understanding, that we do have the ability to organise ourselves in such a manner as to effectively and responsibly make a difference – through pipol pawa.

This ability, and indeed the desire to effect such change has always been present in PNG, but the means to do so has not.

The opening up of PNG’s consciousness has social media and technology to thank.

This emerging phenomena in PNG has added a new dimension to the very fabric of PNG society, and consequently to PNG politics.

Where just two years ago PNG politicians could comfortably sit in their plush parliamentary seats content with the knowledge that their words and actions would be somewhat disjointedly reported to a small minority of PNGeans thanks to local traditional media and to the one or two pesky foreign-based correspondents, now with a simple Tweet or SMS, messages are flowing from the Highlands to the Islands and are consequently being transmitted to the world.

The tables have turned, and ever so slowly, the PNG government is beginning to realise that the environment is changing. If they haven’t recognized this yet, they have surely felt the effects of the opening up of PNG’s consciousness.

Peter O’Neill’s caretaker term as prime minister since 2 August  2011 hasn’t been the easiest..

He has faced the ongoing constitutional crisis with Sir Michael Somare, the enduring conflict between the executive and the judiciary, the backlash to the polluted actions and questionable statements of his deputy Belden Namah, ongoing land-owner issues with the PNG LNG Project, the sinking of the MV Rabaul Queen, and the Tumbi landslide.

It is a combination of these events, which all hold value as events of national importance and/or significance, and the steady growth of social media users due to improved and affordable technology in PNG, that has seen Peter O’Neill become one of the most, if not the most, accessible prime minister in the history of the nation.

This new found accessibility hasn’t been a proactive policy or strategy, or maybe even choice or wish, of Peter O’Neill. Instead, it has been a reaction to pipol pawa, social media and technology.

Despite O’Neill’s appearance to address the protest march yesterday at Sir John Guise Stadium, plans are already beginning to place if the Prime Minister doesn’t stick to his new pledges of old commitments.

Social media will again play an important role here – and from this point onward in opening up PNG’s consciousness.

New organisation to counter threats to journalists

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

A NEW PAPUA NEW GUINEA MEDIA BODY says it will try to impose a ’blackout’ on media coverage of people or organisations that threaten journalists.

The interim chairman of the PNG Media Workers’ Association, Susuve Laumaea, says it will represent people across the media spectrum, from journalism, public relations and advertising.

He says there’s a need for a body in PNG that can stand up for journalists when they face abuses, and a media ban is not uncommon in other parts of the world.

Mr Laumaea said:

When someone abuses a member of the media and we think that person does not deserve publicity or media coverage we try to talk with the media organisation, the political organisation or trade union or whoever - individuals - [and] give them a blackout so they don’t get publicity.

Sleuthing in the Solomons

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

Devil-Devil by G W Kent is published by Constable and Robinson in the United Kingdom (2011).  I bought my copy from Dymocks for Aus$19.95 ($7.99 from Amazon, Kindle edition)

WHEN YOU LOOK AT A MAP of the South Pacific you can see a neat chain of islands stretching between Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

From the east and travelling northwest there are the big islands of Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Guadalcanal, Malaita, Russell, Isabel, New Georgia, Choiseul and Bougainville.  The history, romance and intrigue that this eclectic mix of nomenclature conjures up are collectively known as the Solomon Islands.

Apart from the big islands there are nearly a thousand others.  The people are mostly Melanesian, like their brothers and sisters to the west and southeast; although there are some Polynesian islands, like Sikaiana, to the north.

The Solomon Islands was half-heartedly administered by the British from the 1920s until it gained its independence on 7 July 1978 - encouraged by and nearly three years after Papua New Guinea.

The incongruity in the equation is, of course, Bougainville, which became part of Papua New Guinea.  No matter how you turn the map around Bougainville looks a lot more comfortable as part of the Solomon Islands.

G W Kent’s novel, Devil-Devil, is set in 1960, just as anti-colonialism is beginning to foment.  There has already been one anti-British-come-cargo cult uprising on Malaita and the languid expatriates throughout the island chain vaguely realise that their days are coming to an end. 

That takes a while though; self- government and independence had a longer and lazier gestation in the Solomon Islands than it did in Papua New Guinea - working up the enthusiasm was obviously hard work there.

Some of the problems in this extended run-up period had similarities in Papua New Guinea, not the least being a disparate collection of widely dispersed tribes.

The main points of friction in all this independence preamble (and aftermath) are the islands of Guadalcanal and Malaita.  Malaita was a target of Queensland blackbirders collecting labourers for the cane fields in the late 1800s. 

The well-travelled Malaitans are smart people who still dominate the public service and business sectors and have a large presence in Honiara, the capital on Guadalcanal.  This friction between the Guales and Malaitans later precipitated the troubles of the 1990s.

The main character in the novel is Sergeant of Police, Ben Kella.  He is a well-educated Lau Malaitan with a contrary streak that upsets his dithering British superiors.  He is also a traditional aofia or peacemaker.  To many of his own people he is simply a “white blackfella”.

The poem 'The National' refused to publish

BY THE ESTATE OF ICARUS

IT WAS THE PASIN OF THE LATE ‘ICARUS’ to share his politically oriented works on PNG Attitude and in the Writers Forum of The National newspaper. (Unfortunately this means the Estate may never benefit from the works, at least financially).

The reason for sharing his good poetry (in the opinion of the Estate) was fairly simple and straightforward: to get readers, writers and thinkers to review the choices they are making about political leaders and leadership in PNG.

The late ‘Icarus’ had submitted several works to the Writers Forum and had provided high praise for their earlier championing of PNG writers and PNG literature.

However, two of his more provocative writing colleagues, Nou Vada and Martyn Namorong, were banned for reasons already reported on in PNG Attitude.

Most disappointingly the icon of PNG literature, poet Russell Soaba, has been banned from The National, hence robbing PNG readers, writers and thinkers of his wisdom and guidance through the very stimulating Soaba’s Storyboard. Thankfully, Mr Soaba has been swept up by the rival daily Post-Courier.

While The National newspaper has its prerogative to accept, reject or hire and fire writers from its pages, the Estate of Icarus finds the recent actions of banning such vocal critics of government and the status quo in PNG to be disturbing at the least and outright scandalous at the worst.

The state of Papua New Guinea is, after all, founded on democratic principles, one of these being the freedom of expression.

The Estate of Icarus questions if this banning is in some way an attempt to ‘kill the messenger’.

So readers may draw their own conclusions, the Estate of Icarus is submitting a poem that the late Icarus sent to the Writers Forum on 1 August 2011, and which was, for reasons unknown, never published.

It follows here.....

PNG media official is 'arrogant and ignorant'

RADIO AUSTRALIA

PAULIUS KORINI, A SENIOR Papua New Guinea government official, has been called arrogant and ignorant after claiming at the Pacific media summit that it's not the media's role to challenge governments.

Mr Korini, deputy secretary of PNG's department of information and communications, told Radio Australia this week that rather than challenge governments the media should work in partnership with them.

Mr Korini called for more responsible reporting by journalists.

But Tongan delegate at the Fiji summit, Kalafi Moala, says he's spoken to other delegates who have seen the transcript of the interview, and they are as angry about it as he is.

“I think if this is the message that he was bringing to PINA it's a wrong message,” Mr Moala said.

“For him to spit it out and to tell media what to do in terms of their job and their objectives, whether they are to challenge government or not to challenge government, whether they should partner with government or not, that is really to me a streak of real arrogance.

“And not only arrogance and ignorance, [it] confirms the whispers that come out of Papua New Guinea concerning that particular government's attitude toward media.”

Mr Moala said Mr Korini’s statement was “more like an edict”.

“The people that have known about it, the statement, have kind of reacted toward it, they're saying my gosh, what do you mean? Do you mean that we're just to be a lap dog that crawls up to the laps of government and basically partners with government and be controlled by government?

“The objective and the reason for media existence, not only in the Pacific but anywhere, and one of our roles is to be able to be a tool or medium to speak truth to power, and that doesn't change.”

‘I will blow you up,’ police officer told reporter

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS has condemned death threats received in Port Moresby by Patrick Talu, a reporter for the Post-Courier newspaper.

Police officers brandishing guns and a hand-grenade threatened him at a meeting between landowners opposed to a controversial gas pipeline project and officials.

“Urgent steps must be taken to a stop this kind of abuse of authority and to ensure that the news media are not in any danger while doing their job of informing the public,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“The government must not only condemn this threatening behaviour by the police and take measures to ensure that those responsible are punished, it must also refrain from issuing statements that could fuel the climate of suspicion and lead to more threats against journalists and to self-censorship.”

Talu was threatened when he went to Unagi Oval district for the meeting between a group of angry landowners and two officials who head the Hela Transitional Authority, chairman James Marape and CEO William Bando.

The pipeline is to be built in Hela, Southern Highlands and Western Highlands provinces.

Talu found himself surrounded by 15 armed police who were part of a special unit flown from Mount Hagen to keep order at the meeting.

During the meeting, the police chased some of the landowners and opened fire on them. When Talu started to film this, the police seized his camera, demanded his press ID, pushed him and told him to leave. One police officer grabbed his mobile phone. Another, brandishing an M-16 rifle and grenade, said: “Go away; I will blow you up.”

Referring to a front-page photo in the previous day’s Post-Courier showing gun-wielding policemen chasing landowners, one of the policemen pointed his rifle at Talu and said: “You newspapers are painting a bad picture of us policemen.”

After the incident, Talu called on police commissioner Kulunga to disarm the rogue policemen and dismiss those who threatened him. He also said he was worried by the government’s tolerance of police abuses.

The incident came a week after the prime minister’s chief of staff, Ben Micah, published a notice in which he warned against “subversive” comments that endanger “the overall security of the nation” and urged “patriots” to be vigilant.

Between the lines of social networking in PNG

BY WERNER COHILL

IT IS A GROWING CONCERN now that social networking is widespread among most young people whether in school or not in Papua New Guinea.

Facebook has become a common social networking site and its membership continues to increase. Most of these young people have become more addicted to it that it often contributes towards their performance in school and increases their vulnerability to other social degrading issues. 

What are the issues at stake with social networking among young people?  What should be done to address social networking among young people?

This article discusses the issues relating to the social networking sites, notably Facebook, as it has become a number one social networking site among most young Papua New Guineans.  The article sheds some light on the advantages of social networking by providing examples. 

But the disadvantages will be emphasized the most because the consequences are far more practical than one expects.  Why should the young people know about social networking?  What should the parents or guardians do and what sort of measures should the Government do in addressing this concern.

Papua New Guinea’s date with destiny has been rapidly replaced in this epoch of globalization: the growing interconnectedness of states through the revolution in information technologies and the global mobility of people.

Social networking alludes to the connectivity between people through the internet.  There are so many different types which are established for different reasons.  For example, one of the uses for their establishment includes finding friends and partners.  Though, dating and finding partners seems not to be as rife in Papua New Guinea as in other countries, the chances for it to gain momentum are increasing. 

The purposes of establishing such network sites may be cunning in some ways because it is all about making money.  Online users get registered through paying their members fees using their credit cards.  The duration of entertainment on such sites depends on how much they have paid for.  This reciprocates the saying ‘money talks women walks’.  This is social networking at its worst and most explicit.

New media book offers many cultural insights

DIVINE WORD UNIVERSITY / PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH

DIVINE WORD UNIVERSITY HAS ANNOUNCED the publication of the book Communication, Culture and Society in Papua New Guinea, Yu tok wanem? edited by Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki of Unitec, Auckland, and Br Michael McManus and Patrick Matbob of the Communication Arts Department of Divine Word University.

This book is a co-publication of Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre and DWU Press in Madang.

DWU says it is pleased to present the work of our young, emerging researchers who write about issues involving mainstream media, the information gap and social concerns, providing space for critical reflection on media, communication and development.

Among the many issues raised in this book are Family violence: Is it just another incident?, Radio: Are we tuned in for development? and HIV/AIDS language: Benefit or barrier?

Young PNG researchers tell us something of their own stories in these chapters. “I grew up in Upa village in the Southern Highlands,” writes Jeffrey Elapa. “I was briefly caught in between two warring clans. This research was a learning ground for me,” writes Brenda Peter.

DWU lecturer Patrick Matbob writes: “To see students transform from being nervous, shy and uncertain to being self-confident is a deeply satisfying experience for me.”

Most of the work presented in these chapters comes from the research dissertations of final year communication arts students under the supervision of Mr Matbob. He writes at length of his experiences of teaching research.

Oh brother, where art thou? Bringing the church to book

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

‘Whispers of the Voiceless’ (2011) by Rev Oala B Arua is published by BGA Consulting Services in Port Moresby.  It runs to about 150 pages. In Australia it can be obtained from Barbara Short for $40, including postage. Email Barbara here

SOMETIMES OUTSIDERS ARE SURPRISED to see how deeply ingrained the churches have become in parts of Papua New Guinea.  This is no more evident than among the Motu-Koitabu people who occupy the coastal areas around Port Moresby.  

Here the church arrived in the form of the London Missionary Society in the 1870s.  That society has since morphed, via Papua Ekalesia and Methodism, into the United Church of Papua New Guinea (UCPNG).

The Motu presently occupy 13 main villages over a stretch of coastline beginning at Manu Manu to the west of Port Moresby and ending 70 kilometres away at Gabagaba to the east. 

Within this strand there are eight adjacent Koitabu villages.  Each village houses about 3,000 people, although the biggest, Porebada, has over 7,000.  Together the Motu-Koitabu number about 60,000 souls.

These people not only encountered the missionaries first but they also bore the brunt of colonisation and its subsequent western-style modernisation, most notably in the form of urbanisation.  Whether they like it or not, the Motu-Koitabu people have been lumbered with the nation’s capital.

Urbanisation is a direct outcome of capitalism and modernisation.  It has positive as well as negative impacts.  The latter includes an emphasis on the individual, which leads to social estrangement and economic inequity. 

In the Papua New Guinea context these developments “mitigate against communal values in a … largely egalitarian society, and in turn give rise to undesirable consequences such as law and order problems”.

These problems come about because neither the norms of the old traditional order nor the norms of the new emergent social order are dominant.  It is a sort of social no-man’s land where rebellion against established society, the breakdown of traditional institutions, deviance from the village community structures and the abrogation of community values governing social relations occur.

“Ignorance of and failure to carry out one’s communal responsibility and unwillingness to fulfil kinship obligations also contribute to other social evils like poverty, that in turn lead to anti-social behaviour.”

Not only have the Motu-Koitabu been subjected to these pressures but they have also become a ‘victim’ community.  Because they house the nation’s capital ‘their land and lives have been encroached from all angles. 

On top of their own village-based social problems they have had to endure a spill over of crime and other problems from the city, particularly via its burgeoning population of settlers.

As everyone knows, the Papua New Guinea government and the Australian administration before it failed pathetically to manage any of the problems of urbanisation in any of Papua New Guinea’s cities.

Thank goodness for the churches you might think.  To this, the Reverend Oala B. Arua, pastor of the UCPNG church in Porebada, would respond, think again!

He says that the Motu-Koitabu people are facing “dire social issues which they need answers for, but the church is not interested … Adherence to the UCPNG’s kind of Christianity is a second culture in Motu-Koitabu society.  Yet the church has stood by and allowed the lifestyle of the people to deteriorate to crisis point up until now”.

It seems that the leaders of the UCPNG are much like Papua New Guinea’s politicians.  They are tied up with policy and grand plans that never seem to come to fruition but are having too much of a good time increasing their girths to care about the ordinary people any more.

The ordinary people, as a consequence, are rapidly losing faith in the UCPNG and other, more progressive and caring denominations, are creeping into the area.

Understandably, Rev Arua says that this must change.  “For once, UCPNG needs to shift her inward-looking, self-pitying perspective towards developing a selfless consciousness.  She must embrace a much broader outlook that recognises the present conditions of our peoples’ livelihood.  Relative poverty and anti-social behaviour directly affects life in our local grassroots communities”.

He suggests that the UCPNG is in dire need of something like the Hebrew concept of shalom, which means ‘peace and wholeness’, so it can participate in improving the socio-economic conditions of ‘the flock under her care’.  In short, the UCPNG needs to become more like the other mainstream churches in Papua New Guinea.

This is a complex and thoughtful book which is well worth reading.  Not only does it explore the particular problems of the Motu-Koitabu people and their UCPNG churches but it also reflects similar problems in other parts of Papua New Guinea. Rev Arua also offers solutions which involve shared responsibility between the church and the government.

The reverend has published the book at some risk to himself because by doing so he has incurred the petty-minded and insular wrath of the UCPNG hierarchy.  This is a beast whose vindictiveness should not be underestimated.

I know this because I have seen it elsewhere, most recently in John Kadiba’s excellent biography, Night Dreams of Passing Memories.

In this sense it is an important book and deserves a wide readership in Papua New Guinea.  My heart tells me that this won’t happen, which is a shame, because Papua New Guinea needs outspoken patriots like the Reverend Oala B Arua.

Social media curbs seen as ‘chillingly totalitarian’

PNG EXPOSED

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Papua New Guinea Institute of National Affairs, Paul Barker, says government attempts to rein in social media are chilling and reminiscent of what would happen in a totalitarian state.

The chief of staff in the prime minister’s office, Ben Micah, says people who spread what he calls subversive material on the internet and through mobile phones are being investigated.

Mr Barker says there have been occasions in the recent political turmoil when malicious or misleading information may have been made public.

But he says if there are concerns people can use the country’s slander and libel laws.

“And if clearly defamatory statements are being made, well people can take legal action to address it,” he says.

“Certainly having effectively threats of a range of state institutions probing private or public internet sites or dialogues on Facebook or SMS or whatever, would seem to be going overboard.”

The article that banned me: tweeting the divide in PNG

BY NOU VADA

This is a story I wrote for the National Weekender and is the story that got me blacklisted from The National newspaper. No hard feelings from me - NV

"HELP @MANGIWANTOK TAKE THE TRUTH about #PNG to #Australia #Deakin University".

That was the tweet I posted on twitter a few days ago along with a link to a story on veteran journalist Keith Jackson's blog PNG Attitude.

It was about Deakin University's invitation to outspoken PNG blogger Martyn Namorong for Martyn to present a paper on PNG and to sit in a panel of experts in a two-day PNG seminar that will be held in Australia.

Keith and I saw the need to make an appeal for assistance in making Martyn's trip happen.

Now Twitter is a micro-blog, a social network like Facebook. But where Twitter differs from Facebook is that Facebook has evolved to become a complete as possible virtual representation of you, while Twitter has stayed to its blogging origins.

This is reflected in your ability to put down anything as your username on your profile whereas Facebook requires that you use your real name in creating your profile.

Twitter's operational philosophy centres around succinctness - the retail, fast-food, over-the-counter, buai stall experience. Convenience by necessity has to translate to succinctness.

Twitter achieves this by making the user experience centre around the tweet. The tweet is the equivalent to a status update on Facebook. Instead of posting or sharing in a Facebook group or page or event, Twitter employs a simple hashtag.

What is a hashtag? If the '#' character is placed before PNG (#PNG), people all over the world on Twitter, the twitterverse as it is called, who have a special interest in PNG will be able to read that entire tweet with its attached link.

The hashtag creates a topic. #PNG was one of the most popular topics in the world at the height of the political impasse in the country. When a topic of interest becomes very popular, the topic, in the Twitter vocabulary is said to ‘trend’.

Now a tweet only permits 140 characters. That is a great difference from Facebook's seemingly limitless allowance in status updates and timeline posts/wall posts.

So, I want to let Martyn Namorong (@Mangiwantok) know that I'm helping in looking for assistance to make his trip happen, and at the same time I am letting people who will read the #PNG, #Australia and #Deakin hashtags that Martyn Namorong (@Mangiwantok) needs help in getting to Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia from his 3 Mile buai stall in Port Moresby from where he sells his buai and does his writing.

By ridding the user experience of tedious barriers, Twitter creates a unique information flow for users that is a mere handful but is effective nevertheless. The reaction from the #Deakin tweet users was very swift.

I started receiving emails from Deakin students and academics seeking information on Martyn's presentation and asking how they could help. I even had an argument with someone on my Twitter profile @nouvada over my mistaken accreditation of Martyn as the person who coined the phrase 'sheeple'.

That single tweet gave @nouvada four new followers. Followers are to Twitter what friends, subscriptions and page likes are to Facebook. You follow people, organisations and products and they can follow you on Twitter.

The humanisation that Facebook champions is kept in a state of suspended animation in Twitter. In a way, this is important. One of the key reasons why there is right now a backlash on Facebook is it's attempt to fully mimic in a virtual environment of the human social experience.

This, of course, can never be achieved in a social network where connectivity is still achieved through the efforts of the lowly mouse and keyboard and their cousin, the touchpad.

Twitter on the other hand, stays true to its string and thread origins. At the end of the day, People from Hanuabada to New York to Tari station to the international space station don't want to forego the actual human experience for an inadequate virtual imitation.

At best, social networks are there to enhance the human experience, not to supersede it, and that is what Twitter stays true to.

Warning to would-be tweeps, though, there aren’t too many Papua New Guineans on Twitter, and if you've successfully integrated Facebook into your life, the Twitter interface and experience will at first seem difficult and mechanical. #giveitatry.

After I sent this the Editor informed me that management had given instructions for the newspaper not to publish anything from me. The stated reason was that I own Edebamona blog. It is also because the Rimbunan Hijau dislikes Martyn Namorong greatly. The writer's lot is not an easy one. The blogger's is just fuck up. Have a nice day, folks

Ameai country

BY LEONARD FONG ROKA

SIKANAI REMOVED HIS UNDERWEAR and hung it on the clothes hook attached to the wall; he slipped into the shower cubicle and turned on the tap.

Cold water poured over his plump body as he gazed admiringly at himself covered with fine droplets of water.

He envisaged making love in the bath and wanted to call his wife but he abruptly saved the thought because he must be in the office early for his appointments. “Anyway, water can be an aphrodisiac, sometimes,” he told himself and laughed.

The morning sun was glaring fiercely, but he strode on past the Arawa Heath Centre. Sick people and visitors alike marched reluctantly in and out of the main gate.

On the main street, leading to the town centre—the market, the fast mushrooming shopping centre and the administration offices—only a few strolled deep in thought over their worries.

There were also a few cars speeding up and down the town roads; their cargoes—those few passengers—looking dull like first-time-in-towns. The air that Sikanai breathed was also empty; absolutely lifeless and somewhat intimidating.

Arriving at his destination—a residential house; renovated and extended into an office building, housing  the Kieta District Administration, the public library and so on—he walked intently up  the flight of steps and was lost at the main entrance as if sucked in by an invisible whirlpool.

Bureaucrat Sikanai sauntered through the dimly lit corridor, his brown eyes sweeping the wall of notices. Nothing interested him much. But his ears absorbed something whose boldness suddenly angered him. He controlled the urge to pummel the speakers to the floor.

Two clients with their backs to him were skimming through a pile of papers indulging in some heavy gossip.  “These officers sit in this fine room and grow themselves pot-bellies, bani pininangka[1],”  The other laughing over the first comment snapped,  “Yes, barau, these crooks—”  He was – to his dismay – interrupted by the clang of Sikanai’s keys as he turned the door knob to his office.

“Eh, mata’ne[2], Sikanai,” one of them greeted him. There was guilt and uncertainty in his tone, he expecting Sikanai’s obvious reaction.

“Tampara[3]. Same to you,” was all Sikanai, with his humble heart could manage as the door closed behind him.

In preparation for meeting the gossiping pair outside he cleared the folders he had left the day before on the table. Then he opened a drawer and pulled out a neat pile of papers to work on and a writing pad to note matters of significance.

He quietly reopened the door. Bending, he placed an empty carton against the door to keep it ajar.

The pair smiled. “Areke e’anangka[4]? Come inside,” Sikanai called lazily letting his gaze drift over their movements and dress before opening the conversation.

Sikanai was Deputy District Manager. In the absence of his seniors any decisions he was to make must be based on merit and within the content of the public policy management frame work he thought. He was there to serve Bougainville and not his kinsmen.

When the pair were seated the elder of the two began, “Yes we came with these papers,” he said, carefully selecting his words, “for you to give us some ideas and further assistance,” He laid the file mechanically on the table.

Sikanai dragged the papers towards him. “What’s this for a’nangka[5]?” he asked, patiently looking at the cover of the typed work.

“Era[6], it’s a proposal for a planned reconciliation between the Mearu’ra and Kokore villagers who fought during the crisis. They have been in regular conflict since then.”  The youngest began his discourse. “So the elder mediators have come up with that and are now in search of government assistance to effect reconciliation.”

PNG’s new media underground has its say

BY ANDREW PASCOE*

THE CARDS SEEM FIRMLY STACKED against optimism on the streets of Papua New Guinea at the moment.

It’s a bad sign in an election year, with little confidence evident that the outcome will correct our Pacific neighbour’s course from the particularly rocky path it’s taken in recent months.

But here — like elsewhere in the developing world where obscene power disparity is mobilising the masses — a wellspring of resistance is brewing.

In the past two years, a plethora of political blogs and Facebook chatter has sprung up, fulfilling a watchdog role the government and mainstream media have been deemed incapable of.

The targets of the new media vanguard are corruption, incompetence, and multinational corporations that get a free ride by the government at the expense of PNG’s downtrodden masses.

Potential for exploitation stands to reach new heights in coming years, with mammoth new projects in the pipeline including ExxonMobil’s $US15.7 billion LNG project in the Southern Highlands, and a growing Chinese interest being courted.

However, a growing web buzz representing savvy, pissed off Papua New Guineans is showing promising signs of being able to hold dodgy corporates to account.

Daily dispatches on Papua New Guinea Minewatch and LNG Watch blogs, for instance, have exposed an alleged whitewash by the government and ExxonMobil over a landslide near its major LNG project last month that killed at least 25 people.

“I want to be a middle man between the government and ExxonMobil, so that the landowners’ grievances about the project cannot be overlooked,” LNG Watch’s Stanley Mamu said. “The landowners at Bougainville had no middle man, and it caused a war.”

Meanwhile, PNG Exposed’s campaign for justice over a ferry that sank in January, claiming 200 lives, contributed to the government ordering an independent investigation into the tragedy. The Act Now! site is taking online activism a step further, galvanising a previously suppressed citizen voice via email campaigns a la Avaaz and GetUp!

But the burgeoning movement’s most prominent force is a Port Moresby betel-nut street vendor.

Martyn Namarong’s politically charged, plain-talking blog gets up to 3,000 hits a day, a not-insignificant figure in a country where only 60,000-70,000 people have Facebook accounts.

In 2011 Namarong Report also became a key source for news media both domestic and international, as its coverage of the January military “coup” by a retired colonel proved.

"I can say that some of us, well particularly myself, shaped the story when the mutiny happened,” Namarong told me in Madang. “I created the Twitter hashtag #pngcoup, and everybody called it a coup. And it wasn’t a coup. We framed it that way because we knew the vast majority of Papua New Guineans would not back it.” Indeed, the attempt fizzled out almost immediately.

The government is slowly coming to grips with the threat: it recently advertised for staff for a social media department, and earlier this month issued a threat that people spreading “misinformation” faced arrest. The anti-censorship backlash was mushrooming at the time of print.

Prime Minister chief-of-staff Ben Micah made the comments “following recent circulation of anti-government information via text messages on mobile phones, email messages and comments being posted on social network site, Facebook … [designed] to destabilise the government’s firm control of the country.”

Is this the beginning of a Melanesian Spring? Namarong thinks Papua New Guinea is not there yet.

"The thing is those ideas haven’t crystallised in people here,” he said. “But internet use is growing, Facebook’s going to grow exponentially, and that change is going to come quicker. I now think if there has to be change in this country, it’s probably going to come in the next five to 10 years."

The people of Papua New Guinea now have the upper hand over all those people who have been cheating them because some of us are willing to, you know, dispel all the bullshit.

*Andrew Pascoe is a freelance journalist from Western Australia. He is currently researching dimensions of civil society in Papua New Guinea

Outrage as government says it will monitor dissent

AAP / ACT NOW! / PNG EXPOSED

THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA GOVERNMENT has launched a crackdown on "subversive" activity on the internet.

It has begun monitoring the internet and is urging citizens to dob in anyone spreading "malicious and misleading" anti-state information online and via text messages.

Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Ben Micah, announced the initiative in the Port Moresby-based The National newspaper yesterday.

"The military, police and the National intelligence Organisation and other pro-government civilian networks are monitoring all attempts to destabilise the government's firm control of the country," Mr Micah said.

"All patriots and law-abiding citizens are required to be vigilant.

"Such misinformation includes any information which you consider to be illegal and detrimental to the peace and good order of your community and subversive to the overall security of the nation."

Mr Micah also referred to anti-government information sent via text message and email, and comments posted on Facebook.

Mr Micah has yet to respond to queries from AAP.

Six telephone numbers have been listed for citizens to call and report so-called suspicious activity.

AAP tried to call all six, but they were either disconnected or rang out.

A police spokesman, who declined to be named, told AAP that no orders had been issued by the government for the monitoring of social networking sites.

"No orders have trickled down at this time and so far the police have no involvement," he said.

Both the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Pacific Media Centre (PMC) say the announcement raises deep concerns over free speech and the rights of individual privacy.

"The statement threatens unspecified punishment for those found to be using personal communications technology in a manner deemed illegal and detrimental," the groups said in a joint statement.

"It appears to criminalise the personal use of phones, email and social networking websites without a clear legal mandate.

"Policies and laws which attempt to censor or punish those expressing themselves online, or via other communications technologies, violate this core principle of democracy."

On the popular PNG Facebook group, Sharp Talk, reactions were similar to those of the IFJ and the PMC.

"Is Ben Micah forgetting that freedom of speech is one of the fundamental pillars of democracy," wrote Samson Metofa.

Alarm among media over monitoring plans

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

A MEDIA ADVOCATE in Papua New Guinea says journalists are shocked and nervous after an official in the office of prime minister, Peter O’Neill, announced that people expressing what he called subversive views would be dealt with.

The official, Ben Micah, said a monitoring committee will be set up to look at the spreading of malicious and misleading information through social media, which he says would be regarded as a serious crime.

The Pacific Freedom Forum’s PNG-based spokesperson, Titi Gabi, says if someone offends under the new edict it is not clear what punishment they would face.

“Well what they have said is anyone that they feel or think is going to say something against them they are going to take action but they don’t specify exactly what action they will take.”

The International Federation of Journalists has also raised concerns about the government’s move.

But an official in the Prime Minister’s office says it is Mr Micah’s personal view and that Mr O’Neill supports a free and open media.

In the past two weeks, several journalists in PNG have been muffled by restraining orders issued at the behest of the government or people closely linked to it.

Half castes & hypocrisy in pre-independent Papua

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK
BOOK REVIEW

‘Ruth’ by Marlene S Lewis. Published by Troubador Publishing under the Matador imprint, Leicester, UK, 2012, (327pp). Available through Amazon

WHEN YOU REACH A CERTAIN AGE unexpected things oft times pop up to remind you of how much the world can change over less than a lifetime.

I’m not thinking so much of physical change, such as advancements in technology, but rather changes in the way people think.  Technological change is, after all, largely superficial and ultimately of doubtful consequence - basically all it does is make it easier and quicker to do the same old stuff.

We are familiar with the good old days and, to a lesser extent, the bad old days.  The poet Marlene S Lewis’ first novel, Ruth, describes some of those halcyon days but more often than not it reminds us of other things in the past with which we might not be so comfortable today.

Ruth is a white school girl brought up on a plantation in Papua in the late 1950s.  During her holidays from boarding school in Australia she falls pregnant to her lifelong friend, Tommy.  To make matters worse Tommy is a half caste.

Lewis’ book follows the trials and tribulations of Ruth as she battles to keep her child back in Australia.  The story interweaves the terrible attitudes to unwed mothers at the time and the unfortunate baggage of inter-racial relations in both Australia and Papua.

At the same time the novel also reveals the cruelty and hypocrisy involved.  My wife is a nurse and she worked at McBrides in Adelaide in the late 1970s where unwed mothers were sent to have their babies.  They never saw their children; the babies were whisked away for adoption straight away.  This is the context in which Ruth’s story is set.

Ruth’s father, to quote her brother, rooted half the village adjacent to their plantation and drove her mother to suicide yet he could not abide the idea of his daughter having relations with a half caste.  That aversion turns out to be deeper and much more sinister than the reader might expect.

At one point Lewis notes that Papuan attitudes (meaning white attitudes) tended to lag a long way behind those on the mainland, meaning Australia.  It brings to mind the adage that the further north one goes in the Antipodes the redder the necks.

Despite the racist jibes and slut tag, Ruth and her dark-skinned son eventually make good in Australia.

Ruth’s redemption reflects that of her biblical counterpart in many ways.  I’m not sure if Lewis did this deliberately but for readers thus inclined it might have extra meaning – exactly what I’m not sure - these sorts of allusions escape me but I thought I’d throw it in for what it’s worth.

As a successful cotton farmer she eventually goes back to Papua on the cusp of independence to sort out the plantation affairs.  There she sees the beginnings of the eventual decline of the country, both morally and physically, and confronts the appalling past of her family head on.  There is a throwaway aside that suggests that independence might have been a bit premature.

I don’t know much about Marlene S Lewis apart from the fact that she came from East Kent in England to Australia as a ten year old migrant in 1965.  She lived in Sydney and worked for a while in rural NSW and Queensland.

I’m not even sure if she has been to Papua; there are a few little things in the book which don’t ring true – geographical things mostly, referring to the Gulf as a province in 1972, talking about the ‘patrol office’, that sort of stuff - but the general reader is unlikely to notice them and they don’t detract from a well-told story anyway.

It is a good book; well-written, free of those annoying typos so prevalent today, and written tightly enough and with a hint of mystery to keep the reader, even us blokes, interested to the end.

Threat to PNG media in current political standoff

RADIO AUSTRALIA

REGIONAL MEDIA WATCHDOG GROUP, the Pacific Freedom Forum, is calling on Papua New Guinea's media to be careful about threats of violence.

In the weeks since the political standoff began in PNG, there have been disputes involving reporters, politicians, soldiers and police.

Last week one reporter had a gun pointed at him and had his reporting equipment confiscated, while the ABC's local reporter was threatened by those involved in the short mutiny.

The Pacific Freedom Forum is calling on media organisation to support their staff.

“It has been quite serious, especially where the radio reporter was threatened to be shot by a very angry and agitated soldier,” said Titi Gabi, chair of the Forum.

“His recorders and mobile phone were confiscated. It became really scary. I mean he was just doing is job.

“It's a really difficult situation right now and on top of that, a lot of [journalists] are very inexperienced, very young reporters, and it's been really stressful for them.”

Social media is shifting PNG political dynamics

BY JO CHANDLER
Sydney Morning Herald [Extracts]

''OMG THE CHIEF JUSTICE WAS SUSPENDED!! WTF!! Landslides! Mutiny! Boat disaster! and now CJ suspension,'' tweeted Martyn Namarong - sometime blogger; sometime thoughtful, award-winning essayist; some-time buai (betel nut) street vendor; one-time medical student and now full-time clarion for the nation's restive youth.

As it has in the rest of the world, social media and the sudden explosion of mobile phone technology is bringing about profound changes in PNG culture, and its impact on politics is only beginning to be explored and understood.

According to Namarong, the arrival of cheap handsets and the penetration of mobile networks into the rural and remote communities, which are home to the majority of the nation's almost 7 million citizens, was critical to the political developments that allowed O'Neill to gain and cling to power despite the Supreme Court finding his government was formed in violation of the constitution.

Asked whether social media has the potential to bring about a revolution in PNG in the same way that it underwrote the Arab Spring, he argues that a ''Melanesian Spring''-style uprising won't happen because the fundamental social dynamics are very different.

The price of bread, he says, is not an issue for the people of PNG, though it galvanised the Middle East. PNG is still largely a population of farmers, fishers and hunters who are accustomed to taking care of themselves and not relying on the state or the markets for survival. ''We are independent people still not integrated with the globalist network.''

Nonetheless, and with a general election looming in four months, social media has the potential to usher in seismic political change - ''in a sense, it has already happened with the Parliamentary coup'', says Namarong. ''I don't think that would have been sustained without the politicians on the O'Neill side knowing that they have support from around the country.''

The failure of the Somare government to deliver desperately needed basic services, and wide-spread concerns about corruption, had seen a festering of anti-Somare sentiment, which the O'Neill camp exploited when the position of prime minister was declared vacant while the Grand Chief was undergoing extended medical treatment in Singapore.

''Essentially what the Parliament did was illegal. But O'Neill knows he has the support of the vast majority of Papua New Guineans, including folks like me.''

The drums of new media feed that confidence, and perhaps influence the police, military and public service chiefs whose loyalty allows O'Neill to maintain his grip on power.

To get a sense of how profoundly, and how rapidly, the information age is changing life in PNG from the ground up, just take a look at information transformation Martyn Namarong has witnessed in his 26 years.

Rebel threat to shoot journalist must be investigated

PACIFIC FREEDOM FORUM

JOURNALISTS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA must be able to report the ongoing political tensions in the country without fear or intimidation, says Pacific media monitoring watchdog the Pacific Freedom Forum, PFF.

Speaking from Port Moresby, PFF chair Titi Gabi has called for an investigation after soldiers at the Murray Barracks in Port Moresby reportedly threatened to shoot PNG FM reporter Tauna George on Thursday 26 January.

George, a resident at the Barracks, had rushed to the front gates to see why shots were being fired. As he approached the main office to request an interview, four soldiers ordered him to sit down, searched him, removed his phone, notebook and biro, and threatened to shoot him.

The matter was raised by PNG FM news director Belinda Kora at a press conference called by ex-army colonel Yausa Sasa the same day. Sasa was taken by surprise, apologised and ordered the return of Tauna's equipment.

"An investigation into the officers who took it upon themselves to threaten the life of a journalist going about his job would help them better understand how to treat civilians and media workers during times of tension and upheaval," says Gabi.

"Anyone who has a gun pulled on them and a threat to shoot is a victim of a criminal act, regardless of timing or who is behind the firearm."

She says other incidents and comments on social networking sites from PNG journalists have raised the need for media workers to "be vigilant of their safety and rights, and lean on the rule of law to help them do the best job possible."

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s  PNG correspondent, Firmin Nanol, was also denied access to a press conference organised the same day. In front of other media colleagues, Nanol was shouted at by Defence Department public relations officer, former journalist Benny Sandeka, who blamed the ABC for using the word 'coup' in reporting last week’s event.

The threats to PNG media in recent days come on the back of increasing incidences of self-censorship and intimidation in recent months within industry ranks. Journalists in the National Broadcasting Corporation and EMTV have noted unusual management decisions delaying or cancelling items for perceived 'imbalance'.

In two cases, talkback callers to an NBC live show were asked on-air if their comments were going to be for or against the O'Neill government. The troubled times for PNG newsrooms are compounded by the current leadership void in the nation’s once strong national media watchdog, the PNG Media Council.

"We encourage our PNG colleagues to discuss and report all acts of intimidation and harassment and promptly make all concerns known to other colleagues in the media," says PFF co-chair Monica Miller, from American Samoa.

"Self-censorship often results when intimidation, threats and silence become an accepted norm amongst journalists. We need to deal strongly and consistently with this on all fronts if we want to remain credible, independent and free."

Feelings of rejection. Or, is AusAID out of Focus?

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

BACK IN SEPTEMBER, after the Crocodile awards in Port Moresby, I thought it would be a good idea to publicise its success a bit more widely.

With that in mind I cast about for possible venues.

Two obvious choices presented themselves.  The first was GR (Good Reading Magazine) in Australia.  It has a wide readership and many influential writers and publishers subscribe to it.

The other was Focus, the magazine of Australia’s overseas aid program, AusAID.  It also has a wide readership, particularly among potential government and private enterprise sponsors.

Both GR and Focus invite submissions for articles and provide email addresses for this purpose.

I duly prepared two articles about the competition.  I tailored each article to fit the different magazine formats.

I was encouraged when the deputy editor of GR contacted me about the article.  I didn’t hear anything from Focus.

The GR article appeared in its bumper December issue.  It ended up towards the back of the magazine and was confined to one page.  As a first attempt I was happy with this outcome, especially when a few GR readers subsequently ordered copies of the Crocodile Anthology 2011.

After a while I forgot about the Focus article.  But I was reminded of it yesterday when I received an email from AusAID advising that my email containing the article and a photograph of the winners had been deleted without being read.

Focus is a propaganda tool for AusAID.  It only contains good news stories.  I thought that an article which included reference to the tremendous assistance rendered to the competition by the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby might please them.

As an occasional writer I am generally inured to rejections; it comes with the territory. 

This one particularly irked me, however, not least because of its arbitrariness.  Most editors at least glance at the cover of a manuscript before tossing it into the bin.

I guess AusAID likes to closely control its good news stories.  Their call for “feedback and ideas for articles” might just be a furphy.

Elites & education: John Kadiba on Ulli Beier

SELECTED BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

This is an extract from a new book by JOHN KADIBA, Night Dreams of Passing Memories.  In view of Martyn Namarong’s recent article criticising elites and education in PNG, it casts an interesting light over how things used to be and how they could be in the future given the right will - PF

I TOOK SOME OF ULLI BEIER’S COURSES in my studies at the University of Papua New Guinea. Ulli had taught English Literature in the developing countries which were colonised by the British, in particular Africa.

While holidaying in London, Ulli responded to an advertisement for a founding teacher to develop and lecture in New English Writing from Developing Countries at the newly established University of Papua New Guinea.

The idea of teaching such an innovative English course greatly appealed to him. He thought that it was a fantastic opportunity to design a literature course for a new university without regard for the academic traditions of England or, for that matter, the traditions of Australia. He thought such academic traditions taught in developing countries, were helping to perpetuate colonialism.

In his courses on literature and creative writing at the University of Papua New Guinea, Ulli taught with great passion. And in turn, his students discovered their passion for experimenting with creative writing connected to their immediate world, and for reading the writings of authors from other developing countries and the black writings from the United States.

Two textbooks that stand out in my mind were the seminal African novel in English, Things Fall Apart by the Nigerian novelist Chunua Acebe, and Another Country by James Baldwin, the black writer from the United States.  At the time, the latter novel was banned in Australia, I presume because of its explosive racial and sexual overtones.

With the exception of one student who became a writer, I and other students went on to pursue different career paths.  Nevertheless, as students, under Ulli’s eager supervision, we wrote plays, poems and short stories. 

And in these writings, some voiced their thoughts and experiences about their traditional cultures, others about politics, yet others about their anti-colonial feelings and race relationships.  And we were all writing in English as a second language.  Some students were more adventurous in the use of English while others were not so daring.

Most of the students’ plays, poems and short stories were published.  Some writers were forceful and explosive in the style of their writing, while others were tame. 

And with Ulli’s help also, the autobiography, Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime by Albert Maori Kiki and the first novel in Papua New Guinea, The Crocodile by Vincent Eri, were produced. 

My interest was in writing short stories.  My most popular story, entitled Growing up in Mailu, appeared in different literary publications in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific and was for a time adapted for radio programs in Papua New Guinea.

Night Dreams of Passing Memories, by John Kadiba, July 2011, ISBN: 9781462849123, available from Amazon.com for $29.99 or contact the publishers on Orders@Xlibris.com.au

New Pacific media research website launched

PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW has launched a new website archiving regional media research dating back almost two decades.

It is a digitally enhanced site taking over from the earlier site established by AUT University five years ago and was designed by Oceania publisher Tony Murrow and Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie, who is also the editor.

“The journal, the only journalism-based research publication in New Zealand and the Pacific, has come a long way since it was founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994,” said Dr Robie.

“It was very under-resourced when it was first established but it created a debate on media issues then not being aired.”

The journal was later published by the University of the South Pacific before finding a permanent home in New Zealand and being relaunched at AUT in 2003.

Pacific Journalism Review Online http://www.pjreview.info/

Source: Pacific Media Watch Press Release

Internet emerges as a force in the PNG media

BY KEITH JACKSON

IT HASN’T BEEN A GREAT YEAR for The National newspaper in Papua New Guinea.

Owned by logging giant Rimbunan Hijau, The National has often seemed to be a bit, well, shall we say, tentative, in its reportage of RH’s multiple business interests.

And the organ has also shown some enthusiasm about litigation in dealing with its critics, especially rival newspaper, the Post-Courier.

Then there was the Malum Nalu incident, where The National’s senior reporter and blogger travelled to Pomio to cover a Greenpeace action against a timber ship and seemed to confuse his role as a journalist with RH’s business interests.

Not to mention the anonymous, obscene and manic email campaign against RH critics (especially women) which RH and The National, to the best of our knowledge, have never distanced themselves from despite public requests to do so.

Now the PNG social media is alive with what is being termed “The National's war on the O'Neill-Namah government.”

The PNG Exposed blog and other channels are reporting that Brian Gomez, a publicist associated with Arthur Somare, has been used by The National to deliver broadsides “to make sure the new O'Neill-Namah Government is covered in bad news”.

And who dropped this gem into the public arena? Well it seems it was a no less authoritative source than The National’s own journalists, clearly angered by the situation.

PNG Exposed reports that “some National journos are talking about going to TI [Transparency International] but are worried about losing jobs. They said Gomez has been brought up from Sydney to do the dirty work because no-one else will.”

Over the last couple of years, the social media have emerged as a considerable force in PNG national affairs.

Now they are beginning to exert real pressure on those who might choose to err.

Symposium on historical Papua New Guinea film

BY DON HOOK

A SYMPOSIUM ON Maslyn Williams’ historic film New Guinea Patrol will be held at the Australian National University in Canberra on Friday.

The film, released in 1958, recorded the experiences of a government patrol north west of Tari in the Southern Highlands, including the first contacts made by patrol officers with local people.

At the time, it was described as the film that had been “crying out” to be made following extravagant media reports about the discovery of the ‘Shangri-la’ or Lebani Valley by a petroleum prospecting patrol in 1954.

From 1955, a series of exploratory patrols led by James Sinclair set out to extend control over the area.

The convener of the one-day symposium, Dr Jane Landman, researches film history with a special interest in Australian films made in the Pacific.  She teaches media studies at Victoria University, Melbourne.

The program includes a panel discussion with James Sinclair, and a paper entitled North West of Tari by Chris Ballard, an ANU historian with an interest in the history of colonial encounters in PNG. 

He has long-term field experience in the Tari-Koroba region where New Guinea Patrol was filmed.

Full program details: www.vu.edu.au/events/new-guinea-patrol-one-day-symposium

Venue: Seminar Room A, Coombs Building, ANU, starting at 9.30am

A story of hardship addressed and challenge met

BY GORDON SHIRLEY

Night Dreams of Passing Memories, by John Kadiba

AS THE DUST JACKET of this autobiography points out, this is a unique life’s history of a Papua New Guinean man, John Kadiba; born on the Sogeri Plateau of the Central Province just after World War II and now a resident of Darwin in northern Australia.

The book tells of John’s village childhood, his schooling, his western education and his subsequent life experiences, including family tragedies and serious issues with employers in his former church.

It is an extremely well written autobiography with a simple elegance that is captivating. Certain passages of the book are allegorical and the author has used a number of literary devices which one doesn’t normally associate with autobiographies.

In moving from the autobiographical “fact” into the magical realm of the imagination, he uses soliloquy, flashback and juxtaposition very effectively. The imagery of the narrative is enhanced because of these techniques.

This is very much a bicultural story. The writer’s use of vernacular language clearly illustrates his connection with his own PNG people. He discusses in detail the challenges he faced trying to adapt to the intrusive western influences that confronted him over a number of decades.

Some of these, particularly in the author’s former church, were very confronting. But John Kadiba prevailed.  He is a “self-made man”, clearly not the “half-baked bean” as some colonial skeptics labelled him in 1970.

As one of the first graduates of the University of Papua New Guinea, he and others were viewed with great suspicion by many white people residing in PNG in the colonial era.

I recommend John Kadiba’s book to anyone who appreciates a story that depicts triumph over adversity.

It is a story told with quiet pride and which places great emphasis on the value of family. It is a story that could have been told with rancour – but there is no evidence of this.

Hopefully many young people in PNG will gain access to this fine autobiography.

They could learn a lot from it, as could their young Australian counterparts.

Night Dreams of Passing Memories, by John Kadiba, July 2011, ISBN: 9781462849123, available from Amazon.com for $29.99

Steven Dupont’s images of Papua New Guinea

Over the past six years, Stephen Dupont has travelled to Papua New Guinea a number of times, photographically documenting the powerful impact of globalisation on the fabric of Melanesian society.

From the effects of violence and lawlessness in Port Moresby to the westernisation of traditional society in the Highlands, raskols and singsing is an in-depth study of cultural erosion as well as a celebration of an ancient people.

You can view, and purchase if you want to, some of his spectacular images here.

Photo: Raskol Andy Kei and home-made pistol

70,000 books delivered by Buk bilong Pikinini

BY EMMA MACDONALD

A CANBERRA MOTHER with a passion for reading has helped deliver more than 70,000 children's books to Papua New Guinea in an effort to combat the country's crippling illiteracy rate.

The idea for the charity Buk bilong Pikinini - roughly translated as ''books for children'' - hit Anne-Sophie Hermann in 2006, shortly after she arrived in PNG for a three-year posting with her husband, then Australian high commissioner Chris Moraitis.

Ms Hermann, a Danish-born self-confessed bookworm, was teaching her 14-month-old daughter to read and was disturbed to find there were no libraries in Port Moresby.

Ms Hermann banded with the wives of other diplomats and foreign contractors and put out the call to Australia for ''gently-loved second-hand books'' while securing free shipping and financial donations worth more than $500,000.

Four years later, Buk bilong Pikinini last week opened its eighth library in PNG, with another five in the planning stages. It employs 27 full-time staff and is teaching some of the estimated 680,000 school-aged children who are not enrolled in formal education how to read.

When PNG gained independence from Australia in 1975, there were 32 libraries in Port Moresby alone, but these have all but disappeared, with the state of school libraries also in steep decline.

While dismayed by the lack of books, Ms Hermann was heartened by the fact that the local children who played with her daughter were ''just as excited and switched on to the books I had for her as any child''.

A sponsorship deal with Oxford University Press has ensured new titles have also been delivered to the children.

A reading program is conducted in all Buk bilong Pikinini libraries, with a syllabus especially developed for PNG children. It focuses on letter and number recognition, phonics, pencil grip and attention skills.

Libraries have been established in locations where children naturally congregate - next to market places, health clinics and a hospital.

Ms Hermann said literacy and health issues were closely linked and the charity was also working with health organisations to promote health messages to children.

Donations can be made at www.bukbilongpikinini.org

Source: The Canberra Times, 31 October

Sir Thomas Ritako – a great servant of the public

BY EDWARD P (TED) WOLFERS

ALTHOUGH I CANNOT, unfortunately, be with you today, my thoughts are certainly with you and others attending the official launching by Right Honourable Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare of Sir Thomas Ritako’s autobiography, Arise Sir Thomas.

Like many others, I am sure, my feelings are mixed – joy that the book written by our mutual friend, the late Sir Thomas Ritako, which he was so looking forward to seeing published, has finally appeared;  and sorrow that the author cannot be present to share in the occasion.

Sincere thanks and congratulations to you, Lady Ruby, for your persistence; Right Honourable Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare for helping to fund publication and then officially launching the book; Ambassador Wasangula Noel Levi for a Preface which pays tribute to the author’s strong character and impressive achievements; Dr Bernard Minol for his work on the manuscript;  and the University of Papua New Guinea Press and Bookshop for publishing the book.

As one who was privileged to know, work alongside and enjoy the company of the man whom I always knew simply as Tom – and then to be honoured by his kind invitation to write a short Introduction to his autobiography – the present occasion brings back many fond memories of my late friend. 

The first time we met and then worked together was when I taught for a short time at the Administrative College, soon after Tom was appointed a Training Officer there in 1965. 

Our paths subsequently crossed as Tom took up a variety of senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as it then was – in the Immigration Division, and subsequently as Ambassador to the Philippines and High Commissioner to New Zealand – and, in between, as Acting Secretary for Defence. 

Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare was a student at AdCol when Sir Tom and I first met there (I was replacing the late Sir Cecil Abel for a short time, while he was on leave). The Chief’s role in facilitating publication and now in launching the book adds very particular, personal meaning to the present occasion. 

It also underlines a very important point: here we have a leader and author of one of the earliest books by a member of what is now widely known as the independence generation, Sana by Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, launching the story of another.  It is additionally apt that the book is being launched at an institution where the late Sir Tom contributed much in his role as Warden of Students: UPNG.

Arise Sir Thomas is a valuable addition to the few works by Papua New Guineans on a critical period in Papua New Guinea’s modern history – the transition to independence and the subsequent government and development of the country. 

It contributes to the history of the independence generation in a unique way.  Others whose books we can read entered politics within a few years of leaving AdCol, as in the case of the Chief, and the late Sir Maori Kiki, or eventually went on to hold the highest public office in the country, as in the case of Sir Tom’s former colleague and friend, Grand Chief Sir Paulias Matane, the author of more than 40 books of his own.

Sir Tom remained a public servant throughout, a man who was responsible for giving practical effect to such complex and sensitive matters as Papua New Guinea’s migration and citizenship laws, and managing such demanding, public assignments as the official opening of the National Parliament House in 1984. 

On books and reading. Who let the bookworms out?

BY GANJIKI D WAYNE

I’VE COMMENTED BEFORE on reading in Papua New Guinea and I’d like to do so again because I think it is such an underrated activity.

For most Papua New Guineans, reading is a hard, laborious and boring activity.

We’d rather chew our betelnut and carry on with mindless chatter with our equally narrow-minded peers, or watch a movie that stimulates none of the imaginative and creative power of the brain, or allow desperate songwriters to shape our thinking by listening to their garbage.

Reading is just not a PNG thing.

And perhaps, in our access to social network and blogging, we have worked ourselves into a false sense of security—that reading short comments and blogs is sufficient reading—besides, this way we can challenge the author right? And feel good about ourselves!

The few times I see my fellow PNGeans reading a book, be it on the bus commuting or at a park or wherever, it thrills me. It’s thrilling because it’s such a rare sight.

One day while sitting and waiting for an appointment outside our Revenue Haus, I was reading a Robert Ludlum novel. An expatriate stopped, checked out the title of my book and asked me where I got it. After I told him he simply said: “It’s rare to see PNGeans reading...”

Things like Facebook and blogs and the newspapers are huge hits with our people. I daresay we delight in reading junk (or snippets of junk).

We seem to have such a short attention span that we can tolerate newspaper articles, blogs and feedback comments...but great books by great authors are not at all in our scope of interest.

It’s even occurred to me that while most PNGeans like to posses knowledge, we hate learning. Have you ever wondered how odd it was for flunking Uni students to go riot over the grading system?

Wantok Radio Light comes over heavy in PNG

BY MARLA BENDER & RALPH KURTENBACH

AS WANTOK RADIO Light (WRL) prepares to add two new stations to its growing network in Papua New Guinea, listener response is escalating.

The network’s evening announcer whose program airs on more than a dozen stations received 3,000 text messages a month last year. This year the number has jumped to 15,000.

The partner ministry began 10 years ago in Port Moresby through a cooperative effort of the Evangelical Bible Mission and the PNG Bible Church.

WRL developed an ambitious plan to establish 30 FM stations throughout the country. This year WRL hopes to take a giant step toward this goal by commissioning 10 additional repeaters, bringing the total to 23.

So far, repeater stations have been established in more than a dozen locations. Christian programming from the main station in Port Moresby is sent via satellite and is rebroadcast by the repeaters.

US engineer Alan Good has returned to PNG to repair five transmitters after assisting with WRL’s initial installation in 2002 and installing six more stations while living with his wife in PNG from 2005-07.

“Something special is happening over the airwaves of PNG,” said Pawa Warena who directs Wantok Radio Light, adding that he dreams of nationwide coverage.

“We are asking God to increase the number of souls being saved from three to five a day to 10 every day,” he added.

“God is faithful, but we also need to increase the number of stations so that many more can be saved.”

Photo: Engineer Alan Good with two Bougainvillean employees in Buka

Source: HCJB Global, 16 September
http://www.hcjb.org/HCJB-Global-News/15000-text-messages-per-month-sent-to-partner-network-in-papua-new-guinea.html

Days we knew that others care not about

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

‘Tales and Memories of Papua New Guinea’ by Peter Comerford, self-published

THIS IS AN interesting collection of short stories, memoirs and then something in between. The style is straightforward and unpretentious; there are no literary subtleties to detract from the simple narratives.

While the subject matter ranges over many of the things familiar to most expatriates who spent time in Papua New Guinea there are also unusual events to spark the interest.

The kiaps-versus-the-rest cricket match, digging up old wartime bombs, finding skeletons of Japanese soldiers and the antics of grizzled old crocodile hunters are mixed with memories of being the only expatriate patient in the surgical ward of the Port Moresby General Hospital, swimming with sharks and thundering around in a helicopter gunship on Bougainville as Major Jerry Singirok’s unofficial photographer.

The author was a teacher who worked on New Ireland from 1970-74, left to travel overseas with his wife, and then returned in 1980 to teach at Popondetta and later at Panguna on Bougainville until the war forced him to leave in 1990.

I had a bit of trouble sorting fact from fiction here and there; a more judicious ordering of the various pieces might have helped, but this is only a minor point.

Like a number of recent publications about Papua New Guinea, the target audience is not large and you really have to be in the know to be appreciative.  I understand Peter’s family arranged for the publication without letting on to him.

These sorts of stories and reminiscences have become a distinct Papua New Guinea literary genre of late, particularly with the opportunities afforded by digital publishing.

I guess Trevor Shearston started it off with his Something in the Blood.  Whether they will survive beyond the “family” as enduring historical documents is hard to tell.

The first introductory story in the collection is less than a page long.  It is worth repeating for the chord it strikes.  It’s called Maus Gras.

“So you were in New Guinea were you?  You must be glad to be back in Australia.”  There was a pause in the conversation. 

“Yeah.  I had a mate who went up there for a stint.  Couldn’t wait to get back.  Hated the place.  Oh he said the social life was great and he packed away a bit of cash but wasn’t sad to see the end of the place.  He did his two years and got to heck out of it. 

“Worth it though he reckoned.  He’s got a nice house in Cherrybrook.  When were you up there?  You may have met him.  His name’s Jim Bell.  Old Ding Dong we call him.  Top bloke.  I think he was in Port Moresby.”

“No, I don’t know the name,” came the reply followed by nodding of the head.  “When was he up there?”

“Oh a few years ago ... after they became independent ... I’d say about 1984.”

“No, I don’t know the name.”

“How long were you up there ... a couple of years?”

“Oh ... quite a while.  I first went up in the mid 1960s.  I’ve only been back a couple of years.  I was on Bougainville ... when Bougainville was evacuated.  My children were all born up there.  We loved it.”

Then came silence ... the familiar silence and blank stares that accompany disinterest.

“We really miss it.  I suppose we were fortunate that we had always been in out of the way places and outstations.  Being a teacher I think made it special as it gave you opportunities to visit villages and get to know the people.”

No response.  No one was listening and now several conversations were in progress.  It was always the same.

How many of you have had that experience?

Getting down to earth about expat life in PNG

The Papua New Guinea & Port Moresby Expat Survival Guide is billed by author TOM HENRY as “a must read if you plan on working in PNG”.  Here’s an executive summary….

The Papua New Guinea & Port Moresby Expat Survival Guide, $27, ISBN 978-971-94601-7-6).  Available for electronic download from http://www.pngexpats.com/

Part 1: The Papua New Guinea & Port Moresby Expat Survival Guide starts out by covering the information you need on PNG itself; the people, food, history and culture - all important knowledge for those visiting or working in png.

Knowing these facts about this fascinating country will help you to understand how the country runs -- and help you to avoid some common expat blunders and help you to fit into the life here a little easier. Think of part 1 as a quick ‘PNG Culture 101’ lesson – forming the first part of your PNG Expat Survival course.

Part 2: For those in expat jobs, moving to another country often involves having to check through reams of bureaucratic legalese - written in such a way that it is often only understandable to those with a law degree.

So, in Part 2 the guide cuts through the reams of official government and company ‘legalese.’ It starts by explaining in plan English what different types of expat work contracts are common for the expat jobs in PNG, and what these contracts involve.

Too many expatriates come to Papua New Guinea not understanding that the work contract they accept sets the parameters of the lifestyle they can realistically have – both in PNG and from the money they send back to their home countries.

The guide gives you what may be eye-opening insights into what is realistically available for expatriates, both those who are working in Papua New Guinea full-time on resident contracts, and for those who only spend part of their time in country, working rotational shift contracts.

The guide then goes on to explain, (in English understandable even to us mortals without law degrees), the different types of visas and documentation you need for entering and working in Papua New Guinea, both for the various expat jobs, and for non-working spouses and children. It then goes on to explain what you should bring, (and why you should bring it), and what you shouldn’t bring (and why you shouldn’t bring it).

Part 3 of the Papua New Guinea & Port Moresby Expat Survival Guide covers what you, as an expat really need to know and understand both before and immediately after arrival. Whatever your expat job, this includes what you need to know and check before signing a work contract…  what you need to do and considered prior to arriving in PNG… when moving you family or belongings to and from PNG… and what you need to understand during your settling in period.

By learning these topics - and taking note of the tips learned from other expats hard experience, you will save yourself many unpleasant surprises, suffer less frustration, and avoid many of the mistakes and problems common to those who chose life as an expat in PNG.

You will also learn the truth about available expat housing and the general housing packages available for the different types of expat jobs in PNG -- resident and rotational, as well as what you must check to avoid the pitfalls - especially before signing your work contract or bringing your family to live in Papua New Guinea.

You will also learn about important local security and personal safety issues… why these are so important when working in Papua New Guinea… and actions to take to reduce the chances of having to be too worried about your safety. Health and medical information chapters are also in part 3.

These forewarn and hopefully forearm you, so you can take the actions required to prevent any needless mishaps - simply through heeding some suggestions from other expats experiences. In the hot and steamy climate, this is all crucial advice in keeping yourself and your family happy and healthy while you’re living and working in Papua New Guinea.

Everyone has to eat, and knowing what to expect – the good, the bad, (and in PNG, frankly the sometimes downright ugly), may well prevent you upset and frustration when dinning or shopping while in Port Moresby and elsewhere in Papua New Guinea.

Part 3 ends with some basic but important business information, including office and shop hours, banks, using local ATMs and currency exchanges, local mobile phones, the types of driving licenses available in PNG - and how to obtain them, traveling around the country, (an important topic itself for many expat jobs). Knowing this information is essential for your life as an expat working in PNG.

Part 4 delves deeper into life as an expat working in PNG. A host of helpful knowledge and experience to aid you and your family fit into the local expat lifestyle – without too many bumps in the road.

Coverage begins by explaining with light humour how you should dress and treat local people in various social and work situations. This is followed by some plain talking words of wisdom on matters of the heart, (or more truthfully, a somewhat smaller organ lower on the body that has caused problems for so many expats not used to local ways).

Finance, the cost of living in PNG -- and how much you need to budget for monthly outgoings follows next, along with some practical and effective ideas on how you can reduce your overall monthly cash needs - without downgrading your life as an expat.

More truths are revealed with some down-to-earth local knowledge on dealing with PNG domestic staff - after all, life as an expat wouldn’t be the same if domestic help were not around to make life easier (at least sometimes). an re

Tom Henry spent four years as the HRD Manager for a drilling company in PNG.  Here he developed and performed PNG country orientation programs for hundreds of expats

ceived national and international acclaim for his work

The grief & joy of commitment to a noble task

BY KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

The World At My Door by Marshall Lawrence, Guardian Books, 2010, 272 pages, $17.95, ISBN: 978-1-55452-510-2.  Order here.  Also available as an Apple ebook

MARSHALL LAWRENCE and Helen, his wife, came to Papua New Guinea in 1968 and lived in the remote Oksapmin area of the Enga Province until they left with their four Oksapmin groomed sons in February 1993.

They had come to PNG with the Summer Institute of Linguistics to study language, translate, administer and train.  Now Marshall Lawrence has written a fascinating book, The World At My Door.

When told of the book by Phil Fitzpatrick, I searched for and got in touch with Lawrence at his retirement home in Oche Bay, Canada. He mailed me a copy of The World At My Door.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. It is a great piece of writing. I had a good laugh at some scenes and was equally sad and sympathetic in other places.

The book reminds me of the film The Gods Must Be Crazy (1981) starring Nixau (Kalahari Bushman), Marius Weyers and Sandra Prinsloo. It diligently tells of how the Oksapmin people gradually experienced and accepted new ideas, just like Nixau encountered in the Gods.

On the other side, Marshall and his family were exposed to a different world with its own intrinsic and aesthetic elements that they courteously threaded into their own lives to be accepted in that society.

Marshall was called Maso in the Oksapmin language and Helen was treated as another Oksapmin woman who does the chores expected of the Oksapmians.

Soon they and their children learn to hunt, contribute to bride prices and mediate disputes about marriage, polygamy, burial of the dead and pig herding.

Another amusing part is the misinterpretation of the Bible and God on occasions by the newly-trained Oksapmin pastors, influenced by their own upbringing.

The Marshall family was soon Oksapmin by definition. The book is humorous and it is sad – carried along by the ignorance and curiosity that occur when two dynamic worlds meet.

In those early days, both Marshall and Helen lost close family members in Canada while they tried to adapt and survive on the top of that remote Oksapmin knoll surrounded by forests. 

They received mail from Canada informing them of events including loved ones departing to the next world.

Devoid of the internet, the news reached them two or three months after the events had happened. This was painful and at times they wondered what the hell they were doing in that dark corner of the world when family members are supposed to be together during tough times.

However, the Oksapmin people can smell grief and unhappiness and they helped as much as possible to lift the hearts of the Lawrence family,even though they couldn’t fathom mourning in a Canadian way.

All you aspiring writers, especially highlanders, need to get a copy of this book. You will see the scenes in your mind’s eye and love every page because most of you were born and raised in those mountains.

John Middleton & the unique Karkar experience

BY DAVID WALL

My Life on Karkar Island - John Middleton with James Sinclair. ISBN: 978186333320, 367 pages b&w & col photos + maps. Published 2011 by Crawford House, PO Box 50, Belair SA 5052 $39.95 + $11.00 postage

THIS IS A TALE about the intriguing and interesting Middleton family told by its present senior member, Sir John Middleton.

It is a chronicle of the ups and downs of the Middletons and their habitat, Karkar Island, all started by Max, John’s father, last century and continuing with his children and grandchildren.

Sir John’s easy conversational style of writing coloured with the obvious amusement he has with the antics of human behaviour gives the reader rare insights into PNG’s colonial and post-colonial life.

Much of the book is documented oral history and the remarks and comments by James Sinclair create a historical framework that puts the lives of the Middletons in focus in a continually changing social and political situation in Papua New Guinea.

William Maxwell Middleton, known as Max, created the plantation empire on Karkar and it has more or less survived in spite of war and political and social changes.

John, his son, extended the family’s influence beyond the confines of Karkar to the larger sphere of an emerging independent PNG. He’s received the accolades of a grateful nation.

But this book isn’t just a social history but an amusing read written by a gifted raconteur with a twinkle in his eye. Highly recommended.

Source: Deberigny Blog, 7 September
http://deberigny.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/my-life-on-karkar-by-john-m-middleton

An attitude more akin to a leprosy ward

This article by DAVID KITCHNOGE was published as a comment in PNG Attitude yesterday but merits more prominence as a lucid explanation of why Papua New Guinea’s relationship with Australia fractured after independence….

WE WILL FOREVER be grateful to Australia for granting us our independence on a golden platter and for its continued financial assistance. Make no mistake about that.

However, I believe (with the benefit of hindsight) that the reason PNG has regressed over the years is not because of financial constraints but more so due to ill discipline in financial and operational management.

We do not need more money than we already have. We can do a lot more with what we have but for incompetence, inefficiency and downright corruption. Our issue is not about the quantity of financial resources but rather the quality of our spending.

And this is where I think the close relationship between our two countries could have been exploited better.

After granting us independence, Australia simply shut the doors on our face and kept pouring in money and expected us to somehow build a modern PNG just at the dawn of our emergence from a largely traditional lifestyle.

More people to people engagement would have been better as this would have immensely helped in shaping the mindsets of Papua New Guineans and help us to see the world from a modern perspective.

A relationship similar to what New Zealand has with other smaller Pacific Island countries.

It has sadly taken us more than three decades to finally become aware of the differences between a modern state driven by a cash economy and a traditional community driven by a barter economy.

I think we will get better from here on. But Australia would have helped us cross that bridge much quicker had it not been for its attitude towards PNG as a leprosy ward.

Wantok - no office ‘but tons of vision’

BY HENRY YAMO

THE WEEKLY TOK PISIN newspaper Wantok has been described as the longest surviving vernacular publishing icon in the South Pacific since its humble beginnings in 1969.

Although not the first to be published in Tok Pisin, this newspaper has stood the test of time and is now the only pidgin paper in circulation today.

Dr Philip Cass highlighted this in a seminar at Auckland University of Technology's Pacific Media Centre. Born and bred in PNG and now postgraduate program leader of communication studies at Unitec in Auckland, Dr Cass said the newspaper was the result of tireless efforts by Fr Frank Mihalic, whose name is commonly associated with the newspaper.

“Fr Mihalic started the paper with literally nothing – no printing press, no journalistic experience, no office, no funds – but tones of vision, commitment, drive and enthusiasm,” he said.

“Without Fr Mihalic, there would be no Wantok newspaper in PNG today. Although the idea of a newspaper was not his, Fr Mihalic created Wantok.”

His work was supported by then Vicar Apostolic of Central New Guinea, Bishop Leo Arkfeld, who was equally committed and visionary in wanting to see the newspaper come into being and serve the needs of the ordinary people – reading and writing in Tok Pisin.

Fr Mihalic believed the purpose of the paper was to educate.

The newspaper has played a significant role in the spread of a common Tok Pisin vocabulary and way of speaking the language and boosting development through common communication in a society where Tok Pisin differed greatly from region to region.

Wantok was targeted at the grassroots people and during its early years it devoted a great deal of attention explaining the changing political scene and basic concepts in a language that was gradually becoming common to the readership, Dr Cass said.

Fr Mihalic started work on Wantok in 1967, a time when 24 other Tok Pisin publications – either from the churches or the government – were already in circulation in PNG. None survived – but Wantok did.

The first issue of Wantok rolled out of the Wiriu printing press in Wewak on 5 October 1970 after then Speaker of the House of Assembly, the late Sir John Guise, pressed the button to start the press rolling.

The paper, which in the early days carried the slogan “Read it before you smoke it”, is truly a remarkable newspaper that is older than the nation it serves today.

Pacific Media Centre director, associate professor David Robie, praised Fr Mihalic’s “extraordinary contribution to the cultural and media life” of a dynamic developing nation.

Apart from creating Wantok, Fr Mihalic, who died in 2001, wrote the Tok Pisin dictionary for PNG, translated the Constitution into Tok Pisin, wrote 30 books and educated some of the top journalists in the country today.

Source: Pacific Scoop.  Henry Yamo from the Southern Highlands is a postgraduate communication studies student at AUT University.  Photo: Media academic Dr Philip Cass with the popular comic character Phantom as published in Wantok

Pacific public broadcasters seek foreign aid

BY ANDY SENNITT

A GROUP OF public broadcasters in the South Pacific have joined forces with a key aim of coordinating their requests for foreign aid.

The Pacific Association of Public Service Broadcasters was set up in July at a meeting in Vanuatu and brings together NBC Papua New Guinea, SIBC Solomon Islands, TBC Tonga and VBTC Vanuatu.

One of their main objectives is to collaborate on requests to foreign countries and aid agencies for money to fund digital broadcasting, new equipment, staff training, infrastructure and much more.

All four broadcasters are facing increased competition from local commercial stations and losing market share. They have started their efforts by signing a Friendship and Cooperation Agreement, and are now drafting the constitution, regulations and policies of their new organisation.

“The challenges faced by the four broadcasters reflect those of fellow public service broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, where tough economic conditions have already frozen or reduced budgets” says Radio Heritage Foundation chairman, David Ricquish.

“Expect their increased requests for foreign aid to be met by a closer look at their efficiency, their governance and whether or not their programs and services continue to meet contemporary listener expectations and needs” he added.

“Whether there remains a role for public broadcasters in these relatively small Pacific economies is a key issue.”  

Mr Ricquish said it’s good to see them taking a collective approach to these challenges, and take responsibility for their own futures.

Source: Radio Heritage Foundation

Bert Kienzle: the architect of Kokoda

A QUIETLY DIGNIFIED and modest man, Bert Kienzle’s mammoth contribution to Kokoda and Papua New Guinea, before, during and after World War II, has gone largely unnoticed.

While Bert was alive, several historians approached him offering to help him tell his remarkable story but he refused and after he passed away in 1988 his children rued that his remarkable story had not been written.

Time passed with great intentions but no action until in 2006 when Robyn Kienzle’s husband took their two daughters to walk the Kokoda Trail and was dismayed at the state of Bert’s old home and of the Kokoda Track tourism industry.

The trail being walked was not the original war trail, places were incorrectly named and Bert was barely acknowledged at all. The time had come to set the record straight.

Robyn is not and has never claimed to be a military historian. She tells Bert Kienzle’s amazing story through recollection of his family, interviews, personal papers and army archives and in The Architect of Kokoda reveals many previously unstated facts.

This is the story of a man who had an extraordinary life from start to finish. It attempts to portray who he was, how he became who he was and what he achieved during his life.

During Bert’s time at Kokoda it was a thriving outstation of Papua. Before the war he developed a successful gold mining industry there. After the war he provided the lifeblood for Kokoda with his rubber and cattle estates that covered 10,000 acres in the fertile Yodda Valley.

During the World War II he earned accolades like “the man who blazed the Kokoda Trail” and “the King of the Angels”.

The pre World War II chapters try to paint the picture of a man who grew up to be resilient, to be philosophical about the vagaries of life and to understand people of different cultures.

The World War II chapters try to give a detailed account of Bert’s experiences and massive contribution to the success of the Kokoda Campaign.

The post war chapters show that he never stopped. Despite tragedies, setbacks and seemingly insurmountable odds, he soldiered on.

Robyn Kienzle says: “My five years of research and resolve have paid off and my biography of my father-in-law, Bert Kienzle, has been published. I am told by the publishers I have done him justice. I hope if you read it you will agree.”

‘The Architect of Kokoda’ by Robyn Kienzle is published by Hachette Australia on 26 July - $35

Radio in PNG is really on the move

BY DAVID RICQUISH

ONE OF THE MOST fascinating countries for international shortwave radio listeners continues to be Papua New Guinea, mainly because it has some 20 locally operating shortwave stations and also because they seem to operate in a kind of information black hole.

But PNG is much more than shortwave radio.  Let’s start with a radio station that began broadcasting around ten years ago, so it’s a relative newcomer, Wantok Radio Light, sometimes known as the Christian Broadcasting Network.

In late 2010 they completed a full upgrade of satellite receivers for their existing network of FM stations, and in 2011 they’re adding around ten more FM outlets as part of their radio licence conditions.

A new radio licensing authority has been increasing the pace of change recently. The two main mobile phone operators have to expand their services, first on a regional basis, then through a series of ever smaller geographical markets until even the smallest rural village has full coverage including broadband technology.

This is creating a major change for radio services. Firstly, it’s building the infrastructure from which FM radio signals can be broadcast, and many of the high mountainous tower locations allow coverage of between 100 and 200 kilometres.

Secondly, the young people buy subsidised mobile phones with built-in FM receivers, and these are now the primary way of listening to local radio. In Port Moresby for example, which has a population of 350,000, there are now some 15 different FM brands competing for an audience.

Thirdly, new FM licences are being issued to replace older ones, and these have specific dates by which planned network expansion must be completed. They often follow the expansion of the mobile phone tower infrastructure rollout, which in turn is being done at the same time as the national power authority upgrades its power supply systems.

What’s causing this boom in infrastructure investment? Mining, oil and natural gas are being developed by Australian, Chinese and North American companies, and highways are being built across the rugged landscape as much as superhighways are being built across the skies using satellites, broadband and new FM radio services.

Telikom, one of the mobile phone companies, operates FM100, the former commercial Kalang FM network of the national broadcaster NBC, which it took over for non-payment of bills. Now it’s known as ‘Reaching You 100% - FM100’ and is embarking on a remarkable FM rollout designed to reach 100% of the population across the country.

The FM100 website is www.fm100.com.pg. You’ll find photos of the DJ’s such as Patric Patu who handles Breakfast, Roger Hao’fa who’s been taking talkback radio for over 25 years and Willie G who hosts the Boroko Motors drive show every afternoon...

...Yes, there’s a drive show in Port Moresby... and there’s a freeway system and an ever growing number of modern high rise office buildings leading back from the waterfront and harbour...

Toulambi 1976 contact: fact or fable

BY PETER KRANZ

EXTRACTS FROM BELGIAN filmmaker Jean Pierre Dutilleux's first contact with a tribal people known as the Toulamis have recently been posted on Youtube.

This claimed first contact was said to have been as recently as 1976 and the extracts can be seen here  and here.

The footage is moving and poetic and appears to be authentic. More information about Dutilleux's films can be found on his website here.

His film was first aired on French TV in the mid1990's.  Perhaps because it has not been widely shown to English-speaking audiences, it has aroused keen interest and many favourable comments since its recent Youtube posting.

This controversial film also has been the subject of much scholarly debate in the Francophone world, and even threats of legal action.

It was severely criticised by French anthropologist and PNG specialist Pierre Lemonnier in his academic paper A la chasse à l'authentique (In pursuit of the real thing) published by Terrain, the European ethnological review in 1999, which is available here.

In this paper, Lemonnier points out that the Toulambis of the film are really the Ankave-Anga people from near Menyamya.  The records indicate that these people were visited by at least six Australian government patrols between 1929 and 1972: 1929 Middleton; 1950 Chester, 1951 Mathieson; 1965 O'Brien; 1967 Police patrols; 1972 Meikle.

In fact Meikle found the people talking basic Tok Pisin learned at Menyamya.

Historical sources reveal that the so-called Toulambis had steel tools and western implements more than 40 years before their encounter with Dutilleux, and were regular visitors to the administrative center of Menyamya the early 1970's - which was only a few days walk for them.

This familiarity with the outside world is confirmed by ethnography, and in particular one Toulambi man spent two months in prison in Menyamya in the early '70's.  Admittedly some remote groups may not have had regularly contact with the Australian administration before the 1960's, but they certainly did by the time Dutilleux encountered them.

When Lemonnier viewed the film for the first time he exclaimed: "I'm outraged!" He described the Dutilleux production as "untruthful, racist, revolting". Apparently Lemonnier recognised immediately the place where the fake "first encounter" had been filmed. The stream is known as New Year Creek, and the members of the "unknown tribe" probably walked for about a day from their settlement to reach the appointed well-lit meeting-place.

This had been conveniently cleared for the filming, with a few logs thrown into the creek so that the people could emerge confidently from the jungle (most unusual behaviour) and move naively towards the camera crew.

Lemonnier adds: "At that spot, they were about a four-day walk from an administrative centre with a schoolteacher, airstrip, radio, nurse and Seventh-Day Adventist preachers. Nearby, the navigable river Vailala enables the Papuans to reach the coast, where they exchange bark capes for tools."

For his criticism, Lemonnier faced a court case for slander in 1997, but the historical records support his case.

So how was the film made?  Simple - the locals were paid for their performance and rehearsed in how to act their parts.  In fact they were enterprising enough to have done this for several other 'first-contact' filmmakers before and after Dutilleux.

Tom Hungerford’s War

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

TOM HUNGERFORD died a short while ago at the ripe old age of 96 [see his earlier Obituary in PNG Attitude].  He came from Western Australia and was a writer for most of his life.

During World War II he was a commando operating behind enemy lines on Bougainville.  He drew on those experiences to write the novel The Ridge and the River in 1952.

The novel is set over several days of a patrol out from a jungle base during the advance on Buin.  The key characters are Corporal Shearwood, Lieutenant Wilder and Major Lovatt.  Bougainvilleans Womai and Mummawa also feature.

Shearwood is the tough and experienced platoon leader who is replaced by the green new officer Wilder.  Their first meeting occurs when the panicked and frightened Wilder, who has been ambushed by the Japanese and had his companion killed, stumbles across Shearwood’s patrol.

The tough and uncompromising Lovatt sends Wilder back with Shearwood and his platoon to seek revenge on the Japanese.  Wilder’s rapid development as a competent leader takes up a large part of the story.

The distinctive ring of authenticity in the novel prompted Weary Dunlop to describe it as “the essence of jungle warfare as it was fought by Australians”.  If this was the case one can only wonder at the toughness, resilience and ingenuity of those men.

Womai is a scout whose family was held by the Japanese to force him to work for them.  When his sons die he and his wife escape and he joins the Australians.  As Wilder proves his mettle Womai overcomes the taint of collaboration with the enemy.

Shearwood and Womai operate as a team conversing in Tok Pisin.  This is rendered in the book using an English orthography so that expressions like wanem come out as ‘what name’.

At the end of the patrol and with the news of the bombing of Hiroshima and the impending end of the war Womai expresses the desire to go with Shearwood to Australia. 

Shearwood muses about the White Australia policy and has difficulty explaining this to Womai.  He knows that inevitably the Australians will pack up and leave, probably without a word of thanks.

He further speculates that the returning planters and government officers will be surprised and alarmed at the new attitudes of the locals when they come back; through the war the day of the masta had slipped away.

He admonishes his patrol members for using terms like boong, nigger and coon and explains that the people are kanakas and prefer to be addressed that way – how things change!

One of the interesting observations comes with the collection of Japanese weapons by the locals.  Shearwood is sure that for every Japanese rifle handed in another one is being secreted in the villages for later use.  Little did he know that they would be used by the rebels on Bougainville during their own war.

The book is still a very good read.  I’ve had a copy kicking around for years and re-reading it doesn’t diminish its impact.  Copies can be obtained for a few dollars on the internet from places like Abe Books.

Two PNG documentaries worth viewing

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

RONIN FILMS has been making documentaries in Papua New Guinea for a few years now.  You might recall Angels of War about the Kokoda carriers.

Two of their more recent efforts are especially interesting.  One is about betelnut and the other is about the changing face of Port Moresby.

Betelnut Bisnis (2004)

Betelnut is one of the most widely used narcotics in the world.

In the coastal areas of PNG where it is grown, it has been a socially acceptable stimulant since ancestral times; but in the central Highlands, where the majority of the population live, it is a relatively recent arrival. 

Many Highlanders have come to depend on betelnut because of their addiction to the drug and also for their livelihood: trading small quantities from the coast to sell in their local markets. 

For many families, the betelnut trade is the only source of cash income to pay for such basic necessities as food, school fees and medicine.

Betelnut Bisnis is the story of one such family in the Highlands – Lukas Kaima and his wife Kopu – as told by friend and close neighbour, Chris Owen, an Australian expatriate. 

The Kaimas are settlers from the Eastern Highlands, without land of their own, living on a small plot on the outskirts of Goroka town by arrangement with traditional landowners.  The soil is too poor to grow their own food and they have to rely on cash earnings to survive. 

Lukas sometimes finds part-time work as a nightwatchman and labourer, but decides to try his hand at the betelnut trade to see if he can earn some extra money to make ends meet. 

The film follows Lukas and his wife as they try to make a success of their business travelling to and from the coast on the betelnut trail.

Moresby Modern (2009)

For many people, the mention of Papua New Guinea evokes images of remote highlands cultures and tribal warriors; or perhaps tropical islands and palm fringed beaches; or darker images of poverty, corruption and raskol violence.

But in PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, things are starting to look a little different.

PNG is slowly joining the globalised world and, if you look closely at this society in transition, you can see signs of a modest middle class on the rise and a new generation coming of age. 

In Moresby you can find a small band of business people, professionals, managers, and creative types all working hard to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Moresby Modern, is the stories of seven such people who work in the challenging environment of a developing country, learning to balance the traditional expectations of their culture with the demands of modern society.

Emmanuel, Susile, Michael, Api, Rhoda, Allen and Gazzelah share their perspectives on their society, and their hopes and dreams for a better PNG.

More details at http://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/3899.html.  The DVDs cost $A34.95 each, including postage, and are well worth a look