KEITH JACKSON'S PNG ATTITUDE

Hyperbolic Malaysian logger takes out chainsaw

Rimbunan Hijau [RH] is a Malaysian multinational logging company controlled by billionaire Tiong Hiew King. It has operations in many countries including PNG, where it is the largest logging operator.

RH has been heavily criticised by environmental and humanitarian organisations for alleged human rights abuses, ignoring indigenous people's rights, political corruption and neglect of the environment. A recent  World Bank report estimated that up to 70 percent of logging in PNG is illegal.

Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network have made investigations into the company. RH threatened to sue Greenpeace for defamation because of its report 'The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau’s World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage' and demanded that Greenpeace withdraw the paper. Greenpeace declined to comply  -  From Wikipedia

Rimbunan Hijau in PNG recently accused an American academic and the Post-Courier newspaper of fanning anti-Asian sentiment after an article by anthropologist Nancy Sullivan criticised the group.

What was not disclosed in the The National's rather agitated story was that Rimbunan Hijau owns The National. The company is also known to have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to issuing legal threats against its critics. Hmmm.

Unfortunately the Post-Courier has not published the offending article on its website, so the rest of us are called upon to guess what alleged sins it perpetrated.

But let an anonymous RH spokesman, quoted in his mouthpiece The National, give us a taste of what we might have read.

RH claimed the Post-Courier article was a “racist tirade” that accused Asians of “looking the same” and of being “corrupt, exploitative and involved in gambling, prostitution or gangs”.

The anthropologist Ms Sullivan had “deployed a tactic used by both Green NGOs and standover groups alike.” The tactic, presumably, involved expressing a point of view.

RH claimed “Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation have launched unsubstantiated attacks on RH that disproportionately focus upon the ethnic background of company owners and employees and generalise about the influence of Asian businesses on the government.”

It said these criticisms were not only misleading but dangerous. “Both Sullivan [note aggressive use of surname] and the Post-Courier should be reminded of the violence that took place in May of this year,” the spokesman emoted.

“Neither Sullivan nor the Post-Courier called for calm. They should do so immediately and apologise for fanning the flames of racism in PNG,” he vented.

RH executive director, Nathaniel Ho, called on the Post-Courier “to stop publishing materials that would inflame racial conflict or to single out the racial background of those featured in its reporting. In most countries this is simply called irresponsible journalism,” he said.

“We hope both Sullivan and the Post-Courier are prepared to take responsibility for their actions when the next bout of anti-Asian violence hits,” Ho predicted, “and more people are injured, businesses are destroyed and lives lost.”

Hysterical, hyperbolic, hyperventilating rhetoric that, far from settling matters down, seems designed to inflame.

Kiaps’ role went well beyond policing function

BY ROSS WILKINSON

The original version of Chris Viner-Smith’s kiap recognition submission, which had almost universal support amongst former kiaps, was that our service was unique and contributed to the advancement of good government in PNG.

This service was a significant contribution to the preparation of PNG for Independence in 1975 and went far beyond our policing role as sworn officers of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC).

The response to Chris' initial submissions was poor and tended to focus on kiaps’ functions as commissioned officers of the field branch of the RPNGC.

I estimate that police work represented less than 5% of my total duties. This varied depending on where each kiap served, but it’s wrong to suggest that the primary focus of our activities was the police function, which is the impression gained from Scott Morrison’s notice of motion that he will present to Parliament next month (see yesterday’s PNG Attitude).

The term "hazardous service" should not be considered to be synonymous with "police service". Most of my exposure to hazard occurred through other responsibilities including frequent flights in light aircraft, search and rescue, civil disasters, using explosives for road and airstrip construction, and destruction of unexploded ordnance from World War II, to name but a few.

The police force was one of the few armed constabularies in the world at the time, equipped with Lee Enfield 303 rifles. But kiaps’ parent department also issued us with shotguns and revolvers to be carried when on non-police work. If our non-police roles were not hazardous why did we need these weapons?

Many kiaps died in accidents. Some were murdered on government business. For example, district commissioner Jack Emmanuel killed by disaffected landowners on the Gazelle Peninsula when he attempted to intervene in a dispute. Senior police officers were present so he was there in his administrative role. This is well documented.

Point 6 of the notice of motion “expresses concern that many former kiaps may not meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal, as eligible Kiap service ceased on 30 November 1973”. It should be recognised that kiap service ceased at midnight on 15 September 1975 on the eve of independence, not self-government on 1 December 1973. PNG continued to be governed on behalf of Australia until independence.

The time limitation in the eligibility criteria doesn't recognise that a young kiap could experience more in the first two years of service than others in PNG for much longer. It also doesn't take into account that some of us had to periodically deal with death.

This is an abbreviated version of a submission Mr Wilkinson wrote to Scott Morrison MP

Kiap motion to be raised in Federal parliament

A motion recognising the work Kiaps undertook in the development of PNG will be moved in Federal Parliament by the Member for Cook, Scott Morrison MP, on Monday 16 November.

A number of ex-kiaps, most notably Chris Viner-Smith, have been working for many years to gain proper recognition for their role in PNG, and this is another important step along the way.

That said, however, Mr Viner-Smith's emphasis on police service as the basis for an award has evoked some controversy amongst ex-Kiaps, given the much more wide-ranging scope of the Kiaps' responsibilities in pre-independence PNG.

Mr Morrison will move that the House of Representatives:

(1)            recognises the service of those Australians who were employed as field constabulary officers (Kiaps) in the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary between 1949 and 1974;

(2)            acknowledges the hazardous and difficult conditions that were experienced by the members serving with the Royal Papua and New Guinea constabulary;

(3)            notes that former members of the Regular Constabulary of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary may be entitled to long service and good conduct medals, such as the National Medal, subject to meeting eligibility criteria;

(4)            supports moves to allow former members of the Field Constabulary to count their service towards the National Medal;

(5)            notes that qualifying service to meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal must include at least one day of service on or after the medal’s creation on 14 February 1975;

(6)            expresses concern that many former Kiaps may not meet the eligibility criteria for the National Medal, as eligible Kiap service ceased on 30 November 1973;

(7)            recognises that the Trust Territory of New Guinea, under the terms of the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 and the Trusteeship Agreement for the Territory of New Guinea, held sovereignty unto itself and as such, was at law an international country (and foreign to Australia);

(8)            recognises that the Governor-General’s assent of the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 and the signing of the “Trusteeship Agreement” for New Guinea by the Australian Government, prescribed service activity whereby the service was carried out by members of the Australian Police Force and the service was undertaken as part of an international operation; and

(9)            calls on the Australian Government to change the eligibility criteria applying to the Police Overseas Service Medal so as not to prevent the award of the medal to those:

            (a) Australian public servants who were employed through the Australian Government and served in the Australian administered United Nations Trust Territory of New Guinea between 1949 and 1974;
(b) individuals serving in Papua New Guinea as sworn and armed Commissioned Officers of the Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary (at the time an Australian External Territorial Police Force).

The motion will be discussed for 20 minutes with two government speakers and two opposition speakers.

Mr Morrison has said interested people are “more than welcome to attend Parliament for the duration of then motion” and he has said he’s keen to host a small function for any former Kiaps who can make it to Canberra.”

Did Michael Somare co-sign carbon certificates?

Leader of the Opposition Sir Mekere Morauta [pictured] has renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to inform Papua New Guineans for which forest areas he co-signed carbon credit certificates in favour of an Australian-based company Climate Assist last year.

Sir Mekere said it was a very serious issue that demanded a full explanation by the Prime Minister.

“Forest resources, whether they are flora, fauna, timber or potential carbon trading assets, belong to people, not to Michael Somare or the Office of Climate Change. People need to know what he has sold, to whom, for how much, and where the money is.”

Official documents bearing the PNG National Government crest show that Prime Minister Somare signed certificates for Climate Assist together with the suspended Executive Director of the Office of Climate Change Dr Theo Yasause and Director of Climate Assist Mr Gregory Thomas Corby.

A certificate was signed on 12th June 2008 with Series Number A33,000,001 to A39,666,666 with the beneficiaries named as Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd and the Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Office (PNG).

It commits 6,666,665 metric tonnes of carbon credits with a maturity date of 01 January 2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol will end.

Sir Mekere said that the Prime Minister must tell the nation whether he signed this document or not. “Is it a forgery? If it is not, he must tell the public why he has done this and which resources belonging to which landowners he has committed. Those landowners and the general public need to know.”

Another document obtained by the Opposition shows that the Ruthven Street Business Banking Centre of the Westpac Bank in Toowoomba Queensland is holding two carbon credit certificates in “safe custody” under Gregory Corby’s name.

According to a letter written on 24 September 2008 to Mr Edwin Price, Executive Manager of Climate Assist by a senior manager at that Westpac branch, the certificates were issued on 22nd September 2008, each for 39 million metric tonnes of carbon credits, with Series Numbers C1 to C39 and B1 to B39.

The letter bears the common seal of Climate Assist PNG, an official stamp of the Westpac branch and is witnessed by a Justice of the Peace.

“Prime Minister did you issue these additional certificates to Climate Assist? If you did not, who did? With authority from whom? And whose resources do they pertain to?”

Sir Mekere said that it was incumbent on the Prime Minister to tell the truth to the nation. “He is yet to answer the 20 questions I asked him some months ago on climate change and related issues.”

“He cannot continue to ignore or evade questions on important national issues, hoping that in time people will simply forget.”

Text of a media release issued by Sir Mekere Morauta KCMG MP, Leader of the Opposition and Member for Moresby North-West, on Friday 21 October

EDITOR’S NOTE: Carbon credits were trading for about $20 per metric tonne when Climate Assist did its alleged deal with the PNG Government. The price has since imploded and they were last trading on the Chicago Carbon Credit Market at ten cents.

Carbon trading – the globe’s newest, bestest scam

BY PAUL OATES

There’s been a lively discussion on Emmanuel Narokobi's Masalai blog [visit it here] that has raised the question of whether international carbon trading is likely to benefit the traditional owners of PNG’s tropical forests.

PNG landowners have been involved in an continuing debate about the use of their trees - and whether they or some other entity benefits when they are cut and milled.

Hitherto, it’s reported that large areas of forest have been logged and shipped offshore. Yet the traditional owners of these trees do not seem to be much wealthier.

Once the trees are removed, the soil quickly degrades and is washed away in heavy rain. The value of leaving trees where they are and using them in the traditional manner is being questioned by younger Papua New Guineans.

A remedy to losing forests seemed to be a carbon credit scheme, where owners of trees are paid to keep them standing and provide a resource (for some reason it’s called a carbon sink) that emitters pay to keep intact in exchange for their own damaging emissions.

It looked like a great idea for a win/win. However the devil is always in the detail.

Who would actually receive the credits - the traditional forest owners, the government or some quick-talking entrepreneur?

And if the traditional owners received some payment, how would this be distributed? If the government received the money, would the landowners receive any?

Last weekend’s ABC-TV’s Landline program highlighted carbon credit trading by US farms and showed how the value of the so-called 'carbon sinks' decreased as people wondered whether there was any real value being traded.

The commentator, wisely, suggested caveat emptor [let the buyer beware].

PNG has already experienced controversy around the bona fides of carbon traders. Now a news report from Indonesia raises serious concerns that international criminals may see carbon credit schemes as a new way of fleecing the unwary.

The Indonesian government is warning local authorities to be wary of people purporting to be carbon brokers promising big financial gains. The Jakarta Post reports that bogus operators are signing up local governments and landholders on the promise of developing lucrative forest preservation projects, which in many cases are a con.

Now where have we seen this already?

PNG is a Mugabe-style regime says Sir Mekere

The decision by the police to prevent the Salvation Army and the Council of Churches rally in support poverty represents a worrying trend in PNG says opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta.

“Why would anyone in authority prevent this rally from taking place,” said Sir Mekere. “All these church and civil society representatives wished to do was to express their concern about poverty.”

“What is wrong with that? We should be encouraging such debate. But it seems the government wants no public discussion of anything,” he said.

“This is not the Michael Somare that PNG used to know. Where have our democratic rights and freedoms gone? This is yet another example of this government of turning PNG into a Mugabe-type regime.”

Sir Mekere said the important institutions of state, like the police, are being turned into “compliant tool kits by the government for its political interest.”

He urged all Papua New Guineans to speak out and to insist on protection of their constitutional rights.

In a surprise development, Sir Mekere’s words was supported by Community Development Minister, Dame Carol Kidu, who expressed concern over the police ban on the proposed rally.

She said there “must be some misunderstanding” and the ban would be reviewed.

She said the government had endorsed the UN campaign and her department was actively involved.

“I personally congratulate the Salvation Army and Captain John Kerari for their plan to hold a peaceful rally to raise awareness,” Dame Carol said. “The churches are my department’s valuable partners.”

Meanwhile, prominent PNG blogger Emmanuel Narokobi, commenting on plans for a peaceful protest march in Madang, said the march could not take place because police commissioner Gari Baki disapproved.

“May we remind Mr Baki and the members of the current government in Waigani [that] this is still an independent and democratic country where citizens have such freedoms,” wrote Narokobi.

Referring to China, he said: “We are very clear some of our neighbours to the North have governments which do not allows its citizens such privileges.”

“We would certainly hope the current Waigani government and the current police commissioner are not getting advice from their friends to the North nor do we hope they are being influenced by them in how internal PNG matters should be handled. That would be a mistake on many levels.

“We would like to thank both governor Sir Arnold Amet and provincial police commander Anthony Wagambie Jr for their understanding and promotion of democracy and the rights of the people. We wish your counterparts in Port Moresby understood democracy as much,” Narokobi concluded.

Action needed to avoid food crisis: scientist

PNG is heading for food security disaster as a result of climate change and it needs to act quickly to address the problem, according to environmental expert Dr David Wellik.

He says PNG is “heading for doom” unless stringent mitigation measures are put in place to deal with food and land security problems.

Apparently increasing greenhouse gas emissions have already affected PNG’s temperature, rainfall and sea levels. That’s certainly the case in the Carteret Islands, from where people are already being resettled.

Dr Wellik says if PNG is not careful the next 30 years will lead to problems with food production, soil erosion, salination, drought, fire, pests and disease. That’s quite a list.

Impacts on agriculture will reduce yields and increase dependence on imported foods, which in turn will lead to poor diet and increasing disease.

“The high cost of imported foods is already forcing households to switch to cheaper products of poor nutritional quality,” Dr Wellik says.

PNG Attitude has no reason to doubt Dr Wellick’s veracity, but just wishes he’d adduced some hard data to support his dramatic pronouncements. Reliable statistics always provide us with a large degree of comfort.

Did PNG get a constitution that can't work?

There's been an instructive discussion about the PNG constitution on Emmanuel Narokobi’s Masalai blog focussing on whether it is a workable document.

The five participants in the dialogue [Australian Paul Oates and four Papua New Guineans]  sought to better understand whether the behaviour of PNG's politicians, in their disregard of constitutional principles, is wilful, venal or a straightforward articulation of PNG culture.

It was observed that traditional PNG bigmen [clan chiefs] were implementers as well as leaders and that the present political leadership seems to be perpetuating this dual role.

But difficulties arise when, to obtain and retain power, leaders feel compelled to provide material goods to supporters; the main source of which is public money that should otherwise be allocated to infrastructure and services.

Here’s a précis of the Masalai dialogue.

David: Get a president and hold him accountable to the constitution. We can play on our existing big man culture by introducing a president who will be our collective bigman. Then we can bring in Western ideals of accountability and hold him accountable to his mandate. I'd like to see a solution that is practical and encapsulates PNG's realities rather than trying to use ideals drawn from cultural backgrounds that are distinctly different to ours.

Emmanuel: In most cases [the PNG constitution] is reduced to being just a mission statement. The mechanisms for accountability are in place, it is up to the people to judge whether they want change bad enough to demand it.

David: There is no doubt PNG has departed significantly from her [constitution] since 1975. The leadership is too compromised and too weak to fix it under the current circumstances. On the question of who should fix it, I nominate the head of state who I see as the lesser of the bad apples. But in all reality, he won't. Our GGs have mainly been lame duck puppets and I can't see this changing. So to break the vicious cycle, we must part with the Queen and the people must elect our own president and hold him accountable to the constitution.

Tavuvur: Disposing of the GG in favour of a republic will not solve compromised or weak leadership. PNG is complicated - there is a need to resurrect a national identity in every Papua New Guinean. It is only when we all understand that we have the power to determine who will be good for the country as opposed to who will be good for me as an individual that we will see quality candidates sitting in the Haus Tabaran. Education is key, too.

David: [This is] more like a long term solution. But something must happen in the interim to save the constitution. There is frustration about the status quo among a lot of Papua New Guineans and I fear we might wake up one morning and regret that we no longer have a constitution.

The problem with the current arrangement is that the GG is appointed by parliament and so there is inherent limitation on his independence. It is Catch 22. To break this vicious cycle, the head of state must be appointed directly by the people. In this way, we can hold that individual accountable to our constitution. The closest proxy currently is the PM. But he does not care what people think about the way he governs the nation.

Paul: I can't understand how things have gone so far off track. If the basic legitimacy of the central government is flawed, no amount of plans, reorganisations and smoke and mirrors can or will correct the situation. The government has become a law unto itself.

Justin: In the long run PNG's future rests in education. As Tavurur said, we must see ourselves as a nation and only education can help us to do that. The solutions to the problems lie in a marrying the traditional and the modern. Why do we have tribal fights or resort to tribalism? Because the current system of government has failed to afford us the security of the tribe.

David: Why are we trying to hold fast to a system that has clearly not worked for us? Our current system of governance was essentially a greenfield concept. It was forced upon us and never tried and tested in PNG before then. But now we have some experience behind us, we must not be afraid to change it to accurately reflect the realities. The last 34 years have been a journey of self discovery, and I think we've come to know ourselves well enough now to change things to suit our own circumstances. We must find our own solutions to our problems that reflect those cultural aspects.

Paul: Clearly there isn't either the knowledge or the will to use the system to fix the problem. The mechanisms are in place, it's just that no one is using them. So what would be different if a presidential system of government were to be introduced to PNG?

David: Obviously you believe that the current system is not working because someone is not making it work. I think the system is not working because it does not suit us. One aspect of that is that politics in PNG has evolved in such a way so politicians are seen as implementers rather than as policymakers. This perfectly mirrors our culture where the bigman is expected to be the deliverer and not just a decision maker. His decision-making ability was actually a function of how well he could deliver. The person who delivered best won the right to be the decision-maker.

I sometimes feel sorry for our politicians because they are caught between the old and the new. Oftentimes, they choose to be implementers rather than playing their role as policymakers due to the overwhelming weight of expectations on them. This clouds their judgement and leads to muck up after muck up!

Sure my proposition about a presidential system may not be the best solution for us. But I can see how, by using this, we can marry the old and new as Justin suggested and come up with a workable compromise. The big man culture is real and deeply ingrained in our national psyche. The current system, unfortunately, has been one big attempt to try and kill that system, which existed in PNG for centuries, in just under 34 years.

My proposal for the president to be directly elected by the people is an attempt to both circumvent and play on the big man culture. You circumvent it because whoever runs for president can never afford to be seen as the deliverer through the length and breadth of PNG. Too expensive and impractical.

While PNG is still emerging from an enclosed, clan based social and political structure, we are being asked to adopt a system that has its roots in similar settings but which had already passed this stage of its evolution. It is a grossly unfair ask. I have great respect for the authors of our constitution, but how could they miss such a vital link in our evolution process?

Paul: The authors of the constitution obviously did their best given the constraints and available knowledge at the time. The acid test was how to provide effective and accountable leadership. Therein lay the dilemma. Some people have recently suggested by giving more power to local government, the current fiasco will right itself. I disagree. Leadership, by its very nature, must come from the top.

Defection, reflection – what happens now in PNG?

As PNG’s parliament moves towards a sitting where a no-confidence motion is expected from the Morauta opposition, rumours abound in the local press that three senior members of Sir Mekere’s coalition are about to defect.

The three MPs were unavailable for comment, and the Post-Courier knew, but wasn’t prepared to disclose, their names.

They were said to have been offered inducements such as a ministry if they agreed to stop openly criticising the Government on corruption and other issues.

When a no-confidence vote was mooted during the last sitting, it was terminated early and ‘cooperative’ MPs given K2 million each to spend in their electorates.

Undaunted by the gossip of impending defections from his ranks, opposition leader Morauta responded by calling Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare [left] an “arrogant self promoter”.

“I’ve never in my life heard any PNG politician so nakedly promoting himself,” said Sir Mekere. “To say the LNG [liquefied natural gas] project depends on him is utter nonsense. Does he think Papua New Guineans are so naive or stupid to believe him?

“Come out, Arthur, and tell the people [who are] the owners of the gas resources what you and your father agreed to give away.

“All he’s doing is desperately trying to shore up public support with a vote of no-confidence looming,” he said.

Meanwhile, former prime minister and New Ireland governor, Sir Julius Chan, called on PNG to wake up and realise that, since independence, it has fallen further in the human development index than any country in the world.

Sir Julius said at independence in 1975 PNG ranked 77th out of 150 countries. By 1990 it had dropped to 105th.

“By 2004, PNG was 139th and by 2008 we had dropped another 10 places to 149th. Think about this, in only 33 years PNG had been eclipsed by over 70 countries,” he said.

“We need to rethink how government works in PNG as the government closest to the people is the [local level] government that knows the needs of the people and not the one located in Waigani,” Sir Julius said

Bougainville at forefont at awards ceremony

The journey out of Buka was replete with delays, but with minutes to go New Dawn FM manager Aloysius Laukai lobbed in to Queensland University in time to receive, on behalf of his radio station, a major international award last night.

The award is given for the most outstanding contribution to using communications for social change, and the fledgling Bougainville radio station won it first of all for existing in the first place, and secondly for its already significant contribution to peace and reconcilation and its efforts to stabilise the sometimes tricky civil situation in the province.

Aloysius was able to announce at the ceremony that the station is about to build a second studio in Arawa, the capital, and to install new repeater transmitters that will carry its signal to most of the island.

University vice-chancellor, Prof Paul Greenfield, who presented the award, said "you can't help but be inspired by what people do in difficult circumstances."

"Social change is a serious business and New Dawn FM is about serious business."

In response, Aloysius said "the crisis divided most of our people".

"We wanted to allow freedom of expression to help reconcile people after the conflict."

The Bougainville insurrection took 20,000 lives and displaced 40,000 people of a population of 120,000.

New Dawn FM has just been commissioned by the PNG national government to conduct a five-year long awareness campaign leading up to a referendum on Bougainville independence in 2015.

Meanwhile, the good news from the autonomous province, not reported elsewhere so far, is that serious discussions are about to begin about re-opening the Panguna mine.

It seems that the former developer, Bougainville Copper Limited, is front and centre for this role despite interest being expressed by Chinese and Russian mining concerns.

Sir Paulias challenges govt to pick up its game

PNG Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane has increased the temperature of public debate in PNG with the latest in a series of speeches that appear to be challenging the government to improve its performance.

Addressing the PNG Human Resources Institute in Port Moresby, Sir Paulias said PNG will not change and prosper if better leadership is not forthcoming.

“Ineffective leadership at the political, business, professional, church and community levels has crippled PNG,” he said.

He complained that the country had suffered from corruption and crime and that good citizens and good leaders were not doing enough good.

“We, the good people, surely outnumber the bad,” he said, “thus we should allow good to prevail, yet we have allowed a few, criminals, corrupt officials and unworthy political and business leaders to run our country down.

“Many leaders do not help others to be productive and energetic and instead, they create anger, fear, resentment, frustration and flight,” Sir Paulias said.

Sir Paulias said many organisations in PNG, through the individuals that lead them, too often promote weak and incompetent people into positions of power and control, resulting in poor leadership begetting more poor leadership.

“This lack of leadership is exacting a dreadful toll on the PNG workforce,” he said.

Referring to the public service, he said too many employees work merely to make a living and not to make a meaningful contribution to their organisations.

He said leaders often did not have a vision that manifests a clear set of beliefs for leading their organisations into the future. “In PNG, as you all are aware, many leaders are often physically out of shape and emotionally blocked.

“In the worst, they are spiritually starved and live terribly imbalanced lives and are chained to their titles,” he said.

In _Fragments of Attitude_ PAUL OATES asks whether PNG’s politicians can take up the leadership challenge

'I don't think the leadership is corrupt': Somare

Sir Michael Somare has denied corruption among senior politicians in Papua New Guinea - but in words that were conditional at best.

And in an extraordinary statement, he's called upon ordinary Papua New Guineans to identify corrupt public servants and tell the government who they are.

"I don't think the leadership is corrupt," was his lukewarm form of words to interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim of Al Jazeera television.

However he admitted there is corruption among PNG’s public servants. But not at the top.

“No one hides the fact that people below the level of senior departmental head – in departments, Police, Foreign Affairs – are corrupt,” he said.

Sir Michael called upon Papua New Guineans to do something about it.

“People have to reveal to us who are corrupt."

Commenting on claims that PNG’s rural areas are being starved of development funds by the national government, Sir Michael Somare defended his government’s record.

“Papua New Guineans do not die on the streets,” he said. “There is not 80 percent unemployment; 80 percent of our people live in rural areas and have land.

“It’s not my job as a politician to hand them [the people] money – it’s my job to set policies,” he said.

Responding to questioning on why, so many years after independence, the country still relies on foreign aid, Sir Michael said that PNG has plenty of natural resources and doesn’t have to ask for aid.

“I’ve given myself five years to cut Australian foreign aid [currently running at over $400M a year],” he said.

Sir Michael also foreshadowed another four years running the country, saying “I’ll throw in the towel in 2012.

“It’s entirely up to Arthur [Somare] if he takes over from me,” he added.

You can see Sir Michael’s Al Jazeera interview on YouTube here

.

PNG is seeking greater Pacific role for China

In an interview with Al Jazeera television, Sir Michael Somare has said PNG’s relationship with China is very good, especially in trade, and that he sees this as a foil to Australia’s military and police presence.

While saying he does not want China to counter Australia’s role in the Pacific, Sir Michael sent the clearest signal that PNG is encouraging China to play a greater role to balance Australian influence in the region.

“Australia remains our largest and most powerful partner but we are directing our attention elsewhere,” he told interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim on the program 101 East.

“We’re looking for China to train our military.”

He said China was one of the largest contributors to economic development in PNG and he attacked the anti-Chinese riots recently experienced in major cities.

“The riots were committed by people who were not thinking,” he said. “Mobs occurred because of strong sentiments around the cities; it was not racial tension as such.

“They wanted to attack government because they think government is not providing avenues for development. But I disagree with that.

“Our people are like that – they like throwing stones.”

Sir Michael said Ramu Nickel had brought in Chinese workers to help an $800M development that was important to PNG.

“Papua New Guineans don’t oppose the mine but they think the government made a mistake by employing Chinese.

“Chinese are workaholics,” Sir Michael remarked. “They’ll work all day and night. Melanesians work when we feel like it: we have to work much harder. Chinese don’t complain, my people do.”

Asked why the government had not provided funds to a committee appointed by parliament to enquire into the riots, Sir Michael denied knowledge of this.

“I thought we had the funding. I was in hospital in Singapore when it happened. I’ll look into the issue.”

On the track of a civil award for PNG service

Historian RONALD PATTON is researching how to get a general civilian award for people who served in PNG pre-Independence

I`m looking at seeking a civilian award for people who served in PNG pre-Independence. It’s a different approach from that the Kiaps have taken, in that it is not so bound up with some kind of emergency response involving hazard.

While I have a lot of historical argument and examples of precedent, I can see that the area of criteria will turn the whole issue. The criteria for a National Medal do not exactly fit the bill for recognition of civilian service.

Our service fits into an historical phase from 1939 to about 1975 in a context where Australian Governments raised civilian taskforces to complete major works or operations in the national interest.

That era is quite distinct from today but the government of 1994 did recognise civilian work that was historically adjacent to ours and more similar than different in terms of the work undertaken.

There have been radical changes in civilian service in the period since between the wars till the present. Any criteria used by an Awards system must recognise these changes. The Australian system has changed anyway as it has recognised more and more groups and created additional awards.

For example, I`ve discovered that the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service Urban Search and Rescue TaskForce has gained international accreditation by the UN for service throughout the world. And the NSW Fire Brigade is in the process of going for the same international accreditation as the Queensland group.

There is a gap in the awards system that will create issues in the future if a general civilian service medal is not created. I know that is not our main concern but as part of my research it has become obvious to me that civilian service in the future is going to change and expand from what it is today.

I am pressing on. If the kiaps are successful, that could assist us. When you deal with a general service medal you don’t have to have everyone doing the same thing. Like with the military, the infantry out front, cooks at the rear.

So, the kiaps were out front. If they are recognised, and the rest of aren’t, the question has to be asked: did they do it all by themselves? So their success could assist us!

If you’re interested in assisting Ron, you can email him here.

Sir Paulias's challenge: Which way now bigman?

PNG Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane’s Independence Day speech, which he has provided to PNG ATTITUDE, contains both a rebuff for critics and a ‘hurry up’ warning for the PNG government.

“While we can give ourselves a little pat on the back for reaching this important milestone in our short history as a nation, the next 50 years poses greater challenges for us as a people,” Sir Paulias began.

Sir Paulias said his “inner instincts” told him to listen to the government and top officials, “not to listen to advocates of doom and gloom both from within PNG and outside… The important question now is, Which way now bigman?”

Sir Paulias alluded to the distant future as a mechanism for delivering some wisdom to PNG’s national leadership.

“I am often caught wondering what the future holds for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” he said.

“I am aware that roads and bridges have deteriorated since independence, while schools, hospitals and government facilities have also reached a point of disrepair... This leaves us no other choices but to make the hard decisions on reinvesting in creating an enabling environment. Silver, gold, gas and oil will end some day, but roads, bridges, and facilities, will remain with us...

“Before development can occur, peace, order and security must be restored and maintained.

“I know of some politicians not seeing eye to eye with their departmental secretaries. This to me is immaturity and has no place in public office, let alone, private business enterprise.

“I appeal to those political leaders and senior bureaucrats to stop the rhetoric, and put the lives of 6.6 million citizens of this country first. This is because whatever happens between these two groups, will ultimately have negative ramifications on the development policy outcomes further down the line.”

“Thirty-four years of ineffective government and public service delivery since independence has resulted in the unfortunate mess we are in today,” Sir Paulias observed, predicting that inefficiencies within government and public service will continue to be problematic.

He said “34 years of walking in the wilderness is enough experience for PNG to stocktake… The national government must reach resolution and take the bull by its horns in taking leadership.”

The 78-year old Governor-General concluded his speech on a light-hearted note saying that his “only wish is to remain being alive in order to see this [national strategic] plan being fulfilled in the next 50 years”.

“[Then] our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will witness the unfolding of such vision and say, Hey, didn’t Bubu GG say so?”

Independence celebration put on delay

Canberra: It turns out that PNG shares its national day with Mexico, which has caused some confusion in the ranks of Canberra's diplomatic corps about who turns up where on the big day. The sixteenth. So this year, PNG decided to hold its function the following day - which was today - and Charles Lepani hosted a very pleasant event indeed. So I presumed the Mexicans had broken out the Corona the previous day - their national day. Nup! They'd advanced celebrations by 24 hours so as not conflict with PNG. National day's marked in Canberra on 16 September = zero. The big news in Charles' speech today was that PNG is moving decisively with Australia to restructure the bilateral relationship on a more equal basis. And Duncan Kerr, about to step down from Pacific Affairs after two years of sound achievement - especially in terms of the PNG relationship with Australia, expressed great satisfaction with his decision to return to the Tasmanian bar. Filed from iPhone

Mixed blessings of PNG resource development

Economist Charles Yala has pointed out that, despite resources booms in the past 20 years, the average person in PNG got poorer while an elite few benefited handsomely.

Getting a better return for the people from the liquefied natural gas bonanza will require ''some serious thinking … leadership will count'', says Mr Yala.

The biggest difficulty facing resource companies is not topography or isolation, but the tangled clans and tribes occupying the minefield, caught somehwre between decaying tradition and emerging and potentially damaging modernity.

Oil Search CEO Peter Botten describes PNG as a ''reactive democracy from the village up. What is needed,” he says, “is 'an intimate understanding of the community, not a stand-off that says you work outside the fence and we work inside''.

But the major partner is ExxonMobil, more renowned for its more aggressive approach to doing business, which may not take such a sensitive view. Whatever the outcome, those who will feel it most live around Laita, the centre of the minesite.

Amongst the women of Laita there is much discussion about the uncertainty of benefits. Tradition dictates women have no voice and little power, but they are weary of their men spending benefits on prostitutes, beer and plane trips.

They want the gas to deliver what government has failed to do - clinics, schools, buses, better roads, police protection. They hope for jobs for their sons.

They blame oil and gas for depleting harvests and damaging nutrition. They are not reassured by promised environmental safeguards.

Dr Bryant Allen, from Australian National University, has spent 30 years studying PNG culture and the effects of development. He leads a company-sponsored team working in the communities where the gas plant, a large airstrip and main road will be built.

The team goes from house to house to track the kinships that determine land rights. They plot boundaries, photographs gardens and document conditions. The information will be used in compensation claims by people affected by the project.

''People are very keen to have the project,'' Allen says. ''These are people who have lived literally on the edge of the world for all their lives. They see this as their chance to be part of the modern world.

“But they are also very anxious - particularly the women, because they don't completely understand what is involved.''

A member of PNG Transparency International comments: “''Landowners deserve better management and accountability of their benefit entitlements, so that they know what they are due rather than receiving wads of cash only when they complain.''

Source: ‘Black gold in them thar hills’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 2009.Spotted by John Fowke

Trekking war breaks out on the Kokoda Trail

A verbal battle has broken out in PNG between Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail and local interests.

And, paradoxically, a new association formed to further the interests of local trekking operators ahs been initiated by an Australian, Aaron Hayes, who runs the firm, Ecotourism.

Mr Hayes claims Australian operators are cheating the PNG Government of millions of kina in taxes.

The Kokoda Trekking Operators Association, which will meet for the first time in Port Moresby tomorrow, seeks to regulate the lucrative trekking industry, limit the numbers of Australian-based operators and provide training and support to local operators.

Its formation follows recent allegations in the PNG media that some Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail are doing so illegally and cheating both the Australia and PNG governments of taxes.

Mr Hayes said lack of training, resources and tech-savvy are preventing locals from competing in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry – PNG’s biggest tourism money spinner.

The association will push the PNG government to provide support to local operators.

“We would like to prepare a proposal for the PNG government to regulate the Kokoda trekking industry and limit the numbers of Australia-based operators and give more access and opportunities to local operators,” he said.

“If an Australian company registers itself in PNG it collects all its client payments in Australia and only transfers enough money for operational costs to the PNG subsidiary.

“On the other hand, a 100% PNG-owned company will more likely declare a profit and pay tax.”

The formation of the association follows recent revelations in the PNG Post-Courier by journalist Simon Eroro that nearly all foreign tour companies covering the Kokoda Track may be operating illegally in PNG.

This triggered a feisty and sometimes vituperative exchange between Mr Eroro assisted by fellow journalist and leading PNG blogger, Malum Nalu, and an Australian businessman in PNG, Bruce Copeland.

“Kokoda trekking has been started by Australians. Eroro seems to have a cargo cult attitude in the obvious belief that PNG people can set up a company and trekking and money flow,” Mr Copeland wrote in a series of emails leaked to PNG Attitude.

“It is nothing like that. Marketing starts in Australia and is carried on among members of communities, companies and families. Do you really think that PNG trekking companies can attract any more than a miniscule market share? They have to be there in Australia...

“The core of Kokoda Trekking is Australian companies. You can not think that they are to blame if Kokoda boys are not in offices using computers and internet. It may come some day. Many have not gone past Grade 3...

“Do what you can for the people of the Kokoda Track. But leave the trekking operators alone. There are good people out there who just want to make a business and help the people of the track. Let us show the way. They are the future of the track.”

It's China's century, see those factory chimneys

Former PNG 'National' journalist MATHEW YAKAI is studying in China. His blog, he says, ensures Pacific countries learn from China. Here’s an edited extract of his most recent post

One need not to go further then read the news around us to realise that China today has a major influence in economy, diplomacy, politics - and soon, Washington suspects, militarily.

West now looks east to China. PNG cannot ignore that the factory chimneys of China can be clearly seen when the sky over the Pacific is clear. What I mean is that China is in the region and PNG must adjust herself to accommodate China.

How PNG will accommodate China and work with a country which has a long history and dynamic economy is pretty difficult. First and foremost is the language and culture.

Therefore, those students who will leave for China early September must know that language and cultural differences are waiting to give a surprise.

It is very important you know this century is the Asia-Pacific century and all is happening in China.

When the world was toppled by the financial crises caused by the USA’s lone and declining hegemony, China maintained its GDP around 8-10 percent

This stabilised the world economy with China, India and most of the developing countries taking the leading role. China stood tall amongst them.

China is an interesting place to be, especially when more people are gaining wealth and the business environment is more conducive.

Over the past three decades, Chinese society evolved very quickly and now you see more philanthropists. China is a land of opportunity in everything if you are comfortable with Chinese language.

I think China will continue to be an amazing growth success story, and its rich and diverse culture will continue to be a magnet for people around the world including Papua New Guinea students.

I attended Jilin University in north east China. At my university were students from all over the world. We attended classes together. From that experience, I realised how ignorant I was in PNG, not even attempting to know history and famous events around the world.

But I felt so privileged having heard and participated in class discussions and debates with such a group. Some times we call our university a mini United Nations, because it really represents students from this globe.

When talking of poverty, African students always dominate the discussion saying they are rich and do not need lectures from the West, but have an option in China.

Such experiences made me realise I have a clear view of the world and events of significance affecting PNG today.

There is more but let me finish with this. As a black person, you will get a lot of attention in China. It is not because Chinese are racist but, for most, it will be the first time to see black person. Remember, most of them have not travelled abroad.

They will stare at you from tip to toe. Don’t be embarrassed. Speak a little Chinese to them and they will befriend you immediately.

You can visit Mathew’s blog here.

Pacific labour scheme birthday candles melt

A year ago this month, the Federal Government announced it would allow 2,500 workers from Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and PNG to come to Australia to do seasonal agricultural work such as fruit picking.

The scheme is something of a damp squib. It hasn’t gone off with a bang so much as a pffft.

Only 56 workers have arrived. None is from PNG. Fifty Tongans are working in Robinvale Victoria , while six from Vanuatu are in Griffith NSW. PNG has yet to sign a memorandum of understanding with Australia.

CEO of the Horticulture Australia Council, Kris Newton, has told AAP: “800 people per year for three years is what it amounts to. To meet the long-term needs of horticulture it's not going to be enough.”

She said the government is micro-managing the scheme so it does not repeat mistakes in New Zealand, which Australia emulated.

The operative word is ‘micromanaging’. When government’s micromanage the world goes nowhere fast.

Back in August last year, however, it was brave new world. Agriculture Minster Tony Burke colourfully stated the scheme was needed as "fruit was rotting on trees". Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Duncan Kerr prematurely described it as a "win-win" for Australia and the Pacific.

“It’s not rocket science to solve the problems,” says Cherry Growers Association executive officer Trevor Ranford. "Growers are always looking for workers, it's a matter of getting programs established.

“It's locked into the typical bureaucratic, Centrelink-type approach and philosophy and not necessarily giving out levels of flexibility that needs to make it work."

Source: ‘Pac Islands fruit pickers scheme a hot potato for forum’ by Ilya Gridneff, AAP, 2 August 2009

Pacific Forum: don’t mention the governance

Paul Oates & Keith Jackson

A four-day Pacific Leaders’ Forum begins in Cairns today, with a miscreant Fiji missing from the 14 nations following the trashing of Parliamentary rule in that country.

The agenda for the meeting highlights climate change, closer economic relations and Fiji's suspension from the group.

But there’s a big sleeper issue the Forum probably won’t get around to discussing: its own declared vision to “seek a Pacific region that is respected for the quality of its governance, the sustainable management of its resources, the full observance of democratic values and for its defence and promotion of human rights.”

If the Forum was to look at how best it could respond to each of the key issues nominated, it might have chosen to start with a fundamental matter that is plaguing an increasing number of Pacific nations right now: the Object of Government.

Lord Beveridge, the great turn of the 20th century British politician and political thinker, wrote: “The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers... but the happiness of the common man.”

Using Beveridge’s statement as a benchmark, how do Forum members measure up? After all, one of the best known political clarion calls ever sought that governments be "of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Let’s look at PNG, since it is the focus of this website’s concern. Has the current government succeeded in providing happiness for the common man or has it provided glory for some rulers?

Recent events seem to indicate there may be a certain leaning in one direction. In fact, one could say that the list gets steeper as each day passes. Forestry, climate credit trading, the Moti Affair, Taiwan millions, overseas property, rural decay, communal riots, not to mention the dismissal of Parliamentary rule.

If Fiji has been excluded from the Forum because it suspended Parliamentary democracy, shouldn’t recent events in PNG’s Parliament be considered in the same light?

Clearly the Forum should be dealing with the issue of PNG’s Parliament being virtually dismissed by the Somare government. Otherwise the law of double standard, or ‘what Australia wants Australia gets’, would seem to be in application.

Australia’s pursued a hard line on Fiji, to the particular discomfort of the Melanesian nations. Australia's line on PNG has been ... well, it has expressed no line. Not the merest breath of comment.

If the PNG Parliament been allowed a proper no-confidence vote last week and not adjourned in an unconstitutional manner, it is possible that Mr Rudd would have been talking with Sir Mekere Morauta instead Sir Michael Somare in Cairns today.

But Fiji is relatively small and relatively insignificant to Australia's national interest. PNG is the two ton elephant on our doorstep.

Realpolitik is the theory of politics that emphasises power ahead of morals or principles. It's leading practitioner was Otto von Bismarck.

Australian boomerang aid denies PNG full quid

Dr Tim Anderson, spokesman for the independent group Aidwatch, says Australia is failing to train the people it should be helping in PNG.

Aidwatch has been vocal on the issue of ‘boomerang aid’ - where money supposed to assist developing countries ends up funding Australian firms and consultants rather than the people it’s meant for.

Dr Anderson said aid programs tend to be expensive and wasteful. "Very little education and training happens under our aid programs, even though billions of dollars are spent," he said.

He says the problem is systemic. "It isn't resources that stops us training large numbers of people from Timor , PNG or Solomons, and it's not a lack of goodwill," he said. "It's something about our system and the way we do aid programs."

Source: ‘Australia's boomerang aid slammed’ by Claudette Werden, Radio Australia, 29 July 2009

Prosperity gospel bandwagon hits Port Moresby

Joyce Meyer is a 66-year old American preacher and a proponent of the ‘God wants you to be seriously rich’ school of charismatic Christian evangelism.

She’s been a guest at Brian Houston’s sometimes controversial Hillsong Church in Sydney, which has the same ‘prosperity gospel’ tendency (in fact Brian was the warm up act for Joyce’s recent three day Moresby gig).

It's claimed her TV and radio programs are broadcast in 25 languages in 200 countries – including PNG – and it seems Joyce has written no less than 70 books.

According to Wikipedia, Joyce frequently talks in her teachings about overcoming obstacles and finding strength to deal with difficult circumstances, drawing candidly and with humour on her own experiences.

And PNG blogger and occasional PNG Attitude correspondent, Emmanuel Narokobi, a self-confessed Catholic who says he needs to lift his game, has written:

“If faith can move mountains then right now faith has brought us a private jet flying, multimedia, multi-staged, multi-screened, multi-million kina concert extravaganza and all for the people for the price of nothing. All they want are your souls, well I shouldn’t put it that way, but all they want is for you to take part in their brand of faith.” [See Emmanuel’s blog here.]

So Joyce the Voice made a flying visit to Port Moresby in her new Gulfstream jet to teach people, as Emmanuel puts it, “that God desires material prosperity for those He favours. Material prosperity in this theology not only includes financial prosperity but success in relationships and good health as well.”

Joyce arrived in PNG last week to be greeted by an enthusiastic crowd that The National said was “yearning for a glimpse of her”. Not that it did The National’s prosperity any good, the newspaper's website has been shut down subsequently after coming under serious cyber attack from some ungodly hackers.

Joyce’s team preceded her three-day ‘Festival of Light’ (24-26 July) with a five-day medical mission, which offered free treatment to 4300 people, 1000 of whom committed their lives to the Lord on the spot. And Joyce also popped out to Bomana gaol to meet some of the guests.

Steve Grace, whose Christian band warmed up proceedings, writes in his blog: “When half the population of the capital city turns up to hear some good Bible teaching and worship the Lord together, you just know that God is at work in a nation… It was an estimated crowd of 400,000 - the largest gathering for a Christian event in PNG’s history.”

Steve went on: “People came with a great expectation and hunger. Joyce’s Bible-based practical preaching was warmly received by the PNG people. Thousands made decisions to live for Christ each night and everyone who attended received a small booklet called A new way of living. It was like witnessing a phenomenon.”

Joyce Meyer makes $100 million a year. As the St Louis Post-Dispatch has editorialised, “In the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus says, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ Ms Meyer would seem to believe she can make the squeeze.”

PNG having difficulty retaining professionals

Bernard Oberleuter maintains a close and active interest in the affairs of PNG and has now turned his attention to the leaching of well educated professionals from PNG to greener pastures elsewhere.

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the exodus of Papua New Guineans pilots to overseas airlines but Bernard also suspects that the same is happening to professionals such as doctors, mining engineers, geologists, plant operators and quantity surveyors.

Bernard attributes the migration not only to the pull of a better quality of life - material benefits such as better pay, working conditions and housing - but to push factors such as family security, law and order problems and, as Bernard puts it, “na inogat wantok system”.

“Air Niugini has got to lift its game,” says Bernard. “They are the stomping ground for pilot training and, once trainee pilots clock up enough flying hours and secure their commercial licence, they go offshore.

“Air Niugini does not have in place an indentureship to retain trained pilots on the payroll for a maximum of five years after they receive their wings.”

Bernard has some thoughts on how this problem may be addressed and he’d also welcome other comments as he formulates a policy paper on this issue. You can contact Bernard here.

And here’s an interesting list of just some of the PNG pilots who have found overseas jobs:

Capt Ted Pakii [Wabag] - recently appointed Chief Pilot of Skystar Airways

Capt Peter Ansphil – Captain of a Boeing 767 with Skystar Airways

Capt Granger Nanara [Dobu] - flew with Emirates for 15 years before moving to Abu Dhabi to take up his current position as Vice President Operations for Etihad

First Officer Terry Togumagoma [Trobiands] – Etihad

Capt Timothy Nanara [Dobu] - resigned from Air Niugini to join his elder brother and is currently a Training Captain with Emirates

Capt Locklyn Sabumei – Etihad

Capt James Makop [Mt Hagen] – flew with Emirates for eight years and fo the alst two years a Captain at Jade Cargo Airways based in China

Capt Samuel Siaguru - resigned from Air Niugini in 2005 and also a captain at Jade Cargo

First Officer Mark Neah [Wabag] - has been flying with Cathay Pacific for the last seven years

That’s quite a list, isn’t it? And it seems to indicate that the education system (at least in the past) was able to deliver top quality professionals.

There is also a hint that PNG's management (and political) capability does not exist to the the extent required to build the kind of society in which such people can live, work and prosper in the way their professionalism justifies.

West Papua: persistent dreams of a PNG union

Extracts from a recent article in which journalist BERTIL LINTNER  looks at the turbulent history and aspirations for a possible future for the Indonesian province of Papua

When the Dutch finally left Indonesia in 1949 -- four years after the declaration of independence -- they held on to their western half of New Guinea. They argued that the territory was culturally different from the rest of the old colony and, if ceded to Indonesia, the Papuans would be exploited by the more politically and economically sophisticated Javanese.

The new Indonesian nation, however, saw it differently. One of the catch phrases of independence leader Sukarno was of Indonesian sovereignty "from Sabang to Merauke"…  The Dutch initially ignored such sovereignty slogans and throughout the 1950s initiated several moves to make their part of New Guinea an independent state.

Basic education was improved, a naval academy was opened, Papuans began to serve in the military as well as civil services and local elections were held in December 1961. The territory even adopted its own national anthem and flag with the white Morning Star, symbolizing the hope for a new day era.

All this happened at a time when Southeast Asia was in deep turmoil. Communist movements were strong throughout the region and especially in Indonesia, where it was a powerful and legal political party. The United States warned the Netherlands against trying to defend its New Guinean possession if Jakarta attempted to use force to extend its writ to Merauke…

The Netherlands gave in and, on Aug. 15, 1962, signed an agreement in New York with Indonesia according to which the United Nations would assume temporary control over the territory. It would then be transferred to Indonesia -- but on the condition that the Papuans would have the right to decide their own future.

On May 1, 1963, Indonesia took full charge of the territory and first renamed it West Irian and later Irian Jaya. In mid-1969, the promised "referendum" was eventually held, but The Act of Free Choice, as it was called, was open only to 1,025 handpicked delegates, which predictably all voted in favor of integration with Indonesia. On Nov. 19, 1969, the U.N. General Assembly accepted the results and Western countries turned a deaf ear to local protests over the dubious circumstances of the vote.

By 1965, the OPM had already been established along with an armed wing, the National Liberation Army, or OPM-TPN, and hit-and-run attacks were launched in the highlands. [Ruben] Maury joined the OPM in 1970, abandoning his family and a job as a pharmacist in Jayapura...

Mr Maury spent eight years in the jungles and highlands of West Papua before he and some of his ill-equipped followers crossed into independent PNG in 1978. But the newly independent state did not want to antagonize its powerful Indonesian neighbor, and promptly arrested the OPM fighters. In 1979, they were all released and four of them were accepted as political refugees in Sweden...

The OPM would find it difficult to establish a coherent sense of nationhood among the Papuans. They just need look across the border into PNG, which many observers consider a nearly failed state with rampant crime, murder rates among the world's highest, and severe environmental degradation driven by an economy almost entirely dependent on the export of raw natural resources.

Still, the OPM's Stockholm representatives see separation from Indonesia as just the first step; the next would be a union with PNG. "Historically, our ties have been with Oceania. Our connections have always been eastwards, not westwards," [Daniel] Kafiar says.

Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, 17 June 2009. Thanks to John Fowke for directing us to this excellent article

PNG media elite not interested in the grassroots

PHILIP FITZPATRICK has dug out a little-reported speech on the PNG media, and finds it may need to be read between the lines

PNG doesn’t get much media coverage in Australia and when it does it is usually negative. The Australian media gives its audiences what it thinks they want. In PNG’s case this is invariably stories about corruption and lawlessness – good news just doesn’t make the cut. Thank goodness the media in PNG has a more objective, balanced and less depressing view. Or does it?

An address by Joe Kanekane, President of the PNG Media Council, to a United Nations Development Program sponsored governance forum in Port Moresby in March casts some doubt over this proposition.

Mr Kanekane argues that the demography of PNG media audiences has changed significantly since the Media Council was set up in the 1980s. These days people are more sophisticated, thanks to globalisation, technology, better education and a “booming economy”.

He says the days of the media as watchdog is long gone. This role is more rightly the province of the Ombudsman Commission, the Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor General. The media’s role is rather to “offer what the customer wants”. What they want, according to Mr Kanekane, is reporting that is “more focused to their parochial needs than that of their country”.

Talking about the print media he says “a booming economy has a transcending affect. More people have money to spend and that demands additional pages to cater for that”. So what goes into these additional pages?

Mr Kanekane says that in the four main publications in active circulation it is amazing the “number of advertorials, classifieds and even the short anecdotes that appear”.  This explains, for instance, the bemusing pictures in the classifieds of kids having birthdays accompanied by lengthy and glowing testimonials.  He adds “climate change, corruption, law and justice and HIV/AIDS sadly don’t feature prominently”.

There now seems to be middle-class elite in PNG which is big enough and powerful enough to dictate media content. These are the people who buy the newspapers and can afford television. They are not interested in grassroots issues like corruption and the collapse of rural infrastructure. The few dissenters among them seem to be mainly younger people, including students who have access to technology like the internet.

Mr Kanekane cites the Reverend Oria Gemo who said in 1996 that “information is (now) regarded as a marketable commodity rather than a social right”. Mr Kanekane further adds that in this sort of competitive environment the decision to include a story on a social issue must include consideration of its “selling value”. He notes that “anything controversial arouses interest and prompts more readers”.

In May 2008 The National (which, incidentally, is owned by an Asian logging company) featured a photograph of a hanged and crucified drug addict on its front page who had “decimated” a young teacher on his way to school. Despite the community outrage about the photograph he says this was okay because circulation was high for the edition.

He also unapologetically noted that “most importantly, this level or kind of news presentation was targeted at selling the product”. What negative social impact the picture had was unimportant - the main thing was that it sold newspapers!

What hope of having his voice heard has the average subsistence farmer in the provinces who seldom sees a newspaper and gets most of his news from the radio? Provincial radio stations used to be the main source of information on agriculture, health, law and justice and community news, usually in the local languages. Now they play music all day and charge to run community announcements. The farmer, it seems, has lost his voice.

Even television, not the most elucidating medium, is under threat. Channel 9, for instance, has bought into PNG in a big way, dropped local production of programs like the popular Tok Piksa and substituted the sort of mindless pap we have to endure in Australia.

Mr Kanekane notes that the biggest purchaser of advertising space in PNG is the government. He also notes that the media have been very lucky. Except for a couple of abortive attempts at control “the industry has been graced immensely by the benevolence of many of our governments since independence” and has not been “subjected to circumstantial greed or the manifestation of absolute power”. He reiterates this point several times in his address; one wonders why?

Mr Kanekane’s address is reported verbatim in issue 2 (2009) of PNG Resources magazine. The address is not easy to read and I suspect, for the initiated, is rife with hidden meanings. He seems to think that a media that caters mostly to the needs of the elite and makes a buck on the way is a good thing and the way of the future. He calls this “opinion making”. Where have I heard that before?

A significant risk of robbery near Parlt House...

Thanks to Richard Jones and Phil Fitzpatrick for providing us with such an interesting debate in Recent Comments.

So what does the Australian Government’s Smart Traveller website have to say about the safety and security situation in PNG?

Overall it gives our nearest neighbour a ‘High Degree of Caution’ flag. Let’s face it, even taking into account  DFAT’s notorious prudence when it comes to these assessments, it’s not a real good wrap for a country in which Australia has such a vested interest - and for which we have assumed such great responsibility.

Here’s an extract, and a link to the full advisory is provided below.

We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in PNG because of the high levels of serious crime. Pay close attention to your personal security at all times and monitor the media for information about possible new safety or security risks.

Crime is random and particularly prevalent in urban areas such as Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen. Settlement areas of towns and cities are particularly dangerous. Violence and use of 'bush knives' (machetes) and firearms are often used in assault and theft attempts. Carjackings, assaults (including sexual assaults), bag snatching and robberies are common. Banks and automatic teller machines are increasingly targeted.

Although most crime is opportunistic, there have been incidents of robbery in which expatriates have been targeted in their homes or workplaces. There have been a small number of high profile kidnappings for ransom.

There is a significant risk of robbery and carjacking in the area near Parliament House in the Waigani suburb of Port Moresby and along the highway between Lae and the Nadzab Airport, particularly between the two and nine mile settlement areas.

Walking after dark is particularly dangerous in Port Moresby and other urban centres. All travel at night should be made by car, with doors locked and windows up.

Due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, victims of violent crime, especially rape, are strongly encouraged to seek immediate medical assistance.

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary faces a number of obstacles, including limited resources, and this may affect police response times in the event of crime. Many businesses, including the High Commission, employ private security companies to help deliver a prompt response to calls for assistance.

You can read the full DFAT travel advisory for PNG here.

Meanwhile, in PNG, after several recent high-profile murders, the death penalty is on the agenda. PNG law allows for people to be sentenced to death by hanging but it has never been enforced.

Attorney-General Dr Alan Marat said today there are no regulations governing how an execution should be conducted and he’s asked his department to draw them up. "I want to take that regulation to cabinet for endorsement but it's just not ready, but as soon as it's ready maybe we start implementing," he said.

The long uphill struggle for kiap recognition

“In March 2002 I commenced a lone campaign to have the service of Kiaps in the Australian External Territory of Papua and New Guinea formally recognised under the Australian Honours and Awards System by the Australian Government.”

So begins Chris Viner-Smith's description and analysis of a Kiap recognition project that has got somewhere, but not quite to the end of the road.

Referring to the specificity of his original goal Chris says in a summary document The Case for Kiap Recognition (you can download it here): “That campaign has been lost, other than gaining eligibility for Kiaps to the National Medal, but on the way some small victories have been achieved.”

Let’s itemise those ‘small victories’ because, in the context of an issue not yet finally resolved, they do count for something:

The Federal Government has agreed to:

Extend to Kiaps eligibility for the National Medal for service to 30 November 1973

Accept that Kiaps were sworn commissioned officers of an Australian external territorial police force, that is, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary

Mount a Kiap exhibit at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, researched by professional historians and funded by the Government to provide a means to formally acknowledge and laud the collective efforts of Kiaps in steering PNG towards independence

Sponsor a launch event to which key officials including the PNG High Commissioner would be invited to coincide with the 35th anniversary of PNG independence on 16 September 2010

Publish an article on the contribution of Kiaps in the NAA magazine, Memento

Consider a Ministerial speech in Parliament to place on public record the nation’s gratitude for the Kiaps’ contribution to the development of PNG

What the Government has not agreed to, and what is unfinished business, is more formal recognition through the presentation of a citation or certification to ex Kiaps.

In seeking this greater recognition, Chris has the support of former Governor-General Michael Jeffery who has said: “I am disappointed with [the] response and will take the matter up personally …”

Chris remains hopeful that General Jeffery might have some success in persuading the Government to recognise the incredible work Kiaps undertook on its behalf in bringing a nation to independence.

“You will understand how we feel,” says Chris, “when ADF reservists are entitled to a medal for three months service in Brisbane whilst we put our lives on the line daily for the Australian Government in a foreign country and are denied any recognition.”

You can read the submission provided to Senator John Faulkner, then Special Minister of State, earlier this year by downloading it here. It remains an important document.

Moving backwards – the sadness of today's PNG

Today’s The Age has a must-read story for anyone with a serious interest in Papua New Guinea.

Dave Tacon, a Melbourne-based freelance writer, has penned an insightful and elegant feature on a country that, far from developing, has just been demoted to underdeveloped status by the United Nations.

Dave’s piece moves from the neglected bush to the dangerous towns covering a lot of important issues in its sweep. Thanks to John Fowkes for pointing it out to me. Here’s a taste:

Detective Andrew Mokoko, 35, walks the street outside the bank agency office in plain clothes, nonchalantly toting a pump-action shotgun. A local identity, he chats with passers-by and the betel nut vendors. Although he is officially on duty, he is earning a little extra as a security guard with a weapon from the police armoury.

This is explained to me by a former police officer. When I ask why Mokoko is out of uniform, the reply is: "Well the raskols often wear police uniforms."

In PNG, corruption is taken for granted. Still, Kerema is tame compared with the country's more populous regional centres, where a largely uneducated population flock in the hope of work. Unemployment is rife. Violent crime, driven by poverty and tribal allegiance, is out of control. In recent weeks there has been sustained rioting throughout the nation. The targets are mainly Asian-run businesses — convenient scapegoats for the disenfranchised.

Commenting on recent rioting in the nation's capital, Port Moresby, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare acknowledged the perception that his Immigration Department is so corrupt that "a six pack (of beer)" is accepted tender for a passport.

Papua New Guinea, a country with more than 760 distinctly different languages, was ill-prepared for the independence granted by Australia in 1975. To this day, the prevailing political system is based on wantok — the support of one's friends and family above all others. Superimposed into government, wantok is a system of pure cronyism and nepotism.

Fortunately for us, The Age has Dave Tacon’s full article online, and you can link to it here.

Source: As things fall apart by Dave Tacon, The Age, 4 July 2009

After the consultants, a practical proposition

“At 70 you'd think a bloke'd grow up,” says the irascible JOHN FOWKE, who writes about PNG affairs with knowledge, intelligence & passion and a weather eye for lefty luvvy atrocities

Australia's cardinal mistake in PNG was to allow a Westminster-modelled, party-based system of political representation to arise in a profoundly-tribal, profoundly-egalitarian landowner society.

This gave rise to today's hegemonic, exploitative and cynical governing elite, but was compounded by another factor. The other great grey elephant in the room, looming but ignored for decades. Never spelled out.

The Aussies decided "Black Mastas shall never arise", and so a trend to mediocrity and "lefty-luvvy-ideology" became the policy in education and social development.

To hell with informed, ethical leadership during the most important decades of PNG's rise from tribal horde to Nation State.

As with most colonial powers, Australia exhibited a supine even welcoming attitude to the flood of lefty political correctness which swirled like a fog behind UN visiting missions in the sixties and thereafter.

From this time, any pretence to excellence of outcome in education was sacrificed to the dull beat of fluttering left-wings.

It is no accident that the mention of names like Kidu, Kapi, Rarua, Taureka, Bouraga, Nombri and Karukaru all bring memories of balanced, urbane, highly-educated, personable and effective professionals; men of dignity and purpose.

A generation? No, unfortunately, because of Aussie policy not a generation; just a flash in the pan. So what happened to replace this cadre of leaders?

The output of a slack, second-rate caste of ideology-driven foreign educationists foisted upon a naive PNG by multinational consultancy corporations was unable to provide a supply of focussed, disciplined, ethical leaders in the same model.

In this way, by closing the gate to a socially-engineered class of properly-educated, open-minded and pragmatic non-tribal Melanesian leaders, we closed off the only avenue whereby young people might see and aim for ethical, socially-positive and creative careers in politics and administration.

Social engineering didn’t go away. It was put into reverse. And look at the result.

Now that Australia and PNG have concluded a new and potentially hugely-valuable scholarship scheme whereby 2,000 students a year will be brought to study in Austtralia, it is time for the re-energised and re-focussed PNGAA to set its cap at something worthwhile.

Let’s get hold of the plan, appraise it and remain in constant touch with AusAID on this important issue. Let us also look at providing emergency phone and email contacts, in loco parentis services for PNG students who, faced with life in a strange environment, find the need for advice or a shoulder to cry on from time to time. This is partnership. This is meaningful.

It seems the Australian Government and its minions in DFAT and AusAID are beginning to appreciate a little of the reality of what is needed by PNG, as opposed to "what Mother orders."

Lets get in there an help in a really practical way; a way which will have a long-term positive effect. PNG is our neighbour, and we are theirs, for the rest of humanity's existence upon earth.

Merauke 5: tough experience had a silver lining

I rarely write here about my day job because, well, there’s infrequently any significant crossover between it and PNG Attitude.

But in the last few weeks there has been an overlap of sorts, and it occurred when Jackson Wells was retained to assist the Merauke 5 secure release from their nine months detention in the Indonesian Province of Papua.

You may recall that pilot William Scott-Bloxam, his wife Vera and three friends flew a light aircraft on the one hour trip from Horn Island to Merauke for a weekend’s sightseeing last September. They were given permission to land but didn’t have visas. The Indonesian authorities were less than impressed and detained them.

I don’t want to canvass the issues here, the Merauke 5 are due home in the next few days. But in my conversations with them in Merauke recently I’ve been particularly impressed by their stories of the excellent relationship that developed between them and the people of the town (population 50,000).

“We’ve received nothing but kindness and generosity from the local people,” Scott (as he’s known) told me. “Even when we were in jail, friends we’d made brought us food. We receive small gifts from local people.”

While in gaol (mercifully a relatively brief if unpleasant part of their detention: mostly they were confined to the town limits), Scott gave English lessons and Vera learned some Indonesian.

Karen Burke commented on the “very good relationship” the Merauke 5 had with officials and locals. “They are very friendly towards us and often express sympathy regarding our situation. They are generous and bring gifts. The bemo drivers sometimes refuse payment for the fare.”  Keith Mortimer agreed, saying he’d developed a good circle of Indonesian and Papuan friends.

Hubert Hofer, who spent most of his free time in Merauke pursuing historical research and learning Indonesian, said he found the people very friendly and supportive. “I share my historical information with locals who are interested. I’ve found an Australian soldier’s grave and I’ve shared information about the wartime construction of Merauke airstrip.”

So there you have it. The Merauke 5 have had a gruelling and difficult experience, but made a bit more tolerable by the warmth of the local Papuan and Indonesian population. A silver lining indeed.

The little things that lead to electoral oblivion

Many of us who are interested in politics have pet theories about why the Howard Government so spectacularly foundered before the Rudd challenge in the 2007 Australian federal election.

The Coalition’s favourite theory for the loss is that the onset of generational change from Howard to Peter Costello, who announced this week he’s leaving politics, did not take place as it was supposed to. Certainly a contributing factor.

Labor claim it was the unpopular (with some) Work Choices legislation that put paid to the Coalition. Certainly that was cream on the cake for those voters who turned against the Howard Government.

But what was the cake?

In my analysis ‘the cake’ was the gradual accumulation of poor decisions, broken promises, ill-timed actions, stupid statements, snouts in troughs, half truths, plausible deniabilities and high handed dismissals of issues voters felt strongly about.

A steady accumulation of real and perceived wrongs and slights that gradually gave every constituency (from pensioners to students, navvies to the Navy) a reason why it should not vote for the incumbents. It took some years, but it happened.

So what’s this got to do with the Attitude, I hear you roar.

Well, I believe I’m seeing evidence that the Rudd Government is beginning to descend this slippery slope to electoral oblivion.

It won’t take a year, or even a term, but it will occur inevitably ‘as night follows day’ as former Prime Ministerial contender Andrew Peacock said as repeatedly as day follows night.

Let me take a step back. This year I’ve been engaged in a number of worthy projects for which federal government assistance is required. We’re not talking large amounts of money. Some require little lucre indeed.

National recognition of the Montevideo Maru tragedy. Cost: bugger all.

Official recognition of the contribution of kiaps to PNG. Cost: bugger all.

Putting much-needed history books into PNG schools could be done for half the price of the annual fee of an average AusAID consultant. Cost: Not quite bugger all but, in the grand scheme of government budgeting, pretty much bugger all.

In each of these recent cases, and others I could mention, I have witnessed responses drafted in the interstices of the bureaucracy put into the mouths of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries. I have read the weasel words. I have seen the eyes averted when reasonable action is sought. I have felt the negativity as if it were a physical affliction.

Negative, nay saying, disingenuous, uncooperative, hostile, responsibility-shifting words written by bureaucrats over the name of compliant Ministers to unnecessarily offend yet another constituency.

This government, despite Kevin Rudd’s inclusive rhetoric, is no more interested in engaging with rank and file citizens like you and me than it’s interested in flying economy class, staying in a three-star hotel and dining on a hamburger.

The accumulation of the little reasons that cause ultimate electoral grief has begun. We are witnessing it. Reasons so small they’re easy to ignore. But reasons so small they’re easy to fix. At least in the beginning. But in the end, reasons that give many of us a reason to say, “They’ve been there long enough”.

Meanwhile, we keep on keeping on.

PNG anti-Asian riots inquiry makes slow start

The bipartisan committee of 15 Members of Parliament established to inquire into Asian owned and operated businesses in PNG has made a slow start.

    Jamie Maxtone-Graham MP [left], the chairman of the committee has set up a blog to get feedback about the inquiry, but after thre weeks it’s pretty bare of ideas. PNG Attitude readers who have views to express may link to it here.

The terms of reference of the committee are to:

(a) investigate and report on the root causes of the spate rioting and vandalism against foreign, especially Asian, businesses;

(b) review the types of businesses owned and operated by Asians;

(c) investigate the causes of resentment by nationals against Asian businesses, whether it be:

(i) the quality of goods and services

(ii) workplace ethics and demands placed on nationals

(iii) lack of understanding of the culture in specific regions where Asians do business

(iv) whether lack of or inefficient delivery of government services, population growth and lack of development in rural areas are forcing nationals to vent their frustrations on Asian businesses

The committee is able to recommend changes to the relevant laws governing foreign involvement in PNG businesses and has been asked to “present its report and recommendations to Parliament as soon as it is able to do so”.

The committee has established four sub-committees, each of which will carry out inquiries in private and public hearings in the Momase, Highlands, Southern and New Guinea Islands regions. The Committee has called upon individuals, NGOs, businesses, churches and 14 relevant Government agencies to make representations and written submissions.

People presenting evidence will do so under the protection of Parliamentary privilege. People unable to attend public hearings may post information on the chairman’s blog.

Talk to the trees: PNG’s big dollar ‘carbon trades’

PNG’s Office of Climate Change (OCC) seems to be in strife after a proposal to make $625 million from non-existent carbon trading was revealed.

Last month a PNG governors’ conference sought a probe into OCC affairs. Eastern Highlands governor, Malcolm Kela-Smith, a resolute critic of OCC, sponsored a motion that, until audit and Public Accounts Committee reports are delivered, the Office should be restrained from issuing carbon credits or approving carbon trade projects.

The governors say they don’t want OCC to be a regulator, participant or beneficiary of carbon trading. Instead they want it to operate as a normal government agency. They want it to consult with provincial governments in drawing up legislation to control the proposed trade. The governors clearly don’t trust OCC.

Furthermore, they are writing to the Norwegian government, the UN and AusAID to record their disquiet with OCC. Norway has expressed interest in buying carbon credits for the preservation of a huge forest area in the Sepik.

Let me backtrack a bit. At the centre of PNG’s climate change controversy is climate change ambassador, Kevin Conrad, who in Bali two years ago challenged the US to lead the world on climate change or “get out of the way”.

Mr Conrad is also a director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an alliance of 33 countries promoting avoided deforestation – that is, stopping trees being chopped down.

The main thrust of the Coalition is that, if rich countries want poor countries to preserve their forests as a way of reducing carbon emissions to keep the planet cool, they should pay the poor countries to stop deforesting.

At present the UN does not endorse offsets based on avoided deforestation. But the proposed process for formalising carbon trading is now the subject of international talks in Bonn and the UN and donor countries such as Norway are enthusiastic about the approach — which PNG has been promoting.

Even before agreement has been reached, a market has emerged in avoided deforestation on the assumption that, one day soon, real credits will be delivered. And the PNG Government seems to have got in early - apparently pre-emptively issuing them. At a price.

“The OCC has no legal mandate to issue any forest carbon credits,” said Prime Minister Somare’s press secretary, Betha Somare, who claimed officials are investigating how credits came to be issued. According to a report in the respected UK business magazine, The Economist, at least 39 other ‘credits’ have been issued by OCC.

One of these caused particular outrage in PNG: 800,000 hectares of virgin rainforest in Kamula Duso, one of the reasons for the crisis meeting of the governors last month.

After being confronted with a copy of the Kamula Duso credit by The Economist last week, Ms Somare said “very recently apparent irregularities within OCC have come to our attention.

“As a result the prime minister has asked for a review to be carried out and a report to be made to his office,” she said.

Kevin Conrad has commented that it’s too early to state what went wrong but says an “independent review” is underway, mounting a defence that “carbon speculators” are putting pressures on landowners in many countries to sell large tracts of forest ahead of a possible deal on avoided deforestation in Copenhagen later this year.

Some might say it’s a case of ‘give me the money or the tree gets it’.

Climate change - caught in the cleft of a big stick

PAUL OATES looks at an exquisite carbon trade contradiction

Articles in PNG and Australian newspapers have highlighted the next stage of
the potentially farcical debate over carbon trading.

In the Post Courier ['Carbon trade gets funding' by Poreni Umau], Luther Wenge, that clear sighted Morobe Governor, is reported to have allocated K150,000 for an inventory check of what trees are available for carbon trading in the Kasanombe village of the Nawaeb District.

In another article ['PNG and Carbon Trade'], James Gore points out that there is no global regulatory framework available to manage carbon trading. If and when there is one, the developed countries will clearly have the ability to continue what they are doing now and simply pay off the developing countries with carbon credits. (Olaman! Aiting nupela bengbeng ikamap nauia.)

PNG's population has doubled in less than 30 years and is set to do the same again. The available land to grow food is decreasing as a huge amount of land has been taken up with foreign owned, broad-scale plantations to produce so called (and politically favoured) 'green' biofuels.

Encouraged by the PNG government, vast tracts of PNG have already been logged by foreign timber companies. Now there is an expectation that developed countries will pay PNG people to leave existing trees alone and not chop them down for future firewood and space for food gardens when the current gardens are exhausted - a very fast process in the tropics.

Exactly what are people going to use for fuel or where will they find land to grow more food? Should payments for these carbon credits conceivably trickle down to rural PNG landholders, what will they be used for?

It doesn't take much imagination to see the choice that awaits the rural people: Either sitting beside a kerosene stove and cooking imported fish and rice or using traditional means to grow and cook their food from communally owned but still forested land.

But, in today's Melbourne Herald-Sun there appears to be a glimmer of hope. Ben Packham reports ['Climate laws add to police workload'] that Australian Federal Police will have the role of carbon cops and will be inspecting and policing climate offences.

In other words, in addition to their current duties, the Feds will now have the extra duty of policing those who don't follow the new Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority regulations.

Presumably, on the other side of the Torres Strait, PNG will follow suit by having its already underfunded and disintegrating Police Service monitor whether trees, that we in the developed world have paid to have protected in perpetuity, are not cut down by hungry and cold Papua New Guineans.

This is history PNG students can’t do without

RUTH SAOVANA-SPRIGGS makes a plea for the Eric Johns’ history books to take their rightful place in PNG schools

Eric Johns, an Australian, former high school teacher and lecturer at the Ward Strip Teachers College in Port Moresby in the 1960s and 1970s, not only has a love of the history of the people of PNG.

The work Eric has been doing in writing and publishing PNG history is of great value to the children and people of PNG. It will no doubt contribute towards raising the standard of education as well as helping build up a well informed population.

From my perspective as a Papua New Guinean who went through the national education system in the 1960s and 1970s, history was not considered an important subject, especially in primary and high school.

With the benefit of hindsight, colonial and national history should be taught, one of the aims being to foster a greater appreciation of the history of the nation told through the lives of prominent Papua New Guineans.

This is important for a number of reasons.

First, attempts to bring about a single national identity and unity against the tide of more than 800 different local languages, small-scale social and political entities, a weak modern infrastructure and operation, and a host of other social, political and economic issues and problems, ‘nation building’ will always be a difficult.

Secondly, it is a fact that since independence education standards have been falling and this is an ongoing concern to parents.

Thirdly, reading is very important, it underpins development. In PNG reading is not part of traditional lifestyles, yet is crucial to development. The national history books Eric Johns continues to work on capture the essence. His work is an excellent initiative and would contribute a great deal towards the enhancement of education system in PNG.

I’ve seen and read Eric’s collection. It is well researched and well written. I love and enjoy his work very much.

I strongly recommend Eric Johns’ work be given financial support, so it can be reproduced and introduced in PNG through the national education system.

Dr Ruth Saovana-Spriggs is from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. She is a research fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies and a lecturer in the Pacific Studies Program at the Australian National University.

Ministerial forum addresses the wrong issues

PAUL OATES asks why today’s Australia-PNG ministerial forum is avoiding key questions about PNG's political and social problems

The 19th Australia-PNG Ministerial Forum you say? ...... Sounds like a splendid recipe for a talk fest if ever I heard of one.

If the last Forum held at Madang was "highly successful", one is tempted to ask, exactly what made it so? Did we see any change after the Madang Forum in Australia's role in assisting our closest neighbour? Why did it take a recent visit by the PNG PM to get our PM to express a change in emphasis in our AusAID policies? Where were the outcomes of the 18th Forum at Madang expressed or summarised and evaluated prior to holding the 19th?

So with a cast of many high level Ministers attending the 'much publicised' 19th Forum in Brisbane, we can obviously expect to see a joint communiqué issued after today's meeting with appropriate methodologies for evaluating the decisions that are reached at this high level conference? Obviously, before yet another Forum is held (the 20th), we will see some accountable results expressed and previously stated benchmarks being achieved? Clearly all these government Minister's are eagerly expecting to impress on the PNG team their department's importance and need to ensure PNG's government policies reflect a concomitant view or as expressed in bureaucratise as, "a bilateral issue".

But where is the importance of Public Health and Education? What about Law and Order and the fast, failing Police Force, the recent riots and the disintegration of the fabric of a cohesive nation state? What about assisting Public Service governance and some appropriate up skilling of government employees I hear you say? What about the future of AusAID?

Well of course, Climate Change, the Kokoda Track and other far more important issues have first to be considered, discussed and even debated. After all, it's a matter of priorities and the REALLY important ones for Australia's current government must be considered first. So with a full day to discuss and resolve all the crucial issues affecting the Australia-PNG relationship and with a huge team of qualified and knowledgeable advisers to prepare and help ministers understand the issues at hand, its a relief to know there will be some guaranteed, constructive and worthwhile results achieved for today's forum.

My, but I'm so glad I've not started to become a tad cynical in my senior years.....

Australia & PNG meet to discuss mutual issues

Like most matters concerning PNG, as we’ve noted previously in the Attitude, the 19th Australia-PNG ministerial forum to be held today in Brisbane has received little media publicity.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith is co-chairing the forum with his PNG counterpart, Sam Abal. This meeting follows the highly successful forum held in Madang in April last year.

A soccer team of nine Australian ministers and two parliamentary secretaries make up the Australian delegation, demonstrating the importance the government places on our bilateral relationship with PNG.

In addition to Mr Smith, the Australian Ministers attending are: Simon Crean, Senator Chris Evans, Senator Penny Wong, Peter Garrett, Tony Burke, Martin Ferguson, Alan Griffin, Senator Nick Sherry, Duncan Kerr and Bob McMullan.

“PNG plays an important leadership role in the Pacific region and the forum is the primary opportunity for regular ministerial level engagement on issues of shared importance to Australia and PNG,” said Mr Smith. “We will discuss a wide range of key bilateral issues including our Partnership for Development, the Kokoda Track and climate change.

“In addition, we will discuss important economic issues at a time when the global recession is creating new challenges for governments throughout the world. We will also have the opportunity to engage closely with business and industry representatives involved in the bilateral trade and investment relationship.”

Ilya's new PNG blog really delivers the news

PNG Attitude - and many readers - have commented previously on the dearth of qood quality and balanced information about PNG affairs in the Australian media.

Well, now, AAP‘s Port Moresby-based PNG correspondent, Ilya Gridneff, one of only two foreign journalists reporting out of our nearest neighbour, has established a valuable new resource for people interested in PNG affairs.

Papua News Guinea, as the website is cleverly titled, includes material Ilya is reporting from PNG for AAP – much of which never sees the light of day in Australia.

This means that the blog provides an excellent service and an augmentation to the National and Post-Courier websites, which are essential reading for people who want to stay in touch with happenings in PNG.

The blog also provides an opportunity for Ilya’s fascinating photos, and he’s no slouch in this department either. The site is worth visiting for these alone.

Papua News Guinea is a site to be bookmarked and visited regularly. You can find it here.

Today’s PNG – a story of poverty & hardship

From Terry Shelley in Goroka

Yes, things are simmering in Papua New Guinea.

I think the big driver of the problems is poverty and frustration amongst the young. It is a fact that only 10 percent of the population are in the formal economy while the rest are being left behind, with nothing but hardship and hunger down the track.

This does not coincide with the Prime Minister’s comments of no poverty in PNG. There is - and a lot of hardship to go with it.

On my Sunday drives to Simbu (I worked out I have now made some 2,670 crossings of Daulo Pass a lot of the early ones with blurred vision), I look at the people along the way and nothing has changed. The highland mommas are still washing themselves, their kaukau, their pikininis and, these days, their second hand clothes in the gutters beside the highway. And yet they are still smiling.

There is no future for them or their children. This has lead to massive urban drift, where the only way to survive is crime or prostitution.

And there’s another very important factor with huge future impact - the something like 80,000 kids leaving the education system each year with only less than 10 percent having any chance of finding employment. The Government has totally neglected the most important asset of PNG - its youth.

We have had thirty years of slack government with the priorities all wrong. There is more money spent in Port Moresby than the rest of the country put together.

Noa Badu of the National Economic & Fiscal Commission did a paper on the unfair distribution of wealth (taxes) which sums it up.

My home province of Simbu receives around K12.50 per head. Eastern Highlands K27 per head. Western Highlands K53 per head. These are the three coffee producing provinces that create wealth through coffee exports.

The National Capital District, which produces nothing but empty bottles and full public servants, receives K250 per head. The madness of it all.

The Police Force is the same size today as it was at Independance. Today the Police are nowhere rear as efficient or disciplined as they were 30 years ago. And the rascals are not only better armed but also have mobile phones on their side.

The actions and lifestyle of our pollies does not help either, with flash cars and gold bracelets. Their terrible choice in neckties is also unhelpful.

Youths are no longer hunter gathers or gardeners. They are unemployed, poverty-stricken urban mobs and, yes, there is more to come.

Meanwhile, when I set out on my 2,671st trip on Sunday, I will think of you poor urban buggers in Oz and elsewhere as I gaze at the vision splendid from the top of Daulo and wonder at the beauty of it all. Where else could you possibly live.

People who care & speak with a moderate voice

The recent anti-Asian disturbances in Papua New Guinea led to a range of views in post mortem: on the one hand, gloomy prognoses that the riots heralded the beginning of a period of civil unrest that would lead to even more violence and social meltdown.

Somewhere between hands, the predictable political response of an inquiry. Politicians are lost without something to look into.

And on the other hand, the limp hand, there was complacency.

For a handful of Australians, however, the events took a dramatic personal twist last weekend when we received a long email from two concerned PNG correspondents, the essence of which is expressed in these words:

“The rule of the grassroots will be this and very clear: No more Asians owning Cottage Businesses in PNG by 31 December 2009. Or otherwise, we will celebrate 2010 New Year with bon-fires of all Asian-owned Takka Shops in flames all around the country. That will be the solution. Forget the government. If they can't do it, we will do it ourselves!”

We all responded with alacrity but the response of one of my colleagues in particular was especially noteworthy because of its measured, sympathetic and positive tone. And, as things have turned out, it proved to be very helpful to the young men concerned, who have since acknowledged the wisdom of the words that were written and their intention to heed them.

It was Bob Curtis who wrote the letter, which he shared with us. And I want to share it with you.

Dear all,

I personally hear the message sent by A and B, and it distresses me, whilst I see that serious unrest is imminent.

I would counsel the PNG Nationals to firstly confront their Elected Members with a very strong message that their position in Parliament depends on their immediate reaction to the people's complaint. Advise the Members that you will sponsor Candidates to stand against them at the next Elections.

Secondly find potential Candidates amongst those with a Secondary Education or a Degree or strong Village status, and push for reform. At least two local Candidates should confront each Member. Preferably one of these Candidates should be female.

Form a PNG Reform Party and go to the people with your Policy Platform and distribute that Platform in Pidgin, Police Motu, Motu, Kotte and Yabim. Use the Churches to assist you. Similarly the Journalists amongst you can help spread the message either through the Press, Pamphlets. the Pulpits. Word of mouth is a powerful media amongst the unsophisticated Bush dweller.

Seek support from the Catholic Church, The Lutherans, the Methodists, and Business. The Ballot box is a powerful argument against Corruption. You should target current Elected members pressuring them to respond to your concerns. You should pressure those investigating Corruption to report to the People urgently.

You should impress on them using non inflammatory language that the time has come for action, and the People are mobilizing. Encourage your Party Members to expose and reveal occurrences of Corruption, Illegal Gambling and Prostitution.

Build a Data bank of information to be given to the People at a time when it will hurt the Law Breakers the most. Fight Police corruption at every turn. Seek higher wages for Police and ask for their support.

Form a Reform Committee and for the time being keep the names of the Committee Persons (Male and Female) undercover to protect them. Boycott the Stores you do not like, in the long term that is a better idea than burning them down.

Remember many Storekeepers give credit to customers, particularly when the customers produce Copra , Coffee or Cacao. The same applies to Bislama, Lili, Vegetables and Kukas. Encourage your Members not to fall into the Credit trap.

Above all, think before you act. Breaking the law is dumb.

Bob Curtis.

Now you don’t have to agree with everything Bob wrote to understand that this was an important and supportive and helpful piece of communication.

And so it turned out, when a response came acknowledging the soundness of that advice and an intention to heed it. Furthermore, there was clear pleasure in being able to communicate with people who cared, and who were sympathetic.

It’s another indication that the power of the Internet and email have more than a little ability to establish useful communication between Australians and Papua New Guineans who do necessarily have institutional influence but who do care about each other as people.

Well done Bob, Colin Huggins, Paul Oates and Bernard Oberleuter.

Seeking answers: What caused the PNG riots?

Gelab Piak

The recent riots in PNG against Chinese businesses is cited by many newspapers and news agencies to be a symptom of a nation in crisis. The looting has been condemned and the Government has vowed to set up a bipartisan team to investigate the riots.

The riots may be uncalled for, yet are well overdue. They result from a  build-up of many issues. PNG is filled with problems such as acute poverty, lack of development, HIV/AIDS, law and order, public service and workers pay, the great divide between rich and poor, landowner issues, the list just goes on and on.

The Government knows about these issues, yet ignores them, and this is part and parcel of the cause of the recent rioting. The riots were the work of opportunists, not coordinated. These opportunists were mainly from squatter settlements, where the poorest live. They took advantage of lootings elsewhere and orchestrated copycat versions.

But dig deeper and you’ll find that these are people from remote areas who have been neglected by the Government for so long. They have moved to the towns and cities in search of government services. Others are primary and secondary school dropouts who become “street boys” and eventually end up in criminal activities.

The education system, too, must be reviewed, as it has contributed to a large number of dropouts over the years. They become contributing factors to f the problems.

The service delivery mechanisms of the Government also need to be reviewed, as these riots evidence the need provide services. The Department of Labor has come under criticism from other government authorities, but all should accept the blame and not pass the buck.

Business regulators must be blamed for not checking to see if foreign owned business and owners abide by PNG law. This issue also paints a bad picture of the way we manage border security.

And, in the centre of this, are corrupt leaders and Government ignorance, not only the current government but also previous governments.

Another fact to consider is that PNG is a developing nation. As such, it is caught in the middle: on one hand is Western culture and on the other our own culture.

As we probe deeper we realize our problems are complex. Our leaders must be prepared to address the issues, and must investigate the recent unrest.

If this problem is properly addressed, we won’t see another Honiara in PNG.

Gelab Piak is a freelance journalist and student at Divine Word University in Madang

Has PNG robbed a generation of its aspirations?

Yesterday PNG Attitude reported comments by PNG AusAID head Bill Costello that his organisation is seeking engagement with Papua New Guinea's private sector to canvass ways to move forward. PAUL OATES believes this glass is also flawed.

With due respect to Mr Costello and his team, who I'm sure are very well meaning, the answers to PNG's challenges do not lie in the private sector.

The private sector can only move development forward when a favourable climate and environment exists for it to do so. Until that is established, AusAID may as well turn its funding hose back into the wind or into the nearest consultant's bank account.

PNG's framework of government has clearly ruptured and haemorrhaged. It is in real danger of falling apart. To understand the essence of the problem one must ask, "Why is this so?"

When the decision was made to move PNG as a single entity, towards self government and independence, there was no detailed plan or agreed timeline to achieve this objective. At the time, the major players were never involved at the 'kunai roots' level and therefore had no idea of what was involved.

I can say that because, as a kiap in the field at the time, I was caught betwixt and between.

On one hand, as government representatives in the field, kiaps were instructed to commence the so called political education process in the villages to prepare the people for this momentous event. In the early 1970's, pressure on Australia from the United Nations to grant independence as quickly as possible impacted directly on our rural operations.

On the other hand, many of us knew that the village people did not want us to disappear overnight and leave them to their own devices.

As public servants, no one ever asked us what we thought about the fast tracking of independence or whether the people we spoke to at village level thought it was a good idea. I seriously doubt if anyone above District level ever read the Patrol or Situation Reports we submitted or, if they did, understood what was being reported.

We were just expected to do what the government directed. Most people in the villages that I spoke to at the time thought the idea was crazy. They didn't want Australia to throw them out of the peaceful development phase they had only just entered.

Training local officers to takeover responsibility at all levels was just starting to take effect when independence was thrust upon PNG. It was a newly created PNG that had not developed a true, national identity nor a broadly based ability to say what it wanted.

So what happened? Old and traditional practices were revived and lauded as the way to go. Traditional practice was clearly the only available alternative to those who had the power of government thrust into their hands.

What this precipitate change in direction did in practice was to bring to a halt, the process of peaceful development through government control. In reality, the change created a power vacuum that could only be filled by the traditional custom of the 'village bigman' and not by effective government systems on a national level.

This reversal of PNG government direction in the mid to late 1970's has now robbed the younger, educated generation of Papua New Guineans of being able to aspire to manage their own country effectively. How can educated Papua New Guineans start to improve their own country when the framework of government responsibility and accountability is flawed. They have been effectively disenfranchised by the elite of the PNG 1960's and 1970's, many of whom still hold onto power.

The only way to manage a country is to start at the top of its system of government and to then have that system improve in a 'trickle down' methodology. The trouble is, who can start this process? At the moment it seems, only those who are part of the problem.

Paul Oates is a former kiap in PNG and administrator of the Cocos Islands. He now farms in south-east Queensland

An inescapable truth: Australia doesn’t know PNG

Over the last few days PNG Attitude has reported the high drama of anti-Chinese riots throughout the PNG mainland and the low comedy of 300 AusAID consultants being paid astronomical salaries (amounting to half of Australia’s aid budget) to deliver indiscernible outcomes.

(An obscene waste when you consider the many small organisations and individuals struggling to deliver services on the ground in PNG with no government support at all.)

At the same time, the Attitude has published comments from astute observers of PNG affairs analysing the reasons for the riots (grassroots neglect and social dislocation compounded by low and high level corruption).

We’ve been further educated, this time implicitly, by the deathless silence from the Australian Government and media about what just might be the first definitive indication (because of its geographically widespread nature) of a future broader-based insurrection in PNG.

There is an inescapable truth gradually emerging here. The Australian Government doesn’t seem to have a clue about how to respond to the complex political and social dynamics of its nearest neighbour.

The recent events in PNG are explosive and potentially threaten to destabilise our immediate region: worse than Fiji and the Solomons combined. Think Timor with tribes, mineral wealth and foreign influence extending to the Chinese mainland.

PNG abuts our nation and, with six million people, has real scale. It’s a saga waiting to unfold. There is high emotion here for Australians, too. PNG was once our territory and our people fought and died there in peace and war.

More personally, to many of us, Papua New Guineans are kith and kin. Cousins.

After years of serial neglect (occasionally peppered with offence) by the Howard Government, the Rudd enterprise decided to rebuild the relationship. Good thing and long overdue.

But a relationship is more than warm words and polite handshakes. PNG is not an Australian marionette. Because it won’t say no to $400 million a year, even if half goes back whence it came, and won’t flaunt an important commercial relationship, doesn’t mean it’s in our keep.

When the political going gets tough and internal problems get overwhelming, when much more investment comes from the west than the south and when we remain supine, the real PNG may turn out to be rather more individualistic than Australia thinks it is.

There's evidence that the Australian Government apprehends that PNG - especially in the approaching post-Somare era - is headed for an unpredictable and unstable period with outcomes that may be inimical to Australia's interests. But there's no evidence that our Government knows what to do about it.

The riots: Bigman, gavman & planti giaman tumas

The second part of a special feature analysing recent attacks on Chinese businesses in the major cities of Papua New Guinea.

Observers of PNG politics say allegations of a rise in Chinese organised crime and corruption involving PNG officials has generated a seething grassroots community anger that boiled over in the recent anti-Chinese riots in some of PNG’s largest cities.

“Resentment builds up through the spoken word and is not being publicised,” says long-time resident and PNG citizen, Graham Pople. “Asians seem to have no respect for our laws and way of life. They seem to think they can do whatever they like and, if they get into trouble, can buy their way out by bribery.

“PNG nationals are sick and tired of these people coming here and doing this when, historically, it has seldom been done by waitskins who, instead of doing the job to the detriment of the nationals, normally concentrated on training them to do their job. The Asians do not do this. They seem to want to keep the jobs for themselves.

“They have moved into reserved occupations such as kai bars which are reserved for PNG nationals but, when advised they are in the wrong, normally bribe PNG Government officials to turn a blind eye.”

Journalist Ilya Gridneff sees it this way: “There is significant resentment amongst the grassroots and the easiest most visible target are Chinese shop owners who have come in and over the last 10 to 15 years and pulled the carpet from underneath grassroots Papua New Guineans. No one is angry at Australian businesses nor about old Cantonese.”

Graham Pople also draws a sharp distinction between the Asians who arrived in PNG many years ago and the more recent immigrants. “They settled here, made themselves part of the community, have been a very important part in the development of this nation and we should acknowledge that they are completely different from the present influx from Asia that has occurred since independence.

“Those earlier immigrants have helped this country to grow, are marvellous people and call themselves PNG citizens. Please do not classify them as Asians, but rather as Papua New Guineans.

Ilya Gridneff says resentment is also tied to serious allegations of top level corruption amongst public servants, police and politicians allowing illegal business practices and turning a blind eye to organised crime.

“But locally,” he says, “I sense it's the grander narrative of no tomorrow. Grassroots sold out by bigman and gavman and planti giaman tumas.”

Graham Pople feels the same way. “The most recent influx have a complete contempt for the laws of PNG and have faith in their ability, if they do get into trouble, to buy their way out,” he says.

“If this is publicised there will be an enormous backlash by those concerned. But can they face up to a mirror and say that what I have stated is wrong. Not if they are honest.”

Journalist Malum Nalu believes that “Michael Somare, in his mad rush for independence, failed to see he was not in a position to maintain the high standards set by the Australians and is now making the country pay a terrible price.

“A whole generation of ill-educated, sick, gun-toting, drug and homebrew-addicted young men and women have been set loose upon this country. Basically everything in this country has gone backwards since 1975.”

“The government has to immediately attend to the various social problems the country is facing or worse is to come,” he predicts.

According to Graham Pople, one answer lies with the Departments of Labour and Immigration and others involved “doing their jobs much better and checking these Asian enterprises.”

But he sees a problem. “When they try to stop it they will be tempted to overlook it by being offered a bribe. And who can blame them when they accept it and fail to proceed with prosecution. Their ‘leaders of the Nation’ are doing exactly the same.”

“Michael Somare, his family and cronies have to get down from their ivory towers, stop buying mansions in Australia and jet aircraft the country doesn't need, and attend to the very basics such as education and health,” says Malum Nalu.

“It reminds me of the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette.Unless the government addresses the problem right now, we could be looking at widespread unrest all over the country.”

A dismayed Graham Pople agrees: “People who should be languishing in gaol and have their personal assets transferred to the State continue in a position of power,” he says. “Frustration grows.”

Pressure building inside PNG’s social sospen

It’s been a rivetting 24 hours, with great reader interest in the aftermath of the rioting in PNG.

This is the fifth PNG Attitude story today, and four of them – including a surprise intervention from the PNG Governor-General - were about this very live issue.

Some people - not including Sir Paulias Matane and not including me - feel disaster may be imminent.

Accordingly, I’ve received some interesting email feedback. It needs to remain anonymous (although I do know the authors’ names) but I felt I should share a few of the comments with you.

Comment 1

The rioting and looting by youths in Lae is graphic evidence of just what pressure is building up inside the social sospen - that big saucepan inside which dwells the majority of PNG's population; the lid firmly wedged on and the heat of impoverishment slowly increasing.

Years of the disgraceful ‘eyes-shut, pockets open’ policy maintained by the authorities are now likely to be challenged by a growing unity in this previously split, multi-tribal society. A unity never engendered by the fulsome words and flamboyant promises of their lordships, those who govern and administer in situations of personal security and comfort unseen and unimaginable to the boys who rioted in Lae.

Those big houses and 'permanent resident' status in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and elsewhere may soon prove to be very wise investments for their owners.

Comment 2

It's all too obvious in PNG that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And unless the government addresses the problem right now, we could be looking at widespread unrest all over the country. The seeds are already sown and it will most likely take the form of street violence and mass destruction of property.

Comment 3

There are a lot more frustrated people but not all have come out as yet. Time bomb waiting to go off. And I know that it is very near.

It makes for challenging and thought-provoking reading, doesn’t it?

More tomorrow.

Is AusAID denying PNG access to its own history?

It was the par buried right at the end of Ilya Gridneff’s AAP story on the campaign to get history text books into PNG schools that gave the game away.

The report had linked Kevin Rudd’s recent statement that too much aid to PNG is consumed by consultants with news of a project to get PNG history books into PNG classrooms.

“Papua New Guineans need a consciousness of what they have in common,” ANU’s Prof Hank Nelson told Gridneff, arguing that “a knowledge of a shared history is basic to the building of a nation-state.”

Gridneff also quoted author Eric Johns as saying PNG history should be taught in schools to avoid “PNG school students and people in general [being] ignorant of the main forces and motives that shaped their nation.”

This is a straightforward proposition – get history books into classrooms so Papua New Guineans have an understanding of how PNG came to be and who, as a nation, it is. “For a country of six million, PNG has one of the world’s poorest distribution of books,” Prof Nelson says.

And what was the AusAID response? Weasel words.

"Australia's focus in the education sector, as agreed with the PNG Government, is on teacher training, school infrastructure development and strengthening education administration,” said an unnamed spokesman.

AusAID’s dismissive comeback demands answers to some fundamental questions.

What does AusAID expect teachers to teach if they do not have books?

Does AusAID understand that, while infrastructure is important, the content of learning is critical?

How long does AusAID think better educational administration will take to penetrate the villages?

And does AusAID appreciate that its bureaucratic ‘focus’ is much less important than responding to need where that needs exists? And that is at the grassroots.

AusAID’s much criticised top-down approach to aid delivery that so concerns the Australian Government and that saw officials recently rush to Boroko for a rural [sic] photo opportunity is clearly evidenced in its lamentable reaction.

Australia’s development aid agency simply has to do better than this.

Communal riots: PNGns feel squeezed out

PNG Attitude asked some Papua New Guinea residents who are close observers of national affairs and politics to analyse the recent anti-Chinese riots that began in Port Moresby Wednesday then spread rapidly and seismically to Lae, Madang and the Eastern Highlands.

Communal violence has been rare in PNG, but when thousands of people spontaneously attack and ransack Chinese-owned stores, it is clear the pressure has been building for some time.

This poses problems not only for the PNG Government but also for an Australian Government, which is watching developments in PNG with increasing concern.

The Lae police commander said he didn’t know what triggered the riots in his city while Port Moresby police chief Fred Yakasa blamed the violence on louts. "It was just hooligans taking advantage of the situation with an emotional build-up," he said. "There is nothing to worry about, as we will continue our patrols and increase presence on the streets."

Rioters on the street of Lae had a different view. "Who is allowing these Asians to come into our country and own small businesses which should be owned by Papua New Guineans?” they asked. “They are ripping us off and investing their money in their country.”

Businessman, former politician and PNG citizen Graham Pople sees it like this: “The current unrest against Asians is caused because the Departments of Labour, Immigration and other Departments have not been doing their proper duties as required by the laws of PNG. Many of these people come into our country and engage in activities that are forbidden to them by law.

“The trouble in Madang was reported as being caused by a Chinese tractor driver running over a PNG national. There should have not been a Chinese driving a tractor as that is an occupation reserved for PNG nationals. This is resented by PNG nationals.”

Journalist and blogger Malum Nalu says: “In all honesty, I don't think these people have anything at all against the original Chinese. They are using this as an opportunity to steal things and mostly to show their frustration at a government that has neglected them for far too long.

“On the part of the Chinese, it is the new breed of ‘rogue Chinese’, not those of the old school, who have brought about a feeling of hatred and animosity among indigenous Papua New Guineans against Asians.

“[The disaffected Papua New Guineans] are mainly settlement dwellers who are poorly-educated and unemployed and for whom home brew, marijuana and guns are very much a part of life. These people, for too long, have been neglected by the government, and things have now reached a boiling point.”

Journalist Ilya Gridneff agrees. “PNG's Chinese community began with immigration in the late 19th century, but local resentment has grown as an influx of ‘new Chinese’ has slowly taken over small businesses like trade stores and food shops in the past 15 years. Many in PNG feel squeezed out and complain about working for ruthless Chinese bosses who impose tough conditions.”

Tomorrow in PNG Attitude: The Riots – Analysis and Prognosis

Illegals & triads the root of anti-Chinese riots

The recent anti-Chinese riots in Papua New Guinea were predicted last year by academic James Chin who said he expected there would be increasing physical attacks against mainland Chinese, in particular petty traders and kai bar operators.

And in a startling forecast Chin also said “it is almost certain that Chinese triads will establish a presence in PNG”.

In a journal article last year in which he examined the contemporary Chinese community in PNG, Chin pointed out that the new Chinese were the biggest beneficiary of the sell-off by European business after the dramatic fall in the value of the kina in the late 1990s.

They are now the biggest investors in PNG outside the oil and gas sectors, with the mainland Chinese and Malaysian Chinese being predominant.

In 2008 the population of ‘old Chinese’ in PNG was estimated to be about 1,000. The ‘new Chinese’ number around 20,000 with 300 a week arriving without proper documentation, most of them from mainland China.

Chin says that most mainland Chinese invest in ‘reserved’ activities such as kai bars, bakeries, low end restaurants and clothing stores that often bring them into conflict with local residents and authorities. “This conflict increases corruption,” he writes, “as many operators pay off police and immigration authorities when they come to check on illegal businesses.”

The other Chinese groups (including PNG Chinese) do not like the mainland Chinese and see them as crooks and conmen.

Chin says the weight of mainland Chinese numbers and their important economic role mean they will soon dominate sections of PNG’s economy. While there are growing calls for the government to act against mainland Chinese traders, the bureaucracy (including the police) is so inefficient and corrupt that any actions it takes against these illegal operators are likely to be useless.

Sources: [1] ‘Contemporary Chinese Community in Papua–New Guinea: Old Money versus New Migrants’ by James Chin, Journal of Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Volume 2, 2008. [2] ‘Chinese people in PNG’, Wikipedia

Aussie authors push for history books

Ilya Gridneff of AAP

Port Moresby - Australian authors have launched a campaign to get much needed history text books into Papua New Guinea’s schools on the back of talk of an aid policy shift.

The complexities and differences of an estimated 1,000 PNG tribes, many in rugged remote places, have hampered PNG’s progress in achieving true nationhood since independence from Australia in 1975.

PNG’s divided, fractured state and poor education standard play their roles in the Government’s inability to deliver basic services like health, law and order and education.

Earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said historically, too much aid money to PNG had been consumed by consultants and not enough went to essential services like education and health.

This has given hope to those pushing for history books to get into classrooms.

Australian National University professor Hank Nelson, who taught and lived in PNG, said the issue was crucial for PNG’s development. “For a country of six million, PNG has one of the world’s poorest distribution of books,” he said.

“There are very few functioning libraries, in the whole country there is maybe one bookshop. The others are religious or for tourists,” Prof Nelson said.

“Papua New Guineans need a consciousness of what they have in common. A knowledge of a shared history is basic to the building of a nation-state.”

Eric Johns, a retired PNG teacher trainer, wrote a history text book for PNG students but publishers dropped his next book project when AusAID stopped funding such projects around 2002.

Mr Johns has continued working on his history text despite the possibility of not getting it published or distributed by the Education Department or a supporting European Union program.

“I hope the situation changes as there is a crying need for a more detailed book in schools. Until this has been written, PNG school students and people in general, will be ignorant of the main forces and motives that shaped their nation.”

Mr Johns said a few books existed but none were in PNG’s schools and they did not cover the important role Papua New Guineans played in early settlement circa 1850 to 1975.

An AusAID spokesperson said: “Australia’s focus in the education sector, as agreed with the PNG Government, is on teacher training, school infrastructure development and strengthening education administration.”