Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Weapons & death threats common in PNG sexual violence

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

WEAPONS AND DEATH THREATS are a common feature of sexual violence in Papua New Guinea, according to statistics released on Friday by Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Paul Brockmann, who heads the Doctors Without Borders’ mission in PNG, said since December 2007 MSF had treated more than 18,000 women, children and men who had been raped, beaten and assaulted by family members, spouses, parents and others.

“It shows a really quite disturbing and shocking statistic about the number of those survivors that we treated who had been abducted or held in confinement, or threatened with a weapon as part of the assault,” he told AFP.

Of those treated, 5,350 had received a direct death threat, 557 had been abducted or confined, and in 5,459 cases the person was threatened with a weapon. In 2,800 instances, the patients were children.

Brockmann said the 18,000 people who came to MSF were seen at only two hospitals — one in the country’s second largest city of Lae and another in the small highlands community of Tari — meaning that many more victims must be present around the mountainous country of seven million people.

Epidemic of family violence requires a coordinated response

SAYEED ALEEMULLAH SHAH | The Age (Melbourne)

DURING MY FIRST WEEK IN TARI, in the beautiful central highlands of Papua New Guinea, I came face to face with the terrible consequences of what is labelled ''family violence''. I was at a clinic when the guard called over the radio for a stretcher. I grabbed one and went to the gate.

There, a young woman lay in the back of a ute, blood pooling in the tray, her clothes slashed open, soaked with it.

We shifted the lady to the stretcher and moved her to the emergency room where medical staff started treating her. They called the surgeon and requested the patient's friend - an elderly lady - to wait outside the emergency room, where she told us what had happened. I asked one of the guards to translate. The injured woman had been beaten by her husband but did not know why.

How corruption is effectively legalised in PNG

MARTYN NAMORONG | Namorong Report

I WILL BEGIN THIS DISCOURSE by redefining corruption in Papua New Guinea. My definition of corruption in PNG is that it is the protection by law of irregular situatio ns, contexts, and behaviours of individuals that allow those situations, contexts and individuals to be unaccountable.

Based on smart lawyering and conventional legal interpretations, in PNG the law corrupts and the justice system provides protection.

Let me clarify here, I am not referring to corruption in a negative, dirty, murky way. What I am referring to is that, like Pontius Pilate, the law will, can, and most often does wash your hands clean.

It’s the biggest lottery in this nation and you have to be in it to win it, so to speak. The rewards are enormous and it’s not necessarily illegal. After all, everything is done within the framework of the law to protect one’s self interest.

That is why, anyone in Papua New Guinea who has money and who can afford good lawyers can act with impunity and receive the full protection of the law.

From BRA fighter to a sniper’s role in the Mr Pip movie

LEONARD FONG ROKA

HE WAS ONE OF THE MEN who ambushed and killed eight Papua New Guinean soldiers outside Arawa in late 1992. He was wounded at the former Kieta port in mid-1993. And he recently acted as a Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) sniper in the movie, Mr Pip.

Today Kevin Paibaku and his wife and children live a calm life at Bomena hamlet in Pidia village of Kieta, taking up opportunities with openness and a positive mind.

“We all suffered in the 10 year war for independence,” he told me, “but our struggle is still going on. We have yet to reach the destiny we fought and died for and that is freedom from our own selfish leaders, the cruel PNG government and its people, and Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) and its friends that are still running around to exploit us again with old laws.”

Sam Koim says influential people behind attempted break-in

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

SAM KOIM, THE HEAD OF corruption investigators Task Force Sweep in Papua New Guinea, says some high profile people in the country are attempting to foil its efforts.

Mr Koim confirmed that two four-wheel drive vehicles approached his office at 9pm on Wednesday asking guards to let them in to speak to Mr Koim. He said the six men were turned away when guards telephoned him. He said his guards and police are armed.

Mr Koim said he suspects the men were being used by more influential people. This latest attempt followed a burglary in January when laptops and paperwork were stolen.

“We are trying to create a future for PNG with equal opportunities and benefits for all of us, which is somewhat distorted by corruption,” Mr Koim said. “We want to minimise corruption so that everyone has a share of the benefits in this country."

Sorcery and witchcraft in PNG: Problems in definition

RICHARD EVES | Australian National University

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST MARIE REAY once noted a tendency to lump sorcery and witchcraft together, often under either heading, and this, she felt, had brought a lack clarity to the situation. This remains true today for Papua New Guinea, where these terms are frequently fused or used interchangeably, and are rarely conceptually distinguished.

This blurring of the two occurs not only in popular accounts in the media but is widely reproduced by NGOs, donor organisations, and government institutions. A new acronym has even been coined — SRK (‘sorcery-related killing’) — that perpetuates the definitional lack of clarity, since, as Reay noted, it uses one term, sorcery, to refer to both sorcery and witchcraft.

Civil servants - Making financial pressure a way of life

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

PAPUA NEW GUINEA has a plethora of “money-rain” institutions and human cash mules (maket meri) that will give loans to any working class man or woman in need of immediate cash.

The “money-rain” institutions are good at exaggerating the benefits of getting loans through advertisements and luring gullible workers into financial bondage. The interest rates range between 150 - 200 % in most cases, even though they are repaid over an extended period of time. 

The maket meri set their interest rate at K1 for every K2 borrowed and are easily accessible on the streets.  Not much paper work is involved.  With this challenge from the maket meri, the “money-rain” institutions have adjusted their operations to give loans within a few minutes.

Can Mr Namah rely on social media to reach the people?

KEITH JACKSON

YOU WOULD HAVE TO BET that the decision by Papua New Guinea opposition leader Belden Namah not to deal with mainstream media and instead rely on social media to get out his message won’t last long. Quite simply, the numbers won't be there.

So what do we know about the audience reach of social media in PNG? While reliable statistics are hard to come by, a quick internet scan reveals that, compared with the tried and true mainstream media of press, radio and television, Facebook, Twitter and blogs are going to struggle to accumulate comparable audiences.

For example, the three most popular blogs about PNG (PNG Blogs, PNG Attitude and PNG Mine Watch in that order), top out at around around 40,000 unique visitors a month with PNG Exposed and Masalai a few steps behind them. In terms of typical daily usage, if PNG Attitude is a guide, this represents probably 2-3 thousand people (which can double if an issue is running hot).

UPNG student discovers Lapita pottery in the Pomio District

MATTHEW LEAVESLEY

A RECENT REPORT of a new Lapita archaeological site in the Pomio District of East New Britain has triggered a great deal of interest in the Papua New Guinea and Pacific archaeology community.

The site was discovered by University of PNG history student Andrew Sarar and his father Patrick and is located on the shores of the Jacquinot Bay at the mouth of the Kiton River. Ironically the site has been known by the locals for years and is regularly used by them for their daily chores.

Lapita pottery is the archaeological marker of a great migration of people into the New Guinea Islands region. These people arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago about 3,300 years ago and, after a short period of time, integrated with the pre-existing hunter-gatherer populations who had been in the region for around 40,000 years.  Today, everyone from the New Guinea islands can trace their ancestry to the early hunter-gatherers and the Lapita migrants.

Oz immigration targets black passengers for 'racist treatment'

KEITH JACKSON

BART PHILEMON AND I were at the University of Papua New Guinea together. We shared Prof Rex Mortimer’s politics honours class along with people like Rabbie Namaliu, Utula Samana and Paul Pora Schmidt.

Unlike me, who failed at my only attempt at the polls in Australia’s 1983 federal election, the year Bob Hawke became prime minister, my student colleagues of the mid-1970s – including Bart – all went on to considerable and successful political careers.

Until he was defeated in 2012, Bart was the long-serving (20 years) member for Lae in the PNG parliament, serving as Treasurer and in other cabinet roles. He was also one of the founders of the once-dominant National Alliance Party. He is now a director of Oil Search.

Calls for additional media controls in PNG are very disturbing

PETER KRANZ

IN RECENT DAYS there have been two interesting - nay disturbing - moves in the relationship between the Papua New Guinea government and the media.

First, our old friend Belden Namah has said he is boycotting traditional media briefings in favour of social media because he doesn't think the mainstream media is giving him a fair go.

Well maybe that's his choice, but I don't think social media will give him the same reach as radio and television in PNG if he solely relies on the 100,000 or so people who actively participate in social media compared to the few million that watch TV and listen to radio.

US think tank condemns failure to act on land grabs

JEMIMA GARRETT | Radio Australia

A UNITED STATES’ THINK TANK has criticised Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O’Neill for failing to act on the findings of a Commission of Inquiry into controversial land leases.

Three commissioners took more than a year to investigate the leasing of more than five million hectares of land, often to foreign interests, without the permission of land owners.

The research findings have been revealed in a report by the Oakland Institute entitled On Our Land - Modern Land Grabs Reversing Independence.

The Oakland Institute has also launched an accompanying film about land acquisitions in PNG and the human and environmental cost of land and resource loss.

Fiscal discipline lacking as PNG embarks on spending spree

MARTYN NAMORONG | Namorong Report

YESTERDAY’S PAPUA NEW GUINEA BUDGET was very difficult for me to swallow. Yes teachers get a pay rise but the government’s party-boy behaviour means they’re going to fuel inflation and further drive down the kina.

You may not have heard of the Alotau Accord – it was the shopping list of ‘what I wants’ made by the culprits who put the O’Neill-Dion government into power.

Treasurer Don Polye did not mention the Alotau Accord in his budget speech but this budget reeks of it and is bound to add downward pressure on the PNG economy.

Now all those MPs are counting their chickens as the eggs hatch at the expense of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Solomons church leaders share their views on sorcery

CHARLEY PIRINGI | Solomon Star

SORCERY IS PART OF CULTURE and it must be addressed and not ignored, a Catholic priest has told the Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission in Honiara.

“Sorcery is very much part of our culture, passed on from generation to generation, through our ancestors,” said Fr Henry Paroi of Henderson Catholic Dominican Society.

“We just cannot ignore it; the thing is to find ways to deal with it. It won’t happen overnight. It takes time”.

Bishop Jonnie Kupper of the Diocese of Central Melanesia said sorcery is a challenge for church leaders and the issue critically needs additional provisions in the law.

Former Solomons Governor-General Sir Nathaniel Waena described sorcery as a symptom of societal decay.

“The rise of sorcery is a wake-up call for church leaders,” Sir Nathaniel said.

The law reform team will be going to provinces for Review of Sorcery Offence consultation paper as of next year.

Small islands demand UN protection from rising sea levels

INTER PRESS SERVICE

THREATENED BY RISING SEAS, some of the world's small island developing states are demanding that the UN's new set of Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on the protection of oceans and marine resources.

A growing number of these states, including Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Maldives, Tonga, Nauru and Kiribati, are making a strong case for a stand-alone goal for the protection of oceans in the post-2015 development agenda, which is currently under discussion.

Hassan Hussain Shihab, first secretary of the Maldives diplomatic mission to the UN, told IPS that oceans are a priority for the Indian Ocean island nation, whose 339,000 citizens are threatened by sea-level rise.

Ponds are being constructed for prosperity in PNG

EMMA ZALCMAN | Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

THERE’S MORE TO CONSTRUCTING a pond than just digging a hole and filling it with water. Just ask Francis Gako, who has been helping out with an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) project in Papua New Guinea aiming to improve smallholders’ fish production for food security and income generation.

There are more than 10,000 small-scale fish farms in PNG, and interest in aquaculture is growing fast. The PNG government has recognised the important role of fish in food security, particularly in inland areas. However, despite the peoples’ interest in aquaculture, current production levels are low when compared with other South-East Asian systems.

Papua New Guinea: A land whose magic soaks to the core

LIAM CREEDON | Yorkshire Post

‘NEVER SPEND MORE THAN 24 HOURS with a woman,” the village bigman huskily intones, pausing to scratch his nose with the sharpened tip of an arrow. “It will make a man lose his magic and his powers will be weakened.”

Advice from a Huli tribesman in the Papua New Guinea Highlands is generally heeded, especially if given by a man whose facial expression is masked under red and yellow war paint, whose nose is pierced by the long quill of a cassowary, and who is naked apart from a pig-tail belt. Seated around an open fire in the gloom of a smoke-stained hut, my interpreter explains that to preserve his “powers” the chief lives separately from his three wives.

Wife number one lives next door in a similar lean-to, sharing space with the pigs and children. Other wives and relatives are housed around the settlement, guarded on all sides by steep mud walls designed to deter attacks from marauding neighbours.

Peter O’Neill claims corruption busters have cleared him

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

PAPUA NEW GUINEA's Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has said that an independent police probe into corruption has cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Mr O’Neill was implicated in an investigation into corrupt payments from government coffers to high-profile lawyer Paul Paraka, who was arrested last month.

He says the only link to him is a letter approving payments with his signature, which he says is forged.

“They have established that the letter did not originate from my office so this is just an unnecessary distraction from the real issues in the country,” Mr O’Neill said.

Before evaporating, self-styled anti-corruption group issued manifesto

Last Wednesday's Opposition-inspired anti-corruption rally didn't happen and yesterday's stop work protest was a debacle. But before everything went belly up, VINCENT MOSES ("on behalf of all anti-corruption activists") issued this statement....

AS CITIZENS OF THE Independent State of Papua New Guinea, we are becoming increasingly alarmed and concerned about recent statements and actions taken by police in support of an increasingly unpopular and openly corrupt government.

The Metropolitan Superintendent of the National Capital District, Andy Bawa, who is a member of the NCD Law and Order Committee, announced [last] week that, in the interests of public safety, peace and good order, there would be no protest march or strike yesterday.

He said members of the public found congregating in public places would be arrested and charged by police for loitering and/or unlawful assembly.

Paul Barker urges strong stance on inquiry into MPs’ funding

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY could be lost if an investigation into MPs who failed to submit financial returns falls by the wayside, says Paul Barker (pictured), the director of Papua New Guinea’s Institute of National Affairs.

The Registrar of Political Parties, Dr Alphonse Gelu, has referred nine members of parliament to the Ombudsman Commission for failing to submit election expenses incurred during last year’s election.

Political parties also have a poor record - from over 40 parties who participated, only 12 filed returns.

This is the first time the Registrar has taken such a step and Paul Barker hopes the Ombudsman Commission will be equally motivated to send a strong message to politicians.

Manus people cut out: O'Neill concerned about refugee facility

AAP

PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIME MINISTER Peter O'Neill is annoyed that his people are not benefiting from an asylum-seeker processing deal with Australia.

"It is alarming to note that our Papua New Guinean businessmen and women are not given the opportunity to participate. That was the whole intention of setting up this centre in the first place,'' Mr O'Neill told the PNG parliament.

"The agreements are very clear and it's a blatant abuse of trust.

Lazy & naïve young men sweep away fine traditional leaders

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

An entry in The Crocodile Prize

IN THOSE OLDER NOSTALGIC DAYS, leadership in Simbu was reserved for those who stood the test of time and had infinite civic virtue that protected social cohesion.  These leaders earned their place in society by working their land to make ends meet and stood tall during the troughs as well as the peaks of Simbu life.

Their values and discipline as leaders of their households won the admiration of the community and, when a vacancy was created due to a passing leader, the community knew who would be the replacement.

These leaders built their own houses, cultivated bananas, sugarcane and domestic animals in their yard. They looked after their wife and children and send their kids to school, contributed in cash and kind to feasts and compensation, and were an asset to the community.

Cricket: Desert rain robs PNG of win against lucky Afghanistan

KEITH JACKSON

AH, THE UNFAIRNESS OF IT ALL. In a rain-affected match in Sharjah, Afghanistan edged out Papua New Guinea after the Duckworth Lewis system was invoked, denying the Barramundis their third win of the ICC World 20/20 qualifiers.

PNG won the toss and scored a creditable 167 off their 20 overs, with Tony Ura producing another strong performance with the bat.

Then heavy rains lashed the ground and Afghanistan was given a revised and straightforward target of 69 from seven overs. Afghanistan won off the last ball.

Ura’s magnificent 56, after scoring a century in his previous match, was in vain.

Scorecard

Honour among thieves

CHIPS MACKELLAR

I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you - Exodus, 12:13

IN THE EARLY DAYS of the Australian Administration in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, prisoners were an integral part of outstation maintenance.  They cut the grass and unloaded the aircraft and the cargo boats. 

They maintained the station gardens and the station roads, disposed of the rubbish, chopped the firewood and pumped the water and doubled as builders’ labourers.

Prisoners serving time in these small outstation jails were never far from their families.  In fact, it was a common sight to see prisoners’ wives and families on daily visits from nearby villages sitting patiently under the station trees watching the prisoners cutting the grass or doing other outstation maintenance work.

On the trail of PNG’s Tenkile, rarer than the Great Panda

EUAN RITCHIE | The Conversation

MUCH OF MY TIME as an ecology lecturer has been spent teaching students about the wonders of this planet’s biodiversity, but also, regrettably, how much of this biodiversity is under severe threat. Hundreds, if not thousands, of species become extinct each year.

With such a disastrous outlook for the species with which we share Earth, it’s easy to get disheartened about where we’re headed. More personally, I often question whether my own fields of ecology and conservation biology are really enough to help stem the extinction tide.

But I’ve embarked on a journey to Papua New Guinea’s remote Torricelli Mountains - part of a crowd-funded project, Discovering Papua New Guinea’s Mountain Mammals, that is a partnership between myself at Deakin University and Jim and Jean Thomas of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance.

Together, as part of conservation efforts in the region, we’re counting and identifying mammals including some very special species of tree kangaroo.

Cricket: PNG Barramundis have comfortable win over Netherlands

KEITH JACKSON

THE BARRAMUNDIS SCORED a comfortable win in the world 20/20 cricket qualifier against the Netherlands overnight after a quickfire century by Tony Ura (pictured) took them to a commanding 3 for 193 off their 20 overs.

The rated Netherlands, who once famously defeated England A in the longer form of the game, could manage only 141 in reply, falling short by 52 runs.

Ura scored an even century off 80 balls and was ably assisted by Kila Pala who scored 57 off 47.

Nineteen year old quick bowling find Norman Vanua then made short work of the Netherlands top order with 3/12 to leave the Dutch in disarray.

The Papua New Guinea team continue to make an impressive start to this tournament, which could stamp them as an emerging force in world cricket.

Full scorecard here.

Bougainville: Politics & power struggles hold back normalisation

LEONARD FONG ROKA

THE PEAK BODY OF LANDOWNERS around Bougainville’s Panguna copper mine, the Panguna Mine Affected Landowners Association (PMALA), is riven by internal politics and power struggles.

This is causing a lot of frustration that is holding the Bougainville people and the Autonomous Bougainville Government to ransom. It’s also opened a window for opportunists like Lindsay Semple and consultants like Tony Regan.

PMALA chairman Lawrence Daveona (pictured) told the PNG Post-Courier on 16 July that “PMALA will emphasise and ensure that all discussions and consultations on Panguna between parties are extensive and meaningful, that they are better coordinated, that there is regular and continuing consultation with the national government and BCL, and that ABG provides adequate support in resources and capacity to the landowners in order that they participate effectively.”

Here now

WAWAF LABUAN

For every happy time
that's here
There's a field of fire
to shear
For every breath of air
that's pure
There's a tiny bit
impure

There now my son
Take my hand and walk
Give me peace in old age

Solar adventures as a new power source comes to Simbu

ALEX CHONG | Energy Matters

IN SEPTEMBER I TRAVELLED to Papua New Guinea with Wayne Merry from Hope Worldwide  to install small solar panel systems on the rooftop of a rural clinic in the Simbu province and at the 9 Mile Urban Clinic in Port Moresby.

It turned out to be quite an adventure - apart from the remoteness of Simbu, which is accessible only by plane and four-wheel drive, we were encountered various roadblocks set up by protesters and some opportunistic bandits.

We had to request a convoy from the local police on our way there and they in turn charged us a sum for their service. To avoid the premium fee on the way back, we tailed a local convoy with truckloads of people needing to get to the town to stock up on food.

Cricket: Papua New Guinea records famous win over Kenya

ANDREW NIXON | Cricket Europe

THE LAST TIME Papua New Guinea played Kenya was the 1990 ICC Trophy in the Netherlands. Papua New Guinea were winners that day, but since then Kenya had gone on to much brighter things.

But these days Kenya are on a decline, and Papua New Guinea are one of the rising stars of the associate world. But even so, the win today - especially the manner in which it happened - was a surprising one.

As O'Neill cracks down, ill-planned corruption protest crumbles

KEITH JACKSON

OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS prime minister Peter O’Neill, one of the most acute political thinkers Papua New Guinea has seen, has issued a number of challenges to his carping critics.

Some of the challenges - a deportation and threats against media owners - were pretty ugly. The most recent illuminated the reality that you've got to be very well organised to best Peter O'Neill.

Yesterday afternoon, when Port Moresby Police commander Andy Bawa issued a statement that "in the interests of public safety, peace and good order" protest marches and strikes would not be allowed on Monday, it was clear that the officer was not out on a frolic of his own.

Consultation funds hijacked as Meekamui leader turns reckless

LEONARD FONG ROKA

PEOPLE IN THE PANGUNA and Upper-Tailings special mining leases of Bougainville have demanded that Meekamui gang leader Moses Pipiro apologise and explain why he and his followers terrorised them and allegedly stole consultation funds.

As Panguna mine re-opening negotiations continue, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) mining department planned a Bougainville-wide consultation to unearth public opinion on the mine, widely considered to be the catalyst of the Bougainville crisis during the 1990s.

In the Panguna District, the special mining lease leaders proposed to the ABG that Panguna was a special case where people were directly affected and so ABG should consult directly with village people.

You’re being conned: Why the Pacific should say no to refugees

MARILYN SHEPHERD | Islands Business | Extracts

PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND NAURU are being bullied to assist Australia to traffic humans by force out of Australia on the pretext of stopping people smuggling—a con invented by former Minister for Immigration Philip Ruddock in 1999 and agreed to by former Shadow Minister Con Sciaccia and which has continued to this day.

Before 1999, there was no offence under Australian law called “people smuggling”. In 1992, the refugee convention had been enshrined into the Australian Migration Act granting anyone the right to enter or stay in Australia without visas and claiming asylum. At the same time, the parliament invented refugee detention to avoid having to assess the claims of a few hundred Cambodians.

O’Neill threatens to scrap visa on arrival rights for Australians

RADIO AUSTRALIA

PNG PRIME MINISTER Peter O'Neill has threatened to withdraw the visa on arrival arrangements it has with Australia unless visa rights are reciprocated.

Speaking in parliament, Mr O'Neill said he is disappointed with how long it takes Papua New Guineans to get an Australian visa.

He says he is also upset with reports about inconvenient questions being asked by the Australian High Commission during the application process.

"This visa on arrival business for all Australians will be withdrawn by the following year if we don't get a similar arrangement with them," Mr O'Neill said.

Anti-corruption activists call for national stopwork on Monday

KEITH JACKSON

ATTITUDE UPDATE: Port Moresby Police commander Andy Bawa said this afternoon that, "in the interests of public safety, peace and good order", protest marches and strikes will not be allowed on Monday. Commander Bawa said that members of the public found congregating in public places will be arrested and charged with unlawful assembly. 

A GROUP CALLING ITSELF the ‘Social Media Activism Committee Executive’ that operates through the PNG News Group on Facebook is calling for people to stop work throughout Papua New Guinea on Monday to protest against corruption.

The group had originally planned to hold a mass public rally in Port Moresby on Wednesday but called it off when Police objected.

A notice is now circulating in social media asking “all workers in Port Moresby and around the nation to stop work on Monday and challenge the O’Neill government to send the Police to come and arrest each and every one of us for protesting”.

Included in the 12 people associated with the Social Media Activism Committee Executive are Sonja Barry Ramoi, David Ephraim, Lucas Kiap, Noel Anjo Kolao, Charlie Gilichibi and Reginald Renagi.

“You can help to stop corruption by protesting it so that as a collective voice we can be heard,” the group says. “We ask all PMV and taxi operators in Port Moresby to pull your vehicles off the road on Monday 18 November. We also ask all parents not to send your children to school.

Mood strengthens against Asian business proliferation in Bougainville

DAVID LORNIE | Bougainville Bureau Chief | PNG Post-Courier

THE LOOTING OF AN ASIAN-OWNED warehouse in Arawa recently sent a strong message that Bougainvilleans are still willing to take action to protect their interests.

And it further confirmed that the ex-combatants who led the raid are still a significant force in the Bougainville political landscape.

The incident was also a reminder that, despite significant progress, the Bougainville peace process is a complex and delicate one.

It is generally agreed that the Autonomous Bougainville Government is doing a fine job in bringing all parties to the peace table. Bougainville is benefitting as a result. Wounds are being healed and the future looks bright.

Chinese aid to Pacific causes some concern to traditional donors

PACIFIC BEAT | Australia Network News

CHINA'S ONE BILLION DOLLAR AID package to the Pacific has been described as "fairly significant" but analysts say it remains to be seen how the money will be distributed. Vice-Premier Wang Yang announced last Friday that the Chinese government will provide the concessionary loan to Pacific island nations to support construction projects.

Wang Yang made the announcement at a forum with Pacific island nations but no other details on the loan were provided.

"[We] need to be careful, it's a facility of one billion dollars available for infrastructure loans," said Director of the Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute, Jenny Hayward Jones.

Basil says budget delay is attempt to cover up economic problems

KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’s deputy opposition leader Sam Basil launched a searing indictment of the competency of the O’Neill government in a statement released late today.

Claiming that the 2014 Budget has been purposely delayed, Mr Basil suggested that prime minister Peter O’Neill, treasurer Don Polye and central bank governor Loi Bakani have been slack on “corruptive practices with overzealous overspending” and jointly mismanaging the PNG economy leading to “the fearful depreciation of the Papua New Guinea kina”.

Pointing out that the forecast 2013 budget deficit of K2.7 billion had blown out to K5-7 billion, if not more, Mr Basil said “the O’Neill government looks to be on the verge of not being able to pay what it owes internationally”.

Will PNG’s ICAC become truly an independent body?

FRANCIS S NII

THE LONG AWAITED CANON for fighting corruption in Papua New Guinea, the Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill, is expected to be passed in this month’s session of Parliament which began on Tuesday. The question is will ICAC be truly an independent body as intended by the spirit of the effort?

As much the ordinary people want ICAC leadership and its entire functions to be totally free from political influence, PNG politics at many times is weird, unpredictable and does not conform to popular wishes and moral principles.

If PNG politics prevails as usual, we might find the offices of the prime minister and the opposition leader included in the committee that appoints the members of the ICAC - essentially subjecting the organisation and its functions to political influence like we experience in other state anti-corruption institutions in PNG.

Kukukuku - Reminiscences of the cassowary bone people

CHIPS MACKELLAR

JK MCCARTHY IN HIS PATROL INTO YESTERDAY stated that “the Kukukuku tribes had a deserved reputation as the most bloodthirsty and vicious in New Guinea.”  And this description of them was still valid when I lived among the Kukukuku in the early 1970s.

Sinclair in The Outside Man said the Kukukuku “roamed a vast domain of windswept mountains and open grass valleys from the Papuan Gulf to the Morobe gold fields, so totally dreaded by their neighbours, that the very appearance of a raiding party of the little men.... was sufficient to panic entire districts.”  And he was right.

In the centre of the heartland of Kukukuku country was the Government station of Menyamya. The station straddled the hub of a four-spoke wheel, a cross roads for pedestrian traffic spilling out of each of four river valley systems which converged there on the grassy river flats.

It was the frontier of four traditionally hostile groups; a place of suspicion, where tempers flared, and people clashed in periodic outbursts of violence. And although not one Kukukuku ever attacked any of my patrols or ever raised a finger in anger against me, they treated each other with the utmost savagery and brutality. 

The Kukukuku had the most amazing value system.  For although life to them was cheap, property was sacred. For example, one brother might kill another over a simple dispute relating to which of them should go and fetch the firewood.

The Bougainville challenge: partnering for peace & prosperity

The editor of Bougainville Copper Limited’s blog, Bougainville 24, BEN JACKSON, spoke to DAME CAROL KIDU about her appointment earlier this year to the BCL Board. Here’s the transcript….

B24: Are there parts of your previous career you believe will be particularly useful in your role with BCL?

My career as a member of Parliament in Papua New Guinea for 15 years - as a Minister for nine years, a Shadow Minister for two years, a Committee Chairperson for three years and leader of the Opposition for one year - has developed knowledge, skills and capabilities that should be of intrinsic value for me as a Board member of BCL.

Social media outcry goes nowhere: Corruption protest fizzles

KEITH JACKSON

THE PNG ANTI-CORRUPTION Movement for Change will have to toughen up if it’s going to make a difference. A peaceful civil protest planned for today turned out to be a damp squib when organisers called it off after police said they didn’t like the idea.

The protest had been arranged after a growing social  media outcry among Port Moresby’s internet savvy community.

Organisers claim there is growing frustration among the general public over the lack of action by the government in addressing corruption.

They had asked prime minister Peter O’Neill to come to the protest event at Jack Pidik Park to explain the ‘Paraka allegations’ that have triggered political and media controversy in recent weeks.

Dame Carol on mining: let's learn from our past mistakes

BEN JACKSON | Bougainville 24

THE ELECTION OF DAME CAROL KIDU to the Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) board in April 2013 was a clear indication of the company’s intent to learn from its past mistakes and push forward with a new approach to resource development in the Autonomous Province.

“The major consideration should be learning from the past to create a better future for all stakeholders using inclusive strategies,” said Dame Carol, who was appointed to the Board of BCL earlier this year.

“It is important for BCL and the people of Bougainville to acknowledge that the old Panguna existed in a very different era.

PNG: Looking like a textbook case of how to ruin an economy

MARTYN NAMORONG | The Namorong Report

IN THIS PERIOD leading to the 2014 budget, the Papua New Guinea government’s spin has gone into overdrive about deficit spending being required to stimulate economic growth.

In a strange coincidence (or perhaps it wasn’t), both daily newspapers have been peddling this government propaganda from the Central Bank Governor and the Prime Minister.

At the height of the global financial crisis, when the Somare regime was in charge, the country had a low debt to GDP ratio of 9%. According to the O’Neill regime’s 2013 Annual Issuance Plan for Inscribed Stock and Treasury Bills, government debt as a proportion of GDP is projected to increase from 26% at the end 2012 to 32% by the end of 2013.

PanAust to acquire 80% of the Frieda River copper project

REUTERS & SOURCES

AUSTRALIAN MINING COMPANY PanAust Ltd says its acquisition of an exploration project in Papua New Guinea from Glencore Xstrata could transform it into one of the world’s top independent copper producers.

PanAust, a new player in PNG, is benefiting from moves by big mining companies to sell off undeveloped assets and tighten belts after a cooling of the global commodities boom.

Last week the company agreed to buy 80% of the Frieda River copper project from Glencore Xstrata for $125 million.

The Mark Davis story – after 40 years, the bum’s rush

KEITH JACKSON

TODAY JULIE BISHOP did something unusual for an Australian foreign minister – she personally intervened in the saga of journalist Mark Davis by registering concern with the Papua New Guinea government of its treatment of him.

Davis was deported from Port Moresby last week, allowed to take with him only the clothes he was wearing, after allegedly interfering in PNG politics. He had lived in the country for 40 years and most recently had been working for the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program as media advisor.

Today, in response to Ms Bishop, PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill defended his decision to deport Davis, accusing him of orchestrating a campaign against the government.

Politics was not within the scope of Davis's work permit, O’Neill said, adding that the ‘government is happy to reclassify the permit’ but Mr Davis would have to re-apply.

Ex PM speaks out: Mekere Morauta says ‘no one is safe in PNG’

MEKERE MORAUTA | The Masalai Blog

NO ONE FEELS FREE. We live in fear, with our mouths shut. We see, but we don’t talk.

Ministers are afraid to speak their minds, fearing they will lose their job. Provincial Governors are afraid to speak their minds, fearing their province will be starved of funds.

Backbenchers are afraid to speak their minds, fearing they will never become ministers, that their District funds will not be paid, and promise of funding for other projects will not materialise.

The private sector is afraid to speak at all, fearing threats to business, loss of contracts, and now even forced takeover.

Papua New Guineans are afraid to speak their minds, fearing harm to themselves, their family members, their business interests.

Expatriates living here are afraid to express views, fearing deportation.

No one is safe.

NGOs mount legal challenge over Nautilus seabed mining

A COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY organisations is mounting a legal challenge to the world's first license to operate a deep sea mine in Papua New Guinea. The license was granted by the former Somare government to the Canadian company Nautilus for its Solwara 1 mine.

One of the NGOs which is taking the government to court over the seabed mining project is Stop Experimental Seabed Mining in the Pacific.

Its spokesman Wenceslas Magun told Radio Australia that the current government has been "arrogant and ignorant" despite appeals to stop the project.

"[We] fear that it's going to threaten our marine environment, our marine ecological system and affect the livelihood of the people that benefit from our marine resources," he said.

Mr Magun says the move to block the project is a precautionary measure. "The majority of Papua New Guineans that live off the marine resources do not know what the threats of seabed mining is going to cost to the marine environment," he said.

Mr Magun said the group's advisors - which include scientists and lawyers - have "clearly indicated that there is going to be damage to the ecological system".

Gould’s birds of paradise still resplendent after all these years

JAMES COCKINGTON | Sydney Morning Herald

THE REMARKABLE JOHN GOULD was a taxidermist by training (famous for having once preserved an entire giraffe) and an entrepreneur by nature. Proof is that his lithographic prints are as much in demand today as they were when produced in the 19th century.

The fact that admirers of his art are happy to pay more than $10,000 for a single example is not surprising. They were expensive at the time. He used the best paper and the finest printing process and charged appropriately.

In the case of his final work, Birds of New Guinea, these were sold by subscription in 25 instalments, 320 prints in total that were usually bound by the buyer in five volumes.

Gould understood the power of the limited edition. Only 220 sets of prints were produced, each one coloured by hand. This massive project started in 1875 and was completed in 1888 by Richard Bowdler Sharpe after Gould died in 1881.

It is still possible to buy a complete edition of five bound volumes. The usual asking price is around $100,000, depending on condition and binding.

It's also possible to buy the individual prints for a few thousand dollars each.

Louis Kissajukian of the Antique Print & Map Room in Sydney recently obtained a series of 35 of the most popular prints, sold with original letterpress descriptions.

Silent suicide: Illegal gold miners risk lives in Bougainville

AXEL STURM | European Shareholders in Bougainville Copper

THE ISLAND OF BOUGAINVILLE is rich in precious assets and gold especially is in the focus of indigenous people who want to earn money by small scale mining. Unfortunately they are not aware that their new business is highly dangerous and can even be lethal.

Not far to the south, as Radio New Zealand International reports, Transparency Solomon Islands is urging the government to investigate claims that mercury is being used at the gold mine on Guadalcanal.

As in Solomon Islands the use of mercury is also the customary way to separate gold from rock in Bougainville. The gold is then sold to dealers who don’t care that Bougainville’s environment may be damaged for years. They also don’t care that Bougainvilleans may die from severe intoxication.