Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

P&O’s Pacific Dawn on its maiden voyage to Madang & Wewak

KEITH JACKSON

THE P&O cruise ship Pacific Dawn will be making its maiden visits to Madang tomorrow and Wewak on Friday.

And the people of Madang and Wewak have been called upon to embrace cruise tourism in their provinces.

PNG Tourism Promotion Authority chief executive officer Peter Vincent said the people must become role models by displaying the positive side of Papua New Guinea to international visitors.

Dame Carol Kidu appointed first Crocodile Prize patron

KEITH JACKSON

FORMER long-serving Papua New Guinean politician and government minister, Dame Carol Kidu DBE, has accepted an invitation from the Crocodile Prize Organisation to become its first Patron.

As leader of the Melanesian Alliance Party, Dame Carol served in parliament for 11 years including nine years as PNG’s Minister for Community Development.

She was leader of the opposition for a short period before her retirement from politics in 2012.

Dame Carol is a Fellow of the Lowy Institute for International Policy and sits on the boards of Bougainville Copper Ltd, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy and Nationwide Microbank.

The phantom

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

THERE was nothing dubious about Peter. His look shouted trustworthiness and he possessed a most attractive confidence.

How Liz got to know him had been accidental. It was a hot and windy day in mid-June and she was at the Tabari craft and clothes market at Four Mile in Port Moresby.

She was walking in a hurry towards Ori Lavi Mall. Indoor, shoppers genuine and all sorts packed the concourse; a typical weekend scenario.

Something caught her attention. Inside a Chinese shop, meri blouses hung, flamboyantly bearing the national colours of black, red and gold. “Another Chinese copy,” she thought.

As she stooped and stared through the display glass, a thief opportunistically took advantage of her unwariness and snatched her bilum.

Educate Papua New Guineans in how to be powerful

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

I am a keen follower of the Kapi Foundation and am intrigued by the charisma of the founder of the organisation, Brown Kapi.

“If you are an able person who is doing nothing and creating social problems for your family and community, you are a disabled person,” Brown Kapi (pictured) states. “You need more help than we do.”

This is a powerful statement that reminds me of who I am and how I approach life, in particular in my parental role.

I use Brown’s statement to explain the essence of honest toil to my children because sometimes children do not understand why parents tell them to work and eat.

Demolition by ignorance at the University of Papua New Guinea

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

ONE of Papua New Guinea’s most important national institutions, the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is rotting away with time and ignorance.

According to official records, UPNG will turn 50 this year. However, on the eve of its golden jubilee, the once premier university of the South Pacific is on the brink of losing its vault of knowledge and its academic reputation.

During UPNG’s 56th graduation in 2011, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ross Hynes said that by 2015 UPNG would become the natural Papua New Guinean home of higher learning and research with all the necessary infrastructure and manpower.

He affirmed that the university administration had a master plan that would transform UPNG into a premier tertiary learning and research institution.

Tears for my land

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration

WHEN I was in Grade 1 at school, I would hear a song sung by the elementary students that made me ponder.

Tumbuna bilong mi, Tumbuna bilong mi
Noken salim bush, graun, wara bilong yu
Tingting gut pastaim bipo yu salim

Tingim laip bilong mi, Tingim laip bilong mi
Noken salim bush, graun, wara bilong yu
Tingting gut pastaim bipo yu salim

My ancestors, My ancestors
Do not sell your bush, land and rivers
Think hard in advance before selling it

 

Escalating success in sport boosts PNG's national pride

JOHN KAUPA KAMASUA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays and Journalism

WHEN it came to government spending in 2014, although there was the usual substantial investment by the Papua New Guinea government in education, rural development and other sectors, sport was definitely the winner.

Two of the highest achieving sports in 2014 were Australian Rules football and cricket. Many players in both codes also performed well domestically and abroad. Rugby league, and especially the PNG Hunters, were not far behind.

The sad death of old Grai on the Wahgi bridge

JIMMY AWAGL

Entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

ON a sunny Sunday afternoon Old Grai met his fate on the one-lane Wahgi bridge.

Grai had attended Sunday service at near the bridge, at the Evangelical Brotherhood Church. The morning service ended at 12 noon but the pressing heat from the sun prevented him from returning home straight away.

He stayed back with the pastor until four when the worst heat of the sun was gone. Grai told the pastor that he had to go. The pastor prayed with him and released him to walk home.

Old Grai walked out of the church gate on to the Highlands Highway. He looked left, right and left again. Then he crossed the road, turned left and walked along its edge.

Oil palm - a golden rainbow with a pot of misery at its end

PHIL FITZPATRICK

PAPUA New Guinea prime Minister Peter O’Neill recently recorded his delight that Malaysian agriculture giant Sime Darby is completing the acquisition of the New Britain Oil Palm company.

Among his effusions was the observation that agriculture is Papua New Guinea’s future and that such purchases are a step in the right direction.

Oil palm is one of those crops that have a dubious utility.  It is mostly channelled into the fast food industry, the face of which is represented by such corporate giants as McDonalds.

It's not a lonely place when I'm surrounded by my people....

GARY JUFFA MP

THERE has been much speculation about my removal from the parliamentary government benches and made to sit with the opposition in Papua New Guinea.

Rumours are rife in the land of rumours, otherwise known as PNG; often described as the Land of the Unexpected.

I want to say that I am not in any way fazed and will continue my usual effort to voice concern about the issues I believe we Papua New Guineans are passionate about.

Issues such as land grabbing, unfair and oppressive taxes, illegal granting of citizenship to Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra, West Papua, the environment, sustainable development, PNG-owned businesses, the illegal seabed mining scam, transnational criminal control of our resources (in particular the forestry and fisheries sectors) as well as issues related to health, education and law and order.

Academic’s comments on Paga Hill were incorrect & irrelevant

DAME CAROL KIDU

I was disappointed and annoyed to see Dr Kristian Lasslett’s unnecessary, irrelevant and (in matters I am personally involved in) factually incorrect comment about the Paga Hill Development Company’s (PHDC) sponsorship of the Writing for Children Award in the Crocodile Prize.

In my view, Dr Lasslett's continuing vilification of the chief executive officer of PHDC is defamatory and it makes no sense to me.

I am also aware of what has been criticised as his unbalanced and damaging "investigations" concerning Bougainville and Bougainville Copper Ltd.

Dr Lasslett may be an expert on international human rights documents but he is not an expert in the Papua New Guinea context nor in the cultural frameworks in which we have to operate and to which such international conventions cannot and should not be literally applied.

The whimpering tree

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

I hear you wailing in the night
Yet I cover my ears wishing the wailing would stop.
As I bathe in the warmth of the sun
You lay bleeding under the cold and bitter air of fear and solitude.
Oh the whimpering tree when I see the morning star above your head
All I can do is cry.

The four highlands boys

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Kange is a Jika or Mokan
Angnam is a Jiwakan
Angra is a Simbuan
Apo is a Gorokan

Kange speaks Jika or Moka
Like an eagle opening its beak wider
Angnam speaks Mid Wahgi or Jiwaka
Like an owl flicking its eyes wider

One of my 68 politics students passed away last week

BOMAI DICK WITNE

I had 68 students in my studies of politics class this past semester. The timetable committee had allocated three hours for this class so I ran an hour-long lecture and a two-hour tutorial each week.

The room allocated for this course was too small for both lectures and tutorials and we had to put up with it for two weeks.

In the third week, the students decided that they did not enjoy the tutorial classes because the number of students was too big and there was less time for everyone to adequately interact and contribute to discussions.

I raised the students concern to my colleagues and some of them gave me times and rooms that were allocated to their courses that they were not using.

These times were not convenient for the students as they had clash with other courses. I had no choice but to seek consent from the class to run a tutorial class in the night from 7.30 to 9.30.

This arrangement went well with boarding students who would turn up for class after dinner. Some of them would bring tea to class to share with me.

A reflection on Valentine's Day

PETER KRANZ

IN many countries we are assaulted by a barrage of commercialism urging us to celebrate St Valentine’s Day by spending lots of money.

Chocolates and flowers are a favourite, and the shops are heaving with appropriate goods.

I got a Valentine’s Day card once (well more than once, but this is the one that counts). I was in Papua New Guinea at the time. It had a rose on the cover, and inside simply said "I Love You".

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to guess who this was from.

But this excess of commercial exploitation seems to have taken the honest heart out of this simple affirmation. In various countries there are movements against this.

As Japan celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday a group of men marched through Tokyo, protesting against the "passion-based capitalism" of the annual celebration of romance.

My love for you

PHILIP G KAUPA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Love is like a dance
If you don’t want to dance
It’s not an offence
Through time I took the chance
But, for a real love, I was always on the fence

I have never felt so new
Until the fateful day I met you
The joy in it gives me hope worth living for
Each day I feel you more

To walk in your glamorous eyes
Makes me touch the skies
To seat by your side
Makes me freeze inside
Seeing you smile
In that natural style
Oh my! You glow like roses

Public transport in Moresby: Packed to the rafters & lives at stake

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

SEVERAL weeks ago it was reported in the media that Independent Consumer & Competition Commission (ICCC) undertook a decision to review the fares for PMVs in Port Moresby and subsequently approved a 90 toea bus fare for longer routes.

However, it is interesting to note that passengers are already paying K1 for longer routes like Gerehu to 4 Mile or Gordon to Town. In spite of this the public transportation system in Port Moresby, which comprises of PMVs and taxis, is nothing less than appalling.

I have been commuting regularly on PMVs for many years and at times on taxis either to go to school, work or home and I have observe have drastically deteriorate since the heyday of the 1970s and 1980s.

In those days buses completed their routes and you would find that there were enough seats to cater for the travelling public.

To ride this life

JOHN KAUPA KAMASUA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Much remains, in this life
Can’t rest now

As the burden of work presses,
I shall be the bearer of good tidings, even when the rain of plenty stalls;

Life’s tempest will threaten, and an abyss of despair may beckon
But I shall soar as the eagle, higher

I shall seek my bliss,
To let the joy of service surpass the reward of labour

Australian scheme to improve governance in Papua New Guinea

ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian | Extracts

THE first stage has been completed of an Australian program to improve governance in Papua New Guinea.

As an initial step, 27 senior PNG public servants participated in an executive course run by universities in Queensland and PNG.

As a friend and partner of PNG, Australia recognises that an effective and ethical public sector is vital for PNG’s stability and prosperity,” said Ms Bishop.

Peter O'Neill welcomes Sime Darby investment in PNG

PNG Today

PAPUA New Guinea prime minister Peter O’Neill has welcomed Sime Darby’s acquisition of New Britain Palm Oil as a vote of confidence in the Papua New Guinea growing economy.

“This acquisition is major boost for our agriculture sector, and the economy,” Mr O’Neill said.

“With ongoing stability, we are creating the kind of investment environment that will continue to attract major regional and global players to our country.

“Through its expansion plans, Sime Darby will create more jobs and spin off business opportunities for our people in Milne Bay, West New Britain, and Morobe, where their assets are located.”

Archbishop John Ribat comes out against betel nut ban

Radio New Zealand International

THE head of the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea has spoken against the ban on public sale and consumption of betel nut in Port Moresby.

Catholic Archbishop John Ribat was speaking about a number of deaths related to the smuggling and selling of betel nut, or buai, in the national capital.

He was reported as saying the sale of buai must not be banned but controlled as it is a way many people earn a living.

Archbishop Ribat said other provinces have managed to control the sale and consumption of buai without a ban.

The singing fisherman

EMMANUEL LANDU

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration

THERE are many customary practices that once existed in the past but all that remains today is a story.

One of the very old stories from Sandaun Province that I remember tells of my great uncle whose fishing skills ignited my imagination.

The sketch is a representation of that story.

His skills did not necessarily need a rod or a spear. He would sing. Yes, sing.

As preposterous as it sounds in this day and age, his community recognised this gift and he would fish for those who did not have sufficient skills as he was more gifted.

It was believed that nature somehow responded to his calling. The songs he sang were the bait. The people believed he had a spiritual connection with the sea; if he called, it would respond.

Bougainville sea song

LEONARD FONG ROKA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

See
The sea shield
See the stretch and spread of sea
See I stand free

Free on my soil girt by sea
See the sea I play
With my soul this land
So safe by sea

Coins on the path – kind Tom’s helpful idea

CHARLENE DINIPAMI NII

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

NANNY was sick so Tom’s aunty took him to school. On the way Tom asked his aunt to change half of his K20 lunch moneyand get all 50t and 20t coins for him.

“What do you want to do with the coins?’ the aunt asked Tom with curiosity.

“Please aunty, just do it”.

“Listen son, the coins are going to be heavy. Why don’t you get three two kina notes and the rest coins?”

“No aunty, I want all 20 and 50 toea coins and just do it please. The more we talk, we are wasting time. I don’t want to be late and get punished”.

Hela Districts

BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA

If you want to know how many districts in Hela Province, just remember this simple poem

Hello Hela
I’m Tari
Tell Pori
That I’m going to Margarima
On Komo LNG flight
I’ll be back in Koroba
See you at Kopiago.

Street attack

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

AS the sun cast its last rays at 1700 hours, the afternoon began to cool. At this time Eriku in Lae was full of people doing their final shopping and catching PMV buses to make their way home.

Among them, of course, the usual street vendors and pickpockets plied their trade.

In the crowd stood Jeffry, who had just jumped from a bus and was making his way home to Bundicamp. As he walked adjacent to the bus stop he saw a vendor selling betel nut and cigarettes. The vendor was of stocky build with the features of a highlander.

Jeffry approached him. “Bro, how much for your betel nut and cigarette?”

“The betel nut is one kina, same for the cigarette,” the street vendor replied.

The spark

BENJAMIN HOWARD

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

IT often starts with a beer or a few, usually accompanied by a friend or a few. The idea of standing in a general election.

And for those who do contest, the thinking often remains at that infant stage all the way from polling to declaration.

Usually, not much thought is given to graduating the idea into a fully-fledged, carefully planned, immaculately strategised endeavour.

You will find such a group of people huddled under cigarette fumes, elbow to elbow with a few amber ale bottles (or scotch glasses for the hardier ones), deep in conversation at one of those round tables in the outer area of a popular bar.

The price of nothing

JOHN KAUPA KAMASUA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

The price of nothing is not acting on something
Nothing is always something
I could have done something
Something worthwhile,

But did nothing, nothing at all
I was lazy, you see
Like my grandmother,
Brooding over nothing, and not acting

The top candidates in this year’s Bougainville presidential election

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

IN this short article I profile some of the likely leading candidates in this year’s Bougainville presidential election.

It’s an important election, because it’s the next president who is likely to be in place when Bougainville’s referendum on independence is held.

Dr John Momis

Dr Momis (right) is the current president, is a philosopher and thinker who is renowned nationally and abroad as the father of decentralisation in Papua New Guinea.

Despite their intolerance, young Bougainvilleans should cherish the fact that civilisation has its origin in the thinkers’ mind. President Momis is both a thinker and a man who lets it be known he relies heavily on the support of the people.

Red Cadeaux

BENJAMIN HOWARD

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

By the tavern bar I sit, to sip my ale and Admire Ratki
To the right, sits a Cavalryman
A Protectionist called Fawkner
Outside, the lord of the bay, Mr Oceirin
Has set the sun off to sleep, to let the Sea Moon rise again

There is a murmur, a slight tremor as Seismos breaks down the Gatewood
He seeks out the knighted three, the brothers Araldo, Junoob and Lidari
Guardians of the Royal Diamond
Demanding to know Who Shot the Barman
He stares at me, as if to ask my Opinion

Overnight in the new roadside graveyard

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

TWO handsome young men would visit their girlfriends from Keu village in the Elimbari area.

The cousin brothers admired the two girls and frequently paid visits on weekends.

The two cousin sisters loved the cousin brothers and lived happily and attended to their daily chorus.

One gloomy Wednesday morning the two sisters went to their yam garden at the foot of Mt Elimbari. They weeded the garden and dug some yams for their lovers would be coming at the weekend.

The clouds were black and the place was getting darker.

A young woman's introduction to anatomy & dissection

HAZEL KUTKUE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

I walked into my room. The brick walls painted a light shade of blue. Small brown marks on the walls where previous students had stuck posters and photos.

The floor was light blue also. A wooden bed stood against one wall, opposite the study bench and a wardrobe. The windows were tall and faced a new housing project at the back of the dormitory.

I headed straight for my bed and sprawled on my back on the blue floral spread. I dug out the class timetable from under my head. It was a bit crumpled. My head must be remarkably heavy.

“Physiology, biochemistry, anatomical pathology,” I read to myself. “Grossly amazing.”

Those gatherings!

JOHN KAUPA KAMASUA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Ah! I see,
You have taken a fee here
And a per diem there, for yourselves;
For those gatherings of people who dwell in glass houses
To pour over the affairs of many,
Whose lives may not attract a dime!
You have tea, and host
Banquets in the name of faceless citizens;
Among them a beggar, who begs at the gate
A cleaner, who cleans at the doorstep,
And me, a tea-boy,
Who waits at your table!
But all fade as shadows when you leave

The last night at the hauskrai

BENJAMIN HOWARD

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Cleland Family Award for Heritage Writing

HAUSKRAI is a quaint Papua New Guinean custom that draws the friends and relatives of a deceased person together; there to mourn, reflect and reminisce on a life taken either too soon or after the extended journey of the octogenarian.

Reunions and relationships are renewed. Grudges are set aside, animosity temporarily abated out of deference to the dearly departed.

Long nights, endless cups of steaming tea or coffee. Plenty of sugar, loaves of bread, margarine tubs, food trays and dirty teacups.

The food service train; work details; kitchen crew; fire attendants; mumu specialists and barbeque kings.

How Wanginalo became a great fisherman

ISO  YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

WANGINALO was a 12-year old boy who loved his grandpa very much. He often ate and slept with him and followed him everywhere. 

Wherever his grandfather went in the village, and when he went hunting and fishing, Wanginalo would be there too.

Many times his parents tried to stop him from bothering his grandpa but he would not listen. He would cry loudly and try by any possible means to have his grandpa with him all the time. His grandpa, Koliyava, loved him very much and he liked it that way.

Their closeness made Koliyava teach Wanginalo many secret things which other boys in the village had not been taught. He taught him ways of fishing, hunting and gardening and the kinds of food he should eat to become a strong man. That made Wanginalo’s relationship with his grandpa much stronger.

Ali the alligator in the alley

M ARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

ONE night, Dahlia couldn’t sleep, so she opened her window and looked out into the alley.

She saw an alligator.

Its eyes glowed in the shadows.

Its teeth ground in its mouth.

Its tail slashed against the walls

It growled a dreadful howl.

Police brutality at the dinner table: “There is no excuse”

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

LAST October, when my wife, cousin sister and I were about to have dinner, a television news bulletin conveyed the disturbing story that a lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea had been assaulted by police at nearby Korobosea.

I contemplated the implications: I was a policeman and I was studying at the university. Now both my study and my safety had become problematic.

The main victim, Francis Essy, was a senior lecturer in the School of Business who had taught me Business Administration in 2011 when I was completing my degree in business management as a professional student.

O arise all ye

MICHAEL DOM

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

In December 2013 the national parliament of Papua New Guinea sanctioned the removal of heritage structures from the parliament building apparently because they were thought to have, or represent, the powers of evil

Chainsaw-churchgoers
Razed ‘Haus Tambaran’s’ lintel 
“O arise all ye…”
Kumul’s tattered cloth flutters
From a rust-eaten white pole

One Busu, no groupings – how a student crime wave was subdued

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

Dedicated to Betong Begga, principal in 2009, and all the pioneer Busu Secondary School students and teachers who stood together to remove the dark forces intimidating the freedom of students and a free learning environment. May God richly bless you all

ON Friday 10 October 2008, all of the students at Busu Secondary School stood in the assembly with our right hands crossing our chest.

We stood with dignity as we sang the Papua New Guinea national anthem and tears filled everybody’s eyes, teachers and students alike.

It was a day for the school history book, a date to be celebrated in coming years. This was the day when we all agreed to stop group fights, cult worship, gangs and regionalism. We took a pledge to stand together in unity, to proclaim a common vision created by the students, a statement of freedom: One Busu - No Groupings.

Sweet nostalgia

PAUL WAUGLA WII

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Once upon a time
Perhaps in the not-too-distant past
You may have lived here.

Your very feet trod upon
An insignificant blade of grass
That grew here.

But this beautiful countryside
With the rolling, windswept hills
Of the Kunanaku and Naginku territories
That slope down to the banks
Of the ever silent River
Remains now an insignificant blur
In your memory.

State takes control of PNG airwaves as new media body meets

ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian | Extracts

THE Papua New Guinea government has moved to seize dominance of the domestic broadcasting market, buying via state-owned enterprise Telikom the most viewed free-to-air television station as the countdown begins for the next national election.

The timing is immaculate, as highly politicised PNG moves past the halfway mark of its five-year parliament.

Telikom chief executive - Michael Donnelly said that EM TV’s chief attraction for his company was “convergence” - the opportunity to channel increased content and other ICT services to its customers. The station employs 160 staff, whose jobs are all safe, Mr Donnelly pledged.

'Man of Calibre' – A Papua New Guinean classic is born

PHIL FITZPATRICK

‘Man of Calibre’ is an entry in the Crocodile Prize
Ok Tedi Mining Book of the Year Award

Man of Calibre by Baka Barakove Bina, CreateSpace, 2015, ISBN-10: 1499751842, ISBN-13: 978-1499751840. 248 pages. Kindle $3.27, Paperback $16

THERE are two men, one in his thirties and the other in his sixties.  They get drunk together and, as they have done so many times before, begin to argue and then start fighting.

The noise they make on the road next to the village wakes everyone up and a crowd gathers.  The men say things they wouldn’t say if they were sober.

As the spectacle increases, the man bearing the brunt of their animosity cracks and creeps out of his house and, to his own surprise, lays both of them flat on their backs.

Come the dawn and the bruised and battered antagonists must face a village moot and, to everyone’s surprise, a ‘killing of the fire’ ceremony.

Recluse of regret

DILU D OKUK

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

I once wished, '' If only time could come again tomorrow,
for I have invested all too much in sorrow.''

In my zeal for life wisdom passed me by,
Stumbling through narrow corridors, ready to die.

Wisdom finds me again as I come to rest,
from my journey of unruly feasts and jest,

West Papua: A people on the march and a nation rising

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

A recent speech by prime minister Peter O’Neill declaring Papua New Guinea’s support for freeing West Papua from Indonesia is historic as it has the potential to reshape the geo-political landscape within the region.

For many years PNG has been viewed as a strategic and important player in the struggle to attain West Papua’s aspiration for self-determination.

Yet since independence, it has adopted a friendly co-existence policy with Indonesia, subsequently recognising West Papua as an integral part of Indonesia. This approach has unfortunately ignored the untold suffering of the people of West Papua.

Yet, given regular reports of border incursion by the Indonesian Army and the constant stream of refugees fleeing across the border into PNG to seek asylum, the West Papua issue was always going to be a PNG problem whether it liked it or not. 

The value of alphabet and number

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

I counted the alphabet letters
Twenty six in all - from A to Z
And I counted the numerical numbers
Ten in all-from 0 to 9

In curiosity I wanted to join the letters
Behold, it became words countless
In excitement of arithmetic I joined the numbers
Behold, it became countless figures

Snails

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

When the rain tumbles down they come out from their hideouts
Invading the river banks, roads and tracks.
Feeding on anything that looks enticing to their pointy eyes.
Very slowly and sensitive to movements they crawl their way through night and day in search of food.

Timing of O'Neill's support for West Papua ‘just perfect’

CORNEY KOROKAN ALONE

LATE last week prime minister Peter O'Neill demonstrated the leadership Papua New Guinea needs as we look forward to our 40th Independence celebrations on 16 September this year.

In a coming of age statement, Mr O’Neill for the first time spoke out publicly against Indonesian oppression of the ‘Melanesian family’ in West Papua.

The timing was just perfect. His criticism of Indonesian oppression of "our families" in West Papua and his call to engage in mature and honest dialogue could not have come at a better moment.

It represented a momentous point in the 50-year history of the emancipation of Melanesia from colonial rule.

Zenzeng Mari: 38 years a great educator in the service of PNG

BOMAI WITNE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

While working on this article, I searched for words to express my gratitude to Keith Jackson and thought I should express it in my own language. In the Kuman language of Simbu, we say ‘wakai pr’e en tei’i wo’ which means appreciation and joy bundled together filled me which I give to you.

You see, I have been invited, together with Papua New Guinean writers Marlene Dee Gray Potoura and Lorna Hilan Saguba, to the Pacific Writers’ Workshop organised by the Commonwealth Foundation and to be held in Fiji at the end of this month. I hope to learn more and improve my writing.

The workshop organisers asked me to write about someone and share their life story, so I thought I’d write about Zenzeng Bofirie Tore Mari…..

Too many words may deflower: Concision lies at the heart of poetry

MICHAEL DOM

LAST week I received high praise from Papua New Guinean entrepreneur Emmanuel Narokobi, on his Masalai Twitter account, about my poem, ‘small listening devices’.

Emmanuel called for more simple poems like this one and I partly agree with him.

It is now five years into the Crocodile Prize national literary contest and this year I will gladly make space on my bookshelf for the fifth instalment of the Anthologies. At half-way to the decade, this is a small but significant milestone for PNG.

Throughout the contest, poetry has remained the most dominant literary factor; it is consistently providing about half of the entries received.

Sonnet 17: They strayed, they stayed

MICHAEL DOM

I have seen them, in the Moresby dust
I have seen them, thru the Moresby haze
And I wonder how, why did they lose trust
In home and hearth, in a better place
Where their worth was known, no wallet to bust
Fat around a fire place, proud voices raised.

Now amongst steel garbage bins they rummage
Once their gardens gave kaukau and cabbage
Sold at town markets, to go home with cash
They did not know of food stuff called trash
All things had their place, all things had their worth
They placed their rough hands into good clean earth.

But Port Moresby’s lights reveal only lies
They strayed, they stayed, they did not see the flies.