Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Herstory

PAULINE RIMAN

Upright sapiens tracing constellations
Painting frescoes of migrating ancient quadrupeds
Moulting primate kin un‐severs umbilical cord
Prostrates before celestial and terrestrial
Chanting mantra: magna deum mater
Primal instincts know: she was, is and always will be
Superior Ovum from which humanity evolves
From a powerful womb we come forth –
Not an inferior bone broken in a dream
The perfect XX, not its deformed latter.

The borrower

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

KELVERI checked his bank balance on the Eftpos machine in the main shopping centre at Eriku. There was just a single kina in his account.

Payday after payday, it was always the same. He couldn’t believe it. He earned K400 and, even before the week was over, he ran out of money.

Then he’d go to the money market and borrow money from the lenders.

Kelveri depend on these money sellers, even though they ripped him off. There was no other way.

A money seller can loan K10 to Kelveri who will pay back K15 on his pay day.

At Divine Word University

FELIX BARAKA

At Divine Word University, we meet as friends
But you are more like a brother to us
When challenges freezes us
Your smiling face was our warmth
But now we will miss your comfort

You taught us the meaning of life
It is a definition of challenges
Your philosophy is generational
And your project is for us to invent
But now, we will miss your courage

Floating on the Erap River

SIWIN MIAMI

IT was bright and sunny in the middle of the day when the boys and I decided to float down the Erap River on our car tube.

We got the tube and followed the river up to Erap Bridge on the Highlands Highway.

Then we followed it further to a village called Kasuka at the junction of upper Erap and Boana.

Reaching the village, we walked down straight down to the river and prepared our tube to float on it.

Two new books from the guy who was PNG's deputy sheriff

KEITH JACKSON

Curse of the Lamisi by Baka Barakove Bina, 90pp, $8.50, CreateSpace

Haffies are made; they are not born by Baka Barakove Bina, 38pp, $6, CreateSpace

IT has been a long time between drinks, so to speak, for Baka Bina. His last book, Zymur, was published by Oxford University Press in 2003 and the high school teacher turned lawyer has been greatly anticipating his next effort.

Well, the time has come, and Baka has produced two interesting books which are now available through Amazon subsidiary, Create Space.

Baka is from Kotiyufa village near Iufi Iufa in the Eastern Highlands. He originally trained at Goroka Teachers College as a high school English teacher then, in 2003, completed a law degree at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Before becoming Assistant Registrar in Common Law with the National Court he had spent 20 years as Deputy Sheriff in the same jurisdiction.

The Feast of Gloom

IMELDA YABARA

Break the moon in half
rip down the stars
dine with me in this
half lit gloom

Let’s drink to dejection,
bottoms up,

relax in the ambiance
of hopelessness

Lost in transition, maybe – but we are not a hopeless case

TANYA ZERIGA-ALONE

MOST of us in the current generation are lost in transition - moving from the village to the city we were not prepared for the life we are now living.

Our fathers and our grandfathers did not prepare us for how to function in this new lifestyle. How could they have known the challenges?

Most of us have learned how to live the approved life and to navigate the quagmire of a western society: through education, by observing others, through reading, and being exposed to new ideas in travel, movies and meeting new people.

We cannot begin to grasp the nuances of living in a western-style society governed by laws of western origin until we have immersed ourselves fully in such a lifestyle.

Regrets

LEONIE BAPTISTE

There are two voices
Always banging on your temple
If you listen carefully, you would hear the two voices
Go left! No go right!
The two voices are always up for a fight
Say yes! Say no!
The two voices are always a foe
That step that one takes
After making that one stake
Is the choice that one makes
To the life that one later forsakes

My Dad, My Hero

DOMINICA ARE

I feel that I haven’t thanked him enough for the many wondrous things and hidden sacrifices he has made whilst he was still alive and so I wanted to write about his memory knowing that he will be pleased.

I remember that night vividly at about 7pm on 3 November 2008. The Mt Hagen hospital bus came to the house, the driver said our dad was at the hospital and wanted to see us.

I didn’t believe him because dad just left the house with Emmanuel, my fourth-born brother, about 30 minutes before to attend a meeting at a colleague’s house and all had been well.

What could have possibly happened to bring the hospital bus to our door?

I called dad’s phone but it went to voicemail. Bosco, my third-born brother, went with the bus. In a minute or two an ambulance came and picked up me and my little sister Clara.

Students call for amendments to the Bougainville constitution

LEONARD FONG ROKA

BEFORE 1988 and Bougainville’s crisis era, politics was something belonging to the middle aged or older men.

But there is evidence in the post crisis period that youth is marching into their island’s politics as the 2015-2020 window to hold referendum to decide Bougainville’s political future moves closer.

The question: to secede from or integrate with Papua New Guinea.

Here at Divine Word University in Madang nearly all senior Bougainvillean students seem to have an accessible copy of the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the Bougainville Constitution in their laptops.

Out-of-school-hour debates on Bougainville’s future and its constitution are unceasing.

Mightier than the sword

LORRAINE BASSE

Dedicated to the late Ian Boden

Alone you stand in life’s memory lane
Sometimes for the world
Sometimes against the world
Enemies came with their swords
You defeated them with your ink

How you make them stumble
How you bring about fame
How you applaud greatness
How you act as a downfall

State the obvious - you never know where it may lead

JOANNE WAYANG

HAVE you ever been asked a question and you automatically give your answer without thinking, only to realise five seconds later that it was an obvious question or statement?

We seem to state the obvious every minute of our lives but are not aware we’re doing it.

It is one of those social quirks that just exist. It is an unspoken habit that the obvious is one way people begin conversations whether with each other or with strangers.

Asking an obvious question or making an obvious statement, is the first baby step before a conversation flows.

I can confidently say that the obvious is a special form of ice breaker in PNG. Asking the obvious has resulted in many lasting relationships.

A proud Papua New Guinean

KERRY LINA

If I was a bird of paradise
I would rise up to the sun
Fly above the tree tops where other birds would see me
I would show off my beautiful feathers
I would dance and show off my beautiful colours
I would tell them
I am more beautiful than them

When evening falls,
I would fly down to where humans dwell
And land on the flag pole
Where the Papua New Guinea flag is flying
We would dance together to the rhythm of the wind
And show off our beauty
To tell the nations

The story of Oa grasshopper & Kaipa caterpillar

IRIANI WANMA

ONCE upon a time in a garden there was a little green grasshopper named Oa and a little green caterpillar named Kaipa.

Oa and Kaipa were best friends. Kaipa was much slower than Oa so Oa would always visit Kaipa. Oa and Kaipa lived on an aibika.

Every morning after Oa woke up he would hop over to Kaipa’s leaf and they would eat breakfast together then tell stories. Oa would tell Kaipa about his adventure and Kaipa would listen with great interest.

‘You’re so lucky, Oa,’ said Kaipa. ‘I wish I could go on adventures like you. I wish I could see new places like you do.’ ‘Don’t worry, Kaipa,’ said Oa. ‘You keep eating and I’m sure one day you’ll grow legs and wings like mine; and be able to hop and fly like me.’

Father Christmas attitude is destroying enterprise in PNG

FELIX BARAKA

FATHER Christmas is a personification of British folklore. A legendary old man with a long white beard who, dressed in garish red clothing, bring presents to little children.

The concept has interested me since I observed an elderly man confronted by bystanders, probably his friends, who insisted he buy them drinks.

He objected, replying, “I am not Father Christmas”.

As I attempted to understand the meaning of the term ‘Father Christmas’, I noticed how his friends were just standing around doing nothing.

The context provided the definition. A ‘Father Christmas’ in the sense the elderly man used the term meant he was not a person to entertain free riders or to adopt a free hand-out attitude.

As an educated person, reflecting on this concept of Father Christmas, I was shocked.

PNG loses Rosa Kambuou, distinguished plant scientist & geneticist

DAVID PUTULAN | PNG Loop

FAMILY, friends and former colleagues have gathered at picturesque Lido village in Sandaun Province to farewell Rosa Kambuou, one of PNG’s prominent female scientists.

Rosa, the longest serving scientist in the agriculture sector, was laid to rest in her beloved home after a long battle with poor health.

She served as a scientist with the Department of Agriculture and later with the PNG National Agricultural Research Institute when the department’s research arm was split off.

Rosa became principal scientist of NARI, a program leader and was the country’s most experienced plant genetics scientist.

Ethics, courage & giving the real leaders a chance

ALBERT SCHRAM | Extracts

I am pretty bad at compromising my principles, and rather persistent at defending them. My wife however is even worse, and she does not make such a noise about it either.

Unitech SRC president 2012, Joe Kaowai, was induced by a former chancellor and registrar to "keeping the students out of council business", "not put yourself in danger by participating in public demonstrations", and "focus on the purpose of your studies". The usual mantra.

When on 17 April 2012, just two months after starting, I was dismissed for no reason whatsoever, Joe stopped the chancellor at the gate and asked him to explain. He could not explain, of course, and did not even try. He made a run for it and rammed his car into the gate. The rest is history.

The man with the light brown eyes

CAROLE N CHOLAI

IT was his eyes.  Light brown eyes.

I'm smiling now thinking about them. They were the perfect colour.  When the sun shone from behind him, it looked like it shone right through beautifully coloured stained glass.

I remember looking at his eyes that moment he talked to me.  I couldn't help but gaze right back at them. I was mesmerised for a bit too long as I remember him saying - Hey, what's up with you?

Nothing.  I was just thinking. Trying to quickly think up something that I was thinking about.  I swear, if my skin colour was a bit paler, he would just see my face go red!

The Odd Tumbler

AKILINO POWESIU

There’s a belief that, the will to receive is essentially a desire for creatures to enjoy, corresponding to the abundance and pleasure that comes from the Great Spirit. Creatures great and small, creatures like me, creatures like the weary and cunning Mr. Corvus or busy Polly. Creatures, born into this world with that will, attached like a membrane of the heart.

A gift from the Great Spirit, thought Kito to herself, as her thorax lay in all fragility in the pupal case hanging by the surface of a miniature pond.

Rich with ammonia and carbon dioxide, the pond, mainly damp, was due to the leaking underbelly of a pipe that partly extended into the shower basin of house forty-eight, in the Port Moresby suburb of Tokarara.

School demands students pay K250,000 reparation for sports death

JIMMY AWAGL

THE Rosary Secondary School at Kondiu in Simbu Province began its third term on a dramatic note when students were told to show up with K100 before normal classes would resume.

The students were asked to jointly contribute a sum of K250,000 in compensation for the death last month of a Grade 11 student during a schoolboys rugby league match between Kondiu and Kerowagi Secondary.

The relatives of the victim demanded that his school, Kondiu, pay the K250,000. The amount was divided among all students, teachers, and ancillary staff. Students were told to return to school after the second term holiday with nothing less than K100.

When students returned to school they found that the payment had to be made before they could attend classes. From last Monday, the principal persistently demanded the students to provide K100 each.

Classes did not commence and students were told to go home and return with the K100 compensation.

Queen Alexandra

CAROLINE EVARI

Alexandra, Queen of the forest
Your beauty is compared to none
As you soar in style amongst others

You are admired by many
You carry dignity and identity on your wings
You represent the pride of the land

The perimeters of home are within your limit
Every river you know by name
You bear the strength of warriors

Peace thrives in your presence
Alexandra Queen of the forest
Your beauty is compared to none

Move over, big momma

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

I looked around and couldn’t see any empty seats. Big momma occupied three quarters of the double seat in the bus. 

It was obvious that all the passengers did not want to share that one quarter with big momma.

I looked at big momma.

Goodness me, a generous amount of body, decorated with accessories.

Big momma had huge arms that dangled with bracelets, bangles and gold rings.

Books

ESSY JOYCE

Books  ... books!
You are my friends
You talk to me

You make me happy
You make me sad … 
And you make me angry too

Books … books!
You are my friends
I love you

A simple word at the right time – and something good happens

EDITED BY KEITH JACKSON

IT'S amazing what can happen when you least expect it. From a simple word at the right time.

This year in Pittsworth, Queensland, Rotarians Aub Schulstad and Trevor Shields got talking about providing help for an 89-year old disabled gentleman who retired to the Pittsworth area after living in Papua New Guinea for over 40 years.

When Trevor Shields heard the words 'Papua New Guinea' he thought of a major book project his club was about to undertake for PNG.

The request for help from Pittsworth Rotary came from Angela Sowai Gizoria from the village of Pes in PNG.

Angela wanted to establish a library in a bush primary school near Aitape in Sandaun Province. She was hoping to fulfill a lifelong dream by establishing the library to service 500 students from nine villages.

The new Papua New Guinea: Where the intimidators drive Toyotas

SAM KOIM

THE white 5-door Toyota LandCruiser (registration BDV653) and the unmarked blue 10-seater camped camping in front of the gate of my home on Friday evening from 7:30pm.

At 11pm, other policemen went there to check out my place, only to find their own colleagues waiting for me to come home.

I was at my office all day, so why did not they go there or ask me to come to the police station.

I am not a common criminal on the run and for what offence are they pursuing me?

PNG & West Papua must unite: We are a Melanesian brotherhood

FELIX BARAKA

WEST Papua is culturally part of the diverse Melanesian society in the south-west Pacific. Melanesia is not a country but a "culture area" - a term used by anthropologists to refer to a geographical region where people share many of the same traits.

In our case, these traits include family structure, marriage rules, social organisation and ways of surviving or making a living.

Melanesia itself is part of the larger Oceania culture area that includes Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia and Australasia.

A scary dream

TOM KAUPA

I had a dream the other night that I was sitting by a beautiful creek. And I watched the water flowing slowly down the stream.

I saw all kinds of plants growing near the river. There were trees, ferns and wild flowers.

I was sitting under a big Yomba (cedar) tree on the bank of the river.

The place was cool and peaceful and the birds were singing sweetly in the trees.

The gentle breeze made me want to sleep.

Suddenly the water started turning and I saw some legs. They looked like a monster’s legs but covered with thick long hair. I wondered what it could be.

As I eagerly watched, the water started to bubble.

I looked into the bubbling water and something that looked like a head was slowly rising up.

I could see big bulging eyes staring at me. A pink tongue poked out and tasted the air.

Japan gets serious in the Pacific: Abe’s K480 million gift to PNG

JIJI PRESS

JAPAN’S prime minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan will provide ¥20 billion (K480 million) in official development assistance to Papua New Guinea over the next three years.

Abe’s pledge came as he met with PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill in Port Moresby.

Japan is willing to help PNG develop human resources and improve infrastructure for disaster prevention, he told O’Neill.

In the meeting, Abe explained the reinterpretation of the Japanese constitution his government has made to allow Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defence. O’Neill supported the move.

Get used to it, the world is just one giant selfie….

GARY JUFFA

THE world is one giant selfie…. That’s the conclusion I reached some time ago when I saw a post by a friend on Facebook.

Yes, Facebook, the social media network for communicating and posting your opinions, photos of anything and everything, and staying in touch. I went back to Facebook after avoiding it for about a year.

I took time out so I could concentrate on what I needed to do. That’s the official reason.

Actually, I got off it because I kept finding myself having to respond to comments and react and act and correct and so forth. I was getting frustrated at having to explain every time to everyone who wanted to know something. The cartoon above says it all.

Till my work is done: A prayer for these times

JOHN K KAMASUA

In the work of life in this world, in this time, in this age
There is much work to do.
More faithful workers needed to carry the torch
Over lofty mountains, through valleys deep,
Across rivers swift, in galleys narrow; and across cruel seas
Cannot rest on my laurels, till my work is done

Preserve me in memory’s palm
In the presence of goodness, when I am gone
Though pressed by burden of work
No sound of despair shall escape my breath;
Always the bearer of good tidings,
Even when the rain of plenty stalls

New poetry collection presents surprising lessons in life

PR WEB

Lessons in Life by Alfred Momia Lulu Sione, Picture Book, 44 pages; 978-1-4797-9794-3. Hardcover $58.84; Ebook $4.27

ALFRED Momia Lulu Sione’s Lessons in Life is a small collection of poetry on life that muses on often amusing dramas that pass the eye due to their commonality.

The poems dissect these aspects and expound on them, giving readers an insight into matters that, while seemingly trivial in life, may have a grain of surprising profoundness within them.

Alfred Momia Lulu Sione is from the Mortlock Islands in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and holds a Bachelor of Technology (Accounting) degree from the PNG University of Technology. He has lived and worked in Arawa since leaving university.

Anthology offers 500 pages of PNG's best creative writing

KEITH JACKSON

AS I write this, editor Phil Fitzpatrick is easing the Crocodile Prize Anthology 2014 through its final stages before production.

The Anthology, the fourth annual collection of the best of Papua New Guinea’s creative writing, is easily the biggest yet – assembling in its 507 pages and 140,000 words, poetry, stories and essays from throughout the nation. All but one of PNG’s 22 provinces is represented.

It includes the winning entries in this year’s literary contest and, of course, the names of the winning authors who will each take home a trophy and a K5,000 prize when the awards are presented in Port Moresby on Thursday 18 September.

And, below, we’ve listed all the creative works that have been selected for inclusion in this year’s Anthology.

It is the intention of the Crocodile Prize Organising Group, COG, to announce the names of the winners towards the end of August in the hope that they may all be able to attend the awards ceremony at the Australian High Commission.

Getting rid of the cults, the gangs & school fights in Lae

JULIE SUGOHO

SCHOOL fights have become a serious issue for most schools in Papua New Guinea, especially in Lae, Morobe Province.

It has become routine for students to chase others of their number from schools on to roads and cause havoc and hindrance to the general public and motorists.

Many people blame these school fights on cult groups in schools and have sought the aid of the Provincial Education Department to solve the problem.

The Education Department and the Provincial Governor have come up with zero tolerance on fights and alcohol consumption in schools. If students are caught breaking these rules, they are expelled immediately.

The story of the Upe hat of the Wakunai people

ISHMAEL PALIPAL

UPE is a traditional hat worn by boys especially in Terra and Rau Constituencies in the Wakunai area, Central Bougainville. The hat is not worn randomly, only in specific rituals.

This may be when young men, especially first born males, are taken high up in the mountain forests of Wakunai to be initiated into manhood. Or on important occasions such as when a prime minister or president visits.

Such ritual grounds are not allowed to be stepped upon by women. The consequence of breaking this taboo is believed to be a curse: sickness or, in worse cases, death. It is believed that nature knows who is at fault when violating the norm.

At such places in the forest, women are not even allowed to cross the ground where the people with the Upe have walked.

Kua says 2nd letter signed by O'Neill undermines forgery claims

LIAM COCHRANE |
ABC Papua New Guinea Correspondent

Papua New Guinea's former attorney-general says Peter O'Neill's attempt to explain a crucial letter in a corruption case undermines the prime minister's later claim that the letter was forged.

Mr O'Neill has confirmed to the ABC that he signed a letter in 2013 that clarified the intent of an earlier directive to process legal bills, but insists he misunderstood what he was signing.

Mr O'Neill says his chief of staff, Isaac Lupari, drafted the letter for him to sign but Mr Lupari has refused to confirm that he was the author.

"If [Mr O'Neill] says that he didn't sign the first letter, then how is it that in the second letter he refers to the first letter by date?" former attorney-general Kerenga Kua said.

Mr Kua was dismissed for questioning Mr O'Neill's leadership but remains an MP for Sinasina-Yonggamugl.

A legal and political scandal has raged in PNG since police served Mr O'Neill with an arrest warrant for official corruption on June 16.

The 1991 Bougainville unilateral declaration of independence

LEONARD FONG ROKA

ACCORDING to Ulukalala Lavaka Ata’s 1998 work, The Bougainville Crisis and PNG-Australia Relations, “it is a feeling deep down in our hearts that Bougainville is totally different from PNG, geographically, culturally. It’s been a separate place since time immemorial. Ever since God created the universe, Bougainville has been separate, has been different.”

This difference, of course, was exacerbated by the reckless influx of non-Bougainvilleans after 1900. As historian James Griffin, who had a close relationship with Bougainville, wrote, when over 1,000 Bougainvilleans attended a United Nations mission visit to Kieta in 1962 and they told the UN to remove the mandate from Australia and give it to the US, they were treated like pigs and dogs.

Bougainville’s anti-Australia, anti-mining and anti-PNG campaign, despite being ignored as baseless, slowly developed over time.

And, on 1 September 1975, the first peoples’ attempt to unilaterally declare independence occurred.

It shocked Michael Somare’s PNG government that was to receive its own independece in just two weeks’ time.

From the Kundiawa News 50 years ago today

KEITH JACKSON

The thirteenth issue of the Kundiawa News was published on 10 July 1964, its circulation having increased from 50 to 80 over the previous three months. The newsletter ran to 14 pages and included news, comment, an article (‘Behind the Iron Curtain’), satire, social items and sport. Malaria School operative Harry Lake was the caricaturist.

MY IMPRESSIONS OF THE FIRST HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OPENING

By Johanes Yonduai (Senior Orderly, Kundiawa Hospital)

Recently I witnessed the opening of the House of Assembly abd the following are my impressions of this plus other comments. While in Port Moresby I was very impressed at the sight of warships in the harbour and many different types of aircraft. I was also amazed at the size of Port Moresby and its many houses and the endless line of cars.

The Governor-General opened the House, having inspected a Police guard of honour while a band played. I realised how much Australia has assisted our country and I was very touched by this ceremony. The Australian Government has freely given to our country, a gesture which we should not forget.

Reprisals follow murder of Fr Jerry Inau: Goilala in despair

FR GIORGIO LICINI | Catholic Reporter

MORE than five weeks on, there is still no police report on the killing of Fr Jerry Inau and Communion Minister Benedict in the Goilala mountains of Kamulai on the first Sunday of May.

“The men in uniform have run out of funds and have left the area,” said Bishop Rochus Tatamai of Bereina (pictured). “We only know what people say and it’s not good news.”

Fr Jerry’s plea when he was fatally shot that his killing not be avenged has not been respected, according to Bishop Rochus.

“The rumours are that seven murders have followed, including that of the young culprit.”

Peter O’Neill: the consummate power player in PNG politics

BOMAI D WITNE

THE concept of power is inherent in politics and is seen as the ability to influence the people to do things that they may not want to do.

After the last national election in 2011, the current O’Neill-Dion government derived its legitimacy from the people through universal suffrage and the secret ballot.

The result of this was the eventual formation of a coalition government which promised free education, an emphasis on health care, major road construction and many other initiatives.

Peter O’Neill also proved to be a prime minister who was enthusiastic about keeping in touch with his own people.

Wherever the prime minister goes, and he visits some of the remotest parts of the country, he makes sure a number of ministers and backbenchers accompany him.

Protest

CAROLINE EVARI

The veils of evil we will remove
With force carved within our soul
We will fight with weapons buried within our land
For what we believe in and for what we hope for
Let the wheels of justice turn to our song
As it burn down the camps where greed is nurtured
For our home and for our pride
And for the generations to come

Re-introduce corporal punishment to the education system

AGNES ARE

IN an article, Order and Control in Schools, D Orere (2006) said children today are “developing behaviours … which are not expected of them as students.”

This leads to the question of whether corporal punishment should be re-introduced into the education system in Papua New Guinea.

While Orere stressed it would be difficult to impart knowledge to frightened students, there are other reasons for corporal punishment to be reinstated.

Teachers are held responsible and criticised for the wrongdoing of the youngsters even as society becomes more lawless, violent and undisciplined.

Going Nuts, the PNG Way

HINAFUMI ONAFIMO

The climb,
Oh Tura
Was chest arching
But when you arrived
The happiness on their faces
Is relevant to the relationship between
The fruit and man.

We look forward to visit by Japanese PM says Peter O’Neill

JAPANESE prime minister Shinzo Abe will arrive in Port Moresby tomorrow for a two day visit to Papua New Guinea.

Abe, the leader of the world’s third biggest economy, will be accompanied by more than 150 Japanese business and government leaders.

PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill said he is looking forward to have discussions on a number of key issues including trade with Mr Abe.

“We are trying to encourage more trade between the two countries. He is leading a large delegation of Japanese leaders,” Mr O’Neill said.

“Japan is one of the biggest investors in this country and the biggest buyer of our natural resources.

“We will continue to engaging and strengthening bilateral relations with the Japanese government and Japanese people.

Reporter bashed and injured by police in unprovoked attack

DAVID EPHRAIM

THE head political reporter of the Sunday Chronicle and Midweek Chronicle newspapers, Benny Malaisa, has been ambushed and bashed by police in an act of police brutality.

M Malaisa was in a taxi on his way home last Thursday night when a vehicle drove in front of the cab and blocked it near the Aopi Centre in Port Moresby.

Two police emerged from what was apparently an unmarked police vehicle, registration BCG 006.

The two police accused the journalist of swearing at them. Mr Malaisa said he was not aware of what they were talking about as it was the first time he had seen the officers.

However he admitted to calling two Lamana Motel security guards ‘idiots who should be looking after their customers’ after they had mocked him when he threw up outside the motel.

Sam Koim: 'Our leaders are now on dangerous ground'

KEITH JACKSON

ON a day when prime minister Peter O'Neill instructed his lawyers to withdraw court proceedings against an arrest warrant (but the government continued its own proceedings), new Attorney-General Ano Pala (pictured) claimed the allegedly fraudulent Paraka Lawyers invoices that triggered the current PNG crisis are in fact legitimate.

Sacked corruption fighter Sam Koim late yesterday used Facebook to respond to this assertion, asking rhetorically: “Do our leaders know they are now treading on dangerous grounds in their quest for self-preservation?”

Mr Koim continued with a description of the work he and his investigators in former Task Force Sweep undertook to establish the facts of what is now known as Parakagate.

Simbu writers dominate Crocodile Prize 2014 entries

KEITH JACKSON

AFTER the Crocodile Prize was established in 2011 and the closing date for entries passed, Phil Fitzpatrick and I got down to the judging.

There were 105 contributions from 40 writers to read and assess in three categories: short stories, poetry and essays.

As the judging progressed, Phil and I noticed that the women’s entries were relatively small in number and it seemed certain the first awards would be dominated by men.

So, at the last minute, we initiated an award for women’s writing and Dame Carol Kidu was gracious enough to lend her name to it.

It was the last time we had to offer a special award for women. From 2011 on, when it came to literature, the women of Papua New Guinea showed they were every bit as good and competitive as the men.

In 2014, we have received more than 600 entries from 130 writers, 46% of them female. We consider this a very satisfactory outcome.

I am a Woman

STEPHANIE AISI

This poem is dedicated to my mother and all other women before us
who paved the way for women of this generation to be heard

I am a woman
Clothed with culture
I speak
They can’t hear me

I am a woman
Sewn together by religion
I speak
Why can’t they hear me?

Bougainvillean students harassed at Divine Word University

LEONARD FONG ROKA

THREE Bougainvillean students have been attacked by drunken fellow students from elsewhere in Papua New Guinea while inspecting building works for a new university campus supermarket.

The two drunkards aggressively demanded a handshake but, when first year Accounting student Gideon Davika giggled, violence erupted.

“Why yu lap? (Why are you laughing?),” one of the drunkards said to Davika.

Then his mate unexpectedly punched Peter Karatapi, a contributing writer to the Bougainville 24 website, also an Accounting student.

The Bougainvilleans retaliated, outmuscling their attackers until other students intervened and stopped the brawl.

Literacy

DINAH KYAKAS

Oh literacy
you are a true life saver

My old father did not believe in your powers
he told me my place was in the kitchen
and school fees were a huge burden

I was both confused
and lost in deep thought

Maria Goretti & Peter ToRot show the way for today’s PNG

FR GIORGIO LICINI

BISHOP Rochus Tatamai of Bereina has said the forgiving attitude shown after the 1902 murder of St Maria Goretti challenges Papua New Guinean payback practice and mentality.

He was speaking at a meeting of Catholic youth at Divine Word University in Madang at the weekend.

Bishop Rochus said the way the murder of the 12-year-old Italian came about reflects very much current PNG social issues and problems.

Maria Goretti lived in poverty, was illiterate but very religious, and suffered violence and death as a child by a person she knew very well as a family friend.