Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE

Attitude publisher has eyes set on PR for PNG

THE PUBLISHER AND EDITOR of PNG Attitude, Keith Jackson, has returned to full-time work after some years of semi-retirement that followed a period of ill health.

“Most people retire at the end of their careers,” Keith said, “but I seem to have retired in the middle of mine.”

Keith is chairman, and is now also general manager, of Jackson Public Relations (formerly Jackson Wells) which has been operating for 21 years since he established it.

“Over all that time, despite my abiding interest in Papua New Guinea, none of the 550 clients we’ve worked for in Australia and from around the world has been a PNG organisation.

“In this, my personal second coming, I’m looking to change that oversight.”

Jackson PR specialises in media relations and government relations and has worked for clients in every industry sector.

“When I set up the company in a spare room in my apartment in early 1991, I never expected that it would last for two decades and achieve what it has,” Keith said.

People interested in finding out more about Jackson PR can contact Keith here or visit the website here.

Papua New Guinea farewells a great dame

BY JO CHANDLER
THE AGE

AS DAME CAROL KIDU - the long-serving and lonely female of the 109 member Papua New Guinea Parliament - gave her farewell speech at Tuesday’s final sitting ahead of next month's scheduled election, the nation's burgeoning social media commentariat lit up with tributes.

''Kidu gets applause! Sir Buri Kidu would have been proud of you Dame,'' tweeted Tarurvur - one of PNG's most influential (albeit anonymous) political bloggers - summoning up the revered memory of Dame Carol's long-dead husband, the nation's first national Chief Justice.

''Who would have thought a white woman from QLD would impact PNG as you have?''

Mind you, other tweeters observed that the applause from fellow MPs was a bit muted - perhaps as a result of her passing swipe at some of them having one or two wives too many. The feisty Dame is rarely accused of failing to speak her mind.

Dame Carol was one of two lauded figures on the PNG political landscape farewelled as the Parliament dissolved yesterday - the other was former Prime Minister and noted political reformer Sir Mekere Morauta, who said he was moving aside to make way for a new generation.

Dame Carol's impact on PNG politics goes back 15 years as the Member for Moresby South and a minister under the Somare Government, and includes a raft of social development policy, from provisions recognising the rights of the street traders who make up the informal economy; to laws protecting vulnerable children; to a determined and ultimately thwarted campaign to introduce special measures to usher more women into the Parliament.

With her Women's Bill - which would have introduced 22 reserved seats for women - failing to complete its journey into law in time for this election, the odds are stacked high against a single woman taking a seat when the Haus Tambaran in the capital of Waigani next convenes. Social and political culture - and the money politics which underwrites campaigns - remain formidable obstacles to womens' candidacy.

PNG politics is the poorer for the lack of female influence, Dame Carol argues, with the agendas of critical social indicators - maternal deaths, child health, violence against women - failing to achieve the priority they deserve in the Haus.

Though she has lived in PNG for more than 40 years, arriving as a bride and raising her family according to her husband's tribal tradition, Dame Carol once told the Parliament in championing her Bill that ''I don't pretend to understand the complexities [of PNG culture]. The men were the warriors. But remember, the women were the peacemakers.''

Dame Carol's voice and influence has amplified through the past nine months of volatile political power plays. Distancing herself from the Somare camp to take on the role of Leader of the Opposition (for a while there, the only member of the Opposition), she has repeatedly urged the warring Big Men of PNG politics to be accountable to the Constitution and the citizens as the manouevreing for power deteriorated into dirty and dangerous tactics.

This past week, her fearlessness and commitment were captured on a piece of footage widely shared across PNG.

It shows the 63-year-old grandmother - on Mother's Day - confronting heavily armed police and bulldozers at Paga Hill, a site above Port Moresby where a shanty settlement was being razed in preparation for a controversial hotel development, one where questions loom over process and legitimacy.

''This is not an eviction, it's a demolition,'' she snaps at the police, instructing them to stop the bulldozers and allow the settlers to dismantle their homes themselves. ''I feel sorry for you. You're in the middle of this,'' she says to one officer. ''One day it might be your houses being bulldozed.''

Crackers ready to offer hand to help tribe

BY PAUL APPELKAMP
THE NORTHERN STAR (NSW)

IN AN EFFORT to provide an isolated Papua New Guinea tribe with basic supplies, former Lismore resident Craig "Crackers" Hand will have to navigate danger in a 15-foot boat.

This week, Crackers will sail from Darwin to PNG to provide the secluded Sibidiri tribe with 200kg of medical supplies, educational materials and construction tools.

"I'm expecting to run into problems on this trip because I'm going into waters I've never been in, but they're just challenges I'll have to work through myself," he said.

It will be Crackers' third trip to the region and he will be alone for the best part of six to eight months.

However, a "Cracker tracker" device, created by mapping company Esri Australia, will monitor his journey and allow him to upload content to the internet.

"Every four hours a signal is sent to the server to show everyone where I am," Crackers explained.

"When I'm within range of a Telstra tower I'll be able to upload pictures, YouTube clips and diary entries.

"The whole idea is people will be drawn to the project; it will raise awareness and at the end of the day, it will help this tribe."

In 2008, Crackers set a record by sailing the smallest boat from Australia to another country, which was PNG. When he arrived there, he stumbled across the secluded Sibidiri tribe.

"I came across this tribe in PNG and they had nothing; no electricity, no roads, no anything," he said.

"The tribal king's brother had to paddle for two days to get his son, who had a badly broken arm, to medical care."

When Crackers returned, he founded Friends of Papua New Guinea, a non-profit organisation which aims to develop basic health care and educational facilities in remote parts of the country.

He said isolated citizens of PNG endured particularly bad living conditions because there was little to no government support.

"The only government person I've ever seen in PNG is a customs person," he said.

"There is no real government over there."

You can keep up to date with Crackers' journey at esriaustralia.com.au/crackertracker.

The last Aussie RSM at Taurama Barracks

BY TERRY EDWINSMITH

THE LAST AUSTRALIAN Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of Taurama Barracks Port Moresby, John Donald ‘JD’ McKay died in Australia last year at the age of 88.

Don served in Papua New Guinea during the war at Kokoda after signing up in 1940 in Australia as V54635.

He headed to Port Moresby with his militia garrison on 4 January 1942 as an 18-year old on the Aquitania.  He was posted to Seven Mile aerodrome (near Port Moresby), surviving air raids and the strafing of the field by the Japanese.

Later that year, in June 1942, his 39th battalion moved along the Kokoda Track, to be joined by the Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB).

Due to the deteriorating military conditions, this garrison was sent as a blocking force to hamper and resist the Japanese advance.

Don was in ‘A’ Company which reached the forward position at Deniki and he took part in the brief recapture of Kokoda after the Japanese landed at Gona and began their advance over the Owen Stanley Range.

A Japanese counter attack saw the decimation of Don’s section, forcing the few remaining soldiers to retreat.

Don was awarded the Military Medal for his action in this conflict. His citation reads: ‘Courage of the highest order and devotion at Kokoda, 9th August 1942’.

The 39th Battalion withdrew to Port Moresby for rest and recreation. After being reinforced, it was flown to Popondetta in December 1942 and then moved to the Gona area where Don was part of the final successful attack on Gona village. He then moved on to the final attack on Haddy’s village before relocating to the Sanananda area.

Don was evacuated in early 1943 after contracting malaria and scrub typhus. The actions of the 39th Battalion, formed from civilians and militia men (CMF) in Victoria to act as garrison or a support battalion, has become the stuff of legend.

Their brief existence of 18 months or so greatly helped stem the flow of the Japanese advance. Don was an active participant in this legend.

Following the war, Don married, was discharged from the army in 1946, and briefly enjoyed civilian life before re-enlisting in the Australian Army in October 1950 to serve as a national service battalion instructor at Puckapunyal in Victoria with the rank of Warrant Officer 2.

He moved to the School of Infantry at Seymour and accompanied the school when it moved to Ingleburn in 1960. A posting to 1RAR as Regimental Sergeant Major followed, and then he toured Bien Hoa in South Vietnam.

Following these deployments, a posting to Melbourne’s 23rd Cadet Battalion ensued before Don was posted to 1PIR in Port Moresby from July 1968 to August 1970 following the untimely death of incumbent RSM, WO1 Fredrick Wilson in March 1968.

RSM McKay was the last Australian regimental sergeant major at Taurama Barracks, working closely with PNG RSM Osi, himself a WW2 veteran.

At this time Don McKay joined the Taurama Barracks Sergeants’ Mess, leaving his family in Australia. During this period, at the age of 45 years, he came in contact with Australian national service sergeants and subalterns working in what was the Territory of PNG.

Professor Andrew Lattas: A man of many parts

KULA KULA MAGAZINE (March 2011, extracts)

IT IS ON A RAINY OCTOBER AFTERNOON that we meet Professor Andrew Lattas in his office at the Department of Social Anthropology in Bergen, Norway.

But he doesn’t mind the rain, he tells us. “I like Bergen, even though it rains a lot here. Many people complain about this, but I don’t mind it, really.”

Andrew Lattas comes from a family of Greek peasant background. He was born and raised in Australia, and has done extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.

Lattas was appointed to the University of Bergen three years ago, and was recently promoted to Professor. Lattas is a highly productive anthropologist, and his career includes two sole authored books, three edited collections, about 40 refereed articles and an award-winning anthropological film Koriam’s Law and the Dead who Govern.

His most recent book, Dreams, Madness, and Fairy Tales in New Britain, was published earlier this year. He is a cheery contribution to the Anthropology department, his catching laughter often resonating through the halls of the 8th floor. But how did he end up in Bergen?

I came here through being told about a new vacancy by my old professor, Bruce Kapferer, who had already been at the department for some years. He supervised my PhD thesis back in Australia. I had also visited Bergen a couple of times as a visiting researcher before I took up the position three years ago.

The University of Bergen is a very good place to do research, which was the main attraction for coming here. The intellectual scene in Australia was quite good perhaps ten years ago, but this has changed in that the workload has become much less centred on doing research and now involves a very heavy teaching load.

And Lattas likes doing research, we learn. He has done extensive anthropological work on various subjects in Papua New Guinea. He is especially known for his work on cargo cults – millenarian movements that focus on obtaining the material wealth (the “cargo”) of more technologically advanced cultures through magic, rituals and religious practices.

He has focused on their experiments with new technologies for governing and transforming people. But Lattas has done research in Australia as well:

Actually I have done about the same amount of research work on Australian society as on PNG. I have always combined the study of different fields in my research. I find it more productive to work on different topics at the same time. In that way you get a better perspective on things, and you don’t get bored with what you’re doing.

You can only work so many hours on one particular topic before you become exhausted or unproductive. I find that if you combine the subjects you study you can work much longer and more effectively.

- Do you do the same thing here, then; study the Norwegians?

Oh, I’m quite puzzled by the Norwegians, they’re an enigma [laughs]. The strong egalitarianism of Norwegian society is very interesting and actually quite different from Australian egalitarianism. I’m still trying to figure this out. I would like to do some research on Norwegian society eventually if I get the time and if I find the right project.

Lattas’ initial interest in anthropology goes all the way back to his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia. When we ask him how he got into Anthropology, he laughs:

East Sepik declares 'independence' from PNG

BY KEITH JACKSON

OUR SOMETIME CORRESPONDENT, Tim Koeser (PNG Attitude passim), is at it again. Formerly the self-styled leader of the World Indigenous Council of Jesus Christ, he has re-emerged in the last 24 hours as the no less self-styled President of the East Sepik Interim Government.

It’s quite a promotion but Koeser has the rhetoric, if not the spelling, to support it:

The O’niel Namah monstrosity is not a government but a parliamentary coupe headed by treacherous rebels that are seeking only to extend their illegal reign. They are contravening the Constitution as well as violating the People’s basic democratic rights.

East Sepik independence may have been declared last night, but I should take you back to the beginning. As a former classmate at Two Rivers High School, Wisconsin (USA) recalls:

I first met Tim in our freshman year. Tim hailed from Papua New Guinea. And he had arms the size of oak trees. Tim was a cool dude and was pretty laid back. You could inevitably see him strolling the halls in one of his "Rude Dog" T-shirts. I liked him.

In our junior year, Richard told me that Tim had gotten irritated at a friend of his, Scott Langman. Apparently Tim even suggested that Scott was on steroids, as his mood swings were very annoying. For a time, he allegedly thought about beating the crap out of Scott. We came up with a plan to actually pay Tim to do it. Of course that never happened.

After high school, Tim left Two Rivers (he later said it was full of a bunch of racists) and worked on a Florida fishing boat, found God, painted quite a bit and then decided to visit his mother and uncle Michael [Somare] in Papua New Guinea.

It went pear-shaped. Despite promises by Uncle Michael of a good job, Koeser says he was abandoned by him - as well as by his mother. In all he spent a year back home, during that time meeting his wife Dianne.

Koeser returned to the States and, in 1993, joined the army, settled in Tennessee, had a daughter and son, and became ‘born again’ in 1996.

Then. according to him, Koeser, “helped negotiate a peace treaty that ended a 10-year war on the island of Bougainville”.

His classmate says:

Tim apparently penned the words of the treaty. But he had to do so in secret, as his uncle was "on the other side" so to speak. The treaty was recognised by the United Nations.

So back in PNG, and a man with a mission, Koeser wrote that he was “embroiled in a struggle to save my indigenous lands and resources from the Wall Street globalists that are trying their very best to steal them from me and my indigenous people”.

Fast forward to today, when Koeser and (he claims ) Sir Michael Somare have co-signed an extraordinary ‘East Sepik Declaration of Independence’, in which he says:

Since the O’niel Namah oligarchy has taken over the Parliament they have made it a point to punish the People of the East Sepik in their attempt to defy the PNG Supreme Court and the PNG Constitution that court represents. This is extremely dangerous when these same rebels have taken over the heads of all of the administrative bodies as well as the power of the purse in the Nation. These rebels have nothing to restrain them even claiming to be supreme in PNG.

Koeser goes on to declare:

Therefore we the People of the East Sepik do now hereby unilaterally declare independence in order to defend our People from the rebels controlling the PNG Parliament.

The declaration was to take effect from midnight last night unless Somare was not reinstated as prime minister, an eventuality that at the time of writing seemed highly unlikely.

We look forward to hearing more from Tim Koeser about how the East Sepik Interim Government is travelling in its newly independent status.

Writer Francis Nii appointed SCF administrator

BY JIMMY DREKORE
SIMBU CHILDREN FOUNDATION

A PRIVATE ROOM IN THE PAEDIATRIC WARD of the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Hospital in Kundiawa has been officially allocated as the Simbu Children Foundation office.

And Francis Nii [pictured], an economist and writer, has been the appointed the first SCF administrator.

There is a huge work load ahead for Francis and we will help him from time to time till all is in order.

Francis graduated from UPNG with a bachelor of economics in 1987. His first job was with the Agriculture Bank where he served for 12 years in Rabaul, Bialla, Manus and Goroka.

On 9 February 1999 Francis had a nasty car accident which left him a paraplegic. He has been in the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Hospital since 2000.

Francis, from Yobai, Salt Nomane, South Simbu, is a graceful talker but he has a heart of a lion that thirsts for success.

That perseverance led him to publishing his first novel, Paradise In Peril. He also formed the Simbu Association of Persons With Disability. In 2007 he attended the Asia Pacific regional seminar on capacity building for self-help organisations of people with disabilities in Port Moresby.

Last year I introduced him to the Crocodile Prize and, as passionate writer, he submitted a short story. We attended the inauguration of the Prize at the Australian High Commission.

It was a honour for us both to meet Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick, the initiators of the Prize. Francis’s short story was subsequently published in The Crocodile Prize Anthology 2011.

So when I was awarded the Crocodile Prize for Poetry we both had a smile when we went back to Simbu. Francis has submitted a couple of stories to PNG Attitude for this year’s Crocodile Prize. You can read them here and here.

Francis is very talented and SCF has wholeheartedly appointed him to be the first SCF administrator.

Jimmy Little, a big Australian, dies at 75

BY KEITH JACKSON

A GREAT INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN died this morning. Jimmy Little, 75, was a much loved figure in Australia and overseas, both because of his country singing and because of his unfailing gentlemanly demeanour.

I first heard Jimmy sing in my school gymnasium in 1961 at a students' social event.  There were many aboriginal Australians in Nowra (NSW), but Jimmy was the first I had seen in a role that commanded such wide admiration outside the boxing ring.

In those days of overt racism - which Jimmy battled with his customary good grace - even booking him into the school to sing for the kids must have been a struggle.

I last met Jimmy about seven years ago (see picture) at an exhibition of indigenous artefacts and relics at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

We yarned about the good old / bad old days and parted saying we must catch up again.

As so often happens with good intentions in big cities, it was never realised.

Jimmy enjoyed a string of hits from 1959 onwards including Danny Boy, Royal Telephone, El Paso, Baby Blue and One Road.

He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1999, following the success of the album Messenger.

Using my disability for literary inspiration

BY JOE BIGIGLEN YAMOG

I COME FROM A MIXED PARENTAGE of East Sepik and Oro Provinces but was born and raised up in Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands Province. I’m 25 and have been living with disabilities since 1995.

I’m currently doing my final year of study in the communications for development at the PNG University of Technology. I am a peace-loving person with a sense of humour.

I’m also an advocate of national unity and keen to be an honest and transparent person in all my actions and decisions as much as possible, and always be thankful to God in good times and bad times in everything in life.

My interest is in reading, writing, documenting my cultures, traditions and legends and also to involve myself in societal services. Most of my writings are from my own personal experiences and encounters in life. Thus I have recently documented legends from my home village.

Hopefully I will one day get the chance to write and publish my own books about my personal experiences and also about my people’s customs and traditions and legends of my home villages in East Sepik and Oro Provinces respectively in the near future.

As a person living with disabilities, life has been very challenging for me because I could not do everything that I wished. However, positive thinking, sheer determination and faith in God has always made me prosper in every aspect in my life over these 17 years.

It is my keen desire to see that, wherever I may be in future, I will have an impact and influence on everyone who knows me, especially with my distinct personality.

Moreover, I want to advocate and promote equal treatment, attention and participation for people living with disabilities in every aspect of life in this sovereign nation of mine, Papua New Guinea.

FAMILY

By Joe Bigiglen Yamog

Family Is A Family To Us
As We Are A Family To Our Family
Family Bloodline Is A Distinct Bond To Us
As Our Bloodline Is A Distinct Bond To Our Family

Family Is A Blessing To Us
As We Are A Blessing To Our Family
Family Is A Gift From God To Us
As We Are A Gift From God To Our Family

Family Love Is Of All Sentiments Unique To Us
As Our Love Is Of All Sentiments Unique To Our Family
Family Care Has No Vocabulary To Us
As Our Care Has No Vocabulary Towards Our Family

Family Time Is Of Significance Essence To Us
As Our Time Is Of Significance Essence To Our Family
Family Understanding Belongs To Us
As Our Understanding Belongs To Our Family

Family Sacrifices Have Been Constant To Us
As Our Sacrifices Should Be Constant To Our Family
Family Support Is A Good Deed To Us
As Our Support Is A Good Deed To Our Family

Family Expectations Are Beyond Comparable To Us
As Our Expectations Are Beyond Comparable To Our Family
Family Success In Life Is A Milestone Achievement To Us
As Our Success In Life Is A Milestone Achievement To Our Family

Family Faces Resembles The Past, Present And The Future To Us
As Our Faces Resembles The Past, Present And Future To Our Family
Family Memories Are Treasures Of Gold To Us
As Our Memories Are Treasures Of Gold To Our Family
Other Things May Change Us, But We Start And End With The Family.

Sir Koitaga Mano & the House of Assembly days

BY DAVID A Z GONOL

OUR POLITICIANS TODAY ARE VERY HIGHLY EDUCATED and they should be able to achieve great things for this country with their knowledge and vast experience.

However, this was not the case back in 1964 when the first group of politicians entered the House of Assembly for the first time after the first ever general elections in the country.

Sir Koitaga Mano was one of the first uneducated politicians to be elected to the House of Assembly representing the then Ialibu-Pangia Tambul-Nebilyer & Kandep Open Electorate.

According to Sir Koitaga, many of his fellow politicians from the highlands were also uneducated. They could not even read or write, and yet they were elected to the House of Assembly.  Perhaps it was just because they understood Tok Pisin.

When they first came to Port Moresby soon after election, they were taken up to Sogeri National High School. There they were taught how to eat with knives and forks, make their own beds and dress in a professional manner.

They were also taught how to conduct themselves in the House of Assembly during session times.

Of course these things sound simple today but back then they were necessary. How else could you expect these groups of uneducated village men to do things right and in a more professional manner?

I interviewed Sir Koitaga at length, especially concerning his House of Assembly days. He told me many things – some of which are rather funny whereas others are sad but those were the things they did with their limited knowledge while setting the foundations of this great nation.

The people see our politicians today simply as a ‘Money Face’, meaning they love money more than anything else. They love money so much that they commit public funds to their own use or award contracts to their relatives or cronies or park public moneys in secret overseas bank accounts or buy properties overseas using public funds.

However, the House of Assembly politicians were very simple and honest. Their discussions were also very simple. Their aim was to gain independence even though several Highlands politicians wanted to delay independence.

They talked about what kind of government system would be suitable for this country and how they would unite all the tribes in this country so as to live peacefully as one nation.

They didn’t talk about money very often. They only talked about their vision of what the future of the country would be like. Of course they successfully achieved most of what they had always talked about.

Information required about eye specialists in PNG

BY PETER KRANZ

MAYBE PNG ATTITUDE READERS can help with this medical problem by providing me with some information.

My two-year old nephew in Papua New Guinea has strabismus, a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It may adversely affect depth perception and results in a really bad squint.

His mum has been told that this can't be treated in PNG and that he will need an operation in Australia.

This means that a fairly simple operation, conducted through day surgery, becomes very expensive.

Does any reader know if this treatment can be done in PNG? Perhaps by visiting specialists?

The photo was taken before the condition really developed.

Before he was born we called him Frodo (as it was the time of Lord of the Rings mania), and I used to listen to him kicking inside sister's tummy.

Twelve haiku for Stan Jackson OAM

BY MICHAEL THEOPHILUS DOM

battle fields divide,
ranks of men throw down their lives…
they will rise as one

in the aftermath
of war and through life’s changes –
hope for a new day

across the oceans
to a desert continent;
to build a new home

we have not heard tales
of the woman beside him;
from his we know hers

from one death, rebirth;
many new paths for a soul
to seek his own truth

rivers  flow apart;
in the salted ocean
they will meet again

high in the mountains
an old man leads a tour group…
on a bicycle!

a few broken ribs:
India is amazing,
as they say he was

a tale he told once;
he slept in a rice paddy
somewhere in Japan

once as enemies
they met across battle lines –
then he wrote them books

a great man we say,
but he was a good father
even before that

I know Keith Jackson
and that is now as good as
knowing Stan Jackson.

There’s a place in heaven for Kevin 07

BY ILYA ‘SCOOP’ GRIDNEFF
WHO FIRST BROUGHT THE STORY TO THE WORLD

KEVIN RUDD MAY HAVE LOST the headcount as the Labor Party tribe went to war, but one support group he can always count on is in a remote Papua New Guinea village.

A family in the isolated Eastern Highlands village of Degi is forever barracking for Rudd - especially because they named their first-born son after the former PM.

Kevin Rudd Junior was born in Goroka base hospital minutes after then PM Rudd visited during a whirlwind tour in March 2007.

Esau and Lina Kitgi were so impressed by Rudd’s visit they named their baby in his honour and have never given up being a true Rudd believer.

''We will always stand with him, we are diehards for Kevin,'' Kevin Rudd junior's Port Moresby-based uncle, Loven Forapi, said.

''Namesakes mean very big thing to us in PNG.”

Interestingly, another Eastern Highlands family, inspired under similar circumstances to Kevin Junior, named their daughter Julia Junior when Ms Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister in June 2010.

But Mr Forapi pointed out Mr Rudd had been to PNG three times - once to trek the Kokoda Track when in opposition, once after being elected PM and most recently as foreign minister. Prime Minister Gillard has never been to PNG.

''Rudd is a PNG man, when you ask any ordinary person on PNG's streets and in villages they will say K-E-V-I-N, not Julia. He is a household name here,'' he said.

Mr Forapi said despite Australia's political machinations the family was excitedly preparing for Kevin Junior’s fifth birthday celebrations on 7 March. Julia Junior's family was uncontactable.

The Michael Somare enigma – beyond idealism to what?

BY DAVID WALL
http://deberigny.wordpress.com

THE YEARS ARE RARELY KIND to any of us both physically and spiritually, and friends and admirers can be like rats on a sinking ship who can’t get away quickly enough from declining fortunes.

With the present state of Sir Michael Somare’s health and his recent political manoeuvrings, he himself and people at large are forced to face his mortality and assess his undoubted influence on the fortunes of Papua New Guinea now and over more than the past 40 years.

This first photograph of Michael Somare was taken in 1973 at the Angoram Hotel; the one below was taken at the Wewak Yacht Club in 2009.

Radiating from the first snap is the face of a young, dynamic, enthusiastic, and likeable man.

In this second snap, the young man is gone but one can still see a man smiling, perhaps less enthusiastically, but still, I think, likeable.  The old Somare charm is intact. I also see some sadness and disillusionment in the older man’s face.

There are those people who revere Somare as the father of the nation and others who say that, although he came into political life to do good, he certainly did well for himself and his family. Between these two extremes, maybe, lies the man.

Somare has always had that rather intangible quality of personal charm, an immense asset for a politician. So many people I’ve talked to over the years have not been impressed with his performance in power yet, after talking to him, often describe him as such a nice man.

Charm, of course, can be beguiling and, in the words of Evelyn Waugh’s character, Anthony Blanche, in Brideshead Revisited, “it spots and kills anything it touches.” An ‘English blight’ in Anthony’s terms, but perhaps more universally applicable. Of course, in its positive aspect, the charm of an idealist is an embellishment to the human condition.

I well remember meeting and speaking to Michael Somare in Angoram on the Sepik River in the early 1970s and being most impressed with his personality.  And later in Konedobu, I saw the concern he had in approving the proposed Ok Tedi Mine in the then Western District.

Sir Michael was, and I’m sure still is, an extremely sensitive man. In 1972, I was on my way to the Philippines to marry my future wife and, as a help to me, he gave me a letter of introduction to the Australian Ambassador in Manila.

Subsequently, Deborah, my wife, returned with me to PNG and got a job as press secretary to Matthias Toliman and then with Tei Abal of the United Party, a political rival of Somare’s.

I felt that Somare considered that this in some way was an act of disloyalty to him on my part. Years after - in 2009 in Wewak - I mentioned this to him and, in his usual charming way, he brushed it off as of no consequence.

Some people consider that Somare always had a sense of his own importance as PNG’s prime minister, and online references maintain that in 1975 he wasn’t impressed with Australia’s gift of an official residence and asked for and got a much grander building.

Chilling Facebook posts before ferry tragedy

TV NEW ZEALAND/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

PHILIP BATARI, A PASSENGER on the ferry Rabaul Queen which sank in rough weather last Thursday, was updating his Facebook page just before the disaster.

Mr Batari was one of more than 350 people on board the vessel which sank after being hit by three large waves.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Mr Batari, a mechanic, was excited when he boarded the ferry in Kimbe and used his mobile phone to post a series of Facebook updates.

His posts included pictures of the wild seas pounding the ferry. Batari said he was having a "bloody rough time" at sea and his last post said he was "experiencing the worse moment of my life".

His Facebook page has not been updated since and it is not known if he survived the sinking.

Dianne Michaels has posted on his Facebook page that her "poor brother Philip Batari is probably somewhere floating out @ sea."

In another post, Daniel Maisu talks of a strong man who has "a wife and two children to come home to".

How Ron Perry became a PNG artifacts expert

BY MARY PEACHIN
Inside Tucson Business

TUCSONANS WHO KNOW HIM WOULD AGREE, Ron Perry has enjoyed one hell of an adventurous live. For more than 40 years he collected what is considered by experts to be the finest museum of quality Papua New Guinea artifacts.

Ron Perry's life of adventure began after he graduated from Tucson High School and the University of Arizona. Perry and a friend went to Hawaii to become surfers. But it didn't take long for the Army draft to catch up and he was deployed to Korea.

After the Army, Perry returned to Hawaii where friends persuaded him to follow them in Australia, where he caused a bit sensation with his slick Malibu surfboard.

He got married to Barbara and the Perrys spent several years working on her father’s sheep station in Australia before moving to Sydney.

On his first artifact collecting trip to the Sepik River in the mid sixties, Perry learned to deal with tough conditions and clouds of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. After being denied assignments to areas where the local people carved good artifacts, Perry quit his job as a surveyor for the government Lands Department.

At one point Perry hiked with an Australian patrol officer for 10 days through New Guinea's rugged Southern Highlands south of Mendi. The group's 25 carriers were prohibited from commercial activity so Perry, carrying $250, could buy only as much as he could carry. A shield that cost him $5 then would sell for thousands of dollars in today's market.

Fred Buck, owner of the Polynesian Bar in Honolulu, was Perry's first fine art dealer. For about 10 years, Perry's artifacts could be found in the Art Primitiff gallery on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

Perry believes New Guinea's finest artifacts are carved in the Sepik area. To get there required an immense amount of preparation. He would send money to a bank in Wewak, building up the account to $40,000. Then he would catch a ride on one of the weekly mission flights or book a charter to Angoram.

Perry would stock up on tins of sardines and other supplies, rent a motorised canoe with a native driver and crew and set out for six weeks or so exploring river villages. He would leave his purchases in each village's government house.

"I would tell the headman that I don't want anyone to steal this stuff," Perry recalls. "There were times when I had to hire a second canoe and lash them together with cane then build a rough platform on top to stack my artifacts.

“In Angoram, I rented a storage shed from Jim ‘Deadly Dudly' McKinnon while I built shipping cases using timber from his sawmill. Then I would wait for a coastal freighter to pick them up. Jim charged me a $1 a night to rent a small room."

When McKinnon was elected to the House of Assembly, Perry took over running his mill and other businesses, which included purchasing crocodile skins, operating gas stations and running a general store.

Life has not always been easy for Perry. In the early years, he fought bouts of malaria. "Now, if I start the meds immediately, I am over it in three days, quicker than recovering from a cold," he says.

Perry remained in PNG after the territory won independence from Australia in 1975. He managed the government-run artifact center Village Arts and led boat trips on the Sepik River.

In 1978, as manager of Village Arts, Perry accompanied a collection of PNG art to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Anthropologist Margaret Mead served as guest of honor to open the exhibition.

Perry's reputation and knowledge about PNG artifacts is world renowned. And it continues. "We don't advertise our artifacts," Perry says. "Collectors know about them."

Photo: Ron Perry with a Kukukuku tribesman, 1974

Blogger receives UN award for exposing injustice

PROMINENT PAPUA NEW GUINEA BLOGGER Martyn Namorong has been commended by the United Nations for his work to expose injustices suffered by indigenous people affected by the Ramu Mine.

United Nations Resident Coordinator in PNG, David MacLauchlan-Karr, presented the certificate of commendation to Mr Namorong today.

Presenting the Award, Mr MacLauchlan-Karr expressed grave concern for the people of Madang whose lives will be affected by the dumping of toxic mine wastes into the Bismarck Sea.

He encouraged Mr Namorong to continue writing about the plight of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Mr MacLauchlan-Karr also stated that the UN will be sending a team to assess the landslide in Southern Highlands that has killed an estimated 60 people.

He said the landslide was triggered by construction activity related to the LNG Project.

Priest returning after successful Australian mission

BY PAIGE MASON
Hume Leader (Melbourne)

AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF SERVICE at St Dominic’s parish in Broadmeadows, Father Michael Watae is leaving Australia.

The parish priest is returning to Papua New Guinea after a decision by his church superiors.

“I have mixed emotions. I’m excited for a new beginning but sad because I’m leaving beautiful people,” he said.

Father Watae has been the parish priest since 2006 after serving as assistant from 2003.

He will move to Aitape in March.

“My most immediate task is to work with the bishop in the local parish. I’ve been asked to do vocation work to encourage young men to become priests and women to become religious.”

Father Watae said he would miss his strong congregation.

“I’ve tried to develop a community where people are loved, respected and honoured.”

Dame Carol Kidu confirms mid-year retirement

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S ONLY WOMAN member of parliament and the driver of a scheme to create reserved seats for women has confirmed her mid-year retirement.

Dame Carol Kidu told a Melanesian Alliance Party fundraising dinner that she was leaving politics satisfied she had made significant contributions to the nation.

She said that was something women and children, the disabled and youths could be proud of.

Her bill to create 22 reserved seats for women in parliament fell short last month of the number of votes required to pass it.

Dame Carol, who will have served in parliament for 15 years when she retires in July, also commended her party executives for continuing to keep one of PNG’s oldest political parties alive.

She says she’s enjoyed working with the National Alliance party led by Sir Michael Somare who trusted and allowed her to continue to be a minister in his coalition government.

She says the future of the Melanesian Alliance Party lies in young people’s hands and she’s urged party executives to recruit them to bring back a vision for the future.

Source: Radio New Zealand International

Reprise: Remembering the pugnacious Jim Leigh

BY KEITH JACKSON

One of the more low profile but most satisfying functions of PNG Attitude is the way it regularly brings together people who the years have separated.  Now it’s done it for me, as JIM LEIGH, the man who gave me my first management job in broadcasting, has got in touch through his Ireland-based daughter, Kelly.  I’ll be catching up with Jim on the Sunshine Coast later this month.  Meanwhile, it’s worth repeating the story – first published in 2008 – that triggered this reunion four years later….

I WAS LEAFING THROUGH the Pacific Islands Monthly for May 1963 when I happened upon this photograph. It shows the then station manager of Radio Rabaul, HH ‘Jim’ Leigh, posing in a studio with some staff members and two tape recorders.

Jim was to become a rather bellicose and impetuous Controller of Broadcasting with the Department of Information. He plucked me from the ABC and into his managerial ranks in 1969.

One of my tasks as the new manager of Radio Bougainville in 1970 was to recruit and train young Bougainvilleans to work as announcers and producers. I was under special orders to hire people from the dissident (secessionist) villages around Kieta.

Jim Leigh, who later became general secretary of the Queensland National Party, called me on the radio-telephone from Port Moresby to proffer some unsolicited advice on how to conduct selection interviews.

“Father,” he said (he called everyone father), “there are only three rules for selecting staff, and I want you to note them carefully.

"One. Be rational not emotional. Got that, father? Over."

I agreed I had got that.

"Two. Put ‘em under pressure, real pressure. Know what I mean, father? Over."

I affirmed I knew what he meant by real pressure.

"Three. Check their references. Over.”

As chance had it, Jim was in Kieta for his annual inspection of the station at the time I’d scheduled a number of interviews.

The inspection included intense scrutiny of the S-bend of the toilet, since Jim had recently had hepatitis and blamed unhygienic radio station latrines for this misfortune.

He’d been unsettled by his arrival in Bougainville. The DC3 undercarriage warning light had triggered and there was some anxiety before an ultimately safe landing at Aropa airstrip.

"Head between my legs, father. Thought I was gonna kiss my arse goodbye. Know the feeling?"

I stated that, while the feeling was not known to me personally, I had a vivid imagination.

Early next morning was interview time. The first was with a young hopeful from one of the dissident villages near Kieta.

Jim reminded me of his three rules for conducting effective interviews - rationality, pressure and references – and told me he'd sit in to see how I conducted the session.

I was unimpressed by this, but he was the Controller and I was his subordinate and that was that.

The first applicant was a strikingly beautiful 18-year old woman.

As she walked into my office, Jim simpered, “And what's your name, my dear”.

“Perpetua Tanaku,” she replied, “but my friends call me Pepi.”

Then she added, “You can call me Pepi.”

“Pepi,” Jim sighed.

“Pepi is short for Perpetua,” she breathed. “It comes from the English word 'perpetual' which means ….. everlasting."

References on my desk in front of me, I was just about to ask the first rational question that I hoped would put Miss Tanaku under real pressure when Jim leapt to his feet.

"You're hired," he said.

Photo (left to right): Matthais Tiamani, Jim Leigh, Nellie Exon, Joe Gohan, H Vue and Danes Tagi

Simbu Children Foundation concludes a good year

BY KEITH JACKSON

THE PRESIDENT OF THE Simbu Children Foundation, Jimmy Drekore, has thanked supporters – including a number of PNG Attitude readers – for their “efforts in 2011 to making a difference in the lives of sick and disadvantage children in the rugged mountains.”

Mr Drekore expressed special appreciation to SCF Team Western Australia for shipping a 20ft container of gifts to the children of Simbu and to SCF Team Ok Tedi in Tabubil for raising K28,000 for the Foundation.

During the year, SCF also sent seven “Brave Hearts” to Operation Open Heart in Port Moresby and held a successful end of year ball in Kundiawa with a unique twist - a visit to Mingende Rural Hospital.

“2012 will be the year to make SCF stand upright hence projects are underway in line with our strategy,” Mr Drekore said.

“We need each other to make Simbu better, hence please help out where you can so we can be proud of our achievements come end of the year.”

Mr Drekore also sent a message to candidates in the forthcoming PNG national elections.

“To all you potential candidates, best wishes in your campaigns.  Unfortunately SCF won't support you.  If you win, you need to support SCF and the elites of Simbu will witness that because you know these elites are very influential in their communities.”

Visit the SCF website here

The teachers of Brandi - as they were back then

BY KEITH JACKSON

FORTY YEARS SEEMS A LONG TIME in abstract.  It also seems an eternity when we project forward.  But as we look back, it seems to be not much further than this time last year. Such are the elastic perceptions of time.

This photograph, provided by Barbara (Neasmith) Short (fifth from left in the front row) pictures the teaching staff of Brandi High School as they were in 1971.  "It was a very good year at Brandi," writes Barbara.  I can assure Barbara that it was a very good year wherever we were. I happened to be enjoying myself at Radio Bougainville in Kieta.

The image is characteristic of the time: short skirts; neat, belted shorts with (except for one miscreant, excused because he's the agriculture master) long socks; open necked shirts for the Sepik tropics; youthfulness (plenty of hair still on head).  A fine body of young men and women.

Pictured (back): Miss M Peters (home science); V Martin (history, maths); CA Baker (headmaster, guidance); J Renaud (maths master, science); Miss G Holland (english, science, physical education);  J Phillips (science, music); J Hughes (science master, drama); Mrs P Miller (art, social science); P Lorimer (social science master); K Kiou (maths, social science); N Gregory (english, social studies); M Petchell (maths, science); (front) DC Chester (deputy headmaster, agriculture); C Freeman (commerce, agriculture); G Miller (english master, drama);  A Loi (manual arts); Miss B Neasmith (geography, music); J Yandanai (manual arts); Miss B McDonald (science, english); D Lillyman (agriculture master);  Mrs A Cassidy (social science, english); T Rabona (manual arts master); H Kaiyaoko (maths, physical education); Fr W Shadeg (english, social studies).

 

Martyn Namorong: Papua New Guinea is a tinderbox

Recent unrest in PNG was the eruption of long simmering tensions, says Martyn Namorong. DOUG HENDRIE talks to the political blogger who sells betel nut by day and tackles the ruling class by night.

MARTYN NAMORONG IS ANGRY.  And he’s got a right to be. From the poorest province in Papua New Guinea, Namorong was able to come to the capital, Port Moresby, to study medicine. His future seemed certain.

Instead, he dropped out of medical school and had to make his living on the street, selling betelnut.

As he sat at his small stall, he watched the urban poor fight to survive, and he began wondering why this was so.

Since independence from Australia in 1975, the state had slowly and steadily atrophied, forcing ordinary Papuans to rely on old methods to survive: intensive food gardens in their communally owned land (which accounts for around 97 per cent of the entire country).

Widespread corruption funnelling money from mining and logging companies to the Port Moresby political classes had entrenched a sense of abandonment among the urban poor, villagers who had moved to the big city hoping to find work or forced to leave as the rural population swells.

Namorong watched all this, and wondered, and his anger grew. 

He began penning missives on his blog, The Namorong Report, excoriating the political and economic system in PNG. His focus shifted from medical and public health issues to the wider picture.

In 2011, he won the PNG’s top award, the Crocodile Prize, for essay writing. He wrote:

Ocean power inspired sculptor’s winning design

BY DON HOOK

MELBOURNE SCULPTOR JAMES PARRETT loves to surf and ride the waves. And it was to the sea that he turned when seeking inspiration for the design of the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Memorial.

Like most Australians of his generation, James (35) knew little or nothing about the Japanese invasion of the New Guinea Islands in January 1942 or the subsequent sinking of the Japanese prison ship Montevideo Maru with the loss of more than 1,000 Australian prisoners of war and civilian internees.

It was not until James stood in Canberra among the memorials to Australians who’d fought and died in the nation’s various military campaigns that he realised the daunting challenge ahead of him.

“To those tens of thousands Australians who served in all the wars - and to those they left behind - this was indeed a sacred place.

“I felt I had to do justice to them and their memory and this special place by designing an abstract sculpture, outside the traditional memorial box, yet with a modern feel that will speak to future generations.

“Hopefully, it will not age. People will either like or dislike it but what matters most of all is when they walk around it, or stand under it, that they wonder and think about the event it commemorates.

“To me it is most important that the people who died in the tragedy are at peace and that everyone who comes to know about the event also feels at peace,” he said. 

James surfs along Victoria’s west coast beaches and it was while paddling in the calmness awaiting to be picked up by the right wave that he realised the ocean’s power.

All was calm out where he was but he could see in the distance the fury of the waves as they crashed onto the beach.

He decided then to create a memorial that symbolised the ocean; his design picks up the circular wave-like-forms while the angled base is evocative of a ship’s bow.

James only started thinking about art and the possibility of a future career while in his senior high school years at Kingswood College, Box Hill, Melbourne. 

He could not decide what he wanted to do until his teacher showed him images by two American artists and sculptors, Jasper Jones and Frank Stella, noted for their pop art and abstract expressionism.

“They spoke to me, blew me away, and started me off,” he said.

What followed was a Bachelor of Arts (Sculpture) degree from Monash University, then Honours in Sculpture from the Victorian College of Arts. 

Since then he has exhibited at galleries in Sydney and Melbourne, and has been a finalist in several of Australia’s most important sculpture exhibitions, including Sculpture by the Sea at Sydney’s Bondi.

James spent two years teaching English in Japan.  But it was in Melbourne five years ago that he met his Japanese-born wife Chiyoko.

She was studying English; he was learning Japanese.  They have a daughter Haruki and live in Coburg just north of the Melbourne CBD.

The dedication of the Rabaul & Montevideo Maru Memorial will take place at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra at 11.30am on Sunday, July 1, 2012 – the 70th anniversary of the sinking of the unmarked prison ship by an American submarine. 

The help of Melbourne journalist Bruce King is greatly appreciated -  DH

Alcorta: 'One of the most amazing guys in Australia'

THIS IS ESSENTIALLY a story that is of great shame to the Australian government, and especially to the military awards protocol people in the Defence Department.

The story of a man who led a heroic charge against a superior enemy force in Vietnam – resorting to bayonet when the bullets had gone – and who then served his country as a kiap and teacher in Papua New Guinea – and who traversed the country from north to south for something to do in school holidays.

Frank ‘the mad Spaniard’ Alcorta, now 75, was born in the Basque region, migrating to Australia in 1960 “without a word of English, no profession, ten shillings in my pocket, a pair of strong shoulders and a willingness to work hard.”

In 1961, with drover friend, Alexander ‘Dutchie’ Holland, he prospected for opal, shot dingoes and kangaroos for bounty, built fences and did odd jobs in cattle stations in outback Queensland.

Taking a break in Brisbane with Frank at the end of that year, Dutchie pointed to an Army recruitment centre in Mary Street – and on 17 December they both joined up.

Four years later, on 18 August 1966, a day he’ll never forget, Sergeant Frank Alcorta stepped off an armoured personnel carrier (APC) into a swarm of enemy soldiers at the edge of a rubber plantation in Vietnam.

In the village of Long Tan, four kilometres east of the Australian base at Nui Dat, Australian troops had made contact with the forward units of 2,500 Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese regulars. There were just 105 men in D Company, and they were engaging a force over 20 times their strength.

Let the Federal MP for Hinkler, Paul Neville, take up the story (Private Members' Motion on the Battle of Long Tan, 31 May 2010):

[Alcorta's] A Company came forward with 10 APCs, seven of which were heading towards the battle. About a kilometre short of Long Tan they too met a group of Vietnamese of company strength. They took them on. One particular man whom I know in Bundaberg rolled off his APC [this was Alcorta].

He and his machine gunner lay on the ground, then got up and went straight into the face of the enemy, firing at them as they went. When their ammunition ran out they went with bayonets. It was such a convincing assault that the company of Vietnamese withdrew—turned and ran….

Sgt Alcorta’s A Company was able to break the enemy line and make it to D Company in the thick of battle.  Mr Hinkler continued:

By the time they got to the battle proper it had been completed. Major Harry Smith and his men—105 of them—took on wave after wave of battalion strength enemy who tried as they would to pierce the perimeter. Not once did they cross the Australian perimeter and, in fact, some of the battle occurred at the range of only 15 metres….

They were recommended for awards, and in fact two senior officers received DSOs. Harry Smith’s likely award, originally to be a DSO, was downgraded and he received the Military Cross. Two of his lieutenants, Sabben and Kendall, were downgraded to MIDs, and his 12 men that he recommended did not receive awards, including one who was killed in action. Unbelievable stuff.

Oil and Mike McWalter - an indelible experience

HAVING SPENT MUCH of his working life in Papua New Guinea, petroleum geologist Mike McWalter has seen the development of the petroleum industry within PNG, and has come to call that country his home.

“I haven’t lived in England for oodles of time, so yes, PNG is very much home,” said Mr McWalter, advisor to the PNG Department of Petroleum and Energy.

Mr McWalter joined the PNG Geological Survey Petroleum Resources Assessment Group in 1987, just as PNG had “our first real oil discovery at the Iagifu 2-X well, which subsequently became part of the Kutubu field. This was real black oil, and I was there at the actual well testing. It was an absolutely enthralling time.”

The discovery was made about 500 kilometres north-west of Port Moresby in the remote Southern Highlands Province by New Guinea Gulf Oil (later acquired by Chevron Corporation, when that company acquired Gulf Oil’s assets worldwide.)

“The New Guinea Gulf Oil geologists were good explorers,” said Mr McWalter. “When they found the real black stuff, they realised they had found something quite valuable: they had shown that PNG really had geological structures that could contain commercial quantities of oil.”

“These were extraordinary days, because after this discovery, every oil company in the world was piling into Papua New Guinea. They were very exciting times, with a lot of licensing work, the delineation of the oil discovery, and the evaluation and approval of the first oil development proposals” he said.

By 1990, Mr McWalter had been promoted to Chief Petroleum Geologist, with a role that was very much involved in technical and operational review, the technical aspects of licensing, and the negotiation of agreements.

Shortly after, the Department of Minerals and Energy became the Department of Mining and Petroleum with two large Divisions: one covering mining and one petroleum activities.

“These were both really much like departments, and I was responsible for the geological work, technical policy and handling all legal and other affairs of the PNG Government in the re-organized Petroleum Division, which had its own legal, economic, licensing and landowner coordination capacities.”

Mr McWalter became the first Director of the new Division, in which there was a great emphasis on localisation.

“We sought to progressively re-organise the Division and take on plenty of young PNG graduates. Then, we had a series of World Bank funded technical assistance programmes through which we deployed experts in all manner of disciplines to train the staff.

“Over the period from the mid-90’s through to about 2007 much learning was done, and eventually some 33 people had gone through Masters’ programs, and a high level of competence was developed within the Division.”

Mr McWalter left his position as Director in 1997, and moved into the first of the Advisory roles he has continued to play for the Department.

“I stood down from being Director because of the emphasis on localisation, which I have always thoroughly supported,” said Mr McWalter. “After all, that is the whole point – to develop the local skills.”

In 2007, the Division made another transition and became the Department of Petroleum and Energy.

“The PNG experience can be a bit indelible, once it is stamped in your heart and your passport; it is hard to shake it off,” Mr McWalter said.

Source: South Pacific Community, 9 November
http://www.sopac.org/index.php/media-releases/1-latest-news/358-png-and-petroleum-an-indelible-experience

“I can’t see mum anywhere; I think mum is gone…”

BY SCOTT WAIDE

IN THE HOURS FOLLOWING news of the 13 October plane crash near Madang, Reginald Renagi Jr [pictured] hung on to every inkling of hope that his mother may still be still alive.

The fourth year Information Systems student sits with his hands clasped in front of him in a Divine Word University student services conference room as he recounts those anxious hours.

“I was clinging to the hope that the plane had gone down in Transgogol (along the Lae-Madang highway),” he said.  “I don’t know where the information came from but they said the plane crash-landed near the highway and that there were no casualties.  It was quite relieving to think that.”

Reginald, along with senior members of DWU’s Student Representative Council, were setting up a tent and making other preparations for a celebration on the weekend – a celebration that included their parents – when a sudden storm interrupted the preparations.

Like many Papua New Guineans in such situations, he knew something was wrong even before news of the crash arrived.

“My palms were sweaty and they felt like pins and needles.  They felt numb.  There was this overwhelming feeling and I knew something was wrong.”

At 5pm, Reginald dialled his mum’s phone number.  Then he sent text messages.  No answer.  At 5.05pm he made another call.  Then another at 5.10pm.

Around that that time Allan Kwalu, another student who was there helping with the preparations, got a call from students who had gone to Madang airport to pick up their parents who were  supposed to arrive on the Airlines PNG flight.

“Someone called and said they got news that there had been a plane crash,” Allan said.  “That message… I couldn’t pass on to Reggie.  I was thinking hard about what to say to him when he got a call on his phone.”

Allan didn’t hear exactly what was being said but he knew the content of the message when Reginald began crying. 

For many, those hours just passed like a blur.  Paula and John Paul Matlam lost five members of their family.  Maggie Wata lost her mum and her aunt.  Cecilia Bula, a fourth year PNG studies student, lost both her parents.  Grace Bid lost a brother and Clara Bal her mum.

When evening came, the Divine Word University community continued to piece together the information that was trickling in from various sources.  At the police station, Allan said there was already some indication tha  the news wasn’t good but he also tried to push that thought out of his mind.

“We couldn’t find the words to tell them.  There is nothing that you can say that will bring comfort to those who lost a mum or mum and dad.”

Reginald Renagi’s determination to find his mother took him all the way to Raikos.  It took him and a cousin four hours before they reached the site of the crash.  Reginald said he tried preparing himself mentally but still hung on to the hope that his mum was somewhere.

“I kept calling her phone and it said: ‘Your call will be charged…”

Reginald and several others remained at the crash site until daybreak.  When the sun began rising he said he couldn’t call his dad.

“I called my sister.  I said: Michelle… and I didn’t  know what to say....

“I said: ‘I can’t see mum anywhere. I think mum is gone’.”

Good deeds.... Whatever happened to Sadam?

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

A NUMBER OF PEOPLE have asked me about Mavo (Sadam) Manu [pictured] and whether he received the money that readers of PNG Attitude collected for him.

When we were in Port Moresby in September for the Crocodile awards, we met Joe Gurina, the journalist/photographer who had written the original story about Sadam. 

Joe had arranged for his wife to bring Sadam up from Domara in Cloudy Bay so that we could hand the money directly to him.

Unfortunately there was heavy rain down that way and the roads were impassable.  As you might know the highway from Moresby to Kupiano is pretty good, but beyond it deteriorates rapidly.

In lieu of Sadam, I handed the money to Lydia and Peter Kailap.  They had graciously offered to accommodate Sadam if he made it to Moresby.

Lydia and Peter have undertaken to get the money to him as soon as the opportunity arises.  That probably means when one of his close relatives gets to Moresby or someone gets down to Domara.

In the meantime we are trying to arrange for Sadam to visit the eye clinic at the Port Moresby General Hospital run by Dr Jambi Garap.

Alternatively, she will see him next time the mobile clinic is down Domara way.  Our emails have gone unanswered but we are still hopeful.

You know how these things work.  We’re on Papuan time now.

It is a friend indeed who helps a friend in need

BY KEITH JACKSON

IT WASN’T QUITE by accident that I first met Reg Renagi in the flesh.  On my recent visit to Port Moresby, we’d had a loose arrangement to meet some time after I arrived at the Crowne Plaza.

It was one of those Melanesian sort of arrangements where a matter is generally agreed without being nailed down with final certitude.

So it was around 7.30 pm that, having checked in late, I was wandering around the hotel trying to get my bearings when a tall, good looking man approached me and said: “You must be Keith”.

Reg had been hanging around for the best part of two hours, honouring a vague arrangement with far more loyalty than it deserved.  And so we had a beer and dinner and talked about all the things good friends talk about.

Two days later, after the writers workshop and Crocodile Prize awards ceremony at the Australian High Commission – throughout which Reg was a diligent and active participant – I briefly met his wife, Myria (Lulu), an attractive woman in both looks and demeanour.  From the way Reg deferred to her, I guessed that I was talking with a real anchor point in a relationship.

A month later, Lulu was dead – killed in the Madang Dash-8 crash, along with 27 other innocents.

Reg Renagi is well known to readers of PNG Attitude.  Three year ago he became the first Papua New Guinean to contribute regularly to these columns as both a feature writer and a commentator.

And, in lending his name to all he wrote, he encouraged many other Papua New Guinean writers to do likewise - and if you don't know that that takes courage you don't know PNG.

“I write about certain key strategic issues our government needs to address in PNG’s national interest,” he told readers two years ago. "Concerned citizens have to keep reminding them."

Through his writing – most frequently on matters of government, ethics and defence - he built up a strong and loyal following of readers, who felt here was a man they could have a conversation with – even though they had never met him.

In September 2007, Reg and Lulu had lost their beautiful daughter, Jeannie, after a long illness.

“She failed to respond to the long term regime of medicinal drugs, special diet, family love and support, and left us to meet her maker,” Reg told readers.

“It was such a gut-wrenching experience for an anguished father and a desperate family - watching our beautiful daughter’s life slip away daily in the terminal stages of her illness.

“I miss my daughter terribly and still mourn for her in my quiet moments and say a short prayer for her before I start my day and before I go to sleep each day. The healing will take some time as she was my favourite girl since she was a baby.”

And now tragedy has struck again with extraordinary cruelty – Lulu killed on the way to Divine University in Madang for the graduation ceremony of their son.

We have started The Renagi Appeal to give readers the opportunity, in the most practical way, to express their condolences to Reg, to assure him that we share his grief and to thank Reg for what he has done in the past and for all that he will do.

I hope you’ll see fit to contribute.  You can do so by making a deposit to:  Keith Jackson BSB 082-302  Account No 50650-1355.  In the Description box, mark your gift ‘FOR REG’.  And drop me an email

Governor-General Ogio to wed Solomon Islander

PAPUA NEW GUINEA is preparing for its first ever state wedding for the nation's ninth Governor-General, Sir Michael Ogio [pictured here with prime minister Peter O'Neill].

Sir Michael is to wed Esmie Ereoli from the Solomon Islands.  Ms Ereoli, a former employee of Pacific Casino Hotel, was said to have met Sir Michael in 2009 when he was a cabinet minister. The couple have maintained a very private relationship to this day.

The Governor General's official secretary, Tipo Vuatha, in an interview with Radio Australia, said that the wedding will be the first of its kind in PNG staged in public.

"We cannot make it a private one," he said.

"All the previous Governor Generals came with their spouses. He was a widower."

The PNG government will pay for the public wedding, said Mr Vuatha, which will be held at St Mary's Cathedral in Port Moresby followed by a state function in parliament.

Mr Vuatha said that the wedding will take place next Saturday.

Sir Michael Ogio GCMG, CBE was born on 7 July 1942 was leader of the People's Democratic Movement Party.

He became acting as governor-general in December 2010 when Jeffrey Nape resigned after one week without explanation. He was elected as Governor-General in his own right on 14 January 2011 when he defeated Pato Kakeraya 65-23.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 26 April.

Source: Solomon Times, 17 October
Spotter: Martin Hadlow

Crash pilot ‘has a long journey ahead of him’

BY KIERAN CAMPBELL

THE AUSTRALIAN pilot who survived the horrifying Madang crash had only recently returned to his passion of flying.

After years of running a home brew business on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Bill Spencer started teaching young pilots at Maroochydore Airport and then returned to flying with Airlines PNG a year ago.

The 64-year-old was only a few shifts away from heading back to his Bli Bli home when he survived the horror crash in the PNG jungle on Thursday night.

Yesterday his family gathered by his bedside at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Mr Spencer suffered leg injuries in the terrible crash, which claimed all but four of the 32 people on board the plane.

"He's pretty shattered," son-in-law Conal Hanna told the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Mr Hanna, the husband of Mr Spencer's daughter Meghan, said the family was in shock.

“They're extremely relieved that Bill has survived but are feeling quite emotional about those that have lost their lives," Mr Hanna said.

"Their thoughts and prayers are with all those in Papua New Guinea who are going through the grieving process."

Mr Hanna said his father-in-law had been excited about returning to work in PNG when he took the job last year.

He and Mary moved to the Sunshine Coast 10 years ago and ran Stews Home Brew at Maroochydore.

When a job teaching pilot students for Singapore Airlines opened up at the Maroochydore Airport, Mr Spencer jumped at the opportunity. Mr Hanna said his father-in-law could not resist the new job in PNG.

"He's addicted to flying. He loves it," he said. "Outside of his family and his dog, it's probably his number one passion in life."

Mr Hanna said an investigation would look at what caused the crash but initial reports have suggested it was a mechanical fault and not pilot error.

"I think whilst they're relieved Bill's okay, the reality is a lot of other people have died. They feel that.

"This is the start of probably a pretty long process where I'm sure there will be an investigation. Bill will have a long journey ahead of him."

Source: Sunshine Coast Daily, 16 October
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/10/16/png-crash-pilot-lives-fly/

Notes from abroad: thoughts on being an expat

BY DR WENDY GARLAND

I’M DR WENDY and I grew up on the outskirts of Washington, DC, and lived most of my life in Virginia (USA). I currently live in Lae, Papua New Guinea.

1. Why did you move abroad?

I finished my Ph.D. and started looking for university jobs…..  Papua New Guinea?  Sure, I’ll apply….

2. How do you make a living (working? Tell us about your experience)?

I work as the Director of Teaching & Learning and oversee faculty development.  I also just took over training for all university staff, so I’ve been busy developing plans for that area, too.  I “work” here, but honestly I get paid as much as I work (not much work for not much pay….).  

3. How often do you communicate with home and how?

I have a prepaid plan on my Blackberry, so I use my minutes to call my kids back in the States.  The Internet is pretty expensive and the connection is poor, so I don’t get to video chat with them except on rare occasions.  I get my American news and gossip through Facebook on my phone.  The internet is slowly getting better and when the time zones work out, I love texting with friends and family back in the States.  

4. What's your favorite thing about being an expat in Papua New Guinea?

PNG is very laid back and that’s probably my favourite part about being here.  Coming from the United States and always on the go, PNG is a stark, stark contrast.  There is time for everything… and we fit in work, too! 

5. What’s the worst thing about being an expat in Papua New Guinea?

I’d probably say that it’s not the “worst” thing, but one of the more frustrating things about being an expat here is the inefficiency of things. It can literally take a couple of days to get a very mundane task done. 

As an expat, you’ve been hired to come in for a position that a local person is not qualified to do and yet I spend a lot of my work time chasing down or trying to do a very basic task.  It can be frustrating to take an entire afternoon off work to go pay a bill, and yet, it’s a normal thing here.

6. What do you miss most?

3,500 join Sir Paulias for 80th birthday climb

BY KEITH JACKSON

SIR PAULIAS MATANE has celebrated his eightieth birthday by climbing Mount Varzin (Vunakokor) on the Gazelle Peninsula with 3,500 well-wishers.

Sir Paulias, former Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, has long been an advocate of a healthy lifestyle

“To all of you who joined me on the historical climb to the peak to celebrate my 80th birthday, I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Sir Paulias said.

“We will always treasure these thoughts.”

SirPaulias said the 3,500 people who joined him on the walk included representatives of many business houses, media people from EMTV, NBC, Radio ENB, The National, Post Courier and Kundu 2, students, teachers, 25 officers of Keravat Corrective Services, as well as church and community leaders.

“I must not forget the members of the theatre group and the two wonderful choirs of my Viviran Village and Bitakapuk N. 2 Village,” Sir Paulias said. “They were the joys of the day.”

Next week, the energetic ex-vice regal will be in Port Moresby to help produce some educational TV programs for EMTV.

“They’re for the public to see and enjoy,” he said. “Please keep watching for these on EMTV.”

Kevin Jr – a highlands saga that keeps on giving

ON HIS RECENT official visit to Papua New Guinea, Australia’s foreign minister Kevin (‘Heavy Kevvy’) Rudd exchanged gifts with his long-term protégé Kevin Rudd Junior.

On Saturday Mr Rudd passed on a signed copy of his children's book, Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle, to the three-year-old Goroka boy named on the day Mr Rudd arrived in PNG for his first official overseas visit in 2007.

And what did the Mr Rudd receive as a thank you?

A spear.

“I can think of a few uses for this,” the former prime minister told reporters.

He also received three bilums from Kevin Jr's uncle, Loven, who was eager to meet Mr Rudd.

Kevin Junior is due to start school next year having recovered from a bout of malaria in 2010 but was unable to make the trip from Goroka to Port Moresby to meet his namesake.

Mr Rudd, however, did have a brief phone conversation with the young boy.

“I was very pleased to talk to Kevin Rudd in Goroka,” the foreign minister said.

“I've seen pictures of the little boy growing up and I wish him very well.”

Source: Sky News, 2 October

One of my closest mates, Murray Bladwell, formerly of Chimbu and other parts, is having his 70th birthday today.  And I'm in Brisbane to make sure he does it in style.  Murray, a great head teacher of Chuave among other postings, is a fine educator, a top communicator, a hot-house of energy, a great inspiration and a wonderful bloke.  Happy birthday, Fums!  Taddy.

The trials of Dr Nadile: PM O’Neill, please intervene

COMPILED BY KEITH JACKSON

ITEM

Private communication

Yesterday at the 25th Papua New Guinea - Australia Business Forum held here in Madang, the very last session of the day included a presentation by Dr Rona Nadile, the First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations.  I asked her how it is we have a major resource extraction project in Madang where most foreign workers speak no English.

To her credit, Dr Nadile was incredibly candid. Before the entire forum, she explained that when these work permits came across her desk she was told that the Prime Minister's Department wanted her to 'make it happen' and issue all work permits for MCC employees. A collective gasp and giggle could be heard across the room.

ITEM

Rules ‘bent’ for mining project

By Barnabas Orere Pondros

Chinese nationals employed by the Ramu nickel mine were issued work permits despite not meeting Papua New Guinea’s labour laws which stipulate that all non-citizens must be proficient in English.

Department of Labour and Industrial Relations acting executive manager for employment promotion Dr Rhonda Nadile revealed this yesterday at the 25th Australia-PNG Business Council forum in Madang.

She said despite strong opposition from the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations over the legality of the issue, the National Government directed the department to issue the permits “because the agreement has been signed to develop the Ramu nickel project”.

According to Dr Nadile, the National Government overlooked the labour laws because the Ramu nickel project was far more important….

Dr Nadile said if the department tried to question or oppose the issuance of work permits, the applicants only go higher up, “even to the Prime Minister’s office”.

ITEM

Blog post

From The Namorong Report

Prime Minister O’Neill’s vow to tackle corruption and the misuse of public monies is not going to bear any fruit unless the government moves to protect whistleblowers like Dr Rhona Nadile. Nadile has been sacked from the Department of Labour, where she was a senior officer, for exposing gross misappropriation and inappropriate use of trust funds….

One case involved the drawdown of K241,000 to cover the travel costs for Secretary George Vaso and his staff to travel to Fiji for an extended stay of 18 days to attend two conferences which were only for 8 days. Another case involved the use of K500,000 from the Work Permit Trust Account so a delegation could attend an ILO conference in Geneva.

“Enough is enough”, wrote Nadile in a memo to Vaso, “I have witnessed numerous occasions of gross misappropriation and inappropriate use of WPTA funds”.

As a result of her questioning of the payments, Nadile was suspended from duty and charged with gross insubordination and has now been dismissed

Meanwhile a report outlining specific cases of abuse of funds have been given to new Minister for Labour, Martin Aini, but he has failed to make any public statement on the matter.

ITEM

Whistleblower Nadile has car seized in late night police raid

By A Special Correspondent

Whistleblower Dr Rona Nadile, suspended and then sacked from the Department of Labour for revealing misappropriation and misuse of Trust Funds, has had her official vehicle seized by police in a heavy-handed and humiliating late-night raid.

Dr Nadile was at home with church fellowship when, at about 10 o’clock at night, a police vehicle (ZGC 978) with at least five policemen from Waigani Police Station arrived at her house. And if that wasn’t enough, the police vehicle was accompanied by a private registered van (CAX 179).

There were about 14 people in all, cowards and bullies, ever so big and strong and ever so brave to commandeer Dr Nadile’s vehicle, which was her right to hold.

Dr Nadile was allowed no representation and was forced to hand over the keys to the vehicle. Not one of the police would disclose his name. The perpetrators who organised this outrage should be brought to account immediately.

How demeaning is this and what intimidation for any citizen of Papua New Guinea let alone a professional like Dr Nadile. The person(s) responsible for this must be so nasty and mean that he/she is not fit to hold any responsible position.

ITEM

Private communication

From The Waima Kid

Dr Rona is a shining star that should set the pace and the standard for all. She is bigger than the Iron Lady of England.  We should hang our heads in shame. We are all nothing but cowards.

I said the last time that [NAME WITHHELD FOR LEGAL REASONS] was only Mr 10% and the Big Fish was out there. I hope he is get punished because he deceived because he contributed to Keravat’s own short comings and the many other projects in PNG. You can run but you cannot hide BIG FISH. You will be caught, scaled and locked up.

Now let’s get support Dr and report more abusers and culprits.

ITEM

Group communication

From Barbara Short

I hear that Dr Rona Nadile, one of our ex-Keravats, has stood up against some corruption in her department and is now in need of support.  I would love to help her in any way I can.

If anybody has any suggestions please let me know.  I thought maybe I could write an article for PNG Attitude.  Lets all get behind her!  Tuum Est again!

Among the benefits of queuing at an airport

BY KEITH JACKSON

I WAS STANDING, bored, in an airline queue at Brisbane Airport late yesterday morning, waiting for something exciting to happen, like movement, when a tall good looking man travelling with his wife caught my eye and approached me.

“Are you Keith Jackson of PNG Attitude,” he asked, introducing himself as Charles Abel, who I knew to be Papua New Guinea’s Trade Minister, especially as I’d just posted an article about him on the blog earlier in the day.

Charles was returning from the Pacific Forum conference in Auckland where he’d been a member of the PNG delegation.

And so we got into conversation … about governance issues (which I'd just written on for The National and the blog), about the difficulties of drawing the sometimes fine line between corruption and family affiliation in Melanesian cultures (we’re determined to root it out it, he averred; and see Joe Wasia’s comment yesterday about the difficulties involved), about Peter O’Neill’s skills and strengths as a leader and, briefly, before the queue began some sluggish movement, about Charles' interest in the arts.

I provided a quick briefing on The Crocodile Prize (to be awarded for the first time tomorrow night to four outstanding Papua New Guinean writers), which was the reason I was in a holding pattern in an airline queue in Brisbane.

Charles told me he’d thought from time to time about contributing to PNG Attitude but wondered whether this was an appropriate thing to do.

I enthusiastically suggested it was, and we agreed that – when remarks from him would be useful – that I could drop him an email with some pertinent questions.

And so the queue straggled on; somewhere beyond the end of it was Port Moresby.

Sir Joseph Nombri – the crocodile hunter

BY PHIL FITZPATRICK

SIR JOSEPH NOMBRI was a founding member of the Pangu Pati.  For many years he was the Papua New Guinean ambassador to Japan.  In later years he became a distinguished elder statesman in his beloved Simbu Province.

In the late 1960s, however, he was a mere kiap and, as far as the Administration was concerned, a very dangerous one.

Such was their concern that they banished him to one of the most distant and muddiest outposts of the realm - Kiunga, on the Fly River.

The Assistant District Commissioner was sympathetic to Joe’s plight and tried to make his enforced exile as uncomplicated as possible.  He set him to work keeping open the boggy track to the mission at Rumginae, north on the Ok Mart River.

There was nothing to use for road base within cooee and a lot of the road meandered through swamp.  Joe spent his days cutting timber corduroy and building long and windy bridges through the bogs.

Joe and I shared a house at Kiunga.  We repainted the old kero fridge in Pangu Pati colours to upset the District Commissioner when he visited.  Joe also liked to greet visiting dignitaries at the airport carrying a sign saying “Open season on swans”.

I’m not sure why I was banished there; it could have been for any number of reasons.

The Indonesians had just enacted the pantomime of their Act of Free Choice in Irian Jaya and people were fleeing into Papua New Guinea by the hundreds.  I spent my days in the company of a grumpy Australian Army Warrant Officer judiciously avoiding our assigned task of rounding up the refugees and sending them home.

Another misfit at Kiunga was the son of a very prominent Australian cabinet minister, lately of the New South Wales police force, but hastily despatched out of sight upon the discovery of his homosexuality.  He was there running jet boats up the Ok Tedi River to some sort of mineral prospecting camp.

We entertained ourselves.  Sometimes Joe would stand on a chair and recite pieces of Simbu wisdom.  I particularly remember his fine rendition of Mausgras and Kela Man, which is a clever allusion to the battle of the sexes – think about it and it will become clear.

Another avenue of boredom-beating was crocodile shooting.  Our mining friend had a boat and a spotlight and we had the firepower in the form of a couple of ancient station .303 jungle carbines.

In those days you could get $2 an inch for a skin, which bolstered the social club’s coffers, and the meat was a happy item on the menu of our local kalabus.

On one memorable night we nailed a particularly big specimen.  Joe, who was a good shot, got it right between the eyes.  Unfortunately, as we raced over to collect it, the bugger sank.

We pulled up where it had gone down and poked around for a while with the oars but to no avail.  Loath to lose such a fine specimen we climbed overboard into about three feet of murky water and began to feel around.

Joe, being a methodical man, suggested we work on a grid pattern.  He located a submerged log with his toes and using that as our datum we worked our way out for several yards at regular intervals.

Joe, walking up and down along the log directing operations, suddenly grunted and stuck his hands into the water.  It wasn’t a log after all!

By feeling along its body he found the tail and hauled it towards the boat, where we all attempted to lift it aboard.  Try as we might it was too heavy.

Joe had another idea.  With him on the tail, we hauled it to the nearby sandbar.  From there, with a couple of handy branches, we figured we could lever it into the back of the boat.

Imagine this: it’s about 2 am on a sandbar in the Fly River.  A short but solid Simbu kiap is standing on the bar clutching a large freshwater crocodile by the tail while his friends are rummaging around somewhere cutting tree branches.  The crocodile wakes up!

Joe hung on; he didn’t have much choice.  The groggy crocodile started to thresh in circles.  As it came past we endeavoured to shoot it in the head.  Do you know how hard it is to shoot a croc in the head on a sandbar under the light of a dancing spotlight?

Every miss from the powerful .303 carbine threw up great mounds of sand and left gaping holes behind.  Through sheer luck one of the shots eventually hit home and the croc lay still.

After we’d dragged it on to the boat Joe asked whether we wanted to go a bit further; some people had told him about a really big croc lurking upstream.  The temptation to throw him into the river was overwhelming.

When Joe got old his health deteriorated and he needed treatment in Australia.  A very mean and ungrateful government declined to help.

All we have now are the memories.

Brain operation gives new lease of life

BY EMMA SCHMIDT

ON WEDNESDAY Jacob Gubi had life-saving surgery for free at Monash Medical Centre in Clayton, Victoria

Jacob was booked in for a craniotomy under monitored sedation, where doctors opened his head and remove a tumour while he was awake.

Head of neurosurgery Andrew Danks said he performed this procedure, where patients are put under a local anaesthetic and remain conscious, about six times a year.

“We need to have his cooperation to help us work out which areas of the brain are doing what,” Associate Professor Danks said.

“We can tell which areas of the brain control what by stimulating it during surgery. That gives us a guide to what we can take out and what we can’t.”

Mr Gubi is having the procedure to remove a brain tumour which is causing severe seizures and preventing him from working back home in Mendi in the Southern Highlands.

He had his first seizure in 2007. “I was sitting next to a fire and had a severe seizure, and I burned my right foot,” Mr Gubi said.

He spent the next six months in hospital recovering from serious burns, and had all the toes on his right foot amputated.

His seizures continued, preventing him from doing his job as a health extension officer. He held fundraisers to get enough money to come to Townsville for tests in 2009.

Doctors told him a lesion on his brain was causing the seizures, and quoted him $10,000 for an operation to remove it.

“I just don’t have that sort of money,” Mr Gubi said. “I went back, and I could not do anything.”

But then, this year, the 35-year-old met an old friend, Peter Tumu, from Australia who was visiting PNG, and things changed rapidly.

Mr Tumu approached Scots Church in Australia, which donated $10,000 for the operation. Brighton Grammar also donated flights and travel insurance, and Southern Health will donate all other medical costs.

Mr Gubi said he was very grateful for the donations which would save his life.

“It’s a great big relief and I think in Papua New Guinea these things are not possible,” he said. I am one of the lucky ones. I don’t know how I would thank them.”

Source: Waverley Leader

Dame Carol Kidu: a fighter with a difference

This week, Papua New Guinea’s only female parliamentarian, Dame Carol Kidu, lost her portfolio after the dramatic overthrow of the Somare-Abal government.  In 2007 Islands Business magazine declared her to be its Person of the Year and, to mark the occasion, she was interviewed by SAMISONI PARETI.  To honour Dame Carol Kidu’s career as a highly effective minister, we republish extracts ….

HANDBAG BY HER SIDE and wiping her thin-framed glasses, Dame Carol Kidu is one of the world’s hopelessly-armed fighters.

To begin with, there is no army for her to lead, nor a financier with deep pockets to fund her cause. Her armoury of weapons is non-existent. And she’s white, and a woman.

Yet within this seeming paradox, lies the widow’s strength. For Kidu fights a different fight, one that doesn’t require guns and ammunition, or in the context of the country of her late husband and their children, bows and arrows.

There are no arms, just her strong debate skills. No war manoeuvring, just sharp intellect and a strong sense of justice and fair play.

For that fighting spirit, her never-say-die attitude, her sheer grit and determination to take on the might of Melanesia’s largest and most vibrant male-dominated society, for being the face and voice of the poor and the down-trodden, Kidu is the magazine’s unanimous choice for the 2007 Pacific Person of the Year.

For a woman of her stature, her work in social development is of gigantic proportion.

In the context of the islands of the Pacific, the problems in Papua New Guinea are immense and complex. It can even be deadly inside the sprawling shanty towns of Port Moresby or the remote corners of the Highlands. Yet, size it seems doesn’t matter to Dame Carol Kidu.

Slowly and determinedly, she is making a difference. And she is getting people including the male leaders of PNG to sit up and listen. Her community development ministry is now reclassified as a senior ministry….

Being the sole woman parliamentarian, the only woman cabinet minister and being white, Dame Carol Kidu makes no bone about where her allegiance and interest lies; fighting for the poor, the down-trodden and the unfortunate of a country she and her children have come to call their very own.

Thrust into national politics of Papua New Guinea following the sudden death of her husband in 1993, just six months after his term as chief justice was unfairly terminated, Kidu is synonymous with the fight against domestic violence, child abuse, HIV and AIDS, poverty alleviation and community empowerment in the country of her late husband and their children.

As the minister for social welfare and community development, Kidu has been the small ‘general’ leading from the front….

Nobody, least of all Kidu, needs reminding of the enormity of the task and the challenge.

For her, the fairy-tale [began] when the young, handsome Buri Kidu swept her off her feet with a rendition of the popular Neil Sedaka number, Oh Carol, at a school boot camp on Australia’s Gold Coast in the mid-1960s.

Later, when the idea of matrimony was raised in 1969, Buri laid everything bare about the difficult road with his Brisbane-born bride.

“Buri said, ‘Look, just understand one thing, if we marry, don’t ever ask me to choose,” Lady Kidu recalled in an interview she gave ABC TV’s Australian Story in 2004.

“And I said, ‘What do you mean?

“He said, ‘Don’t ask me to choose between you and my people. I’ll choose my people, I will not choose you.”

Couple back in Darwin after helping PNG

 

A NORTHERN TERRITORY couple have returned to Darwin after three years in Papua New Guinea with Australian Volunteers International.

Kate Wheen and her partner, George Butler, went to PNG in 2008. Ms Wheen working on issues including HIV and climate change and George with the anti-corruption watchdog.

Ms Wheen said Port Moresby was like Darwin, but with more political unrest. "You couldn't walk on the foreshore at night," she said. "It was like a big melting pot of cultures.

“Everything was fortified and had barbed wire - but we got used to being security conscious. It is good to be back here."

She said spending so much time in the country had helped to break down cultural differences. "We felt like part of the community. I consider myself a true PNG-o-gram."

"We plan to go back to Papua one day. "But I love Darwin - I enjoy being back."

Source: Northern Territory News

Young missionary recounts PNG experience

A large amount of material on Papua New Guinea crosses my desk, and some of the most lurid and unreliable stories are published by people who describe themselves as “missionaries”.  Here’s one - KJ

CAITLIN BRANDERHORST calls herself a Christian thrill-seeker.  Which doesn't involve roller coasters or skydiving. It’s spreading God's word that gives her a thrill.

Branderhorst, 19, has returned home to the USA from a missionary trip to Papua New Guinea where she spread God's word to the Pukari tribe.

After attending high school in Costa Rica, Branderhorst spent five months at a disciple training school in Australia. She had hoped to do missionary work in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country.

"Papua New Guinea wasn't exactly in my top 10 places to go," she said. "I was going to the most uncivilised country in the world." All she had were God's word, a backpack, two sets of clothes and a mosquito net, she said.

Once she landed in PNG, Branderhorst was driven through the jungle until the road ended and there was just ocean. There was a man in a bamboo boat who would take her to the Pukari tribe.

There had just been a cyclone off Australia and the waves were high, she said, making the boat ride very bumpy.  "The driver, who supposedly did this all the time, was praying in tongues," she said.

When the boat descended on where the tribe was, hundreds of people were on shore waving palm branches, welcoming the missionaries.  The last missionaries to visit the Pukari tribe in the 1800s were speared and eaten, she said.

One day, a man with a spear came running up to her very fast and stopped right in front of her.  "All of these thoughts came to my mind. I was thinking I am going to become a martyr; ... my parents are never going to know I am dead because I am in the middle of nowhere.

"I looked behind me and the whole village was laughing. It was a joke."

The Pukari people's diet consists of wood and leaves.  "That's what they ate every day, and that's what we had to eat every day," she said.

The closest hospital is a three-day walk in the jungle. There's no sanitation, no toilets, she said.  It was difficult for Branderhorst to communicate because the Pukari speak 800 different tribal languages and Branderhorst's group only had one translator.

"When I prayed in faith, I saw God work at a whole new level," she said.  Branderhorst said she cried when a 70-year-old tribal woman came up to her and thanked her for sharing about Jesus.

Branderhorst didn't just come into doing missionary work. Her parents, Mark and Connie Branderhorst, were missionaries in Latin America. Mark Branderhorst said he didn't know where his daughter was going to do her work.

"I had to look it up on a map, and I did a little research," he said. Branderhorst said he is proud of his daughter for her missionary work. "She has not shied away from His will in her life," he said.

Caitlin Branderhorst said she knows that God is passionate and missionary work is what he wants her to do.  "Half the world doesn't know him," she said. "That's our job."

Source: Visalia Times-Delta

The matriarch of Mindre village speaks out

BY MARTYN NAMORONG

DUPAIN BALIM is from Mindre village along the Rai Coast of Madang Province, where she is an advisor of the local Lutheran women’s group at Biliau circuit.

She is also an advocate of the Lutheran Church’s Decade to Overcome Violence project and has travelled widely throughout Madang, Morobe and East Sepik Provinces.

Last Sunday Dupain sat on her woven coconut under the shade of the mango tree and listened as the verdict of the National Court decision on deep sea tailings was being conveyed to the people of Mindre.

She was the only woman to speak during a meeting dominated by male voices.

When the meeting ended I walked over to her and asked if she was willing to have a chat.

When I asked her what was the main concern for women of Mindre village, Dupain replied, “Wara! Mipela save hat wok long wokabaut long Yaganon long kisim wara.” [Water! We (women) have to walk to Yaganon River to fetch water]

She then continued in Tok Pisin, “i nogat gutpela helpim long kisim marasin. Ol i mas apgreidim eidpos long kisim marasin. Ol mama igat bel ino save go long taun long karim bebi. Nogat bebi klinik. Ol lain husait igat moni save go long taun.” [There is little medical assistance. They (the mining company and government) must upgrade the aid post (at Ganglau village). Pregnant women cannot go to town for deliveries. There aren’t any Well Baby Clinics. Only families who can afford to travel to town can attend Baby Clinics.]

The people lost their main cash crops of coconut, betel nut and cocoa when their plantations were cleared to make way for the nickel-cobalt processing facilities. Today only those who do manual labour for the miners are able to earn an income.

“Mipela ol lain stap nating nogat moni. Nogat wanpela gutpela senis!” she remarked. [Those of us who aren’t employed by the mine don’t have any income. There hasn’t been any positive change]. The lines on her face revealing how emotional the issues were.

Then in a dignified voice, she looked at me and said, “mi bin laik go wokim aweness long ol lain wok long Ramu Nico tasol kaunsil i tok maski yu meri, ol i nonap harim tok blong yu.” [I wanted to carry out awareness (on violence) amongst the workers of Ramu Nico but the local councilor said ‘you’re a woman, no one will listen to you’]

Twins discover their Melbourne 'secret'

 
THE BOSIN TWINS discovered only recently that they were born conjoined and were separated soon after birth.

The 15-year-olds from Papua New Guinea were joined from chest to navel, with their livers attached.

They were surgically separated at 16 days at the Royal Children's Hospital.

Their parents decided not to tell Eustocia and Eaustina they were conjoined, to give them as normal a childhood as possible, until their recent return to Melbourne.

Dad Henry Bosin explained: "We did not want them to be embarrassed by telling them they were not born 'normal' twins."

The stunned twins found out a fortnight ago when visiting their now retired surgeon, Alex Auldist, who showed them film of their life-changing surgery.

Eustocia said she wanted to give something back by becoming a nurse, while Eaustina hoped to teach.

Former Rotarian Barrie Cooper, who arranged for them to be flown to Australia for their surgery, saw them yesterday for the first time in eight years.

"It was very emotional. I was very deeply moved ... to see them as 15-year-old girls because when I first saw them, I didn't think they had a hope," Mr Cooper said.

PNG Rotary had paid for their education so far, but $30,000 was needed so they could finish school and go to university, Mr Cooper said.

Photo: Eaustina and Eusthocia celebrated their 15th birthday in May [Mike Keating]

Source: Melbourne Herald-Sun

The great tragedy of R&B star Emi Maria

BY KEITH JACKSON

THE PLAIN FACTS about Japanese R&B singer-songwriter Emi Maria, who debuted as a major label artist in 2009, obscure a great family tragedy.

Emi Maria was born Maria Komba in Simbu in 1987 to a Simbu father, Mark, and a Japanese mother, Hideko, and spent the first five years of her life in PNG.

Hideko was a Japanese aid worker who went to PNG and fell in love with and married Mark. Those early years in the Simbu were blissful and young Maria and her brother were surrounded by relatives and friends.

Then Mark got a job in Port Moresby and the family went to live in Gerehu. One day when Mark was at work in Waigani, raskols broke into their house and raped Hideko.

Understandably distraught, and with the help of the Japanese Embassy, Hideko left Mark behind in PNG and returned to Japan with Maria and her brother. Heartbroken, Mark died a few years later.

Much later, the brother returned to PNG to explore Mark’s legacy and link up with his family and studied at UPNG, where he graduated in 2008.

Emi Maria stayed in Japan, became a singing star and is now poised to break into the western market.

It can be a glorious and sad world.

 

 

Do you have the ship, navigator?

BY REGINALD RENAGI

AFTER A TWO-YEAR training stint in Australia, my first sea patrol as a ship’s third officer started off in typical fashion.

The executive officer spoke into the ship’s PA system: “Special sea duty men and cable party close up. Assume damage control state 1, condition yankee! Single up all lines! Let go all lines, all hands fall in for leaving harbour”.

The Captain ordered “Revolutions 650 charge, coxswain steer 085. Navigator, take us out of harbour”. I answered “Aye, aye, sir”.

After leaving Seeadler Harbour and the Admiralty Group (Manus) over 48 hours earlier cruising at 12 and a half knots, the sleek fast Attack Class patrol boat, HMAS Aitape transited the China Straits, passing Samarai Island on her port beam en route for Port Moresby.

It was still pitch black in the wheelhouse when I struggled up the ladder at 20 minutes to the hour to relieve my captain from his middle-watch (“the guts” are from midnight to 0400). The ship was being tossed about like a floating cock in a basin so that climbing up the stairs was a gymnastic feat in itself. 

“Good morning, sir” saluting him. “Morning, Nav (short for navigator). Ready to take over?”  “Ready when you are, sir”.

The Captain went through the motions of handing over the watch to his third officer. The Officer-of-the-Watch (OOW) was doing the morning watch-handover in the small wheelhouse.

It was over in 20 minutes and before leaving to retire to his cabin below, the Captain appeared somewhat uncertain. I could sense this and said, “Go on Sir, it’s been a tough watch and you do need to take a break. I’ll be fine”. 

“Are you sure, Nav? This weather’s rough as guts”.

I grinned back saying, “She’ll be right, sir, and I’ve seen worse…” and did not finish as he appeared about to chuck all over the wheelhouse deck.

The captain’s face appeared to have changed colour. He hesitated as if about to change his mind on leaving a still inexperienced OOW on his own to make one last-minute reminder to his third officer.

“Well then number two (navigator), remember, don’t forget to call me as per my Captain’s Night Orders if you are in any doubt whatsoever. Is that clear?”  “Aye aye sir”.  “Well then, that’s it from me. 

The morning watch weather was very rough.  Amidst a cacophony, I barely heard the captain’s voice as another loud crashing sound violently shook the small warship from stem to stern, sending a series of never-ending vibrations throughout the ship.  It was as if the small ship was about to break into many pieces as she rolled heavily on her side into the wave’s deep trough.

I saluted; the skipper turned and was gone from sight, disappearing in the shadows down below. There would not be any sleep for the captain this morning.

As the ship’s navigator, the lives of 18 sailors rested entirely on me and my skills as the OOW for the next four hours of some of the roughest weather one can ever experience in our tropical waters.

I looked at the big sailor at the helm and ordered: “Steady,” he immediately responded in the standard manner: “Steady on two-seven zero degrees, sir.”  “Steer two-seven zero.”  “Course two-seven zero, sir.”  “Roger leading-hand” (acknowledging the response).

I continued with my last conning order to the helmsman who by now was struggling to stay on course in this wretched weather. His hands were gripping the spokes of the steering wheel so hard that I feared the linkages would snap under the strain.

“Look here sailor, I know it’s hard on you, but we don’t want to break the steering wheel so go easy on it.  We will maintain this course as much as possible for the next hour.  When we passed the Hood Point light off our starboard beam, we will make a ten degree further change of course to 280 and hug the coast as much as possible until daybreak”.

“Hot brew, sir?”  “Great stuff, and thank you, lookout.  Keep your weather eye peeled. We don’t want to run into anything solid in this godforsaken weather”.

I was suddenly jolted by a big wave crashing down on the foredeck where the 40-60 Bofors gun was situated.

It seemed to go on forever as I kept peering through the thick windscreen glass with wipers going at full speed.  “Another cup of brew, sir?” “Yes, thanks”.  “The usual, sir?” “No, coffee will do”.

“Standard navy brew, sir?”  “No, a little different this time.”  “How different sir?”  “Just like my woman?”  “Pardon me, sir?”  “Sorry, make it black and strong, no sugar and milk, thank you.” The chef flashed me a wide grin.

“And would you like your breakfast now too, sir.”  “What’s for breaky, chef?”  “It’s standard navy, sir.”  Oh, that’s great! 

The chef disappeared aft into the small galley.  Within seconds he was back holding a huge plate.  Here you are, sir.  Breakfast for champions from the finest chef onboard!” 

The plate was filled to the edges with bacon and eggs, poached, scrambled or fried sunny-side up, bangers, tomatoes, fried onions, ham, pineapple slices and other stuff.  “Why thank you chef, that was my favourite on the Stalwart!” 

“I know sir,” and before I could ask him how he knew, he had already disappeared into the small galley where the familiar sweet aroma of coffee and fried eggs and bacon was floating through the galley-doors in the starboard passageway leading to the wheelhouse. 

In another 20 minutes the lookout would pipe the ‘wakey wakey’ call throughout the ship calling all hands to breakfast.

I thought I was going to enjoy cruising the Papuan waters for the next 21 days.  Ah, what a life for a seafarer.

A little stipend for a queenly job

BY KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA individuals and households primarily produce food, health, peace and so forth. The agriculture, health and the police departments make policies and plans and supervise their implementation. They do not produce.

How feasible is it for a health worker to come to the doorstep and check to see if you wear a condom before sex or wash your hands before dinner? It is not possible.

The thought that the health department will produce health or the police peace and the department of agriculture food is fallacy. That is why we say individuals and households are the primary producers of health, peace and food.

I want to introduce a village court magistrate to you so you can appreciate what she does in a tough and treacherous environment to produce peace and tranquility in a rural remote dark corner of the Simbu Province.

Alim Yuana is her name. She is slim and has a dark brown skin but has a good voice and talks with authority.

She is from the Yuri tribe and is married to Yal Ole of the Nimaikane clan and lives with her husband in the northern foot of the Kubor range. She has five children who are all married with children of their own. 

Alim is a village court magistrate in Ward 10 of the Digine local level government of the Kerowagi district even though she has not been to grade school.

The Nimaikane, Daral Gauma and Mor Gauma clans make up Ward 10. These clans are known for tribal warfare, killing, indiscriminate burning, and the plundering of property since time immemorial.

They are also known for fighting over meagre issues like stealing, swearing, debt and marriage breakup.

In the midst of this volatile environment, Alim Yuana sits in the male-dominated forums with her badge of authority hanging on her neck courtesy of a dog chain, listening attentively to disgruntled individuals and groups as she threads a way to dissipate animosity and bring peace.

She does this officially on Mondays and Thursdays. However, when there are emergencies and she is needed to broker peace, she attends to it with diligence at any time. In her free time she tills herd land for food and looks after the pigs.

She earns a monthly stipend of K50 month for being a village court magistrate and doing this noble job.

To Alim Yuana, K50 is just enough to buy a packet of salt, some cooking oil, a bar of soap and a roll of tobacco for her husband and herself, since the children look after themselves. She has yet to complain and ask for a pay rise.

She truly deserves an award from the Queen.

Bishop-elect ready for Alotau mission

BY PERLA ARAGON-CHOUDHURY

A FORMER MISSIONARY who spent 10 years in Papua New Guinea is preparing to return to the country, but this time as a bishop.

Father Rolando C Santos CM who was elected a bishop on 3 April, will head the Alotau-Sideia diocese where he served as formator of seminarians and as executive secretary of the Episcopal Conference of PNG and the Solomon Islands from 2000-2010.

He goes back to PNG after having served as the head of the Congregation of the Mission Philippine Province as its eighth Provincial Visitor.

Bishop-elect Santos will be ordained and installed in PNG next week.

Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales gave the bishop-elect his blessings.  “God works in mysterious ways. We thank you for accepting to be bishop to the people of PNG. We may not be there in person but rest assured that our prayers go with you,” the cardinal said.

Bishop-elect Santos was born in Malabon City in 1949 and ordained a priest in 1974. He and served as director of the Daughters of Charity from 1988-2000 before volunteering for missionary work in PNG.

Source: UCA News

Life of sacrifice scares young missionary

BY ANTHONY BARICH

YOUNG FRANCISCAN Fr Lukasz Kwiatkowski joined the Franciscan Order because he was drawn to its founder’s connection with nature. He’ll get plenty of it when he embarks on his first mission to PNG, a 26km hike to the nearest airport.

In late May, Fr Lukasz, 29, ordained two years ago in Krakow, arrived in PNG and trekked the 26km to a remote church built by Fr Piotr Rzucidlo who accompanied him on the trip.

Fr Lukasz will work for a number of months in the Sandaun Province with Fr Piotr, who will help him with acculturation; then it’s just him and three other New Guinean Franciscan Friars. Franciscans have worked there since World War II.

Fr Lukasz could be there 10 months or 10 years. Such is the life of a missionary called to serve God through the instructions and life of his religious order.

While Fr Lukasz isn’t sure how he’ll handle the culture shock, as “Poland has become very western and people have everything they need”, Fr Piotr said it doesn’t matter how long a missionary priest stays.

“Even if you stay a few days, you have celebrated the Eucharist. That is the most important thing,” Fr Piotr said.

Fr Piotr, 42, was on his own for most of the 10 years he spent in Nuku between 1998 and 2008, because the other Franciscan who volunteered as a missionary to the PNG outpost went home after a few months.

Not a few missionaries have returned home after initially volunteering in a blaze of good intentions. Fr Lukasz admits he’s scared, but is confident that God will give him the strength to endure.

Fr Piotr, now 42, stayed those 10 long years because he always wanted to be a Franciscan missionary since he was a young boy watching Pope John Paul II on the television in Communist-repressed Poland.

More than that, he drew strength from the many elements that have driven lesser men back home, including malaria.

“I had fear, but I drew strength from it. I knew that if God wanted me to stay, He would give me support – and, sure enough, it came.”

“The people love God and love us as missionaries because we bring Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, so they go to church every Sunday; they have a sense of sin. Our modern world can learn a lot from these people, especially about simplicity and hospitality,” Fr Piotr said.

Source: The Record

Good friends of PNG awarded birthday gongs

TWO MEN who have contributed much to Papua New Guinea over the years, Graham Pople and Peter Macdonald, were honoured in the recent Queen’s Birthday awards.

Former NSW independent MP, Dr Peter Macdonald [right], was awarded the Medal of the Order (OAM) of Australia for his services to local government and medicine.

As a Sydney general practitioner from 1973 to 2006, Dr Macdonald founded and is president of Australian Doctors International, which is working to improve the health and living conditions of people in PNG.

Dr Macdonald said the medal will give him and others involved in Australian Doctors International the encouragement to keep going. “I think the rest of my life will be dedicated to this,” he said.

Graham Pople [left] is a PNG citizen, ex-kiap, ex-MP and entrepreneur who has been in PNG since the 1950s.  

He was elected as a member of the first House of Assembly in 1964 as the Member for Gumine, always with the intention of handing over to a local leader at the first opportunity – which he duly did.

Graham was awarded an MBE for his services to the PNG community.  He is an avid reader of and an occasional contributor to PNG Attitude.