As things fall apart in Papua New Guinea

[TheAge Text-only index]

Date: July 04 2009

Dave Tacon in The Age

IT IS midday in Kerema, the capital of Papua New Guinea's Gulf Province on the country's south coast. The sun is too fierce for most of the street vendors, whose trade is busiest in the late afternoon. Not that Kerema ever gets particularly busy. It's a ramshackle coastal town of less than 6000 people at the mouth of an estuary with dark sandy beaches, mangrove swamps, two general stores, a hospital and an airstrip.

Kerema's only bank was robbed on May 15, 2008. It was an inside job organised by the entire senior staff together with local street criminals known as raskols. The bank has not reopened but has been replaced with a bank agency with prohibitively high fees for most locals.

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

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

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

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

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

Although the country is blessed with abundant natural resources — a multitude of minerals, forests and fisheries — the profits most often remain in the pockets of a corrupt few who amass offshore real estate assets while their children are educated abroad, usually in Australia.

Port Moresby already has a reputation as one of the world's most unliveable cities for expatriates, partly due to an annual survey conducted and published by The Economist. Most recently, it ranked 137 out of 140 rated cities, and it's not difficult to see why. Few areas are deemed safe outside the fortified compounds that house expatriate resource industry employees and the like. The settlements, ghettos that sprawl amid the hills beyond the port, are no-go zones even for police. Gangs of raskols, no longer satisfied with robbery, rape and murder, have begun to diversify into kidnapping. The most popular targets are executives and their families. Four weeks ago, the 13-year-old daughter of a prominent Melbourne-educated businessman and two others were abducted from his Port Moresby home. They were released when their kidnappers were captured.

Residents of Lae, Papua New Guinea's second most populous town, assert that their home is even more dangerous than Port Moresby. The criminals, according to a recent police petition, have more high-powered weapons and ammunition than law enforcement officers, who are unable to even write up reports on the crime wave on broken typewriters in termite-infested barracks that have not been maintained for more than 30 years.

Even more troubling is an HIV/AIDS epidemic that is the worst in the Pacific region. An estimated 2 per cent of the adult population is HIV-positive. Despite the best efforts of Australian and international aid agencies, PNG fails to provide adequate health care for its people.

In the last week of May, Ialibu District Hospital in the Southern Highlands, which serves more than 30,000 people, was forced to close. Starved of funds, the hospital defaulted on its electricity bill and had its power cut. In consequence, about 180,000 European Union and AusAID-donated vaccines for measles, tuberculosis, tetanus and hepatitis B were destroyed.

Bodies had to be removed from the morgue. The hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Youngpu Samo, made pleas to his local MP that went unanswered. The best the hospital could do was to place public notices in Ialibu township advising of the closure, recommending the community avoid sickness and accidents.

The country's slide into chaos has not gone unnoticed. The United Nations has recommended that PNG be demoted from its list of developing countries to the unenviable position of least developed. Not only would PNG join the Solomon Islands on the list, but also the likes of Haiti, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.

The small Catholic station of Kanabea is a world away from many of the ills that beset Lae and Port Moresby. Kanabea's church, rural hospital, school and handful of timber dwellings are a mere 27 kilometres from coastal Kerema. It is, however, situated in some of the country's most inaccessible terrain. Kanabea lies in the least developed area of PNG's least developed region, the Gulf Province. Sprawling river deltas, swamp and then a mountain range covered with rainforest divides it from its provincial capital. There are no roads, only perilous bush tracks passable only to the toughest bushmen.

Aside from two-way radio, the settlement's main contact and sole means of bringing in cargo is by air, a method of transportation that is expensive and dangerous. Rain clouds can envelop the mission for months on end. Air accidents have claimed the lives of two priests, two lay missionaries and several local parishioners over four decades.

AS THE single-engine Cessna breaks through the clouds, the mission comes into view. Alarmingly, so does a mountain slope directly ahead. The experienced pilots of North Coast Aviation bank hard and guide the craft in for a jolting landing on the long, grassy airstrip carved into the side of Mount Eruki.

Mission staff and about 60 members of the local Kamea community greet the plane. Young children make up the majority of the welcoming party, dressed in an incongruous combination of T-shirts handed down from Melbourne's Catholic community, grass skirts and tapa cloths — a felt-like material crafted from bark.

Such was the fearsome reputation of the Kamea that the native Papua New Guineans who accompanied the first missionaries refused to disembark fearing that they would become main course for one of their country's few cannibalistic tribes. The disdain held by many Papua New Guineans for the Kamea remains, although the arrival of Christianity and corned beef put an end to cannibalism.

All of Kanabea's infrastructure, including the hydroelectric generator, has been built by Australian charity — mainly from the Catholic Church. In some respects, the facilities at Kanabea Rural Hospital surpass those of many regional hospitals. Pilots are known to fly themselves in for X-rays rather than brave the anarchy that is Port Moresby General Hospital. Here, vaccines are kept safe by a back-up power supply sourced from solar panels.

The visiting fee for patients is about 20 cents, although garden-grown vegetables are also accepted. Until recently, the hospital had no doctor. The previous one, Australian priest Maurice Adams, succumbed to leukaemia 14 years ago. In May, Kanabea welcomed 26-year-old Dr Magdelene Taone of Port Moresby, who agreed to a three-year posting. She faces a great challenge, serving a mountain community with little awareness of primary health. Malaria leads a host of preventable diseases including tuberculosis and dysentery. One problem that is conspicuous in its absence is HIV/AIDS.

But although the rural hospital's AusAID-funded HIV/AIDS counselling centre remains empty, the disease is gradually making inroads into the mountains. Of 1000 HIV rapid tests administered last year, five returned positive in Bema, a Catholic mission, either an arduous 12-hour trek or a seven-minute flight from Kanabea, weather permitting. The disease poses a great threat to the traditionally polygamous Kamea, but for the time being, their isolation is their greatest protection. Despite this, the community is attempting to build a road to Lae.

Enga Province, in the highest part of the highlands, is unique in PNG in that its people consist predominantly of a single ethnic and linguistic group. While Enga is free of the cultural fragmentation evident in much of the country, tribal warfare is widespread and governance dysfunctional. A local-born woman, Dr Maryanne Amu, wants to help her people in the regional centre of Wapenamanda. A specialist in public health, she hopes to change health policy from inside the government. In 2007, she ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in elections marred by deceit and intimidation.

In Amu's account of events, the winning candidate installed his own supporters as electoral officers. When voters arrived at the polling station they found that their forms had already been filled in for them. Amu also claims that opposition groups were terrorised by thugs provided with guns by the candidate.

Of her 89 fellow female candidates, only former Australian teacher Carol Kidu claimed a seat in the 109-member parliament. Kidu's attempts to pass legislation that guarantees 20 seats for women have so far been unsuccessful. Women's rights in PNG have a long way to go in a country where, according to Amnesty International, about 150 women are killed each year in the highlands province of Chimbu on suspicion of practising witchcraft. Despite this, Amu plans to run in the next general election in 2012.

In the meantime, she is tackling her community's own AIDS crisis through the Wapenamanda Centre for Primary Health Care, which she founded in 2006. The centre has largely been funded from Amu's own pocket, with money saved from employment in Australia.

She has also engineered partnerships between her health centre and a number of non-government bodies outside PNG. One such group is Melbourne-based Cabrini Health. On the last weekend of May, Catherine Garner, Cabrini's mission integration manager, visited the centre.

She was welcomed as a dignitary in true highlands tradition in a ceremony that approached three hours. Before a crowd of more than 100, lengthy speeches were given by local leaders including a former minister for Enga. This was followed by a mumu — a feast of pig, chicken, bananas and sweet potato cooked in a pit.

As the sun set, Garner was driven to a mothers' group outside town. She and Amu sat before a crowd of about 60 on a grassy clearing in a mountain valley. An older member of the audience raised his hand to speak and said, in Engan, "Papua New Guinea is like a child that thought it was strong enough to go into the world on its own, but it was not. Now Australia is like the parent who returns to help. We thank you for coming back."

Dave Tacon is a Melbourne-based freelance writer and photographer

I'm in Lae

I'm currently in my hometown of Lae, Morobe province, and am enjoying every minute of it.

I'll post all pictures and stories of my stay in Lae.

 

Malum

Classrooms without books in Papua New Guinea

Eric Johns...someone who is passionate about putting books in all classrooms of Papua New Guinea

PNG History Through Stories, Book 2

Ahuia Ova, PNG's first anthropological researcher in the 1920s. His story is told in PNG History Through Stories

A sad but true fact about Papua New Guinea is that our young people know very little about the rich and proud history of the country.
There are books that tell that history, which should be in schools, however, are not.
A number of concerned former PNG residents, seeing this state of affairs, are now working quietly behind the scene to change this trend.
They include writer Eric Johns, Australia’s pre-eminent historian on PNG Emeritus Prof Hank Nelson, and PNG Association of Australia president Keith Jackson.
“The need is urgent,” Prof Nelson says.
“Few schools – or towns – have libraries and some schools are almost bookless.
“The one or two books on the history of PNG in a school may be coverless and one may have been written when Australia was still the administering power.
“The teachers, often facing large classes and without the promised support for major topics in the syllabus, need relevant textbooks – for themselves and for every student,” he said.
“Papua New Guineans need a consciousness of what they have in common.
“A knowledge of a shared history is basic to the building of a nation-state.”
Eric Johns worked in PNG from 1960-1973, teaching at Rigo Intermediate High School (later Kwikila HS), Bugandi High School Lae, KilaKila High School Port Moresby and the Port Moresby Teachers College.
He completed his BA at University of PNG and MA at Australian National University.
When Mr Johns was lecturing at Port Moresby Teachers College 1969-72, he was appalled by the lack of history and social studies resources available to teachers.
He found it especially deplorable that there was almost no readily-accessible information about the history of PNG.
So before he left PNG at the end of 1972, he started to correct this by interviewing a few historically-prominent Papua New Guineans, intending to write their stories.
When he retired from teaching he resumed this work, which was eventually published by Pearson/Longman as 69 stories in two volumes, PNG History Through Stories Books 1 and 2.
The books are aimed at classes below Year 10, where there is no material available for teachers or their students about PNG history.
Most of the details in his books do not exist in any other single book.
A major incentive for Mr Johns in writing these books was the fact that students of PNG were without knowledge of important, ordinary, heroic and notorious Papua New Guineans who lived during the long period before Michael Somare came to prominence.
“Citizens of every nation should know about their own historic heroes and villains,” he says.
The need for these books is enormous.
“In 2004 and 2006, Pearson Education published two history books, expecting that they would be distributed to schools throughout Papua New Guinea,” Mr Johns said.
“Unfortunately, although the books were approved as school texts by the PNG education department, they are still sitting in a warehouse in Australia and are likely to remain there for some time.
“Many other books produced by Pearson and other publishers share the same fate, sitting on shelves waiting to be sent to their intended readers, the long-deprived students and teachers of Papua New Guinea.
“The reason for this deplorable situation is simple – nobody is willing to pay for the books.
“It was different before 2002, when the Australian aid agency AusAID was a reliable purchaser and supplier of classroom materials, but since then the powers that be have taken a different tack.
“Books have been pushed aside, their place taken by consultant-driven curriculum development. “This changed policy, which has been in operation for several years, ignores the basic tenet that teachers – no matter how well designed their curriculum - cannot teach without books and other classroom materials.
“Curriculum is important, but this unbalanced aid policy has done nothing to alleviate the all too common tragic situation in PNG schools – classrooms with few or no books.
The two history books mentioned above are examples of what is waiting unread on the shelves.
PNG History Through Stories Book One and Book Two have a selection of 69 well-researched true stories about people and events in PNG’s past.
They are purpose-designed for PNG classrooms, complete with student exercises and lots of illustrations and maps.
Their purpose is to introduce students in upper primary and junior secondary levels to PNG history - with emphasis on important PNG people, and events affecting PNG people – the kind of history that should be taught in our schools.
For example in Book One the story, The Rabaul Strike, which takes place in colonial Rabaul in 1929, tells of how two men, boat captain Sunsuma, and police sergeant-major N’Dramei, decided to challenge their Australian masters by organising a peaceful and disciplined general strike in demand for higher wages.
Such action was unheard of at the time and many Australians were enraged when they woke to find that all New Guinean workers in Rabaul, except for police on duty, had disappeared overnight, having assembled near mission stations at Malaguna and Rapolo.
The strike failed and those taking place were punished severely, especially the leaders, Sunsuma and N’Dramai, who were imprisoned and beaten.
Sunsuma was unbowed by this experience and ended his days as a respected leader on his island home of Boang, off the east coast of New Ireland.
It could be argued that Sunsuma and N’Dramei should be remembered with pride by Papua New Guineans for their courage in taking on the powerful white establishment, and that their story should be known to all school students.
In Book Two another story, Ahuia Ova, is about a man from Kilakila village near Port Moresby who became prominent as Papua New Guinea’s first anthropological researcher, one of its earliest writers, a leading man of Hanuabada Village and a friend of lieutenant-governor Sir Hubert Murray.
In 1904 the renowned British anthropologist Charles Seligman was so impressed by Ahuia’s talents that he asked him to assist with his studies of the customs of the Koita people.
In the 1922-23 Papua Annual Report, Ahuia published his own study called ‘Motu Feasts and Dances’.
He also recorded stories about the origins and genealogy of the Koita people who lived in Hanuabada, and wrote articles in a government magazine, the Papuan Villager.
The story of Ahuia’s achievements, and how he managed to cope with the demands of Koita, Motu and Europeans societies, and with the opposing forces of Protestant and Catholic churches, is an example of culture clash at several levels that should interest all students.
“If only for the sake of national pride in the achievements of early Papua New Guineans, the names of people such as Ahuia Ova, Sunsuma and N’Dramei, and many others mentioned in these books, should be made known to all school students in Papua New Guinea,” Mr Johns said.
“There is also the question of what constitutes a rounded education, for how can a Papua New Guinean said to be educated who does not know about the heroes, villains and events of the past that shaped his or her own country?
“The immediate and crucial question is, how long will it be before PNG History Through Stories and the dozens of other books, written specially for PNG children but now sitting on warehouse shelves, get to where they should be – in the PNG classrooms?”
“Since completing PNG History Through Stories Book Two I have been researching and writing a history of PNG that will cover the period from prehistory to 1975,” Mr Johns said.
“It will be big, comprehensive and well illustrated, and will take me at least another two years to complete.
“It is intended that it will be a text for senior students and for anyone with an interest in PNG history.
“I hope it eventually gets into the schools!”
Eric Johns can be contacted on email eric@johns.com.au

New recreational facilities for Port Moresby, but we must take care of them

Note: I originally posted the article below on May 17, 2009, however, have decided to repost to protest against the senseless taking away of recreational facilities for our children by "wolf in sheep's clothing" politicians like Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu and business houses who have no concern for the community except filling their pockets. You can post your comments below or take a vote at right...Malum

All over Port Moresby, new recreational facilities are sprouting up, thanks to the very visionary leadership of National Capital District governor Powes Parkop.

For instance, at Gerehu Stage Two where I live, two new basketball courts are going up, and I can't wait for them to be opened so that I can take my kids to the courts for a fun arvo.

Towards the end of last year, playground facilities were set up, bringing so much joy and enjoyment to children.

The NCD Commission spends a lot of money on facilties, and the least we can do, as responsible citizens, is to have a sense of ownership and take care of them.

I took my kids to the playground a couple of days ago and was taken aback by the sight of litter including plastic bags, soft drink bottles, cigarette butts, and betlnut stains.

Please stop doing this!

Such facilties also keep our young people occupied and away from a life of alcohol, drugs, and crime.

Lutheran team in Germany

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea general secretary Isaac Teo heads a four-man ELCPNG delegation which is currently in Germany.

The team, which left for Germany on Monday this week, comprises of Mr Teo, Pr Kinim Siloi of inter-church ecumenism at ELCPNG headquarters at Ampo in Lae, Siassi district president Joshua Max and youth co-ordinator Peter Konga.

They will spend three weeks in Germany and a week at Lutheran World Federation headquarters in Switzerland.

“The purpose of my trip is to strengthen relationships with our partners,” Mr Teo said before leaving for Germany.

“The other thing I will be doing is visiting the LWF in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Our visit to LWF will portray a good image of the country.

“We’re going to have a very tight schedule, one in which it will also be an opportunity to meet with former missionaries who used to work in PNG.”

Mr Teo said Siassi district president Mr Max would use the opportunity to establish contacts before Siassi celebrates 100 years of Lutheran presence in April 2011.

The team returns to PNG at the end of July.

 

Montevideo Maru tragedy remembered

Australia’s worst maritime tragedy, which intimately involves Papua New Guinea, was remembered in a stirring commemorative service and unveiling of a plaque at Subic Bay in the Phillipines on Wednesday.

This was the 67th anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru (pictured) off the Philippines coast on July 1, 1942.

Japanese hospital ship Montevideo Maru was carrying 845 troops from Australia’s Lark force and 208 civilians – 1,053 men – taken prisoner of war after Japan invaded Rabaul, East New Britain province, in Jan 1942.

The youngest was a boy of 15.

“There were fathers and sons, civilians and troops, missionaries and traders, businessmen and administrators,” Australia’s Ambassador to the Phillipines Rod Smith, who presided at the Montevideo Maru memorial service at Subic Bay, said.

“They had all been captured and interned by the Japanese in Rabaul.

“They all died.

“The youngest, the 15-year old, was Ivan Gascoigne, recorded as a clerk, the son of Cyril Gascoigne, who also died.

“The sinking of the Montevideo Maru at 2.40 am on Wednesday July 1, 942 was Australia’s greatest disaster at sea, then and now.”

The unmarked Japanese ship left occupied Rabaul on June 22, 1942, but nine days later on July 1, American submarine USS Sturgeon torpedoed it off Luzon in the Philippines.

The saddest thing is that the wreck has never been found to this day, and both Australia and PNG do not know the names of those killed, as the official nominal (katakana) roll – which might give a clue to the identities of those on board – has not been located

 “To the best of our knowledge, she carried 1,053 prisoners from the Australian Territory of New Guinea, one as young as 15,” Mr Smith said.

 “It remains one of our country’s worst disasters.

“This memorial to the Hell Ships of World War 2 now includes a commemorative plaque to mark the tragedy of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru 67 years ago today.

“The plaque has been placed here as a result of the generosity of a number of private organisations - the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles/PNG Volunteer Rifles Ex-Members Association, the Lark Force Association, the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia and the Greenbank Returned Services League Club in Brisbane.

“This tragedy is not forgotten.

“The families are not forgotten.

“These men are not forgotten.”

Call for review of Sorcery Act

By PISAI GUMAR in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

A CONFERENCE in Madang has called for a major review into the Sorcery Act of 1971.

There were recommendations that the act be redrafted with clear definitions.

The “Law on sorcery and sorcery-related killings” conference was held at the police training centre in Madang.

The conference was organised by the Public Prosecutions office and was attended by Divine Word University academics and officers from the law and justice sector nationwide.

Acting Public Prosecutor Jim Wala Tamate told the conference that the courts were dealing with “belief systems and not mere criminal acts, or rather, with criminal acts based on belief systems”.

He also said that sorcery was deeply rooted into customs and traditions.

Mr Tamate said that belief in the effectiveness of magical and sorcery practices were widespread in the country in various ethnic groups and levels of society.

He stated that sorcery was a very broad field because the practices were performed based on various general and personal interests including land matters, courtship, family and marriage relationships and much more.

Mr Tamate said that the subject needed proper research by knowledgeable researchers from different fields to define clearly the meaning of the various sorcery practices in PNG.

He also said that the penalties on sorcery-related crimes also had to be tougher for the sorcerers and “torturers” based on how serious the matter was.

“Sorcery should be clearly defined to help police and the courts to perform their duties effectively,” Mr Tamate said.

He added that sorcery practices had both good and bad side.

Good sorcery, he said, related to social support services to individual, family and community while bad sorcery meant killing a person without good reason.

 

Prime Minister shocked at reclassification of Unagi Park

By MADELEINE AREK in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

A previous member of the Lands Board may have conducted himself improperly in the sale of the land known as Unagi Park, now the subject of controversy and potential legal action.

The reclassification of the Unagi Park (allotment 4 to 16 section 122 Hohola) from reserve/recreational to commercial had shocked Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare when it first surfaced.

In November 2005, and again in June 2007, the Prime Minister wrote to Lands Minister Sir Puka Temu to investigate this land deal.

Sir Michael said if the land was indeed granted initially to the National Capital District Commission for recreational purpose, then the reclassification (to commercial) should be reversed.

It is unclear if any investigation requested by the Prime Minister was carried out.

Sir Puka refused to comment when contacted by phone yesterday.

He said he would make a detailed public statement today.

The Prime Minister’s Media Unit also declined comment, referring The National to the Lands Department.

Two companies, Virgo No. 65 Limited and Fairhaven Limited, are claiming ownership of the land and have asked NCDC to remove all playground equipment from the park.

The NCDC is opposing this, insisting the land is reserved as a park and is preparing to go to court.

Company documents obtained by The National show that former Lands Board chairman John Tangila was a shareholder of Virgo No. 65 Pty Ltd, a company incorporated on Jan 19, 1998.

The documents show a number of other people, believed to be family members of Tangila, as shareholders.

They all have a Mt Hagen address.

The company was later sold to three naturalised citizens, who now want to have the Unagi Park developed for commercial purpose.

A number of church, women and youth groups, opposed to this land being developed for commercial purpose, approached the Prime Minister to intervene.

In November 2005, the Prime Minister instructed Sir Puka to provide him with an intense brief into how the reclassification of Unagi Park was made.

In the second letter, written in June 2007, Sir Michael expressed “surprise and shock” that his orders in 2005 for an investigation into how the land was reclassified were not adhered to.

Sir Michael had expressed concern that the land was not lawfully obtained by individuals and organisations stating claim to it, and had advised the minister to immediately investigate how it was reclassified.

The brief was to include whether the mentioned parcels of land (allotments 4 to 16, section 122, Hohola, Gordon) were first granted to the NCDC as special purpose; why the lease granted to NCDC was cancelled and the area rezoned to commercial; if there had been any new grants done to other persons or organisations and, if there had, then to whom were the respective parcels granted to and when.

The report was to be made available to Sir Michael “as soon as possible”, as he strongly believed that “if all investigations reveal that these parcels of land were firstly granted to NCDC to be used for recreational purposes, then all or any other grants should be cancelled”.

On June 29, 2007, in another letter to Sir Puka, Sir Michael expressed frustration that despite his Government’s election promise to investigate all unscrupulous land deals in the country as a matter of priority, the Unagi Park deal had been allowed to go through.

 

Latest pictures of my cucumber garden

And for those of you who have been following the saga of my kids, me and our cucumber garden, here are latest pictures of our cucumber patch today.
Nice, green, and flowering.
I'll keep you posted.

Malum

Let's keep the playground

Editorial in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

DEPUTY Prime Minister and Lands Minister Sir Puka Temu cannot just remove from the public a prime piece of land which has been zoned reserve land for recreational purposes.

We understand that the said land has never had its “special purposes lease for recreation” revoked. This piece of land, for those familiar with Port Moresby, is that large tract of land which lies opposite the SP Brewery and extends to the Gordon police station.

Just rezoning the land for “commercial purposes” does not make it right or legal as the particular tract of land in Port Moresby’s Gordon suburb has been subject of dispute going as far back as 1985.

We refer Sir Puka to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee report into this portion of land which was originally described as section 122 Hohola.

The PAC reported the Lands Board has “granted and the department (of Lands) has issued State leases over land that was, and still is, zoned as Reserved Open Space Land for the benefit of the public”.

The PAC report reads in part: “Consideration of the facts shows a clear pattern of conscious illegality in the Lands Board and (at best) cooperation by the Department of Lands and Physical Planning.

“The dealings also well demonstrate the paralysis of action that attends the Department of Lands, even when the illegalities of lease issue are known to the department and have been publicly acknowledged by it.

“The history of this parcel is complex ... but the grants and issues of private title over all of section 122 Hohola are unlawful and require immediate action from the National Government to rectify the defects and/or reinstate this valuable public asset – if indeed it is not too late to do so.”

The PAC report containing the above comments and recommendations was presented to Parliament long before Sir Puka made his decision.

Apparently, the National Government took no action to rectify the defects or reinstate this valuable public asset and it is already far too late.

The land was zoned as “Reserved Land” as far back as 1985 and for a time, the entire lot was used as public recreational land.

It acquired the name Unagi Oval after the late former lord mayor of Port Moresby and Moresby Northeast MP, David Unagi.

That land has been subdivided into many lots and according to the PAC, has been “unlawfully granted to private ownership”.

The entire tract of land was declared in 1969 as section 122, Hohola. The first subdivisions were made in 1982 and the land was divided into lots 1-7.

On Nov 28, 1985, allotment 1 section 122 was “reserved from lease” for the purposes of “public recreation”, published in the National Gazette and a trusteeship was vested in the NCD Interim Commission.

In 1990, further subdivisions were done and others subsumed under the new lots. A 15m wide road was then carved out from part of the land. After yet another subdivision and merging action in 1997, lots 1 to 5 and 11 of section 122, Hohola were cancelled. They ceased to exist.

Although these sections ceased to exist subsequent dealings were conducted with allotments 1, 2, 12 and 13 by the Lands Board and the Department of Lands and Physical Planning.

This is the confusing state of affairs surrounding this piece of land which the minister has now decided to pass off as commercial land.

While it is his prerogative to do so, we are alarmed and disturbed that the minister has chosen to do so when the capital city is deprived of recreational land.

The PAC concluded, following its examination of the relevant details that “the State has been deprived unlawfully, of a large and valuable tract of land for no or no adequate recompense, that the State has been exposed to liability by departmental actions and failures and that the public have been deprived, quite illegally, of prime recreational land”.

The PAC report refers to certain illegal deals and transfers of titles between certain private companies, various Lands Board chairmen and the Department of Lands but we will not go into that.

Suffice it to say that the NCDC and the public had lost zoned Reserved Land, the State had received no recompense and there are questions about the legality of the entire process.

More worrying is the failure of the department to protect this asset in the first place.

The whole saga is very complicated and should be the subject of a deeper inquiry not to be bundled off and forgotten by a rezoning decision. It just will not do, Mr Minister.

 

Activist campaigns to save Unagi Park.

By MADELEINE AREK in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

A WOMAN activist has gone on the campaign trail following the reclassification of the Unagi Park at Five-Mile in Port Moresby from a public reserve to commercial.

She is calling on everyone in the city to help her fight against the commercialisation of the park.

The park has been reclassified from an open space or public reserve to a commercial area by a May 6 National Gazettal notice authorised by Lands and Physical Planning Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu.

Dorothy Tekwie, a staunch human rights yesterday initiated the “Save Unagi Oval/Children playground Campaign” in a bid to allow the area to remain as it currently is – a park to be used by city residents, especially children.

In an email note to friends and colleagues, Ms Tekwie said for far too long, the Government had stood by and watched recreational areas being sold off to “greedy foreign business interest” and she would not watch the same being done to the

Unagi Park.

She said her campaign was to “save these last pieces of limited public recreational land in the city for our children to play and enjoy”.

She urged city residents to join her expose another insensitive, irresponsible and corrupt decision by the Government to deny children and others the right to recreational services in the city.

Since The National ran the story yesterday, city residents have expressed disgust at the Government over its actions, calling it an act of greed that was in the interest of foreign businesses.

Several people The National spoke to raised concerns over the manner in which Sir Puka had gone back on his earlier decision to allow the land to remain a public reserve.

They also expressed concern that in future, Port Moresby would run out of parks and public reserves.

Michael, who lives at Hohola Four, makes the weekly pilgrim there with his daughter Aliya, who has fallen in love with the slide.

When told about the reclassification of Unagi Park, he asked: “Where else can we take our children to play and enjoy themselves outdoors?

“Take a look around the city and you will see new buildings springing up everywhere. But there’s no place for our children to play and enjoy themselves.”

Janet, who lives at Erima and regularly commutes to work along that route, said “it’s a bad decision”.

“The park is nice as it is.

“It allows a break for the eye, especially when you’re bombarded with ugly buildings all over the place and betelnut vendors plying their untidy trade,” the young mother said.

She continued: “I don’t know who the developers are but if they want to change that into an amusement park or someplace where families can retire to, then okay, but another ugly building smack bang in the middle of that beautiful peace of land would be a disaster and the minister should seriously reconsider his decision.”

Linda, a betelnut vendor who has been enjoying the facilities with her children since NCD Governor Powes Parkop “lit up the place”, was extremely annoyed when she sighted The National yesterday and said the minister had lost the plot.

“He said something and then went back on his word.

“These businesses who have title to the land should go to Eight-Mile or Nine-Mile and conduct their affairs.  “Leave the park alone,” the disgruntled Engan woman said. 

Papua New Guinea climate change boss suspended

From The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

THE head of Office of Climate Change and Environment Sustainability (OCCES), Dr Theo Yasause, has been suspended.

Government sources said Cabinet made the decision to suspend Dr Yasause from office pending a full-scale investigation into operations of the office.

Cabinet made the decision last Friday based on a submission by Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill.

Mr O’Neill is away in Abu Dhabi, representing the Government on official business, and could not be reached for comments.

But Government sources spoken to said the decision was made by Cabinet, and a formal announcement was pending.

It is understood the secretary for the Department of Environment and Conservation, Dr Wari Iamo, will be the acting director-general of the OCCES.

Acting secretary for the Department of Personnel Management John Kali will head an inter-government agency team to conduct the full-scale investigation that will look into all aspects of this office and its operations since it was established.

Recently, the media revealed allegations that the OCCES had been selling carbon trading projects to a number of overseas companies without having any policy or legislative framework in place to do so.

Since then, there have been calls for Dr Yasause to step down for an inquiry into all these allegations.

Even Kevin Conrad, the PNG Ambassador of Climate Change based in New York, USA, had expressed concern about the way the office was conducting itself regarding carbon trade.

In a recent conference of governors, it was resolved the OCCES and its head be referred to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee for an investigation into its affairs. This referral is pending.

Meanwhile, AusAID will have an adviser attached to the OCCES for three months.

The corporate planning adviser will be based in Port Moresby, and will be responsible for helping the OCCES establish corporate governance systems to enable it to demonstrate transparency and accountability in its operations.

This would involve providing technical advice on financial and accounting systems, IT and communications and HR processes, including staff recruitment, sources said

 

Ministerial press release on Montevideo Maru

From: Keith Jackson                                                   

 

Dear Friend of Montevideo Maru -

 Veterans' Affairs Minister Alan Griffin released the following media statement this morning to mark today’s anniversary of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

 I think we will all appreciate the sentiments Mr Griffin offers.

 The memorial service at Subic Bay is to start in a few minutes, at 11 am Philippines' time (1 pm AEST). It will be covered on ABC-TV News tonight.

 

REMEMBERING MONTEVIDEO MARU – OUR WORST MARITIME DISASTER  

On the 67th anniversary of Australia’s worst maritime disaster, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, has called for the nation to pause and remember the 1053 Australian lives lost in the sinking of the Montevideo Maru.

“War brings many tragedies and today we remember one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War,” Mr Griffin said.

Speaking on indulgence in Parliament last week, Mr Griffin said the story of the sinking was an unfortunate and lesser known episode of the Second World War.

“On 1 July 1942, a United States submarine, USS Sturgeon, torpedoed and sank what it believed to be a Japanese merchant vessel.  It was in fact the Montevideo Maru, carrying Australian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians who were locked in the hold with no means of escape once the ship was struck,” he said.

“On board were 1053 Australian prisoners of war and civilians who had been captured and held by the Japanese at Rabaul on the island of New Britain, in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.

“The Montevideo Maru took 11 minutes to sink.  No Australians survived.  It was not until after the war that Australian authorities discovered the tragic fate of those captured at Rabaul.

“The families and associations with connections to the Montevideo Maru have never lost sight of the tragedy that occurred 67 years ago. That some questions concerning the ship may never be answered must also add to their sense of loss.  It is something that we as a nation should never forget,” Mr Griffin said.

Mr Griffin said a local ceremony would be held in Subic Bay to remember those lost in the tragedy.

“Today the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Rod Smith, will unveil a plaque commemorating those on board the Montevideo Maru on behalf of the Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles Association at the Hellships Memorial, established in memory of all the ships that carried POWs,” he said.

Mr Griffin also confirmed he has approved a $7200 grant to enhance the central plinth at Subic Bay.

“Later in the year, under a grant made by the Australian Government to the RSL Angeles Sub-branch in the Philippines, commemoration of the Montevideo Maru at the Hellships memorial will be further enhanced and an interpretation will be placed in a nearby museum.”

The funds have been granted through the Overseas Privately-Constructed Memorial Restoration Program, which recognises the contribution that organisations around the world make to honouring Australia’s wartime heritage.  For more information visit www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg or contact the Department of Veterans’ Affairs on 133 254 (international callers +61 2 6289 6184).

New community website / www.8milesettlement.com

From Sean Davey

 

Dear Friends,
This is a courtesy email to notify you of the new website of the 8-Mile Settlement community in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
www.8milesettlement.com
Here you can find information, photos, stories, art and craft relating to 8-Mile Settlement.
Have a browse and enjoy. Please forward this news to anyone you know who may be interested.

Regards,

Sean Davey

The fall of Rabaul and the Montevideo Maru

By Elizabeth Thurston & Andrea Williams in PNG Attitude

 

A memorial to the sinking of the Montevideo Maru, Australia’s greatest disaster at sea, will be unveiled at a ceremony at Subic Bay at 11am tomorrow morning by Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Rod Smith.

The Montevideo Maru left Rabaul on 22 June 1942 with 1053 prisoners of war, all of whom tragically died when the ship was torpedoed on this day in 1942.

The establishment of the memorial has been coordinated by the Montevideo Maru Memorial Committee supported by the NGVR/PNGVR Ex-Members Association, Lark Force, the PNGAA and Greenbank RSL. The site is part of the Hellships Memorial dedicated to prisoners of war who suffered on Japanese vessels.

With the outbreak of World War 2, Rabaul became of strategic importance. The Army authorised the formation of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (NGVR), a militia unit formed from Rabaul’s white residents. A detachment of young Chinese men, determined to contribute, formed an Ambulance Brigade which became part of the NGVR.

In March 1941, with the threat of Japanese invasion looming, the Australian Government sent Lark Force to Rabaul - 1400 men from the 2/22nd battalion and other units. Their band comprised the Brunswick Salvation Army band from Melbourne. Soon after, the 2/10th Field Ambulance, which included nursing sisters, also arrived.

On neighbouring New Ireland, Kavieng was defended by the Commandos 1st Independent Company.

Most European women and children had been evacuated from Rabaul on the Macdhui and Neptuna by Christmas 1941. The hospital nurses were offered evacuation but remained. The army nurses were not offered evacuation. Some civilian and missionary women stayed in the Rabaul area.

Because they were not Australian citizens, Chinese and mixed-race women and children did not qualify for evacuation. The civilians who remained in Rabaul consisted of administration officers, planters, businessmen and traders. Most of the women and children evacuated never saw their husbands and fathers again.

On 19 January 1942, the Norwegian cargo ship Herstein arrived in Rabaul to load copra. When it was bombed in a Japanese air raid, the civilian population suspected it had lost its last opportunity to leave. Although no one knew it then, the Australian Government had already made the decision that the men in Rabaul were ‘hostages to fortune’.

When the Japanese invaded with 5000 troops on 23 January 1942, Lark Force had little chance. The men of the 2/22nd put up a gallant fight but were overpowered.

The order “Every man for himself” was given and the men who had survived the battle tried to escape to the north and south coasts of New Britain. Without food in gruelling tropical conditions they faced great difficulty.

The Japanese dropped pamphlets declaring they would be treated as prisoners of war and many surrendered. Most returned to Rabaul and about 150 were executed at Tol Plantation on the shores of Wide Bay. Most of the civilian men were captured early after the invasion and interned for five months in a camp at Rabaul.

On 22 June 1942, 845 members of Lark Force and 208 civilians were marched aboard the Montevideo Maru. The ship set sail for Hainan Island. On the night of 1 July, about 30 km west of Luzon, the US submarine Sturgeon torpedoed the ship which listed and sank immediately.

The captain of Sturgeon, Commander Wright, had no idea the Montevideo Maru was carrying allied POWs. The men from Rabaul were all lost. The sinking of the Montevideo Maru became the greatest maritime disaster in Australian history.

A statement by the Minister for External Territories in the Australian House of Representatives on 5 October 1945 said: “These servicemen and civilians who have lost their lives in such a tragic manner have undoubtedly given their lives in defence of Australia just as surely as those who died face to face with the enemy. To their next of kin the Commonwealth Government extends its deepest sympathy.”

Lest We Forget.

 

Tragedy in the ring

Pro boxer dies after pounding

 

By PETER PUSAL in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

TRAGEDY has struck the professional ranks of PNG boxing after 23-year-old Manus welterweight Joel Hayeu succumbed to injuries sustained during his professional debut in a boxing show held last June 21 in Port Moresby.

Hayeu, from the Pontoon boxing club of Manus, who fought a torrid six-rounder against Hohola boxing club fighter Kevin Baki, collapsed in his corner after the bout, having only moments earlier congratulated his conqueror after losing a unanimous decision to the 37-year-old Baki.

He died last Saturday after being comatose for six days.

The young Manusian was commended at ringside by many who witnessed the bout, saying he had shown “unbelievable” courage in a fight he was losing on the cards.

Experienced former Australian lightweight champion and current trainer Jeff Malcolm, a man credited with more than 30 years in boxing business, was distress at the manner in which the bout was handled, saying it should have been stopped earlier.

“That kid was hurt pretty bad, and it was clear for everyone to see that he was taking a beating, but for some reason, he was allowed to finish the fight,” Malcolm said of Hayeu.

“He fought with a lot of heart, and I don’t think I ever saw a braver fighter in all my time.”

The PNG Professional Boxing Federation-promoted “Contender” series was geared towards providing a pathway for aspiring professional boxers in the country to eventually compete for regional titles and gain world rankings.

The PNG Professional Boxing Control Board, the body tasked with regulating pro boxing, is inactive after years of dormancy.

In the shadow of this latest tragedy, calls have been made for the Government to re-establish the board.

A grieving John Hayeu said in Pidgin yesterday he was greatly aggrieved by his son’s demise, adding that his immediate concern was to take his boy home.

 

Children's park to close

Temu classifies playground for commercial purpose

 

By MADELEINE AREK and TRAVERTZ MABONE in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

THE Unagi Oval and the park and playground for children and residents of National Capital District at Gordon recently created by Governor Powes Parkop for their enjoyment will soon be a thing of the past.

This is because the National Government has reclassified the land as “commercial”.

Lands and Physical Planning Minister Sir Puka Temu, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, abandoned an earlier decision of his, and decided to declare it commercial.

This week, lawyers representing Virgo 65 and Fairhaven Limited, purported owners of the land, instructed the National Capital District Commission to remove all playing equipment at the children’s playground and Unagi Oval.

The lawyers told NCDC to comply with the National Gazette of May 6, 2009.

In documents made available to The National, Sir Puka appears to have abandoned an earlier recommendation by the PNG Physical Planning Appeals Tribunal.

The land was previously considered as “open space” or public reserve.

Documents show that in December 2007, Sir Puka had upheld the tribunal’s appeal not to rezone Unagi Park into a commercial area.

He had stated then in part that he wished to protect public interest by “ensuring that land is used in accordance with sound physical planning principles (and/or) the need for continuity and consistency of policy or another reason”.

But the May 6 National Gazette now says the land has been rezoned. It is unclear why there has been a change of heart.

NCD Governor Powes Parkop said he would reserve his comments until he spoke with Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and Sir Puka.

He admitted that he was not happy with the rezoning but would talk to the minister.

“Unagi Park should remain a public reserve for recreational purposes for the benefit of the city’s children and families,” he said.

It is understood NCDC has already instructed a law firm to go to court to fight this decision.

Virgo 65 and Fairhaven Limited are believed to be owned by individuals of Asian origin.

Mothers, children and youths who were using the park yesterday afternoon expressed their disgust when told about this decision.

One of the mothers who took her children out to enjoy the facilities yesterday Pat Nguna was worried and said that “If they removed the facilities then our children wont have a place to go to.”

Mrs Nguna and another mother Cathy Collin said there were no other place safer and convenient than that specific area as Erima is too dangerous and the other places are too far.

Jonathan Wii and Jonathan Kunjil were against the idea of developing the area for commercial.

Mr Kunjil said: “Why remove something that people enjoy, the government should allocate land elsewhere on unused land or remove settlements that occupy prime land to cater for commercial activities.”

A resident of Wewak Steven Tom who was transiting through Port Moresby to Lihir who was taking a break there admired what the governor of NCD is doing to beautify and develop the city’s parks.

He said “You hardly find these sorts of facilities around the country for families to enjoy and Port Moresby is privileged to have them. You should keep them