Stopping the rot

From PAUL OATES

"Ask not what your country can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your country." John F Kennedy, US President

To someone who regularly peruses the Papua New Guinea media and internet blogs, there seems a constant steam of queries as to why 'someone' doesn't do 'something' about the situation in PNG?

So perhaps the question should be posed: 'why is it that those who want something done aren't prepared to do something themselves?'

At Independence, PNG had a system of government imposed on it that was never designed to cope with today's massive amounts of corruption and malfeance at all levels of government. In 1975, the present situation was inconceivable. The structure of government checks and balances was therefore set up with a totally different mind set. Clearly the current PNG regulatory bodies are unable to grapple with the size and nature of the problem otherwise it would not have been allowed to develop into what it is today.

If it is possible to generalise, human nature seems to follow a pattern of malaise or languishing under deteriorating conditions until a total collapse requires a drastic response. This systemic inertia is common throughout every human society and is usually summed up in the claim: 'Someone should do something about it!'

Unfortunately, most people will not contemplate doing anything precipitative until it affects them personally to the point where they cannot possibly continue to put up with what is affecting them. Unfortunately, this often where the problem has gone past where it can be fixed without a total and drastic, last resort solution.

The traditional PNG culture of group discussion and social cohesion that was so effective in a village based society seems to now be exacerbating rather than helping the current impasse. Without a culture of individual leadership and decisive action, talk sometimes becomes the ultimate point past which many people are not prepared to go.

So is this quirk of human nature about to condemn PNG to a period of total collapse and social dysfunction?

There is an old saying: 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going!'

Isn't it about time that a new generation of PNG 'tough', who have had enough of the current farce in PNG government, start to get going? The time is fast approaching, if it hasn't already arrived, when no one will be able to stop the coming implosion and its inevitable results .