By ALLAN PATIENCE in Sydney Morning Herald
February 3, 2012
Opinion
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Sir Michael Somare. Photo: AFP
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The cult of Sir Michael has been disastrous for his
people.
THE primary cause of the recent ''mutiny'' by
sections of the Papua New Guinea defence force is a mix of soldiers' anger over
low pay, their substandard living conditions, associated low morale, and
grudges against some of their senior officers.
This has led some of them to back Sir Michael Somare
in his quest for his reinstatement as prime minister, naively believing that
the dishonoured promises of the past will somehow be honoured this time around.
Sir Michael and his followers are boycotting
parliamentary sittings while scheming a take-over of the government before the
general election due in a few months. Incumbency is vital to electoral success
in PNG, so access to the largesse of the Treasury benches is now everything to
the Somare camp.
Sir Michael's
followers seem ready to go to desperate extremes to regain power. In a bizarre
move last week, they ordered retired Colonel Yaura Sasa to seize control of the
defence force and coerce the Parliament into restoring Sir Michael as PM.
Sasa's five minutes of infamy were, however, quickly ended.
That the Somare camp would seek to politicise the
PNG military shows Sir Michael and those around him are no longer fit for high
office. But it also raises the issue of the Somare political legacy in PNG.
Sir Michael, his family and his political cronies
have developed an over-weaning sense of entitlement. Over the years they have
resolutely resisted legitimate attempts to subject their use of public
resources to scrutiny.
For example, in a report by Justice Barnett in 1989,
allegations were made that Sir Michael and people close to him profited from
links to the Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau. The Barnett report has
never been acted on despite its revelations of serious improprieties and its
unequivocal recommendations for criminal charges to be laid.
More recently, Sir Michael and his son Arthur
purchased expensive properties in Cairns. How they obtained the funds for these
purchases remains a mystery, despite several attempts in 2007 to hold them to
public account.
Sir Michael's four-month medical sojourn last year
in Singapore was subsidised to the tune of millions of kina by the PNG
government, though the terms of this latest display of generosity by the PNG
state have never been publicly explained.
Sir Michael's self-aggrandisement at public expense
was on display in April 2010 at an extravagant reception at Tokyo's five-star
New Otani Hotel, for the opening of the chancery building of the PNG embassy in
Japan.
Hundreds of guests wined and dined copiously. Sir
Michael made a grand entrance flanked by two Papua New Guineans in traditional
dress and carrying spears. A traditional entertainment group from East New
Britain drummed and danced. The PNG foreign minister and then Sir Michael
subjected the guests to rambling speeches extolling the PNG-Japan relationship.
Somare was in his element, exuding what he thought
was greatness and receiving what he thought were appropriate salutations. The
whole affair must have cost many thousands of kina - money that would have been
far better spent on medical and educational facilities back in PNG.
Diplomatically it was a disaster. Many of the
Japanese present were bemused by the traditional entertainment. They did not
understand the speeches and thought the short fat man overshadowed by his lofty
guards-of-honour was part of the act rather than the Pprime Minister of PNG.
But Somare was oblivious, effusing, gesturing and wanting to be the centre of
attention.
To be fair, Michael Somare has at times reached
towards greatness in his political career. But his political record overall is
one of disastrous failure. PNG remains deeply corrupt, under-developed and
sadly exploited. Its long-suffering citizens deserve far more than the Somare
leadership has bequeathed them.
It is time for Papua New Guineans to reassess the
role Sir Michael has played in their country's post-colonial development. It
may be that in time he will become known as the ''godfather of the nation''
rather than the ''father of the nation''.
Allan
Patience, professor of political science at the University of PNG from 2004-06,
is a visiting scholar in the Asia Institute at Melbourne University
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