The Year in Pictures - The Burning Down of Best Buy (Burns Philip) Lae

Best Buy Shop in Lae, one of the city’s landmarks, went up in flames at about 12am on Monday, December 8, 208,  and the fire was finally put out by 4am.
This was the site of the historical Burns Philip store which was an icon of Lae for many years.
By about 1am looters were already drunk and looking for more liquor till daybreak.
Before the fire reached the rear where the liquor shop is, looters were already breaking down the windows and doors and helping themselves to anything they could lay their hands on.
They included street people to security guards.
Lae town streets were chock-a-block with people that particular morning.
Many of them were drunk from the cold and boiled beer.

An eventful year for Papua New Guinea

And this blog helps to bring the news – good or bad – to you

Whether you spent 2008 with your nose buried in the politics or business section of your favorite newspaper, there were some major headlines on the front page that no one missed.

From the series of BSP bank robberies around the country to the atrocious murder of businessman Sir George Constantinou at the notorious Tete Settlement, Gerehu, it’s been hard to tear our eyes away from the life-changing events unfolding before us.

This is particularly in relation to the development of the massive gas, petroleum and mineral deposits of this country.

Are we going to be the ‘Arabs’ of the Pacific?

It is, however, a paradox that we are a rich country and yet are so poor, and our women and children continue to die for want of better health services as well as education.

I hope all of you, the many thousands of readers of this blog from all corners of Papua New Guinea and the world through the wonders of the Internet, have had a wonderful Christmas with your families and all the best for New Year 2009.

I had a quite Christmas period with my four children, watched VCDs, and read a lot of literature classics by Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times – to refresh my mind for 2009.

I am an avid reader of the classic works of literature, which I read over and over again, because it helps in a lot in my work as a journalist and editor.

 The year had a little something to offer everyone.

Maybe you were reading about the stock market's rocky trajectory and a massively flailing global economy - or that of Oshen’s career.

Perhaps you scanned the news for the latest updates on the LNG project, or you might've been focused on the US presidential elections.

The 2008 Paralympics event marked a significant new era for PNG as disabled athlete Francis Kompaon won the country’s first-ever silver medal at such an event and a K250, 000 bonus from the government.

The country’s first ever medal in an Olympic event was like setting foot on the moon – “one small step for a man but a giant step for PNG”.

Ryan Pini he made PNG proud with a brilliant performance in the 100m butterfly finals by splashing stroke for stroke alongside a  host of super stars including probably the world’s greatest-ever swimmer and record-breaking American Michael Phelps.

Pini was the flag bearer for Papua New Guinea at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Pini ranked first in the third heat of the men's 100m freestyle, but did not make a qualifying time for the semi finals.

He also competed in heats for the 200m freestyle.

Pini competed in the 100m butterfly, where he was Papua New Guinea's most-widely anticipated chance at attaining a first Olympic medal.

He competed in the finals, and finished eighth overall, in a tough line-up which included American big fish Michael Phelps, who took gold.

Pini was the first Papua New Guinean ever to swim an Olympic final.

Remember how the Kumuls raised our pulses by leading Great Britain at one stage of their World Cup rugby league game in Australia but gave it away?

They continued to win hearts with commendable performances against eventual winners New Zealand and Australia.

Every year has its share of memorable news stories, but in 2008, many events transpired that'll have history textbook editors scrambling.

And if you haven't been keeping news clippings for your scrapbook, you might've forgotten what happened earlier this year.

That's where this blog comes in.

We're not just daily ‘bad news’ stories about rapes, murders, bank robberies, so on and so forth about.

We're ‘good news’ harbingers too – about the many positive developments in the country.

From Asia to Europe, North America to Africa, and even the land down under, the world was humming with activity.

And Papua New Guinea was no exception.

So pour a cup of coffee, settle into your most comfortable chair and read about some of the many memorable moments from 2008 that'll be recorded in the annals of history.

 

An eventful year for Lae

Captions: 1. Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG Head Bishop Dr Wesley Kigasung...his death brought together a fragmented church, city, province and country.2. Dr Kigasung's body is hoisted by six PNG Defence Force pall-bearers at Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.3. The sad remains of Best Buy, formerly Burns Philip, store in Lae. It was burned down earlier this month, bringing an end to a part of Lae history.
By conservative estimates, half of its residents would not be able to recall the garden city that was Lae.
This was a city, and before that a town, that was lined with flower beds running along its residential, business and industrial zones’ streets. The beauty of the streets gave Lae the glamour and serenity of a metropolitan city by the harbour of a sprawling valley that retreated for miles into the Madang and Eastern Highlands mountains, a feeling unlike any other.
Now an incongruent mosaic of industrial establishments, potholed streets, bushy over growths, and semi-permanent houses, clustered around concrete edifices, and colonial architecture, Lae has become a huge urban settlement of more than 300, 000 people.
In a nutshell Lae is a city of contrasts.
Throughout the year, the events that have happened in the city have shown the attitude of a people who are living in the computer age and practicing Stone Age beliefs.
To start the year off, the indigenous Ahi tribe’s local level government area was gripped with fear of a man-eating alien. The Komodo dragon, native to the Indonesian island of Komodo, could never have left its home except for the imaginations of several old women and the marketing skills of journalists.
There was much consternation and fear fuelled by newspaper images downloaded from the internet that irrelevantly, the military was called in with much media hype. Furtively, scientists from the Department of Environment and Conservation slipped into the bushes of Kamkumung, Butibam and Yanga and declared: “Nothing.”
The entire episode was a hoax. It showed the frightening scale a rumour could gain.
Perhaps because of the high level of ethnic mix of blue collar workers for its many factories, most of whom are at best semi-literate and ill-informed, what is more but not relevant is read into a situation.
Only last year, immediately after April 1, the entire population of Lae panicked when rumours spread that the sea at the end of the old Lae airport had retreated. Its return would flatten Lae – and Top Town, nearly 100 metres above sea level!
Thousands of school children ran away from classes. Several primary school teachers hopped on PMVs and headed for the Highlands.
Years before, in 2000, a similar incident sent people packing their belongings and heading for the mountains in droves.
No contrast was more obvious than in the attitudes of people. It was disconcerting to see the medieval practice of burning witches at the stake being carried out when a woman was burnt at the stake and her tortured body left for police to remove to the Angau Memorial Hospital morgue after it was claimed that she had kept the tongue of a youth salted in a banana leaf near her bedside fireplace at Tent City on the outskirts of the city.
To contrast that heathen ritual, the people showed a sign of religious fervour unlike any ever displayed in Lae when Dr Wesley Kigasung, head bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea, died in May. Symphathisers lined the 50km from Nadzab airport to the church headquarters at Ampo.
That unity in religion had come off the back of an ethnic clash that clearly showed the fracture in the neighbourhoods. Eastern Highlanders had fought with Engans at Kamkumung and Morobeans fought with Sepiks at Malahang.
All throughout the year there were sporadic unrelated clashes and towards Christmas, the Western Highlanders and Eastern Highlanders closed the violent aspect of the year.
The ethnic and cultural melting pot that is Lae, coupled with the level of education and the economic status of each individual, has given the city its peculiar problems.
In town, the graduate engineers, doctors and accountants, the cream of university graduates catch a rickety old PMV bus to work. They can’t afford to buy a vehicle because of the high cost of fuel and the even higher cost of overhead charges on vehicle parts that are rendered by the potholes.
While waiting for the K50 million road works to be completed, the educated and the uneducated masses have to live in settlements at Hunter, Malahang, Bumayong, Kamkumung and the Miles areas. There virtually is not enough affordable housing in Lae.
The professionals, according to the PMV bus conductors, can not read. So they shout in their faces: “Eriku, Boundary, 1, 2, 3, 4.”
In the meantime, local Ahi landowners, have to fight for claims to the Lae land. It is a bitter dispute that divides clans and families.
One of the major disputes is over the land at the old Lae airport which has been divided into urban development leases.
Another development, that of the US$100 million Lae port, awaits start.
Here settlers are still waiting to be reestablished in other areas in Lae or be repatriated to their villages, particularly in the East Sepik and the Highlands provinces.
Economic developments in Lae and Morobe province in general have been enhanced by the rebuilding of the old Bulolo airport to cater for flights to the former gold town that would be the hub for the operation of the mine at Hidden Valley in Wau and the exploration at Wafi in Mumeng.
The Bulolo district is now rising to its old heights with the election of a young Member of Parliament who is showing the way for leaders throughout the country.
Exceptionally young and very inexperienced politician, businessman Sam Basil clicked into action barely a week after taking his oath of office as a Parliamentarian in Sept 2007.
 Now, he is the toast of the entire Bulolo district, and the envy of all Morobeans, after putting water supplies in his rural villages, linking them by road and telecommunications, building police house, and then demanding and being given 50% of the provincial government’s cut from the Hidden Valley Gold mine.
He was aiming to improve the lot of his people.
The economic survival of the worker was touted by students at the country’s premier technological institute. Students at the University of Technology through their representative council and its umbrella organisation the National Union of Students boycotted classes to push the government into establishing the Minimum Wages board hearings, whose report will be tabled to the government in the second week of next year.
While the students did well for their parents and working relatives, and their future, they could not help but get back into the ages old practice of ethnic rivalry. It seemed an end-of-year routine when the fight between Sepiks and Highlanders disrupted classes and left one dead and many unable to sit for their final examinations.
As the year raced to the end, nature took its toll, as a tidal surge left 5000 Siassi islanders and Sialum villagers without homes, food and water. Their lives are slowly being rebuilt.
What can not be rebuilt though is the epitome of trade and all things good and European, and a hallmark to the legacy of the colonial era, the former Burns Philp department store, which lay in ruins.

Yellow Poincianas light up Port Moresby

It's that time of the year again and all over Port Moresby, Yellow Poincianas are lighting the city and showering them with petals.It’s a beautiful sight, and at Gerehu where I live, even more so when I take my children to the playground.Yellow Poincianas come into bloom around November and last into the early New Year.

Information below from http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pelt_pte.cfm.

Description

Yellow poinciana is a very showy flowering tree up to 50' tall, with wide-spreading branches that form an umbrella-like crown up to 25' across. The stems and twigs are rusty-red tomentose (fuzzy). The leaves are bipinnate (twice compound), about 2' long with 8-20 pairs of 3/4"-long oblong leaflets. The fragrant flowers are clustered on upright stalks (racemes, actually) about 18" long. Each flower is about an inch and a half across with translucent yellow, strangely-crinkled petals. The flowers have conspicuous orange stamens and each petal has a reddish brown mark in the center. They are followed by purplish brown, flattened, oblong seed pods, 3-4" long, which remain on the tree until the next flowering season.

Location

Yellow poinciana is native to coastal areas from Sri Lanka through the Malay archipelago and Indonesia to northern Australia. It has escaped from cultivation and established itself in disturbed areas in southern Florida and Hawaii.

Culture

Light: Does well in semi-shade, but can tolerate full sun if well-watered.

Moisture: Needs moist, but well-drained soil.

Hardiness: USDA Zones 10 - 11.

Propagation: Propagation of yellow poinciana is by seeds that must be treated before they will germinate. In nature, the seeds would have passed through the gut of a bird or mammal before germinating in a pile of rich "compost." We simulate that process with scarification (use a file or sandpaper), or a two-minute immersion in dilute acid or boiling water.

 Usage

Yellow poincianas are usually planted as specimen trees or as shade trees. They are used as street trees in tropical cities, and commonly planted for shade in tropical and subtropical gardens. They are fast-growing and vigorous, but they cannot tolerate frost.

Features

The name poinciana also is used for three other showy subtropical trees or shrubs in the bean family: Royal poinciana (Delonix regia), also called flame tree or flamboyant tree; dwarf poinciana (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), also called Barbados pride or peacock flower; and another dwarf poinciana (C. gilliesii), also called bird-of-paradise bush.

 

 

Business activity blossoms in 2008 despite tough conditions

Captions: 1. World class Process Plant at Lihir Gold Mine in New Ireland province. Picture courtesy of LGL. 2. Aerial view of Porgera Gold Mine. Picture courtese of Porgera Gold Mine. 3. Gas...the future of Papua New Guinea. Picture courtesy of Oil Search Limited.

Papua New Guinea poised for greater heights with gas, mining and petroleum

By JASON SOM KAUT

Nearly all sectors of the economy from building-construction, mining and petroleum, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, both formal and informal sectors have experienced increased activity.
This has had a flow-on effect that has trickled on to other sectors like wholesale, retail, the hotel industry, housing and land.
Business performance would have been more if it had not been for the world financial crisis in the latter half of the year that has resulted in many major economies now facing recession and world commodity prices fall with declining demand.
But yet PNG has managed to enter the FEED stage in the nation’s undertaking of its most ambitious and biggest investment project ever –the US$10 billion PNG Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project.
The LNG Project has placed PNG on the world map and has captured the attention of the world’s leading mining and petroleum companies and large financial and banking organisations.
There were comments made during the recent 10th PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment Conference in Sydney, Australia that amid the world crisis PNG is one of the few shining lights in the world.
Interest in PNG’s mining and petroleum sector was evident in the record 800-plus participants at the conference where
Minister for State Enterprises Arthur Somare said the PNG LNG Project had the potential to positively change the nation’s economy and improve the living standards of its six million people.
 At its peak the project will generate revenue between US$600-800 million annually. Many speakers during the Sydney conference including PNG LNG Venture Manager Peter Graham all echoed similar sentiments.
Recently Nippon Oil Exploration (NOEX) of Japan through its affiliate Merlin Petroleum Company acquired AGL’s gas assets in PNG for US$800 million.
Being one of the joint –venture partners this has cemented confidence in the progress of PNG LNG Project.
The acquisition sees Nippon improve its stake in the project from 1.7% to 5.3%.
The formal announcement of the acquisition by AGL earlier this month was described by Government ministers and Joint Venture partners as a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone. That confirmed the widely-held view of the high-level of certainty that the PNG LNG project will proceed.
President of NOEX Makoto Koseki expressed hope that the firm can further contribute to PNG’s economic development through the acquisition through its expertise and role in two other LNG Projects in South East Asia.
“The deal imposes viability and sends a strong message of confidence in the project,” he said.
This is all amid uncertainty with the world’s financial and commodity markets.
The issue of concern is transparency and accountability and having the right policies in place.
The Government needs to explain to the people how they will benefit.
One of the few remaining major hurdles of the project is the Benefit Sharing Agreement which is planned for March 2009.
This will see the Government, developers and landowners agree on the benefits to landowners.
 Landowners have expressed desire to have an increase in royalty considering that the project will impact about 100, 000 landowners.
Record world commodity prices and good economic performance last year, windfall revenues that were rightly placed in trust accounts and the fact that our financial sector is insulated from the direct effects of the global financial market turmoil saw PNG less affected by the crisis.
According to Bank of PNG Governor Wilson Kamit this is because banks are funded primarily by domestic deposits and along with financial institutions do not have large exposures to external investments.
But the effects are starting to be felt with the latest victim being Nautilus PNG announcing less than a week ago that it would delay its seafloor mining venture in PNG and cut staff by 30% until the global economy stabilises.
There are also unconfirmed rumors that a major logging firm has sent staff home on three-months of forced-leave due to a fall in demand for its log exports in the region.
There are many mines in construction phase including the multi-billion Ramu Nickel mine while the Hidden Valley mine in Morobe province is scheduled to be in operation next year.
With the arrival of competition both Air Niugini and B-Mobile have improved performance as customers enjoy cheaper rates.
Despite a good performance the year was overshadowed by the world financial crisis and the unnecessary and brutal killing of pioneer PNG businessman and philanthropist Sir George Constantinou.
The World Bank, The Asian Development Bank and the Institute of National Affairs all cited the need for better regulations.
They raised concern on political uncertainty despite the current stability, law and order, instability in laws and regulations, corruption and poor infrastructure and public services.
Recommendations have been made to promote public-private partnerships, simplifying the system of licenses, taxes and regulations, promoting competition and the financial markets and formalising private and public sector consultation mechanisms.
 

Development is yourself

A thought just came to my mind this morning with New Year just a few days away.

All too often, Papua New Guineans are very quick to point fingers at the government, for anything that goes wrong.

Papua New Guinea just celebrated 33 years of independence on Tuesday, September 16, 2008, and it is now time to look at ourselves rather than forever pointing fingers at the government.

Sure, the government isn’t made up of saints, and politicians and public servants have committed so many sins since September 16, 1975.

Development, I have always believed, is yourself.

If I develop myself, my neighbour will emulate my successes and so on, a never-ending circle of success.

Papua New Guinea, however, will continue to wallow in the depths of despair if we continue holding on to our bad habits.

They are, to name a few:

1.      Consumption of alcohol

2.      Smoking

3.      Chewing of betelnut

4.      Laziness

5.      Criminal activities

6.      Use of drugs, in particular, marijuana

7.      Gambling

8.      Beliefs in sorcery

9.      Wantok system

10.  Procastination

 

If you would like to add to this list, you can make a comment at the bottom or email me at malumnalu@gmail.com

 

You know you're a Papua New Guinean when:

*You can have cordial for breakfast.

* You have buai for Lunch.

* You still live with your parents even though you're 30.

*You bring your boyfriend/girlfriend to the house and everyone's concluded that you are married!

* You wear board shorts to cruise in town even though you are not going for a swim (KBS 2 the max!).

* You share one cigarette with five other people.

* Your Mother gives your father Black eyes.

* You have about three families living in one house.

* Still keep drinking even though you can barely talk and walk.

* At any major function, instead of a plate, your food comes in a plastic container.

* You run into a mountain of slippers blocking the front door.

* Your staple diet is rice and tin fish or Ox & palm.

* You have a huge gap between your first two toes, (excessive thong wear...).

* Swimming pool is filled with people wearing t-shirts, (Females).

* You can sprint barefoot on sharp stones and rocks.

* You wake up and go straight to work or classes.

* At crossings, you are supposed to wait for the car to stop before crossing, not the other way around.

* Your first and last names are the same. (John John).

* You have a perpetually drunk Uncle who starts fights at every family gathering.

* You call a friend - (squad).

* Every time you greet someone he says "YOU"?

* You have sat in a four-seater car with up to eight other people.

* You can speak with your face - eg. Twitch like a rabbit to ask, Where you going?"

* Your Grandmother thinks Vicks Vapo-Rub is the miracle cure for everything> (including broken bones ....).

* You're getting a hiding and your parents yell at you as to "Why you are crying for?" ("you karai lo wanem ah ......").

* You've been shamed and belted up by your Mother in front of schoolmates at the Supermarket.

* You're a tycoon on your payday by shouting everyone and scab money off people till the next fortnight.

* You invite people over for dinner and your family all of a sudden says the grace.

* You've had an afro at some stage in your life (boys AND girls) and thought you looked cool.

* You're at your Aunties and see your six-year-old cousin doing household chores.

* Your Aunty visits and she's talking to you at the same time as looking in your pots for food...

* You go to your village rich and come back poor.

* You have laplaps for curtains in your house.

 

Hope you had a Wonderful Christmas

And now we all look forward to a Happy New Year

 

I hope all of you, the many hundreds of readers of this blog from all corners of the world; have had a wonderful Christmas with your families and all the best for New Year 2009.

Thank you, on behalf of my four young children, for all the support and kind words you have given me since the untimely death of my wife Hula on Easter Sunday this year.

We missed her terribly in this, our first Christmas without her, however, we have come to accept that life must go on.

I had a quite Christmas period with the four children, watched VCDs, read a lot of literature classics by Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities – and am now back at work.

I am an avid reader of the classic works of literature, which I read over and over again, because it helps in a lot in my work as a journalist and editor.

I can assure you of a lot more quality articles in this blog next year.

Thank you once again for all your support and keep those comments rolling in so that we can make this blog even bigger and better.

Take care and God Bless you all real good.

 

Malum Nalu

PUBLIC AFFAIRS BY SUSUVE LAUMAEA

Somare in no rush to exit

 

THERE’S no hurry by or even a signal yet from the Prime Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare to retire from active politics. Somare is in no rush to exit. The grand old man of PNG politics has a knack of keeping everyone guessing. He’s not throwing in the towel just yet. He did not start the rumor. Others did for their own selfish reasons. Despite such a reality that favorite pastime of our politicians has reared its ugly head again. Several of them – from within the governing coalition’s own ranks and elsewhere -- want to be the next Prime Minister. They want the job during this term of Parliament. The message implied in this latest move is that there are some in the Grand Chief’s own governing coalition who think he is either not doing a good job as head of government or that at his age he should be spared all the pressures, heavy workload and the long hours that go with the job as Prime Minister. The aspirants want Sir Michael to retire gracefully and sooner the better. The people who are spreading this kind of aspersions are not from the National Alliance Party. They are people cared for and made an integral part of the government by the good grace of the man they seek to destroy and dethrone. It’s a case of people seeking to chop off the hand that feeds them. It’s sad but true that many before them have unsuccessfully tried similar tactics to fulfill their ambition to be Prime Minister by short-cut methods and not through electoral mandate over the years since independence. Many could not take their failures calmly and have actually died or dropped into the political wilderness and have become “no names”. The flipside of Sir Michael not stepping down from the top job voluntarily sooner rather than later is that those ambitious aspirants vying for the top job are also planning to use Section 145 of the National Constitution to move a Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister at the “appropriate” time. The appropriate time is when the 18 months grace period of the government to remain unchallenged in office expires at the end of February in early March. Should such a motion proceed, it will be a tall order for success for the perpetrators of the move. The government is solidly entrenched to thwart such a challenge. It is foolish of those seeking to destabilise government and politics for the sake of wielding political power. Okay, it is granted that there are many potential Prime Minister material among the present crop of MPs. A few standouts include current Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu, Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch, State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare, Transport, Works and Civil Aviation Minister Don Polye, Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill, Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta and Deputy Opposition Leader Bart Philemon. PNG-style politics is heavily dependent on numbers and money. One must have plenty of both underpinned by a great deal of charismatic influence to succeed as a candidate for Prime Minister. Every MP is qualified – by virtue of being a Member of Parliament – to aspire to be Prime Minister. But when you do not have your own extra money, the numbers and the influence to outsmart other aspirants, just forget about trying for something you cannot have. The job will never be handed to anyone a golden platter. It’s a job for very special and talented people with vision and humility and are God-fearing servant leaders. What more do our MPs want? The Somare-led government has looked after them extremely well in terms of pay and perks. The present MPs get very good pay and millions of kina for electorate development as opposed to predecessors who served up to around 1992. All those seeking to be Prime Minister ahead of Sir Michael’s announcement of his retirement from active politics sometime in the foreseeable future will not succeed. There shall be no change of Prime Minister any time between now and 2012.  Any change will happen at the pleasure of the incumbent. And the reshuffle of Ministers recently mooted by the Grand Chief will be a “small one” affecting only three or four ministries. All speculation to the contrary on these two issues is just that – speculation spun by uninformed political opportunists. Sir Michael will announce changes to the ministry after he hosts the special meeting of leaders the Pacific Islands Forum states in Port Moresby in late January. It’s most likely that the merit-based changes will be made before he flies out on a State Visit to New Zealand and Australia in March. Sir Michael will make the changes at his pleasure and not hurriedly as consequence of coercion and pressure put on him by individuals within NA and by his coalition partners. The prime ministerial change and leadership succession of National Alliance Party are two different issues. Under Section 142 (2) of the National Constitution the Prime Minister is appointed by Parliament at the first meeting of Parliament following a national general election and otherwise from time to time as the occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister arises, by the Head of State acting in accordance with a decision of the Parliament. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of a political party. The emergence of a new National Alliance Party leader is an in-house matter. The party’s National Convention comprising its parliamentary wing, its national council, and regional executive and foundation members shall elect the new party leader. Right now no vacancy exists for a Prime Minister and for NA’s parliamentary leader. Sir Michael and his ruling National Alliance Party will determine the appropriate time, place and space for Sir Michael to step down as party leader and Prime Minister. Everyone -- including NA’s coalition partners -- who’re seeking to accelerate the National Alliance leadership succession before the end of the present parliamentary term by April 2012 shall have to wait. There is no leadership succession problem within NA at present. The last thing that the rank and file of NA wants is hang their dirty linen out publicly. NA’s four regional organisations at peace with each other and are committed to the resolve that the party will collectively decide what is good for them in terms of appointing a successor to take over from Sir Michael when he chooses to retire. Until such time is at hand, there is no leadership vacancy in NA.  Sir Michael deeply respects his parliamentary wing MPs who have been loyal and supportive of his tenure as party leader and as Prime Minister since August 2002. He is not going to keep his party’s national executive and his parliamentary wing members guessing for ever. The Grand Chief is very passionate about the party and will always stand in support of his loyalists. No one in PNG politics should be discourteous about forcing the grand old man of PNG politics and the Pacific’s eldest statesman out of his active role as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and parliamentary leader of National Alliance Party. Sooner or later he shall give the signal for his retirement. When that happens appropriate provisions of the National Alliance constitution, the Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties, the Standing Orders of Parliament and the National Constitution come into play – firstly for the appointment of a new NA leader and secondly for appointment by Parliament of a new Prime Minister.

• Share your views with the writer at mailto: suslaumaea@gmail.com or send SMS to 675-6845168

 

Sir George laid to rest in Brisbane

MORE than 600 people, including Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, attended the funeral of slain businessman Sir George Constantinou in Brisbane, Australia, yesterday, The National newspaper reports.

There was standing room only at the Greek Orthodox church of St George as Brisbane’s Greek community joined a large contingent of PNG civic and business leaders, and others, for the service.

Hundreds, many bearing flowers, signed condolence books outside the church, below both Greek and Australian flags, before moving into the ornately-painted church. After the funeral ceremony, conducted in Greek, Sir George’s family and other mourners filed past the coffin.

A large funeral cortege followed the hearse to the Mt Gravatt cemetery for the burial, then returned to Brisbane’s Greek Club for a wake.

Sir Michael, who attended with his whole family, said he and the nation had lost a wonderful friend. “I’ve known him for more than 33 years,” Sir Michael said.

 “He’s been a great man, very visionary, (an) innovator, and all his investment was in PNG.

 “He expanded, done his business, employed a lot of Papua New Guineans and I think everyone of us will miss him.

“This tragic incident had ended his life, but for those of us who remember him, he was a great man.

“He’ll be really honoured and I think he’ll have a special place in our record books in Papua New Guinea as someone who came from nothing some 54 years ago and built himself till now.

“We lost a great man in George Constantinou.”

Brisbane architect and businessman Tony Dempsey said Sir George was dedicated to PNG.

“If ever a guy was more impassioned about PNG, you’d be hard-pressed to find one,” Mr Dempsey said.

He said one of Sir George’s main concerns was to ensure employment for his PNG workforce.

Apart from PNG, Sir George also had business interests in the Solomon Islands and in Queensland, Australia.

He established Papuan Welders in 1954 and proceeded to build a business empire in PNG that employed thousands of Papua New Guineans, until his murder last Tuesday near Tete settlement at Gerehu. – AAP

 

Suspects charged

7 accused remanded at Bomana

By SAMSON KENDEMAN

SEVEN suspects allegedly involved in the killing of pioneer businessman Sir George Constantinou last week have been charged with wilful murder and remanded at Bomana prison outside Port Moresby, The National newspaper reported today.

NCD metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa yesterday said the suspects were expected to appear in court later this week.

Out of the seven suspects arrested by NCD police last week, six were said to be from the Goilala district of Central province while one was from Morobe province. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.

Supt Yakasa also dismissed rumours swirling in Port Moresby in the last few days that two of the suspects were ill or injured and were taken to Port Moresby General Hospital for treatment.

“All the seven suspects are detained at Bomana police cells, which has to be confirmed with the Correctional Institute Service officers. None of them were admitted to hospital while in police custody,” Supt Yakasa said.

He said the reactions against the demolition of Tete settlement by various authorities and members of the public were noted, but he questioned who would do the job if they did not.

“It (killing) has portrayed a bad image of the country. Police have done it in the best interest of the nation. It’s a wake-up call for everybody,” Supt Yakasa said.

He again defended the police action at the settlement, which has now been restrained by an order from the National Court at Waigani.

 

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Clement Clarke Moore (1779 - 1863) wrote the poem Twas the night before Christmas also called “A Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822. It is now the tradition in many American families to read the poem every Christmas Eve. The poem Twas the night before Christmas has redefined our image of Christmas and Santa Claus. Prior to the creation of the story of Twas the night before Christmas St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, had never been associated with a sleigh or reindeers! The author of the poem Twas the night before Christmas was a reticent man and it is believed that a family friend, Miss H. Butler, sent a copy of the poem to the New York Sentinel who published the poem. The condition of publication was that the author of Twas the night before Christmas was to remain anonymous. The first publication date was 23rd December 1823 and it was an immediate success. It was not until 1844 that Clement Clarke Moore claimed ownership when the work was included in a book of his poetry. Clement Clarke Moore came from a prominent family and his father Benjamin Moore was the Bishop of New York who was famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington. The tradition of reading Twas the night before Christmas poem on Christmas Eve is now a worldwide institution.

Source: http://www.carols.org.uk/

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Christmas carols are based on Christian lyrics and relate, in the main, to the Nativity. Christmas carols were introduced in to church services by St Francis of Assisi in the 12th century.
As for the word carols, "carol" is a derivative of the French word caroller, the interpretation of which means dancing around in a circle.
Carol and carols, eventually came to mean not only to dance but included music and lyrics - hence Christmas Caroling.
 The joyous themes for many traditional Christmas carols were banned in England by the staunch Protestant Oliver Cromwell and many of the very old Christmas carols and songs were subsequently lost for all time.
Christmas carols were only fully popularised again during the Victorian era when they again expressed joyful and merry themes in their carol lyrics as opposed to the normal, more sombre, Christian lyrics found in hymns.
As religious observances in the United States and England were closely linked the popularity of Christmas carols grew in both countries in the 19th century.
Many Christmas traditions are relatively recent such as Santa Claus and reindeer and bear no relation to Christmas carols.
We have reflected this in the unusual and beautiful Victorian Angel Pictures we have included for your pleasure and enjoyment.
Today Christmas songs and carols are also fast becoming a tradition.     
 Merry Christmas and enjoy singing the wonderful words and lyrics to the Christmas carols and Christmas songs:

Carol of the Bells
Angels from the Realms of Glory
Ave Maria
Away in a Manger carol
Christians Awake salute the Happy Morn
Deck the Halls carol
Ding Dong Merrily on High
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Good King Wenceslas carol
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
I Saw Three Ships carol
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
 Christmas Sheet Music
Joy to the World
O Christmas Tree carol
O Come All Ye Faithful
O Come O Come Emmanuel
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Once in Royal Davids City
Silent Night carol
The First Noel carol
The Holly and the Ivy
The Wassail Song
We Three Kings of Orient are
While Shepherds Watched

Source: http://www.carols.org.uk

A Christmas Carol has strong lessons for Papua New Guinea

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is one of the classic works of literature featuring the inimitable Scrooge and how his selfish and miserly life is transformed by the Three Christmas Ghosts.
It has many lessons for Papua New Guinea, especially when we are so resource-rich, and yet, we are so poor; when the rich seem to be getting richer and the poor seem to be getting poorer.
In writing A Christmas Carol Dickens was motivated by real concern for the welfare of the poorest section of the population.
He had suffered considerable personal hardship and poverty during his upbringing and echoes of this can be seen in descriptions throughout the book: "Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell and dirt, and life upon the straggling street; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery”.
Dickens was keenly interested in the welfare of poor children in the cities and believed that education was the key to improving the childrens' lives.
This interest is reflected in his descriptions of Ignorance and Want, depicted as two children huddled for protection beneath the cloak of the Ghost of Christmas Present –
Scrooge is warned especially to beware of Ignorance.
Dickens became a supporter of the Ragged Schools in which the children of poor families received education without being charged fees, though compulsory education for all was not introduced until 1870, the year of Dickens' death.
“I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me,” he writes in the foreword to his great book.
“May it haunt their house pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
“Their faithful Friend and Servant, C.D. December, 1843.”
A Christmas Carol, describing the redemption of the wretchedly miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, is the best known of Charles Dickens' works and has become a Christmas tradition loved by children and adults alike.
It is composed in five staves, of which the central three describe Scrooge's visitation by three Spirits - the Spirit of Christmas Past, the Spirit of Christmas Present, and the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come.
The remaining staves act as prologue and epilogue.
Dickens began writing the Carol in October 1843 and had finished it by the end of November so that it could be published for the Christmas season of that year.
The author took special pains to ensure that it was produced of the best quality but priced at a level that enabled it to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience.
This meant that, although the book was popular from the start, it produced relatively modest revenues for the author who had arranged the finances of the publication himself.
We are introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge, miser and man of 'business' (though the exact nature of the business is never made explicit) in no uncertain terms - "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner”!
Scrooge is the surviving partner of the firm Scrooge and Marley, following the death of Jacob Marley exactly seven years previously - "Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail... There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate”.
In life, Jacob Marley had been as miserly and self-absorbed as Scrooge and as a direct consequence he had suffered great torments in the afterlife.
Marley's ghost visits Scrooge to offer him a chance of salvation, an opportunity to avoid the same fate as Marley if he is prepared to change his lifestyle.
Initially reluctant to believe his senses, Scrooge blames the spirit's appearance on indigestion - "You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are”!
 Finally convinced, Scrooge is told to expect three Spirits...
The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, shows Scrooge scenes from his past including a Christmas party held by Mr Fezziwig for whom he worked as an apprentice.
The pleasure generated by the party was considerable yet the financial outlay to Mr Fezziwig was relatively modest.
Scrooge is deeply affected - "His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything... and underwent the strangest agitation”.
Scrooge wonders whether he should not have treated his clerk, Bob Cratchit, more kindly at Christmas.
The second spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to the house of his ill-treated clerk Bob Cratchit.
Despite this family's poverty, the household derives joy from simple pleasures - though a sense of impending darkness is provided by the description of Cratchit's crippled son, Tiny Tim.
 "I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, this child will die”.
Scrooge is distraught (again we witness signs of his transformation) but the Spirit uses Scrooge's earlier words against him - "If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population”.
At the end of the third stave, the Spirit draws aside his cloak to reveal two piteous children - "This boy is Ignorance, This girl is Want”.
Scrooge recoils in disgust, asking whether there is no refuge for the two waifs, and again is rebuffed by the Spirit using his own words against him - "Are there no prisons? ...Are there no workhouses”? The Ghost of Christmas Past makes way for the third, and most disturbing, Spirit.
 The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is the spirit which Scrooge fears the most, and it has an appropriately troubling appearance - "draped and hooded, coming like a mist along the ground towards him”.
In his company, Scrooge is shown the reactions of various groups to the death of an unidentified man.
No one appears to show any sympathy for his death and Scrooge wonders whom they may be discussing, though there is a suggestion that he may have his suspicions - "The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way now”.
In contrast to the un-mourned death of this unnamed man, the Spirit shows Scrooge the household of Bob Cratchit where Tiny Tim is no longer present.
The scene is described with the utmost poignancy by Dickens, but Scrooge's reaction to the scene is not recorded.
Instead the Spirit draws Scrooge to a neglected grave - "choked up with too much burying; fat with repleted appetite".
As Scrooge confronts his own name on the grave, he promises that the intercession of the Spirits has changed him - "I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse”.
The final stave sees the complete, and sustained, transformation of Scrooge - "...to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world”.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS BY SUSUVE LAUMAEA

Address root case of lawlessness and crime

THE tragic and senseless murder of business tycoon Sir George Constantinou underscored the existence of a huge national problem that remains a problem. There is a huge groundswell of lawlessness and social disorder. It is a growing problem fueled by a cast of factors. Systematic and systemic corruption at all levels of government, bureaucracy and business, unemployment, school dropouts, poverty, population growth, urban drift, homelessness and destitution, denial of economic and social opportunities and ethnic or racial domination are among the problems that give rise to growing culture of lawlessness and disorder in PNG. Urban life in PNG is literally a cut-throat affair based on survival of the fittest, the most deceptive, the most corrupt and the most crooked. There is also the breakdown in our traditional cultures of rendering respect to our elders. Bestowing respect by younger people upon their elders has become a very rare feature in PNG’s urban communities. The very fabric of traditional PNG cultures and values has broken down most appallingly especially among disoriented urban youth. Why should it take the barbaric and heinous killing of a peace-loving, hard working and a successful old man to hammer home the inadequacy of our nation’s law and order administration or the proliferation of settlements and clusters of habitats that shelter criminals and potential criminals? Sir George was an iconic PNG champion who passionately loved his adopted home of 54 years and was stilling working his guts out for a happier, healthier and wealthier PNG right up to the day he was so tragically killed. This is not the type of action to be expected of human beings living in the 21^st century. This is the action of Neanderthal beings that have still to emerge from their caves and tree tops? The culprits of the crime are unfit to live in civilized society. Government has a great deal of soul-searching to do in this festive period. It’s got to get the law and order matrix right. Government must not be reactive or be driven by crisis. Government must be forward looking and anticipatory. Government cannot afford to be tunnel-visioned and pursue foreign investment exclusively to the great detriment of other important sectors of our national life. Government must immediately take ownership of the neglected law and order situation and turn it around for the better. The nation must be made secure, stable and that there is peace, good order and harmony within all our communities in order for national development and foreign investment to flourish. Crime and law and order problems should not be left to the police to exclusively handle. Containing law and order problems must be made everybody’s business. Sir George’s tragic passing is outrageous. He did not deserve to die that way. Our nation and our system of administration of national affairs and of law and order produced the “sickos and psychos” that took away Sir George’s life so brutally. We are so free and democratic in this country that we allow psychopaths, thugs, rapists, HIV/AIDS carriers and infidels to move freely from place to place to commit all manner advance their acts of terror, crime and other anti-social activities. That must stop. The culprits who are responsible for Sir George’s killing should also be treated with as brutally and with equal harshness. The public is outraged – rightly so too -- by the barbaric act. Root causes of crime and lawlessness in PNG communities must be identified and resolved. The national attitude of complacency in administering national affairs at all levels of the political and bureaucratic hierarchy must be revamped, refocused and made objective-driven rather than short term result-driven. Society has a task to cleanse itself of the rotten and bad apples. There are thousands of marijuana and home-brew-induced “sickos and psychos” hiding or absorbed into and living among decent community-minded and law-abiding people in our urban villages, settlements and suburbs in towns and cities. Laws and penalties must be made harsher deter makers, peddlers and consumers of marijuana and home-brewed alcohol. The combination of both these substances is sufficient inducement to spur intoxicated youths to commit violent crime. Like the many who have paid tribute to the late Sir George Constantinou and condolences to his family, this scribe also extends his to a man who was responsible for making it possible for a visit for the first time to the land of the Acropolis as a young newspaper cub reporter 30 years ago. Thank you Sir George, and may you rest in eternal peace.

• Share your views with the writer at mailto: suslaumaea@gmail or read this column at malumnalu.blogspot.com or send SMS to: 684 5168.