Port Moresby skyline continues to change

Captions: 1.  Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane unveils a plaque commemorating the opening of the new Tango Department Store assisted by Malaysian High Commissioner 2. Tango Department Store owner Teetee Wong takes Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane on a tour of the new Tango Department Store 3. Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane cuts a ribbon to official open the new Tango Department Store as Sir Brian Bell and shop owner Nellie Tan

Port Moresby’s changing skyline continued yesterday with the opening of the three-storey Tango Department Store by Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane.
The shop, which will be open seven days a week, features an in-house playground for children on the third floor.
The day had been a long time in coming since the previous shop, in the very same location next to the Brian Bell Plaza at Boroko, caught fire in 2005.
Since then, the company has been continuing operations as TST Shopping Centre, on the third floor of Ori Lavi Haus within a 500 square metre space.
“We have been busy building what you see in front of you today – a three level department store with 6, 000 square metres floor space,” said Tango spokesperson Cindy Tan at the opening.
“Many of these interior furnishings are proudly Papua New Guinean-made.
“For example our show cases, clothing racks, gift shop and flower display shelves, material stands, accessory display racks and cashier counters are all proudly produced by our carpenters.
“From the rubbles of TST Shopping Centre to the newly-finished Tango Department Store, this has been a highly-anticipated moment for our company.”
Sir Paulias commended the company for making use of local companies.
“I am pleased to note that the brainchild and expertise behind the design, and the building itself, is that of our very own local construction and engineering companies,” he said.
“I am told that over 65% of the materials used in the construction of the building were either produced or found within Papua New Guinea, utilising local expertise and know how.
“Also, over 90% of the employees here are Papua New Guineans.
“Investment of such, I must say, is very much appreciated and welcomed.
“It is commendable to see foreign investors utilising our local expertise and at the same time, providing majority of the employment opportunities to Papua New Guineans.
“For this I commend Kuntila No. 4 Company Ltd, and Mr TeeTee Wong, for having confidence in, and supporting, our locally-based companies.
“Such undertakings, and the outcomes, further demonstrates confidence that, as Papua New Guineans, we too have the ability to achieve outstanding results in whatever professions we are in.
“This act alone, to engage local expertise, has saved the company millions of Kina, which could easily have gone overseas, but was retained within our local companies and within the country.”
The first floor has a wide range of household items and some furniture, a hardware section together with gardening and fishing supplies, an electronics section, a small supermarket for shoppers on the go, an airconditioned foodbar and a bakery/
The second floor has clothing for the whole family and for all lifestyles, hair and body care products, perfumes, shoes and sandals, bags and suitcases, towels and sheets, tailoring supplies and a broad range of materials.
The third floor has school uniforms, stationery, flowers, a local craft gift shop, an in-house playground, toys, big boy push toys, bicycles, baby prams and cots.
A Nike and Puma shop will be located next to the craft shop and, besides the retail unit, Tango’s wholesale unit operates from the third floor as well.

InterOil denies cheap gas deal

PORT MORESBY, Sunday, April 19: INTEROIL Corporation has denied claims it has agreed to sell cheap gas to China.

A statement issued by the company said this suggestion published by a local daily newspaper on its front page last Friday is without basis and therefore “totally untrue”.

Chief executive Phil Mulacek described the claims as ‘absolute nonsense” and insulting to the government and companies of China that confirmed LNG would be expected to be purchased at market Prices.

“We regret that allegations regarding agreements signed in Beijing this week have been misrepresented in the media,” he said.

“It is a shame that so many misleading and untrue statements were published without the basic facts first being confirmed with InterOil”. 

The facts were told to Minister Arthur Somare while in China and that the InterOil LNG pricing would not cause harm to the Exxon- Oil Search project.

“Those behind this rumor have no understanding of the process we are currently involved in to finance the development of the Elk and Antelope gas fields”, Mr Mulacek said.

“The truth is no ‘cheap gas’ deal has been done nor do we intend being party so such an arrangement”.

Mr Mulacek said that an historic deal had recently been signed in Beijing with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the nation’s largest offshore petroleum explorer.

The initial accord commits the Chinese company, InterOil and the PNG-owned Petromin Holdings to agreeing to commercial terms for the financing of the government’s stake in the $US5-billion project.

“At the moment we are seeking strategic partners from throughout the world to help underwrite and develop the project,” he said.

“The recent China deal is just one part of that process.

“Any suggestion the Beijing accord is about the sale of cheap gas is far wide of the mark”.

 “It is fiction - a fantasy devoid of reality.” 

Mr Mulacek said, on a positive note, the proposed development of the Elk/Antelope gas reserves would be a major windfall for the entire nation and underpinned the first train of LNG production.

“This project would create jobs and generate substantial wealth for Papua New Guinea, its government and people for many years to come,” he said.

“It has the potential to make a significant contribution to GDP and the balance of payments”.

The project involves the laying of a pipeline from the gas fields in the Gulf province and construction of a gas processing plant on land adjacent to the InterOil’s Port Moresby refinery.

It is expected that gas would begin flowing from the new facility in 2014.

“We are enormously proud of the part InterOil has played in the Liquid Niugini Limited’s LNG project so far”, Mr Mulacek said.

“That is why we are extremely disappointed when erroneous and damaging false reports about it receive currency”. 

 

For further information and to arrange media interviews contact:

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: (675) 321 7040

Mobile: (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

 

Bitapaka War Cemetery

This is the second in a series of articles about WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea as we approach ANZAC Day next Saturday. This time we visit the beautiful Bitapaka War Cemetery outside Rabaul, East New Britain province...

I visited Bitapaka War Cemetery, not far from Rabaul, East New Britain province, recently.
This peaceful and beautiful cemetery contains the graves of over 1, 000 Allied war dead and the Rabaul Memorial commemorates those who have no known grave.
The cemetery is maintained by the Office of Australian War Graves, Department of Veterans' Affairs, on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
It is located near the site of the first Australian action of World War I when the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) captured a German wireless station on September 11, 1914.
Each grave is marked by a bronze plaque set on a low concrete pedestal with 500 marked 'Known to God'.
As well as Australians, the cemetery contains the graves of Indian and British prisoners of war who were transported to New Britain by the Japanese as a labour force.
The peace of the setting and the enormous number of white crosses shocked me with the contrast.
It was here that I began to grasp the sacrifice made by those who give their lives for their country.
Bitapaka War Cemetery respects and honors those who made the supreme sacrifice for their people.
It also serves as a reminder that war kills, not just a few, but many hundreds of thousands, and on both sides.
Bitapaka – like other war cemeteries in Papua New Guinea – offers an opportunity to create goodwill amongst all the living so that the same tragedies may not be repeated.
It creates strong feelings of sacredness, tranquility, spaciousness, peace and beauty, and is immaculately maintained by devoted staff.
Bitapaka is a village in East New Britain which, in 1914, was the site of a German radio station and thus a target for the troops of the AN&MEF.
After landing at Kabakaul on the morning of September 11, 1914, troops from the AN&MEF were involved in a series of skirmishes with German forces, mostly local Melanesian troops, along the track to Bitapaka.
The radio station was finally secured at 7pm at a cost of seven Australians killed and five wounded.
One German and 30 Melanesians had died in the effort to defend it.
Bitapaka War Cemetery contains 1, 111 burials of WW11: 12 from the Navy, 1,042 from the Navy, 55 from the Air Force and two civilians.
Of these, 35 are British, 420 are Australians, one is a New Zealander, 614 are Indians, 34 are Fijians, two are Western Solomon Islanders, and five are Allies.
The memorial commemorates 1,113 Australian soldiers, 104 airmen and eight Papua New Guineans who have no known grave.
The Indian soldiers were prisoners of war from the Malayan Campaign, while the remainder of the burials and all the names on the memorial are of men who died in New Britain and New Ireland.
The cemetery also contains 28 burials of WW1: 27 Australian and one British.
The cemetery and memorial were constructed and are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

A Total abuse of the English Language

How to write love letters using dictionary

A local chap was deeply in love with a pretty foreign girl, whom he wanted.  But he did not have the courage to talk to her in person.  So he decided to go alone and with the help of a dictionary, he wrote a letter of proposal to her.

HE WROTE: 
 Most worthy of your estimation after a long consideration and much meditation. 
I have a strong indication to become your relation. As to my educational qualification, it is no exaggeration or fabrication that I have passed my matriculation examination;    no doubt without any hesitation and very little preparation. 
 What do you say to the solemnisation of our marriage celebration according to the glorification of modern civilisation    and with a view to the expansion of the population of present generation. On your approbation of the application, I shall make preparation to improve my situation, and is such obligation is worth    of consideration it will be our argumentation of the joy and exaltation of our joint dissimilation. 

Thanking you in anticipation and with devotion, 

To remain victim of your fascination.

SHE WROTE: 
Dear Mr. Victim of my fascination, 
Congratulation for your lengthy narration of course full of affection aimed at an affiliation for a combination which on   examination I find is a fine presentation of your ambition. You have passed your matriculation with little preparation, what about my graduation after a long botheration, so  improve situation in education and make an application by acquisition of post graduation and minimum qualification  for the convocation and before taking your photo for circulation undergo beautification. Further strict observation of the following conditions is the regulation for the determination of our relation.

        1.  Consultation of my parents before approaching for my connection.
       
        2.  Communication of your confirmation that you are not a victim of any fascination, and

        3.  Procreation must not be your recreation.

        In anticipation of a solid action instead of continuation of paper conversation.

        I Remain,
       
        Unaffected by your affection.

How Susan Boyle won over the world

By Ian Youngs

Entertainment reporter, BBC News  

 

Last weekend, Susan Boyle was just a face in the crowd.

This weekend, clips of her singing on Britain's Got Talent have notched up almost 50 million views on YouTube.

Her face appears on the front pages of papers in Britain and beyond, she been offered a seat on Oprah's sofa and has been told she is as good as guaranteed a worldwide number one album.

The rise of the 47-year-old spinster from Scotland has been a true global phenomenon.

Last Saturday, viewers saw Boyle, with double chin, unkempt hair, frumpy appearance and eccentric demeanour, step onto the talent show stage and proclaim her dream of being a professional singer.

The judges rolled their eyes and the audience pulled incredulous faces. Onlookers, on set and at home, were rubbing their hands at the prospect of another hopeless, deluded loser being crushed by a withering Simon Cowell insult.

Then she opened her mouth and sang I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables.

Her voice confounded all expectations - the judges' eyes bulged, the crowd went wild and Boyle became an instant star.

Ever since, the "fairytale" has travelled the globe and interest in the church volunteer has snowballed.

It is the story of a talent unearthed, but that does not fully explain why she has become such a sensation.

Boyle has shattered prejudices about the connection between age, appearance and talent. She has proved that you don't have to be young and glamorous to be talented, and recognised as such.

The YouTube millions have cheered on the underdog, and seen in her the possibilities for their own hopes and dreams.

Immediately after her performance, one of the judges, Amanda Holden, said they had been "very cynical", and that the performance was the "biggest wake-up call ever".

Another judge, former newspaper editor Piers Morgan, appeared with Boyle on CNN's Larry King Show.

"I'm sorry because we did not give you anything like the respect we should have done when you first came out," he told her. Referring to her appearance, he said: "We thought you were going to be a bit of a joke act, to be honest with you."

Boyle would have a best-selling album and a world tour by the end of the year, whether she wins Britain's Got Talent or not, he assured her.

And mentioning fellow judge Simon Cowell, Morgan added: "It's fair to say that his eyes have been going ker-ching ever since Susan's performance."

Blogs, newspaper columns and talk shows have been full of discussion about why Boyle has sparked such a reaction.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, writer for US celebrity magazine Entertainment Weekly, said the performance was a powerful reality check.

She wrote: "In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging - the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts - the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace.

"She pierced my defences. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective."

Her post has been followed by comments from scores of readers saying they watched the clip repeatedly, with the same emotional response.

"I cried SO hard," read one. "There's something so beautiful about reaching your dreams... and knowing that age means nothing."

Another wrote: "I cry because she reminds us to hope, to never lose track of our dreams, to keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter what others say or think. She gives us hope."

"Fairytales don't come any more satisfactory than this," wrote columnist Melanie Reid in The Times.

"The sisterhood of the plain, those of us who will never look like Girls Aloud, nor even Girls Aloud's grandmothers, are cheering as never before.

"Susan Boyle is the ugly duckling who didn't need to turn into a swan; she has fulfilled the dreams of millions who, downtrodden by the cruelty of a culture that judges them on their appearance, have settled for life without looking in the mirror."

Miranda Sawyer, writing in the Daily Mirror, questioned why image was less of an issue for male singers.

"No woman gets to perform publicly unless she looks like Mariah Carey," she wrote. "If you're a female singer, you are required by showbiz law to appear sexy at all times.

"Poor Madonna and Kylie are desperately keeping up appearances, holding back the years with Botox and face-fillers just so they're allowed to continue with their careers."

The Sun newspaper has given away a free Susan Boyle souvenir poster. US talk show host Jay Leno performed an impression of her on his show.

Demi Moore famously joined the fan club. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has congratulated her. She is odds-on favourite to win Britain's Got Talent.

A star has been born. Whether she will she leave a dent on our prejudices about age and appearance remains to be seen.

 

Old Salamaua cemetery a relic of a bygone era

The old Salamaua cemetery (pictured) is a relic of a bygone era of the 1920s and 1930s when fevered gold miners from all over the world converged on this idyllic part of the world.
To visit the old Salamaua cemetery is to step back in time, to rip-roaring period when gold fever struck men from around the globe.
The discovery of gold at Edie Creek above Wau in 1926 sparked off a gold rush of massive proportions, which led to the development of Salamaua as the capital of the then Morobe District.
Thousands of Europeans flocked to the jungles of Salamaua and Wau in search of gold in the ‘20s and ‘30s.
Their legacy lives on today through the infamous Black Cat Trail, later to become scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of WW11.
In those days, foreigners were regarded as insane by the village people because of the joy the strange yellow dust brought to them and the trouble they went to get it
Gold-fevered foreigners from all around the globe were landing at Salamaua!
The goldfields lay eight days walk through thick leech-infested jungle and steep razorback ridges.
There was a real threat of being attacked by hostile warriors.
And when they got to the fields, they were faced with the prospect of dysentery, a variety of ‘jungle’ diseases, and pneumonia brought on by the extremes of temperature between day and night.
Blackwater fever, a potent tropical disease akin to malaria, claimed the lives of unaccustomed European gold miners by the score.
Gold Dust and Ashes, the 1933 classic by Australian writer Ion Idriess, tells the fascinating yarn of the gold fields and of the trials and tribulations faced by the miners.
Idriess, in his book – which remains a bestseller to this day – also writes of many of the colorful characters that now lie on a hill overlooking the sea in the old Salamaua cemetery.
It provides probably the best insight into the history of the development of the Morobe goldfields, and is a must- read for students of colonial history.
Today the old Salamaua cemetery, or what remains of it, is well tended to by the local villagers.
The graves are mute testimony to the days when European man, running a high gold fever, was claimed by a fever of a different kind.

Clansmen admit to wrongdoing in hideous sorcery-related killings

By ELIAS LARI in The National (Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper)

 

MEMBERS of a clan living near Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, yesterday admitted they were wrong to murder a father and his son whom they suspected of sorcery.

Members of the Moge Kimnika clan, peace mediators and relatives of the deceased met in Mt Hagen as members of the clan expressed remorse in last February killing of two of their own.

Plak Doa and his son Anis were attacked and tied up, placed inside their own house and burnt to death last Feb 8 at Ban village.

Clansmen had accused them for the death of community leader Pora Mel through sorcery.

Police said the clansmen had tied them up and burnt them because that was the only way to remove the “evil spirit” in them.

At the time, police were prevented from entering the village by heavily armed men.

More than two months after the gruesome killing, the Moge Kimnika clansmen admitted they were wrong, and publicly apologised to the relatives of the deceased.

They said they had no evidence that the two had used sorcery to cause the death of Mel.

The village leaders said they attacked and killed their own tribesmen based on rumours and gossips.

Anis Tipi, one of the family members of the two deceased, said Doa and his son lost their lives for nothing.

Provincial peace mediator Thomas Berum said even though people believed in sorcery, it did not exist and many innocent and defenseless people had been accused and put to death.

Mr Berum said this was a mentality in the Highlands region presently that needed to be discarded.

Community policing officer Snr Const Kolo Traota praised the two parties for coming together to resolve the matter peacefully.

However, Mr Traota told the leaders that police would not release the two suspects that had been detained in connection with the killings.

A date is yet to be set by the Moge Kimnika clansmen to pay compensation to the family members of the deceased.

Bomana War Cemetery

ANZAC Day falls next Saturday, April 25, and in recognition of this, this blog will run a series of articles about WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea over the next couple of days. We start with the Bomana War Cemetery (pictured above) outside Port Moresby...

Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery is about 19 kilometres north of Port Moresby on the road to Nine-Mile, and is approached from the main road by a short side road called Pilgrims Way.

Those who died in the fighting in Papua and Bougainville are buried in Bomana War Cemetery, their graves brought in by the Australian Army Graves Service from burial grounds in the areas where the fighting had taken place.

The unidentified soldiers of the United Kingdom forces were all from the Royal Artillery, captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore; they died in captivity and were buried on the island of Bailale in the Solomons.

These men were later re-buried in a temporary war cemetery at Torokina on Bougainville Island before being transferred to their permanent resting place at Port Moresby.

The cemetery contains 3,819 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 702 of them unidentified.

The Port Moresby Memorial stands behind the cemetery and commemorates almost 750 men of the Australian Army (including Papua and New Guinea local forces), the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in the operations in Papua and who have no known graves.

Men of the Royal Australian Navy who died in the south-west Pacific region, and have no known grave but the sea, are commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in England, along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth Naval Forces.

Bougainville casualties who have no known graves are commemorated on a memorial at Suva, Fiji.

Many Papua New Guineans are living below the poverty line

By NALAU BINGEDING

Dear All,

An Australian contracted by National Research Institute to do a population study in Port Moresby in 2007 has redefined poverty.

He mentioned that rural poverty is not equivalent to urban poverty.

The two are distinct and should be looked at separately.

If you live in an urban setting but have no access to basic services such as water, sanitation, telephone, electricity, gas and others, you are in fact living under the poverty line.

In the case of rural poverty, those basic services mentioned for urban poverty are not considered.

Other factors define rural poverty.

Many public servants in Port Moresby who attended the seminar presented by the Australian were surprised to find that most of them were living below the poverty line.

Many of them lived at Kaugere, Sabama, Badilli and Koki, but lacked the basic services provided by National Capital District Commission and Eda Ranu.

In fact most of them were upset because they could not afford to rent decent housing, due to the K7.00 housing allowance given to them.

Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu has been trying to reason out things with the trade unions about the increase in housing allowance for MPs, and the K128 million jet for Air Niugini.

But the Somare government is keeping quiet, while thousands of public servants living in urban areas live in poverty.

It is not the rural people that are living under the poverty line, but city and town dwellers as well.

Wake up Papua New Guinea.

This country is headed for anarchy!

Lae’s new tower

Pictured is an artistic impression of the proposed new IPI Building to be constructed in Second Street, Lae, in place of its iconic predecessor.
Pacific Architects Consortium (PNG) Limited is the architects and designers of the project for Nambawan Super Limited along with many other new developments in Papua New Guinea.
The building consists of a secure semi-basement car parking for all tenants plus separate off-street visitor parking.
“It is anticipated that there will be over 1, 000 square metres ground floor retail area with four floors of commercial space at 750 square metres per level of net lettable area,” said PAC associate director/senior projects manager Gary Hallard.
“The remaining top two penthouse floors contain a mixture of two and three-bedroom boutique apartments, totalling 10, that have unsurpassed views to the Huon Gulf and Salamaua.
“The entire building has been carefully designed to latest technology while being
environmentally-friendly and robust to meet the harsh and diverse climate conditions
experienced in Lae.
“The building will be a landmark building for Lae and Nambawan Super Limited.”

The times they are a changin'

They times they are a changin’…at least in the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea as a result of climate change.

The mango tree in this picture has never borne fruit before, given the cool highlands climate, however, has done so recently in something reminiscent of warmer, coastal climates.

The people in the photo are mother Joan Kume with baby Jonathan Thurston (named after the Aussie rugby league star?), husband Derek Kume and daughter Martha. 

They are from Modia village in Kere, Chimbu province, but are long-term residents at Fruitgate in Asaro.

This picture was taken in February 2009.

 

Pacific Adventist University to celebrate 25th Anniversary

The Pacific Adventist University, which the God-given mission of “Educate to Serve”, this year celebrates its 25^th Anniversary.

Celebrations will take place at PAU’s Koiari Park Campus outside Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from Friday, August 28 to Sunday, August 30.

PAU is a tertiary institution located 21 kilometres outside Port Moresby and operated by the South Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Both the faculty and the student body are international in composition.

While most students come from Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island nations such as Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, others have come from Africa, Australia, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, and the United States.

The institution was established as Pacific Adventist College, a college of higher education in 1983 and given a charter as a university by the Papua New Guinea government in 1997.

Currently bachelor's and (some) masters degrees are offered in Business, Education, Science, Health Science (Nursing), Theology and Humanities.

 

Divine Word University Open Day falls on May 3, 2009

The Divine Word University Open Day, which falls on May 3, 2009, is a time that the University opens its doors to the public to showcase the achievements of its students and the ongoing relationship with its partners.

As an academic community, DWU is committed to being a constant agent of positive change and creativity through quality of its services, and with this consistency, its theme for 2009 is “Partnership for Total Quality Management”.

Thoughts on Papua New Guinea's new balus

By RONALD BULUM

 

WHEN Talasea forestry resources owners were chartering an aircraft just so they could go to Hoskins to get kettles for their wives, and when Hami Yawari was splurging kina like confetti, no traditional, uneducated Papua New Guinean complained.

The illiterate had no reason to begrudge Yawari or the Talasea because he came from a society where the measure of a man's wealth was shown by the display of his possessions or as ethnographer Bronislaw Malinowski noted in the Trobriand Islands between 1915 and 1918, his ability to give.

The tradition of giving to show wealth - from those pleasurable exotic isles to the cold and rugged Torricelli mountains - is suffice to say, widespread.

Little wonder then that the West New British and the Southern Highlanders gave no thought to keeping money in a safe or bank.

Their, or our habits, have given The Nationwide Micro Bank impetus to go to as young as possible an age group in Finschhafen primary schools to instill a sense of "savings culture".

It is going to be a stiff challenge.

Our habits have given economists who were molded in the intellectual teachings of philosopher Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations, a sudden turn.

Instead of using the Gross Domestic Product as the yard stick to measuring a nation's standing, in which the ability to earn and save in the bank and increase liquidity and hold the balance of payments higher is an influential factor; other economists think otherwise.

They pursue the notion that a country's wealth should be measured by the amount of income per capita that is spent.

By that paradigm, Time Magazine in about late 1992 showed that Papua New Guinea, Mexico and China could not be classified as Third World Nations or under developed, or (the more politically correct term) Developing Nation.

Papua New Guinea was listed as one of the top 25 nations.

Papua New Guineans are big spenders - compulsive buyers.

And the square root is that they come from a rich society, naturally.

In traditional Papua New Guinea, there was no such thing as poverty.

Efforts by economic researchers to delve into the proportions of urban and rural population that are living in poverty and of the extent of their poverty, have shown that by their measure, all rural Papua New Guineans were in poverty because they were living on less than K1 a day (K362 a year) - less than enough to feed a fat baby a day in New York.

Yet no one died of starvation in starch-starved Mortlock or protein-deficient Mt Wilhelm.

Even city outcasts at Sabama, Newtown, Kaugere, and Hunter, Bumayong and 4 Mile didn't need to drink unboiled drain water.

Poverty is clearly defined when someone can't feed himself (and that he has no choice). 

The Port Moresby and Lae squatters may be hungry. But they choose to be hungry. They have a choice to go back to their villages and till their land and fish the rivers and hunt their bushes.

With that in mind, consider Cambridge fellow and Harvard professor John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society, 1958: Penguin Books Ltd, Hammondsworth, UK.

"Nearly all throughout history have been very poor.

"The exception, almost insignificant in the whole span of human existence, has been the last few generations, in the comparatively small corner of the world populated by Europeans.

"Here, and especially in the United States, there has been great and quite, unprecedented affluence.

"The ideas by which the people of this favoured part of the world interpret their existence, and in measure guide their behaviour, were not forged in a world of wealth.

"These ideas were the product of a world in which poverty had always been man's normal lot, and any other state was in degree unimaginable.

"This poverty was not the elegant torture of the spirit which comes from contemplating another man's more spacious possessions.

"It was the unedifying mortification of the flesh - from hunger, sickness, and cold. Those who might be freed temporarily from such burden could not know when it will strike again, for at best hunger yielded only perilously to privation.

"It is improbable that poverty of the masses of the people was made greatly more bearable by the fact that a very few - those upon whose movements nearly all recorded history centres - were very rich.

"No one would wish to argue that the ideas which interpreted this world of grim scarcity would serve people equally well for the contemporary United States.

"Poverty was the all-pervasive fact of that world."

The thought of Dr Galbraith; someone who headed the American Office of Price Administration during the very trying time of stretching of resources in WWII, and studied the nadir of free market economics in his The Great Crash 1929, is that classical economics was born in a harsh world of mass poverty.

It has left us with a set of preconceptions hard to adapt to the realities of our own richer age.

In that vein, the Papua New Guineans schooled in western economic thought are finding it hard to cope with Sir Michael's (Air Niugini's) buy.

But the villager will say, "Go for it, Somare".

 

Vintages Phantom comics printed in Papua New Guinea wanted

Tok Pisin Phantom comics from 1970s wanted by Australian collector…a challenge for you Wewak boys

 

Hi,

My name is Les Gray (email norles@chariot.net.au), from Adelaide, South Australia.

I am an avid Phantom Comic collector.

I got your email address off the internet.

I am wondering if you can help me trace Phantom comics produced about the 1970s by Wirui Press in Wewak.

I have little information on these comics and would like to include them in my large collection.

Thank you for your time.

 

Les,

Adelaide.

 

China's oil corp joins InterOil in hunt for a strategic partner

Petromin committed to discuss commercial terms

 

CHINA’s National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) will now join discussions and the process in bringing a strategic partner to the InterOil Corporation-led liquefied natural gas project, The National reports.

Importantly, it will discuss terms on which it will provide a carry for Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd in respect to the financing of the State’s equity in the project.

This comes after Petromin and InterOil signed a heads of agreement (HoA) on Wednesday in Beijing, China, that was witnessed by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and Chinese premiere Wen Jiabao.

The HoA is for commercial cooperation with CNOOC, following official talks between Mr Wen and Sir Michael.

The occasion was viewed as one of the major achievements of Sir Michael’s visit to China.

Petromin, in a statement, said both InterOil and itself had started discussions with a number of major oil and gas companies to bring in a strategic partner to the InterOil project that would underwrite the project.

“The HoA now allows CNOOC to participate in that process,” the statement said.

“More significantly, the HoA provides for CNOOC to discuss the terms on which it will provide a carry for Petromin in respect of the financing of the State’s equity in the project.”

Petromin managing director Joshua Kalinoe said the parties were committed to quickly agree on the commercial terms for this financing and to enter into binding arrangements as soon as possible.

Mr Kalinoe said he was excited about the progress to date on the financing arrangements.

He thanked the National Government, in particular Sir Michael, for the support and the political leadership provided for the InterOil-led project in his capacity as minister responsible for Petromin.

“For Petromin and the people of Papua New Guinea, this is a major project where the benefits will flow throughout the national economy. Petromin, as the national petroleum and mining company will hold equity in the gas field and the LNG plant for the benefit of all Papua New Guineans.”

He added that CNOOC and InterOil had given undertakings to work with Petromin to assist it to build capacity and experience in all facets of the project and to create jobs, skills training and long-term economic benefits for as many Papua New Guineans.

“As an example, Petromin has the option of co-marketing the State’s share of the LNG. This will develop marketing expertise which will have on-going relevance as new oil and gas resources are located and developed.”

 

Papua New Guinea has no riches to boast about: Morauta

OPPOSITION leader Sir Mekere Morauta has challenged Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to show proof of all the riches accumulated by his Government, The National reports,

Sir Mekere was responding to a number of statements issued by Sir Michael early this week.

In one statement, the Prime Minister defended the purchase of an expensive Falcon jet, saying PNG was rich enough to afford this executive aircraft.

In a another statement, Sir Michael said Papua New Guineans were better off now than they were at Independence and there was no one starving from poverty in the rural areas.

Sir Mekere said yesterday the Prime Minister’s statements were the ultimate insult to the people, who were suffering lack of basic services, essential drugs and high price of goods and services.

“The Prime Minister and his Government’s social and economic radar is seriously off course.

“He needed to reset the radar to reflect the serious problem the nation is facing,” Sir Mekere said.

“There is no denying that this country enjoyed unprecedented economic growth for the last seven years.

“But that had little to do with what (Sir Michael) put in place; the climate for stability and growth were in place before his Government was voted in.

“PNG enjoyed an economic boom, with large inflow of revenue from high commodity prices, due largely to the economic expansion in China and India.

“We had a tidal wave of added revenue,” he added.

“PNG, according to the Prime Minister, is rich enough to buy a Falcon jet for his use, but not rich enough to pay nurses, teachers and policemen; not rich enough to pay school fees; not rich enough to pay for medicine for rural clinics and provide schools with provisions.

“Port Moresby General Hospital, the nation’s premier hausik, is a national shame.

“People like the Prime Minister and I can be medivac to Brisbane, Singapore, Cairns and Townsville, but what about our uncles, aunties and nephews; the money for the Falcon should be used to provide services for them in the country.

“Stories are bound of serious sick people waiting for days to be attended to at the Port Moresby General Hospital.”

Sir Mekere said millions of kina in public funds had been mismanaged with nothing to show for that could make Sir Michael and his Government proud.

“Where are the new roads, schools, hospitals and clinics?

“Where are the promised houses for public servants and teachers?”

He said the Somare Government beat their own expectations by blowing last year’s budget by K540 million.

“The Government is continuing this reckless spending approach unrestrained, and we can expect a bigger budget deficit this year.

“Of course, we have to borrow to fund these deficits and, like all borrowings, someone has to pay for them.”

Pacific Freedom Forum condemns harassment and detention of Fiji-based journalists

The Pacific Freedom Forum condemns the continued harassment and detention of Fiji-based journalists filing for or providing information to overseas news outlets, in addition to continuing harassment of local media and journalists.

The reported detention of Pita Ligaiula, who was filing for Associated Press and based at the PacNews Secretariat in Suva, occurred alongside the reported harassment of other journalists filing for outlets including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio New Zealand.

"This outrageous behavior on the part of Fiji authorities will only serve to still further focus attention on that country's situation, because the story will still be told," Pacific Freedom Forum chair Susuve Laumaea says.

"The reported invitation to 'approved' journalists - whose prior reportage on Fiji will be vetted prior to issuing visas - to come and tell 'positive' stories is ridiculous.

"Local and overseas journalists were, like Pita Ligaiula, trying to provide balanced and accurate reports about Fiji, and all the current Fiji authorities can do is harass and attempt to silence them."

"Locking up reporters such as Fiji TV's Edwin Nand, whose interview with deported ABC reporter, Sean Dorney, was seen world wide, and now AP's Pita Ligaiula, whose reports were also published globally, only demonstrates that those responsible need help and training in what real journalism is all about," says PFF co-chair Monica Miller.

 "The increased pressure on our media colleagues in Fiji has only added to the credibility and respect they have earned from regional and international colleagues; and renewed solidarity amongst Pacific journalists.

"PacNews is produced by the Pacific Islands News Association, itself a long running regional media and journalism support and training organization, which owes no loyalty to anybody except to its members and affiliates, and to the principles of fair, accurate, and balanced journalism.

"The continuing attacks on the Fiji media by the local authorities have been and continue to be condemned globally, and every instance of harassment and intimidation of journalists is being reported. PFF continues to encourage a return to due process by the current regime, by taking their issues through the complaints channels of the Fiji Media Council."

Bainimarama - the conventional view - today's "The Australian"

Letters Blog | April 17, 2009 | 4 Comments

GRAHAM Davis ("Dealing with the dictator”, Features, 16/4) must be naive indeed to believe Frank Bainimarama’s cover story for seizing complete power in Fiji. All Fiji’s coups have been justified by appeals to a greater good—the protection of “indigenous rights” in the case of the 1987 and 2000 coups, “national security” in the case of the army’s intervention in 2000, and “good governance” in 2006. The label may change but underneath lie the ambitions of individuals and groups who want power and are not willing to wait for the cumbersome process of democracy to get it.

What evidence is there that Bainimarama has any democratic instincts at all? He has systematically purged the Fiji Military Forces of constitutionalist officers, demanding they pledge an oath of personal loyalty to him and dismissing those who refuse. He never accepted the authority of the democratically elected government when there was one, and overthrew it by force in the end. He has comprehensively militarised the governing of Fiji, sacking civilians in favour of military officers in most key positions of the Fiji public service. He heads a military that consistently overspends its budget by tens of millions of dollars, draining Fiji of vital public resources. And, last year, he awarded himself Fijian $184,740 in back pay dating to 1978.

Now he has muzzled the free media, blocked the FM transmission of Radio Australia, dismissed the entire judiciary of the country so that he can appoint pliable judges, and sacked the able and well-regarded Governor of the Reserve Bank Savenaca Narube, a man who did much to keep the Fiji economy afloat through earlier crises. One fears for the future of the Fiji economy under a military leader who cannot abide opinions different from his own.

Davis is right to say that Fiji ought to have a new electoral system in which race plays no part. But how can we believe that there will be an election held in Fiji under any electoral system? And, if Bainimarama is such a democrat at heart, why do the people of Fiji have to wait five years for that election to happen? The truth is that Bainimarama is a disaster for Fiji.

Stewart Firth Bright, Vic

 

FARMERS URGED TO HARVEST COFFEE

All coffee farmers are called on to move into their coffee gardens now and harvest their coffee, process it and bring out to market to take advantage of the current coffee prices.

Current prices are at K3.80 per kilogram of parchment thus Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) Limited Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ricky Mitio, urges farmers to start harvesting now with the favourable price and dry weather.

Mr Mitio appeals to all coffee farmers to stop tribal fights, wondering around on roadsides and towns and get back into their gardens to harvest coffee.

Cherry ban is still on, but harvesting coffee would prevent perpetrators from stealing cherries to sell resulting in farmers missing out on the benefits of their own hard work.

Coffee cherry sale is still under control and a roadside cherry trade is not permitted by law. 

CIC commends all coffee growers and stakeholders in the marketing chain for last year’s record export earning of K509 million for the calendar year 2008.

This result was achieved on the back of higher prices, combined with higher export volumes. From the total earnings, growers received 66% while exporters and processors retained 19% and 15% respectively. Last year’s record was, by far, the highest level record for the industry.

The previous record was achieved in 2005 valuing K457 million.

“We would like to achieve a progressive record again this year and in the coming years,” said Mr Mitio.

Mr Mitio encourages growers to increase production though rehabilitation and planting new trees in their gardens to gain from higher prices.

He added that the District by District Coffee Rehabilitation Program funded under the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) has commenced in selected districts in the Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and Simbu Provinces.

All growers are urged to work together with CIC officers to carry out this program to increase production.

District by District Village Coffee Rehabilitation Programme hopes to rejuvenate aging senile coffee trees of coffee gardens especially in the smallholder sector to boost production.

Papua New Guinea Media Council urges Fiji government not to interfere with media

The Media Council of PNG is supporting the call for the Government of Frank Bainimarama to not interfere with the media which is performing its noble roles of promoting good governance.

President of the Media Council of PNG, Joe Kanekane pleaded for the media to be respected as the "Fourth Estate" which is supposed to be independent to perform the functions of a watchdog.

“Please understand that the media must keep a sceptical eye on the activities of the government and the powerful. Without a free and independent media, the public interest will not be guarded, and those in powerful position can abuse the power for personal gains.”

Mr Kanekane said the Government must also respect the freedom of expression and freedom of the media as a basic human right enshrined in Article XIX of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Mr Kanekane commended the courage of the journalists and other media personal including those being intimidated in the newsrooms. He urged them to be fair and report objectively to carry the voices of different sectors of the population and communities in Fiji.

Mr Kanekane appealed to the international community, particularly the governments of the region, development partners, and regional bodies and civil society organisations to continue to demand for the liberalisation of restrictions to the media in Fiji. He asserted that international action is required for the restoration of a free and responsible media, a prerequisite for good governance in Fiji.

Is this what Papua New Guinea needs?

So much money on an executive jet…for so few people

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, despite a public outcry against the Papua New Guinea government wanting to buy a sleek new executive jet, is insistent that the country is “rich enough”.

This is despite the fact that Papua New Guinea is lagging behind in education and health services, infrastructure, law and order, basically everything.

 Air Niugini is buying a Falcon 900 triple engine executive jet (pictured) on behalf of the PNG government.

The plane is described in a number of websites as an advance comfort jet fit for the rich and powerful.

One site said: “The Falcon 900 is one of the most technologically advanced large business jets available.

“Its design incorporates the latest improvements in aerodynamics and flight systems, which results in beautiful flight characteristics, gentle landings and cruise speeds of over 550mph.”

 

Balus

By IAN TAUKURO

 

Seeing how many of us are getting so worked up over the new Falcon for our pollies, I thought I'd send out this picture of what Barack Obama flies around in...

When our Falcon lands at Jackson's, it will obviously be met with disgust and derision by the public.

However, wherever, Air Force One lands, people, especially Americans, gaze in awe at this magnificent symbol of American power and wealth. (The aircraft is responsible for carrying the US president here, there and anywhere he goes and is, essentially, a military aircraft, flown and maintained by military personnel.)

 I understand that the plane has an escort of two or three fighter jets when it is in the air and, if traveling overseas, a few navy ships positioned on the sea under the flight path, just to ensure that nothing goes wrong ... these Americans are truly over the top!

But, if you love planes like I do ... open up the picture and drool away!

 

Ian