Papua New Guinea goes backward since 1975

From MALUM NALU in Kavieng

 

Papua New Guinea has gone backwards since 1975, according to one of the country's founding fathers and former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan.

Sir Julius admitted to graduating students, including the first-ever fisheries and marines resources degree students, from the University of Natural Resources and Environment in Kavieng last Friday (Nov 27).

He said all that he and his fellow visionaries had worked towards at the time of independence in 1975 had been destroyed overnight.

This contradicts what the government, through Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu, said on Sept 16 this year that the country had developed over the last 34 years.

"Today, I stand before you 34 years after the creation of our country and say to you that we have not lived up to the promises we made in 1975," Sir Julius admitted.

"We have not brought the improvement in the quality of life of our people that we hoped to bring.

"We have not provided the health care, the education, the infrastructure that we should have provided.

"There is no sense in trying to avoid this unpleasant conclusion.

"If we cannot be honest with ourselves, then we have no hope of doing better.

"Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, and I refuse to think we will repeat our mistakes."

Sir Julius said some people, especially national government, continued to insist that PNG had made progress and had become a better place for the people since 1975.

"That is not true," he said.

"I am here to tell you that we need to do better.

"I am here to tell you the truth so that you – the young people of our country – can do a better job than we have done to this point.

"It is unfortunate but true that since independence, Papua New Guinea has consistently failed to improve the health care of our people.

"According to the World Bank, we have fewer aid posts open today that we did at independence.

"And we know the condition of those that are still open – they have not power, most have no clean water supply, and many have no housing for our health care workers.

"Likewise, we have failed to improve access to education for our people.

"We just have to look around us.

"Our primary and elementary schools are falling apart.

"We do not have basic textbooks in the schools, we do not have decent toilets for our children, we do not have decent teachers' houses, and often we do not even have the teachers because the housing is so bad that they cannot live in it.

"Look around.

"We all know that this is true.

"And our infrastructure is not better.

"We used to have roads that we could travel on, but they have not been maintained for 10 or 15 or 20 years.

"Our roads have 'gone bush' and our people cannot get to market to generate income.

"Our children have to walk so many kilometers every day just to get to school, and when they get there, they have no books, no toilets, and sometimes no teachers."

Sir Julius said this was the real situation in PNG that the national government failed to admit.

"We have had huge amounts of wealth taken out of the country," he said.

"We have had reasonable macroeconomic growth.

"But our people have not benefited, they have actually suffered.

"That is not development.

"That is not progress.

"That is failure, pure and simple.

"It is a failure of our national institutions to provide the basic services that they should have provided.

"And it a failure we can no longer accept!"

'Don't believe in government'

 

From MALUM NALU in Kavieng

 

Young people of Papua New Guinea have been told to no longer believe in the government but in themselves if Papua New Guinea is to develop.

Former Prime Minister and New Ireland Governor, Sir Julius Chan (pictured),  gave this blunt message to graduating students, including the first-ever fisheries and marines resources degree students, from the University of Natural Resources and Environment in Kavieng last Friday (Nov 27).

And he urged them to get rid of the government if it didn't perform to their expectations.

He said it was no secret that PNG had gone backwards since 1975 and the largely-corrupt government was to blame for this.

Sir Julius, after taking the students and crowd through a lengthy talk on corruption in PNG, told them that the old guard like himself were going out and they were the ones who would have big shoes to fit in.

"The young people of the world are a force for good and a force for change," he told them.

"You have the potential to become an army of reform, a force that says, 'we will not accept corrupt and inept government any longer.We insist that the wealth of our country benefit the people – all the people – of our country'.

"So go forth to your homes and spread the message.

"Spread the message of responsibility, of hard work and of hope.

"Spread the message that government must tell the people in clear and unequivocal terms what it is doing to improve the lives of the people.

"And if it does not keep its word, spread the message that it will be cast out and replaced with those who will.

"The time of the free ride is over.

'Either provide benefits or get out!"

Sir Julius said the corruption perception index compiled each year by Transparency International spokes volumes about the level of corruption among public servants and politicians.

"Papua New Guinea has only been rated for the last five six years," he said.

"But in this short time, the country has been perceived as increasingly-corrupt and a very difficult environment in which to do business.

"In 2004, PNG was rated as 102^nd out of 145 countries.

"We were two-thirds down the list; there were 43 countries considered as more corrupt than PNG.

"By 2006, PNG was rated 130^th out of a total of 163 countries, so by then, only 33 countries were considered more corrupt.

"And in the most-recent year, 2008, PNG had slipped all the way to 151^st out of 179 countries, so only 28 countries were considered more corrupt.

"Any rational observer would have to say that this is a major contributing factor to the failure of the state to ensure that the fruits of development are shared by the people of the country.

"/though I do not like saying it, the evidence is that PNG has a shell of democratic institutions, it has had macroeconomic growth, but beneath this thin cover is a system that is working for the benefit of a few and not the masses.

"We know that wealth is distributed very unevenly, and that the public officials and politicians are seen as among the most-corrupt in the world.

"So is it any wonder that the benefits do not get to the people?"

Lae poem brings back memories of another day

Bernard Oberleuter…his heart is still in Lae and PNG

Lae boys…Bernard Oberleuter and Tony Strachan

A heart-warming poem written about Lae and Papua New Guinea in its glory days brought tears to the eyes of many former Lae residents who gathered for an emotional Lae-Markham Reunion get together in Brisbane last month.
The 2009 Lae-Markham reunion at Broncos Leagues Club, Fulcher Road, Red Hill, on Sunday, Oct 4 was a resounding success - an absolutely magical day – which brought together 350-odd people.
Many people present hadn't seen each other for 40 years or more, and the auditorium echoed with cries of recognition, accompanied by heaps of hugs and occasional happy tears.
The 2009 guest list reads like a who’s who of Lae and PNG.
As they listened to the magical words of New Guinea, a poem written by Lae boy and now Brisbane resident Bernard Oberleuter so many years ago, there was not a dry eye in the Broncos Leagues Club.
It brought back memories about a place they called “home” – that since 1975 has deteriorated from the beautiful “Garden City” to the "Pothole Capital” of PNG.

New Guinea

By Bernard Oberleuter

I know a verdant island fair, with forests, ferns and flowers rare,
Where mountains tower to the sky, and lovely fertile valleys lie.
Where flit the gaudy butterflies and hum the birds of paradise.
Where summer holds eternal sway; her people live so free and gay.
New Guinea, gem of the southern sea, what wondrous charms you hold for me.
One place upon our friendly strand is treasured more than all this land.
Tis Lae, my home on Huon shores, so fondly called the open door,
The open door to hills that hold vast quantities of richest gold.
Our buzzing dromes, our wharves, our shops With busy life forever throbs.
Our jungle nooks to hikes invite, our pools and brooks with tempting sights.
The ancient hills, the ocean blue, what grandeur great presents to you.
God bless our lovely isle and Lae, and make us more her own each day

Mr Oberleuter, a good friend of mine, admitted that he too had tears in his eyes as he heard his poem being read by another Lae boy Tony Strachan, son of Arthur Strachan, founder of the famous real estate company of Lae by the same name.
He recalls that he was getting ready for his Grade 6 external exams for a government scholarship to study in Australia when he wrote the poem.
“It was at St Mary's Primary School, opposite Lae Bowling Club,” he remembers.
“I was asked by the nun-in-charge, Sr Marinoma, to read it out to the class, who applauded me with a standing ovation.
“That year, I also excelled in my external examinations by coming second in over 1,200 students, in TPNG, only missing out by 2% in my maths tests to equal first place.
“Previous to that, I was at the old St Mary's School, next to the old Morobe Bakery.
“This school site is now where the famous Lae Rugby League grounds sit, where I use to play my junior rugby league, coached by Barry Orchard and Bill Doherty of PWD (Public Works Department).
“They both played for the mighty Comworks RLFC.
“Mr Jack Amesbury was instrumental in starting me to play rugby league, soccer, hockey and Aussie rules. I played all over the back line, including fullback. I was the youngest player to represent Lae at the senior level.
“My dad worked for Public Works Department as a builder.
“My mum did freelance dress making and then she was in charge of the Melanesian laundry facilities.
“My dad built the very first Markham Bridge.
“We later transferred to Finschhafen, where I went to Gagidu Primary T School.
“He was posted there for a couple of years, built and maintained government housing and also built the first Nasigalatu Bridge near Dregerhhafen.
“I was born at the old Malahang hausik (hospital), near the feisty waters of the Busu wara.
“This WWII hausik then moved to uptown where Morobe Pharmacy is now situated.
“Then another move further just to the left of Steamships on 8th Street and opposite the Lae Coronation Primary 'A' School.
“Mr Tony Sadgrove was headmaster then.
“The hospital made a final move down town opposite to the old Lae airport to its final resting place, where it stands today.
“I have very fond and good memories of my childhood upbringing.
“I could walk anywhere, anytime, in Lae...hail, rain or shine, any hour of the clock.
“I use to do my training by running from Rotten Row Rd, behind the Hotel Cecil, to the athletics oval and back again, every morning during the footy season.
“We were living in Chinatown near the old Lae pumping station, close to Bumbu River.

“I remember walking from Butibum Village to Kamkumung.
“I use to go swimming at Voco Point, and at the mouth of the Bumbu River.
“We used to walk along the beach all the way to Sipaia, where the old Japanese warship was beached and rusted.
“We use to climb onto it and play hide and seek.
“The old Tanyo Maru was still protruding and visible at the end of the Lae airport runway, where Crowley Airways and MAL hangared all their aeroplanes.
“We use to go in a canoe to catch the pigeons that nested on the exposed bow of the warship.
“I enjoyed my growing up in Lae, Mumeng, Bulolo, Wau, Kaiapit, Finschhafen, Madang and Port Moresby.
“I treasure those fleeting moments and memories.
“I lived and loved for my home Lae as a child growing up to 12 years old.
“I, unlike all the other ex-Territorians, have no desire to return to PNG.
“I only want to remember it, the way it was, when I left it.
“You see, the writing was on the wall for people like myself.
“We would become second-class citizens and those in the power of politics would ensure that their very own kin or clan would rise in the hierarchy, in the scheme of things to follow, after 1975.
“The proof is in the pudding.
“See for yourself now after 34 years of independence.”

First pictures of the controversial Falcon jet of the Papua New Guinea government

Pictures by EKAR KEAPU of The National, Papua New Guinea's leading daily newspaper.

Fisheries programme comes of age in Kavieng

Caption: PNG UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu congratulating Augustine Galuwa, who graduated last year with a diploma in fisheries and marine resources

 

I'll be travelling to beautiful Kavieng, New Ireland province, tomorrow to witness the first fisheries degree graduation of University of Natural Resources and Environment students. Below is a preview of the event

 

By UNRE Public Relations

 

“I, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the statutes, regulation and by-laws of the university, now confer the degrees, to those who have successfully completed the academic requirements of their course as laid down and duly prescribed by the academic board and approved by the council, and today, their names included in the 2009 roll of graduates of the university.”

These are the words that will signify the coming of age of the university’s fisheries and marine resources (FMR) programme on Friday Nov 27, 2009 when UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu confers bachelor’s degrees on five FMR pioneer graduates – Christopher Binabat, Joseph Kendou, Robinson Liu, Priscilla Warambin and Jane Wungun.

While the moment will no doubt be a proud one for the five and their families, it will be a prouder moment for the university, National Fisheries Authority, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), University of Bremen’s Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT), Office of Higher Education and all those who collectively contributed to making the academic programme a success since its inception in 2006.

Many challenges including the lack of funding and teaching staff faced the programme designers when it was on the drawing board in 2005, but with determination and perseverance; and the strong professional will to bring into the higher education training a much needed skill that was lacking, they overcame these.

The fruits of their labour are the two female and three male students who will go down in history books as not only the first degree graduands of the programme but also as the first fisheries degree graduands in the country after more than 20 years.

With the world now focusing more and more on the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and environment, the introduction of this course could not have come at a better time for the fisheries sector in the country as well as the South Pacific and the world as it provides a skilled and better qualified workforce for an industry that is rising internationally as a mainstay in the economy.

Meanwhile, also graduating on the day will be 16 students who will be awarded diplomas in fisheries and marine resources by Sir Rabbie.

They are the second batch of diplomats under the programme, the first group of seven students graduating in the inaugural FMR graduation ceremony last year.

Since the first 20 students were admitted in 2006, there has been an increase in applications from students throughout the country wanting to gain entry into the programme.

This year’s first year students also include seven Solomon Islands students who applied for the programme to help develop their country’s fisheries and marine resources.

They move to UNRE’s affiliated campus, National Fisheries College, for their second year of study.

UNRE expects to take in more Solomon Islanders for the same course next year.

For now, however, all eyes are on the five degree pioneers who will make history for the fisheries and marine resources programme, higher education training and the fisheries sector.

Unitech agriculture functions transfer to University of Natural Resources % Environment

By UNRE Public Relations

University of Technology’s department of agriculture will be transferred to University of Natural Resources & Environment (UNRE).

This is the word from Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology Michael Ogio.

Mr Ogio made the announcement when officiating at a graduation ceremony for more than 100 farmers in Maprik last Friday.

According to Minister Ogio, the department would be placed at UNRE’s Sepik Central Campus in Maprik, East Sepik province, and urged the people of Sepik, particularly Maprik, to look after the college and state assets.

“The Agriculture Department at Unitech will be transferred to UNRE and will be moved to Bainyik (Maprik) but you must look after the campus and be proud that you will have an institution of higher learning at your doorstep once again,” he said.

Minster Ogio said by transferring the agriculture department, Unitech would have room to develop the gas and petroleum engineering training which it now has on the drawing board.

The move is also consistent with a National Executive Council Decision of 1996.

The 105 farmers who graduated received certificates for training received in sustainable livelihood, land use and soil fertility management and basic record and book keeping under UNRE’s integrated agriculture training programme (IATP).

They are the first group to receive the training outside the New Guinea Islands region.

Minister Ogio challenged the farmers to practice what they had learnt.

“You have received the training, now the challenge is for you to implement this and make a difference in your families and communities,” he said,

“We Papua New Guineans have a tendency to dream of big things but that is not necessary.

“If everyone collectively makes small changes and improvements in our own families, that is special and will go towards the development of this country.”

 

New vegetable project for Tambul

Photo caption: Farmers enjoying tubers of potato from NARI's research in Tambul.-Picture courtesy of NARI

 

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI

A major vegetable development project will be launched on Friday at Alkena in the Tambul district of Western Highlands.

Vegetable growers in the district will celebrate and witness the official ground breaking ceremony of MKL Vegetable Farming Group and launching of a project titled “Developing a Sustainable Potato and Vegetable Production in the Tambul Valley – Western Highlands Province”.

The programme starts tomorrow with church activities.

The MKL Vegetable Farming Group is a newly-established community initiative involving farmers led by Maktol Oke, a specialist potato seed grower from Aiyaka tribe in the Upper Kaugel area of Tambul.

Mr Oke, who is also the chairman of the MKL group, said the initiative was an “impact project” for the 68, 000 people of Tambul Nebilyer district which aimed to enable farmers to  increase their potato and vegetable production for cash and food to improve their livelihoods.

Mr Oke said the project received overwhelming support from Tambul/Nebilyer MP Benjamin Poponawa, Mt Giluwe local level government, district administration, Lutheran Church, local leaders and the farming community.

He said Mr Poponawa - who supported the launch preparations with K6000 - and Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga would officiate at the historic occasion.

The initiative was developed with the involvement of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA).

 “The Alkena Lutheran Church has provided vacant land, which has been developed into a central resource centre for seed multiplication and distribution to farmers throughout the district, province and other potato growing areas in the country,” Mr Oke said,

“The centre will also be used for farmer training, demonstration and information sharing by service providers such as NARI, FPDA and provincial division of primary industry.”

Mr Oke said the development was a collaborative effort involving the community, government agencies (NARI and FPDA) and the church and stood to benefit the entire Tambul community.

He added potato was an important food and cash crop for high-altitude areas like Tambul but the industry was thrown into chaos due to the emergence of the late blight disease.

 The project is anticipated to produce clean and certified seeds to be distributed to farmers.  

Tambul district has climatic conditions favorable for vegetable production.

 It is the major producer of potato and temperate vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and carrots in the country and the major supplier of the renowned Mt Hagen market in terms of fresh produce. 

 

 

Of Papua New Guinea's nincompoops, looters and anarchists

BY ALFREDO HERNANDEZ

  

THE FACELESS anarchists of Papua New Guinea have spoken:

On December 31, New Year’s Eve, all trade shops like variety stores, mini-groceries, fast-food counters and the like which are owned and operated by Asians – Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Thais, Burmese, Bangladesh, Pakistanis, the Talibans, and many more that are just too many to enumerate here --- will go up in flames.

They will serve as their firecrackers and pyrotechnics to greet the coming of a better New Year – the year 2010.

It will be a new beginning for all of them, the dawning of the true business enterprises for Papua New Guinean grassroots – they, who have been deprived of jobs and business opportunities that are supposed to be theirs but have been stolen by Asian entrepreneurs.

And if they still have time and not yet too drunk to run around, and the police and the firefighters are still nowhere (maybe because of flat tires, empty gasoline tanks and dried up water tanks), they would also raze to the grounds Asian-owned business and high-financed Asian establishments in Port Moresby and in urban centers in the provinces.

After all these years, these businesses have become the menace of Papua New Guinea’s fragile society.

This wholesale conflagration is to end once and for all the presence of anything Asian in Papua New Guinea – the many Asian cultures, their alleged business corruption and influences.

The burning of Port Moresby and urban centers across the country will be second to none – not even the burning of Honiara in Solomon Islands in April 2006 which annihilated the country’s China Town during the two days of rioting and displaced thousands of Chinese residents could come close as far as destruction is concerned.

Pockets in the city and urban centers will glow like embers till the wee hours of the New Year’s Day.

The anarchists said they will do this because they have the solid backing of the Parliament – well, at least one of its parliamentary committees – the bipartisan committee now probing the Anti-Asian riots last May chaired by MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham (by the way, he was sacked yesterday after being perceived by the powers-that-be as being anti-Asian, a charged which he denied but for which many are inclined to believe).

The New Year’s Eve rampage, rioting and looting will be fully supported by all national NGOs; the prominent and patriotic PNG nationalists against Asian infiltration and corruption spreading throughout the country; the South Pacific Island countries against Asian transnational crimes and illegal business; and most of all, the Melanesian Spearhead Group of Nations.

Their funds will come from these allies; this is the only way they could carry out their own brand of anarchy in the city of Port Moresby, Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang, Goroka, Mt Hagen and many more where Asian businesses are to be found.

In a memo-email style advisory/warning that began circulating yesterday and addressed to “ALL ASIAN COTTAGE BUSINESS OWNERS IN PNG, with Subject: All Asian-Owned Cottage Businesses Must Cease by 31 December 2009, the anarchists stressed this “is not a petition to the National Government or the Asians … it’s a simple instruction with a due date which is 31 December 2009.

“That will be the only solution. Forget the government. If it can’t do it, we will do it ourselves … no need to buy candlesticks on New Year’s Eve. Honiara did it … we can do it in PNG!”

The day of your hell is coming, amen.

Well, it’s not surprising.

They are banking on the expected findings of Maxton-Graham committee that the presence of Asians in the country is the one causing all the ills of the society – from prostitution, business-influenced corruption in all government levels, economic deprivation of the grassroots and stealing from the hands of the no-read-no-write locals the opportunity to run shops and variety stores which are right now being profitably operated by the Chinese, Malaysians and Indonesians. (There are no Filipinos in this area because they are here as professionals, experts and skilled workforce working with proper documents.)

The anarchists’ bone of contention is that “the inflow of illegal Asians are stealing business opportunities and jobs from helpless Papua New Guineans … it’s costing the country simple store-keeper jobs and denying the privilege of simple citizens by owning these businesses.

“Competition among the Asian themselves has left not a chance for would-be local entrepreneurs. One just simply needs to walk down the street corner stores at Gerehu and Erima (in Port Moresby), Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae, Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang.

“In every one of these locations, you will see a takka box (tucker shop) store being managed by three to four odd-looking Asians who can’t even speak proper pidgin, let alone English! What the hell is happening with the laws of this country?”

Wait! Wait! Hold it right there! It appears now that the brains behind this anarchic movement are no brains at all, if you want to know the truth.

For long, long years, Papua New Guineans had been given all the chances to take up all sorts of business activities reserved for them under the law.

This included the so called cottage industry, which, according to my dictionary, is defined as “small-scale industry that can be carried on at home by family members using their own equipment”.

But they did not bother to take advantage of this opportunity. There were simply no takers.

Why? Firstly, they don’t have the initiative and aptitude to run such kind of livelihood activities.

Secondly, they don’t have the business acumen for them to succeed.

Thirdly, they don’t have the capital to operate them, particularly shops such as variety stores, fast-food stores and the like. (By the definition of a cottage industry, takka shops are not included for obvious reason.)

But most of all, they are just too illiterate to understand the complexities of how such a business enterprise works.

No banks are inclined to lend them capital. Why? They just don’t trust them; the banks don’t feel they could successfully operate a bank-funded enterprise. Banks simply don’t want to risk their money to this group.

And even the so-called micro-finance banks now proliferating across the country are still hands-off when it comes to lending to this type of borrowers.

But first of all, this question: Who are these people being rallied upon by the anarchists to assert their rights to their rightful place in the national economy by burning down Asian business enterprises?

Judging from the whole-scale rioting last May in Port Moresby, Goroka and other urban centers, the protesters-rioters-looters were none other that the community scum, raskols, murderers, rapists, drug addicts, drunkards and simply hangers-on, the unschooled and the perennial jobless.

I don’t think they are interested in running their own businesses like that of the Chinese, and thus make themselves self-sufficient or economically-sufficient. I don’t think they really understand what the so-called “reserve business opportunities” means.

For all you know, they are just the usual dole-out crowd waiting for the government to come and drop onto their laps the goodies.

What they know is that they got to have some kina for their betel nuts, homebrew, marijuana and alcohol. They’re not interested in really sweating it out to eke out a decent living with which to feed their wives and kids.

Because if they do, how come they did not open up takka shops long before the Chinese began populating PNG and start running their trade stores, their fast-food shops and the like?

The Chinese did not steal from the locals.

Instead, they poured in their money into the local economy to operate a business, and created a market that has kept the community alive. They created some business opportunities for some enterprising locals like farmers and livestock raisers. They created a market within which the exchange of goods and services became possible, something non-existent before their coming.

The Chinese are so good at this that they can survive even in the harshest environment and make their business succeed and expand.

If the Chinese entrepreneurs did not come, I can bet that there would be no stores operating until now in these critical areas.

It is very clear that it is these faceless anarchists who actually want to steal from the Chinese. And they will do this on New Year’s Eve by looting their stores and help themselves to whatever is there for the taking while the city burns.

They will do this because they want to outdo what the Honiara looters/rioters did to the Chinese businesses there in April 2006.

But I can bet my ball that not one of them would succeed as the Chinese do in running that business, simply because they don’t have the brains for this.

There are many small Papua New Guineans who are very successful in their own line of business. They never thought of making the Chinese entrepreneurs redundant because they know that on their own perseverance and sheer industry, they would make it.

Take the case of those industrious vegetable and fruit growers who are raking in profits everyday from sales of their fresh produce that are reaching wide market across the country, the biggest of which is Port Moresby.

They are very good at what they do that the local market relies on them for daily supplies of fresh veggies. These are the people that the PNG economy badly needs and not those who want to take over Chinese enterprises.

Why can’t the anarchists tell their unschooled followers that they have better chances of success if they work the land instead?

The trouble with these nincompoops is that they are only after the money in the cash box at the Chinese takka shop and that they are not willing to stretch their bones, to sweat out under the sun and to flex their muscles and work the land.

I don’t mind if police would order a shoot-to-kill against them at their first attempt to torch one legitimate Asian-owned takka shop.

The New Year’s Eve plot would be their biggest mistake because no peace-loving person would come out to glorify them as heroes or nationalists.

To the city residents, they are just gutter rats, opportunists and plain nuisance that should be consigned to Bomana jail.

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg  

alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg   

To see the original web posting, please visit http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=903:of-pngs-nincompoops-looters-and-anarchists&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117

 

The Falcon has landed!

The Papua New Guinea Government’s controversial Falcon 900Ex aircraft landed at Jackson’s International airport in Port Moresby yesterday.

The aircraft, fitted with an inbuilt conference facility, modern entertainment, and an interior tailor made to suit the avid modern traveler, touched down just before 11am after an eight-hour 20 minute flight at 41,000 feet across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu in Hawaii.

Built in France by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft in its “green state” was flown to Little Rock in Arkansas where it was prepared for Air Niugini at a cost of US$40 million, which included the interior, avionics, cabinet making, and entertainment and specified paint scheme amongst other things.

It also has cameras fitted on it to aid in bad weather

The aircraft has a five year warranty and during that time, any changes in the Falcon range will also be made to P2-ANW as it’s registered under.

It will be leased to the Government as well as private sector organisations and individuals for hire.

The aircraft is powered by three Honeywell TFE31-60 turbo fan engines and has the capacity of carrying 12 passengers in a standard configuration.

It is the finest in its class; with its classic tri-jet engines design, it can land at smaller airports and fly at high attitudes, even on hot days.

It is designed to fly 4,500 nautical miles non-stop.

Only for the lexophiles

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

 Some new ones, some old....
1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
 20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
 24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine .
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
 27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.   
30. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
31. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
32. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
33. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
34. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
35. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
36. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
37. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
38. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
39. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
40. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'
 41. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
42. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
43. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse
said, 'No change yet.'
44. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
45. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.  
46. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

Natural enemies of green scales

Caption: Ladybird…a local natural enemy of coffee green scale.-Picture courtesy of CIC

 

 By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 

 Biological controls are the way to go in minimising the spread of coffee green scale (CGS) affecting the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea.

Research conducted by the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) funded under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on CGS showed that most smallholder coffee farmers lived with the pest or ignored the problem due to limited knowledge on its control.

But the good news is that biological controls or natural enemies of the coffee pest are being reared under quarantine and others have been released into the field to control CGS.

The existence and effect of local natural enemies such as the ladybird (Metaphycus baruensis, and verticillium lecanii) on the CGS remains minimal.

According to technical experts on the study, this was caused by a variety of biophysical factors in the environment where the organisms existed and also due to local hyper-parasites and ants that protected the scales.

Another natural enemy, the wasp (Diversinervus stramineus), brought in from Australia to be released for CGS control, is currently being reared under quarantine.  

Other control measures are cultural and chemical measures.

Cultural measures include intercropping coffee with pumpkin.

Pumpkin attracts the ladybird insects, which in turn would feed on the scales on the coffee plant.

Pruning and good coffee sanitation is also a way to control CGS.

Another option is to increase shade level.

The level of shade appears to influence CGS infestation levels.

Where shade is high, CGS infestations are lower.

Some farmers apply chilli on the coffee crop to deter ants while others use soap water. Bonfires have also proven to keep ants away by creating smoke.

Chemical measures are usually applied in larger commercial coffee plantations and estates because they can afford it.

Farmers are prepared to take up relevant CGS control techniques if the cost is low in terms of money and time.

 

 

Green scales remain major coffee pest in Papua New Guinea

Caption:  Coffee green scale on the coffee crop. Ants facilitate the spread of scales. –Picture courtesy of CIC

 

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 

Coffee green scale (CGS) is currently the most-serious pest affecting the industry in Papua New Guinea.

This was revealed during a project review meeting between the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Under the Australian Government, ACIAR funded a project on sustainable management of CGS in PNG undertaken by the CIC.

A major ecological survey under the project confirmed that CGS was most prevalent at 1500 metres above sea level.

Other surveys conducted by CIC showed that CGS was a major coffee pest and widespread in smallholder gardens.

The pest is widely distributed and present in most coffee growing areas, attacking both Arabica and Robusta coffee species.

Coffee green scales are soft-scale insects.

They are oval-shaped, flat and pale green in colour.

They are often associated with ants and sooty mould fungus.

The ants and fungus feed on the honeydew excreted by the scales.

The scales suck the sap of mature and young coffee trees.

In mature coffee trees, the scales and sooty mould affect the fruiting parts of coffee, while the young coffee trees have a reduced growth and eventually die due to heavy infestation.

Farmers can sustain coffee green scale infestation on the tree if infestation is at the lower and middle canopy level.

 However, if infestation reaches top canopy, the cost of sustaining the crop increases and the coffee tree is likely to die.

To combat CGS on the crop, biological controls of the pest have been introduced including some cultural measures in addition to conventional chemical controls.

Cultural, biological and chemical controls are essential for the management of this pest.

Cultural control involve pruning of the unwanted or targeted parts of the crop. Biological control is the release of natural enemies of green scale and chemical control requires the use of chemicals only on heavily invested coffee blocks.

Extensive research on CGS is being carried out by CIC in collaboration with national and international partners.

 An evaluation of exotic biological control agents and other potential control methods is being carried out also taking into account grower information.

 Based on the findings,  regional and national strategies would be developed for a implementation of CGS control.

Lutheran World Information update on final statement from regional consultation on climate change

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
LWI news online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html

FEATURE: Don't Cry Tears Lest They Ask for Water

Lutheran Churches Urged to Protect Communities Threatened by Climate Change

KAJIADO, Kenya/GENEVA, 22 November 2009 (LWI) – Safiel Kulei's simple statement goes to the heart of the plight of many of his neighbors hit by consecutive years of drought in Kenya.

"I had 88 cows. I sold 50. The rest died. I have nothing at the moment. I have since moved to town," said Kulei, a farmer who is an evangelist with the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC).

Kulei is a member of the Maasai community inhabiting southern Kenya and neighboring northern Tanzania. The people's lives and economy are centered on livestock especially cattle, which are accumulated as a sign of wealth, traded or sold to settle debts, and slaughtered selectively. Before the current rains began, nearly three running years of drought decimated the community's economic mainstay and livelihoods.

"As opposed to previous years, when the clouds formed, no rains fell," Kulei said when he welcomed participants in a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) African region consultation on climate change, food security and poverty. Delegates to the LWF conference had visited the KELC Olirium mission area in the southern district of Kajiado. "When children cried, they were told to make sure there were no tears since people may ask, 'Where did you get the water?'" he said, emphasizing the scarcity of water.

The final statement from the consultation on climate change, food security and poverty in Africa is posted on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Climate_Change_Nairobi_Statement-EN.pdf

Read the full feature article at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2440.EN.html

* * *
(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 68.9 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

Pacific Storms Brisbane Invitation

Please click on image to enlarge.

Tourist ships in Alotau

Tourist cruise ships mv True North (left) and mv Oceanic Discoverer berthed at  Alotau recently during the 2009 Alotau Canoe & Kundu Festival.-Picture courtesy of PNGPCL

Get a free electronic copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget

If you want a copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget, which was handed down by Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch last Tuesday, log on on http://www.treasury.gov.pg/ and download the PDF document.

The Hela prophesy

By NEWMAN CUTHBERT

I have had the privilege of being associated with the Southern Highlands in the early part of my own childhood.
My parents were both teachers and their first posting was to a school at the old government station on the shores of Lake Kutubu and we flew into that picturesque lake from  Port Moresby in a Catalina (flying Plane).
Decades on as the press officer to the Late Sir Ignatius Kilage, I took in the view from Kutubu Lodge and this now included Moro.
I was told the old government station had moved on.
I caught missals while I was there as a toddler and vaguely recall dad at times singing his favourite song Poreporena the song that told the story of the people of that village who had left home to get away from the War and told of them missing home.
Maybe my own dad missed home and sang it occasionally to express his own feelings.
Sometime later we moved to Mendi where the main street of the town is the old runway to the former Mendi airport.
Early in my teen as I was starting out in journalist, Andrew Waibiria than member for Koroba Lake Kopiago moved a motion  in the old House of Assembly on September 23,  1974, to establish a new Hela province and Tari as the provincial capital.
That motion was supported by John Fifita the member for Kula in Milne Bay and Manasseh Voeto the member for Menyema.
I recall Mr Voeto being very vocal on the issue of a separate province for Hela emphasising that Mr Waibiria was not asking for  the current districts to be abolished but out of one of the  other districts of the Southern Highlands, Hela be established as a province.
 Thomas Kavali moved for debate on the subject be adjourned and this never resumed and Mr Waibiria lost his seat to Paiale Elo in the following national elections.
Two weeks ago I returned to the Southern Highlands and arrived at Tari, the provincial capital of a brand new Hela province.
It is a vibrant little town and for those of you who are familiar with Kerema and Popondetta, Tari is bigger for a late comer.
The airport runway which is as long as Jacksons International slices the town in half straight down the middle and in the easterly direction, the Tari gap rises above the mountain ranges that form a protective ring around the Hela Province.
Hela is the name of a man and he had four sons who now make up the major tribal grouping that make up Hela province.
To understand the attitude of the sons of Hela to the ongoing issues surrounding the LNG gas project, we need to  understand the Hela people, their culture and their point of view which is based on centuries old prophecy that seems to be coming true today..
“Inside Gigira burns Laitebo which when kindled, the flames will illuminate Hela and the land beyond, “ said that prophecy.
It went on to say: “When the man with the orange legs  comes to take the fire from you,  give him an axe and tell him to go get his own firewood for his own  fire.
Today the people of Hela  are seeing the man with the orange legs trying to take the fire from  them  and in reality they are trying to protect it from being taken  so that the words of the prophecy that the Gigira Laitebo will light up Hela and the land beyond will come to pass..
The people of the province look at the Gigira Laitebo prophesy in contemporary Hela to mean the social infructure benefits accruing from the project.
More importantly  the people of Hela say it means the actual physical light they see  when distribution power pylons  national roads, provincial feeder roads and tracks into Hela clans, hamlets and villages throughout the province and the rest of PNG and beyond in pipelines and tankers.
When the missionaries arrived in the area the people  found it easy to relate  God to their own religious structure where  Dadagaliwabe  was a spiritual being higher than all spirits and  from whom  the world came to light.
This is where thy translate the Gigira Laitebo to mean spiritual light which must be rekindled from within Hela funded  by and spread through the proceed of development of the Gigira Llaitebo, strategically put into place from time immemorial for  his own greater glory by the Yahweh of the Hebrew, El Elyon of Melkisadeck and Dadagaliwabe of the Hela.
Of the same and the one crater the English speaking world call him God.
Maybe...just maybe we can all diffuse a live wire that is in the making in Hela fuelled by politics and backed by multi million kina corporations by taking time to understand the Hela society, the story of its origin and the centuries old prophecy that to them to this very day has real meaning and now value.