What alternative systems might work in Papua New Guinea?

By JOHN FOWKE

I write this in answer to Paul Oates’s recent article on the subject. 

John Fowke

As a young public servant stationed at Talasea in 1964, I took part as a team member, helping to conduct the House of Assembly poll in villages from Cape Gloucester back to Talasea, and then in the actual vote-count conducted at the Talasea Local Government Council’s council chamber. 
Although I had already conceived of a deep affection for the country and its people, and had acquired a modest acquaintance and understanding of the society, I was too immature to give the subject of the swift and self-generated rise of a  party-based national political system which soon followed, any meaningful thought and analysis.
I was, however, aware of the likelihood that one result would be the effective exclusion from the chain of government of the grassroots-based LGCs (Local Level Governments) and I thought to myself that this was probably a mistake in the making, an idea which became a firm conviction as years passed.
A conviction I have previously expressed a number of times.
This vast social and cultural revolution was imposed in answer to international pressure and  opinion within the Australian electorate where there was still a strong memory of the ignominy of colonial control by an authority on the other side of the world.
In haste, urged on by the United Nations, a new national census preceded the creation of electorates and the preparation of  electoral rolls and an electoral bureaucracy in 1962-63. 
The multi-tasked patrol officers imparted as much as was possible of the principle and practice of the new and, to many, frightening changes soon to come whilst completing this major task.
The structure which grew following self government is an organic Papua New Guinean policy.
The party-based system is not the result of  Australian planning or imposition; it is the result of lack of forethought and lack of imagination on the part of the minister and senior administration men in the years preceding self government. 
Lack of foresight by all senior men, that is, except for the late David Fenbury, who, as father of local government in the Territory had raised a proposal for incorporation of the existing, grass-roots-based LGC structure with Minister Hasluck as early as 1956.
Very simply, from the meetings of the famed “Bully-beef Club” arose PANGU, the party of the well-educated and ambitious “young turks” of the about-to-be nation. 
From the ranks of the older generation, the tribal elders, men of traditional position and influence, plus white-men with a vested interest in a slow and orderly advance to independence, rose COMPASS PATI, later re-named.
Here, in PNG ATTITUDE, and in THE NATIONAL  and WANTOK in PNG, and in QUADRANT in Australia I have written  recommending the concept of an adoption of  LLG-based representation, nationally, where the existing parties would become superfluous, being simply structures offering an entry into politics for ambitious men almost all undistinguished in any other way and certainly devoid of idealism in a nationalist or nation-building sense.

In this I have been supported by Sir Barry Holloway and his amanuensis, Graham Tuck, with whom I have discussed these ideas quite exhaustively. 

These two ex-kiaps are with others involved in the painfully slow process of obtaining policy changes leading to efficiency, honesty and full social equity for the general population via reforms through decentralisation and improved transparency in the public service, but there is little to show that anyone else is very interested.

The politically-inclined are impelled by ambitions which would not be achieved where they represented councils and were required to report to and work with their electorate via minuted meetings attended by all councillors.

All this is stated in support of the writer’s belief that the current situation where criticism and openly or obliquely-derogatory comment is leveled at policies, at politicians and at the national leadership, while understandable as the product of anger and frustration, nonetheless misses the real point.
PNG’s system of politics and governance is organic in the true meaning of the word.

It is a system which has grown from a traditional cultural matrix, drawing at least as much from this source for its conventions and practices as from imported texts and ideas.

Fertilised by imported ideas, but nurtured and allowed to develop from the fruit and seeds of an ancient, functioning and well-understood land-owning, tribal social system.

Society at large has supported the development of PNG’s peculiar polity of patronage over three decades and it is just as much the product of the citizenry-at-large’s expressed will, or lack of expressed will, as of the will and  greed of the actors upon the political and administrative stage themselves.

 Change will not come in any major way until the rise of an outspoken, politically-aware activist movement from within the city-based, educated and salary-earning middle class. 

Currently the young of this class is inclined to waste its breath in incessant outpourings of ire and resentment, backward-looking, mild expressions of which have appeared recently on this blog. 

Other PNG blogs feature quite rabid negativity and nothing of evidence of a view of how the future might be.

 Who will start the ball rolling? 

Views of how the future might be, and how to get there. 

Positivism, please, ol lain koresponden na kontributo.

Airlines PNG Dash 8 gets bogged in Daru

This Airlines PNG Dash 8 aircraft got bogged in the mud after landing in Daru, Western province today, after arriving from Port Moresby.

.All I can say is that not very good, especially so soon after last October’s crash in Madang.

Daru’s still waiting for engineers from Port Moresby to fly in and check on the state of the plane.

Basil: Leave Grand Chief alone

By JEFFREY ELAPA

NATIONAL Planning Minister Sam Basil says members of parliament in the Somare faction should stop misleading Sir Michael Somare and allow him to rest, The National reports.
Basil suggested that some MPs were using the Grand Chief for their personal gain and should stop to allow him to recover from his operations.
“Anderson Agiru, Sir Arnold Amet, Patrick Pruaitch and Arthur Somare have been forcing the old man,’’ he said.
“Leave him alone and allow him to rest so that he recovers well from his operation. It is about time we help him and not use him and put more pressure and stress on him.”
He said if the Grand Chief got more ill from the pressure, the MPs should be held responsible.
He said the country acknowledged the many contributions Sir Michael had made for the young nation and he should be left to rest.
He said Agiru and Sir Arnold needed to go back to their provinces and provide the leadership as their people needed them.
He said Madang and the Southern Highlands provinces needed good governors to provide leadership in their provinces and not stay in Port Moresby

K3.7 million Singapore ‘allowances’ to Somare family and visitors probed

By JEFFREY ELAPA

AN investigation has been launched into the payment of K3.7 million in allowances to a group of people who visited Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare in a Singapore hospital, The National reports.
The group consists of public ser­vants serving in the Prime Minis­ter’s office, officers from other government departments plus those who were not public servants.
Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc, when asked to comment yesterday, declined to say who was entitled to travelling allowances while accompanying the prime minister – who went on a medical leave.
But Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah said everyone who received the allowances would be investigated.
He pointed out that Sir Michael was on sick leave and not on official government business.
Namah also questioned why the entire Prime Minister’s Department had to make the trip to Singapore.
The government-appointed Task Force Sweep team had been directed to investigate why allowances were paid to non-public servants and officials from other government departments.
“Some of these people who benefited from the K3.7 million of public funds during the hospitalisation of Sir Michael will be arrested soon,” Namah said.
More than 30 people, including family members of the Grand Chief, received allowances on the pretext of visiting the sick leader. Namah termed it as “daylight robbery” and “corruption of the highest order”.
According to Namah, Sir Michael and Lady Veronica received almost K700,000 as allowances, daughter Betha Somare and son Sana’s wife each received almost K200,000 and Sir Michael’s brother Paul Somare received more than K76,000.
The others allegedly paid allowances were Paul Bengo K85,000, Seki Karingai K192,000, Rodney Kamus K105,000, police Const John Keai K108,000, Richard Gogo K143,000, police Snr Const Ekonia Puki  K71,000, police Const Rodney Eminoni  K88,000, Tambon Tara K77,000, Margaret Elias K23,000, Hudson Ramatlap K23,000, Insp Simon Dugumi K26,000, Ipai Edward K48,000, Michael Ikau K26,000, Nora Solien K45,000, police First Const Peter Wesley K22,000, police Const Simon Guvi K23,000, Joan Vanariu K19,000, Chris Haiveta K10,000, Anna Abal K4,000 – plus four others who received less than K3,000 each.
Betha Somare, daughter of Sir Michael, said as employees of the prime minister’s office at the time, the public servants were entitled to the travel allowances.
She declined to comment further and referred other queries to the secretary at the Prime Minister’s Department.
She called on leaders to stop politicising the allowance issue because some of the payments were genuine.
She did not say if non-public servants, who accompanied the Grand Chief, were entitled to allowances.

Rabaul marks 70th anniversary of Japanese invasion

By MALUM NALU

Rabaul, East New Britain province, marked the 70th anniversary of its bombing by the Japanese today (Wednesday, Jan 4, 2012).

The Japanese dropped their first bombs on Rabaul on Jan 4, 1942, and continued with almost daily air raids until the 5, 000-strong Japanese invasion force attacked Rabaul soon after midnight on Jan 23, 1942. 

Bitapaka War Cemetery, not far from Rabaul, is a peaceful and beautiful cemetery containing the graves of over 1, 000 Allied war dead and the Rabaul Memorial commemorates those who have no known grave.-Picture by MALUM NALU

Rabaul had been the administrative capital of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea.

Its pre-war populace included about 1,000 Europeans, 1,000 Asians (mostly Chinese), but also a few Japanese and about 3,000 New Guineans.

Australian troops, local police and some civilians retreated south but the Japanese captured over 500 European civilians, six army nurses and some wounded soldiers (some of whom were executed) in and around Rabaul.

These captives included 350 missionaries, priests and nuns who were interned.

The Chinese were especially fearful, as the Japanese had massacred Chinese in other countries.

Some were executed soon after Rabaul fell but there was no large-scale massacre.

Instead, they were ordered to live in designated areas outside Rabaul. Men were forced to work as labourers alongside Chinese prisoners of war brought to the island.

An unknown number of women and girls were raped and, in the worst instances, forced to serve for periods as “comfort women”.

 The situation might have been even worse had the Japanese not begun importing some Japanese, Korean and Chinese “comfort women”.

 Villages and plantations were spread across New Britain and New Ireland.

The small Australian garrison, Lark Force, was overwhelmed and most of its troops, including six army nurses, captured.

Approximately 400 of the troops escaped to the mainland and another 160 were massacred at Tol Plantation.

Rabaul, despite the 1937 volcanic eruption, continued to remain as capital of New Guinea until 1941 when renewed volcanic forced the transfer to Lae in Oct 1941 right up to the Japanese invasion in January 1942.

War, however, had begun in the Pacific with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on Dec 7, 1941.

Rabaul was bombed on Jan 4, 1942 followed by Lae, Salamaua, and Bulolo on Jan 21.

 In July 1942, , about 1, 000 of the captured Australian men, including civilian internees, were drowned when the Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru was sunk by an American submarine off the Philippines coast en route to Japan.

The ill-fated Montevideo Maru. In July 1942,  about 1, 000 of the captured Australian men from Rabaul, including civilian internees, were drowned when the Japanese transport ship was sunk by an American submarine off the Philippines coast en route to Japan.

 Only the officers and nurses, sent to Japan on a different ship, survived.

Tony Subam funeral service tomorrow

Funeral service of late TONY SORU SUBAM will be held at 2pm tomorrow, Thursday, Jan 5, 2012, at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Boroko.
Casket departs on Friday, June 6, 2012, for Madang.
For additional information, please call Barleyde Katit on mobile 72392315 or Cyril Lumbia on 72369929.

75 users of homebrew, drug to face court in Manus

By ANGELINE KARIUS

POLICE say 75 people who consumed homebrew and marijuana in Manus during the festive season are awaiting their court cases, The National reports.
Provincial police commander Chief Sergeant Alex N’drasal says the 75 arrested were mostly youths who hung around the main Lorengau town area. Others were picked up on the central Manus highway during the New Year operations.
He confirms that 60 police officers had taken part in the special festive season operation in the province.
“The celebrations here was very peaceful and quiet,” he said.
Apart from a boating incident and an arson case at Tingou village on the Manus highway, the weekend was relatively quiet, he added.
Members of the public went on air on Radio Manus to thank the police for their work.
N’drasal also thanked his officers for their tireless efforts and time into carrying out the operation.

River tragedy

TWO students – a teenager and a five-year-old – drowned while nine others suffered injuries when the bus they were travelling in was washed away by a fast-flowing river, The National reports.
The incident happened at around 9pm on Monday at the border of Hagen Central and Anglimp district, Western Highlands province.
An eyewitness said the 15-seater bus was washed away by the Lel River.
It was carrying Michael Pati and his family members from a birthday party in Olgulben.
They were travelling to Wurup.
According to Alois Meringa, who lives near the scene of the accident, the bus was slowly crossing the Lel bridge when the strong river current washed away a 20m section of the road, carrying with it the bus and the passengers.
Meringa said an alarm was raised that night and the nearby villagers rushed to the scene.
Despite the strong current, they managed to rescue nine passengers trapped inside the bus.
He said two passengers – identified only by their first names as Cedric, five, and Wanuga, 18, were washed away.
Wanuga should be doing Grade 10 this year at Kombalopa High School.
The two missing youngsters were from the Okune tribe in the Baiyer district.
They were related to Pati’s wife.
The villagers looked for them on Monday night and continued their search yesterday along the river banks but could not find them.
Among the injured were Pati’s small daughter who broke her leg and a 16-year-old girl who sustained deep cuts to her legs.
A bus crew also sustained a deep cut to his forehead and two wo­men had injuries to their backs.
Meringa said the injured passengers were rushed to the Mt Hagen Provincial Hospital on Monday night.
Some were treated for minor injuries and released while others were admitted.
The water pushed back by a blocked culvert destroyed many food gardens, coffee trees and other properties upriver.
Meringa blamed the incident on poor engineering work carried out by a contractor when it sealed the road from Warakum to Wurup Kaip about 10 years ago.
He said when the Lel River had a wooden bridge, water flowed freely even during floods.
But when the road was sealed, the contractor removed the wooden bridge and replaced it with the culvert which was too small to allow excess water to flow through during heavy rain.
Meringa said they had raised complaints with local MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham and Governor Tom Olga but nothing had been done to fix the problem.
Fellow villager Peter Puri blamed the accident on the negligence of the leaders and contractor.
Puri said if the bridge had been fixed properly, or if the contractor had done his job well, the incident would not have happened.

70th anniversary of Rabaul bombing today

Lest we forget, today is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of beatiful RABAUL, EAST NEW BRITAIN,  in World War 11 by the Japanese.

 Rabaul was bombed on January 4, 1942 followed by Morobe gold towns Lae, Salamaua, and Bulolo on January 21.

To go into detail about the long and bitter fighting that took place between Lae Salamaua and Wau in 1942 and 1943 would fill pages.

Many hundreds of Japanese, Australians, Chinese as well as Papua New Guineans were killed in the two years of fighting.

  I'm going to write a series of articles this year about the 70th anniversary of WW11 in New Guinea, and hopefully, people can start realising that Rabaul, Lae, Salamaua and Wau were just as important - if not more important - that Kokoda.

Climate change treaty in sight at Durban talks

By JAMES LARAKI of NARI

AS we welcome 2012, we also commend world leaders on the comprehensive global treaty on climate change agreement reached for the first time after at talks in Durban, South Africa last December.

NARI team demonstrating the rope and washer pump technology at the Enga Show in 2011. This simple-easy to construct water harvesting technology is being promoted to assist rural communities to source water in the event of a drought.

The two-week long Durban talks attended by more than 190 countries agreed to start work on a new climate deal that would have legal force and, crucially, require both developed and developing countries to cut their carbon emissions.

The terms now need to be agreed by 2015 and come into effect from 2020.

The agreement – dubbed the "Durban platform" – is different from the other partial deals that have been struck during the past two decades, with developing countries, including China, the world's biggest emitter, agreeing to be legally bound to curb their greenhouse gases.

Previously, poorer nations have insisted that they should not bear any legal obligations for tackling climate change, whereas rich nations, which over more than a century have produced most of the carbon currently in the atmosphere should.

Another first is that the US, the second biggest emitter, also agreed that the new pact would have "legal force", a step it flirted with in 1997 with the Kyoto protocol, but abandoned as Congress made clear it would never ratify that agreement.

All of the world's biggest economies and emitters already have targets to cut emissions between now and 2020, when the new deal would come into force.

But many commentators view these targets are voluntary, not legally binding.

The EU and many others fear that voluntary targets are too easy to wriggle out of.

However, the deal did little to address the scale of emissions cuts needed, and environmental groups said this was a huge failing.

Commentators were of the opinion that governments have salvaged a path forward for negotiations, but are under no illusion, saying the outcome of Durban leaves us with the prospect of being legally bound to a world of 4C warming.

This they believe would be catastrophic for people and the natural world. Commentators say governments have spent crucial days focused on a handful of specific words in the negotiating text, but have paid little heed to repeated warnings from the scientific community that much stronger, urgent action is needed to cut emissions."

While all nations are obliged to reduce emissions, how much will global emission be reduced and by when are some unanswered questions that negotiators continue to push them around.

And many commentators are of the view that the ambitions to keep the temperature raise at 4C may be nowhere near to prevent disasters that are likely to occur across the globe.

 Important decisions on implementation of the cuts of emissions, how this burden will be shared between developed and developing countries, and how all this will be enforced are uncertain.

Lord Stern, former World Bank chief economist and author of the landmark 2006 review of the economics of climate change, said: "The outcome of the summit is a modest but significant step forward.

“The decision to move towards a unified system, with all countries having some form of legal commitments, removes an important obstacle and could allow, for example, the US to play a more participative and constructive role in the future."

The agreement reached also ensured that developing countries will soon begin to gain access to billions of pounds in finance from the rich world to help them move to a green economy and cope with the effects of climate change.

PNG, for example needs to understand how we fit into such agreements as the issue of climate change is of paramount to over 80% of the six million- plus people. We need to understand what would be done to achieve the required rate of reducing emission and whether the funding available could cater of the expected cuts.

While it is not clear what exactly rich countries are targeting by establishing this fund, reducing or minimising deforestation is obvious.

 But deforestation may not work well for many developing nations including PNG who depend on it for income.

Many commentators have cited the Cancun Agreements concerning REDD+ (Reductions in Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) as another cause for optimism.

After all, deforestation causes roughly as many emissions globally as transportation does, and the agreements pledge to give developing countries financial incentives to leave forests standing.

If that has to happen, the incentives should march the likely income that would have come from harvesting forest.

 Developing countries need to make a realistic approach to this and work out whether their expected income from harvesting forest can be compensated from the Green Climate Fund.

 Such realistic figures could form the basis of negotiations and should help development of guidelines on how the fund is managed and disbursed.

The outcomes of Durban provide a welcome boost for global climate action.

 They reflect the growing, and in some quarters unexpected, determination of countries to act collectively.

This provides a clear signal and predictability to economic planners, businesses and investors about the future of low-carbon economies.

A number of specific commitments agreed in Durban also indicate that previous decisions on financing, technology and REDD+ are moving to implementation.

The big question many will ask is how this will translate into actual emission reductions and by when?

 Whatever answer will emerge in the coming months, Durban has kept the door open for the world to respond to climate change based on science and common sense rather than political expediency.

Graham Osborne papers (please click to enlarge)

Ila Geno made grand chief

By BOSORINA ROBBY

TWO former parliamentarians and a former police commissioner are recipients of the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu in the 2012 New Year honours list, The National reports.
The award carries with it the title of grand chief.
They are Sinai Brown, former member for Gazelle in East New Britain, Sir Akepa Miakwe a former member for Unggai-Bena in Eastern Highlands and former police commissioner and former chief ombudsman Ila Geno.
The award recognises 20 years of service, achievement, and merit in the highest degree, by citizens.
Geno, who was surprised with the honour, thanked those who nominated him for this highest award, and their confidence in him over the years.
He also thanked his wife and children, senior officers and general duty officers in the police force, especially those in the criminal investigation division.
“I also want to thank my fellow ombudsmen at the Ombudsman Commission for the years we worked together – especially John ToGuata from the police and now in the Ombudsman, Nemo Yalo, late Peter Peraki and judge David Cannings in his capacity as counsel to the OC when I was chief ombudsman,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Brown has been recognised for his services to the community and national and provincial governments through his contribution to the advancement of East New Britain as a minister of state.
Sir Akepa has been recognised for his services to the community through effective leadership in the development of the coffee industry in the Eastern Highlands and as a former state minister.
The Officer of the Logohu (OL) award recognises Hugh Laird (agriculture and rural industries-tea and coffee), David Simon Saungei Nelson (business management and Pangu Pati), Karol Kanawi Popei (health-specialist surgeon), Jeffrey Wayne Ransley (pre-Independence administration Western), Brian Riches (public administration and commerce) and Fr Benjamin Francis Madden, OFM Cap (community and Catholic church in Southern Highlands).
Others recognised are Naomi Polum (education and athletics), David Gole (architecture and humanitarian causes) and Dorothy Huku (community and provincial administration)

Sweep team arrests 2 more

TWO former civil servants face fraud-related charges involving public funds, The National reports.
The Task Force Sweep arrested David Kumalau Pondros, a businessman, and Jeffery Yakopyia, a former assistance secretary in the economic division of National Planning and Monitoring Department.
Pondros was arrested on Dec 23 for allegedly misappropriating K400,000 belonging to the Oro provincial administration.
It was alleged that Pondros received the funds through his company, David Consultants, in the pretext of conducting feasibility studies for the construction of wharves at certain locations in the Ijivitari electorate in Northern province.
Task Force Sweep said in a statement that it was not clear whether Pondros, who was believed to have a primary school teaching and air steward background, had the capacity to deliver such technical. What was apparent was that the funds were instead used for private purposes.
He was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud, one count of false pretence and one count of misappropriation.
He was detained at the Boroko police cell and later released on a K1,500 police bail.
This was the second arrest of Pondros. His first arrest was on Oct 21, 2011, for allegedly misappropriating more than K6 million from the National Planning Department. The case is pending in court.
Meanwhile, Yakopyia, who was an assistant secretary at National Planning when Joseph Lelang was the secretary, allegedly used his position to approve K1,975,006.05 variation claim lodged on behalf of Sarakolok West Transport Ltd (SWT) by its lawyer, Manase  and Co Lawyers.
These funds were paid on top of the initial K7.9 million paid to SWT, a company owned by Eremas Wartoto who was also arrested for not using the funds to rehabilitate the Kerevat National High School in East New Britain, the purpose upon which the funds under the RESI programme were released to the company.
It was alleged that while the initial K7.9 million was diverted for personal use, another K1.9 million was released under fraudulent circumstances to the same company.