The truth will prevail

By SHAN-LIN CHEN, Trade Mission of Taiwan representative

 

ON behalf of the government of Taiwan, I am writing in response to an article entitled “Opposition demands action on Taiwan scandal” (The National, Jan 15).

 Taiwan is a democratic country and its independent judiciary is currently conducting a full and thorough investigation into the case mentioned in the article.

My government, therefore, has every confidence that truth and justice will prevail.

As Taiwan’s representative, I will naturally be providing all relevant information to the Government as soon as the final verdict is delivered.

Time to flatten Genoka

By AMBO

 

Goroka is turning into a haven for lawlessness and fast becoming a cowboy town.

Genoka is one such place that accommodates thugs and criminals.

I wonder whether the Goroka administration has the power to barricade Genoka.

 It should give the settlers the ultimatum to leave on their own or they would be forced out.

After that, the settlement should be flattened.

The peace-loving people of Goroka are fed up with these criminals.

 We want to live in peace.

So sad many smart students miss out

By WAIMIN WASIA

 

MANY brilliant students in the country are missing out every year because of the school fee problem.

It is very sad to see thousands of brilliant students, especially from poor families, leaving universities and colleges every year with tears streaming down from their eyes.

Is that how PNG will improve its human resource and move forward?

The Government must subsidise some of the school fees because human resource is vital for the development of this nation.

The Government is not allocating enough money to education, particularly OHE.

As a result, many tertiary students were missing out on HECAS although they met the requirements.

The Government must strive to produce marketable intellectuals instead of sending young talented Papua New Guineans as cheap labour to neighbouring countries.

PNG must be competent with the rest of the world.

Because of its negligence in education, PNG is far behind in world education standard.

Update from Bulo MP Sam Basil in Australia

Last Saturday Bulolo MP Sam Basil’s guide from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Tim Morris accompanied him to Kwinana outside Perth to witness a traditional ceremony.

“The elder of the Yargon tribe Trevor Wally gave a fire gift to me after the fire ceremony witnessed by the Kwinana deputy mayor Dennis Woods,” Mr Basil said.

“A gift was also presented by the deputy mayor and I presented three Bulolo bilums to the officials.

“On Sunday we flew from Perth to Karratha from where I am currently visiting landowners and affected communities asking questions and doing comparison with PNG systems and the Australian indigenous system.”

 

Bulolo MP Sam Basil travels to Australia

Bulolo MP Sam Basil has done it again.

Mr Basil, who recently returned from the USA after attending the inauguration of President Barrack Obama, left for Australia last Friday for a weeklong visit at the invitation of the Australian government.

He returns on March 1.

Australian High Commissioner to PNG Chris Moraitis announced the trip in the presence of Mr Basil at a press conference last Thursday.

Mr Moraitis said the programme, known as the Australian Special Visitors Programme, was aimed at “up-and-coming” people such as Mr Basil to visit and give them a “very good insight” into the country.

He said Mr Basil would visit Western Australian, Victoria and Canberra meeting with politicians, parliamentary secretaries, and business houses such as Newcrest, a joint venture partner with Harmony in the Hidden Valley gold mine in Wau.

Previous PNG beneficiaries of the programme, which has been run over many years, include politicians Paul Tienstien and Sam Abal, and journalist Frank Senge Kolma, among many others.

“We hope Sam (Basil) has a good visit there,” Mr Moraitis said.

“We’re happy to do that before Parliament resumes in March.”

Mr Basil said it was an honour for his Bulolo electorate to travel overseas so soon after his visit to the USA.

“I’m very fortunate to go overseas this time, this time to Australia,” he said.

“This trip will really help me to understand Australia.”

Mr Basil gave a vote of thanks to the Australian government, through its High Commission, for making the trip possible.

 

Over 100 UK companies seek PNG partners

Over 100 United Kingdom companies are seeking business partners in Papua New Guinea.

UK Exporters Ltd, a Bristol-based company that runs a database of over 18,500 UK exporters, has listed 136 companies that are looking for business partners in PNG.

They are generally seeking new business, agents and distributors or are hoping to add to their customer-base in the region.

The companies range from manufacturers of fuel flow modulators and cleaning chemicals to chocolate and biscuit makers.

Each UK company listed has a direct link to their company profile which show all the products or services they are offering.

Each individual company may be contacted direct from their company profile which includes their e-mail and web addresses.

Interested PNG companies can access their details from the UK Exporters Ltd website http://www.exportuk.co.uk/agents.asp or via the British High Commission Website http://www.ukinpng.fco.gov.uk

The UK companies’ interest in business opportunities in PNG follows the recent announcement by the London and Port Moresby Stock Exchange-listed New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL) to build a £18 million (K68 million) palm oil processing facility in the UK.

UK High Commissioner to PNG, David Dunn, said that whilst the world was experiencing a global trade downturn the interest in PNG showed by UK companies was an indication of the strong and growing commercial relationship between the two countries.

“The NBPOL investment is excellent news for the UK and is a further indication of the deepening commercial relationship between the two countries. The UK is PNG's fourth largest commercial partner and the clear destination of choice for PNG inward investment to Europe,” he added.

Copies of the UK Exporters List for PNG have also been passed on to the PNG Investment Promotion Authority (IPA).

Thought for today

Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community.

H.G. Wells (1866-1946)

PS: The thought is very much applicable to the current situation in Papua New Guinea.

 

Vital to conduct sorcery awareness

By PS TOKO, Madang

 

Sorcery-related killings are on the rise, especially in the Highlands provinces, and I believe that is just the beginning.

Since the turn of this century, many great people have died.

Somehow, their deaths were linked to sorcery.

People are fed up with sorcery and were now taking a bold stand to torture and kill sorcerers.

Such unjustified killings must be condemned.

The Government is taking the right approach to stop sorcery-related killings.

But, what if such claims are true?

We must be aware that sorcery is related to spiritualism.

How can you prove that the sorcerer is the murderer and is responsible for the killing?

Sorcery is associated with supernatural powers and spiritual things cannot be discerned with physical things.

Even doctors cannot explain the cause of it medically and scientifically.

On the other hand, steps must be taken to eradicate glasman as they are bogus.

These people are responsible for the deaths of many innocent people.

The law must be tough on these people.

Papua New Guineans must understand that sorcery was part of our culture.

It was there before our forefathers came into contact with the Western culture.

It was only used when needed, especially on their enemies.

But as the Western culture made its presence felt, so did wealth and transport system, leading to a widespread practice of sorcery because it was one of the fastest and easiest ways to make a fortune.

Unfortunately, many people were now taking the opportunity to kill others under the guise of sorcery.

As such, apart from the judicial system, the Government must also use education and religion to break down sorcery.

Awareness programmes must be conducted immediately in the Highlands provinces.

As sorcery is ingrained in our culture, it will take time to change the people’s beliefs, but I believe it can be done.

'Witches' put to death in Papua New Guinea as mob rule takes hold

By RICHARD LLOYD PARRY, Asia Editor, Times Online

 

They are burnt, stoned, slashed, poisoned or hanged. They range from the young to the elderly and more often than not they are women. Often they are killed by mobs of men but sometimes they face kangaroo courts. They are the “sorcerers” of Papua New Guinea — victims of a literal witch-hunt in one the world's poorest and most isolated countries.

There have been more than 50 murders in recent months of people accused of practising black magic, according to human rights organisations. Authorities appear helpless to intervene although the Government has ordered a parliamentary commission to spend a year investigating ways to prevent witch-hunts, which arise from a tragic combination of tribalism, underdevelopment and superstition.

“When dozens of people have been killed, it's clear that the Government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens and maintain the rule of law,” said Apolosi Bose, of Amnesty International.

The persecution of the practitioners of black magic has a long history here in the eastern half of the vast tropical island of New Guinea, north of Australia. Media reports suggest, however, that in the past year it has become an epidemic, especially in the Highlands region, parts of which had their first contact with Westerners only as recently as 70 years ago.

Last Sunday a father and son were burnt alive close to Mount Hagen, the capital of Western Highlands province, after neighbours accused the older man of causing the death of a local leader by sorcery. In January a young woman was burnt alive on a pyre of rubber tyres after being accused of witchcraft and of passing on HIV/Aids to men with whom she had extramarital affairs. One married couple escaped a lynch mob when the pregnant wife began to give birth as she was being hanged from a tree.

Last Friday a court in the town of Lae sentenced Wilson Okore, 29, to 50 years in jail after he hacked to death a forest warden for allegedly using spells to give a woman colleague headaches.

Accusations of witchcraft sometimes seem to be the pretext for the settling of local scores, and tend to be made by families who have lost a loved one to a disease without an obvious cause. Often this is cancer or, increasingly, Aids-related illnesses, which are spread by prostitution, scant use of condoms and high rates of rape and sexual violence against women. Victims of witch-hunts are often women who have married into a community from another tribe and who lack kinsmen of their own to defend or avenge them.

The objective existence of black magic is enshrined in Papua New Guinea's 1976 Sorcery Act, which permits white magic but punishes the black variety with up to two years in jail. The country's police force is poorly trained, poorly resourced and riddled with corruption, so witch-hunters have a good chance of escaping punishment.

“People often don't trust the police or the judiciary and instead blame events on supernatural causes and punish suspected sorcerers,” said Mr Bose.

 

 

MP calls for ban on beer in Tari

By ANDREW ALPHONSE

KOMO-Margarima MP Francis Potape will petition the Southern Highlands provincial executive council (PEC) this week to impose a total liquor ban in Tari and the Hela region, The National reports.

Mr Potape made the call after a drunken youth assaulted and attacked medical officers from the international medical organisation, Medecine Sans Frontiers (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders, at the Tari Hospital last Saturday evening.

Mr Potape, who was in Tari last weekend, was angered by the manner in which the drunken youth, who is a casual employee with the MSF at the hospital, attacked the female and male expatriate MSF officers before damaging the windshield of their vehicle. Mr Potape said the action of one person had tarnished the good name of all Tari and Hela people.

The MP fronted up at the Tari police station on Sunday afternoon demanding the policemen to have the culprit arrested and charged immediately.

Mr Potape said the MSF officers had been offering their services free of charge to the Hela population since mid-last year and the manner in which they were assaulted by a drunkard had brought shame and humiliation to the Hela people and their leaders.

Mr Potape met with Tari Hospital chief executive officer Dr Bravy Koensong on Sunday and tried in vain to stop the MSF officers leaving for Port Moresby.

He said the action of one man had made thousands of Hela people suffer.

Police in Tari said the suspect was arrested and locked up at the police cells on Monday.

Mr Potape said he would petition the PEC meeting this week to immediately impose a liquor ban in Tari and Hela.

He also called for security measures at the hospital to be improved.

Meanwhile, Dr Koensong said the MSF staff were evacuated upon advice from their boss in Port Moresby while their representatives would travel to Tari today to meet with the hospital management and local leaders, including police, to see how best they could address the problem.

Dr Koensong said the delivery of health services to Tari and Hela had greatly improved with the presence of the MSF doctors at the hospital

 

Zibe: Work with health volunteers

By WALLACE KIALA

 

HEALTH and HIV/AIDS Minister Sasa Zibe has condemned attacks on two Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) volunteers working at the Tari Hospital in Southern Highlands province last weekend, The National reports.

Mr Zibe called on the community in Tari to respect the work of MSF volunteers and other development partners and local workers striving to bring much-needed health services to the area.

“I will not hesitate to close the hospital if such unethical behaviours against our health workers continue,” Mr Zibe warned.

He also called on community leaders to deal with law and order problems and “educate their people to cooperate, respect and work with development partners and our national doctors and nurses”.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Zibe met with MFS head of mission Marc Galinier to convey his apologies on behalf of the Government and people of PNG for the senseless behaviour of a drunkard.

Tari hospital chief executive officer Dr Bravy Koensong confirmed yesterday that the community was contributing money to fix the damaged MFS vehicle,

He said the people would also slaughter pigs and say sorry to the doctors.

Tari police said the offender had been arrested and charged.

Mr Galinier would travel to Tari today to meet with a reconciliation party.

He said while MSF appreciated the gesture as a step forward to have the volunteers back in the district hospital, he would also inform the community that the volunteers would not accept any cash or material goods.

“We do not want to promote stigmatisation and discrimination from this incident, although it is sad for all of us that this happened.

“Whatever is given as gifts to us, we will tell the community that they could instead donate them to unfortunate members of the community,” Mr Galinier said.

He said the team was prepared to go back to Tari, but he would advise them on when to do so when he returned to Port Moresby.

700 homeless

Waghi River bursts its banks in Dei

 

By SENT TIMBI

 

MORE than 700 people in the Dei area of Western Highlands province are homeless after the Waghi River burst its banks in the early hours of yesterday, The National reports.

The flooding was caused by heavy rain in the area, but villagers were also pointing fingers at road construction work being carried out in the area.

Mothers and their children grabbed whatever they could and scrambled to safety as the water level rose, partially submerging their homes.

It was estimated that about 25ha of land was under water, including food gardens and cash crops. Domesticated animals like pigs and other livestock were lost as the mighty river burst its banks, and began flooding the area around 2am while people were still asleep.

In the area visited by The National, 26 houses including a building belonging to the Catholic church were partially under water.

The flood hit the village near the Waghi Bridge at the Kondopina area at the border of Dei and Anglimp-South Waghi districts.

Most people living there are originally from the Simbu province. They have lived in the area for the last 42 years.

They told The National that this was one of the worst natural disasters they had ever encountered.

Community leader Gabriel Nolai wanted two construction companies working in the area and the Works Department to accept some of the blame for the flooding in the area, saying they had failed to provide a culvert to drain out excess water.

Mr Nolai said with the food gardens gone, people were likely to face starvation. They would also be exposed to waterborne diseases.

He appealed for outside help.

Ward councillor Yer Bom also said the disaster was the worst ever experienced by his people.

Frustrated villagers yesterday morning stopped eight trucks and machinery owned by a construction company from moving through the area.

Heavy rain in the Highlands was causing flooding in parts of the region, destroying food gardens and tree crops, and leaving people homeless.

It is understood the heavy rain and tidal surges in the coastal areas are associated with the La Nina weather pattern.

 

Lowering heart disease rates

IN this continuous awareness campaign to mark National Heart Month, we take a look at some risk factors that causes heart diseases.

Quit smoking: Smoking is the largest preventative cause of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, chronic lung disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and a major cause of mouth and throat cancer. Heart disease rates are 70% higher for smokers that non-smokers.

Control diabetes: Diabetes is considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. People with diabetes can reduce their health risk by modifying their other risk for cardiovascular disease, such as smoking, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, excess weight and high blood cholesterol levels.

Maintain a healthy body weight: People who are overweight or obese are at risk of developing high blood pressure, high blood lipids and diabetes-all of which put them at high risk of cardiovascular or heart disease. Working to reach and maintain a healthy weight is a good way to prevent heart disease. You can achieve a healthy weight through healthy eating and active living, including exercising regularly.

Keep blood pressure at healthy levels: Losing excess weight, exercising, eating healthy, reducing salt intake and taking time to relax and manage stress levels will all help to influence blood pressure. You should have your blood pressure checked regularly; you can to your doctor’s office or even to your local drug store.

Keep cholesterol at healthy levels: Several major studies have shown that lowering blood cholesterol levels reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. Some research suggests that atherosclerosis (the build up of fatty materials, calcium and scar tissue in the arteries) may be stopped and even reversed if cholesterol levels are sharply lowered. The first step in lowering cholesterol is modifying your diet to reduce total fat consumption. There is evidence that increasing the amount of fiber is also beneficial. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active and smoke free are also very important in controlling blood cholesterol.

Learn to manage stress: Stress is often associated with unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, overeating, excessive drinking and worrying. Practice some stress management techniques such as meditation or deep breathing to reduce stress. Exercise is also great for relieving stress. Also laughter has been shown to reduce the risk of suffering a second heart attack. A recent study supports the old saying that laughter is the best medicine. It found that hearty laughs helped heart patients prevent another attack. Only 10% of those in the study who laughed 30minutes each day suffered another attack while 30% of those in the study who did not laugh had another attack.

 

 

 

Getting tough on sorcery killings

By PETER MIVA

 

PEOPLE with superstitious beliefs are accusing innocent people of sorcery and murdering them, often without evidence or trial, The National reports.

In Lae earlier this month, perpetrators of such Stone Age beliefs were the subject of Justice Nicholas Kirriwom’s ruling when he sentenced Oro man Wilson Okore to 50 years in jail with hard labour.

The penalty was perhaps the harshest yet for such crimes.

A recap of some of these will highlight the court’s approach and appropriate penalties to deter people from taking justice into their own hands without any respect for the law.

In one of these cases, Gideon Neo, a young man from Simbuluk village, Bulolo, Morobe province, was sent to jail by Justice George Manuhu for 23 years last July 19.

He was found guilty of murdering an elderly man, Kiputong Waiag, who was from the same village, after accusing him of sorcery.

Neo and two others, who were armed with a bush knife and axe, had gone to Waiag’s house on the night of April 18, 2006, and killed him while he was asleep in his kitchen.

They had accused him of causing the death of a relative through sorcery.

Neo denied the murder but the trial found him guilty.

Justice Manuhu said that many people accused of murder gave sorcery as an excuse for their crime.

He said people should

exercise restraint in dealing with sorcery and find alternative ways to resolve deaths that they believe were caused through such acts.

Back in 2007, on Nov 15, Peter Kapisa, in his 30s and married with 10 children from Umela village, Menyamya district, also in Morobe, was sentenced to 28 years in prison by the National Court for killing his fourth wife.

Kapisa had suspected Ronica Amje of stealing his cargo pants to be used for sorcery against him.

Acting out of that suspicion, he beat his wife to death with the butt of an axe.

In this case, Justice Sao Gabi said the sanctity and value of life was far more precious and valuable and no amount of remorse or compensation would adequately compensate a life that was lost.

He said the unlawful taking of another person’s life was a horrendous act which must be adequately punished.

He said this was a vicious killing of an unarmed and defenceless woman.

Justice Gabi sentenced Kapisa to 28 years in jail after he had pleaded guilty.

“This kind of killing must be visited with a strong punitive and deterrent sentence,” he said.

Going back further to Dec 11, 2006, the National Court in Lae convicted two other men of the murder of a 60-year-old man.

They were subsequently jailed to about 20 years each on Feb 5, 2007.

Krimbu Siwing, 36, and Chris Kipi, 26, both married from Biawen village, Wau, Morobe province, were found guilty of the murder of one Sanik Nalu.

They had wounded Nalu in a fight in the village on Feb 21, 2005.

Nalu died afterwards from a damaged lung on June 10, 2005.

Justice Manuhu told the court that there were no clear motives except allegations that Nalu

had used sorcery to kill one of the prisoners’ father.

The judge said people must not resort to taking the law into their own hands as they could seek redress through the courts under the Sorcery Act.

On Feb 6, in his ruling on Kokoda man Okore for the killing of Jerry Kaiulo over claims of sorcery, Justice Kirriwom has set the benchmark in an effort to deter murders emanating from sorcery allegations.

His imposing of the 50-year jail term is higher than the previous judgements by Justices Gabi and Manuhu.

Okore killed Kaiulo after he and Prisca Houje, the woman who was the subject of the sorcery, claimed they had “visions” of the ploy.

“The prisoner is fortunate that he pleaded guilty to murder and not found guilty of wilful murder had he gone to trial,” Justice Kirriwom said.

Such a statement hints at the possibility of heavy penalties such as life imprisonment or even the death sentence for those who face trials for sorcery-related killings.

And 50 years in jail may only be the minimum – no less.

 

Amnesty slams ‘inaction’

 

AN Amnesty International researcher says supernatural belief is no excuse for people in Papua New Guinea to kill those they accuse of sorcery, or for the police to fail to act against such crimes.

Apolosi Bose is calling on the PNG Government, police and judiciary to do more to stop a surge in sorcery-related murders, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 50 people in the past year.

Mr Bose says some police officers in PNG have a belief in the supernatural and are afraid to stand up to sorcerers and those who accuse people of sorcery.

But he says they must do their job professionally.

“We are saying that is totally unacceptable, police officers are there to protect people to ensure that crimes are not committed or if someone perpetrates a crime that person should be taken to task according to the law.”

Mr Bose says the police need more staff and training to investigate sorcery related killings, which make up more than half the murders in PNG. – Radio New Zealand International

 

*Peter Miva is a reporter with The National’s Lae Bureau

 

Bogus witchdoctors are demons: Kauba

By DAVID MURI

 

Highlands divisional commander Assistant Commissioner of Police Simon Kauba has issued a stern warning to people posing as witchdoctors or glasman to immediately cease their illegal practices, The National reports.

And he has directed a special police unit yesterday to investigate reports and possibly rescue two women being held captive at Bomrui village outside Mt Hagen.

The two women were allegedly detained for one week after the death of a young man, while villagers were searching for a witchdoctor at Kondopina village to confirm if the women had actually performed sorcery.

“Before any action is taken on these two women, we must save them. And we will arrest and charge those people who have unlawfully detained them.

“If they were threatened or assaulted, then appropriate charges will also be laid,” ACP Kauba said.

He said several sorcery-related killings in the Highlands were directly related to findings from hired witchdoctors whom he described as “demons” possessing a cargo-cult mentality.

ACP Kauba said the witchdoctors claimed to possess supernatural powers and were being hired to reveal the source of deaths in many villages in the region.

He said most revelations from these witchdoctors pointed to innocent people, especially women and elderly men.

“Witchdoctors are just as guilty as the murderers. They are directly responsible for the killings. They are lying and putting innocent lives to death,” he said.

He warned that these so-called witchdoctors would be arrested and charged for spreading false reports that lead to sorcery-related killings of innocent people.

ACP Kauba said the people must no longer believe in superstition but must seek legal avenues for justice.

He said witchdoctors could also be arrested and charged as principal offenders under the Criminal Code.

He said that for the greed of money and pigs, these witchdoctors accuse the wrong people who were then tortured, burnt alive or killed in the villages.

“They (witchdoctors) want to make quick money, so they name the wrong person. But the family of the deceased must think twice if these people are correct in their findings. This practice is ridiculous and dangerous.

“We will nail those behind it,” ACP Kauba said.

Mt Hagen rural local level government president Wai Rapa confirmed that he had heard of witchdoctors profiting from their illegal activities and asked police to curb the practice.

Mr Rapa said many people had been accused of sorcery and killed because of false information provided by the witchdoctors to make quick money.

 

THE DIGICEL SAGA AROUND THE WORLD

Despite coups, corruption and kidnappings, cell phone maverick Denis O'Brien keeps pouring money into the world's poorest, most violent countries. His bet: Give phones to the masses and they'll fight your enemies for you.

Denis O'Brien professes not to understand why wall Streeters think his telecom business is risky. He says this while sitting in an office in Papua New Guinea that is protected by razor wire and a half-dozen guards carrying shotguns and pistols. O'Brien's Jamaica-headquartered company, Digicel Group, began offering cheap cell phone service recently in this Pacific hellhole. The murder rate in PNG is one of the highest in the world, corruption is rife, and the government recently threatened to seize 130 cell towers that O'Brien had erected at a cost of $120 million.

Is there anyplace as inhospitable to capital as PNG? Haiti would qualify. O'Brien has put money in there, too--several hundred million dollars. Five of his workers in Haiti have been kidnapped so far. In East Timor O'Brien is pursuing a license despite a rebel uprising this year that left the country's president with a bullet in his chest. And then there's Fiji, where he had to abandon cell towers for a time after a coup.

He concedes a bit to the worrywarts by noting that his experience in Fiji was a "nightmare." But he's not about to stop putting capital in dangerous places. "If you just focus on risk, you can't do a thing," he says. A swashbuckling entrepreneur of 50 who swears often in his Irish brogue, O'Brien has built a $2.2 billion personal fortune by dominating the mobile business in a dozen poverty-stricken countries (in all, he's in 27 countries and territories). Combining shrewd political instincts, a relentless drive to cut costs and a little Irish charm, he's put phones into the hands of 7 million people in seven years.

He sums up his strategy thusly: "Get big fast. [Damn] the cost. Be brave. Go over the cliff. [The competition] doesn't have the balls."

O'Brien doesn't let government obstructionism or corruption deter him. He dots countries with cell towers, sometimes before rulers even grant a license, then slashes the price of mobiles on opening day to get the masses using them fast. It's a bet that poor people who have never had phone service before won't let the politicians take their phones away without a fight. Thus does O'Brien avoid the fate of many Western investors in corrupt, violent countries--being forced to sell out on the cheap. That's what happened to Royal Dutch Shell's oil well on Russia's Sakhalin Island and to aes' power plants in Kazakhstan.

In an April riot in Port-au-Prince, Haiti the mob not only spared Digicel stores from its burning and looting but even gathered in front of a few of them and cheered. Says a jubilant O'Brien, as he reads an e-mail on the news, "They're calling us the Company of the People."

If riots and coups aren't risk enough, O'Brien is moving into El Salvador and Honduras to confront a rival with far more resources. Mexican mobile phone titan Carlos Slim Helú, the second-richest man in the world, is already selling in those countries. "I don't think about Slim every day," says O'Brien, who claims he has taken 20% of the market in El Salvador in one year. (Slim, in turn, has bought a cell phone company in Jamaica, setting up a battle on O'Brien's home turf.) O'Brien is also eyeing the U.S., where only 80% of the population has a cell phone. He says he could close the gap fast by selling cheap handsets activated with codes on prepaid phone cards, as he does in poor countries. "They're snobbish," he says of the U.S. operators' disdain for such tactics.

O'Brien also owns a network of 42 radio stations in eight European countries, a golf resort community in Portugal, a plane lessor with a fleet of 93 in Dublin and a firm, just two years old, that runs Internet job-recruiting sites in six countries, including eight in China. He's got quixotic publishing ambitions, too. He keeps upping his stake (25% at last count) in Independent News & Media, controlled by a rival Irish billionaire, Anthony O'Reilly, whom he's trying to oust.

Digicel is his biggest gamble, though. Total revenue: $2 billion. The Caribbean operations backing his bonds just announced $505 million in operating profit (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation), double the year-earlier figure, on $1.6 billion in revenue for the year ended in March. His goal: cell service in 45 countries in two years, generating more than a billion in operating income.

In April O'Brien was in the midst of a five-day, four-country visit (via his Gulfstream G550) to keep tabs on his assets. "Why does no one think about reducing costs in this company?" he fumes. In Western Samoa, where Digicel has captured 32% of the population in 18 months, O'Brien lashes out at staff, flown in from various countries, for sins like buying eight vans instead of six (potential savings, $44,000). Next a staffer reports happily that people in the Kingdom of Tonga are apparently buying the rumor, spread by Digicel, that it will launch in October. "Keep spreading it," O'Brien advises. (Digicel began the invasion in May, taking competitors by surprise.)

Then he hears of plans to invite the king of Tonga, not the prime minister, to cut the ribbon at a store. "Weren't they throwing stones at him a while ago?" O'Brien wonders. Indeed, antimonarchist rioters managed to burn down much of the capital. But no time to dwell on the king--O'Brien has to fly to three more countries today, and his next meeting is in Vanuatu, 3,200 miles away. "Every man for himself," he yells to two dozen young staffers as they rush to vans heading to the airport.

O'Brien inherited business smarts from his father and a rebellious streak from his mother. The father, who sold veterinary supplies to horse breeders, is Catholic; the mother, Protestant. Neither family showed up at their wedding. His mother, a human rights activist with a special animus for President Reagan, would badger him to join protest marches.

After university in Dublin, and a Boston College M.B.A., O'Brien became a banker, then set out to build a QVC-like channel for all of Europe. When that collapsed he went into hock, started a Dublin radio station, 98FM, and began selling ads furiously. That was the forerunner to Communicorp, today one of the largest radio networks in Europe.

He dipped into the cell phone business in 1995 when he won a license in Ireland to set up a mobile phone network, Esat Telecom. A government investigation into a former communications minister accused of a variety of corrupt dealings is looking into whether O'Brien won the license on a bribe. O'Brien hotly denies he did so and says that at Digicel--incredibly given the countries it's doing business in--he's never been asked for a bribe, much less greased any palms.

In any case he loaded Esat up with debt and got 550,000 customers in three years. In January 2001 he sold the company for $2.9 billion to BT Group--$300 million of it going to him and $250 million to his workers (even the janitors had options). After the sale his mother phoned to complain about Moscow's abuse of the Chechens. O'Brien spent the evening marching in a circle in front of the Russian embassy. Later he used a bit of his wealth to set up Front Line, a nonprofit that trains rights advocates on how to avoid getting thrown into prison and tortured. It also evacuates those in danger of being killed--15 so far this year.

Shortly after unloading Esat, O'Brien spotted a 3-inch-square ad in the Financial Times inviting bids for a mobile license in Jamaica. He likes to say he was drawn to the region because of all the Irish "troublemakers" banished there by the English after a 1649 invasion. But the real pull was that this was a country where only the elite had access to phones. In a place like that, he could get the masses to love him.

He paid $48 million for a license and rolled out a battle plan he would use on other invasions: spend lavishly on the network (1,000 towers in Jamaica), build clean stores with cheery staff (a rarity in many developing countries) and lure customers by offering new services like per-second billing and big discounts from the competition (80% less for phones and 50% less for calls).

O'Brien also drew on his inner P.T. Barnum, throwing cell- tower parties with live reggae music and starting an American Idol-type contest called Digicel Rising Stars, in which the best amateur performers are chosen by national vote (using Digicel phones, of course). Only 10% of Jamaicans used cell phones before Digicel arrived. Now 90% (2.4 million people) do. Three-fourths of them are using Digicel phones.

He is expanding across the Caribbean. In Trinidad & Tobago, where the state mobile phone firm was dragging its feet on connecting Digicel calls to its own customers, O'Brien harangued government officials to speed things up, even phoning one Christmas night to complain. After the launch the state firm started dropping Digicel calls anyway, making its new competitor look bad. O'Brien took his case to the people, taking out ads in T&T's papers listing life "Before Digicel" and "After Digicel" and held a press conference. The state firm eventually relented. In its first four months Digicel bagged 600,000 customers and is narrowing the gap now with the state in market share.

In June 2005 O'Brien bought a license in Haiti. The country has no nationwide electric grid to power cell towers, so Digicel had to deliver barrels of diesel to its sites, sometimes by donkey. Customs officials refused to release 75 cell towers from a warehouse for nine months, relenting only a few weeks before launch (and after Haiti Chief Ghada Gebara paid a visit to a hard-to-find government official at his paramour's house). Then a familiar problem: a refusal by the two rival incumbent firms to connect Digicel calls with its customers.

In May 2006 O'Brien launched anyway with a clever come-on: Customers with phones from rivals could trade them in for a free Digicel one. Hundreds of people lined up outside Digicel stores for three weeks in scorching heat. "Let the people know we give a damn about them," O'Brien lectured staffers. Within days he had struck a deal to slap the Digicel logo on water bottles, then had workers hand them out along the lines while dancers gyrated to live music from flatbed trucks.

In one week Digicel had 120,000 customers, and its rivals agreed to interconnect. O'Brien now has 2 million Haitian customers, 64% of the market.

By the end of 2006 private equity firms were circling Digicel. The company had 4 million customers in 22 Caribbean countries and was generating $220 million a year in operating income. O'Brien was sitting on a beach in Barbados looking over two buyout offers for $3.8 billion when it hit him: Why not buy the whole company himself? One month later he sold $1.4 billion in bonds, enough to buy minority investors out of their 22% stake, put a few hundred million into the business and pocket $800 million for himself, free and clear. Total debt: $2.8 billion. O'Brien prefers to think positively of the tight budgets that borrowing demands: "If you have limited resources, you have to be more clever, more skillful, more defiant." Tell him many big telcos have a lighter debt burden and he snaps: "They're doing nothing but sitting on their arses."

O'Brien was soon moving into the Pacific. Digicel staffers flew to Tonga to inspect a state mobile outfit for sale, only to discover crucial documents had been burnt in those antimonarchist riots. (O'Brien bought the firm anyway.) In Fiji Commodore Frank Bainimarama had just seized power and subjected Digicel's chief there to a four-hour interrogation. Would the $20 million Digicel spent there go down the drain? No. A week after the coup O'Brien was sitting on a veranda with the new ruler, sipping tea. "Everyone was saying, 'Don't go. It's unsafe,'" he says. "But that's exactly the time to go in."

Government officials in Papua New Guinea weren't so amenable at first. Soon after Digicel won a license in an auction in 2006, telecom minister Arthur Somare invalidated it on a hazy procedural ground. Lawsuits quickly followed, and O'Brien kept his license. (We should point out here that Somare is a son of the prime minister.) In any case Somare then submitted a bill to parliament to nationalize O'Brien's operations. The fight got so bad that the man who oversaw the original auction, Thomas Abe, received anonymous threats against his family and had to move houses several times.

Digicel had a lot to lose. It had erected dozens of towers and poured concrete for dozens more. O'Brien used this to his advantage. He brought members of parliament into Digicel's main office to show them a wall map of PNG with pushpins representing planned cell sites in villages that never had a landline connection. The plan to nationalize Digicel was defeated.

Somare wasn't through. A few months later he decreed that Digicel could not beam microwave transmissions from its towers, potentially rendering them useless. O'Brien's response: He launched his service on the sneak, selling phones for a heavily subsidized $6, one-fifth the state monopoly's price. He gave away a chip that allowed state phones to run on Digicel's network. He also gave away $6 prepaid phone cards--250,000 of them in only ten days.

Within five months Digicel had 350,000 customers, 200,000 more than the state firm, and letters began to pour into newspapers ridiculing the state for threatening a rival. "Childish and pathetic," sniped one letter. An editorial called for competition to shake up the water and electricity monopolies, too. O'Brien contacted friends in foreign embassies to lobby the government to not touch the company. "The EU funds PNG. So do Australia and New Zealand. So we used diplomacy," he says. A former PNG army commander was quoted ominously in a magazine saying governments that ignore the people's will are often toppled by coups.

The threat from the state has now largely faded away. Says auction overseer Abe, "Fishermen and farmers are calling me to say, 'Good for you for standing up to the government.'" Indeed, it's hard to overstate the impact cell phones are having on poor citizens. Fittler Larsen, a impoverished betel nut seller in a PNG squatter settlement of 20,000, is making more money now that he can call wholesalers to check if new shipments have arrived. "I used to spend half a day getting supplies," says the 19-year-old, standing barefoot amid half-naked kids. "Now I can stay here and sell more."

Back in the Caribbean, O'Brien bought a license in Panama and visited Nicaragua twice in quest of one (while getting Reagan nemesis President Daniel Ortega to sign a photo to his mother: "Greetings to a fellow revolutionary"). O'Brien, never one to suffer doubts, proclaims, "You run like MacArthur from island to island--and you conquer. This is going to be a very big business."

 

 

 

Doctors attacked

MSF team evacuated from Tari

 

A TEAM of foreign doctors and nurses who were offering their services free of charge in Tari, Southern Highlands province, were evacuated after two of them were attacked by a drunk over the weekend, The National reports.

The team of six was evacuated from Tari to Port Moresby on Sunday by a chartered aircraft following the attack.

A male and a female member of the team were attacked on Saturday evening by a man employed as a security guard at the hospital.

The man, who is now in police custody, turned up for work drunk, and was asked to go home to rest so he could return later to work sober.

However, he refused, and instead attacked the two members of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), commonly referred to as Doctors Without Borders.

A male member of the MSF team received a cut to the left ear that required stitches, while a female member received bruises.

The drunk man also smashed the windshield of a vehicle used by the MSF.

The team included two doctors, two nurses, a technician and their coordinator.

The incident was confirmed by Tari Hospital chief executive officer Dr Bravy Koensong.

The MSF team has been in Tari for about six months, helping to restore a hospital that had not functioned for 15 years.

“We worked hard to rebuild this place with the help of MSF, and we do not need this. In keeping with their (MSF) principles, services here relating to trauma and violence are free.

“In the last five months, things have really improved, especially the hospital ground and facilities, and the patient referral system is functioning.

“We also have the Clinton Foundation here. They opened their clinic here two months ago.

“How can we guarantee their future here?

“We are calling on the local community to give us an assurance on our security.”

Dr Koensong said Tari had a big problem with alcohol and drug abuse.

“I must admit that there is a big problem with alcohol and drugs. About 70% of violence here is related to alcohol and drugs. There should be a liquor ban here.”

He praised the community for getting the suspect into police custody.

“The local people here are outraged by the attack. They are contributing money to repair the vehicle, and will kill pigs for the team on their return.”

Improvement to the Tari hospital under Dr Koensong, and the work of the MSF has attracted patients from as far away as Mt Bosavi, Kandep, Porgera and Lake Kopiago.

The MSF team’s contract was to expire in December.

The MSF head of mission, Marc Galinier, confirmed that the team had been evacuated.

Mr Galinier said: “I am not sure what triggered the incident against my workers who had been providing a satisfactory secondary medical service that had been missing in this part of PNG for the last 15 years.”

He said he was worried about the security of the volunteers, and was in discussions with them about their future in Tari.

 

Chinese immigrant found guilty by court

Controversial Chinese immigrant Gu Kai was found guilty by the Boroko District Court last week for illegally working in the country without a valid work permit.

Gu Kai was ordered by Boroko district Court Magistrate Paul Beeu to pay a fine of K5, 000 and was ordered to leave the country within 14 days.

Assistant Commissioner of Crimes Raphael Huafolo said Gu Kai was employed as an accountant by a company owned by a former Gulf province politician at the time of his arrest, prosecution and conviction.

He appeared in the Boroko District Court today for another charge of breaching PNG Immigration laws but the matter was adjourned to February 24.

 ACP Huafolo commended government officers from the department of Foreign Affairs and Labour who assisted police to prosecute Gu Kai in court.

Mr Huafolo said persistency and collaboration involving all relevant line agencies resulted in Gu Kai’s conviction.

He said the operation and Gu Kai’s conviction showed that all line government agencies are working vigorously in harmony to protect the country from being exploited by illegal immigrants.

Gu Kai was arrested in 2002 after failing to produce a valid PNG passport and work permit but the case was struck out in court by his lawyer.

He was hired on numerous occasions as interpreter by various Chinese illegal immigrants until he was rearrested in December 2008.

In another related investigation, ACP Huafolo said detectives have now obtained a letter purportedly written by a national lawyer representing Gu Kai and addressed to the Prime Minister on January 28 containing grossly defamatory and false information about certain people including a police officer attached to the Crimes Directorate.

We are investigating this matter and once we confirm the source of the letter, the persons responsible for spreading false rumours will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.  

Raphael Huafolo

Assistant Commissioner Crimes

Police Headquarters

Konedobu