Pacific Freedom Forum Media Alert

Members of PFF Pacific Freedom Forum and PIJO Pacific Islands Journalism Online are urged to sign our petition supporting freedoms of speech in Fiji.

 

Signing the petition is open to members of the media - and anyone else who supports freedoms of speech in Fiji - a hub for 20 island states and territories across the Pacific.

 

As announced last week by PFF, the petition "Support Free Speech for a Prosperous Fiji" is aimed at all Pacific Islands leaders, not just those in Fiji.

 

Signing the petition is a reminder for regional leaders when debating options for the troubled republic - that freedoms of speech are fundamental to futures of any successful society - not an optional extra.

 

PETITION BACKGROUND:

 

"Information is power. Gagging, censorship and detention of the Fiji news media by the interim regime in Fiji robs all citizens of feedback surrounding debate on national futures; and leaves the leadership itself uninformed about how to best achieve its goals of ending racist laws and corruption."

 

PETITION:

 

"We, undersigned, support free speech for a prosperous and free Fiji. We come from all walks of life and all regions of the world to call on Pacific leaders at all levels to stand up for the front-line role of news media when warning of threats to human rights, suggesting options, and negotiating outcomes with peoples of Fiji."

 

FURTHER INFO ON PFF

 

www.pacificfreedomforum.blogspot.com

 

PETITION LINK

 

http://www.gopetition.com/online/26992.html

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Lae War Cemetery

Continuing our series on WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea as ANZAC Day falls next Saturday. This time we visit the Lae War Cemetery...

The Lae War Cemetery is one of the major WW11 cemeteries in the country apart from Bomana (Port Moresby) and Bitapaka (Rabaul).
Immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Lae War Cemetery contains 2,818 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 444 of them unidentified.
The majority, over 2000, are from Australia with others from Great Britain, India, and Papua New Guinea.
They now rest peacefully in a picture of tranquility in the tropical greenery of the Botanical Gardens.
At dawn on ANZAC Day each year, the Lae community comes together to remember the many men who gave up their lives, to protect their countries and their people.
A visit to Lae would not be complete without a visit to the cemetery, which is located next to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Lae.
It is also a very emotional and moving experience.
In the early months of 1942, Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the air, and it was Lae and its neighboring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea.
Lae and Salamaua were bombed on January 21, 1942, by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until March 7, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae.
There were landings too at Salamaua, followed on July 21 by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby.
The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time.
Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at loribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 kilometres of Port Moresby.
Lae War Cemetery was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service and handed over to the Commission in 1947.
It contains the graves of men who lost their lives during the New Guinea campaign whose graves were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place.
The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong.
The great majority of the unidentified were recovered between But airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties.
Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 219th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery.
The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M. Ships King George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the Merchant Navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.
Before the First World War, north-eastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on September 12, 1914.
Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war.
There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The Lae War Memorial, which stands in the cemetery, commemorates more than 300 officers and men of the Australian Army, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in these operations and have no known grave.
Casualties of the Royal Australian Navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region, and have no known grave but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth Naval Forces.

Location Information :
Lae is a town and port at the mouth of the Markham River on the Huon Gulf. Lae War Cemetery is located adjacent to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Lae.

Historical Information:
In the early months of 1942, Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the air, and it was Lae and its neighbouring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea. Lae and Salamaua were bombed on 21 January 1942 by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until 7 March, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae. There were landings too at Salamaua, followed on 21 July by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby. The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time. Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at loribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 kilometres of Port Moresby.

LAE WAR CEMETERY was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service and handed over to the Commission in 1947. It contains the graves of men who lost their lives during the New Guinea campaign whose graves were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place. The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong.
The great majority of the unidentified were recovered between But airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties. Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 219th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery.
The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M. Ships King George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the Merchant Navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.
The cemetery contains 2,818 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 444 of them unidentified.
Prior to the First World War, north-eastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on 12 September 1914. Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war. There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.

The end of an era? PINA drops iconic convention title and goes with Pacific Media Summit.

Be part of one of the biggest media event in the Pacific, the Pacific Media Summit 2009, and tap the unparalleled opportunities for learning, knowledge sharing and networking the two-day conference and pre-summit workshops provide.

The first Pacific Media Summit in 2009, which has been scheduled on 26-30 July in Port Vila, Vanuatu, will promote a dynamic mix of content and format to enhance knowledge sharing and participation.

The Pacific Media Summit will gather some of the best minds and emerging media leaders to examine the issues of the conference theme, “Breaking Barriers- Access to Information”.

Expected to converge at the Summit are more than 200 CEOs from public and private media networks, media experts, consultants and academics as well as senior officials of development institutions representing over 25 countries worldwide.

The Pacific Media Summit will feature plenary sessions covering a wide spectrum of topics and issues such as the challenges facing media freedom in the region, battle to recruit and attract the right people.

Other topics include Climate Change and food security, new media, future plans for media assistance, Freedom of Information and how the Pacific is faring with the MDGs and the ripple effect from Global Financial meltdown.

There will be pre-summit workshops as well.

Another highlight of the Summit is a CEO roundtable discussion on recruiting, attracting and retaining qualified people amidst the fast changing and competitive media landscape within and outside Asia-Pacific.

The full Summit content and other conference details are available at www.pina.com.fj

Be among the media professionals and leaders at the Pacific Media Summit 2009, which embarks on another milestone, as it will be held in Vanuatu.

A popular Pacific destination, Port Vila offers a special city with a mix of Pacific tradition, particularly Melanesian history and culture that will enrich the Pacific Media Summit 2009.

Registration with the PINA Secretariat by contact Matai Akauola pina@connect.com.fj

The programme will be posted soon on this site.

The scourge of sorcery in Papua New Guinea

It is one of the greatest paradoxes that in this day and age, supposedly the ‘Computer Age’, Papua New Guineans are still living in the ‘Stone Age’.

A paradox too, when Papua New Guineans like to call ourselves “Christians”, however, cannot shake off the ancient and satanic obsession with sorcery.

Papua New Guinea cannot take its place in today’s modern world if this primitive belief continues.

The numerous sorcery-related killings in Papua New Guinea where innocent men, women and children are killed is even worse than the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693, where the suspected witches were hanged.

Viewed by many to be the result of a period of factional infighting and religious hysteria, the witch trials of Puritanical Salem Village, Massachusetts, led to the executions of 20 people—15 women and five men—and the imprisonment of approximately 150 accused witches.

The witch hunts of Papua New Guinea in 2010 make the Salem witch trials look like something out of a child’s fairy tale story.

Here, suspected sorcerers – mainly old men and women – have their heads chopped off, are burned alive, tied to and dragged behind moving vehicles, tortured with hot metal rods, pushed off cliffs, drowned in rivers, shot, buried alive, and worse.

And yet, the silence of the government and the churches on this issue, has been deafening.

Papua New Guineans do not openly want to talk about sorcery with outsiders, however, the reality is that the belief is prevalent.

And it is getting worse by the day!

Just pick up a newspaper any day and you’ll find a shock-and-horror story of some gruesome sorcery-related killing.

I have had numerous experiences with beliefs in sorcery all over the country (but do not want to go into the details), and sad to say, many university-educated so-called “Christians” still hang on to this pagan belief.

Last Friday, The National reported of members of a clan living near Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, admitting they were wrong to murder a father and his son whom they suspected of sorcery.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police estimate that half of all murder cases in 2008 were sorcery-related.

Police spokesman Superintendent Dominic Kakas says police are voicing their support of any initiative to try to curb the rising number of sorcery-related murders in the country.

He says at the moment, sorcery-related killings are difficult to prove, under the country’s current British Common Law system.

“The number of killings related to sorcery is quite high,” Mr Kakas said.

“And in fact, last April, prompted the commissioner Gari Baki to actually initiate moves to bring about a collective effort towards addressing this issue.

“Now he made a number of suggestions perhaps one would be to look at a court specifically for sorcery and related issues.”

Supt Kakas says many people are superstitious in PNG, which also makes it difficult to collect evidence in such cases.

A lack of faith in Western medicine is also fuelling this resurgence in sorcery and witchcraft in PNG.

Age-old beliefs in black magic and evil curses are back with a vengeance in jungle-clad mountain valleys which were unknown to the outside world until the 1930s.

The revival is being fuelled by the spiralling HIV/AIDS crisis and the collapse of health services, sapping villagers’ faith in Western medicine.

Barely-educated villagers living in remote mountain valleys are blaming the increasing number of AIDS deaths not on promiscuity or a lack of condom use but on malign spirits.

A report by Amnesty International last September found there was a “conspiracy of silence” surrounding the murders.

 “The police do little to penetrate this silence. Very few sorcery-related deaths are investigated and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice,” the report concluded.

Belief in magic is ubiquitous throughout Papua New Guinea, where more than 850 languages are spoken by 5.5 million people.

In the highlands they are known as sangumas and can assume the form not only of humans, but animals such as dogs, pigs, rats and snakes.

When Papua and New Guinea were separate Australian colonies, colonial patrol officers known as “kiaps” and their native auxiliaries suppressed sorcery killings.

 But since independence in 1975, the old ways have gradually undergone a gruesome renaissance along the spine of saw-toothed peaks which divides PNG in two.

And the frightening thing is that children are now witnessing these things, with the belief in sorcery and witchcraft being passed on to the next generation.

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 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,” Mr Bose said.

The Constitutional Review and  Law Reform Commission (CLRC) and the Public Prosecutor’s office have pointed out that there is no effective enforcement of the Sorcery Act 1991, resulting in a good number of people brutally murdered in sorcery-related cases.

Commission chairman Joe Mek Teine and acting public prosecutor Jack Pambel separately said there was a need to immediately review and amend the Act.

“Sorcery accusations and killings is a very serious issue facing our society, where innocent lives have been lost,” he said.

“Reviewing the Sorcery Act is on the agenda of my commission.”

He said sorcery-related killings were not serious in the colonial days, however, sorcery accusations and killings had become worse today.

“The situation warrants us to immediately make amendments to the Sorcery Act and implement it,” Mr Mek Teine said.

Mr Pambel said there was no effective implementation of the Sorcery Act.

“Whether the Act is being implemented or not is a question that has to be looked at,” he said.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked with former kiap, John Fowke, about the numerous social problems – including sorcery - facing PNG.

“Look at life and the future straight in the eye, and begin to keep pace with the rest of the world, PNG,” he said.

“Social history and ancient customs belong in the school curriculum, in museums and story-books, not in the management methodology of a modern nation.”

 

WW11 relics of Wewak

This is the third in a series of articles on WW11 icons in Papua New Guinea in the build-up to ANZAC Day next Saturday. This time we look as WW11 relics of Wewak (Wom War Memorial pictured), a place of major fighting during WW11...

Wewak, apart from being one of the best places in Papua New Guinea to holiday or live in, is also significant for its World War 11 history.
Japanese and Allied war memorials in and around Wewak, and remnant Japanese war bunkers, tunnels and wrecks are of particular interest to war veterans and their descendents and to historians.
The Wom War Memorial Park, war relics at But village, and the Japanese look out at Mission Hill (Boy's Town) are the most prominent WW11 attractions.
The lush tropical vegetation on the foothills to the south both provides a magnificent backdrop to the town.
The Australian portion of the Aitape-Wewak campaign took place in northern New Guinea between November 1944 and August 1945.
Aitape had been occupied by the Japanese in 1942.
Recaptured by an American landing on April 22, 1944, it was developed as a base area to support the continuing drive towards the Philippines.
In order to free American troops for the Philippine operations, defence of the area was passed to Australian forces.
Troops of the 3rd Base Sub Area and the 6th Division began progressively relieving the Americans from early October 1944. Although their primary role was the defence of the base facilities at Aitape, Australian commanders opted to advance to the east of Aitape, towards Wewak, to destroy the remnants of the Japanese 18th Army.
The 18th Army had sustained heavy losses as a result of Australian operations in the Salamaua hinterland, on the Huon Peninsula, and in the Finisterre Mountains.
After preliminary patrolling by the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment, the Australian advance by the brigades of the 6th Division began in December 1944.
It had two axes - one along the coast towards the Japanese base at Wewak, and the other into the Torricelli Mountains, aimed at the area around Maprik used for the gardening and foraging upon which the Japanese force depended for its sustenance. The resulting operations were characterised by prolonged small-scale patrolling, often in particularly arduous conditions.
Assaults, when they occurred, were similarly small-scale - company attacks being the largest conducted in most instances.
Constrained by supply difficulties, progress was slow but steady.
But, on the coast was occupied on March 16, 1945, and Maprik was secured on April 23.
Wewak fell on May 10.
The remaining Japanese bastion in the area remained the Prince Alexander Mountains to the south of Wewak.
Operations there were still continuing there when the war ended in August.
Australian casualties in the campaign amounted to 442 killed and 1,141 wounded.

Over 9,000 Japanese were killed and 269 became prisoners of war. The Aitape-Wewak campaign is one of several of those fought in 1945 that has been subsequently branded an "unnecessary campaign".
While there is no doubt that the Japanese troops, bypassed and isolated, were strategically irrelevant, there was also a political imperative that Australia should be seen to be clearing the Japanese from what was, at the time, Australian territory.
Additionally, not knowing that the end of the war was just months away, Australia's military leadership was under pressure to reduce the size of the army, but also wished to have troops available for further operations towards Japan.
To realise these goals, existing operational commitments needed to be reduced, which entailed clearing Japanese from areas such as Aitape-Wewak.
Japanese Lieutenant General Adachi then kept his approximately 13,000 survivors together in the hills and surrendered only in September 1945.
Adachi himself was tried at Rabaul for war crimes, but beat the hangman by committing suicide in September 1947
In the last days of the war, Adachi surrendered near Yangoru.
He was so weak from starvation that he had to be carried on a chair.
The formal surrender took place a few days later on September 13, 1945 at Cape Wom near Wewak.
A war memorial and peace park, flanked by flag poles, is located on the spot where Adachi signed the official surrender documents for his troops, and handed his sword over to Australian Major General Robertson on September 13, 1945.
Of the 100,000 Japanese troops only 13,000 survived to surrender.
The Wewak area was the largest concentration of Japanese Army troops on mainland New Guinea.
The area near Wewak has a number of important topographical features.
The coastline is irregular, with capes jutting out from the shoreline, and the Japanese had prepared extensive defensive positions on these headlands.
It was an ideal strong hold, and was avoided by Allied ground forces until the very end of the war, and instead was neutralized by air attacks and isolated from resupply by other operations.
There are an enormous number of bits and pieces from the war scattered around Wewak.
These include unexploded bombs, and every now and then someone burning the bush sets one off.
The replacement of Wewak's water drainage project frequently turns up munitions or aerial bombs.
Mission Hill, located south of the Catholic Mission headquarters, also has a significant history.
The first Catholic missionaries settled on Mission Hill in 1912.
They, however, were forced to leave when the Japanese arrived during WW11 and occupied the hill as one of the strategic posts of the Japanese army after the fall of Wewak Point.
The area created a good defensive ground due to its high grounds facing Wewak Point and the harbour.
On May 16, 1945, Australian soldier Edward Kenna – of the 2/11 Battalion – with much bravery and sacrifice made it possible for the capture of the hill from the Japanese.
The Catholic Mission owns this area behind Wewak town.
This area was the site of one of the final Japanese strongholds assaulted before surrender in September 1945.
During the war, this area was heavily fortified and the site of heavy fighting in which a Victoria Cross was won.
Trenches, caves, old gun emplacements and tunnels are still in the area.
Since the church owned the property, relics there were not scrapped like in other part of town during the post war years.
Area is also known as "Boy's Town".
There is a Japanese War Memorial; the remains of many troops were buried here in a large mass grave.
These were later exhumed and returned to Japan.

Brandi High School - East of Cape Moem, students had discovered many Japanese relics hidden in the jungle. Equipment includes Japanese military trucks, search light, heavy machine gun, rangefinder, and propeller.

But Airfield - But has remains of Toyota trucks, Nissan rollers and Kato artillery tractors. Once, a cache of experimental 40mm caseless ammunition was discovered for the Nakajima Ki 44 Shoki fighter.

Cape Moem - Located past Wewak's Boram airport. PNG Defence Force Army base is located at Cape Moem.

Cape Wom Memorial Park - War memorial and peace park. The memorial is flanked by flagpoles, and is located on the spot where Japanese Lieutenant General Adachi signed the official surrender documents for his troops, and handed his sword over to Australian Major General Robertson on September 13, 1945. There are also a number of artefacts in the park - several Japanese Type 88 (1928) 75 mm anti-aircraft guns, and smaller field guns.

Kairiru Island - Japanese Naval forces occupied this island until the end of the war. There are two large naval guns on the northeast end of the island. Also, several caves used by the Japanese.

Muschu Island - This flat island was used by Japanese Naval forces, who occupied it until the end of the war. After surrender, this island was used to detain Japanese POW from all over New Guinea, until they were repatriated back to Japan. Today, it is a beautiful and peaceful tropical island.

Today at the farm

Captions: 1. Brushtail 2. Brushtail 3. Galah 4. Galahs feeding 5. Noisy minor

 

By Paul Oates

We had 6mm of rain recently and the mouse plague has possibly started to abate. Probably drowned a few of them in their holes. I've gone through my third bucket of rat blocks at $60 a pop and the baits still keep disappearing however and there's a strong smell of mice in the shed.

I looked up in the sky yesterday and saw a couple of pelicans circling as they investigated the ever decreasing levels in the local dams. As the water levels go down, the pelicans arrive to find the fish and crayfish easy morsels to catch. They land in the water and circle in the dam and then pounce of what gets swept up in the middle of the whirlpool they create. There mustn't have been much on offer today as they slowly flew away. Not long after the pelicans moved on, a lone wedgetail eagle was seen circling with an eye on what was available in the paddocks. The hares have bred up over the last few moths and at night are scampering everywhere.

I looked out of the window just now and saw a Brushtail possum starting out on his rounds. Some galahs were investigating the 'leftovers' in the cattlepens and a noisy minor kept an eye on me.

Port Moresby skyline continues to change

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

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

InterOil denies cheap gas deal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

For further information and to arrange media interviews contact:

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: (675) 321 7040

Mobile: (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

 

Bitapaka War Cemetery

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

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

A Total abuse of the English Language

How to write love letters using dictionary

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

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

Thanking you in anticipation and with devotion, 

To remain victim of your fascination.

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

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

        3.  Procreation must not be your recreation.

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

        I Remain,
       
        Unaffected by your affection.

How Susan Boyle won over the world

By Ian Youngs

Entertainment reporter, BBC News  

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Old Salamaua cemetery a relic of a bygone era

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

Clansmen admit to wrongdoing in hideous sorcery-related killings

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bomana War Cemetery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Many Papua New Guineans are living below the poverty line

By NALAU BINGEDING

Dear All,

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

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

The two are distinct and should be looked at separately.

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

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

Other factors define rural poverty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wake up Papua New Guinea.

This country is headed for anarchy!

Lae’s new tower

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

The times they are a changin'

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

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

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

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

This picture was taken in February 2009.

 

Pacific Adventist University to celebrate 25th Anniversary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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