Pacific art set to take Australia by storm

Artwork by Peter Leo Ella

Artwork by Joe Nalo

Artwork by Joe Nalo

Beneath the Petals, by Joycelin Leahy

Joycelin Leahy

Joycelin Leahy talks to a village elder on the beautiful Tami Islands of Morobe province about intangible heritage

Australia’s great sugar industry, for those who came in late, was founded on the blood, sweat and tears of Pacific islanders, Papua New Guineans included.
Now, Lae girl, former journalist and Miss Papua New Guinea, Joycelin Leahy, is taking Australia by storm with an art exhibition, aptly titled Pacific Storms.
Pacific Storms, a contemporary art exhibition will be opened by Australian Minister for Pacific Affairs, Duncan Kerr, on June 3 and ends on July 13 at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
It will, in a way, it will be poetic justice as Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery is historically a significant location for Pacific people including South Sea islanders that have contributed immensely to the sugarcane plantations – many through the infamous blackbirding days - and Queensland's economy.
Ms Leahy said that in addition, staging Pacific Storms in the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery linked contemporary Pacific expression to the region’s significant history through the Australian sugar industry.
“Australia’s sugar industry was founded on the sweat of men and women, some kidnapped and all enticed from more than 80 Melanesian islands including the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia, and to a lesser extent, the eastern archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea, and Tuvalu and Kiritabati,” she said.
“Today’s Australian South Sea islanders are descended from indentured labourers in the 19th century.
“In the 19th Century this form of human trafficking was historically known as ‘blackbirding’ and the individuals were called ‘kanakas’.
“There were about 50,000 Islanders and 62,000 indenture contracts.
“Under the White Australian Policy, between 1901 and 1908, Australia ended this migration and deported most of those remaining.
“Some were exempted from repatriation, and along with a number of others who escaped deportation, about 2,000 remained in Australia to form the basis of what is today Australia’s largest non-indigenous black ethnic group.
“The question of how many islanders were illegally recruited and how many chose to come remains controversial.
“Bundaberg is a major centre for Australian South Sea islanders.
“Pacific Storms re-unites these communities with their wantoks through a collaborative community engagement at the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.”
Pacific Storms will feature new and well-known Pacific artists such as Daniel Waswas and brothers Jeffrey and Mairi Feeger from PNG, as well as Paskua from Tahiti.
“The show will show key works, not seen in Australia before,” says the popular former journalist and 1989 Ms PNG, who ran Beyond Art in Port Moresby before moving to Australia.
Ms Leahy, now based in Australia, is well-known in both PNG and overseas for being an art curator.
A fortnight, she visited home at Wagang (Sipaia) village in Lae and took a boat to the cultural treasure trove of the beautiful Tami Islands off Finschhafen, Morobe province, to buy art works.
“There are a number of their descendants and other islanders that live there,” Ms Leahy says.
“The exhibition hopes to draw the community together to re-connect with history in a contemporary and art sense.”
The show is coordinated by Pacific Curator Ms Leahy with the support of Bianca Acimovic, Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
In the Pacific, when you see frigate birds, you know, a storm is not far behind.
During a workshop in Bundaberg last year, Ms Leahy proposed Pacific Storms as an idea to Bianca Acimovic, colleague and exhibition officer at the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
After much discussion and a written proposal, the gallery accepted the idea and Joycelin, 20 years experience in working with PNG and other Pacific artists, invited over 30 artists across the Pacific islands and within the Australian diaspora communities to have a collaborative show to highlight climate change and a number of other challenging issues in the Pacific.
These included the killer disease HIV AIDS, security, logging, and many other social threats.
Ms Leahy’s interest in climate change and how it affects cultures of coastal communities in the Pacific culture in the Pacific led to call for new art for a topic which is a hot global debate, but one that is serious for many islanders who watch their homes disappear under the seas with sea level rise and other intense weather.
“Australia has significant geographical, historical and economical ties with the Pacific islands,” she says.
“It is important for Australians to learn more about the Pacific people, as many now live and contribute to the economy and call Australia ‘home’.
“The Pacific Storms programme at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery extends to and links the community through family and artist community collaborations, professional development and celebrations of Pacific Culture.
“Apart from Bianca and myself, several other artists are all helping to pull together what we need for the show as given the obvious economy state of our country; it has been very tough trying to get assistance.
“However, I am proud to say that the show has developed a momentum and we have been inundated with inquiries about the art, programme and involvement of others.
“It is also a good opportunity to assist the artists to do business with Australian galleries, museums and collectors as well as general public for future business partnerships.
“We are looking for a second venue in Brisbane and in hope to keep the show running for a further six to eight weeks.
Pacific Storms explores the spirit, life, and challenges of the contemporary Pacific peoples.
Pacific Islanders are proud of their resources, ocean, land, environment, culture, arts, languages and their traditional knowledge.
The Pacific remains one of the few regions in the world where you can find many hundreds of languages spoken, diverse cultures and some of the most vulnerable communities on the globe.
Being rich in both tangible and intangible heritage provides Pacific people with an endless source for artistic expression.
“The unique art forms are evidenced in museum and gallery collections all over the world, collected over centuries,” Ms Leahy says.
“It is from this valuable artistic source that a selection of well-known and emerging artists across nine countries was challenged to use their heritage to create a contemporary Pacific expression.
“In their interpretation of who they are and how they feel about their societies, these new works were developed.
“In Pacific Storms, the challenge was to draw away from mainstream society’s categories and stereotypes of what is Pacific art and who Pacific people are, to explore new aesthetics.
“Pacific Storms is also a platform of contemporary creativity which integrates and addresses the real issues of the modern Pacific society.
“The Pacific region is marked by exceptional cultural and biological diversity within spectacular physical landscapes; thus each has their own unique way of building resilience to climate change, globalisation, security and civil unrest, HIV-AIDS and many other social issues.
“These expressions are exhibited in hope that wider audiences understand the complex issues through the diversity of art across the Pacific.”
Ms Leahy can be contacted on email beyondart@bigpond.com or visit her website http://beyondpacificart.com.au/.

Papua New Guinea consultants paid A$360,000 tax-free

AusAID consultants ‘paid more than Rudd’

AAP

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AUSTRALIAN taxpayers are shelling out millions of dollars for top level consultants in Papua New Guinea who earn up to $360,000 a year tax-free.

 

The figure is more than Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's base salary of almost $335,000.

Documents obtained by AAP show a single consultant hired in PNG through Coffey International Development receives $10,517 a month in tax-free allowances under AusAID's Advisory Support Facility.

And if the consultant brings their partner along they get $14,239 a month for accommodation, hardship, medical or utility fees.

That alone costs Australian taxpayers about $170,000 a year.

If the couple have children the allowance goes up approximately another $1000 a month for each child.

Consultants on short stays under 180 days receive $469 per day for the first 28 days then $400 a day for the rest.

If they work 180 days that earns them up to $74,000 in allowances.

An agreement between the Australian and PNG governments gives aid advisers tax-free salaries, putting a married senior consultant in PNG on approximately $30,000 a month, netting them $360,000 a year.

Junior single consultants gross approximately $20,000 a month, adding up to $240,000 a year in salary and allowances.

An AusAID spokesperson said there were around 250 long-term advisers and around 50 short-term advisers working under the PNG-Australia development program.

"The allowance rates for people contracted are reviewed regularly against actual costs in PNG and allowances can change,'' the spokesperson said.

"The allowances paid to advisers in PNG are comparable with rates for this kind of work around the world."

According to an AusAID website, ASF assists the PNG government to improve public sector management and administration.

It is estimated $200 million of AusAID's almost $400 million a year goes to agents, consultants and staff who provide 'technical assistance' to PNG.

Prime Minister Rudd flagged his concern at AusAID's reliance on consultants when speaking last month at a press conference with PNG counterpart Michael Somare.

''Too much money has been consumed by consultants and not enough money was actually delivered to essential assistance in teaching, in infrastructure, in health services on the ground, in the villages,'' Mr Rudd said.

 

 

AusAID's engaging private sector is not the way to go

By PAUL OATES

 

On another matter, what do you think of the following comment about Keith Jackson's blog article?

_____________________________________________

Meanwhile, the head of AusAID in PNG, Bill Costello, has said his organisation does not have all the answers to PNG's development challenges and that it is now seeking engagement with the private sector to canvass ways to move forward.

 

"AusAID will sit down with business leaders and development stakeholders to look at where we are and how we can improve our engagement. Achieving development outcomes through innovative partnerships with the private sector is perhaps an area in which we have only scratched the surface so far," Mr Costello said.

________________________________________________________

 

With due respect to Mr Costello and his team, who I'm sure are very well meaning, the answers to PNG's challenges do not lie in the Private Sector.

The private sector can only move development forward when a favourable climate and environment exits for it to do so. Until that favourable climate is re-established, AusAID may as well turn their collective funding hose either back into the wind or into the nearest 'consultant's' bank account.

PNG's framework of government has clearly ruptured and haemorrhaged. It is in real danger of falling apart altogether. In order to understand the essence of the problem one must first ask, "Why is this so?"

When the decision was made to move PNG as a single entity, towards Self Government and Independence, there was no detailed plan of how to do this and an agreed timeline to achieve this objective. Why? Well at the time, the major players in this decision were never really involved at the 'kunai roots' level and therefore had no idea of what was involved. I can say that because as a kiap in the field at the time, I was caught betwixt and between. On one hand, as government representatives in the field, kiaps were instructed to commence the so called Political Education process in the villages we visited and prepare the local people for this momentous event. Pressure from the United Nations on Australia to grant Independence as quickly as possible and from Canberra, in the early 1970's to make it happen, impacted directly on our rural operations. On the other hand, many of us knew that the local people in the villages did not want us to

disappear overnight and leave them to their own devices.

As public servants, no one ever asked us what we thought about the fast tracking of Independence or whether the people we spoke to at the village level thought it was a good idea. I seriously doubt if anyone above District level ever read the Patrol or Situation Reports we submitted or if they did, understood what was being reported. We were just expected to do what the government directed. Most people in the villages that I spoke to at the time thought the idea was crazy. They didn't want Australia to throw them out of

the peaceful development phase they had only just entered. Training local officers to takeover responsibility at all levels was only just starting to take effect when Independence was thrust upon PNG. A newly created PNG that had really not yet developed a true, national identity and a BROADLY based ability to say about what it wanted.

So what happened? Old and traditional practices were revived and lauded as the way to go. Traditional practice was clearly the only available alternative to those who the power of government had been thrust into their hands. What this precipitate change in direction did in practice was to bring to a halt, the process of peaceful development through government control. In reality, the change created a power vacuum that could only be

filled by the traditional custom of the 'village Bigman' and not by effective government systems on a national level.

This reversal of PNG government direction in the mid to late 1970's has now robbed the younger, educated generation of Papua New Guineans from being able to aspire to manage their own country effectively. How can an educated PNGian start to improve their own country when the framework of government responsibility and accountability is clearly flawed. They have been effectively disenfranchised by the elite of the PNG 1960's and 1970's, many of whom still hold onto power.

The only way to manage a country is to start at the top of a country's system of government and to then have that system improve in a 'trickle down' methodology. The trouble is, who can start this process? At the moment it seems, only those who are part of the problem.

Katim bol bilong ol (cut off their balls!)

By PAUL OATES

 

Ref the PIM article on your blog.

How well I remember a photo at the time of a sign held aloft at a public march to protest against the increasing crime rate and sexual crimes.

 It read "Katim bol bilong ol”.

 

A sense of deja vu

FROM Pacific Islands Monthly  of JULY 1985-   PIM OPINION was the monthly editorial/op-ed piece featured in this once-popular periodical.

 

PIM OPINION…………………………JULY 1985

 

GRIM MEASURES IN PNG

 

    Assailed on all sides by cries of rage and fear, Mr Michael Somare has acted firmly against Port Moresby's horrendous law and order problem by declaring a state of emergency and slapping a war-time-style curfew on the city, enforced by troops. His action followed yet another vicious pack rape in which a gang of "rascals" as PNG calls its murderous villains, cut through a security fence and attacked a woman and her daughter in their own home. More or less concurrently several other girls were pack-raped at knife-point in suburbs of the sprawling capital of 160,000 people.

    In addition to the 10 pm to 5 pm curfew the Government has given the police much wider powers of search and arrest and has put the national capital district under a special controller with almost the powers of a military governor.

 

    Violent crime " presents a real threat to the survival of our young country," Mr Somare said in parliament as he announced his measures. " Public order has deteriorated to the point where the lives and safety of all law-abiding citizens is at risk."

 

    "The threat these criminals represent has spread rapidly," he said. "The police can no longer control it using their normal powers. Robbery, murder and rape have become almost commonplace events. The crime wave.....attacks the security of all."

 

    Earlier Mr. Somare startled the world by saying he would seek to introduce castration and public floggings and hangings for violent rapists and murderers. Even as he spoke, nobody believed he was likely to push such measures through, although in various demonstrations large numbers of people of all races have demanded such punishments. The last hanging in PNG occurred in 1958, and it was not public. Capital punishment was struck off the books in 1971.

Wolfram Alpha, Google and the future of Internet search engines

Wolfram Alpha founder Stephen Wolfram

Wolfram Alpha page

A brand-new “search engine” called Wolfram Alpha, although it doesn’t call itself a “search engine”, is taking the world – Papua New Guinea included - by storm since its launch last Friday. Just a few days into its launch and Wolfram Alpha, http://www59.wolframalpha.com/, has already been compared to Google and Wikepedia, or some hybrid of the two.
I first heard of the launch of Wolfram Alpha on Channel Nine’s Today Show on EMTV a couple of days ago, while downing a cup of coffee before catching a PMV (bus) to work in Port Moresby, and was immediately hooked
I checked it out on the Internet and found out that, in short, the engine takes a term, like our capital city of "Port Moresby" or my birth date of “August 9, 1967", and instantly produces a scientific report with details (like up-to-date city population, map, current local time, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and approximate elevation culled from its extensive internal knowledge base.
I also found out that August 9, 1967, was a Wednesday; that I am now 41 years, nine months and 13 days old; that my birth day was the 221st day of 1967; I share the same birth day as American footballer Deion Sanders; and that I was born at the phase of a waxing crescent moon.
In other words, Wolfram Alpha’s not a search engine, which produces articles as results.
It's a knowledge engine that produces answers with explicit information.
It's still a work in progress, but the unveiling is enough to make some question whether it will change the way we search the Internet.But Wolfram Alpha really does provide answers.
No URLs come back in the results, only a page of often dizzyingly detailed and up-to-date information, like a research report culled by mad scientists with complete access to a universal library.
“Wolfram Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone,” the engine says on its home page.
“We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.
“Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematisations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
“Wolfram Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels.
“Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.
“Wolfram Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come.
“With a world-class team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields, our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.”
What has now made Wolfram Alpha possible today is a somewhat unique set of circumstances—and the singular vision of Stephen Wolfram.
Stephen Wolfram is a distinguished scientist, inventor, author, and business leader.
Born August 29, 1959 in London, Wolfram is a British physicist, mathematician, author and businessman, known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cosmology, cellular automata, complexity theory, and computer algebra
He is the creator of Mathematica, the author of A New Kind of Science (NKS), the creator of Wolfram Alpha, and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research.
His career has been characterised by a sequence of original and significant achievements.
“For the first time in history, we have computers that are powerful enough to support the capabilities of Wolfram Alpha, and we have the web as a broad-based means of delivery,” the home page continues.
“But this technology alone was not enough to make Wolfram Alpha possible.
“What was needed were also two developments that have been driven by Stephen Wolfram over the course of nearly 30 years.
“The first was Mathematica—the system in which all of Wolfram Alpha is implemented.
“Mathematica has three crucial roles in Wolfram Alpha.
“First, its very general symbolic language provides the framework in which all the diverse knowledge of Wolfram Alpha is represented, and all its capabilities are implemented.
“Second, Mathematica's vast web of built-in algorithms provides the computational foundation that makes it even conceivably practical to implement the methods and models of so many fields. “And finally, the strength of Mathematica as a software engineering and deployment platform makes it possible to take the technical achievements of Wolfram Alpha and deliver them broadly and robustly.
“Beyond Mathematica, another key to Wolfram Alpha was NKS.
“Many specific ideas from NKS—particularly related to algorithms discovered by exploring the computational universe—are used in the implementation of Wolfram Alpha.
“But still more important is that the very paradigm of NKS was crucial in imagining that Wolfram Alpha might be possible.
“Wolfram Alpha represents a substantial technical and intellectual achievement.
“But to build it required not just unique technology and ideas, but also the experience of 20 years of long-term R&D and ongoing development of robust technology at Wolfram Research.
“Wolfram Alpha’s world-class team draws from many fields and disciplines, and has unique access to experts across the globe.
“But what ultimately made Wolfram Alpha possible was a singular commitment to the goal of making all the world's systematic knowledge computable.”

Signs

'Tis little things that can hurt a lot

A true story.

I’m just a simple, working-class Papua New Guinean, struggling to make ends meet as well as get over the death of my wife last year.

I live with my four young children in a one-bedroom unit at Gerehu, a suburb of Port Moresby.

We have this tiny little backyard stretch which we use to grow vegetables.

Some weeks ago, I bought cucumber and tomato seeds, which I sowed.

It became a daily ritual for my four young children to get up early in the morning and water and weed their vegetable patch.

The cucumbers grew up and started flowering, and every day, the little ones would tell me of how much they were looking forward to eating their cucumbers.

Last Friday, after work, I went home and wondered why they were looking so sad and sullen.

“Dad,” they chorused, “those big boys next door have pulled out our cucumbers.”

It broke my heart!

‘Tis little things like this that can hurt a lot.

 

Any gains from globe-trotting Prime Minister?

Editorial in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

PRIME Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare does seem to have travelled much in recent times.

Since the Bali environment summit, he has been on official or semi-official trips which have taken him to Africa, the US, Australia, the Philippines, China, Indonesia again last week and this week to Japan.

Each of those trips cost a fair size of taxpayers’ money and the gains are not immediately visible.

Still, in all fairness, the case of the globe-trotting Prime Minister must be put in perspective.

Are the businesses which the Prime Minister leaves unattended by his absence those that only he can perform and perform well?

Are they urgent?

Has the nation suffered by his frequent absences from office?

Similarly, are the businesses he chooses to attend overseas such that only his personal presence would bring the greatest amount of good for this nation?

Are such businesses important and urgent for the well-being of the nation of PNG?

In this age of international terrorism, is our Prime Minister not endangering his life by frequent trips?

There is yet another line of inquiry and that is that a wandering Prime Minister might actually be signalling that he has lost interest in the affairs of State.

Let us examine each of these closely.

The type of government we practice in PNG ensures that no position is left unfilled if the incumbent leaves it temporarily. When the Prime Minister or indeed any other minister is called away on business, there is always another minister who is appointed to act in his or her place.

In the case of the Prime Minister, it is always the Deputy Prime Minister and if both are away, the most senior minister would normally do the honours.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu has shown himself on the occasions he has been acting Prime Minister to act decisively and responsibly.

So in the time that the Prime Minister has been away, has any serious affair of the State been mishandled or mismanaged?

To our knowledge the Prime Minister’s regular trips overseas have not resulted in any serious mishandling of affairs of the State back home.

He is not missed – and in politics that can be read negatively too.

If his presence in country was not missed, of what importance were the trips that the Prime Minister has chosen to take personally rather than delegate his ministers, most immediately his Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal?

The Prime Minister’s personal presence at the global conference on the environment at Bali, Indonesia, had immediate appeal and put PNG on the map.

As a small country, PNG has always been a keen supporter of environmental issues from a nuclear-free Pacific to the Kyoto Protocol but nowhere has it made the impact that its position on the environment at Bali did.

The environment is today the most important issue on the agenda of most governments. To be on top of environmental issues and to be recognised as a leader can bring tremendous goodwill and tangible benefits. There the Prime Minister has done well to be personally involved.

And as always, only heads of Governments can attend a Commonwealth Heads of Government meet, so the PM can be excused there. All the other trips could have been delegated to other ministers, many of them first timers who need the benefit of international exposure.

The Prime Minister does not need the experience and should only attend those conferences where his personal stature and seniority can gain PNG maximum benefit.

In this age of international terrorism, frequent trips by our Prime Minister abroad places him at greater risk of being involved in an incident and that would be a calamity that should be avoided.

The other matter is, of course, the cost of any one of these travels.

We would like to invite the Government to publish regular details of the cost of travels by any one of our important leaders, both public servants and politicians.

Along with this information, we would like to know what benefits there are that have come off these trips.

And finally, can we read in these frequent trips signs of a Prime Minister who is weary and perhaps no longer interested in the affairs of the State?

There is a thought but we are not qualified to answer this question either way.

Sepik agricultural college to be re-opened

Bush-covered classroom at Sepik Agricultural College. Pictures by PROF PHILIP SIAGURU

Entrance to the Sepik Agricultural College in Baiyik, East Sepik province, which is a ghost of its former self

Prof Philip Siaguru checking out a rundown classroom at the Sepik Agricultural College

The sad remains of a house at Sepik Agricultural College

The way it is now at the once-thriving Sepik Agricultural College

The once-thriving Sepik Agricultural College at is to be rebuilt under an ambitious plan spearheaded by the PNG University of Natural Resources & Environment (formerly University of Vudal) and East Sepik MPs including Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
Details of the plan, which would cost several million kina and see the rundown college become a campus of the UNRE, were outlined at a meeting between university vice-chancellor Prof Philip Siaguru and East Sepk MPs Gabriel Kapris (Maprik, Minister for Commerce and Industry), Tony Aimo (Ambunti-Dreikikir, Correctional Services), Ronald Asik (Wosera/Gawi), Commerce and Industry secretary Anton Kulit, Investment Promotion Authority board chairman Prof Albert Mellam, staff of the national agriculture development programme (NADP) and support staff of the three MPs in Port Moresby last Friday (May 15).
Until its closure in 1992, the Sepik college at Bainyik, Maprik, was a lively agricultural training centre which produced quality extension officers for Papua New Guinea and overseas countries such as the Solomon Islands.
It is now, however, a shocking skeleton of its former self with rundown and vandalised property covered by thick grass.
Prof Siaguru gave a well-received PowerPoint presentation which started an animated discussion at the meeting.
The UNRE would provide K1 million under the NADP.
Mr Kapris at the beginning of this year wrote to Prof Siaguru to get the ball rolling, after similar letters to Pacific Adventist University, University of Techonology, Divine Word University and University of PNG failed to get any response.
He also allocated K100, 000 from his district improvement programme – with another K400, 000 to come – to kick start the project.
The re-opening of the Sepik college – to be tentatively known as Greater Sepik College of Natural Resources and Environment - also comes at a time when there is major agricultural development in East Sepik province through the K2.5 billion Sepik biofuel project by Cosmos Oil of Japan, and K900m agri-business development by Australian-based Chinese company SPZ Enterprises.
Prof Siaguru said a memorandum of understanding signed between South China Agricultural University and the UNRE last March would also work for the good of the re-opening of the Sepik college.
He plans for a feasibility study to commence as early as this month (May), a skeleton staff and infrastructure to be put in place next year and 2011, and the first student intake to be in 2012 for the diploma/degree programme in agriculture.
Under Prof Siaguru’s plan, the Sepik college would also cater for fisheries, forestry, tourism and the timely-subject of climate change.
“Total basic infrastructure establishment will be about K20m,” he said.
“At first enrolment in 2011, if all planning has been well, government funding should take over and the college should roll out on an annual budget of about K4m.”
Mr Kapris commented: “It’s very timely.
“The Asian Development Bank has also earmarked K1.2b for PNG.
“The timing is very right for us.”
Mr Aimo concurred: “I’m very happy with today’s meeting.
“Mr Kapris wrote to me for a master plan for development and this is now on the way to becoming a reality.”

Quick action by police prevents looting in Goroka, Mt Hagen and Kundiawa

From The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper (click to view this and other related stories)

QUICK action by police prevented opportunists from looting Asian-owned shops and supermarkets in Mt Hagen, Kundiawa and Goroka yesterday.
The strong police response was accompanied by condemnation of the looters’ actions by a host of politicians and civil society leaders including Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal, Eastern Highlands Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith, ousted Madang governor Sir Arnold Amet, Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta and PNG Trade Union Congress general secretary John Paska.
The Chinese Embassy in Port Moresby also expressed grave concern over the safety of its nationals and their businesses.
“It is our sincere hope that the PNG Government will take effective measures to prevent such incidents from recurring, so as to ensure a peaceful environment for all people in PNG to live and work safely and harmoniously,” a spokesperson for the embassy said.
Lae police, meanwhile, reported yesterday that two men had been killed in the mad rush to break into Chinese-run shops at Eriku last Thursday.
One of them was shot dead while another was trampled in the stampede.
Business activities in Goroka came to a complete standstill yesterday morning as anti-Asian protesters converged on the township calling for the removal of all Asian businesses.
Mr Kela-Smith addressed more than 5,000 protesters at the Peace Park and called on them not to loot shops and attack people.
He said he would convey their concerns to Parliament when it convenes this morning.
In Mt Hagen, police fired more than 50 gunshots into the air yesterday morning to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered at Pope John Paul oval.
Police said they had to fire in the air to chase the people away after they refused initial orders to disperse.
Similar police action stopped a group in Kundiawa from looting Asian-owned shops yesterday.
Simbu provincial police commander Supt Joseph Tondop confirmed last night that quick police action stopped a group of opportunists who tried to copy the situation in the other major centres.
Meanwhile, Enga provincial police commander Supt Michael Chare said the province was quiet.
Supt Chare said many Chinese-owned businesses in the province operated normally yesterday but were told to look out for any large gatherings near their shops.
He said his men were closely monitoring the business houses owned by the Chinese in Wabag town and also in Porgera.

Interesting material on the current controversy - mailed to me by someone I know

The number of ‘old Chinese’ in PNG is only about 1,000. The ‘new Chinese’ number around 20,000. It is estimated that 300 a week arrive in PNG without proper documentation. [Wikipedia – ‘Chinese people in PNG’]
There’s an interesting article I found entitled ‘Contemporary Chinese Community in Papua–New Guinea: Old Money versus New Migrants’ by James Chin, published in an academic journal last year.
Link - http://csds.anu.edu.au/volume_2_2008/117ChinCSDS2008Master.pdf
Chin makes these points:
1. The new Chinese were the biggest beneficiary of the sell-off by European business after the dramatic fall in the value of the kina in the late 1990s.
2. Among the new Chinese, the Malaysian Chinese appear to have some political ambitions.
3. The new Chinese are the biggest investors outside the oil and gas sectors. New foreign direct investment comes almost exclusively from the mainland Chinese and Malaysian Chinese communities.
4. Most mainland Chinese are investing in ‘reserved’ activities such as kai bars, bakeries, low end restaurants, and clothing stores that often bring them into conflict with local residents and the authorities. This conflict increases corruption, as many operators pay off police and immigration authorities when they come to check on illegal businesses.
5. The biggest number of illegal Chinese undoubtedly comes from mainland China.
6. Most of the Chinese groups (including the PNG Chinese) do not like the mainland Chinese and see them as crooks and ‘conmen’.
Chin also provides some interesting analysis:
1. PNGns associate Chinese with low-end businesses like kai bars and other direct economic competitors with nationals. This ill-will breeds suspicions, like the rumour that these kai bar owners sell nationals substandard food deemed unfit for human consumption.
2. There are growing calls for the government to act against mainland Chinese traders. The problem is that the bureaucracy (including the police) is so inefficient and corrupt that any actions it takes against these illegal operators are likely to be useless.
3. The increasing physical attacks against the mainland Chinese, in particular petty traders and kai bar operators, seems likely to increase.
4. The weight of mainland Chinese numbers and their important economic role mean they will soon dominate sections of the PNG’s economy.
5. It is almost certain that Chinese triads will establish a presence in PNG
6. Despite criticisms and complaints directed at the ‘new’ Chinese, Chin concludes that without them there would be no new investment in PNG. No one else has the necessary appetite for risk.

Test

New tanker helps ensure more reliable fuel deliveries

InterOil has announced a major new initiative aimed at improving bulk fuel delivers to the north coast and the islands.
The company has taken out a long-term lease on a modern oil tanker to service the ports in the region
The vessel, the Ipsilantis, was built in 2006 and is capable of carrying 3,200 tonnes of refined fuel.
It will service the ports of Kavieng, Manus, Wewak, Alotau and other ports as required on a monthly basis, delivering refined fuels from InterOil’s Port Moresby refinery.
InterOil Products Limited general manager Peter Diezmann says the vessel is particularly well suited to northern waters.
“She is state-of-the-art in design and construction and her moderate draft of five metres makes her ideal for ports with shallow drafts,” he said,
The Ipsilantis can carry the full range of refined fuels, unleaded gasoline (ULP), diesel and kerosene to domestic ports and will also be used for exports in the future.
“Her acquisition will help ensure we maintain reliable and regular deliveries to our network of bulk fuel terminal facilities.
“The vessel will greatly enhance our ability to service these important markets and will be of great benefit to our many customers there.
“Her acquisition is evidence of our continued commitment to properly service the entire nation with our full range of quality fuels”.

For further information
Susuve Laumaea
Senior Manager Media Relations - InterOil Corporation
Ph: (675) 321 7040
Mobile: (675) 684 5168
Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

Dinner & Pacific Island Art (please click to enlarge)

 

 

1943 Guide to Hiring Women (please click to enlarge)

Quite fascinating!

Pheremones and hormones

From Paul Oates in Queensland, Australia

Is Canoooodeling a word?
Is there true love in the animal kingdom?
These pictures would suggest there is.
It was a moooooving experience this morning in the cattle yards.
Suvista Richard and his girlfriend Suvista Fleur in what looks like 'the morning after'.

2009 Canoe Festival fundraising dinner flyer (please click to enlarge)

University stand non-negotiable, says Prof Siaguru

The newly-renamed University of Natural Resources and Environment (formerly University of Vudal) will not pull the plug on the rest of the 2009 academic year, says vice-chancellor Prof Philip Siaguru.
By the same token, he added, he would not tolerate students not attending classes and they would not receive any grades if they did not complete semester one.
Prof Siaguru said this after a report in the Post-Courier last Friday saying that the UNRE would close closes for the rest of the year.
Students have not been attending classes since last Monday over concerns about block courses and the grading system, which they want gotten rid of, as they claim it only allows for a small number of students at the top at the rest while the rest were below.
As of yesterday (Sunday), however, there was no clear indication as to when classes would resume, with Prof Siaguru to have met with staff last night and with dean Alan Quartermain today (Monday) to discuss on the next move by the administration.
Prof Siaguru, however, said a letter to the student body dated May 8  had been taken out of context by the Post-Courier.
The letter states quite explicitly about block courses, the current grading system, as well as the university’s position that its stand was “non-negotiable”.
Under the block arrangement, external experts on subject matters can move between campuses to teach, and did not limit the university to teaching campus students only as the whole country can be taught by videos, email and internet systems.
Whereas, under the current grading system, current percentages are 5% (A’s), 15% (B’s),
25% (C’s), and the rest D’s – “That is fair, as academic board cannot and will not drop its standard any lower, hence, compromising the quality graduates this university has been producing. The position is non-negotiable. This university will not drop its standards just to get more scholarships. Students just have to be good or better to earn that scholarship”.
Prof Siaguru said, in his first media interview since the stand-off began, as he has been very busy officiating at the LNG meeting between government and landowners at Kokopo, that “I did not say that I will close the university”.
“If the students do not complete the 13 weeks required for semester one, then the academic board cannot award them any grades for semester one.
“We (administration) have already made two attempts to get them (students) to come to the table and discuss, but they did not come.
“We invited the SRC executive to come for the meeting but the SRC president (Gibson Honjepari) is insisting that the administration must attend a forum and explain to the students.
“I am a seasoned university administrator and I know forums cannot solve anything.
“I told the students that the forum will not solve anything and invited them to a roundtable discussion, but they made it their position that the only avenue to discuss this is in a public forum with the students.
“I maintain that our role in the university is to teach the students not only in their chosen professions, but also proper governance, compliance, and to follow the rule of law.
“It’s not in our curriculum, but all institutions must make it their responsibility to teach students proper conduct, governance, compliance, and rule of law.
“I’m simply telling the students, ‘no, it’s wrong what you’re doing’, you cannot expect the administration to come and meet you in a public forum.
“This is a state institution and proper conduct must apply.
“I’m putting my foot down and saying ‘no’.
“The SRC president and his executive have allowed a minority of students to lead them and that’s wrong.
“A leader is elected to lead, not be led.”

Breaking news

A picture of the rioting in Goroka today by a Goroka-based photographer

A policeman in Goroka has been shot dead (to be confirmed) as rioting in the troubled Eastern Highlands capital continues. Another has suffered severe knife cuts to the head. Both men have been rushed to Goroka Hospital’s emergency.

Details to come.