Friday, August 28, 2009
Beautiful Simbu - Home in the clouds
This Japanese woman tourist with so fascinated with Simbu culture that she took off her clothes, got into traditional Simbu gear, and joined in a traditional singsingCheck out this new blog Beautiful Simbu – Home in the clouds (http://beautifulsimbu-homeintheclouds.blogspot.com/) which adds to the growing number of
The blog has been started by a Goroka, Eastern Highland province-based lecturer.
“The Simbu people live in the high mountain terrain of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea,” he writes.
“The countryside boasts some of the most-beautiful and breathtaking mountainous scenery, with fast-flowing rivers, creeks, and waterfalls.
Again, one needs to see it to believe.
“The capital is Kundiawa, a small town catering for almost half a million people.”
Eight-Mile Settlement breaks down the barriers
Youths from Eight-Mile Settlement.-Picture by SEAN DAVEYBut from this gloom and doom, despair and no hope disparagement, has come a silver lining to the dark cloud.
It is a powerful story of hope and inspiration that can bring down mountains and transform PNG into the better place we all dream of.
The Eight-Mile Settlement outside Port Moresby is setting the pace for other settlements in PNG by having its own photographic exhibition and establishing its own website which features heartwarming poems and stories written by its residents.
Eight-Mile Settlement is an interesting part of Port Moresby, and of PNG.
It is a 10-minute drive from Port Moresby International Airport.
The community of Eight-Mile Settlement welcomes visitors to come and see what life in a settlement is really like.
It is no secret that Port Moresby has a bad reputation as being a dangerous place to visit, and to live.
Settlement communities in Port Moresby are often especially regarded as notoriously-dangerous places.
However, settlement communities, including Eight-Mile Settlement, are first and foremost communities of people, living together as best they can, trying to work, feed their families, and survive, just like everyone else in the world.
The majority of residents in Eight-Mile Settlement live without power and running water.
There is one main water pipe that comes on twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and this water supplies around 15,000 people with their daily water needs.
While living conditions in Eight-Mile Settlement are extremely basic, the community works together to promote a peaceful and harmonious environment in which people can live their lives and raise their families.
Most of the people who live in Eight-Mile Settlement come from the Highlands of PNG.
In the community at Eight-Mile they make gardens, and there are two markets where you can buy fresh, locally-grown produce for a fraction of what you might pay in the supermarket.
The exhibition with a difference, titled ‘Life in 8-Mile is Hard’ opened at the University of PNG last Saturday night, continued for all of this week and will next year be featured at the Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne, Australia.
A difference in that it featured photographs by settlement youth who were taught and inspired by Australian professional photographer Sean Davey.
In what is believed to be a first for a settlement community in Papua New Guinea, Davey has also set up a website entirely devoted to the Eight-Mile Settlement, http://www.8milesettlement.com/ which showcases their photographs, writings, arts and crafts, paintings and lifestyle.
The photography exhibition that opened at UPNG was part of a gala evening that showcased the fruits of an arts education programme that was run at Eight-Mile Settlement from June 1-7 this year.
Funded by The Law and Justice Sector through AusAID, and facilitated by UPNG, the workshop attracted over 100 local youths from Eight-Mile Settlement each day the workshop was on.
The group was headed by UPNG theatre lecturer and Eight-Mile resident David Motsy.
The workshop focused on four main activities: painting, drama, music and story telling.
“Fruits of the workshop can be viewed at http://www.8milesettlement.com/ and also I believe that this website is the first in Papua New Guinea devoted entirely to a settlement community,” Mr Davey said.
“While I was facilitating at the workshop, I was photographing in the settlement and interviewing residents.
“Local boys would accompany me and help with introductions and translation.
“I gave them a small digital camera that I had in my camera bag and asked them to start using the camera to photograph as well.
“They really liked photographing and they passed the camera amongst themselves and made plenty of pictures of the settlement, including portraits, landscapes and close-ups.
“One youth, 17-year-old Emmanuel Onom Mel, in particular liked the camera and taking pictures a lot.
“He kept the camera and would photograph everything.
“He was very enthusiastic.
“I downloaded the photographs that the youths made and I was very impressed by the intuitive style in which they were working, photographing very candidly and freely.
“They were getting ‘real’ pictures of settlement life, compared to the more formal and posed photos that I, as an outsider, was making.”
Mr Davey showed a selection of Emmanuel's work, and other youths’, to the curator at the Monash Gallery of Art in Victoria, and he was very impressed by what he saw.
“On the basis of this, he offered to have an exhibition of my work, along with work done by Emmanuel, at the Monash Gallery of Art in February and March 2010,” he said.
Emmanuel Onom Mel, Wanpis Kaupa and Nathan Peter are three young men who have benefited tremendously from the workshop and want to lay the foundation for a better Eight-Mile Settlement and PNG.
Chatting with them over a cup of coffee this week made me realise that PNG has enormous untapped potential among our young people.
“This has been a very fruitful exercise because we had a lot of our young people at Eight-Mile involved,” Mr Kaupa beamed.
“These young people used to waste a lot of time on unproductive things like playing cards, drinking homebrew and smoking marijuana.
“What we have ventured into is something that no other settlement in PNG has done before.
“We have appeared on the front page of The National, have talked on radio and we now have our own website where people from all over the world can learn about us.”
Sean Davey, a bright and ambitious young photographer, says working with the youth of Eight-Mile has changed his outlook on life.
“They (youth) are saying ‘we’re not all drug bodies and thieves’,” he sparkles.
“Over the last two months, Eight-Mile has gone from nowhere to having its own website, appearing on the front page of The National and on the NBC.
“There’s an excitement at Eight-Mile now.
“For me, the biggest thing is breaking down the stereotype of settlements being ‘no-go’ zones.
“I hope that what we’re doing is breaking down the stigma.
“If you provide an opportunity, these guys will take anything that comes.
“These guys are willing to learn and participate.
“I know I’m going back to Cairns (Australia) a better person.”
Sean Davey can be contacted on email sean@pidgin.com.au.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Local Kokoda Trail operators form association to counter Aussie onslaught
An association has already been formed to further the interests of local
This follows recent allegations in the media that Australian-owned trekking companies operating along the Kokoda Trail were doing so illegally and cheating the governments of both
Ironically, Australian Aaron Hayes, who runs Ecotourism Melanesia, is spearheading moves to set up this association.
Mr Hayes said that lack of training, resources and lack of tech-savvy was all that was preventing locals from competing in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry – PNG’s biggest tourism money spinner.
He also revealed how Australian operators were cheating the PNG Government of millions of kina in taxes.
“The Kokoda Trekking Operators Association (KTOPA) we have formed has plans to provide training and support to local operators,” he said.
“Trouble is, we have not been able to get any support from anybody yet.
“A meeting of the Kokoda Trekking Operators Association will be held at the Ecotourism Melanesia office this coming Sunday, Aug 30, at 2pm.
“The purpose of the meeting is to discuss a way forward for KTOPA now that Australian operators and some larger PNG operators have decided to form another association.”
Mr Hayes explained the association was set up with a constitution that specified that only PNG-based operators could be full members and Australian companies could be associate members without voting rights.
“This enables PNG operators to stay in control of the association,” he said.
“However, Australian companies don't want to join on this basis, and the larger PNG companies, who shall remain nameless, won't support it because they don't want more operators coming into competition with them.
“We asked Kokoda Track Authority to help us get a volunteer to further develop our operational plan and funding proposals to send to Tourism Promotion Authority and AusAID, but KTA didn't want to help.
“They say they only want to assist an association that represents all operators.
“This year, some Australian government projects along the track have become a concern to operators and the Australian operators decided they needed to quickly have an association in place to be the mouthpiece of trekking operators.
“Because of the long time it takes to incorporate an association, they decided to meet with KTOPA to find out if we could change our constitution to allow both PNG and Australian companies to be members with equal rights, and they also wanted the training and support programme for local operators to be scrapped from the operational plan, ie, they wanted to hijack the association for their own purposes.
“Max Kaso and I who are the interim committee would not allow this so they decided to set up a new association which will include Australian and PNG operators but no special help for locals.
“Apparently, this will be announced soon.
“Meantime, KTOPA will continue to pursue our goals separately, and we will soon be pushing the PNG government to provide some specific support to PNG operators.
“We would like to prepare a proposal for the PNG government to regulate the Kokoda trekking industry and limit the numbers of Australia-based operators and give more access and opportunities to local operators.
“For example, by legislation that requires all Australian operators to sub-contract their trekking logistics to a PNG company that is not a subsidiary of their Australian company, because if an Australian company registers itself in PNG it will still collect all its client payments in
“This means the PNG subsidiary will operate on break-even basis only, will never declare a profit, and will never pay company taxes to the PNG government.
“On the other hand, a 100% PNG-owned company will more likely declare a profit and pay tax.”
Landowners' high demands affect tourism
Major tour operator Ecotourism Melanesia will not be bringing any more Kokoda trekking groups via Popondetta / Buna / Gona until the problem with
This is because landowners are charging hugely-inflated prices up to K500 for a group of tourists just to cross the
The high prices are affecting the entire tourism industry in the area.
Ecotourism Melanesia director Aaron Hayes said while his trekkers were happy to cross the river on rubber tubes, the company could not sustain the high cost being charged by landowners for crossing the river.
“We are happy to pay the local boys a reasonable fee to assist our clients with crossing the river, eg K20 per person, and additional payment for rafting our gear across, but we cannot afford the high fees being charged by the landowners on top which is up to K500 per group,” he said.
“When the bridge was in operation, the landowners didn't charge people for crossing the bridge, so now that the bridge is gone and people are swimming across, we don't understand why the landowners are suddenly charging people to cross the same river by different means of transportation.
“What about people who fly across the river by plane or chopper, are the landowners also charging them for crossing?”
Mr Hayes said his company’s prices for trekking packages were set 18 months ago, based on anticipated costs, and allowing only a modest profit margin because the Kokoda trekking industry was now very competitive and it had to keep our prices as low as possible.
“Extra unexpected costs like these river crossing fees charged by landowners are not budgeted for in our trekking package, and we can't put our prices up halfway through the season, or ask our clients to pay more after they have already pre-paid for their trekking package many months ago,” he said.
“Therefore, our only option is to either pay these unreasonable fees out of our profit margin - which then makes the trek package uneconomical to operate via Popondetta - or re-route all our groups direct to Kokoda and skip Popondetta.
“If they can make the river crossing costs reasonable, then we can still keep operating via Kumusi and pay them something, but if they maintain these high fees we must stop operating via Popondetta and the Kumusi people will get nothing at all from us.”
New online Pacific media service launched
A partnership between Scoop Media and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, Pacific Scoop is hosted on the existing Scoop website (www.scoop.co.nz).
The new site provides up-to-date news stories about Maori, Pasifika and ethnic diversity issues written by student journalists with support from experienced editors, reporters and commentators.
Contributors will include students from AUT’s School of Communication Studies, the
Manning said today: "The Pacific Scoop hub provides AUT's journalism students and staff a place to foot it with other practising journalists and respected commentators around the region. I'm looking forward to seeing this project grow in popularity and focus on major Pacific issues.”
Dr David Robie, director of
He says the service introduces a fresh and independent voice of the greater Pacific.
“We are keen to tell the hidden stories and address important Pacific issues like climate change, human rights and resource development,” says Dr Robie. “Pacific Scoop allows us to highlight important Pacific issues, while also showcasing student journalism.
“The site will provide a great resource for journalists and members of the public who are interested in detailed and up-to-date information about what is happening in the Pacific.”
Pacific issues have had prominence on the Scoop website since it was launched in 1999.
But Alastair Thompson, Scoop’s co-editor and co-founder, says the launch of Pacific Scoop will enhance the website’s Pacific coverage.
“This partnership will greatly increase our capacity to deliver news and commentary from the Pacific at a time when reporting resources in the Pacific are under great strain,” says Thompson.
· Contact:
Assoc Prof David Robie,
Editor, Pacific Scoop www.pacific.scoop.co.nz
drobie@aut.ac.nz , 021 112 2079
* Comment on this item www.pacificmediacentre.
ABAC urges dialogue on regulatory capital changes, fiscal reforms
Issued by the APEC Business Advisory Council
Meeting in
In a letter urging APEC Finance Ministers to communicate its views to the G-20, ABAC recommended that such changes be undertaken in dialogue with the private sector. In addition, they should form part of a comprehensive financial reform package that addresses risk management and corporate governance practices, among others.
ABAC also urged governments to carefully implement and coordinate exit strategies from emergency fiscal and monetary measures taken in response to the crisis, in view of their huge scale and impact on the real economy and financial markets.
The Council reiterated its firm and continued support for the work of the G-20 on financial reforms. ABAC expressed its satisfaction with current efforts to promote activity-based regulation and central clearinghouses for credit default swaps, which it proposed in its previous report.
ABAC members will discuss these and other recommendations during their dialogue with finance ministers and leaders of APEC’s 21 member economies this coming November in
About ABAC
ABAC was established by the APEC Economic Leaders in November 1995 in response to a call for a private sector body that could advise them on matters of primary importance to business in the region. It brings together up to three business leaders from each of APEC’s 21 economies.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Martin Yuoon, ABAC Executive Director 2009 at (65) 6827-6886 or at mkhyuoon@sbf.org.sg
Mr. Antonio Basilio, ABAC Secretariat at (632) 845-4564 or at abacsec@pfgc.ph
Mr. Naoki Sawaoka, ABAC’s FEWG Lead Staffer 2009 at (813)3240-7264 or at naoki_sawaoka@mufg.jp
Business Leaders push for Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific
Issued by the APEC Business Advisory Council
Key business leaders of the Asia Pacific region have agreed that it is now time for APEC to take more decisive actions towards establishing a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in view of the financial crisis and the stalled Doha Round negotiations. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) met in
ABAC members expressed caution about signs of the economic recovery and urged Leaders to take steps to ensure that this is sustained. They believe that this can be done if economies resist protectionism, promote global demand rather than just domestic and that they take the opportunity to undertake economic reforms. And that setting a firm timeframe for bringing a FTAAP into reality would send a very strong signal about APEC’s commitment to accelerating the integration of their economies.
“We believe that APEC is in a position to be the champion of free and open trade. Our vision of a FTAAP would not just cover trade but encompass services, investments and behind-the-border issues of concern to business. We see it as an instrument for bringing about inclusive growth where no one is left behind.” said Mr. Teng Theng Dar, the ABAC Chair of 2009.
ABAC also sees the successful conclusion of the Doha Round no later than 2010 as not only providing a major stimulus to global trade and investments but also to deal effectively with persisting protectionism.
Recognizing the upcoming negotiations in
In a separate communications to APEC Finance Ministers, ABAC urged more dialogue on regulatory changes regarding capital requirements and financial reforms.
About ABAC
ABAC brings together up to three business leaders appointed by each of their Leaders of the APEC’s 21 economies. They provide APEC Leaders with information regarding the priorities and concerns of the business sector in the region.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Martin Yuoon, ABAC Executive Director 2009, Tel: (65) 6827-6886, Email: mkhyuoon@sbf.org.sg
Mr. Antonio Basilio, ABAC Secretariat, Tel: (63 2) 845-4564, Email: abacsec@pfgc.ph
Ms. Tran Bao Ngoc, APEC Secretariat, Tel: (65) 6891 9616, Email: tbn@apec.org
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Land, resources and regulation in Papua New Guinea
By James Wanjik
E-mail: jameswanjik@hotmail.com
LAND is very important to people of
No Waigani legal eagle lived life of truth. More questions were raised without legal advice. Keeping MRA guessing I started publishing truths. No lawyer provided response on my views. Today MRA is under siege. It has no way out.
Resource ownership is not a politically powerful issue. It will push MRA mad. This madness we have seen in the media propaganda of late. It pulled wool over the eyes of Waigani that it should be consulted by Members of Parliament on resource ownership. It is a politically suicidal mission. MRA will pay for its arrogance.
Landowners are redirected to MRA. They must take on MRA to be free. Saddling landowners with resource ownership issue MRA thought it would hide. Not so. Plot and plotters are exposed. MRA, its offshoot the new Department of Mineral Policy and Geological Hazards (DMPGH) and the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum are the plotters.
PNG would have been totally powerless had I not warned the government. MRA’s plot was to destroy PNG’s national unity. It would have started with
Legally MRA was already on
More and more people and leaders are slowly and surely seeing MRA for what it is. It is a counterfeit. It only works for money. Money in illegal tax in illegal production levy. Parliament had been made to look totally powerless. Under section 209 of the National Constitution all government agencies and statutory authorities are required to get prior parliamentary approval of their budgets for a fiscal year. And this includes any revenue measure that might be taken or imposed in a fiscal year. The MRA has been illegally collecting illegal tax in illegal production levy indirectly in 2006 and directly in 2007, 2008 and now 2009. No leader has paid attention to this MRA rot.
The Somare – Temu government lost the plot when they took me on. They did not want truth known. They thought by removing me as Secretary for Mining would be enough to send me powerless. They were mistaken. Position, pay and privileges I lost or were denied me. My voice of conscience they could not silence. Today my voice is more true than their collective lies and deceits.
Landowners would have paid dearly if I was not the Secretary for Mining in 2006 though only for 9 months. The World Bank had in 2005 prepared host of amendments to the Mining Act 1992. Among other amendments the landowners would have paid with no review of exploration licence and licensees would have kept land away from landowners under retention licence. Also the Warden would have assessed compensation. Very disempowering proposals indeed. These proposals are still in the works. The World Bank is back in PNG. This time MRA is the keeper of World Bank money.
The new DMPGH has shown very recently that it has no mandate and cloud to lead review of the Mining Act 1992. Setting up a committee is a cover for weakness.
The truth is the new DMPGH has no legislative basis. The MRA Act 2005 is silent on its roles and functions. No contrary legal advice has been published by the DMPGH to date. It also pulls up some reasons for Waigani’s plot. They did not want me to lawyer MRA out of PNG. Only lawyer who would not do that was Nellie James. She was rewarded with Secretary for new DMPGH. Instead of “appointing” her the government saw it fitting to legally kind of pay paltry sum of “confirmation”. It was odd because Nellie James was not appointed to act in the position of Secretary for DMPGH. No such position was on offer when I was removed as Secretary for Mining.
Landowners will open up can of worms when they take on MRA. MRA will collect DMPGH and PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum to the showdown where landowners will win. Land is our way of life. Resources in or on land are for all people of our land. We must protect our way of life. MRA must go. Long live PNG.
Vying to be Hiri Queen
THREE contestants from Elavala village during the mini festival held in the village last weekend to choose their representative for this year’s Hiri Moale Festival next month.
From left are winner Henao Hale (Miss Elavala) with two other competitors from Elavala, Koani Mea and Igue Pipi.-Picture by AURI EVA of The National
Lie clocks of Papua New Guinea
As he stood in front of St Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.
He asked, "What are all those clocks?"
St Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."
"Oh," said the politician, "whose clock is that?" "That's Mother Teresa's.
The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."
"Incredible," said the politician.
"And whose clock is that one?"
St Peter responded, "That's Port Moresby Archbishop's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that the bishop told only two lies in his entire life."
"Where's Somare's clock?" asked the politician.
"Somare's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Happy Birthday, Hula
Monday, August 24, 2009
Visit a real Papua New Guinea settlement
The exhibition with a difference, titled ‘Life in 8-Mile is Hard’ opened at the University of PNG last Saturday night (Aug 22) and will next year be featured at the Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne, Australia.
A difference in that it featured photographs by settlement youth who were taught and inspired by Australian professional photographer Sean Davey.
In what is believed to be a first for a settlement community in Papua New Guinea, Davey has also set up a website entirely devoted to the Eight-Mile Settlement, http://www.8milesettlement.com/
which showcases their photographs, writings and lifestyle.Debate on major issues not trivial matters: Aihi
Kairuku-Hiri MP Paru Aihi wants debates on issues of
Mr Aihi said he has noted with much interest that in recent times there had been much public debate on many pressing issues and concerns affecting PNG and its citizens.
“Since the abrupt adjournment of Parliament on July 29 2009, I’ve followed with keen interest the debate particularly on whether the current Somare-Temu Government should remain in office or be removed,” he said.
“Leaders and people of all walks of life have voiced their concerns about this issue.
“My concerns are that leaders, particularly members of Parliament, should focus and concentrate their debates on major issues and things that matter.
“We should not waste our time, talents and treasure on petty and trivial matters of personal nature, like political and business cronies jumping quickly to defending their mentors when criticised for non-performance or lack of it.
“Instead, we should be debating on more-pressing issues such as endemic corruption that is ravaging PNG, breakdown and open defiance of the rule of law, misuse of public funds, deteriorating state of basic services PNG-wide and the poor delivery of vital government services.
“These are real and critical issues affecting our people.
“We need to be focused and discuss intelligently how best we can contribute to finding the best solutions to our problems.
“Our decision must be based on well-informed advice in our endeavours to resolving issues and problems that confront us.”
Mr Aihi also urged the leaders and the general public to refrain from making personal attacks on leaders and spreading false rumours because such would not do anyone any good.
Papua New Guinea must be wary of miners' lies
By James Wanjik
THE MINERS are here for money to be made from resources of
The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum should keep out of landowner issues. No lies and deceits of Greg Anderson will be believed. Real landowners will tell Greg Anderson to explain who actually benefits from exploration. None other than mining companies. They benefit by selling geological information on PNG resources.
Look at Frieda example. It is over 40 years and the area is still under exploration. The landowners are the same though some of their forebears would have parted for life after.
On the Chamber’s website they boast of over 200 tenements. Majority of these are exploration licences and many are still awaiting consideration.
Mining tenements are not many. They number as the number of mines we have. These are mines which load people including landowners with problems money cannot buy or recompense. Nothing is more exemplary as the Ok Tedi mine’s environmental pollution of Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers System.
Now PNG is taken for a ride yet again by the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum. They do not want landowners stopping exploration companies making money on PNG resources. Here is vested interest hidden in lot of words.
When exploration leads to production then Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) will collect production levy from mining companies. MRA is unconstitutional. It is operating illegally. It was set up by outsiders including Greg Anderson. The MRA has no legal standing to process mineral tenements and to enforce them. This is another vested interest of Greg Anderson. Landowners must rock MRA to rock PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum.
The warning has been out. Landowners will push MRA out of PNG. Then mines will be lawless. There is no mandated regulator of mines. MRA is a counterfeit. It is the issue for the take.
Landowners have two options. Raise resource ownership and be stuck with MRA or remove MRA for landowners to move miners out of their land.
Politics of resource ownership and regulation will kill the mining industry. When it does PNG will suffer. MRA is the rot which must be removed now.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Eight-Mile Settlement sets the pace with photo exhibition and website
Emmanuel Onom Mel (centre with camera) with his friends from Eight-Mile Settlement at the opening of his exhibition ‘Life in 8 Mile is Hard’ at The University of Papua New Guinea.-Picture by SEAN DAVEY
Local youths from Eight-Mile Settlment hang photographs in preparation for the opening night of the photography exhibition ‘Life in 8 Mile is Hard’ by Emmanuel Onom Mel and Wanpis Kaupa. – Picture by SEAN DAVEY
Local youths from Eight-Mile Settlement hang photographs in preparation for the opening night of the photography exhibition ‘Life in8 Mile is Hard’ by Emmanuel Onom Mel and Wanpis Kaupa. – Picture by SEAN DAVEY
Locals from Eight-Mile pose for a group portrait at the University of PNG after hanging the photography exhibition ‘Life in 8 Mile is Hard’ by local Eight-Mile Settlement youths Emmanuel Onom Mel and Wanpis Kaupa.- Picture by SEAN DAVEY
The exhibition at the University of PNG.-Picture by SEAN DAVEYThe exhibition with a difference, titled ‘Life in 8-Mile is Hard’ opened at the University of PNG last Saturday night (Aug 22) and will next year be featured at the Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne, Australia.
A difference in that it featured photographs by settlement youth who were taught and inspired by Australian professional photographer Sean Davey.
In what is believed to be a first for a settlement community in Papua New Guinea, Davey has also set up a website entirely devoted to the Eight-Mile Settlement, http://www.8milesettlement.com/ which showcases their photographs, writings and lifestyle.
The photography exhibition that opened at UPNG was part of a gala evening that showcased the fruits of an arts education programme that was run at Eight-Mile Settlement from June 1-7 this year.
Funded by The Law and Justice Sector through AusAID, and facilitated by UPNG, the workshop attracted over 100 local youths from Eight-Mile Settlement each day the workshop was on.
The group was headed by UPNG theatre lecturer and Eight-Mile resident David Motsy.
The workshop focused on four main activities: painting, drama, music and story telling.
“Fruits of the workshop can be viewed at http://www.8milesettlement.com/ and also I believe that this website is the first in Papua New Guinea devoted entirely to a settlement community,” Mr Davey said.
“While I was facilitating at the workshop, I was photographing in the settlement and interviewing residents.
“Local boys would accompany me and help with introductions and translation.
“I gave them a small digital camera that I had in my camera bag and asked them to start using the camera to photograph as well.
“They really liked photographing and they passed the camera amongst themselves and made plenty of pictures of the settlement, including portraits, landscapes and close-ups.
“One youth, 17-year-old Emmanuel Onom Mel, in particular liked the camera and taking pictures a lot.
“He kept the camera and would photograph everything.
“He was very enthusiastic.
“I downloaded the photographs that the youths made and I was very impressed by the intuitive style in which they were working, photographing very candidly and freely.
“They were getting ‘real’ pictures of settlement life, compared to the more formal and posed photos that I, as an outsider, was making.”
Mr Davey showed a selection of Emmanuel's work, and other youths’, to the curator at the Monash Gallery of Art in Victoria, and he was very impressed by what he saw.
“On the basis of this, he offered to have an exhibition of my work, along with work done by Emmanuel, at the Monash Gallery of Art in February and March 2010,” he said.
Kimelo Productions new blog
My old mate Simon Anakapu has set up a new blog for his business, Kimelo Productions, which specialises in media, public relations and publishing.
The address is http://kimeloproductions.blogspot.com/.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Malaysia-Papua New Guinea trade continues to grow
Trade between Malaysia and Papua New Guinea registered at K680 million last year and continues to grow, according to new Malaysian High Commissioner Datin Blanche Olbery (pictured).
Ms Olbery, who presented her credentials to Governor General Sir Paulias Matane on Aug 7, said this as Malaysia prepares to celebrate its 52nd anniversary of independence on Aug 31.
She is the first-ever Malaysian High Commissioner in PNG, her seven predecessors being male.
In terms of trade, volume of trade between the two nations registered last year stood at RM 890 million (K680m) compared in 2007, the volume of trade was RM428.5 million (K329.62 m), with a trade surplus for Malaysia.
“In term of investment, the Malaysian private sector continues to have significant presence with investments totaling K3b since 1994,” Ms Olbery, a lawyer by profession, said.
“Being the largest Asian investors, Malaysian companies become the leading citizen job providers in PNG owing to large number of jobs created per million kina invested.
“From the latest Investment Promotion Authority database source, Malaysian companies have generated 36,000 jobs since 1995.
“Many Malaysian companies which are already well entrenched and have a strong footing in PNG find that the investment and business climate are becoming more favourable and conducive.”
The biggest Malaysian companies here are Rimbunan Hijau (RH), Carpenter Group, TST Group, Johor Corporation (shareholder of New Britain Palm Oil Ltd), and several timber companies as well as Malaysian companies that involved in constructions and retail business.
“We also have state-owned bank, Maybank, which is operated in Waigani Port Moresby and Lae,” Ms Olbery said.
“Malaysian company International Food Corporation Ltd (IFC), a subsidiary of FIMA, is also involved in mackerel canning since 1995 in Lae.
“Taking into account a potential sago harvesting plantation in PNG, Malaysia’s Sarawak state government under its agency, the land custody and development authority (LCDA) has set to invest in the commercialisation of sago industry in PNG.
“The Sarawak government and the PNG government, under its National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), has agreed to foster a joint research and development programme in developing quality sago in PNG.”
Kula Lumpur and Port Moresby established diplomatic ties in 1975 and Malaysia established its diplomatic mission in Port Moresby in 1982.
Ms Olbery forsees a bright future for PNG, especially with the multi-billion kina liquid natural gas (LNG) project soon to come on stream.
“With the recent discovery of world’s biggest natural gas reservoir and the LNG project will be operating soon, this will certainly change the economy of PNG dramatically,” she said.
“This positive development would attract many foreign investors to invest in PNG including Malaysia.
“Due to the positive prospect of PNG economy, I would like to promote PNG as a strategic destination for Malaysian investors.
“On top of that, in term of political engagement, I also would like to promote high level visits between the two nations during my tour of duty as a High Commissioner of Malaysia.”
Offshore discovery from Papua New Guinea
Keli Taureka was raised in PNG, but learned the ropes on in CaliforniaAgainst very determined global competition, Isikeli Taureka, Chevron’s country manager for China, has won the tender to develop a 2, 000 sq km gas field in mountainous Sichuan in a multi-billion-dollar project with PetroChina.
Papua New Guineans can be found in some surprising places, such as the vice-president for flight operations at Etihad Airways, Granger Narara.
But Taureka is the first to succeed in such a high-profile way.
“This is the big league,” he says.
Isikeli– known as“Keli” – Taureka graduated in economics from the University of PNG in 1976, and worked at the Bank of South Pacific, then owned by the National Australia Bank, for12years. The job included a spell in Melbourne.
Then he decided he’d “had enough” of banking.
“The capital market wasn’t very complex, and it wasn’t exciting any more,” he says.
His next challenge was heading the imploding state-owned monopoly telco, Post and Telecommunication Corp. He separated the two functions and then established PNG’s first mobile phone company as a subsidiary of Telikom.
“As ever in PNG, politics interfered in what should have been a smooth transition to corporatisation,” he says.
“Telecommunications were among the country’s crown jewels.
“I tried to slash costs and introduce greater accountability, but the unions objected.
“The vision of enabling grassroots people was lost.
“The country couldn’t progress while calls were costing more than one kina a minute.”
Taureka is delighted that private competition has recently, finally, arrived, increasing access and choice.
Then in 1995 his life as a global executive began– though he didn’t know it at the time.
Chevron, which owned large oil fields and prospects in PNG’s Highlands, headhunted him.
“That was one of the luckiest breaks in my life, to be employed by a great company.”
In fact, the world’s sixth-biggest Chevron liked what it saw of his work in PNG, and shifted him to San Ramon in northern California, its global HQ.
There, he became the planning manager for international exploration and production, and facilitated top management meetings.
“It was a plunge into the real world of big business,” he says.
“I saw how companies were run, the processes and people and behaviour required to achieve outstanding results– things you don’t get to see in PNG.”
After two years he thought he would be assigned back to PNG for good. ” It didn’t dawn on me that this would trigger an international career.”
Taureka did return briefly to PNG, but also looked after Chevron’s West Australian operations on Barrow Island. In 2002 he became a Bangkok-based managing director, looking after operations in Thailand, Cambodia and Bangladesh– reorganising things to confront steep production declines.
In 2005 Chevron acquired fellow California-based Unocal, whose Thai assets were its most important–and Taureka smoothed their transition into the Chevron fold.
When Chevron’s chief in China retired in mid-2006, Taureka replaced him and was able to hit the ground running, as he’d been working for sometime on regional strategy.
“We were in a head-to-head bid for the acquisition of Unocal with China National Offshore Oil Corporation, with which we had two joint venture offshore operations, so I went to China with some trepidation. But I now enjoy close relations with my CNOOC counterparts.”
Shortly after Taureka’s arrival in China, he led the team that won the tender to develop, with PetroChina, the Chuandongbei “sour gas” fields in Sichuan–the largest foreign involvement in the Chinese oil and gas industry. The government had insisted on the introduction of a foreign operator after an uncontrolled release of sour gas resulted in 200 deaths and forced 5,000people from their homes.
“It’s an amazing project for us.
“We developed a plan and won the tender in less than six months.
“That’s almost the speed of light.
“PetroChina wanted to expedite it too, because of the strong pressure for increased energy supply in China.”
Taureka was able to call on Chevron’s best resources and the company won the contract, for 49% of the project, which involves 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Wells have been drilled, reserves proved, funding arranged and the project is moving into full construction mode.
“We did not think we could do anything in China,” he says, because of potential resentment over the withdrawal of CNOOC’s bid for Unocal in the face of political opposition in the US.
“But the Chinese are pretty practical people, and they appreciated our experience in handling sour gas.
“We have had to prove ourselves, though.
“It’s not just ganbei (the Chinese toast at banquets).
“We’ve taken a very consultative approach.
“We hope to grow in China through o opportunities where we can offer technical advantages and also seek to work with our Chinese partners in the international arena.”
Today, based in a massive office tower in the heart of Beijing, he heads a fast-growing operational business with about 200 staff there and in Tanggu, Shekou and Sichuan.
Taureka says that being Papua New Guinean “provides counterparts, coming from this Asia-Pacific region”.
“When I walk in the door, they tend to think I’m South African or American.
“When I say I’m Papua New Guinean, things loosen up quickly.
“Chevron helped PetroChina drill its first well overseas, in PNG, and such links go a long way.
“PetroChina’s PNG manager then is now vice-president of CNPC, PetroChina’s parent company, and I recently took him to see our deep-water operations in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“It’s been quite an exciting ride,” Taureka says.
He remains a PNG citizen.
But he has become very interested in China and is building an awareness within Chevron of the possibilities of doing business there “across the value chain”.
The company already supplies liquefied natural gas to China out of Australia’s NorthWest Shelf field.
Taureka loves the energy business.
“The numbers are much bigger than most other industries.
“It’s strategic, it’s political.”
He has now recruited six top Chinese graduates– “building homegrown talent” – as he was once groomed in PNG.