by DANIEL SAKUMAI
Good Morning!
Thank you for your time.
Daniel Sakumai
Monday, September 08, 2008
Science and technology
Key suspect in Taiwan scandal indicted, stays behind bars
Bonga, now the high-profile Public Accounts Committee chairman, and Dr Gubon were alleged to have negotiated with Taipei for diplomatic recognition at a price of US$29.8 million.
Bonga was Eda Ranu boss at that time
The allegation has been categorically denied and the national government is currently tightlipped on the issue.
Taipei Times reported at the weekend that Taipei chief prosecutor Huang Mo-hsin indicted Wu Shih-tsai, on charges of falsifying bank statements and lying to the police after he made up a story about being threatened by an unidentified gunman.
“Prosecutors decided that the evidence was sufficient to find him guilty, so we decided to indict him today,” said Lin Chin-chun, spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, said during a press conference on Friday.
Wu has been in custody since May 6.According to Taipei Times, the procedure states that once indicted, the defendant must be immediately released, but Wu remained in detention after a request for an extension was granted by Taipei District Court Judge Chang Yung-hung after evidence found that he was trying to leave the country.
Wu and Ching Chi-ju, the other main suspect in the diplomatic scandal, were commissioned in August 2006 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen to act as intermediaries in an attempt to forge diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea.
Taipei Times reports the Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Ministry agreed to wire US$29.8 million into Wu and Ching’s bank account at a branch of OCBC Bank in Singapore.
The funds were to be transferred to the Papua New Guinea government once the two nations had signed a diplomatic communiqué.
Sir Michael Somare was the prime minister at the time of the alleged scandalTaiwan failed to develop relations and in December 2006 the ministry asked for its money back.
Ching allegedly refused to return the funds and has since disappeared, reports Taipei Times.Chiou, former minister of foreign affairs James Huang and former deputy minister of national defense Ko Cheng-heng all resigned over their involvement in the diplomatic scheme.
Ching, who is a US citizen, is believed to be at large in the US.
Officials also continue to investigate whether former Huang and including former vice premier Chiou I-jen, among other senior officials in the previous government, should be indicted, too.
“This case concerned a lot of money, which was wired to foreign bank accounts,” Chief Prosecutor Huang Mo-hsin said.
“We have not finished our investigation or determined where the money is.”
Prosecutors said they were investigating whether any government officials, including former vice premier Chiou I-jen and former minister of foreign affairs James Huang, were involved in the case.
On May 6, Huang filed a detention request against Wu on charges of corruption, which was granted by the district court.
Wu should have been released last Friday, when the detention period expired, but prosecutors requested an extension on other charges.
“The forgery, and Wu’s lying to the police, made for a solid case for us to keep him,” Huang said.
Wu at one point defended his actions to police by saying he had been threatened at gunpoint.
Thoughts on 33 years of independence
By MATHEW YAKAI
There are times to say ‘thank you’ and today is the time.
When people go through life, one day they always sit back to think and appreciate what happened yesterday.
For me, September 16th will be the special day for PNG and my life because I have the greatest opportunity to say thank you to a man I owe a lot.
He is none other then the Grand Chief and Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
The incumbent was the founder of my beautiful country.
Despite the economic and social turmoil we as a country went through because great man like Chief Somare and others always had confidence in this country of ours.
The aliens said we will fail.
But we said no, we will go ahead.
PNG is an example of a black nation that can stand for 33 years.
And now is the day, after 33 years and we are still going.
When loved one dies, we spell out condolences and speak high of his achievements and what he does for others.
When Chief Somare dies one day, the nation will moan, the region will be shocked and the world will convey their condolences.
That is the Somare, 33 years ago found this nation, today is our Chief, amongst all the chiefs from the highlands down to the coasts and across the oceans.
It’s no use conveying my appreciation of what Chief Somare has done for us as a country when he dies tomorrow.
Today is the time to say ‘thank you’.
While Chief is able to read this appreciation, I would like to salute my Chief, my Prime Minister and my mentor.
PNG will remember you, and I will treasure you.
Thank you for taking PNG from independence to today.
Histories are not made by nations but made by great thinkers with wisdoms and leaderships.
Chief Somare, you have just done that.
PNG celebrates its 33 years of
PNG will remember you in the thousand years to come.
You gave me the blood, the heart and the soul to be a proud Papua New Guinean.
I love my country and the people of PNG.
Let’s join our hands and work together as brothers and sisters for the betterment of our great nations.
God bless PNG.
Mathew Yakai
Thoughts on 33 years of independence
By DAVID KETEPA ULG
Below, is my two cents on the above topic you posted on your blog.
Have a wonderful Sunday evening.
A very good night from this end of the planet.
After 33 years of independence, I ponder and ask, why have we done so poorly after all these years?
I see the name 'independence' as a window curtain and inside the house is empty because there isn't any tangible developments throughout all corners of PNG especially when you look at rural areas in terms of infrastructure and service delivery.
The motive is clear. I think there are three impediments which I think that undermine the foundation of development for PNG to prosper.
1. Politics - It has advantages and disadvantages at all levels of government. With more than 20 political parties, it is difficult to work collectively with like-minded leaders to ensure good governance when their policies are not transparent and implemented, while their agendas and motives are diverse. Cheap political point scoring and power hungry politics is one thing and vivacious, candid and unprejudiced politics is another. For the past 32 years, it seems to us that the former was ubiquitous. We can make little progress if the number of political parties is minimised with few parties with sound policies to lead the country with less politics. No matter what political party an MP is affiliated to, all who form the government must be loyal to each other to work collaboratively to fully implement the Government’s policies;
2. Corruption - Is a result, it is not a cause. To deal effectively with corruption, one must not look at treating the symptoms of corruption but must deal with the cause. Effective prosecution and punishment is not dealing with the cause but the symptom. In the public eye, the outcomes of some of these high profile cases are dubious. The judiciary system needs to have more teeth. The Government’s Medium Term Development Strategy will bear fruit when the law has its course. If prosecutions were done accordingly, perhaps it should send a chilling message to daylight robbers who habitually embezzle from the public coffers. The most important tool to minimise corruption is being honest to yourself, your fellow country man/woman and the nation at large; and
3. Mismanagement - For all variety of reasons, honesty and integrity are becoming noble words in this day and age. No matter how much honesty it takes, greed and shrewdness in dealings are common symptoms that need to be eliminated by a vibrant law and justice sector. Mismanagement and corruption may go hand in hand and they both are here to stay for the reason that leaders and people in positions of trust cannot be trusted. The current scenario in the Finance Department and countless similar cases yet to be solved and those implicated needs to be prosecuted are classic examples. What the situation requires is for all of us to work together. Ultimately, as Papua New Guineans, we must stop pushing members for handouts because they will manipulate their RDF and non-discretionary electoral funds to give what the people want and that will distort development plans for the each province and PNG at large. Unless the above factors are confronted head-on, PNG will not prosper maybe for another 33 years or who knows; maybe decades.
David Ketepa Ulg
Friday, September 05, 2008
I'd like to know your thoughts on 33 years of Independence
Hi to all you guys and gals out there.
On Tuesday, September 16,
It has been a turbulent 33 years and I’d like to have your thoughts.
Either make a comment at the bottom of this post or email me on malumnalu@gmail.com so that I can put together all your thoughts as a vox pop before the big day in 11 days time.
Malum
Where were you in 1975?
Independence proclamation by Governor-General Sir John Guise at 12am on September 16, 1975
Girl guides float in Goroka
In Goroka a possession of floats presented a spectacular display
Return to Goroka...my late wife Hula and I in our vegetable garden in Goroka, 1999 That is the question many people will be asking each other as Papua New Guinea celebrates 33 years of independence on September 16 this year.
Many others – the majority – will simply say “I wasn’t even born then”.
I was in Goroka in 1975 and can fondly say that it was one of the best years of my life.
The first thing that struck me about Goroka was the beautiful flowers, shrubs and roaring streams.
I was then seven years old, bound to turn eight later that momentous year, but the memories are still there – albeit fading – 33 years on.
The family of my mum, dad, elder sister, elder brother, my younger sister and me disembarked from an Air Niugini F27 Fokker Friendship one cold January morning in 1975.
I took my first breath – fresh, cool and clean mountain air – of what would be our home for the next three years until the end of 1977.
Back in 1975, mum, dad and my elder siblings were no newcomers to Goroka and the then Eastern Highlands District.
Mum and dad came here as newly weds to Iufi Iufa primary school, Asaro Valley, in the early 1960s.
My father Mathias was a school inspector and an ex-Dregerhafen and Sogeri schoolmate of one Michael Somare while my Moasing mother was a missionary-trained nurse.
It was here that my elder sister Alison and my elder brother David were born.
I have so many pleasant memories of growing up in Goroka.
In those pre-independence and immediate post-independence days, colonialism was still in the air, hence, there being so many expatriates.
Goroka was a neat, well-planned colonial town, which – like Lae and Kainantu – was built around the airport.
And the airport then was a hive of activity, especially given Goroka being the base of Dennis Buchanan’s Talair and ex-Vietnam veteran Mal Smith’s Pacific Helicopters.
Throwing Frisbees and flying kites in the park, riding bikes, chasing muna (those seasonal beetles eaten by the locals), buying sweets, comic and books at West Goroka and dreaming on those endless summer afternoons in December were among our great passions.
Comic book trading – Donald Duck, Phantom, Walt Disney, Ritchie Rich, Casper The Friendly Ghost, Wendy The Good Little Witch, Bugs Bunny…and I could go on and on with the characters – was a way of life among us kids in those days.
I have no qualms that I learned more English and the nuances of grammar from those comic books than from school.
Professional boxing was all the rage in those days of inimitable fighters like Martin Beni, the late John Aba, his brother Tony, Mark Apai and the lot.
Through the late Norm Salter – the great fight promoter – Goroka was able to host its share of professional and amateur bouts as well as wrestling matches featuring men, women and even midgets from overseas.
Goroka’s YC Hall was the equivalent of Madison Square Gardens in the US - the true centre of boxing in the country.
The YC was also the centre stage for basketball in those days with national championships being held there in 1975, 1976 and 1977.
The showground, now the National Sports Institute, saw bone crushing rugby league matches as well as aerial rules football contests.
Of course, nothing in Goroka would be complete without the annual show, a colorful extravaganza of singsings, agricultural produce and those wonderful show bags we loved so much.
The West Goroka Theatre, now the NSI gymnasium, was where we would sit on old coffee bags and watch those good old Bruce Lee and James Bond movies, as well as thrillers like Airport ’75, Jaws, Towering Inferno and King Kong – the place being literally packed to the rafters.
Radio then was king – there being no such thing as EMTV or video – and it was a joy to listen to the Sunday night dramas, Grade 10 quizzes and the live coverage of rugby league and other sports on the National Broadcasting Commission’s Medium Wave transmission.
Yes, indeed, life was a wonderful dream for us who grew up in Goroka at the time.
Of course, in 1975, independence was in the air.
Young men who championed the cause, like Michael Somare, were treated with disdain by the lapuns and old colonials, who argued that independence would be a catastrophe.
Little PNG flags and independence t-shirts and caps were very fashionable.
At school the teacher, a beautiful Hula, Central province woman called Mrs Manoka, would ask us, one by one, to give our individual oratories about this thing called ‘Independence’.
That year, in April, there was excitement all around the brand new PNG currency was introduced.
Shiny 10 and 20 toes coins were all the rage among us kids.
The venerable Australian dollars and cents, which had become part of our lives, continued to be legal tender until after independence.
Also that eventful year, by quirk of fate, a big frost in Brazil – the world’s biggest coffee producer – saw prices skyrocket.
It was a cause to celebrate with fortunes being made overnight, especially in the Highlands.
At the West Goroka shopping centre just down the road from where we lived, it was a common sight to see villagers in as tanget (leaf coverings, which were worn widely in those days instead of clothes) with huge wads of cash going on an orgy of spending, buying big cow legs, beer and stereos for the inevitable parties that followed.
My uncle, the coffee tycoon Jack Amos, made millions overnight and celebrated by travelling to the Phillipines to watch that famous ‘Thrilla in Manilla’ world heavyweight championship bout between Muhammed Ali and ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier.
These all added to the big party that was 1975.
September 15, 1975, was the last day for PNG to come under colonial rule
We sat up until 12am on September 16, when Governor-General Sir John Guise did the Proclamation of Independence, broadcast live over the ever-reliable NBC:
“Papua New Guinea is now independent.
“The Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, under which all powers rest with the people, is now in effect.
“We have at this point in time broken with out colonial past and we now stand as an independent nation in our own right.
“Let us unite, with almighty God’s guidance and help, in working together for a future as a strong and free country.”
And then the fireworks exploded into the Goroka night sky to herald the start of a new day, a new era and a new Nation-State.
It was a time for celebration, but also a poignant occasion, as the Australian flag came down for the last time.
In addition, many a tear was shed by the lapun man/meri (old men/women) as that great icon of colonialism was lowered.
Today, 33 years later, Goroka is still a beautiful place.
In fact, I spent four years there from 1998 to 2002, finding myself back on my childhood stomping grounds.
It was like arriving at a place I’d never left!
Memories of another day, those oh-so-happy childhood days, came rushing back.
And nostalgia filled my heart every time I saw something that reminded me of those blissful days.
Goroka still hasn’t lost its basic shape of 1975, 1976 and 1977 and still has that colonial feel about it.
Goroka, to me, is home.
After all, my siblings and I were born, raised and educated here.
In later years, my late wife and I spent four wonderful years in Goroka, and it was there that my two elder sons were born.
I dream of a golden future for this pleasantly agreeable town with its perennial spring climate, majestic sentinel-like mountains and bouquet of perfumed flowers.
Happy 33rd Birthday Goroka and Papua New Guinea and God Bless You real good!
UK trek group to return
A UNITED Kingdom (UK) based volunteer group Trek Force, will return to
The group left last month after completing a two-month tourism trekking project along the Black Cat Trail in the Morobe province.
Black Cat Trail extends from Wau to Salamaua.
While trekking, the group also provided basic health and education services to the locals along the way.
Trek Force leader Dr Tom Sheddon said Black Cat turned out to be a very challenging feat for the young volunteers, most of who were in their early 20s.
Dr Sheddon said his team also did jungle survival training, trekking and diving and were looking forward to returning to PNG in November.