Fuzzy Wuzzy recognition 'too little, too late'- ABC Australia

From JOHN FOWKE  

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/24/2635119.htm

The subject of the "Angels'" place in history and the rewards they may deserve and may or may not have received is fully canvassed in the recent ABC program and its massive response, and I just want to add the following.

The invasion of the Japanese into what is now PNG was one prong of the overall policy of subjugation of all of Australasia to the will and the economic benefit of the Japanese nation under the Emperor and the proposed " Greater Asia Co-prosperity Sphere."

We know just how prosperous and well-treated the other invaded nations, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia etc.. all became under the Japanese regime. So it is unfortunate that the myth that  PNG was "forced into a war not of its own making" is widespread. PNG was, even if people were not widely-aware of it, defending itself  as much as Australia and other Pacific nations from a fate very different from that which awaited PNG under the colonial rule which existed prior to the arrival of the Japanese.

Secondly,the Australian RSL and the Friends of the Kokoda Trail and those who make a living from guided tours to this widely-publicised, new middle-class ikon seem not to be aware that the labour force which we now call the "Angels"- courtesy of a famous poem published in "Australian Womens' Weekly" at the time,-were conscripts, taken from villages all over coastal and inland Papua, except for the then-uncontrolled Southern Highland District. Thus there is no logic in believing that the development of the tourist-trade associated with the Kokoda Track is in itself a worthy reward for the "Angels" and their descendants. Whilst the people of the villages along the Track and of all the villages of the then Northern District, both "davara" and "gunika" bore the brunt of the invasion and subsequent fighting, the majority of the "Angels" were drawn from across the breadth of the then Territory of Papua

 In 1942, the command in Port Moresby instructed its agents, the civilian Resident Magistrates in charge of each of the administrative Districts of the Territory of Papua to send Patrol Officers out to forcefully recruit, under threat of sentence of imprisonment, all able-bodied males of ages judged by the recruiting officer as being between 18 and 40. These recruits were accompanied by police to the nearest available Medical Officer who checked them for fitness. All those who passed were then signed on for service as labourers and sent off to Port Moresby. Men from west of Daru right around through Goaribari and Purari, Orokolo, Kerema, Mekeo, Moresby,Abau and all through Mailu, Milne Bay, East Cape, Gosiago,the eastern islands and the Northern District were conscripted to do the will of the Army. The only way out was to desert, and this was difficult for those whose homes lay at any distance from the borders of Central. A few did run away, but not very many. These men were conscripts, just like the young, white "Chokkoes" they initially carried for and supported, and whilst perhaps unknowingly at first, nevertheless they were serving the interest of their own land and people in the arduous and dangerous work many of them were involved in.

Whilst the remaining "Angels" may justifiably be said to deserve no less a material reward than that applied in the case of those who served in the PIB and the Police during the war, a reward which is well within the ability of a grateful PNG to bestow upon them, is it not enough in the way of atonement for present-day PNG and the "Angels'" direct and indirect descendants that nearly fifteen billions of Australian dollars have been spent on the development of PNG since 1945? And that despite occasional hiccups, the relationship remains a firm and friendly one, a relationship nowadays of equals as opposed to the didactic and patronising one of the days of the Admin., and exclusive social clubs?

Australian dollars are still being spent, today, towards the social and economic development of a land, once a host of rival tribes, now a young, modern nation-state with its own chosen constitution, its own laws and its own internal and foreign policies.

Surely Australia has honoured – ( and so far as it is possible to tell, will continue to honour)- by these commitments to the people, any debt it may owe on account of the "Angels."

John 

 

 

Coffee embarks on massive rehabilitation programme

Coffee Industry Corporation chief executive officer Ricky Mitio (left) and his extension manager Fabian Api check out tools to be distributed to farmers at the Mukito Agricultural Supplies store in Goroka on Saturday

Project billboard in Kundiawa, Simbu province

A garden being rehabilitated in the Wahgi Valley under the CIC’s coffee rehabilitation programme

Bags of coffee being loaded on to a truck in Goroka in preparation for export

The Coffee Industry Corporation has embarked on a revolutionary and ambitious plan to prop up coffee production in Papua New Guinea.
The National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) - through its export driven, economic recovery and rural economic empowerment policy framework - has financed the District By District Village Coffee Rehabilitation Program (DBDVCRP) as a pilot phase amongst selected districts.
It is reminiscent of the Coffee Development Agency’s aggressive coffee rust campaign in the mid 1980s spearheaded by then Prime Minister Paias Wing

I visited the three selected districts of Anglimp-South Wahgi in Western Highlands, Kundiawa-Gembogl in Simbu and Obura-Wonenara in Eastern Highlands to witness the programme in motion.
CIC chief executive officer Ricky Mitio – the mastermind of the programme - visited two nationally-owned hardware shops in Goroka last Saturday and paid more than K350, 000 for tools to kick start the programme.
Another K300, 000 s expected to be paid this week,
The programme, under the theme “Building the Economy through Coffee”, is considered crucial given the declining industry trend.
The program complements national government policy initiatives and that of the CIC’s new strategic plan that embarks on increasing coffee production and quality.
The District by District Coffee Rehabilitation Program and the nursery and expansion programmes including those undertakings by private entities are viewed as economic resilient strategies directly contributing to addressing the coffee industry plan.
The coffee industry is very mindful and its preference to taken on the challenges aggressively depicts a role model for change towards positive economic growth and nation building.
Public awareness has been conducted by CIC in the recent past months to inform the general public and the coffee growers of the unbearable situation PNG as a nation and its people have encountered to date.
“CIC has adopted a paradigm shift in its development strategies to add value to coffee as an important cash crop in rural communities,” Mr Mitio told me in Goroka.
“I prepared the concept of District by District Coffee Rehabilitation Programme to attract government attention to fund rehabilitation of village coffee plants, which have reached senile age and was affecting production output, as revealed by the decline in production trend.
“We have selected one district in each of the three main coffee-producing provinces of Eastern Highlands, Simbu and Western Highlands.
“In these pilot districts, we have partnerships with the district administration, under the government’s district support improvement programme (DSIP), to work with provincial divisions of primary industry, non-government organisations and other service providers to assist us in retraining all farmers in better coffee husbandry methods.
“This will be a unique experience in that, for the second time after the Coffee Development Agency era, CIC is able to visit farmers again to manipulate their coffee trees to respond with better yields.
“This is the thing in a nutshell.
“It’s a unique programme and we want to transform the rural community into viable self-sustaining communities.
“We want to approach rural communities in a holistic manner where we are not only advising them about the cash economy, but we are also networking with law and order agencies, health and hygiene, and also spiritual.
“We realised that coffee money was not being used wisely for health, school fees, good homes and a stable life, among others.
“It’s an approach that we have not used before.
“We are having an economic revolution in the country with the LNG project; however, the question is whether this money will benefit the rural community and the so-called ‘landowners’?
“Part of this money should be siphoned into the rural community.
“We want to offer hope to our people.”
Coffee remains a major employer in the rural sector and a potential contributor towards the nation’s economy in terms of domestic and foreign reserves.
Coffee accounts for over 43% of PNG’s total agriculture export earning and over 10% from all other exports including minerals.
Its importance is not only signifies from economic returns; however provides direct employment at the informal sector accommodating larger proportions of the nation’s population by 2.5m people or 397,000 households.
The coffee industry was a major factor to influence political independence, continues to induce socio-economic growth, human skills and spiritual development.
PNG export volume has maintained to one million bags on average over the last 50 years and progressively remain stagnant or depicts a declining trend in recent past years. Declining trend attributed by both internal and external factors however, are of critical concerns to the industry, the economy and wellbeing of the actors along the value chain. The small holder sectors are the major players in the industry that accounts for over 85% or 700,000 to 800,000 green bean bags of the total annual export volume.
Commercial estate sectors comprises of both blocks and plantations have historically contributed immensely in relation to quality are diminishing rapidly compounded by common issues of managerial inabilities, lawlessness, land tenure to name a few.

Panoramic views of Kainantu, Eastern Highlands province, from a nearby hill on the road to Aiyura. I took these pictures while there yesterday.

I love this scenic section of the Highlands Highway between Kassam and Yonki in the Eastern Highlands province. I took these pictures while there yesterday.

Whitey, the man of the house, at home at the women's convention at North Goroka this morning. He didn't like the idea of me taking his picture, however, we became friends before I left for Port Moresby.

West Goroka on a cold foggy morning on Saturday, July 25

Fish market at Yonki, Eastern Highlands province (that's me in white shirt and black shorts, looking pretty 'dangerous' with the shades)