Papua New Guinea Filipinos maligned by 'rubbish-grade' newspaper

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ    

 

LAST Tuesday, November 10, Filipinos in this city and across Papua New Guinea woke up to find themselves in the midst of 16,000 illegal Pinoys.

Well, that is, if you are to believe what the Post-Courier, a second-rate Australian-owned daily newspaper, headlined on that day on Page 1: “16,000 aliens”, with subhead, “More than 80 per cent of Filipinos are living illegally in PNG”.

And the alleged source of the figures, according to Post-Courier?

Well, no less than the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, who has been quoted in the report.

Madam Ho-Vicario, the daily reported, testified last Friday, November 6, at the Parliamentary Bi-partisan committee probing the anti-Asian riots that occurred last May, where she purportedly revealed the existence of 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

The committee wanted to know the reasons that triggered the marginalized Papua New Guinean to go into rioting and to loot variety shops and groceries owned and operated by Chinese in the Highlands and in Port Moresby.

The locals hate illegal aliens, particularly Asians whose numbers in PNG are growing, because they feel that these undocumented expatriates are robbing them of jobs and livelihood reserved for them under the law.

Immediately, a flurry of emails crisscrossed the PNG cyberspace, originating from Pinoy expatriates with access to the internet who expressed disbelief that there are 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

A number have even rebuked the Ambassador, calling her “traitor” and “stupid”, for making public such highly-sensitive and derogatory information.

One hyper-sensitive Pinoy expat had called the Philippine Embassy with a threat to burn it down “for making the Filipinos look really, really bad in the eyes of the international community”.

It couldn’t be helped. Most of Pinoys in PNG are employed with valid documents as professionals – accountants, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, IT experts, foresters, miners, managers, administrative officers and others.

And now this damaging news report.

Already, Joey Sena, the president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), has expressed concern over the safety of his compatriots around the country.

He was quite aware that the recent racist attacks on Asians, particularly the illegal Chinese, and the alleged illegal businesses they operate, could now be directed to PNG Pinoys.

But then, he tried to tell the community to remain calm and urged the members to be vigilant of their own personal safety.

That morning when the story broke, Madam Ho-Vicario was already nursing a blood-pressure gone berserk, as she read the Post-Courier, horrified that it has put words into her mouth.

“How did they (Post-Courier) come up with these figures …?” she exclaimed, as she read and re-read the report, while noting that finally, the newspaper got her name right!

“This is pure fabrication … !” she said of the story.

That noon, immediately after arriving at work, I went straight to our library to have a look at the day’s editions of PNG’s two daily newspapers – The National, the country’s leading daily where I work, and Post-Courier.

Our rival paper’s front-page headline “16,000 aliens” quickly grabbed my eyes; and reading through the story, I couldn’t believe what I was reading: That our Ambassador has spilled the beans before a Parliamentary Bi-partisan committee hearing!

Immediately, however, I doubted the reliability and credibility of the story. You know why?

The night before, at about 7.25pm, I received an email from a long-time colleague working at Post-Courier as a sub-editor (deskman), asking for the name of the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, and closing his message with: “it’s just urgent …” In the newspaper work, it’s deadline time at these hours.

I saw no harm in giving him our Ambassador’s name, although I was aware that it’s quite unethical for a newspaper to ask for some info from a rival newspaper like The National.

Looking at the news story again, it dawned on me one thing: That the reporter who filed the story on the “16,000 aliens” never saw the Ambassador at the alleged committee hearing because such hearing where she had purportedly testified on illegal Pinoys never took place.

First of all, how come he failed to know the Ambassador’s name?

I assumed that when he filed the story on Monday night, he left the name of the Philippine Ambassador to PNG blank. So, when the sub-editor, who is my colleague, edited the story, he found the Ambassador’s name missing in the copy, prompting him to get it from his own source: Me.

When I saw her at the embassy that afternoon, ‘Amba”, as we refer to her during informal chats, was fuming mad, looking like smoke was coming out of her ears and mouth, as she berated the Post- reporter who filed the story and the daily paper – Post-Courier -- that allowed a rubbish report to go to print.

“Ka Freddie, I need to counter this report as soon as possible…” Amba said immediately after we shook hands. “The (Filipino) community has been put at risk because of these anti-Asian sentiments and I, personally, have been maligned by the report.”

So what’s the real story?

“I’m denying the report … it’s all fabricated … it has no factual basis, it’s unfounded and far from the truth.

“I demand that Post-Courier retract the story and print the truth.”

“There could never be 19,000 Filipinos living and working in this country,” Amba said.

“I never appeared on the said committee hearing on that day to give evidence on this matter.

“I was never interviewed on that matter or present at the Bipartisan Parliamentary Inquiry (last Friday).

“I never know who MP (Philip) Kilala is, how he looks … I just don’t know him,” Amba said, referring to the source which provided Post-Courier the fabricated figures of “19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal”.

So, what’s the real score on PNG Filipinos? I asked her.

According of official figures submitted by the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby to the Philippine Congress as required of embassies worldwide, there are only 10,120 expatriates in the country as of June 2009.

About 670 of them are permanent residents, 6,600 are temporary migrants (work permit holders), and 2,850 which are considered “undocumented or irregular” (these are the holders of business visa and tourist visa).

Since I was the one to file the report on Amba’s denial of the Post-Courier report, my boss editor reminded me to get the side of Post-Courier. So, I called the editor in chief on his cell phone.

Well, it is SOP in this job – getting both sides of the story. But it is something not practiced in Post-Courier.

“We stand by our story,” he told me over the phone.

The editor said their report was based on information their reporter obtained from a source that was at the parliamentary committee hearing when Amba purportedly gave evidence last Friday.

Categorically denying this, the Ambassador told me that afternoon that “I was never at the Parliament last Friday”.

The denial story that I filed came out the next day, Wednesday, and was headlined: “Philippine Embassy denies ‘aliens’ report”.

On the same day, the chairman of the Parliamentary Bi-partisan Committee on Asian-Owned & Operated Businesses in PNG, Jamie Maxton-Graham, Member of Parliament, sent a letter to Amba, stating:

“The front page report stated in part that you appeared in person before my inquiry on Friday, November 6, during which you gave evidence that 16,000 out of 19,000 Filipino residents in this country are doing so illegally.

“… I wish to state categorically THAT YOU NEVER APPEARED (caps mine) before my Inquiry, either in person or through a representative on the date as stated by Post-Courier. Neither have we received any written submission from your Embassy.

“The newspaper report is quite erroneous in that respect,” Chairman Maxtone-Graham stressed.

That night when I phoned Post-Courier’s editor-in-chief to get the side of his paper, he told me: “We will not make any further report on this matter … we stand by our report …”

Talk about fairness in reporting, of good journalism.

However, in today’s edition of Post-Courier, it published the Ambassador’s denial of having appeared at the committee hearing, obviously in a desperate effort to wiggle out of the shit that it has buried itself into.

It finally admitted that it made an error in reporting that she appeared before the committee on Friday, November 6. “She did not attend and made a submission,” Post-Courier said.

However, while it earlier reported that Madam Ho-Vicario actually appeared at the bi-partisan committee hearing last Friday where she purportedly disclosed the number of Filipinos in PNG and how many of them are illegal, Post-Courier has made a turn-about and is now saying in today’s report that MP Kikala stated on a bi-partisan committee hearing last Monday that the Ambassador “informed” him of the 16,000 illegal Filipinos in the country.

He, however, was unable to tell Post Courier on what occasion did the Ambassador divulge to him the derogatory information. Was it during a formal parliamentary bi-partisan hearing? Was it during lunch or dinner? Was it during a drinking spree?

Or was he just fishing for some “blockbuster” story to get some attention and pluck himself out of obscurity?

Funny, while Amba has categorically said she “never knew MP Kikala or had met him”, the (dis)honorable MP is claiming to have obtained the information directly from her.

But whatever this occasion was, it never happened. Madam Ho-Vicario was very clear in saying that “I never know who MP (Philip) Kikala is, how he looks … I just don’t know him”.

So, it’s very clear that the paper has conflicted itself while making the report in its own confusion to steer away from the heat.

And the reporter, Pearson Kolo, had “masturbated” himself to produce a highly-fabricated and incendiary story.

Well, it is very clear now that the Philippine Embassy could not expect anything fairer from the offending daily, even a follow-up story rectifying the salient points of the report – the alleged 16,000 illegal Filipinos – and reporting the actual number of Filipino expatriates, or getting the Ambassador’s side of the issue.

To seek redress, the embassy is now consulting with the legal department of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila for advice. It is also contemplating on bringing the issue to the Media Council.

True, Amba is bent on suing the newspaper.

Meantime, the Pinoys here are jittery as anti-Asian sentiments rage across PNG.

Thanks Post-Courier for making this hatred a reality now for us, Filipinos!

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg

                             alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117

 

 

K2 milllion funds missing

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

Malum,
This is a clear breach of the law and should have been referred to the police immediately it was detected.

Why was it left for so long?

That in itself should be investigated.
The police ought to be given a set time limit for the investigation report to be available.

Given the known facts, it should only take only a few days to resolve.

Otherwise, perhaps an investigation should be made into the police investigation methods.

Cheers,

Paul
______________________

K2 million in district funds missing, Parliament told
MORE than K2 million in district services improvement programme (DSIP) funds earmarked for the Tewai-Siassi district in Morobe province has gone missing and a commercial bank has been blamed for processing the payments.
The payments were made between May 26 and Sept 23 this year to two Port Moresby-based companies.
Information provided by Tewai-Siassi Member Vincent Michaels to Parliament yesterday revealed that the two companies operated out of the Gerehu suburb and Telikom Rumana respectively.
According to information supplied by Mr Michaels, K200,000 was withdrawn on May 26 without any identification of the payee from the district's account number 1001373192 held at Bank South Pacific Lae branch.
On Aug 6, cheque number 135 for K900,000 was raised. It was presented to the bank the next day but dishonoured. The same cheque was presented again at a BSP branch in Port Moresby and successfully cashed to Rainco Project Consultants Limited, a Telikom Rumana-based company.
On Sept 8, cheque number 158 of K383,754.73 was made payable in cash to an unknown payee and a day later, cheque number 123 of K750,950 was paid to Paul II Construction Limited and dishonoured. According to Mr Michaels, this dishonoured cheque was again presented on Sept 23 and successfully paid out.
A concerned Deputy Prime Minister yesterday assured Mr Michaels and the people of Tewai-Siassi that immediate action would be taken to ensure that those involved were brought to justice.
He said he would advise Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch to have a meeting with BSP to establish how these payments of substantial amounts of money were made without thorough checks by the bank.
Sir Puka told Parliament that when the guidelines on the use of the funds were drawn up, there was a specific form that was drawn up to ensure that money being paid had been endorsed by respective joint district planning and budget priority committees (JDP&BPC).
He said form 11 would bear the signature of the chairman of the JDP&BPC and the district administrator to show to the bank that the cheque was in order and payment could be released.
"BSP staff at commercial centres throughout the country are aware that no cheques must be cashed without form 11. That's one important accountability method that the Government included in the management guidelines of the DSIP.
"In the investigations that will have to be done if form 11 was not signed and attached and bank officers released those enormous volumes of funds, then no doubt something is enormously wrong and corruption has now gone to the private sector as well," Sir Puka said
Mr Michaels told Parliament that the experience was frightening and showed that corruption had now reached the "rural people's money".

bemobile 12 months on…reflections from Chairman Anthony Smare

Over 12 months ago, competition arrived in the telecommunications sector in the mobile phone market and it was clear that Telikom’s mobile division, Bee Mobile, was not ready.
It was undercapitalised.
It was inefficient.
It also did not have personnel that had experience and excelled in the cut-throat world of mobile telephone competition.
The National Government and the board of Telikom decided to spin Bee Mobile into a new structure and to invite new partners to come on board to take the company forward into the new competitive environment.
Twelve months ago the new Bemobile was born.
It had new partners to join Telikom as shareholders – Nambawan Super Limited, Nasfund Limited, PNG Sustainable Development Company Limited, Hong Kong investment fund GEMS and American mobile operator Trilogy International Partners LLC.
The new partners brought with them capital and mobile telecoms expertise.
Telikom brought its existing Bee Mobile business, customers and network, and 70 employees.
The new organisation was to be called bemobile.
The challenge for the new organisation was to build a state-of-the-art mobile business, that provided accessible, reliable and most importantly, affordable, mobile telephone services to as many people of PNG as possible.
But to me, as a Papua New Guinean and chairman of the company, it was also important that in transforming bemobile, we had to keep faithful to our PNG values, maintain our PNG identity and put the interests of the PNG people – who are both our owners and customers – first.
In the last 12 months, the old tired blue and green Bee Mobile has been transformed into an exciting, dynamic, bold, orange bemobile army with a state-of-the art, rapidly expanding mobile network.
Expertise has been brought in from all over the world, but fused with local telecoms expertise of the Papua New Guineans in the technical and sales and marketing divisions of bemobile.
The best and brightest young Papua New Guineans – young, patriotic, and ambitious - have also been recruited into bemobile from educational institutions and other business houses.
A first-class telecommunications team has been built to take bemobile forward.
In the last 12 months, bemobile has built state-of-the-art switching facilities and media gateways in the major regional centres of PNG.
We have built out new base stations in the core population areas of PNG, and are rapidly rolling out an additional 400 towers, with large base stations brimming with the latest technology to provide internet, GPRS and mobile telephone.
We have also shattered the pricing barriers in PNG by bringing low call pricing and challenging the high interconnection rates that are being imposed artificially in PNG and which discourage competition.
We have also at all times promoted and maintained our PNG identity.
We took over the bemobile cup, the nation’s leading sporting competition, and made it the best edition in the history of the NRL competition, with the support of the NRL, the PNGRFL, the Franchise Owners, and the PNG people.
We also saw a national school children design competition produce a unique Papua New Guinean design of the bemobile cup trophy – designed by the immensely-talented 13-year-old Florence Metta, a Grade Six student from Koki’s St Francis School in Port Moresby.
We have maintained our PNG identity in all of our advertising and our branding, adopting the overlaid kina shells as our symbol – the “O” in bemobile.
We are a PNG company, thus our advertising must reflect it.
Our Orange Men concept has become a modern-day pop phenomenon in PNG and has captured the imagination of millions, judging by how they were received in the past week in Lae, Hagen and Port Moresby.
We have adopted our PNG-first mantra with our pricing, our products and how we promote our pricing and products to our people.
We provide simple, affordable call pricing to all networks and straight-forward honest advertising.
Reflecting on our main objectives when we started out in November 14, 2008, I am happy with our progress.
We have brought in the expertise and the capital we needed.
We have created a new organisation that the people of PNG can be proud to call their own, with an identity and a network that has excited and enthused our general population.
We have brought the wildly-popular 49 toea all network call pricing and we have brought in the quality European-made Alcatel phone and made it available for K29.
We have taken the first step and set the pricing benchmark and now others are reacting.
It gives me great satisfaction that the PNG people are responding – already bemobile has shattered its records for call volumes and phone sales rates.
Our customer base is expanding exponentially.
The orange army is expanding, village by village, town by town, valley by valley, and island by island.
A lot of this is due to the tremendous work that Roger Blott, the bemobile CEO, and our team at bemobile have put in.
This success is also due to the support of our shareholders, our business partners, our retail partners, and especially the people of PNG who are both our customers and our owners.
My message to the PNG people is this – I hope you are happy with the progress of your company, bemobile.
Thank you for keeping the faith and for showing your patriotism and nationalism by supporting us.
Just like this nation, when you and I are united we succeed, divided we fall – I look forward to your continuing support for the next twelve months as we take bemobile, PNG’s own mobile company, even higher.

Thankyou.

Anthony Smare
Chairman

True development is human development

By James Wanjik

 

PRIOR to independence, Papua New Guinea’s self government leaders pronounced eight policy aims commonly referred to as the 8 Aims.

At independence these were reduced to five national goals. The very first goal which indeed is the vision is integral human development.

It is about holistic human development encompassing four components of a person: body, heart, mind and spirit.

Each of these components has unique needs and attributes.

Our development strategy has been economic development on the back of mineral resources.

It is about making money first before providing service to our people.

Money was made but service did not reach our people as pre-independence, independence and post independence leaders anticipated and charted for PNG in its first national goal.

 Our poor human development index, deteriorated and deteriorating physical and social infrastructure in many parts of our country, increasing incidence of crimes, and poverty of leadership and governance culminating from ignorant and arrogant leadership complemented with corrupt governance are symptoms of PNG not achieving its first national goal 34 years on after independence.

The plight of our borderless people in the six border provinces is even worse.

In some parts of our border there are not even schools to open the window to the outside world and more so to liberate the person from bondage of powerlessness.

Health services are non-existent to provide health care and support.

Infrastructure is unavailable to provide economic opportunity to our people.

Few of these services are provided by kind hearts in missionaries and churches.

Such predicaments make it challenging for any meaningful regulation of the border areas; something that had eluded successive governments over the years.

Just after 33^rd independence anniversary of our nationhood in 2008 a search was on for a meaningful path to border development and management.

The idea of border development authority was born in earnest. In October 2008 the 8^th Parliament made a momentous decision to pass the Border Development Authority Act 2008.

 PNG would now see the development of its border areas being coordinated and funded with a vision to liberate our border people.

Only a free people would be free to move change in perception of national security and liberty.  

Since commencement of the Border Development Authority Act 2008 and the appointment of the Executive Chairman and the Board of the BDA in October 2008 it has worked hard to win buy-ins and ownership.

In six months after its inauguration in Port Moresby in March 3, 2009 the BDA has moved with lightning speed to secure its position as a model-in-the-making of a development and service delivery authority.

BDA is aware that border development and management is a political hot potato for those inclined at political power play arising from perceived fiefdom syndrome.

It has so far avoided that by keeping to its core mandate to coordinate funding and development in the border areas of PNG.

BDA’s Corporate Plan 2009 – 2012 and 10 Year Development Master Plan 2010 – 2020 are the key documents on how to do and what to do at the BDA.

On the dual launches of these documents in Vanimo, Sandaun Province on 09 October 2009 Hon. Patrick Pruaitch, Minister for Treasury and Finance would have been forthright had he stated that ‘true development is human development’ and the BDA will be an agent of change in development thinking.  

Below is the full text of a speech that was not made. 

TODAY is a wake up time for PNG. No more sleep and no more excuses.

We are ready to move and be the change. Such is the Border Development Authority.

 It has worked hard since its inauguration in March this year.

In just six months Pomat Manuai, the Executive Chairman and his Board and Management with able assistance of BDA staff and a few national consultants in collaboration with regulatory agencies and border provinces have done us proud.

The BDA has developed a Corporate Plan 2009 – 2012 to guide its actions.

 It has a vision to serve the people in the border areas of PNG. Our people in the border areas are some of the most neglected in government services and infrastructure.

Our people desire to stay in a secured and humane environment.

The BDA was to be the change.

BDA has also gone further.

It has completed a 10-year development master plan.

This is what BDA will do in the years ahead.

In Sandaun and more specifically Wutung Border Post lot of background work has been done on the free trade concept.

 BDA is the Executing Agency for this project. A State Team went to Manila in 3^rd week of October 2009 to negotiate a 25 million USD loan with the Asian Development Bank.

 The Government will provide 5 million USD as its contribution taking the total project cost to 30 million USD.

BDA is also assisting our Security Organisations.

At the launch of Corporate and 10 year plans the BDA saw to it that the security of PNG was mobilised with donations of four vehicles to the Defence and Police Forces at Vanimo for border patrols.

 The Vanimo jail also was assured of funding commitment for jail dormitory and staff quarters.

In a matter of weeks from now BDA will see first of several landing crafts being delivered to it.

Sandaun will be serviced by MV Ulayut.

Others to benefit immediately are East Sepik, Manus, East New Britain and West New Britain.

In 2010 BDA will acquire some more to service New Ireland, Bougainville, Milne Bay and Western Province.

At this juncture mention and acknowledgement for the counterpart funding support of the Government is due the Ministry of National Planning.

BDA committed     K 10 million and Planning assisted with another K 10 million.

BDA is in the process of setting up a shipping company to manage the fleet though in the early days it might be looking at the possibility of contracting a professional shipping company to manage its fleet.

To move a new organisation in such a short time is a remarkable achievement.

BDA is setting out to be a model service delivery and development authority.

On Wednesday 30 September when the cabinet was briefed on the progress BDA had made it was all praises.

 BDA has a record to build on.

We will work hand in hand to build on.

The Government we understand is ready for challenges ahead. Rowing out of government were those who want Ministries.

They lack human skills to deal with other leaders. Such leaders need position to serve people.

 Very sad indeed for such leaders. PNG does not need the pandemic changes of governments of the past.

 Worse there has been no pronouncement of new policies.

Just what do the pollies in the Opposition and their renegades intend to do?

Our people must ask the Opposition.

Role of BDA is apolitical.

It will help our people regardless of who is in government.

 PNG will not tolerate a government that is only interested to raid the till.

Some leaders of the Opposition are true party freaks.

 They are salivating to party on PNG resources.

Time will tell who helped the people and who helped self.

No leader in the Opposition had wanted their incompetence laid bare.

Well they have no veil left.

The truth is they only want position, pay and privileges.

Nogat sem bilong ol.

The Government is about serving our people.

 BDA is the Government’s baby.

BDA will grow in love of service.

When people feel the impact and get impacted by the BDA they will be free from manipulation and control by power hungry leaders.

Fisheries programme comes of age in Kavieng

PNG UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu congratulating Augustine Galuwa, who graduated last year with a diploma in fisheries and marine resources.-Picture courtesy of UNRE

By UNRE Public Relations

“I, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the statutes, regulation and by-laws of the university, now confer the degrees, to those who have successfully completed the academic requirements of their course as laid down and duly prescribed by the academic board and approved by the council, and today, their names included in the 2009 roll of graduates of the university.”
These are the words that will signify the coming of age of the university’s fisheries and marine resources (FMR) programme on Friday Nov 27, 2009 when UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu confers bachelor’s degrees on five FMR pioneer graduates – Christopher Binabat, Joseph Kendou, Robinson Liu, Priscilla Warambin and Jane Wungun.
While the moment will no doubt be a proud one for the five and their families, it will be a prouder moment for the university, National Fisheries Authority, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), University of Bremen’s Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT), Office of Higher Education and all those who collectively contributed to making the academic programme a success since its inception in 2006.
Many challenges including the lack of funding and teaching staff faced the programme designers when it was on the drawing board in 2005, but with determination and perseverance; and the strong professional will to bring into the higher education training a much needed skill that was lacking, they overcame these.
The fruits of their labour are the two female and three male students who will go down in history books as not only the first degree graduands of the programme but also as the first fisheries degree graduands in the country after more than 20 years.
With the world now focusing more and more on the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and environment, the introduction of this course could not have come at a better time for the fisheries sector in the country as well as the South Pacific and the world as it provides a skilled and better qualified workforce for an industry that is rising internationally as a mainstay in the economy.
Meanwhile, also graduating on the day will be 16 students who will be awarded diplomas in fisheries and marine resources by Sir Rabbie.
They are the second batch of diplomats under the programme, the first group of seven students graduating in the inaugural FMR graduation ceremony last year.
Since the first 20 students were admitted in 2006, there has been an increase in applications from students throughout the country wanting to gain entry into the programme.
This year’s first year students also include seven Solomon Islands students who applied for the programme to help develop their country’s fisheries and marine resources.
They move to UNRE’s affiliated campus, National Fisheries College, for their second year of study.
UNRE expects to take in more Solomon Islanders for the same course next year.
For now, however, all eyes are on the five degree pioneers who will make history for the fisheries and marine resources programme, higher education training and the fisheries sector.

Fisheries programme comes of age in Kavieng

 PNG UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu congratulating Augustine Galuwa, who graduated last year with a diploma in fisheries and marine resources.-Picture courtesy of UNRE

 

By UNRE Public Relations

 

“I, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the statutes, regulation and by-laws of the university, now confer the degrees, to those who have successfully completed the academic requirements of their course as laid down and duly prescribed by the academic board and approved by the council, and today, their names included in the 2009 roll of graduates of the university.”

These are the words that will signify the coming of age of the university’s fisheries and marine resources (FMR) programme on Friday Nov 27, 2009 when UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu confers bachelor’s degrees on five FMR pioneer graduates – Christopher Binabat, Joseph Kendou, Robinson Liu, Priscilla Warambin and Jane Wungun.

While the moment will no doubt be a proud one for the five and their families, it will be a prouder moment for the university, National Fisheries Authority, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), University of Bremen’s Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT), Office of Higher Education and all those who collectively contributed to making the academic programme a success since its inception in 2006.

Many challenges including the lack of funding and teaching staff faced the programme designers when it was on the drawing board in 2005, but with determination and perseverance; and the strong professional will to bring into the higher education training a much needed skill that was lacking, they overcame these.

The fruits of their labour are the two female and three male students who will go down in history books as not only the first degree graduands of the programme but also as the first fisheries degree graduands in the country after more than 20 years.

With the world now focusing more and more on the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and environment, the introduction of this course could not have come at a better time for the fisheries sector in the country as well as the South Pacific and the world as it provides a skilled and better qualified workforce for an industry that is rising internationally as a mainstay in the economy.

Meanwhile, also graduating on the day will be 16 students who will be awarded diplomas in fisheries and marine resources by Sir Rabbie.

They are the second batch of diplomats under the programme, the first group of seven students graduating in the inaugural FMR graduation ceremony last year.

Since the first 20 students were admitted in 2006, there has been an increase in applications from students throughout the country wanting to gain entry into the programme.

This year’s first year students also include seven Solomon Islands students who applied for the programme to help develop their country’s fisheries and marine resources.

They move to UNRE’s affiliated campus, National Fisheries College, for their second year of study.

UNRE expects to take in more Solomon Islanders for the same course next year.

For now, however, all eyes are on the five degree pioneers who will make history for the fisheries and marine resources programme, higher education training and the fisheries sector.

Alekano: a first for University of Goroka and Papua New Guinea

Elders and other supporters of the Alekano community handing over the Alekano study books to officially release the language and be taught at UOG.-Picture by KATE GUNN of UOG

This year saw the advent of the first group of 30 students study Alekano for Beginners, taught by Mr Philip Tama at the University of Goroka, Language and Literature Department.
This is the first group of UOG students to study the Alekano language as an academic subject. The Alekano dictionary was launched at the University in June of last year.
UOG is the only institution in the country to teach a Papua New Guinean language at university level.
A special gathering was held on Friday 6th November 2009, to officially release the language, and its embedded culture, to the University of Goroka for the teaching of Alekano to its students. This was symbolically conducted by the nine village elders of the Alekano-speaking tribes who were present to cut the ribbon which bound all materials and books used by the students for class (including the Alekano dictionary).
President of the Alekano Gako’ Otitive Group, Evangelist Bryan Kayho, said he was happy that the Alekano language was being studied by students from other provinces around PNG.
He also commended UOG for helping save Alekano from dying out.
The gathering was also witnessed by other prominent leaders of the Goroka community.
Mr Michael Gotaha also showed his support for the preservation of Alekano on the day.
In a speech by the Head of the Language and Literature Department, Ms Anne-Marie Wanamp, the gathering was reminded that “your tok ples (own language) is your identity, is your culture… and gives you a sense of belonging. Your language gives you your tools for self definition”.
Ms Wanamp also thanked the Alekano communities for their support in the collaborative effort to promote and preserve the language.
The Language and Literature students who studied the introductory course for Alekano said that they chose it as they wanted to help strengthen knowledge of the language, and because it gave them the motivation to help preserve their own tok ples.
The formation of the Alekano Gako’ Otitive Group was for the promotion and preservation of its language and the culture.
This is comprised of nine tribes from 50 villages around the Goroka area, with a total of approximately 47,000 speakers of Alekano.
Apart from Alekano the Language and Literature Department also teaches Japanese and French.

Due to a high level of interest in Languages Other Than English (LOTE) courses, the University of Goroka will offer a continuation of these languages in the near future.

For further information please contact:
Mr Philip Tama
University of Goroka
Department of Language & Literature
Ph: 7311 893
Email: tamap@uog.ac.pg

Ms Kate Gunn
University of Goroka
PR & Marketing Officer
Ph: 7311 877