Papua New Guinea's future: Em ol wanlain bilong yu ia; yu mas trastim ol

From John Fowke

IN AN EARLIER contribution, I suggested that the social, developmental and fiscal malaise which holds PNG in an unbroken grip, proceeds from something deeper and more elemental than the existence of public service, fiscal, and political corruption.

The implication I intended was that the situation is due to an inherent weakness in Papua New Guinean society.

Whilst this view was contested both in posted commentary and by Reginald Renagi in one of his opinion-pieces, I'm afraid it holds true, no matter how humiliating or irritating the suggestion may be.

As a foreigner who has spent by far the major part of his life in rural PNG, I well know the sensitivities and have always tried to avoid the habits of the 'Ugly Expatriate', to borrow from Graham Greene.

In that nice old Motuan phrase, I have always endeavoured to be tauna mai manada. In other words, a gentleman.

But having been urged by our revered Blogmeister to contribute a succinct prediction of "things that'll happen" in PNG in the coming year, I am going to spoil any good impression I may have left behind and be provocative.

The coming year needs to be the year in which the educated PNG middle class stands up, stops hiding behind pen names, overcomes residual cultural fears of offending clan and family or attracting 'payback', and speaks with one voice, bound together by a strong but hitherto unrecognised common interest.

The educated middle class must - loudly and forcefully - state what it wants for itself, its families and its descendants. It is long past time for this to happen.

Come on PNG, grow up, stop hiding and complaining and putting forward pie-in-the-sky solutions. Put your shoulders to the load, men and women, coastals, islanders, highlanders, all the educated middle-class together!

You will make it happen. Just do it. You are the Party of Power!

All of you who read and contribute to various blogs and who read the PNG papers, you are the ones who must get up and be the first on the dance-floor, the first to speak, embarrassing as it may be.

Stop whingeing and making covert comments about each other. Stand up and say what you want to be done to get the nation going. If you act as one, forgetting all residues of cultural antipathies and suspicion, you'll be surprised how fast things will change.

I thought for a while that the Christians would get it together in the last couple of elections, but they didn't. Perhaps they too are weakened by that old, old characteristic of PNG, the 'people over the hill syndrome' - "em ol lain nogut ia – noken trastim ol!"

This weakness is shown in the currently fashionable view that a split into semi-autonomous regions will solve the problems. Be real, blokes; it'll be even more disastrous than the present set up.

No, you, the well-educated, largely urban dwelling middle class of PNG, you are the future.

You have influence back home in the village because you are members of a support-group. Make your position in life, your ambitions for yourselves, your kids, and the bubus to come the glue that forms another, far more influential and fruitful commonality. Forge a huge linkage of common interest of class and aspirations for the future, as opposed to the bonds of common ancestry that help perpetuate the problems.

This is the future. Mini-states are meaningless states in the context of the wider world.

Make PNG the paradise it should be. It'll be hard, it'll take long, but remember…only you (with the others) can do it. If you love your country, you must raise your voice and show your face without fear.

Christmas Day drug bust

Caption: Inspector Michael Periwanga (5^th from right) and members Operation Bright Star with the marijuana plants they uprooted in an early morning raid on Christmas Day at Vunapalading No. 3, East New Britain. The plants will be destroyed.

 

By LYTHIA SUITAWA in Kokopo

 

A FATHER and his two sons are now in police custody in East New Britain after more than K300, 000 worth of marijuana plants were found in their family garden during a police raid in the early morning hours of Christmas Day (Friday).

The raid which took place at Vunapalading No. 3 was part of a special Christmas New Year Operation code named Bright Star by Kerevat and Livuan police with assistance from Tomaringa’s Mobile Squad 18.

Acting Police Station Commander (Kerevat) Inspector Michael Periwanga who led the raid said the marijuana plants were inter-planted with the family’s food crops such as peanut and Chinese taro.

Inspector Periwanga said the family even had a nursery for the marijuana plants.

Police uprooted 30 matured plants ranging between 1.5 to 2m and weighing a total of 19kg.

Officers from National Agricultural Research Institute’s Islands Regional Centre in Kerevat estimated the local street market value of the plants to be around K310, 000.

Inspector Periwanga said the successful raid was a result of a drug and illegal substance abuse community awareness that he and his men conducted at the start of the operation.

“I am glad that the awareness we conducted encouraged people to come forward with information about these illegal activities but there is still more to be done,” he said.

“More people must realize the damaging effects of these substances and inform us so that we stop the use of these drugs.”

Inspector Periwanga also voiced concerns that the use of marijuana and homebrew are becoming more and more prevalent within Papua New Guinean communities.

“Particularly in East New Britain, in the past, people sourced marijuana from the highlands but now they are growing it themselves and this is quite alarming,” he said.

More than 30 people have been arrested and charged for drug related offences since Operation Bright Star commenced on December 18.

The three and two other suspects are in custody at Kerevat Police Station waiting to appear in court.

Report from an observer at Copenhagen

From The Guardian

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.
China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.
All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. Even George Monbiot, writing in yesterday's Guardian, made the mistake of singly blaming Obama. But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying "no", over and over again. Monbiot even approvingly quoted the Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping, who denounced the Copenhagen accord as "a suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries".
Sudan behaves at the talks as a puppet of China; one of a number of countries that relieves the Chinese delegation of having to fight its battles in open sessions. It was a perfect stitch-up. China gutted the deal behind the scenes, and then left its proxies to savage it in public.
Here's what actually went on late last Friday night, as heads of state from two dozen countries met behind closed doors. Obama was at the table for several hours, sitting between Gordon Brown and the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi. The Danish prime minister chaired, and on his right sat Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the UN. Probably only about 50 or 60 people, including the heads of state, were in the room. I was attached to one of the delegations, whose head of state was also present for most of the time.
What I saw was profoundly shocking. The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country's foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world's most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his "superiors".

Shifting the blame

To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China's representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. "Why can't we even mention our own targets?" demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why - because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord's lack of ambition.
China, backed at times by India, then proceeded to take out all the numbers that mattered. A 2020 peaking year in global emissions, essential to restrain temperatures to 2C, was removed and replaced by woolly language suggesting that emissions should peak "as soon as possible". The long-term target, of global 50% cuts by 2050, was also excised. No one else, perhaps with the exceptions of India and Saudi Arabia, wanted this to happen. I am certain that had the Chinese not been in the room, we would have left Copenhagen with a deal that had environmentalists popping champagne corks popping in every corner of the world.

Strong position

So how did China manage to pull off this coup? First, it was in an extremely strong negotiating position. China didn't need a deal. As one developing country foreign minister said to me: "The Athenians had nothing to offer to the Spartans." On the other hand, western leaders in particular - but also presidents Lula of Brazil, Zuma of South Africa, Calderón of Mexico and many others - were desperate for a positive outcome. Obama needed a strong deal perhaps more than anyone. The US had confirmed the offer of $100bn to developing countries for adaptation, put serious cuts on the table for the first time (17% below 2005 levels by 2020), and was obviously prepared to up its offer.
Above all, Obama needed to be able to demonstrate to the Senate that he could deliver China in any global climate regulation framework, so conservative senators could not argue that US carbon cuts would further advantage Chinese industry. With midterm elections looming, Obama and his staff also knew that Copenhagen would be probably their only opportunity to go to climate change talks with a strong mandate. This further strengthened China's negotiating hand, as did the complete lack of civil society political pressure on either China or India. Campaign groups never blame developing countries for failure; this is an iron rule that is never broken. The Indians, in particular, have become past masters at co-opting the language of equity ("equal rights to the atmosphere") in the service of planetary suicide - and leftish campaigners and commentators are hoist with their own petard.
With the deal gutted, the heads of state session concluded with a final battle as the Chinese delegate insisted on removing the 1.5C target so beloved of the small island states and low-lying nations who have most to lose from rising seas. President Nasheed of the Maldives, supported by Brown, fought valiantly to save this crucial number. "How can you ask my country to go extinct?" demanded Nasheed. The Chinese delegate feigned great offence - and the number stayed, but surrounded by language which makes it all but meaningless. The deed was done.

China's game

All this raises the question: what is China's game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, "not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?" The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now "in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years' time".
This does not mean China is not serious about global warming. It is strong in both the wind and solar industries. But China's growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.
Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China's century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority, but is viewed as a hindrance to the new superpower's freedom of action. I left Copenhagen more despondent than I have felt in a long time. After all the hope and all the hype, the mobilisation of thousands, a wave of optimism crashed against the rock of global power politics, fell back, and drained away.

In defence of Regi Renagi

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

Anonymous said...

Reg Renagi writes about everything and nothing and long ago turned himself into the sourest grape who should not be given serious consideration. This man carries a huge chip on his shoulders against people who succeed in life or outmanouvre him. He also carries a equally huge hangover from his less than colorful military tenure. Get real, Reggie Boy.

______________

Paul Oates said...

 

While Reg's military career is a matter of the past, his comments appear to many to be a very pertinent view on PNG today. They provide an excellent perspective on his country after 34 years of PNG Independence. They also appear to be based in fact. So when the issue of reality is considered, one must logically ponder on just who is in the REAL world and who is off in one of their own fantasy? Err.. Wouldn't you agree Mr Anonymous? At the very least, Reg has the guts to make his comments public under his own name. That's more than the person who made these comments about Reg is prepared to do. It therefore begs the question of why?

Potential for vegetable production in mid altitudes of New Britain

NARI staff harvesting potatoes at Wildog, Sinivit LLG in East New Britain

A Wildog Mine field worker showing off potatoes harvested at Wildog, Sinivit LLG in East New Britain .-Pictures by NARI Keravat

By SELWYN HARIKI of NARI

Introduced vegetables like potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflower are important food and cash crops in the highlands of PNG.
The cool climate in the higher altitude and central highlands allow for the cultivation of these crops by farmers.
The demand for these vegetables in the lowlands, particularly the New Guinea Islands region, is high presently.
Together with transportation costs, the prices are relatively high in most supermarkets. Andersons Foodland in Kokopo, East New Britain province (ENBP), sells its potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflowers produces at prices ranging from K4 to K7 a kilogram. Papindo is selling cauliflower at K6.40/kg, broccoli at K8.80/kg, and carrots at K4/kg. Most of these products are transported in from the highlands of mainland PNG.
However these crops can also be grown in the mid-altitude areas of PNG’s Islands provinces, ranging from 300 metres above sea level and higher.
Preliminary research by NARI in 2006 has proven that potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflower varieties can be produced in the region.
These crops did well in the study, giving yields of 5-8 tones per hectare.
These are short-term crops which take three to four months to mature and are highly nutritious.
However they are hardly found in everyday meals of people or in the local markets.
With the current demand for potatoes and other introduced vegetables and the opportunity for their production in the mid-altitude areas of the islands provinces, NARI is currently carrying out more research work on these crops in the region for further development.
More information can be sought through NARI Islands regional centre at Keravat, ENBP.

Merry Christmas to one and all

A Very Merry Christmas to followers of this blog from all over the world, and thank you for your unwavering support, which has seen this blog be named by the Papua New Guinea Media Council as the '2009 Papua New Guinea Blog of the Year'.
Also yesterday, the number of visitors to this blog soared past the 100,000 mark since I installed a counter in July 2008.
On behalf of my four young children, I wish one and all a Blessed and Very Merry Christmas.
You can contact me on email malumnalu@gmail.com.

GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA SIGNS INTEROIL'S LNG PROJECT AGREEMENT

GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA TO TAKE 22.5%

 

InterOil Corporation (NYSE: IOC) (POMSoX: IOC) yesterday announced that the PNG National Government has signed the Company’s Project Agreement for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Papua New Guinea.

Following approval of the Project Agreement by the National Executive Council on December 10, the Minister for Petroleum Hon William Duma and acting Governor-General Dr Allan Marat signed the Agreement securing PNG’s second LNG project.

The signing was witnessed by the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

The Agreement sets fiscal terms for a twenty year period, which include a 30% company tax rate and certain exemptions applicable to large scale projects of this nature.

 It also provides for a 20.5% ownership stake to be held by the Government of Papua New Guinea’s nominee, Petromin PNG Holdings Limited.

A further 2% ownership stake will be taken by landowners directly affected by the plant.

As previously announced, the proposed LNG project would be developed by InterOil and its joint venture partners Pacific LNG Operations Ltd. and Petromin PNG Holdings Limited. The project targets a $5 to $7 billion LNG facility, with multiple trains.

Additionally, the Agreement provides for the expansion of the plant up to 10.6 million tons per annum (mmtpa).

While current plans call for first production of LNG towards the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015, InterOil is progressing a proposed liquids stripping plant, to be located in Gulf Province, in late 2011/early 2012, which would provide an attractive revenue stream prior to the commissioning of the LNG plant.

Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, stated, “The government of Papua New Guinea, through its long standing partnership with InterOil, has secured an ownership stake across the entire value chain from wellhead to LNG offtake in a world class energy development project that will significantly contribute to national prosperity and fiscal security for many years to come.

“The national equity interest, to be held by the state’s nominee Petromin PNG Holdings Limited, aligns the Country’s economic interests with its partners and provides strategic assets for national security.”

Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer of InterOil, commented, “The Government of Papua New Guinea has firmly demonstrated its commitment to delivering a stable, long-term supply of energy to a growing Asian market.

“The recent agreements set the stage for PNG to become a significant new Asian

energy hub.”

 

About InterOil

InterOil Corporation is developing a vertically integrated energy business whose primary focus is Papua New Guinea and the surrounding region. InterOil’s assets consist of petroleum licenses covering about 3.9 million acres, an oil refinery, and retail and commercial distribution facilities, all located in Papua New Guinea. In addition, InterOil is a shareholder in a joint venture established to construct an LNG plant on a site adjacent to InterOil’s refinery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. InterOil’s common shares trade on the NYSE in US dollars.

About Petromin PNG Holdings Limited

PNG Holdings Limited is an independent company created by the State of Papua New Guinea to hold the State's assets and to maximise indigenous ownership and revenue gains in the mineral and petroleum sectors. It is empowered as the vehicle to better leverage the State's equity holdings and encourage more production and downstream processing of oil, gas and minerals in PNG through proactive investment strategies either wholly or in partnership with resource developers. Petromin provides real opportunity for Papua New Guineans to increase ownership of their resources in mineral & petroleum assets.