Oral language Further preserved at University of Goroka

Associate Professor Steven Bird with two workshop participants learning how to use the digital voice recorders

Mr Philip Tama from the University of Goroka's Language & Literature department recording members of the Alekano Gako Oti'tive group

On Monday, February 8, 2010, a three-day workshop on the preservation of indigenous linguistic heritage via Basic Oral Language Documentation (BOLD) was opened at the University of Goroka. The workshop is an exciting step forward from the study of the Alekano language offered to students by the Language and Literature department of UOG.

The University of Goroka is participating in the workshop as part of the BOLD project.

Visiting academic and facilitator Associate Professor Steven Bird, from the University of Melbourne, was at UOG to conduct the workshop voluntarily to students and staff from the Language and Literature Department of the University.

Day one involved demonstration on the use of a digital voice recorder, 35 of which have been donated by Associate Professor Bird to the Language and Literature department through the generosity of Olympus.

Participants also had practical lessons on how to use the recorders, and practised on each other the new techniques learnt.

The workshop was also attended by representatives of the Alekano Gako Oti’tive (Alekano language revitalisation group) and three volunteers from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL).

Vice Chancellor of the University of Goroka Dr Gairo Onagi officially opened the workshop by stating that: “language is very important to us as it is life.”

Dr Onagi thanked Associate Professor Bird for his interest in coming to UOG and welcomed him to the campus.

He was grateful that Associate Professor Bird could teach staff and students new technology and methodology to record and preserve languages.

Dr Onagi challenged the workshop participants to learn more about their culture via language technology and innovation.

He ended by telling participants that “this is the salvation to dying languages”.

Associate Professor Bird stated that language preservation was at a very exciting moment as it has a lot of new technological solutions appropriate to capture languages before they became extinct.

He was glad to see the university’s support for languages and culture, and was appreciative to help the University of Goroka achieve its vision of language promotion and the study and preservation of Melanesian culture.

The workshop continues until Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

For more information on the BOLD project and the workshop visit http://boldpng.info/

Interesting statistics

From PAUL OATES boonah.vista1@bigpond.com

Interesting statistics

http://www.worldometers.info/

Oral language Further preserved at University of Goroka

On Monday, February 8,  2010, a three-day workshop on the preservation of indigenous linguistic heritage via Basic Oral Language Documentation (BOLD) was opened at the University of Goroka.  The workshop is an exciting step forward from the study of the Alekano language offered to students by the Language and Literature department of UOG. 

The University of Goroka is participating in the workshop as part of the BOLD project.

 Visiting academic and facilitator Associate Professor Steven Bird, from the University of Melbourne, was at UOG to conduct the workshop voluntarily to students and staff from the Language and Literature Department of the University. 

 Day one involved demonstration on the use of a digital voice recorder, 35 of which have been donated by Associate Professor Bird to the Language and Literature department through the generosity of Olympus. 

 Participants also had practical lessons on how to use the recorders, and practised on each other the new techniques learnt. 

 The workshop was also attended by representatives of the Alekano Gako Oti’tive (Alekano language revitalisation group) and three volunteers from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). 

 Vice Chancellor of the University of Goroka Dr Gairo Onagi officially opened the workshop by stating that: “language is very important to us as it is life.” 

Dr Onagi thanked Associate Professor Bird for his interest in coming to UOG and welcomed him to the campus. 

 He was grateful that Associate Professor Bird could teach staff and students new technology and methodology to record and preserve languages. 

Dr Onagi challenged the workshop participants to learn more about their culture via language technology and innovation. 

He ended by telling participants that “this is the salvation to dying languages”.

 Associate Professor Bird stated that language preservation was at a very exciting moment as it has a lot of new technological solutions appropriate to capture languages before they became extinct. 

He was glad to see the university’s support for languages and culture, and was appreciative to help the University of Goroka achieve its vision of language promotion and the study and preservation of Melanesian culture.

 The workshop continues until Wednesday, February 10,  2010. 

 For more information on the BOLD project and the workshop visit http://boldpng.info/

 

US Jazz Ambassadors conduct musical workshop

US Ambassador Teddy Taylor, Mrs Corbin-Taylor, Jazz Ambassadors Freddie Bryant, Gilad Dobrecky, expressive arts teachers and students of Gordons Secondary School

US Ambassador Teddy B Taylor and Mrs Antoinette Corbin-Taylor today visited the Gordons Secondary School to see visiting US musicians Freddie Bryant and Gilad Dobrecky conduct a musical workshop for the music students at Gordons Secondary School followed by a public performance for all staff and students.

The students learned about different musical styles, with Freddie playing three types of guitars and Gilad putting on a show with a myriad of percussion instruments.

The Gordons music students also taught the visiting musicians about traditional musical instruments of Papua New Guinea, which the students then used in a performance for their fellow students, accompanying Freddie and Gilad.

The performance was well-received by the students and administration of Gordons Secondary School, with the audience participating in several songs through both clapping in rhythm and singing along.

Everyone at the show, including the musicians themselves, had a wonderful time, and everyone enjoyed the cultural exchange and coordination of American Jazz, international rhythms, and Papua New Guinean accompaniment.

Freddie and Gilad are in Papua New Guinea this week conducting music workshops and performances with students in Port Moresby at Marianville Secondary School, Gordons Secondary School, Korobesea International School, and youths from the Eight-Mile Settlement.

They will also conduct a two-day music clinic at the University of Papua New Guinea and a public performance on Wednesday, Feb 10 at 3pm.

Freddie Bryant and Gilad Dobrecky were in Port Moresby last June and conducted several musical workshops and performances for students at Gerehu Secondary School, Kilkila Secondary School, POM Grammar School, UPNG, the Children’s University of Music and Art and the Community Partnership Art Education Programme in Eight-Mile.

Stop marine poaching by foreigners!

Papua New Guinea loses millions of kina worth of fish and other marine resources every year through illegal poaching by foreign fishing vessels. 

Despite numerous public complaints and media reports of illegal fishing activities in our waters, these illegal marine activities still continue.

 An effective response action is urgently needed before many fish stocks run out.  

We need immediate measures to deter illegal fishing by foreigners. What the country requires now is effective collective action from relevant agencies to safeguard our rich marine resources. 

Here are some improved solutions to this and we can do it several ways.  The government should start by having more surveillance crafts and at the same time, set up an effective national coast guard service to carry out effective resource protection all year around.  Maritime surveillance of our archipelagic waters out to 200 nautical miles EEZ can be greatly enhanced where vast distances are involved. 

First, we pre-position our naval ships in strategic locations.  Second, we can achieve good synergy by the use of aircrafts to augment overall surveillance coverage.  Third, we periodically home-port naval ships to operate out of key Maritime Provinces.  A future solution is for the government to also set up forward naval operations bases.  This will greatly improve our chances of catching foreign vessels found illegally fishing in our waters.  The advantage for forward operations bases will mean improve surveillance efforts, better fuel conservation for ships with much reduced response times and better coverage of distances involved. 

The Defense Ministry must plan to establish forward operations bases from strategic locations in Western, Milne Bay and New Guinea Islands and in northern waters towards the Western islands region of the Admiralty group.  Presently, the Manus patrol boat base and Port Moresby landing craft base somewhat limits surveillance coverage by our two maritime squadrons to respond effectively to their offshore tapestry protection duties.  Having strategic but smaller forward bases will see better results in the arrest of foreign fishing vessels due to improved surveillance coverage of our vast EEZ. 

Having extensive naval operational experience in our waters and the 200 miles EEZ for many years, I urgently recommend priority government intervention now.  We must immediately programme into our short to medium development strategies, the setting up of naval forward bases within the next five years.  I further propose forward bases at Bwagawaia Harbour on beautiful Misima Island for the eastern Papua region, and in Western province mainland with perhaps another in Pomio, Wide Bay area of the ENB province.  The big advantage here for our navy to effectively project its forward presence better in response to illegal marine activities.  The economy has really improved for some time now so we should be able to make some big improvements by acquiring additional surveillance platforms (ships and aircrafts), including other support assets. 

This is a big challenge for both the Ministry of Defence to ensure collective action by key agencies to safeguard PNG’s rich marine resources.  If we fail to do this now, than it won’t be long before our country’s marine resources will be completely fished out.  Many foreign fishing nations have already depleted their own fish stocks and over fishing our rich marine resources today with much impunity. 

Can the government now take immediate action to deter illegal fishing activities by foreigner snow before all our fish are gone forever!    

 

Reginald Renagi

 

Former Professional Mariner

 

Who will be the next Prime Minister?

By REGINALD RENAGI

 

Recently the media raised three interesting questions: “Who will be the next PM when the prime minister quits politics in 2011 before the 2012 National Elections, What will happen to the National Alliance Party or the current Government?”

This is a subjective issue and you will get many different answers.  I will try to predict what may happen gauging from public perceptions and opinions of a coalition government’s performance since the 2002 national elections.

So who will be the next PM?  This is easy in an ideal political world where the job will naturally go to the next senior MP after the prime minister in the ruling party’s hierarchical ‘chain of command’.  In this case, it should go to the deputy PM, Sir Puka Temu if the PM quits politics next year as speculated by the newspapers. 

This will not happen because we are not in an ideal political world.  There are many competing interests and shifting alliances within any coalition party government. 

First of all, the PM will not quit politics in 2011 and before the elections.  PM Somare is enjoying the feeling of power and controlling the destiny of some six million citizens that he would still has to extend his record breaking streak of being in politics until after the 2012 national elections.  

More so, no one believes this talk of leaving politics any more.  The people of PNG have heard it many times before, like prior to the 2012 and 2007 elections as predicted.  The PM did not quit politics as speculated by the media like this one.

On a hypothetical note, if the PM was to quit politics in 2011 due to some reason like ill-health, the NA party will most likely see splits in its senor ranks.  Some party members have openly shown that they do not prefer the deputy PM take the reins as they see themselves as the ideal choice for the top job.  A further outcome is that the NA party may not do too well in the 2012 polls without the stabilising presence of its draw-card, the grand chief; the glue holding the NA party together.

With due respects to other NA party members, no one is eminently qualified with the required seniority, depth of public administration knowledge and experience; and political  maturity to succeed the PM Somare than the deputy PM, Sir Puka Temu.  Sir Puka has the edge over all the NA party’s regional deputies as none were effective departmental heads like him before entering politics. 

As apart from the deputy PM, there is another option that may seem a controversial outcome but not impossible.  This option could be another record breaker for the grand chief that will be unbeatable in both PNG and Commonwealth politics.  If PM Somare was really serious about elevating the status of PNG women in his twilight years of politics, he will give his job to the best-performing MP in the coalition government: Dame Carol Kidu.  The Dame as an MP has no equal and her actions speak louder than words as she is well supported by a competent Secretary running an effective department than most of her peers.

This decisive action by grand chief Somare will be in full recognition for the tireless efforts of a lone women MP in parliament (and one of PNG’s best lawmakers in recent times).  This will upset the men in parliament but they will soon get over it to see that good governance, accountability, responsibility and ‘sanity’ returns to both parliament; and government before the 2012 national elections.

Finally, I predict PM Somare is not yet ready to quit politics in 2011 and before the 2012 national elections.  There are still many outstanding political reforms left by former PM, Sir Mekere that this government has yet to progress and this is no time to be quitting politics.

 

Airvos View adds to Port Moresby's changing skyline

An exciting new multi-million property development is taking place along Airvos Avenue in Port Moresby (artist's impressions pictured above).

The K30 million development, called Airvos View, involves prestige, upmarket two to three level three-bedroom townhouses within a fully-fenced secured compound with panoramic views of Port Moresby harbour.

They feature a spacious basement area for gym and owner design use, as well as children’s swimming pool, a lap pool, barbeque area and generators.

Property owner John Boo said that work would commence next month and would be completed by September 2011.

“We are doing all the earthworks and retaining wall now,” he said.

“We are doing the earthwork first and getting the land into shape.

“We expect construction work to begin in March/April.

“It will take about one and a half years.

“We expect completion in September 2011.”

Mr Boo said the development would comprise of 18 units, which would be a mixture of either two-level or three-level.

“This is an upmarket, quality accommodation,” he said,

“I don’t think there is any such accommodation at the moment.

“A lot of people like it because it’s convenient, with facilities nearby such as Harbour City.”

Such has been the demand that Mr Boo has already sold five units with another five to be released soon.

“Port Moresby must have more of these to class up its skyline,” he said.

“We are living in the 21^st Century.”