Digicel offers cheap handset

DIGICEL PNG has introduced another model of its Coral cell phone brand into the PNG market.

In a statement, Digicel said the latest Coral 640 (picture) , now selling at K49, was a new line of sleek cell phone handsets accessible to all consumers exclusive to Digicel.

Digicel chief executive officer John Mangos said: “Digicel strives to provide innovative and better products and services that encourage affordable and effective communication for all.

“Cheaper phones and call rates now mean that more people will enjoy the true beauty of affordable communications both within the country and overseas.

“With the introduction of the Coral range of handsets, we take communications a stage further, thus making cell phone technology even more accessible to the most ordinary Papua New Guinean back in the village.”

He said Digicel would continue to bring the best communications in terms of better coverage, new products and services to the most remote parts of PNG.

Coral 640 is available in a combination of glossy-black and maroon colours.

Papua New Guinea Parliament votes itself into irrelevancy

From PAUL OATES

The Papua New Guinea Parliament in its one-sided vote on the Moti Report has now voted themselves into irrelevance, virtually becoming Somare's proverbial rubber stamp.
 In an action reminiscent of the outstation clerk (Kuskus) stamping outgoing letters, one can easily imagine the so called 'Father of the Nation', mentally ticking off the dismissed issues.
Commission of Inquiry, (Kilim wanpela), Moti Report, ('Kilim tupela'), Taiwan millions, ('Kilim tripela') , Kapis escape assisted ('Kilim popela'), Parliamentary democracy, ('Kilim paipela'), etc.

Somare's father, presumably a bastion of the law, must have said to a young Somare, "Michael, whatever you start, make sure you finish it!".
Pastaim igat wanpla tisa,
Itok, "Nau mi lukim ples klia,
Bai mi baim ol lain,
Na stap longpla taim."
Tasol husat igiaman yumi a?

Dying kicks of Papua New Guinea democracy

From PAUL OATES

The last dying kicks of PNG democracy are effectively being stamped out before our very eyes.

Those of us who have seen a young country on the edge of becoming great can only to shake our heads in disbelief. There is now no effective way of stopping the inevitable takeover of a dictator except by force. Who would have thought that in our own lifetime, we who have helped people come out of the Stone Age to enjoy the benefits of a modern way of life have now left them to be sidelined and almost totally ignored by their own leaders?

Australia will rue the day it sat on its hands and did nothing to help the PNG people prevent this from happening. DFAT, AusAID, their antecedents and all the Australian governments since the Second World War ended have effectively put their heads in the sand and ignored reality. Millions of words and thousands of reports that have kept Australian public servants in Canberra in permanent work for decades and yet have been as much use as the proverbial 'tits on a bull'. Millions of dollars in overseas aid have effectively been wasted on programs that have no long term ongoing planning and are merely window dressing and an excuse for almost total ineptitude and moribund inaction.

What does it take to get results out of Canberra? Clearly nothing. Its not possible to motivate a force field that exists on another planet.

No wonder the Indonesian President yesterday felt compelled to lecture our politicians as they sat in Parliament on matters affecting our own region. He at least can see that our leaders haven't got a clue about what to do.

Why is Somare fearing the Moti Report?

From PAUL OATES

Why is Somare is reacting so badly to the tabling of the Moti Report in the PNG Parliament?
Here is an extract from page 84 of the Moti Report prepared by: Chairman and Commissioner Honourable Chief Justice Gibbs Salika, CSM, OBE, Supreme Court Judge, of Papua New Guinea, General (rtd) Anthony Huai, CBE, Deputy Chairman and Commissioner, and Mr Daniel Liosi, Commissioner 13 December 2006 to 16th March 2007.
"We recommend the following persons be investigated and charged for conspiracy: Prime Minister Somare, Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe, Chief of Staff Leonard Louma, Director General of OSCA, Joseph Assaigo, Defence Force Chief of Staff and acting Commander, Colonel Tom Ur, Barney Rongap, Colonel Viagi Oala, Joint Operations Commander Chester Berobero, Lt Col. Ron Hosea, Mr Job Kasa, Executive Officer to Mr Kalinoe."
It all comes down to who do the people of PNG trust? Their Chief Justice at the time or the current PM?
Who is prepared to make a stand for justice in today's PNG? It's finally time to sort out who will defend PNG against those who seek to destroy the very fabric of the PNG nation.

PM hits back

House rejects OC's Moti report

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

PARLIAMENT yesterday voted to reject the Ombudsman Commission's report on the Julian Moti Affair after Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare delivered a scathing attack on the commission, The National reports.
The Prime Minister described the report as stupid and disappointing, and accused the commission of sneaking it through the "back door" into the office of the Speaker and onto the floor of Parliament.
Sir Michael hit back yesterday at the report, tabled in Parliament last week under the Government's nose, which recommended criminal investigations by police against the Prime Minister and former deputy prime minister Don Polye.
Sir Michael said the contents of the report "speak very poorly of the integrity and objectivity of the Ombudsman Commission in the conduct of its duties".
"It provided no concrete evidence and yet made very damaging claims against me,"the Prime Minister said.
"Despite its bold claims on page 40 that its findings were based on 'hard evidence', the Ombudsman Commission provided none.
"Its arguments to justify its findings remind me of a spider's web. The web is full of holes and gaps although it is specifically woven to try and trap something," Sir Michael said.
He said the Ombudsman Commission relied heavily on the word of one person whose account had been denied and disputed by everyone.
"Let me make this statement once more. I did not give any directions for Moti to be flown by Defence Force aircraft to the Solomon Islands," the Prime Minister said.
"I helped bring about the birth of Papua New Guinea and I will always act in the best interest of the people of this country.
"Reading through the report, there is no direct evidence that I, as the Prime Minister, gave directions for Moti to be flown to the Solomon Islands by the PNG Defence Force using the Casa aircraft.
"The imputation by the Ombudsman Commission report that this was so is clearly not based on evidence. There is simply no evidence linking me to the actual evacuation of Moti and the modus operandi of the evacuation."
He said the "circumstantial" evidence which the Ombudsman Commission relied on to make its findings, deals with purported communication between the late Barney Rongap and the late Joseph Asaigo and Leonard Louma - for Moti to be allowed to go to the Solomon Islands - not for Moti to be airlifted by a PNGDF aircraft to Munda on Oct 10, 2006.
"Therefore, finding No.12, that 'direction to transport Moti to Solomon Islands came from the Prime Minister' was not based on any evidence and is untenable."
He said of the eight recommendations, one said that the commissioner of police should conduct investigation for possible breaches of the Criminal Code by Government officials including the Prime Minister and then deputy prime minister Don Polye.
"Unfortunately, the Ombudsman Commission did not give any reasons at all for this very damaging recommendation," Sir Michael said.
"It did not indicate, for example, which part of the Criminal Code Act I, as the Prime Minister or the then deputy prime minister, may have breached.
"This, therefore, rendered this part of the report and recommendation useless and futile," Sir Michael said.

'OC report sneaked into Parliament'

PRIME Minister Sir Michael Somare has accused the Ombudsman Commission of acting above the law in sneaking into Parliament the Julian Moti report, The National reports.
"It is arguable that the report was improperly tabled in Parliament in contravention to section 220 of the Constitution," Sir Michael said in a speech to Parliament.
Sir Michael said the procedures for tabling an Ombudsman Commission report to Parliament are set out in section 220.
"Basically, any report must be tabled through the Head of State acting on advice from the National Executive Council.
"In my view, this report did not follow the prescribed procedures and was sneaked in through the back door," he said.
"It is an abuse of Parliament privilege.
"For an organisation that is supposed to conduct itself within the laws, the Ombudsman Commission had again shown itself to be above the law."
Sir Michael, in concluding his statement, said the proceedings in the supreme court of Queensland and the subsequent judgment on the Moti issue was very instructive.
"I urge honourable Members of this House to familiarise themselves with the documents tendered in that court and the ruling by Brisbane supreme court Justice Debra Mullins.
"Suffice to say, Papua New Guinea was unwittingly drawn into the Moti issue by agents of another government trying to carry out a political plan contrived by their government to discredit Moti.
"The lesson here is our law enforcement agents must act independently and not allow themselves to be dictated to by outsiders," Sir Michael said.

Indon president starts 2-day visit

INDONESIAN president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrives in Port Moresby this
afternoon from Australia where he called for regional cooperation yesterday in tackling the problem of people smuggling, The National reports.
Yudhoyono and his delegation of nearly 200 are due to arrive in three aircraft at 3pm today for the two-day visit which includes a courtesy call on Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane and bilateral talks with Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
Australian media reported yesterday that Australia and Indonesia had agreed to work more closely on combating human smuggling and terrorism and would upgrade annual talks between leaders and officials to a level enjoyed by Australia's closest ally, the US.
The Indonesian embassy in Port Moresby said the delegation included Australian-educated foreign minister Marty Natelegawa, 12 government ministers, three members of parliament and six governors.
Human smuggling has been a major concern in PNG in recent months, although
PNG-Indonesia border issues may feature prominently also in talks in Papua New Guinea, observers noted yesterday.
"Australia, as a destination country and Indonesia, as a transit country, cannot resolve this issue by ourselves," Yudhoyono said earlier at a Canberra news conference with prime minister Kevin Rudd.
"This framework would include arrangements on temporary transit in Indonesia and how they will be relocated."
Australia has seen an increase in refugees arriving by boat in the past year, most of them reaching Australian waters via Indonesia. More than 20 boats have arrived so far this year, including a vessel intercepted yesterday, Australian media reported.
Rudd welcomed Indonesia's plan to introduce a law this year to criminalise the smuggling of human beings as part of efforts to combat transnational crime.
Indonesia has worked closely with Australia to combat the terrorist threat posed by groups linked to al-Qaeda, and the two leaders pledged to enhance action to combat militants.
"Indonesian successes in disrupting and dismantling terrorist networks and in the arrest of terrorist leaders have dealt a significant blow to the threat of terrorism in the region," Rudd said.
Sources said broader cooperation with PNG was due to increase as Waigani upgrades its relationship with Indonesia to include annual talks between leaders, ministers and military and law enforcement officials.
Talks are also likely to touch on how countries could work closely on climate change and regional stability through groups such as Asean where Indonesia is supporting PNG's moves to become a full member.
Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation and the world's third-largest democracy, is PNG's nearest Asian neighbour, sharing the common land border at the province of Papua.
Sir Michael will receive president Yudhoyono on arrival at Jackson International Airport where there will be a guard of honour. At 4.30pm, he will call on Sir Paulias.
The bilateral talks with Sir Michael will start at 9am tomorrow followed by signing of MoUs and a media conference before the delegation leaves on a six-hour flight to Jakarta.