Relationship between the University of Goroka and Japan

By RUSSELL DEKA HARADA

ICT Manager

University of Goroka

 

 

 Since the University of Goroka (UOG) was established in 1997, it has had 17 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) volunteers, which included eight juniors and nine senior volunteers.

They have especially been involved in the ICT department, several technical fields of the Science Faculty and teaching Japanese language.

 I was the first person to attach to UOG to set up the Library Automation System at the old library and this was the first point to set up the campus-wide computer networks (UOGNET) at UOG.

During my volunteer period from 1997 to 1999, the people of Goroka including UOG staff and students looked after me very well and I didn’t feel I had left my home country Japan.

 My mother in Japan passed away in May 1999 and the Iufi-iufa village people asked me to make her tomb at the village in her memory because she wanted to travel to Goroka before she died.

 My father and I travelled to Goroka with her ashes to make her tomb and this was first time my father visited Goroka.

 Japanese Government assisted with a lot of technical/ non-technical assistance through JICA to UOG after my volunteer period expired.

For example, they donated over K10 million worth of education improvement equipment including computers, science lab equipment, library bookshelves, etc, in 2005.

 Since JICA started sending Japanese language teacher to UOG, there have been so many students and staff who  could get into basic Japanese conversations like Kon-nichiwa (hello),  Arigato (thank you) and  Sayonara (see you).

 In October 2000, one of my best rugby friends in Goroka passed away in the bush on the border of Eastern Highlands and Gulf provinces.

 Iufi-iufa village people and I hired a light aircraft and speed boat at Purari River, dug up his body from the ground and brought it back to Goroka.

His family was very pleased and named me Russell after him.

After my volunteer period expired, I thought of ways to repay the village people and the people of Goroka for their kindness.

 Since 2001, my family in Japan has invited some young village people to study life in Japan.

We have already invited three boys, including Paul David Barora, a younger brother of the late Russell to study Japanese culture from 2002-2005.

After he completed his studies in Japan, he joined a tourist company (PNG-Japan) in Port Moresby and became a tour guide.

He can speak Japanese very fluently.

 In May 2006, I married a Papua New Guinea woman of Gulf and Morobe parentage and we now have two boys, including an adopted 18-year-old boy.

 Last year, we lost our three-month-old son to and unknown illness and we buried him next to my mother and late Russell’s tomb.

 Since December 2007, I have been working at UOG as an ICT manager to develop the ICT facilities at UOG.

 I have many connections with the people of Japan and last year we received 53 sets of used computers from Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG) School in Japan and set them up for student uses.

One of our new computer laboratories for post-graduate students is called KCG Lab.

The UOG is the only government institution for tertiary education in PNG, so I believe from the starting point here, we can provide a better education for future generations.

I am deeply concerned about education in PNG, which is why I became a board member of North Goroka Primary School and Iufi-iufa Primary School.

 Many Japanese friends have donated learning material include school textbooks, dictionaries, sports equipment and computers.

 During World War II, many Japanese troops died in this beautiful country, PNG.

We cannot forget this sad contact between PNG and Japan, but we are looking forward to see a bright future for both countries.

 I have already applied to become a citizen of PNG and I am awaiting response from the government.

 My future dream is to set up a technical high school in Goroka and to invite Japanese technical people to come and teach Papua New Guineans.

 I really want to become a bridge person between two countries at grassroots level.

Arigato (thank you).

Stopping the rot

From Tony Flynn

 

You may wish to look back through at viable nation states of the various sizes throughout history.

They all had some form of farm tenure that allowed the farmers to support the entire society, and the leaders recognised this in the way they ran the state.

The farmers may have been treated badly but they were the underpinning of the state.

 Papua New Guinea is built from the top as an artificial democracy; the farm system is still the result of thousands of years of isolation.

 Sustainable farming is built on a permanent and stable farming system.

From this base we may develop a stable government.

 In PNG most of our politicians are joined at the hip in their greed for aid money and the money from external exploiters of PNG resources.

 My point is that, until there is a big change in the farming system away from shifting agriculture, the whole country is based upon exploitation.

Developers exploit the minerals, fisheries and forests.

The PNG farmers exploit the soil; they exhaust the soil and move on to a fresh area.

This is the situation that has to change before our society changes.

A week is a long time ...

From PAUL OATES

A week is a long time in politics as they say.
Isn't amazing that Sir Mek is now reported as saying that the PNG Opposition was confused about the Malandina Amendment and didn't understand what was involved when they voted for the Amendment 83 - 0. This was due to the government rushing through the Bill he claimed? So now it is argued that the change to Section 12 of the Constitution allows further changes to the PNG Constitution but Sir Mek says no one said anything about that change when it happened.
Well blow me down. Could it be that no one understood previously, what they were voting for?
So to paraphrase a line from the film "Witness for the Prosecution" ;  - 'If they didn't know then and they didn't know now, are they and have they always been unable to understand and properly vote on what's actually being proposed?'
Finally, I wonder what Sir Peter (emi no lus) highlighted in the Sepik Highway Trust Funds report in the article below? I also wonder who was in charge of the Trust Fund?
______________

articles below from the National

Speakers agree on withdrawal and more debate, consultation

By THOMAS HUKAHU

VARIOUS speakers agreed yesterday that the proposed amendment to the Leadership Code that would weaken the powers of the Ombudsman Commission be withdrawn until proper debate and consultation were conducted.
At a National Research Institute seminar, Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek, chairman of Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) Peter Aitsi and Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta spoke in opposition to the changes.
Sir Mekere said despite the general feeling that the amendment was wrong, laws in general should be changed if they were going to benefit the public.
"Laws are not set in stone," Sir Mekere told the academics, students and workers and
staff from the Ombudsman Commission (OC) office.
"Laws should, at times, be reviewed and changed as long as those changes protect and promote public good,'' he said.
Lawyer Peter Donigi said in 2006, a change was made to section 12 of the Constitution which allowed Members of Parliament to alter parts of the Constitution.
He said in 2006, nobody said anything regarding that change.
Mr Donigi also pointed out that Parliament had the power to alter, but not amend.
He explained by using an illustration: "A house built can be altered by adding additional rooms, but the basic framework on which the house stands must not be changed.'
Former parliamentarian Sir Pita Lus urged the OC and TI-PNG to work effectively.
He also told public servants to do their jobs properly.
"Yupela gat knowledge tasol nogat wisdom (you have knowledge but no wisdom).
"Nau ol hevi i kamap, na kantri bai go we nau? (now we have corruption, where is the country heading?)"
While calling on the OC to perform its role, Sir Pita also produced a copy of the report on the Sepik Highway Trust Funds as an example of the kind of work that the OC needs to attend to.

Morauta calls for review

By ALISON ANIS

OPPOSITION leader Sir Mekere Morauta has strongly opposed the widely-criticised Ombudsman Commission proposed amendment.
He called on Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to withdraw the bill and set up an advisory group to assess the people's views on the amendment.
"Given the strong stand taken by the public and the difficulty in dissecting the proposed amendment to argue and support some, but not all of them, the Prime Minister should withdraw the bill on the first day of the next sitting," Sir Mekere told a public seminar at the National Research Institute yesterday.
"He should immediately set up an advisory group to assess the views being expressed by interest groups and the public."
Sir Mekere said the group must be wider than the Maladina parliamentary committee and could have Esa'ala MP Moses Maladina as its chairman.
Other committee members could be Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek, reputable constitutional lawyers and representatives from the PNG Council of Churches and the Community Coalition Against Corruption.
"Leaving it entirely to the parliamentary committee to review the amendment is like asking the inmates of Bomana to withdraw the bill on the first day of the next sitting," Sir Mekere said.
He said secretariat services to the committee should be provided by the constitutional development committee and the group's terms of reference should be confined to the amendment.
They should also report to the PM in three months, the Opposition leader said.
"Members of Parliament cannot ignore the opposition that is being mounted by
our constituents to the bill.
"We have to recognise these views and deal with them."
A panel of speakers including Sir Mekere, Mr Manek and Transparency International PNG chairman Peter Aitsi were invited to give their views on the proposed amendment to the Leadership Code and whether it was necessary or dangerous for PNG leaders.
Sir Mekere said he was among those who voted in favour of the proposed amendment when the Government, without any proper debate or briefing, tabled it on March 9.
However, since then, he has rescinded his stand after studying the proposal.
"I do not support the amendment after being made aware of the wider legal, political and ethical issues surrounding the proposed bill," he said.
Sir Mekere said the Opposition voted in support of the amendment in the last sitting because of lack of information and knowledge.
"The Government provided no detailed explanations and, true to its form, ambushed Members with the vote," Sir Mekere said, accusing the Government of treating Parliament like a rubber stamp without providing or allowing proper briefing and debate on the issue.
He also levelled the same attack on the Attorney-General, the constitutional development committee, Maladina committee and Ombudsman Commission (OC), saying they had left everyone stranded because of no accurate public information and clear explanation.
He said the Opposition had sought a meeting with the OC to help develop a position before the next sitting of Parliament.
Prominent lawyer Peter Donigi told yesterday's seminar that the Government could use the law to its advantage and pass the amendment next week. He said there were no specific provisions under the Constitution barring it from doing so.

PNG's last hope threatened, says Transparency International

THE Ombudsman Commission is the people's only hope for a better and transparent Papua New Guinea, chairman of Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) Peter Aitsi has said.
Mr Aitsi, who is also the co-chairman of the Community Coalition Against Corruption (CACC), said the people they spoke to during their awareness on the proposed amendment to the Ombudsman Commission (OC) law and its implications on governance have expressed great concern and deep anger.
"Most stated that the OC was their last hope.
"They have lost confidence and faith in police; and the Public Accounts Committee was seen as a 'toothless tiger'," Mr Aitsi said.
He said their lack of faith was justified given many recommendations and referrals from the various commissions of inquiries that remained unresolved to date.
According to Mr Aitsi, the public response was overwhelming and many spoken to were "sick and tired" of countless empty promises by the Government.
"They equated the lack of services directly to corruption and, thus, wonder why the Government and Members of Parliament were hell-bent on weakening the powers of the OC in the face of growing misuse and theft of public monies," he said.
Mr Aitsi said PNG faced the threat of descending further into regionalised groups serving narrow economic and ethnic self-interests or be split into regional groupings captured by megalomaniacs who dispensed "goods and favours" selectively to maintain their powerbase if its citizens failed to
abide, uphold and enforce the laws emanating from the Constitution without fear or favour.
"Moses Maladina (Esa'ala MP), in my view has not respected the process undertaken by the constitutional planning committee (CPC) of 1974 and has been contemptuous of the important role accorded to the OC by the committee," Mr Aitsi said.

Stopping the rot

From PAUL OATES

"Ask not what your country can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your country." John F Kennedy, US President

To someone who regularly peruses the Papua New Guinea media and internet blogs, there seems a constant steam of queries as to why 'someone' doesn't do 'something' about the situation in PNG?

So perhaps the question should be posed: 'why is it that those who want something done aren't prepared to do something themselves?'

At Independence, PNG had a system of government imposed on it that was never designed to cope with today's massive amounts of corruption and malfeance at all levels of government. In 1975, the present situation was inconceivable. The structure of government checks and balances was therefore set up with a totally different mind set. Clearly the current PNG regulatory bodies are unable to grapple with the size and nature of the problem otherwise it would not have been allowed to develop into what it is today.

If it is possible to generalise, human nature seems to follow a pattern of malaise or languishing under deteriorating conditions until a total collapse requires a drastic response. This systemic inertia is common throughout every human society and is usually summed up in the claim: 'Someone should do something about it!'

Unfortunately, most people will not contemplate doing anything precipitative until it affects them personally to the point where they cannot possibly continue to put up with what is affecting them. Unfortunately, this often where the problem has gone past where it can be fixed without a total and drastic, last resort solution.

The traditional PNG culture of group discussion and social cohesion that was so effective in a village based society seems to now be exacerbating rather than helping the current impasse. Without a culture of individual leadership and decisive action, talk sometimes becomes the ultimate point past which many people are not prepared to go.

So is this quirk of human nature about to condemn PNG to a period of total collapse and social dysfunction?

There is an old saying: 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going!'

Isn't it about time that a new generation of PNG 'tough', who have had enough of the current farce in PNG government, start to get going? The time is fast approaching, if it hasn't already arrived, when no one will be able to stop the coming implosion and its inevitable results .

Farmers meet in Manus

By ROSELYN ELLISON

 More than 20 local farmers in Manus (pictured) have attended a week-long, low-cost local feed-making training.

The training was held at the Chauka Conference room in Lorengau last week.                     

The aim of the training was to utilise local resources to produce stock feed as currently commercial stockfeed is very expensive.

Alex Botu, who facilitated during the training, said: “We have a lot of potential resources but it is just that farmers are lacking the technical knowledge on how to prepare them.”

Promoting chicken farming in Manus

Words and picture by ROSELYN ELLISON

 

Dorcas Popan is very busy feeding her six-weeks-old chickens at Ward Two in Lorengau, Manus province, when I catch up with her.

Ms Popan said chicken meat was in very high demand in Manus.

"I can also see that it is a good business,” she says.

Ms Popan is selling her chickens for K30 each

'Women must blame themselves for lack of development'

Caption: PNG Women farmers formulating their own strategic plan in Lae recently

 

 By JOSEPHINE YAGA of NARI

 

Issues hampering the development of Papua New Guinea women rest within themselves, according to food technologist Dr Jane Ravusiro.

 She said women cried for equality and respect from male counterparts, and yet, they lacked co-operation, respect and most importantly the determination to support and push women issues to another level.

 “Gossiping about and discouraging ourselves is prevalent,” Dr Ravusiro said.

 Dr Ravusiro, a food technologist with the PNG Cocoa Coconut Institute, highlighted this during the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation roundtable talk at Bubia in Lae recently.

 ‘To empower the 90% of PNG women in rural areas, we need good teamwork with positive attitudes with respect for each others’ opinions,” she said.

“Only than will women’s voices become strong and men will realise that rural women are a great force with a voice contributing to the development of this country.

 “Let us not blame men for our weaknesses.

 “We should appreciate their support since most men are not as bad as many women would think.

 “Most men are understandable and respectful and without them we would miss this forum.”

 Dr Ravusiro was speaking to about 23 registered groups and 12 associate members of PNGWiADF, covering 13 provinces and representing 3,000 women networks, who participated in the forum.

 The women shared a strong commitment to make a difference in their agricultural practices and wellbeing through knowledge sharing and information exchange, training and practical support.

With the theme ‘Recognising Women’s Agricultural Innovations through Dialogue’, the forum was an initiative of the PNGWiADF to gain recognition of its role as the voice of women in agriculture.

 The objective of the forum was for PNGWiADF to bring rural women’s voice to the attention of key stakeholders, donor partners and line government agencies which participated and collectively develop a strategic plan for women in agriculture.

 The strategic plan was drafted by members representing various registered groups and it echoed and complemented other plans such as NARI ‘s Strategic Plan 2006-2015, National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), Medium Term Development  Strategy 2005-2010 (MTDS) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

 The success of achievements of PNGWiADF has been through effective partnerships and relationships it has established through building trust with its partners within the country and internationally.

 Networks were developed and relationships established with ACIAR, Crawford Fund, Australian Women In Agriculture, Minister for Queensland Primary Industries, Forest and Regional Australia Tim Mulherin, Parliamentary Secretary for International Aid Bob McMullan, Community of South Pacific, Commonwealth of Learning – Canada, US Embassy in PNG, NZ Aid, AusAid, NARI, National Department of Agriculture and Livestock, and the private and the public sector in PNG.

 President of PNGWiADF, Maria Linibi said, the relationship and trust of these organisations and individuals has enabled the organisation to set the foundation for a new era in the development outcomes for the rural majority.