Dear friends and colleagues,
An excerpt of the contemporary Pacific journal
Our friend and colleague, Solomon Kantha, was in fact the one who passed it on to me.
Best regards,
Malum.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Political reviews of Melanesia
AIDS awareness under trees
From BRUCE COPELAND
It is great news to hear that the National AIDS Council Secretariat Director Wep Kanawi has announced a new approach to AIDS awareness in this country.
Counsellors are to go out to give awareness talks under trees and after church.
AIDS Holistics has been doing that for many years.
We have even adopted a church and helped them with their present slogan “strongim family”.
The tide is turning against foreign donor organisations that go out into the provinces to run four-day seminars to selected people and live in the hotel room
of the top hotel in the town.
People come for the lunch.
The pressure is now on the message given out.
No more can foreigners talk on rights and no responsibilities.
A church will make sure there is appropriate focus on family.
No more focus only on condoms.
It is good that Messrs Hopley and Collins of PACE are back to talk about paedophiles disguised as tourists coming to seek sex with children in the Pacific.
They will come disguised as AIDS advisors.
UNICEF says that children have the right of association.
That means their parents cannot stop sons and daughters from having sex with paedophiles.
Many foreign advisors will never go out to sit under trees and talk.
They do not speak Tok Pisin.
LGL-Newcrest merger to create US$25b empire
Miner to acquire high-margin, one-gold asset, says Gaurnaut
By PATRICK TALU
THE merger between Lihir Gold Ltd (LGL) and the Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd (Newcrest) will create a A$25 billion (K60 billion) company with portfolio of a long-term high margin and a tier one gold asset, LGL chairman Dr Ross Garnaut said yesterday, The National reports.
The merger agreement was finally signed yesterday in a special meeting among shareholders in
LGL shareholders overwhelmingly approved through a secret ballot the merger during the meeting.
They approved the SOA with 99.86% of the total number of votes cast at the meeting, exceeding the required majority of 75% as ordered by the Waigani national court.
The final hurdle for the merger is approval of the scheme by the national court with the hearing scheduled on Friday.
If approved, the scheme will become effective Aug 30 and is scheduled to be carried out on Sept 13.
“Through merger with Newcrest, we can immediately deliver strong returns to our shareholders with certainty, while simultaneously achieving greater diversification, reducing costs and improving our risk profile,” Garnaut said.
“For the local communities where we operate, they can be assured that Newcrest has an excellent track record as a good corporate citizen, committed to delivering on its promises, sharing the benefits of its mining projects equitably, and operating in a way that is sensitive to diverse cultural needs and practices,” he said.
Gaurnaut said that Lihir mining project had played a special role in the development of the country’s mining industry and economy.
“It has demonstrated that with careful management and close co-operation with communities and governments, large-scale mining in PNG is consistent with exemplary outcomes for relations with communities and governments and for the environment,” he said.
“Newcrest’s commitment of more than US$10 billion (K27.25 billion), mostly for the
Garnaut stressed the Lihir operation would continue to generate wealth and enhance society in the region for a long time to come.
“We expect high profitability will make the Lihir operations the second largest taxpayer in PNG next year.
“We have started paying sustainable dividends to shareholders.”
Newcrest chairman Don Mercer said the merger would create one of the world’s great gold mining companies with an outstanding platform to deliver superior returns to shareholders.
“The combination of Newcrest and LGL will create a world class portfolio of high quality operating mines and growth opportunities capable of delivering long term, sustainable production growth within the lowest cost quartile of the global industry,” Mercer said.
Bulolo shuts down as armed locals hunt rivals
EMBATTLED
Their statement followed the killing of two young Sepiks, who were believed to be from the care centre, at the Saksak settlement and the severe wounding of 12 men by locals on Sunday.
The toll included 10 homes which were also razed by locals at Saksak,
The 12 critically wounded men have been rushed to Lae for intensive care at the
As the situation worsened with all schools, shops and the bank closed, locals were entering Bulolo with guns, bows and arrows and knives to join forces at the town market while the 32 policemen try their best to contain the situation.
Fears of fighting have forced all transport operators off the roads.
Residents in Wau last night said all shops were without food and the Morobe Mining JV, developer of the
Several Sepiks in Bulolo said people at the care centre wanted to leave, but the provincial government had not helped the district to repatriate them.
The plea was an about-turn by the Sepiks who, up until last Friday, had demanded the Morobe and national governments to find land in and around Bulolo to resettle them.
“They were so staunch in their demands that they went out and attacked local villagers panning for gold in the
More than 2,000 Sepiks are now camped in the care centre at the PNG Forest Products premises, with very little to survive on. They had no clothes, no food and medicine.
The rations ran severely low yesterday.
On Sunday afternoon, locals from Bulolo camped at the town market.
Residents said the number of locals was rising every evening, with people coming in from the villages with bows and arrows, bush knives and axes.
Police also reported that they had proof from ballistics that the locals had “a number of sophisticated rifles”.
More than 30 policemen were stationed in Bulolo with reinforcements expected in from
The police themselves have been burdened with logistical support. They have not been paid their previous three-month allowances.
Last weekend’s 21-day operational call had also not been paid.
The policemen are paying for meals out of their own pockets.
“What is worse, they are paying for calls to police headquarters using their own units on their mobile phones,” an observer said.
The police also suffered at the hands of the locals.
A resident policeman was stripped of his uniforms and his house cleaned of all its items yesterday.
Warning out on child sex tourists
By ALISON ANIS
INTERNATIONAL consultants on child abuse and sexual exploitation have warned Papua New Guineans to be cautious of child sex tourists, The National reports.
These are people who target specific countries and travel under the guise of tourists but with the intention of sexually exploiting young girls and children.
Carl Collins and Ian Hopley, during a joint presentation at a one-day seminar addressing child abuse and sexual exploitation, said PNG had the potential of being a target for child sex tourists because of problems with enforcing laws, widespread corruption and poverty where money does the talking.
Hopley said commercial sex was rampant in Pacific countries, including PNG, and the country had to be aware of how the perpetrators operated to safeguard their women and children from being exploited.
“Many of these tourists are now targeting countries in the Pacific because other countries have introduced extra territorial legislation,” he said, adding that the legislation was introduced to safeguard women and children from these perpetrators.
Collins said sex tourists were mainly paedophiles or preferential child molesters who visited selected countries for the wrong reasons and to sexually exploit young girls and children.
Hopley said with reports of high child prostitution being experienced in PNG and an increase in commercial sex trade, the boom in the mineral, fishery and logging industries could also attract sex tourists.
However, he said this would happen on a few occasions as a majority of the sexual abuse on children in PNG would be carried out by Papua New Guineans.
“Foreigners arrested in the Pacific should, wherever possible, be charged with the relevant offences under the local laws and dealt with in the country where the offence occurred.
“In this way, it will sent out a warning to sex tourist that they are not welcomed here,” Hopley said.
Exxon: Project under threat
By PATRICK TALU
CONTINUED threats and interruptions to early works on the multi-billion-kina liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will have a detrimental effect on the project schedule, The National reports.
ExxonMobil, operator of the K40 billion project, yesterday expressed grave concerns after various landowners threatened to stop early works.
Others had forced early works at Hides and Komo to stop for three weeks.
The latest threat came from Papa landowners from portion 152 in Central where the proposed conditioning plant and jetties would be built. They wanted the developer to give them the contract to build the jetty.
“The project is the biggest single investment in the petroleum sector and PNG cannot afford to lose it.
“We have schedule for our first shipment by 2014 and such a threat will have a detrimental effect on our project schedule,” a spokesman for ExxonMobil told The National.
“We have three years to complete the respective phases of the project before our first LNG shipment.
“We cannot afford to lose time. It is going to cost PNG and ExxonMobil.
“As a borrower, we are answerable to financiers who loaned us to fund this massive project,” the spokesman said.
He said this year was just wasted dealing with landowners’ issues, which were not expected.
“The recent activities by these so-called landowners are uncalled for and are illegal.”
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil and Chiyoda JGC joint venture yesterday denied a report in The National last week that 5,000 Indonesian skilled workers would be brought in to work at portion 152.
The report was based on an announcement by an Indonesian embassy official.
A senior manager for Chiyoda said: “The article is incorrect.
“There is no contractor who can supply so many Indonesian workers.”
Ex-servicemen lay claim
By JASON GIMA WURI
EX-SERVICEMEN throughout the country will know the status of their claims from the state after the national executive council deliberates and review their petition in two weeks, The National reports.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare yesterday directed three of his ministers to meet and accept a petition from the ex-servicemen outside Morauta Haus, who are demanding the state to pay them their retrenchment claims and entitlements totalling K23 million.
The ex-servicemen have been fighting for their entitlements since 1989; some even ending up in the national and supreme courts.
Acting chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc told reporters that the prime minister had directed Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mark Maipakai to accept the ex-servicemen’s petition.
Maipakai was joined by Attorney-General and Justice Minister Ano Pala and Correctional Services Minister Tony Aimo.
“The K23 million will be divided into the three categories: Colonial ex-servicemen – K5, 425,526.20; ex-servicemen retrenched between 1982 and 1989 (334 group – K12, 389,553.50 and 185 group – K5, 500,000).
Zurenuoc said since these payments were not contained in this year’s budget, it would take some time to make the final payments.
He said that the following were the groups that were claiming their retrenchment payments and entitlements.
They were the colonial ex-servicemen, ex-servicemen who retrenched between 1982 and 1989, ex-servicemen retrenched and discharged between 1989 and 2001 and ex-servicemen retrenched under the PNGDF downsizing reforms between 2001 and 2007.
“Colonial ex-servicemen consist of members who had served under the Australian colonial administration prior to PNG gaining
“In 1989, the Australian government transferred funds (K2.5 million as employer contributions) to the Defence Force Retirement Benefit Fund (DFRBF) board through the Department of Finance.
“Only K2.2 million was paid out through the special project headed by Lt-Col John Lytus, hence, the balance of about K300, 000 was transferred to the Finance Department and held in trust.
“An additional amount of K800, 000 was paid as employees’ contribution to the DFRBF.
“These monies were never paid to the particular group of ex-servicemen. And, they now claimed the principal sum and interests in the total sum of K57, 607,446.53,” Zurenuoc said.
He said for the ex-servicemen retrenched between 1982 and 1989, this group consisted of 1,111 ex-servicemen.
However, the main group of claimants come under the 188 group, the 334 group, the 323 (previously 494) group and 185 group respectively.
They claimed that they were not paid their various retrenchment entitlements arising from Brown J’s decision in OS No.58/89 in 1989.
The ex-servicemen discharged between 1989 and 2001 consists of the following, Daniel Tali group – 117 (Murray barracks), John Coomer group – 56 (Taurama barracks), Jerry Abraham group – 88 (Moem barracks) and Laki Kalon group – 102 (Igam barracks).
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