Remembering Independence Day in 1975

BY KEITH JACKSON

Keith Jackson…feelings of real pride in PNG

THAT FIRST Independence Day in Papua New Guinea was organised in a heck of a hurry.

Less than three months before September 16, 1975, Chief Minister Michael Somare gave long-serving District Commissioner David Marsh the task of organising events on the day and during the six days of celebration from September 14-19.

Flag lowering in 1975

Marsh did a fine job – VIPs, security, transport, accommodation and the proceedings themselves all had to be planned and brought to fruition.

 And not just in Moresby, of course, but throughout the country.

There were a number of high-profile events, like the taking down of the Australian flag at sunset on September 15 (“we are lowering this flag, not tearing it down,” said Sir John Guise, memorably).

And there were also exhibits, church services, sports fixtures, bands, pageants, addresses, dinners, ceremonies, concerts, fireworks, medals, publications, tree plantings and radio broadcasts.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, author Keith Jackson and an Orange city councillor in 2009

Even the West Indies cricket team played in Port Moresby and Lae.

Then, on the day itself, in the presence of the Prince of Wales, the commander of the PNG Defence Force raised the new Kumul flag on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Independence Day was a huge success.

 And its success had been achieved with speed.

A bit like Independence itself.

Australia had been in PNG to build a nation.

 We expatriates played our parts in that grand enterprise.

Unfortunately, when Australia pulled out, so did thousands of its citizens who had worked in PNG for many years.

The author at camp on the slopes of Mt Wilhelm in 1964

And they left quickly.

It was said then, and still is by a lot of people, that Independence had “come too soon”.

But, to me, the main issue was that too much experience and expertise deserted PNG in those few years immediately after Independence.

But that was in the 70s, and nothing can change what happened then.

Today, 35 years on, what can we say about Papua New Guinea?

Well, my website PNG Attitude always has a lot to say – and some of it is very critical.

But, irrespective of what one may think about governance, health and other issues, let me tell you six good reasons why everyone associated with Papua New Guinea should feel a sense of real pride in the country.

The author at camp on the slopes of Mt Wilhelm in 1964

Keith Jackson at a pooling booth in the first election in 1964

1.      PNG is a parliamentary democracy. Forget the skullduggery and tactical trickery that sometimes characterises National Parliament. PNG’s people go to the polls every five years to elect their government. They will do so again in 2012 as they have in the 48 years since 1964. (Yes, 2014 will be the 50th anniversary of representative government in PNG.)

2.      PNG is united. And what a challenge this was. A fragmented tribal society of more than 800 languages and as many cultures has managed to remain together as one nation for 35 years. True, it hasn’t always been plain sailing, but how could it be in such circumstances. Unity alone is a considerable achievement and a positive reflection on PNG’s political leadership.

3.       PNG has retained a viable society. Although periodically threatened by commercial pressures and the waywardness of modern life, the bedrock of PNG society remains the tribe, clan and extended family. The wantok system can be a curse when applied to conventional organisation; but is a real blessing when it comes to providing the baseline security that a nation and its people require.

4.      PNG has retained some strong institutions. It has a Defence Force that understands the primacy of the government of the day. It has an independent and strong judiciary. It has universities that produce thinkers and doers. And it has non-government organisations that, while frequently criticised by some politicians, are growing in robustness and contributing greatly to the maintenance of a strong civil society.

5.      PNG has a free press. While not numerous in terms of autonomous outlets, the PNG press has a tradition of independence that was first entrenched by those forcefully-unfettered journalists who gave real backbone to the country’s media organisations in the 1960s and 1970s. This feisty press tradition has more recently managed to migrate successfully to the internet, especially through blogs. It will continue to flourish.

6.      PNG has a people who will prevail. Over many hundreds of years a thousand societies developed in relative isolation from the world and from each other. But that proved no fatal constraint, because these societies also produced an enviable toughness, an acute intuition, a richness of culture and a great capacity to change. No more needs to be said.

All Australians who have affection for Papua New Guinea and its people, and there are very many of us, congratulate our close neighbour on this auspicious day and want to communicate to you the continuing warmth of our friendship.

Keith Jackson publishes the PNG Attitude blog. He is Chairman of Jackson Wells Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based public relations firm, and an Adjunct Professor in Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland.

A Papua New Guinea education

By PAUL OATES

Paul Oates

When I was 21 I was lucky enough to be selected as an assistant patrol officer in the then Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea (TPNG).

Not many people in Australia knew much about our northern external territory except those of my father’s generation who had fought there during the Second World War.

My training as an assistant patrol officer commenced in 1969 at the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) located in Mosman, Sydney.

The lectures included law, government, geography, and language.

Mostly these subjects were taught by those who had some association with PNG, although they had little or no experience in the territory’s rural areas.

After our time at ASOPA, my course of 39 trainees was flown to Port Moresby and continued its training at Kwikila, a sub district headquarters 100km east of Moresby in the Rigo area of the Central district.

Here practical experience involved police administration, local government and public works.

At the end of this training, we were given our field postings.

My posting was to the West Sepik region, however I swapped with a colleague so I could go to the Morobe district to hopefully learn a little about cattle farming.

In the event, I was posted to Pindiu patrol post in the Finschhafen sub district where there were very few cattle.

Paul Oates as a young Australian kiap at Pindiu, Morobe district, in 1970

When I arrived at the district headquarters in Lae and visited the district commissioner’s office, I was told I was to fly out the next morning to Pindiu and was taken around to open a country order account at Steamships New Guinea Company.

An assistant district commissioner from another sub-district wanted to snaffle me for his domain and, when he came around the following morning to order me to go with him; I wanted to be loyal to my actual posting and hid until he had to catch his plane.

Later that morning I was loaded into a small Cessna 172 along with a new government clerk and his family and we flew from Lae to Pindiu, where I was expected to complete my two years of field training and after which I might be lucky enough to be promoted to patrol officer.

The type of field training offered usually depended on the senior officer at the time. There appeared to be two schools of thought.

Villagers building the Ogeranang airstrip in Finschhafen, Morobe district, in 1969

One was to take the newly posted ‘cadet’ and lead him through the ropes.

 The second appeared to be: ‘Toss him in at the deep end and see if he swims?’

The officer-in-charge of Pindiu, who had previously served in the Western Highlands, belonged to the second school of thought.

Not long after I arrived, I was told I was to go on patrol.

 This involved preparing my meagre supplies and rations and flying from Pindiu to Mindik airstrip where the OIC and I walked to where an airstrip was to be built.

My role was to supervise the construction of that airstrip at a village called Ogeranang using a plan on a foolscap piece of paper kept at the site.

My boss took me to the site, showed me what had to be done and left me there for a fortnight to learn the ropes.

 What I didn’t know at the time was that in the future I would be directed to build a base camp at Mindik and generally ‘look after’ the whole of the Kua and Bulum river valleys and their people.

I would also regularly walk back and forth to the airstrip construction site at Ogeranang village in the Bulum valley.

What I also didn’t know was that my little base camp would eventually become a centre of government administration and I would plan schools to be built in Mindik and Ogeranang that would help the people of that area.

But all that was in the future.

I considered myself at 21 to be fairly fit.

Outdoor training with the army reserve and ‘bush bashing’ as it was called was something I was very keen on.

Our patrol started from Mindik and walked for about three hours from the Kua valley over the ridge to the Bulum valley and to a village called Areganang.

Here we met the driving force behind the new airstrip, a councillor called Rukanzinga. Councillor Rukanzinga turned out to be about my father’s age and a man of vision.

He was very keen to have an airstrip in his area so that his people didn’t have to carry their coffee all the way to Mindik or down to the coast to sell.

Leaving Areganang, we set off again towards Ogeranang and the airstrip site only this time the climbing was harder going.

“Don’t drink anything!” the boss told me, but the cool, clear water in the stream before the final climb was just too tempting.

Up, up, and up we climbed until my breath started to shorten.

Stopping and taking ‘a breather’ to look at the scenery didn’t seem to help.

 My breathing became very laboured and I wondered what on earth was going on.

“Ha!” said my boss, “You drank some water didn’t you? I told you not to?”

What I hadn’t yet worked out is that my body wasn’t yet acclimatised to altitude and at around 5,000 feet about sea level I wasn’t used to the diminished oxygen at that altitude - especially when taking rigorous exercise.

Villagers digging a drain for an airstrip in Ogeranang, Morobe district, in 1969

As I gasped and wheezed up the mountain, Councillor Rukanzinga came forward and said gently in Tok Pisin, “Just take little steps, kiap. You’ll be OK.”

Slipping his arm into mine, the councillor helped me forward and showed me how to take little, six inch steps upward.

Ever so slowly I continued to climb, leaning on Councillor Rukanzinga.

When we arrived at the top of the ridge where the airstrip was being built, it seemed thousands of people were waiting for us.

The experienced PNG councillor had successfully led the inexperienced young Australian up to the camp site.

I realised that my PNG education had only just commenced!

Students learn about balsa downstream processing

By UNRE Public Relations
 

Second year agriculture students of University of Natural Resources & Environment (UNRE) visited two balsa companies in East New Britain recently to learn more about producing better quality of timber and to know how to maintain and improve timber production.

As part of their study on the subject of timber selection, processing and pruning, two groups of second-year students visited the campus based Marsha Berman Sawmill and PNG Balsa Company’s sawmill and processing plant at Takubar, Kokopo.

Students wait for PNG Balsa assistant production manager Joe Raka (left) to take them on the company facilities tour

The students, totaling more than 100, were taken in three tour groups, each conducted by a member of the managing staff of PNG Balsa.

Forestry technical officer, Daniel Waldi, one of two staff members who accompanied them, said the main emphasis of the trip was for students to see firsthand how timber quality was maintained and improved during downstream processing.

The pruning demonstration was carried out at the university’s balsa plantation.

This is the second such visit and Waldi said he noticed a marked improvement in the students’ understanding of the course material, especially in the technology involved in downstream processing of timber.

Student Lydia Lang said the field trip was in line with their lectures on downstream processing.

She said they had found it beneficial as it allowed them to see the processes involved.

Waldi thanked PNG Balsa management staff, Joe Raka (assistant production manager), Bongive Lehe, (assistant production manager) and David Wesley (operations supervisor), for taking the time to give students a tour of the company’s facilities.

Maprik to fund more farmer training

 

A female youth receiving her certificate from Maprik district administrator Simon Faelau, while councillor Ulupu Ward and head trainer IATP look on.-Picture by RAY ROBERTS

By UNRE Public Relations

 Maprik district administrator Simon Faelau has pledged to fund further farmer training in the Yamil/Tamahui local level government (LLG) in Maprik from the district’s joint dis­trict priority (JDP) committee funds.

The trainings will be facilitated by the University of Natural Resources & Environment under its integrated agricultural training programme (IATP).

Announcing this at the closing of an IATP training that was conducted in the LLG’s Ulupu village, Faelau also committed Maprik JDP funds to other projects which include:

• Cocoa quality training for cocoa dryer owners;

• A classroom at a local primary school for K20, 000; and

• K1 million road maintenance.

He commended the university for “bringing the training to the grassroots level”.

Yamil/Tamaui president Tony Kaup also extended apprecia­tion to the university for tak­ing the beneficial training to his people.

He urged the participants to utilise the skills they had gained to improve the liveli­hoods of their families.

The ceremony, which was held on Saturday, August 21, was also attended by the district police station com­mander, executive director of non government organisation Foundation of Women in Ag­ricultural Development Mon­ica Otto, UNRE Sepik Central campus acting director Gitala Pranis, district rural develop­ment officer James Hosea and other local leaders.

The Maprik police com­mander also conducted an alcohol and substance abuse community awareness, par­ticularly on homebrewed al­cohol and marijuana.

He urged parents to exer­cise more control over their children and occupy them with productive activities to sustain their living.

This, he said, would keep them away from taking illicit drugs.

Tolai taro for Port Moresby

ENB taro selling at SVS Foodland supermarket, Harbour city

The first chilling container containing bags of taro, singapore and dry coconuts from East New Britain province went on sale in the Port Moresby in the week leading up to independence on Sept 16, 2010.

These food items were delivered to the Pacific Adventist University (PAU) outside Port Moresby on Sept 10, 2010, after they left Rabaul on Aug 22.

 The shipment was the first joint effort by the taro commercialisation project of National Agriculture Research Institute’s Islands regional centre, Kerevat and the East New Britain women and youth in agriculture (ENBWYIA) to sell taro in Port Moresby markets.

The products were packed in polysacs and stored in cool temperatures between five to eight degrees Celsius during shipment.

There were three taro varieties in the shipment: Baining north, Pomio kukos and Talasea K10. 

Project coordinator Kiteni Kurika and staff from NARI Southern regional centre, Laloki, inspected the quality of the produce on arrival and noted that they were still in good condition for selling.

The taros were distributed to buyers in Port Moresby on Monday Sept 13 and follow-up visits by NARI staff that week revealed that the taros were selling at seven major supermarkets in the city.

A customer buying ENB taro at Stop n Shop supermarket, Rainbow, Gerehu

Their quality and appearance were still good.

 Supermarket staff interviewed were not aware that the taros were from East New Britain.

The taros were selling at K5.90 to K8.95 per kilogram with mark ups of 47 to 124% above the selling price.

The prices will be marked down after one to two weeks of trading as the quality of the taros start to drop.

This initiative came about after decades of research on taro pest and management at the NARI Islands regional centre at Kerevat.

 The bonus of the taro research was that it didn’t stop after a chemical control package was identified to eliminate the threat of taro beetle damaging taro corms, but developed right through to commercialisation stage. 

The taro commercialisation project is spearheaded by ENBWYIA with the support of East New Britain provincial government and NARI.

 The aim of the project is to export the popular food crop outside of the province.

The two-year project which began in March this year was funded by Australian innovative grant scheme (AIGS).

The project aims to research the viability of producing high quality taro consistently for local and international markets.

The ENBWYIA are very fortunate to collaborate with NARI Kerevat in this project and are looking forward to positive outcomes.

They are already being trained to apply Bifenthrin and Mustang as control agents of taro beetle and apply best cultivation practices and post harvest techniques for shipping and marketing. 

The PAU’s commercial section has indicated that the success of this first shipment could lead to other root crops, vegetables and fruits from East New Britain being exported to Port Moresby.

The project would be conducting a taro market survey for wholesalers, retailers and consumers with each shipment to assess the viability of marketing ENB taro in Port Moresby.

Preliminary indications from the sale of the first taro shipment were very encouraging, as all the taros were sold out within a week.

There is, however, scope for improvement: firstly to promote and create awareness on ENB taro amongst Port Moresby buyers and consumers, and secondly to identify other produce with good prospects for the Port Moresby market.  

New global information forum for agricultural development

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI, who attended the meeting in Bangkok, Thailand

The accession and sharing of agricultural information will increase globally as a result of greater participation in a new information management and sharing platform developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

 This new initiative, Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD), is an online database information management system that is aimed at creating a one-stop forum for different agricultural information systems that are currently available from different organisations throughout the world.

More than 30 professionals in information and communication from 20 countries in the Asia Pacific region were introduced to the new system last week in Bangkok, Thailand.

The countries were introduced to the forum through a workshop organised by the Asia-Pacific association of agricultural research institutions (APAARI), as a regional forum, which has been promoting the use and application of information communication technology/information communication management (ICT/ICM) in agricultural research for development (AR4D) in the region through its programme ‘Asia-Pacific agricultural research information system (APARIS)’. APARIS is closely associated with the Rome-based global forum for agricultural research (GFAR) and FAO on such innovations for agricultural development.   

The initiative is currently available online (www.ciard.net).

To contribute, access and learn from the different databases and systems worldwide, organisations can log on the site and register to participate in this exciting innovation which comprises national, regional and international ICT/ICM developments across the globe.

The Pacific region was represented by Papua New Guinea (National Agriculture Research Institute), Fiji (Ministry of Agriculture) and Samoa (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries).

According to APAARI, the workshop was to assist the member national agricultural research systems (NARS) with new capacities for better agricultural information management through revitalising APARIS activities and through which strengthening global ICM4ARD initiatives to improve effective use of information by all stakeholders for Agricultural Research for oDevelopment (ARD) in the region and the world over.

The main objective of the workshop was to orient participants to CIARD initiative and equip them to contribute to the CIARD roadmap to information nodes and gateways (CIARD RING). It was also to orient participants to the potential opportunities of new ICT/ICM for AR4D in the areas of research, extension, marketing and agri-business, and identify mechanisms to strengthen Asia-Pacific APARIS for efficient exchange of data, knowledge and technologies in the region and present the status of ICT/ICM in AR4D in the region.

The major outcomes include:

·        Increasing the awareness on new ICT/ICM initiatives among information and communication managers of national agricultural information Systems (NAIS);

·        Promotion of the CIARD initiative, capacity building for NAIS in the Asia-Pacific region to contribute to the CIARD initiative, and registration of NAIS services in the CIARD RING; and

·        Mechanisms for strengthening APARIS to undertake better advocacy, networking, partnerships and human and institutional capacity strengthening programmes in the region and a status report on ICT/ICM in AR4D in the Asia-Pacific Region.

The three-day workshop, which ended on Sept 17, was staged at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok.

PNG was invited by FAO to register and be part of the new CIARD RING and benefit from it.

Assistance in Hidden Valley gold mining environmental issues

By DR GAE GOWAE

 

Thank you Robin for your well-received views and offer to assist.

 Indeed the political insinuation is there, but regardless of who provides the financial support, the scientific nature and the credibility of the findings are what we need. This is why either by outside consultants or Morobe elites, the appropriate technical expertise and experience is needed to undertake this study.

 The cost for such study is enormous, and political support either through Tutumang (Morobe provincial assembly) or individual MPs is required, as long as the report of the findings is credible and transparent; whatever political achievement is up to the people's judgement.

 The idea of us Morobe elites assisting is to do it at reduced cost, particularly to cut down on the consultant fees.

 The report by Mr Michael Kiap is worth accessing, but interestingly, why were such findings never publicized?

 However, given the recent problems as seen on the TV and the circulation of the video clips of the area, it is worth untaking an independent study to ascertain all those allegations.

 Your suggestion of Tutumang submission for financial support is well taken and in fact I have already suggested the idea to landowners’ association interim president, which requires the local level government presidents' support and endorsement.

This too will required technical expertise advice and assistance in putting together the submission.

 I have Ms Finkewe Zurenuoc, who has enormous experience in mining industry, already offering her assistance and you in hydrology, which is great.

We need a few more and then we can look at logistic support to get together and plan this study including the costing.

 

Kind regards,

 

G.Gowae