Basil asks why no action on Taiwan diplomatic scandal

Bulolo MP Sam Basil is asking why there have been no criminal investigations into Papua New Guinea of politicians implicated in the Taiwanese cash for diplomatic recognition scandal.

His call follows news that the authorities in Taiwan have announced new charges against a middleman in its failed bid to buy diplomatic recognition from PNG by using the Taiwanese people’s money.

"Why have authorities in PNG not investigated the sideline Prime Minister Michael Somare, Planning Minister Paul Tiensten, and Forests Minister Timothy Bonga,  who are all alleged to have met with the Taiwanese middlemen?” Basil said today.

"If Taiwan can investigate, charge, prosecute and convict people involved in this scandal at their end, what is the excuse for our own authorities not to have acted at this end?”

Prosecutors in Taiwan have indicted Wu Shih-tsai on breach of trust charges and recommended he be sentenced to four years jail for embezzling US$29.8 million in government funds.

The money was wired to a Singapore bank held by Wu and Ching Chi-ju in September 2006 to be used to establish diplomatic ties with PNG.

The funds were completely removed from the bank account between November and December 2006.

Wu is already serving a 30-month sentence after being convicted in 2008 on charges of forgery and making false accusations in relation to the PNG matter.

Investigations into other suspects in Taiwan, including the secretary-general of the national security council and a former minister are still ongoing. “The Taiwanese deal adds to other many issues such as the Moti saga, National Provident Fund saga and the list goes on,” Basil said.

 “Today many Papua New Guinean have lost faith in our own institutions and

are now asking many questions, even suggesting a neutral Police Commissioner or Chief Justice from abroad to come and take control of our institutions.

“I believe that there are politicians who are supposed to be prosecuted, dismissed or locked up in jail are now actively serving in parliament and that the situation itself is very scary, and the citizens must be concerned of this too.”

 

A giant leap for the Papuan movement

By MALUM NALU

Haurahaela (left) with his motley crew raise the Papua flag at the northernmost point of mainland Australia on Cape York

When Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon on July 20, 1969, he uttered these now-famous words: “That’s one small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind.”
Not quite so extra-terrestial, back on Earth, more than 40 years back to the future on December 22, 2010, a small group of eight Papuans made a small step for themselves but a giant leap for the Papuan movement when they landed at the northernmost tip of Australia on Cape York and raised the Papuan flag before being detained by Australian customs and towed to Horn Island to be detained.
This group of eight was the only one of a flotilla of 16 dinghies, carrying 122 people, which made it to Terra Australis – the great southern land - in an evasive cat-and-mouse game across the Torres Strait which ended in all of them being detained and sent back to Daru.

One of the band of Papuans pointing out the signboard at Cape York

Australia, needless to say, had egg on its face because of this serious breach of security by a bunch of amateurs from north of the border, who just wanted to point out that they were “Australian citizens”.
Eka Haurahaela, 38, from Ihu in Gulf province, was one of that motley crew in the dinghy which made it to Cape York.
“There were eight of us in that dinghy,’ he tells me.
“There were seven men and one woman.
“We managed to get to the Australian mainland because we travelled through the eastern side of Torres Strait, while the rest travelled on the western side, which is Saibai Island.
“Eight dinghies left Daru before us.
“We were the ninth dinghy which left.
“We left at about 7.30am.
“We travelled through the reefs, cut across through Tudo Island, Picnic Island and Waraberr Island.
“From there, we cut across to the mainland.
“We were at Cape York at about 3.30pm.
“There was security, but they were so late, because we had already passed through.
“We were heading to Bamaga (an Aboriginal and Torres Strait town on the mainland), but due to low fuel, we turned back.

A giant leap for Papua…the only dinghy to touch down on mainland Australia lands at Cape York

“We had already landed on the main (Cape York) when Australian customs arrived.
“They towed us to Horn Island and took us to the detention centre, where we were held for four days.
“On Saturday (Christmas Day), they flew us back to Daru.
“We told the authorities there (Horn Island) to send the rest of the team back to Daru and lock us, the leaders, so that we could defend our rights in court.
“They never accepted the offer.”
Haurahaela says they evaded all Australian security vessels until they were spotted by a helicopter.
“We were spotted by the helicopter between Waraberr and Picnic Island,” he recalls.
“They must have radioed those on the ground; however, they were slow in reacting.
“It was fortunate for the Australians that we ran out of fuel; otherwise, we would have made it to Bamaga on the mainland, a township of Torres Strait islanders and Aboriginals.
“It was an excellent route we took, one which was clear of security vessels.
“I was the first person on the dinghy to put my foot on the mainland.”

We are Australian…Papuans celebrating their arrival on mainland Australia at Cape York

Back in Daru, the Papua border crossers’ leader Jonathan Baure, was apprehended and flown to Port Moresby in an Australian plane where he was arrested and locked up by police.
The irony was that he never crossed the border to Australia, being in Daru all the time.
It was only on Tuesday this week, after 10 days including New Year’s Day in the lock-up, that he was released on K1, 000 bail to await his next court appearance next month.
On Wednesday this week, when I had a rendezvous with him, he looked a bit worse for wear because of an excruciating toothache which had been bothering him since his arrest.
“Jail was good!” he laughs.
“It was the best Christmas and New Year present I could have asked for.
‘My physical body was in the cell, but my mindset was that I’d already won.”
Baure – very much a photo-shy person - says up to 1,500 people could have crossed to Australia from Daru in a tour-de-force; however, various factors including shortage of dinghies because of the festive period stopped this.
They came from Northern, Milne Bay, Central, Gulf, Western and even Southern Highlands provinces, paying their own airfares and boat fares, as well as contributing generously to a cause they fervently believe in.
“There were close to 500 people ready to go across on that day,” Baure tells me.
“Priority, however, was given to Port Moresby people so there were only 122 people.
“Also, because it was Christmas, most of the dinghies were in their home villages.
“We could easily have mustered up to 150 canoes and dinghies, and put potentially about 1,500 people across.
“We could have had two boatloads, with up to 500 people from Moresby; however, MV Danaya was out for Christmas.”
Baure, 46, was born of a part Rigo (Central) and Tufi (Northern) father and part Ihu (Gulf) and Kalo (Central) mother.
“I spent 22 years of my life in Australia, schooling and working,” he says.
“I didn’t start this Papua issue here, I started it in Australia.
“In 2000, I went into the Melbourne Library.
“I saw a couple of books, including one called Australian Citizenship Instructions, a booklet from the Australian Department of Immigration.
“There’s a different section for different countries.
“I decided to look for the section that dealt with PNG.
“PNG became independent on 16th September, 1975.
“Prior to that date, Papua and New Guinea were two separate territories.
“Papua was a territory of Australia and people born in Papua acquired Australian citizenship by birth.
“New Guinea was a trust territory and people born in New Guinea were Australian-protected persons.
“The sentence that jumped at me was that 'people born in Papua became Australian citizens by birth’.
“I wrote to Australian Immigration asking about how I got my Australian citizenship and how I lost it.
“They wrote back and said I was an Australian citizen, but when PNG became independent, I lost it.”
Baure dug deep into colonial history, dating back to 1884, when Queen Victoria first took Papua as a British protectorate.
In 1901, when the federation of Australia came together, Papua was accepted as the seventh state of Australia
“On the citizenship issue, it’s a personal right; each individual’s got to make a choice,” Baure argues.
“On sovereignty, the question for Australia on uniting with New Guinea, or being a separate Papua, must be dealt with by the Papua people through a plebiscite.
“Both Australian and PNG parliaments did not have the legal authority to decide if Papua stayed with Australia or united with New Guinea.
“The Papua MPs in the House of Assembly did not have the right to decide for Papuans, and certainly, the New Guinea MPs did not have the right to decide for us Papuans.”
Baure started the Papuan movement in 2004 and its popularity has grown in leaps and bounds in Northern, Milne Bay, Central, Gulf, Western, and even ‘Last Papua’ in the Southern Highlands.
He fires a salvo at Papua politicians and lawyers, especially the latter, who he says have not helped and he has had to resort to engaging an Engan lawyer.
“I want to talk to all Papua politicians and leaders to introduce this Papuan citizenship issue as a private members’ bill on the floor of Parliament,” Baure says.
“I want to say to all Papua lawyers: ‘Shame on all of you!’.
“You have not guts to handle this Papuan cause.
“An Engan is handling my case.”

Dead fish washed ashore at Pari village

By ANGELINE KARIUS

Dead fish scare ... Pari villagers in Moresby South yesterday morning woke up to find dead fish along their beachfront. Concerned village elder Gaba Momoro wasted no time in getting his relatives to contact The National, fearing pollution from industrial wastes or dynamite fishing in the area. NCD health officer Wesley Kame and his colleagues went to the village yesterday and collected samples, with the help of village children, for testing at the National Agriculture Research Institute laboratory to determine what had caused the fish to die and washed ashore in large numbers. – Nationalpic by EKAR KEAPU

PARI villagers were shocked to find dead fish washed ashore at their village along the Joyce Bay area yesterday morning.
Concerned elder Gaba Momoro had relatives contact The National, in fear of sea pollution or dynamite fishing in the area.
“Dead fish was seen washed ashore and floating up shore this (yesterday) morning.
“We don’t know why this has happened.
“This is the first time this has happened,” he said.
Gaba said he alerted his sister in the city to raise the alarm to authorities concerned including NCD health authorities to find the cause of dead fish in the area.
It is understood that NCD health division sent a team into the area to assess the situation and taken samples to relevant authorities for laboratory testing.
According to NCD officials until results are received then it will be known as to what was the cause of fish to die in the area.
The fish washed ashore ranged from the smallest shoreline fishes to others found further into the sea.
Meanwhile, families in the village were advised not to eat the fish after young children were seen collecting them along the shoreline.

Government: We shall not be moved

THREE influential party leaders in government yesterday described the opposition’s move for a possible motion of no-confidence as “irresponsible” and the work of a “desperate hunting pack” concerned with obtaining power than providing “credible alternative government”, The National reports.

The comments came from Treasurer and Finance Minister and leader of People’s National Congress Peter O’Neill, governor of Southern Highlands and United Resources Party founder Anderson Agiru and former New Guinea Islands deputy Leader of National Alliance and National Planning and District Development Minister Paul Tiensten.

The leaders said, among other things, that:

• The Somare government stood as the most successful since independence, having grown the economy for eight straight years;
• The government had a comprehensive set of vision, mission statements and practical plans and programmes to achieve them;
• It had directed the biggest development budget of K4 billion at critical areas such as education, infrastructure and health; and
• The opposition had no alternate policies or plans and no demonstrated history of successful economic management.

O’Neill, Agiru and Tiensten said small coalition parties had closed ranks last year to withstand a sustained attack against the government from within when former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu led a walkout of the ruling National Alliance with his Southern bloc.

They said they would do the same again if a possible motion of no-confidence was entertained by the acting speaker.

The opposition, which had been agitating to make such a move this week, nominated deputy leader National Alliance (highlands) Don Pomb Polye as its candidate for the prime minister’s post.

Polye was thought to be a vulnerable candidate for the move following his sacking as deputy prime minister and works minister, which he had wanted to keep even if he lost the DPM.

Polye refused to comment yesterday when contacted, saying he would make his own statement today.

However, he only said Sir Puka had nominated him without prior consultation.

Sir Puka was singled out for personal attack yesterday by the leaders.

Agiru accused him of weak leadership and incompetence, saying: “Here is a man who is prepared to sell PNG.

“He thumped the table and wanted to change the laws of PNG to give 5% corporate tax away in the LNG project. That would have come to K20 billion lost to PNG.

“I will not gamble my political future on a man who did not have sound judgment when judgment was needed. Loss of K20 billion is incredible.

“There are credible leaders like Sir Mek (Mekere Morauta) and Sir Julius (Chan) in the opposition who should not be lied to by Sir Puka.”

Tiensten, who is also leader of government business, said: “This sitting on the 11th (on Tuesday) is to elect the governor-general. That is the only agenda. The government has no other agenda.

“The private business committee will have to decide whether it (motion of no-confidence) is a matter of national importance or of a parochial nature.”

O’Neill added: “We (PNC) are small but we are stable. We are not in the business of promoting instability. We will continue to maintain political stability in this government.”

 

 

Treasurer lauds achievements

TREASURER and Finance Minister Peter O’Neill said the country continues to enjoy economic growth and stability and that his People’s National Congress will support the government in its work, The National reports.

Now in the economic driver’s position himself, O’Neill said following eight years of economic growth, it was forecasted that the economy would grow by 8% this year.

He said support must be given because there was US$3 billion in foreign reserves today, enough to cover imports for up to 16 months.

“This compares with reserves in 2002 which were sufficient to cover imports for only two months, a rather desperate situation back then.”

O’Neill said under this government’s watch, interest rates had dropped from unsustainable highs of 27-28% down to a manageable 7%.

“Foreign debt had been reduced from about 70% of gross domestic product down to less than 25%.”

He said the opposition could use its democratic rights to move a motion of no-confidence, but it had no alternate policies.

“As far as we are concerned, the only government that has come up with credible policies has also put in place plans that are deliverable.

“This year, we will channel K4 billion in the development budget for the first time to drive the economy of PNG.

“We have invested heavily in key infrastructures such as roads that will drive the development of this country.

“We have invested in education. We have invested in health.” 

Planning and District Development Minister Paul Tiensten said aside from economic growth and a comprehensive set of plans, the Somare government had delivered the liquefied natural gas project.

He said without prior experience, the government had stitched together, in record time, a development agreement, a marketing and sales agreement and a top-notch financing plan for about K1.4 billion of the state’s portion.

He said the project would earn the country about K60 billion over its life and triple the budget.

“This country is banking on the LNG project. We do not want to give the wrong signals to the investors,” Tiensten said.

Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru added: “No responsible leader will want to change government when the country is experiencing sustained growth.”

 

Kalaut: Report on trade is for safety

By EVAH KUAMIN

 

EAST New Britain’s top cop Supt Sylvester Kalaut has qualified statements he made in The National on Monday concerning local women in Rabaul boarding fishing vessels, The National reports.

Kalaut said he came out in the media as the legitimate law and order authority in the province.

His rationale in raising the concerns were done for the public’s safety reasons as well as a means of being proactive in reducing crimes, which he added had been of paramount concern to him as the senior police officer in the province.

Kalaut said from police reports that had been gathered in the province there had been cases that were found to be related to pornographic materials being exchanged for items by locals.

Kalaut confirmed there were also cases where women had been removed from the vessels, piracy in which locals who went into fishing vessels exchanged items with the crew and made away with K5, 000 cash, stolen from the crew of one of the vessels.

 This incident he said occurred last month.

“Police cannot just sit back and watch as we have had a high number of guns that have entered the country through illegal means,” Kalaut said.

He said recently they confiscated an automatic shot gun capable of firing 12 shot gun rounds.

Kalaut explained that he had also raised the concern because of the likely law and order issues that could arise when the locals were conducting such illegal trading with the crews of the vessels.

He said though he understood the fact that what they had been doing was to help sustain themselves but the other side should not be ignored.

What needed to be understood was the safety of the public trading with the crews of the fishing vessels could not be guaranteed safe, he said.

Kalaut questioned that people’s safety, especially the locals were at risk because accidents could occur and sometimes cases could be fatal.

On Wednesday he had gone to Simpson Harbour and saw the locals conducting their usual trade with the locals.

He asked who had authorised them to board the fishing vessels and whether it was the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) or Customs officers.

Kalaut said the locals must respect the law of the country.

He said if they needed to trade with the crews of the vessels, then it ought to be through the agents of the fishing vessels and not through direct means.

 

 

Rains at peak, says weather office

By ALISON ANIS

 

THE worst of the wet season for Papua New Guinea is not over, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Port Moresby indicated yesterday, The National reports.

NWS’ forecasting and warning office acting director Jimmy Gomoga said the wet season peaks around February and March.

“At this time, it is most likely that most parts of the country will receive above normal rainfall and flooding is likely to occur,” Gomoga said in response to questions sent via email.

He also confirmed that flash floods that were currently experienced in Central and other parts of the southern coast were a result of Cylone Tasha in Queensland, coupled with favourable atmospheric temperatures and the La Nina conditions.

Gomoga said the condition appeared to be persistent until the end of the first quarter of this year.

“We are well into the wet season and northwest monsoon is now well established across the country. With current conditions La Nina continues to remain firm across the tropical Pacific, though the majority of long-range models surveyed by NWS suggest this event may be near its peak,” Gomoga said.

He said while gradual decline was likely, it was expected that the current La Nina event would persist through the first quarter of the year.

He said that sea surface temperatures had been 4°C cooler than normal compared to the La Nina event of 1988.

Gomoga explained that La Nina periods were generally associated with warmer than normal night time temperatures.

The weather office also warned that a likely occurrence of a tropical cyclone for the Solomon and Coral seas was typically higher than expected during the cyclone season (November-May) with an average rainfall across the country.

Gomoga said the total rainfall recorded for Port Moresby for the month of December was 156.8mm with 14.8mm on Christmas Eve.

A total of 53.2mm of rainfall was recorded on New Year.

Gomoga said, so far 93mm of rain was recorded for January in Port Moresby,” he said.