Lessons from the 1991 South Pacific Games

In light of the Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture, and the forthcoming PNG Games in November and Pacific Games next July, we should take some lessons from the past. 
Last November, while back home in Lae, I had a long discussion with 1991 SP Games chairman and former Lae MP Bart Philemon (that's us pictured) about the lessons we can learn for 2015. 

Philemon, who spearheaded the most-successful games ever at a cost of only K30 million (and refused a knighthood for it), says it is imperative that facilities and athletes are prepared in time for the K1 billion 2015 games in Port Moresby.
“Our main concentration for the (1991) Games was to get the venues ready, and making sure that athletes were well trained for the games,” Philemon told me.
“If these (2015) Games are going to be successful in terms of most medals won by Papua New Guinea, they should by now have already started down the road of engaging experts to come and help athletes with their training and so forth.
“Seek opportunities to engage athletes in competitions that are overseas to expose them to the level of international competitiveness.
“We won 94 medals – gold, silver and bronze - which is the most medals won ever since the Games started and the last time that we (PNG) won that number of medals.
“We’ve got about 18 months to go.
“This is the time we should really concentrate on individuals in individual sports who have potential to win medals, and also concentrate on team sports that have proven to be high-competitive in terms of winning medals.
Philemon emphasised the importance of the games village and venues done well in time.
“We can’t afford not to have the games village ready in time, “he said.
“The main venues should be ready early so that teams have the advantage of getting used to using those venues in preparation for the games.”
Philemon recalled that back in 1991, the Games cost just K30 million, with sponsorships being both in cash and kind.
“The national government contribution was only K3 million,” he said,
“We raised K12 million through corporate sponsorship.
“Of course, we had K600, 000 for Team PNG through Porgera Joint Venture two years before the Games.
“That assisted Team PNG greatly in terms of engaging coaches from outside to come in and train the national teams to compete in competitions overseas to prepare them for the 1991games.
“Kina was much stronger then, it was stronger than US and Australian dollars, so that assisted us in staging the games much cheaper than now.
“We had two main stadiums because the Games were split into two venues, one in Lae and one in Port Moresby.
“The one in Port Moresby, Sir John Guise Stadium, was funded separately by the Chinese government and the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae was funded through Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).”

Japan's Abe pledges 20 Billion Yen development assistance for Papua New Guinea

Jiji Press

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday Japan will provide 20 billion yen in official development assistance to Papua New Guinea over the next three years. 

Abe's ODA pledge came as he met with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in Port Moresby on Thursday.

Japan is willing to help Papua New Guinea develop human resources and improve infrastructure for disaster prevention, Abe told O'Neill.

 In the meeting, Abe explained about reinterpretation of the Japanese constitution his government has made to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense. O'Neill supported the move.

Abe sought Papua New Guinea's cooperation for recovering the remains of Japanese nationals, chiefly soldiers, who died in the Oceanian country during World War II. O'Neill assured continued cooperation.

Vodafone expands to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands

 By Anne Morris

Fierce Wireless Europe

Vodafone is extending its business activities to the somewhat exotic regions of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, after forming a non-equity arrangement with a local player.
The UK-based group said it has signed an exclusive partner market agreement with bemobile Limited, which trades as bemobile. The two operators will in future collaborate on the sale of a range of products and services to businesses and consumers.
For bemobile, the deal means its customers will be able to roam onto Vodafone's global network and gain access to a wider range of services as well as Vodafone best practices.
In turn, Vodafone's multinational corporate customers will benefit from the addition of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to their existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact.
"This strategic partnership with bmobile will enable us to expand our presence in Asia Pacific and extend the reach of our products and services across the region. It will also deliver enhanced roaming benefits for both our consumer and multinational corporate customers," said Stefano Gastaut, CEO of Vodafone Partner Markets.
According to the World Bank, the introduction of mobile competition in Papua New Guinea in 2007 saw a dramatic rise in the number of people who were able to afford a mobile phone for the first time.
A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) from January this year said around 2.7 million out of the country's total population of 7.2 million people now have a mobile phone. This number has risen from around 75,000 in 2005 and has been driven in part by the country's extremely poor fixed-line infrastructure.
"Although mobile reception is generally reliable, mobile data coverage is not. This, coupled with the extremely high cost of fixed-line and Internet connectivity, has left PNG with a single-figure Internet penetration rate," the EIU report added.
A BuddeComm report on the Papua New Guinea market that was last updated in January also noted that the country's three mobile network operators have increased accessibility to the mobile network from less than 3 per cent population availability to more that 80 per cent in less than a decade.
bmobile, which was acquired by the Government of Papua New Guinea through an 85 per cent shareholding in October 2013, competes with Citifon, which is owned by the country's only fixed-line operator Telikom Papua New Guinea (Telikom PNG), and Digicel.
Telikom originally owned bemobile, which was also the country's first mobile operator. The two companies have been separate entities since 2008, according to Telikom information.

Thousands greet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he visits a World War II battlefield in PNG

By Jemima Garrett and PNG correspondent Liam Cochrane and staff 

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited a Second World War battlefield in East Sepik Province as part of his two-day state visit to Papua New Guinea.

Thousands of people greeted his party as they flew in to the provincial capital Wewak before travelling to the peace memorial and the Brandi battlefield.
3,000 school children lined the streets in their uniforms to welcome Mr Abe and his large entourage.
The Aitape-Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns in the Pacific theatre of World War II.
It is the first time in 29 years that a Japanese prime minister has travelled to PNG and Mr Abe was joined by a 150-strong business delegation.
Mr Abe met his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill and key government ministers in Port Moresby on Thursday.
Jenny Hayward-Jones, director of the Myer Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute, says Mr Abe's visit is intended as a reminder of Japan's role in the region.
"This visit is a big signal to the region, and also to China, that Japan still has a stake in the region," she said.
"Its trade and investment interests are strong, and it has a political interest if its prime minister is prepared to spend two days in PNG and bring a huge delegation with him."
Earlier this week Mr Abe used a speech to the Australian parliament to remind his audience of Japan's long-standing links with PNG.

Horrors of war must never be repeated, says Japanese

AFP

PORT MORESBY: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Friday said the horrors of war must never be repeated as he visited a World War II battlefield in Pacific nation Papua New Guinea.
As many as 200,000 Japanese soldiers died during the brutal New Guinea campaign and Abe headed to the northern town of Wewak to honour all those who perished, where he was greeted by thousands of well-wishers.
He was also due to visit Cape Wom, the site of the Japanese Army’s surrender in PNG on the final day of a Pacific swing that also took him to New Zealand and Australia.
“We must not repeat the horrors of the war,” he said after laying flowers at a memorial, the Kyodo News agency reported.
“I pledged in front of the spirits of the war dead that Japan wants to be a country that thinks about world peace with its friends in Asia and around the world.”
His comments come at a time of heightened regional tension over Japan’s wartime record, with China and South Korea in particular raising concerns that Abe’s right-wing government is failing to face up to the country’s history of aggression.
Both China and South Korea were the object of Japan’s imperialist aggression in the 20th century and were outraged last year when Abe paid homage at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which honours war dead including several high-level officials executed for war crimes after World War II.
Japan’s use of sex slaves during its colonial expansion across Asia also still rankles China and South Korea.
While mainstream Japanese opinion holds that the wartime government was culpable, a small but vocal tranche of the political right – including Abe – continues to cast doubt, claiming the brothels were staffed by professional prostitutes.
Abe’s comments in PNG echoed those made in Australia during a historic address to a joint sitting of parliament in which he said Japan “is determined to do more to enhance peace in the region and peace in the world”.
The remarks came just days after Japan relaxed restrictions on the use of its armed forces in a controversial change in military policy that irked China.
Tokyo has formally endorsed a reinterpretation of a constitutional clause banning the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances. — AFP

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/07/12/horrors-of-war-must-never-be-repeated-says-japanese/#ixzz37IM65F2J

Abe returns home after visiting New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea

Global Post

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to Japan on Saturday after making a weeklong three-nation tour of New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

During the trip, Abe held summit talks with the prime ministers of each country -- New Zealand's John Key, Australia's Tony Abbott and Papua New Guinea's Peter O'Neill -- over such topics as trade and security.

==Kyodo

For a cleaner and safer Port Moresby

I received this note and picture from my good mate, Ron Gawi, who concurs with me on a cleaner and safer Port Moresby and PNG for all:

"Good afternoon bro. I continue to support you on your efforts at raising awareness on the state of filthiness of Port Moresby especially 'buai pekpek'. 
"See attached picture of a distasteful indecent graffiti painted across a fence opposite the Weigh Inn Hotel in Konedobu and can be seen going downhill from Burns Peak as you are passing the RPNGC headquarters looking straight ahead to the left and on a corrugated iron fence. 
"This repugnant graffiti has been there for many months and nobody seem to care or have any sense of decency, least of all NCDC to get do something about this disgraceful vandalism seen by the travelling public including overseas visitors.
"As a decent citizen, I will buy a can of grey spray paint this weekend and rid the wall of this embarrassing graffiti. 
"But my concern is who is responsible for this type of corrective actions ?
"Have a good weekend.

"Ron Gawi."