Police farewell late Jim Namora

POLICE MEDIA

The senior hierarchy of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) including Commissioner Gari Baki and Minister Jelta Wong paid their last respects in a moving funeral ceremony for the late Director of the Special Services Division Chief Superintendent Jim Namora.

The body of Jim Namora at the funeral service last Friday.

The constabulary has lost a talented officer in Namora, Baki said during the funeral service at Sioni Kami Memorial Church at 5-Mile in Port Moresby last Friday.
“I  have lost a good man and a talented police officer who commanded a lot of respect," he said.
"I have lost an officer who had the potential to go even further.
"We mourn his loss with his family.
“Late Namora had a very colourful history.
"When he was posted in the Western Highlands Province  in 1982, I was squad commander in Wabag, in the Enga Province.
"That was my last posting before I was posted to Lae, Morobe Province,  as a Mobile Squad commander.
“The Special Services Division would always be in my heart because that was where we grew up.
"That was the division that brought me as commissioner and to be a man.
"Jim is also one of the officers who has been groomed by the SSD."
Baki said he decided to take Namora out of West New Britain as the provincial police commander to be Director Special Services, because he was the best officer for the position at that time.
He said Namora accepted his appointments without any complaints at all.
Baki said Namora had left behind a legacy that was hard to fill "and we would be struggling to try as much as possible from where he has left for the RPNGC".
Wong said he wantedf all new recruits to have similar attitudes and character to policing as Namora.
He thanked family members of Namora for allowing him to serve the country.
Assistant commissioner Sylvester Kalaut, head of the police human resources division, joined the police force in 1996.
He said in his squad,  Namora was a serving member who came in from Mt Hagen where he has served as a sergeant in charge of a Mt Hagen-based mobile squad.
Kalaut said Namora was a mentor to other squad members and provided encouragement when needed.
“We will miss him for his encouragement and corporation,” Kalaut said.
Namora’s daughter Whinonh Namora paid an emotional tribute to her father whom she said loved his job as a policeman.
She said to her father, policing was a calling from God and not just a job.
Whinonh said while her father dedicated his life to the police force, he never gave up caring for his family no matter where he lived or where his duties took him.
  “He was always helpful and always tried to satisfy people with whatever little he has," she said.
"He was our guide, protector and provider and will be surely missed."
Namora’s body was take over the weekend to be laid to rest at his village in the Transgogol area of Madang Province.

Drunk soldiers attack innocent doctor in Port Moresby

Drunk PNG Defence Force soldiers attacked an innocent doctor in Port Moresby last Saturday.
This is the latest episode of an army which makes war against its own people, and in a year in which the country is hosting APEC
Port Moresby General Hospital Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Training Registrar Dr Dean Wahembari, was attacked by a group of soldiers, one of which he has identified as Desmond Dusava.
National Doctors' Association president Dr James Naipao has written to NCD Police Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N'Dranou complaining about the brutality.
The letter has also been sent to PNGDF Commander Gilbert  Toropo, Police Commissioner Gari Baki, Health Secretary Pascoe Kase, Port Moresby General Hospital CEO Dr Umesh Gupta, and doctors throughout the country.
Naipao, who is also Chief ENT Surgeon of Department of Health, wants the soldiers responsible to be arrested and charged.
Naipao said last Saturday Wahembari, after attending to inpatients at Port Moresby General Hospital,  drove to North Waigani after picking his wife to pick up their son at a friend’s house.
"By 6.30pm, Dr Wahembari drove and parked his car next to his colleague’s house gate," Naipao said.
"He could hear noise and people talking from the neighboring house.
"After five minutes, a group of people numbering six or so that were in that neighboring house, walked up to the doctor’s front gate where Dr Wahembari was standing to pick up his son.
"All started throwing punches at him.
"At Dr Wahembari’s surprise, he knew one of the person that attacked him.
"His name is Desmond Dusava, who is a private soldier in the Defence Force.
" Dr Wahembari asked Desmond why he was punching him, however, this group who were intoxicated from alcohol kept throwing punches and dragged him to the main road, punched him down and started kicking him with solid boots.
"The last he could remember is a bottle being smashed into his head.
"He become unconscious only to awoken with continuous slapping with sandals and boots to his face.
"Dr Wahembari’s wife tried her best telling this group to stop but the kicking and the punching continued.
"Whilst continuing the attack, Dr Wahembari overheard Desmond mentioning something about his late father - Otto Dusava -  who was managed by ENT Team at Port Moresby General Hospital.
"Dr Wahembari got to his feet bleeding from his face and with the help of his colleague’s father, he was taken inside his colleague’s residence.
" For a while, he was imprisoned there unable to go to the hospital and seek police help because of continuous threats and use of obscene languages by Desmond and his mob.
"At around 8.30pm, a police dog unit arrived at the scene but the policemen in that vehicle knew the mob so did nothing. "Dr Wahembari later called a policeman who arrived in an unmarked operational police vehicle and helped him to his vehicle.
"He took Desmond to Waigani Police Station around 9.30pm.
"While at the police station, Desmond kept threatening Dr Wahembari and his wife.
"He (Desmond) thinks that his late father was mismanaged by the ENT Team at Port Moresby General Hospital.
"Dr Wahembari from Waigani Police Station was rushed to Port Moresby General Hospital that night, and he is currently admitted at the hospital with trauma to his right eye with loss of vision, has fracture of the nose, and has global headache.
"The names of the mob are known by Dr  Wahembari, and these names have been given to police.
"The five are soldiers who were in civilian clothes when they attacked Dr Wahembari. "The sixth person is at large.
"Desmond was, however, released that night.
"Why did police did that?
"NCD Metropolitan Superintendent-Perou N’Dranou, the attack on the doctor seems premeditated and it was about to happen anytime, and it did.
"The complainant Dr Wahembari has laid the complaint with police, witnesses have written their statements and the suspects names have been identified except for one. "These suspects needed to be rounded up, charged and brought before the courts. "They do not deserve to serve the PNG Defence Force.
"If Desmond was not satisfied with how his late father’s case was managed by the ENT Team at Port Moresby General Hospital, then there are proper ways to handle this case than how he and his mob went about attacking the doctor.
"Dr Wahembari is my Training Registrar and the final decision on how his late father Otto Dusava’s case was managed rests on the lead team head which was me.
"His father presented with stage 4 cancer of the tongue, which was extensive and inoperable.
"Even chemoradiation treatment wouldn’t have cured it.
"He was palliatively managed.
"He went to Philippines for palliative chemoradiation.
"He returned and got admitted to the intermediate ward at Port Moresby General Hospital and was still managed palliatively until he passed on.
"Should Desmond blame the ENT Team for his father’s late presentation?
"That is not ENT’s fault.
"Period.
"Desmond’s rage and attack on the innocent doctor is uncalled for.
" Police must apprehend this mob and let them tell the court why they did what they did.
"The ENT Staff at Port Moresby General Hospital is also wary that this uncanny thug Desmond may be on the lookout for them too.
"Dr Dean Wahembari is a member of the National Doctors Association."
The demand of the National Doctors Association is:

• Desmond Dusava and the five be arrested and brought to court. This must be done within 10 days starting May 22;
•  PNG Defence Force to assist apprehend the five soldiers and hand over them to police.

Failure to arrest Desmond and the five would result in the following:

• Stopwork by Port Moresby General Hospital ENT staff; 
• Stopwork by Port Moresby General Hospital staff; and
• Stopwork by National Doctors' Association membership nationwide

Naipao said their demands would stand "until this mob is dealt with by the force of the law".

US report warns about China's 'debt book diplomacy'

aninews.in | May 20, 2018

Washington D.C. [United States of America], May 20 (ANI): The U.S. State Department, has in a secret report commissioned by it recently, warned that China is offering a hundred billion dollars worth of loans to Australia's smaller regional neighbours in a bid to gain economic leverage and strategic and military prowess in the Asia Pacific region.

According to an article published by the Australian Financial Review (AFR), at least 16 states, including Vanuatu, The Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tonga and Micronesia and Papua New Guinea are falling for China's so-called "debt book diplomacy".
For example, the AFR article cites the case of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Historically, it has been in Australia's orbit, and now, news is in circulation that it has accepted Chinese loans that it possibly cannot afford to repay.
What concerns both Washington and Canberra is the fact that PNG is strategically located in the Asia-Pacific region and has significant liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other resource reserves which Beijing could have access to in the long term.
The AFR quotes co-author and Harvard researcher Sam Parker, as saying, "China is giving hundreds of billions to countries that cannot afford to repay it, and it's going to want something in return for that money."
He adds, "China's public-private economic model makes it possible to transform economic debt into strategic influence and wealth."
According to the State Department commissioned secret report, China is spreading its wings in the Asia-Pacific region and is well on its way to ousting the United States as a power to be reckoned with in the region.
Taking advantage of President Donald Trump's lack of economic commitment to the region, Beijing has been providing infrastructure financing to countries through the one trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), using institutions like the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank.
The State Department commissioned report warns that this "debt book diplomacy is likely to play a key role in China's multi-faceted campaign to erode strategic benefits" from America and its allies and shift the balance of power in Asia.
Vanuatu is already "deep in debt" to China and now the latter "is positioning itself to capitalise on the impending fiscal plight of the Pacific Island states," the document states.
Last month, Fairfax Media reported that China held tentative talks with Vanuatu over the construction of a military base for naval vessels in the South Pacific Ocean less than 2,000 kilometers from Australia.
China and Vanuatu both denied that any plans were in progress, but Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his National Security and Defense Spokesman Richard Marles have taken this claim seriously.
Turnbull has warned Beijing that Australia will strongly object to a Chinese military base coming up in the South Pacific over fears that it could endanger regional peace.
Last month, he is reported to have sought reassurance from Vanuatu's Prime Minister Charlot Salwai that a China-funded port would never be used as a military base in his country.
American and Australian security experts fear that China's economic influence on Pacific nations could allow the Chinese military access to strategic defense infrastructure such as ports and airstrips near international waterways patrolled presently by the US Navy.
Andrew Shearer, a former National Security Advisor to Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, believes that the threat from China is real and risky, and must not be ignored.
He cites the example of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and how Beijing has been able to secure a 99-year-long lease to manage the port's operations because of Colombo's inability to pay off a USD 8 billion loan that it took from China-controlled companies.
"The establishment of a military base in one of the key islands near our northern approaches would be a major problem for Australia," said Shearer, now a Senior Advisor for Asia-Pacific Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"Australia remains an influential country in the region and an important source of support, but should step up its engagement and co-ordinate its efforts with other partners such as New Zealand, Japan and the United States."
China has poured money into Pakistan's Gwadar Port. It has invested in 760 projects in Laos. There are many examples of China using its overpowering economic muscle in countries like South Korea and The Philiippines in the year gone by.
Beijing, according to the AFR article, is posing a challenge to traditional Western financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
It quotes David Lampton, Director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, as saying that "China is financing a mix of "good and bad" belt and road infrastructure projects."
At the same time, he also says, "In fact, many Chinese are worried that China is throwing money into hopeless projects."
China's debt has ballooned from 141 percent in 2008 to more than 250 percent of GDP.
"I believe China is taking a 30-year perspective. The Chinese are likely to write off much, but at a strategic level, they believe that once this infrastructure is created, it will be theirs to reorienting production chains as labor costs rise and the flow of assets towards China," Lampton adds.
The State Department report recommends that Australia, India, Japan, and the United States engage in a joint dialogue I which New Delhi's role as a regional leader is strengthened to ensure rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
It also suggests that Washington extend support to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a bargaining chip to make China a more responsible lender.

(ANI with inputs)

PM O'Neill: Economic growth comes from inclusive spproach

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has highlighted the importance of ensuring countries draw on their own internal strengths and capabilities and build partnerships in order to enhance economic development.
O’Neill was speaking at the Eight Pacific Islands Leaders’ Meeting (PALM 8) on Saturday in Iwaki City, in Japan, where he said co-operation is essential but countries must take charge of their own responsibilities.
“While overseas assistance plays an important role in achieving our development goals, we must rely more on ourselves,” he said at the PALM8 Meeting.
“Driving our own economic growth is fundamental to the development in our country.
“And as we have learned in Papua New Guinea, economic growth must be inclusive.
“This is an essential part of APEC in 2018 that has the theme of Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future.
“Delivering true economic growth is all about building partnerships across the country.
“Government cannot advance an economy alone and we must work with the private sector, NGOs and churches to achieve better health outcomes for our people.
“This is particularly important in delivering the foundations for any healthy economy, particularly such as sectors including education and healthcare.
“We must look at better ways to enhance cooperation in the fields of healthcare, including the way we deal with infectious diseases.
“This includes the fight against tuberculosis through the provision of medical equipment and better communication.
“PALM, since its inception in 1997, has contributed to critical key development areas in infrastructure, education, health and transportation."
O'Neill further welcomed the proposed PALM Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy that aims to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
“This is based on values we all share and the three pillars of the strategy are consistent with our policy agenda.
“These include the Pursuit of economic prosperity and Commitment to peace and stability," he said.

Papua New Guinea states position on North Korea and UN reform

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has highlighted Papua New Guinea’s position on significant regional and global foreign policy issues at the meeting of Pacific Leaders in Japan.
Speaking at the Eight Pacific Islands Leaders‘ Meeting (PALM 8), he highlighted the Government’s position in relation to tensions on the Korean Peninsula and reform of the United Nations Security Council.
“There is no doubt the we live in complicated times in the global political context,” O'Neill said.
“There have been changes in the leadership of a number of governments, the Brexit vote and conflict in Syria with all of its human rights ramifications, just to name a few.
“It is times like these that Nation States must work together through global forums.
“We must work through the United Nations, but we know the UN system has its flaws and is need of reform.
“In particular, Papua New Guinea calls for reforms in the United Nations Security Council so that it is more relevant and responsive to security challenges that are faced in the world today.”
Leaders at PALM8 further discussed tensions with North Korea and the implications this has at a regional level.
“A crucial issue the world is dealing with today is finding a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," O'Neill said
“If conflict was to return there would be serious implications for all nations of the Asia-Pacific.
“For many decades, the leadership of North Korea have acted in a deeply disturbing manner and violated acceptable rules of behaviour and decency. 
“Papua New Guinea further shares the concerns of the International Community over nuclear tests by North Korea.
“Our PALM host, Japan, is further facing an ongoing threat of conflict and the risks posed by missile tests.
“We also know of Japanese citizens being abducted, which is a violation of human rights and we support Japan in dealing with this matter.
“Papua New Guinea welcomes current negotiations taking place as a means to successfully address the Korean Peninsula issue.
“We must always work together and find political solutions in order to prevent war.”

Japan, Pacific island nations urge North Korea to denuclearise

mainichi.jp | May 19, 2018 


IWAKI, Japan (Kyodo) -- Japan and Pacific island countries on Saturday called on North Korea to take concrete actions toward denuclearisation by complying with United Nations' sanctions over its nuclear and missile development, as they wrapped up a two-day summit meeting in northeastern Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Mainichi)

In the joint declaration released after the gathering in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and leaders from 14 Pacific island countries expressed deep concerns over the North evading international sanctions by transferring cargoes at sea.

It is the first time for Japan and the Pacific island countries to mention the North Korean issue in their declaration. Japan has hosted a regional summit with the Pacific island nations every three years since 1997.

The participants at the eight Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting also noted the importance of the complete, verifiable and irreversible scrapping of all of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, while stressing the need of an immediate resolution of the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

The declaration also touched on the importance of the maritime order based on the rule of law and welcomed the "free and open Indo-Pacific strategy," a policy the Abe administration has pushed ahead with in an apparent effort to counter the growing maritime assertiveness of China.

In a keynote speech at the outset of the summit, Abe pledged to support Pacific island countries in enhancing their maritime security capabilities, given their vulnerable coastal security.

"Japan will be unstinting in its assistance toward improving countries' capacity to 'protect the sea,' including each country's legal enforcement capabilities," Abe said.

"It is the rule of law that gives protection to the nations, big and small, for their inherent rights," he said.

"Safeguarding the sea and safeguarding the planet and humankind are one and the same. My country will continue to make efforts with you all," Abe added.

The summit also focused on building infrastructure, including ports.

To support their sustainable development, Abe promised continued assistance to the island nations to protect the environment and cope with climate change.

Abe also vowed Japan's engagement in human resource development and people-to-people exchanges involving 4,000 people over the next three years.

The forum brings together Japan, the 14 Pacific island nations, Australia and New Zealand, as well as French Polynesia and New Caledonia, both of which are French territories.

The 14 Pacific island countries are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The previous meeting also took place in Iwaki, an area in northeastern Japan devastated by the massive 2011 earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi co-chaired the meeting with Abe.

Japanese WWII veteran working to bring fallen soldiers back to their homeland

18 May 2018

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has paid tribute to Japanese World War II veteran, Masai Horie, who works to recover the remains of Japanese soldiers and bring them back to Japan.

Prime Minister O’Neill, Horie and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Horie, who was prisoner-of-war in Rabaul in 1945, is 103 years old, has traveled to Papua New Guinea 18 times and is a former member of parliament in Japan.
“It was an honour to meet Mr Horie tonight,” O’Neill said.
“His tireless efforts to bring his countrymen home is outstanding and has earned him the highest respect in both of our countries.
"Papua New Guinea is the final resting place of so many courageous men and women from both sides of the war.
“Our nation will always accord the highest respect to those still buried in our soil.
“We will continue to work closely with Japan in their efforts to repatriate the remains of the fallen, and return them to their homeland."