Of Papua New Guinea's nincompoops, looters and anarchists

BY ALFREDO HERNANDEZ

  

THE FACELESS anarchists of Papua New Guinea have spoken:

On December 31, New Year’s Eve, all trade shops like variety stores, mini-groceries, fast-food counters and the like which are owned and operated by Asians – Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Thais, Burmese, Bangladesh, Pakistanis, the Talibans, and many more that are just too many to enumerate here --- will go up in flames.

They will serve as their firecrackers and pyrotechnics to greet the coming of a better New Year – the year 2010.

It will be a new beginning for all of them, the dawning of the true business enterprises for Papua New Guinean grassroots – they, who have been deprived of jobs and business opportunities that are supposed to be theirs but have been stolen by Asian entrepreneurs.

And if they still have time and not yet too drunk to run around, and the police and the firefighters are still nowhere (maybe because of flat tires, empty gasoline tanks and dried up water tanks), they would also raze to the grounds Asian-owned business and high-financed Asian establishments in Port Moresby and in urban centers in the provinces.

After all these years, these businesses have become the menace of Papua New Guinea’s fragile society.

This wholesale conflagration is to end once and for all the presence of anything Asian in Papua New Guinea – the many Asian cultures, their alleged business corruption and influences.

The burning of Port Moresby and urban centers across the country will be second to none – not even the burning of Honiara in Solomon Islands in April 2006 which annihilated the country’s China Town during the two days of rioting and displaced thousands of Chinese residents could come close as far as destruction is concerned.

Pockets in the city and urban centers will glow like embers till the wee hours of the New Year’s Day.

The anarchists said they will do this because they have the solid backing of the Parliament – well, at least one of its parliamentary committees – the bipartisan committee now probing the Anti-Asian riots last May chaired by MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham (by the way, he was sacked yesterday after being perceived by the powers-that-be as being anti-Asian, a charged which he denied but for which many are inclined to believe).

The New Year’s Eve rampage, rioting and looting will be fully supported by all national NGOs; the prominent and patriotic PNG nationalists against Asian infiltration and corruption spreading throughout the country; the South Pacific Island countries against Asian transnational crimes and illegal business; and most of all, the Melanesian Spearhead Group of Nations.

Their funds will come from these allies; this is the only way they could carry out their own brand of anarchy in the city of Port Moresby, Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang, Goroka, Mt Hagen and many more where Asian businesses are to be found.

In a memo-email style advisory/warning that began circulating yesterday and addressed to “ALL ASIAN COTTAGE BUSINESS OWNERS IN PNG, with Subject: All Asian-Owned Cottage Businesses Must Cease by 31 December 2009, the anarchists stressed this “is not a petition to the National Government or the Asians … it’s a simple instruction with a due date which is 31 December 2009.

“That will be the only solution. Forget the government. If it can’t do it, we will do it ourselves … no need to buy candlesticks on New Year’s Eve. Honiara did it … we can do it in PNG!”

The day of your hell is coming, amen.

Well, it’s not surprising.

They are banking on the expected findings of Maxton-Graham committee that the presence of Asians in the country is the one causing all the ills of the society – from prostitution, business-influenced corruption in all government levels, economic deprivation of the grassroots and stealing from the hands of the no-read-no-write locals the opportunity to run shops and variety stores which are right now being profitably operated by the Chinese, Malaysians and Indonesians. (There are no Filipinos in this area because they are here as professionals, experts and skilled workforce working with proper documents.)

The anarchists’ bone of contention is that “the inflow of illegal Asians are stealing business opportunities and jobs from helpless Papua New Guineans … it’s costing the country simple store-keeper jobs and denying the privilege of simple citizens by owning these businesses.

“Competition among the Asian themselves has left not a chance for would-be local entrepreneurs. One just simply needs to walk down the street corner stores at Gerehu and Erima (in Port Moresby), Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae, Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang.

“In every one of these locations, you will see a takka box (tucker shop) store being managed by three to four odd-looking Asians who can’t even speak proper pidgin, let alone English! What the hell is happening with the laws of this country?”

Wait! Wait! Hold it right there! It appears now that the brains behind this anarchic movement are no brains at all, if you want to know the truth.

For long, long years, Papua New Guineans had been given all the chances to take up all sorts of business activities reserved for them under the law.

This included the so called cottage industry, which, according to my dictionary, is defined as “small-scale industry that can be carried on at home by family members using their own equipment”.

But they did not bother to take advantage of this opportunity. There were simply no takers.

Why? Firstly, they don’t have the initiative and aptitude to run such kind of livelihood activities.

Secondly, they don’t have the business acumen for them to succeed.

Thirdly, they don’t have the capital to operate them, particularly shops such as variety stores, fast-food stores and the like. (By the definition of a cottage industry, takka shops are not included for obvious reason.)

But most of all, they are just too illiterate to understand the complexities of how such a business enterprise works.

No banks are inclined to lend them capital. Why? They just don’t trust them; the banks don’t feel they could successfully operate a bank-funded enterprise. Banks simply don’t want to risk their money to this group.

And even the so-called micro-finance banks now proliferating across the country are still hands-off when it comes to lending to this type of borrowers.

But first of all, this question: Who are these people being rallied upon by the anarchists to assert their rights to their rightful place in the national economy by burning down Asian business enterprises?

Judging from the whole-scale rioting last May in Port Moresby, Goroka and other urban centers, the protesters-rioters-looters were none other that the community scum, raskols, murderers, rapists, drug addicts, drunkards and simply hangers-on, the unschooled and the perennial jobless.

I don’t think they are interested in running their own businesses like that of the Chinese, and thus make themselves self-sufficient or economically-sufficient. I don’t think they really understand what the so-called “reserve business opportunities” means.

For all you know, they are just the usual dole-out crowd waiting for the government to come and drop onto their laps the goodies.

What they know is that they got to have some kina for their betel nuts, homebrew, marijuana and alcohol. They’re not interested in really sweating it out to eke out a decent living with which to feed their wives and kids.

Because if they do, how come they did not open up takka shops long before the Chinese began populating PNG and start running their trade stores, their fast-food shops and the like?

The Chinese did not steal from the locals.

Instead, they poured in their money into the local economy to operate a business, and created a market that has kept the community alive. They created some business opportunities for some enterprising locals like farmers and livestock raisers. They created a market within which the exchange of goods and services became possible, something non-existent before their coming.

The Chinese are so good at this that they can survive even in the harshest environment and make their business succeed and expand.

If the Chinese entrepreneurs did not come, I can bet that there would be no stores operating until now in these critical areas.

It is very clear that it is these faceless anarchists who actually want to steal from the Chinese. And they will do this on New Year’s Eve by looting their stores and help themselves to whatever is there for the taking while the city burns.

They will do this because they want to outdo what the Honiara looters/rioters did to the Chinese businesses there in April 2006.

But I can bet my ball that not one of them would succeed as the Chinese do in running that business, simply because they don’t have the brains for this.

There are many small Papua New Guineans who are very successful in their own line of business. They never thought of making the Chinese entrepreneurs redundant because they know that on their own perseverance and sheer industry, they would make it.

Take the case of those industrious vegetable and fruit growers who are raking in profits everyday from sales of their fresh produce that are reaching wide market across the country, the biggest of which is Port Moresby.

They are very good at what they do that the local market relies on them for daily supplies of fresh veggies. These are the people that the PNG economy badly needs and not those who want to take over Chinese enterprises.

Why can’t the anarchists tell their unschooled followers that they have better chances of success if they work the land instead?

The trouble with these nincompoops is that they are only after the money in the cash box at the Chinese takka shop and that they are not willing to stretch their bones, to sweat out under the sun and to flex their muscles and work the land.

I don’t mind if police would order a shoot-to-kill against them at their first attempt to torch one legitimate Asian-owned takka shop.

The New Year’s Eve plot would be their biggest mistake because no peace-loving person would come out to glorify them as heroes or nationalists.

To the city residents, they are just gutter rats, opportunists and plain nuisance that should be consigned to Bomana jail.

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg  

alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg   

To see the original web posting, please visit http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=903:of-pngs-nincompoops-looters-and-anarchists&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117

 

The Falcon has landed!

The Papua New Guinea Government’s controversial Falcon 900Ex aircraft landed at Jackson’s International airport in Port Moresby yesterday.

The aircraft, fitted with an inbuilt conference facility, modern entertainment, and an interior tailor made to suit the avid modern traveler, touched down just before 11am after an eight-hour 20 minute flight at 41,000 feet across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu in Hawaii.

Built in France by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft in its “green state” was flown to Little Rock in Arkansas where it was prepared for Air Niugini at a cost of US$40 million, which included the interior, avionics, cabinet making, and entertainment and specified paint scheme amongst other things.

It also has cameras fitted on it to aid in bad weather

The aircraft has a five year warranty and during that time, any changes in the Falcon range will also be made to P2-ANW as it’s registered under.

It will be leased to the Government as well as private sector organisations and individuals for hire.

The aircraft is powered by three Honeywell TFE31-60 turbo fan engines and has the capacity of carrying 12 passengers in a standard configuration.

It is the finest in its class; with its classic tri-jet engines design, it can land at smaller airports and fly at high attitudes, even on hot days.

It is designed to fly 4,500 nautical miles non-stop.

Only for the lexophiles

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

 Some new ones, some old....
1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
 20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
 24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine .
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
 27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.   
30. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
31. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
32. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
33. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
34. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
35. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
36. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
37. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
38. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
39. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
40. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'
 41. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
42. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
43. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse
said, 'No change yet.'
44. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
45. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.  
46. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

Natural enemies of green scales

Caption: Ladybird…a local natural enemy of coffee green scale.-Picture courtesy of CIC

 

 By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 

 Biological controls are the way to go in minimising the spread of coffee green scale (CGS) affecting the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea.

Research conducted by the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) funded under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on CGS showed that most smallholder coffee farmers lived with the pest or ignored the problem due to limited knowledge on its control.

But the good news is that biological controls or natural enemies of the coffee pest are being reared under quarantine and others have been released into the field to control CGS.

The existence and effect of local natural enemies such as the ladybird (Metaphycus baruensis, and verticillium lecanii) on the CGS remains minimal.

According to technical experts on the study, this was caused by a variety of biophysical factors in the environment where the organisms existed and also due to local hyper-parasites and ants that protected the scales.

Another natural enemy, the wasp (Diversinervus stramineus), brought in from Australia to be released for CGS control, is currently being reared under quarantine.  

Other control measures are cultural and chemical measures.

Cultural measures include intercropping coffee with pumpkin.

Pumpkin attracts the ladybird insects, which in turn would feed on the scales on the coffee plant.

Pruning and good coffee sanitation is also a way to control CGS.

Another option is to increase shade level.

The level of shade appears to influence CGS infestation levels.

Where shade is high, CGS infestations are lower.

Some farmers apply chilli on the coffee crop to deter ants while others use soap water. Bonfires have also proven to keep ants away by creating smoke.

Chemical measures are usually applied in larger commercial coffee plantations and estates because they can afford it.

Farmers are prepared to take up relevant CGS control techniques if the cost is low in terms of money and time.

 

 

Green scales remain major coffee pest in Papua New Guinea

Caption:  Coffee green scale on the coffee crop. Ants facilitate the spread of scales. –Picture courtesy of CIC

 

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

 

Coffee green scale (CGS) is currently the most-serious pest affecting the industry in Papua New Guinea.

This was revealed during a project review meeting between the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Under the Australian Government, ACIAR funded a project on sustainable management of CGS in PNG undertaken by the CIC.

A major ecological survey under the project confirmed that CGS was most prevalent at 1500 metres above sea level.

Other surveys conducted by CIC showed that CGS was a major coffee pest and widespread in smallholder gardens.

The pest is widely distributed and present in most coffee growing areas, attacking both Arabica and Robusta coffee species.

Coffee green scales are soft-scale insects.

They are oval-shaped, flat and pale green in colour.

They are often associated with ants and sooty mould fungus.

The ants and fungus feed on the honeydew excreted by the scales.

The scales suck the sap of mature and young coffee trees.

In mature coffee trees, the scales and sooty mould affect the fruiting parts of coffee, while the young coffee trees have a reduced growth and eventually die due to heavy infestation.

Farmers can sustain coffee green scale infestation on the tree if infestation is at the lower and middle canopy level.

 However, if infestation reaches top canopy, the cost of sustaining the crop increases and the coffee tree is likely to die.

To combat CGS on the crop, biological controls of the pest have been introduced including some cultural measures in addition to conventional chemical controls.

Cultural, biological and chemical controls are essential for the management of this pest.

Cultural control involve pruning of the unwanted or targeted parts of the crop. Biological control is the release of natural enemies of green scale and chemical control requires the use of chemicals only on heavily invested coffee blocks.

Extensive research on CGS is being carried out by CIC in collaboration with national and international partners.

 An evaluation of exotic biological control agents and other potential control methods is being carried out also taking into account grower information.

 Based on the findings,  regional and national strategies would be developed for a implementation of CGS control.

Lutheran World Information update on final statement from regional consultation on climate change

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
LWI news online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html

FEATURE: Don't Cry Tears Lest They Ask for Water

Lutheran Churches Urged to Protect Communities Threatened by Climate Change

KAJIADO, Kenya/GENEVA, 22 November 2009 (LWI) – Safiel Kulei's simple statement goes to the heart of the plight of many of his neighbors hit by consecutive years of drought in Kenya.

"I had 88 cows. I sold 50. The rest died. I have nothing at the moment. I have since moved to town," said Kulei, a farmer who is an evangelist with the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC).

Kulei is a member of the Maasai community inhabiting southern Kenya and neighboring northern Tanzania. The people's lives and economy are centered on livestock especially cattle, which are accumulated as a sign of wealth, traded or sold to settle debts, and slaughtered selectively. Before the current rains began, nearly three running years of drought decimated the community's economic mainstay and livelihoods.

"As opposed to previous years, when the clouds formed, no rains fell," Kulei said when he welcomed participants in a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) African region consultation on climate change, food security and poverty. Delegates to the LWF conference had visited the KELC Olirium mission area in the southern district of Kajiado. "When children cried, they were told to make sure there were no tears since people may ask, 'Where did you get the water?'" he said, emphasizing the scarcity of water.

The final statement from the consultation on climate change, food security and poverty in Africa is posted on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Climate_Change_Nairobi_Statement-EN.pdf

Read the full feature article at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2440.EN.html

* * *
(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 68.9 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

Pacific Storms Brisbane Invitation

Please click on image to enlarge.

Tourist ships in Alotau

Tourist cruise ships mv True North (left) and mv Oceanic Discoverer berthed at  Alotau recently during the 2009 Alotau Canoe & Kundu Festival.-Picture courtesy of PNGPCL

Get a free electronic copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget

If you want a copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget, which was handed down by Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch last Tuesday, log on on http://www.treasury.gov.pg/ and download the PDF document.

The Hela prophesy

By NEWMAN CUTHBERT

I have had the privilege of being associated with the Southern Highlands in the early part of my own childhood.
My parents were both teachers and their first posting was to a school at the old government station on the shores of Lake Kutubu and we flew into that picturesque lake from  Port Moresby in a Catalina (flying Plane).
Decades on as the press officer to the Late Sir Ignatius Kilage, I took in the view from Kutubu Lodge and this now included Moro.
I was told the old government station had moved on.
I caught missals while I was there as a toddler and vaguely recall dad at times singing his favourite song Poreporena the song that told the story of the people of that village who had left home to get away from the War and told of them missing home.
Maybe my own dad missed home and sang it occasionally to express his own feelings.
Sometime later we moved to Mendi where the main street of the town is the old runway to the former Mendi airport.
Early in my teen as I was starting out in journalist, Andrew Waibiria than member for Koroba Lake Kopiago moved a motion  in the old House of Assembly on September 23,  1974, to establish a new Hela province and Tari as the provincial capital.
That motion was supported by John Fifita the member for Kula in Milne Bay and Manasseh Voeto the member for Menyema.
I recall Mr Voeto being very vocal on the issue of a separate province for Hela emphasising that Mr Waibiria was not asking for  the current districts to be abolished but out of one of the  other districts of the Southern Highlands, Hela be established as a province.
 Thomas Kavali moved for debate on the subject be adjourned and this never resumed and Mr Waibiria lost his seat to Paiale Elo in the following national elections.
Two weeks ago I returned to the Southern Highlands and arrived at Tari, the provincial capital of a brand new Hela province.
It is a vibrant little town and for those of you who are familiar with Kerema and Popondetta, Tari is bigger for a late comer.
The airport runway which is as long as Jacksons International slices the town in half straight down the middle and in the easterly direction, the Tari gap rises above the mountain ranges that form a protective ring around the Hela Province.
Hela is the name of a man and he had four sons who now make up the major tribal grouping that make up Hela province.
To understand the attitude of the sons of Hela to the ongoing issues surrounding the LNG gas project, we need to  understand the Hela people, their culture and their point of view which is based on centuries old prophecy that seems to be coming true today..
“Inside Gigira burns Laitebo which when kindled, the flames will illuminate Hela and the land beyond, “ said that prophecy.
It went on to say: “When the man with the orange legs  comes to take the fire from you,  give him an axe and tell him to go get his own firewood for his own  fire.
Today the people of Hela  are seeing the man with the orange legs trying to take the fire from  them  and in reality they are trying to protect it from being taken  so that the words of the prophecy that the Gigira Laitebo will light up Hela and the land beyond will come to pass..
The people of the province look at the Gigira Laitebo prophesy in contemporary Hela to mean the social infructure benefits accruing from the project.
More importantly  the people of Hela say it means the actual physical light they see  when distribution power pylons  national roads, provincial feeder roads and tracks into Hela clans, hamlets and villages throughout the province and the rest of PNG and beyond in pipelines and tankers.
When the missionaries arrived in the area the people  found it easy to relate  God to their own religious structure where  Dadagaliwabe  was a spiritual being higher than all spirits and  from whom  the world came to light.
This is where thy translate the Gigira Laitebo to mean spiritual light which must be rekindled from within Hela funded  by and spread through the proceed of development of the Gigira Llaitebo, strategically put into place from time immemorial for  his own greater glory by the Yahweh of the Hebrew, El Elyon of Melkisadeck and Dadagaliwabe of the Hela.
Of the same and the one crater the English speaking world call him God.
Maybe...just maybe we can all diffuse a live wire that is in the making in Hela fuelled by politics and backed by multi million kina corporations by taking time to understand the Hela society, the story of its origin and the centuries old prophecy that to them to this very day has real meaning and now value.

Asians in PNG should now boycott Post-Courier!

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

 

WOULD you defend a blatant and deliberate lie? Yes, by all means … at least in PNG’s liberal media environment, Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid Post-Courier had shown in the past week that it would.

Not really. Because over the years, Post-Courier has flaunted its sheer arrogance as it printed on its pages stories whose credibility were immediately questionable, but bothering not to admit to the transgression and to rectify it.

And worst, it has even fabricated anti-Asian reports, passed them on as truth, and for which the reporters and editors stood by them even to the demise of their own credibility.

One classic example which stands unparalleled yet in the Pacific was showcased on Page 1 by this paper just very recently.

It headlined a fabricated report that proved to be very damaging to the reputation of some 10,000 Filipinos here in PNG and peddled it across the nation as “the plain truth”.

I remember my country’s despot, President Marcos, who had once said that “lies when repeatedly uttered become the truth”.

As far as I am concerned, Marcos’ dictum and what Post-Courier does in its every day reporting where it peddles lies here and there don’t differ that much. Henceforth, what this daily dishes out would always be deemed as lies, however hard you try to believe them, simply because the credibility has passed out of existence.

For one thing, it has allowed its cronies to malign and destroy some Asian reputations and institutions using its pages where lies had crawled all over, but denying those aggrieved the same opportunity of having their side on the issue at hand to see print in this very same paper, only to be told that such rejection was a management “business decision”.

The events that transpired last week had been the most unsettling, upsetting and stressing for the members of the Filipino expatriate community in Papua New Guinea.

On Tuesday, November 10, Pinoys in Port Moresby and across the country woke up to find themselves in the midst of alleged 16,000 illegal compatriots.

Having read Post-Courier’s fabricated report that there are “16,000 illegal Filipinos out of the 19,000 who are in the country right now”, they were utterly horrified and in great shock.

A simple arithmetic would immediately show there would only be 3,000 Filipinos living and working legally in the country and they include a few hundreds of those who have acquired PNG citizenship and permanent resident (PR) status. This is not the case, however.

The source of the alleged statistics, according to Post-Courier, was Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, who, on Friday, November 6, purportedly testified at the Parliamentary Bi-Partisan committee probing the anti-Asian riots last May.

In her alleged testimony before a panel chaired by MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham, Madam Ho-Vicario has disclosed there are 19,000 Filipinos in PNG and of this, 80 percent, or 16,000 are illegal aliens.

The Maxtone-Graham panel wanted to know what triggered the marginalized Papua New Guineans to go into rioting and looting variety shops and grocery stores owned and operated by Chinese in the Highlands and in Port Moresby.

The locals are said to hate illegal aliens, particularly Asians whose numbers are growing because they feel that they are robbing them of jobs and livelihoods reserved for them under the law.

Shortly before noon, a flurry of emails was exchanged among Pinoy expatriates who expressed disbelief that there are 16,000 illegal Filipino workers in the country.

But their immediate reaction to the report was: “How could the Ambassador say such things that would give negative picture of the many Filipinos who are here legally and at the same time threaten their safety?

A number have even rebuked the Ambassador, calling her “traitor” and “stupid” for making public such a highly-sensitive and derogatory information.

Pinoy expatriates in Lae were up in arms, berating the Ambassador for the same reason.

One angry expatriate had even called the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby with a threat to burn it down “for making the Filipinos look bad in the eyes of the international community”.

It could not be helped. Thousands of Pinoys in PNG are legally employed as professionals, -- accountants, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, IT experts, foresters, mining managers, company managers, administrative officers, among many others.

Joey Sena, the president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), has called for sobriety and calm as he urged the members of the community to be vigilant of their own safety against possible physical harm that may arise following the Post-Courier report.

On the morning that the Post-Courier story broke, Madam Ho-Vicario was nursing a blood pressure already gone berserk as she read the news report, horrified that it has put words into her mouth.

“This is a pure fabrication!” she said of the story.

“How did they (Post-Courier) come up with these figures?”

I interviewed Madam Ho-Vicario at the embassy that afternoon. Distressed and fuming, she vehemently denied the report.

“The Filipino community has been put at risk because of these anti-Asian sentiments, and I, as the representative of the Philippine government here in PNG, have been maligned by the report.

“I’m vehemently denying the report … it’s all fabricated … it has no factual basis … it’s unfounded and far from the truth.

“I demand that Post-Courier retract the story and print the truth.

“There could never be 19,000 Filipinos living and working here in this country,” the Ambassador said.

“I never appeared on the said committee hearing on that day to give evidence on the anti-Asian riots.

“I was never interviewed on that matter or present at the Bi-partisan Parliamentary Inquiry last Friday.

“I never knew who MP (Philip) Kikala is, I didn’t know how he looked … I just didn’t know him,” Madam Ho-Vicario rattled off.

“I would never be able to recognize him from Adam even if you put him in front of me unless he has his nametag pinned on his chest!”

MP Kikala was the source that provided Post-Courier the fabricated figures of “19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal”.

Madam Ho-Vicario said there are only 10,120 expatriates in the country as of June 19. About 670 of them are permanent residents, 6,600 are temporary migrants (work permit and working visa holders) and the rest are holders of tourist visa and business visa.

Just before I filed my story on the Ambassador’s denial, I called Post-Courier’s editor-in-chief Blaise Nangoi for comment.

 “We stand by our story,” he told me.

Mr Nangoi said their report was based on information their reporter obtained from a source (Mr Kikala) that was at the parliamentary committee hearing last November 6 when Madam Ho-Vicario purportedly testified.

Categorically denying this, the Ambassador said: “I was never present at the Parliament last Friday”.

The National, the leading daily in PNG, carried the denial story the next day, Wednesday, November 11, and was headlined: “Philippine Embassy denies “aliens” report.

On that day, Mr Maxtone-Graham sent an official letter to the Ambassador saying: “The front page report stated in part that you appeared in person before my inquiry on Friday, November 6, during which you gave evidence that 16,000 out of 19,000 Filipino residents in this country are doing so illegally.

“I wish to state categorically that you never appeared before my inquiry, either in person or through a representative on the date as stated by Post-Courier. Neither have we received any written submission from your Embassy.

“The newspaper report is quite erroneous …,” Mr Graham stressed.

On that night when I phoned Mr Nangoi for his comment, he said: We will not make any further report on this matter … we stand by our report.”

However, Post-Courier had a change of heart, and in its November 12 edition, published the Ambassador’s denial of her being present at the committee hearing. The daily finally admitted that it made an error in reporting that she appeared at the committee that Friday to testify.

“She did not attend and made a submission,” Post-Courier curtly said.

But still, the paper stubbornly defended its claim on the presence of 16,000 illegal Filipinos. It reported that Mr Kikala testified on a bi-partisan committee hearing last Monday (November 9) that the Ambassador “informed” him about the 16,000 illegal Filipinos in the country.

ow, it is very clear that Post-Courier has confused itself in making the report in an effort to steer clear out of further embarrassment.

First, it reported that Madam Ho-Vicario appeared at the hearing on Friday, November 6, where she purportedly testified on the presence of 16,000 illegal Filipinos out the 19,000 expatriates. But later, it backtracked and admitted that she never did so.

Then, Post-Courier contradicted itself again when it reported in its November 12 edition that it was now Mr Kikala who testified at the committee hearing on November 9 where he declared that the Ambassador “informed” him of the 16,000 illegal Filipinos.

However, instead of making Mr Kikala’s testimony the main story for the next day (November 10), it was Madam Ho-Vicario’s fabricated appearance and concocted testimony last November 6 that made the headline.

And worst, Mr Kikala was unable to tell Post-Courier on what occasion did the Ambassador divulge to him the derogatory information. Was it during a parliamentary bi-partisan hearing? Was it during lunch or dinner? Or was it during a cocktail party?

From whom did Mr Kikala obtain his statistics? Or, did he deliberately cook up some “blockbuster” story to get some attention and pluck himself out of non-revenue obscurity?

It is ironic that while the Ambassador has categorically said she “never knew MP Kikala or ever met him”, the MP insisted on claiming that he obtained the information directly from her.

JUST BEFORE Madam Ho-Vicario was posted in PNG as the Philippine government’s ambassador in February 2007, she was fully aware of the number of Filipinos that her embassy would be representing in the country. She knew too that PNG is a hardship post.

“There’s no way for me to commit the mistake of giving wrong figures pertaining to the number of Pinoys in Port Moresby,” she told me. “I’m not stupid.”

Over the years, the number of Filipino expatriates here has played between 8,000 and 10,000, with many of them going home after their contracts expired, but only to be replaced by new recruits.

And the presence of illegal Filipino workers would be one of her concerns because every time they would be in trouble, they would come to the embassy for help. But there were not many, as the Ambassador has noted since her posting more than two years ago now.

With very limited resources the embassy has, dealing with cases involving illegal Filipinos who would come for assistance would be a nagging problem even if there are only a handful of them.

How much more with 16,000? There’s just no sense for her to just dish out statistics just for kicks without creating problems later for the expatriate Filipinos and the embassy itself.

But then, if ever there are 16,000 illegal Filipinos, it should not be a problem for the Philippine Embassy to deal with. It belongs to the PNG Immigration Department.

And if there are that many, how come the PNG Government is never aware of them?

Now, the Filipino community is asking: “What is Mr Kikala’s agenda? Why is he trying to connive with Post-Courier in maligning Filipinos and foment racist’s hatred among Papua New Guineans against them? Are they moonlighting as racists?”

Why did Post-Courier reject a whole-page paid advertorial that the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) was trying to place with the daily for the Monday (November 16) edition?

 n this advertorial, the association is asking Post-Courier to rectify its story and correct the negative impression about the 10,000 Filipino expatriates that has been generated by its irresponsible reporting.

It said: “The Post-Courier report has caused enormous damage to our reputation as peace-loving, law-abiding and charitable residents of the international community in Papua New Guinea.

“Now, we are suddenly concerned over our safety, because erroneous report has created animosity among Papua New Guineans who feel marginalized by the present state of affairs in their own country because of enterprising Asians who they feel are robbing them of their livelihood and jobs.

“Therefore, for the sake of fair and honest journalism, we the Filipino community, respectfully ask the Post-Courier to retract its story and correct the negative impression about the 10,000 Filipino expatriates that has been generated by its irresponsible reporting.

“It is only then that our trust and confidence in this newspaper as a source of news and vital information will be restored,” the association said in the supposed advertorial for publication in Post-Courier.”

Rejecting the requested (paid) advertorial placement, Post-Courier told FAPNG president Joey Sena, as if to justify its move: “It is a business decision.”

Does this mean that it is also Post-Courier’s business to besmirch the reputation of the Filipinos when it fabricated the “16,000 aliens” report?

But FAPNG is only a small fry and Post-Courier has no problem doing it. It has done the same thing to a bigger institution like the PMIZ project, short for Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, an 815-hectare tuna processing zone now taking shape in Madang province.

Post-Courier, according to some senior Government sources, has allegedly collaborated with a certain Dr Nancy Sullivan, an American anthropologist based in Madang and who flaunts her newly-acquired PNG citizenship as her shield, in trying to sabotage the realization of the billion dollar PMIZ, a pet economic development project of Prime Minister Michael Somare.

Post-Courier did this by printing a series of damaging one-whole page advertorials paid for by ragtag groups of landowners and NGOs as well as a one-page advertorial authored by Sullivan herself discrediting the PMIZ project alongside the Members of the Cabinet who are pushing for its realization.

The advertorials, especially that of Sullivan’s, lambasted the PMIZ concept for its being unworkable, lacking in logic and damaging to the environment around the lagoon of Madang, and that it would not at all benefit the local people but only foreign investors who would be … who else? … but Asians.

However, when the PMIZ Board of Directors tried to buy a one-page advertorial to refute such allegations, Post-Courier flatly rejected it, saying it was a “business decision”.

The mere fact that it is now the PNG Government requesting publication of its advertorial so its side could also be heard by stakeholders in the local tuna industry and the entire nation, and to allay fears of the locals about the alleged harm PMIZ would create, the rejection stinks and is now viewed as being the pinnacle of this paper’s arrogance.

The immediate question comes up? Where is fairness on the part of Post-Courier?

Then the second: Is Sullivan hiding the bigger picture on the PMIZ issue by only telling the locals that they would lose their daily catch to the processing zone canneries once they begin operations and that their beautiful Madang lagoon would be tarnished forever?

Did she not tell the people of Madang that everyday, thousands of tons of tuna are being caught in PNG waters by fishing boats owned by giant overseas canneries while local fishermen could only managed to land a piece or two in every outing?

That if this massive catch by foreign tuna catchers is diverted into the PMIZ tuna plants when they begin operations, those overseas canneries, particularly in rich countries, would be deprived of rich tuna supplies, thus forcing them to close-shop and throw thousands of cannery workers out of work?

Is this why Sullivan and Post-Courier are trying to prevent the coming of the seven-tuna cannery processing zone and deprive Papua New Guineans of some 30,000 jobs and the government million dollars in tax revenues? Are they working with some groups overseas? Is there a big, well-funded foreign lobby going on against PMIZ? Post-Courier may know something about this.

And Sullivan should be deported for economic sabotage. What is the NIO (National Intelligence Office) doing, Sir Prime Minister? For all you know, Sir, your pet project is under threat from her!

MANY, MANY YEARS ago, Papua New Guineans tried to grow rice with help from Filipino experts. But Post-Courier flexed its media muscles to discourage such attempt, by running stories – Australian-written, of course -- telling the nation that rice will not grow in the country.

Sometime ago, Madam Ho-Vicario facilitated the coming of a group of Filipino rice experts to help farmers in the province start a rice farming project.

Immediately after that, she received a call from a white executive at Trukai Rice – an Australian of course --  bullied her on the phone and told her to drop the idea because “rice will not grow in PNG”.

Knowing that she has to protect a bilateral relations agreement between PNG and the Philippines by all means within her authority, the Ambassador told him to “go to hell”.

Now, rice is growing in many areas of the country, thanks to the technology provided by Asian rice experts, including Filipinos.

This time, Post-Courier is telling Papua New Guineans that the PMIZ is bad for them.

Very soon, PNG will be accepted as the new member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian) countries. Which means this will make PNG an Asian nation and make Papua New Guineans Asian people.

So, what now Post-Courier? Once this happens, Papua New Guineans should ask this newspaper to pack up and disappear for being a menace to their welfare.

PROMINENT journalists and media persons in the country and Pacfic learnt of the series of events that transpired last week through my weekly column “Letters from Port Moresby” posted on Thursday, December 12, at www.batasmauricio.com, a website based in the Philippines.

In emails sent to me, they reacted with indignation and disgust in the manner Post-Courier handled the Filipino illegal aliens report, and were one in saying that such “rubbish” should have never been allowed to see the light of day.

Prominent media man Justin H Kili, MBE, OL, was first to drop the bomb: All I can say, Freddie, is that yet again, the Post-Courier has published another irresponsible and completely fabricated story … what a shame! I feel for the Filipinos who have been mistreated through the Post-Courier report.”

Oseah Philemon, OBE, and The National’s Momase Regional Editor, reacted indignantly: “No editor in his right frame of mind would stand by any story if he knows – after being told the facts – that the story he published is wrong, incorrect in detail and ought to be retracted.

“It is responsible and unprofessional of any editor to stand by a story when he knows his newspaper got it wrong … worse of all if the story was fabricated by the reporter.

“That reporter (Pearson Kolo) ought to be sacked forthwith. No excuses. I am rather appalled that the Post-Courier can still hold its head high after committing the worst sin in journalism.”

Mr Philemon was Post-Courier’s former editor in chief.

Alfred Sasako, a Solomon Islands journalist who worked with Post-Courier during the 80s, was fuming: It’s the sort of tabloid rubbish that should have been left to Western newspapers.

“But knowing that the Post-Courier is owned by none other than a westerner, it’s hardly surprising that that sort of story should be allowed to run. It’s what riots are made of.”

Veteran journalist Susuve Laumaea has a more scathing comment: “Freddy, this is typical yellow journalism – concocted from the wildest imagination of the reporter concerned – a story that should never have seen the light of day.

“Why didn’t the sub-editor ring the Philippine embassy to get Madam Ambassador’s name correctly, ascertained whether she appeared at the inquiry and in the process also verify the story.

“… nothing so dramatic as putting the lives of a whole race of people on the line or writing them off as illegal aliens without proof. 

“When it concerns a sensitive issue such as the groundswell of anti-Asian sentiment being stirred up by the people who think they have been badly done by or that their opportunities have been unfairly seized by Asians, editors should pause and weigh the wisdom, public responsibility and social correctness of giving editorial prominence to such a story that could lead to social chaos – even blood bath, vandalism.

“A great number of Filipinos in PNG have been here since the 1970s and a majority of them are permanent residents and naturalised citizens.

“I am saddened by those who “piss” best practice journalism to the wind and can not own up to say a paper erred recklessly in publishing a blatant lie that has the potential to cause considerable grief, anxiety and terror to a group of innocent foreign guests in PNG.

“The editor in chief of Post-Courier is on record as saying … that he and the paper stood by their reporter’s story irrespective of direct response from Filipino Ambassador and the inquiry chairman (MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham) categorically denying Madam Ambassador’s appearance before the PNG parliamentary inquiry.

“The Ambassador and the committee chairman also unequivocally brushed aside the contention that 16,000 Filipinos were in PNG illegally – that was an outright obnoxious allegation but then, Post-Courier relied on another MP’s version of the story.

“In the face of authoritative rejection of the fabricated news story from direct sources concerned, the Post-Courier’s stance is deplorable.

“Like you, I was horrified at the potential damage that story would unleash.

Commenting on MP Kikala, Mr Laumaea said: Kikala should be exposed for the liar that he is. He was being more than cheeky.

“In fact, he should take the initiative to categorically and unequivocally retract any responsibility in initiating and peddling a potentially inflammatory hate campaign against Filipinos in PNG.

“With Post-Courier’s editor’s response, it makes me wonder whether this is the same P-C I grew up at. Standards of ethics, best practice etc have indeed slipped badly between generations of journos that have passed through there, I venture to suggest.”

“Would you stand by a deliberate and blatant lie?” Mr Laumaea  asked in rhetorical manner, concluding his tirade at Post-Courier.

“Shocking PC story about Pinoy 'aliens',” says David Robie, journalism associate professor and director of the Pacific Media Centre based in Auckland New Zealand.

Some feedback on FaceBook:

Simon Merton: “Brata, although I personally hold a strong dislike for the owners of The National, one has to admit that these days, It is the better paper.

”The Post-Courier has turned into nothing but a gossip fueled tabloid akin to the US National Enquirer. The standards are no longer there, there is no more ethical reporting. It’s now just a big Australian corporately-funded propaganda machine.”

Darren Moore: “A disgusting display of bad journalism and even worse editing, regardless of the nationality of the owners of the newspaper ( I don't see how that has any bearing on anything, or why it should even get a mention) .

“They should indeed be sued as well as being made to publish some form of retraction and apology.”

Pacific-based journalist Lisa Williams-Lahari was herself concerned: I feel an urgent statement needs to go out from as many of us as possible. It’s a sad day for Pacific journalism, not just PNG media, when blatant lies are printed as fact, and then defended. Wow, I’m speechless!”

Ms Williams has urged the PNG Media Council to issue a statement which the Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) could support.

She said that as the PFF co-chair has pointed out, “We will call on a return to ethics and standards and encourage a complaints process”.

WITH ALL the searing indignation from the Pacific’s respected journalists, the last nail to Post-Courier’s coffin of credibility has finally been hammered for good.

And before the stench of its death permeates the air, Asians in PNG should start boycotting this newspaper, lest they be contaminated.

Asian communities should tell their citizens owning stores and shops not to sell its copies in their establishments. Its business communities must now withdraw their dealings with Post-Courier – advertisements and all.

In the first place, why should they continue feeding a dog that bites their hands?

Email the writer:          jarahdz500@online.net.pg  or freddiephernandez@yahoo.com  

To view the original web posting, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=865:asians-in-png-should-now-boycott-post-courier&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

 

Kokopo's building boom

 Kokopo, East New Britain province, is experiencing a massive building boom.

New houses are spouting up everywhere in the East New Britain capital.

Tolai businessman Eremas Wartoto is one person who is cashing in on the current building boom in Kokopo.

He has brought in a pre-fabricated house from China (pictured), at a cost of K300, 000, and already, people are willing to pay up to K700, 000 for it.

Mr Wartoto will be bringing in 15 more of the pre-fabricated houses from Kokopo and offering them for sale in Kokopo.