PNGBLOGS

Papua New Guinea’s current political stability—the key to its unprecedented economic growth among other positive indicators under its founding father Sir Michael Somare—is under threat of crumbling. With only one more year before achieving a decade record reign, by far the longest period ever by any government in the country’s 35-year history, signs of disintegration are imminent without the iron grip of critically ill Sir Michael at the helm. Sir Michael’s extended hospitalisation at Singapore’s Raffles Hospital and the continuing dire news of his health condition carry no immediate or probably no rescue for the now embattled acting Prime Minister Sam Abal, who is in trouble keeping the government intact. Abal is caught up in the quagmire involving serious divides in alliances in the ruling National Alliance Party and its major coalition partner, the United Resources Party after he sacked two senior ministers—Petroleum and Energy Minister, William Duma and Foreign Affairs and Immigrat

Papua New Guinea’s current political stability—the key to its unprecedented economic growth among other positive indicators under its founding father Sir Michael Somare—is under threat of crumbling. With only one more year before achieving a decade record reign, by far the longest period ever by any government in the country’s 35-year history, signs of disintegration are imminent without the iron grip of critically ill Sir Michael at the helm. Sir Michael’s extended hospitalisation at Singapore’s Raffles Hospital and the continuing dire news of his health condition carry no immediate or probably no rescue for the now embattled acting Prime Minister Sam Abal, who is in trouble keeping the government intact. Abal is caught up in the quagmire involving serious divides in alliances in the ruling National Alliance Party and its major coalition partner, the United Resources Party after he sacked two senior ministers—Petroleum and Energy Minister, William Duma and Foreign Affairs and Immigra

Disquss AUGUST 5 will be known as THE DAY OF DISOBEDIENCE in the history of PNG. Generations will talk about it in 200 years time when the common people, their forefathers, felt so strongly about carving a decent honest and pecaeloving community that they deliberately chose to disobey their government, took on the government to do the right thing. It will go down as the NATIONAL DAY OF CORRECTION...when the people stepped in and corrected their government. This is a new and novel innovation from democracy as we read from text books. It is an instrument that is available to us as the common people, to peacefully refuse the government our services and our attention. We join hands to say to the politicians, you exist because of us. You have no force or power by your own volition. I encourage the Unions to peacefully demonstrate to the government and the business community that we have had enough of corruption, dishonesty and abuse of power. But if you do it for one day and return to wor

Disquss AUGUST 5 will be known as THE DAY OF DISOBEDIENCE in the history of PNG. Generations will talk about it in 200 years time when the common people, their forefathers, felt so strongly about carving a decent honest and pecaeloving community that they deliberately chose to disobey their government, took on the government to do the right thing. It will go down as the NATIONAL DAY OF CORRECTION...when the people stepped in and corrected their government. This is a new and novel innovation from democracy as we read from text books. It is an instrument that is available to us as the common people, to peacefully refuse the government our services and our attention. We join hands to say to the politicians, you exist because of us. You have no force or power by your own volition. I encourage the Unions to peacefully demonstrate to the government and the business community that we have had enough of corruption, dishonesty and abuse of power. But if you do it for one day and return to w

Papua New Guinea's mining industry breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday when the country's National Court lifted an injunction on the completion of the $1.6 billion Ramu Nickel project. The commissioning of the mine, the first to be built and operated by a Chinese company in PNG, had been set back 16 months by injunctions over the potential environmental impact of its disposal of tailings in the ocean. It is now likely to begin producing nickel before the end of the year, building up to full capacity within 18 months. The mine is in mountains south of Madang, from which the nickel is to be piped in a slurry 130km to the coast for partial processing before being shipped to China. When judge David Canning granted interim injunctions to landowners last year to halt the project, the government responded by passing legislation banning such injunctions and demonstrations, or other forms of protests, against resource projects that had been officially approved. The legislatio

Papua New Guinea's mining industry breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday when the country's National Court lifted an injunction on the completion of the $1.6 billion Ramu Nickel project. The commissioning of the mine, the first to be built and operated by a Chinese company in PNG, had been set back 16 months by injunctions over the potential environmental impact of its disposal of tailings in the ocean. It is now likely to begin producing nickel before the end of the year, building up to full capacity within 18 months. The mine is in mountains south of Madang, from which the nickel is to be piped in a slurry 130km to the coast for partial processing before being shipped to China. When judge David Canning granted interim injunctions to landowners last year to halt the project, the government responded by passing legislation banning such injunctions and demonstrations, or other forms of protests, against resource projects that had been officially approved. The legis

PNGBLOGS The Opposition today called on the Government to treat with caution Australian Government’s indication of using Manus as the Asylum Seekers Processing Centre again. Deputy Leader of Opposition and Bulolo MP Sam Basil said that limited enforcement capacity in key authorities like customs, police, Port Services Ltd and immigration have resulted in reports of illegal immigrants arriving onshore in PNG and disappearing. “Given our nation’s vulnerability, bringing in active asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, poses a real threat of having unknown illegal immigrants escape into the nation,” Mr Basil said. “Both Australian and PNG authorities must discuss intensely and intimately the potential dangers and implication of re-using the Manus Processing Centre before a final decision is made. “The last thing Australia – and PNG – needs is to allow unidentified potential terrorists, guns-for-illicit drugs smugglers or even people smugglers to escape and build hives in Papua New Guinea.” T

PNGBLOGS The Opposition today called on the Government to treat with caution Australian Government’s indication of using Manus as the Asylum Seekers Processing Centre again. Deputy Leader of Opposition and Bulolo MP Sam Basil said that limited enforcement capacity in key authorities like customs, police, Port Services Ltd and immigration have resulted in reports of illegal immigrants arriving onshore in PNG and disappearing. “Given our nation’s vulnerability, bringing in active asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea, poses a real threat of having unknown illegal immigrants escape into the nation,” Mr Basil said. “Both Australian and PNG authorities must discuss intensely and intimately the potential dangers and implication of re-using the Manus Processing Centre before a final decision is made. “The last thing Australia – and PNG – needs is to allow unidentified potential terrorists, guns-for-illicit drugs smugglers or even people smugglers to escape and build hives in Papua New Guinea

In a speech to the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney on Wednesday, opposition spokesman for Foreign Affairs and Trade Julie Bishop outlined the coalition's plans for Australia's relationship with the island nation. During the speech, Resetting the Relationship: The future of Australian engagement with Papua New Guinea, Ms Bishop said that as PNG's economic future brightens, our relationship with it must change. "Australia's development assistance to Papua New Guinea, estimated to be $482 million in 2011 to 2012 has declined as percentage of PNG's GDP over the years," Ms Bishop said. "With the revenue from resource projects set to boost its economy even further, Australian aid will play a comparatively lesser role in PNG's development." Ms Bishop said a Liberal government would strive to reset Australia and PNG's relationship "based on economic and strategic partnership rather than aid donor and recipient". PNG is

In a speech to the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney on Wednesday, opposition spokesman for Foreign Affairs and Trade Julie Bishop outlined the coalition's plans for Australia's relationship with the island nation. During the speech, Resetting the Relationship: The future of Australian engagement with Papua New Guinea, Ms Bishop said that as PNG's economic future brightens, our relationship with it must change. "Australia's development assistance to Papua New Guinea, estimated to be $482 million in 2011 to 2012 has declined as percentage of PNG's GDP over the years," Ms Bishop said. "With the revenue from resource projects set to boost its economy even further, Australian aid will play a comparatively lesser role in PNG's development." Ms Bishop said a Liberal government would strive to reset Australia and PNG's relationship "based on economic and strategic partnership rather than aid donor and recipient". P

The Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is getting better. It is expected that when he returns, he will retire and the process to retire him has already started. When he retires from politics, he not only steps down as the Prime Minister of this country but as leader of the most successful political party this country had seen for a long while. In the Mamose region, the debate as to who should fill the vacuum left by him is something that is on the minds of the people from the northern part of this country. The obvious choice is Patrick Pruaitch, but the man is facing a leadership tribunal and he is fighting his referral in the courts. The next best option is Arthur Somare, and he is qualified for among all the NA MPs apart from his father Sir Michael, he is the longest serving member of Parliament. This is his third term in Parliament but he is also facing a leadership tribunal on misconduct in office charges and the outcome is not determined as yet.Who will become the next deputy leade

The Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is getting better. It is expected that when he returns, he will retire and the process to retire him has already started. When he retires from politics, he not only steps down as the Prime Minister of this country but as leader of the most successful political party this country had seen for a long while. In the Mamose region, the debate as to who should fill the vacuum left by him is something that is on the minds of the people from the northern part of this country. The obvious choice is Patrick Pruaitch, but the man is facing a leadership tribunal and he is fighting his referral in the courts. The next best option is Arthur Somare, and he is qualified for among all the NA MPs apart from his father Sir Michael, he is the longest serving member of Parliament. This is his third term in Parliament but he is also facing a leadership tribunal on misconduct in office charges and the outcome is not determined as yet.Who will become the ne

EAST ASIA FORUM Papua New Guinea’s political dramas have intensified in the 10 weeks that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has spent in intensive care in Singapore’s Raffles Hospital. Only on 22 June did Arthur Somare, the Minister for Public Enterprises, tell Parliament that his 75-year-old father had undergone a heart valve operation plus two further emergency operations. Last Friday, 24 June he stated that the family had decided he would be told he could not return to his job and should resign, and late last week the government made a snap decision to adjourn Parliament for five weeks till August, which will give it some time to resolve its internal divisions. In May a government minister was chastised for insensitive ambition for angling to replace the nation’s founding PM while he was ill, but since then the power plays are becoming increasingly evident. The current Opposition is not the main force here — it makes up only 21 of the 109 MPs, and a vote of no confidence is unlikel

EAST ASIA FORUM Papua New Guinea’s political dramas have intensified in the 10 weeks that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has spent in intensive care in Singapore’s Raffles Hospital. Only on 22 June did Arthur Somare, the Minister for Public Enterprises, tell Parliament that his 75-year-old father had undergone a heart valve operation plus two further emergency operations. Last Friday, 24 June he stated that the family had decided he would be told he could not return to his job and should resign, and late last week the government made a snap decision to adjourn Parliament for five weeks till August, which will give it some time to resolve its internal divisions. In May a government minister was chastised for insensitive ambition for angling to replace the nation’s founding PM while he was ill, but since then the power plays are becoming increasingly evident. The current Opposition is not the main force here — it makes up only 21 of the 109 MPs, and a vote of no confidence is unli

Who will speak Iniai in 2050? Or Faiwol? Moskona? Wahgi? Probably no-one, as the languages of New Guinea - the world's greatest linguistic reservoir - are disappearing in a tide of indifference. Yoseph Wally, an anthropologist at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura keeps his ears open when he visits villages to hear what language the locals are speaking. "It's Indonesian more and more. Only the oldest people still speak in the local dialect," he said. In some villages he visits, not a single person can understand a word of the traditional language. "Certain languages disappeared very quickly, like Muris, which was spoken in an area near here until about 15 years ago ," he said. New Guinea is home to more than 1,000 languages - around 800 in Papua New Guinea and 200 in Indonesian Papua - but most have fewer than 1,000 speakers, often centred around a village or cluster of hamlets. Some 80 percent of New Guinea's people live in rural areas and many tribes,

Who will speak Iniai in 2050? Or Faiwol? Moskona? Wahgi? Probably no-one, as the languages of New Guinea - the world's greatest linguistic reservoir - are disappearing in a tide of indifference. Yoseph Wally, an anthropologist at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura keeps his ears open when he visits villages to hear what language the locals are speaking. "It's Indonesian more and more. Only the oldest people still speak in the local dialect," he said. In some villages he visits, not a single person can understand a word of the traditional language. "Certain languages disappeared very quickly, like Muris, which was spoken in an area near here until about 15 years ago ," he said. New Guinea is home to more than 1,000 languages - around 800 in Papua New Guinea and 200 in Indonesian Papua - but most have fewer than 1,000 speakers, often centred around a village or cluster of hamlets. Some 80 percent of New Guinea's people live in rural areas and many tr