PNGBLOGS

Internet or international network has reduced the size of the global village consi­derably since its big leap in the 1990s. More than a third of the world’s human population, or about 2.4 billion people, have used the services of the internet as of June 2012,  according to Wikipedia, the internet’s “free encyclopaedia”. Papua New Guinea, being part and parcel of the global community, also enjoys the services provided by the internet. In fact, the lives of an increasing number of our citizens now revolve around the internet. Last week, a visiting Uni­ted States government official expressed concern about the high cost of internet services in PNG, which may hinder greater access by our people to this world bank of information. To access information via the internet, we need to have connectivity links, which are directly influenced by two major telecommunication infrastructure fronts. This relates directly to the international undersea fibre cable landings and the nearest high capacity br

Internet or international network has reduced the size of the global village consi­derably since its big leap in the 1990s. More than a third of the world’s human population, or about 2.4 billion people, have used the services of the internet as of June 2012,  according to Wikipedia, the internet’s “free encyclopaedia”. Papua New Guinea, being part and parcel of the global community, also enjoys the services provided by the internet. In fact, the lives of an increasing number of our citizens now revolve around the internet. Last week, a visiting Uni­ted States government official expressed concern about the high cost of internet services in PNG, which may hinder greater access by our people to this world bank of information. To access information via the internet, we need to have connectivity links, which are directly influenced by two major telecommunication infrastructure fronts. This relates directly to the international undersea fibre cable landings and the nearest high ca

Photo Source: SOUTH PACIFIC POST Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has agreed to grant natural gas concessions to the Thai private sector during talks with his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra. The decision applies especially to PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP), Thailand's sole oil and gas explorer. Yingluck was on a two-day visit to Papua New Guinea which ended yesterday. Her trip was aimed at forging closer ties between the two countries and boosting cooperation in energy investments. PM O'Neill praised Yingluck for being Thailand's first female prime minister, who came to power through an election, and being a role model for Papua New Guinean women. She thanked her Papua New Guinea counterpart for the praise. The two government leaders also agreed to cooperate in agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Papua New Guinea wanted Thailand to transfer technological knowledge on agriculture and Thai rice species as Papua New Guinea was Thailand's

Photo Source: SOUTH PACIFIC POST Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has agreed to grant natural gas concessions to the Thai private sector during talks with his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra. The decision applies especially to PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP), Thailand's sole oil and gas explorer. Yingluck was on a two-day visit to Papua New Guinea which ended yesterday. Her trip was aimed at forging closer ties between the two countries and boosting cooperation in energy investments. PM O'Neill praised Yingluck for being Thailand's first female prime minister, who came to power through an election, and being a role model for Papua New Guinean women. She thanked her Papua New Guinea counterpart for the praise. The two government leaders also agreed to cooperate in agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Papua New Guinea wanted Thailand to transfer technological knowledge on agriculture and Thai rice species as Papua New Guinea w

A senior United States government official says Papua New Guinea will continue to have development issues unless it brings its internet rates down like other Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) member countries. We do not need to wait for somebody from the outside to come to tell us that unpalatable truth, of course. PNG’s own Communication and Information Minister, Jimmy Miringtoro, has told us as much in recent days. Information and communication technology charges are way too high in Papua New Guinea. And there is a long list of other important socio-economic sectors where costs remain extremely high. Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry Richard Maru announced on Monday that the cost of travelling internally and internationally is too expensive. He called for more competition on international routes with carriers from other countries. Maru, as the man charged with growing trade and the economy, is extremely concerned about the high cost of doing business in PNG.  “PNG is p

A senior United States government official says Papua New Guinea will continue to have development issues unless it brings its internet rates down like other Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) member countries. We do not need to wait for somebody from the outside to come to tell us that unpalatable truth, of course. PNG’s own Communication and Information Minister, Jimmy Miringtoro, has told us as much in recent days. Information and communication technology charges are way too high in Papua New Guinea. And there is a long list of other important socio-economic sectors where costs remain extremely high. Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry Richard Maru announced on Monday that the cost of travelling internally and internationally is too expensive. He called for more competition on international routes with carriers from other countries. Maru, as the man charged with growing trade and the economy, is extremely concerned about the high cost of doing business in P

A manhunt was under way on Sunday after 49 prisoners, including an infamous cult leader known as “Black Jesus” who is suspected of cannibalism, broke out of a jail in Papua New Guinea. The escape happened from a prison in Madang on the poverty-stricken Pacific nation’s east, with convicted rapist Stephen Tari among those that got away, Australian media reported. Tari, a failed Lutheran pastor who was widely known as Black Jesus, was found guilty in 2010 of raping girls who belonged to his Christian-based sect and sentenced to up to ten years. At the time, he had thousands of village followers, including a core of armed warriors to protect him, in what is commonly referred to in PNG as a “cargo cult” As part of his “culture ministry”, he preached that young girls were to be “married” to him as it was God’s prophecy. When he was captured in 2007, there were widespread allegations that his cult also practised cannibalism and sacrificial blood rituals, but police only charged him with rape

A manhunt was under way on Sunday after 49 prisoners, including an infamous cult leader known as “Black Jesus” who is suspected of cannibalism, broke out of a jail in Papua New Guinea. The escape happened from a prison in Madang on the poverty-stricken Pacific nation’s east, with convicted rapist Stephen Tari among those that got away, Australian media reported. Tari, a failed Lutheran pastor who was widely known as Black Jesus, was found guilty in 2010 of raping girls who belonged to his Christian-based sect and sentenced to up to ten years. At the time, he had thousands of village followers, including a core of armed warriors to protect him, in what is commonly referred to in PNG as a “cargo cult” As part of his “culture ministry”, he preached that young girls were to be “married” to him as it was God’s prophecy. When he was captured in 2007, there were widespread allegations that his cult also practised cannibalism and sacrificial blood rituals, but police only charged

By SAM KOIM My role has brought me to confront the mysteries of law enforcement in contemporary Melanesia. I have come to appreciate that we have adopted western laws that are individualist oriented, to be applied and enforced in our communal setting. Our communal existence imposes certain obligations that more often clashes with the demands of the law. For instance, you try to hold one person responsible for his/her own wrongdoings but, more often, you find yourself dragging the whole tribe/group. The society is conditioned to protect even the worst criminal. In Western cultures, when someone commits a crime, everybody, including their immediate kinship, treat that person as undesirable for the society and readily have him handed over to be dealt with according to law. While in our culture, we are prepared to protect the perpetrators, even to the extent of putting up a fight. Say, in a case of a rape, we put compensation money and hide the perpetrator. If the victim’s people insist to

By SAM KOIM My role has brought me to confront the mysteries of law enforcement in contemporary Melanesia. I have come to appreciate that we have adopted western laws that are individualist oriented, to be applied and enforced in our communal setting. Our communal existence imposes certain obligations that more often clashes with the demands of the law. For instance, you try to hold one person responsible for his/her own wrongdoings but, more often, you find yourself dragging the whole tribe/group. The society is conditioned to protect even the worst criminal. In Western cultures, when someone commits a crime, everybody, including their immediate kinship, treat that person as undesirable for the society and readily have him handed over to be dealt with according to law. While in our culture, we are prepared to protect the perpetrators, even to the extent of putting up a fight. Say, in a case of a rape, we put compensation money and hide the perpetrator. If the victim’s pe

The entry of a new player and an increasingly assertive stance on consumer rights protection by Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) telecommunications regulator bode well for competition in the sector. However, a continually evolving playing field and objections to new policies from telecoms operators may create considerable challenges for the regulatory body as it attempts to improve pricing and services. On January 28 the National Information Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) ordered state-owned Telikom PNG to cease the sales of its range of ZTE handsets until the firm complied with the regulator’s approval process. Local newspaper the Post Courier reported that Charles Punaha, CEO of NICTA, had informed Telikom that certain ZTE smartphone models were yet to be approved. This move followed attempts by NICTA in November 2012 to push Telikom toward making the country’s principal fibre-optic connection available to all internet service providers for direct sale as broadband products, a

The entry of a new player and an increasingly assertive stance on consumer rights protection by Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) telecommunications regulator bode well for competition in the sector. However, a continually evolving playing field and objections to new policies from telecoms operators may create considerable challenges for the regulatory body as it attempts to improve pricing and services. On January 28 the National Information Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) ordered state-owned Telikom PNG to cease the sales of its range of ZTE handsets until the firm complied with the regulator’s approval process. Local newspaper the Post Courier reported that Charles Punaha, CEO of NICTA, had informed Telikom that certain ZTE smartphone models were yet to be approved. This move followed attempts by NICTA in November 2012 to push Telikom toward making the country’s principal fibre-optic connection available to all internet service providers for direct sale as broadband products,

By CONCERNED UNITECH STUDENT After I read the essay that Unitech SRC president Mr Livingston Hosea put on this blog recently I knew I must write another side to this story.  Mr Hosea writes about the many government  actions or inactions that have caused the crisis we now have at Unitech and how it led to our effective VC being deported to Australia.  All that seems to be true and accurate. In his essay Mr Hosea also explains his strategy for bringing back the  VC. He bends over backwards almost touching the ground to assure everyone that we students will not be protesting.  I guess that means we students were only thinking about the Unitech crisis but not doing anything. Or maybe we were thinking a little, while going to class and studying. Maybe also eating, playing sports, sleeping, going to town and talking with friends. That kind of relaxed attitude could not train us students to focus on the issue of Schram mistreatment.  It does not put our concentration into giving our very bes

By CONCERNED UNITECH STUDENT After I read the essay that Unitech SRC president Mr Livingston Hosea put on this blog recently I knew I must write another side to this story.  Mr Hosea writes about the many government  actions or inactions that have caused the crisis we now have at Unitech and how it led to our effective VC being deported to Australia.  All that seems to be true and accurate. In his essay Mr Hosea also explains his strategy for bringing back the  VC. He bends over backwards almost touching the ground to assure everyone that we students will not be protesting.  I guess that means we students were only thinking about the Unitech crisis but not doing anything. Or maybe we were thinking a little, while going to class and studying. Maybe also eating, playing sports, sleeping, going to town and talking with friends. That kind of relaxed attitude could not train us students to focus on the issue of Schram mistreatment.  It does not put our concentration into giving our very b

By Concern Educator “UNITECH Saga 2013” as students now call it, has been labelled a fight between good versus evil.    It’s also turning out to be a public test of whether Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has any real power to control rogue elements that exist within today’s PNG educated elite.  There are disturbing signs that O’Neill finds himself powerless against these elements as they manipulate the system to cover up wrongdoings and screw their opponents, while screaming ‘defamation’ whenever they hear any allegation of impropriety.     All this is happening right now in UNITECH Saga 2013 where such rogue creatures look determined to destroy the best opportunity UNITECH has had in more than a generation to experience true reform and progress.     Perhaps our Prime Minister was blinded to this growing picture by what seemed to be an initial focus on counteracting a once unspeakable blasphemy:   Papua New Guineans publicly demanding that a European be their boss over ANY alternative na

By Concern Educator “UNITECH Saga 2013” as students now call it, has been labelled a fight between good versus evil.    It’s also turning out to be a public test of whether Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has any real power to control rogue elements that exist within today’s PNG educated elite.  There are disturbing signs that O’Neill finds himself powerless against these elements as they manipulate the system to cover up wrongdoings and screw their opponents, while screaming ‘defamation’ whenever they hear any allegation of impropriety.     All this is happening right now in UNITECH Saga 2013 where such rogue creatures look determined to destroy the best opportunity UNITECH has had in more than a generation to experience true reform and progress.     Perhaps our Prime Minister was blinded to this growing picture by what seemed to be an initial focus on counteracting a once unspeakable blasphemy:   Papua New Guineans publicly demanding that a European be their boss over ANY al