PNGBLOGS

By LUCAS KIAP The future of PNG looks bleak yet the leadership in the country talks big about big budgets plans, positive economic outlook, year of implementation and vision 2050.  To be or not to be misled time and again, read to the last word of this article as I have discussed some of the very disturbing political misconceptions of all time I have observed over the years about the political leadership that has been running the country for the last 38 years. The people of Papua New Guinea are slaves to their political masters with an uncertain future. Papua New Guinea is a political corporation. The country is not an Independent State of Papua New Guinea.  Now more than ever, the nation needs to redefine and fully understand the political leadership that has been running the country since independence. After 38 years, the nation has remained somewhat worse. The only achievement the leadership can be proud of is – the country has remained intact despite governing a geographically scat

By LUCAS KIAP The future of PNG looks bleak yet the leadership in the country talks big about big budgets plans, positive economic outlook, year of implementation and vision 2050.  To be or not to be misled time and again, read to the last word of this article as I have discussed some of the very disturbing political misconceptions of all time I have observed over the years about the political leadership that has been running the country for the last 38 years. The people of Papua New Guinea are slaves to their political masters with an uncertain future. Papua New Guinea is a political corporation. The country is not an Independent State of Papua New Guinea.  Now more than ever, the nation needs to redefine and fully understand the political leadership that has been running the country since independence. After 38 years, the nation has remained somewhat worse. The only achievement the leadership can be proud of is – the country has remained intact despite governing a geographically sc

By JASON GIMA WURI Finally NCD Governor Powes Parkop is putting up a ban on the country’s most beloved traditional betelnut here in the nation’s capital Port Moresby. A favourite past time for many who are great chewers of this special nut which is culturally intertwined. Enough is said, it’s time now for action as Governor Parkop attempts to clean and beautify the capital. They are proposing for betel nut trade to take place up at Laloki for both wholesale and retail, it's like telling a fish to climb a tree- that’s not even an alternative in any sense. Governor Parkop really thinks banning betel nut will make the city clean? There are too many other things that makes the city dirty, putting the blame on betel nut sellers is like people saying every skinny people has Aids- Aids is not the only reason people lose weight, likewise, betel nut is not the only cause of rubbish & filth in the city. Economic implication can be summarized as a break down in the informal sector- People

By JASON GIMA WURI Finally NCD Governor Powes Parkop is putting up a ban on the country’s most beloved traditional betelnut here in the nation’s capital Port Moresby. A favourite past time for many who are great chewers of this special nut which is culturally intertwined. Enough is said, it’s time now for action as Governor Parkop attempts to clean and beautify the capital. They are proposing for betel nut trade to take place up at Laloki for both wholesale and retail, it's like telling a fish to climb a tree- that’s not even an alternative in any sense. Governor Parkop really thinks banning betel nut will make the city clean? There are too many other things that makes the city dirty, putting the blame on betel nut sellers is like people saying every skinny people has Aids- Aids is not the only reason people lose weight, likewise, betel nut is not the only cause of rubbish & filth in the city. Economic implication can be summarized as a break down in the informal sect

ROWAN CALLICK, The Australian The program was titled Preying on Paradise. There should be a law against it -- not just the preying but setting up the notion of "natural" PNG as a place of Rousseauian perfection, from which the fall is all the more devastating. If only, this paradigm of paradise hints, the place had been left untouched, like Eden. Australia's closest neighbour, just a canoe ride away, does host most of the 41 species of the enchanting birds of paradise. It is a beautiful country, from its Highlands -- with Mount Wilhelm reaching 4509m -- to its 600 tropical islands. Its people are warm, friendly and talented. But it is not and never has been paradise. In the pre-outside-contact days, there were too many tribal fights and deaths at childbirth, and life spans were too limited, to qualify. More recently, people's hopes before and through independence, of a rapidly improving standard of living, largely have been dashed. The Four Corners program focused, qu

ROWAN CALLICK, The Australian The program was titled Preying on Paradise. There should be a law against it -- not just the preying but setting up the notion of "natural" PNG as a place of Rousseauian perfection, from which the fall is all the more devastating. If only, this paradigm of paradise hints, the place had been left untouched, like Eden. Australia's closest neighbour, just a canoe ride away, does host most of the 41 species of the enchanting birds of paradise. It is a beautiful country, from its Highlands -- with Mount Wilhelm reaching 4509m -- to its 600 tropical islands. Its people are warm, friendly and talented. But it is not and never has been paradise. In the pre-outside-contact days, there were too many tribal fights and deaths at childbirth, and life spans were too limited, to qualify. More recently, people's hopes before and through independence, of a rapidly improving standard of living, largely have been dashed. The Four Corners progra

PNGEB The United States and Australia blocked Chinese multinational Huawei Technology over espionage concerns, the O’Neill government plans to give them access to its most secure communications systems. Last Friday EMTV reported: “The Integrated Government Information System project will see computerized and integrated information and data sharing mechanism for government departments and agencies using latest Information Technology … Huawei Technology is the project developer, working to connect the 52 government departments throughout the country, to enable efficient communication network”. What EMTV neglected to mention are the serious concerns that have been raised over Huawei Technology’s links with the Chinese military. According to the New York Times: “Huawei has struggled to break into the United States market, largely because of the security concerns and accusations of intellectual property theft and corporate espionage The company has repeatedly been linked to the People’s Lib

PNGEB The United States and Australia blocked Chinese multinational Huawei Technology over espionage concerns, the O’Neill government plans to give them access to its most secure communications systems. Last Friday EMTV reported: “The Integrated Government Information System project will see computerized and integrated information and data sharing mechanism for government departments and agencies using latest Information Technology … Huawei Technology is the project developer, working to connect the 52 government departments throughout the country, to enable efficient communication network”. What EMTV neglected to mention are the serious concerns that have been raised over Huawei Technology’s links with the Chinese military. According to the New York Times: “Huawei has struggled to break into the United States market, largely because of the security concerns and accusations of intellectual property theft and corporate espionage The company has repeatedly been linked to

By LUCAS KIAP People of Papua New Guinea must not be continuously misled and fooled by the government’s “Free Education Policy”. It is important for people to know that every citizen has the right to basic education and the government has an obligation to uphold that right, regardless. For a developing nation, to have a fully illiterate society is critical to change the country with time and with the rest of the world. No government should take the credit for that very “simple policy”. However, the concern is that the free education system is a “bottled neck system” where it produces more failures than success. We have a lot of young men and young women coming through the system who are not taught skills but instead are taught with match, science, and social science courses, which in practical have very little use or no use at all when one exit out of the education system. Are we teaching our children to become rocket scientists with match and science or are we trying to build a fully

By LUCAS KIAP People of Papua New Guinea must not be continuously misled and fooled by the government’s “Free Education Policy”. It is important for people to know that every citizen has the right to basic education and the government has an obligation to uphold that right, regardless. For a developing nation, to have a fully illiterate society is critical to change the country with time and with the rest of the world. No government should take the credit for that very “simple policy”. However, the concern is that the free education system is a “bottled neck system” where it produces more failures than success. We have a lot of young men and young women coming through the system who are not taught skills but instead are taught with match, science, and social science courses, which in practical have very little use or no use at all when one exit out of the education system. Are we teaching our children to become rocket scientists with match and science or are we trying to build

By LUCAS KIAP Over the last few days, the people of PNG have been caught surprisingly in a crossfire of war of words between two prominent figures in the country with Sir Mekere Morata claiming to represent the interest of the people of Western province while Peter O’Neil claiming to represent the interest of the country. The two men are different persons with different personalities. But both have one thing in common. Sir Mekere Morata was the former Prime Minister of PNG and Peter O’Neil is the current Prime Minister.  As the war of words rages on between the two men, at the centre are the landowners and people of Western Province. Their livelihood has been destroyed beyond repairable by the catastrophic and unforgiveable environmental damage due to the operations of the Ok Tedi Mining Limited. The environmental destruction is a worst terrorist act that can only be justified by economic justification. Jumping into the bandwagon, some are supporting the former Prime Minister while som

By LUCAS KIAP Over the last few days, the people of PNG have been caught surprisingly in a crossfire of war of words between two prominent figures in the country with Sir Mekere Morata claiming to represent the interest of the people of Western province while Peter O’Neil claiming to represent the interest of the country. The two men are different persons with different personalities. But both have one thing in common. Sir Mekere Morata was the former Prime Minister of PNG and Peter O’Neil is the current Prime Minister.  As the war of words rages on between the two men, at the centre are the landowners and people of Western Province. Their livelihood has been destroyed beyond repairable by the catastrophic and unforgiveable environmental damage due to the operations of the Ok Tedi Mining Limited. The environmental destruction is a worst terrorist act that can only be justified by economic justification. Jumping into the bandwagon, some are supporting the former Prime Minister w

By RENATA LAVEILL What do Papua New Guineans make of the OK Tedi Mining Ltd takeover by the O’Neill-Dion led government? How do we as Papua New Guineans interpret the stance taken by the government to claim the 52% share previously held by Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program? What are the stakes here? As by wrestling more than half the shares previously held by the predecessor, the government now takes full ownership of OTML plus the K450 million annual share in dividends with fears of depleting the Long Term Fund worth currently at US$ 1.8 billion. This last week saw the government pass a couple of significant bills; the first being to stake its claim on the OTML and the second to secure its term in parliament, or power more likely. What does the government have to offer the people of Papua New Guinea as justification over its takeover of the shares held by PNGSDP? Why just now make noise over that huge financial slice and the ramifications experienced since the start of

By RENATA LAVEILL What do Papua New Guineans make of the OK Tedi Mining Ltd takeover by the O’Neill-Dion led government? How do we as Papua New Guineans interpret the stance taken by the government to claim the 52% share previously held by Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program? What are the stakes here? As by wrestling more than half the shares previously held by the predecessor, the government now takes full ownership of OTML plus the K450 million annual share in dividends with fears of depleting the Long Term Fund worth currently at US$ 1.8 billion. This last week saw the government pass a couple of significant bills; the first being to stake its claim on the OTML and the second to secure its term in parliament, or power more likely. What does the government have to offer the people of Papua New Guinea as justification over its takeover of the shares held by PNGSDP? Why just now make noise over that huge financial slice and the ramifications experienced since the s