Press Release on two members of Activism PNG activism group Team Nov 13 2013



TEAM Nov 13, 2013 PRESS RELEASE

Continuous use of democratic norms to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

We are disturbed by ongoing use of democratic and governance norms by current regime to silence any person speaking against injustice and systemic corruption in Papua New Guinea.

Since formation of Team Nov 13 2013 group is to formulate activism plans to speak against injustice and systemic corruption in Papua New Guinea.
We have been accused for being Opposition supporters. We do acknowledge some members of the group are pro-opposition but the group itself is independent with deep convictions for the future of Papua New Guinea.
Using social media as a means to raise awareness and to report unreported news by mainstream media is not against any laws that govern cyber world.
Our postings are reflections and voice of many Papua New Guineans who suffer daily for lack of basic governance reaching them.

We were threatened with arrest by Papua New Guinea Police when we planned peaceful protest; threats of censoring social network in Papua New Guinea is a sign of weakness of a government that has lost all means to provide transparency in parliamentary democracy and rule of law via courts or law enforcement.

We are concerned over the manner in which the Prime Minister of a sovereign state would take legal action to prevent two members of our team with court orders.

We however won’t be intimidated or undermined by any threats used by means of court or by means of parliamentary privileges.
We will stand to raise our voice for 7 million Papua New Guineans.
This is our country! No foreigner will die for our people or you. It will take Papua New Guineans to do so.

So we call on Papua New Guineans to rise up and take back our country from foreigners and politicians who have gone into bed with them from all sectors of society, from Government Sectors, Private Sector to Churches and NGOs.
Our freedom and nationalism can only be realized when we have people who love and want to see change in our country.
God bless Papua New Guinea.
TEAM NOV 13 2013

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A Team member made the following observation:

The current moves by those in power is nothing more than the strong preying on the weak, it is a sad development for this nation if as muted the legislature passes laws to curb the freedom of expression. For the Prime Minister of our nation to attempt to stamp down on a dissenting voice shows that the system here is not as free as some of us thought. The November 13 2013 group believes that we each have a fundamental, moral duty to openly fight against any censorship or suppression of ideas.

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It seems ironic that the same Prime Minister and the same government that flaunts the very laws of our country and even our very own constitution have seen fit to take simple Papua New Guineans voicing their dissent to court!!
The opposition has pointed out so many areas where this regime has trampled, bypassed and even trodden on the various laws and even the constitution that governs the Independent State of Papua New Guinea just so they can have their way with their crooked and corrupt deals.

The message they are now sending out to Papua New Guineans is this: We will suppress all your means of speaking out against us!! The court action being taken out against Noel Anjo Kolao and Sonja Barry Ramoi has been done to send out a warning to Papua New Guineans that this government will suppress all manner of dissent. These two outspoken activists represent the increasing numbers of Papua New Guineans who have been using Facebook as a means of fighting corruption in PNG. A precedent may well be set depending on the outcome of this very unusual case.

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More is set to come and if the proposed law is any indication, then our constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of speech will soon be taken away just like our rights to freedom of assembly and movement. Below is a quote from the CEO of NICTA, Charles Punaha on Page 2 of today's The National Newspaper.

“For cybercrime, we are going to make it an offence for people to use pen-names, not using their real names and abusing the social media and making defamatory statement - you have to be answerable for it. We will make it an offence that if an individual abuses the social media to attack the other individual and not using their name and making defamatory and slang statements, you are responsible. "you have to be accountable for your actions". For example, he said law enforcement agencies would be given powers "TO ACCESS LAPTOPS SHOULD THERE BE REASONS TO BELIEVE THAT YOUR LAPTOPS HAVE BEEN USED TO COMMIT THE OFFENCE"

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