Please PO, Enough with the Chinese Dress

For a national leader to adopt the national dress of Communist China as their own formal wear is weird to say the least.
By The Waigani Observer

From the time he became prime minister, one thing about Peter O’Neill has annoyed  the crap out of a couple of his minders.    Again and again on EMTV and in the newspapers you will see our PM helicoptering around the villages of PNG and meeting world leaders dressed not in a western business suit, nor the Melanesian laplap typical of Fijian leaders and Michael Somare, but in an unusual kind of dress coat.   It’s not really western and certainly not Melanesian. 

PO’s specially selected dress seems well suited for any occasion.

Those who know a little about Asian history or travelled around China could figure it out.   PO is wearing a style of dress so clearly associated with a particular person that it bears their name.  We’re talking about none other than the Mao Suit named after Mao Zedong.   

Who is Mao Zedong and what exactly is a Mao Suit?  Why, Mao Zedong is the person who in 1949 overthrew China’s democracy and set up a Communist dictatorship.  Mr Mao was an action man just like PO.   In fact, his purge actions in China and Tibet over the next 20 years (including his Cultural Revolution upheaval) would cause the deaths of between 49-78 million Chinese.  

Chinese dictator Mao Zedong models the Chinese nationalist suit that bears his name.

The Mao Suit was designed in China as a form of Chinese national dress.   When Mao Zedong became dictator, the Mao suit was adopted widely by Chinese government leaders as a statement against western influence and a salute to communism and Chinese unity. 

Outside China, Mao Suits are worn by non-Chinese communist intellectuals.   There is also  famous family who has traditionally weared Mao Suits -  the father-son-grandson Kim dictators of North Korea!   

Nice to hear that the Kims of North Korea love their Mao Suits.  But what do Mao Suits have to do with PNG?  Better ask PO.   He wears them all the time traveling around PNG and even when going overseas to meet world leaders.

Apparently our PM has no idea what Mao Suits symbolise to the rest of the world.  No one dares tell him that or even inform him that Mao Suits are uncool now, even in China.   Contemporary Chinese national leaders such as Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin scarcely wear the things, except when they need to show visible signs of allegiance to classic Chinese communism and the original Chinese communist dictator.   Chinese youth don’t care much for them anymore either. 

If people aren’t buying Mao Suits in China any more, the clothing factories must be dealing with a big surplus.  Did PO buy a trunkful of them at a Beijing discount store for special special price?

If saving money doesn’t explain why PO changed his dress to look Chinese, why did he do it?   He’s not talking.  Maybe it’s because he knows that nothing makes a person feel more like a dictator than dressing like one.  We all know that PO aspires to become PNG’s first dictator and there’s no better dress than a Mao Suit to look sharp when you inspect the troops!

Nothing better than a Mao Suit to make you look impressively dictatorial when inspecting the troups.   PO and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un are the last world leaders still wearing Mao Suits. 

My personal suspicion is PO is dressing like Mao out of ignorance.   There are a lot of pieces of evidence that when put together indicate that that PO is ignorant not just about Mao Suits but a lot of things.    Remember, he came into this world as the result of a southern highlands village woman being bedded by a whiteman purely for nighttime pleasure.   He grew as a throwaway, but eventually equalised things by learning how to steal whatever it took to become rich enough to be welcomed into the big boys club.   Thats fine but no one treats you like a king or respects you deep down when you do ignorant things or behave in a way that is considered low class.  In this respect, PO has never been able to overcome his past.  When we act like ignorants, we get treated like ignorants.  If not to our faces, then behind our backs.    Money buys Mao Suits and other clothes that impress but money can’t buy common sense.    

Anyone with common sense knows that you don’t go adopting the clothing of another culture without checking to see if there is any important symbolism about those clothes you should watch out for.  You also need to learn what social rules must be followed on how and when to wear those clothes.   If you want to be respected, you have to do things right.   What you absolutely don’t do as PNG’s most important person is meet world leaders looking like a Mao Zedong groupie!

 PO continues Mao Zedong’s tradition of giving a delightful Chinese impression to world leaders.

PO, please do the nation a favour, pack up your Mao Suits, and send them to a better place.   Tell North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un that you found some Mao Suits on sale that should fit him perfectly.  Say you’re sending them as a friendship gift from the people of Papua New Guinea.  And next time, try to use some common sense