Message of challenge and hope in this 39th Independence Day!
By DR JAMES NAIPAO
Happy 39th Independence.
Man has lived on this planet for 360 million years or so. 300 million years or so, man have become nocturnal mammals. After 65 million years ago, man came out of the closet of the darkness to explore the ends of the earth. From a nomadic lifestyle, agriculture paved the way for the birth of clans, tribes, ethnicity, great kingdoms and civilizations and attached to the biodiversity of environments where man set foot on. For control and normalcy, all forms of government were born.
With time through centuries, million of lives were lost through wars, conflicts, territorial land grabbings, diseases, natural disasters and famines.
Intellectual ability of man grew with the experiences of time. This brought peace and good order as well as the evolution of modernism.
Today, global hunger and despair will absorb the minds of men and they will fight against each to claim presumably what is deservedly theirs, and poverty will drive that.
PNG is placed on the fringes of time and at ends of earth where the beginning of civilization still exist, and the down pour of modernism has done us...."to catch it before it is too late".
Blessed we are of our very unique biodiversity, 1000-2000 tribes, 860-1000 languages, 1000 ethnic groupings, 600 plus islands plus the big island, and richly covered with renewable and non-renewable resources, and bonded together by our Melanesian Principles of togetherness, forgiving, sharing and kinship, PNG has come this far and the farther it will go for this uniquely blessed nation.
Looking back 39 years ago, we must thank Sir Grand Chief Somare and his lowly educated leaders who were filled with grace and wisdom to get us through independence peacefully. These are the particular people, PNG will remember as it stands as a national on this planet.
As we progress into our 40th Birthday as a nation, there are few pressing issues that stands in our way. If we ignore them, what is happening in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe will come to our doorstep. These are;
1. All forms of corruption at all levels must stop. Leaders must and at the fore, set the example to really trash corruption.
2. Leadership is an art. Those at the helm of leadership at all levels in their own specific job description must perform credibly and honestly whereby the task performed are credibly accepted by the group and individuals in that setting. Holding office and at the same, accumulating person wealth through the influence of leadership is not true leadership. Wealth accumulation must not be done through the chair one holds but can be done far away from the chair where a concrete partition does exist and done honestly. In the beginning of time and civilization, leaders were remembered for what they did during their time for the people at the reign, and not remembered for their selfish and corrupt process of self-wealth accumulation. So in history, leaders were measured and remembered for what they did for the people.
3. All forms of violence at all levels must stop.
4. Gender equal participation in job and leadership opportunities while respecting cultural values.
5. All forms of discrimination must stop.
6. Land must not be sold to foreigners but developed through ILGs.
7. To stop urban migration; social, economic and political delopment must take place at all levels.
8. Wantok system has a place in the villages but not at the workplace.
9. Foreign mining companies given the leasing right and extracting wealth and giving back to the government less than 30% or through tax is a joke. Landowner picking up a peanut percent as loyalty payment is indeed a real joke. A major policy paper must be done to change all this. Otherwise, PNG will continue to lose what is deservedly ours than theirs .
10. A techno-education system should be introduced and make education compulsory up to great 12.
12. Strongly enform the SME. It is the major contributor of the economy. In many successful countries that have embarrassed SME, their economies have jumped to the point where countries like Malaysia has now become a first world.
13. Non-communicable diseases, AIDS/HIV, TB, Malaria, infant and maternal health and cancer will be major challenge for the country.
14. Increase tertiary institutions. There is a vast need to built tertiary institutions. The ratio of tertiary institutions to secondary school is very small. Old institutions must also be reinvigorated with rehabilitation and developments.
15. A small percentage of the population pay income tax. This must be reviewed with the steps taken to reduce the tax.
16. With the procession of time, economies around the world radiates and the pendulum can shift. PNG is stilling at this period of time where our economy will jump beyond the skyscrapers and this will have a time span and moreover, the very core down turn in this blossoming economy will be corruption at all sectors involving the public and public sector where a few will benefit and the majority to continue to relive "Charles Darwin's theory".
I drove down to Konedobu to witness the independence speech by our Governor General, my family and I witnessed a proudest moment in our lives; a young teenage girl who was at Kone happens to be returning home alone in her PNG meri blouse, her right hand holding onto her hanging left upper limb, we could see in her face the thirst and hunger in her but still she was able to embarrass PNG at her heart when it mattered most at the 39th Independence Day Celebration. I salute her for ignoring her thirst and hunger!
Good reading and happy independence!
Happy 39th Independence.
Man has lived on this planet for 360 million years or so. 300 million years or so, man have become nocturnal mammals. After 65 million years ago, man came out of the closet of the darkness to explore the ends of the earth. From a nomadic lifestyle, agriculture paved the way for the birth of clans, tribes, ethnicity, great kingdoms and civilizations and attached to the biodiversity of environments where man set foot on. For control and normalcy, all forms of government were born.
With time through centuries, million of lives were lost through wars, conflicts, territorial land grabbings, diseases, natural disasters and famines.
Intellectual ability of man grew with the experiences of time. This brought peace and good order as well as the evolution of modernism.
Today, global hunger and despair will absorb the minds of men and they will fight against each to claim presumably what is deservedly theirs, and poverty will drive that.
PNG is placed on the fringes of time and at ends of earth where the beginning of civilization still exist, and the down pour of modernism has done us...."to catch it before it is too late".
Blessed we are of our very unique biodiversity, 1000-2000 tribes, 860-1000 languages, 1000 ethnic groupings, 600 plus islands plus the big island, and richly covered with renewable and non-renewable resources, and bonded together by our Melanesian Principles of togetherness, forgiving, sharing and kinship, PNG has come this far and the farther it will go for this uniquely blessed nation.
Looking back 39 years ago, we must thank Sir Grand Chief Somare and his lowly educated leaders who were filled with grace and wisdom to get us through independence peacefully. These are the particular people, PNG will remember as it stands as a national on this planet.
As we progress into our 40th Birthday as a nation, there are few pressing issues that stands in our way. If we ignore them, what is happening in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe will come to our doorstep. These are;
1. All forms of corruption at all levels must stop. Leaders must and at the fore, set the example to really trash corruption.
2. Leadership is an art. Those at the helm of leadership at all levels in their own specific job description must perform credibly and honestly whereby the task performed are credibly accepted by the group and individuals in that setting. Holding office and at the same, accumulating person wealth through the influence of leadership is not true leadership. Wealth accumulation must not be done through the chair one holds but can be done far away from the chair where a concrete partition does exist and done honestly. In the beginning of time and civilization, leaders were remembered for what they did during their time for the people at the reign, and not remembered for their selfish and corrupt process of self-wealth accumulation. So in history, leaders were measured and remembered for what they did for the people.
3. All forms of violence at all levels must stop.
4. Gender equal participation in job and leadership opportunities while respecting cultural values.
5. All forms of discrimination must stop.
6. Land must not be sold to foreigners but developed through ILGs.
7. To stop urban migration; social, economic and political delopment must take place at all levels.
8. Wantok system has a place in the villages but not at the workplace.
9. Foreign mining companies given the leasing right and extracting wealth and giving back to the government less than 30% or through tax is a joke. Landowner picking up a peanut percent as loyalty payment is indeed a real joke. A major policy paper must be done to change all this. Otherwise, PNG will continue to lose what is deservedly ours than theirs .
10. A techno-education system should be introduced and make education compulsory up to great 12.
12. Strongly enform the SME. It is the major contributor of the economy. In many successful countries that have embarrassed SME, their economies have jumped to the point where countries like Malaysia has now become a first world.
13. Non-communicable diseases, AIDS/HIV, TB, Malaria, infant and maternal health and cancer will be major challenge for the country.
14. Increase tertiary institutions. There is a vast need to built tertiary institutions. The ratio of tertiary institutions to secondary school is very small. Old institutions must also be reinvigorated with rehabilitation and developments.
15. A small percentage of the population pay income tax. This must be reviewed with the steps taken to reduce the tax.
16. With the procession of time, economies around the world radiates and the pendulum can shift. PNG is stilling at this period of time where our economy will jump beyond the skyscrapers and this will have a time span and moreover, the very core down turn in this blossoming economy will be corruption at all sectors involving the public and public sector where a few will benefit and the majority to continue to relive "Charles Darwin's theory".
I drove down to Konedobu to witness the independence speech by our Governor General, my family and I witnessed a proudest moment in our lives; a young teenage girl who was at Kone happens to be returning home alone in her PNG meri blouse, her right hand holding onto her hanging left upper limb, we could see in her face the thirst and hunger in her but still she was able to embarrass PNG at her heart when it mattered most at the 39th Independence Day Celebration. I salute her for ignoring her thirst and hunger!
Good reading and happy independence!
