PNG Remains Far Behind Developed Democracies In Harshly Critical (and Effective!) Political Images
By Government Bureaucrat
In the years after independence and into the 1990's, no PNG newspaper would print a letter to the editor that was harshly critical of any leaders. It was expected and assumed that politicians should be given automatic respect, particularly Father of Our Nation Sir Michael Somare.
Unfortunately, by the 1990s it was becoming obvious that our politicians were taking advantage of this automatic respect. They were abusing the public trust placed in them by finding ways to stuff their own pockets full of wealth while supposedly serving the people's interest. Corruption, which was almost non-existent in PNG until the late 1980's, began to take off, especially during the Sir Julius Chan administration in the 1990s.
In PNG we are sometimes very slow to respond to changing events. The same seemed to be true as corruption took off in our country. People didn't respond at first. But with each new corruption story, people started getting fed up. Many angry letters about corruption must have been in sent to the newspapers, because finally very angry worded letters against politicians started to be published for the first time in PNG history. Once that door of free speech was opened, it has never again closed. Today one finds harshly critical letters that sometimes come close to blaspheming certain politicians. In that respect, PNG has caught up with the civilised democracies of the world, where people regularly rubbish their leaders.
Cartoons that make fun of our politicians have lagged behind. Even now, any cartoons about politicians that appear in our newspapers are soft and ineffective. It has long been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. What this means is that images can have impact way beyond what equivalent words would achieve. That's why political cartoons are so important in opening people's eyes and keeping politicians under control. Well chosen words can anger but equivalent cartoons can infuriate. Either way, it moves people to do things that they wouldn't have done otherwise. Infuriating politicians is done throughout the world purposely and the purpose is to get those pollies to toe the line and do the right thing. Political cartoons that have kick also are effective in energising people themselves to start doing more to fight corruption or other problems that politicians might be causing.
Our corrupt politicians must thank God that we show so respectful to them. They would never survive in office, much less be able to continue their monkey businesses, if they lived in Australia, America, or almost any European country. They would be rubbished in the newspapers right and left, especially through the use of cartoons.
Look at the cartoons on this page. Unbelievable, some of them! Can you imagine this kind of cartoon making fun of Peter O'Neill or any other of our PNG leaders ever appearing in our PNG newspapers? Definitely not! They're even rare on the social media. Why do we avoid creating and publishing such cartoons in PNG? Because too many of us feel that we need to treat our leaders with respect, no matter how bad they might be.
American president George W Bush
Treating politicians with respect - why? Are they performing in ways that deserve our respect? Doesn't giving all our politicians blind respect also give them the freedom to become even more out of control and more corrupt?
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
If you do some internet research on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions index for countries whose people treat their politicians with the least automatic respect, you're in for a shock! The countries whose people show the least blind respect for their leaders are all countries with low levels of corruption!
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
It's all well and fine to say we should treat our politicians with respect. But by doing so, it may be our respect that plays a big role in our politicians feeling free to misbehave as much as they want. They reckon that we'll still respect them even if they behave like pigs digging through pekpek. You know something? They'll be right! Misbehave all you want, PNG pollies. We'll still respect you!
My feeling is that we are creating more problems for ourselves and encouraging corruption by not rubbishing our politicians the way politicians are rubbishes in so many developed democracies of the world.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard
American president Barack Obama
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
In the years after independence and into the 1990's, no PNG newspaper would print a letter to the editor that was harshly critical of any leaders. It was expected and assumed that politicians should be given automatic respect, particularly Father of Our Nation Sir Michael Somare.
Unfortunately, by the 1990s it was becoming obvious that our politicians were taking advantage of this automatic respect. They were abusing the public trust placed in them by finding ways to stuff their own pockets full of wealth while supposedly serving the people's interest. Corruption, which was almost non-existent in PNG until the late 1980's, began to take off, especially during the Sir Julius Chan administration in the 1990s.
In PNG we are sometimes very slow to respond to changing events. The same seemed to be true as corruption took off in our country. People didn't respond at first. But with each new corruption story, people started getting fed up. Many angry letters about corruption must have been in sent to the newspapers, because finally very angry worded letters against politicians started to be published for the first time in PNG history. Once that door of free speech was opened, it has never again closed. Today one finds harshly critical letters that sometimes come close to blaspheming certain politicians. In that respect, PNG has caught up with the civilised democracies of the world, where people regularly rubbish their leaders.
Cartoons that make fun of our politicians have lagged behind. Even now, any cartoons about politicians that appear in our newspapers are soft and ineffective. It has long been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. What this means is that images can have impact way beyond what equivalent words would achieve. That's why political cartoons are so important in opening people's eyes and keeping politicians under control. Well chosen words can anger but equivalent cartoons can infuriate. Either way, it moves people to do things that they wouldn't have done otherwise. Infuriating politicians is done throughout the world purposely and the purpose is to get those pollies to toe the line and do the right thing. Political cartoons that have kick also are effective in energising people themselves to start doing more to fight corruption or other problems that politicians might be causing.
Our corrupt politicians must thank God that we show so respectful to them. They would never survive in office, much less be able to continue their monkey businesses, if they lived in Australia, America, or almost any European country. They would be rubbished in the newspapers right and left, especially through the use of cartoons.
Look at the cartoons on this page. Unbelievable, some of them! Can you imagine this kind of cartoon making fun of Peter O'Neill or any other of our PNG leaders ever appearing in our PNG newspapers? Definitely not! They're even rare on the social media. Why do we avoid creating and publishing such cartoons in PNG? Because too many of us feel that we need to treat our leaders with respect, no matter how bad they might be.
American president George W Bush
Treating politicians with respect - why? Are they performing in ways that deserve our respect? Doesn't giving all our politicians blind respect also give them the freedom to become even more out of control and more corrupt?
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
If you do some internet research on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions index for countries whose people treat their politicians with the least automatic respect, you're in for a shock! The countries whose people show the least blind respect for their leaders are all countries with low levels of corruption!
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
It's all well and fine to say we should treat our politicians with respect. But by doing so, it may be our respect that plays a big role in our politicians feeling free to misbehave as much as they want. They reckon that we'll still respect them even if they behave like pigs digging through pekpek. You know something? They'll be right! Misbehave all you want, PNG pollies. We'll still respect you!
My feeling is that we are creating more problems for ourselves and encouraging corruption by not rubbishing our politicians the way politicians are rubbishes in so many developed democracies of the world.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard
American president Barack Obama
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
