PNG University Students Will Lead The Nation If They Show Courage That The Rest Of Us Have Lost

by Damien George

Why aren’t we hearing voices from Divine Word University students in the media right now?  From University of Goroka?  Even from the Vudal University of Natural Resources?   Are they quiet because it is easy for them to get jobs after they graduate?  Are they blindly impressed with Peter O’Neill’s nonstop legacy of building overpriced roads and buildings that start to crumble right after the last kickback is paid?  Do they like having a sleezemaster represent our country who has thrown away tens of millions of trying to set up a stupid new university in the middle of nowhere (Ialibu airstrip) instead of stopping the infrastructure collapse any fool can see is happening at our existing public universities?   Are UNRE students quiet because the students of the other universities did nothing to unify and help them depose of their useby date expired VC?   Are UOG students so quiet because no other uni student government stood by their side either during their vicious fight against top level management corruption?   Are Divine Word students silent because they’re all praying that some kind of always elusive Divine Intervention will stop corruption so that none of us in PNG have to do a thing to correct problems we’ve all brought on ourselves?  

Whatever the reason for the lack of unity right now amongst the students of all PNG schools of higher learning, students and the public must know that silence is a form of communication usually interpreted as implying approval.   Maybe the students in most of our colleges, vocational school, universities and even high schools are so quiet because they approve of what our Prime Minister has done to our economy and government finances.  But why in heavens name would any PNG student approve of our Prime Minister’s smiling violation of ethics and laws, knowing that if he finds ways to disappear incriminating evidence against him and block access to whatever evidence he can’t get rid of, he will keep declaring himself innocent and remain firmly in power. 

All of us are afraid to protest but that’s true in every country for every peoples.   Getting angry enough to push aside that fright is why so many millions of people over the years have stood up and carried out illegal marches against oppressive governments around the world.  Wise people learnt long ago that if you don’t put up the struggle, you never reap the rewards no matter how hard you pray.  Prayer with action is wasting time.

UPNG and Uni-tech cannot win this battle against deep evilness on their own.   Transparency International cannot continue wasting  money into carrying out meetings and marches that look like action but don’t accomplish much of anything because the corrupt don’t see TI’s actions as being any threat at all to them continuing to steal.    The average man and woman in PNG cannot expect to do nothing more than watch EMTV news every night to find out the latest on the student boycott, assume that civil society NGOs will do the protesting for them, and be confident that everything will turn out all right in the end.   Things haven't turned out all right for decades in totally corrupt countries like Somalia.  There's nothing stopping PNG from sinking to the very bottom of the list in being ruled by the wicked.

Most important, none of us can continue implementing the same old tired tactics of protest that we always have.   Smart dictators in other countries figured out those game plans a long time ago and successfully crushed the protest movements.   If there is one thing we can call Peter O’Neill, it is smart, even brilliant.  How else has he been able to blatently do so much wrong and still have the great majority of MPs standing by his side in support?   No protest against Peter O'Neill will succeed unless those planning the strategy are more crafty than O'Neill himself.  Protestors against corruption in other countries constantly show innovative ways of getting around the police and the government.  Their strategies can be figured out or read about on the internet by studying them.

If UPNG students carry out a strategy of protest very much like UOG students did last year, and UOG students last year followed the lead of Uni-tech students the year before, only a dummy dictator won’t be able to find an easy way to stop the show completely and win once again.

The current popular movement is dedicated to remove Peter O’Neill from office so that justice has a chance of re-establishing itself in our courts and criminal investigation bodies.  The success or failure of that movement against the evils of a very cunning man will depend on we the people of PNG doing 2 things that we have hardly ever done before in the history of our country-    1/ Somehow we must find the inner bravery inside us to get off our chairs and take to the streets in ways unorganized or organized, but always peaceful.   2/ We have to stop being so predictable in what we do so that Peter O’Neill can easily stay one step ahead of us and defeat us the way he has defeated nearly every effort to bring him to justice up to now. 

I have written this article as my first effort to stand up and be counted instead of staying on my chair.   I am planning to make some small information leaflets and post them up around Moresby within the next few days.  I am committing myself to removing myself from the silent majority and begin speaking out.  If others join people like me who are doing something we’ve never done before in our lives, we will win.

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