SCHEMING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS:

NIUGINI OUTLOOK
We have a dilemma similar to what judges have when they are given a case which has no direct evidence, but a variety of indirect or circumstantial evidence. Like the judge, we have to do our best to connect the dots and determine what the overall trend seems to be in establishing the truth. The fact is that reporters face the same dilemma as judges and even good investigative reporters often can come up with bits and pieces of scattered information. They have to work it into an overall picture, and do the best they can to make that picture accurate. Everything is made more challenging when we try to construct a story based upon anonymous tips or inside sources. But that too is normal in the world of reporting. Knowing who the messenger is does make it easier to determine how credible the messages are, but the credibility of a piece of information whose messenger is unknown can still be judged, especially when we compare that information with other bits and pieces of information we have.
As activists more than reporters, we bear a social responsibility towards contributing to greater transparency in our society. That sometimes means getting out a story before we have been able to gather as much information as we'd like. That is the case with the story about the O'Neill regime's plans to administratively take over the running of higher education in a way that allows less tolerance for dissent and student activism. It is another perfect example of PNG's move towards dictatorship. High level informants in Waigani have provided us enough information for us to judge this information credible.
What we cannot say is the date on which the talked about changes have been actioned, if they have been actioned at all. To wait until the story comes out in the newspapers is unconscionable to us. If Unitech is to be taken over by the sudden overthrow of Chancellor Sir Nagora Bogan and possibly the Vice Chancellor Dr Albert Schram, not only the students but the people of PNG need to know quickly about this political maneuvering as it tells us all that the O'Neill regime is prepared to go to any length, including the destruction of able leadership, to achieve its objectives of stopping student dissent and protest against the accesses of the Prime Minister.
Thus, we provide what we know, hoping that it will not come to pass but if it does, that we all prepare ourselves to react with a hailstorm of anger against the government.
The current scenario is to put O'Neill's Mr Fix It Man as the Minister of Higher Education and ease out the current Minister, Malakai Tabar, so that there will be no further delays in a strong arm response to the students at all the boycotting universities. The second level of change applies only to Unitech as far as we have heard, and that is to remove the Chancellor who is felt to be protecting the Vice Chancellor, who is felt to be giving the students far too much lee way to act like university students everywhere else in the world act when they get angry over injustice. By getting rid of the tolerant officials quickly, the government hopes to establish the same kind of quick and decisive control over the Unitech students as has been attempted (but so far failed) at UPNG.
That is why our friends have told us to warn Unitech students in no uncertain terms not to give up all the power of a boycott, only to find out that there are new people in charge of the university. If the O'Neill regime dares make such a move, the students will need every bit of power they can muster to fight back. That means the boycott cannot be ended. DO NOT END THE BOYCOTT BECAUSE IF YOU DO, YOU WILL LOSE EVERY GAIN MADE UP TO NOW!

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