IN A GENUINE DEMOCRACY, THERE IS NO FEAR ON WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT A PUBLIC FIGURE:

by MICHAEL JOSEPH PASSINGAN

You can say anything about them, show no respect to them at all, and treat them with personal contempt. You can make fun of them, laugh at them, point fingers at them, and never have a worry in the world that you'll be prosecuted or jailed. That's the way it is in genuine democracies. Who in Australia is ever prosecuted for saying something terrible about the Prime Minister? Or in Germany about the Chancellor? Or in Japan about the Prime Minister? Or in America about the President?
Now that we have the new PNG Cybersecurity Act, about which our Prime Minister has come out in print, challenging those who have something critical to say about the government to come out with their names and faces. Very sinister indeed! The idea of the Act seems to be to intimidate people so that they stop making fun of the PM and his government or to reveal the deep darkest secrets about either one, for which there is usually never totally conclusive evidence, but rather, frightening hints about what might be going on behind the scenes.
The PM is very well aware that no one outside the police (fraud squad and others), ombudsman, and auditor general perhaps, has the potential resources in the best of times to dig out all the details and put together a conclusive case that can be prosecuted. Today, none of those bodies are resourced properly to carry out thorough investigations.
Thus, in the struggle for justice there is little alternative left but for social media "keyboard warriors", whistleblowers, and armchair journalists to do the best they can, and reveal what they've learnt, hoping that it will challenge others to step forward with additional information.
Peter O'Neill, armed with his new weapon, the CyberSecurity Act, seems to be threatening all these groups and advising them to remain silent. Let no secret be revealed and stop making fun of the government and the Prime Minister.
Nowdays, in hopelessly corrupt Papua New Guinea, making fun of our public figures is often the last recourse left to us. It's better to laugh at the situation sometimes than to cry. Political satire is a form of communication and humour that is especially prevalent in genuine democracies and conspicuously absent in world dictatorships. Making fun is a part of free speech. Free speech was never designed to protect speech that everyone agrees with. Free speech is designed to protect speech that is wildly unpopular, especially with the powers that be.
Making fun of Paul Paraka is a bit risky it seems. We were told stories years ago about his alleged, suspected, gossiped about, probably untrue but continually brought up thuggish behaviour, using paid human panel beaters to intimidate witnesses and achieve other accomplishments related to the court cases he was serving as legal counsel to.
Then there was the hilarious incident where Paul Paraka successfully took out a court injunction to prevent anyone from talking about, making copies of, or having in one's possession a copy of the infamous Commmission of Inquiry report on the Dept of Finance corruption. Why did Paul Paraka want all that kept silent? It had never happened before with a Commission of Inquiry report.
Obviously the reason was the destruction to his reputation that would have (and finally did) occur if the contents of that report became known to the public, with all its' alleged evidence, alleged, conclusions, none of which had been proven in court, thus meaning that Paul Paraka was to be officially, unofficially, and consciously and unconsciously be considered innocent of all those allegations.
Yet, Mr Paraka still went through a great deal of trouble to try to keep the Commission of Inquiry Report under wraps. He then followed up by contacting all the PNG commercial Internet Service Providers telling them that they had to adhere to the court injunction too. He threatened them with legal action if they allowed any e-mails mentioning his name (and those of co-conspirators) to go through their servers.
That is where the complete stupidity of Paul Paraka became known to the people of PNG, because one ISP revealed the letter they received from Paraka instead of keeping things silent. Paul Paraka provided all the evidence needed to prove he was a fool.
Nevertheless, Mr Paraka has always thrown his money around and created the general image that he was a legal force to be reckoned with in PNG and no one had better accuse him of anything unless they not only had come to be in the possession of every piece of evidence about an allegation known to exist, had prosecuted him in court, and after court delays, court challenges, court requests, slip ties, slip knots, and anything else that could be thrown in the pathway of the court rendering a decision, was found guilty as charged.
Only then did it seem we were able to talk about any alleged wrongdoing by Paul Paraka. Making fun of him seemed to automatically constitute defamation, serious loss of income to him, a humiliation and embarrassment to himself and his family, and ya ya ya ya ya ya damages, financial and mental.
There allegedly, possibly, conceivably, but probably not truthfully seemed to be no room in Paul Paraka's brain for him ever taking a joke at his expense. Mr Paraka certainly would not approve of any jokes about him, sly comments about him, or talking about him while smiling, giggling, laughing outright, or roaring with laughter while collapsing to the ground in hysteria.
Therefore at Niugini Outlook we are taking quite a risk by putting on this light hearted little poster about Paul Paraka and Jimmy Maladina. We're targeting 2 lawyers, which would not be a very smart idea if the principals lived in PNG and were subject to the PNG Cybersecurity Act law. Fortunately, the alleged tyrants, dictators, and thugs have fewer weapons at their disposal to try and suppress satire against PNG politicians and other public figures.
In any case, let it be stated here that the poster is a joke. Paul Paraka and Jimmy Maladina are definitely, conclusively and decidedly NOT forming any political party called the People's Anti-Corruption Party through which they would fight for truth and justice and promote honesty. We want to assure the citizens of PNG not to jump to that conclusion in any way, shape or form.
Carry on with the impression you had of Paul Paraka and Jimmy Maladina before you saw this poster and pretend that you never saw it.
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[Niugini Outlook is located at www.facebook.com/niuginioutlook All information on the site is accessible to you even if you do not have a Facebook account. On it you will find over 1,500 different posters and associated articles to browse through, far more than are advertised as being available on other FB sites. Join thousands of others and click that you 'like' the page so that you won't miss any of the latest!].
Niugini Outlook is for anyone who loves Papua New Guinea. Our site contains news and views on hot topics affecting PNG today. Our postings especially focus on the accelerating injustice, corruption and inequality that threatens to destroy PNG and its healthy development today. We try to offer some of the sharpest talk on social media because Sharp Talk seems to do better at motivating people to learn, remember, and develop into the kind of active participating citizens that true democracies require.
Consider everything on Niugini Outlook to be an allegation, not established truth. Do not blindly accept anything you read on Niugini Outlook or anywhere else. Think about what you read and question and reach your own conclusions.
We put out the allegations we receive in the hopes of attracting more information about the topic so we all come closer to the truth. Thanks to the outstanding PNG coconut wireless and relatively small PNG elite population, our postings seem to always become known by the public figures mentioned in our postings. They have every opportunity to deny anything they believe to be untrue. We NEVER censor anyone who replies to our postings with alternative viewpoints or to deny the stories. We leave those comments on as long as the postings remain.
Use the search feature on our home Facebook page to find information on particular public officials and issues. When you see information you especially like, consider becoming an education promoting patriot by sharing, emailing, photocopying and distributing educational content about PNG issues to your friends, relatives and colleagues and posting on public notice boards.
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