PNGBLOGS

THE WATCHER I REFER to the letter “Chief failed to groom young leaders” (The National, May 23). I would like to thank the writer, L. Lai, for the response to my observations. The Grand Chief could have allowed Don Polye to assume the position in his absence but he did not for reasons only known to him and possibly his inner circle. He would have carefully consi­dered the consequences before ma­king that decision. Polye’s ambition has been an open secret and many would agree that while he possesses admirable leadership qualities, it is too early for him to assume control. Ambition, ego, maturity and neutrality are factors which would have been considered by the prime minister. The writer’s reasoning that the decision stemmed from greed and desire to cling to power is weak in that the Chief has, in fact, handed it to Sam Abal. Is the Chief still in power or in a Singapore hospital? Furthermore, it implies that had Polye been appointed, the Chief would have been ousted due to some hidden

THE WATCHER I REFER to the letter “Chief failed to groom young leaders” (The National, May 23). I would like to thank the writer, L. Lai, for the response to my observations. The Grand Chief could have allowed Don Polye to assume the position in his absence but he did not for reasons only known to him and possibly his inner circle. He would have carefully consi­dered the consequences before ma­king that decision. Polye’s ambition has been an open secret and many would agree that while he possesses admirable leadership qualities, it is too early for him to assume control. Ambition, ego, maturity and neutrality are factors which would have been considered by the prime minister. The writer’s reasoning that the decision stemmed from greed and desire to cling to power is weak in that the Chief has, in fact, handed it to Sam Abal. Is the Chief still in power or in a Singapore hospital? Furthermore, it implies that had Polye been appointed, the Chief would have been ousted due to some

OP.ED It is rather unfortunate that pre-eminent lawyer and former diplomat Peter Donigi, too, will support leaving the decomposing body of a landowner leader without proper burial rites until certain matters of interest to him and others have been attended to. Has PNG arrived at a stage where the dead would be used as a tool to beat and banter a reluctant government into submission for something the living wanted? The decision to leave the body of Himuni Homogo of the Tuguba tribe in Port Moresby until the government gives in to certain demands of the landowners is nothing short of blackmail. Such attitudes should have no room in PNG society. It is utter disrespect in the ancient traditions of our society as it is in our modern state. When the body first arrived in Port Moresby, it was taken in a convoy past government offices in a great show of force by landowners. Himuni’s fellow Tuguba clan elders and relatives wanted certain outstanding commitments by the state to be paid before hi

OP.ED It is rather unfortunate that pre-eminent lawyer and former diplomat Peter Donigi, too, will support leaving the decomposing body of a landowner leader without proper burial rites until certain matters of interest to him and others have been attended to. Has PNG arrived at a stage where the dead would be used as a tool to beat and banter a reluctant government into submission for something the living wanted? The decision to leave the body of Himuni Homogo of the Tuguba tribe in Port Moresby until the government gives in to certain demands of the landowners is nothing short of blackmail. Such attitudes should have no room in PNG society. It is utter disrespect in the ancient traditions of our society as it is in our modern state. When the body first arrived in Port Moresby, it was taken in a convoy past government offices in a great show of force by landowners. Himuni’s fellow Tuguba clan elders and relatives wanted certain outstanding commitments by the state to be paid befor

JOHN CONROY In a move that might strike some observers as rather odd, Papua New Guinea recently adopted a national policy intended to stimulate ‘informal’ economic activity. Last November, PNG’s National Executive Council endorsed a policy document put to it by Dame Carol Kidu, Minister for Community Development. The ‘National Informal Economy Policy 2011-2015’ is the result. Why should such a policy be thought odd or unusual? This view arises because most governments, with the active backing of international institutions such as the IFC and ILO, are trying to diminish the size of ‘informal’ sectors. ‘Formalizing the informal’ or, in other words, absorbing the micro-scale economic activities of the poor into the formal, regulated and tax-paying part of the economy, makes sense in situations where the informal economy has become bloated (as is the case, for example, in much of Latin America, as well as closer to home, in Indonesia). But in PNG, as I’ve argued elsewhere, the informal eco

JOHN CONROY In a move that might strike some observers as rather odd, Papua New Guinea recently adopted a national policy intended to stimulate ‘informal’ economic activity. Last November, PNG’s National Executive Council endorsed a policy document put to it by Dame Carol Kidu, Minister for Community Development. The ‘National Informal Economy Policy 2011-2015’ is the result. Why should such a policy be thought odd or unusual? This view arises because most governments, with the active backing of international institutions such as the IFC and ILO, are trying to diminish the size of ‘informal’ sectors. ‘Formalizing the informal’ or, in other words, absorbing the micro-scale economic activities of the poor into the formal, regulated and tax-paying part of the economy, makes sense in situations where the informal economy has become bloated (as is the case, for example, in much of Latin America, as well as closer to home, in Indonesia). But in PNG, as I’ve argued elsewhere, the informal

Ronald J. May Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has been a member of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Parliament since 1968, and for 18 of his 43 years in Parliament he has been chief minister/prime minister, as head of a coalition government. In the country’s most recent general election, held under a recently introduced limited preferential voting system in 2007, Somare was re-elected to his East Sepik Provincial seat, gaining 38 per cent of first preferences and enough second and third preferences to carry him over the line, albeit only after the final elimination. As leader of the party with the greatest number of MPs (the National Alliance, with 27 of the 109 seats in the National Parliament) he was returned as prime minister by a vote of 86 to 21; he leads a coalition of initially 14 parties. Under an Organic Law on Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC), introduced in 2001 primarily to prevent constant ‘party hopping’ by MPs, shifts in party coalitions, and recu

Ronald J. May Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has been a member of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Parliament since 1968, and for 18 of his 43 years in Parliament he has been chief minister/prime minister, as head of a coalition government. In the country’s most recent general election, held under a recently introduced limited preferential voting system in 2007, Somare was re-elected to his East Sepik Provincial seat, gaining 38 per cent of first preferences and enough second and third preferences to carry him over the line, albeit only after the final elimination. As leader of the party with the greatest number of MPs (the National Alliance, with 27 of the 109 seats in the National Parliament) he was returned as prime minister by a vote of 86 to 21; he leads a coalition of initially 14 parties. Under an Organic Law on Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC), introduced in 2001 primarily to prevent constant ‘party hopping’ by MPs, shifts in party coalitions, and

THE AUSTRALIAN MORE than 10 per cent of Papua New Guinea's land mass has been handed over to foreign and national corporate interests over the past seven years under mysterious land deals that appear to be aimed at logging native forest. Colin Filer of the Australian National University calls it a "land grab". His research shows customary land has been secured by corporate interests via lease, leaseback arrangements. Since 2003 about 5.1 million hectares of customary land has passed into corporate control by abusing a mechanism in the PNG land law designed to allow for customary landowners to agree to so-called special agricultural and business leases. This is twice the amount of land grabbed by corporate interests across five African countries over a comparable period, according to one international study, yet institutions such as the World Bank have largely ignored these events in PNG. Professor Filer has shown how the Western and West Sepik provinces have lost 20 per

THE AUSTRALIAN MORE than 10 per cent of Papua New Guinea's land mass has been handed over to foreign and national corporate interests over the past seven years under mysterious land deals that appear to be aimed at logging native forest. Colin Filer of the Australian National University calls it a "land grab". His research shows customary land has been secured by corporate interests via lease, leaseback arrangements. Since 2003 about 5.1 million hectares of customary land has passed into corporate control by abusing a mechanism in the PNG land law designed to allow for customary landowners to agree to so-called special agricultural and business leases. This is twice the amount of land grabbed by corporate interests across five African countries over a comparable period, according to one international study, yet institutions such as the World Bank have largely ignored these events in PNG. Professor Filer has shown how the Western and West Sepik provinces have lost 2

ISLAND BUSINESS Papua New Guinea’s high profile bank robber William Nanua Kapris and 12 of his accomplices have been found guilty for stealing K2.4 million cash from Madang town’s Bank South Pacific in 2008. Madang National Court judge Justice David Cannings pronounced the verdict in March after a two-year trial that captivated the nation. The robbers are currently being remanded in custody in Madang’s Beon prison awaiting their sentencing. The sentence was to be handed down last month but was postponed to this month because submissions were not ready. The robbery remains the biggest ever in PNG which cleaned out the local branch of PNG’s largest bank and was executed to perfection. No one, including the police, was aware of it until after the robbers had disappeared. However, quick police action resulted in Kapris caught at a roadblock in Central Province 13 days after the robbery. He was shot and locked up at Bomana prison. However, the drama did not end there. On January 12, 2010, h

ISLAND BUSINESS Papua New Guinea’s high profile bank robber William Nanua Kapris and 12 of his accomplices have been found guilty for stealing K2.4 million cash from Madang town’s Bank South Pacific in 2008. Madang National Court judge Justice David Cannings pronounced the verdict in March after a two-year trial that captivated the nation. The robbers are currently being remanded in custody in Madang’s Beon prison awaiting their sentencing. The sentence was to be handed down last month but was postponed to this month because submissions were not ready. The robbery remains the biggest ever in PNG which cleaned out the local branch of PNG’s largest bank and was executed to perfection. No one, including the police, was aware of it until after the robbers had disappeared. However, quick police action resulted in Kapris caught at a roadblock in Central Province 13 days after the robbery. He was shot and locked up at Bomana prison. However, the drama did not end there. On January 12, 201

OP.ED PAPUA New Guineans are now pondering the real possibility that due to his serious heart condition, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the country’s most dominant political figure, will almost certainly not be able to resume his job as prime ministership. In the worst case scenario, if the man fondly referred to as the “father” of PNG passes on, Parliament will have to elect a new prime minister but should he recover from the heart operations and return, it will then be a question of whether his ill health can allow him to continue in office as prime minister. During his hospitalisation in the past six weeks, in Singapore, no one, even his doctors, have come out to say whether the Prime Minister will be physically fit to continue as Prime Minister when he recovers. Up to now, no one knows that. Sir Michael is 75-years-old and he has been in Parliament for 43 years and prime minister for almost half of the 36 years PNG has been independent. Six weeks ago, he was flown to Singapore, wh

OP.ED PAPUA New Guineans are now pondering the real possibility that due to his serious heart condition, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the country’s most dominant political figure, will almost certainly not be able to resume his job as prime ministership. In the worst case scenario, if the man fondly referred to as the “father” of PNG passes on, Parliament will have to elect a new prime minister but should he recover from the heart operations and return, it will then be a question of whether his ill health can allow him to continue in office as prime minister. During his hospitalisation in the past six weeks, in Singapore, no one, even his doctors, have come out to say whether the Prime Minister will be physically fit to continue as Prime Minister when he recovers. Up to now, no one knows that. Sir Michael is 75-years-old and he has been in Parliament for 43 years and prime minister for almost half of the 36 years PNG has been independent. Six weeks ago, he was flown to Singapore,

ONE COUNTRY In John Howard's 11 year reign of Australia we witnessed some of the most corrupt scandals of all time. He was involved in the bribing and corrupting of Saddam Hussein in the AWB Wheat Board scandal. Howard and Downer paid no less than 1 Billion Kina to Saddam Hussein in bribes and chose to ignore UN sanctions. Fortunately when the scandal broke, he appointed the Chairman of the Cole Inquiry with terms designed to protect himself, Downer and other of his Ministers involved. The Cole Inquiry only caught the little fry, the big fish got away. Another scandal was that of the Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq. On the 4th of February 2002, Howard addressed the Australian parliament, echoed London and Washington, and sought to make the connection between Iraq and 'the war on terror'. He lied to the Australian parliament and misled the Australian people, and took Australia to war in Iraq. Every drop of Australian blood spilled, along with the rivers of blood that t

ONE COUNTRY In John Howard's 11 year reign of Australia we witnessed some of the most corrupt scandals of all time. He was involved in the bribing and corrupting of Saddam Hussein in the AWB Wheat Board scandal. Howard and Downer paid no less than 1 Billion Kina to Saddam Hussein in bribes and chose to ignore UN sanctions. Fortunately when the scandal broke, he appointed the Chairman of the Cole Inquiry with terms designed to protect himself, Downer and other of his Ministers involved. The Cole Inquiry only caught the little fry, the big fish got away. Another scandal was that of the Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq. On the 4th of February 2002, Howard addressed the Australian parliament, echoed London and Washington, and sought to make the connection between Iraq and 'the war on terror'. He lied to the Australian parliament and misled the Australian people, and took Australia to war in Iraq. Every drop of Australian blood spilled, along with the rivers of blood tha