PNGBLOGS

By Scott Waide Our Pacific Ways reflects on Our Pacific traditions for inspiration to move Our Pacific People forward. It challenges the current systems of exploitation and asks: What if we did things Our Pacific Way? What if we told you that Our Ancestors were the best navigators using the sun and the stars to travel the Liquid Continent? What if we told you they were the best naval architects who built ocean-going vessels for international commerce between our island nations? What if we told you that agriculture developed here first independent of any outside influence? What if we told you that Our Ancestors lived in harmony with nature before the rest of the world knew anything about sustainable development? What if we told you that tuberculosis and leprosy were introduced to Our People? What if we told you that land was stolen from Our People to build Churches? What if we told you that Colonial Administrations hung Our People in public the same way Blacks were l

By Scott Waide Our Pacific Ways reflects on Our Pacific traditions for inspiration to move Our Pacific People forward. It challenges the current systems of exploitation and asks: What if we did things Our Pacific Way? What if we told you that Our Ancestors were the best navigators using the sun and the stars to travel the Liquid Continent? What if we told you they were the best naval architects who built ocean-going vessels for international commerce between our island nations? What if we told you that agriculture developed here first independent of any outside influence? What if we told you that Our Ancestors lived in harmony with nature before the rest of the world knew anything about sustainable development? What if we told you that tuberculosis and leprosy were introduced to Our People? What if we told you that land was stolen from Our People to build Churches? What if we told you that Colonial Administrations hung Our People in public the same way Blacks w

This is my first time experience as a teacher at the Pindiu High school. Firstly if you don’t know where that place is located, here’s where. Pindiu is located at the foot of the Cromwell range in the Finschhafen district, Morobe Province. It is a small station built around an old airstrip on two and a half hectares of flat but slope mountainside. Traveling to Pindiu from Lae is very expensive. From Lae to Finchhafen costs K80 for the Lutheran shipping passengers. From Gagidu in Finchhafen traveling by road up to Pindiu is K70. And you would have to spend on food and buai roughly K50 totally about K200 for the trip. Well the adventure gets interesting because you do not get to Pindiu at the end of the road trip. The road trip actually ends at Silamana which is roughly half a day walk to Pindiu. Actually half a day walk is what the locals told me but it took me for the first time one heck of a whole days walk. The passenger trucks couldn’t travel passed Silamana becaus

This is my first time experience as a teacher at the Pindiu High school. Firstly if you don’t know where that place is located, here’s where. Pindiu is located at the foot of the Cromwell range in the Finschhafen district, Morobe Province. It is a small station built around an old airstrip on two and a half hectares of flat but slope mountainside. Traveling to Pindiu from Lae is very expensive. From Lae to Finchhafen costs K80 for the Lutheran shipping passengers. From Gagidu in Finchhafen traveling by road up to Pindiu is K70. And you would have to spend on food and buai roughly K50 totally about K200 for the trip. Well the adventure gets interesting because you do not get to Pindiu at the end of the road trip. The road trip actually ends at Silamana which is roughly half a day walk to Pindiu. Actually half a day walk is what the locals told me but it took me for the first time one heck of a whole days walk. The passenger trucks couldn’t travel passed Silamana becau

By Susan Merrell Bonny Ninai, the lawyer who facilitated the deal, now a board member of PNG Forest Authority Not having a very good head for business, I asked my forensic accountant husband to explain the ramifications of what has transpired according to the article below. What he explained may be useful. Apparently, there are some inherent inconsistencies in the account, however the main points: 1. Belden Namah, it seems, has very cleverly avoided culpability by not being named as a director of any of the companies involved. However, he has received substantial cash benefits (around $US450,000) and one assumes that these were in the form of commissions. As a Minister of the PNG government, this is a gross conflict of interests as he is earning commissions by exploiting his position. He should be either a business man or a politician. Politicians ought to do deals for the good of the country NOT to make themselves rich taking advantage of their political positions. 2. Jim

“Namah heavily implicated in the saga and received substantial cash benefits totalling almost half a million in US$ dollars.” Malaysian investor is now demanding 80 percent of shares in the Bewani Palm Oil Development Limited, a landowner company from Vanimo or be reimbursed for all the expenses incurred totalling US$10 million. Maxland (PNG) Limited whose sole shareholder Andrew Lim is the Managing Director of Pricewood Products Berhad of Sandakan, Sabah Malaysia was misled into spending more than US$10 million dollars between 2007 up until 2009. Maxland (PNG) Limited was approached by the member for Vanimo/Green Belden Namah in his capacity as Minister for Forest in the previous Somare government. Mr Namah expressed the desire for Lim’s company to finance and develop the Bewani agro forestry palm oil project in the Sandaun Province. Mr Lim was interested and undertook to be involved in every aspect of the project including funding and management. Mr Lim and his com

“Namah heavily implicated in the saga and received substantial cash benefits totalling almost half a million in US$ dollars.” Malaysian investor is now demanding 80 percent of shares in the Bewani Palm Oil Development Limited, a landowner company from Vanimo or be reimbursed for all the expenses incurred totalling US$10 million. Maxland (PNG) Limited whose sole shareholder Andrew Lim is the Managing Director of Pricewood Products Berhad of Sandakan, Sabah Malaysia was misled into spending more than US$10 million dollars between 2007 up until 2009. Maxland (PNG) Limited was approached by the member for Vanimo/Green Belden Namah in his capacity as Minister for Forest in the previous Somare government. Mr Namah expressed the desire for Lim’s company to finance and develop the Bewani agro forestry palm oil project in the Sandaun Province. Mr Lim was interested and undertook to be involved in every aspect of the project including funding and management. Mr Lim and his

West Enga, Engan Intelligence reports that the Namah-O'Neill government may be on a witch-hunt to remove Enga's top sons in the public service. Notable appointees whom have been removed includes chiefs/heads at Defense, NAQIA, Police, USA Ambassador, and the latest being the Chief Justice.  There is a conspiracy to root out and remove the homogeneous society and cultural identity of Enga which has infiltrated the PNG national politics and bureaucratic governance. (We are being removed and replaced by a different lot of greedy and selfish highlanders.)  The "Timbais" and "Keras" know our weakness and have used us against ourselves. I AM ABSOLUTEY DISGUSTED, FRUSTRATED, AND DEMORALIZED at what WE HAVE DONE TO OURSELVES and allowed TO HAVE DONE TO OURSELVES@$#!!! It was a golden opportunity gone begging for the top job (PM)! Abal or Polye, I no longer care! (It's only the people that matters!!!) Why do we hate ourselves so much that we end up being the sour

West Enga, Engan Intelligence reports that the Namah-O'Neill government may be on a witch-hunt to remove Enga's top sons in the public service. Notable appointees whom have been removed includes chiefs/heads at Defense, NAQIA, Police, USA Ambassador, and the latest being the Chief Justice.  There is a conspiracy to root out and remove the homogeneous society and cultural identity of Enga which has infiltrated the PNG national politics and bureaucratic governance. (We are being removed and replaced by a different lot of greedy and selfish highlanders.)  The "Timbais" and "Keras" know our weakness and have used us against ourselves. I AM ABSOLUTEY DISGUSTED, FRUSTRATED, AND DEMORALIZED at what WE HAVE DONE TO OURSELVES and allowed TO HAVE DONE TO OURSELVES@$#!!! It was a golden opportunity gone begging for the top job (PM)! Abal or Polye, I no longer care! (It's only the people that matters!!!) Why do we hate ourselves so much that we end up being

Reporters Without Borders has condemned death threats that Patrick Talu , a reporter for the PNG Post-Courier newspaper, allegedly received from Papua New Guinea police officers brandishing guns and a hand-grenade. The alleged threats reportedly took place at a meeting in the capital, Port Moresby, between officials and landowners opposed to a controversial gas pipeline project. “Urgent steps must be taken to a stop this kind of abuse of authority and to ensure that the news media are not in any danger while doing their job of informing the public,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. “The government must not only condemn this threatening behaviour by the police and take measures to ensure that those responsible are punished, it must also refrain from issuing statements that could fuel the climate of suspicion and lead to more threats against journalists and to self-censorship.” Talu was threatened when he went to the capital’s Unagi Oval district for the meeting

Obviously yesterday's Post Courier front page read "CHIEF JUSTICE ARRESTED" . Some crazy petty allegation will be made like he double dipped on his car allowance, or his travel allownace, or his entertainment allowance or ordered more toilet paper than necessary for the Court House. Some allegation that he could have explained and dealt with at the JLSC. Some allegation that his administrative staff could explain or sort out or even produce receipts for etc. Its not as if he ran a private army and created havoc in Vanimo or was implicated in an open NASFUND Commission of Inquiry as having stolen millions of Kina. The criminals who are raping our women folk and guilty of armed robbery are still out there. But this government is hell-bent on arresting the chief Justice of this country. Ominous signs, my friends. Papua New Guinea, when you wake up today and read the Post Courier, your worst fears will be realized. No, this is not Africa. This is PNG, and this is

Obviously yesterday's Post Courier front page read "CHIEF JUSTICE ARRESTED" . Some crazy petty allegation will be made like he double dipped on his car allowance, or his travel allownace, or his entertainment allowance or ordered more toilet paper than necessary for the Court House. Some allegation that he could have explained and dealt with at the JLSC. Some allegation that his administrative staff could explain or sort out or even produce receipts for etc. Its not as if he ran a private army and created havoc in Vanimo or was implicated in an open NASFUND Commission of Inquiry as having stolen millions of Kina. The criminals who are raping our women folk and guilty of armed robbery are still out there. But this government is hell-bent on arresting the chief Justice of this country. Ominous signs, my friends. Papua New Guinea, when you wake up today and read the Post Courier, your worst fears will be realized. No, this is not Africa. This is PNG, and this is

By Rebekah Kebede March 6 (Reuters) - A deadly landslide in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, near where U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil is building a $15.7 billion gas project, is raising fresh questions about the global energy industry's scramble for ever harder-to-reach resources. The landslide tore through a quarry used by Exxon in January, killing at least 25 people in the poor South Pacific country, but it has stirred little international publicity, even though an expert report had questioned the safety of the excavations. The controversy also raises some familiar issues aired by critics of "big oil" in previous disasters: a pressure to deliver results, contractors found to have cut corners and remote operations that limit government oversight. Exxon, which was using the quarry to produce rock and gravel needed to develop the upstream end of its gas-export project, has said it is

By Rebekah Kebede March 6 (Reuters) - A deadly landslide in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, near where U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil is building a $15.7 billion gas project, is raising fresh questions about the global energy industry's scramble for ever harder-to-reach resources. The landslide tore through a quarry used by Exxon in January, killing at least 25 people in the poor South Pacific country, but it has stirred little international publicity, even though an expert report had questioned the safety of the excavations. The controversy also raises some familiar issues aired by critics of "big oil" in previous disasters: a pressure to deliver results, contractors found to have cut corners and remote operations that limit government oversight. Exxon, which was using the quarry to produce rock and gravel needed to develop the upstream end of its gas-export project, has said it is

Travelling the globe is so much easier nowadays. The manual process which involves the applicant filling up the blanks on the visa application form and attaching a ridicules number of support documents has seen its last days, at least in most parts of the world, that is. It is so much easier to travel the globe, country to county, continent to continent without   holdups, delays or unnecessary questions whilst processing a visa.    Thanks largely to people like Leonard Kleinrock (1961)and J.C.R. Licklider(1962) who conceptualized ideas that inevitably led to the invention of internet and the technology now available where you can access the internet anywhere, anytime and just about do anything. Such people committed a large part of their lives in the name of making our lives so easy in some sense. The society that we live in has gone quite complex (in an electronic sense) but yet so easy for the everyday human to exist in comfort and soothe .   Life must not be hard. Life must not