PNGBLOGS

By JASON GIMA WURI Finally NCD Governor Powes Parkop is putting up a ban on the country’s most beloved traditional betelnut here in the nation’s capital Port Moresby. A favourite past time for many who are great chewers of this special nut which is culturally intertwined. Enough is said, it’s time now for action as Governor Parkop attempts to clean and beautify the capital. They are proposing for betel nut trade to take place up at Laloki for both wholesale and retail, it's like telling a fish to climb a tree- that’s not even an alternative in any sense. Governor Parkop really thinks banning betel nut will make the city clean? There are too many other things that makes the city dirty, putting the blame on betel nut sellers is like people saying every skinny people has Aids- Aids is not the only reason people lose weight, likewise, betel nut is not the only cause of rubbish & filth in the city. Economic implication can be summarized as a break down in the informal sector- People

By JASON GIMA WURI Finally NCD Governor Powes Parkop is putting up a ban on the country’s most beloved traditional betelnut here in the nation’s capital Port Moresby. A favourite past time for many who are great chewers of this special nut which is culturally intertwined. Enough is said, it’s time now for action as Governor Parkop attempts to clean and beautify the capital. They are proposing for betel nut trade to take place up at Laloki for both wholesale and retail, it's like telling a fish to climb a tree- that’s not even an alternative in any sense. Governor Parkop really thinks banning betel nut will make the city clean? There are too many other things that makes the city dirty, putting the blame on betel nut sellers is like people saying every skinny people has Aids- Aids is not the only reason people lose weight, likewise, betel nut is not the only cause of rubbish & filth in the city. Economic implication can be summarized as a break down in the informal sect

ROWAN CALLICK, The Australian The program was titled Preying on Paradise. There should be a law against it -- not just the preying but setting up the notion of "natural" PNG as a place of Rousseauian perfection, from which the fall is all the more devastating. If only, this paradigm of paradise hints, the place had been left untouched, like Eden. Australia's closest neighbour, just a canoe ride away, does host most of the 41 species of the enchanting birds of paradise. It is a beautiful country, from its Highlands -- with Mount Wilhelm reaching 4509m -- to its 600 tropical islands. Its people are warm, friendly and talented. But it is not and never has been paradise. In the pre-outside-contact days, there were too many tribal fights and deaths at childbirth, and life spans were too limited, to qualify. More recently, people's hopes before and through independence, of a rapidly improving standard of living, largely have been dashed. The Four Corners program focused, qu

ROWAN CALLICK, The Australian The program was titled Preying on Paradise. There should be a law against it -- not just the preying but setting up the notion of "natural" PNG as a place of Rousseauian perfection, from which the fall is all the more devastating. If only, this paradigm of paradise hints, the place had been left untouched, like Eden. Australia's closest neighbour, just a canoe ride away, does host most of the 41 species of the enchanting birds of paradise. It is a beautiful country, from its Highlands -- with Mount Wilhelm reaching 4509m -- to its 600 tropical islands. Its people are warm, friendly and talented. But it is not and never has been paradise. In the pre-outside-contact days, there were too many tribal fights and deaths at childbirth, and life spans were too limited, to qualify. More recently, people's hopes before and through independence, of a rapidly improving standard of living, largely have been dashed. The Four Corners progra

PNGEB The United States and Australia blocked Chinese multinational Huawei Technology over espionage concerns, the O’Neill government plans to give them access to its most secure communications systems. Last Friday EMTV reported: “The Integrated Government Information System project will see computerized and integrated information and data sharing mechanism for government departments and agencies using latest Information Technology … Huawei Technology is the project developer, working to connect the 52 government departments throughout the country, to enable efficient communication network”. What EMTV neglected to mention are the serious concerns that have been raised over Huawei Technology’s links with the Chinese military. According to the New York Times: “Huawei has struggled to break into the United States market, largely because of the security concerns and accusations of intellectual property theft and corporate espionage The company has repeatedly been linked to the People’s Lib

PNGEB The United States and Australia blocked Chinese multinational Huawei Technology over espionage concerns, the O’Neill government plans to give them access to its most secure communications systems. Last Friday EMTV reported: “The Integrated Government Information System project will see computerized and integrated information and data sharing mechanism for government departments and agencies using latest Information Technology … Huawei Technology is the project developer, working to connect the 52 government departments throughout the country, to enable efficient communication network”. What EMTV neglected to mention are the serious concerns that have been raised over Huawei Technology’s links with the Chinese military. According to the New York Times: “Huawei has struggled to break into the United States market, largely because of the security concerns and accusations of intellectual property theft and corporate espionage The company has repeatedly been linked to

By LUCAS KIAP People of Papua New Guinea must not be continuously misled and fooled by the government’s “Free Education Policy”. It is important for people to know that every citizen has the right to basic education and the government has an obligation to uphold that right, regardless. For a developing nation, to have a fully illiterate society is critical to change the country with time and with the rest of the world. No government should take the credit for that very “simple policy”. However, the concern is that the free education system is a “bottled neck system” where it produces more failures than success. We have a lot of young men and young women coming through the system who are not taught skills but instead are taught with match, science, and social science courses, which in practical have very little use or no use at all when one exit out of the education system. Are we teaching our children to become rocket scientists with match and science or are we trying to build a fully

By LUCAS KIAP People of Papua New Guinea must not be continuously misled and fooled by the government’s “Free Education Policy”. It is important for people to know that every citizen has the right to basic education and the government has an obligation to uphold that right, regardless. For a developing nation, to have a fully illiterate society is critical to change the country with time and with the rest of the world. No government should take the credit for that very “simple policy”. However, the concern is that the free education system is a “bottled neck system” where it produces more failures than success. We have a lot of young men and young women coming through the system who are not taught skills but instead are taught with match, science, and social science courses, which in practical have very little use or no use at all when one exit out of the education system. Are we teaching our children to become rocket scientists with match and science or are we trying to build

By LUCAS KIAP Over the last few days, the people of PNG have been caught surprisingly in a crossfire of war of words between two prominent figures in the country with Sir Mekere Morata claiming to represent the interest of the people of Western province while Peter O’Neil claiming to represent the interest of the country. The two men are different persons with different personalities. But both have one thing in common. Sir Mekere Morata was the former Prime Minister of PNG and Peter O’Neil is the current Prime Minister.  As the war of words rages on between the two men, at the centre are the landowners and people of Western Province. Their livelihood has been destroyed beyond repairable by the catastrophic and unforgiveable environmental damage due to the operations of the Ok Tedi Mining Limited. The environmental destruction is a worst terrorist act that can only be justified by economic justification. Jumping into the bandwagon, some are supporting the former Prime Minister while som