A feel good Independence story
By SCOTT WAIDE In 1975, Jerry Nalau, became one of the first Papua New Guineans to become a District Commissioner when powers were transferred from the Australian Colonial administration to the new Papua New Guinea government. The young patrol officer who was then already a veteran in the new administration became one of the few Morobeans sent to Kunidiawa in the Simbu Province as part of the Somare’s administration to help unite the new country. “Somare said to me: ‘I want you to go to the highlands.’ And I said: ‘Somare, I’m not the only one! What about the others?’” By then, Jerry Nalau had already served several years in Bougainville and Rabaul during the turbulent but positive pre-independence period. Nalau recalls that in typical Somare humor, the Chief Minister responded: “You go to the highlands because you Finchafens took the Word of God to the highlands calling God’s name… Anutu… Anutu…Anutu… I think if you go, they will respect you.”It