KEITH JACKSON

THE pace really started to quicken in May as the Crocodile Prize closing date loomed, triggering a frenetic rush of literary creativity.

On the financial front, things were complicated briefly by Steamships precipitate withdrawal of its sponsorship of the short story award, still unexplained. But then, an anonymous benefactor in Australia sprung up with replacement funds and so the day was saved.

Perhaps it’s worth spending a few words on what happens to those Croc Prize entries when they hit my email box.

First of all, they’re all considered for publication in PNG Attitude and I’m pleased to say that around 90% of them are accepted. The balance of them – the other 10% - go straight into the relevant portfolio (poetry, heritage, essays etc) for judging in the Prize proper.

Those selected for publication are then put through an editing process before appearing in the hallowed halls of this blog.

It may be some weeks before a particular piece is published. It depends upon topicality as well as the volume of material we have awaiting publication.

I don’t like to publish more than about five pieces a day. Most readers don’t spend a lot of time with us (there’s much on the web to catch up on) and I want each piece to be considered worth reading rather than publish many more that would remain largely unread.

After Monday 30 June, all entries will be placed in their portfolios and long lists assembled of those being considered for publication in the Anthology. And then short lists will be prepared of those in contention for that precious and hard to get Crocodile Prize award.

MOST COMMENTED UPON

18 comments - TPP – an acronym that stands for US Pacific trade dominance (Peter Kranz). The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a secretive trade deal between the US and a number of nations including Australia.Papua New Guinea is not involved. Peter believes that it is likely to impact many industries, commercial interests and education in PNG and force it closer into the welcoming embrace of China.

17 comments - In Simbu, the Maryjane druggies are given special recognition (Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin). Ah, Sil writes such scintillating prose about such dramatic subjects. A natural born investigative writer. “Tonnes of marijuana (Maryjane) are waiting for a potential buyer in many of the villages in Simbu and other highlands provinces. The marijuana bags are stored on a wood shelf or ceiling above the fire mound in the family home. Some are stored in 10kg rice bags, sewed up and used as pillows.” And the druggies? Far from being outcasts, they are deferred to.

16 comments - Corruption & personal responsibility: “One hand washes the other.…” (Gary Juffa). Through his writing as well as through his governance of Oro Province, Gary Juffa offers guidance and good advice on how individual citizens can do their bit to respond effectively to corruption and malpractice. “Papua New Guinea is sometimes called the land of the unexpected. What is expected, though, is corruption, spread thickly everywhere….Corruption is a relentless creature, moving constantly and continuously, aggressively taking on anyone who challenges it, and apparently winning and gaining ground.”

13 comments - Not a bad set of numbers: analysing PNG Attitude’s readership (Keith Jackson). Web measurement site Quantcast showed steadily rising readership over the life of this blog, which now has a regular readership of 15,000, of whom 2,500 – in the language of Quantcast – are ‘addicts’. Thank you one and all.

13 comments - In a first for PNG, Simbu writers form their own association (Francis S Nii). In a pioneering step, writers of Simbu Province came together to promote literature and the Crocodile Prize through the Simbu Writers Association. From time to time I ponder about why the people of Simbu are so prominent in the arts and writing. Is it a cultural phenomenon?

9 comments - Holistic approach is needed to tackle corruption in PNG (Bernard Yegiora). The first time Bernard heard about corruption was in anElements of Public Administration class at the University of Papua New Guinea.“As freshmen, we were fond of copying stuff from the blackboard. Some of us tried our best to catch his main ideas while others drifted away mentally. This was best demonstrated by shoving the end of a biro into their ear to scrap out wax.” I guess they were the guys who now take bribes. Bernard, who listened, went on to become and academic and a thoughtful commentator on PNG affairs.

8 comments - Asylum seekers have change of heart as Torres Strait beckons (Our Manus Correspondent). Our anonymous Manus correspondent speculated that, when released from detention, asylum seekers might continue their journey to Australia across the Torres Strait. Because our correspondent was shrouded in mystery, radio stations in New Zealand and Queensland decided they’d interview me instead.

8 comments - While war raged in Bougainville, there was a miracle at Haisi (Agnes Maineke). “I never thought I could give birth on my own, but I did,” is the first line of this Agnes’s amazing story. In October 1992, Agnes and her family were hiding from the PNG Defence Force in the deep jungle of south-west Bougainville. “I was pregnant with my fourth child. These were difficult times. Food could be carried from abandoned gardens and villages only on certain days. Movement was restricted in fear of both the Defence Force soldiers with their Bougainvillean helpers, the Resistance, and also our own Bougainville Revolutionary Army.” Then the baby signalled its arrival.

7 comments - Rabaul-born Sally Jackson appointed to ABC media role (Nic Christensen). My daughter left The Australian newspaper after 25 years to join the ABC as its media manager for the news and current affairs division. “In taking the role, Jackson follows in the footsteps of her father Keith Jackson who was head of corporate affairs for the ABC in the 1980s”.

7 comments - The exploding mumu - a cautionary tale involving geology (Peter Kranz). You can’t make a mumu from just any stones, Peter explained, they have to be mumu stones. Readers offered helpful advice designed to stop your next mumu inadvertently exploding mid bake.

7 comments - Leading PNG public figures join administration of Croc Prize (Keith Jackson) Parliamentarian Gary Juffa and Unitech vice-chancellor Albert Schram accepted invitations to join the Crocodile Prize Organising Group, COG. “Both men are prominent figures in PNG who have had to overcome significant challenges in recent times.”

MOST LIKED WRITING

43 likes - Mike Dennis MBE, Rabaul-born soldier, dies at 67 (Noel Pascoe)

42 likes - Popondetta Hospital’s present day struggles are nothing new (Peter Comerford)

30 likes - A new broom on Manus is lifting the veil of secrecy (Phil Fitzpatrick)

21 likes - While war raged in Bougainville, there was a miracle at Haisi (Agnes Maineke)

19 likes - In a first for PNG, Simbu writers form their own association (Francis S Nii)

18 likes - Looking at the world through Nagovisi eyes (Don Mitchell)

18 likes - Rugby League’s biggest match has a Bougainville origin (Tevu Tenasi)

17 likes - In Simbu, the Maryjane druggies are given special recognition (Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin)

17 likes - Spirit of Hela (Betty Gabriel Wakia)

16 likes - Witchcraft surges while PNG’s health services disappear (IRIN)

16 likes - 'Tok Pisin i go we?’ asks Swiss academic as he heads for PNG (Christopher Neuenschwander)

16 likes - Corruption & personal responsibility: “One hand washes the other.…” (Gary Juffa)

MICHAEL DOM

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Tok Pisin tanka 1

Solwara meri
Mi stap longwe na tingim
Emi swit tumas
Yu kukim pis long nambis
Na karim i kam long mi

Salt-water woman
I am far off and recall
It is too sweet
You cook fish on the beach
And bring it here to me

Tok Pisin tanka 2

Eh, mangi aislan
Ol pis b’long solwara
Poret tru long yu
Taim yu sanap long nambis
Wantaim supia b’long yu

Hey, island boy
The fish in the salt-water
Are afraid of you
When you stand on the beach
With your fishing spear

Tok Pisin tanka 3

Long lain kokonas
Mun i wasim solwara 
Na mi wantaim lait
Mi sindaun wanpis tasol
Na harim win i toktok

At the coconut line
The moon bathes the salty sea
And me with light
I sit on my lonesome
And hear the wind speak

BERNARD YEGIORA

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

IT is mind boggling to think about the future implications of the current agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea to resettle refugees in the ‘land of the unexpected’.

The agreement may both transform this nation and further consolidate its diplomatic ties with its former coloniser.

However educated Papua New Guineans are asking some tough questions. Why are we helping Australia? Do we have a choice in deciding against Australia using us for its own benefit? Is the Manus Island issue a breach of PNG’s sovereignty?

So many unanswered questions but the intricacies of the deal are classified. Officials from foreign affairs, immigration and citizenship services are not at liberty to disclose information on what is happening on Manus nor about the future of the asylum seekers.

This is not good because information is necessary to cultivate a well-informed public opinion and effective decision making.

PNG does not really know what Australians think in regards to the asylum seeker issue although we do know that, like us, they do not have a good understanding of what is going on. Hopefully, the Deakin University conference, ‘PNG in the World’, in September this year may provide a platform.

Australia has cut the amount of money given as aid to channel more into funding the asylum seeker package. That said, regardless of the cut, Australia is still the largest aid donor to PNG.

For so long PNG has been feeding off Australia’s hand. Australia has helped in building classrooms, dormitories, offices, aid posts, hospitals, roads, bridges, the list goes on. These infrastructure developments have helped PNG a great deal.

Australia has also provided human capital in the form of advisors and consultants in various fields to help rehabilitate PNG. Over the years skilled and knowledgeable people have assisted in capacity building.

This has been complemented by the many scholarships given by Australia to help develop the human resources of PNG. The growth and success of the PNG-Australia Alumni Association is a demonstration. The more students Australia educates, the stronger the bilateral relationship. 

Trade is also an important part of PNG-Australia relations. Under the Pacific Island Trade Agreement (PICTA) and the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER), PNG has benefited immensely from trading with Australia.

PNG is economically dependent on Australia both for goods that it cannot produce like cheese and milk as well as goods that it can, like chicken, beef, rice and wheat.

On the other hand, the trade agreements have made it difficult for PNG to develop its own dairy and grain industries.

As the saying goes ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ and PNG is now paying back all the favours by adhering to Australia’s call for help on asylum seekers. Australia has an urgent and controversial matter that is testing the limit of its ability to stop the endless flow of asylum seekers into its territorial waters.

This matter is of international significance because it involves different countries and criminal groups which are smuggling people across sovereign boundaries. Mostly from south-west Asia, the asylum seekers travel to Indonesia where they board small fishing vessels hoping to sneak into Australian territory.

The challenge facing developed countries at the moment is how to close the tap. The flow of asylum seekers and illegal borders crossers aided by people smuggling syndicates is a complex problem that no country can address alone.

PNG is not really part of this problem. It did not induce these individuals to go to Australia nor did it facilitate their journey. So why is PNG helping Australia?

Well, over the years, both countries have developed the understanding that if you scratch my back then I will scratch yours. Australia has been scratching PNG’s back for a long time and now it is PNG’s turn to return the favour.

PNG really did not have a choice. If it did not help Australia there would be repercussions.  Perhaps Australian monetary aid to PNG would have dried up.

For so long PNG has depended on Australia. We suffer from dependency syndrome. We have got used to the idea that Australia will always help when we need help. This way of thinking is ingrained into every Papua New Guinean.

PNG sees Australia not as its big brother but as its mother. For years Australia has catered for PNG’s needs and wants. Now this near 39 year old nation is still dependent on its mother, Australia. There seem to be no cure for this syndrome.

PNG is nervous that, if it does not help, then Australia will make sure that PNG feels its wrath.

In good times or bad, Australia has helped PNG just like any parent would do for their child. PNG thinks it cannot survive without Australian support.

When it comes to asylum seekers, due to the nature of the PNG-Australia relationship, PNG does not have a choice, it has to help its benevolent mother. 

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THE notion of globalisation dictates that nations and peoples in today’s world are increasingly interdependent and must step up to learn, understand and appreciate each other’s cultural differences and together map ways forward.

With government and institutional support, such interaction can happen at all levels of society.  Universities around the world play a significant role in ensuring people-to-people interaction through scholarly in research and the dissemination of research information.

The Centre for Melanesian Studies and other research centres at the University of Goroka attract researchers from all over the world, who come to research or present papers at conferences hosted by the university.

Academics and non-academics have come to work and live among Papua New Guineans, interact with colleagues on a daily basis and extend these formal relationships to informal settings such as the family.

The expatriates relate to surrounding communities in their own ways. Some through research, others through organised social activities and others through informal recreation activities such as getting together for a few beers, playing sport or spending weekends with colleagues and friends in the village.

The Centre for Melanesian Studies hosted a German scholar who was attached to Maynooth University in Ireland. 

In 2010, Ivo Syndicus (pictured above with me and Jimmy Drekore) came to do research for his Master degree and returned in 2013 for his PhD research into higher education in PNG.

On his first visit, while doing research in the Simbu Province, he met a family from Boman village among the Golin tribe of Gumine District.

With Ivo’s fluency in Tok Pisin and his wide smile, the Boman people could not let him go and he returned in 2013 to live among them. 

His Boman family call him Yalwai, a revered name in Simbu for people with exemplary moral character and good standing in the community. Yalwai’s connection with his Boman family has been valued among the Kipa’ku clan of the Golin tribe and Simbus in general.

Yalwai would make time available to attend Simbu Students’ Association meetings at the University of Goroka and to visit his family in Boman. He has accompanied me to Simbu on a number of occasions. 

Yalwai has worked with and assisted many students here at the University of Goroka. He lives among the students and relates well to staff and the surrounding community.

Yalwai’s biological father came from Germany to visit him around December last year and he was taken to his adopted village in Boman where a small party was hosted. He brought me pork meat wrapped in dry banana leaves.

I could not thank him enough for his wisdom in giving a Simbu man pork wrapped in dry banana leaves, a culturally appropriate way of parceling food.

Yalwai left for Ireland recently. He is spending time at the University of PNG and in Australia before returning to Ireland where he will put his data together and commence his PhD thesis.

His family and friends in PNG has showered him with gifts, and bilums topped the list.

Yalwai decided to decorate his house at Boman with bilums and promised to return sometime in future. 

NOGLAI KIN

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Wahgi coiling itself gently in tune
with the shape of the land
In search of beautiful Kikori.

Picky dribble…agile…able…
Longing…trending…wending…
Down to pretty Kikori

Meandering with mazy motion
Alas! It’s too lengthy.
Aching desire for Kikori is unbearable.

Freed, speed, weed, reed
Haze, laze, hide, glide
Wide, tide when Wahgi’s patience reaches its limits.

Glittering through the gloomy glades
Yearning for Kikori

Furious, curious, trouble, assume problem
Wow! Still gorgeous is Kikori at last
Embracing, the two lovers

Hugging, giggling, jumping,
Dawdle, addle, amble, dabble,
Babble, bubble, gurgle, gambol,

Bustle hustle tussle tumble,
Mumble-grumble-rumble, hurtle-
Lunge! Plunge!

Splash! Spray!
Flay, fume
Gnash! Lash! Rage!
Wade into the Ocean.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

UNDER the 10-year Australian-backed Papua New Guinea blockade of Bougainville - when basic goods like tinned fish, soap, salt and much more were not seen for years - creativity was still at work.

In the early days of the blockade, a few Bougainvilleans went to the Solomons provincial capital of Choiseul Province, brought goods across and sold them to the people especially around Kieta.

But as the crisis, and the blockade, intensified in mid-1992, Bougainvilleans were forced to innovate and improvise. The coastal people could add a small amount of sea water to their cooking pots.

The inland people went to collect the traditional salty plants buraang and mengteerung which our ancestors stored and applied small amounts to their food.

But when PNG forces landed in the coastal areas around Kieta – in Loloho, Arawa, Kieta and Aropa - sea water was inaccessible so Bougainvilleans had to innovate.

Most of   the coastal people fled into the mountains and it was only the BRA fighters who kept a covert presence in the coastal villages. The village of Pidia, east of Arawa, was the largest salt processing place from 1992-1994.

The advantage of running a desalination activity here was that Pidia was located further from the coast on a jungle-covered peninsula which was neglected by the PNG so the BRA operated there.

The BRA and civilian salt-producing site was called Bomena; todayit has been into a permanent homestead.

During the crisis the people carried large equipment, machinery and pots from the now disused Panguna mine site through mountains and jungle to the Bomena BRA camp.

The pots were used to cook sea water for days to collect the residue of crystals. This were packed into bamboo cuttings and carried to the inland refugee camps for distribution to the people.

Some was traded by barter as far as Panguna and Kongara.

I captured the feeling of this in Chapter 19 of my 2014 crisis memoir, Brokenville:

There was a strong sense of freedom in these refugee camps. Every household had a garden to survive on, people also hunted and travelled to distant places to trade.

Pomong hamlet was a conduit for crystal salt that was treated and prepared by our Widoi relatives at Pidia village near the port of Kieta.

They travelled from their refugee camps in the Widoi Mountains around Bunumang to the Pidia Peninsula and camped for weeks with the local BRA. There they worked heating sea water in huge pots till crystals were formed.

They packed the salt into bamboo tubes and returned home to use it for bartering with people from distant places. They traded the salt for food that they couldn’t produce or obtain because of the PNG-Australia blockade.

Many of the old people of Bomena hamlet today share the tale of their home and its past services to Bougainville as the centre of salt production for the blockaded island and its people.

It is a history that they will pass on to their younger generations. 

DEBES AKA

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Future untold
In unity we strive. Despite our
Multi-cultural background, heritages, religions
Just for one goal, one purpose
To fly the flag higher.

Tireless days we encounter
Restless nights we face
Writing that never seems to end
We are the real strugglers
To fly the flag higher.

Possessed with hidden abilities
Significant agent of change
To build or collapse the land
Just for one purpose
To fly the flag higher.

Potentials to be explored
With the right guidance
And an easy to follow instruction
To fly the flag higher.

Unfortunately, it’s not according to our expectation
Unfamiliar sounds used for instruction
Unfamiliar prints to read
Making comprehension difficult
To fly the flag higher.

We know we have the remedy of magic herbs
To cure or to destroy
But yet to be discovered
A potentate that can rule with wisdom
But yet need guidance
To fly the flag higher.

We are the prophets
God sent
To hear the cry of our nation
To heal the wounds of division
Sent to rescue the suppressed and depressed
But nobody knows that we are able
To fly the flag higher.

We are the wanted
Like a top spot criminal
Yes we are! We are needed more than money
Treasured more that a jewels
Desired more than a luxury
Yet no one knows whom
To fly the flag higher.

We are the architects
That can design the master plan
For the nation
With understanding to assets and risks
Still nobody knows our capability
To fly the flag higher.

How long will we wait to be recognised?
Our longing for recognition is demanding
As the dear pants for water
We are longing to manipulate our potential
To fly the flag higher.

Hurray! At last
Certificated with the piece of paper
That spells our tasks
To fly the flag of this nation.

DAVID KASEI WAPAR

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

I HAVE recently returned from a month’s wonderful and stress-free break during which I spent a week with mom, dad and relatives at Tarawai Island.

It was a relief breathing the fresh ocean breeze free of exhaust fumes and other alien pollutants. Nevertheless, things were not as they were years ago.

Like many other island and coastal people, Tarawai islanders have a strong connection with the sea, the source of their livelihood for eons. Not to mention the sea as their only mode of transport and trade to the shores of Dagua and the far-away east-coast of Aitape.

Recently people have come to realise that fish numbers are declining and that there are no seagulls hovering over tuna hotspots.

Tarawai Island councillor Bonny Waihing told me that continuous close observation showed that these were the outcomes of inappropriate fishing methods by a tuna fishing company in the provincial capital, Wewak.

But it is not only Tarawai islanders who are affected. People from other of outlying islands are now concerned their marine food supply is threatened as affirmed by their councillors at a recent gathering in Wewak.

Councillor Waihing said fishing vessels are stripping the ocean of tuna.

“The island’s customary waters are now infested with huge nets that seem to take out everything overnight,” he said.

“Since 2009 we observed fishing vessels coming too close to our shores. Right now it seems our sea is dead.”

Youths who regularly come in contact with the fishing vessels and their nets told me the nets are 40 meters in length and consist of eight lines.

Councillor Waihing also claims shark fins are harvested illegally as was evident by a number of dead sharks spotted in customary waters.

He said he understands the company is operating under a government fishing license, however it would be of more benefit to the islanders if the fishing was restricted to three nautical miles offshore, outside customary waters.

“We don’t want them to cease operations but to leave our waters, which are the source of our livelihood,” said Councillor Waihing.

He said it is disappointing that islanders were promised spin-off benefits from the company and the provincial government but have received nothing.

Councillor Waihing and other leaders from the islands and the coastal villages have now petitioned the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Richard Maru, to follow up on the company’s operations and the unreceived benefits.

He said 27 local level governments within the province pledged support for the petition.

“It’s a big issue concerning the Wewak islands and coastal villages and we are happy to have support even from people inland,” he said.

Councillor Waihing challenged provincial and national leaders to fully enforce maritime laws so ordinary islanders and people living along the coast can benefit sustainably from the sea.

It is to be hoped that, now the issue has been brought to the media, relevant authorities and will have something constructive to say.

It has been almost four years since I last visited Tarawai and, despite the increasing number of semi-permanent buildings, small sea craft and the introduction of chain saws, not much has changed.

People from Tarawai and fellow islanders from Vokeo, in the far north-east rely, continue to rely heavily on the sea.

Ignoring their call would seem to be an act of negligence.

BERNARD SINAI | Bernardos Bag of Beans

A cabinet minister in the O’Neill / Dion government is calling for the responsible authorities to regulate the use of social media in Papua New Guinea, according to the PNG Post-Courier.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Nixon Duban (pictured) said the National Executive Council made a decision last year for a regulatory policy for social media regulation. However, the policy has not materialised and he is now questioning why it is taking so long.

He said while the country and her citizens enjoy the ideals of democracy, persons with political inclinations and opportunists are abusing these rights.

Mr Duban said there were serious instances on social media where people were opening fake accounts to raise dangerously critical and defamatory allegations against leaders.

He added that it is unfair for leaders to be publicly tried by misfits who feed of the social media world.

Mr Duban said it is incumbent on us to ensure there are regulations in place to combat such cybercrime and predatory schemes like pornography, human smuggling, gambling and intellectual property theft (copyright).

He said unless a serious effort is made by the proper authorities including the national security agencies, a small and developing country like PNG could be overwhelmed by social media.

KEITH JACKSON

OBSERVING that many of Papua New Guinea’s cultures, customs and traditions are disappearing, Jane Pumai Awi and Rose Bolgy - both senior lecturers at the University of Goroka - decided to look into the matter of how this trend might be reversed or slowed down.

Taking as their starting point the notion that  one way to preserve PNG's traditional cultures was through teaching literature in schools, they decided to undertake research to ascertain the extent to which the teaching of literature in secondary schools promotes PNG traditions and customs.

Their research found that, while teachers are willing to teach literature to promote culture, they are severely handicapped by the lack of relevant materials.

The two researchers also found that many teachers could not differentiate between different types of literary genres. For example, they did not know the difference between a short story and a novel.

Poetry. The research discovered that teachers in secondary schools do want to use poetry to promote PNG cultures and customs, and many of them do this already. But they are hindered by the lack of relevant materials. Teachers say they feel comfortable teaching poetry: 68% teach it; 32% do not.

Short Stories. Seven out of 10 teachers say they use short stories in their lesson to test students’ comprehension and do vocabulary exercises. The most commonly used short story texts are Moments in Melanesia, Toropo the Tenth Wife and Through Melanesian Eyes.

Drama. This wa the most unpopular of all genres. The majority of respondents did not any answer the question of whether they used it. The researchers concluded that this was indicative of the question not being understood or of teachers’ unfamiliarity with the concept of teaching drama. 

Novels. The novels used in most schools are The Crocodile, Canoes of the Dead, My Mother Calls Me Yaltep, Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime and My Childhood in Niugini. The classroom activities flowing from this are identifying elements of novels, group discussion, book reviews, book reports and writing stories.

The researchers conclude that, while teachers want to teach literature to promote customs and cultures, they are handicapped by the unavailability of materials. There is also some confusion about how they should teach the different literary genres.

Some respondents indicated that there is a grfeat need for the relevant institutions - that is the Curriculum Division, the University of Goroka and secondary schools - to work together to develop a syllabus that stipulates the importance of teaching literature.

A valuable research report by Jane Awi and Rose Bolgy which needs to be taken seriously by the responsible politicians and institutions. 

The complete version of the report is available here -  Download Promoting PNG culture through literature teaching

Jane Awi lectures at the University of Goroka in creative arts (previously having taught literature) and has just completed PhD studies at Queensland University of Technology. She is a member of the Crocodile Prize Organising Group. Rose Bolgy has been teaching language and literature in secondary schools since 1982. Rose joined the University of Goroka in 1997 and, as a senior lecturer, teaches language, literature and linguistics. She has Masters degrees from the University of Sydney and the University of NSW and is currently pursuing a Master of Creative Writing with the University of Sydney. 

IMELDA GRIFFIN

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

My eyes refuse to sleep

But when I close my eyes

In my mind’s eye I see my mother

I am combing her hair and she is telling me a story

Of a daughter, born not of her womb but from her heart

I feel the tears weighing down my eyelids

But how do I dry them, when it is my heart that weeps?

ISHMAEL PALIPAL

An entry in The Crocodile prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

RIVO village is about a 20 minute bus ride from Madang town. It is populated by about 3,000 people and our Community Development & Practice course at Divine Word University required us to visit Rivo to find out what the people really valued most in their lives.

In seeking answers to this question, we interviewed people in about 50-60 houses and very quickly we discovered that researchers, interviewers, students and government officials have been going there for years but nothing has been done.

“We are tired of answering questions from interviewers because we tell them the same things yet we wait and wait but nothing has been changed or done,” said one young mother.

I felt ashamed about this when she said they will be soon closing their doors on researchers because they are sick and tired of people wasting their time.

With this in mind, our lecturer is working on a report for the village to see what we can bring back to them so at least our interview was productive.

Rivo village is near Madang yet it has just one aid post for its 3,000 people, and only one doctor. There is no good water supply. Holes are dug near houses by each family and the well water does not look hygienic.

Sometimes pigs and other animals are to be found in the water around the wells, especially those which lack a good tank or lid, although some wells are surrounded with high raised cement.

The Rivo village councillor told us there are projected improvements to the water supply. That is good news for the community but the question is “when?” Our research showed that water is the most needed service in this community.

“Apart from everything else, we need a water supply because two tanks are not enough for the whole community,” a young man told me. “We run short of water for drinking when it takes longer to rain.”

I was surprised to hear that sea is the only source of the villagers’ income but since RD Tuna has been established, the community believes the catch is decreasing and that soon there will not be enough to fish to sell.

“We have been raising our concerns about the company removing our fish in large numbers which made our lives harder to find fish to source our income,” said one of our guides. “Even the oil from the ships and the waste from the factory have been polluting our seas and reefs.”

It is sad to hear these kinds of stories at the same time as you are standing in an area where development is a stranger.

We learned many things during this excursion by interviewing, observing and feeling how these people in Rivo live their daily lives.

As I compared these people’s lives with my own community in Bougainville, I observed that the people here were waiting for the government to deliver services rather than working hard to develop services themselves.

After interviewing the Rivo villagers, we got into two boats and motored to an island village nearby where we did some more interviews, took photos and walked around the island It was a good excursion and learned a lot about community development, people and service development.

I would like to leave you with what I believe is the point where a true community begins.

True community development begins in each one of us. We can change our communities by changing ourselves, our families, our communities and the nation as a whole.

“It is not about what we know, it is about what we can do with what we know” is a quote I like.

Everything begins from within, there is no need to wait for government or outside elements to always bring development.

It is better that we start and maybe then those outside elements can help us. 

JIMMY DREKORE

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

My heart's desire
is on fire
like a live wire

Craving to go out
look out
and find their where about

They need me
not this industry
sorry honey

I must move on
like a free ion
to ignite that proton

Find my chemistry
and marry my heart's desire

Divorce Chemistry

Marry Charity

With Poetry

LEONARD FONG ROKA

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

IT was in May, when travelling to Port Moresby for the Lowy Institute’s PNG Young Voices conference, that a Bougainvillean academic told me something startling.

“President Momis,” he said, “should retire from politics if he loves Bougainville.”

His words, significant in their own right, also took me back to my homeland, the Panguna District, and all its nasty and irrelevant politics.

Bougainvilleans should appreciate us, the stubborn Panguna people, for our contribution to rebelling against the problems of exploitation, indoctrination and genocide landed on us by the colonial administrations of the Germans, reinforced by the Australians and inherited by Papua New Guinea in 1975.

We, the Panguna people, have also played significant roles in the Bougainville peace process since 1997 but our problem is that we have those internal mi-tu-man (I am also different) conflicts.

In the 1980s, when the late Francis Ona of Guava village, was engaged in his militant activities, the late Joseph Kabui from the neighbouring village of Enamira was in the podium of the North Solomons Provincial Government representing the authority of the day.

This was, to the eye of a politically illiterate Panguna man, a Panguna man against a Panguna man.

And, with the coming of the peace process efforts since 1997, it was a Panguna man, the late Joseph Kabui, running the pro-peace game and it was a Panguna man, the late Francis Ona, running an anti-peace campaign.

This had direct impacts on the Panguna District and in the wider Kieta area of Central Bougainville. I do believe the psyche of the people was affected.

This was not just a Panguna problem anymore for it had spilled over from the brim of Panguna to the ends of Bougainville.

Soon after, the traditional figures of Bougainville politics, Francis Ona and Joseph Kabui, were off the screen by way of their death.

It was then that Panguna saw the rise of too many little-men running in the shoes of their relatives. All these little-men are vying to be the next Francis Ona at the wrong time in the political transition of Bougainville.

One of these little-men of Panguna is Philip Miriori (pictured above). But before I talk about Philip Miriori is, let me explain the environment he is playing in.

The 2013 research paper, The Gangs of Bougainville: Seven Men, Guns and a Copper Mine, by Stan Starygin says:

Miriori and Takaung rebranded Ona’s Kingdom of Me’ekamui into the Me’ekamui Government of Unity (‘MGU’) and significantly softened Ona’s stance on the ABG resulting in a landmark memorandum of understanding (‘the Panguna Communiqué’) in 2007.

The Panguna Communiqué signaled, in part, a complete break from Ona’s positions and, in part, their significant alteration. As such, through it, the MGU denounced Uma’s checkpoint as having “abused and misused its objectives and rules of engagement under the Me’ekamui government” and as having the purpose “to blockade the Panguna people”, condemned “the use of arms and violence” and acquiesced to what can, perhaps, be best termed as a ‘two political viewpoints, one administrative structure’ arrangement with the ABG

In return, even though ABG has no such authority by any constitutional provision and ABG reciprocated by allowing the MGU to have its “own contingent plans on arms containment” and, of course, a promise of bringing resolution of “social issues and development issues”, “financial assistance, economic benefits, development packages, good and service”, and “other services”; all of these translate into ABG bringing money into the MGU-dominated  area, which doubtless was the main reason for this rapprochement for the MGU.

Philip Miriori, Philip Takaung and Noah Musingku were the trio vying to be the successors of Francis Ona. But conflict pushed Noah Musingku to Siwai where he pursued his Papaala Twin Kingdoms and Chris Uma out of Panguna to Arawa to run his anti-Panguna version of Meekamui.

With two non-Panguna rivals out of the way, Miriori, Takaung and a BRA man, Pipiro, all from Panguna created their Meekamui Government of Unity (MGU) with Philip Miriori as president.

And so the 2007 signing of the Panguna Communiqué between the Autonomous Bougainville Government under the late Joseph Kabui and the MGU catapulted Philip Miriori to be a noisy and hard-to-trust little-man of Panguna.

And we Kietas are good noise-makers. I wrote in my 2012 PNG Attitude article, Bougainville politics & the characteristics of its people, that:

In Central Bougainville where the Kietas are politically and economically dominant, I see a lot of ‘big mouths’ that just cannot stop talking. Central Bougainvilleans are creative in exporting their dreams without testing the practical outcomes of those thoughts. But this population also readily absorbs change and adapts change to create results.

We talk and talk and talk. This can be noted even with the Central Bougainville MP in the PNG national parliament, Communications Minister Hon Jimmy Miringtoro, who talks hard in the media negatively attacking ABG but, when the ABG responds with facts, he hides for a while to get fresh air.

And it is likewise with Philip Miriori and the current exchanges with the ABG on the Panguna mine re-opening issue. Miriori turns out to be an octopus with too many hands.

In last week’s New Dawn on Bougainville blog story, Me’ekamui’s Miriori challenged to be honest about mining, President Dr John Momis blasted Miriori:

I challenge Mr. Miriori to tell us about his foreign advisers, and what they are doing to make money for foreign interests. They included two Americans with the Tall J Foundation, Stewart Sytner and Thomas Megas.

There are documents freely available on the Internet that show they claim that Mr Miriori sold them mining rights in areas to the north of the Panguna Special Mining Lease. I challenge him to tell us is what Sytner and Megas claim is true.

What about the other investors in Tall J? What advice did they give to Miriori? What about the Tall J investor who brought in the Chinese scrap metal dealers? What advice did he give? What about the advice that Mr Ian Renzie Duncan gives?

Mr Miriori is not being honest about the future of mining. His hands are not clean in relation to mining.

Mr Miriori is not being honest about foreign advisers. Again his hands are not clean. I challenge him to be honest on these matters. I challenge him to enter these debates only when he has clean hands.

Dr Momis attacks with real facts that Philip Miriori, while accusing ABG on mining, is running his own deals to attract foreign mining and even scrap metal groups into Panguna. Panguna people gain nothing while foreign groups walked away with tonnes of Panguna scrap until it is finally exhausted.

The general culture of these Meekamui figures is known by all foreign opportunists: ‘Just decant a cup of K1 coins into their mouth and they open the door wide’.

And this is a chronic characteristic; their existence in the ABG’s politics does not satisfy the hearts and minds of us Bougainvilleans.

Their political fantasies, so cocooned with threats, is hanging on a thread and they will be dead if the ABG plays the kind of politics that wins the hearts and minds of the people of Bougainville.

KEITH JACKSON

The eleventh issue of the Kundiawa News appeared on Friday 10 June 1964 and was the last of the weeklies. It ran to 11 pages including a four-page ‘Special Minj Golf Supplement’. The newsletter told readers that “you can expect the regular fortnightly News to be bigger, livelier and better than the present weekly edition”. Among the reasons offered for the decision were “the publishers of the News have other responsibilities and a weekly edition takes up an unfair proportion of their time”. Life was tough up in the Highlands.

RECOMPENSE FOR KILLING MADE – DUMAN LINES MAKE FRIENDS AGAIN

An impressive murder settlement on Monday seems to have brought down the curtain on the last act of the tribal battle between two Duman lines. Both lines walked into Kundiawa within minutes of each other on Monday morning for the settlement the same afternoon. Many station residents who have Dumans as personal servants commented on the fear of payback killing shown by these people. The repayment in money and goods seems to have alleviated any chance of this occurring. The settlement reached was £300 in money, 16 pigs and a large quantity of gold-lip shell.

Before the official handover, the police under Sergeant-Major Yurondo gave an impressive display including a particularly fearsome bayonet drill. This show of strength was followed by a talk from District officer Mr L Doolan. Mr Doolan told the crowd of about 300 Dumans that they must realise the government has now come to Kundiawa and that disagreements will be settled by peaceful means rather than by fighting.

He attacked the groups for warring over something so minor as a food which grows in the bush, commenting that a man’s life was needlessly wasted because of this. The replies and sentiments of the leaders of the two lines were then expressed and the settlement concluded with handshakes and hugs among former enemies.

Both lines then departed on the long walk back to Duman, no doubt contemplating the settlement and wondering what their forebears would have thought of it all.

SPELEOLOGISTS HERE LONG WEEKEND

A group of amateur cave hunters from Goroka are expected to pass through Kundiawa during the long weekend to explore caves in a limestone ridge to the north of the town. It is thought that a sinkhole could be found that will rival some of the deepest in the world. It is believed this expedition will do the groundwork for a more highly-planned search in the future with experts being involved. Some Kundiawa residents will accompany the Goroka team and it is hoped that the ‘News’ will have on-the-spot coverage from one of its staff.

EDUCATION CHIEF HERE

Mr K Rogan, Eastern Highlands Education chgief, is on an inspection tour of Chimbu schools. During the week he has been visiting primary T Schools throughout the area to make sure they are satisfying the rigorous standards imposed by the Education Department on all Territory schools. Mr Rogan has been accompanied on his visits by Area Education Officer, Mr R Delbridge.

PERSONAL PARS WITH MURRAY BLADWELL

We could hear the noise at Gon. Wondered what it was until I discovered that it was ladies day at the Malaria School. A good crowd gathered to hear all about those delightful insects and were treated to films and afternoon tea. Yes ladies, it is the female mosquito that bites – the male is harmless. Almost true to life.

Heard two delightful young tots discussing he heavens last week. Miss A – Did you know God made the moon and the starts? Miss B (indignant) – No he didn’t, Mr Jackson did!

Sorry he ever popped the question is Alan Slack, celebrating his first wedding anniversary. Gloria, remaining calm and placid as always, insisted it was the happiest eyar of their married life so far.

SIONE FA’AFASIMENI ATAHU

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

This poem was written to create awareness of the effects of climate change and the impact it has on my people. I believe the Crocodile Prize has created the perfect opportunity for me to do this.

Nestled somewhere in the Pacific,
Lies an idyllic coral atoll, round like a ring
With sandy beaches as white as snow
And clear-crystal water as clear as glass
Coconut palms sway gracefully
To the rhythm of the wind
While above,
The birds soar freely

But day by day, year by year,
The ocean takes a bite
At the hopeless lying atoll
Slowly but gradually taking everything with it
No more will I get to see,
My island in the land of the sunrise
No more will there be,
The place I once called home
And only memories will remain
Of the Mortlock Atoll,
Once it slips peacefully into the Pacific Ocean.

KEITH JACKSON

UPON leaving Divine Word University with a degree in communications in 2008, Ruth Moiam went to work as a public relations officer for PNG's Nambawan Super.

Just a few months later, she accepted the post of PNG-Australia Alumni Coordinator in the Australian Scholarships section of AusAID.

In an accelerating career, by early 2011 Ruth was Public Diplomacy Coordinator with the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby, and it was in this role that she first encountered the then newly established Crocodile Prize.

In what she labels as one of her core achievements, Ruth was appointed by the High Commission to organise the on-the-ground Prize activities – the awards ceremony, writers workshop, reception and the many accompanying administrative tasks.

She did a fine job and has been associated with the Prize since, most recently as a member of the Crocodile Prize Organising Group, COG.

Since early last year, Ruth, 29, has been communications manager of the Australian-funded Health and HIV Implementing Services Provider (HHISP).

She is also a contributing author to Communication, Culture & Society in Papua New Guinea, which highlights the constructive role media can play in development, a content consultant to the PNG National Anti-Corruption Strategy and a committee member of the Abt JTA Women’s Committee that raises awareness around gender equity and social inclusion.

Ruth reflects: “23 years ago, I sat in a hut - nothing like what kids call a classroom today - and I remember my teacher reading ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ to us. I couldn’t picture what bears or porridge or a child with golden locks looked like then.

“I believe the Crocodile Prize is proving to be of immense significance to promoting PNG literature.

“There are now hundreds of Papua New Guinean writers who are conveying their own experiences and affairs from a local perspective and thousands more who have the opportunity to read about stories and issues that they can relate to.

“That’s worth all my support,” she says.

CAROLINE EVARI

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

A poem inspired by violence against woman and the reason
why most women put up with it – because of their children

I smile even when I’m hurt
I laugh even when I cry

I joke even when my heart‘s broken
I wake up even when I feel I shouldn’t

I walk even when I should hide
I dance even when I should fall

I sing even when I should scream
I fight even when I feel powerless

I dream even when I’m empty
I love even when I should hate

I hope even when I should sleep
I work even when I don’t have much strength left

My eyes watch them with delight
My heart beats to their voices

My body responds to their happiness
My emotions grow and deepen

Just for their pride
Just so they could excel

They are my sacrifice
They are my story

They are the reason I smile
The reason I dream

They are the reason I fight
And the reason I look forward for tomorrow 

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in The Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

ALL human societies have a fair share of social ills that they create and attempt to address.  Among them is domestic violence.

There are different explanations for domestic violence. In Papua New Guinea, wife bashing, rape, incest and child abuse in homes are among the emerging social ills facing society.

A few cases of domestic violence reach the mainstream media and are discussed publicly with condemnation accorded where it is due. However, there are many unrecorded cases of domestic violence in PNG.

The churches have been using their extensive network to deal with domestic violence and other social ills.  There are also many community based and civil society organisations, some supported by international development partners, to complement the work of the churches in this area.

It is understandable that governments have to deal with competing priorities and use their established institutional public service machinery to channel resources in the name of service delivery.

There has been praise and criticism of the government’s approach in PNG.  In my view, though, the government has to step up addressing domestic violence.  In many parts of PNG, the ward councillors, LLG presidents, village court magistrates, peace officers and village based police officers lack the resources and the knowledge to appropriately deal with domestic violence.

With urban police requesting fuel money to attend to problems and some councillors and LLG presidents remarrying and watching their wives fighting each other openly, domestic violence issues grow daily.

Many village court officials, councillors and even some public servants are not aware that PNG’s constitution and other laws uphold the democratic value of the right to live without harassment and intimidation. This is an intrinsic value in democracies that serves as a vehicle for advancing humanity.

Domestic violence of all kinds amounts to a violation of human rights.  It goes against the United Nations Charter on Human rights and the very ideals of democracy which are enshrined in the Constitution of PNG.

It calls for the matrilineal and patrilineal societies in PNG to revisit their cultures, scrutinise cultural ideals and practices, and uphold those that promote human right values embedded in our constitutional democracy.

The residue that don’t mix well with democratic ideals must be publicly condemned. Our societies must step up to have more say in how they want domestic violence to be addressed.

Community based and civil society organisations must continue to apply pressure and hold governments at all levels accountable for their failures to address domestic violence issues.

Papua New Guineans must learn that marriage does not give them the right to be physically or verbally violent. An uncle or aunt has obligations to take care of nieces and nephews, but that protection does not give them the right to abuse them in any way.

Someone has the right to adopt a child, but that decision does not allow the person to abuse the child.  Married couples have a right to have children, but not a right to mistreat them.

There have been reported cases of incest in PNG which makes me wonder whether the Melanesian value of caring for relatives’ children are still a useful part of our heritage. 

Scholars of rape cases remind us that this crime is more often committed by people who are familiar to each other.  Incest and rape are violent incidents that leave a scar on the soul of the victim.

Many Papua New Guinean married couple get into verbal arguments, tormenting each other with words in the presence of their children and neighbours.  Sometimes, these arguments turned into violence.

Neighbours and relatives rush to the scene to pull the children away and let the fight continue and come back after the fight to nurse the bruises and cuts with hot or ice water.  If the damage is serious, they take the victim to the health centre.

In most cases, the victims are women.  Taking the matter further to police or courts is a matter for the victim or relatives to take up.  Male relatives rarely initiate such moves.

In urban centres there have been increasing fights involving men and women in public places. Bystanders don’t seem to care who is the victim in these fights.  To most bystanders, street fights and domestic violence is a normal part of the PNG way of life.

Many women become victims of aggrieved boyfriends and husbands in public places.  This practice has also crept into schools and universities where boy and girlfriends get into verbal arguments and fights.

A female colleague of mine who hails from a matrilineal society in PNG observed that in these societies, violence against women is common and it appears there is no value placed on the women who own the land.

Turea Wickham says “violence against one human being against another is abuse, whether it is psychological, verbal, physical or emotional, regardless of colour, creed or gender”.

PNG must make a concerted effort to create awareness, understanding and positive attitudes among citizens so that Turea’s words can be given value. 

PAUL OATES

WHERE else would you read the The Times other than on a visit to the United Kingdom.

Currently a number of local articles in that famous tabloid seem to offer some sign posts to the future, at least in this nation actually made up of a number of smaller nations.

Currently attached to England at the waist is Scotland, whose population is soon to be offered a referendum as to whether 300 years of joint nationhood will continue.

Northern Ireland is looking increasing like it will eventually rejoin the southern part of the Ireland as the people reportedly become more religiously aligned with Eire.

Then there’s Wales, where we recently visited a mate who previously lived in PNG.

Apparently, as a native of Wales, his daughter was required to learn Welsh at the first school she attended. All road signs are bilingual with Welsh and English added underneath as a possible afterthought for strangers who dare cross the border.

Speaking of which, if you do cross the border from England into Wales you have to pay a large toll but not if you go the other way.

Then there’s Cornwall, a nation within a nation. Cross the border between Devon and Cornwall and you get the message loud and clear that you have entered another nation.

The Union Jack of Great Britain ceases to be flown and the black and white flag of St Piran is seen everywhere. The Cornish have recently been recognised as a distinct minority and there is a nationalist movement to further the cause of these proud Celtic people numbering about 540,000.

Some signs spotted at a local agricultural show read, ‘Keep Cornwall clean. Leave your rubbish in Devon’.

Yet the native population of the United Kingdom is diminishing. Birth rates are decreasing below replacement rate.

Again according to The Times, England will grow in the future at around 1,000 new people every day but this will be due to migration.

Yet migration is starting to create tensions within the British population with reports that some schools are being infiltrated by a particular religion and school children are being indoctrinated in non-British traditions.

Even the Pope has come out and advised his flock to start having children and stop using pets as surrogates. Pets of course are far easier and cheaper to look after than children. They don’t answer back or ask ‘why?’ either.

The looming problem is who will do the essential work no one else wants to do? Reports suggest people with two and three university degrees are finding it difficult to get the work they believe they are entitled to.

Nurses are being recruited from European Union countries to fill an increasing need to look after an aging population. Tourist accommodation in England is home away from home for Europeans, with a huge number of accents encountered in the reception and dining areas of most hotels.

Germans, Romanians and Czechs seem to have arrived in large numbers courtesy of the relaxed immigration arrangements in the European Union.

So what does this situation give as an example to us in our south-west Pacific region?

Well, Australia has an aging population and looks inevitably like following the UK in needing migration to fill the employment vacuum left by those who decide not to have children or to wait while they pursue their careers.

Recent decisions by the Australian government to keep people working longer might sound great in theory but have small practical application. Hard physical work can’t be performed by 65 to 70 year olds yet there will be no future offer of government assistance until people reach this age or become disabled.

If the UK is anything to go by, qualified immigrants will be increasingly sought as the Australian population continues to age.

Some Pacific nations like Kiribati are now providing qualified nurses to fill vacancies in New Zealand where local opportunities exist. We know that PNG is currently busily recruiting qualified nurses from the Philippines.

So if we take an educated look into the potential future employment opportunities in our region, perhaps one sure bet might be that, if PNG has a resource pool of qualified professionals, places like Australia might provide future employment for work much better than seasonally picking fruit.

There has never been a better time to start planning for this future.