FRANCIS S NII

IN any successful organisation or event there are many players, but few stand out as shining stars.

When the Simbu Writers Association came up with the idea of hosting a literary contest for secondary schools in the province to coincide with National Literacy Week, SWA had no money.

But after selecting the best competition entries this week and readying the prizes to award today, we reflect on how amazing it has been that SWA has been able to execute one activity after another relative ease and simplicity.

This is all because someone foresaw the value of the concept and had the heart to sacrifice whatever small resources he had to assist. And this person is Ware Mukale, head teacher of Ku High School.

Mukale made the school truck available with a full tank of fuel at no cost to SWA. Where the Hyundai 6-wheeler could not access - schools like Boromil, Neregaima and Mai - he hired a Land Cruiser troop carrier for us to use.

On top of that, Mukale provided lunch money for those who were travelling to far flung schools to disseminate information and create awareness. He even erected a permanent grandstand at the school ground for today’s event.

The icing on the cake were Ware Mukale’s debate awards and banquet. He is sponsoring the debate prizes with K600 for the winner and K400 for the runner up together with books authored by Simbus.

And he’s hosting a big party tonight at the Ku guest house for participants, organisers and guests.

I asked Mukale: “Sir, what motivates you to render your wholehearted support to this event?”

He replied: “I like new, creative and revolutionary ideas. I like doing crazy things out of the routine, text book classroom life.

“SWA has come up with a brilliant idea and there are a lot of benefits in it and I am for it.”

Mukale’s foresight, ability and creativity to make things happen has been marvellous. In a society full of greed and selfishness, a person of Ware Mukale’s virtue is rare. He deserves a special tribute.

Behind every successful figure, there are unsung heroes and heroines. One person, although very young but already full of wisdom and a heart as strong as that of a lion, is the result-oriented Jimmy Awagl.

Jimmy is the head of the Language and Literature department of Ku High School and a founding member of SWA. When it comes to looking for someone to depend on, Awagl is the man.

The combination of Mukale and Awagl makes no mountain insurmountable. SWA is privileged to be associated with these two like-minded educationists from Ku.

One figure in the Mukale group who drove the SWA awareness team through mountains and valleys against sun, rain, hunger and thirst without a single word of complain is Kamane Kuake, known as Ground Pilot.

Wherever the team went, whatever time it was, however the road condition (even getting stuck going uphill), Kumane was forever smiling and chuckling.

With patience, willingness, tolerance and a good heart, no place was too far for SWA to reach. Kamane deserves our praise and garitude.

Ku High School, under the leadership of Ware Mukale, has set a benchmark and it’s up to the next hosting school to emulate it.

Photos: (1) Jimmy Awagl, Francis Nii, Mathias Kin & Ware Mukale at Ku High School; (2) Pilot Kamane Kuake, Francis Nii and Jimmy Awagl on the road

BOMAI D WITNE

A growing number of private and public secondary and high schools has been established throughout Papua New Guinea over the years.

The increasing number of students from neighbouring countries such as the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Nauru also indicate that the demand for teachers is not only evident in PNG but also in other Pacific Island countries.

As a result of this demand, the challenges placed on universities and colleges responsible for training teachers have been overwhelming.

The University of Goroka (UoG, pictured) is a taxpayer funded institution that strives to contribute its share of teachers to the growing number of schools throughout the country.

UoG has diversified its programs to train students and has been building strategies to partner with external private and public organisations to expose trainee students to the work environment.

Teaching practice is an important part of UoG’s teacher education program, where final year teacher trainees are exposed to schools throughout PNG.

It is an annual event that gives life and adds value to UoG’s motto of ‘creating the future’.

The Director of the School Liaison Office, in consultation with the Teaching Practice Committee, has worked hard over the years to ensure UoG runs its teaching practice program successfully.

The students are sent as far as Santa Maria Secondary School on Goodenough Island and Wesley Secondary School on Ferguson Island in Milne Bay Province.  Other staff members have gone to supervise students in the Sepik, New Britain, Manus, Western, Morobe and throughout the highlands provinces. 

The cost of sending over 500 students and 50 staff members for this annual exercise is a substantial amount of money. It must happen in the name of nation building and the university’s motto of ‘creating the future’.

The PNG government’s Vision 2050 compels institutions to contribute towards the dream of creating a smart, healthy, wealthy and wise population.  This plan requires all sectors of society to contribute their share, and UoG has certainly contributed its share.

I did not seriously think of the importance of my contribution to the government’s Vision 2050 until I took part in the annual teaching practice program.

I went to Paiam High School in the mining town of Porgera in Enga Province. The school is more than three hour’s drive from the provincial capital, Wabag. It is located on the hills of Paiam valley, guarded by the limestone walls overlooking the Porgera mine on the other side.

While Porgera is known for its gold production, the reality for teachers is different.

Paiam is one of the most expensive places in PNG.  There is a lot of money in the hands of the people. Not so much in the hands of the teachers.

I was thinking about the teachers’ continuing call for an increase in their salary and said a small prayer to myself. Whatever the current salary, it would still be expensive for a teacher to live and teach at Paiam.

Teachers will spend half the time thinking of how well they will feed the family to the deprivation of applying the best principles of classroom management and professionalism - such as controlling latecomers who enter the class in hard yakka trousers and shirts. The teacher fights a silent double battle. 

Until my prayers are answered, the teachers will be reluctant to go to such schools. UoG may be hindered by its budget to expose trainee students schools like Paiam that are far away and require more time and resources.

It requires a coordinated effort on the part of the local level government and other interested partners to keep UoG sending trainee teachers to these schools and keep the teachers there.

Such impediments, if unattended over time, will contribute adversely to the government’s vision of creating a smart, healthy, wealthy and wise population.

For the last two weeks I’ve been in Milne Bay Province for this year’s teaching practice. The thought of visiting the reality of remote schools provoked me to travel to Santa Maria Secondary School on Goodenough and Wesley Secondary School on Ferguson.

I had my ideas about travelling across the sea and had heard others confirm my perception.  It was the first time for me, as a highlander, to travel on a dinghy for more than 10 hours from East Cape to Ferguson and Goodenough Islands - and return of course.

I travelled on calm seas from East Cape to Ferguson and then on rough seas from Ferguson to Goodenough and back.

The last leg of my return trip from Ferguson to East Cape was a nightmare. In the rain in open seas. The waves hit the dinghy continuously and the usual two hour journey took us almost five.

The dinghy operators knew how to avoid the waves; we travelled from the southern end of Normanby Island to its northern tip to avoid big waves.

But whichever route we took, the waves were always waiting ahead for us. 

We eventually managed to reach East Cape.

Sydney, the dinghy operator from Gomwa village in Salamo, was a handsome, experienced and skilful man. I recalled this phrase, ‘when it gets tough, the tough gets going’. Thank you, Sydney. You are a tough person.

Santa Maria and Wesley Secondary Schools are located on some of the most beautiful islands on earth. 

The trainee teachers smiled but were anxiously awaiting their supervisor from UoG. Me.

These schools provided a different dimension to what I have described for Paiam High School in Enga Province. 

The students and staff were in school uniform. The students address all staff as, ‘Mr’ for male and ‘Ms or Mrs’ for female. 

The local food on these islands is cheap.  As a betel nut chewer, I couldn’t believe I could buy 10 huge betel nuts for 20 toea.

The islands are the home of yam, banana, pumpkin, taro, aibika and plentiful sea food. One trainee teacher from the highlands told me he was going to go back and teach in that school and for two years he would throw his bankcard away and live on local food.

Like remote schools in the highlands, the coastal schools also have their share of hardships.

It is expensive for teachers on these islands to get to Alotau town. They travel by dinghy or boat. Most teachers prefer travelling on boat because it is less expensive. 

While on the islands, I met the District Education Advisor for Esa’ala, who expressed the need to expose more of our trainees to schools in his district and offered to assist UoG in flying trainee students to the district in future.

I thought such an arrangement would be an ideal way for UoG to join hands with Esa’ala District. The government’s call for a coordinated approach among its different agencies can be seen to materialise under this arrangement.  

OBED IKUPU

THE lack of women in business has been a major constraint on financial capital and economic development in Papua New Guinea for a long time.

The cultural and social norms that accept non-conformance to gender are is reprehensible and constrain the female population from effectively delivering efforts to satisfy the shared vision of government and people.

As Robin Lillicrapp recently pointed out in PNG Attitude, it is a doubled edge sword that PNG is afflicted by both secular and financial stereotyping of women as lesser beings.

With financial inclusion being a major issue in addressing women’s empowerment among other components of economic growth, this essay canvasses those gaps that create barriers and prevent the participation of womenfolk in this area.

According to an article on women’s participation in the informal economy, women in rural and most urban settings contribute significantly to this sector of economic activity.

With minimum legislation and regulation, the informal economy has soared. For instance the informal economy gives opportunities to women and girls to sell goods and horticultural commodities to generate revenue at bus stops, on streets and in markets.

A deeply rooted problem for gender equality is that many men enjoy a higher wage in the formal economy while the women scramble for tricklings of cash in the scorching heat of the sun.

Moreover, women’s efforts in the informal economy in small-scale markets can have repercussions in terms of the abuse of laws that deter the efficacious growth of women in business.

According to Busa Jeremiah Wenego’s PNG Attitude article on violence by law and order enforcement agencies in Port Moresby, women, mothers and girls at Gordon’s market experienced fan-belting and verbal abuse.

Such events are on the rise in PNG and it is alarming that these agencies are performing their roles without much understanding of the law.

The Informal Sector Development and Control Act of 2004 which serves to unite the informal economy with the formal economy has come under scrutiny as to why municipal authorities need to collect tax from operators in the informal economy which is not conducive for women to carry out effective business operations.

Law enforcement agencies must find more subtle ways to curb such gender inequality in PNG. For instance, petty crime can make it risky for women to operate in public places. The so called ‘service-tax’ for use of governmental infrastructure imposed by the police makes matters worse for the women to build capital and transform their operations into bigger businesses.

Women in the informal economy do not have the skills and knowledge that could build their businesses into larger-scale ventures.

A gender inclusive program that harnesses women’s efforts to progress into new ventures of business with the help of organisations such as the International Finance Corporation and International Labour Organisation should help women conquer the issue of financial inclusion in the informal economy if it assists women transform into new and bigger ventures.

There is also need for a strategy to overcome the challenges of financial literacy of women in business. This includes proper banking, saving and credit schemes to make women confident to progress financially and culturally, socially and intellectually.

Furthermore, municipal authorities should recognise the importance of women in business and help harness the informal economy with the understanding of the law and its implementation.

To conclude, women in the informal economy are to be seen as having great potential for innovation, the growth of the economy and the accumulation of financial capital.

The single gender dominance of the economy at present can be improved and strengthened. The informal economy can be a first step towards harnessing the strong human resource that women offer and that will curb gender disparities.

WINIFRED KAMIT

INEQUALITY of gender and tolerance of violence against women is Papua New Guinea’s own cultivated disease. It was not imported nor forced by anyone from outside.

The PNG Law Reform Commission Report of 1992 on domestic violence ranked reasons people from selected provinces in the four regions of PNG gave about wife bashing.

Top of the list, was that "it was OK because em kastom" (it is customary).

Belief in sorcery also pre-dates colonial intervention and Christianity.

Looking for a scapegoat for the ills of our own making is not helpful.

Individuals, the State and the religious communities need to work together to realign and combine the efforts to raise the status of women and remove the indignity they suffer.

Peter Kranz’s poem is very telling of the horror of the violence on women.

We need to continue the story telling so more people can join in the search for long lasting solutions to end this violence.

To see a Woman

Peter Kranz

To see a woman crying, dying
That is the saddest thing.

To see a woman beaten, mistreated
That is an awful thing.

To hear a mother lying, imploring
Her children not to blame their father,
That is a soulless thing.

To see a woman's body, wounded,
No medicine can heal,
No consolation real
That is the evil’st thing.

To see a woman dead
When help has merely fled
The life from her has bled
The ground around stained red
Her hopes of future shred
That is the hell we bring.

___________

Lady Winifred Kamit CBE worked with Gadens Lawyers in PNG for more than 20 years, and before that as a member of the PNG Public Services Commission. She is now a consultant whose clients include Australian businesses operating in or seeking to do business in PNG. Winifred is a Council member of the Institute of National Affairs and a fellow of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Directors.

GÜNTER KITTEL

This is a report of an outreach clinic to Nankina and it is published with the valued assistance of Warime Guti of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG. The participating team was: Dr Günter Kittel, surgeon from Mission EineWelt working at the Etep Rural Hospital; Bindu Karki, his wife, a nurse and midwife from Nepal; Daniel and Zine, two Etep Hospital staff; Tobias Kreuz, a German volunteer; Andrew Mawer, a medical student from Oxford University; and Adi, son of the Kittel family

THE months had flown by since our last trip and we were looking for new places to go. The rainy season had begun and rain was not expected to stop until June. Then the Missionary Aviation Fellowship offered to fly us to Nankina.

The flight was breathtaking. To our surprise, Martin, our pilot, picked us up in Wasu on time, which certainly is exceptional for travel in PNG. We were quite a big group this time. And then there was our personal luggage, a lot of food, medical supplies and a small operating theatre.

We followed the northern coast towards Madang for about half an hour. Then the plane turned south and we had a splendid view of small villages located on steep mountain slopes.

To our left and right, were giant waterfalls and, at the top of a mountain crest in front of us, our destination - Nankina airfield. After some circuits over the village, Martin safely landed. We had arrived.

Sooner than expected, we were told there were a huge number of patients already waiting for us but first we had to transport our luggage to our accommodation, a small guesthouse owned by the village magistrate.

It took us quite a long time to put away and properly store our luggage and the medical supplies and equipment.

Soon after this, the fire crackled and our first meal was prepared. In these higher regions of the Ukata district the temperature stays comfortably cool and it never gets really cold. The people sleep around the fire as it was done by their forefathers.

After the meal we prepared our beds for the night and transported supplies to the clinic.

The village we walked through looked like the cliché of Papua New Guinea. Huts made from sago palms and bamboo, cultivated and decorated pathways, gardens with pigs crossing our path.

Many people might have seen planes here but never a car - almost unbelievable in the 21st century. Every property was adorned by a beautiful carved gate and, passing through these gates, I realised the people here are smaller than elsewhere in PNG. I always had to bend whereas our hosts had no problems.

Arriving at the aid post, we once more saw the poor healthcare in the rural areas of PNG. The aid post had been built 14 years ago but was long abandoned, leaving about 6,000 people without access to vaccinations and treatment.

The number of children was striking: 10 children for each mother the average; many women had more. Family structures are breaking apart. Single mothers are common. On the first day we could only clean up the clinic which had not been used for many years.

Saturday is market day in Nankina. It is a place not only to trade goods but to talk about the latest developments.

On the way to the market we noticed that everywhere was sprinkled with coffee beans and we asked why. The answer was understandable yet unexpected. Coffee had been an important source of income and, until recent years, was transported by plane to Madang or Lae where growers could make good money.

However the falling price of coffee beans on the world market had led to a rapid change. For a kilo of green coffee beans, a farmer earns 80 toea but to transport it by plane costs two kina. So the beans ended up as decorations for the pathways.

Our visit was turning out to be a big event that everybody was speaking about. I was told that never before had a doctor visited Nankina.

Speeches are important in Papua New Guinea. Our nurse David was completely in his element talking about the dangers of HIV and AIDS. For hours he commanded the attention of the audience. It sounded like a political campaign.

I was expecting a run of patients on our clinic and we moved to the clinic which was already crowded. The people were first registered by the magistrate and the number was already 200 and increasing.

Despite all our efforts we were not able to see more than 50 of them that day. The physical problems were numerous. Like everywhere on earth, back pain topped the list.

That evening we were told a young father of four children had stumbled while doing woodwork and died. His injuries must have been severe as nobody attempted to bring him to me.

I witnessed many lung diseases. Tuberculosis is quite common. Despite the seriousness of the cases, I could only advise people to visit the nearest hospital to start the long treatment.

In patients with chronic cough, smoking plays an important role. There is nearly no member of the community who does not smoke. Even at night people do not stop.

In the past, chewing buai (betel nut) only occurred during special occasions. Today everybody chews - from young to old, men and women. Young people in their thirties are already developing non-curable mouth cancer that almost always leads to death.

Young women appear to be exhausted and this is not surprising looking at 30 year olds with 10 children. I know that what our team can do is limited so we focus on what is possible.

Many of the patients need continuing treatment, which we cannot ensure. There is no nurse and no aid post orderlies who can guarantee even a minimum amount of medical care.

Unfortunately this is common in PNG. So we try to motivate the people by showing them that they are not left behind and we will try to take care of their problems where we can.

We decided to continue our clinic on Monday and on Sunday everybody gathered in the open air for a church service. An old man, like a hermit from the Old Testament, preached the gospel.

After the announcements there was another round of health awareness. We talked about HIV, smoking, family planning and hygiene.

On Sunday afternoon the area around the school is reserved for sport. Soccer, volleyball and basketball are important and our volunteer, Tobias, takes part in the soccer tournament, which is greeted enthusiastically.

We decide to play basketball, which I should dominate because of my sheer size but, despite that, the female students show a high extend of marksmanship and demonstrate it was a long time since I last played basketball.

On Monday we were pushed to our limit.

Hundreds of patients were waiting. The area in front of our clinic was crowded with people and had converted into a market. Within hours, vendors started selling buai.

Over 200 patients were on the waiting list and more were expected to arrive. We tried to do what was possible. Many were placated but it seemed to us to be an impossible challenge. In the evening we were totally exhausted.

On this one day we distributed over 4,000 pain killer tablets we had received from Germany.

We barely could sleep that night. Many things were going through our minds. We discussed how the health situation could be improved but we knew that the possibilities were limited.

The people responsible seem to have no interest and they have no idea how difficult the situation is here at Nankina.

The next day was operating day. There was a long list of tasks. Organising them seemed to be even more difficult, whether cleaning, preparing the op table or organising clean water.

We tried to accelerate. We operated on hernias, lumps and ulcers, and pulled teeth until sunset.

This continued over the next days and the work seemed never ending as there were always new people coming in from surrounding villages.

Although we had taken more medicine with us this time we knew we would soon run out of supplies. Furthermore we were not able to sterilise our operating instruments and I had to admit that we had reached the limits of what was feasible and possible.

When we announced our departure, a pastor handed us a letter with the names of 123 other patients in a village one day’s march away, but we did not have a single tablet left. We had to put him off in a friendly manner, telling him we would return another time and this was accepted.

We found some young boys and older women who offered help carry the equipment back to the coast. The luggage was carried by 15 people.

My wife Bindu had to take part in a workshop in Madang and we organised for a pickup by MAF. In the morning we heard the sound of a plane circling over Nankina but, after several landing attempts, the pilot had to return. Flying is still an enormous challenge in PNG. Bindu would walk back to the coast with us.

For a last time we checked our luggage. The carriers had their bows and arrows with them, which is common for this area.

Until recent years, tribal fights were common and we were told that the old weapons would still be used. Every child had to practice shooting with bow and arrow and people learned to catch arrows shot at them. Scars bore witness to the injuries incurred in recent years.

We left Nankina in a relaxed mood. Our transport team was singing and a steep downhill pathway led us to a broad stream. The humidity and heat meant we have to carefully watch our step as the path was slippery.

Finally we reach the river - an ideal opportunity to jump into the cool and refreshing water. Some biscuits provided new energy for the way ahead.

The rain set in and we walked through mud up to our knees. This was hard walking and soon we could feel the soreness in every part of our body.

Our track followed a steep canyon. Below we heard the raging waters of the river. We grabbed for roots and our knees start to shake with exhaustion. We were constantly heading up and down. Walking up was a relief compared with walking down.

And the bridges - quite often only tree trunks. Our skilled local guides crossed without problems but we struggled or chose to wade through the hip deep water.

Somewhere in the afternoon we reached at a small hamlet. We learned that this was the place of a family where the husband had six wives, each one living in her own house.

As we walked on, we saw the gardens full of taro, sweet potato and bananas. At last a steep path led us into a small village consisting of about eight diminutive houses.

We asked for shelter for the night and got a room in a small hut. A fire was started immediately and a simple noodle soup cooked. We were too exhausted to eat and fell into a deep leaden sleep.

The people outside told stories throughout this night. The journey was a big adventure for our carriers and never had there been a waitman in this area. Every word penetrated the thin walls of our hut.

The next morning we got up early as we had only traversed one-third of our journey with our guides telling us the path ahead was in poor condition. Bad news I did not want to hear. I could not imagine worse than yesterday.

We boiled tea and ate some biscuits. Andrew, our medical student, took pictures and we said goodbye to our hosts. Without this shelter we would have been lost as it continued to rain throughout the night and the next village was hours away.

The prediction by the guides was not exaggerated as the pathway was terrible. The continuing rain converted it into a slippery mire not possible to walk without walking sticks. Especially not downhill.

Our carriers were now getting slower but it was incredible how safely they moved, their toes gripping the mud and we with our shoes disadvantaged in every respect.

The number of rivers and creeks crossed seemed endless. We were lucky that this time the leeches are not a problem but the flies accurately targeted every bodily orifice.

We were plagued with hunger after many hours of walking and I hoped the end was close. Then we met a muscular young man walking quite fast who told us that he had left the coast before sunrise and had been on the track for seven hours. A not encouraging message.

But the way became less steep and, after a while, we saw the first coconut palms. The scenery changed and we came to the first cocoa plantations. A young man offered me a freshly picked coconut. Never before had I tasted a more delicious juice.

As more members of our group arrived, there was no stop. The young man climbed the tree and within minutes it was empty of coconuts.

Now, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The path broadened and was not wet any more. The first suspension bridge not made of bamboo appeared around the next bend.

But some steel ropes had been ripped from their anchoring role so it did not appear to be any safer than the bridges we crossed before.

All of a sudden, we arrived in a small modern town. Saidor had a small hospital with 18 nurses but no doctor as well as a hotel and a huge store. The nurse on duty welcomed us in her house, where we showered and organised some food.

We slept on nice soft mattresses and it was wonderful to stretch our tired arms and legs.

The next morning looked for our dinghy. We are told it was already waiting for us at a village nearby. After some hours a small truck drove us to Mur, where our skipper was ready for departure.

Luckily the sea was calm; often not the case. In the rough waters many boats frequently get lost forever. But we enjoyed this voyage.

The tropical landscape passed by and the sun beat down, which was better than the rain beating down. After three hours we entered Wasu marina where the ambulance was waiting to drive us up to Etep.

The journey now lies behind us. We gained new insights into the life of Papua New Guinea. Despite all the wear and tear, it was all worthwhile.

Expressions of thanks: I'd like to thank Mission Eine Welt not only for making the flight to Nankina possible but also for providing drugs and medical equipment for our patients. Thanks to everybody who helped us on site and brought us back safely

DAVID EPHRAIM

The report on potential PNG terrorist activity revealed last week by the Post Courier newspaper was long overdue.

If you analyse the published information, it seems to have come from an Australian source which might have used a 'cut out' – a third party - to feed information from intelligence officers to the Post Courier.

Whatever the intentions of this, firstly let's observe global events and important geopolitical developments within our region. Let's calculate the political and security climate within the region.

Why should this happen now? Is it because previously there was never a threat posed to Australian interests?

We cannot deny the reality that Papua New Guinea is already a transit zone for human, firearms and drug smuggling.

Without decrying the efforts of our law enforcement agencies, especially the PNGDF Defence Intelligence and the National Intelligence Organisation.

The breakdown in counter-intelligence can be partly blamed on political meddling into the administrative and operative operations of these organisations.

Australia is keen on protecting her borders from threats that could undermine her interests whether at home or nearby.

Australian Islamic radicalism is not new. It's been going on for years, but why would Papua New Guinea come into this sphere of interest as a possible source for financing global terrorism?

The facts are obvious - a weak system of governance, systemic corruption, puny border protection and a lack of counter-terrorism laws and mechanisms to detect and counter early stage activity.

PNG does have well trained personnel in intelligence, counter-terrorism and related areas but terrorism is a distant issue to PNG politicians who mainly like to associate it with religious conflict rather than seeing it as an organised criminal network - working in the disguise of religious or political ideology.

So what can be done?

It seemed to be a well calculated move to influence public opinion and get a PNG government reaction by whoever supplied the information to the Post Courier.

Firstly, we need to examine the content and go after the 'mole' who supplied this information. Once we establish the facts, we can work out how to mitigate any threats at the earliest possible stage.

Second, people should not panic but come forward with credible information to help law enforcers deal with the claims. This could be a long process. The agencies also need to tap the money trails between PNG and Australia and establish whether these funds are supporting terrorism.

Third, this is a wake-up call for the PNG government to stop politicising law enforcement and work to empower and equip front line agencies to safeguard the national interest.

A final thought. I think because of the possible ceasing of the Australian Federal Police deployment to PNG and also the likely closure of Manus Island Detention Centre, this could be a ruse by foreign interests to get a grip on PNG's national security.

It could also be a tactic to capture political attention and to finally get politicians to seriously look at our national security mechanism.

Terrorism is the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims (OED). In other words, it's an act of radicalising individuals in pursuit of political or religious, ethnic, tribal or national aims.

Please share your thoughts and let's have an open discussion and engage those in areas of influence to assess and advise our government to be more prepared and able to mitigate potential future threats.

God Defend and Bless Papua New Guinea.

David is a geopolitical analyst who is “committed to making a world safer and better place for everyone to live in peace enjoying rule of law, security and social stability”. David has been a board member of the Youth Against Corruption Association and was a youth delegate to the 1st Pacific Youth Arts Festival in French Polynesia

WARDLEY D BARRY-IGIVISA

What is love that man should run after?
Why, for this thing so trifling, should he exhaust his resources?
There is a better thing – it’s called laughter!
Alas, that too is short-lived by losses!

Beautiful women, why cast eyes on them?
And the unappealing fragment? They only whine!
Nymphets personify pain, the Devil’s diadem.
Slay your heart and bring them not to mind!

Love I see is futile,
And beauty too is fleeting,
Like a thousand sperms in a womb unfertile;
Not worth the price or the meeting.

Must I grin? Should I glower?
Maybe, or maybe not.
They say women are mere flowers
Whose beauty fades when it gets pretty hot.

God forbid, I should take such byword for your quality!
Yours is one of immaculate permanence,
Well worth the finest lines of al fine poetry.
Surely, you possess Aphrodite in symmetrical resemblance!

For come no rain or low rain
None can escape the magnetism of your beauty –
So finely crafted the gods squirm and angels bow even
While saints pray liberty licences lechery.

DEANE NABRE WORUBA

IT was a clear blue night. In the absence of the clouds, the almost-full moon was out to play.  The cool sea breeze rolled gently over the calm Pacific, which lapped effortlessly on the beach.

It was paradise. And I was lost in it all as I sat sipping cheap instant coffee which, any other day, anywhere else, I would not bother to try.

But, this far from civilisation, it tasted like the finest long black.

I was on a three-week holiday to my home village of Suanum. I’d seen a lot of positive change since my previous visit a year before. People were venturing into the booming betel nut business and there was a little more cash in this isolated economy.  

I also saw some unhappy changes. The road linking the village to the local township of Wewak was now virtually impassable by PMVs. To get to town, the villagers had to walk almost 10km to Balik before they could get a ride along the 35km bumpy and dusty stretch to Wewak.

“Good evening!” The soft voice of a woman startled me. I turned to meet a young lady who was extending her right hand to meet mine while carrying an infant in her other arm.

In the moonlight, I guessed she was in her mid-thirties.  “I’m Loretta. Ian said you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, Ms Gumis right?  Welcome. Please. Sit. I was looking forward to meeting you. Thank you for coming. Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes please.  That will be a treat,” she smiled.

Loretta was from Maprik, the second largest township in East Sepik Province. She had been a teacher for six years at a private school in Wewak until, in 2009, she went to Sonoma Adventist College in East New Britain for further training.

While at college, Loretta met Ian Dumaiya, a distant cousin of mine.  Like the coffee we were drinking, Loretta and Ian became instant friends - both Sepiks in a distant place.

Ian told Loretta of his dream of building a school in Suanum, a vision he shared with my father who had sponsored him to college. Ian conceived the idea when he saw Suanum village children who were not in school. The closest accessible elementary school was some 5km away.

He saw that in Suanum it was only a matter of time before the future generation would be illiterate. Ian had to do something. He had to build a school.

Loretta was inspired by Ian’s dream, and she wanted to be part of it. Upon returning from college, she resigned from teaching at the well-established private school in Wewak and took her children and husband and followed Ian to Suanum.

Loretta and her family arrived in Suanum in January 2013. By then, Ian already had established a school – or something close to it.

Since 2001, he had been using the Children’s Sabbath School shelter at the Suanum Seventh Day Adventist Church. It was just an open shed with scrap tin for roofing and walls of sago frond petioles.  The children sat on the soft sandy floor. All Ian needed was a blackboard and chalk.

Ian had his younger sister, Yvonne, teaching and together they had three classes, one for each year of the first years of school: Elementary Prep, Elementary One and Elementary Two.

The school was not registered at first. But Loretta believed in Ian and his ability. A few months into 2013, Ian’s application for registration was approved: firstly through the National Department of Education and then the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

They now had an official school: Suanum Adventist Elementary School. Sadly, this registration was all the external support they would get.

The newly established school could not afford to pay Loretta, nor Ian and Yvonne.  Yet, this did not deter these young teachers. The village community in Suanum and the neighbouring villages of Munjun and Taul, who also sent their children to this school, pay the teachers with food. Each Wednesday, the villagers bring food, which is divided equally between the teachers.

Basic stationary like paper, chalk, pencils and marking pens are given as donations by generous parents and village families.

The school is barely getting by, but with the determination of these young teachers, it is full of life. The morning of my second day at the school, the children stood to greet me in unison.

“Good morning Mr Nabre!” I saw excitement and hope in their eyes. “This is the future”, I thought to myself. I saw what drives Loretta, Ian and Yvonne every day.

On my way to town to catch my flight back to where I work, I picked up a ream of A3 paper and a couple boxes of chalk. Loretta had told me they were urgently needed.

The commitment from Loretta, Ian and Yvonne is inspiring. Especially for Loretta, who chose to leave the comfort of her village, family support and highly paid job in town to live in an isolated place with strangers and to teach their children and get paid in food.

She lives in a house with no electricity and a thatched sago palm leaf roof.

This is a true declaration of humanity and service by extraordinary people determined to be agents of change, even with no external support. Imagine if we had more young Papua New Guineans like them.  Oh, how much change we could make.

When asked what she hopes to gain from this, Loretta humbly replied: “There are more good people out there. This work will be recognised, even if not soon. And our dream to have a proper school with buildings and facilities will come true. I can feel change coming.

“The place is as beautiful as its people. Their support is amazing. I am proud to be one of them now. We, the teachers, hope there will be an opportunity for more training too. But most of all, I pray my hard work will not be in vain.

“It is my hope that one day I will see at least one child from this school make it as far as university.”

Loretta, Ian and Yvonne are sacrificing their lives for the future of Suanum. It reminded me of a saying by a great man: “No greater love has any man than this. That a man may lay down his life for another.”

For more details about Suanum Adventist Elementary School email Deane Nabre Woruba here

OBED IKUPU

In the age of the ultra-zombie
dark magic ruled over the land and
devoured humanity into its belly

Species of metal like creatures
roamed the burning earth and
scarred digits on their hearts
for currency that of null and void

Nature had been set ablaze
by the dragon that arose from
the bottomless pit with
chains of gold and silver
clanged to its ankles and wrists

Huffing and puffing, bringing
forth the dark ages of time
its flaming heart bruised by
clouds of feel-happy smoke,

The Kumul soared from its steel-wired nest
and joined the pack of programmed wolves
conversing carbon trade as a scam
And the Dukduks are to be blamed for
their ill-practiced mana and deities

But the Dukduk thought it wasn’t its
spittle that made the Kumul to be lifted
out from the lava pit last week.

It was to subside the hot steam of gas
that mounted before the eruption
somewhere, someplace, where there lone to the
lonest brooks bonding to the coldest falls

Where the Tambaran meets the lighthouse,
And the Gaun that inhibited below, below, below,
Above the Bokis that hanged itself down like below

The Kumul chaliced yawa with the Bokis
Then left its acquaintance drowsy and violent
Away from the lighthouse when,
the squad came in violating human’s rights.

The grand master of star-wars as beseeched
thee the share of his toil to bring back
the force of the flaming sword into the tambaran

Whilst at thou fest’ in Buan the Kumul hadn’t
come back home since its first Kumul

Eyes masked of military binnacles,
it spots a riverine of milk and honey
Beyond the cool mountains where fingers clicked,
palm trees grew, near and over the rocky beaches,
where Tuna swum in mercury and sulphate,
and places the dragon had thrust
its claws into the hearts of the doomed
and set ablaze the earth with tears in their throats,
and the sad news rising from their yellow eyes.

GARY JUFFA

RECENTLY, the learned people on the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a committee set up by the United Nations to review the effects of global warming, informed us of the fact that global warming is now no longer just a notion.

It may indeed become an irrefutable fact and some of its effects will be irreversible.

Substantial studies carried out by scientists worldwide, reviewing and analysing volumes and volumes of data, have proved this beyond reasonable conclusive doubt.

It is quite sobering, to say the least, for everyone who wishes to take that panel seriously.

Not everyone does, of course, especially the elitist rich and their supporters who more or less control the global economy and have constructed a matrix of sorts for the rest of us to live in.

They of course rubbished the report along with their exclusive club of raging capitalists worldwide who were not fazed in anyway and certainly did not check their pace as they fired off instructions and swiped credit cards to pay for a rebuttal.

Yes, in expected fashion, these characters who would rather throw food away than feed starving people, immediately reacted in expected fashion by sanctioning an “independent” study of their own using their own “eminent” and “learned” experts.

These, predictably, dismissed the IPCC report as being a sinister plot by the UN to regulate global trade and therefore increase the costs of doing business.

These corporate pirates also dismiss rising sea levels by saying they’re simply not happening.

Profits are good, expensive is better, buy whatever you want, discard at will, build empires, dismantle marriages, whatever….

Anyway, most of the world continued its affairs completely ignorant of the battle between the UN scientists and the corporate ruling class.

People the world over struggle to survive the matrix our world has become: a world where banks control economies, governments are puppets, corporate entities dud customers, mainstream media offer cheap entertainment and the people are victims dancing to the horrid cacophony of the globalisation sound and light show.

Ignorance stumbles through developing economies and not a few developed ones too, infecting the ordinary people with the need to be consumerists, urging them to pay for things they don’t need too and contribute to making some cunning people richer than they need to be.

Somewhere in a tiny Pacific country is Collingwood Bay, home of the New Guinea singing dog, the splendid birdwing butterfly and many other amazing creatures. There a people gather around their fireplace and speak of concerns for their rainforest and the creatures that live there.

The darkness is quiet save for crickets and the occasional night bird. They are fighting a battle against corporate giants and their selfish agents who intend to take away 300,000 hectares, remove all the forest and plant oil palm.

These determined people stood up to fight and fight they did. Engaging a lawyer, raising funds and joining hands with their political leader, they take the matter to court - and win every battle, every step of the way. The oil palm giant throws substantial money at senior lawyers who strive to squeeze out a victory by claiming wrong is right.

Would it be worth it?

Scientists worldwide ring alarm bells declaring gloom and doom, joining those who merely preach from a spiritual standpoint. Meanwhile, many laugh and giggle and poke fun.

The movie Noah was showing around the world that month. Are these the days of Noah? Unlike Noah, the scientists don’t have a solution or an escape. Well they say, stop ruining the earth but it’s perhaps too late.

It seems we have gone way past the point where we should have stopped. Scientists tell us that. Humankind is out of control, the consumption of non renewable resources is voracious, war, pestilence and famine everywhere, bitterness and anger from the oppressed and suppressed, every corner of the world shakes with outrage.

Are humans the major factor or is the world just undergoing some cyclical change that occurs regardless of the actions of humans?

Regardless of those who support the views of the IPCC or their antagonists, the changes to the way of life brought about by unusual weather patterns, rising sea levels and increased seismic activities are very real. Ask the people who have to live with them.

Meanwhile, in Papua New Guinea’s Collingwood Bay, where they possess a share of the world’s third largest rainforest complete with exotic flora and fauna and an environment of immense breathtaking beauty, the people go about their uncomplicated lives with little notion of events worldwide that foretell of doom for the earth and all in it thanks to the footsteps of Man.

On a night when the moon shines bright, they tell simple stories uncontaminated by competition for profit and material wealth. No electricity, no internet, barely touched by mobile phone coverage. Nothing to distract them as they sit content, sipping sweet black tea and laughing at the outrageous tales of the village entertainer.

The fire dances and crackles and several dogs snuggle close, enjoying the heat and the company. The reassuring melody of waves softly caressing the black beach can be heard. The villagers discuss their dreams of growing cocoa on a portion of land while preserving the rest of it and how they wish for a tractor to transport their cash crop to their small jetty several hours away.

Then they will sell it in the nearest township and make enough money to purchase salt, soap and other essentials before they flee the noise and madness and angry people struggling to survive.

A thousand kilometers away on the Carteret islands east of Bougainville, the remaining citizens of the atoll lay their weary heads to sleep. Each night a treasure as they prepare to leave, their island disappearing under a rising sea.

Many have already been transported to the mainland where they settle on government land dreaming of the sweet place they have left behind.

They are the first climate change refugees but certainly not the last. The entire nation of Maldives has already planned for that day, purchasing land in Singapore and Australia to resettle their people within the next three decades.

As I write, reports come in of serial disasters: a flashflood in the Solomon Islands; more inundation in Ecuador; a cyclone for coastal Milne Bay; a volcano erupts in Rabaul; a terrible virus in Africa….

I talk briefly with a person who believes all this is inevitable, species die and other regenerate, change is constant. An interesting view and one can understand it.

But does that mean that Man should go about doing as he pleases - cutting down forests, digging giant holes, ejecting horrible emissions into the atmosphere?

Certainly there have been massive natural occurrences in the long history of Earth but never have they been so accelerated by unnatural forces such as those developed by Man.

The conversation left me wondering. I could not imagine what a life it is that accepts everything as if it were just an inevitable, unchallengeable occurrence. Accept things and wait to die. Exist, don’t live.

Is it really a matter of opinion? Or can science guide us in what we can do? We do have a choice. On the one hand to just ignore; on the other to make an effort to be environmentally considerate.

Parents whether rich or poor put their children to sleep, tuck them in, switch off lights and lamps, snuff out candles, kiss soft cheeks, unaware of the possibility of a world imploding and disappearing, leaving behind only a light shining for millions of kilometers through eternal darkness to be seen … perhaps.

Perhaps we ourselves have seen such a light in our night sky at some time, paying it scant attention. A light from such a world as ours, from a planet that may have existed, where people like us once thrived, somewhere far, far away….

There is but one certainty about our Earth. We cannot do without it. But it can certainly do without us.

______________

Gary Juffa is a PNG national parliamentarian and Governor of Oro Province

Photos: Collingwood Bay off Tufi, an area proposed to be logged and replanted with oil palm. Here the simple but determined people fight logging giants and anyone else who comes to rape and pillage their forests. They are my people and I have pledged to stand to fight for something so worth fighting for - our land, our future... - GJ

PETER KRANZ

IT is mostly not wise to get involved in someone else’s domestic dispute. But sometimes needs must.

Brother S had had a falling out with wife K. She took the children and sought refuge with relatives at Koki in Port Moresby.

Now Koki settlement is not a safe place for ignorant white men to go blundering around at four in the morning. But brother S's phone call was urgent and desperate.

"She's taken the kids! Ongun and OJ!” (Little OJ loved orange juice.)

I was Onjun and OJ’s ostensible Godfather, so I could not ignore the call for help.

"Please help me. She will only listen to you."

And so I waded into the pre-dawn dark - past the kai bar, the sly grog shop and along to the beach.

"She's in there," pointed out a local informant, indicating a grass hut on the beach. Then he left me, which was rather unsettling.

K emerged.

Me - "I have some SP - let's talk."

K - "Only if you don't hurt me."

And so negotiations began.

I’m no marriage counsellor but over the years seem to have become a jack of all trades.

Me - "It's better to have a rest, then give it another go."

K - "But, but, but…."

Me - "I know, but he loves you very much."

After an hour of talking she handed baby Ongun and little OJ to me.

K - "You promise they will be looked after?"

Me - "I promise. They can come home to me for the time being."

It's amazing what freedom of movement cradling a baby gives you, even in Koki settlement.

And so we drove home and little Ongun and OJ came under my protection - at least for a night. (Changing nappies the only nightmare.)

K and S calmed down and after two days got back together. Ongun and OJ went home and peace was restored.

Perhaps we can learn something from this. People are people, whether in Waitara, Toorak, Banz or Koki.

And a woman's and father's love for their children is universal.

Ever since then, Ongun has called me Mummy Peter.

Photo - Ongun and OJ at our wedding. I’m the one in bilas

LEONARD FONG ROKA

IN late 1993, under a secret plan with people from the Bolabe area fed up with chaos under Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) rule, a convoy of four trucks loaded with PNG Defence Force soldiers and pro-PNG resistance fighters encamped at the strategic former Bolabe government station.

The local Nagovisi people from the surrounding villages of Sikoreva, Koro, Deraa, Dumaa and satellite hamlets were armed and organised into a massive temporary camp, the Bolabe Care Centre.

But not all the locals remained in the PNG government-backed centre. A handful fled to the neighbouring Panguna area or further into the Kongara area of central Bougainville.

As usual, after the PNGDF arrived at Bolabe troops shelled the Panguna area and the Tumpusiong Valley with mortar. Such tactics had no defined targets but was just reckless shelling using the pride of their Australia-funded weaponry.

The Tumpusiong Valley’s BRA leadership calculated that not all people are willing to fight against them even though they were under PNG control. So a patrol was despatched to Koro village to determine what arms the pro-BRA people had.

The patrol of about 14 men divided into two groups and moved a hundred meters parallel to each other. The main patrol penetrated the Koro village perimeter while the other group remained behind observing PNGDF positions.

The main patrol, with their elder my blood uncle John Ibouko, met some villagers and chatted with them over a session of betel nut. Rain arrived and the village men invited the BRA patrol to a shelter where they stood laughing.

But, despite this calm interaction among clansmen and relatives by marriage, there was an underlying tension. The Sikoreva ridge was under the control of two opposing political groupings, and there existed a will to kill.

The same Koro villagers who were engaging the Tumpusiong BRA men secretly sent a messenger to the Bolabe PNGDF camp and the PNGDF hastened towards Koro.

As the PNGDF troops approached, another team of six armed villagers were deployed towards the Sikoreva ridge to set an ambush along the possible escape route of the BRA men.

They did not realise that another BRA party was buried along those paths waiting for the main group to return.

The main party, including my uncle, were busy telling stories with the wolves in sheep clothing. Other Koro villagers left one by one giving various excuses like fetching some or getting more betel nut.

As the BRA group’s last ‘friend’ left, a heavy blast of gun fire rocked them. They darted away not knowing who had been hit.

Meanwhile, the pro-PNG resistance fighters were heading towards the ambush position. The BRA spotter party mistook them as BRA men. But they heard one of the fighters tell his men to keep alert, for if they missed the PNGDF they would run into BRA.

The BRA spotter party then captured and disarmed them and headed back to the Tumpusiong Valley without a second thought for their comrades who were under attack.

In the main BRA party, my uncle lost his nose to machine gun fire and another BRA man got his hand nearly chopped off at the wrists but they were all heading for home.

The BRA spotter party were now marching their prisoners to Panguna where they would be imprisoned or killed by the BRA. As they were climbing the gravel dump slopes at Panguna mine, one of the captives fled, rolling down the steep slope. His minder missed him with a round from his shotgun.

As they argued about the escape, a messenger sent by the returning BRA patrol reached my hamlet with news of my uncle’s injury.

The remaining captives were brought down on to the massive sedimentation wasteland of the Kavarong River, ordered to dig their own grave and were all shot dead.

In 1998, with the peace process, my Tumpusiong people and the Koro villagers began peace negotiations at community level. Acknowledged and admitted was that, between 1994 and 1996, the Tumpusiong BRA lost seven men and the Koro pro-PNG fighters lost 14 in all the killing and counter-killing of ourselves.

My Tumpusiong people and the Koro people met at Jaba and reconciled. Later, my people dug up the five executed resistance fighters’ remains (pictured above) which were returned to their relatives.

With the peace between our two villages now established, we are greatly blessed. The Tumpusiong Valley has become the money-making home of the Koro people who run their retail outlets and pan for gold.

Tumpusiong men and Koro men partner in running businesses like transport operations and shops and there are also sporting activities between our two villages.

Activities to raise funds at Koro become a Tumpusiong event and vice versa.

Our two warring villages made their peace on truth, and that peace has sustained us and will advance our two communities.

CHRIS OVERLAND

IN The sad story of the colonial massacre of Golen Keri, Simbu (PNG Attitude, 1 September), Mathias Kin reported on anecdotal evidence he has gathered in which he claims that colonial patrol officers (kiaps) were responsible for many unreported acts of unjustified homicide in the course of imposing colonial rule upon the Simbu region in PNG.

While sceptical of any claims that kiaps generally were all too willing to use lethal force upon Papua New Guineans, I thought that it was only fair to draw attention to two prominent and well documented examples of kiaps who, on the one hand, were both praised for their resourcefulness and courage while, on the other hand, severely criticised for excessive use of force.

Charles Arthur Whitmore Monckton (1873-1936), magistrate, was born on 30 May 1873 at Invercargill, New Zealand, son of Francis Alexander Monckton, surgeon, and his wife Sarah Ann, née Newton.

Educated at Wanganui College, he went to British New Guinea in 1895 seeking employment in the magisterial service. Unsuccessful, he went prospecting for gold on Woodlark Island, then pearling and trading in the Louisiades.

In 1896 and 1897 he published two short articles on native customs in the Journal of the Polynesian Society. He returned to New Zealand to study navigation, and then in 1897 sailed a small boat from Sydney to Port Moresby (1).

This time, Lieutenant-Governor Sir William MacGregor was able to offer Monckton relief posts as resident magistrate in the Eastern Division, the Mekeo district and the South-Eastern Division during 1897-99. His first permanent appointment was to the newly created North-Eastern Division and he arrived at Cape Nelson with the new lieutenant-governor, (Sir) George Le Hunte, on 4 April 1900.

Cape Nelson was established to gain better control over numerous belligerent indigenous clans as well as to provide law and order for miners on the Yodda goldfields.

The Orokaiva people in particular were especially warlike. Inter-clan warfare was endemic and the Orokaiva warriors prided themselves on their ability to kill their enemies, including women and children. They did this without pity or remorse. Not surprisingly, they were exceedingly hostile to attempts to impose colonial rule upon them.

Accompanied by his native police, whom he had trained to a high degree of efficiency, Monckton mounted a series of expeditions, some punitive, some exploratory. Tough, efficient, quick-witted and ruthless, he conducted each expedition as if it were a military campaign.

In bringing under control combative people such as the Doriri, Dobodura and Paiwa, his policy was to 'shoot and loot'.

With more peaceful people, such as the Agaiambu, who, living in the swamps of the Musa River, were marked by a physique that made it difficult for them to walk on land, he showed some anthropological awareness.

While some contemporaries admired him as a “fearless … fighting man”, others deplored his readiness with a gun, his callous punishments and his sexual exploitation of local women. His handling of the 'Paiwa affair', when his police went berserk with bayonets, provoked widespread criticism.

Relations with miners in the area, generally mutually helpful, sometimes became explosive, particularly with those who thought an even tougher line should be taken against Papuans. In 1903 Monckton was given the additional responsibility of the Northern Division. He was also appointed to both the Legislative and Executive Councils.

Monckton always took the most direct and violent course of action. If he suspected a man of malingering, he prescribed an emetic; if a native met with on patrol refused to disclose the nearest source of water, Monckton’s police stuffed his mouth with salt and waited until thirst got the better of him.

If carriers refused to work, the police beat them with steel rifle-cleaners; and, if a village defied his orders, Monckton’s policy was, in his own words, ‘shoot and loot’. “The only way you can stop these beggars hurting their neighbours with a club is to bang them with a club,” he wrote.

Criticism of Monckton's methods eventually led to his being eased out of the colonial service. He went on to write three well-received books about his experiences as a resident magistrate, although these are now regarded as being, to some degree at least, somewhat self serving.

Monckton's methods were, by today's standards, the acts of a criminal. He was a ruthless killer who placed no real value on the lives of the people upon whom he was imposing colonial rule.

The duality of the moral outlook of the day is reflected in the fact that he was criticised by missionaries for being unduly heavy handed and by gold miners for being unduly reluctant to use lethal force.

What is not disputable is that his brutal methods had the desired effect, with Orokaiva resistance to colonial rule being crushed within a few years of his arrival.

A generation later, it was the exploits of Jack Gordon Hides (1906 - 1936) that attracted both criticism and praise.

In 1935 Hides was chosen by Lieutenant-Governor Sir Hubert Murray to lead an expedition into the last large unexplored region of Papua, between the Strickland and Purari rivers. Patrol Officer Louis James O'Malley was his second-in-command.

The patrol left Daru by water on 1 January 1935, ascended the Strickland River to the Rentoul River junction, then followed the Rentoul to the limit of canoe travel. With 10 police under Sergeant Orai and 28 carriers, Hides and O'Malley then entered unknown country, crossing the great Papuan Plateau and the limestone barrier of the Central Range into the Tari basin.

After a violent conflict with the wig-wearing Huri tribesmen, they passed on to the heavily populated Waga and Nembi River valleys. Attacked by bowmen, they went on to the Erave River and thence through the Samberigi valley to Kikori on 17 June. (2)

The patrol fought at least nine skirmishes and shot dead at least 32 tribesmen. One carrier and a police constable died from exposure and exhaustion. It was the last major exploratory expedition in Papua-New Guinea to be carried out without radio or aerial support.

The patrol completed the work of the Leahy brothers, J L Taylor and administration officers in the highland districts of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea and proved that the dense populations found there extended into Papua.

The violence which marked his (Hides') expedition has been attributed to several causes. Hides' group suffered from severe food shortages, and indigenous communities he encountered were often unwilling or unable to trade. Hides had bargained on trading steel tools for food, but found people who were not interested in steel. In addition, the Nembi people were suffering from acute food shortages themselves, and had none to spare.

It has been suggested that the Etoro and Onabasulu people "did not sell food to the patrol because they feared it and wanted it to go away". By necessity, Hides' expedition resorted to stealing food, which led to violence.

Another factor was Hides' ignorance of these uncontacted peoples' "fragmented political organisation", and of the "social and political implications of the patrol's movement". He often appeared, from Papuans' perspectives, to be coming from enemy territory, making people instantly wary.

Some Papuan peoples greeted the patrol hospitably, however. Among these were the Kewa. By the time the expedition reached Kewa territory, Hides was severely ill, exhausted and famished. "His by now exaggerated expectations of native treachery and attack and the desperate condition of the patrol led him to misperceive the Kewa's intent and allowed his patrol to open fire on them on two occasions, resulting in seven or eight Kewa deaths". (3)

Handsome, a fluent speaker and the epitome of the dashing explorer, Hides was the centre of intense publicity when he returned to Australia. He was widely criticized for the bloodshed, particularly after Ivan Champion and C J Adamson successfully completed their Bamu-Purari patrol in 1936 through the same general region without firing a shot.

Sir Hubert Murray, Administrator of Papua New Guinea, however, praised both leaders, calling the Strickland-Purari patrol “the most difficult and dangerous” ever carried out in Papua. Like Monckton, Hides went on to write about his experiences as a patrol officer and enjoyed considerable fame as a consequence until his premature death in 1936.

The evidence suggests that, unlike Monckton, Hides did not routinely resort to intimidation and violence if this could reasonably be avoided. He did not set out, as an act of policy, to kill those who opposed or hindered his patrol. Nevertheless, both men were responsible for many deaths and this would have rapidly become part of the local folklore amongst those directly affected by them.

The stories of those times will have been repeated over the years, probably with embellishments to add colour and drama to what must have already been very traumatic events.  

Somewhat perversely, the kiaps who came after Monckton and Hides benefitted from their legendary and sometimes infamous reputations.

There is little doubt in my mind that the indigenous people associated the past acts of these men with their successors, conferring upon kiaps a certain aura or prestige that enabled them to move mostly unmolested amongst people whose collective memories of past violence made them reluctant to again challenge the representatives of the gavman.

The imposition of colonial rule upon PNG was not a bloodless affair. There are many documented examples of kiaps using their rifles to fend off life threatening attacks and at least some examples of the use of excessive force.

Anecdotal claims that the use of excessive force was routine are unproven but it seems plausible that at least some instances occurred. The problem for historians is to find the verifiable evidence.

___________

(1) Derived largely from Nancy Lutton in The Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 10, MUP, 1986

(2) Derived largely from James Sinclair in TheAustralian Dictionary of Biography, Vol.9, MUP, 1983

(3) Schieffelin, Edward and Crittenden, Robert, "Remembering First Contact: Realities and Romance", in, Borofsky, Robert (ed.), Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: An Invitation to Remake History, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, ISBN 0-8248-2301-X, pp.135–141

KEITH JACKSON

PAPUA New Guinea lost one of its most eminent academics today with the death of Associate Professor Jerome (Jerry) Semos, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Divine Word University in Madang.

Prof Semos, from Bougainville, passed away in the early morning hours after an oustanding academic career.

He was awarded a doctorate from James Cook University in Queensland for a thesis on Natural Resources, Nasioi Society and the Colonial and Post-Colonial State in Papua New Guinea: The Mining and the Undermining of Resource Sovereignty and Resource Development in the Bougainville Copper Project 1963 to 1990.

He went on to become a lecturer, senior lecturer and head of department of the University of Goroka.

Recognised as a visionary leader, he was put at the helm of the university during serious student strife which led to a crisis at the institution. He headed the Centre for Melanesia and later was appointed pro vice-chancellor before moving to Divine Word University.

EASTERN HIGHLANDS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

THE recent decision by the Minister for Agriculture to transfer the Apiculture (bee keeping) function from the Livestock Development Corporation to the Coffee Industry Corporation has not gone down well with farmers in the Eastern Highlands Province.

Secretary of the Eastern Highlands Agricultural Society, Thomas Solepa Arganisafa, called on the Minister for Agriculture, Tommy Tomscoll, to immediately rescind his decision and leave Apiculture alone or establish a new entity to take the Apiculture Industry forward.

He said the decision to transfer the function came as a surprise as there no consultation with stakeholders in the Apiculture industry and the move is very suspicious.

He said the Coffee Industry Corporation already has enough problems of its own. To start with, it has not equipped small coffee farmers with tools to increase coffee production.

Despite smallholder coffee farmers contributing more than 50 % of annual coffee production they are yet to be given tools such as secateurs, knapsacks, saws and training in crop husbandry and post-harvest management.

Small farmers need to be encouraged to grow more coffee whilst most of the aging coffee plantations are in shambles and need rehabilitation.

Mr Arganisafa questioned how the Corporation will cater for the needs of a beekeeper/farmer when it is unable to cater for its small coffee growers.

He said Apiculture is gaining momentum in areas such as Bulolo, Middle Ramu, East New Britain, East Sepik and Bougainville.

He said such irrational decisions by the Ministry will kill the Industry and urged Minister Tomscoll to immediately consult stakeholders in the Apiculture Industry and make a more balanced and informed decision.

OBED IKUPU

The priest had soon graced
in the archdiocese, but the church
didn’t make house calls to heaven

his had the rituals lapse, altar wine
tasted sour, the communion upset
his stomach, and its only indigestion

anyway, he thinks, until, feeding the congregation, he feels as if a monster
fist has grabbed his heart and won’t

stop squeezing. He can’t breathe, and
the beautiful melody of the hymns had transposed into growls, and the holy

communion he picked up from the chalice
turned into worms, and he drops in front
of the tabernacle in his violet robe, and

the altar boy drops the dong shocked, the
nuns grabbed their rosary  beads and the
altar candles  lit-up the dark cove,  it was the
Death of Sunday Service.

Photo: Tusbab Beach, Madang (Melanesian Tourism Services)

JIMMY AWAGL

THE first major milestone of the Simbu mission for literacy was reached as all secondary and high schools students in Simbu Province convened and celebrated Literacy Day last Friday with a quiz and a debate.

The celebration of ‘Simbu for Literary Excellence’ commenced at Ku High School at 8:00 am, although most remote schools arrived earlier.

The first schools at the scene were Don Bosco Technical Institute and Kewamugl and Neragaima High Schools.

The stage had been well prepared by the host school as Mathias Kin and Jimmy Drekore gave housekeeping reminders to the visiting schools and the general public.

Right on eight, Ku and Karawari began their quiz, followed by Kundiawa Lutheran Day High School and Kondiu Rosary Secondary School, Ku and Kondiu emerging as the winners.

The quiz competition among all schools ran for three hours and drew huge attention from the crowd as speakers had to answer questions within 30 seconds.

Although the weather was bad, the audience did not bother to move to seek refuge. They sat in the mud and focused on the stage right through.

Mathias Kin conducted the quiz while Jimmy Drekore recorded the points. The questions were based on all areas of what the students needed to know as general knowledge.

After a 20 minute break from the quiz, the debates for the Grade 11 and 12 commenced with Ms Muabala, Ms Peter and a female teacher from Don Bosco Technical Institute appointed as adjudicators.

The debate was the climax of the event and it brought the audience to complete silence and stillness as it observed the speakers arguing with concrete facts and figures to substantiate their arguments.

The speakers’ creativity on the stage had the audience blowing out with laughter and giving several round of applause and cheers to their favourites.

Due to a shortage of time and the incessant rain, there were two sessions which could not conclude. The rain chased the audience away as Ku High School does not have a huge building to cater for crowds.

The organisers urgently convened and resolved that the finals of the debate and quiz be deferred to the first week of the fourth term.

But the prizes for the literary competition were awarded since most of the sponsors were present to present their awards.

Jimmy Drekore called out the names of the winners and sponsors had the honour to give away their awards to the winners of the competition (see table below).

Once the prizes were presented the sponsors were asked to offer some remarks and Conrad Kumul, Dixion Daii, Yokond Alphones (on behalf Saina Solomon in Sydney), Porol Yuke and Francis Nii did so.

Others not present who were given special recognition were Sil Bolkin, Keith Jackson, Albert Tobe and Sheron Nii.

The crowd gave a big round of applause and commended the event as the first of its kind in the province.

Simbu Writers Association president Jimmy Drekore gave the closing remarks and commended the host school, Ku High School, and the students for making the event a success. He also extended gratitude to the sponsors for being generous in funding the prizes.

Principal Ware Mukale then hosted a big Ware Mukale Literary Banquet at which next year’s host school was named as Rosary Secondary School Kondiu.

The pig’s head was served to Kondiu principal Gabriel Aina (pictured above) in recognition of being head of the next host school.

Winners of the Literary Section

DAVID KASEI WAPAR

From deep within the forest a voice calls out
My footsteps halt as I try to figure out

There is a strong message that is unforeseen
A truck suddenly races past and I can’t hear it

An airbus whizzes overhead and all is quite
The voice is gone as I stand and wait

Then I hear those behind me imitate that call
Amidst laughter I hear them tell that voice to stop

It calls out again and I hear this time
A message of warning –to keep what is right

To beat the kundus and despise boom boxes
To toil the land and forget monetary success

My wife tells me she hears the same message
Even at night she says the voice calls out at sea

Telling all fishermen to prepare their canoes
For the wind of change from which we’ll lose

Everything from the shores to the deep
Where we’d be left with nothing to reap

I get into my malo and walk to the beach
But the tide has long subsided

Leaving dead seaweed and lifeless coral
And the mountains too have no fauna and flora

KEITH JACKSON

IN one of those ironic moments, at about the same time Divine Word University was hosting its annual ethics symposium in Madang, PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill’s government was taking corruption fighter Sam Koim off the nation’s public service payroll.

This was an action certainly against the spirit of the PNG National Court’s decision that Mr Koim should not be suspended from his job after his anti-corruption unit made allegations of possible corrupt conduct against Mr O’Neill and other persons.

Indeed, it was an act of total bastardry and an affront to the court which three months ago overruled a government move to disband Investigation Task Force Sweep.

Sam Koim confirmed that he has not been paid “for a number of fortnights” but is continuing his work as head of Taskforce Sweep which is probing high level corruption in Papua New Guinea.

Earlier this year Taskforce Sweep alleged massive, illegal state payments had been made to a law firm and that these allegations involved Mr O’Neill.

Subsequently a warrant was issued for Mr O'Neill’s arrest. This is now in abeyance pending further court action.

At the time the government was trying to abolish his anti-corruption unit, Mr Koim gained great public support in PNG and was invited to Australia by Transparency International to meet with politicians including Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Mr O'Neill has described Taskforce Sweep as being “politically compromised”.

Meanwhile, at the ethics conference, PNG Air Services strategic manager, Dean Kuri, reminded the audience that bad habits and practices do not enable a business to operate for long.

“We do not tolerate wantok system, corruption, harassment, bad habits and practices because they do not contribute to good governance,” Mr Kuri said.

Crocodile Prize Anthology – Readers continue to help out - $1,010 in donations so far
It was a bold idea & based totally on voluntary effort. And it succeeded. A national literary contest in PNG, encouraging writers, recognising them & publishing their work in an annual Anthology. Now we need help to get these books printed & distributed throughout PNG. So far sponsors and readers have funded nearly 850 books.
Click HERE to find out how you can assist.
With great gratitude to Corney Alone & Tanya Zeriga-Alone, Robin Lillicrapp, Iriani Wanma, Dr Lance Hill, Rose & Peter Kranz, Keith Jackson, Anon (Australia)