ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian

PAPUA New Guinea is on the verge of its first non-resource stock exchangelisting in Australia since the heydays of the Pacific trading conglomerates including Burns Philp and Carpenters many decades ago.

It is significant for the reshaping of prospects for Papua New Guinea — whose population will overtake that of Australia sometime in the middle of this century — that the company involved is diverse finance house Kina Group.

Building a vibrant and dependable finance sector is a crucial step towards more diverse growth.

Earlier this year another PNG finance company shifted up a gear, with Port Moresby-based South Pacific Bank taking over some of Westpac’s islands operations, catapulting it into the major competitor in that region to ANZ.

Syd Yates is an Australian who has played a crucial role in Kina’s growth — a corporate player capable of rising above the immense day-to-day challenges that can limit ambitions in PNG, to retain a vision for growth as well as managing those mundane issues.

Kina, formed 30 years ago, was until recently a diversified non-bank financial services group, the largest in PNG. Now it is something more.

It has funds under management of K4.7 billion and 150,000 members in its superannuation business.

Its Kina Securities offshoot is a foundation member of the Port Moresby Stock Exchange — which is heading for a shake-up later this year aimed at making it more open to further listings, commensurate with the growing ambitions of the country’s business community.

It provides traditional stockbroking, trustee services, corporate advice and finance. It is a major provider of leases and mortgages. It has about 200 staff, of whom 92.5% are Papua New Guinean, with more than half, including in management ranks, women.

Kina’s chairman is former prime minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu, who is now a leading company director.

Mr Yates told The Australian that the major missing link in Kina’s platforms had been a bank. Last week it acquired a banking licence by buying the PNG subsidiary of Malaysian institution Maybank, which has been operating chiefly in the commercial sector in Port Moresby and Lae.

“It’s a pretty good internal fit,” he said, “with only one overlap. It gives us a complete range of services and products under one roof,” as it becomes PNG’s fourth-largest bank, after Bank of South Pacific, Westpac and ANZ.

Maybank set up in PNG in 1994, chiefly to serve its big Malaysian clients, especially in forestry and other rural industries. Kina will inherit a quantum of Asian clients and about 60 new staff.

Maybank’s parent has recently acquired a banking licence in Myanmar, thus in part its need to realise some assets.

“The PNG market has grown substantially for Asian corporations,” Mr Yates said, with Chinese construction firms and Korean, Indian and Pakistani businesspeople now highly active alongside the Malaysians and Taiwanese who have been living in PNG for generations.

The newly acquired entity will be called Kina Bank, meaning Money Bank.

The Kina Group plans to follow up its acquisition by listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

“We believe that investors will find Kina a good way to gain an exposure to PNG, which is a fast-growing economy.

“If we make a success of a float, it helps provide opportunities for other PNG firms to follow.”

Mr Yates said that if Kina goes ahead with an ASX float, it would hold its fire for a year while it establishes a sound track record for delivering on promises before considering further expansion, which could involve realising opportunities elsewhere in the Pacific.

JIMMY AWAGL

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

THE Simbu Writers Association (SWA) has taken a contingent of 14 students from Simbu to Mt Hagen for the Highlands Region Think Tank Quiz.

A fleet of four vehicles was offered as sponsorship to the SWA to transport the 14 students and their mentors to Mt. Hagen.

The Simbu Team left Kundiawa with Mathias Kin, Francis Nii, Jimmy Drekore and Jimmy Awagl as mentors accompanied by Simbu secondary school inspector, Reynolds Pinaga, Kundiawa Day High School head teacher, Raphael Kua, and Mrs Drekore.

On their arrival at Mingende the group was privileged to pick up the current Miss Papua New Guinea, Grace Nugi, who said she was overwhelmed to be part of Team Simbu.

After arriving in Mt Hagen, Mathias Kin and Jimmy Drekore hosted a session to discuss the Think Tank Quiz.

Mathias laid out the rules for the 14 participants. They were asked to be role models and ambassadors of Simbu during the three-day event.

Then Mr Pinaga, Ms Nugi and Mr Kama shared their sentiments with Team Simbu.

“We are privileged to see the laborious effort of SWA facilitate and coordinate the current national events to enhance students’ learning outside the classroom,” Mr Pinaga said.

“The Simbu Education Division will always support such initiatives.”

He then pledged K200 as his personal sponsorship for logistics in Mt Hagen during the event.

Grace Nugi told Team Simbu to be bold and go with confidence.

“It’s not a boast, but we Simbus are naturally intelligent, so do the best and raise the Simbu flag even higher,” she told participants.

John Kama gave a lengthy discourse on how the Think Tank Quiz had progressed in its four years of operation in PNG.

He also talked about the basic techniques and processes of the quiz for the first-time participants.

The quiz show in the Western Highlands was the biggest event witnessed over the last three years, being telecast live on Kundu 2.

The opening ceremony featured the participating provinces with a singsing group, police escort their provincial flags marching from Mt Hagen City centre all the way to the Big Rooster, which sponsors the event.

It was a fantastic moment that drew the attention of the general public and halted city traffic.

Entertainment was provided and the 3 Tribes Band kept the Kanges and Ambukes on their toes through the afternoon.

John Kama challenged PNG teachers to use entertainment to provoke and stimulate student learning. He said mobile phones and music have changed perception of learning.

The Simbu Writers Association would like to acknowledge a number of sponsors who enabled Simbu students to compete in the Highlands Region Think Tank Quiz.

They are Digicel Foundation, Mr Pinaga, Mr and Mrs Jacob Siune, Simbu Provincial Education, Kundiawa Day High School and PNG Ports.

This generosity grew the wings of SWA to fly across the mountains of Simbu and the Highlands Region. 

KEITH JACKSON, PNG TODAY, RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL & SOURCES

BOUGAINVILLE'S president-elect John Momis says Bougainvilleans' conduct in the recent election has shown their commitment to democracy.

Dr Momis was speaking after the final results came though at the weekend following a week-long count for the presidency.

He was declared President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville on Saturday morning having collected 51,382 votes after the fourth elimination. 

The president accepted and signed papers which will give him the top job for the next five years.

Dr Momis thanked the people of Bougainville for having the faith in him to lead the team that would take them into the future.

He also thanked candidates who stood in the election for their commitment to contribute to the process of peace-building in Bougainville.

He promised to work with all factions to make sure the province was ready for the coming referendum that will decide the political status of Bougainville once and for all.

Dr Momis also congratulated the people of Bougainville for making sure the election was conducted fairly and freely.

He said despite people's differences they can work together for the common good of Bougainville.

He also congratulated Electoral Commissioner George Manu and electoral authorities on the successful staging of the election, which was conducted for the first time by the autonomous region’s own electoral commission.

Dr Momis said, despite some hiccups, the election was conducted peacefully and showed people's commitment to democratic principles, values and the Bougainville vision.

The Third Bougainville House of Representative will be sworn into office on 15 June.

Dr Momis was easily re-elected, gaining around half the votes and comfortably defeating eight other presidential candidates.

He received more than 50,000 thousand votes, with his closest rival Ismael Toroama on 17,571.

The only woman to win an open seat, Josephine Getsi, says she believes her community involvement was critical to her success. Ms Getsi defeated 11 men in Peit constituency in north Bougainville.

“The people knew me very well - as a teacher working with the community, different groups of people, youth,” she said. “I also worked with the women involved in women's activities in the community and Bougainville as a whole."

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

BOUGAINVILLE'S newly re-elected president, Dr John Momis, says one of his first moves will be talking with Rio Tinto on whether it is interested in re-opening the Panguna mine.

Dr Momis won a resounding victory after counting in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region was completed at the weekend.

Bougainville is to conduct a vote on possible independence before 2020 and Mr Momis says mining is the only way to quickly achieve the necessary fiscal self-reliance required before then.

He wants to talk with Rio Tinto first because they ran the Panguna mine, through Bougainville Copper Ltd, before the Bougainville conflict.

"Hoping we can come to an agreement to start taking some practical steps to re-open the mine,” Dr Momis said, “but if Rio Tinto chooses not to engage us then we have other options to look at."

Rio Tinto has been reviewing its position after the former government passed a new mining law.

JOHNNY BLADES
Radio New Zealand International

THE Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), a Pacific islands sub-regional organisation, is considering a membership bid by the West Papuans of Indonesia.

MSG member governments are struggling to balance their growing ties to Jakarta with regional grassroots support for the indigenous people of West Papua where a separatist conflict has simmered for decades.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua was formed last year when Vanuatu hosted a reunification summit for West Papuan representative groups. This includes groups aiming for independence from Indonesia.

The groups came together to launch a new bid to join the MSG after an earlier application by a West Papuan group was deemed by MSG leaders, including Papua New Guinea's Peter O'Neill, not to be representative enough of West Papuans.

"We feel that it must be representative of all Melanesians living in Indonesia," said O'Neill, "and that the application be made in consultation with the Indonesian government."

Now, MSG leaders are grappling with whether to admit the West Papuans or to defer to an arrangement for membership of all five Indonesian provinces with traces of Melanesian ethnicity. Indonesia, which says it has eleven million Melanesians, already has observer status at the MSG and is opposed to the Papuans' bid.

Last month, Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama said the best thing to do was to make Indonesia an associate MSG member, adding it made no sense to bring in Papua separately. This has drawn criticism from Fiji civil society leaders like Shamima Ali of the Fiji's Women's Crisis Centre.

"It's a big shame on Melanesian leaders, particularly Fiji and the others who are pussy-footing around the issue, and they are not very clear - apart from Vanuatu of course," she said.

"So I think they have really gone back on their word from supporting the West Papuan Liberation Movement to what it is now saying about Indonesia being in a position to decide what is happening and to address the human rights abuses and so on."

With four trips to Papua region in the past year, Indonesia's new president Joko Widodo has placed new emphasis on resolving social and development problems in Papua. Jokowi, as he is called, made headlines in his most recent trip there last month when he freed five Papuan political prisoners and declared that the effective ban on foreign journalists in Papua was lifted.

Subsequent comments by Indonesian government figures indicate that the restrictions were not being relaxed at all. Just this week, he has also been contradicted by a government minister on his signal that there would be an end to the transmigration programme, which has seen hundreds of thousands of Javanese relocated to Papua over the past few dacades.

The president's aims to solve Papua issues face significant obstacles because he is relatively weak and beholden to other interests both within his own party and the national legislature.

However Jokowi's administration is placing increasing value on the MSG membership. His last Papua jaunt was followed by a visit to Port Moresby where PNG's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato insisted that any West Papuan bid to join the MSG should be endorsed by Indonesia.

"It's not for us to force Indonesia on how to run their affairs," said Pato.

Pato said that if there was an application, the MSG wanted to ensure that it was representative of the Melanesian that they claimed to represent.

"So we don't want a group that is factionalised fully supported by one group of Melanesians living in the US or somewhere in Europe or Australia and then cause more problems than fix."

Indonesia has been taking steps to integrate more with Melanesian countries in areas of culture, trade and investment. Jakarta's new outreach included a recent tour to PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji by Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. On offer for the Melanesian countries was twenty million US dollars for capacity development projects within the MSG.

Ms Marsudi also had talks with Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Sato Kilman. Mr Kilman's indication that his country could open an embassy in Jakarta appeared at odds with Vanuatu's long-held support for West Papua independence.

Little surprise then that this week, Vanuatu's prime minister Joe Natuman sacked Mr Kilman. A spokesman for the prime minister, Kiery Manassah, said the foreign minister's representations on West Papua did not reflect the government's position.

"Indonesia has lobbied very hard to get Fiji and Papua New Guinea on side," explained Manassah. "Recently when we went to Japan for the PALM meeting, Prime Minister O'Neill also proposed to the prime minister (Natuman) that they're thinking of supporting Indonesia to become an associate member."

Kiery Manassah signalled that Vanuatu is weary of a shifting of the goalposts on the MSG issue.

"In line with the agreements from Noumea and Papua New Guinea, the MSG must discuss the West Papua application," he said. "If the Indonesians want to become an associate member, they have to follow the same process, by applying."

Of the five full MSG members, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's indigenous Kanak movement, the FLNKS, have voiced support for the West Papuan bid. PNG and Fiji appear to be leaning against it. Solomon Islands is somewhere in the middle.

Its foreign minister, Milner Tozaka, said the government hasn't made a decision yet.

"This is a process we have to follow. We can't just make decisions on an ad hoc basis," said the minister. "And Solomon Islands has made a position in the last government, we have not made a statement yet, we are following up that decision that they made. And if there is going to be any variation, we need to talk about it in the coming meeting."

A Solomons MP, Derrick Manuari, expressed disappointment in his country's lack of conviction on the issue despite what he described as overwhelming support from Melanesia's public for West Papua.

"I think it is very sad to see Melanesian leaders singing a distorted tune. The prime minister of Papua New Guinea initially supported the cause for West Papua to be a member of MSG however he is singing now a different tune and Bainimarama is also saying the same thing. But we don't see that as an appropriate approach of addressing the issues of MSG. "

The West Makira MP said the precedent had been set in the case of the Kanaks who were given MSG membership rights over France.

"It is not a sovereignty issue - it is a solidarity issue, of solidarity of Melanesian states, Melanesian territories in Melanesia. So the precedent is already set. That West Papua as a Melanesian state should be admitted as a member of MSG and not Indonesia. It's not Melanesia."

Mr Manuari urged MSG leaders when they meet for their annual summit in Honiara later this month to remember the reason the group was originally founded - to help the decolonisation of Melanesian peoples.

Vanuatu's new foreign minister, Kalfau Moli said Vanuatu's support for West Papua remained firm, even though the government respects Indonesia's intentions with the MSG.

"Vanuatu's position as a sovereign state is that we want to address the human rights issue and then consider the supposed political independence. However having said that, it is very important that a clear forum be put in place before we can look at the issues. But I am very much for a human rights drive."

With Indonesia asserting its own Melanesian traces and growing links with governments of other Melanesian countries, the MSG leaders may look for some sort of compromise arrangement on the matter of the West Papuan membership bid.

Alternately, a decision on the bid could also be deferred, as it was at the last leaders’ summit in Noumea. The Honiara summit may not necessarily be the end of the matter, and the storm may pass by for the time being. But sooner or later, the MSG may have to make an emphatic move on this most divisive of issues.

BOMAI D WITNE

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

NIL-MAM’S perfect sleep at Yaltom’s uncle’s house in Kundiawa was interrupted by the footsteps of people walking outside, close to where she laid her head.

She reached for her watch; it was 5.30 in the morning. She heard a rooster crow in the distance and birds singing in nearby bushes. She could hear a drunkard scolding both rooster and birds.

“Who are these people walking in the direction of town at this time of the morning,” she thought. She heard the sound of more footsteps. People were rushing to secure a place at the betel-nut and main markets to sell buai, scones, vegetables and other goods.

Nil-mam got up and joined her in-laws at the ember fire in the kitchen. She was handed a wooden seat. “It is a coconut scraper, I cannot sit on it”, Nil-mam said.

“Don’t worry, traditions in Simbu have changed. You can sit on it. Men and women no longer live in separate houses,” said Kaupa. “It all changed, sitting on a scraper is not a problem.”

Kaupa smiled and blinked his eyes at Nil-mama. She remembered Yaltom’s eye blinks and thought he may have inherited them from his uncle.

At the fire, Kaupa’s wife heated leftover food from last night’s dinner and shared it. Nil-mam told them she had to go to the hospital to see Dr Kenny. “Who is Dr Kenny?” Kaupa asked. “He is a medical doctor from Kavieng who is a good friend of my father,” said Nil-mam.

“OK, take Apane with you,” said Kaupa, referring to his eldest daughter. “Is she not going to school,” asked Nil-mam. “Don’t worry; she can accompany her aunt for a day. It doesn’t make a big difference in her learning. Most teachers are not in school on Fridays. If they are, they don’t teach properly and ask students to go home early.”

Apane was excited at her parents’ blessing to skip school. Kaupa wished them well for the day and went to ask for buai from the dumb betel nut seller. The entire valley could hear Kaupa and the dumb fellow getting into a one-sided discussion. Some young people were saying, “Kaupa, pay and chew, pay and chew. Don’t you feel sorry for him.”

All went quiet when Kaupa pulled a two kina note from his pocket and handed it to the seller.

“Chew a betel nut before you go?” Kaupa asked Nil-mam as she walked past with Apane. “Ok, tambu. You right man!” exclaimed Nil-mam as she took the buai from Kaupa. The dumb betel nut seller communicated using sign language and Kaupa’s response brought smile on his face.

He took two betel nuts and handed them to Nil-mam, signaling her to have them. Nil-mam was thankful and hugged the betel nut seller. His sign language indicated it was OK. Nil-mam should not take it seriously.

Nil-mam smiled and thought of a dumb man’s never say die spirit in selling betel nut to make a living.

His generosity, smile and striving to rise above language made him special. Generally throughout Papua New Guinea, people with special needs like him were ignored.

Nil-mam carried the kindness of this person in her mind as she walked into Kundiawa town and to the hospital.

It was still early in the morning as they walked into town. Apane pointed to the main market and the betel nut market and said, “Many people who walked past our house early in the morning are here. That man and his wife have been selling betel nut for a long time but do not own a house in town or in the village.

“Their children do not go to school and sometimes they help them sell betel nut”. “What do you think about that?” Nil-mam asked. “Parents are growing their children on the street to become betel nut sellers like them. That is not good,” Apane responded.

“What about missing class to be with me today? Don’t you feel bad about that?” Nil-mam asked.

Apane was quiet and felt irritated at Nil-mam for asking such a question. Nil-mam sensed her displeasure and asked her what she wanted to eat. “Pineapple,” said Apane and Nil-mam reached into her bag and gave her a ten kina note. Apane took the money and walked into the market. Nil-mam smiled to herself for making Apane forget about her question.

“These are juicy pineapples. Do these people grow them here,” asked Nil-mam. “No, most of these pineapples come from Jiwaka. The sellers travel there and buy them to sell here,” replied Apane.

“Hello!” Nil-mam greeted a black-uniformed guard at the gate. “Where can I find my uncle, Dr Kenny.”

“We have many medical doctors here so you will have to ask that person over there,” the guard said, pointing. Nil-mam thanked him and walked with Apane into the outpatients’ area. The hospital environment was pleasant and the people were friendly. It was the most orderly hospital in PNG that Nil-mam had seen.

She walked to a noticeboard and read a poster about the work of the Simbu Children Foundation and how they raised funds to help children in this hospital and other places in Simbu.

She recalled Yaltom’s stories about his involvement with the Foundation. “Many parents are lucky to have normal babies and don’t worry,” she thought,” but some people are not so lucky.”

This reminded her of her own pregnancy.  “Yaltom may have been thinking ahead and invested some time and money into the Foundation.” Her thought took her miles away. 

ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian

ISLAM is growing rapidly in Papua New Guinea, converts finding Muslim customs have more in common with their traditions than Christianity.

Melbourne University academic Scott Flower says all 73 Muslim converts he interviewed in PNG for new research had cited an affinity with Muslim practices as the main reason for their switch from Christianity.

The Islamic Society of PNG, the first Muslim body in the country, was founded in 1981, and recorded that by 1986 four Papua New Guineans had pronounced the “Sahadah”, the Act of Faith, to become Muslims.

The Islamic Society estimates the number of Muslims has risen to more than 4,000. PNG’s only substantial mosque, built with Saudi Arabian help, is in the Port Moresby suburb of Hohola.

Dr Flower said “globalisation factors, especially missionaries and media”, also contributed to increased conversion rates.

“Transition from traditional life to modernity is sparking a range of social and personal crises, leading people to search for new religions,” he says in his paper, published in Nova Religio.

Catholic priest Franco Zocca, based at the Melanesian Institute research centre in Goroka, said Islamic leaders explained to him that “Islamic beliefs and practices are more compatible than Christianity with traditional Melanesian values”, especially as perceived by some Highlanders.

“They cited Islam’s acceptance of polygamy, the separation of men and women, avoidance of menstruating women, male supremacy, not walking behind women, and men’s wearing beards and moustaches,” he said.

KEITH JACKSON

AS Jimmy Awagl reported in yesterday’s piece on the Team Simbu squad that travelled to Mt Hagen for the Highlands Region Think Tank Quiz, the mini-bus stopped awhile at Mingende to pick up no less than the current Miss Papua New Guinea, Grace Nugi, who was visiting there.

Grace later gave the team a motivational burst along the lines of “be bold and go with confidence and raise the Simbu flag even higher”. It must have worked because, as one of the hosts of the show, John Kama, commented in PNG Attitude: “Team Simbu impressed me more than others in attitude and academic abilities”.

All of which led Phil Fitzpatrick, and me, to ponder more about Grace Agatha Nugi, Miss Papua New Guinea.

It turns out that Grace, 24, is a research intern with the Wildlife Conservation Society of PNG while she completes an honours degree in science from the University of Papua New Guinea.

Educated entirely in Papua New Guinea, and coming from a family of four, Grace’s eventual ambition is to become a marine biologist, specialising in invertebrates – sea creatures with no backbone.

The subject of her current studies is the use of bird's feathers in traditional dress and costumes (bilas) in Simbu Province by researching the ecology of Pesquet's Parrot, the handsome bird you see here.

“I believe that education for women is a vital means of empowerment and key to breaking the cycle of gender based violence in developing countries, including our own Pacific Islands,” Grace says.

“I am also passionate about environmental conservation, including issues such as climate change and its impact on rising sea levels.”

Grace has been in Simbu doing some ‘birding’ research and also showing off her Miss PNG outfit to students and other people, who are disappointed whenever they see her without dress, sash and crown

“I've had to pack and change in the nearest house from field clothes to Miss PNG clothes and then change back after,” she says.

“I think I disappoint my people when I arrive not looking like the Miss PNG they saw on the media, but like a flustered-looking ordinary Simbu girl.”

No wonder the quiz team wanted this beautiful, talented young woman to accompany them to Mt Hagen. So very good for morale.

DANIEL KUMBON

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Cleland Family Award for Heritage Writing

IF President John Momis hadn’t given me the address of an American anthropologist who lived for many years in my province, I would never have seen the display of Engan artefacts on display at the African American cultural centre in Dayton, Ohio.

It was at Honolulu Airport late one night in June 1991 that I ran into John Momis and Michael Ogio (now Papua New Guinea Governor-General).

They were on their way to Canada to attend a conference on Indigenous People’s Rights focussing on the plight of American Indians and Australian Aborigines.

At the time Dr Momis was PNG for Provincial Affairs and Mr Ogio was the member for North Bougainville.

I was glad to meet them after an unpleasant incident with security. Of all the passengers flying from Australia, I was singled out by a burly official who asked for my passport and detained me.

They released me later after checking me thoroughly. Maybe they thought I was from Iraq due to my skin complexion, long beard and highlands cap. America was at war and security was tight.

I firmly grabbed Dr Momis’s hands as soon as I spotted him and spent an hour with the two leaders taking pictures, buying souvenirs and sharing soft drinks. Back home, I would have kept my distance but here it seemed I had known them for years.

When Dr Momis learned I was from Enga he asked, “Do you know Dr Paul Brennan?” “Not personally,” I said, “but I know he started the Enga Cultural Centre.”

“You might as well take his number with you, you never know” Dr Momis said. “He is working here in Honolulu.”

I jotted the details on a small notepad and we said farewell as I left for Los Angeles and on to Washington.

The lady who came to pick me up, Susan Talalay, asked me if I’d seen Rev Jesse Jackson who was among the first passengers to pass through the gate.

I told her I had. “The reverend sat opposite me on the shuttle bus. I could have reached out and touched him.

“He recently visited Goroka close to my province in Papua New Guinea,” I added.

Susan was not sure if Rev Jesse Jackson would run again in the US presidential election due the following year but that did not concern me. I was satisfied I’d seen this popular black man at close quarters.

Later, I also saw then Russian president Boris Yeltsin a few feet away when he came for a state visit to Washington 20. And talking of brushes with fame, back in 1989, I had seen Queen Elizabeth II at a London hospital where she came to visit one of her bubus after an infant was born.

It may seem absurd to mention sightings of world leaders but for me, coming from an isolated part of PNG and having read so much about these popular figures, seeing them live at close quarters were experiences I won’t forget - especially Rev Jesse Jackson.

He’d looked at me closely and our eyes met but we just couldn’t open our mouths to say something. His darting eyes sensed that he must have seen people like me somewhere. I am sure we could have talked but the distance from the plane to the terminal building was short. By the time I went for my luggage, he had disappeared.

The history of African Americans in the US is recorded and exhibited in the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Centre at Wilberforce near Dayton, Ohio.

African Americans recognise the museum as a national treasure – one that gives them deep meaning. One of the aims of the centre is to encourage an appreciation and understanding of the rich experiences of African Americans.

It serves as a national repository for objects, documents and other material of continuing historical and cultural merit, which reflects the traditions, values, social customs and experiences of African Americans.

And this is where Dr Paul Brennan steps in, the anthropologist John Momis referred me to in Honolulu. Dr Brennan was asked to organise an exhibition of PNG artefacts – most of them from Enga Province – and I had called him.

I received a letter from Dr Brennan. I was blown away when it began in the Enga language with ‘Dear kaita miningi (friend) and ended with ‘emba auu pyoo katape, kaita miningi (stay well my friend).

The letter continued: “I was both surprised and thrilled to receive your telephone call last week, informing me of your presence in the US, and especially in the state in which I was born and spent my childhood.”

So we met and stayed in his brother’s house in Dayton. Dr Brennan had spent his youth in Ohio and had earned four degrees eventually, inspired by Malinowski’s earlier field work, refining his area of interest as Melanesia.

In 1968, Dr Brennan and his wife had been given the opportunity to work in Enga as staff linguist and anthropologist by the Lutheran Church, even though they were not Lutherans. They spent 10 of their 13 PNG years in Enga, conducting research, teaching the language and assisting in development projects.

“I recognised the need for establishing a museum and cultural centre,” he told me, “and began collecting material for that purpose.”

He also collected some artefacts for his own private collection, which I was going to see.

“It will be very satisfying to show someone from Enga-land the exhibit,” Dr Brennan said as we drove to the museum.

While much research remains to be done, enough evidence has been gathered to suggest that thousands of years ago during the last Pleistocene Age Papua New Guineans emerged having crossed land bridges from Indochina. People have been living on the island of New Guinea for more than 25,000 years.

The exhibit attracted the attention of black Americans with the words: “Like some of you, we too are black. Like you, our roots are rich and deep. We are your distant cousins, sharing a common African heritage but now scattered in different parts of the world.”

“Maybe black Americans have appreciated the display more than others,” said Dr Brennan. “One little girl asked me if Engans see themselves as black people. I thought that was provoking. I told her, Engans are black.”

Even though it was not part of his job description, Dr Brennan continued to collect the artefacts of Enga and study their traditional lifestyle, though some of his colleagues rebuked him.

“Some missionaries suggested to me to forget about it because it’s heathenish,” he said.

“I didn’t think so. It had historical value. I had to think of them and their past. Who are they? Where did they come from? I never felt it was wasted effort.”

So Dr Brennan continued his research and collected as many artefacts as possible before the people burned them at the order of missionaries. The museum he built in Wabag houses one of the largest collections of stone axes in PNG. And he had taken some of the artefacts to America where they were now on display.

“How do you feel seeing artefacts from your country on display here? Do you feel them taken away from you?” Dr Brennan surprised me with the question.

‘No, definitely not,” I replied. “I don’t feel that way at all. I feel proud. And I believe culture should be shared.”

This was a different kind of experience, something like a dream to have seen, smelled and touched some of the artefacts.

There were the rattling seeds the Engans used to contact the spirit world and the Yupin figure (pictured at the top of this page) that I never thought existed. Dr Brennan had saved these precious items from destruction by ruthless missionaries.

His collection was probably the largest from the Central Highlands of PNG to be found anywhere in America or Europe. Included were objects once adored as gods, digging sticks shaped like paddles, stone axes and traditional attire like aprons and purpur.

There were also exotic paintings, decorated human skulls, carvings, tapa cloth and masks and other items of striking design from all over the country.

The most arresting were the traditional weapons of warfare: elaborately carved wooden shields with artwork patterned after the human form, human-bone tipped arrows and spears, killing axes, bows and arrows that could travel for 200 feet.

There were also images of people with battle wounds, people mourning over a fallen warrior and youths undergoing initiation ceremonies. Visitors asked Brennan about the significance of tribal warfare. He said fighting was deep-rooted in the culture.

Engans saw danger everywhere, he told people – in fast flowing rivers, the rugged terrain, ancestral spirits and much else - but the real enemies were the people who lived on the other side of the ridge or the river.

A clan had to defend itself when pigs were stolen, insults were shouted, boundaries were disputed and, especially, when blood was shed.

Brennan said the main function of Enga warfare was to ensure the territorial integrity of the clan and to enhance its prestige.

“As a precondition of fighting, clans must prepare for it in a variety of ritual,” he said. “Clan brothers will gather to discuss in secret any attitudes of disunity or transgressions against each other, all aware that to enter battle without psychological unity could mean failure.”

Another ceremony, he told visitors, was designed to reveal traitorous intentions.

But in the midst of much change, many Engans did not seem interested in fighting. Even as Dr Brennan lived in Enga (1968-77), the transition from stone to steel had been rapid. And most people preferred Christianity ahead of ancestral worship.

Above all they wanted recognition as people of a growing country – and they appreciated the recognition of black people from other parts of the world.

The statement introducing the exhibition continued: “So, come wantok, brothers, speak of a common heritage. Look into our faces, see our creations. Know how we live. See us in our warfare, know us at peace…struggling like you to find stability, security. Come wantok, walk some trails with us.”

HULL DAILY MAIL (UK)

IT'S a connection, born exactly 20 years ago, that has become one of rugby's league's most exciting tales. Yet the story of Stanley Gene's signing at Hull KR is one which, to this day, has many chapters still to tell.

Two decades on since the Papua New Guinea native flew to the northern hemisphere to join the Robins – after becoming a leading light in the 1995 Rugby League World Cup – Gene, now head coach at Newcastle Thunder, still holds the city in high regard.

Two spells in east Hull, scoring 94 tries in 111 outings, captured the hearts of red and white supporters and gained Gene legendary status at the club, including a commemorative shirt on his behalf released earlier this year.

An influx of PNG stars now reside in the English game, including former KR prop Makali Aizue at Dewsbury Rams and Paul Aiton at Leeds.

But Gene remains keen to repay the favour to the Robins and find the stars of tomorrow from the Kumuls.

"It's been 20 years since I signed for Rovers, and although this year there's no PNG players here now, I want to keep the bridge between KR and PNG," Gene told the Mail.

"I will let Chris Chester know who is our best player, and if there's a best player out in PNG, I would definitely like to see the connection remain between the two.

"PNG players come here and play with their heart on their sleeve, and I don't want the connection to finish here."

Still an avid viewer of Robins matches, Gene sees many similarities between KR and his Newcastle Thunder side, with his new home hosting the recent Magic Weekend event at St James' Park to critical acclaim.

Arriving in east Hull at a club struggling for cash and with the threat of liquidation, Gene's signing sparked an upturn in fortunes for Rovers. With Gateshead now re-branding as Newcastle and playing at Kingston Park, the home of the Falcons, Gene has noticed a familiar ambition to that shared by Thunder CEO Keith Christie and KR's Neil Hudgell.

"When I went up to Newcastle, the CEO came in and told me about the club and it reminded me of Neil," revealed Gene, who continues to work tirelessly with his foundation which provides help back home in Papua New Guinea.

"Neil said to me 'I want to be chairman one day', and I used to take the mickey out of him.

"But fair do's, he's done it, and I told my CEO you've got to be passionate and sell the club to me. He's got the drive to take the club to Super League one day, and that's exactly what Neil had in mind.

"Now, Rovers are an established Super League side. I'm trying to do the same as I did at Rovers in different shoes.

"The experience that I had, with the club being so low, people trying to buy the club... We didn't have anything.

"But it's the club and supporters that kept Rovers going. It's a religion. I've seen the same people go to games home and away for years and years.

"You're talking journeys to Barrow, South Wales on rainy days. "Now, I see Rovers' new stand, with 7,000 there on game-day. For me to come and sit and watch, it brings a tear to my eye to see the development."

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

We came from heaven, we will return
We came from our mother’s womb
We did not need air, food, water, shelter, all was there
We are told by pastors and priest of heaven, the womb is
We were there for nine months, we will go back

We descended heaven to earth, we cried
We know pain, hunger and misery waits
We were disconnected from heaven, umbilical cords cut
We grow and travel in different directions, every person for himself
We travel in search of heaven, not insight

We are gone, they say, we are going to heaven, there is hell too
We are gone, they cry, we are good, we are bad too
We are gone, they see, our legacies, and we did not leave any behind too
We are gone, they feel, our presence in them, we did not touch them too.
We are gone, they touch, our material wealth, they loot

We are gone, they are busy, and life goes on
We are gone, they have a family, and our graves are bushy
We are gone, they have problems, they pray for themselves
We are gone, they are coming, and this is the law of nature
We are here, create a small heaven just like womb and call it a home

KEITH JACKSON

THE Bougainville election is over – and now it’s time for some of the disappointed losing candidates to cry “we wuz robbed”.

Most prominent amongst them is former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander and Australian Army-trained explosives expert, Sam Kauona (pictured).

Presidential candidate Mr Kauona, who finished a distant third in the count, says he and four other candidates want a legal inquiry into the conduct of the poll, alleging ballot boxes were stuffed with fake votes.

He claims that many people claim the results did not reflect their vote.

"It looks like their votes have been thrown out and fake votes have been inserted,” Mr Kauona told Radio New Zealand International. “All funny things happened during the counting."

As many as nine other candidates in the Taonita-Teop electorate have written to the Electoral Commission and the Bougainville Police Service claiming that many supporters of the winning candidate double-voted.

And losing candidates in North Bougainville were to meet yesterday to discuss their grievances resulting from the election.

Francesca Semoso, who won the North Bougainville women's seat after initially lying fifth in the count, told RNZI that one explanation for the complaints may lie in a lack of understanding of the limited preferential vote system used where second and even third preferences can carry great value.

Ms Semoso wants to see more education before any future poll. "I understand how the system works and that is why I have been saying [in my campaigning] 1 and 2 and 3 are important numbers."

Electoral Commissioner George Manu is satisfied with the way the election was conducted.

"I think every losing candidate has the right to say anything that they see,” he told Radio New Zealand International. “I, as the head of the election process, I am satisfied with the whole process. I believe we have delivered the election successfully."

He said interference with ballots would have been noticed by scrutineers and international observers watching the vote count.

LAPIEH LANDU

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

40 years on …
High rise assemblies and four lane thruways

40 years on….
Exorbitant flyovers and compositions

40 years on …
The profound stocks beneath pilfered 

40 years on….
Women still swaddle with dismay

40 years on…
Children still feeding off the avenues

40 years on…

Communities nursed with political fictions

40 years on…
Leaders detained for misdemeanour

40 years on …
Fancy sanatoriums- no medicament

40 years on …
Opulent academies - no books

40 years on …
Coherent ambitions- itty-bitty upshots

40 years on …
Alluring establishments -  sheer neglect

40 years on …
A tainted mindset utterly inhibited! 

RAYMOND KOMIS GIRANA

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

THE Autonomous Bougainville Government has been formed in caretaker mode after president elect Dr John Momis was sworn in on Tuesday.

Following his declaration of loyalty to Bougainville, Dr Momis announced the membership of the caretaker government that will take Bougainville through to the inauguration of the Third House of Representatives later this month.

The swearing in was administered by Senior Magistrate Bruce Tasikul and witnessed by the newly elected members of the Third House of Representatives, Regional Member for Bougainville Joe Lera, Chief Secretary Amani Monovi and members of the public.

Alongside Dr Momis in the caretaker government is the member for Halia and former vice president, Patrick Nisira, and the member for Peit, Josephine Surei Getsi.

Mr Nisira was sworn in as vice president of the caretaker government and Ms Getsi was sworn in as women’s representative.

Dr Momis said the people of Bougainville and his government must work together in a collaborative way to achieve the common good.

He said the Bougainville Peace Agreement is the roadmap and the people of Bougainville and their new government will need to work together to fulfil the peace process so Bougainville can reach self-determination in a peaceful way.

Meanwhile, the question as to who will be Speaker is a hot topic of discussion around Buka. The Speaker is appointed by the 40 elected members of parliament from outside parliament.

Twelve of the 16 seats in North Bougainville were won by Dr Momis’s New Bougainville Party. This is likely to have a big influence on the Speaker’s appointment but is up to all members to make the final decision.

It seems definite that Patrick Nisira will be re-appointed vice-president and, like Dr Momis’s re-election as president, this will be very good for continuity in the government. Otherwise, it is said, lobbying for the position of the Vice President would be like hot chili on rice.

The election of Josephine Getsi as member for Peit is a historical moment in Bougainville as she is the first woman to be elected a member of parliament in an open seat.

Her selection as women’s representative in the caretaker government indicates a ministry for her when positions are allocated.

According to the Constitution at least one woman must be given a cabinet portfolio.

Most of the people of Bougainville are happy with the caretaker government and look forward to the formation of the coming together of the new parliament.

An inaugural mass is planned for Sunday, and it will be presided over by Bishop Unabali of Bougainville Diocese and will be concelebrated by ministers and pastors from all denominations in the province.

The event will officially mark the beginning of the Third House of Representatives and Bougainville’s journey towards a referendum on the form of its future political identity.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

ONCE upon a time in the area of the village of Kanauro there lived two old friends, Nuu (beetle) and Kaipa (firefly). They lived alone in the jungle and were dedicated to gardening, fishing and hunting each day.

They had no friends nearby with whom to share their abundance of food and they had no near neighbours to chat with. Therefore, often lonely and sad, they would watch the sun rise in the east and set in the west and every day was very much the same.

One day, as they were sitting by a smoking fire and wondering what to do that day, Nuu had an idea.

‘Kaipa, my brother,’ he called excitedly, ‘let’s paddle to Nila, that village on the faraway island to the south, and meet our relatives. We can spend some time there.’

Kaipa was pleased as they were lonely in the jungles of Kanauro. ‘That’s a good idea, my brother Nuu. We can go after we sleep.’

After their sleep protected from the shimmering sun by the shade of the sago thatched shelter, they walked to the coast.

The sea was calm. Birds flew high above, calling at them.

Nuu could not wait. He dragged the canoe from its place, loaded it with food to present to their friends and began paddling.

They paddled and sang as their island moved further from them every time they looked back.

In the distance, their friends’ island had white clouds above it but came closer to greet them.

They reached their friends’ beach tired and weak.

‘Oh, our distant relatives,’ the chief of Nila said to Nuu and Kaipa. ‘We have waited for you so long and often we wondered about you. You took so many hours of sleep to return after your last visit many sleeps ago. We missed you and so thank you for this timely visit.’  

Nuu and Kaipa spent many hours on the island. They fished in the calm seas; they hunted in the jungles; they travelled about; and they partook in the feasts and dances on all the villages.

They visited many villages and made many new friends.

They were now left with one period of sleep before they paddled back to their home—that they saw in the distance only as massive mountains and clouds.

‘Nuu and Kaipa, I have to tell you something,’ the great chief of the island said to them, sadly. ‘You were so good to people on this island. We are all happy to your services to this island and people, so we will give you a mysterious gift from the gods of the sea.’

Nuu was excited. ‘My great chief,’ he said, ‘just give it to us.’

‘Many periods of sleep ago my ancestor found a basket drifting at sea,’ the chief continued. ‘He picked it and was about to open it when a mysterious sea creature told him not to. The creature told him that if he should open it he would to get lost and die at sea.’

Nuu and Kaipa listened carefully.

The old man added, ‘So the old man paddled home and told his children and died soon after. We have feared this basket since, my friends.’

‘Oh, my chief,’ Nuu said, ‘If you fear it just give it to us. We live in the big land you see across the sea up north. If it hurts when we open it we will flee through the great land we live on and hide.’

Nuu was handed the mysterious basket and he and Kaipa paddled home.

As they reached the shore of their homeland, Nuu rushed to the beach and began opening the basket. Kaipa was hesitant.

‘Nuu,’ Kaipa warned, ‘we do not know that basket and what it will do to us. Let’s reach our home and you can open it then.’

‘Okay, my coward brother,’ Nuu said, restlessly and set off ahead of Kaipa.

They walked and walked through the jungle with Nuu complaining of Kaipa’s fear of the basket.

‘Kaipa, I am the owner of this basket,’ Nuu complained. ‘I should open it for it is hurting me carrying it. The chief may have lied to us and we could be wasting our time carrying it around.’

Kaipa was frustrated and ordered Nuu to open the gift as they sat to rest haft way through their walk home.

Nuu opened the basket and the whole world got dark.

The pair could not see each other. They could not see the track. No birds cried in the trees; all was silent and strange. Their ears heard mysterious new sounds everywhere.

Nuu stood up and roamed around. He kept bumping into tree trunks and hurting his body. He shouted for Kaipa to help him but Kaipa said he was also struggling to find the track in this mysterious darkness.

Nuu staggered on and fell down a cliff and broke his nose. When he stood up his whole nose was changed. He felt his nose had grown so heavy.

Kaipa at his end struggled. He bumped into trees and fell and stood up. He tested all his body parts to navigate his way to safety. But nothing happened.

Suddenly light appeared and he made his way home without the careless Nuu.

The two friends were now separated and lived their lives separately. Nuu the beetle had to rest in the night caring for his massively deformed nose and Kaipa the firefly had to travel in the night for he had light to show him the way.

Nuu and Kaipa never met again after they opened the basket of night given to them by the chief of Nila.

SAMANTHA KUSARI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

THE weary fuzzy haired girl, somewhere around the age of fifteen, stood on the busy pavement. Although she tried to hide the pain she had run away from, she was clearly troubled.

She tried to force a smile at people but the word ‘miserable’ seemed to be written in bold capitals across her face.

To her right a blue and red fence was overshadowed by a huge billboard with a picture of a beautiful woman smiling. She had a phone in one handand was happy and free. At the top of the billboard were the words: ‘DIGICEL, THE BIGGER BETTER NETWORK’.

To the girl’s left was the skeleton of a large building covered with small bushes blackened by smoke ash. A few decrepit walls propped up a rusty roof. It had been burned down and left decaying for years.

She looked again at the people. It seemed everyone had something to do and somewhere to go except her. Vehicles of all kinds buzzed along the road. She decided to rest her weary feet and aching back. She sat on an old tyre and cupped her face in her palms. The cold afternoon wind was getting at her.

A woman walked past carrying a child with two little children trailing behind. It reminded her of her younger siblings back home, and she thought of her mother. Her heart ached! She wondered what her mother was doing and how things were going back home.

She hated these thoughts but they kept returning to her mind. How the irate men would yell her name, then call for anyone who might be harbouring her to bring her forward. Tears formed in her eyes. She brushed them aside and reminded herself to be brave.

She was startled by two young boys approaching from behind. They had showered in a long time and their teeth, clothes and shoes were stained with buai spittle.

“Hei, yu no sapos lo sidaun lo hia,”(Hey, you’re not supposed to sit here) one of them exclaimed boys.  “Yu ridim disla sain tu?,” (Did you read the notice?). He pointed to a small wooden board nailed to a tree. The words were written in red ink: ‘TAMBU TRU LO SIDAUN LONG OL TAIA, SPOT FAIN K20’.

She stood up swiftly. “Aiyo sori tru,” (I’m so sorry) she blurted shakily. “Mi lustintin osem i tambu lo sidaun lo hia” (I forgot it’s forbidden to sit here).

“Yu mas peim moni nau,” (You have to pay money now) demanded the other boy. “Yu wokim ron pinis. Yu save osem tambu lo sidaun lo hia na yu kam sidaun yet”(You’ve done wrong. You know it’s wrong to sit here but you did it anyway).

“Aiyo, plis me save osem mi ron tasol me nogat moni lo peim ya,” (Oh please, I know I’m wrong but I don’t have any money), she said shakily. The boys reminded her of the last confrontation she had with her uncles in the village before she ran away. Her heart cried.

A small group of people had gathered around the three of them. She wished the ground could open and swallow her. The two boys continued to pester her for money.

“Sapos yu no peim moni ba mipla go lokim yu lo polis stesen,” (If you don’t pay any money, we’ll lock you up at the police station), the first boy threatened.

She was terrified at the word ‘police’. Police and anything to do with police horrified her.

“Sapos yu nogat K20 OK K10 kam,” (If you don’t have K20 then give us K10) insisted the boy.

She had K60 inside the bilum but K10 was too much to give away. She looked around. She could not run away this time. She did not know where to go.

“Sista em ol laikim moni na tok ya, sapos yu gat wanpla two kina stap yu givim ol na ol bai larim yu go,” (Sister, they are after money, if you have a two kina give it to them and they’ll leave you alone), said a young lady who looked friendly and spoke with confidence. She could trust this lady.

She reached into her bilum and pulled out a two kina note.

“Em tasol mi gat ya,” (This is all I have), she said as she handed the note to the boys.

“K2 em liklik moni tumas, edim K3 antap na givim mipla K5,” (K2 is a small amount, add K3 more and give us K5) the other boy retorted. All of a sudden a hand reached out and pulled the K2 note from her. It was the same young lady.

“Em moni ya, yutla laikim hamas?” (This is money, how much do you want?), the young lady shouted and threw the K2 note at the boys. They caught the note.

“Neks taim yu noken kam sidaun ken lo hia, mipla ketsim yu ken bai u go lo sel stret,” (Next time don’t you come and sit here, if we happen to see you again you will be locked up in the cell), the boys warned.

She quietly slipped through the small crowd that had gathered around. She looked to thank her the lady but she was gone. Her stomach growling from hunger, she walked across the road to a small hauskai and bought a pie and a can of Coke. She was scared to walk outside after the incident. She chose a spot right at the corner and sat to eat.

Evening was approaching. She had to look for a place to sleep for the night. C’mon think, think, think, she told herself.

She was startled by a security guard who walked in asking the last customers to be quick as the hauskai was closing soon. The guard stared at her. She felt nervous.

“Bosmeri, yu orait ah?” (Lady, are you okay?), he asked as she walked out.

“Yes, mi orait,” she replied without looking at him. The guard mumbled something but she.

She tried to cross over the road but cars kept speeding by. Men popped theirs heads of the car and mocked her. Can men mind their own business for once, she thought bitterly. Finally the road was free and she crossed.

She now had a place in mind where she could sleep for the night. She pretended to be busy like everybody else. She walked in and out of shops to pass the time.

Around six everyone was gone. Only a few people were standing around the bus stop area waiting for the last buses home.

An elderly man approached her from the footpath. “Yu weitim bus?” (You waiting for the bus?)he asked gently.

“Uh uh……. yea… but luk osem nogat planti bus ron, haus blo me clostu tasol so ba mi wokabaut,” (Yes but looks like there’s not many buses, my house is just close by so I should walk) she uttered with a forced smile and walked away.

She crossed over the road back towards the burned out building. She turned and looked towards the bus stop. A bus had arrived and the remaining passengers were hopping on.

She waited for the bus to take off and watched as the boss crew shut the door and the driver set off. She pretended to walk fast as the bus loaded with passengers sped past. Again she looked back to the bus stop. There was nothing there expect the empty plastic containers and papers whirling in the wind. 

She looked to the right and then to the left. No people. She crept into the burned building, promising to wake before 6am so she could get outside before anyone noticed she had slept there. She used her bilum as a pillow and dozed off.

A tall figure stood at her foot. She gazed up and saw her uncle. As usual he had his axe in one hand. His face was swollen with anger.

“So here you are,” her uncle thundered. “You ran away from your obligations. You have brought shame upon your family. Everyone is talking about you. We’re all ashamed for your action. You have defied the traditions and rules of your society.”

“Uncle, please let me explain,” she begged.

“Explain what?” retorted her uncle. “You’re a stupid girl. I don’t want to listen to your crap.”

“No, no, no please,” she cried. “Look uncle, I can’t marry Tio. He is old enough to be my grandfather and besides he already has three wives and kids and even grand…...”

“Shut up, you useless girl!” he cut her off before she could complete her sentence. “You’re such a disgrace to the family and you know the consequences of your action.”

“For disobeying your uncles, for defying the rules of society, for dishonouring your family by running away, for bringing embarrassment to your family and clan, this is what you get and hope you make peace with your father in his graveyard,” her uncle screamed into her face as he lifted the axe to chop her neck.

“Noooooooo……ooooooo!” she screamed her lungs out as she ducked her head down and raised her hand to shield herself from the axe’s hungry blade.

She woke up screaming. What a terrible dream! It seemed so real. She sat up and wiped her face with a small handkerchief. It was clear outside. She had to get out before anyone saw her.

She changed into the clean clothes she had packed in her bilum and crept out of the building. The street was still quiet. The shops were not open. A few commuters were passing by. She felt hungry but had to wait for the stores to open.

She decided to go to a different store to avoid the mean guard. She bought a packet of biscuits and a bottle of water. This time she was very careful where she sat. She saw people sitting on a lawn near the post office. She walked across and sat under a tree. She thought hard about her dream. She shivered.

She ate her biscuit slowly. The dream troubled her. If her uncle really came looking for her, he would not have trouble finding her for he knew the town well. She decided the best thing to do was report to the police station. She had been made aware at school that such matters must be reported.

She could not sleep in that burned down building for forever. She knew she should report the matter to the police but she was scared just by the sight of policemen.

Finally she gathered courage and walked toward the police station.  She was not sure where to go and who to talk to, so stood beside an old truck and watched people walking in and out. She watched as a young woman with blood over her face was brought in. A woman standing next to her said the lady got into a fight with the husband’s first wife.

She nodded at the woman but was not paying attention to what she was saying. She seemed friendly. She felt she could talk to her. Something in her was urging her to speak but she lacked the guts.

“Yu orait ah? Yu kam lo sampla samting?” (Are you okay? Are you here for something?) the woman asked her.

She looked into the woman’s eyes. Speak up please, speak up, she urged herself. She opened her mouth and was about to utter the first words when another lady called out to the woman. The woman excused herself and walked away. She watched as they walked out of the police station together and disappeared around the corner.

She had missed her chance. She was on the verge of breaking into tears when a police officer walked past.

“Excuse me sir,” she murmured. She did not know what to say next but she had captured his attention.

“Yes, yu tok” (Yes, what’s the matter), the officer replied. He was a huge big bellied guy, neatly shaved but with hairs sticking out of his nostrils and a square hair-cut. Typical policeman, she thought.

Within minutes she had spilled out the painful story. She felt a little relieved. The officer told her the police vehicle was out on duty so they should wait. She waited for an hour, scared to walk around so she found a shady spot to/ sit.

Finally the vehicle arrived and soon she was inside with three officers on their way to the place she swore she would never return to. Her heart beat faster as the vehicle sped along the pot holed road. What would be her family’s reaction? What would people think of her?

She did not like the look of the other two officers. They winked at her and grinned a lot. She did not trust them. She tried as much as possible to avoid their glances and kept her eyes looking through the window.

There was a carton of beer under the seat. The officers were joking, using some sort of slang language she could not understand, and they roared with laughter.

They arrived at a junction and the driver took a left turn. Oh no! She thought. This is a wrong turn. She remembered clearly the road they drove on when she travelled by PMV.

“Bosman, disla em ino rot igo lo ples,” (Boss, this is not the right road to the village) she said to the officer next to her.

“Noken wari, mipla go kisim sampla samtin tsol lo hap na ba kam bek,” (Don’t worry, we’ll just go get something from there and come back) replied the officer.

The officers continued on with their jokes and laughed. She watched from the side of her eyes as each of them opened the beer cans and dunked it like cold water. Her heart was beating even faster. She could sense something was not right. She uttered a silent prayer and moved closer to the door. She could see it was not locked.

She waited for the vehicle to slow down. The officers were busy drinking, smoking and joking. The other officer noticed she was moving closer to the door and moved towards her.  At this point, the vehicle slowed down for a pothole.

“Spidim ya!” (Speed up!) the officer yelled to the driver. She reached for the door and pushed it hard. She could feel the officer’s hand as he tried to grab her. She managed to free herself from his grip.

“Heeeelllllllllppppppp,” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she jumped out of the vehicle. She landed on the road.  

When she awoke, a handsome guy dressed in white stood smiling at her. She felt numb all over. Her head and part of her face were bandaged. She could not move her feet and hands. She felt glued to the bed.

“Don’t try to move, just keep calm,” the doctor spoke gently as he wrote something in a small notebook he was holding. 

KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Cleland Family Award for Heritage Writing

MAKAI Ike or Haus Makai is a hut where the Catholic faithful, especially Simbu villagers, congregate to pray at night.

Almost every clan has a minimum of two Makai Ike and they invite clans from other tribes, and even their neighbours in the Western Highlands and Jiwaka, to occasionally come for prayer, a privilege which is reciprocated.

Most Haus Makai are not purpose-built but many families turn their homes into Haus Makai, often for ulterior reasons. Sadly, this practice has many darker sides to it, and it can inflict damage on the family units that take part.

First, like all Christians, the owners of the huts seek some sort of favour from the Creator - so the practice is more like a process of bargaining with the Lord than a genuine act of humility and penitence.

Most undertake the process as an appeal to the Lord to respond to an immediate need, such as the healing of a sick family member, financial help from an angel to pay tuition fees or for the successful completion of studies.

A second group of Christians turn their homes into Haus Makai because the intending candidates for national elections visit them to give out goodies such as pressure lamps, kerosene, guitars and of course lamb flaps.

Yes, it is a lazy way of diversifying livelihood and bringing some wealth into the family.

Sometimes the organiser of the Haus Makai’s hidden agenda wants to contest a council ward election or achieve some other local position and is trying to shroud a previous dark life by impressing on the faithfuls how he or she is a reformed and upright citizen.

Now that the traditional karim lek (courtship) entertainment in the evenings has vanished, people, as social beings, are looking for a proxy for courtship and Makai Ike prayer can take that place. The majority of the Papists that frequent it primarily go for the socialising rather than genuine devotion.

The people do not follow the clock, so those who go early to the Makai Ike will expound rhetoric about everything whilst waiting for the other folk to turn up. They will talk about politics, which of course is a delicacy.

Someone will say an intending candidate will come from the US or Australia and eject cartons of cash from helicopters and the cash will cloud the skies, blur their vision and the smell of new notes will suffocate their nostrils. There’s always plenty of this kind of nonsense.

By the time everybody is drowsy and the children sprawling in the dirt snoring, the attendees appoint people to partake in various acts of prayer. By the time they finish, the early hours of the next day will have arrived.

The first negative externality of the Makai Ike is that these parents do an injustice to their children. Apart from singing, the children do not actively participate in the gathering so it is a waste of time and sleep for them.

Some parents leave their kids at home to sleep and run off to the Makai Ike. Parents are supposed to practice basic Catholic life in the family unit. Kids need to see parents cooking, praying, serving the meal, washing up, doing a post mortem on the day’s work, then family prayer and bed time stories.

How can one build a decent Catholic family when children miss out on this important itinerary?

Parents leaving the home in the charge of the teenage boys and girls to look after their siblings is a bad call.

Once the parents depart, with the aid of mobile phones and age old instincts and in the sanctuary of the night, the teenage boys and girls visit each other and have a field day with the father-mother game.

The community will say “the mother is a maria eekopne, or leader of the blue army, but how come the daughter is pregnant or the son has contracted HIV or is a druggie?”

The other truth is that people pray till dawn or thereabouts and sleep during the day. That reduces productivity while thievery of garden produce and domesticated animals soars.

Morua, a leader of our outstation at Ulwal, was halfway through digging up two plots of peanuts from Kolkia’s garden in the early morning hours.

Kolkia spotted the act of attempted theft and came up behind Morua to greet him in the expected way.

Morua jumped and ran but Kolkia pursued him with a razor sharp bush knife.  Luckily Morua escaped and saved his neck but his clansmen had to compensate Kolkia.

Apai is a maria eekopne and does some healing with her prayers. She is hired by people from all over the place but none of her six children attend primary school. Her first daughter has gone off and become a second wife.

Apai has spent more than 15 years travelling around various Makai Ike. She takes a reference around written by a Catholic priest confirming that she can do miracles. Meanwhile her kids fend for themselves.  She is a good role model, ah?

Wai, the principal of Goramara Makai Ike, and Ba, a mother of five, travelled to Koge for a prayer with others. In the dark of the night, Wai and Ba were copulating under some coffee trees when her small son, who travelled with them, out of curiosity walked out and found the mother with her legs up.

He duly reported this to his father. Two clans were facing off for warfare as an aftermath.

A mother confessed on her dying bed that she had been sleeping around with a particular principal in the Makai Ike and named the places they frequented.  Upon her death, the husband dressed her corpse in full traditional regalia and buried her with utmost respect.

The Church unfortunately does not see what we ordinary Papists see happening in the Makai Ike. The Church is made to believe that the Catholic faith is alive through such gatherings.

What would Jesus say if he walked into Simbu?

My guess is that He would burn all the Makai Ike and tell people to return to the family unit for prayer and appear on Sundays for worship.

He would surely outlaw this prayertainment culture that inflates socio-economic ills.

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

In twilight when night begun
The transition of light and dark
When insects and birds songs came audible
Nocturnal creatures came active

Sky’s brightness grew dull
The atmosphere was crystal clear
I lifted my eyes and looked above
As far as my sight could reach

The wonders of the Milky Way stood firm
Bright stars glow in numerous digit
I came short in counting them
As I looked more far and wide

In the night sky of South Pacific
I recognized a group of stars
Uniquely arranged in perfect pattern
The one on Papua New Guinea’s flag

I admired the one who designed them
It was the work of God
In amazement I shouted wow!
I’ve found the Southern Cross

It was then; I picked up a pen to write

DANIEL KUMBON

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

A man in a fake army uniform
with a .303 in his hands
stands on a hill, concealed
over-looking
a deserted village

The man in uniform
shades his eyes
as if to see more clearly
But there is nothing to see
in this lonely village

There is no life
no movement
But only this man in uniform
standing on the hill, concealed
overlooking this forlorn village

He cranes his neck to see
more clearly the village
where his first cries were heard
where his umbilical cord was buried
where his fallen tribal brothers
are buried beside their ancestors
in the depths of the earth
in this forsaken village

Over grown by nettle trees,
Overtaken by thorn bushes
Where rats build their houses
Where lonely dogs lament at night
A sudden rustling in the leaves
gives the man in uniform the creeps
as fallen warriors take up arms
to continue the tribal war
and defend this spooky village

The man in a fake army uniform
with his .303, flees in fear
never once looking back. 

ROWAN CALLICK | The Australian

THE election for president of Papua New Guinea’s autonomous region of Bougainville has decisively returned John Momis, who scored about half the 100,000 votes cast, against eight rivals.

The former Catholic priest and veteran politician — he was deputy prime minister in PNG, during 30 years as a national MP — will preside over a referendum to take place within the next five years in which Bougainvilleans will decide whether to establish an independent state.

Mr Momis, 76, is convinced that the only way Bougainville can be viable as a nation in such a short period, is to preside over the return to life of the vast copper mine there which was closed by conflict in 1989.

He said after the election that he to quickly meet with Rio Tinto, the 53.38 per cent owner of the mine: “I am hoping we can come to an agreement to start taking some practical steps to reopen the mine, but if Rio Tinto chooses not to engage us then we have other options to look at.”

The Bougainville government relies on PNG government support for most of its revenues.

The Australian Stock Exchange-listed Bougainville Copper, which was the mine’s operator, estimates it would cost $6.5 billion to prepare the mine — which contains copper and gold worth an estimated $50 billion — to run again.

Rio announced last August it was conducting a review into its Bougainville stake, but has yet to announce any conclusion.

The former Bougainville parliament — for which elections have also just concluded — passed mining legislation last month, in its dying days, which declared that all resources are now owned by the traditional landowners, not by the state.

This appears to complicate the situation in terms of ownership of and approvals for the reopening of the mine.

The PNG government, which owns 19.06% of BCL, insists its constitution and legal framework override the Bougainville parliamentary jurisdiction, and that thus decisions about the mine there must receive its approval, at least.

It was unclear to which “other options” Dr Momis was referring. But given the massive cost and technical and managerial challenge involved in reopening the mine, the most likely source of alternative interest, if Rio decides to sell or transfer its stake, is a major Chinese state-owned corporation.

Dr Momis was PNG’s ambassador to China from 2006 to 2010.

The terms of the peace agreement under which Bougainville returned to full PNG sovereignty following the decade-long civil war include the holding of a referendum, during the five years after this year, on the region’s governance — with independence being one of the options.

Dr Momis opposed the travel ban temporarily imposed by the PNG government on Australians travelling to Bougainville last month, following the Abbott government’s budget, which announced the establishment of a consulate on Buka, within the region.

That ban has since been lifted by Port Moresby, although the PNG government remains opposed to the establishment of an Australian diplomatic mission in Bougainville.

PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato spoke of “deep historical sensitivities” being involved.