KEITH JACKSON

IN a letter seen by PNG Attitude, Bougainville president John Momis has told the managing director of Rio Tinto he is concerned the Papua New Guinea government is positioning to buy Rio's 53.83% equity in Bougainville Copper (BCL).

Dr Momis advised Sam Walsh this information was conveyed to him early in December by two PNG government ministers.

One of them, Ben Micah, let Dr Momis know that, following a series of meetings with Rio Tinto, PNG wished to purchase Rio’s equity and is seeking the agreement of the Autonomous Bougainville Government for the deal.

Dr Momis wrote to Mr Walsh that, in earlier meetings with Rio Tinto in July, he had been assured “in the clearest terms” that the company had not yet finalised a review of its stake in BCL and that there was no agreement between Rio Tinto and the PNG government about a sale of equity.

Dr Momis sought Mr Walsh’s “urgent assurance that, if Rio has decided to divest, it will enter into discussions with my government about the consequences of such a decision.”

Replying to Dr Momis some days later, Mr Walsh said Rio’s review had “not reached any final conclusion” but that Rio is engaging “with interested parties”.

Mr Walsh wrote that “as a listed public company [Rio is] obliged to conduct the review in full compliance with [stock exchange] listing rules and other applicable laws and are limited in what we can discuss.”

Meanwhile Dr Momis - in a speech to the Bougainville parliament yesterday - said the PNG government has been ignoring the requirements of the Bougainville Peace Agreement and its chronic underpayment of grants and taxes has left the ABG’s budget in very poor shape.

He said that, if the matter was not resolved by February, the ABG will take the PNG government to the Supreme Court.

Dr Momis concluded his speech saying that “the peace agreement was a negotiated contract to end war.

"It was given effect by PNG constitutional laws.

“If we cannot trust PNG to implement the financial arrangements of that agreement, then on what basis can we maintain an ongoing relationship?” he asked.

One commentator on Bougainville affairs told PNG Attitude that “it seems strange that in a situation where PNG is in deep fiscal crisis, it proposes to spend US$100 million on shares in BCL, but at the same time claims it cannot meet its constitutional obligations to fund the Bougainville government.”

PACIFIC BEAT | Radio Australia

PAPUA New Guinea rugby league team, the Hunters, has forged a partnership with leading NRL team, the Brisbane Broncos, as they continue their build-up to the 2016 season.

As part of the deal, Hunters' coach Michael Marum will spend a week in January being mentored by NRL premiership coach Wayne Bennett.

Former PNG Kumuls coach, Bob Bennett, told Radio Australia that his brother was happy to host the PNG Hunters coach.

"It will just be Wayne's normal training week and Michael will hang around with him and see how it's done and the professionalism that Michael's got in place [in PNG]," Bennett said.

"He's going to come down to the Broncos and see what they do, the facilities, giving him some ideas, and just see where they go from there.

"Wayne's got a bit of a soft spot for PNG and I suppose that's through my connection and also just PNG in general so therefore he always helps out when he can."

However, Bob Bennett ruled out the possibility of any permanent PNG role for his brother.

"I think Wayne is too busy and I don't think that would be possible," he said.

"You've got to understand the PNG players as well and Michael does that very well. And Wayne will always be a contact for him to talk to - and that will be good - but no, I don't think Wayne will go to PNG."

Under the agreement, the Hunters will also use the Broncos' facilities as their training base when they travel to Queensland to play Intrust Super Cup matches next season.

"It will be good that every time they come to Brisbane and they know that if they want to do weights or something they can just do what they want," Bennett said.

"Most of the time I'd say the Broncos would be away, so the Hunters will have the field and facilities without too many problems."

HAL HOLMAN

Shaggy Ridge was named for Australian soldier Captain Robert (Shaggy Bob) Clampett, whose company first reconnoitred the area. It was the site of several battles during the Finisterre Range campaign of 1943–44 as Allied forces attacked Japanese defensive positions blocking access to the north coast of New Guinea. In December 1943, the Australian 7th Division attacked….

WITHIN minutes shells began lobbing much closer to us, until we suspected that we had been mistaken for the enemy—or was it because the Japs were that close?

Now that we were fully provisioned, our burden weighed us down and slowed progress.  We managed to reach the river unscathed and crossed without drowning; the rest was smooth sailing but it took us two days to rejoin our forces.

We were there during the Shaggy Ridge battle; in fact we enjoyed Christmas Day on the slopes of Shaggy Ridge with traditional Christmas fare as supplied by the Army and Air Force, and generous contributions from the Americans.

The Yanks donated tobacco as a special request from us.  The average Australian, especially in wartime, preferred to roll his own cigarettes from fine-cut tobacco which he placed in the palm of his hand and rubbed to the right consistency.

When the Americans’ donation was delivered we were wildly appreciative addicts—our stocks had run out. But as the crate was feverishly opened we were astounded.

This tobacco was alien stuff.  We had seen it in Yankee western movies but were unprepared for it. It bore the brand-name ‘Bull Durham’ and was granulated tobacco in drawstring cotton bags with appropriate king-size cigarette papers.

In the movies we had witnessed cowboys undo the drawstrings with their teeth then, by giving their steed free rein, they would unglue the paper from their bottom lip. With slick sleight-of-hand they would manage to curl the paper to make a channel; thus forming a place for the tobacco.

Then followed a laudable performance where the would-be cancer victim poured a precise amount of the grains of tobacco into the paper and then twirled it to enclose it.  He licked the glue line by sliding the paper tube across his tongue and twirled both ends in his moistened lips to stop the tobacco from running out.

I am not sure why the cowboy rolled the cigarette down one side of his chaps — I think he did it to ensure a cylindrical product.  I have never seen a movie where the fag was dropped or ruptured. 

The cowboy did all this to perfection while keeping one eye on the herd, one eye on a straggler, and one eye on the approaching storm.

Where was I? Ah, yes! Somehow he manages to spirit away the drawstring bag together with the packet of papers then from nowhere brings forth a wax match, possibly using a prehensile foot.

Unbelievably the cigarette lights first time in spite of the fact that all this is staged in a brisk breeze.  My mate Ron Norton called it granulated bullshit.

And how did this affect us, you might ask.

When we attempted to make a cigarette from the ingredients whilst perched precariously in the saddle of Shaggy Ridge where it was impossible to shelter from gale-force winds of 60 knots, the tobacco blew away like aerosol spray.  So did the papers and the wax matches and our patience.

Soon thereafter I was bowled over with another malaria attack and flown to a field hospital at Finschhafen.  From what I can remember my infection was classified as a benign tertian fever.

After 10 days in hospital I was up and running and, after a lot of soul searching, decided to apply for a transfer to the Australian New Guinea Administration Unit (ANGAU) in its native labour section. 

With my command of Pidgin English it was an ideal unit for me. To qualify for the appointment I had to take a crash course in native labour administration. The school was located at Koki Beach, Port Moresby and was named West’s Academy.

Particular attention during this training period focused on human relations (especially conflict between labourers), cargo line rationing (particularly long patrols required a bit of maths) and first aid.

Thereafter I was appointed Acting Sergeant and attached to the 1st American Marine Corps for their landings in New Britain, which for me began at Cape Gloucester after their assault there on 26 December 1943.  Then followed a period at Talasea and later Cape Hoskins.

When we arrived I was stunned at the Marines’ decision that my Highlanders were not wanted inside the protection of the armed perimeter at night.  This meant we had to leave the guarded beach head and establish ourselves unprotected in the jungle.

The reason for our banishment was that the Yanks were afraid of contracting malaria, dengue fever, scrub typhus and other afflictions that they thought they were exposed to if sleeping in the same area as my indigenes (not forgetting they were coloured).

Therefore our very first major task was to build, from forest materials, a large boi haus so my charges and I could be comfortably housed for as long as we were stationed at Talasea and later at Cape Hoskins, where we repeated the performance.

Extracted from The Phoenix Rises Eternal, a memoir by Hal Holman OL OAM

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I HAVE frequently written about the innate conservatism of the kiaps, both when they were serving in Papua New Guinea and later when they were back in Australia.

This predilection was brought home to me by their bid to secure a medal for their service and the way in which their argument was couched. They were, after all, public servants, not soldiers.

I’ve got nothing against conservatism; it is something that adds colour to everyday life and can often be highly entertaining; watching clowns like Tony Abbott was most enjoyable and terrifying at the same time.

And the truth be known we’ve all got bits of conservatism and liberalism and something in between in us anyway.

So when the kiaps got their medal I wished them well and applauded the tireless efforts that went into it. I just couldn’t see my short time as a kiap as deserving of a medal and didn’t apply for one.

The view of kiaps as conservatives and, in some cases, rednecks, has permeated a lot of the literature about them, especially in the academic field. I think this sort of stereotyping is grossly unfair.

Not all kiaps were conservatives. At least not in the classic sense. There were many free thinkers and radicals among them. There were also a lot of eccentrics too.

Like the kiap on a remote one man station making bricks to build a squash court even though he had no one to play against.

Or the kiap on a similarly small station building an aeroplane out of a cannibalised Honda 90 motorbike; he only got caught when he advertised for a set of pram wheels on the district office noticeboard.

And then there was the kiap who built a road through the swamps from his lonely station to a nearby mission because the MAF refused to fly in his beer supplies while the priest at the mission had no objections to putting them on his weekly supply flights.

There were eccentrics in the other professions too of course. The chalkie who turned up at the Hagen show in full bilas and charged unsuspecting tourists to take his photograph. The priest who put his toilet on rails so he could grow vegetables in its wake. The list goes on.

Most of them were good-hearted people who did no harm and quite often a lot of good. A few of them had simply gone troppo because of loneliness and heat and humidity.

Most of them found promotion elusive because they had blotted their copy books. The mandarins in Port Moresby diligently kept tabs on them. Some were labelled subversive and some were even sacked, especially the politically eccentric.

I ran into quite a few aging kiaps who had only ever reached assistant district officer level or had been shunted off to obscure roles that were mostly meaningless.

Strangely, most of these men were very good at their jobs out in the bush and got on well with the locals. A lot of them had put principle ahead of ambition.

Some of them were just plain loopy and nutcases too.

It takes all kinds to make this world and the kiaps weren’t anything special; just different and playing by their own rules.

JOHN MOMIS

THE Bougainville Mining Act was enacted by the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) in March 2015.

It was the subject of a report launched in Australia in November by NGO, Jubilee Australia.

I question the good faith of Jubilee Australia and its CEO, Ms Brynnie Goodwill.

In 2014 the ABG criticised an earlier Jubilee report about landowner views on mining in Bougainville as biased, misleading, ill-informed and based on deeply flawed research.

The ABG welcomes open and honest debate about what it is doing. To the extent that the Jubilee report makes balanced criticism and well informed suggestions, the ABG welcomes the comment, and will take note of it. But the ABG has four main criticisms of this new report.

First, despite being a marked improvement on Jubilee's 2014 report, much of the new report reflects the same biased and ill-informed approach as the earlier document.

The 2015 report on the Bougainville Mining Act is clearly authored with the same ignorance of Bougainville as the 2014 report, and the same deep biases.

All are evident in the work of Jubilee's main advisor about Bougainville, and the author of its 2014 report.

That is the young Australian Marxist academic, Kristian Lasslett. His deeply unbalanced material can be found in his articles and a book, reflecting his Marxist theory.

It is also in social media, and in his mainly ('courageously'!) anonymous postings on the PNG Mine Watch blog (many of which pre-figure the material in this report).

Lasslett constantly presents the ABG as in some way involved in some sort of arrangement  with BCL to resume mining in Bougainville, against the wishes of the people of Bougainville.

He sees Adam Smith International (ASI) (who advised the ABG on mining policy) as an ultra-right wing lobby group. The implication is either that ASI is part of the same conspiracy, or has otherwise influenced the ABG to act against the interests of the people of Bougainville.

He also sees any Australian-funded adviser to the ABG as part of 'soft power', that in some unspecified way forces the ABG to make its mining policy and law in favour of BCL, Rio Tinto and the Australian government, and against the interests of Bougainville.

For Lasslett, the ABG and its leaders seem to be either evil or stupid, pawns in the hands of powers they don't comprehend.

These completely false views underlie Jubilee's new report, just as with the 2014 report. The only difference is that more attempt has been made to soften the prominence of such views. They are introduced more slyly.

While it's perhaps not surprising that a young academic seeks to make reality fit his theory, it's disappointing that an NGO such as Jubilee is so ignorant of Bougainville and its leaders as to be incapable of questioning such nonsense.

The Bougainville Government was democratically elected by Bougainvilleans in elections where mining issues have been hotly debated.

The ABG works hard and honestly to represent the people, and to achieve the best possible outcomes for them. This report, premised on the same constant critiques, 1s a disappointing reflection of either deep ignorance or sometl1ing worse.

Second, the report is profoundly negative. In particular, it  fails  to acknowledge in any way the extent to which this mining law provides protection to landowner rights.

There is no mining law anywhere in the world that offers the degree of protection to customary landowners that the new Bougainville law does. Very clearly, whoever wrote the report has virtually no comparative experience of mining legislation.

With the assistance of such experience, Jubilee might have recognised the remarkable extent to which this law moves the balance of protection away from mining companies to landowners.

Then the report might have made more  a more realistic analysis. But the main comparison is to the PNG Mining Act 1992, and there mainly in relation to penalties. So there's no sense of reality.

If Bougainville is to attract responsible investors, then any mining law it has must provide a balance between the interests of landowners and mining companies. It must provide a degree of security for mining companies as well.

Third, both the report, and statements made about it by Jubilee's CEO, Ms. Goodwill in an interview on Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program on Wednesday 11 November, are in many instances untrue. 

A few examples make the point. The report and the CEO claim there is no real landowner veto because the ABG might compulsorily acquire land to defeat the veto! Clearly they have no idea of the reality of the strength of landowner power m Bougainville. It would be political suicide for any government to do that.

The report and Ms Goodwill talk of dramatic increases in the penalties in the Act, their point of comparison being the PNG Mining Act enacted in 1992. But they 'conveniently' forget to mention that the PNG Act was passed in 1992, when the PNG kina was valued several times more than it is now. 

The report and Ms. Goodwill talk about landowners facing penalties, and seem to suggest that mining companies do not. That is simply untrue. Ms. Goodwill claimed that penalties for certain offences that landowners might be charged with are mandatory. That is simply untrue.

The penalties in the Act apply to all, not just landowners. The most serious offence under the Act is unauthorised exploration or mining, the maximum penalty for which is a Kl million fine and 10 years' imprisonment.

If a mining company's activities are in breach of the terms of their lease, then that activity would be unauthorised  and attract appropriate sanction.

Parts of the report are deeply misleading. For example, it is completely inaccurate when it purports to use quotes from me to claim that the "scope of the 'veto' [for landowners over mining] has been outlined in a series of official assertions that are not supported by the text of the mining act".

The report relies on various reports of statements I have made. It completely misconstrues a radio report of a January 2015 statement to claim that I wrongly proclaimed that landowners would be able to halt any operation they were unhappy with. The quoted statement was a general one made on a blog associated with a radio station, which did not say that it quoted me verbatim.

The point I was actually making, consistent with scores of other statements I made on the topic, was simply that under our new law no proposed mining operation would go ahead without landowner agreement. Why could Jubilee not approach me to ask me what I meant rather than combing through the records of reports to find something that might be construed against me?

The report also cites a second reading speech I made about the 2014 Mining Act to say that I wrongly claimed that the 2015 Act gives landowners a veto over the grant  of exploration licences.  In fact, the 2014 Act did grant such a veto. But that was changed in the 2015 Act. What I said in 2014 has no relevance to the 2015 Act. I have never claimed that it gives a veto over exploration licences.

I hope that Jubilee was not trying to deliberately mislead by including this and much other wrong material. The likely reason for such inclusion of material, however, is the bias already mentioned.

The fact that there is a real veto power vested in landowners is not one that Jubilee, or Kristian Lasslett, could readily accept. For them the ABG's intentions are always suspect.

The report, and the invitation to its launch, claim that the 2015 Act "creates the legal framework for reopening the Panguna mine, a project which triggered a decade long conflict that cost up to 20,000 lives". That is untrue. It is not the intention of the Act.

The ABG is certainly open to the re-opening of  the  Panguna mine as the best option, at present, for providing  the revenue  needed for either autonomy of independence.

But as the ABG has always made clear, that will only happen if the affected landowners agree, and under entirely new conditions. The same will be true of any new mine for Bougainville.  No  decision has been made to re-open the Panguna mine.

These are just some exan1ples of the material in the report and the false claims  by Jubilee that reflect bias, bad faith, and a mean-spirited approach.

Fourth, Jubilee, and Kristian Lasslett, continue to  show  bad  faith  by  simply refusing to engage with the ABG. Ms. Goodwill made  much  of the  fact that the ABG invited Jubilee to comment on the Act (an invitation made to other organisations too). But at no point prior to completion of their report did Jubilee indicate such a report was being prepared.

More  important,  Jubilee never sought to discuss the issues or to check their facts (such as their incorrect attributions to me of statements about the extent of the landowner veto).

Rather than engaging with the ABG, those involved in preparation of the report they relied on their long-held assumptions about ABG links to BCL, right wing think tanks, and the Australian Government.

Had they approached us, in good faith, they would have found the ABG more than willing to engage with them. Quite a different report might have been produced.

In  all the circumstances,  it's very hard to take Jubilee Australia seriously.

PETER KRANZ

"MISTER 'olmes, I'm all tits over arse with this Christmas dinner!"

"Missus Okuk, please modify your depraved tok ples. Now what is the problem?"

"Well, I got me chestnuts, garlic and parsley for the stuffing, and the vegies with sago and taro liked you arsed for the accomplishments.

“And a great Christmas pud from Missus Beeton, but for the life o’ mi, I can’t find a suitable goose! I've tried everywhere!"

"Okuk, I think this is a problem for the inestimable Watson to solve. Call him if you please."

A few minutes later….

"Yes, Holmes, what do you wish me to do?"

"Watson, we have a problem. And remember, a problem is an opportunity."

"OK Holmes, but I am suspicious."

"What did you say?"

"OK…. It’s the latest American vernacular term for yes."

"Hmm, I see you’ve been reading the latest cheap American crime dramas from The Providence Journal."

"Holmes, unfair!"

"Well, OK, as you say. We need to find a Christmas goose. Missus Okuk’s searches have been unsuccessful."

"I'll do my best, but it is only two days before Christmas, and all the local providers have sold their stocks."

"Watson, I have faith in your ingenuity."

So Watson went in search of a goose for Christmas dinner.

Stumbling and cursing, he clambered and crawled his way to the top of a stony ridge and encountered the biggest Christmas goose eyes had ever beheld!

A goose as tall as a man with a fearsome head and mound-like calcification protruding from its skull.

Its neck was a bright blue, its feet large with dagger-like claws sharp enough to eviscerate a rhinoceros.

"Well hell or hades!" muttered Watson, “Holmes can't complain about this”, and he raised his Mauser TuF Gewehr to his shoulder taking careful aim.

A blast like Tavurvur blowing up echoed through the mountains and the great beast tumbled down.  It took Watson and ten carriers to dress it, tie it to a tree trunk and carry the magnificent carcass to their camp.

"Watson, I see you have encountered a fine specimen of Casuarius casuarius,” said Holmes. “Missus Okuk will be pleased."

"Heavens to Betsy, 'ow am I supposed to stuff the bugger!" she complained.

Hardly taken aback by this response, Watson said, "Well how about a dozen coconuts, appropriately inserted?"

Missus Okuk was secretly pleased.

"Doctor you are a card!" she exclaimed, saying she hadn't seen such a splendid a muruk in many a day.

And so the Christmas mumu was prepared and it took a good hundredweight of taro, kaukau, yams and greens to adorn the feast.

"Watson, you have brought us a veritable Roc! Here have a roll."

"Holmes, I think it is a fitting testimony to your Herculean powers to devour Antacus at last."

"Well that remains to be seen. After all heaven can only be conquered by those with the right attitude. A true Papua New Guinean attitude at that."

"Bless you Holmes."

“An 'ooz gonna clean up this mess, asks youse! Talk abaht bedlam in a kai bar," complained Missus Okuk.

FLORENCE CASTRO-SALLE

AS I lay in bed in the early hours of the morning, my mind drifted off to the pictures I took of the Christmas tree in the office and the theme from the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie played over and over in my head, “Christmas Christmas time is near, time for joy and time for cheer”.

I thought of what I should do for my children and their father this Christmas and was taken back to my own childhood years, where there were presents under the tree every Christmas and where we were made to believe Santa Claus truly existed.

We would leave cakes or biscuits and milk for Santa. Someone, probably dad, would eat them but we were convinced it was Santa who, with his helpers, had left the presents.

Sometimes dad would wake us in the middle of the night and tell us to come quickly or we’d miss seeing Santa. We would rush outside and see footprints and be told we’d missed the sleigh just by seconds.

As we kids got older we tried to make Christmas for our younger siblings just as memorable.

One Christmas my baby brother wanted a bike so badly that he prayed for it every night. We encouraged him in his prayers and told him that the good Lord would hear them and that Santa would bring him a bike.

Come Christmas Eve my brother was so excited that he could not sleep, and when we told him Santa would soon make a stop at our house he could barely contain his excitement.

He clasped his hands together and whispered, “aiyo, mi laik krai”. I was moved to tears when I heard these words.

That was the last time we ever spent Christmas together as a family. We had spent so many wonderful Christmases together, sharing great excitement and joy.

We do not have Christmases like that anymore. My parents separated and we grew up and were scattered all over the place.

But I thank God for showing my siblings and me the true spirit of Christmas through our parents in those innocent years.

I hope that I can do the same for my children: have them experience the true meaning of Christmas.

GARRY LUHRS | Ex Kiap Website

CHRISTMAS, and the entire festive season, is always a contentious time at the Gentlemen’s Club.

It is the cause of more disharmony than a federal election or a debate on the return of conscription and compulsory national service, or climate change. Goodwill and fellowship towards our fellow man, I don’t think so! What a load of humbug!

All of these problems started some years ago when the club’s committee, in its infinite wisdom, decided to invite member’s submissions for the club’s Christmas celebrations to cover such items as suitable dress codes for the festive season, Christmas luncheon menus, after luncheon entertainment and the like.

As well you can imagine the membership divided into roughly two distinct camps. On the one hand there were the traditionalists led by Enoch McGraw, ex cattle station owner; whilst on the other hand the reactionary group, led by Archibald Blumfeld-Bingington, ex public servant, favoured the Anglo/European yuletide celebratory practices.

I must own up to being a traditionalist myself and I favoured the national festive wardrobe of black football shorts, blue singlet and thongs as evolved by our ancestors against the imported traditions of collars and ties and the like, which are totally unsuited to the local climate. However; eventually a compromise was reached and open collars and long slacks and appropriate footwear, including socks, are now the order of the day.

Even the choice of carols for the choristers from the Cathedral was a bone of contention. We traditionalists favoured such Christmassie songs like Slim Dusty’s “Christmas at the Station” and the Chukka-Wankers singing “Christmas in a rusty Holden ute” against such rubbish as “Hark! Hark! The Lark” and “Deck the Halls with lumps of holy”. Whatever that is!

It sounds like reindeer droppings and; there is no way we would allow the buffalo horns and crocodile heads in the trophy room to be bedecked with reindeer droppings. When the choristers sang “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” instead of “Six white Boomers”; Enoch drove them off with a whiff of birdshot from his double barrelled Purdy.

I won’t go into the luncheon menu except to say Roast Turkey and Figgy Pudding is definitely off the menu along with banning the barbaric practice of drinking port in the middle of the day. Really! Now it’s a proper traditional Christmas lunch with prawns and lamb chops and beer drunk from the bottle and the like.

The only thing that the two groups agree on is the dress standards for the five, four ball, overs a side cricket match in the club’s ballroom after lunch. Long cream flannels are compulsory. The sight of geriatric, septuagenarian and octogenarian knobbly white knees and inflamed and swollen varicose veins is just over the top and quite revolting.

It’s sufficiently off putting to see twenty two decrepit bodies wheezing, faces bloated and purple as they try to recapture lost youth and ward off cardiac arrest for a couple of hours.

We always have at least one heart attack or stroke during the game so the twelfth men are assured having the opportunity to show their stuff and put willow to leather, or in our case willow to tennis ball.

Whenever I see these ancient warriors girding up to do battle my mind recalls that incredible cricket match between Australia and the West Indies that took place at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1961. Play was broadcast live on ABC radio and the host commentators were Johnny Moyes, uncle of the kiap of the same name, and Alan McGillvray.

At one stage play had slowed down to a point whereby the spectators on the famous Sydney Hill began to get restless and, as happened in those far off days, after imbibing to excess, insults tended to get bandied about.

On this occasion a pugilistic contest broke out between a gentleman in a brown belt who exchanged blows with another gentleman in grey flannel trousers. So boring was the test that our two stalwart broadcasters conducted a running commentary of the contest until it was broken up by the strong arm of the law who led the contestants away. But I digress!

As I reminisced my mind meandered back over the roads to the ghosts of many Christmases past and one in particular.

I was the lord and master of the Western District’s most northern outpost nestled in the southern foothills of the central ranges. Olsobip was a pleasant little station largely ignored and forgotten by the outside world unless the monthly rainfall figures or some other highly important statistical return was not submitted on time. So as long as I remembered to keep all of my statistics up to date; Kiungu, Daru and the world left me in peace.

Time passed kiapy things were kiaped and I came to know the words of every song on every LP record I owned and I could sing every individual part of the musicals Camelot and Brigadoon. I could also recite by heart every word on the label of a packet of camel cigarettes and the label of a bottle of Rhum Negrita. Such were the achievements of a solitary existence.

As I sat in my sago and pandanus leaf thatched alpine chateau I mused on the highlights of my childhood and pondered the forthcoming yuletide season.

Then as if a bolt from the blue it struck me. I would host a gathering of my loyal subjects and introduce them to Christmas and the joys of celebrating this most holy of days of the Christian calendar. After all the station had been established for nearly three years; it was time to introduce the next level of civilization.

So at the following morning’s parade I announced to the constabulary and the labourers our plans for Christmas. To be honest my announcement was not met with any great enthusiasm.

The corporal questioned the wisdom of bringing certain groups together in large numbers considering traditional enmities and the like. After all there were only seven policemen and he, the corporal, did not consider that sufficient strength to contain a couple of thousand tribesmen if they decided to get cantankerous.

“Nonsense!” said I and without any further ado instructed the interpreters to send word far and wide, throughout the realm, summoning the populace to wait on their Kiap on Boxing day. No sooner said than done.

Whilst waiting for the great day to arrive; we were not idle. A greasy pole was prepared, a stock built for pillow fighting, a pig purchased to be greased and released on the day. All the events of a Territory celebration were organized.

Prizes in the form of trade goods, stick tobacco, bush knives, tomahawks, lengths of laplap, trade mirrors and trinkets courtesy of the Government Store were organized. Rough humpies to accommodate our potential guests were erected. All was looking good.

The days rolled by like a dream as we prepared for the momentous occasion. Then dawned Boxing Day, bright and clear! I arose slightly heavy headed from celebrating Christmas but nevertheless anticipating the arrival of the hordes and quite excited looking forward to the friendly competitions that were to take place.

At last, we could hear in the distance, the pulsating throb of a hundred kundus, the warble and shrieks of the primitive tribesmen chanting traditional songs as they approached the station from all eight points of the compass.

Then finally, they hove into view, long lines of warriors bedecked in brilliant plumage, their phallic gourds waving like coconut palms in the breeze. Noses and ears pierced with lengths of bamboo and unwashed bodies glistening with perspiration and pig fat mixed with the ash from camp fires. The malodorous stench of a heaving poorly drained sewer was enough to churn the civilized hungover gut.

The converging lines of savages assembled before me, where I stood in front of the flagpole gently massaging my inflamed haemorrhoids. A silence fell over the assemblage; I raised both of my arms and acknowledged their acquiescence as they paid homage to their kiap.

I gazed about me and was quite stricken by the moment and surrendered to the temptation to make a verbose kiapy type speech. An English translation I include hereunder; it went something like this:

“My people! I acknowledge your attendance and I accept your humble deference and the homage that you extend to me.

“You have been summoned here today to participate in the great annual celebration known as Christmas. This occasion will be repeated every year from now until the end of time and it will provide you all with the opportunity to acknowledge your benevolent kiap who offers you his goodwill, love and protection.

“Shortly we will introduce you to the government’s ideals of competitiveness, sportsmanship and fair play. This in turn will lead to your eventually becoming civilized members of this great emerging nation.

“The afternoon will be devoted to competitions and the evening will be devoted to sing sings where boys can be boys and girls can become mothers.

“So without further ado I invite you to place your effects in the allocated humpies and at belo bek let the games begin.”

A jolly fine introduction; I thought.

The assemblage dispersed and, under the direction of members of the constabulary made their ways to the allocated accommodations to settle in and await the commencement of the games.

Barely 30 minutes had passed when the equanimity of the day was broken with blood curdling screams of “Kill! Kill!” rent the air.

A member of the constabulary came running towards me beckoning my presence to the line of humpies. From the noise and tenor of the raised voices it was obvious, even to me, that something was amiss.

As I hastened towards the cause of the disturbance it was obvious that whatever the problem; it did not involve all of the tribesmen. I arrived at the centre of the disturbance. Two groups were facing off against each other.

The goodwill and bon homme of the morning gone; hearts that were previously full of love and fellowship towards each other now replaced by anger and malice aforethought. As I approached the two groups I saw an enormous rock python, deceased, stretched on the ground between the two factions.

“What is the problem?” I queried. Two hundred voices screamed as one! “It is ours!” “Nay ‘tis ours.”

It transpired that said python was enjoying a post-Christmas nap in the sunshine between two of the humpies when it was set upon by numerous tribesmen, from two different groups both of whom battered it into the corpse that lay before me.

The two opposing sets of villagers claimed it for lunch and were prepared to shed blood to substantiate their separate claims. “Aha,” I thought to myself! “Tis here that I can bring my extensive 21 months’ legal knowledge and experience to bear and solve this problem quickly and amicably to the satisfaction of all parties.”

And so, with all the power and authority vested in me by Her Majesty, the Queen herself, I proceeded to dispense British justice with the wisdom of Solomon.

“Constable! Fetch my measuring tape!” The serpent was measured and it conveniently measured twelve feet four inches. I placed a charcoal mark at six feet two inches and invited the headman of protagonist side A to cut the creature in half and invited the headman of protagonist side B to select which half his people would stew and consume.

Reluctantly both sides agreed to my adjudication and everybody settled down; keeping their mumbles of discontent to a minimum. Problem solved I quietly preened myself and returned to centre stage.

At this point I decided to bring forward the commencement of the festivities; it seemed apparent to me that without direct supervision, the tribesmen could engage in further mischief.

Without further ado the policemen rounded up our guests and directed them to the two greasy poles that had been placed about fifty yards apart. There they stood, two stout posts, the tops of which were adorned with dozens of goodies compliments of the taxpayer.

I realised almost instantly that the concept good manners and gentlemanly behaviour in the form of taking turns was quite alien to the tribesmen. Jostling, fighting, shouting discontent, the masses charged the poles only to find that they had been liberally lubricated with margarine from the government store.

As a result part of the mass dissatisfaction became directed towards their beloved kiap and his loyal retainers. We the latter withdrew to a safe distance to consider our situation. My corporal was not cooperating in the true spirit of Christmas and was actually muttering mutinous statements under his breath questioning my sanity in organising the festivities.

Whilst we were pondering a solution; the savages provided their own solution. A few whacks with a tomahawk and both greasy poles thumped to the ground. Joyous cries from those claiming a trophy from the felled poles filled the air.

“Right,” I said, “time for the tug of war competition.”

Six teams were organised. All items that could possibly be used as weapons or projectiles were confiscated and the teams were lined up preparatory the commencement of the competition.

The sign was given and the competitors took to pulling with a vengeance. All was progressing well as a couple of hundred grunting and sweating bodies heaved to and fro. Then disaster struck; one of the teams began to give ground and appeared about to be pulled across the centre line.

A loud cry went up from the spectators and before you could say floccinaucinihilipilification a group ran to give assistance to their wantoks.

The ripple effect was instantaneous; the tug of war was forgotten and it was on for young and old. All of the competitors and spectators joined into the fray as one. Kicking, biting, gouging, punching, slapping and in some cases getting quite physical. It was obvious to me that the situation ran the risk of getting out of hand.

“Corporal!” I ordered in my most authoritarian voice, “we are going to have to put a stop to these shenanigans. I can’t be completely sure but his undisciplined reply sounded something like ‘You started it. You sort it out.”

“Beat the clanger!” I ordered. The clanger was a length of railway line that was hammered to call the faithful to and from work. When struck with a sledge hammer it resounded across the valley with a resonance to awaken the dead.

The brawling mob paused; temporarily distracted from their activities by sound of the clanger.

I raised my arms and walked amongst the seething throng emboldened by the lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth - “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm a kiap.”

The hordes fell silent. I looked about me, my disappointment obvious. I addressed them thus:

“My friends! My people! I am deeply distressed. I ordered you here in order that I, and my policemen, could impart civilised values to you in order that you can take your place in the councils of your emerging nation.

“You have adopted the Westminster system of government which requires acceptance and obedience to the laws that have made our Empire great.

“When I advise the number one government in Kiunga about your undisciplined behaviour he will be very disappointed. When the number one government in Kiunga advises the number one government in Daru of your riot he the number one government on Daru will feel compelled to tell the number one government in Moresby and there will be sorrow about the land. Then when the number one government in Moresby advises the Queen there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth!

“So what do you have to say for yourselves?”

My speech was met with total silence. The people seemed perplexed they looked questioning at each other obviously overcome with the enormity of their impropriety and unacceptable behaviour.

Savouring the moment I continued:

“In all likelihood all of those important people will stop sending us stick tobacco and one shillings to pay you for your labours when you come to the station to work.

“Now return to your humpies, prepare your evening meals; and conduct sedate and cultured sing sings to entertain me as I sleep tonight. I absolutely forbid any further fighting. Tomorrow morning you will all return to your villages and remember how civilised people celebrate Christmas.”

The horde dispersed but in doing so they commandeered all of the unallocated prizes and took them along with them. In short the rest of the time was uneventful. The different groups settled around their fire and as I passed amongst them during the evening they dutifully performed their traditional singsings.

When I awoke the following morning; the sun was shining and I was greeted by the sight of all of the natives assembled on the airstrip obviously awaiting my appearance. I made my way towards them and six or seven of the headmen came forward to salute me and acknowledge my presence.

Through the interpreters they expressed their gratitude at attending the government’s festivities and; after apologising profusely for the behaviour of their clansmen, trusted that I would not misinterpret their high spirits and make trouble with the Queen.

We were all so overcome with the emotion of the moment I couldn’t control myself. I reached out and shook each of the headmen by his hand and sent them on their way.

Now all these years later as I listen to my old friends in the Gentlemen’s Club waffle on about trivialities I like to think that inside little sago thatched huts nestling in the shadows of the mighty Star Mountains; toothless shrivelled up old men huddle around smoking fires and relate the legend of the time that their kiap shook their hands and my heart fills with pride.

And so dear reader it is time for us to part once more. I shall be taking a sabbatical to polish the great Australian novel but in the meantime I wish you and your family a very happy and loving Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

As Little Tim says in a Christmas Carol: “God bless us each and every one.”

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

THE head of Papua New Guinea Tourism, Peter Vincent, says the country can do a lot more to realise the potential of its tourism industry.

Figures released this month by the World Travel and Tourism Council show PNG is ranked last of 184 countries surveyed in terms of the economic benefits from tourism.

PNG holds only 10% of the Pacific regional tourism market share by contrast to Fiji which holds an impressive 41%.

Mr Vincent admits the prevailing international image of PNG as a dangerous country remains damaging.

"Everybody in Papua New Guinea talks about the potential that tourism has in PNG but we haven't really done enough to translate that potential into real terms,” he said.

“We have a lot of beautiful places. When people come in and have a look themselves, they see it's actually quite safe."

Mr Vincent says the government recognises the potential of tourism which should be helped by the current focus on addressing law and order problems.

AAP

THE El Nino-related drought and frost that has triggered severe food and water shortages in Papua New Guinea's highlands has prompted the European Commission to more than double its aid there.

The warming of the Pacific Ocean due to the El Nino weather system is causing drought and other extreme weather, affecting millions of people across parts of the world.

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in August said El Nino may bring on the worst drought in 20 years in Papua New Guinea.

The PNG government estimates that three in seven people are affected by the drought, and that up to 400,000 are suffering a severe lack of food due to crop failure, according to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).

"Usually year-round they grow sweet potatoes for food, and they harvest from their gardens, but now they have lost everything," said Bernard Jaspers Faijer, ECHO's rapid response co-ordinator for the Asia-Pacific, who visited PNG earlier this month.

"In one district there is a lack of food because they lost everything in their garden, and they've eaten their stores."

Some people are forced to walk up to three hours to fetch water because their creeks and streams have dried up, Jaspers Faijer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

ECHO already provides $A955,000 in aid to Papua New Guinea, but will give an additional $A986,000 for food aid and projects to boost water supply, Jaspers Faijer said.

The new projects are expected to begin mid-January and be completed by the end of 2016.

"We will focus on hospitals, clinics and schools so the facilities can continue working. We saw a few places where they struggled to keep hospitals going and had to truck in water," he said.

ECHO said even if rainfall returns to normal levels and people resume planting, they would have to wait six months for the next harvest.

It said El Nino is predicted to peak in the first three months of 2016, and the situation could deteriorate substantially.

ED BRUMBY

I’VE refrained from commenting on the demise of PNG Attitude and Pukpuk Publishing until now for two reasons: to come to terms with how my daily routine will change and to observe the responses from PNG Attitude readers, Papua New Guinean readers especially.

I’ve been getting my PNG Attitude fix straight after breakfast for so long now it has become embedded in my early morning routine.

It was nostalgia that drove my early engagement with Attitude (and I suspect was a key factor in Keith’s decision to establish it in the first place).

In its infancy, Attitude provided me and other expats who served in PNG with a vicarious reconnection with friends and former colleagues. It was a forum for shared experiences and reflections on what happened back then and what might have been.

It indulged the need for many of we B4s, teachers especially, to retain some kind of connection with PNG and to affirm (or otherwise) the value of our toil and time as colonial servants.

While elements of that nostalgia remain – witness Phil Fitzpatrick’s recent pieces and the Comments conversations about the libations of choice in the early ‘70s, Attitude is no longer a journal about expats, for expats and by expats.

Under Keith’s expert hands, and with the advent of the Crocodile Prize, Attitude has become, more or less, a journal for Papua New Guineans, about Papua New Guineans and, to an increasing extent, by Papua New Guineans.

I will miss my daily dose of Attitude and the delight in reading the tales and poems by the likes of Marlene, Michael, Busa, Francis, Raymond, Fidelis, Sil, Rashmii and so many others.

My greater concern, like everyone who has responded to Keith and Phil’s announcements, is for the future of what has become the second flowering of PNG literature under the banner of Attitude and Pukpuk Publishing and Keith and Phil’s leadership.

We all know what happened when Ulli Beier, who husbanded the first bloom of PNG literature, departed, and I fear that Keith and Phil’s ‘departure’ may leave a similar void.

And therein lies the opportunity, and the obligation, for Papua New Guineans to ensure that this does not happen.

Judging from the responses of Attitude’s Papua New Guineans readers and contributors, however, that prospect appears to be depressingly unlikely.

The majority of responses comprise an outpouring of well-deserved thanks to Keith and Phil, expressions of grief and heartbreak and questions about how the respondent is going to cope without Attitude and Pukpuk Publishing.

A few include a call to action. But none actually offer to lead any action to ensure that Papua New Guineans continue to have a space, in blog or electronic publishing form, in which their works can be published and promoted.

Collectively, the responses represent a cri de coeur and convey a sense of self-indulgent helplessness.

There are, on the other hand, some sparks of hope in the form of my apo, Baka Bina’s leadership of the Crocodile Prize committee.

But he, with his own significant professional and family obligations, cannot do it on his own.

I, for one, will continue to provide mentoring and editorial support where I can and am contemplating other ways that I can contribute to the sustenance of PNG literature – through an online mentoring forum, for example.

But I am loathe to make any further commitments unless more Papua New Guineans respond to Paul Oates’ call of ‘Husat inap a?’

PHIL FITZPATRICK

I’VE been thinking about the future of literature in Papua New Guinea for a while now.

It’s a frustrating thing to contemplate. As Ed Brumby has pointed out, there is a lack of inertia and an all-pervading ennui in Papua New Guinea that seems to permeate and frustrate not just literature but most worthwhile endeavours.

I’m not sure why this is so but I know that it’s been the case for as long as I can remember. We were even warned about it at ASOPA where we were trained before we set foot in the country.

For a while I thought it was a reaction to colonisation, or whatever it was that Australia practised in Papua New Guinea prior to independence – a kind of passive resistance as exemplified by Ghandi and others at being ruled over by outsiders with an overly developed sense of superiority and little understanding of other cultures.

And, for sure, there were plenty of people in Papua New Guinea who resented what they saw as a dictatorial regime riding roughshod over their sensibilities. If the country is going to be screwed up we want to screw it up ourselves.

But I don’t think this was the case; at least not in terms of the county’s literary development.

The early pioneering efforts of Ulli Beier (pictured) at UPNG were greeted and embraced with great enthusiasm, just as were the later efforts that stemmed out of PNG Attitude and the Crocodile Prize.

I know this latest flowering was dimly viewed by the academics in the universities; mainly, I think, because of snobbery and a highly inflated sense of their own worth, a perennial affliction of many academics.

The single exception was Russell Soaba, who is a true thinker and philosopher and humble to boot.

The politicians, of course, with a couple of exceptions, were too busy slobbering with their noses in the trough to even notice what was going on. What a useless lot they are – get rid of most of them in 2017 I reckon.

The reaction to the news that PNG Attitude and Pukpuk Publications were to wind up in February was quite astonishing. Not only for the comments lodged on the blog but also through the many personal emails received.

However, nowhere among this outpouring of grief and angst was there one offer to pick up the baton (or should that be cudgel?) and run with it. Instead, what we saw was a typical Papua New Guinean shrug of regret and the sound of feet shuffling off into the distance.

What is wrong with these bloody people, I thought?

When I had finished shaking my head and listening to the “we told you so” line knowingly delivered by some fellow expatriates, I began wondering what will happen next.

When Ulli Beier left Papua New Guinea, literature in the country simply collapsed. So too did much of the art scene that he and his wife Georgina had worked so assiduously to foster; although the latter has retained some continuity probably because it doesn’t need much of an infrastructure to keep it going; perhaps because it is closer to the Papua New Guinea’s natural heart.

Before coming to Papua New Guinea, Ulli had worked extensively in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. In 1961 he founded the Mbari Writers and Artists Club with a number of African helpers.

When he went back to Africa in 1971, Ulli found that the seeds he had sown had flowered beyond expectations.

Not so when he returned to Papua New Guinea in 1974 to set up the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. He had to practically start over again. And when he left again in 1978, it collapsed again.

Maybe we should have heeded Ulli’s experience and done what our expatriate friends advised. Maybe it was best if we hadn’t even tried.

It’s a question that I can’t answer.

Why, for instance, hasn’t one of the Papua New Guinean universities picked up the idea?

Why haven’t they included running a blog like PNG Attitude and a literary competition like the Crocodile Prize as a project in one of their final year literature, journalism or communications faculties?

It’s something that could be run year after year and something that would give their students great experience, not to mention providing a useful service to Papua New Guinea in general.

I bet they haven’t even thought about it. I bet the idea has never occurred to them.

What some of them have done instead is cancel their literarture courses. How dumb is that? Are the universities that scared of their government?

I reckon if there is no one from outside Papua New Guinea to run and stimulate literature in the country, its future is dire indeed.

Talk about a tin pot backwater.

MICHAEL GORDON | The Age

TWO images, a few days apart, are proving hard for me to shake. The first came the day I flew to Port Moresby in September to cover what turned out to be Tony Abbott's last international engagement as prime minister, the South Pacific Forum.

After catching a taxi from our heavily fortified hotel to the opening ceremony that evening, I shared a lift back with colleagues who made a wrong turn and stumbled into an ambush.

There is a view that the situation on Manus, like that on Nauru, is unsustainable, and that eventually the penny will drop that the end does not justify the means.

The image is the moment we realise 44-gallon drums are blocking the road in front of us and an armed mob is running towards us and pelting us with rocks, prompting Mick, photographer and driver, to reverse at high speed.

I touched on what followed in a column at the time: how we ended up in a dark dead end with our attackers closing in; how Mick reversed towards them and blew a tyre in the process; how the side mirror was blown away and the car damaged by missiles and clubs; how two good Samaritans saved us.

The first anonymously removed one of the drums so we could make our escape; the second was Jeremiah, who pulled up when our car could go no further, helped change what was left of the tyre and warded off another mob from a nearby settlement when they approached.

Don't worry, he told us, he had a M16 in the back of his ute.

When we expressed our gratitude, the humble Jeremiah, an off-duty, second-generation cop, replied that he felt bad that we had endured such an ordeal in his home town.

The second image came after Abbott returned to Australia, oblivious to the fate awaiting him, and I flew to Manus Island to investigate the plight of about 50 asylum seekers who had been moved from the detention centre after being recognised as refugees.

It is when Loghman Sarwari breaks down while he is trying to explain, on camera, how much he misses the mother who believes he made it safely to Australia and is doing well. "Very far from here to my country," he says, his young voice breaking. You can find it on Google by searching my name and Manus.

Loghman arrived as a minor on Manus Island late in 2013, and was kept there after it was established that he was 17. Yesterday, he spent his third Christmas in PNG limbo.

The difference this time is that he was hoping to transition from the mind-numbing cocoon of the transit centre in Lorengau to life on his own in PNG, a journey potentially every bit as perilous as the one he took from Iran to Christmas Island.

After initially accepting an offer of employment, Loghman had second thoughts, fearing he could not survive on the weekly wage of about $80, anxious about his safety and worried about what would happen if he became sick or lost his job.

Many of the refugees at the transit centre are too scared to go outside, yet they have been told their futures lie in Lae or Port Moresby, two cities where crime is random and common.

"Settlement areas of towns and cities are particularly dangerous," the Australian Foreign Affairs Department's smart traveller website says. "Bush knives (machetes) and firearms are often used in assaults and thefts. Carjackings, assaults (including sexual assaults), bag snatching and robberies are common. Banks and automatic teller machines are attractive targets for criminals. The crime rate tends to increase leading into the Christmas holiday period."

One thing going for those desperate to leave Manus is that JDA Wokman, the company engaged by the PNG government to find employment for the refugees, is working hard on their behalf and acutely aware of the consequences of failure. But the challenge is huge.

Like Loghman, most of the refugees were denied education or training in their home country and are unskilled, so any jobs they are offered will be very low paid. If they manage to keep their jobs and stay safe, the prospect of saving enough to travel to meet family members in a third country is so remote as to be illusory.

Then there are the 926 asylum seekers who remain in the detention centre, where they exist on a diet of sedatives and pain killers, suffer a range of physical and mental disorders and where many regularly resort to self-harm.

When social justice advocate Dr Diana Cousens wrote in November to Malcolm Turnbull, expressing grave concern about the welfare of an asylum seeker who witnessed the slaying of Reza Barati last year, the reply said her letter had been referred to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for a response. Weeks later, no response has arrived.

Recently, some of those in detention penned their own version of Jonathan Swift's satirical Modest Proposal of 1729, where he suggested that Ireland's impoverished might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies.

Mimicking Swift's tone, the Manus detainees suggested the drain on the Australian taxpayer from their incarceration could end if they were dumped at sea, gassed or poisoned. They signed off by wishing Turnbull and Dutton a Merry Christmas.

"This is a letter of utter despair," says Macquarie University's Joseph Pugliese, one of the academics who formed Researchers Against Pacific Black Sites to give those on Manus and Nauru a voice.

"It's amazing that they can mobilise that satire, and play on the notion of civility and courtesy, when they are experiencing the savagery of a brutal system that is killing them," he says.

There is a view that the situation on Manus, like that on Nauru, is unsustainable, and that eventually the penny will drop that the end does not justify the means, that punishing one group of people endlessly in order to deter others is immoral and that there is another way to achieve the same policy objective. It used to be my view. Now I'm not so sure.

With the government and the opposition convinced that any solution that involves a portion of these people being resettled in Australia will "restart the boats", and a seemingly untroubled electorate, I fear it is sustainable.

That is my Manus nightmare. It is why the images that trouble me are two sides of the same coin.

Michael Gordon is political editor of The Age

GARY JUFFA | PNG Exposed

TODAY we are besieged. The so called elites in power who do the bidding of the pirates who control our resources are fast selling off Papua New Guinea, neither protecting nor promoting our interests.

Just walk into any business and ask yourself how is PNG protected here? A few genuine businesses and investors struggle while many are here as vultures to take what they can while they can.

Just reflect on decisions made regarding resource development and ask yourself, how has PNG been protected or promoted here?

Not a single decision has been made with the people of PNG’s interests at heart. Zero, zilch, none.

Go to the nearest Police and Army barracks. These are our badges of sovereignty; they are a shambles; rotting, dilapidated and sad. They tell the story of national security.

The public service is no longer a machine that delivers goods and services for PNG. Many a good public servant has been shut out, removed and even attacked. The civil service is now an evil service and public servants are fast being replaced by public serpents.

Justice is now affordable only to those who can afford it. Law is for those who take it into their own hands.

This is our reality.

From next year, our efforts to fight for a PNG worth saving must not be confined to social media chats, discussions at buai markets or conversations at coffee and tea sessions; they must actually culminate in physical action.

I am prepared for this and I hope other Papua New Guineans who care about their country and its future will do the same.

I am hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Time and time again, I have found in PNG that when we need to rise up and fight, courage is lacking and overshadowed by apathy.

By our inaction, we are allowing ourselves as a people to be led to the slaughter. It is a terrible and sad situation we find ourselves in today as we stare into a bleak future where we are marginalised.

We no longer own our land; we are no longer in control of our resources; we are spectators of a future designed for others by others.

This is not the PNG I want for my children. I am sure it is not the PNG you want for your children.

Today, it is a PNG where elected leaders and the public service machinery work against their people. Iinstead of protecting our interests they are busy selling our resources to hostile forces for 30 pieces of silver.

How did we arrive here?

How is it that just about every State organ created and designed to protect and promote PNG interests has turned against the people?

Brutalising our people and selling our land and doing so with careless abandon and arrogant impunity.

How is it that a PNG with so much hope and promise has become a land of lawlessness and lost opportunities?

How is it that our systems of education and health have deteriorated so much that we have come to accept we are a population of weak, unhealthy, unintelligent and pacified zombies allowing ourselves to be herded and moved here and there by ruthless pirates and their puppet MPs?

Today, our resources, our jobs and our opportunities are not guaranteed. Our voices of concern, dissent and protest are brushed aside and we are instead told to be happy.

We are encouraged to sing praises as infrastructure, often of low quality and purchased at inflated prices, is built with money borrowed at outrageous interest rates that we and future generations are expected to repay.

Many of our people have fallen for the lure, mesmerised by the bright lights of false promises, and raised their voices and sung praises without realising the bitter price our future generations will be paying.

We have come to accept even what is wrong, unethical and immoral and tell ourselves “as long as something is being done”.

What is being done is our country and our people being sold lock, stock and barrel to powerful forces that do not care about us and our children and want only our resources and the profits to be made at our expense.

Whenever we raise concerns about the state of PNG, we are labelled doom and gloom prophets. But these are not prophesies; they are realities.

Meanwhile, those in power move to shut down voices of dissent, manipulate the media, churn out propaganda, divert the attention of the masses, rule and divide using the people’s money and weaken systems of good governance, rendering them useless.

It is now or never in 2017. We will rise or we will fail.

Indeed, it is a war that you and I must fight to save PNG. No one else will do it for us. Our so called friends and neighbours are busy with their own problems and, anyway, their vision of what we must be is not what we should accept because it is a mere fraction of what we can be.

I see all the usual political gimmicks in play again. It’s the time for politics. “It’s just a game,” say the usual conmen, middlemen, puppets and muppets.

Yes, a game. A game where people die. Our people.

So scan all those political parties you admire, subscribe to, enthusiastically embrace, promote and sing and drink beer for and talk about proudly to your in-laws and, in a quiet moment, in the still of a PNG night, listen for truth by asking yourself, are these people fighting for PNG? Or for themselves.

I may fight this battle alone. I don’t have the riches and backing of powerful financial pirates that they do. But I believe in a PNG owned by Papua New Guineans. And I have loyal friends and family who love this country too.

Choose your leaders carefully. Ask yourself, since we are at war, are they the people you want alongside fighting with you and for you? Or are they likely to be whisked away by the pirates that control our resources and are sucking the life out of our nation while we sit and watch silently?

So rise up and fight for PNG if you believe that it is a PNG worth saving. Just saying that this is true and liking this article is not enough. Live every moment as if it is your last and remember the faces of your children and ask yourself, where will they be tomorrow if i fail them today?

We must fight!

If we don’t, we have helped place the boot of the oppressor on the neck of our children and we have folded our arms and shut our mouths and blindfolded our eyes and crossed our legs and sold out….

I am preparing for war. I will fight to save my people, their land and their future. I may go on alone and I may be defeated but I will go down knowing I did not give up or watch like a coward. I will know that I fought.

Gary Juffa is Governor of Oro Province and a national Member of Parliament

KEITH JACKSON

MY early December statement, PNG Attitude – A long journey & a short goodbye, had proven painful to write.

But your consequent comments were even more painful to read. To paraphrase the Song of Solomon, “They captured my heart / They held it hostage.”

I was moved by the kind and generous words. There were many of them; some written with an anguish that greatly discomfited me.

Raymond Sigimet - Thank you Keith, with your family, for selflessly giving and sharing 10 years of your life in fostering people to people dialogue through the PNG Attitude. Your blog inspired me to put pen to paper and I believe many others as well. Yu stap long longpela resis na yu win tru / na nau yu kamap long mak bilong yu / yu strongpela man stret / stori bilong yu bai stap longpela taim yet. 

Arthur Williams - Just read the bad news which makes this drizzling grey Sunday morning worse.... What will life be like in March when Attitude has gone? You guys brought me some hope for PNG's tomorrow as more PNG writers and readers were attracted to Attitude.

Some readers cajoled, flattered and reproached me, while others offered a simple thank you.

Slim Kaikai - Mi 2 sad. Very sad. Your contribution has been immense. Will there be life after u go? Frobably!

Paul Oates - All of us who have appreciated Keith's ongoing commitment to this project would obviously like it to continue. We must however accept and appreciate that this was not just a labour of love. PNG Attitude and its predecessors were a personal commitment to PNG and her people from Keith and the community he caused to create.

The gravity of what you had to say gave additional burden to the weight of what I was contemplating.

Francis Nii - In my five years association with PNG Attitude, I have benefited from many good things. It is through Attitude that I could freely express my thoughts on issues of concern to PNG and Australia. It is through Attitude that I can now confidently edit other people's writing. Thank you so much Keith and Phil for your editorial sword.

Phil Fitzpatrick - I don’t think we should be mourning the loss of PNG Attitude. Rather, we should be celebrating it and lauding its outstanding achievements. I don’t know whether Keith would agree but PNG Attitude is a singular achievement that will be long remembered by many people, especially in Papua New Guinea. It is now a significant and historical fact that should go down in the annals of the Australian and Papua New Guinea relationship. And so should the man who created it.

My decision to cease publishing PNG Attitude had clearly dismayed many people and the consequence of this was to force further consideration.

Johnny Blades - I count myself as one of the beneficiaries of PNG Attitude's remarkable range of writings. As an outsider and student of Melanesia, I've found them frequently fascinating, informative, challenging and gritty, these depictions of PNG and its cosmos. I would think that in years to come, the sheer importance of the service Keith has provided will come into increasingly sharp focus. An amazing body of work that still has the power to effect change. So here's to you, your regular contributors, the writers and authors you have helped nurture and most importantly, to PNG! Aroha nui.

Marlene Dee Potoura - I just want to thank you for helping me make my writing grow. I appreciated the way you published my work and how the readers reacted.  Thank you for being who you are and the heart you have for PNG writers.

Reader reaction was voluminous and strenuous. It gave me cause to review the wisdom and necessity of ceasing publication. And to think what I could do to continue the blog while removing some of its demands upon me.

Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin - No, no! PNG Attitude has to press on. This news spoilt my day.

Fr Giorgio Licini - What?

Rashmii Bell -Throughout the past nine months, PNG Attitude has been both a sanctuary and platform where I’ve sloughed away at topics about which I’ve felt, in equal measure, opinion and passion. Given Keith Jackson’s recent announcement that his blog site is to come to an end in February, I am somewhat inconsolable. There goes the history lessons, the poetry, the debates, the giggle. But above all, I hate goodbyes.

And so I have decided to continue to publish of PNG Attitude. I do not continue reluctantly, I hasten to add, but with a sense of commitment and obligation.

As Ed Brumby has proposed, so I will dispose: my new determination is to see a succession plan implemented for when that inevitable day of departure arrives. As I recalibrate my effort there will be changes but you can be assured they will not diminish the quality of what PNG Attitude has to offer.

I'm pleased to be able to add that Phil Fitzpatrick (seen here looking unusually chirpy) has also granted a reprieve to Pukpuk Publishing. Phil's announcement that he was considering ceasing production had occasioned a significant outpouring of disappointment and regret.

Like me, Phil will reduce his workload - which has been substantial - by being much more selective in what he chooses for publication. Only the very best writing will catch the editorial eye and be given the Pukpuk imprint.

Michael Dom - Diamonds are more valuable after they have been cut and polished - that requires a master jeweller.

Raymond Sigimet - Thank you Phil for giving Papua New Guinea 33 books in a space of six years. That's about five or so books each year. Like Keith, I acknowledge your immense contribution to PNG literature and mentoring of PNG literary talents during those years. I had a look at the Inspector Metau series (downloaded through PNG Attitude) and I believe they are classics. I believe PNG writers can learn something from your style and use your work as a reference point in fiction writing.

Baka Bina - Thank you Keith for having being the stalwart for PNG in many things but the rightful kudos should be for lighting the fire for Papua New Guineans to write. I have benefited immensely from your site and it has brought me out to publish my four works. I could still have been wandering around with my manuscripts had it not for the kindly assistance through PNG Attitude and Phil.

I have realised afresh that we outside friends of Papua New Guinea, who have known and loved the country and its people, have a responsibility to stick with it especially during a period when there is a broad apprehension that its good people are finding life tough and the road ahead looks even more unpromising.

I believe, furthermore, that I should publish this blog in the run-up to the 2017 PNG national elections. I want to be able to offer a voice and a forum that speaks bluntly and without weasel words for honesty and competence in governance.

Daniel Ipan Kumbon - It will be like a bad dream for me when PNG Attitude goes. I stumbled upon it by mistake only early this year and fell in love with it at first sight. What amazing stuff I saw there. Through PNG Attitude you and Phil have impacted the whole country. Gentleman, the two of you have touched the hearts and minds of a young generation of working-class men, women and students who have been lacking fatherly advice, awareness, insight, guidance, encouragement, self-esteem and a chance to think and express themselves critically. You provided them with a platform and a voice to argue and express themselves not only through comments but through literature.

Chris Overland - I think that PNG writers as a group owe Phil a debt of gratitude for being a publishing trailblazer for them. He has shown a true entrepreneurial spirit by undertaking the arduous and largely thankless task of organising the publication of works that might otherwise have languished, unread and unappreciated, in a cupboard somewhere.

These past two weeks have reinforced my understanding of exactly how PNG Attitude has become an important platform and information source for many people; it is more than a mere ‘flannel channel’ or 'PNG Platitude' as it was once unkindly described by a man who wanted more bellicosity.

Mathias Kin - Thank you so much, Keith and Phil. You have inspired many in PNG through PNG Attitude and the Crocodile Prize. Our discussions on issues have been enlightening. I have learnt so much from everybody who has taken part here in this forum. Thank you to all. Whatever happens, Keith and Phil, sapos yutupla tru bai lusim mipla, mipla lo Simbu tok thank you tru long olgeta gutpla helpim na wok yu mekim lo mipla. I guess all good stories end sometime so ating displa stori bai end long hia?

Jimmy Awagl - Thanks Phil for your laborious help to enhance writers for their publication. Once you are gone we will be all gone, dead in the literature world. Most of our writing will be collecting dust in the cupboards. I am too saddened to read such an article.

There was a compelling third reason that forced a re-think, and this was the relationship that exists with many people I have never met but with whom I feel a strong personal connection. And the relationships between those people.

Dominica Are - It is through PNG Attitude and Crocodile Prize that I have been motivated to write and read more. I totally enjoyed this blog!

Chris Overland - What a show it has been over the years. It is my strong impression that it has, certainly in recent years, been required reading for those with an interest in PNG and its affairs. There has certainly been some tremendously good material published over the last 10 years….

Fr Garry Roche - I only discovered PNG Attitude last year, but I found it very informative and interesting. Also I managed to reconnect with a few former friends through it.

And so the blog will continue. Co-editors, mainly Papua New Guinean, will be appointed. Some of the finest writers in Melanesia will continue to be recognised and published. We will continue to harry the corrupt. Expose the venal. Admonish the incompetent. And a great people, culture and heritage will continue to be acclaimed.

Rob Parer - Wow, Keith, you have raised the bar so very high. Sincerest thanks for the extraordinary unique product that is PNG Attitude. As I have said previously, you have achieved more for PNG than the two daily newspapers and the universities - and all done offshore. What a mighty effort.

Allan Kidston - From a former broadcast & film technical officer to the former station manager, well done Keith. I have followed PNG Attitude avidly over the years & one cannot fail to see the love Keith has for PNG and its people.

Sorry for the false alarm. The old dog has struggled out of its pit. Now write, you good things, write!

PHIL FITZPATRICK

PAPUA New Guineans are an elemental people.

As a largely agrarian society they have long recognised their helplessness in the face of the overwhelming natural and spiritual forces of the world.

This acceptance of their lack of power against forces beyond their control has rendered them stoic, apathetic and ripe for exploitation.

We in the west, on the other hand, have weathered almost two hundred years of industrialisation and rampant capitalism and all the inequities that entails.

Prior to that we bore the brunt of rabid monarchists and theocrats.

In our desperation and unable to bear any more we eventually revolted. Thus was born modern democracy and our parliamentary system.

It is still a revolution being fought. We have to be constantly vigilant to ensure those malign forces are contained at an acceptable level.

We are still confronted by plump men in silly dresses in places like the Vatican expounding contrived platitudes while surrounded by unimaginable wealth. We still pay homage to a dysfunctional family of ‘let them eat cake’ parasites masquerading as something special in their royal palaces of tawdry glitter.

And while we still listen to their fantasies of gods and angels and the divine right to rule it is with a jaundiced and healthy scepticism.

Not so in Papua New Guinea however.

That majority of simple subsistence farmers has not yet been pushed to the point of desperation where they will have no choice but to react.

When that point is reached it will be very interesting indeed. I suspect it is not far off.

Of all the self-serving and greedy cabals of amoral incompetents elected to the parliament of Papua New Guinea over the years since 1975 this current crop has been one of the most venal and dysfunctional.

They have pushed the people of Papua New Guinea closer to the brink of intolerance than anyone before them. They haven’t even been smart enough to let a few crumbs fall to the floor to keep the masses happy.

In Australia we have just endured the most obscene and sickening example of over-indulgence in the form of billions of dollars splurged on rubbish to celebrate an ancient pagan ritual and one of the fabulist inventions of our loony religionists.

In Papua New Guinea the politicians and business czars don’t even have the nouse to throw it’s minions the dregs of its extravagances to keep them happily shopping.

Mass apathy can only last so long. One day the dreamers will awake to realise their worst nightmares have come true.

For the sake of Papua New Guinea we all hope this will occur in 2017. If it doesn’t the future is hopeless.

It is time to wake up Papua New Guinea.

KEITH JACKSON explains and annotates Peter O’Neill (quotes from PNG Today)

THE Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, has expressed disgust and disappointment at the way in which the Opposition has sought to drag politics to a new low over Christmas.

I have a desperate need to project perceptions of my own flaws on to others.

“I had hoped that in 2016 the nation would have a mature and responsible Opposition, but with the way Mr Polye has sought to manage his affairs in this last week of the year I expect we will be disappointed.”

Polye's landing some body blows on me which I hope you don't notice.

“The people of Papua New Guinea are sick and tired of the cheap and personal gutter politics we have seen from the Opposition Leaders in this term of Parliament.”

The people of PNG are increasingly sick and tired of me.

“Papua New Guineans want debate on policy on substantive issues that matter to the lives of the men, women and children of our nation.”

True – and they also want honest, accountable and competent government, which I have difficulty in providing.

“The paranoia the current and previous opposition leaders have displayed is not the standard that is needed this country.”

I am made very uncomfortable when the Opposition calls out my significant failings as a leader.

“Be mindful that the Opposition misleads media with the expectation that some journalists will not check facts.”

Journalists know when something is factual; it’s when I say it.

“Polye’s latest misleading claims related to land - because he knows there is no more emotive issue in our country than land ownership.”

Unfortunately Polye seems to be on to something and I need to shut debate down.

“He further continues to make unsubstantiated claims of conspiracies between government agencies, that he often claims have to do with undermining opposition.”

Yes, he’s definitely on to something.

“I can assure the media who received these latest Opposition statements that there is no truth to his claims.”

My bad, his claims are almost certainly 100% correct.

“I urge all journalists to fully investigate the claims made by Polye, which is the role of the independent media of our nation, and not simply publish unsubstantiated drivel.”

Journalists should do what I tell them.

“The Leader of the Opposition must focus on policy alternatives and not personal attacks on Members of the National Parliament."

Keep off my turf. Personal attacks are the preserve of moi and only moi. 

“We have all had enough of desperate politics. If the Leader of the Opposition has nothing to offer our nation but cheap shots and slander, he should step aside for another member of the Opposition to take his place.”

I wish.

"Is there someone in the ranks of the Opposition who can debate on policy and substance?”

If so, I’ll also attack them vehemently.

“The 2017 elections will be the most important in the history of Papua New Guinea, and we need the people of our nation to hear debate on the serious issues of the economy, climate change, education, healthcare, infrastructure and law and order.”

I face a real threat of being tossed out in 2017 and I want you to understand that my legacy of moral rectitude, scrupulous honesty and wise governance is not one you should too easily spurn.

MATHIAS KIN

OVER the last month there has been some rain in Simbu, one of the worst affected provinces by the El Nino driven drought in Papua New Guinea.

In the high altitude Simbu (1,500 to 2,500 metres above sea level), kaukau tubers take six to nine months to form.

While some newer varieties now can yield in three to four months, as was seen in the 1997 drought, tubers don't usually form early. So the shortage in food in Simbu will continue for a long while yet.

To make matters worse, the government has not carried out reliable assessments of the extent of the drought in the provinces, especially here in the central highlands.

The responsiveness, coordination and management by authorities in terms of provision of relief food to affected communities have been very disappointing. This has been evidenced time and again in Simbu.

Since the rain some vegetables in the gardens and around the houses are showing signs of rejuvenation. But no serious starch crops, like kaukau, have yet emerged.

We hope for some better coordination from now in the distribution of seeds, kaukau vines, tapioca sticks, corn seed and so on.

The basic logistics of recovery are required as the people struggle to get back to their normal subsistence lives.

GRACE WAIDE

WE continue to ask whether a people educated in elections and voting rights is the way to go to change the tide come 2017?

And what exactly does educating the masses to be responsible voters entail?

All that most people in Papua New Guinea see in their lives in terms of services is on the eve of elections when the cargo comes to the village to supplement the kaukau.

Cartons of lamb flaps and beer arrive and, like starved vultures, we swoop down and tear as much off the carcass as we can get our hands on.

At the back of the minds of the simple villager, who has lived life solely on his subsistence lifestyle, basic service delivery and the policies that go with it are the business of "the big men in Parliament".

For the villager, the simple reality is: “As long as I can feast and be merry today, life will go on as usual when the candidate or big man leaves my village. So what difference does it make? Feast and be merry today. If he wants my vote, he can have it.”

Sometimes it’s the henchman technique that works. The candidate has the money, he buys the vote. Our people do not fully understand that the value of their vote has the potential to affect this entire country and not just their small hamlet.

Many who do have an inkling of this fact are still not able to vote freely and fairly because of fear. Our laws, and especially the systems that are supposed to be in place to mitigate voter intimidation, are not sufficiently monitored and enforced.

Enforcement is a mammoth task and there is no funding to make it happen. So a simple villager would rather vote along the lines dictated to by the candidates’ henchmen and go to sleep in peace at night than vote freely and run the risk of being attacked.

It is more than likely that, if a voter is killed in a remote village by henchmen for not voting as directed, no one will bat an eyelid.

It all begs the question of how do we educate our population to vote freely and fairly come 2017?

Perhaps in another 50 years, when we are all pushed into a corner and revolt, we’ll exercise our vote smartly. Or is PNG ripe and ready for a revolt sooner than we think.

GARY JUFFA

RAYMOND Sigimet writes a great article for PNG Attitude(‘I want to know what happened to all the firebrands’).

I sit in parliament during sessions and wonder the same thing myself. What has happened to my colleagues?

I have concluded the same as Raymond: that they are now part of the pasim maus na harim [close your mouth & listen] brigade.

Most of them entered parliament on a claim of being leaders but have since found themselves to be followers.

Fear not though, some of us still speak as we should on issues affecting our nation.

My primary focus as Governor in the recent past was to get the illegal loggers out of Oro Province and I am satisfied that I have done exactly that.

Oro is the only province to have cancelled a Special Agriculture and Business Lease (SABL) and to have brought about a forest permit cancellation.

And next year, we will be kicking all illegal business operators out of the province.

Oro is now safer and cleaner and the people’s mindset is changing too. People are working, cleaning their own yards, being responsible and making do with what little we have.

I’m pleased to add that the restless youths are no longer a burden but an asset. They have stepped up and are now self-appointed town cleaners and safety wardens.

I have now arranged for them to be lawfully engaged and paid to manage our town cleaning program, establish the municipal dump and maintain order.

Meanwhile, our farmers have been engaged to grow rice for purchase by Trukai and we are embarking on an export driven economy quite unlike the self-sustaining economy that, right across Papua New Guinea, is creating joblessness and urban drift.

Things happen slowly when one is fixing years of rot and trying to change mindsets. But it is happening.

As for fitness, I maintain a schedule of one hour every day in the gym, regular walks, no alcohol, no processed fat and no sugar.

I now weigh exactly 100kg - down from the 115kg I once was - and I’m a huge advocate for organic garden food.

I can’t speak for my parliamentary colleagues on that one though.