MICHAEL DOM
| Ples Singsing

“Literature provides growth and strengthens people’s minds giving them the ability to think outside the box” - Daniel Kumbon

LAE - At times when I need to think deeply about something that is important to me, it is with profound gratitude that I find the wisdom I need from others.

From those who are with me or who have gone before me and left their mark in the world through their writing.

I hope to provide the same opportunity for my fellow writers, poets and thinkers.

This enlightening event for me is even more satisfying when the writing is that of a fellow Papua Niuginian.

So it is with a healthy serving of humility and respect that I concede the principal grounds of argument for my cause, PNG authors for PNG readers, to Daniel Kumbon.

Daniel writes that:

“Literature has the ability to provide knowledge and improve the quality of education in a country like ours, where poor literacy rates remain the greatest challenge for people who continue to lack proper educational facilities.

“People fail to realise that literature and other art forms are equally important – they are the essence that holds a nation together and gives it a unique identity.

“I believe that every published copy of a news article, essay or book a Papua New Guinean has written is a narrative of the history of this country that should be preserved for future generations to cherish.

“Literature serves as a gateway to learning and expands the knowledge of people to understand the world they live in and the wider world beyond.”

Encapsulated there in terse and energetic phrasing are four fundamental reasons for nurturing our national literature which also form the basis for the ‘Tingting Bilong Mi’ Essay Competition.

The competition is hosted by Ples Singsing Papua Niuginian Writers Blog.

This privately funded writing contest has a five-year lifespan and aims to engage with youth aged between 16 to 36 years of age who are currently enrolled in an educational institute.

The Ples Singsing masterminds are all writers with a penchant for supporting their colleagues in their chosen creative field.

In other avenues, PNG writers have tried to garner government support for the promotion of a national literary organisation.

At Ples Singsing we believe in the validity of the petition made by PNG authors to Prime Minister Marape.

Promoting PNG writers means rewarding PNG readers and encouraging PNG thinkers.

We believe that supporting #PNGAuthors4PNGReaders is a practical way to #TakeBackPNG because we will be giving back to PNG those stories (fiction and non-fiction) which already belong to us and which encompass who we are and what we value in our society.

But it is equally important that PNG writers and published authors understand the thoughts and opinions of their PNG readers. This means we need to hear different opinions and gather more suggestions about the cause of our petition.

We want to read essays from our youth, students in secondary schools, technical, vocational and teachers colleges, and universities. We believe that hearing from you is the best way to determine the value of our cause and decide the way we want to achieve our goal.

Tell us why you think the PNG government should/should not buy PNG authored books.

The essay competition was launched on 1 December and ends on 31 January 2021. Entry is free to all Papua Niuginian citizens living in-country. Three winners will be announced at the start of the school term at a date to be set in February 2021.

Awards, judging and benefits

• All entries will be prejudged by a blind panel of six published PNG writers and final judging of the top ten will be completed by Phil Fitzpatrick (Australian author) and Fiona Hukula (PNG academic and researcher).
  
  
• Best entries will be published in the Post Courier and The National newspapers.
  
  
• Well written essays may receive minimum editing for posting on Ples Singsing and PNG Attitude blogs.
  
  
• Cash prizes are offered for: First place K500 | Second place K300 | Third place K200.
  
  
• Three winners will each receive two (2) books by PNG authors (valued at K50 each).
  
  
• Selected essays will be collated into a book which will be published by JDT Independent Publishing, and the school or institute of the winning essayists will receive two copies for their library.
  
  
• Exceptional and interested writers may be offered six months of free coaching and mentoring by senior writers from PNG and abroad, from which they will be expected to produce one critical essay on a topic of their choice.
  
  
• A small award ceremony may be held at a school in Port Moresby, Lae or Goroka dependent on logistical arrangements or otherwise books will be delivered by mail.

Email Ples Singsing here for an entry form. We look forward to reading what you think!

Thyatira Kaupa - a first rate debut collection of poetry

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

‘Listen’ by Thyatira Kaupa, Hibiscus Three, 2020, 82 pages. ISBN B08KBGMG77, e-book, AU$5 from Amazon Australia

TUMBY BAY - One of the disconcerting elements of Papua New Guinea literature is that there is generally no fanfare when a new book appears.

Interested readers have no source to check out what’s on offer. At best, publicity and reviews of new works are confined to social media and require some diligence to locate.

Readers often simply stumble over these books when they are web surfing or searching unrelated subjects.

Thus it was that I found Thyatira Kaupa’s debut book of poetry.

The e-book was published this year following what will be an annual competition conducted by the publisher, Hibiscus Three.

It is a powerful debut from an accomplished and talented poet and deserves to be read widely.

The subjects covered are wide ranging and explore themes like friendship, relationship breakdown, the impact of colonialism and sorcery related violence.

As the author says, “The poems aren’t a breezy walk in the park on a calm casual Friday.

“I wrote them with the intention of stirring and evoking dormant or passive thoughts about our nation’s state and the aftermath of colonial influence.”

What you hold in your hand
Is my very own tragic wonderland
Every whispering sentence tells a story of life,
ruin, heartbreak and society in all its gore and glory

Tread with caution
Because this literary art is a truthful contortion
Heed my warning
For these poems are bluntly discerning

Do enjoy these sentences I have strung together
I do hope it brings your eyes a bittersweet pleasure
And to your heart a graceful sympathy
For the poem’s vigorous susceptibility.

In her stated objectives, the poet says her poems are “my weapons, each stanza sharpens their edges. I fight for justice and I advocate with these poems”.

In this sense, she is not unlike many other Papua New Guinean poets who use contemporary issues as their subject matter.

But there is also an eloquence that transcends the more unfortunate aspects of reality and can be enjoyed simply for their deft and skilful language.

This is particularly so in poems like ‘The Quintessence of Lily Walker’ which are story-like in their composition.

In this poem the author is observing her subject as she appears as a “lifeless cold body inside a coffin box”. Here is an extract:

Lily Walker is dressed in a beautiful long blue dress
it does no justice to her tireless beauty
Her waterfall of inky black hair
fanned around her delicate heart shaped face
in smooth rippling waves,
cascading off her slender shoulders.

Her thick feather-like eyelashes
gently dust her pale cheeks
cheeks that would turn strawberry shortcake red
when she laughed too much.
She was more beautiful alive than dead
that much I am certain

It was suicide.

I suspect this sort of imagery would have a thrilling appeal for any reader no matter the message.

There was an infamous Lily Walker who was a diminutive 4 feet 10½ inch pickpocket and prostitute who was first tried at the Melbourne Supreme Court in 1885 aged just 17 years, but I’m not sure there’s a connection in the poem beyond the name.

In any event, that Lily Walker might have enjoyed this poem as much as I did.

Thyatira Kaupa has a Facebook page here where you can read more of her poetry.

PNG's shaggy soldiers - and it's all the fault of the politicians

SCOTT WAIDE
| My Land, My Country

LAE - I write this on behalf of the many soldiers who can’t openly discuss the problems they face in the field as members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).

I also write this as a Papua New Guinean who holds the PNGDF in high regard despite the many problems it faces.

Every year, the government passes the budget. Every year, the budget figures grow. Or appear to grow at least on paper.

But the reality is the PNGDF is the least prioritised function of the government.

Yet the demands placed on its 5,000 men and women are immense.

PNG’s military’ spending is 1.9% of gross domestic product (GDP). Military spending in Fiji is 3% percent of GDP.

That gives you an idea of how much value the respective governments place on the very institution tasked with guarding borders and keeping the country safe.

The PNGDF is an organisation that is struggling.

Yet the soldiers who do the work will not tell you publicly how hard it is.

It is a job they do with pride and with little complaint outside their own circles.

Former PNGDF commanders like retired Major General Jerry Singirok have raised these concerns numerous times.

Each time, they have fallen on deaf ears.

Singirok says our air, sea and land capabilities need to be improved and the number of infantry troops need to be increased to reflect the size of the PNG economy. 

We cannot expect to grow an economy without having the means to protect it. We need our own planes, helicopters and more ships.

Nor should we depend on Australia to fund all our training and equipment. It is embarrassing!

Last month, I read comments by soldiers working along the Indonesian border. They’re carrying out the commander’s intent. One hundred and twenty men.

Their rations are in short supply, their uniforms and boots are torn and worn out. They work in wet, soggy conditions.

Many of them have only one set of uniforms. The one they got from the training depot at Goldie.

One soldier’s wife said she sews her husband’s uniforms because he has not been issued with a new set for years.

A soldier’s dad said he had to buy his son’s field uniforms and boots. They cost about K500 a set.

It costs K8,000-K10,000 to adequately clothe a soldier with five sets of field uniforms and boots. And that’s just the field uniforms.

What good is an army that can’t properly feed, clothe and equip men and women?

The average politician has a shelf life of five years. The military is here to stay.

However, politicians wield the power of the state. That’s the power that uses the PNGDF as a tool for political convenience during elections.

We tell the soldier to “be proud of the uniform they wear.” What uniform?

The torn and tattered shirt and trousers he can’t sew together again? The boots he has to patch because the government has nothing more in stock?

We have to clothe our soldiers and we have to feed them so they can do the work they signed up for.

We owe it to their families to take care of their dads, mums, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

I want to be proud of my army. I say to the legislators, while our military is the servant of the state, it is not here for selfish political convenience.

JIMMY AWAGL

Mandated politicians surging
In desperate quest for power
Conditioned by greed for money
Demeaning their role as leaders

Spinning like mad wheels
Slithering like bad eels
Stomachs filled with beer
and flaps, the food of politicians

Luring fame for gain
Unlawful and ridiculous
Bending and twisticulous
Only for personal interestitous

Hardly find leadership in politicians
But plenty of millionaires
Skilled in the arts of manipulation
Knowledgeable on hijacking process

Learned in caging the people’s voice
Well able to rob the people’s services
Wholly embraced in the name of self-interest
The people’s interest nowhere to be seen

PNG - home of power hungry politicians
Building their wealth on the people’s backs
The masses cry for better everything
But only to be got by the politician

David Attenborough in Papua New Guinea, 1971

PAUL OATES

CLEVELAND, QLD - David Attenborough’s latest book ‘A Life on Our Planet’ sounds an ominous warning of what will happen in the future of Planet Earth based on what has happened in the recent past.

Attenborough suggests that the Holocene period that started with the end of the last Ice Age may well now be over.

He calls the period after the 1950s, the Anthropocene, since the human species is now largely determining what is happening to the world and what it’s future will be.

Attenborough describes what the future holds for our human race based on nine scientifically applied thresholds that are required to enable human life as we know it to continue to exist.

These nine planetary boundaries are ozone layer depletion, air pollution, biodiversity loss, land conversion, freshwater withdrawals, fertiliser use, chemical pollution, ocean acidification and climate change.

Many of these thresholds are approaching or have been already exceeded.

Extending his hypothesis, Attenborough predicts what is about to happen in the 2030s based on extrapolating current trends.

The Amazon rainforest will be reduced to 25% of its original size which will trigger an irreversible dieback of the whole forest impeding the rain cycle.

When this happens, there will be water shortages and severe climatic effects that will affect millions of people’s lives.

Are the people of Papua New Guinea listening to the great Attenborough?

The 2040s and 2050s will see dramatic changes to the world’s resources with the acidification of the world’s oceans and the serious effect this will have on the availability of fish and marine resources.

Huge numbers of the world’s peoples currently depend on these resources to survive.

Attenborough predicts that by the year 2100 there will be a worldwide humanitarian crisis and enforced human migration that will undoubtedly create conflict and disaster for billions of people.

The use of gross domestic product (an economic indicator) as a yardstick for progress is therefore flawed.

It is impossible to continually increase national productivity without driving environmental chaos.

The goal of constantly improving production is an impossible dream fantasised by those political and business leaders who can’t think of any other way of advancing the world’s peoples.

It is expected that the world’s population curve will flatten at somewhere between nine and 11 billion people as the limits of available fertile land, water and food production start to hit.

The question is whether there is any way this huge and worldwide catastrophe can be averted?

One of the major initiatives that seems to elude many world leaders is the dramatic effect of the empowerment of women on a nation’s birth rate.

Allowing women to determine their own lives has been proven to be an effective method of reducing population growth.

Initiatives like changes to the types and amount of food and how it is produced will probably be forced on populations by sheer necessity.

Papua New Guinea’s population has grown significantly since 1975.

From three million then it is estimated to be around eight million now.

Nearly half that number (46%) is under 19 years of age.

In other words, young people who will soon have families and will be seeking to feed those families.

All this will happen in a very fragile world where existing resources are being destroyed and polluted past the point of no return.

Isn’t it now time to start thinking about the future rather than squabbling about who gets how much of the political pie?

PNG prime minister James Marape and Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama

KEITH JACKSON 

NOOSA- Despite Papua New Guinea’s failure to convene a Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meeting last week Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has accepted reassurances from prime minister James Marape of his continuing support for the Bougainville peace process and post-referendum consultations.

JSB is the superior assembly established to facilitate effective policy-making and communications between the autonomous region of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea, its importance heightened by last year’s overwhelming pro-independence referendum vote in Bougainville.

A delegation led by Toroama and including cabinet ministers, senior public servants and other stakeholders had travelled to Port Moresby for the JSB before it was suddenly called off in the middle of a political crisis which threatened to unseat Marape.

The meeting aimed to progress earlier discussions by Toroama and Marape and begin negotiations on a framework leading to the ratification of the referendum result by PNG parliament.

The Bougainville Peace Agreement under which the referendum was held enables the PNG parliament to make the final – and ultra-sensitive - decision on whether Bougainville will be free to split from PNG as an independent state.

There are also a number of other critical issues requiring negotiation and agreement between the PNG and Bougainville governments including substantial debts owing to Bougainville and a mechanism for the transfer of shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd currently held by the PNG government.

The shares are part of a 53.8% parcel relinquished by Rio Tinto in June 2016 when it made a shock decision to turn its back on the Panguna copper and gold mine which had been abandoned in 1989 as civil war broke out in Bougainville.

The mine still has a 20-25 year life but will take many billions of dollars to rebuild.

There is also the major issue of responsibility for the remediation of the environmental destruction left behind when Rio Tinto walked away from Panguna.

Toroama expressed disappointment that the JSB was not convened but revealed that a Joint Technical Team co-chaired by the chief secretaries of the two governments had begun talks on administrative arrangements.

Other issues to be agreed between the two government are the timing of a by-election for the Bougainville Regional Seat in the PNG parliament (now expected to start on  Saturday 16 January for two weeks) and the protocols surrounding inviting foreign missions to set u  development offices on Bougainville.

“I am mindful of the political situation that is currently on going in the national government and I am well aware of how its outcome will have an obvious effect on Bougainville,” Toroama said.

“I maintain my resolve that Bougainville and my government is not party to the outcome of the current political situation but I must insist that the national government meets its commitment to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.”

ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts

Outside the small brown vavine numana (Papuan women’s house), just beyond the civilised world, it was a cold rainy evening.

Standing 20 metres high on the plateau of Rako, the vavine numana was set some way from the village of Babaka. Within, a young pregnant woman, Tarubo, laboured in the pangs of childbirth.

Tarubo was assisted in her labour by two elderly midwives, Laka and Pokana.

Tarubo felt intense pain as she gave birth to this, her first child. She remembered that her elder sisters and cousin sisters had gone through the same and now it was her turn.

She gasped and pushed her muscles tight, relaxing the pelvic floor as advised by the midwives. The instructions seemed easy but were not.

Laka and Pokana were experienced in traditional midwifery skills and had helped many mothers in the past.

They held their hands on Tarubo’s shoulder and comforted her. Tarubo continued in extreme pain as she felt the child coming forth.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Tarubo gave a huge cry.

In the twilight the sluicing rain produced a whooshing sound as it crashed through the leaves of the huge gautupu trees. But above the sounds of rain and birds and insects a loud cry was heard in the vavine numana, there was a cry.

“Heh heeh heh! Behold, a male child is born!”

The mother’s exhaustion was silent but the sound of the baby’s cry could be heard in the village.

The midwives wrapped the new born child in a cloth and gave him to his mother. Now it was an evening of happiness. Tarubo’s birth pain faded as she held her own son to her bosom.  

In the light of the kerosene lantern she looked into his eyes and saw her own strength and status as a mother and woman.

Tears of joy formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she comforted the boy to ease his cry. The child rested comfortably with his mother.

The next day unfolded on the horizon, the sun casting its damp rays. The moisture from the last night’s rain still rested on the leaves, dropping to the ground and vanishing into the earth.

The rooster crowed - kokkarako ko– and there was movement in the vavine numana.

Tarubo awoke to eat a small meal already prepared by the midwives. Then her new born son opened his eyes as his first daylight penetrated small holes in the bamboo wall.

It was then realised that he was no ordinary child. He had blue eye irises and his face glowed as with a sparkling radiance.

Tarubo was astounded by the baby’s eye eyes. She called to Laka and Pokana.

“Both of you, come see my child. He has blue eyes and a glowing face!”

There was some anxiety in her voice.

“Come and see,” she said, holding out the child to the midwives.

The two elderly women walked closer and looked in surprise. In their vast experience they had never seen such a child. Then the child with blue eyes and a glowing face smiled at the three women. He was so beautiful.

Laka looked at the baby again. Her intuition told her this child was special. He must have an exceptional role in the village.

“Oh, our boy, you have blue eyes and a bright face,” Laka whispered into the boy’s ear. “You are a special one.”

“I think the baby is a very extraordinary child,” Pokana affirmed.

Tarubo looked at her son again. She lingered on the midwives’ words and tried to understand what the blue eyes meant. She tried to recall ancestral stories of what might make this child, her child, special.

“If the child had a message for Baraka village, what would it be?” Tarubo thought.

In her deepest mind, she felt she and her husband, Pala, had a huge responsibility to take care of this child.

They must enable him to grow safely to full maturity to he could fulfil his purpose to the village.

“The deities of the ancestors must have chosen us to protect this child,” Tarubo whispered.

“Shall we tell Pala?” Laka asked.

“Yes, sure, I know he will be so excited,” Tarubo smiled.

“Pokana, please stay with Tarubo and the child,” said Laka. “I’ll go to man’s house and tell Pala.”

Laka kissed the child and, still looking at him, asked Tarubo, “Any word for Pala?”

“Tell him we will stay on the plateau and ask for some yams.”

Laka walked out of the vavine numana to the edge of Rako plateau and looked down on Babaka village below.

It was early morning and the people were awakening and preparing for the day’s activity. Dogs barked in the melting mist.

Laka followed the path downhill towards Babaka and soon disappeared behind the gautupu trees. In the vavine numana, Tarubo and Pokana sang ancient songs to the child and watched him sleep peacefully.

Part 2 tomorrow

JIMMY AWAGL

Heavenly flame caging its eyes
Within the shadow of darkness
Before the fire’s soft glow
At the edge of the women’s hut
Align parallel facing each other

The midnight princesses align
With their tender oily flesh
Bird of paradise framing their face
Through dim flame a golden brown
Alongside eager encircling kumuls

Sweet courtship songs intoned
From their lips in eloquent voice
Touching hearts for deep meditation
Seducing, pinching, some giggling too
Ambling in pair into a dense forest

Even proposal plans are common
At the watchful eyes of the maiden
Beside the fireplace commenting
As the climax of courtship mounts
Like wandering in Eden’s sweet garden

Sweet romantic songs propel
From the hearts of princesses
To solace the hearts of nighttime kumuls
A destination for alluring songs
Ending a night of romantic courtship

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When I left Papua New Guinea at the expiration of my contract as a kiap in 1973, I did so with a quiet sense of achievement, both personal and professional.

At a personal level my experiences had been unique and life changing.

When I climbed the steps of the aeroplane to take me home to Australia I was a completely different person to the one who had arrived six years earlier.

Even though my professional achievements were small and largely insignificant in the grander scheme of bringing a new nation to self-government, I felt a great deal of pride in what I had done.

Back in Australia I got a job working in Aboriginal heritage. That too was a unique experience, allowing me to spend time with the last of the tribal nomads of Central Australia.

Unfortunately, as the years went by my work with Aboriginal people devolved into a series of frustrating administrative and political battles which I and my fellow workers invariably lost.

After 20 long years I finally decided I’d had enough of banging my head against a brick wall and left.

I set myself up as a private consultant doing what is generally referred to as social mapping.

That eventually took me back to Papua New Guinea but also to places in the South Pacific and parts of Australia I had not previously visited.

Although social mapping is usually funded by private enterprise there is still an opportunity to act as an advocate for the people among whom the mapping is carried out.

Seeking compromise agreements between resource developers and local landholders, for instance, can be satisfying work.

However, because developers, aided and abetted by governments, tend to ignore social mapping studies, as do local landowners eager to get their cut of the action by any means possible, the whole process can become decidedly messy.

I was recently reminded of these challenges when I was approached to write a history of the agency involved in administering the laws related to Aboriginal heritage in South Australia.

It seemed like an interesting project, and I had my own personal experiences to relate to, so I began some initial research.

That was not a good move because I found myself revisiting all the unpleasant political and other battles in which the agency had been involved.

I also discovered that what had begun as an advocacy agency had evolved into a rubber stamp for government staffed by sycophants and yes-men (and women) whose allegiances were firmly in the court of developers.

I politely declined the project and went back to writing novels.

Along the way and out of curiosity I stopped to review my working life and realised that apart from those first few years in Papua New Guinea it was mostly a history of effort and failure.

That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy large parts of it. It was by any stretch a most unusual experience and quite out of the ordinary.

Most of all in all those 50-odd years of work I had pretty much done my own thing.

And I had never once had to deal with such deplorable prospects as time clocks, repetitive work, dress codes and a host of other debilitating requirements.

Having to be at a certain place at a certain time for a certain period each day is for me the stuff of nightmares.

It is on a par with having to wear ridiculous suits and ties and having regular haircuts.

What is interesting now is to measure that part of my life against all the other things that have happened in the wider world over the same period, including what might be termed my own peer group cohort.

The most singular emotion that such contemplation evokes is a sense of luck. Luck to have been born at the right time in the right place.

I also can’t help thinking that lucky break was admirably kicked along by my early experiences in Papua New Guinea.

It was there that I learnt a very fundamental fact – there is more to life than most people will have you believe.

ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts

An hour had passed and Laka had not yet returned from the village. Tarubo and Pokana waited for another hour and still there was no sign of her.

With growing impatience, they waited for two more hours, but Laka did not return.

Pokana decided to leave Tarubo and her baby son and follow Laka to the nearby village.

It was almost noon as she looked from the edge of the plateau towards Baraka. The village seemed silent; she could not see or hear a thing.

“Is there something strange in Babaka?” she asked herself.

Pokana decided to walk back to the vavine numana (women’s house).

She stared at Tarubo and the child and said with a sigh, “It has taken Laka almost five hours now and I wish to go to the village to see what is taking them so long.”

Tarubo looked at Pokana with a worried face. She did not want to be left alone. She thought of the child on her lap. It was just the first day. Was being alone in the vavine numana safe?

“So, you want to leave?” she asked softly.

“It won’t be long, dear. I’ll find out what’s happening. I’ll be back, less than an hour.”

Tarubo looked at her beautiful child, she looked around the hut and through the door at the gautupu trees.

She felt she wanted to go with Pokana but custom did not permit her to return to the village until the baby was a month old.

Tarubo looked at Pokana and whispered, “It’s OK, we will stay, you can go.”

Pokana packed her bilum and left for Babaka, following the same route Laka had taken earlier. Tarubo and her beautiful blue eyed child were alone in the vavine numana.

Tarubo cooked some taro for lunch, eating it with wild vegetables. She drank much water and did not let the baby boy leave her grasp. She sang traditional songs into the baby’s ear and breastfed him.

As she sang, the birds sang and danced in the gautupu trees. They fluttered and glided from branch to branch.

Tarubo walked out of the hut to look at the birds, which filled the branches of the gautupu trees and looked down upon her and sang in an eerie tone. She had never seen or heard such before and fear gnawed at her.

Tarubo walked back to the house. She wished she could understand the birds’ language and know what they were conversing about. It was as if the birds were in a meeting.

She went again into the vavine numana and closed the door behind her.

By now Tarubo felt so afraid she wanted to follow Laka and Pokana to Baraka village despite the taboos. But she lacked the strength to walk that far. She felt powerless and thoughts raced through her head.

“Why did Pokana leave? She should have been here.”

__________

In Baraka village, Pala had been anticipating news of his wife. He had stayed up all night sitting beside the fire as the rain poured down. Slumber had vanished.

Pala thought about his new role of fatherhood. His was engulfed by his new status of father. He kept imagining Tarubo labouring in the vavine numana. He prayed good omens for his wife. He only dozed off as the half-light of dawn arrived.

He dreamt he was standing on the Rako plateau filled with thick mist. He stretched a hand out for Tarubo but she could not be reached. He saw the child she bore taken away by fierce warriors from the northern village.

He tried again to reach for Tarubo but his strength was not there.

He followed the warriors along the plateau, reaching out again and again. At the end of his strength, he reached his wife and, in the final moments of the dream, he heard the sound of his name echoing around Babaka village.

“Pala...!” called a woman’s voice.

He opened his eyes slowly; it was daylight. He listened.

“Pala...!” the woman’s voice called again.

“Huh!” Pala was fully awake now.

“Pala, I got news for you,” the woman’s voice called again.

Pala walked out rubbing his eyes. He saw Laka and smiled at the elderly woman.

“You have a son, a beautiful blue eyed child,” declared Laka.

“What!” Pala exclaimed.

“Pala, you have a son, a beautiful blue eyed child.”

The words ran through Pala’s being like an electric shock and ignited his heart with happiness. He smiled and punched the post of his house. The pain in his hand was overwhelmed by his happiness.

“Oh, thanks to the ancestors’ spirit, I have a son!” Pala shouted.

“We need yams and vegetables for your wife and son,” said Laka.

Pala walked back into his house and gathered the food for the vavine numana. In his excitement he gathered more than enough.

And he wanted to see his wife and new born son soon - despite the traditional taboos.

Final part tomorrow

Former deputy prime minister Sam Basil claims without evidence that prime minister James Marape conspired with the ombudsman commission to have him investigated.

BRYAN KRAMER MP
| Kramer Report

PORT MORESBY - Last Tuesday, Papua New Guinea’s ombudsman commission issued a press statement that it had referred former deputy prime minister and national planning minister Sam Basil to the public prosecutor for alleged misconduct in office.

The leadership watchdog said it had conducted an investigation from a complaint lodged in 2016 and, based on the findings of the investigation, gave Basil the opportunity to respond.

“The leader requested and was granted extensions of time and, after a total of 51 days, failed to respond to the allegations,” the statement said.

“The commission has deliberated on the allegations and determined there is a prima facie case that Hon Sam Basil has been guilty of misconduct in office.”

Ten days earlier, at an opposition press conference in Vanimo, Basil claimed prime minister James Marape had conspired with the commission to have him investigated.

“I had members of the ombudsman sent by the prime minister to Bulolo District intimidating my staff,” Basil said.

He went to say that one of the main reasons he left government last month was because he believed the prime minister and other highlands members of parliament had compromised the ombudsman commission.

“That is the very reason I left because I was being written a letter by the ombudsman commission and the prime minister [who] told me that don’t worry I will talk to them. That really pissed me off. Why should a prime minister have access to the ombudsman commission? This is wrong, that is one of the reasons why I left,” Basil said.

Basil's claims against the prime minister and the country’s leadership watchdog are serious allegations and, if true, would amount to a criminal offence of abuse of office.

However, he offered no evidence to sustain his allegations. If Basil is unable to produce evidence then his own conduct would amount to a criminal offence under the Section 362 of the criminal code (unlawful publication of defamatory matter).

It would also amount to misconduct in office for scandalising the ombudsman commission in the conduct of its duties.

The ombudsman did not disclose the details of the alleged misconduct by Basil. It has adopted the practice of leaving it to the public prosecutor to first satisfy itself there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the case.

The public prosecutor will then determine if it has found sufficient evidence to prosecute the allegations and will formally write to the chief justice to appoint a leadership tribunal.

This comprises a three member panel, normally made up of a national court judge and two senior magistrates.

The ombudsman said Basil was afforded 51 days to respond and, when he didn’t, the commission made the decision to refer him.

The ombudsman acts as a leadership watchdog, set up to investigate allegations of misconduct of office by leaders occupying public office.

Just like the police, it investigates any complaint in respect of a possible crime being committed.

The primary difference between the police and the commission is that the police will arrest and charge a person if they believe they have reasonable grounds the person has committed a criminal offence.

The ombudsman can only investigate people who occupy public office - members of parliament, judges, constitutional officer holders and department secretaries.

After carrying out its investigation, if it believes the leader has committed misconduct in office, it will contact the leader to afford the opportunity to respond to the allegations in person or in writing.

It will afford the leader up to 21 days to respond to the allegations. In some cases, additional time may be needed and an extension of time may be requested, usually seven to 14 days.

If the leader fails or refuses to respond to the allegations the ombudsman will make the decision for a referral to the public prosecutor.

The police may arrest or invite the person to the police station to be interviewed, after which a formal charge may follow leading to prosecution before a court.

If found guilty, the leader may face three possible penalties, the most serious being dismissal from office.

Alternatively the leader may be suspended for a period no more than three months or ordered to pay a fine.

In the case of Basil, the ombudman stated that, after the 51 days had elapsed with no response, the decision was made to refer him to the public prosecutor.

Ombudsman investigations can take anywhere from one to three months to conduct before the leader is afforded the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

It is noteworthy that the ombudsman commission stated the complaint against Basil was registered in 2016, indicating it had nothing to do with current political events.

In 2016, Basil was a member of the opposition. I recall in that year Basil said then prime minister, and his now good friend and political mentor, Peter O’Neill sent a police investigation team to Bulolo District to investigate how Basil spent his district development funds.

But to the issue sof Basil claiming the ombudsman had been compromised and that he was being targeted.

Since being appointed police minister, I have been subjected to four investigations by the ombudsman that I know of.

The first was regarding my comments on the floor of parliament against the ombudsman in relation to the direction to the police commissioner not taking disciplinary action against a number of officers.

The second alleged I had interfered with police operations in relation to my efforts to reform the police force.

The third concerned a decision of the Madang District Development Authority (MDDA) to engage qualified technical staff who were paid only K3,000 a fortnight to assist with design and implementation of district development plans and programs.

The fourth related to an MDDA decision to partner with Digicel Foundation to purchase two ambulances in an initiative where the Madang District saved K201,000.

In my view, all these complaints are baseless and without merit and I'm not bothered by them.

If I was Basil, I would only be concerned if the allegations against me were true, which would give me a reason to make a play to become prime minister in an effort to escape the charges.

Unfortunately for Basil, his efforts to deflect the public’s interest in the charges against him may have resulted in further serious offences that could see him face fresh misconduct and criminal charges.

Author Daniel Kumbon with Engan leader Paul Kiap Kurai, a prominent figure in his new book, 

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

Victory Song of Pingeta’s Daughter by Daniel Kumbon, Independently Published, 2020, 400 pages, colour illustrations, ISBN: 9798562831323, available here from Amazon Australia, AU$74.65 plus AU$3.90 postage

TUMBY BAY - By Papua New Guinea standards this is a big book. It runs to 400 pages, 85,700 words and 332 illustrations, mostly in colour.

In an article announcing its publication I referred to it as a blockbuster. That’s an aphorism often used to describe books that are not only physically big but wide in scope and ambition.

In any normal sense the term also relates to the potential for impressive sales figures but in the deprived literary scene of Papua New Guinea that aspect must be passed to the keeper while we concentrate on its scope and ambition.

In terms of ambition, what Daniel Kumbon has attempted to do with his book is trace the history of the Wabag district and Enga Province in general from the point of first contact with Europeans right through to the present time.

The device he uses to handle the scope of the book and pull all of the multiple strings of the narrative together is an intertwining of a broader regional history with a narrower story of a prominent Engan businessman, Paul Kurai and his family.

This sort of approach is always tricky because the balance has to be finely wrought in terms of cohesion and relevance.

On the one hand all of the elements and themes in the story have to be laid out so they make sense and exclude the extraneous and on the other they have to avoid any hint of sycophancy.

The book begins with the dramatic and bloody encounter between Paul’s grandfather and the prospector and explorer Michael Leahy in 1934.

This is a seminal event that not only reverberates through time for Paul’s family but for the Wabag district in general.

The few minutes in which an Engan warrior decided to charge a prospector’s camp with his spear and the split second decision of the prospector to shoot and kill him coloured everything that happened thereafter.

The ripple effect of that event was felt not only by the local people but by every kiap, missionary and visitor to the district right up until the time of Papua New Guinea’s independence and for many years afterwards.

How the Engan people successfully adapted and reconciled that bloody beginning is the glue that holds Daniel’s book together.

By recognising that the future of his people lay with helping rather than hindering the kiaps and the missionaries Paul’s father, Kurai, laid the groundwork not only for his family’s success but also for the successes of his businessman son.

As you begin reading Daniel’s book the embracing theme outlined above is not immediately apparent and some of the divergences and narrative tangents are difficult to contextualise.

At several points there is an impression that he is leveraging material into the narrative that bears only minor relevance to the central story.

This impression is reinforced by some of the photographs included at the end of each chapter that might have been better left out for the same reason.

As interesting as this material and the illustrations are one gets the feeling that the book is being boiler-plated and stuffed and that a more deft and ruthless organisation of the material might have been in order.

That said, I can see the dilemma that Daniel faced. He was presented with a monumental and highly complex story to tell that had never been coherently told before and to do it justice it was necessary to cram as much into the book as possible.

It is a dilemma many writers face and which only the most hard-hearted and ruthless can handle and pull off successfully.

That said, there is a point in the book where most of the disparate elements begin to coalesce and a certain, albeit untidy, logic begins to form.

It is at this point that you have to make a value judgement about the book.

You have to balance the literary merits of the story against the apparently disordered but fascinating historical material, relevant or otherwise, presented to you.

I opted to take the latter course and tuck my literary cap into my back pocket. It is an approach I would recommend if you want to extract the maximum enjoyment from reading the book.

The other aspect I decided to take at face value was Daniel’s assessment of Paul Kuria, the grandson of that 1934 Engan warrior with a spear.

If Paul Kurai is representative of the kind of leadership that is finally emerging in Enga that is a cause for hope and is worth celebrating.

Paul’s intelligence, kindness, empathy, generosity and respect for cultural traditions is something that is sorely missing in many parts of Papua New Guinea.

Finally, it must be said that given the problems of doing any kind of historical research in Papua New Guinea where sources and references are so very hard to find Daniel has done a sterling job in stitching what he has been able to find into a coherent whole.

In that sense, I’ve no doubt that this book will form a valuable resource for writers who come after him.

It is also the kind of book that should logically find its way into the libraries of Papua New Guinean schools.

Tokua airport near Rabaul (John C Cannon, Mongabay)

REPORT
| Guard Dog Security Service | Edited

KOKOPO – There was an unfortunate incident this morning at Tokua airport, the aviation gateway to Rabaul and the Gazelle Peninsula.

At about 4am, three busloads of Vudal University students were at Tokua Airport terminal waiting for it to open for check in. They were booked on the early bird flight to Port Moresby.

As they waited in the car park, a group of more than 20 men attacked them. They were armed with knives and home-made guns.

The students retaliated and confronted the criminals sparking an ugly brawl that saw two of the criminals killed.

One died instantly in the car park while the other was rushed to Vunapope hospital but was confirmed dead on arrival.

Two of students sustained serious knife wounds and were also rushed to the hospital. Both are reported to able to survive their injuries.

The students are mainly from the upper highlands and had graduated and were heading home. They lost mostly electronic valuables as well as their academic transcripts and certificates.

The Tokua Airport terminal is guarded by Security Assistance Services personnel, who were overpowered as students took cover in the terminal, which is badly damaged.

From an assessment of damage we can certainly say the terminal was not vandalised by the students. They were trying to seek cover as some locals, who had joined the criminals, hurled stones at them.

Our GDSS boys were first at the scene and witnessed what transpired. They were quick to transport the students out of Tokua with the help of police.

ISO YAWI
| A fictional story in three parts

As Pala was readying the food for his wife Tarubo at the vavine numana (women’s house), Laka left for her own house in the village.

When Pala came out, Laka was gone. Pala went to Laka’s house, but there was no one there. The house was quiet as if abandoned.

“Laka!” Pala called. “You there? I’m ready with the food.”

There was no answer. The woman seemed to have vanished.

“Where did she go?” he said to himself.

Pala decided to gather the food items he’d prepared and leave for Rako plateau and his wife and new son.

“Ha, old woman, Laka. I will leave without you.”

Pala sang traditional songs as walked and, as he reached the edge of the plateau, he met Pokana coming the other way.

“Where’s Laka?” Pokana asked.

“She delivered the news to me and vanished,” Pala replied.

“OK, you’ve arrived so give me the food for the vavine numana.”

“Make sure to take good care of Tarubo and my son,” Pala said.

_________

Pokana reached the plateau and laid down the food at the ladder of the vavine numana. She looked into the house but Tarubo and the newborn child were gone. She checked the hut behind, but there was no one. Tarubo and the baby seemed to have vanished.

Pokana thought of bad omens or that the bush men had taken them. Filled with shock and fear, she decided to search the plateau.

“Tarubo….!”

“Tarubo….!”

Then she heard a small voice from behind the gautupu trees.

“Tarubo, is that you?” Pokana asked.

“Shhh, be quiet,” Tarubo whispered, appearing from behind the trees with the child and looking anxious.

“Who are you hiding from?” asked Pokana.

Tears formed in Tarubo’s eyes and she looked at Pokana. She felt she could not formed words because of fear and sadness.

She finally wiped her eyes and whispered, “After you left, Laka came with five men to kill me and take the child, but I was warned by the birds before they came.

“I hid in the gautupu trees with the child. A few minutes later, Laka and the men came with clubs and spears and searched the vavine numana.

“It was good the child did not cry or make any noise. They left just a few minutes before you arrived.”

When Pokana heard Tarubo’s words, she determined they should leave. Pokana knew that Laka’s evil thoughts had been conceived when she held the beautiful child.

Pokana and Tarubo left with the child not daring to follow the main track. They climbed down the plateau and reached Babaka village.

It was evening by now and fires lit up every home. When they reached Pala’s house, Tarubo hugged her husband and broke into tears.

Pokana recited everything that had happened and advised them to leave the village for their safety. Pala held the blue eyed boy close to his heart and agreed. They left for the eastern village of Kakuli where they would be beyond harm.

The blue eyed child was born to Pala and Tarubo as a gift from the Rako plateau’s deity. The child’s purpose was still a mystery to the parents. Pala and Tarubo named their son Garo Matana. It means Eye of the Sun and it is a name given to blue-eyed children.

The end

West Papuan youths carry a mock coffin during a demonstration in Jakarta. Indonesia won sovereignty over the former Dutch colony in 1969 after a referendum widely seen as a sham (Ahmad Zamroni, AFP)

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - While I don't endorse Geoffrey Luck's comments on Yamin Kagoya’s article, I do have concerns about what was written.

I think that any reasonable person would agree that the systematic oppression of West Papua's Melanesian population is shameful.

It reflects badly on Indonesia and a largely indifferent world generally.

It is also true that the antecedents of the current problems do lie in the colonial past, aspects of which are undoubtedly worthy of severe criticism.

That said, Western colonialism was hardly unique in the annals of human history and the colonising instinct, sense of cultural superiority and inherent racism that form its core are not restricted to Western Europe.

There are innumerable examples in history of one group of humans seeking to impose their will upon another group. The motivations varied of course, but the outcomes were largely the same.

So, for example, the Inca rose to become an imperial power through the ruthless suppression and enslavement of other nations.

The same can be said of the Zulu people in pre-colonial Africa. They were not motivated or informed by any knowledge of western colonialism.

In the case of West Papua it is Indonesia's own particular version of colonialism which is in evidence.

While it manifests the same ugly characteristics that were often found in Western colonialism it is wrong to believe or infer from this that it is not evidence of an entirely indigenous colonial outlook.

To my mind it is an unhelpful and even misleading diversion to try to describe Indonesia's actions as being derived from its own experience of western colonialism.

And with respect to Mr Luck's assertion that the article reflects a Marxist view of history, I am struggling to see how he arrived at this conclusion.

As far as I can recall, Marx did not have a lot to say about colonialism beyond the fact that it reflected the predatory nature of capitalism and its underlying class basis.

The article seems to me to reflect a mainstream nationalist view of the kind found in many countries in the post-colonial world.

West Papua represents a truly wicked policy problem for Australia and the other countries in the world that (however reluctantly) acquiesced to the Indonesian takeover.

There never was a defensible legal or moral basis for this: it was purely a function of the geo-politics of the time.

How this particular Gordian Knot can be unravelled I do not know but history suggests that it will ultimately have to be unsnarled.

Headline, byline and deck  of the article in the Lowy Interpreter that angered the Bougainville president

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has expressed “alarm” at an article by former Bougainville government advisor Gordon Peake alleging he had “call[ed] into question the integrity of the Autonomous Bougainville Government and our commitment to the peace process”.

The article appeared last week in The Interpreter, a website published by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.

Peake, a visitor in the school of regulation and global governance at the Australian National University, had reflected on an aborted meeting of the peak organisation managing Papua New Guinea-Bougainville relations, the Joint Advisory Body (JSB).

The meeting was called off in the midst of a PNG political crisis only after the Bougainville delegation had arrived in Port Moresby.

Peake wrote that in addition to president Toroama the “delegation included the other 13 members of his cabinet, department heads, heads of parliamentary committees, a ‘technical’ team, a ‘consultation’ team, a media team, a protocol team, logistics and support staff and ‘close protection officers’.”

The article went on to say that “paying for costs of meetings is easy. It’s much harder to find the currency that nudges the development of ideas and proposals.

“Between the hiring of a plane, vehicles and nights at the Holiday Inn in Port Moresby, the cost of this jaunt alone must have easily run to many thousands.

“That’s a hefty sum for a region which brings in less than $2 million per year and where travel between the region’s two main towns is fraught because of a downed bridge. And all for naught….

“The Bougainville delegation hung around Port Moresby for a week. ‘Technical officers’ from the two governments held a short meeting in the hotel’s ballroom one day. The delegation will leave with nothing more than a top-up of hotel rewards points and hoping no virus comes home with them.”

Although characterising the article as “satirical in nature”, Toroama was clearly very offended.

“It explicitly implies that my government does not take the consultations seriously and that we condone the wastage of government resources,” he stated.

“Mr Peake’s article further insinuates that the trip to Port Moresby to convene the Joint Supervisory Body meeting last week was a failure and in general Bougainville’s attempts at self-determination were futile.

“I do not appreciate the subversive means employed by Mr Peake to obtain information as a former [ABG] advisor and then twist the facts to suit his own devise.”

Toroama added that, while he understood Peake’s views were independent of the Australian government, it was quite alarming to learn that former advisors are using inside knowledge on Bougainville to abscond from the truth and provide a shallow analysis of Bougainville’s affairs.

Peake, an experienced research consultant and international development professional who has led a range of projects in PNG, Timor Leste and Vanuatu, responded in a brief comment to PNG Attitude.

"I stand by my analysis piece published in the Lowy Interpreter last week,” he wrote. “I put questions to the president's media office on 27 November via email and received no response."

Prof David Robie - a Pacific islands communications icon and innovator

CROSBIE (CROZ) WALSH
| Croz Walsh’s Blog | Edited

WHITBY, NEW ZEALAND – The highlights of a symposium at the Pacific Media Centre of the Auckland University of Technology last week were the numerous accolades paid to PMC director Professor David Robie and Del Abcede, who are retiring at the end of the year.

David has lived in the Pacific, been involved in Pacific human rights and media freedom issues and taught journalism to Pacific Islanders and others for 40 years. He will be a hard man to replace.

He was aboard Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour in 1985 shortly before it was sunk by French saboteurs (Opération Satanique). The Warrior had been on its way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Mururoa.

And he was close at hand when French "state-backed terrorism" also targeted independence leaders in New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

David has actively criticised the Indonesian government for the ruthlessness of its attacks on the West Papuan independence movement, the Philippines government for the murder of journalists and has protested against media suppression in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.

From 1993-97 David headed the journalism program at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he also launched Pacific Journalism Review (the latest issue has papers on climate change and the pandemic) and Pacific Media Watch.

From 1998 to 2002 he was head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific in Suva. He joined Auckland University of Technology in 2002 as head of journalism and has been its director since.

Del Abcede and David Robie - their contributions to AUT will be sorely missed (Tagata Pasifika)

Students are not known for their accolades, especially for teachers who are leaving, but then many teachers do not inspire their students as David does.

His own inspiration comes from using his head and passionately believing in what he is doing.

Del Abcede spoke on behalf of the West Papuan students, declaring, “I will say the things they cannot say because it puts them at risk”.

She appealed for more support from New Zealand and Pacific countries for the West Papuan self-determination cause.

BERNARD YEGIORA

When he wrote this prescient, and still relevant, article 10 years ago, Bernard was studying for a master’s degree in international relations at the Institute of International Studies at China's Jilin University in Changchun. He had graduated with an honours degree in political science from the University of Papua New Guinea in 2009. Bernard now lectures at Divine Word University in Madang - KJ

MADANG - Anti-Chinese sentiment, or Sinophobia, is a deadly trend becoming more common as China continues to rise. It is defined as the dislike of or fear of China, its people or its culture.

Xenophobia, fear of foreigners, is widespread in all societies.

In Iran, anti-American sentiment is strong. The Iranians see America as evil because of its arrogance. America, in its bid to create a peaceful world, has strongly gone against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, even though Iran has assured the world that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

In PNG’s case, we witnessed the ransacking of Asian businesses in 2009; mostly targeting people of ethnic Chinese origin in major towns because of the disparity of wealth.

This Sinophobia is growing day by day and could lead to a major social uprising of greater magnitude in the future.

Chinese entrepreneurs were in PNG a long time before independence and contributed immensely to PNG’s development as a sovereign nation. This fact cannot be denied if you know your history.

Over more recent years, a new wave of Chinese immigrants and business activities have moved in a different pattern.

The Chinese have adapted to the changes in PNG society, backed by their popular ‘guanxi system’ that is similar to our ‘wantok system’.

We, on the other hand, have failed to evolve the way we do business.

As a result, the lack of opportunity experienced by middle and low class citizens of PNG have led them to take out their frustrations on foreign owned businesses.

The reasons for this fear or dislike of the Chinese diaspora is very complex: it is like a triangle with three points of influence: government, citizens and Chinese entrepreneurs.

It is difficult to accuse one factor as the root of the problem because all three have, in one way or another, played a significant part in feeding growing anti-Chinese sentiment.

PNG is just a needle in the haystack in the world of Sinophobia.

At state-to-state level, China’s relationship with the different countries in the international system reveals a sense of Sinophobia.

Developed countries in Europe and Asia, including the world’s declining hegemon America, from a realist perspective are fearful of China’s rise because of the theory of balance of power.

After the Cold War, the bipolar world of the USSR and the USA was disassembled and replaced with a unipolar system controlled by the USA.

But that order is changing, due to the remarkable rise of China affecting the balance of power as countries begin to join the Chinese bandwagon.

The fear of China challenging America for the leadership position has led America to initiate containment and engagement plans to monitor China.

Furthermore, according to Robert Reich in New Perspective Quarterly, “China wants to become the world’s pre-eminent producer nation”. Reich draws a comparison between the US economy being oriented to consumption and the Chinese economy to production. T

his adds fuel to the fire because, with high production, China will continue to flood the world with ‘Made in China’ products affecting the balance of trade.

In a recent BBC/Globescan poll of 28 nations, China’s global image was mixed.

Only in Africa and Pakistan was it consistently positive, while in Asia, North America and Latin America it was neutral to poor. Across Europe it was strongly negative.

China’s increasing economic and military power is creating anxiety around the world.

Thus, in the 21st century, not only are individual Chinese traders victims of Sinophobia, but the Chinese state is enduring its share of anti-Chinese sentiment.

This trend is unavoidable and will continue to intensify as China continues towards developed nation status.

From HMS Basilisk (left), the three-masted paddle steamer from which Captain John Moresby named many topographical features of southern PNG during an important voyage of discovery in 1874

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When you look at a map of Australia the precedence of its European colonial history is very apparent. If you run an eye around the coast, all the names of state capital cities echo that history.

Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart all owe their names to significant British places or personages.

It is only with the federal capital that any acknowledgement of the previous inhabitants occurs.

The name Canberra is possibly derived from the word kambera or kanberri, meaning ‘meeting place’ in Ngunnawal, one of the indigenous languages spoken in the district.

It is really only when you get out into the regions that place names related to the original inhabitants spring up and proliferate.

In contrast, a perusal of a map of Papua New Guinea will show up place names with mostly local, indigenous origins.

There are a few exceptions. The most notable is the name of the capital, Port Moresby. To the north Finschhafen crops up and inland there is Mount Hagen.

Port Moresby was named by the British sea captain, John Moresby, to commemorate his father. Captain Moresby was in charge of the HMS Basilisk that surveyed the Papuan coast in 1871.

Mount Hagen gets its name from the nearby mountain peak that was named after the German colonial officer Curt von Hagen.

Finschhafen was named after German scientist and explorer Otto Finsch, who originally surveyed the town (hafen is German for harbour).

There is something incongruous about these old colonial names and the way they have hung on in Papua New Guinea.

In many newly independent countries getting rid of place names imposed by colonisers was a high priority.

Renaming such places was seen as a symbolic breaking of the colonial bond and a statement of independence and freedom.

Why this didn’t happen in Papua New Guinea is curious but is probably related to the largely benign Australian stewardship of the country.

There is, however, an increasingly nationalistic tone emerging in PNG and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that sometime in the future these old colonial names might be re-examined and possibly changed for indigenous ones.

This has happened to a certain extent where new provinces like Enga and Hela adopted local names and the old Northern changed to Oro. Jiwaka is a composite name combining the first two letters each of Jimi, Waghi and Kambia, the three regions that make up the province. And of course there is Simbu, which was part of Eastern Highlands before it gained its own governance.

Madang might sound like a local name but it was brought to the area by labourers who had accompanied the German administrators and is the name of their home island (Medang) in Indonesia.

And here’s a more controversial question.

Would it ever be that the name of the entire nation is reconsidered given that it was imposed by foreign sources and echoes the colonial past?

Papua is supposedly derived from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning ‘frizzly-haired’ while Guinea is derived from the Portuguese word guiné which was used as a collective term for the people who came from regions south of the Senegal River in West Africa.

New Guinea was thought to physically resemble the African Guinea and was thus named as a new version of it.

The name Papua New Guinea is thus a combination of Asian and African descriptors, which is hardly apt and a reminder of its colonial past in the same sense as Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and Finschhafen.

Finding an agreeable and distinguishable new name for the whole nation state that is Papua New Guinea would be difficult because of the multiplicity of indigenous languages.

The name Australia derives from the Latin word australis meaning southern, and dates back to second century legends of an ‘unknown southern land’ called terra australis incognita.

The explorer Matthew Flinders named the land Terra Australis, which was later abbreviated to the current Australia.

Perhaps there is a clue there for a budding Papua New Guinean political nationalist. Ditch the Asian-African connection for a name more reflective of the location and nature of the country.

In common currency, the country just to Australia’s north is called Peengee, but that has an inauthentic ring to it.

A much easier task would be renaming places like Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and Finschhafen.

How does Hanuabada sound as the capital city? The word means ‘big village’ – hanua = village and bada = big - which is both descriptive and indigenous.

I’m not sure what the original place name of Mount Hagen is but I’m sure someone will know. The same applies to Finschhafen.

Names are important, particularly for the symbolism they carry.

Perhaps James Marape, who promotes Papua New Guinea ‘first’, should get a couple of consultants onto the case.

PNG prime minister James Marape - "I am not going to resign. There are no grounds for that."

JAMES MARAPE MP

PORT MORESBY - Good day Papua New Guineans and all who have interest in what is happening in Papua New Guinea.

Today our supreme court made its ruling on the matter filed by Hon Peter O’Neill and I appeal to our citizens to respect the ruling of our country’s highest court.

The court ruled in favour of O’Neill’s reference.

Our country’s judiciary is the better arm of government and is a fair place for all of us where any aggrieved person or parties can seek a redress.

So to all our public commentators, let us protect our judiciary and refrain from unnecessarily making our own interpretations and inferences on our judiciary.

Let us all continue to protect and respect our judiciary.

And on politics, may I inform the country that every leader and political party has a right to bid for the prime ministership and this play in parliament is nothing but a bid for someone to become prime ministership.

In fact for the last 18 months I have been managing politics since the minute O’Neill accepted nominations to be prime minister again and the associated court cases that have been running until this political upheaval.

Despite the unsettling political climate, there is no vacancy in the office of prime minister. The executive government is in place doing its work until proper parliamentary processes affirm or denounce my prime ministership.

To all citizens, public servants and business houses, don’t get caught up in this political fiasco. Let politicians manage politics.

And to my colleagues in opposition, I appreciate your right to be in government and, when the time is set, we will test the numbers on the floor of parliament.

I am not going to resign as one or two opposition politicians have called for. There are no grounds for that.

You claim you have the majority, so please produce that majority on the floor of parliament where it matters and not in locked up hotels.

In the meantime, I am blessed in my life to have 55 members of parliament who continue to give me their personal and the people’s support.

These 55 MPs and other leaders I know are leaders whose soul cannot be bought or sold and I am proud to associate myself with this class of leader.

So bring your vote of no confidence motion on, name our country’s alternate prime minister and let’s go on dealing with this matter so our people can see who this person is.

The country deserves to know who the alternate prime minister is. Why keep it a secret even from your own 55 members of parliament.

To our people, please refrain from personalising politics or politicians.

Let’s maintain calm and peace right around our country/

The prime ministership is not my birthright; we will go through the correct process.

In the meantime, let’s allow our courts and parliament to do their functions and you citizens can do yours in 2022 when the country goes to general elections.

Peace to all!