BY NORM RICHARDSON

DR ROY SCRAGG [Attitude, 26 February] is, I suspect, simply stirring for the sake of stirring in saying "Kiaps never prepared for the change that mattered" in PNG, that is the attainment of national independence in 1975.

As Director of Health, Dr Scragg always seemed happy to have Kiaps help build aid posts, hospitals and the roads needed to connect them with the villages.

There was a rush to convert the public service of the newly independent nation from a colonial style to a metropolitan style in 1975, encouraged by first Andrew Peacock and then by Gough Whitlam, as I recall.

That meant that there would no longer be a place for a generalist public servant with very wide powers, as the nature of the new work of government would (theoretically) need specialists with narrow powers and training, who were easier to train and would demand lower pay rates.

Professor Hal Colebatch made a long study of the Kiap system in TPNG and came to the conclusion that it was the only effective method of administering the country, until it became a replica of the former colonial power, with a settled economy, established service delivery, a unified social structure and easy access to the protection of the legal system for all persons.

As both Paul Oates and Michael Somare have observed, the Kiap system was dismantled far too quickly without being able to integrate PNG nationals fast enough to be effective.

History is being repeated in PNG because those who made critical decisions in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's did not pay attention to what had already happened to the colonies that were shed post the World War I and World War II.

Consider the way that India and Pakistan suffered post partition as well as the former African colonies and Indonesia.