Corruption in even the slightest form was unthinkable at Independence. Today, at the highest levels of public office, decisions are made that are clearly questionable.

But with no real opposition in parliament, senior bureaucrats feeling threatened, the media controlled and silenced and the majority of the population illiterate and unable to discriminate between truth and propaganda, these decisions go unchallenged.

This journey was not made overnight; there has been slow movement along the way to a position where, so long as you are not caught, corruption is acceptable. We have reached the stage where gullible Christian leaders legitimise daylight robbery by members of the government.

When I was growing up in the village during the 1960s and 70s, to be recognised as a thief was a shameful thing. Today, when I send home money to my relatives as contribution towards a funeral or other such occasion, I routinely expect 10 to 20% of the funds to go missing. There is no longer any shame attached to that.

Leaders such as councillors were once beyond reproach. Today everybody accepts the fact that a substantial amount of public money will end up in their pockets.

As university students in the 1970s and 80s, many of us did not consume alcohol until we were in our twenties. Today it is considered normal for high school students (and even primary school students) to get drunk after every exam and experiment with smoking and drugs.

The goalpost for what is right and what is wrong seems to have become blurred in the minds of most folks. One writer in PNG Attitude recently asked in relation to student violence what went wrong: is it parents who have lost the way of properly bringing up children?

I am not sure how this slide can be contained or reversed. I think there is a need to recognise what might be called “bastions of truth”, or lampposts, for society to consider as moral guides by which people can decide what is right and wrong.

Parents and educational institutions could then pay more attention to the upbringing of their children according to proper principles. Children need reinforcement to develop intrinsic strength of character and so develop into worthy adults rather than bowing to peer pressure.

Such institutions include secular ones but, in PNG where Christianity has a strong following (or so it would appear), the churches are the very institutions to which we should look for guidance.

Discussing this with two of my colleagues (who are fundamentalist Christians), I was surprised to hear them articulate that in such times of moral crisis it is the Catholic Church which stands as the last bastion against moral decay in society; a decay emanating particularly from secular influences (both western capitalistic and liberal left ideologues).

They felt their own churches were too fragmented with so many divided viewpoints as to be useful only as institutions where individuals find their own means of salvation. But in terms of being a bulwark against structural evil in society, the Catholic Church is the one to which all Christians as well as decent people look.

They felt strongly that on one hand society was sliding too quickly into moral decay and on the other there were too many liberal influences (e.g., homosexuality and prostitution) in a population that is not ready to accept them.

Yet we could slide into accepting Islam and its attendant militancy which is seen as a means of cleansing society of these evils.

While not agreeing with them entirely, I do agree that society needs credible institutions as well as individuals who can be role models to shape other people’s lives.

Not long ago, I wrote an article for PNG Attitude on the issue of government funds allocated to the construction of the Mt Hagen Cathedral.  It may have been misconstrued as an attack on the church receiving these funds.

However my real intention was to highlight the fact that the Catholic Church in PNG is one of the few institutions that is a paragon of honesty and accountability and if there are questions as to whether its hands are smeared, who do we trust?

The Church must stand above reproach and continue to provide guidance to its members as well as other members of society who may become confused as to what is right and what is wrong.

In national issues, one could argue that the loss of an effective opposition occurred only recently with the defection of opposition members en masse. However the real process started when MPs did not have a significant ethical bulwark when they were offered “slush funds” disguised as development funds.

What the country needs is a few “bastions of truth” be they the judiciary, other governmental institutions, churches or individuals who will be the lamp posts by which society can be guided.

On a related issue, Sil Bolkin recently pointed out the problem of priests bringing the church to shame by drunkenness and stealing.

What hope is there for the common men if individuals entrusted to uphold moral values fail to do so? I point out to my students time and time again that patients expect doctors to have a certain standard of behaviour.

Families need to be helped to consider how important it is to provide their children with moral guidance early in life and to have a sense of intrinsic worth about themselves in doing what is right and what is wrong.

They should also be helped to develop in that direction by careful nurturing and by supporting institutions such as schools, universities and churches as well as role models.

The most important things in life are not how much you earn or how many accolades you receive but by how you can live and make important decisions in life that are morally the right thing to do.