FIDELIS SUKINA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

I collect the empty cans for cash,
Hope it’s enough for a scone or two.

The sun makes me sweat so bad,
Wish my thirst would quench on an empty can.

I find peace at lunch with flour fish,
Broken and shared with pals of mine

Days like this I wish I could,
Go and read a book or two.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

AS an economist, I am fascinated by Papua New Guineans’ home-grown salesmanship. It seems to be the hallmark of our informal economy.

Driven by the lack of meaningful opportunities, most of youths and adults end up plying their raw business traits on the side of the road or in public areas.

Most of them pick up the mannerisms through simple observation as they are forced to take up these activities for survival’s sake.

Although considered by many people to represent a breakdown in social order, these traders nevertheless play an increasingly important role in the urban economy of PNG.

PAUL WAUGLA WII

The lone villager came home one afternoon.
It was so comforting to be on that familiar road
That led to that hamlet
Across the tumbling, crashing Singanigle River.

Walking along the path
On that melancholy day
The drizzle and the mist hung like steel
Upon the flank of the imposing Tokma Range.

WARDLEY DESMOND BARRY-IGIVISA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

SOMETIME around 2012, the PNG Post Courier newspaper published on its website an article under the headline PNG leaders lack philosophical edge.

I devoured the article: and read it again and again. I must have read it a dozen times.

The next day, I went to town to grab a copy of the paper. I turned to the Viewpoint section and scanned the letters without finding what I was looking for. I did the same thing on following days. I was disappointed.

What irked me was that I expected people to respond to the article, but it was not to be. It was a pointed, provocative and penetrating article. The writer’s main argument was that PNG leaders lacked the philosophical insight to turn the country into a world-class competitive nation.

Because if they can’t think, we shrink.

PHILIP KAUPA

Her days are numbered and it’s surely due
her event is rare as it happens to  few
she gasps and grins, she can hardly talk
her feet are numb, she had to walk.

In love she soaks
in agony she’s shocked;
it‘s love she earns
there’s no point to turn.

The scripture says she must groan
as in pain she turns she had to moan;
her eyes are blurry and bath with tears
she cries and wails she barely hears.

RAYMOND KOMIS GIRANA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

HAKU and Halia are two distinct constituencies which share the same border in the north-eastern coast of Buka in Bougainville.

The word Tsuhana in the Haku and Halian dialects means ‘sacred house’ or ‘chiefs’ house’.

The aim of the Tsuhana is to strive for a harmonious society. We may understand it as ‘Sacred House of Hope’.

Hope is embedded in harmony; sacredness comes from how the people of Buka value Tsuhana.

PAUL WAUGLA WII

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

THE highlands region of Papua New Guinea is known for its tribal warfare. Like all armed conflicts, these fights can have a devastating impact on the lives of people on both sides of the conflicting parties.

I was born and raised within the Kuman society of Simbu. As a result, I have spent my entire 37 years of existence in this world witnessing and becoming a victim of sporadic tribal and clan wars fought within the bounds of my homeland.

The Dagletribe is one of the biggest tribal groups in the Kerowagi district of Simbu.

The Dagle people live towards the north-west of the district, along the border of the newly-created Jiwaka Province.

Like almost every other tribal group in the highlands, the Dagle community is not exempt from the ravages of tribal and inter-clan war known as kunda in the Kuman language spoken in the northern part of Simbu.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

IN the shimmering streets of Buka town last month, a pair of New Guineans and some young Bougainvillean ‘born-agains’ were preaching from the Bible.

Suddenly a young south Bougainvillean went to attack them but was ushered away and put on a boat to cross the Buka Passage.

Seated beside me on the dinghy, he was in tears.

“Who do these redskins think they are?” he asked. “They dug up Panguna and gave us nothing and we went to war for our rights and now they’re coming back to tell us about Jesus.

“They haven’t even compensated us for stealing our wealth and declaring war on us.”

AGNES MAINEKE

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

A means of traditional reconciliation in the Telei language group of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

MARRIAGE is a sacred institution even in today’s more liberal society. But it was much more sacred in traditional Melanesian culture.

When a young man was of marriageable age, his father would search for a suitable partner, usually from his nieces, daughters of the father’s sisters or cousins’ sisters.

This would be done without the son’s knowledge or acquiescence. Even the girl was not consulted as to choice of marriage partner.

KEITH JACKSON

PROFESSOR Allan Patience of the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute has said that there has been a worrying blurring of the separation of powers in Papua New Guinea and that Australian aid seems to have worsened the development situation in PNG.

Prof Patience, speaking with interviewer Geraldine Doogue on ABC’s Radio National, said it was “especially worrying” that Taskforce Sweep which was doing good work in tracking down corruption had been swept aside.

He was also concerned that former Attorney-General Kerenga Kua, “who was one of the best ministers in the Cabinet and one of the most balanced”, had been replaced by somebody likely to do the prime minister's bidding.

KEITH JACKSON

PUKPUK Publishing received an honourable mention in yesterday’s review of the Crocodile Prize Anthology 2015 by Drusilla Modjeska in The Australian newspaper.

And it would be a fair question for readers to ask, ‘Well, what is this upstart? Where does it fit in?’

Like the Crocodile Prize and PNG Attitude, Pukpuk Publishing is a voluntary, not-for-profit project established to both strengthen the Papua New Guinea-Australia relationship and to ensure authors and poets writing about PNG can achieve publication for their work.

In the case of Pukpuk Publishing, its objective is to bring long-form works to publication and to take those books to market in a coherent way.

The entity is the brainchild of Phil Fitzpatrick and it spun out of his magnificent work to bring the Crocodile Prize Anthology to print, which it has done each year since 2011 - even in the fallow period of 2013.

PAUL WAUGLA WII

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

I was up late one recent night thinking about all these terrible events happening around the globe.

My three-year-old son was fast asleep in the other room with his mum. We would wake up tomorrow and it would be another beautiful day in our country home.

We adults would go to work as usual, my little son would roam around the house in pursuit of his own carefree endeavours.

Life for my children would go on in an unbroken rhythm for the foreseeable future, and in that knowledge there is reassurance.

KEITH JACKSON

THIS year’s Rivers Prize for writing about peace and harmony ends tomorrow having received a record number of entries.

With still more than 24 hours to go before the contest closes at midnight, 20 writers – including some of Papua New Guinea’s best known names – have submitted 68 poems, stories and essays to the contest.

The Prize was initiated last year by Val Rivers, a school teacher in PNG in the 1960s, to fulfil her wish to focus attention on issues and subjects related to promoting peace and harmony in communities.

Of the 66 entries received so far, there are 40 poems, 18 essays and 10 short stories.

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

When he is talking
Be harmonious by being a good listener
He will obey you
Even in little things

When he is in penury
Be harmonious by addressing his needs
He will die with admiration for you
An epitome of sharing

THE STAR ONLINE | Kuala Lumpur

CONGLOMERATE Sime Darby Bhd came into the spotlight again this week after it said the Papua New Guinea government had expressed an intention to increase its stake in New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) to 30% from 18% presently.

This led to some confusion about how this would impact Sime Darby’s ongoing buyout offer for NBPOL.

How can Sime Darby ensure that the PNG government gets the additional 12%, as Sime Darby doesn’t yet own any shares in NBPOL, considering that it only recently posted the offer document to the latter’s shareholders?

But that is missing the point: Sime Darby’s chief executive officer and president Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh had said clearly on 9 October (when it first announced the planned takeover of NBPOL), that the ‘buy-in’ of the PNG government was crucial to the deal, making it a long-term partner in NBPOL.

LIAM COCHRANE | ABC PNG Correspondent

PAPUA New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill looks set to go before a leadership tribunal over a controversial loan to buy shares in an oil company.

Earlier this year, Papua New Guinea's government took out a $A1.3 billion loan with the Australian branch of UBS bank to buy shares in the nation's biggest company Oil Search.

The move was controversial, with criticism over the approval and the level of debt incurred by the nation.

Mr O'Neill told media today the country's public prosecutor had asked the chief justice to set up a leadership tribunal to investigate his conduct in relation to the loan.

DRUSILLA MODJESKA | The Australian

THE better part of a decade ago, Papua New Guinean writer Regis Tove Stella said what his country needed was writers, far more of them than there were, to claim, or reclaim, the role of ‘‘visionary’’ and witness.

He concluded his 2007 book, Imagining the Other, with an elegant argument that it was only when the writers and intellectuals served as ‘‘watchdogs’’ alert to the ‘‘bleak’’ political realities and spoke out against corruption and greed — ‘‘the rape of a country’’ — that change would begin where it mattered: in the minds and hearts of a people.

In 2007 in PNG, a time of little publishing and all too few writers, let alone readers, it seemed a frail hope.

But PNG’s people have always been great storytellers and debaters, and while there may not have been many novels published and read since independence in 1975, there have consistently been a few noble souls who have taken the role of witness and poet.

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

WARE Mukale (pictured), until last year Deputy Principal (Administration) of Gumine Secondary School, frequently drove between Gumine and the Simbu provincial capital, Kundiawa, on routine duties.

When driving into the Dom area of the Digine Local Level Government, he was often confronted by road blocks set up by young men.

They were mostly fuelled by drugs and home brew (‘steam’) and took advantage of the commuters from Salt Nomane Karamui, Gumine, Drima, Omkolai and Boromil.

One Tuesday afternoon, Mr Mukale was driving back from Kundiawa when he encountered a road block at Munuma. The fully armed youths demanded K100 otherwise they would take his car keys.

“Boys, I am back from school business,” Mr Mukale said, “and I do not have enough for you. I will give you K50. I only have that amount.”

BERNARD SINGU YEGIORA

BUSA Jeremiah Wenogo’s insightful comment about economic reforms in China is reflective of the measures which China has taken to publicise its economic transformation.

Busa Wenogo stated that China’s gradualist policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping (pictured) could provide the blueprint Papua New Guinea needs to foster development.

The comment led me to think about the lessons PNG can learn from Deng Xiaoping’s reform of China.  There are many, but one need to understand the fundamental changes that happened in China during Deng’s tenure.

After Mao Zedong died, Deng took charge and initiated a series of reforms to change the course of China’s future. He was able to address the developmental needs of that time and help transform the lives of many people in China.

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

Oh triumphant Bougainville, you stand the test of time
Say no to gifts, for they leads to hand-out mentality

Oh sovereign Bougainville, your challenges aren’t over
Say no to dependency, for it leads to exploitation

Oh progressive Bougainville, nothing must impede your way
Say no to double-thought, for it leads to regression

PHILIP G KAUPA

WAY up in the highlands it stands, an almost legendary land of rugged terrain, fast flowing rivers and magical views where the earth meets the sky.

A land its forefathers knew for the rock that dwelt amongst the soil.

Rocks that are the building blocks of the highest peaks; that are sacred; that today bear two cloudy lakes, Piunde and Aunde, once part of the Pacific ring of fire.

Below its misty forest canopy and its icy mountains, its warrior tribes united saw the light the missionaries brought and tasted the salt the kiaps brought.

FIDELIS SUKINA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

Empathy holds fort the understanding for love and respect,
To understand is to know, to feel and to share,
We stay stubborn and find no space to empathise,
We hold grudges and plot a cursed revenge,

What are the positive changes you’ve made, after revenge?
Life moves on for us, but souls of the dammed strive for peace which even vespers, cannot offer,
Woe is me, if I be a remorseful person, why must my act of good will go unpraised, but your act in time of the afflicted was shameful,
Quit your pride and see how society is cruel, it makes you watch but yet feel guilty as a victim is beaten, a mother is robbed,

KEITH JACKSON

THE Global Witness organisation was blunt in its effort to (rightly) bring pressure on the Papua New Guinea government's SABL antics before this week’s rainforest conference in Australia.

Global Witness campaigns to expose the 'economic networks behind conflict, corruption and environmental destruction'.

“The PNG government has blithely ignored its citizen’s constitutional rights to their land,” said an official, Rick Jacobsen.

“[It] is allowing the decimation of forests of critical importance - both for local health and livelihoods and for keeping global atmospheric carbon at safe levels.

“The PNG delegation has a lot to hide at today’s rainforest summit,” he said.

But it seems that Global Witness and other NGOs failed to connect with those Papua New Guineans who had made the effort to travel to Sydney to try to turn bluster into action.

WARDLEY DESMOND BARRY-IGIVISA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

Good old days and my good old tumbuna, they ever soar the skies together,
Like steady streams kissing the banks as it flows down spirit-filled ridges.
The latter wears away as the bond between them grows deeper;
The former desires to hurt not, but love, at heart, hurts nevertheless.

This perennial love between water and land brushes on to the men
And women who eat from the land and drink from its steady streams,
While pain flies before them as they chase their youthful, picayune yen;
For pain and pleasure are one, so are labor and love, defeats and dreams.

AGNES RITA MAINEKE

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

THE Grade 8 exams had come to an end by half past eleven on the Thursday and some of the girls had already planned their celebration of the milestone.

Whether they had done well or not wasn’t a criterion; just that they had completed their exams.

The first celebration venue was in the bushes along the old Airport Road.

One of the girls had bought a bottle of homebrew with money they had collected.

As soon as they finished lunch, which their mothers had brought, they made a bee-line for the rendezvous.

BENITA BAGASEL

It’s a long, rough, stretchy road
The road that has brought so much talk
in the old times and at present
The road that can make or break a person
The road that changed from informal to formal

It was free in the days of grass skirts and bare-chested women
Today it costs the skin on the back of a fisherman
And the sweat from the forehead of mother in the market
Just so Ranu can join other children in the tin roof building

GEORGE KUIAS

IT would take Angela, from Bur village on the border of Nuku (Sandaun) and Ambunti (East Sepik), almost seven hours to get medical attention at the nearest health centre in Mirsey.

She started walking at five o’clock in the morning with assistance from the village birth attendant, Vero, and her husband, Michael.

Angela had experienced labour pains for three days and decided not to deliver at home.

On the way, Angela would stop and grab trees or vines as support to withstand the labour pains.

The membrane that kept baby’s floating in the womb ruptured due to pressure. The baby’s head kept on pressing down the pelvis.

LEONARD FONG ROKA

DURING September’s Crocodile Prize event in Port Moresby, I was asked by people from the media and communications division of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) to visit their office in Buka bringing with me my curriculum vitae.

Upon arriving in Bougainville a month later, I sat down with executive officer Robert Anesia in his office near the Buka airport terminal and he briefed me on what his communications division was doing.

After our chat, he took my papers and told me to wait for a few days.

It was during this period that the Chief Administrator of Bougainville sent me a text message offering me a position as research officer with his office.

KEITH JACKSON

I was sharing a beer with a Papua New Guinean politician not long ago when I casually asked what proportion of PNG members of parliament he reckoned were either corrupt or silent fellow travellers of corruption.

He sat quietly for a while, counting on his fingers. It soon became clear he was tallying up the good guys.

“About 90% – the bad ones or the ones who know a lot and say nothing,” the MP said.

At this time, 15 members of the 111 member national parliament are under investigation for corruption and other ‘white collar’ crimes.

That’s about 13%. But it doesn’t count the ones who say nothing.

PHILIP G KAUPA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

I feel that it is worth appreciating some special individuals and groups of people who, behind the scenes, spend their time and energy praying for our country, Papua New Guinea.

If you are one of them, entreating and praying, you have a patriotic heart and God will bless you abundantly.

Let me take a moment to show you some of the results of your prayers:

GARY JUFFA

LET me explain. It was quoted that someone in Oro mentioned, "Gavna pairap pairap olsem klaut i pairap tasol nogat rain pundaun!"

[The Governor’s very angry, like thunder without rain.]

Yet another critic. I welcome critics. They fuel my fire, keep me going, keep me burning.

I guess I had not done enough to tell people what I was doing; it just wasn't in my nature.

I tasked the Oro Administration to report on our achievements and what we were doing, but perhaps they were too busy and it never happened.

Well it was my fault, the buck stops at the top and I didn’t follow up.

Also we had diverted available funds to our Disaster Readiness Capacity so we could respond quickly to catastrophe. Saving lives was more important than informing people.

That said, It is always an awesome feeling  to witness the materialisation of your hard work.

The Four Bridges Project is a combined Australia-PNG government enterprise with a budget of more than K400 million to construct the four main bridges in Oro washed away by Cyclone Guba’s terrible floods in 2007. 

THOMAS OKUN

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

THIS poem recites methods used in traditional times in the highlands provinces to achieve and maintain peace it.

The bird of paradise plumes were an important form of wealth. Even very important activities such as payment of brides price was done with plumes.

Moka is an elaborate and prolonged public ceremony that involves giving away large numbers of pigs and amounts of food to make peace.

In times past,
Life was like a scent grandpa could smell.
It was a must,
for him to discriminate it well.

HARRY WEST

Graham Taylor, A Kiap’s Story: A decade in the life and work of an Australian Patrol Officer in the Kokoda, Madang, New Britain, New Ireland and Sepik Regions of Papua New Guinea 1948-1958, ISBN: 978-1502703453, 402 pages, including illustrations. Pukpuk Publishing.  Available from Amazon Books, Paperback $20, Kindle $4.66

AT 92, and as one of the very few surviving kiaps who served throughout the 30 year Trusteeship period in Papua New Guinea between the Pacific War’s end in 1945 and Independence in 1975, and having read scores of books on New Guinea, I did not expect at this late stage to come upon such a gem as this one.

Australia’s initial reluctant involvement in the New Guinea region was totally a strategic and defence consideration and, in prolonged and harsh economic times, development had a very low priority.

In 1945, apart from a narrow coastal fringe and the island regions (ravaged by the war), most of Papua New Guinea remained in its stone-age slumber, substantially undisturbed by external world influences.

JIMMY AWAGL

THREE infants died when a semi-permanent house burned to ashes on Monday night at Gera village on the Highlands Highway in Simbu Province.

Two young mothers aged 25 left their homes for a card game the next house just 15 meters away when the nightmare began.

Two five month old babies and a five year old child were on a common bed asleep when it is believed a nearby hurricane lamp caused the fire.

It is thought an outstretched arm or leg tipped the lamp over, spilling kerosene over the mattress.

The flames set the mattress alight and quickly spread to the pitpit wall.

The fire soon engulfed the building with flames and smoke so thick that no-one could rescue the kids.

RAYMOND GIRANA | Catholic Reporter

BISHOP Rochus Tatamai of Bereina Diocese has called upon various arms of government to take the lead in assisting remote communities in the mountains of Goilala in the Central Province.

Social services such as health, education and pastoral presence are needed in these areas. Missionaries, public servants and ordinary people have died over the years trying to provide services to the people in the mountains while travelling on small planes.

“There is no other way around for places like Guari-Kamulai, Fane, Ononghe, Jongai and Kerau, but through flying into the mountains on small planes”, Bishop Rochus said.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

AS an economist, I am fascinated by Papua New Guineans’ home-grown salesmanship. It seems to be the hallmark of our informal economy.

Driven by the lack of meaningful opportunities, most of youths and adults end up plying their raw business traits on the side of the road or in public areas.

Most of them pick up the mannerisms through simple observation as they are forced to take up these activities for survival’s sake.

Although considered by many people to represent a breakdown in social order, these traders nevertheless play an increasingly important role in the urban economy of PNG.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

IT is overwhelming when one tries to comprehend the pace of development taking place in Port Moresby.

A drive around the city gives a clear impression of the huge level of investment the national government is putting into the Papua New Guinea capital in the hope of transforming it into one of the best cities in the Pacific.

The amount of money spent so far has already reached the billon kina mark. The much talked about flyover at Erima is alone costing K800 million.

This is just one of the many huge impact projects that the government through the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) is embarking on.

PHILIP G KAUPA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

If life's meant to be fair
why hardly share
it's noble to give
to help one live
but high you walk

and to me, you rarely talk
you call me beggar
I do it better
In the streets we meet
I look not high but, at your feet

MATHIAS KIN

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

FATHER John Nilles (1905-93), who was to be accorded the Simbu name Kawagl,  was born in a small town in Germany, the eldest of five children.

As a young boy, he was captivated by stories about missionaries in faraway places. So at an early age he decided he was going to become a missionary and serve in these lands.

He fulfilled his childhood dream and became a priest, entering the Society of Divine Word (SVD) of Father Arnold Janssen. His superiors selected him to come to New Guinea.

In 1936, Fr Nilles left Germany for New Guinea. In mid-July 1937, on a sunny day, he flew over the Bismarck Range into the Simbu Gorge in a small mission plane and landed at Mingende.

MICHAEL GEKETA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

When he is talking
Be harmonious by being a good listener
He will obey you
Even in little things

When he is in penury
Be harmonious by addressing his needs
He will die with admiration for you
An epitome of sharing

JOHNNY BLADES

Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face by David Robie, Little Island Press, 362pp, $40, ISBN 9781877484254. Mail order from the publisher here

SOMETIMES, to make sense of chaos in our world today, we look back at the chaos of yesteryear.

It can give context, remind us which paths have been taken, where mistakes have been made.

Similarly, it’s sometimes not until we look at what’s happening elsewhere in our region that we get a gist of what’s happening in our own individual countries.

But what happens when access to that context is impaired, or missing in action? Stories remain hidden. Abuses are repeated, failures accumulate.

ARNOLD MUNDUA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

WHEN I was a kid in the 1970s the yagl-ingu culture was still popular in Simbu. Yagl-ingu literally means ‘men’s house’ in the Kuman dialect.

It was a big house often constructed with two main doors and erected in the centre of communal ground.

ESPN

Papua New Guinea 264 for 7 (Siaka 109, Morea 65*) defeated Hong Kong 261 (Hayat 56, Rath 55, Vanua 4-60, Gavera 3-49) by three wickets

VANI Morea slammed the second ball of the final over of the chase to the midwicket boundary to confirm Papua New Guinea's second victory over Hong King this weekend.

It made PNG the first team to win their first two ODIs and sparked emotional scenes - their captain Chris Amini choked back tears as he spoke after the win, while the team joyously belted out a victory song.

The chase of 262 had been guided by No 3 Lega Siaka (pictured), who scored his country's first ODI century. In the 42nd over, however, he thumped the ball towards long-on, and though Morea was always keen for the second, Siaka seemed less enthusiastic and was run out at the keeper's end.

PETER DELLA PENNA | ESPN Cricket

CHRIS Amini didn't need to say anything.

As the Papua New Guinea captain struggled to fight back tears (pictured) in an on-camera interview following Papua New Guinea's two-match maiden ODI series sweep over Hong Kong, his emotions conveyed what a historic moment this was in the island nation's rich but relatively little-known cricket history.

PNG didn't arrive on this stage overnight. As Tim Wigmore and Gideon Haigh have detailed, painstaking efforts have been made on and off the field over the last several years to get PNG to Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville.

Former Australia international Andy Bichel played a central role in that. Back in 2011, he told ESPNcricinfo about the amount of pride he had in helping to change the culture of cricket in Papua New Guinea as director of cricket.

PHILIP KAUPA

An entry in the Rivers Prize for
Writing on Peace & Harmony

A war achieves mischief
yet taken as a measure for peace
its taste is terror and not ease
war hungers for calamity in heaps
like a thirsty wolf that preys the sheep

Music is the sound of war cry and guns
that a warrior dances fiercely like fun
abiding rules of retreat and engage thay run
although the price is depression they never learn
enough to understand that death they earn

A PNG NGO alleges Australia is complicit in illegal logging. CHRIS OVERLAND urges that evidence be presented to authorities

I deplore the destruction of PNG's beautiful forests by logging and related activities. It is simply scandalous environmental vandalism for the most part.

Various accusations are made in this article, whereby unspecified Australian individuals and institutions are said to be aiding and abetting the criminal actions of corrupt officials.

I have no doubt at all that someone, somewhere in Australia will be implicated in all this. Where ever there is money there is corruption, whether it be in PNG, this country or elsewhere.

BOMAI D WITNE

DIFFERENT societies treat death and burial differently. In Papua New Guinea, the death of a family member or relative is a time when nuclear, extended, clan and tribal members come together to mourn the dead person for a few days or even weeks.

Every person that is present at the haus krai is related to the deceased in some way.

It is usual that no one says bad things about the deceased at the haus krai. Everyone says something good. Those who have bad things to say know when, where and who to share with.

It is increasingly evident that the haus krai is becoming an expensive exercise. Hospital morgues are now a transit place for the corpses of commoners.

JIMMY AWAGL

THE Lutheran Women’s Ministry of Membi Tamba in Simbu has exchanged baskets with the Women’s Ministry of Wau in Morobe on Saturday.

The Lutheran Church women’s ministry plays a pivotal role in sustaining the essence of spreading the gospel in Papua New Guinea.

The mothers from Wau arrived at Ku in Simbu with nine truckloads of gifts and other items to exchange.

The program commenced with devotion and welcome remarks from the Membi Tamba Circuit president, Korugl Yauma Wiskey.

CRICKET WORLD

Papua New Guinea 203-6 (Amini 60 no) d Hong Kong 202 (Atkinson 60) by four wickets in Townville

PAPUA New Guinea has made its first One-Day International appearance one to remember by beating Hong Kong by four wickets in the first of two matches in Townsville, Queensland.

The two sides were awarded ODI status following the World Cup Qualifier earlier this year and this was PNG's first match against another of the top 16 sides in the world since.

They chased down a target of 203 in 40 overs to ensure a winning start in ODI cricket while, for Hong Kong, this was their seventh ODI defeat since their first match in 2004.

Batting first, Hong Kong was bowled out for 202 in 48.3 overs with the wickets being shared among the PNG bowlers.

BAL KAMA | Dev Policy Blog

THE controversy surrounding Papua New Guinea’s prime minister Peter O’Neill’s alleged involvement in the ‘Parakgate’ affair continues.

In early July, I provided a brief background of the issue which you can read here.

In particular, that post analysed the National Court’s decision on 1 July 2014 where it responded to four of the most important questions that underlie current events:

Was the arrest warrant against the Prime Minister valid?

Should the court restrain the police from exercising the arrest warrant?

Were the government officials and investigators ‘politically motivated’?

Will the Prime Minister be free from any criminal liability if the legal bills are deemed to be valid?