MARTYN NAMORONG

I am often asked when my next piece of writing will appear in PNG Attitude. It’s something that has bothered me – keeping in touch with Uncle Keith, Ben Jackson and my PNG Attitude friends. So what have I been up to?

FOR the past year or two I have actually been doing a lot of writing for various publications in addition to providing public relations and political risk analysis to various clients.

I’ve also been voluntarily assisting Papua New Guinea’s civil society organisations to become a strong and formidable force through the extractive industries transparency initiative (EITI).

EITI is about tracking revenues as they are transferred from industry to government and then from the government coffers into various projects.

KEITH JACKSON

PRESIDENT of the Crocodile Prize Organisation, COG, Jimmy Drekore, will attend the annual Brisbane Writers Festival from 4-6 September this year.

The Festival is a great meeting place for people associated with literature in Australia and overseas – authors, journalists, administrators, supporters and readers.

COG member Bob Cleland has been dealing with Festival organisers, who say they are keen, in future years, to have Papua New Guinea officially represented in the festival.

JOHN MOMIS | President, Autonomous Bougainville Government

Bougainville President Dr John Momis has released a statement about the failure of NGO Jubilee Australia to substantively respond to three letters he sent last year raising questions about its report on Panguna landowner views on mining. In the letters Dr Momis questioned Jubilee’s research methodology, false claims, serious factual errors and perceived bias on the part of its research partners....

JUBILEE Australia proudly proclaims to be a scientific research organisation. But your research on Bougainville has been unethical and deeply flawed.

The Jubilee Report was clearly based on false assumptions, and those same assumptions have been evident in claims made both at many points in your report, and in statements by your CEO, that there is near unanimous opposition to mining in the landowner communities in the former leases associated with the Panguna mine.

ANTHONY KAYBING

GRAND Chief Dr John Momis yesterday nominated as he readies for his second term as Bougainville President.

The President and his running mate, Vice-President and Member for Halia, Patrick Nisira, received overwhelming support from Bougainvilleans as they lodged their nominations in Buka as representatives of the New Bougainville Party.

After nominating, President Momis also launched the campaign of the New Bougainville Party, pledging to do more for the people of Bougainville.

He reminded the crowd of what his government has done for Bougainville, including projects carried out in conjunction with the PNG national government.

Vice President Patrick Nisira said the Momis-Nisira government offered effective leadership in its last five-year term.

Drawing and words: ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration

MY portrait of the Kumul and the Crocodile came from my inspiration to show my appreciation of the Crocodile Prize literary competition.

The Kumul signifies the writers, poets and artist from all across Papua New Guinea.

The Crocodile symbolise the competition which draws the attention of the Kumul.

The mountain is Mt Wilhelm which represents the Simbu Writers Association (SWA) - the host for the 2015 Crocodile Prize awards in September.

Let the pencil speak…..

Iso Yawi, 23, from  Kubalia in East Sepik, is a graduate telecommunications technician currently living in Lae who is still looking for a job. He has a passion to write novels, poetry and short stories

CHIPS MACKELLAR

WHEN the search for the missing MH370 Malaysian Airways jet is finally over, it will be an amazing story to tell.  But there is another amazing story of loss at sea, not as spectacular as that of MS370 but with a happy ending.

I was Assistant District Commissioner Trobriand Islands when one day a blind man on Alcester Island lay down on a beached canoe in the warmth of the afternoon sun and dozed off to sleep.

No one on the island took any notice of him as they were used to seeing him asleep on beached canoes.  But later, when his family went to fetch him for dinner, they found the canoe had gone.

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

DIO’S mouth was filled with buai (betel nut), his right hand on the grimy steering wheel, his left holding a cigarette which he puffed on carelessly.

He wore beach shorts with pictures of coconut trees and surfboards and he was shirtless.

His hairy chest and flat abdomen and his straight back were the main eye candy for the women passengers. His biceps protruded as he held the wheel and when he changed the gear, the muscles bulged on his left arm. He was absolute.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THE Erima flyover bridge is the first truly remarkable example of public infrastructure built in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific.

Costing K160 million, its construction represents a noteworthy achievement for the government and people of PNG.

Prior to the construction of the bridge, the Erima shopping centre was linked to the Erima Settlements located near Waigani Golf Course by a couple of tracks that ran through the old Hugo sawmill.

EMMA TUNNE WAKPI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

HIS anguished cry battered my cocoon of serenity. The gasping sobs tore away the ambience of security he had woven around me, jolting me out of my innocence and exposing me to the glare of reality.

He never cried in our presence, never in front of strangers, nothing fazed him. He could face any situation, stare down any threat in order to maintain stability in his world.

But there he was down the hall, a meter or two away, slumped over, groaning, being comforted by the doctor. My hero was defeated.

Fear grasped at my gut, shrieking wildly into the crevices of my mind, its echoes stomping at my heart and roaring through my veins jarring every fibre of my being till I shook. Mum! Mum! Something must be terribly wrong with Mum!

A question of identity

MARGARET BROWNJOHN

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Where are you from?
…one of the most loaded questions I think people can get this day and age...
Does that mean where I was born?
Where my parents are from?
What language I speak at home or what language I am capable of speaking?
How I carry myself or how I dress?
What food I like to eat?

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

ON a Friday at 3pm, Kerenga left Mt Wilhelm Secondary School to walk the same track upon which he had been attacked to retrieve his stolen property which was now held at Giai Nigle village.

He trekked the seemingly unending slopes of Sigl Nigle and Gonduma Kane until he reached the virgin jungle of Yomba Kun.

At five, after two hours hard walking, he rested for a while at the peak of the bush track before descending downhill through thick jungle as the insects and birds said their evening prayers and chanted their final melodies for the day.

As the last rays of the setting sun finally vanished, the darkness brought a canopy of shadows to cover the jungle.

TERENCE AKO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Below the mountains
In the foothills
Is a hamlet

And in this hamlet a group of young men
Gather together like a school of fish
Like hungry children awaiting dinner

The night has matured and is cold
With a silent breeze coming from the mountains

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

LAST week’s death of Pastor Tom Waula, son of the Korul clan of the Dinga tribe and student at the University of Goroka, brought shared sadness to relatives, students, staff, managers and surrounding communities of the university.

But the bond created by Tom’s death also displayed the splendid ideals of contemporary Melanesian culture.

Melanesian tribal communities possess many attributes: frequent interaction, identifying with one another, sharing the same beliefs, values, and norms, commonality of interest, defining ourselves as a group, and coming together to work on common tasks for agreed purposes.

Tribal peoples assemble at agreed space and time to discuss and address issues that affect the common good.

Words LAPIEH LANDU | Illustration EMMANUEL LANDU

Entries in the Crocodile Prize
SP Brewery Award for Illustration
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

IN the silence of the enclosed room, there they were, Mehere’s two sons and daughters sitting in stillness.

At one end of the room, Harry with his guitar, Mathew with his bible and Lillian holding the palms of Mehere’s warm frail hands. Virginia looked helplessly into the old woman’s sweet face.

There she lay, small, frail and feeble. It was hard to grasp how a woman of such great strength was now so helpless and sick.

With a long history of cancer sticks and excessive betel nut chewing, the consequences were now beating her down in old age.

PHILIP KAUPA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

If life is like a flower
Must I not stretch my fragile bloom
Or can my petals not mount a tower
If a flower is what I am, is it impossible to spark an honourable bloom

I will wilt and wear as a flower should
But can I be with a legacy behind
Can they say the lily is better than the rose would
If a carpet plant is what I am, let me bloom for all to find

As long as I can glitter under the glowing sun
Through the good or bad let me be there
Let me be the hub that all birds and insects have fun
My stem and stalk may not carry me higher but at least I blossom for the bees I care

If a flower is what I am
I must live while I can

PRESIDENT JOHN MOMIS | Autonomous Bougainville Government

ON Thursday the Autonomous Bougainville Government passed a new Bougainville mining law rejecting the terrible past of misery, destruction and conflict caused by the former colonial mining law.

Under the law, the rights and the needs of the owners of the minerals will be given the highest level of protection.  In particular, owners will have power to stop exploration on their land or the grant of a mining licence over their land.

If Bougainville landowners do allow mining development they will be entitled to rents and compensation, a share of royalties, proper treatment under resettlement plans and programs, preference in mining employment and business related opportunities, five percent free equity ownership in the mine lease holder and much more.

RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL

A prominent West Papuan activist says his movement's relationship with Papua New Guinea is stronger than ever and his recent deportation from the capital Port Moresby was over visa issues.

Benny Wenda (pictured), who is the spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, was detained by immigration officials when in Port Moresby on Tuesday when it emerged he did not have the required visa.

Mr Wenda had flown from Britain, where he is based, to transit on his way to visit supporters around the Pacific region.

ARNOLD MUNDUA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Paga Hill Development Company
Award for Writing for Children

THERE was a logging boom in Kandrian in the 1990s and the local Arawe landowners were flooded with money.

A group of seven Arawes got money for their timber and were on a spending spree when they ended up in one of the rooms at Hoskins Hotel for some drinks.

While they were drinking, one of them felt like taking a pee. He excused himself to his friends and was on his way to the toilet, which was located at the other end of the building.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

BACK in my kiap days it was quite common in the more remote districts for long patrols to be resupplied by airdrop. I have been on both the dropping and receiving sides of such operations.

The supplies most commonly dropped were food, usually rice and tinned fish or meat. At other times it might have been medical supplies like penicillin or specialist articles such as radio batteries and ammunition.

To get the food ready for a drop required opening the rice bags, which weighed around 20 kilograms each, and distributing half a dozen tins among the grains of rice. The bag was then tied shut before being placed in another bag, which was also tied shut but with room for movement.

JEFFREY MANE FEBI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Award for Poetry

Just like animals
Run free with me today
Forever on a foray
Notice our horns locking
They are our heritage
Stomp our paws

Just like an animal
Fly free with me today
Forever on a foray
Hear our chirps synchronise
They are our prestige
Flap harder our wings

LISA KIPA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THAT dreadful sound of the alarm clock - awakening me suddenly from my sleep. Look around in a daze. If only I could stay in bed a few moreminutes….

Living in Gerehu, one of the largest suburbs in Port Moresby, five is the most convenient time to wake up and get ready to leave for school or work.

Why? Well you don’t want to get stuck in traffic, which would take 30 to 40 minutes to negotiate, depending on what time you leave.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

For just a penny we take our brethren’s life as worthless.

Our hearts made penniless by greed.

With life and hope squeezed out there is not a dime of kindness left in our hearts.

We are lost in this tempest of madness.

We squabbled over scraps left for the amusement of kings, queens and nobles.

Not once since we arrived have we dined in our own quarters like decent human beings.

Or treated like war heroes who have bled for their nation’s glory.

THE ECONOMIST

SHOULD America be concerned that Chinese aid to the military micro-state of Fiji has now eclipsed that of Australia, previously its biggest donor?

That is one the central issues raised by a new report published this month by the Lowy Institute, a think-tank based in the Australian city of Sydney.

The institute calculates that China has forked out nearly $1.5 billion in bilateral aid to the Pacific region since 2006—more than France or the European Union, and closing in on aid levels from the long-time Pacific partners of Japan and New Zealand.

AGNES RITA MAINEKE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

WE had celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on Sunday 15 August with our faithful and brave shepherd, Fr Dario, an SVD priest from Italy.

During the Bougainville civil war, Fr Dario was the only person in the Siwai District who would travel to the areas controlled by the two opposing factions, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and the Resistance with their ‘masters’, the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

Haisi, where our family was situated, was a BRA stronghold and regarded none too favourably by the Resistance. It was much targeted because the BRA leaders were said to be residing in the environs of Haisi and there planning their manoeuvres.

BOMAI D WITNE

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THE late Pastor Tom Waula was a son of the Korul clan of the Dinga tribe in the Suwai Local Level Government, Sinasina Yongomugl District in Simbu Province.

He was born in 1965 and died last Sunday, leaving behind his wife from the Mian tribe of the Gumine District and six children, the youngest of whom is ten.

He left his Giuemai village and his tribal people to serve as a pastor with the Papua New Guinea Bible Church in Simbu and Jiwaka provinces then settled in Goroka until his death parted him from family. He worked with the church for more than three decades.

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

AFTER the new year, Kerenga left Parua village to visit his brother who was teaching at Mt Wilhelm Secondary School in Simbu Province.

It was a bright Sunday morning as he left Parua with two bags: one with his clothes, the other with his books.

He walked along that famous track linking Yongomugl and Gembogl.

He ascended the steep slope while the sun’s rays lit the tree tops and glistened off the track.  

Kerenga regretted bitterly leaving behind his loved ones as he headed into a foreign land.

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Government Award for Short Stories

MOSES stood in one of those long queues at the bank. He usually complained a lot, but today he was in a different mood.

He watched the other customers withdrawing, depositing, enquiring…. Some just stood in the queue to change notes into coins. He watched the different kinds of earthlings, tall, short, handsome, ugly, fat, thin, old, young, women, men.

All doing their banking, the greatest invention of all, Moses believed, apart from the alphabet.

When his turn came, Moses knew the teller would say ‘next’ and then Moses would walk over and forget about the other people in the queue and try to look like a millionaire.

KEITH JACKSON

MY old mate Dave Lornie, still writing for the PNG Post-Courier after all this time, has been given the daunting task of working on a major project to celebrate 40 years of Papua New Guinea’s Independence.

This includes daily features and supplements which will start in the newspaper in August this year with a hardcover book to be published in mid-2016.

PNG Attitude readers who were active in PNG affairs 40 or more years ago could be a vital link in this project.

Many of you have written material that has been published in this blog and which I’d like you to consider republishing as part of the Post-Courier’s great project.

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THE waves surged my feet, firmly buried in the sand. The salt water felt warm and inviting yet I dreaded the ocean’s enormity.

I envied those who had mastered the skills of seafaring; capable of swimming, diving and paddling for fishing or travelling from one place to another.

They who had become proficient in the art of building canoes with their wonderful navigational skills to make their way to their destination through ever-changing wind and strong currents.

As I sat there gazing out to the sea, I admired its infinite wonder and beauty. The white sand of the beach and the crystal water took my breath away. I indulged in every iota of sensation it offered me.

ISO YAWI

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

I write with a vibrant heart
My blood and bones bare witness
My emotions, and every single cell, says so

I write with a different mindset
My brain and hands aid me
As I cast the ink on paper

I write with a peculiar mandate
To change the course of a nation
With my biro as a small radar

I write with a fire burning within me
The passion, zeal and drive for literature
Let it ignite my soul to write more.

JAMES PERKINS | Mining Innovation News

BARRICK Gold refutes the legal merit of a billion dollar compensation suit lodged by the Justice Foundation for Porgera.

The group filed its legal complaint last week on the grounds of “irreparable losses as a result of social, economic and environmental damages”, which JFP claims were caused by Barrick’s Porgera gold mine.

JFP says that Barrick’s subsidiary, Barrick Niugini, violated environmental standards, improperly relocated local residents and breached agreements concerning fly-in-fly-out workers.

Barrick has replied by stating the company agrees with the assessment of a Papua New Guinea state solicitor who, when reviewing a similar issue, said the claims had no legal merit.

MARLENE DEE GRAY POTOURA

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

THROUGHOUT the years I have run my little school, I’ve been heartbroken to lose two beautiful students to Thalassemia.

Children are such lively, innocent and happy humans; their world full of nothing but play and laughter.

They emerge at recess and lunchtime with so much energy, running around the playground, jumping everywhere and, of course, at times just annoying each other.

Once in a while, they come running to me with complains that seem trivial to us big people, but to them, goodness, they’re most important!

BUSA JEREMIAH WENOGO

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

ALONG the streets of Port Moresby roam the wannabe gangsters with guns in their heads. They’re on a rampage in search of fame, spilling aerosol on the sidewalk and the corrugated sheets.

Too much Chingy has them hallucinating. They rhyme like B I G Notorious but they are no friend to 2Pac.

On the sidewalk they bounce and rap their way out of the trivial matters of life. With cheap bling around their necks, they come to make a statement on behalf of the outcast and down trodden.

They take their corner of Moresby as if it was the Bronx where men with guns rule and the jackpot is weed. It’s a big slap in the face for their old folks who toil through life shedding the usual blood, sweat and tears.

MICHAEL KISOMBO | National Museum & Art Gallery

AN exhibition of exceptional works of art from the extensive collection of Papua New Guinea’s National Museum and Art Gallery is to be held to mark 40 years of Independence and display the foundations of the nation’s unique identity.

The Built on Culture exhibition, beginning in September, will feature more than 90 outstanding works from the museum’s collection of 80,000 objects. The exhibition will cover artwork from each of PNG’s 21 provinces and the National Capital District.

It will include enigmatic stone sculptures from thousands of years ago as well as paintings and prints by Mathias Kauage, Jakupa Ako and Timothy Akis, who, at the time of PNG’s Independence, forged a unique style of art fusing traditional stories with new forms of expression.

From the Museum’s storerooms will come stunning headdresses, masks and ceremonial objects not seen since they were worn in performances in remote villages.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

EVERY few years I dig out Bertrand Russell’s famous essay, In Praise of Idleness, and re-read it. This year a couple of newspaper articles caused me to go looking for it.

It is a great restorative for the kind of lifestyle I eventually adopted after a number of false starts.

Download Bertrand Russell - In Praise of Idleness

Russell was an English philosopher and the essay was published in 1935 but it still has an authentic ring to it. That it has prevailed all these years is testament to the power of the essay as social comment.

He was, I suppose, a leftie, whatever that means, so he enjoyed taking the piss out of the establishment.

In the essay he says, “I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous …”

CHIPS MACKELLAR | PNGAA Library

The Crocodile Prize Organisation acknowledges the
PNG Association of Australia Publishing Program

WHEN I first went to Mount Hagen in the early 1950s, the District was then in the grip of development fever.

It was the final frontier of Papua New Guinea, where planters were staking out their empires along the Wahgi Valley, and the Government was opening up the District to contact with the outside world.

This was done by building a network of roads and airstrips, and the developmental pace was of necessity so brisk, that it called for the highest qualities of coordination and leadership.

Predecessor to such equally famous Western Highlands District Commissioners as Tom Ellis, Mick Foley and Bob Bell, the DC during my era was Major R.I. Skinner, MC RAA (Retd.)

THOMAS OKUN

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

When the day has run its course,
This weary soul seeks rejuvenation,
And if I’ve done my labors and chores
A battered spirit envious recuperation.

My worn out physique craves rest,
The man in me  is seduced,
These eyes are put to the test,
My conscience is ambushed,

BUSINESS ADVANTAGE PNG

PAPUA New Guinea’s central bank has moved to stop offshore foreign banks, which don’t operate in PNG, trading in the Kina.

From this month, people and companies wanting to trade in Kina and foreign currencies will only be able to use one of six authorised dealers.

Since July last year, after the Bank intervened to peg the Kina against the US dollar and define a tighter trading range, individuals and companies have been opening offshore accounts, keeping income offshore, rather than repatriating it.

Only licensed banks will be able to accept deposits, provide loans and convert currency (Kina and foreign currency), said the Governor of the BPNG, Loi Bakani.

MATHIAS KIN

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Cleland Family Award for Heritage Writing

THE Simbu people of Keri baked their own salt from a sulphur stream at Pleme by the banks of the Wahgi River.

No neighbouring tribe could bake salt. The process was too complex, it was cumbersome and required special skills.

And anyway, the Keris were the owners of this rare resource and solely decided on benefit sharing.

This salt is known in the Keri language as pel and salt baking is pel gauga. Salt baking is very laborious and the whole process may take up to a month before a salt cake is produced.

MICHAEL DOM

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

 Created 19 March, 2015 at Labu Station, Morobe Province

FR JOHN M GLYNN | WeCare Foundation

THE spiritually poor need above all to have a sense of belonging and of being loved, valued, and cared for. It is only when we experience being loved, valued and cared for that we are able to love ourselves.

It is only then that we can come to love, value and care for others, and this leads to loving God. Jesus calls on us to ‘Love God, and your neighbour as yourself’(e.g. Mk.12:30,31). The spiritual journey leads from myself - the acceptance of Christ in me, through my neighbour - the experience of Christ in the world, to God - the discovery of God in Christ.

The spiritually poor need to be lead on this journey from self through the world to God, and this journey can be supported by giving them the experience of pastoral care.

Devotional practice - worship, prayer, liturgical exercises - does not equate to, or substitute for, the spiritual life. Love must come before lotu.

MARTINEZ WASUAK

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Dedicated to young people to make wise choices in their love life

Do I pretend, I don’t know
I look into your eyes to love you
But I can’t, this brick of hate
Stand like a blockage, the eyes passes not
I don’t know whether I love you or I hate you

I knock on the brick of hate
When it listens, I smile to love you
But, suddenly your past flows like a river
To an innocent mind, when you lighting up the past
I don’t know whether I love you or I hate you

INTERNATIONAL MINING FOR DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

INDUSTRY, academic, civil society and government stakeholders gathered in Port Moresby last week to discuss the future of resource development and human well-being in Papua New Guinea.

The keynote speech was delivered by National Planning Minister Charles Abel (pictured), who provided participants with an insight into the government’s plans for the next five years and the goals for PNG as part of Vision 2050.

The conference was opened by Australian High Commissioner Deborah Stokes and United Nations Resident Representative Roy Trivedi. Experts presented papers on a range of topics including measuring development goals in resource project impact areas and the collection of statistics in Papua New Guinea.

PETER KRANZ

MALCOLM Fraser, Australia's 22nd prime minister, died early yesterday morning aged 84.

One little known story about Fraser’s time as Defence Minister under Liberal prime minister John Gorton was that he averted Australian military intervention in Papua New Guinea during the Mataungan uprising of 1970.

Gorton wanted to send Australian troops to the Gazelle Peninsula to restore order during a period of civil unrest.

Gorton was intending to do this without involving Cabinet by getting the Governor-General to sign an Order In Council to authorise it.

But word got to Fraser ,who was outraged as he had clear principles about in which circumstances the military should be used and he did not believe that, in this case, it was appropriate.

MARTINEZ WASUAK

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum
Award for Essays & Journalism

IT is the common dream of many students privileged to take their places in the PNG Studies and International Relations Department at Divine Word University to one glorious day undertake foreign service training.

The inspiration was built up by insights derived from our international relations studies and the challenging advice from lecturer Samuel Roth, the man described by student Maria Dolores Biaun as “a walking, talking IR dictionary.

Over the course of seven years, the humble and dedicated Samuel Roth successfully established a golden bridge between his academic department and the Department of Foreign Affairs through the Foreign Affairs Award.

ESPRESSO COMMUNICATIONS

THE Justice Foundation for Porgera (JFP), which represents landowners in Papua New Guinea’s Porgera region, is seeking billions of dollars in compensation from Barrick Niugini.

JFP has submitted a statement to Barrick Gold outlining irreparable losses as a result of social, economic and environmental damage caused by the Porgera gold mine.

The statement claims that landowners’ livelihoods were catastrophically changed as a result of the almost doubling of open pit mining which was agreed in 1989, and that Barrick Niugini breached agreements aboutenvironmental standards, relocation of displaced landowners and the number of fly-in, fly-out workers.

Barrick recently announced its intention to sell its interests in PNG as part of a debt reduction plan. The statement puts the company on notice to disclose landowners’ pending legal claims to potential investors.

ED BRUMBY

ONE of the minor benefits of being an expatriate male public servant in pre-independence Papua New Guinea was that we didn’t need to think too much about what to wear each day.

There was no worrying about which tie would work best with which shirt, which shirt would go best with which suit and which suit to wear in the first place – as was the case when I worked in corporate Melbourne.

The official dress ‘uniform’ for us schoolies back then, as for most expatriate Administration officers, was a collared shirt - usually white and short-sleeved; dress shorts (that is, worn with a belt); long socks - almost always white, and lace-up shoes – frequently of the suede variety.

ROSS WILKINSON & KEITH JACKSON

MATTHEW (Matt) Power, 95, Kokoda veteran and one time headmaster of Kerevat National High School, died in Brisbane on Wednesday night.

Matt served with the Australian 2/14 Battalion in World War II. The battalion was among the first of the Australian Infantry Force troops to return to Australia from the Middle East.

It was sent to New Guinea to relieve two Citizens Military Force battalions, 39 and 53, which had confronted the initial Japanese invasion along the Kokoda Track.

JIMMY AWAGL

An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry

Dumped piles of local and foreign waste
Mounting like the hills and slopes of Simbu
At car parks and bus stops a rubbish drum
Defaces the scene with filthy fragrance
An eyesore steaming in the scary environment

Left behind empty cans and packets and plastic
Before the buildings, atop the footpath
Like covering a table with a soiled cloth
Beneath power pylons the rubbish squats
Stockpiled like a mountain of kaukau

STEPHANIE ELIZAH & VERONICA HANNETTE | Bougainville 24

THE Bougainville people have recently begun to see many accomplishments that are positively influencing the future of the autonomous region.

Amongst these has been the creation of the Bougainville public service, a transitional mining bill, the arrival of the passenger freighter MV Chebu, the successful conclusion of the Torokina bomb disposal operation and the re-opening of Aropa Airport.

Other developments include the Bougainville peace building initiative and the upgrading of the Buka ring road and other roads. Another vessel, MV Rapoise Chief, is due to arrive in Bougainville next February.

According to Vice-President Patrick Nisira, many more impact projects are in the planning stages and Bougainville’s future looks bright and the province is moving forward.