Old Arawa Bulletin shows big issues don't change much
22 April 2015
BEN JACKSON | Bougainville 24
AS a revived Arawa Bulletin continues to deliver news to the people of Bougainville, an archived issue of a previous magazine from 1973 reveals that the issues haven’t changed much over 40 years.
Issue No 29 of the Arawa Bulletin, published on 2 March 1973, features a news item from John Momis, back then the Bougainville Regional Member of the House of Assembly, the pre-independence legislature under the Australian administration of Papua New Guinea of that era.
“The people of Bougainville must define their goals and how to achieve them before deciding on their political future,” Momis told the Arawa Bulletin.
“Three of the Bougainville MHA’s (Lapun, Bele and Momis) have never said we do not want a referendum (on secession). I believe it is the right of the people to decide their own future.
“Any referendum must allow for three-way discussions between the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments and the Bougainville people.”
The original Arawa Bulletin was a monthly magazine initiated by expatriates that began publication in the early 1970s and continued until 1990 when the Bougainville crisis forced its closure.
The periodical provided local news, features, opinion pieces, information on local events and was made financed by advertising from local businesses.
Two years ago, a collective of Bougainvilleans, including Romulus Masiu of the PNG Post Courier, decided to re-launch the Bulletin to once again deliver information on the local happenings in central Bougainville.
The magazine continues to flourish as Bougainville’s only regular print publication.
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