T20 cricket captain Assad Vala - "What this group is about is working for each other"

NEWS DESK
| SportsCafe

DUBAI - It was a dream run for Papua New Guinea as they have earned their ticket to the T20 World Cup which will take place in Australia next year.

Their skipper Assad Vala, who will lead the team in their maiden World Cup adventure, said that the format suits their energy and its what they play back home.

Russian-built Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters at RAAF Base Tindal, 1997

JANO GIBSON
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Extract

DARWIN - It is an unlikely setting for the final chapter of an international diplomatic scandal, but Darwin's waste dump holds an extraordinary secret beneath the surface.

"A few years ago, we had a couple of shipping containers turn up here that were required to be buried," Nik Kleine, the City of Darwin's executive manager of waste and capital works, said.

Baka Bina - "One thing is certain, Billymore, while you dither about certification, all the old people who have the knowledge and traditions of your family, clan and tribe are fast dying"

BAKA BINA

"Is the group or the writers recognised by higher tertiary institutions like UOG, UPNG, linguistic institutions etc? Has their research work being recognised and acknowledged by NRI and appropriate institutions? How many research work have they undertaken, recognised and certified by appropriate institutions, authors and writers? Is/are the literature organizations aware of the existence of these writers? Have they followed all protocols to be recognised as writers? Is this letter a short cut to be recognised and rewarded? Other questions reserved...." - Billymore Rakatani, Facebook

PORT MORESBY - Billymore should be told to also read sites like PNG Attitude. If he does he will know that writing is not easy.

Writing non-fiction is not easy. In stories, a writer must try to capture the small moments where emotions speak.

Tribal fighters with home made gun (Caitlin Welch ICRC)

AHMAD HALLAK
| Australian Institute of International Affairs

CANBERRA - It is often said that tribal fighting in the Papua New Guinea Highlands is part and parcel of the socio-cultural fabric of the region.

With a history stretching back hundreds of years (if not more), it can be seen simply as an indivisible feature of the Highlands way of life.

A swamp perhaps to be drained (Stefan Krasowski)

DAVID BURFOOT
| The Ethics Centre

SYDNEY - Papua New Guinea is known as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Yet through delivering ethical leadership training to public officials there, The Ethics Centre is seeing a natural aptitude for ethics that government and corporations are struggling to nurture in Australia.

James Tawila Wagiebu - a pioneering medical technician whose death leaves a big gap in PNG's health service

BETTY GABRIEL WAKIA

PORT MORESBY - Hela has lost one of its most dedicated, committed and humble public servants with the death of James Tawila Wagiebu (1958–2019), the most qualified Papua New Guinean echocardiographer.

And, with his death, echocardiography services in PNG have come to a temporary halt as an urgent search for a replacement continues.

Charles Wapinien, UPNG's first Master of Economic and Public Policy graduate.

NEWS DESK
| Pacific Leadership + Governance Precinct

PORT MORESBY - After a few minutes with Charles Wapinien it becomes clear that economic research and policy formulation are fundamental to addressing complex national challenges and shaping Papua New Guinea’s future.

“Any issues, any challenges that a country, organisation or society faces are framed into policies,” Charles said enthusiastically.

On their way to  next year's T20 World Cup, the Barramundis celebrate their historic win (ICC)

JAY DANSINGHANI
| Emerging Cricket

Papua New Guinea 118 (Vanua 54, Bundi 4-18, Oluoch 2-15) defeated Kenya 73 (Karim 29, Vala 3-7, Pokana 3-21) by 45 runs

DUBAI – The PNG Barramundis maintained their position at the top of the Group A despite being reduced to 19/6 after being put in by a Kenyan team looking for a convincing victory and net run rate boost to keep their World Cup dreams alive.

And it was a dream start for the East African nation. Emmanuel Bundi dismissed Tony Ura, Assad Vala, and Charles Amini in his first over; the latter wicket being the first in a series of batsmen caught behind the wicket.

"All those riches we can't take back today / So better to stop giving them away"

MICHAEL DOM

There was a young leader named Marape
Who served in O'Neill's bagarapment
But when push came to shove
And he had had more than enough
He took back PNG without foment

If the aim now is to keep taking back
I don't know why we are being so slack
Because Beijing doesn't care
And Canberra won't dare
Tell us how to be Christian, rich and Black

And where are those God fearing leaders
Who bowed and scraped for the APEC bleeders?
Seems Jehovah is least on their minds
When they sign for more logging, more mines
They keep selling us all down the river

"But Marape says take back PNG / And then hands out all the car keys"

Since the last PM taunted our laws
And sold everything behind closed doors
All those riches we can't take back today
So better to stop giving them away
And treating our people like paupers

But Marape says take back PNG
And then hands out all the car keys
For Flying Spurs and Maseratis
Look instead at what he will do
If his words and promises are empty

"Ask with sincerity, who really are we? / And how is it we keep our Black history?"

Now when we say take back PNG
And cheer Independence with glee
There are difficult things we must do
Ask with sincerity, who really are we?
And how is it we keep our Black history?

Stop taking and give back PNG.

Betty Wakia, Daniel Kumbon and Caroline Evari in Port Moresby writing the letter to prime minister James Marape

DANIEL KUMBON

PORT MORESBY –If anybody close to the prime minister reads this, and if you think it’s as important as we do, please mention it to James Marape.

Please tell him that a letter on behalf of Papua New Guinea’s writers, editors and publishers sits waiting in his office.

The letter is from three writers who represent many hundreds of our authors, poets, essayists and other writers.

We are Caroline Evari, Betty Wakia and me, Daniel Kumbon.

JUSTIN KUNDALIN

Read books
To extract wisdom
To live judiciously
To live above the crowd

Read books
Great minds speaking
Through the pages
Their secrets open to us

Oops, prime minister, you just blew up your credibility in one crazy decision. Or will Mr Ngangan take this one himself on behalf of the team?

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Last Thursday, when James Marape despatched his bureaucrat Ken Ngangan to advise the public through the Post Courier newspaper that all 111 members of parliament will get vehicles from the APEC fleet “for their electoral duties”, he must have anticipated there would be a strong reaction.

After all, the purchase of the vehicles a year ago had triggered a story that travelled around the world a few times before hitting the ground as yet another example of the greed and excess of the O’Neill government – which Marape and his brothers deposed in May bringing hope to the nation.

Solomons prime minister Manasseh Sogavare Chinese premier Li Keqiang (standing) and other officials at the signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People Beijing China (Thomas Peter-Pool)

KELVIN TAN
| Sport Business Asia

BEIJING, CHINA - China has stepped in with K250 million to bankroll the construction of the main stadium for the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands, after Honiara struggled to fund the project.

China is taking over the funding of the stadium from Taiwan, which had previously pledged the funds.

GREGORY BABLIS

The living must honour the dead,
         For they teach us the good and the bad.
Times of sorrow and strife,
         Are all a part of life.

Though the world I may roam,
         My mind is never far from home.
Although I travel about,
         My heart will always remain in Waut.

Lots to laugh about - James Marape and friends. The prime minister is looking forward to taking out his new K510,000 Bentley Flying Spur for a spin

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – It seems Papua New Guinea's prime minister James Marape is joining the global elite as the owner of a near new Bentley super-luxury Flying Spur.

And the people of PNG have every reason to feel betrayed.

The starting price of a Flying Spur in Australia is K510,000. Marape’s is one of three purchased along with 40 Maseratis and scores of other luxury vehicles for last year’s Asia-Pacific summit, APEC.

An old reel-to-reel tape recorder. The recordings are getting fragile and digitisation gives them a new life

PRIANKA SRINIVASAN
| Pacific Beat | ABC

MELBOURNE - Since the early 20th century, anthropologists have been flocking to the Pacific, and then returning home with rare recordings of songs, stories and histories.

But, decades later, these fragile original recordings are at risk of deteriorating—and the race is on to digitise them.

PAWA KENNY

PORT MORESBY - Educated and employed couples are becoming like poles that don’t attract and therefore cause lots of problems in our society in this 21st century.

Instead of understanding each other and living in harmony, they repel, causing instability in the lives of their family and in their own lives.

Peter and Russell Kranz

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Pastor Russell Kranz, who died yesterday at the age of 94, was a church leader, composer, choirmaster, talented watercolour artist - and a good man

His legacy is one of love and achievement.

He is also the father of PNG Attitude contributor, Peter Kranz, whose words have so often stirred and delighted readers of this blog.

PIM volume 1 number 1.  PIM, with its long tradition of public service, continued to publish even during the war in the Pacific

KEITH JACKSON

A Short History of the Pacific Islands Monthly Magazine, by Bob Lawrence, self-published, November 2019. $25 plus $5.50 post and handling charge. Available from Bob Lawrence here

NOOSA – Almost as much of an institution as the late and lamented Pacific Islands Monthly magazine is the PIM lunch.

It's a regular event held in Sydney for so many years its precise foundation date (sometime in the 1960s) is lost in a haze of red wine fumes.

Samantha Kusari - "Uphold our cultural identity and treat children with the respect they deserve"

CAROLINE EVARI

When the River Destroys by Samantha Kusari, Pukpuk Publications, 2015, 104 pages. ISBN 1517034299. Kindle $US0.92, Paperback $US5.38. Order here from Amazon or contact Samantha by email here

PORT MORESBY - Caroline Evari interviews writer Samantha Kusari about her story of a young boy growing up in a village in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea in the years just before and after independence in 1975. The story is loosely based on the early life of Samantha’s father.

Australian aid - "We are too dependent on capacity building through traditional technical assistance and training" (DFAT)

STEPHEN HOWES & SHERMAN SURANDIRAN
| Devpolicy Blog | Extracts | Full report & graphs here

CANBERRA - One of the building blocks of the Australian aid program, or most any aid program for that matter, are country strategies.

These documents explain or, in the best case determine, what aid projects are done in which country.

O'Neill and Marape in happier times - Phil Fitzpatrick writes that now Marape needs to act against O'Neill to preserve the credibility of his own leadership

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When politicians make a commitment to the public, whether at an election or in the course of governing, they are essentially laying their credibility on the line.

Even if the commitment is something they know will be hard to deliver, it still reflects on their credibility if they fail.

And, if this happens, a shrewd politician will admit to the failure and ask the public to understand that they tried.

JORDAN DEAN

PORT MORESBY - Last month, I went for an interview for a fellowship program to study and work in the United States for a year.

One of the interviewers was interested in something I had stated on my application. It was about a meeting I attended in Tehran, Iran, in June.

In front of a massive poster of her poem, Dominica is awarded first prize in the World Food Day poetry competition

DOMINICA ARE

GOROKA - It was Tuesday 8 October during the lunch break. Everyone went out and I was alone in the office with my thoughts.

It was serene. The air crisp and cool. The fresh smell of roasted coffee floated by.

And I stared hard at the blank page before me, pondering on what I would write.

Niunk road junction where the Kandep-Mendi road joins the roads to Wabag and Porgera gold mine. And recently the scene of death, carnage and mayhem

PORAP GAI

LAIAGAM - Niunk village is on the road to Porgera gold mine, a kilometre away from Laiagam station.

The surrounding tribe, known as Samb, is made up of six clans: Kamul, Lapyen, Tingen, Maralin, Lot and Malwan. And these six are divided into of several inter-clans.

There are many chronic issues here and frosts, droughts, landslides, bushfires and floods shape the land.

Former district commissioners Bill Brown MBE and Fred Kaad OBE. Said Kaad to the wavering young kiap Fitzpatrick: "You’ll never have the chance to be part of something like that ever again"

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - My father came from Waterford in the warm southeast of Ireland. He had three brothers and two sisters. His eldest brother John carried on the family tradition of being politically active.

It was from an insistent Uncle John that I learned very early on about the colonisation of Ireland by the British.

That experience left me with a repressed but abiding suspicion about the whole enterprise of empire.

Dr Albert Schram - "When O’Neill came to power in 2012, an increased investment in higher education from LNG revenue was announced in the world press but never materialised"

ALBERT SCHRAM
| Extract from 'Life is a Journey of Learning'

VERONA, ITALY – In 2014, the government of Peter O’Neill passed the Higher Education Act, took control of Papua New Guinea’s universities and began to interfere heavily in university affairs.

In 2016, I had undergone the first ever performance review for a vice chancellor in PNG.

My mandate was renewed, but little did I know I would be the last independently appointed vice chancellor in the proud history of the country’s university system. The government was now in charge.

The footpath reconnected the present to the past by catering to children, women and the elderly who had not visited the beach for a very long time

DION TULO *

BUKA - In many rural parts of Bougainville youth plays a vital part in communities through sports, cultural organisations, church groups and small development projects funded by non-government organisations.

This is a story of a small group of youths from Kohea village, in the Haku constituency of Buka Island, who succeeded through sheer hard work and dedication to complete a small development project in their community.

ELOUISE FOWLER
| Australian Financial Review

SYDNEY - The claim that China has engaged in ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ by offering loans worth hundreds of billions of dollars to strategically located Pacific island nations, leaving them vulnerable to China’s influence, has been hosed down in a new Lowy Institute report.

"The evidence to date suggests China has not been engaged in deliberate ‘debt-trap’ diplomacy in the Pacific," researchers at the foreign policy think tank concluded.

Justin Kundalin and Justin Kundalin Jr

JUSTIN KUNDALIN

I respect no man
No man can compete with me
No man can bribe to have me more
I distribute me equally to all men

No man can keep me in prison
I fly while men walk
I am irrevocable if squandered
Those who master me succeed

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Social evolution, just like biological evolution, doesn’t proceed in straight lines, there are stops and starts, divergences, reversals, regressions, regional differences and sometimes dead ends.

Just as we are not on a path of natural evolutionary improvement neither are we on a natural path of constant social improvement.

GOF | The Bucket Blog

FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND - The patrol officers, or kiaps (derived from the German ‘kapitan‘), who were responsible for the grassroots administration of Australia’s colonial presence in Papua New Guinea during the 20th century were outstanding young men.

They were trained at the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) in Sydney in preparation for careers which required physical stamina and total commitment in a country which would initially provide them with unparalleled culture shock.

PORAP GAI

Nowadays many young people say love is old fashioned and, when bad times come, they divorce. I composed this poem after hearing a song from Lenny LeBlanc, If you love her, treat her right’ - PG

Love is not a candle that extinguishes in the rain,
Love is the everlasting that burns forever in heart,
Love it is that stays whenever strong winds blow,
And even when it hurts, you never let go.

"If not transferred to Australia, they will be on the streets of our capital city, their days numbered at the hands of thugs or as a result of starvation and sickness"  - Fr Giorgio Licini

FR GIORGIO LICINI

PORT MORESBY - The debate rages on about the possible repeal of the so-called Medevac Bill in the Australian Senate.

The politically divisive legislation came into force in March this year allowing about 140 seriously ill asylum seekers and refugees to seek medical treatment in Australia from the offshore processing centers of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Joseph Nobetau - "My continued work to address corruption and hold law breakers to account was causing some political discomfort"

ANTHONY KAYBING

BUKA - Sidelined Bougainville chief secretary, Joseph Nobetau, has declined to accept an offer to compensate him for his termination from office by the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG).

“The ABG’s lawyer presented me with a cheque for K660,692.80 together with a deed of release in which I would be expected to waive my constitutional rights,” Mr Nobetau said.

John Bosco Auram - the new bishop of Kimbe has had a distinguished upbringing in the church

NEWS DESK
| Vatican News

THE VATICAN - In Papua New Guinea on Friday, Pope Francis appointed Father John Bosco Auram as the new bishop of Kimbe Diocese in West New Britain.

The Pope appointed the 47-year old priest in the place of Capuchin bishop William Regis Fey who reached the retirement age of 75 last year.

Sam Gawi Rake. The SMS read: “Pass the message around that Sam is dead….he was beheaded by cult worshipers…."

PAWA KENNY

PORT MORESBY - Monday 2 April 2018 was a gruesome day for me. Early that morning the news of the death of my brother and best friend, Sam Gawi Rake, reached me.

I was in the students’ computer lab preparing my work when the message came in an SMS on my mobile phone from an unknown person.

“Pass the message around that Sam Gawi Rake is dead….he was beheaded by cult worshipers….his head is missing while his body is in morgue at the Modillion Hospital in Madang.”

“Blessed are those with dirt under their fingernails and no bank account, for they shall inherit the earth” (Phil 1:1)

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Among its multitudinous and often conflicting predictions, adages, sayings and slogans the bible includes the curious assertion that “blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

In typical chauvinistic fashion it defines meekness as a solely human attribute, preferably confined to the male gender. In the ‘good book’, women and girls, as well as dogs and cats, don’t get a guernsey when it comes to leadership.

Jeff Febi - "Assisting church-run agencies by giving them 10% of the dividends from state owned enterprises is a noble move, but is the timing right?"

JEFFREY FEBI

LUFA - The government's supplementary budget went big on expenditure cuts to plug a big dark deficit hole of about K4.6 billion.

This hole was dug by the government of former prime minister Peter O'Neill through creative but reckless spending on Port Moresby-centric infrastructure development.

Some urban centres throughout Papua New Guinea might have gained one or two infrastructure investments while others missed out entirely.

Shila Paia - "Is O’Neill above the law? None of us is above the law. We call on him to be prosecuted and to comply with legal proceedings"

SHILA YUKULI PAIA

ADELAIDE - I am a proud Papua New Guinean who will always stand very tall and speak boldly, loudly and clearly knowing that PNG is one of the best democracies.

In this context I have some observations to make on the saga of the attempted arrest of former prime minister Peter Charles Paire O'Neill, another critical moment in the history of PNG’s political development.

The storyteller Otto Dirumbi stands on the right of this photo taken at the Binaru sawmill in 1968

ROBERT FORSTER

NORTHUMBRIA, UK - Otto Dirumbi stands on the right of this picture which was taken in late 1968 at Binaru near Bundi in Madang Province.

Otto, from Karisokora village, was in charge of the saw. Beside him is Michel Waia with and Albert Atove on the left.

Otto was a storyteller and on many evenings after dinner led the recollections and musings of the 12 or so fellow workers who slept in the same communal hut.

JONATHAN BARRETT | Reuters | Extracts

SYDNEY - The United States and its Pacific allies have plugged a funding gap that endangered next month’s independence referendum in Bougainville, a strategic move that also sidelines China.

Western nations are looking to rein in China’s influence in the increasingly contested Pacific, where it has recently drawn away two of Taiwan’s allies, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, triggering a strong rebuke from the United States.

Models showcase two of Lisa Arut's original designs at the PNG Fashion Week grand finale

DANIEL KUMBON

PORT MORESBY – “Last night’s Papua New Guinea fashion week extravaganza was mind boggling.

“It was a night of cultural renaissance, an awakening of another kind. Fashion has never been my forte but last night was a night to remember.”

These are the words I entered in my diary last Sunday morning after attending the memorable fashion week grand finale, named appropriately ‘The Awakening the Night Before’.

GOF's Cessna 182 P2-WKD at Siwea airstrip, Morobe Province, 1977

GOF *
| The Bucket Blog

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND - Reflecting upon one’s own life from the vantage point of older age is sometimes rather like reading a tattered autobiographical account of someone else’s life.

Mine contains many examples of gross stupidity and incompetence, but it also, in an early chapter documents one single decision which would continue to shape my life to this day.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Writers, poets and journalists are generally thought to be intelligent and articulate people, even if you disagree with the opinions they express about particular issues.

Perceived intelligence cuts across political and social boundaries. Neither is it particularly related to educational levels.

Peter O'Neill (being restrained by a policeman left of centre) storms the supreme court in his successful bid to come to power in 2012

ALBERT SCHRAM

VERONA, ITALY - Last Friday an arrest warrant for Peter O'Neill, former prime minister of Papua New Guinea was issued. It caught him by surprise.

O’Neill locked himself inside the Crown Plaza hotel in Port Moresby, refusing to cooperate with the courts.

It is Ali Baba abandoned by his 40 robbers, who are now conveniently trying to hide their complicity or participation in his crimes.

Eddie Tanago - Act Now has identified 19 measures the government should use to attack corruption

EDDIE TANAGO
| Campaign Manager | Act Now!

PORT MORESBY - International research shows that corruption is costing Papua New Guinea billions of kina every year. It is ruining our economy and impoverishing the nation.

If the government is serious about making PNG ‘the richest black nation on earth’ then it must introduce a raft of reforms to ensure we have open and transparent government.

Labor Party MP Katrine Hildyard advised Shila Paia on how she could take her innovative SoilChild project in Papua New Guinea to the next level 

SHILA YUKULI PAIA

ADELAIDE - In Papua New Guinea, members of parliament are not readily accessible to voters.

Their offices are not located in the electorates. They’re in Port Moresby. Most people in an electorate will get to see their MPs only during elections.

And even in Port Moresby, it can be hard to get through the bureaucracy and security to see your MP. There may be half a dozen personnel to navigate.

Cessna 206 taking off from Siwea in the Morobe hinterland, early 1970s (The Bucket Blog)

DAVID KITCHNOGE

PORT MORESBY - I know at least one kiap who actually traversed the rugged terrain from his remote outpost.

My mother's offer letter to come to Lae and attend Busu girls’ high school from our hinterland Mindik village in Finschhafen was delivered by one Paul Oates to my grandfather.

PHIL FITZPATRICK

DUMBY (er, TUMBY) BAY - It’s easy to imagine that one day in the not too distant future everything will be digitised and automated.

Here is a blurb about the latest trend in toilets:

“It's a germophobes dream come true: Never having to touch a toilet handle again. With the latest Numi toilet from Kohler, you can simply ask it to ‘flush’ and it will comply. If you forget, it will flush itself anyway.

“The toilet also lets you choose the colour of ambient lighting and the music from its speakers. At night, the lid automatically opens as you approach and the seat warmer activates. It flushes and closes the lid as you leave.”