NOOSA - A blue screen with a phony 'survey' form and three purported 'questionnaires' appeared on screen when you try to access PNG Attitude. 

This was some geniuses way of indicating I had not renewed the blog's domain name.

With some help from the USA I've now got on top of this, parted with a few bucks and we should be back in business.

Nobody was hurt in this process, although my feelings are telling me they were shamed.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad

Miss Pacific Islands contestants turn up at lotu. With one million social media users, PNG should be a shoo-in for the People's Choice

PORT MORESBY - The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant is underway.  But the dynamics, particularly the People’s Choice Award, appear to be lopsided.

That is, despite the title, the People’s Choice seems to favour Papua New Guinea.

Michael Kabuni

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Academic and writer Michael Kabuni says 2023 was a good year for his always interesting blog, Academia Nomad, from which PNG Attitude occasionally plunders an especially insightful piece.

Michael’s now taken advantage of year’s end to review which of his posts were particularly enjoyed by readers. His yardstick was how many times readers shared a post with others, a good metric – after all you don’t usually share a piece if it’s absolute rubbish.

JOSEPH TUAN VIET CAO
| DevPolicyBlog

BOMANA - After saying morning mass one day, I was preparing my breakfast when a couple from Laloki Village dropped by. The man, in his forties, told me his problem.

He is a member of Nasfund, the national superannuation fund, and eligible to withdraw money. So he needs to fill in a form and it is required that I, as his parish priest, confirm the information with my signature and parish seal.

Dr Hazel Kutkue

HAZEL KUTKUE
| Sipikriva Girl

LAE - What are three objects you couldn't live without? I’m a doctor, and a blogger. I've moved towns three times, looking for greener pastures in work.

And each time I move, I have to decide what to bring with me, as moving heavy stuff in Papua New Guinea is quite costly. Very costly.

I try to prioritise what I would bring along for my move, but it doesn't always fall into my categories of most useful or not.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - One of the great indulgences granted to those of us of advanced age is the ability to regress to our native state and simply watch the world go by.

To wander aimlessly along a deserted beach, pad through the soft undergrowth of a forest or simply sit in the sun.

Or perhaps just laze at a pavement café, drinking coffee with a good friend while watching the hustle and bustle pass by.

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad | Edited

PORT MORESBY – It seems that Golden Sun is the next hot thing in Papua New Guinea - an unbelievably easy way to make money through ‘investment’.

But it has all the features of a scam.

Just below is a Facebook post by someone named Gabriel, who has been engaged in e-commerce (including online payments).

Augustine and Fitzkeith with cellphone and repurposed fire extinguisher

LEONARD FONG ROKA

PANGUNA - In late 2017 my father-in-law, after seeing what I did in Panguna, asked me to help built a toilet and shower facility.

I was lost. How could I help in a place where there were no hills to provide gravity feed to get water for the facility.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Whether it is at the clan level or the national level, human society seems to be most comfortable when it has a clearly defined enemy.

During World War II, Australia had Japan to hate and Europe had Germany. In the post war years we  feared the communists in Russia, and then in China.

Everyone was happy. Community solidarity was in force on both sides of the fence.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - There are vast numbers of volunteers out there in the community. They are all doing good work and most will derive a lot of personal satisfaction from this.

Very few of them expect monetary recompense for what they do. Or even recognition.

These factors distinguish them from what we normally regard as the impulse that drives philanthropy.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When I finished high school in 1965 Robert Menzies was Australian prime minister. He had been in office for over 16 years and wouldn’t retire until the following year.

‘Whitlam would have meant no offence. He probably used the term to emphasise the treatment of the people as second class or something like that’

GREG JEFFS

CANBERRA - I have a memory of a published photograph and caption which I cannot find on the internet or after extensive searching on the National Library’s Trove and other archives.

I wonder if any of the editor’s connections on PNG Attitude can place it.

Pearls & Irritations is particularly noteworthy for gathering together a ‘stable’ of former senior public servants who bring great weight and understanding to their observations

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - John Menadue’s began publication of his daily newsletter, Pearls & Irritations, at about the same time as Ingrid and I made Noosa our retirement destination.

Now in its tenth year, Menadue started the blog as a platform for independent policy discussion in the face of the general failure of Australia’s mainstream to cover issues with calm and authoritative analysis.

Drivers compete with each other for a few metres of advantage and swap insults with hand signals to assert their rights of domination

Traffic in Port Moresby

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Dervla Murphy, the Irish travel writer who died aged 90 last month, had two particular dislikes. The first was capitalism and the second was motorcars.

In the early 1960s she rode an old fashioned gearless pushbike from Waterford in Ireland to India. She subsequently undertook many more similar adventures on her trusty wiliwil.

Time is scarce. So is the energy of youth. Don’t waste a moment.

Scott Waide. Journalist and Thinker.

SCOTT WAIDE
| My Land, My Country

LAE - Time is the most precious commodity every person is given. It is a gift we all receive.

You can never get back the seconds you waste. Seconds that turn into minutes, hours, days, months and years.

Some people learn quickly. They turn their youth into the most productive years of their lives and, when in their prime, they continue to build on those earlier years.

But most don’t. Time just slips away.

Google 'typical Aussies' and this is what you get - a representation of the Anglo-Celtic constituency

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Australia certainly has a multicultural society with a wide range of different cultural and ethnic groups among its population – 278 in all.

However Australia has an unsuccessful multicultural society mainly because of the power imbalance between 277 of those groups and the old Anglo-Celtic establishment.

Philippines new president Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr was an indulged youth whose excesses came at the expense of the ordinary people of the Philippines who suffered under his father's ruthless rule

MARTIN HADLOW

SAMFORD VALLEY, QLD -The result of this week's presidential election in the Philippines are a reminder of the adage that ‘those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.

With the son of the former dictator and looter of the nation’s resources, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, winning the presidency in a landslide this week, the wheel of history turns and brings to mind the worst excesses of the past.

KEITH JACKSON

My religion has no name

It’s just the very best in us

Compassion Fairness Courage Love

Honesty Reason Friendship Truth

Faithfulness Kindness Consistency

Candour Tolerance Generosity

(And here’s a space for the best in you)

No material construct ever captured these

Each of us can claim them as our own

The aged care home - privatisation is privation

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When you crack the Bible’s ‘threescore years and ten’ something strange happens – you begin to fade from view.

If my elderly next door neighbour is anything to go by, when you progress to your eighties you are all but invisible.

I can see him but no one else seems to.

The 'sandwalk' where the great scientist. Charles Darwin, did much of his thinking

SIMON DAVIDSON

SONOMA - A fertile brain bubbling with game changing ideas is the by-product of habits consistently practiced.

A fertile brain does not emerge by accident, nor is it given on a golden plate.

It needs to be shaped and transformed through consistent good thinking and good practice over time.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Historians tell us we should not make comparisons with the geopolitical situation in the world today with what prevailed just prior to World War II.

This is despite the similarities creating a great sense of déjà vu among many people.

Chief among these is the emergence of a leader with imperialistic ambitions and scant regard for the human cost; a man who is prepared to risk everything to right what he perceives as historical wrongs.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The American offer to evacuate Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky from Kyiv was not one he wanted, like throwing a no-fly zone across Ukraine air space or blockading the Bosphorus to prevent Russian passage to the Black Sea.

But it did yield the best quote of the Ukraine War so far, Zelensky earning the admiration of most of the world outside the Kremlin with his spirited response, “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Putin-web (New Statesman)

COMPILED BY KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – I always have more reading around me than I’m able to accomplish in the course of one typical lifespan. But I’d rather have too much than have too little.

So today I thought I’d dip into a range of some publications I subscribe to, and get a feel for their first take on Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine.

'Noken Simuk - Smoking forbidden. Leave the matchbox and inflammable matches inside the box' (Robert Eklund)

CRAIG ALAN VOLKER
| Edited & updated

First published in The National, February 2018

PORT MORESBY – All of us probably remember dictionaries from when we were at school.

They had a long list of English words and explained them in English. This is a monolingual dictionary. Words and explanations in the same language.

Illustration by Kal (The Economist)

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Hang on, what’s up? The world wasn’t supposed to turn into custard until my generation was safely six foot under.

As Stan Grant eloquently put it, “We are miserable, getting poorer, afflicted with disease, on the verge of blowing ourselves to smithereens and facing a climate catastrophe”.

During the year Big Pat turned right instead of left and ended up at Fatima Secondary School in Banz

PATRICK (BIG PAT) LEVO
| Papua New Guinea Post-Courier

PORT MORESBY - In all of the meandering years in the life of Papua New Guinea, 2021 had to be the big meander.

The colours were there, the love and laughter were there, the sadness, emotion, losses, highs and lows, the bleakness of our long-suffering population and blackness of ethereal poor governance were all intertwined to make 2021 stand out.

Woody Guthrie - The work of one of the most significant figures in American folk music focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. His music has inspired several generations politically and musically

FROM THE READER’S CATALOGUE
| New York Review of Books

NEW YORK - Woody Guthrie wrote the heartfelt and playful resolutions below on New Year’s Day, 1943.

From 29 December 1942 until 1 January 1943, Woody filled a 72-page composition book with a letter to his love, Marjorie.

This little gem, in the middle of the book, provides insight into his daily concerns at the time — the large and the small.

Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park in South Australia. Phil Fitzpatrick found this country more to his liking than a city teeming with consultants

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - After leaving Papua New Guinea I went to work for the South Australian Museum in a new unit responsible for Aboriginal heritage legislation.

There were less than a dozen of us and shortly after I arrived we were shifted from the museum to a warehouse with attached offices out in the suburbs.

It was a decidedly casual arrangement and on most days when I wasn’t doing fieldwork I turned up at the office in shorts and tee shirt.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The eminently sensible article by Stephen Charteris, replete with sly hat tips to consultants, took me back.

It took me back to those periods of my career when I was a consultant – and there were many such periods often for big chunks of a long career.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY – Every day I receive up to a dozen spam telephone calls, text messages and emails.

My son and daughter, who spend more time online as part of their work, score double that number.

It seems that the criminals have moved out of the dark alleys, backstreets and the corporate towers and onto the internet.

Bougainville seascape (Simon Pentanu)

SIMON PENTANU MP

KIETA – It is said that some of the best personal and political successes in life have followed great adversity and disappointment.

How many of us have come to the best of times when the worst of times has taken us to the brink?

I have some personal perspectives on this from the Bougainville contest, where we have individuals, businessmen, political leaders, church leaders and women and youth leaders who have the opportunity to change things for the better.

Gary Juffa (left) shares a joke with two constituents

GARY JUFFA MP

ORO - My dear young person, I have some thoughts formed from not a few experiences gained along the way in my last 49 years.

I decided to share them to mark the 46th Independence Day of our great young nation, Papua New Guinea.

I offer them to you in the hope that perhaps they will be of some use.

'The Bosses of the Senate', 1889 lithograph from the collection of the United States Senate

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - For Australians, and other people with a close interest and involvement in Papua New Guinea, there is a curious dilemma that revolves around trust.

This is the result of the rampant corruption and lawlessness that seems to permeate everything that happens in our near neighbour and good friend.

ROBERT FORSTER

NORTHUMBRIA – Keith Jackson writes and I too have begun to worry that many people under the age of 40 have lost resilience, stoicism replaced with almost permanent protestations of victimhood.

Or who exhibit grievances with so much of what is said to them or by being exposed to unavoidable circumstances like the Covid pandemic.

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE – In an insightful piece, ‘A Place, A Time & Lessons Learned’, Jim Moore writes that “we humans share so many common traits and characteristics that transcend time and place [and] we need to recognise that we don't know it all... that we’re not members of an exceptional tribe”.

We humans do indeed share many common characteristics, and simultaneously our different cultures create endless opportunities for misunderstanding and conflict.

Ol narapela kain man. Young kiaps, 1960s

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY – Culture shock. It was one of the things expatriates were warned about at the Australian School of Pacific Administration (ASOPA) before departing to take up positions in the then colonial Administration of the Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

Culture shock describes those feelings of excitement, anxiety, confusion and uncertainty when you find yourself in a new and unfamiliar environment.

Democracy will have to do better than this... Panicked Afghans storm an aircraft as they try to leave Kabul after its seizure by the Taliban

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - While I endorse Governor Gary Juffa's sentiments in ‘The world is ours, let’s act that way', I am afraid 'ordinary people' will not retake possession of their particular worlds any time soon.

In places like China, theocratic Iran and newly Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the world will belong to armed minorities who will impose their world view upon the great majority.

Governor Gary Juffa and friends relax after a meeting of the People's Movement for Change

GOVERNOR GARY JUFFA

ORO - I say this often, but it cannot be said enough, although I’m confident that eventually many people will understand, and act upon their understanding, in due time.

I pity those who do not wish to understand and cannot see this reality, so let us focus on helping them understand.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - My romp through Tok Pisin the other day brought some amusing embellishments from readers.

I've packaged these into this brief piece, along with other information about how you might pursue an interest in this most eloquent language.

When Phil Fitzpatrick returned to Papua New Guinea in 1997, more than 20 years after he had finished his service as a kiap (patrol officer), he worked in oil and gas exploration and, later, in social mapping.

CHRIS OVERLAND

ADELAIDE - I agree with Phil Fitzpatrick who observed yesterday that Papua New Guinea should have become a state of Australia.

If this had been done, several predictable things would have happened.

First, there would have been a steady inflow of migrants from the Australian mainland lured by PNG’s almost limitless opportunities in agriculture, mining, energy, tourism and so forth.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - I was lucky in high school because I had a succession of very good English teachers.

Their presence made the experience bearable as I grappled with all the other banal subjects on offer.

I can’t remember the name of my first year English teacher. He was a younger man and I later ran into him outside Steamies in Port Moresby.

CHIPS MACKELLAR

WARWICK - The expansion of China’s influence into the Solomons, Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati is of increasing concern to us in Australia.

But it is as nothing compared to the mischief to happen if the Chinese move into Daru.

This is because Daru - together with its mud and mangrove neighbour, Bristow - is the only island in the Torres Strait which is part of Papua New Guinea.

Every other island is Australian territory.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - Do we older folk need to apologise to our children and grandchildren for the sorry state of the world we are bequeathing to them?

I guess the answer to that question depends on how culpable we feel and how complicit we think we have been in bringing the world to the edge of the catastrophe so many scientists believe it faces.

World War II Japanese artillery piece on Kangu Beach, near Buin south Bougainville

SIMON PENTANU MP
|  Edited

‘Only the dead have seen the end of war’ – Plato

KIETA - These are my thoughts from looking around Buin in south Bougainville every time I travel there. It is a great place, like other regions on the island.

It is also where I first saw, in 1964, the menace of war in the relics that all wars leave behind. The relics of Buin are from World War II, when Bougainville came under Japanese control.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - The articles featured in the Anzac Day edition of PNG Attitude had a common theme related to the corrupted mythology of Australia’s leading commemorative event and its emergence as a caricature of reality.

The comments by various authors reflected on the inconvenient truths revealed in the articles or sought to defend some of the mythologies thought to be questionable.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Well here’s a pleasant something for Easter. You can read about it just below or listen to it first by linking to it here.

I recommend you listen first.

https://soundcloud.com/si_jackson/all-together?fbclid=IwAR1wWjWm0Mss_be5CBxN8cGqLeowXCkUsJ_pKzJeW_3XjM7X9ffO8sLEMKU

This 'pleasant something' is a choral collaboration under the guiding hand of my son, Simon, in Auckland, New Zealand.

Elon Musk has just edged ahead of Jeff Bezos to become the richest man in the world.  Each man is worth nearly $200  billion (K700 billion). PNG's total wealth is K80 billion 

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - It seems that slavery is alive and well in the USA and is being perpetuated by one of the richest men in the world. He is Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon.

What began as Bezos’s innovative online bookstore in July 1995, which later assisted writers publish and distribute books, has morphed into a monstrous retail operation that is trampling all in its path, including its own workers.

NOEL TURNBULL
John Menadue’s Pearls & Irritations

MELBOURNE - History has demonstrated that when people are fearful, believe they are powerless and can’t cope with threatening events they very often resort to conspiracy theories to explain their situation.

Equally often they look for scapegoats who are believed to be at the heart of the conspiracies – in the Christian world Jews and heretics; in the Muslim world heretics and Christians; and in the plague-ridden medieval times sins and sinners.

From HMS Basilisk (left), the three-masted paddle steamer from which Captain John Moresby named many topographical features of southern PNG during an important voyage of discovery in 1874

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - When you look at a map of Australia the precedence of its European colonial history is very apparent. If you run an eye around the coast, all the names of state capital cities echo that history.

Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart all owe their names to significant British places or personages.

It is only with the federal capital that any acknowledgement of the previous inhabitants occurs.

PHILIP FITZPATRICK

TUMBY BAY - It has always been a commonly held belief that politicians don’t run the country. That prerogative is exclusively the domain of the public service.

Anyone who has ever studied human relations theory will also know that managers always appoint people in their own image. This is particularly so among senior bureaucrats.