PNG needs a major overhaul

PNG needs a major overhaul

By DAVID KETEPA ULG
Papua New Guinea is a land of milk and honey densely populated with people who lack pride in their young nation. Every chance available, we become opportunists. Every turn there is, we seek for what the country must do for us. We whine endlessly over negative issues that plunge our society in the abyss of evil rather than building on the strengths we possess and learn from past blunders. We like preaching about revolutionizing and do not know what the definition, mission, and substance of change. We all want to be "Big Man" overnight. We sermonize on big things not knowing how to do small things properly. We want to shift the blame of our gaffes to others. We call stolen money as originating from hard work. We treat corruption as an immediate family member. We point fingers at each other and make corruption look like some outcast rebel among us, running organizations against the nation's interests. We quickly criticize people who initiate innovation, ingenious, creativity, and positive ways to help society. We boast about what we are not, what we do not have, and what we cannot have. We enhance ourselves unreasonably as the land with billion dollar resources' reserves but lack competence to capitalize on the use of these resources. We have a population growing at an alarming rate who do not know what hard work really means. We act shrewd when we should start seeking meticulous, quality, and practicable recommendations on how to manage our systems, processes, and affairs. We like to beseech more and that has made us dependent. We like to come up with all kinds of justifications to escape the consequences of our proceedings. We promote a syndrome called de-development instead of the usual development. We empower the fraudulent to be besmirched. We support crooks as if they had just arrived from Heaven.We call some among us as quintessence of evil and others good (or of upright standing) based on no or little substantive information. We like the name tag: "born again". We are good at describing our tribulations and prescribing diverse solutions but become cowards when it means to step up to the challenge to execute something practical. I think PNG needs a major overhaul. How can we do it? I cannot answer it for you, neither can you for me.Nevertheless, together we can reach practical resolutions to help our country move from its infant state to maturity. May 2007 and the subsequent years be the years of alteration for every society in PNG. What do you have in mind to begin with?

*The writer, a fervent reader of The National, lives in Michigan, USA