PNG: Enough is Enough

By Gelab Piak*

I have passion and love my nation. I love my country so much; I can’t even find the words to define it. I feel hurt when I see a young woman walking on the dusty road with three hungry crying children behind her.

Eighty percent of the population of PNG lives in rural areas, where the roads, bridges, infrastructure and school building are deteriorating and people have little or no access to government services. I see this as a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 21(2), where it states: Everyone has the right to equal access to public services in his country.

It’s like living in a fairy tale; each year we hear billion dollar profits announced by companies in PNG, but there is no tangible development. May I ask: where is our (the public’s) money going? Workers throughout the country are living in dire conditions: rotting houses, some condemned. Thousands of public servants don’t have a house provided by the government. They live in settlements. It is estimated that nearly 2,000 police officers in Madang Province have no house.

Ok Tedi Mining has operated in Western Province for 29 years; but there seems no sign of development except the 150km stretch of dirt road from Kiunga to the mine site. Lihir Gold has over the years announced consecutive billion dollar profits, but recently New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan complained in the media (The National, 16 March 2009) of no tangible development in his province.

Why is the PNG Government hypnotizing the world by announcing billion dollar kina budgets yet the country’s infrastructure is crumbling? The Government is sensitive on issues relating to its corrupt practices. It uses its position to crush protesters (e.g., the 1997 UPNG protest in which several students were shot by police) because it realises that the educated elite, especially university students, know about these corrupt activities.

The Government controls every department by abuse of power, using its discretion to appoint the heads of all departments. So when Members of Parliament misuse public funds, the agency heads do not comment or pretend not to know a thing, and the corrupt practice goes on until it adds up to millions of Kina being stolen.

For example, the PNG National Aids Council is being investigated for misuse of funds that were donated by aid donors such as the Clinton Foundation and AusAID who pumped millions of dollars into NAC to combat HIV/AIDS in PNG. Members of Parliament are also corrupted; they offer project contracts to their own private companies.

On Thursday (Post Courier, 19 March 2009), MPs voted themselves a hefty 10 million Kina bonus in perks. Who are these MPs to do this while the workers and public servants live in dire conditions on a K7 a fortnight housing allowance while MPs vote themselves a housing allowance of K1,720 a week? Ordinary citizens suffer and live in acute poverty while parliamentarians and their K12,000 drivers are chauffeured around in K50, 000 tinted glass cars.
Should PNG have a revolution?

Yes, why not. Many countries that are now well off (France, Russia, China, the United States) had revolutions. Change is a movement from one stage to another, it brings advancement and development. Revolution can be the mechanism of that change. PNG was given independence on a plate. We didn’t have to fight for it, that’s why we don’t appreciate our freedom and take it for granted.

I believe PNG can achieve a bloodless revolution. It only takes the will of the people. We are systematized by the Melanesian chief system, that’s why we respect the Chief, but in order to change for the better, sometimes you have to gather up the courage to draw the line and say enough is enough. It’s now or never.

* Piak is a student at Divine Word University, Madang, PNG

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