What caused the PNG riots?

By Gelab Piak*

The recent riot in PNG against Chinese Businesses is cited by many newspapers and news agencies to be a symptom of a nation in crisis. The looting has been condemned and the Government has vowed to set up a bi-partisan team to investigate the riots. However, in order to define the cause of the problem transparently and accurately, we have to critically analyze what has happened and answer the above question.

The riots maybe uncalled for, yet are well over-due. This rioting is a build up of a mixture of many issues. As it is PNG is filled with many problems such as acute poverty, lack of development, HIV/Aids, Law and Order, Public Servants and Workers pays, a great divide between rich and poor, land owner issues and the list just goes on and on. The Government knows about these issues, yet has gone on to ignore them, and this is part and parcel of the cause of the recent rioting.

Theses riots were a mare work of opportunist and not a coordinated work. These opportunists were mainly from squatter settlements, where the poorest of the society lives. They took advantage of the looting else where and orchestrated copycat versions. But dig deeper and you’ll find that these people are people from remote areas who have been neglected by the Government for so long, that they have moved to the Towns and Cities in search of government services denied to them. Other settlement residents are Primary school, High school, and Secondary school dropouts that become “street boys” and eventually end up in criminal activities, and the end is always fatal.

The education system too, must be reviewed, as it has contributed to a large number of dropouts over the years, some with little education, thus having little understanding of the problems facing this country so they become contributing factors to some of the problems. The service delivery mechanisms of the Government also need to be reviewed, as these riots are evidence of the need provide services.

The Department of Labor has come under criticism from other government authorities, but all should accept the blame and not pass the buck around. Business Regulatory arms must be blamed for no checking to see if foreign owned business and owners are abiding by PNG laws. This issue also paints a bad picture of the way we manage our border security, and in the center of this, are corrupt leaders and Government ignorance, not only the current government but also the previous governments.

Adding salt to the wound is the great cultural divide between the two peoples and races. Another fact to consider is that we must understand that PNG is a developing nation; it is developing and peoples’ perception changes as they become more aware by changing with development.

As a developing nation, PNG is caught in the middle; on one hand is the Western culture and on the other is our own culture and where we stand upon is Christianity, (as we, as a nation, claim to be) which goes against most of the basic morals and norms of our culture.

As we probe deeper we realize our problems are complex and so our leaders must be prepared to address all other issues first, and must investigate with regards and in the interest of its citizens as well as the foreigners(in this case the Asians). If this problem is properly addressed; we won’t see another Honiara in PNG.

Dear David,

* My name is Gelab Piak, I am Free Lance journalist and also a student in Divine Word University. I have witnessed first hand the looting in Madang, and felt the tension in the air, as angry mobs looted.

This article is in response to the many letters and complains about the riots it is article based on the recent riots that have targeted Asian businesses in PNG yet it is different in that it tries to state clearly and points out that PNG has many underlining issues that have contributed to this regrettable event in the history of PNG.

I humbly ask you if you could publish it on your blog. I appreciate your kind understanding and thank you well in advance.

Thank you.

Gelab Piak
(unedited)
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@