Nineteen years and counting in Papua New Guinea

A reader contributes

A kind reader has donated two of her own family photos to our collection:

 

RD security force women into the plant

 

This just in:  This evening, night shift workers supported the day workers by not coming to work. A few did show up, but then decided NOT to go inside the plant.

 

This upset Paul Vingu the RD Security Manager who forced the women to go inside the plant.

 

As the women were forced in the plant, RD male workers were yelled at Vingu and his Security team, causing Vingu to ring the police who came to his aid.  As the police arrived RD workers fled.

RD Stinks (and we would like to invite them to take a piss in the yard)

 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE IS K2.29

Make no mistake about it

 

 

Sources tell us that fish from RD was sent back from factory to Vidar wharf last week, Thursday, and RD claimed its workers were lazy and not working.

 

Workers deny this.

 

Maddened by the fact that they STILL have not received their legal K2.29/hr minimum wage (promised since March of this year), they finally spit the dummy. A majority of workers stopped working. When the night shift came on they supported the day shift and also stopped work.

 

RD workers threatened them.

 

The company 'doctor' Naomi Juele locked all the toilets for women. She said she left some open for the women who did work, but the women say this is not true, they were all locked---forcing the women to go outside to relieve themselves.   

 

Then Friday the security firm took the IDs from 489 workers and placed them on “Preventive Suspension.”

 

Today,  Monday morning, Union reps alled for the 489 to be reinstated.

 

RD refused.

 

Elme Mordeno of RD Management was heard to scream at them: “I can do mass termination!”

 

Peter Neimani, Provincial Labour Officer, found a loudspeaker and told workers RD was wrong in not giving them the K2.29---and they should have been paid as much from January 21.

 

RD told the Union they will start minimum pays on 6 August.They could not get lump sum back pay because, though, because they don’t have the money, RD said. They claimed this would run to K3-4 million----could this be so?

 

 

Workers demand that those under ‘preventive suspension’ be reinstated.

Today the majority of night workers did not show up, in solidarity with the day shift again.

 

The Union has members at the plant greeting every truck and telling workers not to go in, which seems to be working.

Others have asked workers to all turn in their ID cards as a gesture of protest to those suspended workers. They want RD to know they cannot start hiring new people to replace the 500 people they’ve suspended for the act of requesting their legal minimum wage.

 

But you can read the details from Franics Na-au himself, President of the RD Tuna National Workers Union: 

 And so we would like to invite them to:

 

Or

 

 

No one's laughing

ISLANDS BUSINESS reports:

PNG Opposition leader says Somare family has to go because it's destroying the nation

The Papua New Guinea Opposition leader, Sir Puka Temu, says it is time for the Somare administration's reign to end.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 PORT MORESBY, PNG (RNZI) ---- The Papua New Guinea Opposition leader, Sir Puka Temu, says it is time for the Somare administration’s reign to end. Sir Puka, Deputy Prime Minister until Monday when he joined the Opposition, had tried to bring a motion for a vote of no confidence in Sir Michael Somare’s coalition Government, but was stymied by the Speaker adjourning Parliament. The Opposition says they’ll continue efforts to topple the government, with renewed focus on both Sir Michael and his son Arthur, for gross mismanagement and alleged corruption. Sir Puka says Sir Michael and his family are destroying the nation. He says they break laws and treat Parliament like a joke, and he fears the Government will use the time until November to win additional support through inducements.

Manup and Kilibob stand up to the PMIZ

Manup and Kilibob are the spiritual founding fathers of Madang Province, having left their footprints everywhere from Bogia to Karkar to Josephstahl to Manam to Vidar to Rai Kos to Long Island,  Teptep and the Huon Peninsula. 

 Competitive, argumentative brothers, they are like the Kirshna and Shiva of northeast New Guinea cosmology, and their picaresque travels from their mother's womb to canoe voyages overseas and back again, form the basis of every Madang person's understanding of the world. Not an exaggeration, even in this day, as missionary texts consciously graft their first testament stories to local elaborations of the Manup Kilibob legend much the same way as early Christians transformed the 33 year old war-hero and Celtic god, Ingeld, into Christ during the first centuries of the Catholic church.

These days, when the Catholic Church can no longer defend Manup and Kilibob's name at Alexishafen, or Basamuk, it is impressive to see a descendant of the trickster Kilibob stand up for the law of the State and the rights of the people who will be disasterously impacted by the presence of 8 to 10 fish canneries at one of Madang's most historic sites: the home of Manup and Kilibob, of the Letub movement, birthplace to Madang's Lutheran and then the Catholic church, site of WWII memorials, and ground of some important moments in the Dabsau movement.

The fact that none of the persons responsible for bringing this Special Economic Zone to Vidar may have no idea of the site's history is reason enough to give us pause. Henry Ford was the one to say 'History is bunk.' And in a moment when even the most earnest of capitalist institutions like the World bank and the IMF are reconsidering the Henry Ford model of economic growth, we should remind ourselves that history is NOT bunk in PNG, and never ever will be. No one moves forward by forgetting their past.

For more about Manup and Kilibob's travels along the northcoast see, for example, our company report for The Nature Conservancy from 2005:

An ethnographic survey of the Kenege, Araka, Yagovat and Ivorab people within The Nature Conservancy’s project zone of the Almami Local Level Government, Bogia District, Madang Province. Port Moresby: The Nature Conservancy

http://www.nancysullivan.net/companyreports.htm

'Wily fox' or outright rat?

Crafty Somare survives no-confidence challenge

• Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific Editor
• From: The Australian
• July 22, 2010 12:00AM

• PAPUA New Guinea's wily, veteran fox of a Prime Minister, Michael Somare, contrived yesterday to escape what seemed a likely sudden political death by having parliament adjourned until November.

Buoyed by his win, Sir Michael, 74, crossed the chamber as MPs began to leave the house, pointed at rising young opposition star Sam Basil, and shouted in Pidgin: "If you were outside, I would kill you."

He was constrained by his son, Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare.

This is the second year running that he has avoided a no-confidence challenge by simply shutting parliament down.

But this time, he is also likely to face a legal challenge, with a strengthened yet bitterly frustrated opposition claiming they were robbed by a ruse in which the Speaker, Jeffery Nape -- a member of Sir Michael's National Alliance party -- played a crucial role.

Legal appeals may come over the nature of Mr Nape's ruling in parliament, and the consequent failure of parliament to meet its constitutional requirement of sitting days each calendar year.

Following a mass defection of MPs from the government ranks, the opposition -- now led by Puka Temu, deputy prime minister until Monday night -- moved a motion of no confidence in the morning.

Resuming after lunch, the government moved an adjournment -- the traditional blocking manoeuvre, in PNG's feisty political rugby games.

Mr Nape asked for a verbal response, and most witnesses say the "nos" were clearly louder. But Mr Nape said "the ayes have it", slammed his gavel down and declared parliament adjourned.

He ignored the roars from the opposition calling for a division.

If Sir Michael had felt confident about hanging on to his majority -- 55 of the 109 MPs -- he would have sought a formal vote. His reliance instead on the Speaker's apparently partial hearing betrayed his uncertainty.

Sir Puka told AAP after the drama in parliament: "They call him the 'father of the nation', but he and his family are destroying the nation. They break laws, they treat parliament like a joke. Is this what PNG wants? No, they want an end to this."

Thug Parliament

Good times. Not long ago the PM called PNG reporters morons and idiots, and today—death threats.

 

Thank god the vote of no confidence was stymied because we can’t wait to see the next chapter of this former Grand Chief’s unraveling. His son pulls him away from Sam Basil (or Bart Philomen, according to other reports), and his daughter sanitises his language for the press. What Tok Pisin phrase could be heard as ‘I'm going to kill you outside!’ and parsed by Betha as ‘You’re dead meat!’ ?? What nuances of Tok Pisin do I miss? Bai mi kilim yu autsait! Bai yu dai! Yu dai nau! ???

 

PNG leader to MP: 'I'm going to kill you'

By PNG correspondent Liam Fox

Updated 2 hours 27 minutes ago

Sir Michael Somare pointed at an MP and yelled in pidgin: "I'm going to kill you outside" (AAP: Alan Porritt, file photo)

A session of Papua New Guinea's parliament has ended with an extraordinary outburst by prime minister Sir Michael Somare, who threatened to kill an opponent.

After a ceremony in parliament to swear in the governor-general, the leader of government business moved to suspend parliament until November 16.

When the speaker called for 'ayes' and 'no's', the no's were noticeably louder.

But the speaker said "the ayes have it" and adjourned parliament without calling for a division to count the numbers.

As members were leaving the house, Sir Michael walked towards the opposition benches, pointed at MP Sam Basil and yelled in pidgin: "I'm going to kill you outside".

The 74-year-old had to be calmed by his son, Arthur Somare, who is also an MP.

But a spokeswoman for the prime minister denies he threatened to kill anyone.

She says his words were "you're dead meat".

Only hours earlier the opposition gave the speaker notice for a motion of no confidence in Sir Michael.

 

 

Thug role models: Tari gangmembers, the Tari public and of course Tari policeforce: 

 

We are all choked up about the suffering of Ramu Nico

It aggrieves us to think our visitors are finding things expensive in Madang. Too costly to obey the law. Too costly to endure the judicial proceedings of our sovereign state. We learn that no company can sustain the losses they have recently suffered. No one told them that bypassing the environmental regulations of PNG, like the labour and immigration laws, and handing money up front to prominent statesmen instead of investing in best practice protocols, would run uo such a tab!

Now we are worried along with MCC that 'the implications of these issues confronting' them will be 'fully assessed by the international investment community' and we will all now share this pain! I believe we are being told that we may all be punished for this.  Not just the other investors, not just those statesmen whose allowances may be cut short. Also the thousands of Chinese labourers who work at the plant ( our sympathies go out to them!), the Madang residents who will have to abandon their hand gestures and learn Tok Pisin again , the Air Niugini employees who will have to stop bumping othert residents from flights, the police force who will have to stop searching containers for incarcerated workers and the Rai Coast people who will no longer enjoy the plant's grey water being dumped into their lovely bay.

A sad day for all. This is truly a threat to our well being.

What price tuna (2)----ask the family of Charlie Lasisi: 6 RD Tuna Workers Face Murder Charges

6 RD Tuna Workers Face Murder Charges In Death of PNG Government Official

PNG Official sought to protect dolphins

Six RD Tuna workers - all Filippino -  are facing murder charges in the death of National Fisheries Observer, Charlie Lasisi of New Ireland Province.

The incident took place on 29 March of this year on board the RD Tuna vessel FV/Dolores 838 inside the Bismark Seas in Vanimo, along the Indonesian/PNG border.

Police said Mr. Lasisi had been strongly objecting to the fishing of dolphins by
RD Vessels. The catching of dolphins, sharks and other prohibited fish has been one of the many criticisms of RD over years.

The summary of facts said it was between 6pm-7pm when he went missing after he left the ship’s mess hall. It said when he left the room, two Filippino crew members  - Ramil Lumactod and June Alon left with him, but returned to report he had “gone missing.” The captain searched the area and ship and could not locate Lasisi or the body.

On 31 March a report was sent to the Managing Director of National Fisheries  Authority (NFA) Sylvester Pokajam and the National Maritime Safety Authority who sent officers to investigate on “suspicion of murder”.  Also charged with murder in addition to Ramil and June were Bonfacio Gelvoko, Franz Olivia Oyao, Jerwin Famini and Francisco Famini.

The six were remanded at Beon jail in Madang for several days until K500 bail each with TEN CONDITIONS were granted by Justice David Cannings. They were released under the care of the senior Vice President of RD Tuna Canners Limited in Madang. Justice Cannings ordered that RD Canners pay surety of K10,000 because they were all foreigners. Cannings said the amount should ensure they six do not escape because not only would the money be forfeited but it would proven bad for the corporate reputation of RD Tuna if the six did not return. The accused will appear again for mention on 30 July.

La Lucha Continua

In a former life I was an artist on the Lower East Side of New York. We all lived through the crazy heroin days, snaking lines of buyers that filled our streets and dispersed in milliseconds when someone yelled  "Bajando!" at the sight of a cop car; the squats; the East Village galleries; the riots in Tompkins Square Park; and the mass evictions as a result of rising real estate values and a gentrification of the last low-income neighborhoods in lower Manhattan. Madonna lived upstairs in our building and shamelessly flirted with my then boyfriend Rob Schweber, who was Assistant Directing her first feature film, Desperately Seeking Susan (--but who could blame her?---he was wonderful). The front door of our apartment building on East 4th Street was so covered with graffiti it became a card sold on West Village postcard racks. Advertising squalor and chic in equal measure. I curated at ABC No Rio, lived with multimedia culptures in my studio, and was a member of Artmakers Inc, a muralist group that decorated scores of vacant building sides and dilapidated walls across the Lower East Side.

Recently trolling the web I came across an Artmakers website  ( http://gothamcenter.org/blotter/)that displays one of my murals, which is still there after 25 years on East 8th Street between B and C. 

Not For Sale, it's called.

La Lucha Continua.

And so it does. This is the image I wish to raise for those of us in Madang these days, facing the PMIZ, the Deept Sea Tailings of MCC and who knows whatever projects may be in the works we have yet to discover.

We can't say it loudly enough: keep the flying foxes

   One of Madang's great hoteliers and statesmen has again raised the prospect of shooing our flying foxes out of town.

 The Chamber of Commerce was told that an Australian company has a machine specifically designed to 'make a noise' that will, over time, 'encourage the bats to relocate.' 

 The machine is said to cost A$55,000. Roughly K150.000. 

 It is proposed that there be three machines purchased and placed strategically in town, near the hospital, and at the airport. That's A$165,000. What's the Modilon Hospital budget for one year?

That is certain to keep the peace around here. No more loud flapping bat wings, no more whoosh of wind as they propel off the tree limbs into the evening air, and no more annoying distractions as they settle into their leathery puches for the night. 

We are passing the hat to buy a fourth, to be strategically placed on this gentleman's front yard.

 

PMIZ and the Special Economic Zone concept: does it even work for China?

All public discussion of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone proposed for Madang (scant that it be) has ignored some of the local political implications in favour of the economic benefits of what are called 'Special Economic Zones.' Clearly, the cost-benefit analaysis is about local versus national interests in the eyes of the PMIZ supporters, but this elides the fact that there are national political implications to these industrial zones as well.

 

In this post, the first piece here is an argument about the absence of political discussion in the annual World Bank Report for 2009, which specifically promotes the SEZ concept as it has been realized in China. China's model city for SEZ's is Shenzen, images of which we include below.

 

The second piece in this post is distilled from a power point prsentation by Fisheries expert Dr Claire Slatter, who questions the social implications for the PMIz---among its other impacts.

 

 

 

Where Is the Geography?

World Bank’s WDR 2009

Anant Maringanti, Eric Sheppard, Jun Zhang

Economic & Political Weekly EPW july 18, 2009 vol xliv no 29

Anant Maringanti ([email protected]) is with the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Eric Sheppard ([email protected]) is with the Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA and Jun Zhang ([email protected]) is with the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

 

P1:

For each of the last 31 years, the World Bank has commissioned a World Development Report (hereafter the Report), which sums up its considered position on a particular developmental theme.

…To the extent that it signals the World Bank’s public relations and intents, it is a marker of ideological shifts within the multilayered international institution – as ort of weathercock.

Reports

To discerning academics, however, the Report is riddled with inconsistencies and omissions. Increasingly, it appears that the inconsistencies and omissions in the Report are not incidental but effectively constitute a strategy to draw in academics and practitioners into broadening circles of engagement year after year. …

The 2009 report is titled Reshaping Economic Geography, whereas the 2010 Report, Development in a Changing Climate, will ask how unexpected physical geographic changes may attenuate development.

Pp58-50:

The Report is enthusiastic about China’s special economic zone (SEZ) strategy as a successful, spatially targeted intervention, speaks warmly of the fluidity of Chinese labour markets, and suggests that rural-urban and rural-SEZ migration is a win-win for migrants, places of origin and places of destination. Further it suggests that liberalised land markets and institutionalised private property will catalyse the eradication of slums and urban poverty. In India, by contrast, it highlights two important barriers to labour mobility, and recommends targeted interventions to deal with urban inequalities.

…Even along their different developmental trajectories, India and China share many common features in their reform experience; a comparison that yields quite different lessons from those espoused in the Report. In both cases, during the past two decades and a half, the devolution of fiscal responsibility has financialised highly politicised processes of spatial competition, in which local elites have enhanced their power in cities that are increasingly hostile to rural migrants. This has undermined the ability of rural migrants to claim rights to urban residence, and to decently paid employment, negatively impacting both their well-being and that of the places they have left.

Fiscal Reform in China

The 1994 fiscal reform in China centralised much of the revenue collection, yet kept expenditure responsibilities decentralised.9 The main sources of revenue remaining under local governments’ command are land leasing and discretionary control over the hukou regime for migration.10

Over the last two decades, market-oriented reforms and economic growth have dramatically intensified faction-based political struggle in the party, enhancing the role of money in political power. At the individual level, party leaders perceive strong incentives to boost short-term local revenues and to produce visible “image projects” such as the development of infrastructure, often at the cost of the weak and marginalised groups. Such projects enable local party leaders to accumulate some “hard evidence” of political performance, enrich themselves, and accumulate funds to bribe higher level leaders and lubricate political ties. ..

If we recall in this context that the party state in China has generally been biased against the rural over the last three decades, but for episodic interventions to improve living conditions in the rural areas and attempts to integrate rural migrants better into cities, it would appear that pro-market reforms in China have only gone to reinforce that bias...

Relative Location

…Development depends on spatial strategies that keep large numbers of people perennially on the move, and underpaid .Let us now see how the Report addresses this reality. Shenzhen is featured as the most successful SEZ and city in China. Propelled by the forces of agglomeration, migration, and specialisation, and helped by its nearness to Hong Kong, China, Shenzhen has grown the fastest of all cities in China since 1979, when it was designated a special economic zone.

The Report attributes Shenzhen’s success to residents who are “the best-trained professionals in the country, attracted by high salaries, better housing, and education opportunities for their children” (p 224), going on to stress that it was helped along the way by its proximity to Hong Kong. Such a reading of Shenzhen’s success is consistent with the Report’s general observation that “[l]ocation is the key: poor location is the main obstacle to success” (p 254), implying that “spatially directed interventions” must “exploit geographic advantages rather than try to offset them” (p 254).

More Complex Story

However, even a cursory examination of official statistics reveals a different, more complex story. Shenzhen’s 8.77 million permanent residents in 2008 included 2.28 million hukou-residents (26%).12

A census on 15 April 2008, by the Shenzhen Floating Population and Rental Housing Management Office, revealed that Shenzhen had12.3 million floating population, 11.5 million of whom had stayed over six months, and 88% of whom came to Shenzhen seeking a job. Over 87.5% of these workers are between 16 and 44 years old, with 99.8% lacking professional qualification of any kind. Of the workers, 88.5% agricultural-hukou holders; only 1.79% held a bachelor degree or above, and 73.2% held a degree of middle school or below.

Conforming to national patterns, only 3%of Shenzhen’s floating population resided in purchased houses, 36% in dorms, and others in rental units. Only 32% were living with family members. Contrary to the impression created by the Report, Shenzhen’s competitiveness stems largely from this high percentage of floating, temporary population. This workforce is not participating in a liberalised, fluid labour market, but is subject to a cautiously manipulated hukou system that channels temporary migration and maintains a state of “incomplete urbanisation”(Chan 2009).

The hukou reforms in China thus, do not signal abolition of restrictions on migration and the emergence of a “fluid” labour market (contra pp 153-54 in the Report). Rather, they mainly devolve responsibility for hukou policies to local governments, giving them new tools to keep people from becoming permanent migrants in cities. Such restrictions help keep labour costs low. Even with the recent “labour shortage” before the economic crisis, the estimated average manufacturing wage in China in 2007 was only $0.76/hour, about 3% of the US wage and 25% of Mexico’s (Standard Chartered Bank 2008).

Similarly, Shanghai, praised in the Report for its land market institutions, has in fact been the remarkable leader of what may be called the Chinese “land enclosure” movement. With revenue from land leasing now the single-most important source of local extra-budget revenue, especially fees from commercial and residential land leasing, (e g, Lin and Ho 2005; Yang and Wang 2008), land-related issues arising from state expropriations or acquisitions have become the top cause of rural grievances and protests (Zhu and Prosterman2007).

A large number of farmers, uprooted by such land grabs, have flooded the labour market, further reducing labour’s bargaining power. Low compensation costs enable local governments to offer land to industrial investors (such as General Motors) at extremely low prices, as part of a “race to the bottom” regional competition (Tao and Yang 2008).

…In short, increased labour mobility in China is due to a system whose fluidity and flexibility is primarily for powerful local politicians and investors. For migrant workers and their places of origin, and for the majority of ordinary urban residents, its inflexibility is a lose-lose situation. This state of affairs may be represented by the Report as temporary, but this is hardly any consolation for those enduring forced mobility and impermanent residence. The economic crisis has triggered the “deportation” of some 20 million migrant workers back to their rural homes, having lost their jobs and without access to their pension contributions– few qualify for the latter, under the rule that pensions are payable only after 15 years of contributions (Bradsher 2009).

Notes

9 Local governments can claim about 50% of the revenue of commoditised housing development (65% in Shanghai) through both land and tax revenues.

10 The hukou system refers to the household registration system in China which circumscribes rights to individuals to specific places. Rights to services, etc, in this system are not portable. This means, once you leave the area in which you are registered, you are both illegally residing in other places and are denied any entitlements.

12 Statistical Communiqué of Shenzhen Economic and Social Development 2008; http://www.sztj.com/main/xxgk/tjsj/tjgb/gmjjhshfzgb/200903243520.shtml

References

Bradsher, K (2009): “China’s Unemployment Swells as Exports Falter”, The New York Times, 6 February.

Chan, K W (2009): “The Chinese Hukou System at 50”, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 50(2), 197-221, No 2, pp 197-221.

Lin, G C S and S P S Ho (2005): “The State, Land System, and Land Development Processes in Contemporary China”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95: 411-36.

 Tao, R and D L Yang (2008): “The Revenue Imperative and the Role of Local Government in China’s Transition and Growth”, Paper prepared for presentation at conference on China’s Reforms, University of Chicago, July.

Yang, D Y and H K Wang (2008): “Dilemmas of Local Governance under the Development Zone Fever in China: A Case Study of the Suzhou Region”, Urban Studies, 45, 1037-54.

Zhu, K and R Prosterman (2007): “Securing Land Rights for Chinese Farmers: A Leap Forward for Stability and Growth”, Cato Development Policy Analysis Series, No 3, October 15.

The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ):

Social (including gender) Implications
Dr Claire Slatter

Fiji National University

IPMEN 2010 Conference, Outrigger Hotel, Fiji

What is the PMIZ?

A mega industrial fisheries project, to be based in Madang, PNG, comprising

l    10 tuna canneries

l    Dock and storage facilities to service foreign fisheries vessels

l    Round the clock cannery production and vessel servicing

PMIZ is expected to

l    be a major, tax-free fisheries processing hub

l    Retain a larger portion of the tuna caught in Pacific waters for local processing

l    earn PNG $2 billion a year in tuna revenue

l    create between 30,000 and 40,000 new jobs (mostly for women?)

l    generate spin-off businesses (e.g. transportation of workers to and from factories)

Background to the PMIZ

o    1996 – first cannery (RD Tuna) established at Siar, Madang

o    1999 –corporatization of PNG Fisheries Dept –> creation of the National Fisheries Authority

o    NFA commercially develops PNG fisheries sector & targets K1 billion for fisheries revenue in 5 to 10 years

o    28th May 2003 - EU granted PNG duty free access  to EU markets under LOMÉ

o    2004 - PNG’s tuna fishing effort = 10% of total recorded tuna catch in WCPFC waters

o    2006 – second cannery (Frabelle) set up in Lae

o    300,000 tonnes of fish processed by PNG’s  two canneries (in Madang and Lae) and three loining plants (Madang, Lae and Wewak) in 2007.

o    PNG’s fishing effort in 2007 accounted for 11% of the overall 4.3 million MT that was globally harvested that year (totaling US$6.1 billion in value)

o    PNG’s canned & processed fish exports enjoyed preferential access to EU markets until December 2007 (Cotonou)

o    Mid-2007, PNG began soliciting support from PNA states for a proposed ‘Marine Park’ project (later re-named PMIZ)

o    PNG initialed an EPA with EU in December 2007 primarily to secure changes in EU’s ROOs and development support for the PMIZ initiative

Who is Supporting the PMIZ

Chinese interests

o    EXIM Bank of China (loan of US $71m)

o    Shenyang International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co Ltd (developers of the PMIZ)

o    Two other obscure Chinese fisheries companies were earlier named in connection with the PMIZ

o    The Chinese Government

PNG Government

o    Ministry of Commerce & Industry

o    National Fisheries Authority

o    The Provincial Government in Madang?

The private sector in PNG

o    Chambers of Commerce, RD Tuna

World Bank

o    International Finance Corporation (IFC)

PNA states

o    Which ??

EU??

ADB?

Who else?

EPA (MFPA) & PMIZ

o    Private sector supporters of PMIZ involved in EPA negotiations

o    Change in ROOs secured - allowing fish caught by any vessel in Pacific waters to be exported to EU markets

o    Proposed MFPA

o    EU to be offered 5% of total allowable effort allocated through the VDS for 20 yrs

o    EU to provide ‘financial contribution’ of €100 per tonne, plus financial assistance in developing the PMIZ

o    To allow PACP crew on EU vessels

Implementation of PMIZ

o    19th June 2009 - PMIZ ground-breaking takes place at Vidar

o    No real consultation with people in Madang Province on PMIZ

o    No SIA undertaken as yet

o    No protective/regulatory framework in place

o    October 19, 2009 – a major protest march held in  Madang

“This PMIZ arrangement is a fishy deal, orchestrated by individuals driven by selfish interest and evil intent”

      Sumkar MP, Hon. Ken Fairweather,

cited in Mining Monitor, July 25, 2009.  

Potential for social conflict

   

1. Disputed land on which PMIZ is being constructed

l   20 year struggle by people of Rempi, Sek, Kanaman, Midiba and Haven over 860 hectares of Maiwara and Vidar land

l   In 1996, the Catholic Mission returned the land to the Madang Provincial Government, assuming that it would be used to develop projects to benefit the people

l   Madang Provincial Government subsequently sold the land to RD Tuna

l   RD Tuna has since resold the land to the national Government (Madang Governor, Sir Arnold Amet, has promised to assist get the land returned to landowners).

   

2. Law and order problems & industrial conflict

·     Massive influx of  ‘outsiders’ into Madang province in search of employment in the PMIZ – Madang already has a law and order problem

·     80% of RD Tuna workers = non-Madang; PMIZ intended to see other Pacific Islands sending in  workers

·     Industrial conflicts resulting from poor wages and conditions (12 hour shifts; no holidays) and weak enforcement of labour standards

3.  Social and Health Problems

•   Upsurge in the sex trade (to supplement poor wages)

•   “Sex for by-catch” trade

•   Upsurge in HIV infections

4.  Environmental Concerns

l    Madang Lagoon is PNG’s richest marine area & home to 11% of the world’s reef fish, and to 17% of PNG’s endemic fish species (Jenkins 2003). The Lagoon covers 4,000 hectares of reef.

l    Independent studies show substantial environmental destruction from the existing cannery and associated fishing operations in Madang  - e.g. Seg Harbour – site of RD Tuna’s cannery – half the reef is dead at three metres depth

l    Implications for subsistence fisheries and food security – villagers report a decline in fish sticks

l    Parts of the Lagoon area, extending from  Madang town to Sek and Vidar, have already been declared a conservation area by the Bel people

l    Risk of over-exploiting/depleting the tuna fishery – ref. Barclay & Cartwright 2006 ( WCPFC Scientific Committee warned of over-fishing of yellow-fin and big eye and recommended reducing fish mortality. How safe are skipjack tuna stocks?)

Other environmental problems

o    Oil spills

o    Ammonium gas spill at Vidar Harbour (2003)

o    Toxic acid spill

o    Waste disposal problems

o    Stench from the cannery

o    Unauthorised fishing of other species using nets

o    (hidden extraction/illegal exports of fish by RD Tuna)

o    Likely impact of 10 canneries on Madang’s water supply

Implications for women

o    Cannery workforce – almost exclusively female

o    impacts on both supplying areas and Madang of recruiting/employing up to 30,000 women workers

o    Impacts on gender relations of round the clock production

o    Security/safety dimensions

o    Surreptitious trade aboard fishing vessels (sex for by-catch) by non-industrial workers

o    Risk of increased child prostitution

o    Risks of increased HIV/AIDS (7% of PNG population likely to be infected by 2015?).

 Locally-registered RD Tuna vessel – pays no license fees to fish in PNG’s waters

 Children paddle around the RD Tuna vessels

 RD Tuna women workers sort fish at the company’s wharf

RD Tuna woman fork-lift driver (not paid the skilled wage of her male counterpart)

RD Tuna’s gendered advertising pitch

 Foreign NGOs misleading the people? Or outside interests
seeking to profit ?

The Challenge: what to do?

o    Very little official information available about this controversial project.

o    So far, protests against the PMIZ have been locally-based

o    Which PNA (and other Pacific) states are supporting the PMIZ?

o    Other Pacific states and their citizens stand to benefit from this major project at the expense of the people of Madang & PNG

o    Madang NGOs struggling to stop this high risk industrial development urgently need support from other Pacific based organizations. 

 

What price tuna?...ask Flipper

Back in 2003 a Papua New Guinean working for RD Tuna signed a statutory declaration sworn before a commissioner of oaths at the Public prosecutor's that said:

"I am currently employed by RD Fishing as a National crew and have been since 1999. I have worked in that capacity in most company's fishing vessels including Dolores 830, 831 and Dolores 832, all catchers license to catch tuna in PNG waters. A good catch on one of those catchers would bring in several tonnes. This method of fishing usually unavoidably brings in by catches such as salmons, sharks, marlins and dolphins. An average of two to three dolphins are caught per catch in nets - equal or more of the others. Like all big size fishes, nearly al the dolphins caught in the round up die before they hit the deck. Those dolphins would be tow out before the close of the round up process but overlook due to the exercise involved. The dead dolphins are throw overboard in mid sea."

 

Earlier this year it was reported that a Fisheries inspector, a New Ireland man, had gone aboard an RD vessel for an inspection and returned dead. Very little news was available in the press at the time, and the public has heard almost nothing since. Such is the tilt of the National newspaper, for example, that we can expect never to hear about this in their pages (and I say this as someone whose report on RD Tuna back in 2003 has prompted reporters in the paper to call for my deportation more than once, and an executive at RD to personally ask the PM for the same). But we know from a small item in last week's Post-Courier that the Provincial Court released the six RD employees indicted for murder in this case on K10,000 bail, which was paid by an RD executive. Their passports have been witheld for the duration. This puts to rest rumours that the people actually responsible for the murder were Papua New Guineans (an illogical assumption) after all. They were Filippino seamen.

The story being told is that this Fisheries official objected to the netting of dolphins by RD purse seiners, and that he got into an altercation over reporting the fact. PNG workers for PNG have long told stories of the illegal netting of dolphins, sharks and other non-tuna fish by RD, some of which are then sold to overseas markets (we are told). This is not unusual for purse seine tuna fishing, which employs a huge net to capture virtually everything in a certain ocean depth---and is precisely the reason why purse seine tuna fishing is considered so unsustainable--why critics call for the use of line-line fishing boats instead (a form of pole and line fishing). It should be noted that these same RD workers are currently reporting serious drops in the fish catch out of Madang, which may indeed be related to the purse seine method. Not a good sign for the prospect of eight to ten new canneries at the PMIZ. What will their haul be? We suggest someone ask Commerce and Industry Minister abriel Kapris who has been reported as saying Pacific tuna is a 'renewable resource.' We wonder how he expects to renew it. 

 

What are the implications of this for our proposed PMIZ of 8 to 10 new canneries and that many more fleets at Vidar?

For the time being, Flipper recommends The Cove, his favoirite film of 2010.

Martyrdom, the New Asian National newspaper's yellow journalism---and our search for secondhand clothes in the Markham Valley

We would like to lay bets that the Governor of Madang Province is just relieved the idea never occurred to his constituency last week. But the news is shocking: Sir Michael has been stoned in Tari. We are unable to say whether he IS stoned, but we know he has been stoned.

And we have to assume this is part of his carefully controlled campaign to quell public unrest, introduce the fist round of self- canonization (as all other honorifics are already been attached to his name), and reclaim the esteem his New Asian Party seems to have squandered.

We don't know where he has learned his media control strategy, but we have some ideas.

Some may suspect the truth of this---and call it retribution for the unkind things he's been saying about PNG's moronic, imbecilic, idiotic press. But the story has truly martyred our PM, and thus we suspect the Chief's own genius for media manipulation is at play. 

Rather like a segment of BBC news I saw today, where a British journalist is heavily escorted through Tibet's capital and he happens upon a monk who had been rceently reprogrammed after making disparaging remarks about China. The reporter asks, 'Do you still worship the Dalai Lama?' and the monk can be seen to nod and say 'yes,' in English, as the Chinese translater states off-camera 'He says, No he does not worship the Dalai Lama.'

Genius. We love Depana Nikints who has two excellent blog articles out today.

Depana NiKints

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Chief Somare Attacked in Tari

The swearing in of the Hela Transitional Authority in Tari Town turned rowdy as angry landowners threw stones at the officials today (15.07.2010) at around 12:pm

When the Prime Minister took the stage to give his keynote address and officiate the swearing in ceremony,the University students from Hela raised placards with slogans such as "NO LNG" and confronted the PM with their dissatisfaction. When the police and security personals moved in to remove the protesters, that's when the situation went out of control as landowners threw stones at the Chief, the government officials and the police.

It was reported by someone from Tari via mobile phone that, the police fired teargas at the crowd to disperse them. In the tussle between the police and the crowd, it was reported by eye witness that, the PM took his share of stones thrown at him. It is unclear, whether the PM sustained any injuries or not.

There is still a lot of unsettled issues regarding the LNG project and more trouble is expected to erupt.

http://depananikints22.blogspot.com/2010/07/chief-somare-attacked-in-tari.html

Thursday, July 15, 2010

National News Paper lying to Protect Asian Interests

There is something going on in PNG. You can feel it. The corrupt government of Michael Somare is being called out at all levels of society - from the political Opposition which you expect, to they grassroots which you don't expect. Young Papua New Guineans are standing up asking questions which need to be asked and in Madang just two weeks ago took to the streets - challenging the PM, the Attorney General and the Police who told them they could not march. The protest march was against the new Environmental Act which came about because of the notorious Chinese STATE OWNED Ramu Nickel Mine which proposes to dump over 100 million tonnes of waste into the local bay. Landowners who has been complaining about this dumping FOR OVER A DECADE are now organized both on the ground and in the court room where they have successfully been able to halt the mine from continuing through a court injunction.

Yet through all this something is beginning to smell - and while this is of no great surprise they need to be called out on it. One of the two PNG dailies - The National - is mis-reporting news and its becoming more and more obvious. As everyone knows the National is owned by the Malaysian owned Rimbunan Hijau, the actual owners of Papua New Guinea who have been having their way in PNG for over 20 years now. For all intent and purposes they ran PNG for years. They are now in competition with, yet cooperating with the Chinese.

Over the years everyone is aware of the bias of the National on logging issues and more recently their playing down the Asian influence in PNG. This comes as no secret to anyone. However in recent weeks it should be pointed out that TWO stories which came from the National and serves the interests of those they support must be challenged.

After the orderly and peaceful protest against the Environmental Laws in Madang - the National CHOSE to report on Page 1 of their newspaper that government authorities were meeting and prepared to arrest the organizers of the protest. The story was NOT picked up by the other daily -the Post Courier. Rumors were flying early that the story was untrue and fabricated by the National. Attempts to verify this story from government sources failed. Two days ago one high ranking government official who asked not to be identified said "it was never going to happen. It was an attempt by the government to frighten other areas of the country so they wouldn't take to the streets like Madang." He went on to say the government collaborated with the National to put out the false story.

Now the National has chosen another lie for purposes only they or perhaps you the reader will understand. Prime Minister Micheal Somare was in Madang recently meeting with one of the Plaintiffs in the Court Case against the Chinese Government owned Ramu Nickel Mine. During that meeting the Chief doing business like he always has and pushed by his Chinese masters offered the plaintiffs a K40 million deal to the plaintiff and his people in exchange for dropping the court case. The National chose to run the story saying and "out of court settlement will probably be reached". Oh really? Yet that same day the plaintiff reported to the other news media that was a lie - and it was being misreported. To the plaintiff we would say it was more than misreported it was RH protecting its interest and those of their Asian cronies.

And did you all notice how the article about RH intimidating the news media (ie: Post Courier) was conveniently NOT reported in the National, yet picked up by all other media. The National in line with the National Alliance and Pangu do not seem to understand what's going on.They don't see it or don't want to believe the change which is in the air. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. For one thing BE CAREFUL - (more than usual that is) what you read in the National. They have shown VERY CLEARLY ONCE AGAIN - they will say anything to protect their interests - and those interests are not in the interest of the majority of Papua New Guineans. Wake up RH - the old days are over.

__________

On a related point, the website Ramu Nickel Mine Watch recently  posted an interesting article about China exporting convicts (along with shoddy electronics I suppose) to their overseas infrastructure projects. It's from Japan Times online, by Brahma Chellenay, and it makes for a very interesting read when we consider the labour force at Ramu Nico, for example. Which is why Mine Watch calls its piece:  Is China sending convicts to PNG? Almost certainly (www.ramumine.wordpress.com)

 They site Chellenay as saying:

Relieving pressure on overcrowded national prisons by employing convicts as laborers at Chinese-run projects in the developing world is a novel strategyChinahas adopted — an approach that is certain to create new backlashes against Chinese businesses overseas, besides highlighting the country’s egregious human-rights record.

In addition to being the world’s biggest executioner,Chinahas one of the largest prison populations in theworld.

The 2009 “World Prison Population List” compiled by theInternationalCenterfor Prison Studies at King’s College,London, put the total number of inmates in Chinese jails at 1.57 million.

Chinahas evolved in important ways as a result of its economic “opening,” with the new social pluralism prompting the state to cut back on totalitarian practices. Yet, with its Soviet-style autocratic structure intact, there is little space for political pluralism. Those who challenge government policies or practices or stage demonstrations against official highhandedness risk long imprisonment.

The forced dispatch of prisoners to work on overseas infrastructure projects raises new issues regardingChina’s human-rights record.

Thousands of Chinese convicts, for example, have been pressed into service in projects by state-run Chinese companies inSri Lanka, a strategically important country forChina, which is seeking a role in theIndian Ocean. Such isSri Lanka’s vantage location that it sits astride vital sea lanes of communication.China— in return for being allowed to make strategic inroads — providedSri Lankaoffensive weapon systems that helped end its long civil war. Now,Beijingis being rewarded with port-building, railroad and other infrastructure projects.

Chinese convicts also have been taken to a microstate in the Indian Ocean, theMaldives, where the Chinese government is building 4,000 houses on several different islands as a government-to- government “gift” to win influence there. So far, however,Beijinghas failed to persuade the Maldivian president to lease it one of the 700 uninhabited Maldivian islands for setting up a small base for its navy.

The Chinese practice in overseas projects, including in Africa, is to keep the number of local workers to the minimum and to bring in much of the workforce fromChina. The novel twist is that some batches of laborers now being brought in are made up of convicts “freed” on parole for project-related overseas work.

The convict laborers, like the rest of the Chinese workforce, are housed near the project site. The Chinese logic is that if any convict worker escaped, it would be easy to find the runaway in an alien setting.

Chinese firms actually bring in more than just convict laborers and other workers at overseas projects. To help boost Chinese exports, they get all equipment, steel, cement and other construction material fromChina.

Such practices run counter to the Chinese commerce ministry’s August 2006 regulations — promulgated in response to the backlash against Chinese businesses in Zambia following the death of 51 Zambian workers in an explosion at a Chinese-owned copper mine — that called for “localization,” including hiring local workers, respecting local customs and adhering to safety norms.

Chinese domestic regulations, however, are sometimes promulgated to blunt external criticism. They are thus seldom enforced, except when a case attracts international attention.

Despite the State Council’s 2006 nine good-conduct directives to Chinese companies engaged in overseas operations, the government and corporate priority still is to aggressively boost exports, even if such a push engenders environmental and social costs for local communities abroad. Indeed, as part of the government’s “going global” policy, Chinese companies are offered major incentives and rewards for bagging overseas contracts and boosting exports.

The use of convict laborers adds a disturbing new dimension to the “going global” strategy, which was first unveiled in 2001.

As it is, some Chinese projects, especially dam-building schemes, have been embroiled in several countries in disputes with local communities. The pressing of Chinese prisoners into service will create new rifts.

Chinese dam-building projects, for example, have been controversial with local communities inBotswana,Burma,Ghana,PakistanandSudan, among others. InSudan, security forces killed three people and wounded several others in April 2006 to scatter demonstrators protesting the 9.2-km-long Merowe High Dam, while a similar protest against another Chinese dam-building project in that impoverished country, at Kajbar, left four people dead in June 2007.

Last April, several small bombs went off at the site ofBurma’s Myitsone Dam, whose construction by a Chinese company in the insurgency-torn, northernmost Kachin state is displacing thousands of subsistence farmers and fishermen by flooding a wide swath of land. Located at the confluence of the N’Mai andMalirivers, the Myitsone Dam isChina’s project forChina, with the local communities saddled with social and environmental costs as the scheme’s entire generation of 3,200 megawatts of hydropower is earmarked for export.

Chinese companies also have been erecting dams in an internationally disputed area like the Pakistan-held part of Kashmir, drawing protests fromIndiaas well as from local communities that view the projects, including the mammoth 7,000-megawatt Bunji Dam, as potentially benefiting only the dominant PakistaniprovinceofPunjab, located downstream.

Chinais not only the world leader in building dams at home, but also the top dam exporter. In fact, it has no qualms about building dams in contested territories, or in areas torn by ethnic separatism, or in other human rights-abusing countries.

China’s declaratory policy of “noninterference in domestic affairs” serves as a virtual license to pursue projects that benefit governments known to repress their citizens. For example, in Sudan, where China has emerged as the principal backer of a regime accused of committing genocide in the arid western region of Darfur, 13 of the 15 largest foreign companies operating are Chinese, with Beijing making huge investments in the Sudanese economy — from hydropower to oil. It also has sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons, including tanks and fighter-jets, to help prop up President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes inDarfur.

Chinese companies on their own cannot get prisoners released in the thousands, let alone secure passports and exit permits for them. It is obvious that the controversial practice of making use of convicts overseas has been initiated at the instance of the Chinese government.

UntilBeijing’s treatment of its own citizens and those of other countries is guided by respect for basic human rights and the rule of law, it is doubtful thatChinawill command respect on the world stage.

Brahma Chellaney is the author of the international best-seller, “Asian Juggernaut” (HarperCollins,New York, 2010).

 

We raise our stones to you Ramu Nico!

And in conclusion we just wish to make one small request. Could we please have some of your POLITICAL PRISONERS??

 

In the same general theme, we leave now to continue our pursuit of something to wear in the Markham Valley. I find that as I steal this apple away from Adam, my fig leaf is itchy and the snake accessory is growing restrictive.

 

Cultural Survival makes a direct plea to Sir Michael and MCC

 

 

Promoting the rights, voices, and visions of indigenous peoples

 

 

 

PRESIDENT AND CHAIR OF THE BOARD Sarah Fuller   VICE CHAIR Richard A. Grounds   TREASURER Jeff Wallace   CLERK Jean Jackson     BOARD OF DIRECTORS   Suzanne Benally Marcus Briggs-Cloud Elizabeth Cabot Westy Egmont Laura Graham James Howe Cecilia Lenk Pia Maybury-Lewis Les Malezer P. Ranganath Nayak Vincent Nmehielle Ramona L. Peters Stella Tamang Martha Claire Tompkins Roy Young   EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ellen L. Lutz   DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Mark Camp

 

   July 13, 2010

 

H.E. Rt. Hon. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare

The Prime Minister

Morauta House

PO Box 639 Waigani

National Capital District

Papua New Guinea

 

Your Excellency,

 

I write to express Cultural Survival’s solidarity with the customary landowners who live on the Rai Coast and along the Ramu River, whose lands and waters could be disastrously contaminated by toxic waste from CMCC’s Ramu nickel and cobalt mine and refinery, under the current license agreement.

 

For the sake of democracy and Indigenous Peoples’ rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Survival urges your government to repeal the May 28, 2010 amendments to the Environment Law, which deny land owners the right to defend their property and the natural resources they depend on for life and livelihood. These amendments violate your Fisheries Management Act, which states, “The rights of customary owners of fisheries resources and fishing rights shall be fully recognized and respected in all transactions affecting their resources.”

 

Scientific studies by the Scottish Association of Marine Science, the Lutheran Church, and the Mineral Policy Institute all conclude that if CMCC dumps its mining and refinery waste into the sea as currently planned, ocean currents could spread the toxins along the entire northern coast. All marine life and key tuna fisheries in the Bismarck Sea would be endangered, and the livelihoods of coastal communities would be imperiled. Please exercise the Precautionary Principle and honor your own May 15, 2009 statement to the Coral Triangle Initiative, in which you pledged to “manage our healthy marine environment carefully in the face of the many development pressures…and…achieve our development objectives without further harm to our marine resources.”  To fulfill this pledge, your government must revoke CMCC’s permit for deep submarine tailings placement.

 

I am also concerned that CMCC’s Ramu mine will increase siltation in the Ramu River and contaminate the waters that 300,000 people in the Ramu River watershed depend on for drinking, washing, and agriculture.  I urge you to require that CMCC implement industry best practices to prevent and monitor siltation and contamination of the Ramu River during construction and operation phases of the Ramu mine.

 

I am also concerned about reported violations of the human rights of customary land owners who have been forcefully removed from their lands at the Ramu mine construction site and resettled in completely inadequate housing developments where they cannot be at peace.  How has your government permitted CMCC to build its facilities without first resolving all the land disputes among customary owners and gaining all land owners’ informed consent to the terms of the compensation agreements?

 

The incalculable dangers to your people and to Papua New Guinea’s enviable natural resources and biological diversity far outweigh any short-term gains from such a high-risk project as CMCC’s Ramu mine and refinery.  Please reconsider and take immediate steps to safeguard your greatest treasures, the health of your people, your lands, and your waters.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

 

Paula Palmer, Director

Global Response Program

Cultural Survival

PO Box 7490

Boulder, CO 80306 USA

[email protected]

 

 

CC:

Benny Allen

Minister for Environment and Conservation

PO Box 6601 Boroko

National Capital District

Papua New Guinea

 

Sir Arnold Amet, Governor

Madang Provincial Government

PO Box 2139 

Madang

Papua New Guinea

 

 Madam Luo

CMCC Director

Ramu Nickel Mine

Po Box 1229

Madang

Papua New Guinea

 

Aldo Dell'ariccia

EU Ambassador to PNG 

European Union

Po Box 76

Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea

 

 

 

The Chief has an offer that can't be refused

Keep it under your hat:

We hear the Chief has an offer one of the Ramu Nico Plaintiffs cannot refuse.

 

 

It includes K40 million, a new development company, and stepping out of a certain court case.

 

We are compelled to ask the Chief:  Is K40 mill what the environmental health of Basamuk Bay is worth to you? Or just what you believe can dazzle the Rai Coast landowners into forgetting their children's future? (Perhaps its all the kickback money left over from buying a jet, property in beijing, and a new block of flats in the Gold Coast?)
 

There’s another film we’re reminded of, too.

 

Tinpis Run, the 1990 classic by Pengau Nengo, Martin Maden and Severin Blanchet, starring, among others, Leo Konga, as the Hagen PMV driver ’Papa’ ---round and bearded like a Sepik Chief we know---who wishes to buy a ute from an expat going finish.

 

 

He arrives with a bag full of coins, which the officious Australian gent takes to the bank, just after Papa's driven off in the car. That’s where he finds the clever old bugger's switched coins for sack of blank slugs.

Beware the Jowly old mobster. And beware the jolly old man in a sulu. They have tricks up their sleeves.

 

We suggest Plaintiffs who might be tempted by an irrefutable offer first check their bag of coins-- before the Chief leaves the room. Or is escorted from the proceedings.

 

 

Meanwhile, with remarkable speed and breathess inaccuracy, The National reports the discussions in a somewhat different light. 'Landowner issues' here is code for groundswell of opposition to the deep sea tailings disposal plan of the MCC in Basamuk Bay.

 

PM leads talk on nickel project settlement<http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/10864>

'THERE is every likelihood that an out-of-court settlement will be reached on
the current court case which has stopped the development of the deep sea
tailings placement (DSTP) project in Basamuk Bay, Madang, by Ramu NiCo. Prime
Minister Sir Michael Somare flew to Madang yesterday to meet with the principal
plaintiffs and reach an understanding with landowners who had taken the
injunction to stop work on the DSTP project. The meeting between Sir Michael
and principal plaintiff, Sama Melambo, lasted an hour. It was organised by
Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet and Rai Coast MP James Gau. Sir Arnold and Gau
said outstanding land-owner issues, which had also contributed to the
injunction, were discussed and general agreements reached on solving them. They
included spin-offs for landowners and K20 million for the proposed Ramu Nickel
Foundation. The two leaders said they were confident that all outstanding
grievances would be resolved in time for an agreement to be signed next week to
settle the matter out of court. Ramu NiCo executive vice-president Gu Yuxiang
said the company had been losing K10 million a day since the injunction was
effected on May 9.'

Giaman knights and the new tok bokis

Today’s Post Courier was dedicated to the numbers game happening in Parliament, and the Middle Benchers who may finally effect a change. There were also a few other items of note, including the great anticlimactic decision:

That’s got to be a relief to no one.

 

But almost lost in the blur of cross-floor accusations, is the small but significant report from Kuala Lumpur, the result of top notch investigative reporting:

 

 

Apparently Jeffrey Wong of Malaysia was knighted by the Queen in PNG this year, although his name never appeared on the Honour Role. In a brilliant act of self-appointment that would bring tears to the eyes of Sir William Skate, Sir Jeffrey effected his knighthood by photoshop.

 

Grafting his face upon an image of someone receiving the Knight Grand Cross, and captioning the gesture as a recognition of his work with Doctors Without Borders, he had asserted that the award was received in Papua New Guinea at the Queen’s 84^th birthday celebrations. We are aghast!

 

More to the point, we would like to say that whatever despicable act of Photoshop brought Sir jeffrey to this loss of face, we fully support his work, according to the documentation of his knighthood, as the backbone of Doctors Without Borders in PNG. Hail to the knight! (Even as our own knighthood, for work with Doctors Within Borders, is hereby eclipsed by his effort).

 

Apparently no threats to personal security, no level of superfluous domestic violence, can stop this brave Malaysian from his brave support for this renowned French organisation. Even when they pulled out of Tari Hospital,it is said that Sir jeffrey stood in tears at the gate, waving them goodbye, arms clasped about Huli wigmen and their battle-scarred wives. Our hero!

 

Or perhaps it is for their work plastering the wounds of landowners who have thrown themselves before the chainsaws of Rimbunan Hijau?

 

 

 

Would it be for administering salve to all the greased and chafed palms in Port Moresby?

 
 

Hard to say, because Sir Jeffrey has now been stripped of the title, to everyone's great chagrin. He seems to be collecting relevant documents to support his claim. But we suspect that he has been Google imaging better awards ceremonies for a more naturalistic Photoshop effort. Fortunately, we have a few recommendations.

 

I was myself honoured with the Queen of Knights templar Award some time ago, although I remain adamantly humble about my responsibilities to all my global Gnostic comrades.

 

It may not be a Queen's honour, but then, not all of us are as heroic as Tom Jones, Catherine Zeta Jones or Bono.To be sure, some of us look well near as god in a coat or armour.

Or is it amor?

When Shahrukh Khan received his honour, and so graciously dedicated his success to our longstanding and heartfelt friendship, I was myself metaphorically elevated to Dame of the Bollywood Order. After the event, SRK and I felt the need tohave a quick shower:
But that’s another story. I don't like to gossip.We prefer to keep our lives private.

Finally, a comment on the new English Tok Bokis of PNG. Many a bigman has mastered the gift of tok ples doublespeak, that wonderful poetic speech that gives while it takes, commits while it demurs.

 

More have exploited the glorious ambiguities of Tok Pisin to create a meta-message of true vagaries---(think for example of Sir Peter Lus---a Knight of eloquence if ever there was one—who spoke memorably of wanting to inseminate the speaker from Manus). But few have succeeded in as complete obfuscation as we read today.Lacking vitl substances---? Or perhaps subsisting of dangerous vital substances?

I give you the new English language version: in an aggrieved correspondent to today’s Post Courier (signed:Born of women---clearly a hint that, born of mutliple mothers, this is no mere mortal speaking) who begrudges women having special seats in Parliament, and find just the right words to express this.

I cannot stress it enough: 'Unless we were all born of women and we need women to direct our destiny. Women are our comfort in times of sorrow and pain, women are our strength when we are worn out, and women are everything.'  Heaven forbid we give them reserved seats in Parliament.

Prohibition, an economic incentive plan

Apparently the Provincial Liquor Licensing Officer in Madang has decided that we need to liven things up here. So he's planning for prohibition---with a twist.

 All of us without dodgy visas and do not speak Mandarin will be banned from the evil drink again---which apparently worked nicely over the holidays to spike the Yawa market and keep our police force busy.

 

Meanwhile, with the wisdom of Al Capone, there will be an exemption for our Chinese residents who work for MCC. This is certain to keep the profits of our own brewery in check, while providing incentives for a brand new Chinese beer and alocohol bottleg business.

 
 

 
 

I for one am very pleased. My family misses the dulcet tones of Madang's own version of those songs of drink and rebellion that kept us awake through Christmas and New Year from the homebrew bar across the street---where good fun was had by imbiners and battery victims alike.

(Author kneels, bottom left)

 

Be done with the evil SP---that legally predictable alcohol content, its accessibility, its place in the national culture.

 
Bring on the MCC binge drinkers, the Yawa lovers, the bootleggers and their molls!

Prohibition was a wonderful boon to bootlegging in the US barely 90 years ago---and produced one of our favourite 'royal' families. No, not the crown and ermine binge drinkers. But the American version, whose spawn went on to marry Arnold Schwarzenegger----himself from a glorious national tradition of binge drinking.

We will now embark on a buai, koniak and increasing sense of social inequality fitness regime. 

 

FREE TIBETan environmentalists

July 3, 2010

China Jails Tibetan Environmentalist

By REUTERS

BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Saturday sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist who organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees to five years in jail for inciting to split the nation, his lawyer said.

The environmentalist, Rinchen Samdrup, is the third brother in his family to be jailed. Mr. Samdrup ran an environmental group in the Tibet Autonomous Region near Sichuan Province that organized about 1,700 local villagers to reforest the area and report poaching, and also ran a small magazine. His group worked with international conservation groups and was praised by Chinese media.

Exile Tibetan groups say Mr. Samdrup ran afoul of powerful local interests after accusing a local police officer of poaching.

Mr. Samdrup was accused of posting a favorable article about the Dalai Lama on his website, his lawyer, Xia Jun, said. He pleaded not guilty But the Chamdo prefecture court convicted him of incitement to split the country, the lawyer said, and deprived him of his political rights for three years. He has 10 days to appeal.

Late last year, Mr. Samdrup’s youngest brother, Jigme Namgyal, was sentenced to 21 months of re-education through labor for endangering state security for assisting Mr. Samdrup in running his environmental group. The court found he had helped compile three audio-visual disks on the ecology of the region, possessed materials regarding the Dalai Lama, incited locals to interfere with government work and tried to register the group with the government.

In June, Mr. Samdrup’s other brother Karma Samdrup, a wealthy collector of antique black-and-white Tibetan amulet beads who had tried to defent his brothers, was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a court in neighbouring Xinjiang for excavating and robbing ancient tombs, a charge originally brought and dropped in 1998.

Several Tibetan artists and intellectuals have been detained or have disappeared in recent months in what activists say amounts to the broadest suppression of Tibetan culture and expression for years.

 

The Dalai Lama’s Realism

The situation in Tibet cannot be resolved until and unless the future of Chinese individuals is resolved, too; the majority of the citizens of Lhasa, after all, are already Han Chinese. And one of the Tibetans in exile who knows China most intimately, and over more than half a century, is the Dalai Lama, who has been working with the Beijing leadership since the early days of Communist rule, 58 years ago, and who traveled for a year across China, against his people’s wishes, in 1954, meeting Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.

The fact that so much of the world is rising up in support of the Tibetans, and their rightful need for freedom, is clearly a wonderful thing, and this may be the one moment when China needs and seeks the approval of the larger world, and therefore might be moved to be more accommodating. But the fact remains that the Middle Kingdom, with its great tradition of pride and not taking advice from outsiders, will only respond with more violence if confronted too violently, and a delicate touch is needed if more suffering is not to descend on Tibetan and Chinese citizens who have suffered too much already. As the Dalai Lama has been saying for a long time, the important thing right now is not to focus only on right now, but on what happens after the Games are over, when the world is looking elsewhere (at Iraq, at the U.S. presidential election, at our many other problems), and China is free to execute its policies behind a curtain and with maximum ruthlessness.

That is part of what moves him to urge the world to speak out on behalf of Tibet, but not lash out at the Chinese; to call passionately for the restoration of Tibet’s basic rights to freedom of speech and thought, but not to denigrate the Chinese in the process (in part because so many Chinese individuals live and suffer under similar restrictions). All the world feels, acutely, the completely understandable human frustration and sorrow of the Tibetan people, after five decades and more of oppression; but impatience always backfires, and throwing a stone through your neighbor’s window will only lead to more ill-will and possibly decades of unwanted and unanticipated consequences — especially if, as in the case of China and Tibet, you are likely to be living next to one another for many more years to come.

It is disingenuous for the Chinese leadership to claim the Olympics is just a sporting occasion (I know, as one who has covered five Olympiads for Time magazine); the Games are a chance for China to show off its stunning recent accomplishments to the world, as Japan did in 1964 and South Korea in 1988. But if it opens its doors truly to the world, it cannot expect the world to look past all that is so egregious and inexcusable in the Chinese government’s denial of basic freedoms to its people. The world needs China, and China needs the world, as the Dalai Lama said when I traveled across Japan with him five months ago; freezing China out might only prompt it to create demons in its head instead of the humans who are waiting to talk tom it.

But tolerance does not mean accepting what is clearly wrong, as he always stresses, and if China indeed seeks the world’s friendship, that means frank and trusting criticism and suggestions as well as mere approval. The world can be expected to listen, but not to kowtow to a China that has not shown itself hitherto very eager to listen to the world.

At the same time, though, it is folly for the Tibetans to put their hopes on gestures and protests alone, when they are outnumbered by 200 to 1, and facing a neighbor who is so easily offended. The greatest asset Tibet has is a leader who speaks always for dialogue and friendship, who also happens to be the most seasoned ruler on the planet (head of his people for 67 years) and the most realistic and pragmatic political leader I have encountered in my 26 years of covering the world as a journalist. The Dalai Lama’s difficult life has never allowed him to entertain wishfulness or abstraction; he is an empiricist who works in and with the circumstances of the moment. China must be reminded of its larger responsibilities, but without excessive force; and those who despair might think of the Dalai Lama’s friend and champion Vaclav Havel, one day in prison and eight weeks later unanimously chosen president of Czechoslovakia, or his friend and colleague Desmond Tutu, one day waking up in a land of apartheid, where for 62 years he had never been allowed to vote, and the next morning in a free (but still troubled) South Africa. “Until the last moment,” as the Tibetan leader always says, “anything is possible.”

Pico Iyer is the author, most recently, of “The Open Road,” an account of 33 years of talks with the Dalai Lama and more than 20 years of travels through China and Tibet. (2008, Knopf)

Remembering Sana

Sana, an autobiography of Michael Somare, published 1975 by niugini press.  Discussing the Purari Dam scheme, p 138:

p144:

p148, in conclusion:

Finally, an excerpt from his speech on the eight aims, p 110:

Ludwig Somare Sana
 

BUSINESS AGAINST CORRUPTION ALLIANCE

 

BAKI SHOULD ACT NOW : BUSINESS, LAW AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS

 

A coalition involving Transparency International and  business houses in Port Moresby who have supported  the creation of a  Business Against Corruption Alliance  , civil society and PNG's peak legal professional body is  calling on the Government  to address a number of serious issues including : ,

·    the harassment of lawyers and business employees by some members of the police force.

·    The lack of transparency by government law and justice  agencies in the execution of legal processes

 

This coalition, united under the banner of the Business Against Corruption Alliance (BACA), calls for:

 

1. Mr Baki to meet with them urgently to be fully briefed by BACA in relation to its concerns and, in turn, to advise BACA on what steps he will take to ensure that this harassment ends;

 

2. the Government to implement a comprehensive review of the Law & Justice Sector, including a review of all key office holders and responsible ministers; and Office holders and Ministers  to be held responsible  for their areas of responsibility in ensuring that constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens, including lawyers and business employees are UNCONDITIONALLY  , EFFECTIVELY and IMPARTIALLY  upheld and that those in such  positions of authority be removed if  they cannot demonstrate commitment to this responsibility

 

 

3. The Government  to finalise the “whistleblower” legislation 

 

4. The Government to  establish a Police Integrity Commission

 

BACA cites two  examples of illegal and unacceptable  behaviour :

1. The most blatant and concerning example is the  harassment and assault of members of the legal profession, who are officers of the Court, representing clients involved in a high-profile public case by RPNGC personnel.
2. The victimisation, harassment and jailing of bank  employees involved in the ordinary conduct of their employment duties.

 

These are  both frightening examples of what are  perceived by many  as  influence being exercised over elements of the police force by external factors . They are clear examples of the break-down of the Constitutionally guaranteed rule of law in PNG, and the Police Commissioner’s silence  is a damning indictment of his  conduct as Commissioner . 

 

PNG is now confronted with a situation where the law is seen by many  to be  the victim of personal influence.This situation threatens all citizens, not just lawyers and businessmen. Mr Baki’s position as Commissioner is untenable if he will not come out publicly and state categorically that  this situation is unacceptable to him , that it will end ,  and that he will issue instructions  and ensure his officers of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary  abstain from such activities  .

 

 

 

 

 

 

This situation threatens to destroy:

 

1. the effectiveness and fairness of the legal system and the ability of people to engage lawyers to represent them – the legal system must not be held hostage to intimidation, violence or harassment.
2. the confidence of business and investors in PNG – if business employees cannot work without threats or violence from members of the police force, then what guarantee does any business have that their commercial arrangements will be enforced or their work can be conducted without thuggery and extortion?
3. the system of fair government – make no mistake, this is a threat to the democratic system. A police force that even gives a hint of not being impartial  is a threat to freedom of speech, democracy and the fundamental rule of law.

 

Lucrative nation-building resource projects could be  under threat due to an erosion of investor confidence. How can large-scale projects like the PNG LNG operate if investors cannot rely upon the impartial enforcement of the law when required? Furthermore, how can PNG attract new ethical investors when our police force bears even  a taint of such impartiality?

 

The Government must wake up to this threat and take drastic action to remedy the situation. The first step is for the Government of the day and the Police Commissioner to answer the call of BACA and take the steps outlined above without delay.

 

THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE  BUSINESS HOUSES  OF THE BUSINESS AGAINST CORRUPTION ALLIANCE (BACA) AND IS ENDORSED BY THE FOLLOWING ORGANISATIONS:

 

PNG LAW SOCIETY

PORT MORESBY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

BANK SOUTH PACIFIC

PNG CHAMBER OF MINES & PETROLEUM

CERTIFIED PRACTICING ACCOUNTANTS PNG

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PNG

PNG INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS

INSTITUTE OF BANKING & BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

EAST NEW BRITAIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

MADANG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

YOUNG CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

 

 

 

 

Punch and Judy