Panguna: Will the lost generation speak #PNG

A perspective on the reopening of Panguna Mine, filmed in 2011

In 2011 I travelled to Bougainville on an odyssey, sifting through the wreckage of predatory capitalism. I was travelling on a Dash 8 aircraft similar to the one that had just crashed a week earlier into the rocky terrain of the Rai Coast.

At Bougainville I saw a beautiful land scared by the decades of conflict. Beneath the turquois waters, white sandy beaches and swaying palm trees flow the legacy of destruction. There, beneath the façade of normalcy I met Bougainville’s ‘lost generation’ – the guys red bandanas, black metal band t-shirts and jeans.

Fast forward to 2013 and I have observed the current discourse on Panguna’s future and have refrained from writing about it as I do not feel qualified to do so, being a ‘redskin’. However, given how there seems to be a growing push towards the reopening of the mine by what I consider to be Bougainville’s powerful elite, I feel the voices of Bougainville’s “lost generation” needs to be heard.

Tony Kevi was a young boy in High School when the crisis began in 1988. His mother is a Panguna landowner and his dad a redskin from Oro Province. His family was broken up by the crisis, like so many other Bougainvillean families.

The Bougainvillean sense of loss for their ‘Me’ekamui’ or sacred land as Tony saw it, developed as many families felt the Panguna mine couldn’t adequately compensate for their losses.

Bougainville’s ‘lost generation’ who are children forged out of a conflict feel the pain everyday as they grapple with mental illness and substance abuse. Tony warns that the restoration of a false sense of normalcy as has made Bougainvilleans complacent about the impacts of the crisis.

#PNG Sustainable Development Program reports on progress

Above: Chairman Sir Mekere Morauta being greeted by a gentleman from Kondobol Village, South Fly Western Province.

Sir Mekere Morauta described today’s Annual Report Meeting as being “historic” and called for “constructive dialogue” to resolve matters related to the future ownership of the giant Ok Tedi Copper/Gold Mine.

PNGSDP CEO, David Sode told those gathered at the ARM that PNGSDP was the second largest development agency in PNG having delivered 662 projects worth K1.18 Billion.

Mr Richard Zumoi, Chairman of the Middle Fly Community Mine Continuation Agreement (CMCA) Trust region spoke of his people’s support for PNGSDP and the Ok Tedi Fly River Development Program (OTFRDP) at today’s Annual Report Meeting.

Activist Noel Anjo said he was sceptical about the Government’s moves to control PNGSDP and Ok Tedi Mining Limited. He was particularly concerned about good governance and transparency regarding the management of mineral wealth from Ok Tedi.

Mt Hagen Bishop condemns #PNG's moves to implement #DeathPenalty

Douglas Young - Archbishop of Mt Hagen

Media reports indicate that Parliament has passed legislation that draws Papua New Guinea closer to the point of legally killing its own citizens. It seems that the legislation was passed “on the voices” thereby making it difficult for many voters to know the actual stand of their own members.

The Attorney General noted that there had been widespread debate in the public forum but he did not indicate who had won the debate. Only the decision of the government.

That discussion in the media, the social media, and in other open forums was certainly informative, addressing the main issues that have been covered in other nations: the recognition of the suffering and hurt of the victims of violent crime and their legitimate anger and right to justice, the need for better prevention and protection programs, the tendency of the death penalty to target the poor, the unlikelihood that the rich and powerful would ever be executed, the recognition that corruption probably causes more innocent deaths than murder, the danger of payback against state employees in the PNG context, whether or not victims gain any genuine satisfaction from the death of an offender,  and many other important aspects.

There have also been unsavory aspects to this debate, such as the speculation on the best way to kill someone, suggesting that choking someone to death might be the best way (“deprivation of oxygen”).  Others gave free rein to their vengeful anger suggesting various cruel and painful ways to dispatch someone

The one thing missing from the debate was any evidence whatsoever that the death penalty will deter violent crime. This argument was repeated over and over again without any credible evidence in support. This is because there is none. My own conversations with men and women who have committed violent crime indicate that they are not thinking beyond the release of their anger or passion. Most either expect to get away with it (and usually do) or simply don’t care about the consequences. Criminologists know that it is not the severity of punishment that deters crime but its certainty. Until Papua New Guinea can detect, arrest, convict, and successfully imprison offenders for the duration of their sentence, prospective criminals will assume that they have a good chance of getting away with it.  The current spate of allegation of police brutality and carelessness with weapons also sends the message that punishment in PNG is random.

The trend internationally in modern humane societies is to move away from the death penalty. It will be a dark day for PNG at home and internationally when our first citizen is executed.

Catholic Church condemns #PNG Govt's moves on #DeathPenalty

It is indeed a sad day for the country when the Parliamentarians decided to give death penalty for its own citizens. We do agree that the leaders want to put a stop to merciless killing of innocent people especially of rape, sorcery and murder. It is true that the people of this country also want the law and order situation to be brought under control. But Death Penalty is not the solution.

Here are three reasons for which the Catholic Church does not support the death penalty:

1.     It is against the Bible and Christian principles: “Thou shall not kill” (Ex 20:13). God is the author of life. Neither the judiciary nor the government have the power to take someone’s life. In the Old Testament revenge was allowed: “If further harm is done, however, you will award life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stroke for stroke” (Ex 21:23-24). But Jesus in the New Testament says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44).

2.     Death penalty has not decreased the crime rate in those countries where it is carried out. The law and order problems continue to exist. PNG will be no exception. We should rather go for life sentence with hard labour instead of death penalty. Improved justice system and certainty of punishment also are better deterrents.

3.     Who is going to execute the convicted criminals in PNG? Nationals or hired foreigners? If they are PNG citizens, revenge killings will take place against the family of the executioners. Tribal fights will erupt.

We welcome the idea of higher penalties for abduction, murder, misuse of funds  over K5 million etc. The Parliamentarians are giving the signal to the offenders that the governement is serious about bringing down crime and corruption in the country.

#PNG Parliament passes bill on lethal injection

SOURCE: Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce

Parliament yesterday passed amendments to the Criminal Code Act that now increases the penalties for serious crimes including stealing and misappropriation.

Briefly, the bills (Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2013) passed ensure that:

·         the Sorcery Act 1971 is repealed in its entirety. Killings connected with sorcery are now treated as willful murder, and the penalty is death

·         aggravated rape now carries the death penalty. This is rape using dangerous weapons, or rape in the company of one other or more persons, or where grievous bodily harm is caused, and where the victim is a child under 10 years

·         Kidnapping now carries a prison term of 50 years without remission or parole

·         Kidnapping for ransom now carries life imprisonment without remission and parole

·         Stealing - two new subsections are inserted to subsection 372.

·         For theft of money between K5 million and K9.99 million the penalty is 50 years without remission and parole

·         For stealing K10 million or more the penalty is life imprisonment without parole or remission

·         A new subsection is inserted to section 383A so an offender guilty of misappropriating property worth K10m or above is sentenced to life imprisonment

·         Section 597 is amended which now allows the State a number of modes of execution for a person sentenced to death

·         Subsection 614 now provides the modes of execution which include hanging, lethal injection, medical death by deprivation of oxygen, firing squad, electrification. Method to be used will be determined by the Head of State on advice from the NEC.

These are very tough penalties, but they reflect the seriousness of the nature of the crimes, and the demand by the community for Parliament to act.

#PNG women not benefiting from mining

Source: Mining for Development Conference, Sydney

Photo: Ume Wainetti, Program Coordinator for Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee of Papua New Guinea

The relatively primitive nature of some local communities has meant that programs designed to share the benefits of mining are not having their intended benefits, and women in particular are missing out, said the Program Coordinator for Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee of Papua New Guinea, Ume Wainetti.

As a woman from PNG’s western province, Ms Wainetti said she had direct experience with the Ok Tedi mine, and through her involvement with one of the local trusts.

“How do you ask men and women who were feeding on flesh what is their expectations and aspirations for development for mining their land?” Ms Wainetti asked.

“That was in 1971/72, when they were brought down to Port Moresby.

“Such simple societies are now being targeted, because that’s where resources are. They can’t now live on their land, because the land is now taken up by the mine.”

Ms Wainetti said one of the problems with mining was that often people had to be relocated into new regions and unfamiliar housing, with the expectation that they would change and develop in the blink of an eye.

She related another story of how men in one society had wanted to hide their women from foreigners, and thus immediately removed those women from discussions of the future of their community.

And she said that while money was being distributed, it was not always distributed to where it was needed, especially in Bougainville.

“It is a lot of money, but when it is shared among individuals it is not much to pay your school fees and do everything else,” Ms Wainetti said.

“And so many women on the island sell firewood, and husbands prostitute them when they don’t make enough money. Many women do not live to be 21 years old – they die before that age.”

Ms Wainetti also highlighted the Women in Mining Action Plan, which brought forward 12 basic topics of investigation for development for women, including strengthening women’s’ networks, improving education and literacy, and to ensure information was distributed relating to health issues and family planning.

But she reiterated that it was critical that women be more involved in negotiations relating to the impact of mine activity on local communities.

“We do not have the skills or education to participate,” Ms Wainetti said.

“All we see is outside people coming in being employed in our province. We in ourselves are not part of that.

“We have so much money now sitting there, but the life for women since 2007 has not changed – in fact I think it’s gotten worse. I hope this conference will help us all to find solutions to help our people. Instead of being empowered and their lives improved, these people have become the poorest people in Papua New Guinea.”

Violence and development in #PNG

Violence has always been part of existence, unless you’re a bible-hugger who believes of peace in a primordial garden. Darwin’s, interpretation of this violent struggle to exist and the adaption processes led him to postulate the Theory of Evolution.

Depending on how that the Theory of Evolution was interpreted, it gave rise to Eugenics and Neoliberalism as well as form the fundamental basis of modern biological sciences.

How does Papua New Guinean society evolve to respond to the violence that exists?

There are many who believe that the lack of a sense of nationhood or national identity creates the divisions, suspicions and violence in society? Those who believe this, simply wish to see neo-colonization of indigenous tribes by the state under the pretext of “nation building” and “national identity”. They tend to fail to see the violence perpetrated by the state, in concert with foreign interests, under the flimsy guise of “acting in the national interest.”

Papua New Guineans know all too well the various forms of state sponsored violence perpetrated since independence. Many communities have suffered from police brutality, theft of resources, pollution and in the case of Bougainville, all-out war.

According to political theorists, governments were created to protect the people and national territories. Under Feudal Governments, the state protected crown property. Under modern governments, the state protects private property. It’s important for people to understand that at the fundamental level, the modern state exists to protect private property rights (even in China and increasingly in Cuba).

But if you further examine protection of property rights, the state protects the property rights of private corporations ahead of the rights of individual citizens –that is why the government has sent too many cops and soldiers to protect Exxon Mobil’s LNG project while citizens in Port Moresby and Lae live in fear.

The Papua New Guinean state already implements capital punishment in the form of extra judicial killings by the police, allowing foreigners to pollute the sustenance sources of rural communities, and the failure to deliver health services to women and children at risk leading to high maternal and child mortality rates.

Tougher penalties aren’t the solution to violence and crime. The problem with PNG isn’t the absence of tough penalties; indeed the Constitution allows the imposition of the death penalty. The problem in PNG is the absence of order. And the reason for chaos is that since independence, the only consistency (in the land of the unexpected) has been the absence of justice.

Corruption is rife, resources are overexploited, workers are being exploited, communities are being exploited, and the education system has been a failure trap that produces dysfunctional individuals.

When the country was being founded, the writers of the Constitution warned in the Constitutional Planning Committee Report about “the darkness of neon lights.” They warned against the western neo-liberal capitalist model of development. They instead argued for small scale developmental activities that Papua New Guineans were in control off. In other words, they argued that the citizens of Papua New Guineans should be empowered to fully participate in the economic, social, political and cultural development of the nation.

In order for this to happen they prescribed a Papua New Guinean model of development that argued that;

Firstly, the citizens had to be empowered to participate in national development (1^st National Goal and Directive Principle (NGDP) – integral human development). Once that was achieved the citizens would be capable of running all affairs of the nation (2^nd NGDP-equality and participation). Once the nation had developed a critical mass of empowered citizens running the affairs of the nation it would achieve the 3^rd NGDP which is National Sovereignty and Self Reliance. In order to sustain National Sovereignty and the benefits gained, the writers of the Constitution called for wise use of national resources (4^th National Goal and Directive Principle). This they argued was the achievement of a Papua New Guinean model of development (4^th NGDP - Papua New Guinean Ways).

Instead, we’ve lost the plot as a nation and a reaping the seeds of violence we’ve sown by creating a large population of disempowered, disenfranchised and exploited men whose only form of “empowerment” or “expression of control” is through the degradation of women.

If there is to be the implementation of Capital Punishment in PNG, it should be against the Papua New Guinean and foreign Predatory Elite who have and continue to undermine the Papua New Guinean model of development. After all, the root of all the problems we face as a nation, is the perpetuation of a flawed model of development that benefit’s the Predatory Elite at the expense of a majority of citizens.