Thursday. The second last day of the working week and the political situation in this awe inspiring nation of ours is ever turbulent, yes we are truly a vibrant democracy.

Today the topic was intended to be on a word, which has been repeatedly defined and said on Karai National Radio (PNG’s national broadcaster) since yesterday. The 411 is that our Prime Minister and his Sandaun Sniper are accusing John Paska (the Secretary General of the PNG Trade Union Congress) of inciting anarchy by discrediting their government. I think Mr O’Neill and Mr Namah surely need to wake up and smell the truth, one big nostril at a time! Papua New Guineans don’t care for you politics Mr O’Neill, Mr Namah, Mr Nape, Mr Arthur Somare and even Mr Paska – we are so over your petty squabbling and carrying on. Pointing fingers, saying this person did wrong, don’t blame me because I’m the good guy – we can see through you all! Maybe you all had honorable intentions to begin with, but once you start becoming deaf to what we, your people are saying and continue on with your own agenda you officially become the bad guy! Full stop!

So that was what was going through my head to begin with, then I saw a comment by Axel Sturm (President of the European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper) to an article titled The Greatest Threat BCL’s Future is its Hidden Past by a Dr Kris Lasslett. I read the comment by Sturm to my (Bougainvillean) household and you can imagine the uproar, especially since these comments alluded to Bougainvilleans being greedy, murdering criminals and downplayed the role and responsibility that BCL/Rio Tinto had with regards to  the  Bougainville crisis. I personally would like to know who Sturm is calling ‘rebel groups on the ground’.

Neither Sturm nor Lasslett were there during the crisis. Neither Sturm nor Lasslett lost their brothers, fathers, uncles, nephews, grandfathers or sons because of the crisis (they’d probably just count the female relatives lost as collateral anyway!). Neither Sturm nor Lasslett knows how beautiful and mighty the Jaba was before the mine. Neither Sturm nor Lasslett see the mighty Jaba as a dribbling, unnatural blue, shadow of itself, 23 years after the mine ceased operations. Neither of you, Sturm or Lasslett, knows what it is like to be educated enough to see MY people through your eyes but feel them with MY Bougainvillean heart!

In the last three decades there have too many technical experts with their analysis, their debates and their surveys of: the environment, the people and sociology of Bougainvilleans. The thing is you can come with your strategy - how to gather information, your theories, your knowledge on how the world works and study MY people for ten years – then you leave and claim to be an expert on all things Bougainvillean when the Bougainville you knew two years ago has already shifted and become a different society.

The facts are BCL/Rio Tinto, its executives and associates with its funders have never apologized for the mine and the damage it caused to the environment and to the people of Bougainville or the families of those soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the government of Papua New Guinea.

The fact is they (Rio Tinto and co) think that because they brought their big machines, their scientific proficiency and their big money to dig up mineral resources on Bougainville, they have rights over these mineral resources.

The fact is that had BCL/Rio Tinto (all your executives, associates, funders etc) and the PNG government given enough time for us (Bougainvilleans and Papua New Guineans) to be educated to the level that we are now (and left our mineral resources the hell alone) we would be able to mine Panguna ourselves.

Compensation for the irreparable damage done to our river system, to our *masalai areas, to the lost hunting and gathering grounds, for the lives lost AND for the mineral resources you stole from us would be good…but at the end of the day your compensation is worthless compared to what resources are still intact. You can go hang your apology, your compensation, as far as I am concerned what mineral resources that are currently in Bougainvillean soil can only increase in value! Plus Bougainville doesn't necessarily need to mine to earn an income. We have rich, fertile soil, soaring mountains, beautiful black and white sandy beaches with turquoise waters. Yes Bougainville has OPTIONS! You are not the only company or organization that knows how to fund, set up or develop a mine. If you do not want to do it on Bougainvillean terms then Bougainvilleans can look elsewhere for another more considerate, less arrogant developer.

*masalai area = spirit/demon area i.e sacred area