By PMIZ Watcher

From a Frustrated Citizen writing on Papua New Guinea blogs

Papua New Guinea as we know is now totally corrupt, the Judiciary the last beacon of hope for PNG is not as impartial as it used to be. In recent months we very experiences Judges sitting in the National and Supreme Court have been made to quit without having their tenures extended only to be replaced by senior lawyers who have been part of this government’s grab of power and statutory corruption at the beginning.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner and Chief of Operations Fred Yakasa says the fight against graft will intensify because the trend of theft and embezzlement within the public and private sectors is spiraling out of control.

Mr Yakasa gave this undertaking after fraud investigators arrested three suspects allegedly linked to what police described as a well strategized syndicate operating in Port Moresby city yesterday.

By John Fowke

There are two basic reasons why the present system of elected representation doesn't produce policy-driven, positive improvements in the conditions of life in PNG.

ACT NOW! and the Fiji based, Pacific Network on Globilization, have joined forces to denounce plans for the Pacific to be used as the testing ground for deep-sea mining.

ACT NOW! and PANG say the Pacific region has already suffered the negative social and environmental impacts of industrial mining on land and should not take further risks with the marine environment.

By PAUL OATES

Has Papua New Guinea descended into dictatorship?

PNG's Prime Minister Somare has previously denied he has become a dictator but what is a dictator? Here are a couple of definitions:

Wikipedia: A dictator is a ruler (e.g. absolutist or autocratic) who assumes sole and absolute power ….

By William Laurence et al

Papua New Guinea (PNG) sustains some of the world’s most biologically and culturally rich forests.

Like many tropical nations, PNG is changing rapidly as it attempts to develop economically, but corporate misdealing and weak governance are undermining its capacity to do so sustainably.

Over exploitation of forests is rampant, with most accessible forests likely to be logged or disappear in 1–2 decades.

University of PNG student, Nou Vada, examines the roots of the Jasmine revolution that is sweeping across Africa and the Middle East and ponders what it might mean for Papua New Guinea where many of the same frustrations and discontent are clearly visable.

By Nou Vada

By Icarus*

WHILE PNG's SITUATION may not justify bloody warfare, we are at war. At war against corruption in government and throughout the public service system, the very architects and mechanisms that should make our state function. 

But it is the State versus the People every day. And clearly the State has no rules of engagement. Moreover, the People have been divided for far too long into warring factions; tribal politics under the rhetoric of 'unity in diversity'. 

From the PNGexposed blog

MP Sam Basil has received a number of abusive and threatening emails from an anonymous yahoo address created with the name Borit Yaken.

The emails (see below) threaten that Mr Basil’s wife will be raped and his children strangled if Mr Basil continues to speak out.

Mr Basil has been an outspoken critic of the government on corruption and governance issues and has assisted his people to take legal action against the owners of the Hidden Valley mine over the pollution of the Watut river.