By Martyn Namorong

Papua New Guinea is certainly not a failed state in the manner by which academics and the Howard government of Australia seemed to portray it. 

Their bluff led to attempts to colonize the country under the so called Enhanced Cooperation Package. Many Papua New Guineans, perhaps a majority, still hold the view that neo-colonization by Australia will solve our problems.

However, despite the warnings by the Howard Government and people like Helen Hughes, the country has pretty much being intact and has enjoyed economic growth.

Many now question why that economic growth has not been translated into improvements in the living standards of everyday Papua New Guinea. In 2009, the Lowy Institute published a paper titled Linking growth and poverty reduction in Papua New Guinea, and attempted to explain this disconnect between growth and well being. It essentially identified that inefficient and/or absent delivery mechanisms of economic and social benefits such as transport and communications links were obstacles to wealth distribution.

I have travelled on the sealed North Coast road of Madang Province and seen communities that do not seem to enjoy the benefits of transport and communications links. I asked a villager at Rempi village why his people were spectators on the roadside. “Terror” as he is known by the boys at Rempi, said that there were cultural issues as well as land ownership issues that were obstacles. It seemed disputes and rivalries with-in families and communities were restraining individuals from business and other commercial activities.

Further past Bogia station I passed youths who were clearly intoxicated and carrying speakers, gen-sets and light bulbs to a party. Mainly adolescent male, they seemed to have been preparing for a party. It then struck me that money earned from cocoa, copra, betel nut and other cash crops was being spent on alcohol instead of building modern homes with water tanks.

I then attended a meeting where the situation at Kaugere settlement in Port Moresby, was being discussed. The slum is inhabited predominantly by people from Gulf Province. Crime, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse as well as prostitution and gambling are prevalent. The greatest need of the people of Kaugere is to have a reliable water supply. Unfortunately, corrupt local leadership compounded by landowner issues have hindered progress despite attempts by the local Member of Parliament to solve the issue.

Thus the Lowy paper was an oversimplification of a complex issue. That was hardly surprising considering it was a desktop paper. However, the lesson for Papua New Guineans is to be suspicious of so called ‘expert’ opinion expressed by foreign analysts. I’m not rejecting the findings of the Lowy paper, I’m just stating here that the situation on the ground is not like paperwork.

What is indeed wrong with our country is that there is mistrust and disunity within families, in communities and between ethnicities. Although some of it may be genuine, a lot of it is based on prejudice and selfish egos.

It is this mistrust and disunity that many foreigners use to manipulate landowners to rip off the resources. It makes it easier for them to pay bribes and play one party off against the other. As Melanesians, we try to avoid conflict with our brothers who have wronged us and in doing so tolerate the land grabs, illegal logging and disposal of wastes into the environment.

We tolerate corrupt leaders and public servants because as Melanesians we prefer not to stir up trouble. We blindly support traditional leaders/elders whose decisions clearly contradict the wishes of the community.

I’ve seen divided communities from Basamuk to Bosmun. The hausman is on fire but no one wants to fetch water to douse the flames because it might cause conflict. The land at Rempi, Kananam, Bosmun and Basamuk has been given to foreigners and most people seem to have a wait and see attitude.

I see a nation is falling apart before my eyes because it divided. 

Physically, it is divided by the challenges of its geographical features. Spiritually, it is divided by the break-down of communal and personal relations. The land, which is the heart and soul of a Melanesian, is being taken and her sons watch as she is being raped because they do not want to upset each other.

If you are a Papua New Guinean child reading this article 25 years from now, let me tell you that the reason you are landless is that your parents and grandparents knew about the problem and chose not to do anything. None of them can use ignorance of the situation, as a defense.

Your parents and grandparents felt that any action to preserve the dignity of their mother land was criminal… was violence. Thus, they called raping of their mother land ‘development.’ Yes, making you landless and polluting your waterways and solwara was done in the name of development.

I called it bagarap-ment and no one listened.