New Crisis, Old Story, by Martyn Namorong

The $14 Billion PNG LNG Project is viewed by many as the economic engine of Papua New Guinea. Does that ring any bells? Remember the copper mine at Panguna, it was set up by the Australians to be the economic engine of the newly independent State of PNG. A lot is at stake economically, with regards to the LNG Project in the Southern Highlands, just as it was with Panguna.

Now ask yourself, do the people of Hela truly support the LNG Project? I think not. Surely, if the project had community support, it wouldn’t be necessary to have the kind of Police presence at the gas site protecting staff and property. Does this also ring any bells?

Yep, in 1963 CRA was granted authority to prospect in the Panguna area. The villagers objected to prospecting in the area but in 1965, their objections were rejected by the Mining Warden and so there were confrontations throughout the year.

In 1966, the Australian Federal Minister for External Territories visited the area and told villagers they would be compensated but would not receive special benefits. That same year Bougainvilleans met at the Holy Spirit Seminary and discussed secession. Trouble also flared up between villagers and miners leading to the deployment of Police to protect the miners.

Radio New Zealand has reported recently that expatriate workers at the LNG site don’t feel safe as they are continuously being harassed. Jo Chandler also recently reported in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, that there were security issues clouding the LNG Project.

An agreement reached between the colonial Administration and CRA in 1967, gave 20% equity of Bougainville Copper Limited, to PNG. Yes, another coincidence folks, because Exxon Mobil and the State negotiated for about 20% equity to be given to PNG in relation to the LNG Project.

In 1968, the Australian Federal Minister for External Territories warned cabinet in Canberra that Bougainville would cause trouble for PNG. Later in 1972, the same year that Bougainville Copper Limited started production at Panguna, US environmentalist, Richard West predicted in his book Rivers of Tears that the disputes on Bougainville would lead to civil war.

Between 1974 and 1976, Somare mishandled Bouagainvillean demands for greater political powers AND YES, more recently; Somare’s government has truly bungled up the Hela Province issue by not making necessary Constitutional Amendments before the elections next year.

In 1981, negotiations between the National Government and the Provincial Government regarding the distribution of royalties and the renegotiation of the 1974 Bougainville Copper Agreement broke down. There were anti Government riots in Bougainville.

By 1986, the new generation started questioning the leadership of the Panguna Landowners Association. In 1988 Francis Ona and a new team took over but the BCL refused to recognize them.

Francis Ona gave a speech on the 29th of November 1989 where he stated:

“We are the ‘sacrificial lamb’ for the few capitalists whose hunger for wealth is quenchless and unceasing.”... “We are not going to sit by and watch capitalists and their Papua New Guinean political allies exploiting us”... “We have planted the seeds which germinate soon not only in Bougainville but throughout Papua New Guinea.”

If things continue the same, we could see a repeat of events in Bougainville in the Hela region. No one seriously thought at that time that the events on Bougainville would be as bad as we now know them to be. They sent in the Police with their Police Dogs but that didn’t quell the troubles. Then Namaliu sent in the army without properly equipping them.

It is time that foreigners and their compradors snap out of their colonialist mentality and realize that gone are the days when people accepted tobacco, salt and metal tools in exchange for land and resources. There is a groundswell of disaffected young people who feel disenfranchised. It is only a matter of time that their anger and frustration explodes into widespread violence or even better – a REVOLUTION!

Over 15 000 people lost their lives during the Bougainville crisis. I’ll leave the final words to Francis Ona, who got it right when our politicians were failing Bougainville:

“The only significant development we have seen since independence is the widening gap between the few rich and the poor majority... State has no credibility; it is an instrument for the rich to oppress the masses... Neither Somare, Chan, Wingti, Namaliu, Momis nor their other counterparts are nationalists. All our politicians from national to provincial level are puppets for the foreign capitalists.... We are true nationalists as we are standing up against foreign exploiters.” [29th of November 1989]