By Martyn Namorong

“IT IS NOT POWER THAT CORRUPTS BUT FEAR. FEAR OF LOSING POWER CORRUPTS THOSE WHO WEILD IT AND FEAR OF THE SCOURGE OF POWER CORRUPTS THOSE WHO ARE SUBJECT TO IT.” Aung San Suu Kyi

The best thing about being middle class is that you act like Pontius Pilate and wash your hands over matters which you are actually in a position to address. It is only when the middle class decides to act that change actually happens. No Revolution has ever succeeded as well as that which has been driven by the middle class.

Bougainville is a failure. It is an example of how things ought not to be. On the other hand, the events of the Arab Spring demonstrate how the middle class can bring about transformation to society.

People like the Google executives, University Professors and Transplant surgeons who took the lead to overthrow Mubarak in Egypt had done so unknowing of the potential they had as agents of change.

The middle class are viewed by the lower class of PNG as less evil and are used by the ruling classes to do their bidding. This places them in a strategic position to be agents of change. It’s like being in Jeffrey Nape’s position and becoming king maker.

The problem with the middle class not just in PNG but elsewhere is that they are so comfortably wrapped up in their bubble that by the time it bursts, social and economic conditions have massively deteriorated. They wake up to reality very late and react when a lot of damage has already been done.

The Papua New Guinean middle class, however small it may have been, had 20 years of warnings about Bougainville. Yet they were wrapped up in a bubble, enjoying the spoils of Panguna while the Bougainvilleans suffered. I bet many were shocked when the crisis happened but they wouldn’t have been if they had read the signs.

It’s easy not to be feeling accountable for the mess in this country, if you’re a member of the middle class. You can blame the ‘Leaders’ for all the corruption and you can blame the squatter settlers for all the ‘crime’. Perhaps accountability is not the issue. But ask yourself, at whose expense do you enjoy the benefits of a modern life.

Let’s take for example, Vision City in Port Moresby, which has become a middle class playground. Vision City is owned by Malaysian logging giant, Rimbunan Hijau (RH). RH has been criticized in various reports about its conduct in the Forestry sector. Various accusations about illegal logging, human rights abuses, and exploitation of workers, have plagued the company. Thus the benefits that the middle class enjoy at Vision City are at the expense of the people and the natural environment of PNG.

One of the most important demographic shifts in recent years, which was recently pointed out to me by the Melchior Warre, a tribal Chief of the Bosmun in Madang, is the return of educated people to villages. Former Public Servants and private sector employees have retired and returned to their tribal lands. They are if you like, the middle class of rural Papua New Guinea.

This group is a potential powerhouse for demanding change on behalf of our rural populace and articulating community needs. Many however have caused divisions in their communities largely due to their deference towards their less educated tribesman.

Some like Terry Kuning, a former Forestry Officer from Mindre village in the Madang Province, have taken up the fight on behalf of their communities against foreign exploiters and an uncaring State.

It is people like Terry Kuning, who have a moral conscience and a sense of social justice, who will help liberate our people from the clutches of the slave masters and their compradors in Government.

The middle class have to decide now whether they’re for the people or against the people. I know that many of you are genuinely concerned about the state of affairs of our nation but your hands are tied. And so I’ll give you a quote from Aung San Suu Kyi, to ponder:

“FOR NOT ONLY FEAR STIFLES AND SLOWLY DESTROY THE SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG, IT SO OFTEN LIES AT THE ROOT OF CORRUPTION.”

If it is fear that prevents you from correcting the wrongs then you’re party to the crime. The Catholics believe that the greatest sin is the sin of Omission. You are indeed as waters in cupped hands of the powers that be and you need to become splinters of glass in the cupped hands of powers that be.

After having read this, ignorance cannot be tabled as defence. It time to ACT NOW!

“THERES A LIMIT TO EVERYBODYS PATIENCE... IF PEOPLE COME TO THE POINT WHERE IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHETHER THEY LIVE OR DIE THEN I THINK THINGS COULD GO BAD” Aung San Suu Kyi