I believe it is time to start a debate about making amendments to the constitution to RESERVE the postions of PM, DPM, Defense minister. Finance minister, Foreign Affairs/Trade minister, Forestry minister, Lands/Physical Planning minister, Minerals/Energy minister, Police minister, Provincial Affairs minister and maybe the Agriculture minister EXCLUSIVELY for the native citizens of PNG. Many countries have similar restrictions.

While naturalized citizens are PNG'ans and they play an active role in the economy of the country, the fact that they applied for PNG citizenship implies that they can also renounce it and return to their native countries. People who apply for PNG citizenship do so for various reasons or motives. The most compelling reason is economic, i.e., they have business interests in PNG. I believe it is time to make this distinction and remaind people that there is a fundamental difference between the two type of citizenships and that role of naturalized citizens at LEADERSHIP levels should be clearly definited.

A naturalized citizen does not and will not see PNG in the same light as a native PNGan because we have different motives and interests. We have had prominent naturalized citizens who have renounced PNG citizenship and gone away after getting rich with tons of money. An example of such a person is Karl Stack who was a Sepik MP for many years and held many senior government ministries. When he lost his seat and power, he renounced PNG citizenship on "medical" grounds and returned to his native country. This definitely is odd because many PNGans go to Australia or other countries to seek medical treatment without renouncing their PNG citizenship.

The bottomline is that many naturalized citizen are in PNG for economic reasons. And money and power are intertwined. I believe it is now time for the national constitution to be amended and the national leadership postions that I have listed about reserved and set aside exclusively for NATIVE PNGans.

In Morobe alone they are endorsing 3 w/candidate, Bart will reward them with economic ministries if he becomes PM tomorrow. Casper Wolom has endorsed a private member's bill to ban naturalised citizens to contest elections and the bill needs to be supported in the next parliament while there are still more then 50% of native national Mps.

Naturalised Citizen have the equal rights as we are. In fact most of their struggles and businesses in PNG are contributing to the economic development of PNG. If the people elect them into parliament, that is their choice. We can not talk for them, actually more naturalised citizens could be more transparent than the automatic citizens who are MPs. Discharging of ministrial responsibility is up to coalition partners.

They love the country as we all do. Please, do not segregate national unity. Strive for our best to be a decent citizen and equally respect each other. God will bless you, if you are true in your heart for the good of fellow PNGuineans.

Prove yourself to manage this country well...

If native PNGians don't have a proven record of leadership in manage this country without being corrupt then it's better the naturalized citizens (white PNGians) take up all leadership positions.


Native

Take this to the joke forum.....native pngians haven't proven anything as yet

No? Native PNGeans have proven that we are amongst the best performing puppets to the Asian, white, or whatever foreigner who stands behind us and barks out all the orders, while somtimes masturbating us by sticking cash into their pockets. We oooohh and ahhhh as we feel the silky touch of the cash against our skins while continuing to do whatever the foreigner tells us to do.

Dangerous game people. Whats next? Banning certain regions – that would probably be of more value that banning “non-nationals”. In saying that, how would you define a “non national”?

In casting my mind back over the years, it would also be interesting to compare the performance of non nationals versus nationals because it would be very apparent who one would consider a “competent” MP.

At the end of the day it does not matter who people elect. Black, white, brown, pik, dok whatever. Just make sure that they are credible, honest and stand for what you want your member to be. That’s what matters.

It matters because the rest of the world if they saw a white skin leading PNG would laugh and laugh. Especially in Africa but actually everywhere. They'd say that the natives don't know how to run their own affairs.

Anonymous, Why do you care what others personal opinions are, does it really affect your self-esteem that much?

What makes you think they are not laughing at us now. You really think at this very moment they are saying the the "natives" KNOW how to run their own affairs.

No, the Africans have enough of their own problems to worry about - Zimbabwe with Mugabe, Sudan with the famine and religious wars, South Africa and its law and order issues and a President who doesn't recognize AIDS as a disease, to name a few. I don't think they are concerned about whether PNG's ministers are black.

Skin colour is a tedious, well-worn and unproven argument.

Look at other nations of the world, they all have had PM/PRESIDENTS/MP's and intellectuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, nations rich enough to accept refugees from less fortunate areas and warzones, rich enough to accept skilled migrants, rich enough to share their wealth, and accepting differences of appearance, language and religion in these new citizens. Providing them with the same opportunities, rights and privileges as citizens born there.

In fact studies show many 'new' citizens appreciate their new home even more so because they have 'earnt' it, they 'chose' it. Of course it's not all roses, life never is but every citizen of PNG deserves the same rights protected by the law regardless of what they look like.

If we worried about what the rest of the world thought we'd vote for the "right people" not more of the same.

The fact that the argument is well worn and also unproven sounds to me like it's worth dropping.

I appreciate the responses to my original posting. However, I am dismayed to read that many of the responses reflect the same state of mind and thinking pattern that has become so rooted in PNG, i.e., reactionary, short-sighted responses that are based on today's situations instead of any critical thought and evaluation of possible long term scenarios in 20, 30, 50, or even 100 year time frames. You may ask why we should even think forward to 20, 30, 50, or 100 year when we can not deal with todays problems? The answer is very simple. The problems PNG faces today are the fruits of decisions, whether good or bad, that were made and executed 10, 20, 30 years ago. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to learn from these and from experiences of other nations similar to PNG and put in place appropriate measures so we do not leave them (our future generations) in deeper $hit down the road. I am sorry to say that most of the responses to my original posting are from people who are like ostriches with their heads buried in the sand and thinking through their dickheads.

About 10 years ago, I walked into a classroom in a college in PNG and told the class that "PNG's golden days are over". I told them that "unless some major policy changes were put in place to correct the course of the nation, the 21st century would see the decline of PNG". Some students commented that I was wrong because PNG is a rich country. Well, I made those comments when the Highlands Highway was all seal and in good condition, the hospitals were functioning well and stocked with medication, there were far fewer mines in operation, schools were in good shape, the universities were well staffed by many qualified academics mostly from western countries, the Kina was strong, prices of goods in shops were affordable, law and order was at a minimum, etc. Things looked very rosy and promising for PNG 10 - 15 years ago and the students were thinking I was crazy. I hope one of those 24 students in that class is reading this and recall that very morning. At that time there were alot of false hopes generated by the leaders based on delusions about the future of PNG. The evidence of those delusions is what you see and experience today.

My suggestion to RESERVE the postions of PM, DPM, Defense minister. Finance minister, Foreign Affairs/Trade minister, Forestry minister, Lands/Physical Planning minister, Minerals/Energy minister, Police minister, Provincial Affairs minister and maybe the Agriculture minister EXCLUSIVELY for the native citizens of PNG, is just one of a number of areas that the current generation must deal with. If not, some years from now, PNG may follow the same path that Fiji is going. History will show that it can take a very small well funded group of disillusioned citizens to influence the masses and create chaos.

The second area is to re-activate the restricted business activities list for PNGans and prohibit foreigners from entering into business activites that require up to K500,000 or even a K1million in capital. And in order to empower PNGans to take advantage of this, the government would need to put in financial policies and work with the financial institutions to provide credits at affordable rates.

The third thing would be to stop NEW explorations of the nations natural resources and conduct a study/inquiry into how much benefit the 90% of the PNG uneducated/less educated population living in rural areas and villages have benefitted from the over 30 years of exploitation of their resources.

The 4th thing to do would be to amend the constitution to guarantee and reserve 70 - 80% of the nations naturals resources to be left intact for our future generations. That would mean mapping out 70-80% of the country and declaring them national heritage reserves to be left untouched for the next 60-100 years.

The 5th thing to do is to "define" what sort of society we want PNG to become. "What is it that we are developing or not developing into"? Do we know what we want? Or are we blindly defining "development" in the same way as the western society does? Why are we struggling to develop a western style society when we have a PNG society that we know and that has worked for hundreds of years? And this is the society that 90% of our people know and live in. I believe here lies one of the fundamental problems we face. That is, a small number of PNGans trying to "develop" and impose a western style society in a nation where 90% of the population live in a different society. And as a result, alot of the nation's resources are used up by this 10% to become westernized at the expense of the ignorant 90%. There is something seriously wrong here. Is it not feasible to use PNG's traditional societal model and adopt positive aspects of western and other societies and modify them to fit within our own model?

I have a lot more areas to write about but since this posting is getting too long, I will stop here.

I would appreciate mature, forward thinking, analytical, educated people to provide constructive criticisms that have long-term implications.

sorry pal,

i've lost trust in our own people...hope the new generation of PNGians will do a better job

The first 20 years of golden days were measured because of the inputs of expariates. The next 10 years, we have embarked on localisation and look where we have gone. It is only 10 years backwards. Educated, capable elites of PNG haven't proved ourselves. You can only dream 50 years ahead in the spectrum of time, but it does not make any sense if 4 billion kina is being mismanaged in Finance Department every year. More sadly, education, health and road infrastructure are deteriorating and given very minimum or no maintenance. For example, the Laiagam town in Enga where we once enjoyed is a ghost town. Highlands Highway, the main economic blood stream of PNG is in chaos. Lawless in at the alarming rise. We, the local Papua New Guineans are running down the country.

No policies should benefit any single group of people or individual, nor give ultimate power to a MP, like NCDC Act. It is the duty of the government to see that MPs performance are within policy guidelines.

Big man attitude should stop. So called Leaders and public servants (Dept Head, CEO) must have people of PNG at heart. Work ethic of public servants must change.

Yes, if we are not careful, we can be slaves in our own land but that does ask us to start national segregation in our society on those few who truly want to help run the country.

You're absolutely right.
We're nothing without white people.
Bring them back.
Put those in back of us back in front.
Let them rule and all our problems will be solved.
Yes masta.

Kaim,
Your comments are that of a patriot. The spirit of message is well understood, however, as you could be reading a few of the comments, you can see that PNG has gone nowhere but backward for last 15-20 years since the localization process began leading to and after independence. The most important point to note here is not reserving political posts; rather, it’s about how we as a nation can firstly rid the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians that are leading the country into chaos. That is our primary objective. The matters you have discussed are secondary. We need to address the core of all these problems. We need to vote the right people into parliament who have foresight and make sound economic decisions based on research, logic and proven standards, and who have the right frame of mind to amend the country’s laws to achieve the policy aims you have highlighted.

Our leaders are the traitors of our own country, committing treason after treason. They have miserably failed our country and people under oath. Preserving of key political posts will do nothing but only make way for incompetent nationals to occupy ministries that the only way they contribute is by running it down. Don’t take me wrong; I do not support the view that we should allow people of alien background to take control of important political posts within PNG. But it has already been the practice where in the private and private sectors, most of our MDs, CEOs and strategic position holders are all more than 50% alien or full aliens. If you are concerned about national security and sovereignty issues, we are already betrayed and ‘sold’ long time ago by our so-called leaders. It is now in the process of them claiming their rightful titles as we see that through the exploitation of the land and its resources. Any corrupt deal with foreign entities with a little token of appreciation under the table is a national, government-approved stamp that gives away a bit of PNG every time such a deal is signed.

Have we sold PNG away or can we still have it back? Given another 15-20 years down the line, the best prediction and view of our nation will be likened to that of any other poverty-stricken, HIV/AIDs epidemic-facing country. By then, the only aliens that will be interested in PNG will be the aid workers, this time with a different motive.

While I agree with the sentiments expressed and understand why.

I must state this, our best performing MPs have always been without exception born somewhere else. Karl Stack cannot be used as the yardstick to measure, Lady Kidu, Sir Barter, Mal Smith and so on.

Many of these "foreign" PNGans we are talking about were born in the vountry during periods when their own countries were not progressing economically. They can here to make a life for themselves and decided to stay and make the best of it.

Do we then make them second class citizens because they have a different skin color? I think there should be only one class of PNG citizenship and we only give it to people who will value it.

Look at some of the idiots who are now getting PNG citizenship? There is a Malaysian in Wewak, married to Somare's niece who has been in PNG for about 8 years and he is already a citizen. I understand he is now contesting Wewak Open seat!

We should start at the citizenship level and we use one yardstick to measure everyone. If you are good enough to be a PNG citizen and suffer with the rest of us, I think you should be good enough to be PM of PNG. I do not care if you are black, white or green. That is my say.

Observer (Engan) has started a very thought-provoking discussion. A topic that I am sure will face stiff opposition but at the same time calls upon us to reassess our loyalties as citizens of PNG.

From what has been thrown at so far, it is obvious that cynism on native leadership is so thick here.

It's understanbly so because the sons and daughters of this truly blessed nation have never had a chance to observe the demonstration of Testicular Fortitude and Militant Leadership abilities of the genuine gems of this nation yet. Maybe I am too much of a forever optimist PNGean.

That sad spirit (shown here) is understandable (from the many responses) that the mundane crap of mediocre leadership over the last 32 years have extinguished the flames of national pride - a very very serious and regrettable lapse of patriotism.

The sad acceptance of average contribution by so called" best performing ministers" falls way short of equating a nation devoid of direction meandering from election year to election year. (Originator’s 5th point)

It appears that that no amount of attempt and effort put in to deconstruct the arguments most commonly aimed at native leadership will pull out the multitudes that appear to be stuck in a rut. God forgive!

Hello PNG, the days are coming. Do not despair yet. Somare and the gang have have blown it despite having some noble belief from the start.

Like the intelligent first class honours law degree holder ( Lee Kuan Yew) from Cambridge University who coined the term "The Asian Way Forward" and transformed Singapore through his "People's Action Party's" ingenious policies, I am sure we can make a change. Lee Kuan Yew was made the Prime Minister of Singapore at the tender age of 35. He had the testicles, intelligence and the drive to take the nation forward.

We have LKY’s in PNG right now. Many are coming out of the production mills of REAL STATEMAN LEADERSHIP schools.

Let's vote in good political parties who appear to the testicals to know how this nation is capable of faring and who have the obsessive keen wit to redesign the foundations of PNG's development.

This means, people like Hami Yawari, Vari Vele and educated but the forever yes masta leaders like Sir Mekere and Bire Kimisopa need not be re-elected.

Let‘s vote for the future Generation of REAL PNGeans!

I tend to agree with the idea of having native patriotic ministers on the some of those critical areas as highlighted and placing a moratorium on all our national resource development and assigning some portions for the future generations. The current mad rush for resource plundering as if it were a plunder quest needs to be critically examined.

Pausing to determine what form of development we as a nation want to purse and what sort of society we want to emulate is also a critical first step in designing the development models and platforms that are suited to Melanesian society. The promised dream (by resource developers to date) of having a flush toilet and shinny cars in the village in exchange for our resources have come to naught. We have learnt enough thus far, haven’t we?


miaK
Forever Optimist PNGean

miaK

Is there scientific evidence supporting the relationship between possessing testicles and providing good governance?

If memory serves me right in our short modern history 99% of PNG politicians were/are male and responsible for our current situation.

I don't care if the MP/PM is black purple blue or even, heaven forbid possesses a vagina as long as they deliver.

Male/female observations aside, I do admire your optimism.

It is not for government to regulate citizens behaviour, it is up to the citizens to regulate government's behaviour.

Man with or without womb is [woman] is secondary here.

The point is: No anthropologists or scientists have been able to prove any innate superiority of one race over another. The notion that black people are inferior is a fallacy. That needs to be understood before neocolonial imperialism turns PNG into a feeble and forever drip-prone country.
Real man only understands and avert destruction before it's too late.

The ruled cannot accomplish much when are ruler do not know and dare understand which direction the compass ought to be pointing.

miaK

Man with or without womb [woman] is secondary here.

The point is: No anthropologists or scientists have been able to prove any innate superiority of one race over another. The notion that black people are inferior is a fallacy. That needs to be understood before neocolonial imperialism turns PNG into a feeble and forever drip-prone country and suffer self-destructon.

Real man only understands and avert destruction before it's too late.

The ruled cannot accomplish much when the rulers do not know and dare understand which direction the compass ought to be pointing.



miaK

Miak,

Lee Kwan Yeu got his honors in Law from Harvard University in US.

Not Cambridge as you stated..

Your arguments fail to convince me..

Observer (Engan)

I agree with you that some responses to your posting were totally out of context, it happens with every posting. That's the peril of starting conversations and debates with strangers on the internet. There's always one (okay...maybe more) in every crowd, especially on this forum. I find it best to ignore stupid commentary, take heart from the posters that are lateral thinkers, debate constructively and are willing to consider opposing points of view without degenerating into personal insults. As mature adults we should be able to "agree to disagree" without taking it personally. Speaking of disagreeing,


1. About reserving the postions of PM/DPM and other minstries for native Papua New Guineans. You used the argument that maybe we will end up like Fiji.

a) That is not a valid argument, as we could end up like ANY country in the world it all depends on how the government manages and monitors the resources, budget, foreign investment, law and order issues and corruption.

b) We are different from Fiji, racially they have a very homogenous society, when compared to PNG with its over 700 languages and enormous diverse cultures within the one country. Also PNG's regionalistic bragging rights may be an issue if an attempted coup occurred, how would PNGeans agree on who the interim PM and officeholders were.

In the latest Fijian coup they chose someone from the Chieftan class from their intact social class system which is acknowledged nationwide albeit begrudgingly in some sectors of society. PNG had some areas where the hierearchical social class system existed but in most areas it was communal with a Chief and a council of elders. It's a good thing we don't have the Fiji class system, if you are in a position of authority and privilege simply for being born into the RIGHT family then who could possibly respect that.

c) Not sure who you are referring to with the term "native" PNG citizens. I took it to mean full blood PNGean, born and lives in PNG.

What about a full blood PNGean who was born overseas and just moved back to PNG a year ago after many years abroad.
What about white/chinese etc born, educated and living in PNG etc?
Are you excluding mixed races, if not how mixed would you have to be to "qualify" for the position?
Are you excluding white/Chinese and other races who were born and live in PNG?
What about a white/Chinese/Filipino etc who hold PNG Passports?
How would it be regulated and enforced?
How would PNG determine whether a person has "the best interests of the country" at heart?

I think it was Martin Luthur King who said "men should not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character".

2. I like your suggestion about maintaining a traditional societal model and adapting positive aspects of western society. This has been the cry of indigenous populations worldwide and would certainly be utopia for PNG if it was workable.

How would we determine, regulate and enforce what the "negative aspects" of western society are?

Many would say we take what the church says is acceptable from western society. Others are Buddhist, Jehovah's Witness or do not follow any religion at all.

Some people love gambling and drinking alcohol and don't see anything wrong with it. Others (myself included) would shut down TAB immediately and throw all poker machines into the sea in a heartbeat.

Some people love designer clothes, handbags, shoes and jewellry and the latest car. Others aren't brand slaves and prefer a meri blouse and laplap.

It can be done though, through government legislation and there would definitely be fallout. My uncles would not be happy if alcohol and poker machines were made illegal. Their wives and families on the other hand would be deliriously happy.

We vote the government in to make these decisions for us. At the moment porn and sodomy is illegal in PNG. We'd have to be careful to balance it though, we don't want to be like Australia where almost anything goes and we don't want to be Afghanistan under the Taliban where nothing goes.

Thank you for the responses and in particular, I appreciate the two or so postings with some evidence of a higher mental capacity than the crowd in here.

It is disappointing to see, displayed here, the same mental characteristics and verbal garbbage that I have grown tired of hearing and seeing in the last 10 years. Here are those characteristics (in simple English):

1. Educated PNGans continuing to think within a box, the extend of their thinking confined to the PRESENT economic, political and social problems and becoming overtly emotional to the extend of clouding their own abilities to think critically and make sound judgements.

2. Educated PNGans, through their comments, throw up "their hands in the air" in what amounts to defeat and underscoring their own believe that they are unable to do anything about anything and leave it to "others". For example, the "next generation".

3. Educated PNGans, even after over 30 years of political independence, continue to live with the "yesa masta" and "cargo cult" mentality that the "white man" will solve their problems.

4. Educated PNGans, continuing to use very restrictive measures to determine effectiveness of national leadership, an example is the comment about "naturalized MPs" being more effective leaders. Just to clarify the situation, charity work does not equate to leadership. One of the major responsibilities of national leadership is generating sound laws and policies that affect the present and the future course of the nation. Regardless of whether the exisitng laws and policies are good or bad, many of the laws, acts of parliament, major policies, have originated from native PNGans. Correct me if I am wrong here. Many countries judge their leaders on performances in policy matters rather than based on how many "goods and services" (goodies) the MP brought to his/her electorate.

The provision of goods and services to the people is NEVER the responsibility of MPs. That is the role of the public service. MPs are legislators that set legislation and policies! They should neer be implementors of policies. That is the role of the public service machinery. This is the sole reason why I have am and I hae always been ery strong advocate for the removal of MP slush funds and other development funds in the hands of MPs. Our national leaders are reduced to becoming charity givers, providers of goodies to their voters (vote buying) and it is also the main area of corruption and misappropriation. Those of you who are bragging about your MP's delivery of goodies or whose complaining about the nondeliveries of goodies, YOU are part of the reason why many MPs are becoming corrupt and misappropriate public money!!

5. Educated PNGans, continue to lack the foresight, creative thinking and vision to debate PNG's situation 20, 30, 50, 100 years into the future. This is a result of my point 1 above. Without a vision, a road map of the future, we drift aimlessly. When we do have a roadmap to hand over to our next generation which they can modify as time dictates, we fail them miserably.

Writing about all these negativities is starting to dampen my optimistic and positive and "I am the master of my own destiny" spirit. I will stop here.

But I would ask educated PNGans to rise above the confines of the present day issues that plagues PNG. I was told at a very young age, problems are meant to be solved. But you solve problems by rising ABOVE the problem.

I was very small (naked too) when I frist travelled with my primitive stoneage Engan father into the deep jungle to cut pendannuts during the pendannut season in Enga. I remember, after every 10-20 yards he would cut off branches of ferns or small trees and drop them along the track that we were wading through. When I asked him why he was doing this, he told me that he was placing "track markers" to follow on our return (so we do not get lost). In Enga, the deep jungles are such that you can hardly see the sky and even clearly see 10 yards ahead of you. And if it rains, it can get dark quickly and you can lose your tracks very easily. He also told me that, if I ever got lost in the deep jungle and can not find my way out, I should climb to a high point (a tree or mountainside) so I can be above and look out over the jungle for smoke or a recognizeable feature and then head for that direction.

Maybe too many of us are talking about PNGs situations while still at the floor of the dense jungle sorrounded by trees, ferns, and other overgrowth and we can not see a way out. Maybe it is time we climbed up to a higher point where we can see in all directions and starting talking at a different level that is above what is going on on the jungle floor.

Yes Observer,
I first wrote on this on the Wantoks Forum, some 8 or more years ago.

In my experience, working in a highly technical field, I found many PNG people did not have confidence in their own abilities. They also had an attitude that the waitman is always correct.

Many of the PNG guys I was training, were far more qualified academically then I. That's OK though, for even in Australia, despite my lack of formal qualifications, I was often training graduates in how to repair/service my company's equipment.

You see, most of the PNG guys had come from villages to Tech or Uni, studying late 20th century technical sbjects. Whereas with me, I had grown up in a family of tecnical people. Therefore the ability to fix/repair/modify equipment, was expected of me, even before I had finished Primary School. Call it arrogance if you will, but I had an inate self-confidence in my technical ability.

This is probably why it is good for your graduates in all fields, including Political Science, to get work experience overseas. Otherwise it will take at least another generation, for the bacgound of knowledge and experience to be established. Not only that, but in many cases you will be wasting time reinventing the wheel, so as to speak.

If you expect to fail, you will fail. This is the law of self-fulfilling prophecies. The corollary is; If you expect to succeed, your chances of success will be greater.

Back to the original topic. In a country with so many races, you are treading on dangerous ground, by trying to discriminate against or for any one group. Withover 800 different languages, a weighted constitution (Fiji style) would be impossible to manage. Obviously, in Fiji, you only have two groups. The indigenous Fijians, and the immigrant Indians. Although it is mot widely known, the Indians are split into two groups. Those that came over as indentured labour, and the so called "ruling class". I found that out, by talking to some Fijian Indians, after the first coup.(Rambua's)

Regards......Ralph.

Observer (Engan)- A couple of observations. You contradict yourself on a number of fronts. Just because others hold opposing views to yours does not make them either immature or short sighted – it means they disagree with you and I was under the impression that vibrant discussion was what this forum was all about. Second of all, I find that the fact that you need to identify yourself as an “Engan” observer is largely reflective of the silo and segregational mentality that we as PNGas are so guilty of. Your thread only serves to magnifies this point.

In any case, I would argue that your views are short sighted. To “reserve” certain posts for certain ethnic groups is (as I called it previously), dangerous. I am as nationalistic and patriotic as the next person but this path you are treading borders on “ultra-nationalism” which is never good – particularly in an increasingly multi cultural and global environment. Ralph has hit the nail on the head with his observations.

I would advocate an alternative view - I would rather support the notion of putting “the right people, in the right roles” and focus my efforts into ensuring we get the right people in the first place, regardless of their ethnic or regional origin.

This is the problem with PNG, we blame every one but ourselves for our predicament and are quick to jump to the defensive when our abilities are questioned. Regardless of the underlying and conflicting agendas at play (I am not naïve enough to believe that there are no hidden agendas), I am advocating an attitudinal change to one of purpose and vision and of putting each and everyone of us in a position where WE are the right people for those roles and where we have the confidence to do those jobs. By doing this we will not only win respect but prove (a) to ourselves that we can diligently manage our own affairs and (b) to others that we are capable of achieving self autonomy. Clearly, we are not yet ready to be the “right” people but if we start changing mindsets now we can achieve this within the short/medium term.

Engan (Observer), you correctly pointed out your primitive lifestyle and its pandanus track philosophies as the determining influence in your views of the broader world. Your village is where you ought to keep your narrow minded pandanus track philosophies. You do realize that currently PNGeans without good guidance and foresight, but with their pandanus track philosophies have driven this country off the Wapenamanda cliffs and into the Lai river. Obviously you have received misguided education although you claim to be educated, because if you are asking people to 'think out of the box' you would mean to say that PNGeans must be open minded about everyone here who is a PNG passport holder and what it means to be PNGean whether you a black, yellow, or white. Because thinking "out of the box" in politics means accepting all colour and creed etc.

Colour, birthplace, ethnic origins should not be the determining factor in deciding who becomes PM or not. We are trying our darnest to becoming a modern state in a global arena with free market economies and whosoever will lead this country must lead on merits as a leader not colour or your tribal based pandunus track philosophy. The 'within the box' views of the likes of Engan (Observer) are regressive/counter productive to an emerging PNG when the country is in dire straits demonstrated by socioeconomic indicators in an accelerated downward spiral.

So what is it that Engan (observer) wants? corrupt wantoks in parliament for his rags to riches plans? No wonder few people want to reply to his comments, there is no sense to when he keeps contradicting himself.

Just do not understand the logic of Pandanus Hunting co-relates to Politics and how to Govern this Country......Some folks can get onto this Forum, but still their mental aspect seems to be still in stoneage education. Good comment, PNGean. I agree with you.

Ol longlong bilong Enga, kisim hauslain story ikam na mixim wantaim PNG yupela kaim tu yah.....PNg is not Enga, just remember that.

Annon,

Compare your source of information from the details presented on the URL's below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew#Early_life

http://postcolonialweb.org/singapore/government/leekuanyew/chron.html

He got his honours degree in law from Cambridge University.

May-June 1949 - Lee KUan YEW and Kwa Geok Choo (LKY's wife) both awarded first-class honours degrees in law

To the other distractors:

Pity the shallowness and superficalities that robs boys from becoming becoming till they die.

Such talk is for the MEN not boys. No wonder they don't make sense.


miaK

Annon,

Compare your source of information from the details presented on the URL's below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew#Early_life

http://postcolonialweb.org/singapore/government/leekuanyew/chron.html

He got his honours degree in law from Cambridge University.

May-June 1949 - Lee KUan YEW and Kwa Geok Choo (LKY's wife) both awarded first-class honours degrees in law

To the other distractors:

Pity the shallowness and superficalities that robs boys from becoming MAN till they die.

Such talk is for the MEN not boys. No wonder they don't make sense.


miaK