on the front page of todays national newspaper, the head lines read "Ultimatum, Act on Moti Affair or elase, warns Downer,

This is like a big boy telling a small boy what to do or face some form of punishment, I view this as Australians continous bullying tactics towards PNG, from this viewpoint i welcome inteligent views and comments on this issue because if you don't have a say as papua new guinean, you are reduced to nothing in your own country. Stand up and determine the distiney of your country and dont listern to any one.

cheers
Ndru

Before I say anything I just want to make it clear that I am not a racist and I am not against anyone. I respect people for who they are.

Andrew, what you said is very true. It is about time we take a step out and tell our colonial masters once and for all that we are capable of anything and we are just as good as they are. They will continue to walk all over us if we keep on allowing them to.

We are supposed to be independent, and that means we are not accountable to anyone. We make our own decisions about how the affairs of this country is run without having to consult a third party for advice. Being independent means we do not run to anyone when there is a problem but we solve it right there and then. Being independent means we are our own boss and we cannot be pushed around.

We are independent but still very dependent on our colonial masters for almost everything, you all understand what I mean. Personally, I think that the reason we are being pushed around is beacuse most of our leaders are not well learnt meaning they are not qualified when it comes to skills and knowledge on how to run or manage a country. They are still lacking in some areas. If they are all well educated,qualified and are men of their own means, only then will they stand up to anyone who wants to push them around.

It would do this country good if all our leaders/politicians are managers with bachelors, masters and the advicers are those that hold bachelors/masters in respective fields. For example, for the department of Agriculture and livestock, the Minister must have a degree or higher in management and the advicer will be an agriculturalist also with a degree/masters in that field and the same goes for all the other departments.

The kind of leaders we need in the parliament are the ones that know their stuff, and know what they are doing, not some villager who got in there because he has money. Until that is fixed, it will be the same old trend.

All our current leaders must go, we need leaders who are vibrant, fresh, intellectuals who know their stuff and have the people's interests at heart.

My biased thoughts
Cynthia





As for the moti saga, it is a shame and maybe they need a kick to speed things up. So much for being independent.

Thank you Andrew and Cynthia for raising this issue here. Below are some thoughts which I hope might spur more debate about both the Moti saga and the present ultimatum imposed by the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard.

(i) The ultimatum appears as though Australia is interfering with our sovereignty. Sovereignty becomes the most sacred concept that has to be invoked. It appears fragile and insecure and demands protection and so it releases a very compelling language to assert itself against this apparent invasiveness and dictarorial prescriptivness now imposed on our government.

(ii) I would however think we patriots might want to suspend our naive nationalist commitments to concepts such as sovereignty and perhaps re-examine the steps our government has taken to erode and desacralise this very concept of sovereignty as far as the Moti saga is concern.

(iii) The Somare government, and the Prime Minister himself has constructively eroded our sovereignty by proclaiming explicitly that the Moti saga is a 'dead issue'. This is a statement that has no regard for the rule of law. Apart from his expressed attitude, Somare has moved to dissolved the Commission of Inquiry and has been inclined towards ignoring the findings of the Commission. If sovereignty is bound up with the rule of (domestic and international) law, then it has gone with Somare's persistent reluctance to submit to the dicates and spirit of law. Sovereignty without the rule of law is extremely vague and empty and could become the pretext for tyranny to install itself in the guise of democracy.

(iv) I therefore read the ultimatum as a 'writing on the wall'. It is not about naively using the concept of sovereignty to resist Australian intrusiveness. Rather we might want to allow the ultimatum as a theoretical gesture that highlights the fact that we have lost our sovereignty through the Moti saga. Therefore if we are interested in retaining our convenient or dogmatic and comfortable sense of sovereignty, we must insist and see that the findings and conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry on the Moti saga be made public and that those who have compromised the rule of law must be prosecuted before our law. The Commission of Inquiry is the ONE AND ONLY WAY that we will tell ourselves and our international friends that we have and are interested in our sovereignty which has been strangled and put into a bag and taken out with Julian Moti.

(v)Despite its apparent intrusiveness, the dicates of the Australian ultimatum is UNFORTUNATELY the ONLY WAY we now have to show cause for our so-called sovereignty if the Ombudsman Commission does not intervene in deliberating the legal merits and findings of the Commission of Inquiry. My view is that the Australian ultimatum does not undermine our sovereignty but it is rather a philosophical laugh that diplomatically recognises our lack of sovereignty and so the ultimatum can become a weapon to use in the fight to help us regain what we have lost in the Moti saga. The ultimatum is telling Papua New Guinean nationalists like me that we have lost our sovereignty. The naive commitment to the concept of sovereignty and its concomitant resistance towards the Australian ultimatum is to sit ourselves too comfortably in an empty conceptual plane whose contents have been flown out with Julian Moti. We have to regain our sovereignty by embracing the nominal dicates of the ultimatum. If we resist the ultimatum, what options do we have to regain our sovereignty that has already been lost in the Moti saga?

**** NOTE: **** This is an EXTREMELY SERIOUS issue and I am conscious of the risks this entails. But I put my name here to indicate that I am serious with our country and the destiny of our sovereignty and common prosperity.




Dr Andrew Moutu
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Cambridge
Department of Social Anthropology
Free School Lane
Cambridge CB2 3RF

Email: am308@cam.ac.uk

Brat,

Mi agree wantaim you 100%. The Moti Issue, whether it be a conspiracy instigated by Australia in the ongoing chess battle between Somare and Howard, has no doubt impacted significantly on our soverignity. It is quite sad that our judicary and legislative arms are dictated to and pressured by foreign identities openly and publicly. But as you have pointed on correctly, only by the conclusion and smooth closure of the moti inquiry can our soverignity be seen to be restored...in otherwords, the moti issue has presented an opportunity for Australia to pursue its interest. It is now NOT an issue about the child sex offender and how to bring him to trail, but rather a "war of words" between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and in my opinion the test to see if Australia still has a political WILL in PNG..i.e, to architect a new political landscape from Canberra. There is no secrecy behind the public anomosity between Howard and Somare, hence international relations seem to have become personal issues. I hope we are all aware and not just be PAWNS in this chess feud.

Regards
Badira
Tokyo Inst. Tech-Uni. of Tokyo

very interesting readings, i do think that judicary systems and ombudsman have to be strengthen further. NIO is another organisation that needs to be looked at.

Planti taim yumi yes masta igo na no save tingting gud, behain bai yumi belhet natin.

Moti issue has been a rubber stamp by canberra to change the dynamics of politics in PNG. We have to understand the fact, whether aussie like it or not, their government has INTEREST in PNG, GOLD, OIL, COPPER, COFFEE, GAS ETC ETC ETC...there is no imagination nor illusions of who Canberra wants as PM of PM, someone who is an Pro-Actively Aus.

PNG stand on your own two God given feet and DECIDE for yourSELVES!!

It is true that we are all entitled to our own opinions but this maxim does not mean that other people's opinions should not be left unchallenged. I therefore disagree with Mangi Ples who observes that:

"Moti issue has been a rubber stamp by canberra to change the dynamics of politics in PNG. We have to understand the fact, whether aussie like it or not, their government has INTEREST in PNG, GOLD, OIL, COPPER, COFFEE, GAS ETC ETC ETC...there is no imagination nor illusions of who Canberra wants as PM of PM, someone who is an Pro-Actively Aus. PNG stand on your own two God given feet and DECIDE for yourSELVES!!"

My disagreements stem from the following reasons:

(i)The position that Mangi Ples has does not make clear whether he is talking about the Moti Saga or the Australian ultimatum. This lack of clarity therefore weakens his argument. The Moti saga and the Australian ultimatum stemming from the Moti saga are two separate issues. The lack of specifying which one Mangi Ples is talking about means that we cannot simply accept his assertion that "Moti issue has been a rubber stamp by canberra to change the dynamics of politics in PNG".

(ii)Mangi Ples lumps up both the Moti Saga and the Australian ultimatum as a single issue and so it follows that the position: "Moti issue has been a rubber stamp by canerra to change the dynamics of politics in PNG" cannot be accepted either. This is a view that gives undeserved credit to Australia without it deserving such a credit. That is, Australia is credited as engineering a plot. Such a view stems from a cynical theory of conspiracy which holds that Australia engineered the Moti saga in order for it to dictate what PNG should do. Australia made a request to the Interpol who then communicated with the PNG police to arrest Julian Moti. Australia did not dictate to the PNG police.

(iii) It was our Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, who turned the whole story upside down may be because of his own bitterness against Australians for removing his shoes in Brisbane. The Moti saga became polarised when the Prime Minister allegedly gave orders for Julian Moti to be flown out on the Defence Force aircraft. This happened when Julian Moti was on bail and awaiting court proceedings under the PNG judicial system. The Prime Minister aided and abetted a process which treated our Court system with contempt. Australia did not tell our Prime Minister to do that. It only requested our police to lawfully arrest Moti and have him extradited. Politics made our Prime Minister to disrespect the rule of law.

(iv) The Moti saga became exacerbated when Prime Minister refused to be answerable to the Commission of Inquiry in the 'Motigate affair' established by the Minister of Defence. But more so, it is in his arrogant attitude of declaring that the Moti saga is a 'dead issue'. Ethically and legally speaking, this is an attitude that should not come from the Prime Minister. This is because his orders to spirit Moti on the Defence Force plane raises several legal issues: (a) allows Moti to evade trial and prosecution under PNG courts; (b) the civil aviation laws were circumvented and relegated to the sphere of irrelevance. The Prime Minister's actions then brings into question the balance of power that is supposed to be shared between the Judiciary and the Executive arms of government. Because of his lack of foresight, his actions introduces arm and injury to the respect that should prevail in the three arms of government.

(v) Ethically speaking, the Prime Minister promised PNG that he will get to the bottom of this issue and then contradicts himself by admitting that this was a political issue. The ethical contradictions spiralled when he refused to present himself at the Commission of Inquiry and heightened when he vehemently declared that the Moti saga is a 'dead issue'.

In light of the above, none of what our Prime Minister did was engineered and sanctioned by Canberra. It is naive to accuse and give too much of an undeserved credit to Australia for a conspirational theory that only make us accuse but doesnt leave us with any sense of responsibility for the right things our government should have done. Instead of owning and accepting responsibility, our Prime Minister has been running away from it and employs
the cheap political tactics of accusations and in so doing he and his government become indifferent to accountability by keeping responsibility at a distance and assuming negligence as a duty.

(vi) Finally, to return to Mangi Ples's reference to a theory of political illusion, I appreciate that Canberra (like of all us)can have its preffered choice of a PNG prime minister but ultimately it is the people of PNG who will vote for such a person to become a prime minister. The talk of who the prime minister is the Australian favourite does not mean that the prime minister that Australia dislikes should abandon respect for the rule of law and common sense in PNG. The rule of law should prevail irrespective of who the prime minister is whether or not this or that prime minister is everyone's cup of tea!

Brat

Brat,
Thank you for yours comments.

Yes, my argument is all reasonable assumptions. The interior working of foreign and national policy for both governments and private organization is still a mystery.

My opinionated outburst lies on matters of uncertainties, for instance, how do we know Canberra is not using the moti issue to pursue and fast track its national interest. Why couldn’t moti be arrested in India where intepol gave directive for him to be arrested prior to him coming to PNG? Why has Australia government threaten to cancel the PNG-Aus Ministerial forum for such a minor issue where bigger issues such as free trade and seasonal work force for growth of PNG is at stake?

We have to look at moti on how both government are trying to use it as a political tool and a vehicle to promote interest. It a measure of how much strength Australia or PNG has. I think everyone knows that PNG labor party was partially funded by Australia Labor Party in the last elections. It is more than somebody’s cup of tea known as boomerang aid.

To the point, our judiciary system must be strengthen, if international and national laws were violated why has it not been prosecuted the judicary system. The weakness about the inquiry is it is an internal investigation, only recommendation can be provided. This is failure, NIO, police, if there was a contempt of court, why hasn’t the police dept pursuing it? Are they relying on the recommendation from the inquiry? Its not about Somare, its about the whole institutions and systems, PNGean should stand on their own two feet and think! This is what Australia is craving for, chaos before they intervene and celebrate from the loots of war. It was fortunate that we had Luther Wenge to challenge the legality of our sovereignty, otherwise our public system almost failed the people and our sovereignty and australian policy experts knew it.

Yes it just a waste of time who is responsible, but as mekere said, strengthen institution, if this none of this would have happened.
2toea tasol..