The Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen today announced new election dates for the 2007 general elections.

Commissioner Trawen said, he is fully aware of the amendments made to the Organic Law on National and Local-level Government Elections in the last sitting of Parliament reducing the polling/campaign period from eight (8) weeks to four weeks.

The new revised 2007 election dates are as follows;

ISSUE OF WRITS: Friday 04th May 2007
CLOSE OF NOMINATIONS: Thursday 10th May 2007
COMMENCEMENT OF POLLING: Saturday 3rd June 2007
END OF POLLING: Tuesday 10th July 2007
RETURN OF WRIT: Monday 30th July
Announcing these Mr. Trawen said, the changes to the 2007 elections dates as originally announced are necessary for the good administration and conduct of the elections next year.

“The amended law if brought into force, will create serious management problems for the conduct of the 2007 general election.”

Commissioner Trawen said, the Electoral Commission is disappointed with the changes as their impact will have negative implications on election administration, candidates and voters next year.

“The shortening of campaign period will mean voters will have limited time to hear and understand the policies of different candidates and political parties. Even candidates will not have sufficient time to expose their goals and objectives to the voters.”

He added that the Organic Law vests discretionary powers on the Electoral Commission and the Chief Electoral Commissioner would examine these powers to vary dates if and when it is really necessary.

Mr. Trawen also sees the changes as a challenge to the Electoral Commission in administering and conducting elections in Papua New Guinea.

ANDREW S. TRAWEN, MBE
Electoral Commissioner

The race is on!

Well time for guns, cash, pig, parties and the whole heap of mauswara coming up. People make money, lossing money, gain weight and lossing weight, draining service stations. Supermakets open credit accounts for potential winners as they also in the thick of gambling to back the right horse for possible favors in the future.

I had the opportunity to be in the thick of elections when my old man stood for the open electorate, it was exciting for me as a young blood pushing my agenda around, having a stream of Hitman and body guards around driving around 12am - 6am in the early hours of the picking and consolidating the number, but it was extremely stressing for the candidates, especially my dad. Wokup at 7am, drive 3 hours and endless campaign speeches, fuel and refreshments, not fogetting the PNG custom of Pig killings, returning home 9pm in the night.. etc..In the end, its all a gamble, our transport company crashed,trade store crash, Landcruise and nissan patrols out of service.

He said he will never run again, It costed a fortune..and now and I sit back 5year later, little older and wiser, I hope, and see the whole cycle begin again, this time 3000 candiates will battle it out for 108 seats in the house tambaran, some are wild card, outside bet they say, and somewhere, a good man with good intentions will be caughtup in the fever of the numbers game and possible loss it, well the bottom line is, I hope people put the mark next to the raitman!

Let the games begin!..its all a game, sad isn't it!

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CAMPAIGNING for the 2007 National Elections has begun in earnest following the signing and issue of writs last Friday by Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare was among the first to nominate, putting his hand up on Saturday for re-election to the Sixth Parliament.
Nominations continue to trickle in from around the country, although there were no solid figures by last night.
More than 3000 candidates are expected to nominate for this year’s elections. It is understood that a care-taker government will take over the running of the country from today.

Suharto Of Indonesia Embezzled Most Of Any Modern Leader
Transparency International's latest report includes a table of the most corrupt leaders of the modern era.

Where did the money go? - The top 10

Head of government Estimates of funds allegedly embezzled GDP per capita (2001)
1. Mohamed Suharto President of Indonesia, 1967-98 US$ 15 to 35 billion US$ 695
2. Ferdinand Marcos President of the Philippines, 1972-86 US$ 5 to 10 billion US$ 912
3. Mobutu Sese Seko President of Zaire, 1965-97 US$ 5 billion US$ 99
4. Sani Abacha President of Nigeria, 1993-98 US$ 2 to 5 billion US$ 319
5. Slobodan Milosevic President of Serbia/Yugoslavia, 1989-2000 US$ 1 billion n/a
6. Jean-Claude Duvalier President of Haiti, 1971-86 US$ 300 to 800 million US$ 460
7. Alberto Fujimori President of Peru, 1990-2000 US$ 600 million US$ 2,051
8. Pavlo Lazarenko Prime Minister of Ukraine, 1996-97 US$ 114 to 200 million US$ 766
9. Arnoldo Alemán President of Nicaragua, 1997-2002 US$ 100 million US$ 490
10. Joseph Estrada President of the Philippines, 1998-2001 US$ 78 to 80 million US$ 912

Now, you might be expecting me to join in the chorus of those who cheer the overthrow of all corrupt leaders. Surely in some cases the overthrow of corrupt leaders is a net benefit to the country in question. But resist embracing the popular myth that democracy always produces the better outcome and consider just one country from that list above and ask whether it is better off now that its wicked corrupt leader has been replaced by a democratically elected leadership.

Yale law professor Amy Chua, author of World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, has pointed out that the democratically elected government of Indonesia stole $58 billion in assets from ethnic Chinese Indonesians and then proceeded to mismanage the properties it seized.

When Indonesians ousted General Suharto in 1998, the poor majority rose up against the Chinese minority and against markets. The democratic elections that abruptly followed 30 years of autocratic rule were rife with ethnic scapegoating by indigenous politicians and calls for the confiscation of Chinese wealth. Today, the Indonesian government sits on $58bn worth of nationalised assets, almost all formerly owned by Chinese tycoons. These once productive assets lie stagnant, while unemployment and poverty deepen, making Indonesia a breeding ground for extremist movements.

Suharto's corruption is perhaps less than half the size of the massive theft perpetrated by the democratically elected government that came to power following his ouster. Suharto's corruption was spread out over decades and probably had a less disruptive impact as it still allowed the Indonesian economy to grow. Consider Suharto's corruption as compared to Indonesia's total GDP of $714.2 billion in 2002. Suharto stole about 5% of one year's GDP. It is a lot of money. But it represents a very small portion of the total economic output of Indonesia during his rule.

Indonesia's economy grew more rapidly during Suharto's last 10 years of rule than it has since.

In the mid-1980s, the government began eliminating regulatory obstacles to economic activity. The steps were aimed primarily at the external and financial sectors and were designed to stimulate employment and growth in the non-oil export sector. Annual real GDP growth averaged nearly 7% from 1987-97, and most analysts recognized Indonesia as a newly industrializing economy and emerging major market. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 altered Indonesia's political and economic landscape. Since 1997, Indonesia has had three presidents, and as of mid-2002, its economy is only just recovering to pre-1997 levels. Seven percent GDP growth is the level most economists consider necessary just to absorb new job seekers, but the Indonesian Government estimates growth in 2002 of 4% and in 2003 of less than 5%. The number of unemployed and underemployed (working less than 15 hrs/week) is currently estimated at 40 million.

Problems that developed under Suharto's rule may have been responsible for at least part of the lower growth in the post-Suharto era. Also, some of the economic problems in Indonesia can be attributed to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. But Malaysia weathered that crisis much better under its own strongman Mohamed Mahathir who has managed Malaysia in a way that has made it more like a managed partial democracy.

Chua points out that in economies which have market dominant minorities the introduction of democracy will create a situation where the vote produce politically dominant majorities which will use the power of the state against the market dominant minorities. If the market dominant minorities are far more productive and can manage assets more efficiently then government seizures of their assets will lead to lower growth rates or even stagnation and economic decline. If Chua is correct (and ParaPundit thinks she's obviously correct) then there can be circumstances where corrupt dictators are a lesser of two evils with the other evil being majority rule. Another obvious conclusion from this line of argument is that countries which currently have market dominant majorities (e.g. the United States of America) should not pursue immigration policies that demographically transform their dominant majorities into minorities. For more on this argument start at my previous post Prospect Of Democracy Breeding Ethnic Hatred In Iraq.

This is an interesting article, who is author I may ask?

What comes to mind is a small evil to do a greater good. From all this cases, I reflect on PNG, the ethic diversity, wantokism, corruption, mismanagment. Not far back, media reported PAC chairman saying that its a 30year old mafia, then we heard that K3b is lost or "embezzled". I wonder the root cause of this.

Could this forum facilitate the discussions, critical please.

1. What is the Cause of these, such as education, culture, tradition, colonialism, globalism just to name a few
2. Some of the practical ideas to counter these, eg, Ombudsman, PAC, NGOs

Over to the floor.
Please be critical
2PAL

I have always been grappled by the inverse relationship between our natural resource wealth and economic growth popularly known as "resource curse" which I believe holds some answers to this enigma. I am doing my research on the political and institutional facet of this dilemma in the case of PNG and have come to realize that this paradox is multifaceted and embraces historical (incl. colonialism), political, institutional, cultural and societal factors. Undoubtedly factors such as corruption, nepotism, etc. are intrinsically tied in this.

I hope that after the completion of my research I should be able to draw links between these factors that account for PNG's abysmal economic growth despite our resource endowments.

I would be grateful if others can contribute some ideas on that.

Regards;

Kanaka

Well, wantok system, it starts on the streets, you pass your wantoks, stop take out a buai and K1 and give it to him.
Why?
1. Either you are slightly fortunate than him/her
2. To win his/her favour
3. Compelled to return his/her favour

Thats the simple senerio, the basic interaction is the pin in the horse shoe so as to speak.

Either of this senerio can be efficient in transfering motivation, thus personal developement, or can breed misunderstanding, hence corruption.

Sad to say, but this senerios are everyday life in the village.

anad1

Well in the words of Sir Charles Maino: "I've been hearing that if you put Somare's head in a passport and hand it over the counter, no problem you getting a visa."

Just from my observations, leadership in the traditional times was very strong and at some instance very brutal. In the highlands, the big man system embraces wealth in a leadership system. Similar to majority of the dominant enthic groups currently in power. Any man becomes a leader so long as he is wealthy. He becomes a prominent figure in the society. So I sit back an take a good long think about that, has this kind of mentality transcends traditional and morden political levels and has reached current leadership.

We look back how wealth was acquired in the traditional times, warfare and land conquring were the norm. The prize acquired in warefare, animals, shells and other valuables, one that fought gallantly. Well, no matter how the wealth was aquired, it was OK, he was a MAN. The question is, Could it happen now?? In order to be a BIG MAN, one thinks I must be rich, is that the mentality driving these young PNGeans? It sad to say but many people now still think that being a politician, you will be rich. So when you say, you want to become a politician to be rich, many of the stupid MPs will just smile at that statement rather then feeling insulted!

tingting tasol

kolwan

The pressure to develop is another factor. Rushing to fast because other nations have done it in record time is a contributing factor. With that, the greed from other nations and international companies come in and promote hence sustain corruption and bribery.

From one of PNG's top statesman:

"The Lord knows, we have an oversupply of candidates for political office, so we would not miss members of Parliament who commit crimes or breach the leadership code if they are disqualified for life - Sir Anthony Siaguru"

It was a previledge for me to attend to Sir Anthony Siaguru at the Pacific International Hospital where he as admitted a few months before he died.

As a young MO, it was an honor to care for this great man!

"It's got to a stage now I think it would be fair for me to describe corruption as both systemic and systematic. Systemic because it has invaded the whole process of policy making and decision making. It has drowned the whole system, so it's systemic. It's systematic because it's organised.

You talk to private sector people here, particularly [those] you call the whiteys and none of them will say this publicly because they will be deported. Nothing goes through cabinet without a minder approaching you and saying, 'Hey, K100,000 ? K200,000 kina? Because I can make sure that your submission for a licence to do this, or approval to do that, would be organised.' But there's a price. Everyone talks about it. "