Sunday 31 July 2005

someone else's sunday


those weatherboards! no guessing which city this is. (Looking at it - so urban - realise anew how different things here are.)

if you ever pass it, it's my sister's place.

*

last night we did actually get around to watching movies (delayed from friday when someone's flight up from pt moresby was cancelled - they err ran out of planes. he checked in 20 mins before departure time; two minutes after check in the 'cancelled' sign pinged. don't quite know why they were not aware of lack of aeroplane ahead of this time, but when it comes to flights here it's best not to think about it too much - like that 5 day period when all flights were grounded because they, uh, ran out of fuel? or more recently when - anyway, this is not about that; just cross your fingers) - at someone's workplace, in an auditorium with a big screen; hogging the front row, with empty seats stretching at our backs; strange feeling, like being at school at night time. saw Sin City - slick but still enjoyable - and Zatoichi (blind samurai tale), which was naturally all cool, but had a few bizarre scenes - like the end when the people of the traditional japanese village get together to do a riverdance-style tap on strange little shoes?!

but my favourite scene of all - and why you must all seek out and watch this film - involves the ingenious solution when faced with having to get the blind man through the village unnoticed.

q: how do you disguise a blind man?

a: why, paint eyes on his face of course! that way no one will recognise him as the blind man!

the idea is outstanding, but actually seeing it made me almost fall from my chair: i could watch again and again the scene when he turns around and you see these pretty blue eyes painted on his eyelids.

and happily, his movement through the village goes unnoticed.

Friday 29 July 2005

friday arvo

- leave work early, walk into town and see - unbelievable! - a traffic jam on the highway - stop and stare with everyone else because hey you've never seen anything like it here - or maybe you're getting the big eyes of a local -

- pick up a friend and off to buy some champagne - currently available for a limited time only - for tonight, someone has a projector and a screen and sin city apparently - walk to the bottle shop (a big dark fridge in the hotel) - and see - beautiful! - a man with an owl on his hands, white with light brown and yellow flicked feathers - we touch it and it feels as soft as a gesture -

- buy bubbles and cross back over the road, saying goodbye to the owl (it's fed on biscuits and sweet potato; it's sleepy we're told; i don't know quite what it's doing in town) - into the supermarket, discussing fine, expensive wines and luxurious cheeses to match - and laugh: what are we, talking of other worlds whilst we're here in this one, in dusty goroka, on a friday afternoon -

- life is alright, you know -

- and there's an email from me mate waiting for me when i'm back at home, and he's had a dramatic promotion - and it's time for champagne i say - at times, life is alright

Thursday 28 July 2005

but still, she says



i know debris it covers everything, but still i am in love with this life
(brighteyes)

**

there's something about the atmosphere of dirty politics - whispers and innuendo - constantly changing situations - murky depths, shadowy corners - and it doesn't help reading a spy novel at the same time - but still, there's something about the atmosphere of dirty politics that's, well, romantic.

Tuesday 26 July 2005

upng - police - students - politics -

i'd planned to write something about this but am tired. it's a mess. it's political. it's hovering around "disasterous". it's distressing. i have a friend who's a staff member there; he was here last night. (see also here)

it's been going on for about three weeks now. at first, students talked with uni heads. when things looked calmer, various unnamed politicians got involved, egging students on, prodding them to keep protesting and rioting. same student group (from a particular highlands province) is involved as has previously caused trouble. yesterday things were pretty much ok: uni had agreed to meet all of student demands (quite a concession, because some were ridiculous), independent review of assessment methods, of canteen food etc etc. but then a govnr bob from the western highlands read out in parliament a rather inflammatory statement which was patently untrue (about the vicechancellor, "overseas every two weeks!" "funding his travel with his discretionary fund - over 1 million kina!")(a shame, i've met the gov and he's an interesting guy), but which one of his wantoks had given him to read.

so last night a small group of students - maybe 30 - gathered on campus, attempted to torch another car, campus security arrived and police were called; police showed up en masse, busses of them, several hundred full armed. security got a bit rough - apparently with knives - and so did police - apparently with fists. rumours are that the govt yesterday ordered that if the police were going in, they were to solve the problem there and then: i.e. halt student rebellion and "send out a clear message" etc. i.e. a show of force ok.

and today, another govnr, this time wenge, has come forward offering to pay for students to hire lawyers - presumably about their rough treatment. really, this is nothing to do with the uni itself: it's a game of shadow puppets, politicians pulling the string to throw punches at one another, and - more importantly - diverting attention from something else. they're out to destablise - but who i can't work out, yet. something bigger is brewing, though.

Sunday 24 July 2005

2046

Something I do miss here is the opportunity to catch a train. The schedule, the tracks, the regularity, the technology, the machine, the role it makes possible: the passenger – I’m not quite sure what it is I miss, and missing it is unexpected, but I do.

Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046 opens with a train-tracked world (imagine! A world of train journeys), in amber and rose lighting – a beauty infused with memory, desire and sadness (and in this it is much more successful than Solaris, a weird little film, so obsessively, unrelentingly grief-stricken). This one it is all about writers and stories and lovers and the cowritten project; all ‘through the unfathomable night’. Irresistible.

2046 turns on mis-meetings between two people. In one evocative scene near the beginning, Tony Leung bumps into a woman he knew in another guise – another time, another place. She does not remember him. He begins to describe to her how they knew each other and what they did together. As he talks, we see her face over his shoulder, and watch as her focus leaves the present. The camera slowly crawls to the right, into darkness; his voice and his presence fade out as she sadly returns to the past.

The failed interactions between people – the way that two people can meet and yet completely miss each other – haunt the film. One waits to be asked, whilst the other is waiting for an answer; one waits for another to appear, who never will. Shared experiences reverberate so differently for each individual. Painful or sweet – and of course it’s usually painful – that lost possibility is here almost inevitable. Asked to pick from a deck of cards, what is the outcome? One is almost always going to turn up something lower than the other. Especially if the pack is marked…One of the two people here are always already damaged by previous relationships, and too caught up in them to start anew. It is always already too late.


And yet the characters are not too old or too bitter to be resigned: it all still seems possible. Towards, apart, alongside – they keep moving. They still ask: will you leave here with me? Do you love me?

And of course there’s 2046 – the future – or what it really is: a screen for the shadows of our past to loom large on.

Ah! It’s all delightfully bleak as I write about it, but honestly the film is wonderful. The cinematography on its own is stunning and absorbing (excepting the lg logo); there's a extraordinarily deft touch in the combination of technology and feeling. and then there's tony leung (ah!).

I am a sucker for kar-wai’s films. And there are overt references here to previous works – maybe it's even part of a trilogy – characters, actors; that gentle removal of shoes; sentimental ties to numbers; comings and goings, airhostesses [or, here, train attendants]), asia in the 1960s, the locales, the chungsams, the radio music, the cards, the noodles, the rain, the night.

It would have been great at the cinema, but it was nice half an hour after it finished to turn it on again to place x and work out where y came in to the whole thing.

Saturday 23 July 2005

come take a walk



i haven't been away for a while and don't have any exciting adventure stories or pictures to present. what i can show you is a little something of the neighbourhood.
I pass this street stall, for instance, on my way to the markets; I chat with the girl in my broken tok pisin. She is boisterous and funny, and I like her and would like to buy something from her stall – but her fruits are usually crap and the other stuff isn’t that tempting. She sometimes has some old, small oranges, or slightly bruised bananas; maybe some buai; but always there are the icey poles and the flour balls, popular staples for the market crowds. Now and then she’ll sell bananas fried in the batter – and they are delicious, so perhaps the flour balls wouldn’t be as scary (fried flour! ugh) as I imagine. Perhaps next time…



Further along: the rail you can see is of the highlands highway. I walk up here on the way to the markets; it would be slightly quicker walking down on the track, but as ever there is a cost to the good things in life – here, getting hit by a dart.

There is quite a long row of boards, 20 or so I guess; some on poles, some just on the ground. You pay a kina or two for a few throws, and you can win a few more kina or a beer. They sketch out one of the borders of the kakaruk market, which is the more rowdy/disreputable market, where people bet, play darts, sit around chewing buai, drinking beer, smoking dope. When the state of origin matches are on, it is packed – even the day before and after. Whiteskins don’t really go there – or if so, it’s only briefly, a walk on the wild side (I’ve only walked through with a png friend; another volunteer up from lae recently went and hung out there for a few hours, though as a too guy it’d be a bit different; and, different again, other people I know shudder at the thought. Whatever your attitude, a whiteskin there is a hilarious novelty, you’re the centre of attention and welcomed with drunken cries and offers.)

When VIPs were here recently for the gun summit, the dart boards were moved much further down the hill so that you couldn’t see them from the road (and Jerry Singirok commented on how clean the town looked). Now that the visitors are gone, the darts have crept back up.

Friday 22 July 2005


right so had a scratch i couldn't wait for saturday to itch - with great anticipation i opened to page 63 - and then, less than a minute, crushing disappointment: over so quick! and i haven't done one for 6 months! where's the challenge...i swear - like it wasn't dumb before! - it's dumbing down...

i'd like to suggest that my maturity and intelligence have increased in that 6 months, but - BOARDROOM - i can't.

Thursday 21 July 2005


just as i was feeling despodent about ever receiving mail again - two packages arrived to restore my faith! one packed with newspapers - ah, how i have been hanging out for them! i'm saving them to read over a long lazy breakfast this weekend. and another one with movies - yessss! and best of all: letters. they're hard to write (and writing by hand! how out of practice i am), and by the time they're received they're out of date - but what little treasures they are.

Wednesday 20 July 2005

all about love

We got this letter today:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am a student of X high school. I am very keen to know more about love and the work oof it. Therefore I am writing to seek you assistance in supplying booklets, pictures, handbooks and etc.

I would really appreciate your response and am waiting to receive from your hand shortly...

Tuesday 19 July 2005

I have been waiting for a call tonight. My telephone has rung three times, each time just for three rings. One, two, three times I ran in from another room, bent to pick it up and then –

Silence. It stops just before I answer. Is it the person I am waiting for? Is it a prankster? Is it a retard? Is the line damaged? Will I ever know?


court

On the walk from or into town from my way, you pass through the Peace Park. It’s mostly your average park: green grass, people hanging out, sitting or lying in the grass, dozing or watching passers by. Late in the afternoon there will be soccer and rugby practice.

It gets its name from the other major activity that happens here: it’s the place where clans meet to discuss grievances, it’s “court”. People gather in two distinct groups, over several hours. More and more come, usually several hundred; they come in from all over the province, depending on who it involves and what the dispute’s about. Usually it’s about land.

Slowly people will begin talking, in their own groups. Eventually middle aged and older men will get up, air something, make a point, agree, disagree, debate, give up. People between the groups will listen, convey what’s being said, dispute things. Often the air is tense, and with so many people looking angry you don’t loiter. Sometimes an agreement is reached, and people sit around for a few hours, talking it over in their groups. Sometimes a fight erupts and a bush knife will come out, or a bow and arrow, or once or twice a gun has gone off.

But you’re never there when the climax is reached; you might skirt the group several times as you go back and forth, but this process doesn’t run with the clock like you do; it takes the time it needs; the day passes.

I’m not exactly sure how it works, where it fits into the scheme of things here. Tribal fights still go on in PNG, often running for years. They are pretty devastating: schools are torched, hospitals ambushed, homes and gardens destroyed. Injury, rape, death. Everyone loses. I suspect the courts I see involve clans quite a few steps away from tribal fights, but I might be wrong; situations smoulder for ages but inflame quickly here (like the current situation at UPNG).

Sunday 17 July 2005

I'll wear my badge... a vinyl sticker with big block letters

Saturday: I love it when it looks and feels like a real Saturday. And yesterday it was! Today it’s been overcast and cloudy, but that’s ok as I had homework and had to stay inside.

Just watched Tanim, profiling what happened in the enga province during the national elections here in 2002. (an sbs doco; get it if you ever see it around. There are a number of good docos on png, but distribution seems a problem.) I knew there had been trouble and deals done, but – as ever – actually seeing what happened is pretty bad.

On paper it’s a democratic process, but in practice it’s based along traditional lines: people will vote according to clan allegiances, so the political leaders need to make pacts with clans in order to guarantee votes. This means the average person’s vote is decided by their leaders, and will be filled out on voting day by someone else. (In one scene, a voting official has been ordered by the incumbent member to hand over a district’s voting papers to his (the member’s) son to fill out; you see the son calmly filling out page after page, a tick for his father every time.)

Tanim profiles two people from the same clan who were running (unusual; typically there wouldn’t be internal competition, someone would have to stand down). Most of the clan sided with the incumbent, but not all: there was a split. There were fights on voting day when a leader tried to get all of the voting papers in order for his crew (in a little dark shed) to fill them out. One man resisted, wanting to choose his own vote, and shouted angrily: “Give me my voting papers! It is my right! And this is my new wife! It is my right to vote for her too!”

You can see why very very few women run for office up in the highlands, let alone get in; it’s a man’s game from top (the traditional leaders dealing with the political leaders), out in public (rallies 98% male) to bottom (the young guys with guns, fighting neighbouring villages whose allegiance is with another party: storming, destroying, controlling their land).

I don’t know much about how things went in other provinces and in the big cities. (Have a dateline episode on this to watch later. Watching in now would be too much reality for one afternoon.) The next election is sometime in 2007 (I’ll be gone by then); I have a friend who was considering running, but found out his competition has already started campaigning, buying boats for certain key areas. There’s two years to go: my pal simply can’t compete with that kind of money. Two years; I cannot even imagine how much money is spent in campaigning here.

Friday 15 July 2005

say it ain't so


today's shop: pawpaw, sugar fruit (a la passionfruit), toms, peanuts

Pineapple season over!

I didn’t believe it at first – Goroka’s climate is that of an eternal spring – but it’s true. One day I noticed that instead of 10 pineapple sellers, there was 1; she was selling liklik pineapples at an inflated price. I walked on by, thinking I’d come at a bad time and should come earlier the next day. But the next day: no pineapples. None!* (Have discovered in place a liking for pawpaw: incredible (as a child I swore it was a variety of poo), but true.)

Trade routes within the country are not good. And imports aren’t wise. For everything that is not fruit/veg/chicken, trade is – to my mind – unpredictable and erratic up here.

-My toothpaste is from Ho Chi Minh (Viet Nam)
-Plunger coffee is from Goroka and tea from Hagen (PNG)
-Shampoo is from Manilla (Philippines) (hard to find stuff suitable for my strange hair; got it in Lae)
-Milk powder is from Australia (longlife is available, but for some reason I buy the powder, and I don’t use it other than + tea so it’s ok; otherwise, one supermarket does stock fresh milk – it comes once a week from lae)
-Washing detergent is from Lae. And so is cordial.
-Whisky is from Port Moresby (as is (a kind of experimental) vodka; no local gin – or not that’s stocked here. Wine = Australian (funnily enough the majority’s from just near where mum lives. There are a few good NZ wines around, but they are insanely expensive; what tends to be stocked – and bought – is usually in the aussie$10 bin: houghton’s etc.) You can buy international versions of spirits, but up here they’re wildly expensive – 10x more than the cost of the local Tradewinds variety – and range is limited. If you wanted something special you’d try and buy it south, in Lae or PoM. Or find a buddy who’s travelling internationally. My friend also does the latter for her cigars. Never liked them before, but the slim versions, on a good occasion, well…)

* Because various parts of the country are so different, the fresh fruit, veg, poultry and fish available to be grown or captured in x are not available in z. [Of course, tinned fish (stupidly, majority stocked is from Thailand not PNG or Solomons) and noodles (Malaysia) are available everywhere.] Trade routes within the country need to be strengthened. Rural people (85% of pop) have been saying this for years, but the powers that be don’t listen – and who knows why an entrepreneur isn’t out there plugging the links between supply and demand. Difficulties exist: diversity of terrain; variable quality and existence of roads; and security issues around travelling with goods and then cash. But communities are willing to work together to overcome them, and they’ve got good ideas; it just requires someone with a bit of $, nous, contacts and power. Ah, and the wait continues.

Thursday 14 July 2005

Thereafter he mooned about the Java Sea in some trading schooners, and then vanished, on board an Arab ship, in the direction of New Guinea...He remained so long in that outlying part of his enchanted circle that he was nearly forgotten before he swam into view again in a native proa, a portfolio of sketches under his arm. He showed these willingly, but was very reserved as to anything else. He had had an "amusing time", he said. A man who will go to New Guinea for fun - well!

(Conrad; "Victory: an island tale")

Wednesday 13 July 2005

snapshot views from today

Henri Bergson:
'What is real is a continual change of form: form is only a snapshot view of transition'.


from my office (peer through the louvres, you can see sweetcorn growing. i watched it being planted weeks ago; only this afternoon did i realise the stalks are now over a metre high.)

real, form, snapshot

even as we're open to the world, it's not quite real; what's real, what you feel, what escapes the snapshot, is transition

Tuesday 12 July 2005


"Cause and effect do not equal space and time!" thundered the defence force commander. his ideas, as well as his uniform, were dazzling. in the back, text messaging, is sam inguba, the top gun of the police. clearly he knows that peter illau isn't worth listening to.

a press conference (photo also from pal; lots of wall but missing a few key people). sir barry holloway is the white holding forth. he talked for 30 mins and got about one sentence in the paper; the coverage all went to singirok - maroon shirt to his right. to sir b's left is john toguata. (sorry to those not in png; this will be rather dull). dr betty lovai is to jerry's right.

a friend took some photos at the end of the summit; they are pretty bad. this one makes me laugh every time; opposition leader o'neill and mike apparently glued to his nose. lame, but still funny.
**
later: a buddy says "he's a real snake, a classic pork rolling Tamany Hall polly", a delicious kind of baddie. intriguing.

Monday 11 July 2005


i promised, so here are some. pictures of guns. i was warned that they might not be empty - or shooting blanks - but i think this was just to make my eyes grow bigger. they went from rifles...

...and hand guns too

homemade goroka

i fought in a war

in recess, everyone wanted to play

Sunday 10 July 2005

"they felt as if they were shut out from an Eden of ignorance. On this side there was nothing to look forward to but experience." [greene, brighton rock]

i've been here around 6 months now. a friend tells me that's the time you know whether you're going to stick or skip it.




read 'the power and the glory' and went straight on to 'brighton rock'. greene's bleak, and yet can write so beautifully; once you hit the stride you want to keep going.

And i've got some classic penguin eds. i've always loved Allen Lane (founder of Penguin)'s approach, justifying occasional publishing failures with a cry of "swings and roundabouts". for a balance sheet, and for a life.

Saturday 9 July 2005

oh yeah - i commented a few days ago on the strong push on border controls + the belief that guns are coming in from "outside".

on tues a truck was stopped at an easterhn highlands border. it was making its way to the southern higlands. it was full of firearms. politicians (don't know from what level) from ehp are involved. again, the real problems aren't at the borders; they're interior.

power and glory

yesterday the gun summit wound up - will have more on this later. but at 5pm there were drinks hosted by the provincial gov'nr; met him - weird but pleasant enough (white) man, ex-attorney general (during sandline crises; v interesting), ed-in-chief of the postcourier (national daily; frankly an intimidating man) etc etc. in png the powerful and the political are much easier to meet, it still surprises me how much so. oh yeah, they're generally men (think 98%), and the term 'big men' isn't used loosely: to be a leader here you'll grow a seriously big belly. there was a long row of them at the very front each day at the gun summit. you don't want to mess with them.
*
All attendees were given a Guns Committee Background Report when they registered.* Inside were the terms of reference for the summit & committee, and a draft of the recommendations the committee is to put to Parliament. The afternoon of Day 3 and all of Day 4 were spent debating, editing, supporting or deleting these suggestions. We broke into 7 working groups (of about 20-30 people), each looking at a bunch of themed-recommendations. The groups were:

1. social and community development (lead by Dr. B. Lovai)
2. leadership, democracy and governance (lead by Sir B. Holloway)
3. legislation, rules and operations (lead by a former attorney general, Michael x (apologies; didn’t get his name)
4. borders and trade (lead by J Singirok)
5. reduction of weapons for safer communities (unsure of leader, but involved Dr Haley, ANU)
6. public awareness (lead by O. Philemon, PostC editor)
7. data gathering and performance management (lead by a UNDP rep)

Group one finished lunchtime Thursday; group two went until 1am. Friday the leaders reported the major recommendations on the recommendations. There was a lot to get through, and unfortunately there was little – and usually no – time for questions.

We did have a bit of time after group 5’s presentation. There was a lot of debate – mainly about a ban on guns. Should it be a total ban (revoke all licences, only allow police and defence to have firearms)? Or should it be partial (ie. exceptions made for shooting clubs, security, licensed owners)?

A lot of people argued strongly for a total ban – and got applause. But this isn’t a helpful way to go: you put out a total ban, and you make a lot of law-abiding people criminals. Up in the highlands, for instance, there are business people who have guns – and don’t feel safe enough to give them up. If it becomes illegal for them to have guns, they won’t simply give them up: they’ll just hold them illegally. The point of the summit is to work at creating safer communities where people don’t feel that they need guns for protection. Making all guns illegal doesn’t make a community any safer.

At the moment, the problem isn’t licensed gun owners: it’s illegal guns, homemade guns, stolen guns. What needs to be talked about is: ENFORCEMENT. There’s a lot of talk at the summit about changing legislation, but PNG has good firearms laws. Could have a tweak here and there, but they’re sufficient. The problem is nothing to do with law: it is to do with the enforcement of the law. We know there are illegal firearms around. The police know. The police force needs strengthening and leadership – and they need to go in and start collecting these guns, charging people who have them, and destroying the collected weapons – NOT reselling them back into the community, as has been happening.

A total ban is nice, but a smoke-screen: it doesn’t touch on the real issues.

Unfortunately there was no discussion time after group 3. There needed to be, because some of the proposed changes challenged basic human rights. The following are some of the items proposed; they are NOT the official recommendations, but have been put forward by people at the summit for the gun committee to consider.

Constitutional changes were proposed:
- the presumption of innocence (“innocent until proven guilty”) REMOVED; proof of innocence on the accused
- the right to remain silent removed

ID cards for all people in PNG.

Vagrancy act to be reintroduced to stop urban drift.

Witness and informant protection system introduced.

Improve coronial inquest system to be quicker and more effective. Ie. when police officer kills informant: there is a just outcome.

Tougher penalties for criminal offences involving firearms; this includes: corporeal punishment, life imprisonment; longer term custodial sentence.

Firearms used in tribal fights: min 20 yrs max life.

Introduction of minimum penalties for gun offences (ie. use a firearm in a criminal offence but do not discharge it = life imprisonment. Use a firearm in a criminal offence and discharge it = death penalty (even if your shot harms no one).

Police prosecutors to have LLB.

Total ban on toy guns and toy ammo.

If the gun of a licensed gun owner is stolen or lost, and they do not report it immediately, they could face life imprisonment.

An individual not following legal procedures regarding the procurement of weapons could face a jail sentence of up to 50 years and be barred from office (i.e. a politician who surrenders one firearm but keeps two)

Remember, these are suggestions to the gun committee; they are now to be gone through by the committee and the committee’s lawyers, and may not appear in the final recommendations put to parliament.

In the afternoon, Sir Barry Halloway summarised the major findings of the summit. His contribution to the whole thing has been invaluable: he has a very sharp mind and isn’t afraid to talk straight – particularly to politicians. (He is a 60ish white guy, tho may have been born here. rumour has it he has kids up and down the highlands highway...let alone wives...) He directed a lot towards Kimisopa (Kimisopa and Peter O’Neill came in during the afternoon): i.e. you MUST FIGHT for more funding for the police force. Everyone was pleased.

Both Kimisopa and O’Neill had closing speeches. It’s good to see that it’s a bipartisan approach; it needs to be, otherwise nothing is going to change – and changes are needed before the next elections. Kimisopa: “I have a simple job to do – and that is to implement the recommendations.” “I won’t be sidetracked.” We’ll see.

O’Neill is against a total fire arm ban.

Singirok had the final say, though. He showed photographs taken as the roadshow went around PNG. He was clearly moved at the great beauty of the country, and his love for it was obvious, and catching. He’s an intriguing man: shrewd, strategic, controlled – and yet sentimental, and with a great, almost innocent desire to do good. He’s impressive. I really like him. It’s worth watching what he does in the future – whether it’s chair a permanent gun control council/secretariat if one is established, or go into politics, or whatever.


*Polive review recommendations were also circulated. I don’t know if these have been circulated publicly.

Wednesday 6 July 2005

day 3; tiredness sets in

Today opened with a delegation from Bougainville; they got a lot of applause, and it was exciting and heartening and hard, too, to hear about their experiences and struggles and disarmament. They stressed a lot of what was introduced by the Kup women for peace group. For instance, initiatives about gun control must come from the community, if they’re simply ordered by the government they’ll fail.

I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of the Summit is. To tick the community consultation box, yes. But there are no clear aims: the summit takes a bit of a scattergun approach, if I may. We hear about everything and anything that even vaguely relates to gun culture in png: guns and : border protection – pack rapes – poverty and its opposite – legislation – disposal – tribal fights – political leadership etc etc. Some provinces (ie. SHP) get attention, most are ignored. It might have been more productive to streamline proceedings a bit more: grass-roots responses to guns, for instances; provincial info; legislation… Making such a varied, knowledgeable audience sit and listen to such a varied assortment of topics isn’t utilising the experience in the room.

But the outcomes of the summit are also unclear: recommendations for parliament (which we broke up into groups to debate today and tomorrow)? Practical steps we can make locally towards lessening the culture of guns? Towards physically getting rid of guns? Towards…setting up a permanent gun control council, is that it? Towards various political careers?

During the breaks today I spoke separately to two guys I know who are both from different parts of the highlands. The conversations were almost identical – not that I’m boring, but: both acknowledged that whatever was said about banning guns/removing guns/evil of guns, it wasn’t going to affect the number of guns in the highlands. In many areas up here, every village will have guns. Not individuals: villages. The whole community will contribute money towards purchasing guns. They do this for many reasons: having guns makes them feel more powerful, respected, safer, protected; they know other communities have guns; they know enemies have guns. And this doesn’t automatically lead to violent crime. Everyone has guns, everyone knows everyone else has guns, and they sit comfortably. Disarming them without replacing guns with meaningful projects/jobs would be a disaster.

I know there are a thousand more examples from real events where guns are causing immense damage, destruction and death. But my point is: more people at the summit need to be talking more specifically to make it useful. At the moment, I imagine we’ll come out with some tweaking to legislation, newspaper campaigns, a push for more money for defence and police, and … what else? There isn’t a lack of good intentions, but again, initiatives about gun control must come from the community, if they’re simply ordered by the government they’ll fail.

For an introduction that does gesture towards some of the complexities of guns and png, look up:
Sinclair Dinnen and Edwina Thompson: “Gender and Small Arms Violence in PNG”. SSGM Discussion Paper 2004/8. http://rspas.anu.edu.au/melanesia/discussion.php

For Jerry Singirok’s latest, see:
JS. “The Use of Illegal Guns: Security Implications for PNG”. SSGM Discussion Paper 2005/5. http://rspas.anu.edu.au/melanesia

For more on the KWP see State, Society and governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper 2004/4 http://rspas.anu.edu.au/melanesia

Tuesday 5 July 2005

png guns control summit day 2

v long, and i even skipped stuff; sorry
*
The morning’s sessions were put back for a few hours so we could discuss the first day’s proceedings. That meant: more time for the various government security forces to respond to Alpers’ paper [see notes from day 1]. The paper made quite a splash. Word is that Singirok asked him to make it so; and that Singirok agrees with most of what he said. Whether the Commander is aware of this is unknown.
*
The Commissioner for Police – Sam Inguba – repeats that the police need more resources (and by implication gun problems would be under more control), but he is not as defensive as the Commander of the DF; Inguba is willing to listen. There’s been a lot of talk at the summit about leadership, and this man is one of very few who actually shows some good leadership through his actions: he brings a number of his staff along, so that they can contribute and also so that they can hear what is being said – by community members, politicians, academics, whoever – about the police. It’s important; more leaders, from more fields – but particularly the public service – should have done this.
*
Some interesting figures come from one of the Commissioner’s staff: the PNG police force is declining, from 5000 last year to around 4500-4800 (the number wasn’t clear). Which means that there is something like 1 police person for 1222 people in PNG.
*
There are 6 legal gun dealers in PNG, and 13 ammunition dealers. Since 2000, you have been unable to get a new gun licence; however, you can legally transfer a licence to a new person.

Of the 19 969 gun licences, only 2301 are current: 17 644 have expired.

What do the police do about expired licences? No one asks. (Instead the buck was passed: the cost of renewals was driven up by the people down in POM, people can’t afford it etc etc. Does this mean – as it sounds – that there are no ramifications if your licence expires?)

No figures on illegal, unlicensed guns in the country. No one talks about this.
*
Rumours about lack of ammo in PNG at the moment are not related to Australia, the Australian Defence Staff Kernel stresses. Australia is willing to supply ammo – as long as the Commissioner of Police signs off on it. Without the Commissioner’s signature, nothing can be moved. So if there’s a shortage, it’s because that’s the way PNG wants it.

The Commissioner looks a bit sheepish here; he did imply that it was Australia’s fault. [And the Kernel was pretty pissed off about that.] But it’s PNG’s decision, so if there is a shortage, it’s been decided on this end. Someone in police uniform makes a plea that ammo isn’t increased.
*
The RPNGC supports the ban of firearms – with a few exceptions (ie. sporting clubs; private security (must undergo compulsory training)).
*
Someone else reveals that of the PNGDF’s K72million budget, 82% was spent on salaries and remuneration. K8million was spent on the catering budget – and there you’ve got almost all your money gone. A pittance or nothing at all for housing, maintenance, uniforms – let alone equipment, technology etc. Hence the DF reforms. The first stage – downsizing (ie. sackings; staff numbers are now approx. 2000) – has saved about K10million.
*
The Australian Defence Staff (and presumably the PNGDF) went to Madang last week or the week before to discuss the Guns Control Recommendations. So … given that they’ve already been written and distributed, I’m not quite sure why we now have two days to discuss and review the Recommendations.
*
A RPNGC officer calls for compulsory national service.
*
Yesterday there was a call for tougher penalties for violent crimes – including introducing the death penalty. There was a big round of applause. Today Sir Arnold Amet clearly states that he is against the death penalty. It fails to deter criminals from committing crimes, he stresses; if a state introduces it as punishment, then that is their decision, but it fails as a deterrent. And he is against it.
*
Legislation for proposed DF changes are going to Parliament tomorrow (Wednesday), so Commander of PNGDF will be back in Waigani for a briefing. Bit of a relief; he’s something of a renegade, unpredictable, at times arrogant with his power, and not always responsive to reason. And head of PNGDF…
*
Sir Arnold gets more time for another speech in the morning. Whilst he’s a bit of a statesman, I’m not sure we need another spiel from him today; yesterday was enough. He talks again about leadership: it’s rhetorical, it’s important, but not at this forum. We’re here to talk about how to control the widespread illegal small arms in PNG; we need straight talkers, and people talking from experience. Guns aren’t his area, and his talk is too much like a sermon for me, rather than a useful contribution. But others disagree; he does talk well.
*
Not all presentations are based on papers; the summit was convened in a rush, apparently. A lot of people speak generally to the audience, some forgetting their point and talking generally, which isn’t always useful; everyone’s got their own agendas to push. Visiting academics tend to have prepared more formal papers. Powerpoint is used frequently, and frequently badly. Just leave it alone! No one wants it.
*
After a break there’s a paper from Carol Nelson, another Small Arms Survey but on the Solomon Islands (http:www.smallarmssurvey.org). Interesting to learn about their attempts at gun buybacks (soon dropped: too expensive and number of home made guns increased) and then “gun free village” promotion, where whole village earns something (in SI = sporting equipment) if surrender all guns; positive peer pressure.
*
Nelson also brings up the point that the pacific needs to seriously clean up WWII ammunition. There’s one explosion a week from old, abandoned ammo in Honoraria alone. Beginning of conflicts in Bougainville and SI were fuelled with WWII weapons.
*
Peter Boyers (unsure of spelling), Finance Minister in SI, talks next and gives an explicit case of guns smuggling from SI waters into Bougainville. In the late 1990s a logging ship went from SI territory to Bougainville, carrying a huge stockpile of guns. 70 row boats were counted ferrying the arms from the ship to the shore. “This is a fact that can be proven” Boyers stated. It has not been made public before because the situations in both places were too volatile.
*
Dr Nicole Haley (Australian National Uni) presents her findings on guns in the Southern Highlands Province and the NCD. This work was also part of the Small Arms Survey. Some of the statistics she has are surprising and alarming, and they go against common preconceptions.

Whereas general consensus is that of course people would rather not have guns, Haley found that 34% of people in the SHP would buy a weapon if they could, and 41% in the NCD. There is not widespread support for removing weapons; only under very certain conditions, including the improvement of law and order. Only after that could it occur.

Whereas general consensus is that at the moment it’s hard to get hold of (illegal) ammo and therefore it’s expensive, she found that the price is lower than has been reported and that it is decreasing. NATO standard ammo is abundant.

And only 17% of households surveyed in the SHP had radios – and they were down the eastern end of the province; up in the western end there were few and usually none. And people in the western end reported actually seeing guns a lot more – almost daily – than compared with down east.
*Irrelevant Ausaid speech was given by someone clearly smart but just talking the talk: there wasn’t a sentence that wasn’t government jingoism, and it was all theoretical, there was nothing she did not glean from previous govt briefing papers. Only those in Canberra would have been interested, and only those in the audience with western educations could have understood it. If anyone had asked her a question, she would not have been able to answer. Doubtful many got anything from this one.
*
$$$. Forgot to mention this yesterday. It’s K50 rego for the week. Ok, but clearly not aimed at involving all members of the community. It’s a pity: every seat in the hall isn’t taken (70% full at a guess), and they could have subsidised regos for those who couldn’t afford the 50, or for people to bring their staff along (NGOs, say; villages; students etc etc.).

Instead, they are paying a per diem of K60 per day to all people invited to the conference. Why? (Haven’t heard of this before.) Seems ridiculous, particularly when people attending have jobs, and a lot are from organisations who would be giving them a per diem and away-from-home allowance anyway. Plus the Summit pays for invitees accommodation and airfares.

Today they gave out the daily per diem at the end of the final session. It was K80. People who were not invitees, but general attendees, were getting it. So in effect they’d got back their rego fee – plus an extra K30! What a joke. And that’s just today; if it continues for the next three days well hey there’s another K240. Each.
*
But just before I get too cynical and sour, must mention the best presentation of the day: from the group “Kup Women For Peace”. Kup is an area in Kerowagi, in Chimbu Province, where there’s been years and years of tribal fighting. It was so bad that schools closed down and all government services were withdrawn. At times women and children had to hide in fear in the bush. Gardens were destroyed, houses burned down. People killed. These were usual stories. People scattered, moving to other districts and areas. In 2000, women, sick and tired of being victimised, held a meeting and the group was started. They began to stand inbetween fighting tribes, refusing to move until the situation was defused. They now have uniforms and people recognise them when they step in – and they now have respect, people stop shooting, people even come to them when there are disputes. Now too it is not just women who are members of the group: men have joined to, ex-criminals. Life has improved: the government services are back; people can move freely in the villages. Now men are coming out and – in this patriarchal society – saying that they are willing for the women to lead; they want to live this more peaceful way. They are selling their guns out of Kup [note, not surrendering…]. The women have also organised for conflict resolution training for the police, and in August the police will have human rights training – also organised by the group. Last year they were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Three women from the group each spoke, and two men held up a banner they had made. This is a group who are achieving things without any funding, without arms of their own, with no connection to Waigani or the public service or NGOs. The whole hall was moved; there was a lot of applause. This is what the summit was supposed to be full of: people talking from experience about concrete actions to take to reduce the prevalence of guns here.
*
They should have spoken yesterday, rather than the big fellas. But instead they were scheduled for this afternoon. And they were followed by two papers in defence of guns: representatives of rifle associations.

I thought it was poorly timed, but actually the women from Kup were so strong and so full of integrity, that it was like sabotage: the rifle association representatives sounded rather pitiful in comparison. Pitiful, and ridiculous.
*
Amet’s appearance at the summit is a clear signal of support for Singirok. There’s plenty of recognition and applause for both Singirok and Kimisopa. I reckon some electioneering has begun with this summit.

Monday 4 July 2005

Png guns control summit day 1: unofficial notes


proceedings start with a prayer from a pastor. I overhear him getting politely warned before he begins: “It should be an appropriate prayer and an appropriate text. Remember who will be here and why we’re here...” He sweats a little up on stage.
**
Singirok: wears polished shoes the colour of toffee apples. Is short and compact, and not the most charismatic public speaker, but is accorded an impressive level of respect from everyone. Still not sure whether he’s a goodie or a baddie – probably both, he’s no different to the others – but I am smitten with the cultural mythology around him. And he says “g’day” to me!
**
A pile of guns is spread out on the stage (have photos but not on me tonight; will post some this week: nice egs of some homemade things, carved wood and pipes – heavy and you’d be lucky it didn’t explode in your hands when you tried to fire it. But also some fierce looking imports, terminator-style). These are from the Goroka police stash, which means they’re probably outmoded: people turn in/get rid of/lose their guns when they get hold of more powerful ones. So those homemade types would be the first to go, replaced by something bought by the police, say.

A big stir is caused by a report from Philip Alpers* about the Southern Highlands (a landlocked province, so tracking gun movement in and out of there opens up gun movements nationally). There is no evidence that guns are smuggled into the country – contrary to what politicians, police and the defence force claim. The most common guns you find are SLRs (self-loading rifles; Australian made) and M16s (American) – both from the PNG defence force stocks (serial numbers also match them there).

More: most of the high-powered guns are deployed by people running in elections, sitting MPs, and their supporters: to impress and intimidate. An August 2004 audit of PNGDF small arms that revealed 16% were unaccounted for; after this, apparently, the Office of the Minister of Defence ordered that this audit be revised.

(will this be publicised? The chief editor of one of the daily newspapers is on the gun control board; he’s published several front pages on the border issue. He’s here in the front row.)

(there’s a lot more: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/special.htm)
**
After Alpers there’s a panel of government security high fliers. And they are all spinning from what has just been heard. The Defence Force Commander (Peter Ilau) is furious, so much so that he becomes incoherent. “Don’t let history influence the way you lead” he rails, whatever this means. On the firearms audit, he threatens: “That was a leak and I am going to find out who is responsible and hold them accountable. That is not public information!”. You worry about the fall out; he is raving mad. “Cause and effect does not equal time and space!” he shouts. It’s so good he shouts it again.

The other responses aren’t so crazy, but they still insist on pushing the border protection line. It’s worrying: the whole point of this summit is surely about internal security, but none of the govt security agencies look willing to talk about it – let alone do something about it. Aside from border control, the other big theme is whinging about Waigani and failures in leadership. (Somare isn’t named, but he isn’t popular.) A round of applause is almost guaranteed if you say “Waigani runs the country by remote control!”. It’s easy to forget that so many of the people in the room are the leaders.

Although the majority of speeches have been like rally cries or preaching, there were some good talkers who were punchy and specific. Enough to make it an interesting day.


*A mate tells me Alpers used to be a journo on New Zealand tv, a “Current Affair”-type program called ‘a fair go’ (what a name). Now he’s a doctor and associated with U of Syd; far more respectable…

Sunday 3 July 2005

notes on guns - and nuns -

Went out Friday and Saturday nights, and now feeling weary and rather depressed at the thought of the gun summit. In further retaliation for this incident, last week police shot off a raskol’s leg below the knee, strapped the guy to the front of a vehicle, and drove up and down the main street in Kainantu. The guy died from blood loss. Recently a family was held up by raskols with guns; they threatened to rape the 12 year old daughter but bargained with the family, who instead got together 2000kina and gave that to the raskols. Who proceeded to rape the child anyway, in front of the whole family. And what’s the bet the gun summit will merely turn out to be another discussion on border control and gun smuggling? Despite the established fact that the majority of guns bought illegally are bought from police stocks. Policing, raskols, guns, justice, unemployment: I wonder if anyone’s going to talk seriously about them. Certainly doubt it’ll be heard at the session with the Australian Rifle Association’s rep, on shooting and hunting.

**
There is a small nunnery next door. Working and retired nuns live there; the nuns are Spanish and German. I sometimes see one or two of the younger nuns around; one teaches sex education in high schools. Some of the elderly nuns are too scared to go out much; they have lived here for over a decade and have never ventured to the local shops. (Funny, because everyone has a lot of respect for priests, fathers, brothers, sisters; I doubt they’d have trouble.)

Imagine, such a life of fear, and god, and a little room.

I have to admit that the older nuns scare me. Goroka, no; nuns, yes. I’ve never spoken to them; I’m sure they’d be pleasant enough. And yet there’s something about the idea of them, I don’t quite know what – something authoritarian, disapproving, hard in character, despite those soft plump bodies. When I see a pale blue habit and that white hat, I actually turn and avoid them. Little indeed.

**
Yesterday morning – 9am sharp – I went to the katolik wedding of a woman I work with (all in pidgin: “Mi laik maritim Mary”; “John yu laik kisim Mary, meri bilong yu?”). It was held in the chapel next door. The nuns have made the chapel their own: a lot of the seats are personalised. (The spot where I was sitting, for instance, had a pair of glasses slipped into the little book shelf, and a big fat cushion, as if for a very short person. Which is not me, so I towered over everyone.)

And although everyone from work was there at 9, the bride and groom and their wantoks weren’t: the two important people turned up at about 9.20, and the service started. There were about 12 other people; they must have decided on small and intimate, I was thinking. But people did come, more and more; they were just running on the old png time. Every 5 minutes throughout the entire ceremony another cluster of people would arrive and the priest would pause and there’d be shuffling etc etc. Some even arrived only to catch the highlight: a kid having a tantrum. The couple’s two year old son was the ring bearer. Only, when they took the last ring away from him, he wanted it back for himself and tried to climb up his mother to get it, shouting and crying. Ha ha. The priest hurriedly finished off the job and we all clapped.

tantrum begins