In case you’ve been a bit lax lately and may have forgotten, here are some signs by which you know you’re in a honky tonk land*:
-ID cards are being introduced in town, for the employed. This is geared towards the settlement areas: this way, if the police go into the settlements and people can't produce an ID card showing that they are employed, then they can be "moved on". This is set to start happening from 14th, and we've (my whole workplace) been warned to be careful from now on in; might get a bit messy at first...of course everyone's in agreement that it is the settlers who cause all the trouble. (i remain hesitant.)
-a friend gets her application for a private telephone line approved. And it's been 8months wait. And: that's just approved. Nothing else is scheduled to happen for a while.
-the MP for a Highlands province who was re-elected in 2002 in a wildly undemocratic manner (see Tanim) announces he’s running for re-election in 2007. And is willing to run for the position of Prime Minister. And says so happily in front of the current PM – not to cause any division, but … to let the PM know that if and when he wants to retire, well there’s someone around to take his place. (btw: the pc – one of the daily newspapers here – has already decided who to push for the next election; had suspected it for a while but it’s clear that it’s philemon. Who isn’t a bad choice.)
- a PNG farmer who has heard about potential bird flu cases in indo and Australia kills all of his chickens. Just in case.
- talking to someone you realise that the existence of New Tribes has become normal.
*just as I wrote this I saw a news update claiming that one of the terrorist suspects arrested the other day in Sydney was a bit-part actor on Home and Away. Up the ante Australia! There I was thinking that this place was crazy.-an MP announces in Parliament that he knows a price has been put out for his head. And when he names the exact price, and names – in Parliament – the person who’s going to pay the price. (And when you find out who the MP is and your reaction is, “oh, him again”.)
-ID cards are being introduced in town, for the employed. This is geared towards the settlement areas: this way, if the police go into the settlements and people can't produce an ID card showing that they are employed, then they can be "moved on". This is set to start happening from 14th, and we've (my whole workplace) been warned to be careful from now on in; might get a bit messy at first...of course everyone's in agreement that it is the settlers who cause all the trouble. (i remain hesitant.)
-a friend gets her application for a private telephone line approved. And it's been 8months wait. And: that's just approved. Nothing else is scheduled to happen for a while.
-the MP for a Highlands province who was re-elected in 2002 in a wildly undemocratic manner (see Tanim) announces he’s running for re-election in 2007. And is willing to run for the position of Prime Minister. And says so happily in front of the current PM – not to cause any division, but … to let the PM know that if and when he wants to retire, well there’s someone around to take his place. (btw: the pc – one of the daily newspapers here – has already decided who to push for the next election; had suspected it for a while but it’s clear that it’s philemon. Who isn’t a bad choice.)
- a PNG farmer who has heard about potential bird flu cases in indo and Australia kills all of his chickens. Just in case.
- talking to someone you realise that the existence of New Tribes has become normal.
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