PNG a dysfunctional blob: US cables

According to WikiLeaks, Papua New Guinea was described by the US Embassy Officers and Australian Officers as “dysfuntional blob”

While this may impact PNG-Australia relations, I don’t think the PNG Government wants to worry about that at the moment. We all know the views from Australia and US will never change. Jumping up and down just because someone call me FAT will not change their views……I just must prove em wrong!

Similarly, the PNG Government shouldn’t burden itself on name callings but should conduct itself in high regards. Let children play their games of name-calling!

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Papua New Guinea’s public service was a “totally dysfunctional blob”, while its political institutions are incapable of producing leaders who would work in their nation’s interest, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare is painted as a leader who sidelines MPs with integrity and dishes out jobs to his favourites, including his son Arthur, whom he appointed a government minister.

In a cable dated April 2006, the US embassy notes that Sir Michael sidelined three of his most effective cabinet ministers, who could have been expected to resist irresponsible moves to pass out favours.

“To not mince words, the pork has hit the fan,” the cable said.

It said trying to getting business done in a lead-up to an election in PNG was “always hard”.

“Somare has freed himself from inconvenient checks on his ability to wheel and deal,” it said.

“These events just confirm that PNG’s political institutions are still a long way from producing national leaders with incentives to work in their nation’s interest.”

The cables also noted comments from Australian embassy officials in June 2007 who described generational change in PNG as a “false hope”.

“Other Australian officers described the PNG public service as a totally dysfunctional blob that is great at planning but appalling at implementation,” the cable added.

A July 2006 cable said PNG was steeped in traditional magic and ignorant of modern economies.

It said Papua New Guineans were easy marks for Ponzi schemes, which proliferated throughout the country.

It said with an election looming the politicians were “dusting off their bottles of snake oil”.

The cables said the government had presided over the closure of health centres and schools, the collapse of effective policing and a steady rise in crime but there would be little mention of this during the campaign.

“Instead the themes will be the ageless one of which clan/village can get its man into government and reap the benefits thereby.”

 http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8294107/png-a-dysfunctional-blob-us-cables

When the Cat is away…… the mice began’s to play

Sir Michael Somare returns to Papua New Guinea today!

This is almost 3 months after he was hospitalized and given leave by Parliament to undergo and urgent medical procedure. Whilst Chief Somare was away the Parliament decides that there was a vacancy in the Prime Minister’s post and opted to elect a new Prime Minister. Peter O’Niel was chosen to fill the vacancy.

ESP now has placed a Supreme Court reference questioning amongs other things if there exists a vacancy in the Prime Minister seat and also if Parliament acted out of its rules by voting for a new PM on the same day instead of the next seating of the Parliament.

But Sir Michael arrives back today in the country because Parliament choose to seat earlier than expected. Rather than risked being removed from Parliament for missing 3 consecutive seating…… Sir Michael Returns.

It would be interesting to see what transpires on Tuesday…… obviously Sir Michael would head straight to the PM’s seat…..and I wonder what would happen. Will speaker Nape move him to the opposition??

Only time will tell……..can’t wait for Tuesday!!

 

 

 

Social Networking Website

 

Dear Readers

I have been neglecting this blog for a long time now…… gosh I can’t even remember when I last posted here.

The reason being that I have been working on a new Social Networking site in Asia Pacific Region. The social networking site is similar to Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, MySpace and the list goes on… What its great about this site… is that it is owned and run by me (yours truely) but also have moderators from over the Pacific Region.

Yu Tok Organization or Yu Tok Social Network is a growing social networking for Young people and those who are young at heart in Papua New Guinea and across the Asia Pacific Region.

The site has the following Features;

• Discussion Boards
• Chat Rooms
• Groups
• Videos
• Music Site
• iMagazine
• iPaper
• Games Arcade ( over 200 plus)
• C31 – our new Partner in our quest for a community TV

From the day that I launced the website and till now here are my stats;

466 members	1557 photos
372 songs	77 videos
103 discussions	63 blog posts

Not to mentioned I have 10, 435 visitors from 59 countries.

And the amazing thing is people are signing up almost every day…..

So if you looking for a place to hang-out with wantoks or friends….. and wanting to create a network and meet people….check the site out.

Kevin Rudd says “Sorry”

 

“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

 

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

 

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

 

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

 

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

 

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

 

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

 

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

 

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

 

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

 

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

 

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

 

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

 

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians,

Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

 

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

 

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

 

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia “

 

 – Kevin Rudd, Prime Mininster of Australia

Dept. of Community Development goes online

Honorable Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu officially launched the new website for the Department in a low key ceremony at the Lamana Hotel last month. This website marks the effort of the secretary for the Department, Mr. Joseph Klapat and the Minister to promote the Department of Community Development.

During the launching of the website, the Minister thanks UNICEF, UN and UNIFEM for their continued support towards children, women and youths and to promote the activities of the Department. UNIFEM has approved funding of US300, 000.00 to the Department of Community Development for projects to address the issue of Violence Against Women and to make sure CEDAW is implemented in Papua New Guinea. 

The site also contains links to various documents that people may be interested in getting a copy. For instance, a copy of the Birth Registration Form can also be downloaded and filled in to email to the Department to avoid the hassle of long cues and empty office at times.

PNG stun US on climate talks in Bali

http://climateprogress.org/2007/12/16/bush-team-humiliated-by-papua-new-guinea-blinks-in-bali-sort-of/

http://yutokorg.ning.com/video/video/show?id=1719631:Video:1682 – watch video

London – At least that’s how they’re covering it outside the United States. Similar to how it was reported on British TV last night, The Toronto Star, in an article titled “U.S. backs down after needling” reports the game-changer at the UN climate conference was the remarks of the delegate from Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad:

“We seek your leadership. But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.”

Oh, snap! as Jon Stewart would put it were he not silenced by the writer’s strike. What happened next?

The conference exploded with applause, the U.S. delegation backed down, and the way was cleared yesterday for adoption of the “Bali road map” after a dramatic half-hour that set the stage for a grinding two years of climate talks to come.

Since no hard, near-term targets were agreed to, I’d still call the conference an utter failure, by any reasonable standard, given how urgent the climate problem is. But compared to expectations — and the painful reality of the richest, most polluting nation on the world working full-time to block everyone else from moving forward — it was a partial success. The world will continue to work together to develop a roadmap to a post-Kyoto agreement.

The utter disdain that the rest of the world holds our President, if not clear from the ovation for tiny Papua New Guinea’s smackdown, drips from the lead editorial in today’s The Independent, titled “The world gets the better of Bush,” which drops any pretense of British stiff upper lip:

Last week was the week, and yesterday was the day, when the world finally showed that it was terminally fed up with the simple-minded, short-sighted and self-serving outlook of George Bush. The moment came not, as it well might have done, amid the dust and bloody debris of Iraq or the torture and state terrorism of Guantanamo Bay, but in Indonesia’s lush and lovely Island of the Gods. And, appropriately, it came over climate change — the issue on which the “toxic Texan” first showed that he was going to put his ideological instincts and oil-soaked obstinacy over the interests of the rest of the world and of future generations.

Double snap! The rest of the editorial is worth reprinting, because it puts what Papua New Guinea did in diplomatic context, it has insight into Tony Blair’s failure, and it has implications for our Presidential election:

The mood had been building all week at the negotiations in Bali on a replacement to the present arrangements under the Kyoto Protocol which run out in 2012. For months the United States, and President Bush himself, had been insisting that it would not block progress. Spin-doctors were dispatched to assert, ludicrously, not only that the President was as committed as anyone to avoiding catastrophic global warming, but that the man who had spent years trying to destroy any attempt to tackle it had always really been on the side of the environmental angels. But once his hard-faced negotiators took their seats in the steamy conference centre at the Nusa Dua resort the pretence slipped away. They blocked virtually every constructive proposal put on the table, refusing any suggestion of concrete action by the US, while insisting that other countries do more and more. Ever since Bush first rejected — and set out to kill — the Kyoto Protocol, he had cited as his main objection its exclusion of big developing nations such as China and India. More recently he has indicated that the US would move if they took the first step. Sure enough, they came to Bali ready to take action on their own emissions — and still the US refused to budge.

It is simply not done in international negotiations for one country to single out another for criticism; it’s the equivalent of calling someone a liar in the House of Commons. But from early last week other delegations were publicly, unprecedentedly and explicitly blaming the US for the lack of progress. Worse, they were beginning to point the finger at President Bush himself, suggesting that things would improve once he was gone. That is the kind of humiliation reserved for such international pariahs as Robert Mugabe and Saddam Hussein. But even they were never subjected to the treatment that America received yesterday morning. When it tried, yet again, to sabotage agreement the representatives of the other 187 governments broke into boos and hisses. When Papua New Guinea told the US to “get out of the way”, they cheered.

The US buckled, as it has always done in international negotiations when it has been isolated. The same thing happened at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, last summer, and two years ago in Montreal, when holding the Bali negotiations was unexpectedly agreed. That is why Tony Blair’s fatal flaw of constantly trying to let President Bush off the hook — while doing so much to raise the profile of climate change internationally — was so destructive. That is also why it is so deeply disturbing that an EU source told The Independent on Sunday that Britain had helped the US water down the Bali agreement after a phone call from the White House to Downing Street. We must hope, as Hilary Benn insists, that this is wrong. The last thing the country wants, or the world needs, is for us to have replaced the poodle with a Pekinese….

The full scale of the White House’s isolation and humiliation, and its consequences for the fading superpower’s standing around the world, needs to be understood by the presidential candidates of both parties.

World Bank launched grant competition!

 

  Tingim Yut Kompetisen 2007 Launched  

Port Moresby, November 27, 2007 – The Tingim Yut Kompetisen 2007 will be launched at the Koroboro International School today. Youth groups and community organisations are encouraged to participate and submit their innovative proposals for community projects from all around PNG.

The Tingim Yut Kopetisen held last year received a record number of 820 proposals from around the country. The theme of this year’s Kopetisen is “Kamapim Komuniti”. The Tingim Yut Kompetisen is a nationwide search aimed at finding and funding innovative projects for the benefit of PNG’s young people.

It is an initiative of the World Bank in partnership with Air Niugini, Bank South Pacific, Coral Sea Hotels, Digicell, Divine Word University, NASFUND, Pacific Enterprise Development Facility, Koroboro International School, and the French Alliance. 

The main objectives of the competition are to identify workable, ground-level ideas that will help address PNG’s key development issues and to assist small organizations to develop proposals and seek funding. The competitive process will identify local innovators and provide donors with potentially new avenues to work effectively at the grassroots. Ideas that work well will be publicized and may serve as successful models for use elsewhere.

The Tingim Yut Kopetisen assessment process will include workshops to assist the finalists to fully develop their proposals. Through these workshops finalists will be encouraged to develop their skills in budgeting, project management, monitoring and evaluation etc.  There will also be displays of innovative ventures by young people who are already doing something within the community in Papua New Guinea.

A youth representative will also be a guest speaker talking about their experience as youth entrepreneurs . Proposals to be submitted to the World Bank and the closing date for submission of proposals will be Feb 29, 2008. The assessment of the submissions will take place in April 2008 with winning groups to be announced end of the month.

These groups will then be asked to nominate one person to attend a workshop at Divine Word University in Madang to develop more detailed proposals and learn about project planning and implementation. In early May 2008, a representative from all finalist groups will be brought to Port Moresby where they will display their project ideas at a public forum.

On the Award Day, a panel of distinguished Papua New Guineans will decide and announce the winners. Winning groups will have their projects funded for 12 months. To be eligible for consideration, recognized youth or community groups have to find partnering organizations then submit application that answers a set of questions about their project plans. 

For more information please contact:  Port MoresbyRex Paura 675-321 7111 Email: Rpaura@worldbank.org

Tax relief in K8.9 billion budget

 http://www.thenational.com.pg/112107/Nation%201.htm

By ISAAC NICHOLAS
THE majority of workers in the country will find more money to spend in their pay packets after the Government announced tax relief in the 2008 Budget.
Treasury and Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch yesterday unveiled a record K8.9 billion money plan for 2008, which included tax relief for both workers and businesses.

Handing down the 2008 Budget, “Empowering the people of Papua New Guinea”, in Parliament yesterday afternoon, Mr Pruaitch said personal income tax threshold had been increased from K6,600 to K7,000.
He also announced a reduction in marginal rate of income tax from 25%-22% for people earning between K7,000 and K18,000 a year.This means, for example, a worker earning K18,000 per annum or above would receive a tax cut of K430 per year.

Business will also get relief with the Government’s continued effort to address impediments to doing business by abolishing stamp duties on borrowings, bills of lading, incorporation of companies, and, insurance policies.In addition, the Government will abolish the debits tax currently collected by banks as a small charge on every debt they processed.This will benefit business and workers who operate bank cards to draw cash or do transactions.
Civil servants, as a result of the new wages agreement negotiated with Public Employees Association, will receive a general wage increase amounting to more than K1,000 a year together with other non-monetary benefits.

The 2008 Budget provides for total expenditure and net lending of K6.99 billion or 35.5% of GDP.
This includes total recurrent expenditure of K3.636 billion or 18.4% of GDP and a total development expenditure of K1.88 billion. Personnel emoluments again takes out the bulk of the recurrent expenditure with K1.5 billion due to increase in school teacher numbers, industrial awards for health officers, superannuation contributions and increase in staffing.

According to the total Government expenditure, total payments including total expenditure and net lending of K6.99 billion, amortization K1.99 billion and loan repayment of K4 billion brings the total expenditure to K8.99 billion.

Is there too much money in the economy??

The Government announced a whooping increase of K3 billion to the National Budget to around K8.4 billion. This is a record breaking budget ever since impendence and it brings a smile to all ministers and members of the Parliament.

Each district has been allocated K10 million which was raised from K1.5 million to K3 million earlier this month. The K10 million for each district seems too good to be true and each district now is preparing to use this money as the next year budget will also be K10 million if the current government stays on.

While PNG is smiling, I am screwing my face behind this computer as my economic senses are being put to test here. I welcome the budget so much…..yet somehow I feel there may be a problem that could be creeping in if our financial planners are not careful.

The problem I see is “Demand Pull Inflation”. Now let me try as much as possible to explain it in a layman’s term. Demand Pull Inflation refers to increase in Inflation due to an increase in demand in the economy. Because there is a lot of money pumped into the economy to be used in a short period of time, there will be a shortage of goods or services to meet the demand. Now because too much money is chasing so few goods, the price of that good will increase.

According to keynesian theory, the more firms will employ people, the more people are employed, and the higher aggregate demand will become. This greater demand will make firms employ more people in order to output more. Due to capacity constraints, this increase in output will eventually become so small that the price of the good will rise

Example: A bag of rice cost K3 at a local village store. Suddenly, 10 villagers who earns money front up to the shop to buy the rice for K3, but since there are only 5 packets of rice available, not all 10 will buy it. And since the shop owner wants to maximize his profit, he will raise the price to K5 to meet the demand.

This is commonly described as “too much money chasing too few goods”. More accurately, it should be described as involving “too much money spent chasing too few goods”, since only money that is spent on goods and services can cause inflation. This would not be expected to persist over time due to increases in supply, unless the economy is already at a full employment level.

————————————————————————————————————-http://www.thenational.com.pg/111307/Nation%201.htm http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20071113/news.htm 

Govt to announce K8.4b budget

THE 2008 Budget is a whopping K8.4 billion, K3 billion more than the previous budget and a record-breaking money plan since Independence.
The budget was supposed to have been handed down this afternoon but has been deferred to next week due to problems associated with the frequent power blackouts in the city, according to Secretary for Treasury Simon Tosali.
Mr Tosali told the Post-Courier yesterday the power blackouts had caused the computer systems some technical problems which had affected the figures and needed information technology people to correct the fault.
He said the system was being worked on and it was hoped to have the budget ready for next Tuesday.
On November 6, Mr Tosali took out a paid advertisement in the Post-Courier advising of the Budget lock-up to be held today at 10.30am. In the notice, he also said there were to be only two representatives from each organisation and that no phone calls would be allowed.
The unofficial budget figure was released by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Wabag MP Sam Abal in Wabag on Friday at the opening of the Bank South Pacific’s new building in that centre.
Mr Abal announced there would be a K8.4 billion budget. The Somare Government’s 2007 budget was about K5.4 billion.
The director of the Institute of National Affairs, Paul Barker said the real budget for 2007 was K5.4 billion but the temporary borrowings increased it to about K7.7 billion after the supplementary budgets were handed down.
Mr Barker said the same may have been said with this figure where the actual budget may be around K5 billion but the temporary borrowings like last year may have increased the figure to that amount

 

Freedom of the Press

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without inveive, and impart information and ideas through many media regardless of frontiers” 

It applies not just to a single person’s right to publish ideas, but also to the right of print and broadcast media to express political views and to cover and publish news. A free press is, therefore, one of the foundations of a democratic society, and as Walter Lippmann, the 20th-century American columnist, wrote, “A free press is not a privilege, but an organic necessity in a great society.” Papua New Guinea as a signatory to the UN charter has an obligation to uphold the basic right to freedom of expression of an individual.

And this right goes hand-in-hand with the freedom of the press, that one could publish their ideas, thoughts or knowledge on any forms of media. So how does one balance “freedom of the press” with “independence of Inquiry” most especially when you dealing with sensitive issues? The Moti Inquiry has tested a lot of laws in Papua New Guinea including the Human Rights declaration especially the one relating to the “freedom of the press”.

I’ve read with keen interest the infamous moti report and I have found it to be bias in more than one ways. Most especially, the counsel in charge already is making predictions while the report was not finalized yet. Its interesting, but this kind of public statements has a lot of bearing on the final outcome of the inquiry. It just tells everyone, that they should not proceed with the inquiry because they already have found their culprit. 

So what happens now to “You innocent unless proven guilty?” Well, certainly, it this case, Somare was already guilty while the Inquiry is trying to prove him guilty. That’s according to how things were conducted. It seems Somare was prejudged already. Amazing!! 

Now, this pre-judgment has backed fired and the courts is taking a step to protect the inquiry by banning all reports of the moti case. I believe, the good counsel heading the Moti Inquiry should have kept his mouth shut before the Inquiry completes its findings. In addition, he should also be banned from reading any materials from the press untill the Inquiry completes its job. Maybe next time, we can isolate all Inquiry staff from the outside world untill the Inquiry is complete.

 http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20071106/tuhome.htm

Kapi to name judges to hear contempt case

CHIEF Justice Sir Mari Kapi is following up on a public warning against discussion of the Moti board of inquiry case.
Sir Mari, who heads the National and Supreme Court system, is setting up a Supreme Court bench to take up the issue of contempt of court in the Moti matter.
This was announced in a statement from the Chief Justice published today.
On Friday, the court registrar, Ian Augerea, issued a public notice in the daily newspapers on behalf of the Chief Justice and all judges, declaring public discussion of the Moti inquiry legalities to be subjudice.
This is a legal concept where publication of matter has a real risk of interfering with the administration of justice in proceedings that are pending.
The registrar’s notice last week said “the latest public comments and media releases may amount to contempt of court’’ and said public discussions on the Moti case were to cease immediately.
In today’s notice, Mr Augerea says the Minister for Defence has acted in defiance of the warning, issuing a “detailed statement’’ in the Sunday Chronicle newspaper issue of last Saturday. The statement, he says, is on issues that may be the subject of appeal pending before the Supreme Court.
“The Chief Justice is empanelling a Supreme Court bench to immediately take up the issue of contempt of court which appears to be continuing,’’ Mr Augerea says in the notice.
Last week, the registrar said the Moti inquiry report had become the subject of review by the National Court. Justice Bernard Sakora had dismissed the judicial review on September 12.
Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the Prime Minister, had filed an appeal against the decision on October 19, Mr Augerea said.
Military officers Alois Tom Ur and Vagi Oala had also filed an appeal and both appeals were pending hearing by the court.
The matter was now subjudice, the registrar said then, and all issues were under “judicial consideration’’.
Therefore comments by the public were prohibited, he said.
“Continuation of publication or discussion may be regarded as seeking to influence the Supreme Court,’’ the notice said.

    

http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20071105/business.htm

Courts bar Moti debate

THE judiciary has taken the rare and possibly unprecedented step of warning that all public discussions of appeals before the courts on the Julian Moti inquiry have to stop.
Speaking on behalf of Chief Justice Sir Mari Kapi and “all judges’’, court registrar Ian Augerea said in a public notice that the Defence Force inquiry report on Moti was now “subjudice’’.
“All issues are under judicial consideration and therefore comments by public are prohibited,’’ he said in the notice which was published in the Post-Courier on Friday.
However judges are known to have expressed opinions on the Moti case in discussions with reporters.
The judges, acting separately, spoke to reporters and expressed their views on the condition that their names not be divulged.
Because of the registrar’s warning, the Post-Courier will not at this stage publish the nature of the judges’ views.
In a notice published on Friday, registrar Augerea issued the remarks speaking on behalf of the Chief Justice and all judges regarding media statements by Defence Minister Bob Dadae.
Mr Augerea said the Defence Force inquiry report on Moti had become the subject of a review by the National Court and Judge Bernard Sakora had dismissed the judicial review on September 12.
The Prime Minister, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, had filed an appeal against the decision with a notice of motion on October 19.
Captain Alois Tom Ur and Colonel Vagi Oala also filed an appeal against the decision on October 22.
Mr Augerea said the appeals had not been set down for hearing.
The appeals are challenging orders made in the National Court by Judge Bernard Sakora on September 12 dismissing an application which was seeking to declare void the establishment of the Defence Force board of inquiry which subsequently furnished a controversial report into the Moti Affair.
The registrar’s notice states: “The matter is now subjudice and all issues are under judicial consideration and therefore comments by public are prohibited.
“Continuation of publication or discussion may be regarded as seeking to influence the Supreme Court.
“The latest public comments and media releases may amount to contempt of court.
“Any further public discussions on the Moti case is to cease immediately,’’ he said.
The Moti affair, as it has come to be known, became controversial when Indian-born Australian citizen Julian Moti was arrested when he arrived in Port Moresby last year.
Moti was transiting PNG on his way to the Solomon Islands.
Australian Federal Police worked with PNG police to arrest Mr Moti.
He was whisked out of the country on a Defence Force aircraft during the night and landed at a Solomons airstrip.
He was later appointed as the Solomons Attorney-General despite vigorous opposition from Australia, which has claimed Mr Moti is wanted for prosecution in a case involving alleged sexual offences against a Vanuatu child.