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by Dr CLEMENT
WAINE
’07, a watershed in PNG history?
When we arrive at the year 2020,
historians will look back and say that the year 2007 was a
watershed in PNG’s history.
The people of PNG took their destiny and that of their children
into their own hands and cast the lot for a momentous shift away
from the status quo.
The time for mediocrity, personality cult, and business-as-usual
ended in 2007. A new era was ushered in.
The buzzwords that characterise the post-2007 PNG must include
information technology (IT) and biotechnology (BT), political
stability and political will, economic growth and prosperity, and
a new social order.
Importantly, it will require political will to create these
buzzwords and in a very tangible way.
There is no magic formula. The power to create the future is in
the hands of the people. They will decide what type of future they
create for themselves and their children.
The time for political experiment over the last 30 years is over.
The year 2007 marks the turning point.
The world today is driven increasingly by information technology.
Those who learn to create and manage the associated technologies
are deciding how businesses are conducted, how countries are
governed and how wealth is created.
Fifty years ago, a drug-riddled and corrupt government was running
Taiwan.
In 1975, at the time PNG became independent, that country enforced
rigorous university entrance examinations and placed emphasis on
science education.
Thirty years later, it is one of the world’s leading exporters of
IT-related products and in the process became one of the most
prosperous nations.
In the 1960s, Singapore was the backwaters of Malaysia, the
poorest state located on the Malay peninsula.
When it became independent in August 1965, it was not considered
to be a viable country.
Even the Sydney Morning Herald wrote in August 1965 that “an
independent Singapore was not regarded as (a) viable (country) …”
The country faced immediate mass unemployment, housing shortages,
lack of land and natural resources. It turned all that around to
become the world’s city-state, enjoying the highest standard of
living in the world.
The magic was a progressive leadership that placed more emphasis
on education and focused investments on IT-related areas.
Recently, the Singapore government invested heavily in
biotechnology and medical care.
By the year 2020, it will become the regional hub of top-notch
medical care available to those that can afford them.
Malaysia is catching up now. Under former prime minister Dr
Mahathir Mohamad, the government invested in telecommunications,
infrastructure and cyber cities and has had some successes.
Dr Mahathir visited PNG twice – during independence and 30 years
later – and was very disappointed with how the country had
regressed compared with Malaysia’s achievements.
In the 1960s, the wealthiest companies and individuals were
industrialists.
In 1990s, the wealthiest companies and persons were those involved
in the service industry.
Ten years later, the top three wealthiest persons in the world
were selling software and other IT products.
*The writer lives and works in the USA.
He holds three international patents for his inventions and
discoveries in the areas of Biotechnology.
 
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