| Business |
Arona – the turn of the screw
WE are not primarily concerned this
morning with the rights or wrongs of the Arona Valley claims
against the government. That is a matter that should be determined
by the court.
But we are concerned with the attitude of some of the people
involved. It seems to us that the claim is being put forward in an
atmosphere laced with violence and threats.
The Arona Valley is one of the most fertile areas in Papua New
Guinea. The people of that valley are not penniless villagers
living in hovels, unable to feed themselves or their families.
And if there are people who fall into that category, we would
suggest that they are there because they do not want to make the
effort to improve their own circumstances.
Today we live in a society where our own people are becoming
conditioned to having many of the latest benefits provided by
either the national or provincial governments.
The tough and upright fighter of yesterday is fast fading into
legend.
In far too many villagers, the skills necessary to create an
independent and self-supporting society as our ancestors did has
been weakened and in some cases, has disappeared altogether. In
its place we see the advent of people interested only in what they
can grab from an increasingly material culture.
There is little or no thought for the future. Life is seen as
short, sharp and brutish. Other people are only there for whatever
benefits can be extracted from them.
The sick, the elderly, the children – these are but irritating
adjuncts to society – necessary evils that often stand in the way
of the better enjoyment of life.
The aim of life is to grab as much money as possible, and seek to
improve one’s status in the village or tribe through whatever
devious means present themselves.
Some readers will see this as exaggeration. But is it?
Listen to the words of the spokesman for the disgruntled Arona
Valley Group, some of whom are landowners in the area where the
vital Yonki power station is situated.
“Landowners are already frustrated ... we won’t shut the power
plant but we’ll cause permanent irreparable damage to the plant
... no response from the Government will mean power pylon will be
pulled down, the plant may be blown up and the Government and PNG
Power will will be held responsible for not addressing our demands
and benefits properly.”
Those benefits, according to the spokesman, amount to K254.9
million. That kind of statement by any group in this country
breaks the law.
Those are clear threats against legitimate bodies and their
workers, and by extension, against the people of PNG.
The last time these landowners made similar threats, a major
invasion of the power station and permanent damage to a system
that supplies power to a large part of PNG were narrowly avoided.
Almost invariably when such a situation occurs in PNG, the
government of the day either tries to ignore the matter – which
quite often works well – or else they dispute the accuracy of the
claim.
We believe that there are occasions when a far firmer stand needs
to be taken.
The whole highlands region has failed to reach its potential
because of an endemic failure by successive national and
provincial governments to lay down the law.
People such as the Arona landowner spokesman should in our
opinion, be arrested and charged with any or all of a number of
appropriate counts.
These people are all too often simply taking advantage of the
government.
By threats they seek to ensure that the government is over-awed,
and will back out of the situation by the shortest possible route.
We’ve seen many examples of this with the notorious out of court
settlements. Tens of millions of kina have been paid out to people
who are not entitled to such handouts.
The government should make it crystal clear to the Arona
landowners that it will not even begin to address their alleged
“grievances” until and unless appropriate spokesmen and leaders
are appointed to represent their claim.
As long as our governments can be bullied into entertaining
manipulative and greedy claims for “compensation” where there is
little or nothing to compensate, PNG will not meet its tremendous
potential.
 
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