| Sports |
A mentor of the
highest order
JACK METTA pays
tribute to his former boss during his early days at NBC
THERE are 70 great reasons to
celebrate this month but over the past few weeks when the
count-down of the days began, tragedy struck.
This article had initially intended to herald the exploits of that
ever-green man-about-town and Hanuabada village’s own version of
Peter Pan – Dadi Toka, who celebrates his 70th birthday next week.
But the passing of Sam Piniau, the former chairman of the National
Broadcasting Commission, took the shine away from the building
excitement, for Mr Piniau’s leadership in his NBC days helped
shaped the future of a young man embarking on a career in
journalism and made him what you are reading today.
After some soul-searching, I could only bow my head and admit that
yes, there are two sides to a coin, that there is good and evil,
that what goes up must come down; that there is a head and a tail,
highs and lows and bad news and good news.
In this profession, you have to juggle your priorities and make a
decision. Whether it is bad or good news, the element of balance
must be there. There are exceptions of course.
Six years ago, at a gathering of a Tolai community at Ratavul
village near Rabaul to official open a local trade store, I
noticed a grey haired gentleman huddled among the group.
Though it must have been nearly 30 years since you went your
separate ways, the recognition was instantaneous.
I guess the people who figure the most in those special “walks”
through certain life’s phases remain unchanged in the eyes of
beholder, despite the ravages of time and age.
You saw him as the man who opened the ‘doorway’ through which you
would walk the career pathway of you life. He hadn’t changed a
day; physically yes, but not the aura he exuded.
This was Mr Piniau.
The recognition and the greeting was glaringly mutual and
relatives who had gathered, wondered in hushed tones where these
two people of completely different backrounds – a Tolai and a
Kerema of different generations – should have reason to greet one
another.
The handshake was firm but the hug that naturally followed was
warm and expressed, from my perspective, the appreciation that
verged on overwhelming gratitude.
It was the feeling that you once expressed to Mr Lahari Mora, a
teacher from your primary school days in Lae.
It was, to say the least, an overwhelming output of appreciation
that brought tears to one’s eyes because there were no words to
express that frame of mind.
Mr Piniau took over the reins of what was formerly the Australian
Broadcasting Commission’s PNG network in 1975 – the year of
independence.
I had joined the ABC as a cadet reporter just out of Sogeri
National High School the year before.
Everything that was ABC was inherited by Mr Piniau the following
year, me included.
The media at the time was just NBC and Post-Courier but the
remnants of the post colonial era was still very much evident —
both organisations had an over ample number of Australian
journalists working alongside local reporters.
I can remember Albert Asbury, Tony Underwood, Sean Dorney and Bob
Lawrence — Australian journalists whom I had the privilege of
working alongside with.
Talking of journalists, you might be interested to note that an
accident on the Magi Highway in 1975 could have well denied Papua
New Guinea a few prominent people who had since risen to
prominence in later years of PNG’s development.
Sean Dorney of Sandline reporting fame was the generous driver who
offered to drive Henao Iduhu home to Gaire after a Christmas party
at NBC HQ at Five Mile. Reporters Lawrence, Jack Metta, Jeffrey
Awai and David Nipuega decided to tag along for the ride. Iduhu
was dropped off with no great hassle and eventually became
Communication and Development Cooperation Secretary today, but the
rest of his colleagues ran off the road on the return trip. It was
a nasty accident but all survived through God’s grace and Dorney
went to become and award-winning journalist in the region,
Lawrence is still chatting up my sister Eau in Australia, Nipuega
went on to become the current chairman of the Coconut Industry
Board and yours truly is still being read by the likes of you,
dear reader today.
Awai joined the military’s public relations team and had since
retired happily back to his Markham village.
True to Western standard of journalism in those early days,
competition was relatively fierce with NBC winning most times
hands down because of its daily news and current affairs
broadcasts.
What the radio carried on the day, Post-Courier ran it in print
the next day so exclusivity was solely NBC’s for a good number of
years until the rot that we see and hear about today, set in.
The neglect of what was an important aspect of development and
communication was virtually total.
I remember Mr Piniau’s words to me during an informal chat earlier
in my career that “radio was the mass communicator period”.
“TV will come one day but owning a TV cost a lot more than a small
transistor radio and radios you can afford and easily carry around
with you…”
That sort of added that extra impetus to our strive to excel in
our profession and serve the majority of our people in the rural
areas to the best of our ability.
Maybe this may give you a clue as to why most of my articles
relate to the grassroots nowadays.
Postings to the outstations in those days did not simply mean
manning the news desk at the respective provincial capitals, but
sojourns into the hinterlands with the recording teams in search
of news and features.
Because NBC had a network of radio stations around the country,
young, budding journalists were given the opportunity to be posted
to the provinces and get the feel of life, the people, the
geography and the activities.
I am thankful that my horizons expanded fairly well under this
arrangement, having worked in Daru, Port Moresby, Alotau, Vanimo,
Lae, Goroka and Mt Hagen in my early years as a radio journalist.
In the course of these postings, one got to meet both current and
future leaders and being able to be there and having done that,
you were placed in a more suitable position to continue a
relationship at any level of society.
In later years, as reporters based in Port Moresby, many of us
looked forward to the recreation leave of our colleagues in the
outstations and offered ourselves voluntarily to substitute and
stand-in for them when they were away.
Once I substituted Kebei Baduame in Daru in early 1975 when he
went on three-week recreation leave to Thursday Island.
The three-week stint turned into two months when bad weather
prevented Baduame and his border crossing Western province kinsmen
and women from travelling back.
This gave me the golden opportunity on hone my rugby league skills
on the Daru oval against the legendary Henry Baria and company and
propelled me to the ultimate national representative level, the
Kumuls, in Goroka two years later.
Dorney was also aiming for that level in Port Moresby and when
vying for that representative cap, two radio journalists were
forced to be at opposing ends and no love was lost on the field
until we got back into the bar and the NBC newsroom.
The ultimate was that both of us made the Kumuls in 1976, with
Dorney the captain.
And behind the scenes at the workplace, was Mr Piniau, a former
national representative rugby union man himself, who planned and
administered the organization and flowed with the tide of the
developments.
It was the golden years of NBC with Mr Piniau at the helm.
He was also the chairman of the PNG Sports Federation at the time
and two of his journalists playing rugby league at the highest
level of the code, was something to be proud of and he certainly
did not hesitate to show it.
I believe Mr Piniau and the sports federation instigated
amendments to the law to enable sportsmen and women to be on full
pay while on national representative duties. I know I benefited
from that regulation as a Kumul for two consecutive years.
Mr Piniau was a mentor of the highest calibre and in us, perhaps
the legacy of his leadership and guidance is evident.
Thanks you, sir for the memories.
Ua melem; ioko ioko tamaimavet ma turaivevet; boina tuna ma a bona
vinavana!
And we are reminded of the Wise counsellor’s words: “Let God have
your life, he can do more with it then you can…”
 
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