| Business |
Madang’s moment of shame
STRUNG between two poles like a pig,
Steven Tari was finally delivered to the police station last week.
The legendary Black Jesus had been captured, and now the mob was
determined to take revenge.
The man was attacked with iron rods, spat upon, vilified and must
on occasion have thought his last moment had arrived.
It was one of the most disgusting and unacceptable scenes
witnessed in our country for many years.
This poor deluded wretch became the focus for all the hatred and
anger and disappointment of a mob of people who would, on any
other day, have been utterly unremarkable.
The numbers swelled.
It was a startling demonstration of the inherent power of a mob.
The majority of that mob had nothing to do with the allegations
made against this man – they simply used his defencelessness as an
excuse to glory in one brief moment of power over another human
being.
For Steven Tari is just that – another human being.
He now faces a litany of charges, including rape and murder.
That is not the issue here.
This man is innocent until proven guilty.
That is the law of this country, the law that governs our
activities.
If we no longer care for the provisions of that law, then we
should fight to have those
laws repealed and replaced.
But until that time, we must abide by the system of laws we share
with much of the free world.
Steven Tari is at this moment entitled to the full and unequivocal
protection of the law.
For not only is he a human being – he is also a Papua New Guinean
citizen.
The scenes in Madang with sections of the crowd baying “crucify
him” as they tried to attack him, were a stark reminder of that
other crucifixion and a potent rebuttal of the questionable claim
that PNG is “a Christian country”.
An outside observer might have assumed that this incident was
unique.
But it was not.
Certainly other examples of this kind may not attract the wave of
publicity that has been generated by the Black Jesus cult.
But the number of occasions when ordinary people, members of the
RPNG Constabulary and the PNG Defence Force, private security
guards and many others tasked with official responsibilities have
taken the law into their own hands is innumerable.
Time and again we have reported policemen who have far exceeded
their authority.
As a result of their actions, innocent people have been killed,
villages have been destroyed, suspects have been physically and
sexually tortured, elderly people in villages have been condemned
as witches and met indescribable deaths – the
list is virtually interminable.
The perception is that any
average person can judge who is guilty of breaking the law,
introduced or customary, and any person can take any action they
see fit to punish the person or persons they have deemed guilty.
And so we find policemen as a matter of course arresting suspects
and bashing them, sometimes with fatal results.
We find villagers accusing members of their own community –
significantly the old and the weak, or those who cannot fight back
– of engineering the death or deaths of others.
The defenceless victims are then killed.
The Madang demonstration of this principle was bigger, there were
more quasi-religious overtones, the mood of the crowd was uglier
and the survival of the accused the result, ironically, of a
committed band of policemen doing their duty and safeguarding
their suspect.
But in essence, it was an
example of the same sad and sorry trend that erupts continually
throughout our country.
If PNG cannot and will not observe the rule of law, whatever those
laws maybe, then the country is doomed to anarchy and
disintegration.
It has been said over and over again – the law must apply to each
of us, whether we are Steven Tari or the highest and most
influential in the land.
Twisting the laws to suit personal or group gain can only result
in a distortion of reality.
And if unchecked, that can lead to the disruption and ultimate
collapse of this nation.
For virtual reality is no reality at all.
 
|
