Attitudes must change
TWO articles in The National yesterday give grave cause for concern.
The stories did not bemoan lack of action by governments nor apathy by public servants.
They recorded negative growing trends in our country that stem from our own people.
The stories concern theft and violence, topics increasingly mirrored in the media.
The major news yesterday concerned the ongoing violence in our second city, Lae, a situation that demands a full-scale response from both the provincial and national governments.
We have targeted the Lae malaise repeatedly and will doubtless do so again, but today’s concerns focus elsewhere.
One records theft in the National Capital District; the other, violence in East New Britain.
Those stories come from widely different sources, but violence and theft weld them together into an unacceptable tandem.
The news from the NCD was straightforward; vandalism and theft from schools has become endemic throughout our big cities and some rural areas alike.
Many of our people have long ago forgotten the reasons why schools exist or have developed the wrong views of their purpose.
Schools are not there to take the load from parents so they can follow their own interests while somebody else is paid to mind their offspring.
Yet that is an obvious attitude on the part of some parents.
Others see no particular value in schools.
That’s more complex, because some schools and teachers project such a poor image that parents could be forgiven for believing attendance in their classes would be a waste of time.
Still others believe that education is a matter exclusively for governments and teachers to address; they don’t want to identify with or support schools and are deaf to appeals to better their children’s environment, maintain school buildings or raise money for additional necessities for their own children.
All of those parents suffer from major attitudinal problems.
Who’s to blame?
Much of the fault lies within both village and settlement communities, where today far-sighted leaders are few and far between. The community concerns that saw our people acting in groups and in unison to support developments that would benefit all are now fast disappearing.
Community responses to concerns that affect all are fading.
We live in an era where people have become isolated from each other; we’re all committed to fighting for ourselves because “nobody else will”.
That is very far indeed from the foundations of traditional PNG society.
It’s the ultimate triumph of personal ambition and greed and is affecting more of our communities, both urban and rural, each day.
And the NCD incident?
In the process of finding schools for children displaced by the closure of Moitaka primary school, much of the school’s portable equipment has been brazenly stolen by members of the surrounding community, many of them parents of children who formerly attended the now disbanded school.
The headmaster sadly noted that he had spotted chairs from his office being used at the local market.
On the Gazelle Peninsula, once regarded as a series of model communities composed of thrifty and well-educated people, the divisional police commander has referred to “sky-rocketing violence against women and children”.
Again and again responsible officers such as Divisional Commander Francis Tokura have made the same pleas – what is happening today is no longer samting bilong marit but criminal offences that police must deal with.
The DC used the example of the Gazelle’s Baliora police barracks; reports from the police chaplain indicate that two or three cases of domestic violence are being reported weekly and he described the situation as critical.
We ask the obvious – if that’s the level of domestic violence within a police barracks, what’s happening in the wider community?
The seriousness of the situation was underlined by the setting for the senior policeman’s comments: a conference entitled Bridging the Gap, designed to come up with recommendations to help rebuild a relationship between the police force and the community.
These two reports, one in the nation’s capital and the other in a prosperous and well-regarded part of our country, underline the rapid decay of our social fabric.
Only a concerted effort by the entire community can we hope to solve the widespread negative attitudes that beset our people.
 
Imperative to preserve Kokoda Track
By REGINALD RENAGI
THE media in Papua New Guinea and Australia has recently raised the profile of the Kokoda Track which has become controversial because our Government has no clear policy position on it.
Successive administrations have been non-committal so much so that the issue is being treated as another Australian foreign policy agenda.
Not anymore.
PNG must be proactive and not deliberately down-play the significance of the Kokoda Track, which is part of our national heritage, as it is to Australia.
The two countries must work together to protect the track.
To procrastinate will only seriously damage the Government’s credibility within the mining industry here and abroad.
It could also impinge heavily on future bilateral relations with Australia and reduce the gains made by prime minister Kevin Rudd’s recent visit to PNG.
Promoting the Kokoda Track is not a new issue and should have been addressed some years back whenever local landowners raised genuine concerns.
We are in this situation now because Waigani has no sound strategic policy framework in place to adequately address broad development issues.
Preserving the Kokoda Track has both social and economic implications, requiring firm and committed political decision.
We are now faced with a development challenge and must sooner or later decide whether to mine Kokoda, preserve it for future generations, or do both in a fine balancing act
PNG will benefit if the Kokoda is placed on the World Heritage List: it will put us on the world map and enhance track’s net worth.
We must fully capitalise on the historical relationship with Australia in which the Kokoda is a major part of that.
Therefore, preserving the track will have profound far-reaching political, social and economic value to our country.
An increase in tourism numbers will provide locals with opportunities to earn some income.
Although the revenue may seem miniscule to the various stakeholders, it is a residual income that will go on for posterity.
In contrast, mining in Kokoda will be a big revenue earner but only in the short to medium term.
Mining is, of course, something that cannot be sustained indefinitely.
In addition to that, mining in Kokoda will also likely seriously damage the environment.
Whether mining will eventuate depends of many factors, some of them complex.
Several aspects of this issue were well explained by Unitech lecturer Kaepae Ken Ail in his article “To mine or not to mine Kokoda” (The National, March 11).
Notwithstanding, the final decision on Kokoda lies with our Government taking into account all stakeholders’ input.
Ken Ail answered some of the many questions the Government needs to think about before arriving at a final “win-win” outcome.
To me, it is not a question of whether “to mine or not to mine Kokoda” but how well we preserve the track for posterity.
We must leave something better for our future generation that will strongly bind us to Australia forever.
It will not only maintain good relations with Australia but PNG’s very survival may one day depend on this strategic friendship.
There is nothing wrong about PNG riding on the coat-tails of a country that plays fair by the rules, does the right thing by others and always comes to the aid of friends in need.
PNG must ask itself: What is more enduring in the future? Extracting minerals from the ground through mining, along with the environmental damage; or preserve the Kokoda track for future generations with its ongoing long term benefits for our people?
The answer should be obvious.
To a large extent, the Government is at fault here.
The Kokoda people want mining to go ahead because of a lack of meaningful development since independence.
The Kokoda people perceive the track has a low intrinsic value to them as they seek immediate benefits to enjoy now from mining operations, and let the future take care of itself.
Suddenly, they are making a lot of “noise” that has the Government’s attention after being ignored for so long.
I encourage them to keep up the noise until they get some well-
overdue Government services to their undeveloped area, pending a political decision on Kokoda.
The Kokoda people realise that any mining on their land will bring benefits that will improve their quality of life.
So far, they feel the track’s popularity has not helped them much.
The timing is right for our Government to bring direct development services to the people without actually mining Kokoda.
Here is one big joint-venture development opportunity with Australia waiting to be fully exploited without any envisaged environmental damage.
Whatever action is finally taken, tough choices must be made through a thorough due diligence process.
Editorial