| Sports |
by PETER SOLO
KINJAP
Bigman culture a burden on the grassroots
WITH the general election
approaching, there is an urgent need to review our value system.
We must resolve to judge people not by what they have financially
but what they can offer in terms of values to add to the
collective growth of the community and country.
Wealth should no longer be the measure of a person’s worth.
The big man culture thrives on ill-being.
Hence, once ill-being is minimised, “bigmanism” as a philosophy of
suppression will suffocate and fade away.
The big man has become a government.
He lords over others for the simple reason that he can afford a
balanced diet and luxuries while most others have to beg for food.
The big man triumphs because he can afford mansions, in a country
of dilapidated homes, housing the sick and naked.
And there is no form of social security to cater for unemployment,
old age or ill health.
A caring government can do so much by creating an enabling
environment to help a majority of the people to fend for
themselves and by doing so, soften the gap between the uncaring
rich and the blind poor.
The government of the day must wake up to its sworn duties to the
people.
The rule of law is a potent cure to the excesses of the
conscienceless rich.
If we can strengthen the legal and judicial system and solve
judicial corruption, we will be doing a lot of good to PNG’s
development.
We need to demonstrate, on a consistent basis, that one’s wealth
or poverty means nothing to the law.
In PNG, many people doubt if there is one set of laws for
everyone.
The liberated rich displays confidence that the law will be
silenced, somehow.
If they suspect that the courts will be difficult to get at, they
start from the police.
There is currently a cry and even commitment for justice reform.
If this can be sustained, it can deal a big blow to “bigmanism”.
Knowledge is power.
Everybody needs to pursue knowledge with energy.
Papua New Guineans should know their rights and know how to engage
the legal process.
We also need to take a second look at taxation.
Those who have access to wealth must contribute to collective
growth through an effective and corrupt-free taxation system.
While people are free, for instance, to buy as many cars as they
want even if they do not need them, society need to ensure that
such people pay some form of tax to be ploughed into development
efforts.
It is crucial we look at other countries, especially in the West,
which are regarded as developed and study how they were able to
reduce the gap between the rich and poor.
I am stunned by the way Western governments function; the way
people respect the law and the way human dignity is treasured.
When I board a bus or walk in the streets, I always look out for
the big man as we know him here in PNG as big shots or
politicians, but I see none.
Everybody is accorded due respect.
The big man culture seems swallowed by the collective will to
promote collective well-being.
Everybody is a big man in his own house.
Nobody cares to know or so it seems who is big and who is not big.
Once you do not run like a chicken of the law, you are a big man.
In PNG, the reverse is painfully the case.
If you are a big man, let us know by your commitment, your
sacrifices to the collective growth/ vision, by your handiwork and
work ethic, by your integrity; selflessness and demonstrated love
for your country.
In the absence of these values, your “bigmanism” means nothing but
foolishness.
“Bigmanism” and political power are in hot romance.
But curiously, the big man does not believe in the institution of
government.
Neither does he believe in the effectiveness of the law.
For him, the wealthy individual is a government unto himself.
He builds empires around himself and compels the poor to give him
their commitment as they would have the government.
On the issue of rule of law, incorporating equality of all human
beings, the big man dismisses it as “a tale told by an idiot, full
of sound and passion, signifying nothing”.
The PNG big man is a typical picture of human rights abuses.
When he employs you in his company, he will make you work like a
jackal and pay you peanuts.
If you are a woman, your case is different.
Your growth in the establishment will be dependent, not on what
you can offer, but on how willing you are to compromise your
dignity and give in to his unreasonable demands.
He does not take “no” for answer and the word – marriage – means
nothing to him.
After all, he has the cash and for him, it is “cash and carry”.
Many rural farmers have abandoned their farms in the villages and
are rushing to the cities, hoping to “hit it big”.
The big man culture promotes crimes, especially violent crimes.
Many poor people turn to crime in their desire to become rich and
to raise their status.
The culture encourages corruption and in fact is the main cause of
problem in PNG.
The rich and liberated who, more often than not, find themselves
in positions of trust have made a feast of the common wealth in
order to maintain their status.
Politics for them has become a do-or-die affair. This is the main
reason for violence and election malpractices.
The ballot, which should be used to elect people to occupy
positions of trust, has been hijacked by the rich.
The votes of the blind poor no longer matters,
if they are able to vote at all.
The big man has come up with a new ballot system that “runs out”
the right to choose, yet results emerge.
This distorted big man’s notion of electoral democracy was
sufficiently demonstrated during some recent by-elections.
Another evil effect of this culture is that it eats away the
greatness in all of us.
We undervalue people, just because they look poor or because they
are poor.
By doing this, we deplete the development energy in our country
and raise serious question about our understanding of citizenship.
This uncalled-for divide between the liberated and the blinded has
made some people to believe that we do not have equal stake in the
country. This is dangerous.
The critical question to ask is; do we have the cure to this
problem?
Do we have the will to confront this indefensible culture of big
man that is impeding development in this country? My answer is
yes.
We have to start from the point of reason.
I think it was Socrates who said that an unexamined life is not
worth living.
This is true for both the individual and to the society.
How committed are we to the better PNG dream?
The PNG better dream thrives in collectivity and not
individualism.
How do we solve the embarrassing problem of poverty and save
countless number of people from early deaths?
We must agree to give meaning and content to the notion of
citizenship.
We must treasure rights and duties of every citizen in this
country.
“All human beings are born equal and installed by our creator with
absolute rights”, according to our Constitution and it is
reaffirmed by the international human right laws.
We should be seen to be acting this out.
Note: The writer is a freelance writer.
 
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