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A house to be proud of
By DERRICK KII REUBEN
Parliamentary Reporter
The National Parliament, unlike any
other Government organisation plays a major role in ensuring that
the laws of this nation are properly debated and passed to ensure
good governance and the fundamental pillars of the democratic
process take effect.
The PNG Parliament is unique in all its aspects. From the outset,
the National Parliament building remains one of the most unique
pieces of architecture in modern history.
And now with the new Clerk of Parliament, Mr Don Pandan at its
helm, one of his visions is to beautify the landscape surrounding
the National Parliament. So far things have already taken shape
making Parliament a more attractive place for the visitors,
Members of Parliament and those who love working there.
Having the Sir Rabbie Namaliu Orchid Garden at the centre of the
building also makes Parliament a place one should not miss when
visiting Port Moresby.
The new National Parliament is far more than just a building or
even a parliament house.
It is a monumental house. Its sweeping lines impress, while
signifying essential aspects of parts of our nation. It is a
cathedral dedicated to the people of Papua New Guinea and to
democracy.
Apart from most of the achievements and discussions held during
the ACP, and ACP-EU meetings, a lot of the delegates and Ministers
spoke highly of the National Parliament building and its
uniqueness in art and design.
The building itself impressed well over 400 men and women from the
African Caribbean Pacific and our friends from the European
Nations who attended the ACP-EU meeting in May last year.
It was carefully and intelligently designed by a New Zealander,
Cecil Hogan, who made no mistake in designing a parliament
building that would reflect the nation's diverse culture and
tradition.
However, before the actual foundation was laid for the building
that would cost the nation a staggering K23.8 million (AUD$29
million at the exchange rate at that time), it was in March 1975
that the subject of a new Parliament building was again raised by
the then Chief Minister and current Prime Minister, Grand Chief
Sir Michael Somare. Sir Michael recommended in a meeting that such
a building should be built.
Sir Michael's intension was to have a building that would reflect
a 'Haus Tambaran'. In the Sepik area where the Chief comes from, a
'Haus Tambaran' is the men's spirit house, where they go to talk
and to discuss matters of importance. Women and boys are not
allowed to enter this Haus (a custom still practiced today). At
the same time what the Chief also had in mind was to have a
parliament house that would consist of much of PNG's traditional
features and designs as possible representing all 20 provinces, or
more so a building of many tribes.
While it might sound like a joke and could be a lot complicated
for a builder to assemble, the construction phase progressed
without much difficulty.
The actual artwork was undertaken by a team of talented and
hardworking local artists and craftsmen brought together from all
regions of Papua New Guinea, who were placed under the supervision
of the National Arts School in Port Moresby.
These men had no formal qualifications on the work of design, art
and planning but through their talents and determination, used the
knowledge and skills that had been passed onto them by their
ancestors.
Officially opened by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales on
the 7th August 1984, it has now become the nation's pride and a
major tourist attraction.
Tourists touching down at the Jackson's International Airport will
never want to miss out on a tour of the National Parliament before
exploring other provinces. And in fact, it is no doubt from the
information gathered by this writer, that our parliament building
stands unique among the African, Caribbean, Pacific and Asian
nations. As much as we are impressed, so too are our friends from
the European nations.
The design and splendour of the Haus Tambaran has again impressed
and if not shocked a lot of our tourists and foreign delegates.
Among those who highly commended our Parliament Building were the
foreign delegates who attended a weeklong ACP-EU summit that began
on the 28th of May last year.
Lets find out what some had to say:
Among them, an African journalist, having travelled for almost
three days and who has been all over the world told one of our
dailies (Post-Courier) that the PNG Parliament has been the most
intriguing, exciting and fascinating building she has ever seen in
all the countries she has been to.
"My gosh! PNG must have spent millions in constructing and
maintaining this parliament," one of the Caribbean delegates told
the daily.
"This is a very modern parliament and more interesting than ours
back in Kenya. It is very beautiful, very neat and clean and well
kept, fascinating," Njeri Rugene, deputy news editor of the Nation
Media Group in Kenya told our local media.
Former head of Political Science at the University of Papua New
Guinea, Professor Allan Patience and a visiting lawyer friend from
Melbourne described the interior of the Chamber as much
fascinating and welcoming.
"Oh, I like this. You feel you belong to one tribe. The
arrangement and display of the Chamber brings closeness,"
Professor Allan expressed with interest while speaking to this
writer during one of his visits to Parliament in 2004.
He said this when comparing it to the Australian Federal
Parliament building in Canberra, which has a thick layer and
structure of steel, glass, sand and marble and huge open space,
which is not much welcoming at all.
Let us indeed be thankful to those hardworking men and their
families for the design and construction of this unique building
of ours. A credit also to our Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare, who
had an extra brilliant idea to have such a meeting place to make
laws for this nation.
For the Parliamentary Services staff, they enjoy every moment
keeping the 'Haus Tambaran' meeting place clean and safe at all
times and their only message to everyone is to respect the
Parliament, its surroundings and in turn enjoy what it can offer.
 
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