| Sports |
by Frank Senge Kolma
Let this be a violence-free polls
FAMILIARITY breeds contempt, they
say.
I suppose that must have been the spanner that got in the way of a
perfectly reasonable press release I made before I went out to
nominate for the Jimi Open Seat.
It never got to be published.
The release in question was a call to fellow candidates in Jimi as
well as the 2,000 plus others throughout the country to adopt a
public policy to promote a violence-free 2007 elections and
especially, violence or threatened violence, which involved guns.
It is implicit, common sense tells us, that every candidate who
wishes to contest for public office does adopt a policy of the
sort I referred to in the statement.
Unfortunately, experience tells us that such expectation falls far
short of actual outcomes in the PNG electoral sphere and
especially in the highlands provinces of our country.
Violence, threatened or actual, has made a dangerous inroad into
elections which need conscious and concerted efforts to eradicate.
The road to nominations and the immediate aftermath has been
peaceful in Jimi and in surrounding electorate, I gather, but you
can sense violence lying not too far below the surface.
It will take only a word out of turn or misplaced gesture to
ignite it.
It is incumbent, therefore, upon all of us aspiring for public
office to take a lead in ensuring that this does not hap-
pen.
On the night after I nominated, certain members of my team woke me
up to say that other members had mobilised to stop another
candidate from nominating – applying violence if necessary.
I intervened physically to stop the nonsense and it stopped
without a word raised in anger.
The candidate was mercifully unaware.
Such is the power of the candidate upon those follow him.
Unless, an old score unrelated to election is settled and the
election is used as a convenient excuse, most acts of violence is
known or condoned by the candidate.
Of course, violence can and does occur in isolated places far from
where a candidate might be.
It would not if the candidate comes out publicly right at the
start and states that his campaign must be violence-free.
I have adopted such a policy.
Since I do not control the thinking or the temperament of all of
my followers, I cannot say that such a policy will work perfectly
but I have a clear conscience and my heart is settled that the
policy is made public.
There are other ugly aspects of the election process which are
making themselves obvious.
The chasing of candidates, the demands – implicit or explicit –
for cash or assistance of one sort or another, the lies that
abound, the name smearing.
It is fair game out here.
I can almost hear you saying: “Well, you asked for it, going into
the elections again.”
That I might have but my response to such thoughts would be: “You
can not effect change unless you involve yourself and that
involves some sacrifice.”
The bystander will always be a bystander.
You have to get involved in politics.
You have to vote for good people.
You have to speak out for policy and people that are good.
You have to join the good fight.
You have to be in it to win it.
There is no other way.
As in all fights, you get bloodied and get gored and rubbish
thrown on you.
And so one candidate alleged in front of a capacity crowd one week
before nominations that I would be contesting for the regional
seat.
For good measure,
he added that such information he had got from reading it in the
newspapers and hearing it over FM radio.
The lie had the desired effect.
It drove my supporters crazy with frustration and anger at this
unannounced move.
That is all now settled and I am waiting to meet the liar on the
trail to tell him a piece of my mind.
Another has been telling audiences that perhaps I do not possess
the intellect and the learning such as he has to become a Member.
He has a computer graphics of his photo superimposed upon the
photograph of a starry night with the moon and claims to have
visited there.
Mountains are being levelled verbally all over the country and
rivers are being bridged by
bridges that would put
the Golden Gate Bridge to shame as I write.
But mostly, they are crowd stirring and lies seem to work a
particular magic upon a population quite starved of development
and service and basic information.
Messages such as I give out on the campaign trail – that the
country is cash-starved, that the population is growing well ahead
of the country’s ability to feed, clothe and shelter it, that we
need local efforts to yield national harvests, are bitter pills –
unpalatable.
Yet these are the facts the hard truths that the people need to be
told and to appreciate.
The lies that everything is possible, that development funds are
in abundance, that the people need only cast their votes and
everything else will be done by incoming Member is corruptive and
worse, it instills and promotes a growing cargo-cult mentality
that everything will be delivered by Government.
If we cannot tell the truth and win the people on the truth at
this level, and if the people are
sold on cargo-cultist policies, nothing can be gained by our
entering Parliament.
The people will be told on the lies of today and it will be that
much harder for the same liar to come back as Member and try to
sway people with the truth.
 
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