Indons laud West Papua blockage
THE Indonesian Ambassador to PNG Bom Soerjanto said his country is pleased with PNG for blocking West Papuan issues raised at the Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting and the Pacific Islands Forum.
Mr Soerjanto said Indonesia was appreciative of PNG’s consistent support by preventing and blocking any Papua issues at the MSG and forum level.
Mr Soerjanto made the remarks last Thursday evening during a reception at his residence to conclude Indonesia’s 63rd independence celebrations.
He said PNG and Indonesia had enjoyed cordial and stable relations for nearly three decades.
Mr Soerjanto said the relations had been buoyed by mutually acceptable bilateral arrangements including the basic agreement on border arrangements, the treaty of mutual respect, friendship and corporation and the recently established joint ministerial commission which serve as major pillars of the existing cooperative relations.

Security guard gets 7 years for manslaughter
By JOSHUA ARLO
A SECURITY guard who killed a man for urinating in a garden in a compound he was guarding will see his three children after seven years.
The guard, Joel Hol, from Mendi in the Southern Highlands, was sentenced after pleading guilty to the National Court of committing the crime last year.
The incident happened on Feb 10, 2007, while Hol was guarding the DPI Compound at Gordon in Port Moresby.
According to brief facts, the deceased was walking with his relatives past the compound gate when the deceased urinated in a Wabag man’s garden.
Hol, who told the court that he was sorry for the Wabag man, accosted the deceased and assaulted him by kicking his stomach and punching him on the head.
The deceased fell down and sustained further injuries to his head. He was then assisted by a neighbour and taken to Port Moresby General Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
The court told Hol that the maximum penalty for this kind of killing is life imprisonment as “any homicide, whether it be wilful murder, murder or manslaughter is a very serious offence because it involves permanent deprivation of a life”.
“The Constitution, section 35 (1), states in very clear terms that no person shall be deprived of his life intentionally except by operation of the law.
“The killing that you committed was not authorised or sanctioned by law,” the court said.
Hol was told saying sorry would not bring back the deceased’s life and a strong deterrent sentence is called for in this case.
“This should send a strong signal to everyone in the country, through its sentences, that manslaughter, however unintentional, is a serious crime and must be visited with severe punishment to reflect the community’s condemnation of it,” the court said.

Former ESP deputy governor fined
By JOSHUA ARLO
FORMER East Sepik deputy governor Moses Burr was fined K500 by the Wewak District Court last Thursday for defamation.
Former East Sepik acting provincial administrator John Alman took him to court after complaining that Mr Burr obtained and circulated printouts of his personal bank account which held a cumulative balance of over K500,000 and a copy of a cheque from East Sepik provincial treasury paid to Mr Alman the sum of K82,467.47.
Senior provincial magistrate, Jeromiah Singomat found that the cheque payout was an entitlement for legal services Mr Alman rendered to the provincial government and that his claims were submitted in 1995, well before he became provincial administrator and therefore, was not obtained by any dubious means or reasons.
The court also found that the said K500,000 in Mr Alman’s account was not the actual balance but the cumulative balance in the account.
A cumulative balance is the total record of all debits (withdrawals) and credits (deposits) in any given account.
Therefore, the court concluded that there was no truth in the publication by Mr Burr and held him guilty of criminal defamation.
Mr Burr expressed total dissatisfaction over the verdict, however, accepted the K500 fine penalty.
He said the court had set a bad precedence in that prospect of “whistle blowing” in future will be either discouraged or taken with highest caution because of the precedence set by this verdict.
Mr Burr had argued that the court failed to take into account he was at that time deputy governor and was an instrument the Government allowed by provisions of the defamation law to have in his possessions such documents especially when it was given by members of the public in the height of exorbitant payments to certain individuals and senior public servants including Mr Alman.

Iamo blames deterioration of national parks on Govt
By FRANCIS ULIAU
NATIONAL parks in Papua New Guinea have been left to deteriorate because the Government was not managing them but treating them like institutions, senior Government officers were told last Friday.
Environment and Conservation secretary Dr Wari Iamo told the officers and media personnel visiting the Variarata National Park near Sogeri in Central province, with Minister Benny Allen and Vice-Minister Roy Biyama, that much work was needed to make the country’s national parks user-friendly, safe and economical.
He said over the years, the Government had unintentionally left national parks like Variarata, Moitake Wildlife outside Port Moresby, Baiyer Sanctuary in Western Highlands province and Cape Wom Memorial in East Sepik, to waste away without considering the potential these reserved areas had in boosting tourism and preserving PNG’s unique flora and fauna species.
In response, Minister Allen said plans to do up these parks had been put together and an expression of interest would soon be advertised for a developer with the financial capabilities to take on the challenge.
“While this is going on, a management team would be identified to administer the park to ensure its upkeep and continuity,” he said.
“The department will only take care of policy matters.”
Mr Allen and Mr Biyama were also taken to a proposed building site at Variarata where a number of residential properties would be constructed and named after them, called the “AllenBiyama” site.
National parks coordination officers said plans were also being framed for a floating kiosk to be built on one of the lakes and an information house renovated.
Mr Allen said he would also raise the national parks issue with his fellow ministers, especially Culture and Tourism Minister Charles Abel and MPs of the areas these parks are located.
He also indicated pushing for wholesome policy changes so that national parks and gardens like Variarata receive yearly budgetary allocations to maintain their existence and remain attractive to both local and overseas visitors.

Bird disrupts PX flights
AIR Niugini flights were disrupted last Friday after a bird damaged the right engine of an F100 aircraft.
The airline said a bird was ingested by the right engine of the aircraft, causing damage to the front section.
It did not say if the plane was in flight, or on the ground at the time of this incident.
One flight from Port Moresby to Buka was cancelled while a Port Moresby to Mt Hagen return flight was also cancelled.
Air Niugini could not operate its aircraft to these areas in the night as the airports there lacked lighting facilities on the runway.
It is understood the aircraft underwent an engine change and returned to service yesterday.
The airline said it experienced no disruptions to its services on Saturday and yesterday.

Sir Alkan honoured in final traditional rites
PAPUA New Guinea lacks the richness of quality leadership despite being blessed with many resources.
These were the sentiments of Opposition leader and Lae MP Bart Philemon at the final traditional rite of the late Sir Alkan Tololo at his Kuradui home in East New Britain last Saturday.
Sir Alkan, who died five years ago, was described by Mr Philemon as a unique leader who was humble yet completely committed to the country.
He said while the country was richly blessed with resources such as land and food, it was lacking “richness” in leadership.
Mr Philemon stressed that many of Papua New Guinea’s present leaders did not have the integrity of Sir Alkan and often put their interests before the people they were meant to serve.
“Sir Alkan was a very humble man who lived simply yet dreamed big dreams for this country and he worked hard to achieve them. He is missed sorely by all who knew or associated with him,” he said.
Sir Alkan passed away on Aug 26, 2003, as he was being rushed to hospital after feeling unwell during a meeting with Mr Philemon on an agricultural project in the Gulf province.
Many people attended his last rites.

NZ to help procure bulk fuel to ease price hike
By ISAAC NICHOLAS in Niue
NEW Zealand has offered to fund experts to speed up the implementation of bulk petroleum procurement to ease rising fuel cost in small island states.
New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark made the offer during the 39th Pacific Island Forum at Matavai Resort in Niue.
This was also announced in a Forum communiqué by the forum chairman and Niue premier Toke Talagi during a media conference after the leaders’ summit.
The bulk fuel procurement initiative was among a number of issues including climate change that received positive outcomes from the forum.
Noting their concerns over the soaring price hike in food and fuel, leaders stressed the need, at the national level, to assess the implications and respond appropriately, including drawing on technical advice from the international financial institutions.
Mr Talagi said the forum leaders also highlighted the critical importance of efforts to reduce dependence on oil through measures to improve energy efficiency and move towards use of renewable energy.
“The leaders underlined the need for urgent action to bring the bulk petroleum procurement initiative to fruition,” he said.
In this context, Mr Talagi welcomed New Zealand’s offer to fund a meeting of national experts to provide relevant advice at the forum’s meeting of ministers of economy, scheduled for October which aims at expediting the implementation of the bulk petroleum procurement initiative.
The Pacific leaders also welcomed New Zealand’s and Australia’s recent announcement on the pilot scheme of labour mobility as a means to greater economic integration and development.
On climate change, the leaders expressed Australia’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and welcomed its A$150 million (K353 million) allocation with a focus on the Pacific.
The forum leaders also nominated Tuiloma Neroni Slade as the new secretary general of the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, replacing the late Greg Urwin.
Mr Slade, former attorney-general of Samoa, served as Samoa’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN.
He is a former chair of the Alliance of Small States and also a former judge in the International Criminal Court based in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Ipatas furious over Kandep delay
By MOHAMMAD BASHIR
ENGA Governor Peter Ipatas has questioned the motive behind the delay in the counting of two local level government votes in Kandep, Enga province.
He said the numerous change of counting venues by the Electoral Commission from Kandep to Wabag and back to Kandep smelt fishy.
“What is going on?
“This is village level politics and one of the few opportunities our people have to exercise their democratic voting rights and we should allow the counting process to go ahead,” Mr Ipatas said.
He alleged that the same people involved in last year’s failed elections were trying to derail the LLG elections.
“The Electoral Commission must tell the country the reasons and criteria behind such practices,” Mr Ipatas said.
Of the 14 LLGs in Enga province, 12 have had their votes counted and councillors declared.
Results for Kandep and Wage LLGs are still outstanding.
He did not rule out the possibility of political pressure being exerted on polling officials to delay the results.

Somare happy with Rouna upgrade project
By NELSON K PHILIP
PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare is pleased with the progress of the K26 million Rouna 2 upgrade project carried out by Andritz VaTech Hydro and its PNG sub-contractors.
Mr Somare said he was pleased to be taken on a tour of the Rouna 2 power generator upgrade project to see for himself the progress of the multi-million kina project.
He said PNG Power Limited (PPL) had experienced a turnaround position in its profits at this stage as compared to some years back where it was virtually operating as an insolvent company.
Mr Somare said PPL had been generating electricity for the city using 40-year-old facilities and with the expansion of the city in terms of population and energy demand, new and better equipment was needed to meet the energy consumption demand.
“Two years ago, we secured a loan of K341million and I am glad that K120 million was channelled to the Rouna rehabilitation projects.
“With the high cost of fuel, the Government is keen to see hydro-electricity through as it is cheap, efficient and clean energy which will alleviate fuel problems,” he said.
Mr Somare also said that the economic growth was projected to be at 7.1% and so far, the country had experienced an increase of 4.3% and power generation was part and parcel of all this growth.
Meanwhile, Andritz VaTech Hydro project manager Oscar Van Rooy said the project was basically rehabilitating three of the five hydro turbines at Rouna, which started on Oct 31, 2006.