By RAPHEAL MOGE
OUR Westminster style of government protects and safeguards certain human rights and behavioural liberties, including the right to be engaged in gainful employment in both the public and private sectors.
However, whilst our democracy is to be treasured and protected at all costs, it is open to abuse as shown by the frequent challenges by State employees, unions, students, and members of the public, both in the courts and at forums.
This article examines the deeper implications of this general antagonism towards the Government and its inherent authority to control and manage our young country in a more orderly manner.
In an article early this year, Dr Alphonse Gelu dealt with the problems arising from court challenges to public service appointments and revocations, mostly on the grounds that procedures were not followed.
Certainly, the constant arbitrary changes that we have been seeing affects efficiency. It is not easy to concentrate on work when one knows that one can be dismissed on the stroke of a pen, often because of politicking.
Leaders often use public service positions to enhance their influence and build support.
They get their people appointed not on merit but on promise of their support.
Dr Gelu touched on the implications to a very critical aspect of government – “the legitimacy of a government to govern”.
The culture of challenging and revoking appointments and public demonstrations against government decisions amounts to questioning the legitimacy of the government of the day to make those decisions.
Unfortunately, in many cases, we find that
the decision-makers circumvented the proper process in pursuit of
their self-interests.
One major contributing factor is the weak sense of nationalism.
We have developed a political culture that perpetuates fragmentation which undermines political stability and unity.
Why have we allowed so many political parties to be registered, most of them sharing the same platform?
This sad state of affairs is reflective of the politicians we have in government with their selfish parochial or political party motives.
The weak governance has led to a rise in crime, tribal warfare, drug abuse, violence against women and other problems.
Media reports continue to remind us that anarchy is gaining in momentum and is undermining the legitimacy of the Government to do something about it.
Yet politicians and members of the public alike, berate and decry media reporting as irresponsible and negative.
We fail to understand that the media is only sending out warning signals to those in positions of power to do something about addressing the dangerous trend of lawlessness and anarchy.
It is high time for the Government to seriously revisit the Constitution, to critically assess the suitability and the necessity of some of the human rights and freedoms that it safeguards and protects.
It is high time that some of those freedoms were withdrawn or curtailed and to change the democratic system of government for no other purpose other than to save the country from disaster.
I am writing from Mt Hagen, a community that has received far more derogatory news headlines than any other, and I know what it is like working and walking the streets during the day.
Every day without fail, someone is mugged, indecently assaulted or robbed by street hooligans.
The sight of guard dogs and their handlers outside every shop entrance is a tell-tale sign of the situation we live in.
A shop owner was beheaded when he tried to stop a shoplifter; a shopper was shot at an ATM station when he refused to hand over his cash; and a resident was stabbed to death when he stumbled upon a burglar.
They are but just examples of the dangers we face every day.
And in the surrounding rural communities, the tribe with the highest number of guns intimidate others to extort exorbitant compensation payments and influence election outcomes while the Guns Committee Report collects dust in Waigani.
Innocent travellers are robbed on the highways, women and girls gang-raped.
Mob rule is the order of the day and I have no doubt that the same is true of Port Moresby, Lae, Rabaul, Madang, Goroka, Kundiawa, Wabag or Mendi.
I believe a “guided democracy” is need now to check the dangerous path of lawlessness we are treading and to give new direction to the present and hope to the future generations.
Other countries have done this and they are far better off now because they were prepared to adopt authoritarian government systems.
In Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea for example, where the populations are in the tens of millions, the governments are in total control and their crime rates are negligible.
Their law enforcement agencies come down hard on law-breakers, dissidents, mutineers and deserters.
Capital punishment is enforced without much fuss and without upsetting society at large.
Malaysia and Indonesia, both Islamic countries, employ the death penalty for drug traffickers.
China does the same but for many other crimes as well.
The governments in those countries have unquestionable authority over the affairs of state.
Any individual or group that wants to challenge the decisions of the government is likely to find himself behind bars, sometimes for long periods and without even a trial.
PNG needs to discard some of the influences of Western democratic ideology, in order to come to grips with the “weak state” and “banana republic” stigma.
The social environment in this country now calls for drastic change using draconian measures.
We do not have to emulate Western ideologies and try to conform to their standards. What they do and believe in befits their own social and economic setting, and does not apply to our situation here.
You cannot transplant an Australian society on PNG soil.
We need leaders who can stand up and let the nation know who is boss and not to bow down to the whimsical protests and demonstrations from interest groups every time the Government tries to adopt new unpopular policies or change existing ones.

Note: The writer is studying public policy management at UPNG’s open campus in Mt Hagen.