40-year-old

BY AITAPE
ON Sept 15, 1975, I was a pride-swollen citizen, amongst many others, who witnessed the respectful, dignified and most importantly, the bloodless lowering of the Australian flag on a beautiful afternoon at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium.
Then, in the early morning of the next day, Sept 16, despite a light drizzle which did not in any way dampen our spirit and resolve, many of us were at Independence Hill to witness the raising of our PNG flag for the first time, signifying the achievement of our political independence. It was at the flag-raising event that I saw the person of Michael Thomas Somare, albeit from a distance, for the very first time.
I should state very clearly here that the Australian flag lowering ceremony was held at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium on Sept 15, 1975, as the sun was setting. The PNG Independence Day flag raising ceremony was held on the following day at Independence Hill, as the sun was rising.
During the two weeks of mourning for our founding father, far too many people have stated, either privately or publicly, that the Australian flag lowering ceremony was held at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium on one day and on the next day, still at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, the PNG flag raising ceremony eventuated. I have even heard the totally ridiculous version of the facts that the flag lowering and raising took place on the same day! No, no, no!
Over the years, as I made my way up the public service ladder rather rapidly, our (the Chief and I) paths crossed and when he discovered that I was from Aitape, for reasons I had never asked him about, he referred to, and called me, Aitape. In 1982, when his Cabinet appointed me Secretary for Defence and during my many years of contact with him, he continued to refer to me as such, until his sad passing.

Proud to be called Aitape
I must say, I felt proud and special about the Chief calling me Aitape. As a sign of deep respect and reverence for him, I am writing this story under this nickname of Aitape, a name given to me by the founding father of our country. With his sad passing, I will never again hear that voice calling me Aitape. Hence, I feel that I must use that name for the last time to write this story.
For my part, I will refer to him as the Chief, as I and many of us, have fondly known him by during our many years of working together for this country, and this is despite the many well-deserving, colourful and high awards bestowed on him either by the Queen, countries or institutions, not to mention the Vatican, the headquarters of our Catholic Church, of which he was a devout and practicing member.
I was happy to hear Dr John Momis allude to the principle of subsidiarity and its relevance to the attainment of our political independence during his tribute to the Chief. I can say with some degree of certainty that the Chief’s call and mood for political independence in the late 60s and early 70s, became a powerful catalyst within the exercise and the principles of subsidiarity for our self-respect and self-determination.

First trip with the Chief
My first trip with the Chief was when I flew into Wewak from Port Moresby on my way to partake in the Centenary Celebrations of the Catholic Church in Aitape in August 1996. As luck would have it, I ran into the Chief in Wewak and learned from him that he was also travelling to Aitape, to partake in the same celebrations. His kind-heartedness, as usual, overpowered him, resulting in him asking me if I wanted to travel with him and Lady Veronica to Aitape by chopper. The offer was too tempting. I said yes to him and the next thing is that we were flying to Aitape, actually, more specifically, to Tumleo Island, the location of the camp of the first SVD missionaries to Aitape in August 1886 and the site of the official launching of the centenary celebrations.
The Chief was invited as an official guest but due to time restrictions he had to return with Lady Veronica to Wewak on the same day. I stayed on and took part in the rest of the celebrations and found my own way back to Wewak and then on to Port Moresby.

Madang Provincial Administrator
In 1989, I was in Madang as provincial administrator after finishing my term as Secretary for Defence when in mid-1991 the Chief rang me and asked if the Madang government could host the Ministerial Forum between PNG and Australian Ministers. He says to me, “Aitape, I am sorry this is a very late advice due to the fact that the original designated host, Rabaul, is having all kinds of internal political problems, so we have to move the forum elsewhere and I could not think of a better and more organised place than Madang.”
I replied “I will speak to the governor, who I do not think will object and I will let you know,” I told the Chief. I rang him back that day to let him know that Governor Andrew Ariako was very happy about the change of venue to Madang.
Despite the short notice, Madang hosted, on behalf of our Prime Minister, a three-day forum and provided a high level of hospitality which both the Australian and our PNG Ministers, were absolutely delighted with.
As he was about to travel out of Madang, the Chief pulled me aside and said, “Hey, Aitape, Tenk yu tru long gutpela wok tru long redim olgeta samting long forum miting. Ol ministers bilong Australia na blong yumi tu ol bin hamamas tru. So long bekim gutpla wok bilong yu, yu laik kam wantaim mi long Fiji tu o nogat? Mi bai go long Apec miting long hap?” “Yes, please, Chief,” I said without hesitation. Again, here, he was demonstrating his gratefulness and above all, his humility towards all of us who were playing one role or another towards strengthening the challenging task of nation-building that he had started.

Respects from even the pilots
There was this one time he visited Madang. I drove him around to do what he had to do and when it was getting close to arrival time for the flight to Wewak, I drove him leisurely towards the airport to catch his flight. We had plenty of time, so we thought. When we arrived at the airport, we discovered, to our horror, that the aircraft engine was on and the cabin door was shut!
I rushed to the Air Niugini airport staff and urgently enquired what it meant for the aircraft engine to be on and the cabin door shut! They looked at me enquiringly and said, “Sorry Sir, the plane has just completed its loading procedures and is now getting ready to taxi.” I looked sternly at the supervisor and demanded from him: “You radio the pilot immediately and tell him that Sir Michael is travelling to Wewak on that flight so he has to do the right thing and open the cabin door and let down the ladder so that Sir Michael can board the plane!”
The young man complied. I went back to the Chief and explained to him what had just transpired. Yes, I know the Chief can lose his cool as I know very well from a number of times, including the time he blasted me and the late Andrew Yauweib outside the NEC meeting chamber over the matter of the purchase of the Arava aircraft from Israel for the Defence Force! At Madang airport, however, he just said to me very casually, “ah, Aitape, larem. Supos mi go, mi go. Supos nogat em orait tumoro pastaim.”
I kept my eyes on the aircraft, wanting to see whether the pilot got the message about the Chief and what he would do. To my pleasant surprise, with the engine still on, I saw the cabin door open and the ladder descending from the plane. All I could think of and say to myself, was, this can happen only to and for the Chief, given the strict protocols pilots have to adhere to when operating aircraft.

National election 1997
In 1997, I ran for the Aitape-Lumi seat under the Pangu Pati banner. The Chief’s strong desire for me to win saw him flying into Sissano despite his hectic campaign programme, to lend his support to me. The whole village turned out in a warm and a colossal welcome and reception. Sadly, victory evaded us.
Sometime after the ’97 election, I got a phone call from him, and he asked me, “Hey, Aitape, yu gat wok o nogat? I quickly said, “Nogat, Chief”. “Ok. Get you bloody a… over here to my Parliamentary Office and do some work,” he ordered.
From Madang, I flew down to Moresby and commenced work in his Parliamentary office. There was a team of us including the late Belden Sevua, Timothy Bonga, Tony Ila, William Nindim and myself. Our terms of reference were to brain-storm, arrive at and formulate suitable and practical party strategies and policies for the new Party, the National Alliance Party.

Official trip to Brisbane
In July 1998 the Chief received a letter of invitation from the Association of PNG Students studying in Australia and New Zealand, to officially close their annual convention in Brisbane. He then asked me to write him a speech consistent with the theme stated in the students’ letter.
I wrote him a speech and gave him the finished product the next day and waited for his comments.
Having read the proposed speech a couple of times, he told me, “I like it. I like it, thank you, Aitape,” he declared. Very humbly, I responded, “no problems, Chief, anytime”.
Then he looked me in the eyes and surprised me with a question I thought he would never ask me, “Do you want to come with me to Brisbane?” He got a definite “yes” from me and very quickly too!
The Chief and I duly arrived in Brisbane on Thursday, July 15, 1998 and he did the official closing of the convention mid-afternoon. The students then invited him and I to join them at their closing function on one of the tourist barges that float up and down Brisbane River. A great time was had by us all.
On Saturday after lunch, our consular-general asked the Chief what he wanted to do next. To my surprise, he said he wanted to see how fast the horses run at the racecourse!
At the racecourse the Chief and I mingled with the little people, throwing a dollar here and there on the horses. Then I saw and heard one of the white locals saying in a rather loud voice, “Hey, hello Chief, what on earth are you doing here?” Not long after, another white local approached the Chief and said: “Sir Michael, the president and executive members of the club have the greatest pleasure and honour of inviting you to join us in the clubhouse”. “Oh, thank you very much, I am delighted and honoured to accept your invitation,” the Chief said. And then not forgetting me, he said, “Oh, by the way, I have one of my officers with me here, so can he came along too?” The nice answer came, “yes, yes, Sir Michael, he can come along too!”
Sadly, the free wine and champagne we had in that luxurious clubhouse did not in any way fatten our pockets. If anything, it made our pockets shrink further! But not bad at all for a man to walk into a racecourse public area for a short period of time and the rest of the time he is doing his betting in the comfort and luxury of the clubhouse, drinking wine and champagne! And again, this can happen only to the Chief! The consular-general arrived at 5pm and drove us to late Peter Donigi’s family residence for dinner.
Tsunami disaster
When Peter saw me get out of the consular-general’s car, he quickly came out of his house and told me that he had seen a sketchy news report on ABC TV about a tidal wave that swept through the villages west of Aitape. Immediately my heart sank, because firstly my village, Sissano, is on the west coast of Aitape and secondly, it is a well-known fact that ABC does not normally get its news/story wrong.
Human side of the Chief
The Chief woke me up in my hotel room at 6am sharp with a phone call. With his steel voice from many years of giving political debates and directions, he instructed that I should scrub up when I am awake enough to do so, as he had already organised all the administrative arrangements for us to travel to Brisbane International at 7am. I feebly answered, Ok Sir.
By 6.30 am, I was definitely in a state of readiness for our taxi trip to the Brisbane airport and I made my way to his room. When he opened his door to my knock, I challenged him and asked why he was made all the arrangements for our travel to the airport, including waking me up. Protocol-wise, I reminded him that was supposed to be my job, not his! The Chief, like a seasoned politician that he is, hesitated and took his time to respond to me.
Then he gave me that Somare look and said to me, “Aitape, far too many of our people look at me simply and purely as the Prime Minister, as the minister, as the politician, as the Opposition Leader, as the Governor. I am now showing you the real human side of me which most Papuan New Guineans do not see nor know about. I am a human being with a heart. I do feel pain in my heart, in my head and everywhere else in my body as you and other people do. I can also feel pain with and for other people and that is why I am worried about you and your relatives back at home in Sissano, not the least your mother. We have not heard the full story about the tidal wave yet. It could be worse than what we already know and imagine…”
The Chief’s opening up of his human side to me made me develop a new level of respect and admiration for him. What a great political leader and what a great human being!!
Depressing news of my mother
We flew back to Port Moresby on Sunday July 20 as planned. At 6.30 pm we got the news that my mother had been killed in the wave disaster.
In my deep grief at my eldest brother’s house, I had forgotten the Chief’s request to me to let him know about the fate of my mother. Then the phone rang about 7pm and it was him. After I related to him the rather depressing news, he said to me, “I am sending the driver to pick you up now to come to our place”. At their place at Four Mile Hill, Lady Veronica and the Somare children were very cordial and compassionate as usual and did all they could to try and distract me from my misfortune of losing my mother, but gee, it was difficult! I knew they meant well so I did my best to play along.
The Chief travelled to Wewak and thence to Sissano with Prime Minister Bill Skate. My wife Helen and I managed to get to Wewak a day after him and as luck would have it, the then Police Commissioner and a platoon of his men were also at the Wewak Airport, waiting to travel to Sissano on a chattered twin otter so we were lucky to jump on a plane that took us direct to our village.
The Chief flew with the late Prime Minister Bill Skate to Sissano two days later to see for himself the magnitude of the tsunami disaster. Despite the cruel sight, rotten and smelly lagoon from dead bodies of humans and animals, the Chief clearly demonstrated his humanity, humility, love and affection for all of us PNG citizens by jumping on a boat and did a trip all around the Sissano Lagoon to see for himself the many corpses floating amongst the unimaginably large volume of debris.
I did not return to the Chief’s Parliamentary office, as the Bishop of Aitape, Bishop Austen, appointed me as Chairman of the Diocese of Aitape Rehabilitation Committee which took care of all the post-disaster programmes, in conjunction with many other stakeholders who turned up in Aitape to help out after the onslaught of the Aitape Tsunami Disaster on 16 July 1998.

Chief does not forget
In April 2000, the newly rebuilt sissano School was about to be opened and all invited guests from Australia and New Zealand, Deputy Governor for Madang, Bishop Austen and other church, education and LLG officials were all there ready for the big opening ceremony.
Suddenly, a chopper is hovering over the new school and all gathered for the opening. As it landed, I approached the chopper and out came none other than the Chief himself. Everyone gave him a huge welcome with many asking who invited the Chief and how did he know about the school and health Center opening. They worked it out quickly enough.
The Chief was given the honour of opening the health center and he also donated K10,000 towards the cost of medicines for the new health center. In Aitape, he donated K20,000 for the rehabilitation work.
Ah, Chief bai mi tok wanem? Toktok i had tumas!
Chief, thank you is not, and cannot be enough for what you have done for our country, for sissano and for me personally and for all the sissano people, but thank you all the same, immensely. On behalf of Helen, Carmel, Schubert, Kenny and myself, and all the people of Sissano, may you rest in eternal peace.
To Lady Veronica, Betha, Sana, Arthur, Dulcie, Emma and Michael we offer to you our deepest condolences for the loss of the father of all of us.

– Balthasar Tas Maketu
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