Precious life only comes once

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has described the recent massacre in Enga very well.
It affected us all irrespective of where you come from.
My family talked about it for days and shed tears, especially for the women and children who lost their loved ones.
This is a black day for PNG apart from riots and lootings, shortage of fuel, and the suppression of the Constitution as to the VoNC in our Parliament.
What a sad year for PNG.
Let us not confuse the world with the term “domestic terrorist”.
Domestic terrorism is for leaders who acquire illegal firearms to defeat an enemy clan with a political agenda. Such a phrase doesn’t work well in our Melanesian society. Most of our tribal fighting is not politically related.
Also, I totally agree with my brother and countryman from Lagaip, Enga, Samson Alo, who said in his letter to The National that tribal fighting enslaves our freedom.
My father is a former police officer, who retired from the PNG Royal Constabulary and returned home to Chimbu in 1974, a honest policeman who served in Amenap, Green River, Brown River and all parts of Southern Highlands in the 1950s and retired in 1974 due to his medical condition.
Tribal fighting was never on his mind.
After his retirement and settlement at home, we built our house within the land boundary of our enemy clan. Our family of four brothers and two sisters happily attended our primary education close to a Catholic mission school.
All of a sudden, there was alcohol abuse and drinking, brawling and tribal fights. Our clan youths and another clan got into a fight.
On the first few days of fighting, my clansmen chopped one of our enemy clan members, so we had to leave home.
Those days, the rule of engagement in tribal fighting saved us and we were asked by the enemy clan to leave our new home and join our clan members on the other side.
We had a very rough struggling life, living at the back page to the enemy clan, we were unable to access rice and tinned fish in Kundiawa town for months and, later, years. The fight lasted for almost 18 months, and starvation always knocked on our doors.
We were living off anything we could eat because there was no time for gardening. Our fathers and elder brothers were engaged in the tribal fights.
Both sides lost an accumulative total of 160 people. Government services all ceased, every coffee tree chopped to the ground, trade stores and semi permanent houses were burnt to ashes.
As a boy aged 12 years, I did not realise the consequences that the two clans were faced with. It was some time before both clans could establish peace and restore livelihoods.
However, peace did not last long.
In the 1980s, tribal fights started again between these two clans.
Although my education was severely affected, I wanted to be different from my clansmen.
I started by building a sporting relationship with boys from the warring clan. We shared a common interest and ideas and values. We promised to forego both our clans’ tribal differences and payback mentality.
We went on a campaign trail, rebuilding our society through the installation of Christian values. We held regular youth meetings and did our best to involve all youths in fun-filled events and activities.
After graduating from the university and whilst employed, I started rebuilding a close relationship with the elites from my warring clan. Now we are best buddies for life, whenever there is a death in the family or shortage in school fees from my warring clan members that are made known to me, I contributed to the course.
I often use my vehicle to transport the deceased of the warring clan members free from Lae to Chimbu. This has brought me closure to forget the killings from the past.
Life is precious and it only comes once.
Being educated is a blessing that provides one the understanding of the tribal pros and cons of life.
The Kere tribe now produces the top elites in Chimbu, contributing to the PNG economy in terms of human resources and other physical developments in Port Moresby and around the world.
We have no more killings, and no more payback. Our leaders are great leaders, who wants nothing less than peace.
We no longer promote tribalism; we have what is called “Kere One”.
Our children foresee the anticipated relationship we foresaw and life will be better. I named my third son, who is doing prep, Sua Diba, in honour and memory of the two great warring chiefs in order to bring lasting peace and I can see the fruit of it today.
It is not rugby league that we can bring PNG together as the NRL commentators says, in our very own society. Our so-called elites and leaders play very important roles to establish a life-changing relationship.
It brought an end to tribalism, murder and massacre.
I write this as a challenge to many elites running away from your tribal responsibilities today.

SSY Yabi Kila Koble.com