All hell breaks loose in Hela

 “ONLY God will change Hela.” In the current context, these words by Hela provincial police commander Mark Yangen can send a chill up one’s spine.

It seems Yangen is fighting a losing battle in the land of the GigiraLaitepo where even the lives of God’s workers are in grave danger.

“If I, as the provincial police commander, can do all my best to change the mindset of the people and if they cannot change, only God will change Hela.”

Although Yangen’s words are chilling, they are prophetic because he has come to the conclusion that Hela needs divine intervention.

Yangen will agree that changing the mindsets of the Hela people, most of whom still live, think and behave like their fore-bearers, is something that cannot be achieved overnight. It is a gradual process that involves changes to the thought processes of individuals, families and their communities.

These changes are influenced by socio-economic factors and the political environment.

Christian churches have a crucial role to play in changing the way Papua New Guineans think and behave.

God’s workers have transformed this land of cannibals and head hunters into a Christian country over the past century and continue to deliver vital social services such as health and education to our rural majority.

As Yangen rightly said, “Churches should be respected as they play a vital role in the development of this nation.”

Unfortunately, this remark was made after the brutal attack on a pastor and his family in Hela last weekend during which the thugs burnt down their home and stole the church money.

The thugs entered the church premises while the family was asleep, dragged them out, beat up the pastor, took the money and burnt down the home. The pastor is recovering in Tari hospital.

This evil action must be condemned by all law-abiding citizens and the culprits must be apprehended to face the full force of the law.

Hela, which hosts the country’s first liquefied natural gas development, has become a troublesome province. Not a week goes by without police reports of tribal fights, murders, sorcery-related killings and other lawless activities.

When Hela was split from Southern Highlands several years ago, its future development and prosperity looked secured by the multi-billion kina LNG project.

The Gigira Laitepo prophecy had been fulfilled and the people of Hela would no longer be in total darkness.

Despite the millions of kina pouring into the once impoverished Hela district, money cannot change mindsets.

The breakdown in law and order in Hela shows that the country’s largest economic project has had little or no impact on the way the majority of Hela people live, think and behave.  And they will continue to conduct their lives like their ancestors did until they are exposed to appropriate social and educational development, intertwined with Christian teachings and values, which will change their thought processes.

We support the notion that Hela needs divine intervention and change of mindsets but what is required urgently is government intervention, possibly in the form of a state of emergency.

State security forces must be dispatched immediately to the trouble spots to quell raging tribal fights and hunt down culprits who are killing people and pillaging villages.

As the PPC reported this week, tribal fights have erupted again in the Koroba-Kopiago district and in another incident, tribesmen of a man killed 10 years ago murdered a suspect in Tari last Friday.

Yangen asks, “When will there be peace in Hela”, but the pertinent question that Hela people should be asking is, “What are our leaders doing about it?”

It seems that the absence of Governor Anderson Agiru, who is being treated in a hospital in China, has left a vacuum in the province’s leadership.

So far, none of the other Hela parliamentarians have stepped up to take the lead and initiate measures to combat the increasing lawlessness in the province.

The May-June sitting of Parliament began yesterday afternoon and it seems like a good opportunity to get the House’s endorsement for a state of emergency in Hela.