Benefits of having asylum seekers in PNG

Letters, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday August 1st, 2013

 I WOULD like to make a comment to the latest happenings in the PNG regarding the asylum seekers. 

As there is always “two sides” to every coin, let us not look at the bad side of the resettlement exercise agreed by this government. 

The issue here could be more bad than good and I hope our government has done its part by analysing the facts and figures be-fore arranging loads of refugees onto our shores.  

The reason why I am saying this is because, on the bad side, as many are saying, many of these asylum seekers would come with their beliefs and cultures which would not go in line with our beliefs and customs which, as time goes by would create a major problem for our people. 

Also, among these people, there may be extremists who may pose a risk to our people and our land. 

One thing the government should consider when signing such agreement is to ask simple questions. 

Who will be the winner or in the losing end in such deals after time? 

What is the long term benefit of such deals for our people and our country? 

Who is benefiting the most from such deals? 

In the long run, governments come and go but the decisions made now will affect the people in the future. 

When making decisions that may affect the nation, the government should make it their business to let the people know of the pros and cons of such decisions. 

On the good side, it would be good to have these troubled people to settle on our land as many would be experts in different fields. 

After going through so much trouble in their land(s), they may come with the genuineness to resettle and start life all over again thinking for themselves and their fu-ture generations. 

As PNG is still in the process of developing, we should let these people in to help us develop PNG. 

The United States of America, Australia and many other countries were developed by settlers. 

We should give these people the opportunity to leave their old life behind and resettle meaningfully which would be more helpful for PNG in the long run. 

Only time will tell whether this deal is good or bad for our people and such deals done should be done with caution.

 

Riwi Rindi

Kiunga