Bribing victims with compensation

 IT is becoming impossible to tell the difference between the actions of the police and criminals. 

Understandably, criminals are born out of necessity and desperation whereas police on the other hand, are nothing more than assassins and crooks paid by the state to be thugs. 

Perhaps it is the blue uniform they wear or just my opinion, but the recent killings at Hanuabada like many countless others before, is indicative of that. 

Let us not sugar coat or exaggerate the fact by blaming reservist officers for the homicide, nor Governor Powes Parkop for initiating the buai ban. 

The issue remains that those two civilians were murdered in public by ruffians in the infamous blue apparel. 

If ever there was a symbol of oppression and fear, synonymous with so much brutality and carnage for the Papua New Guinean people, it is the blue regimental garment of the Royal PNG Constabulary. 

Everyone has witnessed, many have experienced, some are not alive today and perhaps only a few are truly oblivious to how destructive and ruthless officers in uniform can be. 

This is because of the lack of respect for the chain of command and the non-discipline of rogue officers by their superiors and also hierarchal changes at the whims of politicians. 

The once respectable institution has been degraded to something resembling a crime syndicate.  

Even criminals are cashing in on the reputation of the dreaded “blue” by impersonating as police officers in their criminal enterprises.

On another note, for a society like PNG that aspires for Utopia, the rule of law is absolutely necessary. 

Any form of compensation is penance for the crime thereby, acquitting the perpetrator which defeats the very purpose of having a judicial system in the first place. 

Therefore, I call on the government to refrain from paying the proposed K22 million. 

Finally to my wantoks at HB, do not dishonour the memory of the two that have fallen by accepting the government’s offer to compromise. 

If you are compensated, then the police officers are absolved of their crime. 

Let their deaths albeit unfortunate be a testament to the brutality of the thugs in blue.  

Ferah Kaina, Via email