Briefs

Congrats, Kombo
I WOULD to congratulate my niece Stephanie Kombo of Team WHP for winning a silver medal in the 57kg women’s taekwondo event. What caught my eyes was the report which said “she fought like a man, an emerging talent”. I went to the PNGIPA on Tuesday hoping to catch her in action during my lunch hour. Unfortunately, time ran out and I had to return to office. I gave her a hug and wished her all the best. I called her later in the afternoon to find out that she had won a silver. As she is still in primary school, I couldn’t ask for more and the silver is as good as gold, in my view. She has brought pride to the Pangsoles, especially those in Newtown, Mt Hagen. I would also like to congratulate Alma Apiap for taking silver and bronze by a male exponent. I would also like to commend instructor Simon Kama for a job well done. – Sylvasta, Port Moresby

Science contradicts divinity
I REFER to the letter “Is there extraterrestrial life in other worlds?” (Nov 24) by SK Noku. Science contradicts divinity. For scientists, truth is based on hard facts, physical proof and evidence. If there is none, there is no truth. If you say there is life beyond this planet, do you think scientists accept that? No way. And where is the writer’s physical proof that the earth is 6,000 years old? I say that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. I have my proof – fossils and carbon dating have shown that dinosaurs existed 165 million years ago, which is older than the writer’s 6,000 years. Science will never agree with divinity. It is an
on-going controversy that will last as long as the sun is shinning. Scientists will continue to study whether extraterrestrial life exists. – Scientist-intheshadow, Lae

Cops terrorise family
LAST Saturday, my family was verbally abused by two police officers around 11pm. Both officers came in a police vehicle. They were armed, verbally abusive, demanding compensation and trying to take the law into their own hands. Although they were not involved in an earlier brawl, they had been contacted to intervene by their relatives. My concern is that these two officers were foul-mouthed, made threats to kill us and demanded compensation while the auxiliary officer stood alert with a gun. We did not have weapons. The officers were ready to lay down the laws, picking on an innocent member of the community who was not even involved in the brawl. – Victimised, Port Moresby

PNG does not learn
I JUST saw a documentary on TV about tsunamis and what caused them to happen. The documentary even showed the aftermath of the tsunami which struck Aitape in July 1998. It not only brought out goose pimples but also my fear that if another tsunami were to hit us, we will just be as helpless as we were in 1998. While other countries in the region have taken steps to ensure that they are prepared should another tsunami of the Dec 26, 2004, magnitude were to strike again, PNG has done nothing. It seems we have not learnt from our mistakes and prefer to remain just as ignorant as we were in 1998. Or we prefer to leave it to Australia to bail us out again and again? That, in my opinion, is just like waiting for a nightmare to come true. – Jonathan, Port Moresby

A poor vision
IT took Sir Michael Somare 40 years to deliver a gift. Or should I say – the ultimate insult to Papua New Guineans. I am handing my copy of the 2050 plan to my grandfather to use, an improvement from the leaves he had to use in the last 40 years. – No fool, via email

PNG, a melting pot
I DO not understand why there are so many letters critisising the opening ceremony of the 4th PNG Games which included several dances from our fellow Melanesian  neighbours. I thought it was a good decision as it showed that PNG is mature enough to accept the fact that we are fast becoming a melting pot of other cultures and races. We are only 34 years old, yet we are attracting people from all over the world to work and, hopefully, settle here. It took London and New York hundreds of years to boast they are truly the melting pots of the world. Yet we achieved that in less than 35 years. This is something we should be proud of. – Dance all night, Port Moresby