Celebrating diversity under one flag

The National Letters

Papua New Guinea is a nation of cultural diversity, united under one Constitution and one flag. Celebrating Papua New Guinea’s independence should be done with pride and dignity, but it worries me as a nationalist to see the
tenets of our Constitution and the fabrics of national unity eroded by the promotion of provincialism.
The promotion of provincialism is done through the hosting of provincial days by university students to showcase and maintain their culture, but the idea of promoting culture is often misinterpreted. Additionally, Papua New Guinea is united in diversity but many
people are confined to their cultural practices only and are not being exposed to other cultures.
NCDC, as municipal authority of the nation’s capital, should:

  • Sanction all provincial days;
  • Incorporate provincial day celebrations in the NCDC calendar;
  • Work with the student leaders and fix the dates of events and venues; and
  • Most importantly, get two or three provinces to stage events at the same time and venue to ensure national unity is maintained while acknowledging and learning each other’s culture.

For instance, Enga, New Ireland and Gulf can host their events at the same venue and at the same time so that we have Papua New Guineans celebrating rather than one provincial group only.
We all need to promote our cultural diversity and foster national unity at the same time.

Fidelis Rapa James,
Poroma, SHP