Doi: Be cautious with foreign relations

By JEFFREY ELAPA
FORMER foreign affairs minister Akokoi Doi has called on national leaders to respect established mutual understanding between international neighbours and partners.
Doi, who was a parliamentarian for three terms from 1987-2002, said young parliamentarians should not use their emotions but analyse issues before making decisions.
He said Papua New Guinea politicians had to show maturity and not to let emotions and anger take control as any decision they made “will have to be in the best interests of the country”.
He said Indonesia and Papua New Guinea had to respect each other and not intimidate each other as that could jeopardise the established diplomatic relationship.
He said the normal process in such incidences like the Falcon jet issue was to follow protocol and allow the foreign affairs departments to resolve it.
He said sanctions could come about if the issues were not amicably addressed.
He said PNG owed Indonesia because it had played a major role in allowing the country to become a member of ASEAN.
Papa Mama Graun Party deputy leader Simon Ekenda said the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had to meet with cabinet to decide on any action they wanted to take.
Ekenda, who is a landowner chief, said the people had been watching the government over the past four months and had seen that Peter O’Neill and Belden Namah had not been working together or consulting each other making decisions.
He said that was a bad sign.