Don’t change airport’s name

THE proposal by Prime Minister James Marape to change the name of Nadzab International Airport to PNG-Japan Friendship Airport is wrong and demeans the airport’s historical significance.
I say this with a lot of respect for our good friends, the people and the government of Japan.
They know the history of Nadzab because it is in their history books.
After Japan occupied Lae and Salamaua in March 1943, Allied forces, led by the United States, started the liberation of Lae with a paratrooper assault landing at Nadzab and a simultaneous amphibious assault at Kamkumung.
The other proposal by Morobe Governor Ginson Soanu to change the name of Nadzab International Airport to Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare International Airport to honour our country’s late founding father is wrong and demeans the airport’s historical significance too.
With no disrespect for our country’s founding father, why not build a monument or a significant project or infrastructure and name it after Sir Michael?
The name “Nadzab Airport” is in the history books of countries who fought in WWII in the Pacific and it’s very important not to change any name of a place in our country that is significant to our country’s history and world history.

Jason Raings