Ex-politician manipulative

Letters

A COUPLE of weeks ago, a former politician (petitioner) addressed his supporters outside the Waigani Court House after the Supreme Court used a slip rule to uphold the appeal of the first defendant over the petitioner’s challenge against his victory in the 2017 national election.
In his address, the former spent a large portion of the speech haranguing and whining about the Supreme Court’s decision on that particular clause as oppressive and intrusive.
What is extraordinary about this former politician is that for over a decade until recently, he was heading some of the most influential and senior ministries in Government yet he did literally nothing to improve the very slip he was whining about.
Politicians (himself included), blinded by the glamour, power and greed of public office, flout any notion of systematic injustice and corruption while constantly exploiting the ignorance of PNG’s unlearned and ill-informed populace.
Only when voted out of office do they start preaching about justice and good governance.
Quite hypocritical.
PNG’s politicians need to realise that their core function is not so much the financier or the industrialist, but rather, the reformer.
To analyse and assess the vulnerabilities of government, provide critical analysis and inaugurate debates about how best to reform or transform politics and social relations so that it benefits our national interest.
Unless politicians express their willingness to defend the common interests of PNG, it undermines the work and aspirations of our forefathers that fought for our independence.

Douglas Patiken Barara,
8-Mile, Pom