It’s just pure discrimination

AS a Papua New Guinean, I am sick and tired of regionalism, nepotism and discrimination against our fellow countrymen and women at this time and age.
Regionalism and nepotism are evidently ingrained into our society.
It is also true for racial discrimination against other human beings as in the case of the innocent Asian businessmen who are merely plying a business that we Papua New Guineans on too many instances are incapable of managing on our own.
 “Unity in diversity” is a phrase you can be truly proud of when you are in a foreign land reflecting back on our homeland.
It gives you a sense of pride and nationalism in our country.
But this may slowly be eroding with the growing sentiments of general dissatisfaction with the governance of this country and the socio-economic impact on the society.
Our people are truly suffering and slowly getting sick in the head resulting in lawlessness and filth in our so-called cities.
In addition, I am disgusted by the comments in our media that prompted me to comment on an issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
Otherwise, the failure to do so will slowly but surely disintegrate our very society.
It is obvious the coastal people have a common perception of the highlanders whilst the highlanders have a common perception of the coastal people.
This unqualified prejudice against our own fellow countrymen stems from a number of reasons since independence.
The discrimination became very evident with the Four Nations after the Kumuls got a hiding from the Kangaroos and Kiwis.
The public, obviously from the coast, refused to be identified with the current batch of Kumuls and even going to the extreme of renaming them the “Highlands Kumuls” instead of PNG Kumuls.
The selection of the team leaves a lot to be desired. We have prejudiced our own brothers who are living or playing overseas.
We have discriminated our own brothers by the skin of their colour.
That was a thing of the past and, sadly, is slowly resurfacing to the detriment of our country.
Our forefathers were better men, who respected one another in true friendship and brotherhood regardless of colour and creed. They were the true Papua New Guineans.
The selection of the coach also leaves a lot to be desired given the fact that he has no experience except as an outstanding professional player.
But Stanley Gene (a highlander) was the one who put his hands up at that crucial time when Marcus Bai and Adrian Lam (both coastals) refuse to offer their support.
Whilst the public are critical about the composition of the Kumuls being highlanders, the fact is the team is made up of players from each regions of PNG.
The highlands-based teams did not get that many players into the Kumul squad. The composition of players from highlands team is actually less.
The two teams that made it to the final of the 2010 bemobile Cup only had one player each selected from their clubs.
The majority of the players came from the coastal-based clubs in Port Moresby, Lae and Rabaul.
Unfortunately, the best and outstanding players from these clubs happened to be highlanders.
Their place of origin was never an issue when they were playing for these coastal clubs.
But surprisingly, it is now an issue after the Kumuls had been thrashed.
As a Papuan, I am embarrassed by this discrimination and, as a New Guinean, I am insulted.

Clydy
Via email