Marape vows to help writers

LITERATURE

By DANIEL KUMBON
THIS is an important message for Papua New Guinea writers.
I have finally told Prime Minister, James Marape something we have all been trying to do – to convey to his government that literature can play an important role in development and preservation of our diverse cultural heritage of our country with 1,000 different tribes.
I had the chance to express my feelings when the Prime Minister himself invited me to see him after he had read one of my books Victory Song of Pingeta’s Daughter.
Prime Minister Marape was so impressed with the book, he felt similar books should be written about each province before our elderly people died with all the knowledge intact, information they’d accumulated in their lifetimes.
The prime minister said he would make an announcement to reveal how all established PNG writers can be assisted and encourage many others to write about the diversity of PNG after he returns from an official trip to China where he will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics with other world leaders starting this week.
My book which starts by talking about a massacre at Tole village involving the Leahy brothers as recorded in the award-winning documentary film First Contact and the book of the same name. A copy of the book had been presented to the prime minister by businessman Cr Paul Kurai on a recent official visit to Wabag in Enga.
Pingeta was Cr Paul Kurai’s maternal grandfather and his mother and uncle were left orphans when their mother disappeared without a trace after she saw her husband blown to pieces by a loud bang coming from a long stick held by one of the two strange ‘white man.’
“This building we are sitting in now will be replaced by another but the words we record in books will never be erased but remain for ever much like the words in the Bible,” I said.
As we sat on the 9th floor of the Pineapple Building, renamed Sir Manasupe Haus, I said to the Prime Minister that I had placed copies of every book I have published over the years in the National Library where they will remain safe for the benefit of future generations.
And my published works were also available on-line for anybody in the world interested in Enga or PNG to have easy access.
Prime Minister James Marape agreed literature was indeed important and asked me to list all the writers in PNG and get them to write more books about the history, cultural aspects of each province and biographies of influential people from every part of the country before they died. The people who can be trusted to do this major task are current writers who have already published their works and recognised as heroes of modern-day literature in this country.
I was happy to talk at length as Prime Minister James Marape quietly sat listening after he had just addressed the nation on the FM 100 talkback show at midday on Monday, Jan 31, as the first month of the new year was about to end.
Prime Minister James Marape was also interested in literature and said he would write something himself – maybe about politics or his own life story after saying that he identified himself fully with Victory Song of Pingeta’s Daughter.
Suitable books already written by Papua New Guineans and those currently under process can easily get children off Facebook and get them into a library full of books – whether it be at a school library, public library or on-line only if the government can support the writers directly. Our country is blessed with a thousand cultures, all different from each, none more valuable than the other – all unique in their own way incomparable with any other culture of the world.
Our bilas, our songs, our legends, our way of dress, our way of preparing food etc are all different – the heart-beat of PNG. These are the very things that makes us unique and gives our country its identity. As far as I know, Prime Minister James Marape is the only other prime minister who has proudly put on traditional PNG attire from his home-province of Hela for the world to see. The other being the founding father, the late Sir Michael Somare.
I had featured Marape to grace the pages of my 400-page book Victory Song of Pingeta’s Daughter.Although he didn’t mention it, perhaps that’s why he was finally drawn to realise the importance of literature and published works by Papua New Guinean writers to invite me to see him in his office on Monday this week.
Here is some information from Wikipedia about the diversity of literature in this country. And the emergence of written literature (as distinct from oral literature) is comparatively recent in Papua New Guinea.
It was given its first major stimulus with the setting up of creative writing courses by Ulli Beier at the University of Papua New Guinea (established in 1966). Beier also founded a Papua Pocket Poets series, as well as the literary magazine Kovave, the first of its kind in the country.
Some of Papua New Guinea’s first noted writers, including John Kasaipwalova, Kumalau Tawali, Apisai Enos and Kama Kerpi, were first published in Kovave. In 1968, Albert Maori Kiki’s autobiography Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime was the first major work of Papua New Guinean literature published outside a magazine. In 1970, Vincent Eri published the first Papua New Guinean novel, The Crocodile.
Notable Papua New Guinean writers also include Ignatius Kilage, Nora Vagi Brash, Steven Edmund Winduo and Loujaya Kouza.
And here is a list of the heroes of modern Papua New Guinea literature. They include Michael Dom, Betty Wakia, Carolne Evari, Rashmii Bell, Jordan Dean, Emmanuel Peni, Wardley Barry, Samantha Kusari, Dominica Are, late Francis Nii, Jimmy Drekore, Jimmy Awagl, Ruth Moiam, Mathias Kin, Martyn Namorong, Sil Bolkin, Leonard Fong Roka, Baka Bina, Reg Renagi, Marlene Dee Gray Potoura, Philip Kai Morre, James Thomas, Winterford Toreas, Diddie Kinamun Jackson, Lapieh Landu, Raymond Sigimet, Arnold Mundua, Jeffrey Febi and Bomai Witne.
This list will keep growing longer when Prime Minister James Marape will make an announcement to reveal how all established PNG writers can be assisted and encourage many others to write about the diversity of PNG after he returns from his trip to China.