New beginning for PNG

It is interesting that the Speaker of Parliament has banned smoking and chewing buai within the precincts of the House.
Papua New Guinea’s highest legislative House, the national Parliament, has seen its fair share of contradictions since it was built in 1984.
The contradictions are nothing peculiar to PNG alone. Other parliaments around the world have witnessed their fair share of sanity and insanity.
If the Speaker, who is the head of the 10th Parliament, and his team believe the Parliament building needs a makeover with a ban on buai and smoking to inspire selflessness, servanthood, truthfulness, freedom, good health and beauty, then let it be.
Any small change towards that goal is welcome. And for that change to start from our parliament is doubly welcome.
If tradition-driven habits fail to bring positive outcomes then they should go.
Papua New Guinea cannot continue to be a slave to smoking and buai because those two things stand in the way of our development, both as a nation and as individuals.
We should have a plaque in front of the Parliament building with the words, “Healthy Environment, Healthy Nation.”
If PNG has to start anew, then let this be the start of that new beginning with a transformed mind shaped by the God of the universe and not our beloved cultural practices.
God bless Papua New Guinea.

Eric Mumson Piuk
Gerehu Stage 4, NCD