Request to change pledge

 By GABRIEL LAHOC

MOROBE Governor Kelly Naru has promised a schoolgirl he will work towards changing the national pledge after she asked him to.

Maximise Well Christian School student Talithakuming Geparo pleaded in public with Naru to have the national pledge amended.

Geparo was part of a group of students invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the 32 local level government presidents of Morobe into the provincial assembly.

They recited an amended national pledge.

“We pay homage to our Christian heritage, the source of our strength,” they said. They put in the word “Christian” in place of “cultural”.

Straight after the recital, Geparo took the microphone and explained to the politicians why they used the word “Christian”.

She said PNG was diverse in culture but it was the Gospel and the Christian faith which gave strength to the people and changed their way of life.

Naru said the Constitution had some areas that needed amending too. He pointed out the pledge as one of them.

“It is my opinion that the source of our strength is not inherited from our cultural heritage,” he said.

“I strongly believe that the source of our strength comes from Almighty God.

“We have to pledge that the source of this great nation emanates from Almighty God. Of course, we have our cultural heritage as a blessing from the source.”

He said some bad cultural practices must be done away with. He vowed to get Speaker Theodore Zurenuoc and other politicians to address this and amend section 145 of Constitution on freedom of religion.

“’We must practise the Christian religion exclusively. Full stop,” Naru said.