Revival of Moti affair a tactical diversion

THE High Court of Australia ruled last Dec 7 there was no basis for the arrest and charging of the former Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti.
The  Australian and other Australian newspapers published that ruling on Dec 8.
It was clear to the court during cross-examination that  the issue to which Papua New Guinea was  dragged into was all a set-up and
that the alleged  victim and her  immediate family have been on the Australian government  payroll for some time.
In fact, the alleged victim is now in Australia on a salary paid for by
the government.
There are also moves by Moti’s lawyers to  claim compensation for damages done to Moti that could go into millions of  dollars.
How and where PNG stands to gain from this issue with the recent tabling of  the same report in parliament is suspicious.
While the issue has been  put to rest by the High Court of Australia, it still appears to be a matter  of contention on the PNG political scene.
Sir Michael  Somare and Don Polye, who were at the helm of the  PNG government when the issue emerged, had made their stand very clear.
It now appears that the author(s) of the report  may have been manipula­ted by the Australian go­vernment to frame the report in  supporting the whole set-up.
It was framed with the intent to politically assassinate some Me­la­nesian leaders including Sir Michael, Polye, Solomon Islands’ former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare  and others.
Why Australia would want to do such a thing to PNG,  Solomon Islands and Vanuatu is something Australia must explain.
The recent tabling of the Moti report in parliament is yet again a clear intent to assassinate Sir Mi­chael and Polye politically.
This can be viewed as another tactical move to divert the attention
and focus elsewhere and to further waste and frustrate PNG parliament’s  and people’s time.

Dontam Asibo
Mt Dubuleng, Kabwum