Sir Michael made it possible to dream

THOSE of us who were the final group of form ones in 1973 will remember very well several things about Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare that should be remembered by Papua New Guineans in the future.
In those years, we had two Australian airlines serving the territories of Papua and New Guinea – TAA and Anset Australia.
A new national airline company was to be launched and at the Idubada Technical School in Port Moresby, Sir Michael made a speech to technical school students.
In his speech, he said: “From now on, we will have our own pilots, our own doctors, our own lawyers and judges.”
That new airline company is now Air Niugini.
To Papua New Guineans who now have a decent employment and a regular income, we should always remember that no black kanaka was allowed to drive a car, operate a crane, bulldozer or heavy machine.
No black kanaka was allowed to pass through where a white woman lived or bathed.
If many Papua New Guineans visited New Caledonia today, you will understand and appreciate what Sir Michael, Sir John Guise, Sir Albert Maori Kiki, Sir John Kaputin, Dr John Momis, Mathias Toliman and Sir Julius Chan did for our nation at the most opportune time.
Their decisions and actions allow us today to teach in a classroom, drive a car and generate our own income, pilot an aircraft and women and girls can go to school.
Our fathers were not allowed to do those things but always remained a kalabus.
The element of suppression on our forefathers was too deafening until the Tolais, under the Mataongan Association, staged a series of protests with slogans such as: “We want to drink beer like the white man, we want to drive cars, we want to marry white women and we want to generate our own money”.
Thanks to Australians such as Sir Paul Husluck, Goulgh Withlem and Bob Hauk for listening to Sir Michael and his group. We were in form three (grade 9) in 1975 when Australia finally granted political independence to Papua New Guinea.
When they did, they left Sir Michael and his group with only AU$ 600,000 (K1.6 million) to run two territories.
Martin Beni had his share of uniting Papua and New Guinea with his golden boxing gloves.
Beni deserves credit for his efforts.
Today, look at us, we have achieved so much more than many black countries who went before us.

Gerard Saleu