Sir Tore laid to rest in Gulf

By BIGA LEBASI
HIS humility intact, one of Papua New Guinea’s humblest lea­ders was buried in his family plot near Iokea in the Gulf of Papua on Good Friday. 
And Good Friday indeed! The weather transformed from a downpour last Friday to sunny skies as the helicopter bearing the body of the country’s second governor-general – Sir Tore Lokoloko – landed at Kerema where hundreds of the town’s population joined throngs from nearby and afar to pay their last respects.
The casket was then – with the chief mourners including his wife Lady Lalahaia and their children
– flown to Iokea.
After a few brief minutes in the elavo, a men’s meeting house, the casket was transferred to the family haus krai next door where it overnighted.
Hundreds of local mourners and visiting dignitaries had crowded into the Brown Memorial church and outside it, more tributes were paid to Sir Tore.
He was finally buried despite a few hiccups, including one involving the organising of the date, time and venue of the state funeral service at the Sione Kami Memorial church in Port Moresby. 
Hours after he had been buried his relative, a former PNG Defence Force soldier and now Pastor Sarufa, told The National: “Sir Tore was a very humble man.
“He loved everybody – no matter what race you are, he loved you. He believed all men are equal.
“Yes, you can say his humility and love for the people of PNG can be compared with that of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and the black American leader Martin Luther King Jnr, and the first African American  president of the United States Barrack Obama.’’