Tribute to Sir Mekere Morauta

Sir JOHN KAPUTIN writes about his long-standing friendship spanning over 30 years with late Sir Mekere Morauta KCMG, former prime minister of Papua New Guinea.

ON Dec 20, 2020, Lady Kaputin and I received the sad news of the passing of Sir Mekere Morauta, former prime minister of Papua New Guinea.
Following the news, I immediately sent a message of condolence and sympathy to Lady Morauta and their son, James, who is a friend of my son John Jnr, from their days as students at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
On Monday, Dec 21, I received a phone call from Lady Roslyn Morauta, who was understandably saddened at the loss of her beloved husband and after sharing a quiet moment over the phone and some tears, she asked me if I would accept offering the second reading from the Bible in the Anglican church service at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday, Dec 23, 2020.
For me, I consider this special request from the family as a great honour and a special privilege to partake in the service in the Anglican church for Sir Mekere Morauta, a distinguished servant of God and prime minister of Papua New Guinea.
I was particularly happy to accept this honour, not only because of what we may have achieved together in the national history of Papua New Guinea, but importantly, because of our long standing friendship since I was invited to attend the couple’s wedding in Toowoomba, more than 30 years ago.
While in our professional careers, we were both passionate about finance and economic policies for the development of Papua New Guinea, our friendship was equally important.
Our critical passion for economics was shared by many other distinguished Papua New Guineans such as Sir Tony Siaguru, Charles Lepani, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Henry ToRobert, Mike Manning, Eliakim ToBolton and Ellison ToWallom and many Australians, such as Ross Garnaut, Rod Sims, Anthony Clunies Ross, Ted Wolfers, Ken Inglis, Charles Rowley and historian Hank Nelson.
While I will leave it to historians, political scientists and philosophers to assess in more detail of our accomplishments and achievements in Parliament and government, I must say that he had played a most critical role as secretary of Finance, governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea and managing director of the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation.
In politics, Sir Mekere became a member of Parliament in 1997 and ultimately served as prime minister, appointing me as minister for Foreign Affairs and later as special minister responsible for our particular interests and relationship with international financial institutions, such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Commission.
In terms of government initiatives and policy issues, whether monetary and fiscal policies, we were both very concerned with our level of expenditure and the higher rate of our international borrowings.
Personally, I had enjoyed my work with Sir Mekere during his term as prime minister.
He had supported my work in Washington DC, London, Brussels, Bonn, Berlin, Prague and Paris.
He had also supported my work at the United Nations with regard to opportunity and participation, and pursuing our membership with Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).
Personally, we wanted to make sure that our children were well educated in order to pursue their own callings in life, but not in politics.
His son James, and my son, John Jnr were fellow students at Oxford University, where James studied for his PhD in philosophy and after several years in academia is now working as a lawyer for the Australian government in Canberra, and John studied for his masters in engineering and worked with IBM for 20 years.
We were very proud of their scholastic achievements and successes in their respective professions in academia, law and IT.
My son sent a message to his friend James to express his condolences on the loss of his father.
In our respective work, there had been little opportunity to spend on free time.
But I recall a wonderful short holiday we spent together in Singapore as well as in Manila, Rome and in Seoul, South Korea, during our work in those places.
In all these places, seafood was always one of Sir Mekere’s favourites.
Life would be unbearable without these small pleasures to enjoy.
In a special message from my son John to his friend James, he also recorded with fond memories the special and sumptuous banquet of seafood offered by Sir Mekere and Lady Roslyn when he visited Papua New Guinea with his young family in 1999.
I wish to thank the Australian government for the special message of recognition and appreciation for the contributions made by Sir Mekere and for his efforts to create the special bond and relationship between the two nations.
In conclusion, I would like to register my special appreciation and thanks for all that Sir Mekere Morauta KCMG had contributed for us in Papua New Guinea and for the special bond he had created for Papua New Guinea and Australia.
We owe him a mountain of debt and gratitude for his achievements and contributions.
Thank you my friend.
We will meet again and till then rest in peace.

Sir John R Kaputin, is a former Minister for Finance from 1980 to 1982 and member for Rabaul Open.