Western traders come face to face with PNG currency

By ARMSTRONG SAIYAMA
WESTERN province villagers living along the southern part of the PNG-Indonesian have been using the Indonesian rupiah as their legal tender for as long as they can remember.
So it was no surprise when Emboko Nema became emotional when he saw and touched the PNG K10 note for the first time.
The simple villager never knew that his country had its own currency, the kina, which has been in existence since it gained independence in 1975.
Nema was overwhelmed by his discovery, courtesy of South Fly district planner Bolozi Iowa who bought his cucumbers at the Bensbach Wildlife Lodge recently.
“I know my village is in the sovereign territories of PNG, but naturally I feel that I’m an Indonesian,” Nema said. 
He said he did not speak Papua New Guinea’s national languages of Tok Pisin and Motu.
“I know my own Tok Ples (local language), English and Bahasa Indonesia,” he said.
Nema added that the national and provincial governments had not provided basic services to remote border villages.
“At the moment, the Indonesian traders and poachers provide vital services for us.
“We trade our deer, goat, barramundi and saragota with them, in exchange for Indonesian-made goods,” he said.