Who will realise PNG’s true potential?

PAPUA New Guinea has recently made headlines in major newspapers and websites for the ongoing political strife, especially after the  attempted military intervention.
Few good things can occur when the military is divided between competing parties.
PNG’s geography ranges from lowlands to high mountains, tropical rainforests to wetlands, and is similarly blessed with many resources (oil, gas, minerals, fish, etc) that other­ nations lack.
It contains a wide range of ethnic groups and is one of the most linguistically diverse nation and everyone understands each other in Tok Pisin.
Yet, PNG is widely consi­dered poor by international standards.
It ranks low in terms of economic freedom (2012 Index of Economic Freedom), very low on wealth with many living on less than US$1.25 a day (Human Development Report), low literacy rates (United Nations Development Programme) and overall low statistics in health.
At first, it reminded me of the “resource curse” whereby countries with an abundance of resources often perform less economically than those with fewer natural resources.
But it seems that PNG lacks more in terms of economic freedom rather than suffering from a curse.
When looking at how other nations developed – such as China, India, South Korea, and especially Hong Kong – economic growth and the uplifting of people out of poverty occurred only when the governments loosen the barriers to trade and business formation.
And while PNG has relatively low economic freedom, it does seem to have a large informal market, where most of its people live and work in.
Just imagine the possibilities, if these people were able to easily form their own businesses, take out loans, hire people, and expand.
When a nation consists of traders, there is little need to fight and bic­ker, and overall, people are happy as they are free to pursue their goals and dreams.
PNG leaders need to focus on trade instead of power struggles as true power is promoting individual rights and protecting the people from criminals.
It would not be hard to modernise, as the resources can help, and more importantly, because the people seem to be willing to trade and do the community good but are hampered by the go­vernment.
My hope is that the people do not fall prey to sweet-talks by politicians.
As much as free education and healthcare sound good, one must question: why are they offering it, and who is going to provide it?
Whether the two recent policies (education and healthcare) in PNG will work, I cannot say, but I urge the people to think twice about it.
Election is coming up, and it will be your time to vote for those who promise to help the country.
Ask yourselves, how should the country be helped?
Is the current course sustainable, or does it need to be switched over to one that promotes trade and prospe­rity?

John Smith
USA