Republic of the North Solomons

 

The Republic of the North Solomons (also Republic of North Solomons or North Solomons Republic) was an unrecognised state that existed for about six months in what is now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

On 1 September 1975^[1], the North Solomons unilaterally declared independence from the Australian-administered territory of Papua New Guinea, which itself was due to become independent on 16 September.^[2]

Reaction

Papua New Guinea's Chief Minister, Mr Michael Somare, initially showed no outward concern at Bougainville's stand. The Roman Catholic Church, the most powerful organization in Bougainville, officially announced its support for the breakaway move.^[2] Bougainvilleans have experienced German, British, and Australian colonial administrations and missionaries. Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United Nations did not recognize the secession, and PNG government officials on the island simply ignored it. The whole of the Western Islands District of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (comprising a third of the population of the Solomon Islands) asked, through the district council, to join independent Bougainville.^[3]

 

Context

The Bougainville islanders have always regarded themselves as a separate entity in Papua New Guinea. The people have very dark skins in contrast to the lighter shades of Papuans and New Guineans. The island is 1,000 kilometres east of the mainland and is more closely associated geographically with the Solomon Islands and it forms part of the Solomon Islands Archipelago.^[2]

The declaration of independence followed the discovery some time beforehand of one of the world's largest deposits of copper. The Papua New Guinea Government established the Bougainville Copper mine company in Panguna in central Bougainville. Bougainville Copper was a subsidiary of Conzinc Rio Tinto of Australia, which in turn was controlled by the British company, the Rio Tinto Group. When the mine was set up the Australia administration backed by armed police allowed prospectors in and told the people their land was being taken over without any discussion.^[2]

Bougainville rejoined Papua New Guinea as the Autonomous Region of Bougainville early in 1976.

Civil war

Secession was revived in 1990 under the name of the Bougainville Interim Government by Francis Ona and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. Although these groups' grievances were based on the activities of Bougainville Copper, the conflict eventually descended into a civil war along tribal lines. By the time peace was negotiated in 1998, the conflict had taken between 15,000 and 20,000 lives.

History of my Solomon Island of Bougainville

Republic of North Solomons—1975-1976

Bougainville Interim Government—1990-1998

Capital—Buka

Government—Republic

President 1975-76—Alexis Sarei

President 1990-98—Francis Ona

Declarations

Declared 1 September 1975

Provincial Status in Papua New Guinea—1976

Independence—17 May 1990

Reintegration in the Papua New Guinea—23 January 1998

 

Retrieved from Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_North_Solomons)

Marau Boat Park Song

Leonard Fong Roka

 

Cruel are the waves

That roar upon landing from Papona to Marau beaches

And pleasure, is the setting sun over Puru’ata island…

Sweet are the songs we hear

At the fine brown beaches of Koiare…

Oh my beautiful Bougainville.

 

 

And it’s my song,

A song of the Karato Mountains that Kaspeke likes.

It’s my dreams by the Asimana Rivers and her boat people

That row down to the tempestuous coast of Koiare

Then to Marau

To fine you, the government man

Oh my wild Bougainville.

 

From Karato

We run in boats and canoes

Across the cruel sea and time

We dart

With our load of hunting gains and garden produce

To land in the estuaries of Marau

And wait for civilization to welcome us

As his brothers…

Oh my forgotten Bougainville.

 

 

From the desolated Karato

I touch onto the Marau Boat Park

And realize, Bougainville is my land;

Heaven has no place for me yet…

At Marau is civilization

Door, which I loved so much

At Marau is Bougainville

Oh, my sweet Bougainville

Photo: (a) Marau Water Park to Maryanne Tsinuau & (b) a boat in the Buka Passage to http://tartantales.blogspot.com

Integral Human Development

Leonard Fong Roka

As the pre-independence Papua & New Guinea Constitutional Planning Committee rummaged the length and breadth of Papua & New Guinea for citizens’ desires for the constitutional composition, many thoughts were given. These were all compiled into the legal basket we call, the Five National Goals and Directive Principles and other related constitutional components.

Letting go the Directive Principles that I consider, literally, as just a roadmap towards the achievement of the Five National Goals, I shall explain the very first point, INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT of the Five National Goals, based on my observation of Papua New Guinea, for they were what politicians wanted Papua New Guinea to reach for every citizen in order to unify and strengthen the state.

Every person has 'Dignity and Worth'

In simplified terms, Integral Human Development is the ‘creation of a person that is ‘whole’ or a ‘complete being’ within the state boundaries of Papua New Guinea’. On the Constitutional Planning Committee Report (1974) it is written: ‘This means that we use the term development to mean nothing less than the unending process of improvement of every man and woman as a whole person. We take our stand on the dignity and worth of each Papua New Guinean man, woman and child’.

‘Dignity’ and ‘worth’ of every Papua New Guinean is what the citizens wanted prevalent as the very first goal of Papua New Guinea as a state as from 1975. The people wanted the independent state of Papua New Guinea to be the catalyst towards which, it would be the way for citizens to respect each other; and also, that it would be the means for citizens to see value in each other and then, development should flow freely for all.

To me, positive change was well catered for on paper for Papua New Guinea’s progress. For, when the law-makers tapped into Integral Human Development, they addressed the human person as a ‘whole’.

For in the ‘whole human’ person, we connote the three main parts of a person for it is known that a man is made up of the spiritual, physical and mental components. Manifestation into these parts meant the constitution was truly holistic. It was dedicating itself into getting every PNG citizen to be free spiritually, physically and mentally.

In the spiritual aspect of life, the National Constitution for example, was to uphold the Melanesian traditions, cultures or norms that connect the man to his environment. I say this because Melanesians were spiritual beings long before Western colonisation of our islands. In the physical light, by enshrining Integral Human Development as priority number one, the government was telling the world that it was to provide for its citizens. Equality, fairness and justice in political, economic and social benefit sharing was it obligation. For example, poverty would be eradicated for every citizen. In the mental side of the coin, the state would provide easy access to services, for example education or health care without discriminations.

All these basic services, to the government of Papua New Guinea, were its top duty commitment to the people with an ambition to create a stable and viable state where every person was free to access and benefit from every development in Papua New Guinea.

Nice a foundation for a country to any nation builder’s strategizing; but, a proper analysis of Papua New Guinea then, seemingly the leaders was breathing an air of lies and running around with spiel to create a Papua New Guinea, swiftly for the world to see or, for the history books to take note of their credentials as leaders.

Whilst promoting integral human development, the leadership on the other hand, were already engaged to allowing the way for citizens not to see his or her fellow countryman or woman has having his or her own ‘dignity and worth’ within his or her respective provincial settings behind the state boundaries of Papua New Guinea.

Inequality and injustice was what the colonial administration blessed the government of Papua New Guinea with to start off as an independent country directly contradicting its written laws.

A classical case in this regard is my Solomon island of Bougainville. The Government of Papua New Guinea was not willing to respect our ‘dignity and worth’ as non-Papuans or New Guineans to developed with our own values despite being a member of the United Nations that protects minorities or marginalise peoples in the world against all forms of genocide; exploitation and suppression.

At the cost of Bougainvillean land and people, that is our ‘dignity and worth’ Papuans & New Guineans were trying to economically get themselves up and running. Our dignity and worth, was nothing to the state that was built to sustain the bicycle tyre called Papua New Guinea and not those spokes that strengthens that tyre to carry the country.

And today, we still, despite the fact that in the National Constitution there is the Five Nationals Goals with the very first goal being, ‘Integral Human Development’, witness Papua New Guineans killing each others ‘Dignity and Worth’.

In summary, Integral Human Development is for the state to empower each individual citizen’s dignity and worth in its own unique setting for a harmonious national sustenance and developmental progress. But, for Papua New Guinea, the respect for its citizen’s dignity and worth as being neglected in the name of national progress and not citizen development as a whole person.

Simple for Lindsay as Morumbi moves on B’ville resources

BEN JACKSON

THERE ARE SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT the legitimacy of the exploratory and mining partnerships between Canada-based Morumbi Resources and five land ownerships companies in Bougainville.

Sam Kauona (flickr.com)

It is unclear from where these land ownership companies derive their authority, but it seems they have over-stepped their jurisdiction, with neither the Autonomous Bougainville Government nor the government of Papua New Guinea having sanctioned any exploratory or mining projects in Bougainville.

Attention was drawn to Morumbi’s activities in Bougainville with last month’s appointment of Lindsay Semple as chief executive officer.

Semple, an Australian national, has a colourful history in PNG and Bougainville, having previously brokered a 10-year logging deal on the mainland which is alleged to have lasted only a few months resulting in land owners and contractors not being paid what they were owed.

Then, in 2008, Semple, acting for Invincible Resources, made facilitation payments of $8 million to President Joseph Kabui and the Autonomous Bougainville Government to secure a deal for 70% of Bougainville’s mineral resources.

The late Joseph Kabui never took the deal to Bougainville’s parliament and as a result was facing a vote of no-confidence before his sudden death in June 2008.

The deal was canned following Kabui’s death, but not before $200,000 had been spent by Kabui and another $1 million had been withdrawn by other unnamed persons.

At the heart of the deal was Sam Kaouna, financial advisor to Kabui, who it seems saw it as his place to decide on the future mineral resources for Bougainville when he and Lindsay Semple created Invincible.

Kauona told the ABC’s Steve Marshall in 2008: “Lindsay Semple, out of hundreds of interested investors that came into Bougainville, turns out to be that person, that special person, who is genuine, who is able to listen to the way people think.

“Look, although hundreds, I have chosen Lindsay because in my heart I feel that he's the person Bougainville needs.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, four years on Kauona is again at the centre of affairs; this time as vice-chairman and director of Isina Resource Holdings, one of the landowner groups that have made deals with Morumbi.

Source: Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE (http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2012/08/simple-for-lindsay-as-morumbi-moves-on-bville-resources.html )

Questions on the Bougainville Weapons Disposal Program

Leonard Fong Roka

One of the three major pillars to determine the execution of the Bougainville referendum between 2015 and 2020 is the disposal of our weapons. In the many negotiations held overseas as well as within PNG and Bougainville, PNG leaders were always screaming for a gun-free Bougainville. But what is the logic behind the demand for this pillar? Does it fall well to the expectations of all Bougainvilleans?

As Bougainvilleans, we have to remember that we were treated as cheap prostitutes by colonialism. Our island was force annexed (without our consent) by German in a self-glorification chat with Britain. Since then, we had struggled against the two axis of evil that are, Australia and Papua New Guinea but, with hunger for exploitation of our resource reach island, they laughed as our old people wept under the sun demonstrating against PNG, Australia and BCL ruthlessness.

So from 1988 on, guns were our means of change.

Guns chase away the Papua New Guinean squatter settlers, thieves, rapists, murderers, and so on that every day insanely flooded our Solomon island;  guns again, shut down the Bougainville Copper Limited that brought them in, by providing them employment and other money making avenues in order to redskinize our divine heritage or ethnicity.

But as Bougainvilleans, we have to note by heart, that our guns reached our hands not from a donor as PNG did enjoyed eradicating us by receiving free guns and ammunition from Australia, but all guns came in by personal sacrifices. That is, one as to kill your enemy, the Papua New Guinean, to own a gun as he shamelessly, pursues to kill and rob you in your own land.

Politicians came short of acknowledging this fact about Bougainville as they signed the Terms of Referendum in 2001.

Bougainvilleans know the long struggles for self-determination before 1988 that were ignored by the Papua New Guineans for nothing but the wealth of Bougainville that was building their country. Yet our leaders gave in to sell us off once again to the old dogs!

And here is where now Bougainville as being divided into factions as most people are seeing it. There was this faction who wanted to end the war with the gun seeing the many success the BRA were having against the Papua New Guinean infiltrators and there was this other bunch that wanted a solution by peace.

The conflict was here, but all sides were working through different means to achieve that nationhood for Bougainville.

But to many of us, the weapons disposal pillar is a problematic issue because it does not respect the Bougainville concern and the people. The question is: If guns made PNG to change its dirty attitude for Bougainville, why did it push for the eradication of guns without firstly seeing Bougainvilleans from the Melanesian perspective rather than continuing a psychological war from an international legal stage?

It is so silly, to come into Bougainville calling, ‘Throw away your guns and I will give you freedom!’ Bougainville will never be fooled this time by all these empty promises. A wise man gives and takes what he wants but here PNG ordered Bougainville leaders to push for the weapons disposal without giving them something.

What most of us benefited from is peace-making or weapon-containment money handout. And when all these ebbed, since it was created by bias PNG pricks, there we still holding onto guns.

Nobody will throw away the gun, thus sections of the Bougainville Peace Agreement must be re-negotiated to suit the Bougainvillean reasons to go into war.

PAYBACK in MELANESIA

Leonard Fong Roka 

Melanesia is the region of the South Pacific that includes the island of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia. It is a region composed of islands with a diversity of cultures and traditions.

Their history is tracked back long before the dawn of westernization and it shows that survival was so dependent on the sharing (socialism) amongst people or the control of a territory by an individual or a group of people such as a tribe. One has to show that right for authority through coercion, compliment or force display in war or wealth accumulation.

 In this light, man developed the rule of sharing for good (benefit sharing) and for negative issues, retaliation or execution of punitive raids. These actions thus, sustained a man’s dignity and order in the society.

This natural response to disrespect or gratitude to one’s life and property came out to be referred to as payback in Melanesia. That is, what another person has given to you must be returned in the same way it came unto you.

Division of Northern Solomons for New Guinean Exploitation & Suppression needs Retribution (Map: wikitravel.org)

Thus, payback in the literal sense is returning back what another has just given earlier without any alteration of any nature. That is, whatever object or action, you had received must be returned in the shame mannerism or state it came.

The Post Courier (2010) highlighted a historical perspective by stating: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth literally is the notion that for every wrong done there should be a compensating measure of justice.
Its origin is traced back as far as 1792 to 1750 BC in the days of Hammurabi, who was King of Babylon who is said to have imposed this code.
This code survives today in many places in the world and in Papua New Guinea, the notion of vendetta, retaliation, revenge or payback is practiced. The form and magnitude of the act differs from place to place¹’.

Here, Post Courier, runs short of accommodating the positive stories that also applies the concept of payback for good purposes like sharing land or food in communities. But, it solely concentrates on violence or warfare in Melanesia. But, supports the given definition of payback greatly for us and exposes the fact that ‘payback’ as bypassed the peaceful realm and now dwells with violent situations in modern day PNG.

Having forwarded the general overview of what payback is all about; this essay will try to give a balanced analysis of the tradition commonly known as ‘payback’. In every Melanesian society, ‘payback’ is not necessarily centered on negative circumstances but also considers positive social activities related to interactions for mutual benefits.

 Payback, in most Melanesian societies cuddles the five (5) main basic social determinants of harmony (in this paper’s scope) in society; these are: rewards, reciprocity, revenge and punishment.

The saying, ‘you reap what you sow’ then summarizes the five basic social determinants outlined above or, ‘you reap what you sow’ can be said of as being the cover under which the said actions/reactions are experienced. This means, ‘in whatever you do, you are paid back for that particular ‘action’ and nothing else’ (reciprocity).

So when analyzing the give-and-take agenda in Melanesian societies (cross cultural issue), in regard to violence, retributive justice is at play as it is a natural phenomenon. Trompf (1994:1) argues that ‘Retributive logic is endemic to humanity. Childhood experiences in every culture are quickly filled with rewards and punishments for doing ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ with gifts and withdrawals of parental affection, with instructions of right behavior and attitude ( whom not to enrage, for instance, or how to recognize and account for the sign or front happenings in everyday life).

The idea of ‘rewards and punishment’ is a human imprint. We are born into this culture or are nurtured by these traditions. Thus, the Melanesian ways, turn to pour cold water on the Christian virtue of forgiveness. The euro-Christian idea of ‘forgiveness’ lacks substance in Melanesia because it is solely a spiritual ritual whilst, the Melanesian ‘retributive justice’ is both a spiritual and material way of pacification. This means that the man sees it and feels it, thus he is satisfied.

Again Trompf indirectly codifies this notion by suggesting that: ‘Among the socio-economic transactions and rituals that are characteristics of primal cultures, there are concessions, gifts and exchanges between mortals, and fascinatingly analogues interchanges between humans and gods’ (p7).

In Melanesia, one cannot separate the spiritual world and the human person for they are united. Thus, the man requires both the spiritual and material reward in the light of payback culture. This has being referred to as the balanced life.

The man sees the rewards and feels the spiritual relieve of reconciliation. Rewards are what we receive for good things we do unto others. Across Melanesian, for example, one gets a reward from gods through a successful harvest or a hunting trip. This is a payback from the spiritual world for being good to their dictates; for negativity, one is said to be ill and misfortunes.

Bougainvilleans had suffered under Papua New Guineans rule (Picture: pacific.scoop.co.nz)

Reciprocity was mentioned earlier as ‘in whatever you do, you are paid back for that particular ‘action’ and nothing else’ that should now be translated to ‘a situation where persons provide the same help or advantages to each other’ (Pocket Oxford English Dictionary TENTH EDITION). But there are guidelines to this, where Trompf writes that: ‘Yet, it remains that to sacrifice something of one’s self for the sake of others usually requires more conscious effort than to satisfy the impulse, when felt justified, to dispossessed or subvert’ (pg 5-6).

Frankly, Trompf’s study saw that there was no give in or free handout mentally in all societies of Melanesia. Some order of ‘payback’ was attached to every action. One gave or attacked, bearing in mind that there will be a return action for my good or bad acts, accordingly.

Now, departing off from the double segment discourse on ‘payback’, let’s see ‘revenge’. Revenge is a more hostile in all four issues I categorized as ‘acts of payback’ in scope and nature, thus it has to do with violence.

It is the ‘reciprocity of violence’ for whatever levels of bad deeds the culprit has done for the revenge. Thus, for the victim, when innocent, to be satisfied he must return with punitive actions. Trompf wrote: ‘To feel inclined to pay back those who ill-dispersed towards us is to be human…Aggressive urges usually well up in us when faced with condemning, unpleasant, threatening, or over bearing attitudes, when realizing we are being deceived, and especially when we convinced that we have done nothing wrong to merit some act of malevolence’ (pg 2-3).  

As can be noted, when one gets off his foe, there is always calm or prevailing peace of mind. So it is natural that one reacts to any form of unfriendly situations around him or her for they disturb one’s harmonious life with his or her environment; and, eradication of such nasty happenings is freedom or justice in Melanesia.

For us, eradication of any problems or problem doers is the norm of executing punishment on the persons that bothers our life or existence.

 Punishment, as defined by the Pocket Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘an unpleasant experience imposed on someone as a result of a criminal or wrong doing’. This means of payback, is more aligned to merciful people that real long to see justice or harmony therein.

But in Melanesia, punishment mostly is executed by just wounding a trouble-maker with spell or curse from the spiritual world. Victims manipulate with rituals the spirit to help them bring misfortune on their foe.

Often, in certain areas people carryout punitive raids of destroying homes, gardens and other valuables to ease the pain of their victimized relative and the spirits associated with their clan. In Kieta such practice is prevalent and it is called, tekira in the local vernacular.

In the final analysis, payback is a process of healing, dispute settlement or correction of attitudes in the Melanesian societies. It is executed in many different forms like revenge, reciprocity, rewards and punishments. It major purpose is to keep harmony and order for the society and its people.

 Reference

·         Trompf, G. W. (1994). PAY BACK: The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian Religions. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press

·         1. Post Courier (2010). Payback Killing is a Concern in PNG. Retrieved from http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20101012/yutok01.htm

Our Reckless Behavior is a Nation’s Loophole

Leonard Fong Roka

In January this year (2012) a group of students from the University of Papua New Guinea, backed by the ABG officials, executed awareness on issues like autonomy, education and so on in my home yard in the Tumpusiong Valley of Panguna.

I was not present, but a gossip that spread throughout the valley is that, the Bougainville’s future leaders did not answer the village people’s questions in a manner that they desired. Even, some frankly stated they had no idea or they clearly showed the villagers that they were not aware of issues affecting us.

Are we flying the Bougainville Flag with a Bougainvillean Heart? (Photo: The Namorong Report)

Gossip stated that the team came drunk or were touring Bougainville with liquor (in fact, a friend of mine from Muguai in Buin told me that he was with them because they were providing free beer). Sad to say this, but it is now a problem in Bougainville. Also, as it was said of, the team were lovers courting each other and not touring for the good of Bougainville’s 15 000 lost lives!

As I state this, I am worried here by Francis M. Deng (1997) and his words. He wrote: DEPRIVE A PEOPLE OF THEIR ETHINICITY, THEIR CULTURE, AND YOU DEPRIVE THEM OF THEIR SENSE OF DIRECTION OR PURPOSE.

I believe we are suffering under this curse that Francis M. Deng is talking of. May be we have forgotten that there is a place in the Solomon Sea that is called, Bougainville? May be, there was not a crisis that we had politically failed to contained and it turned into a civil war causing the lives of thousands of our brothers and sisters from Buin to Buka and the atolls? May be, all Bougainvilleans are mix-race of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville like me?

If you think, that the conflict was instigated by me a Panguna fellow, you ought to change now that mentality. The Bougainville is a colonialism created crisis in the hearts and minds of our elders and we inherited it from them. The Panguna icons of secessionism the late, Francis Ona and late Joseph Kabui were not there when John Teosin began the Hahalis Welfare Society; they were not present in demonstrations by North Nasioi dominated Napidakoe Navitu led by late Sir Paul Lapun. They were not there on the mission led by current ABG President John Momis in the mid-1970s to the UN in New York campaigning for Bougainville independence. But, as I mentioned it, they as children grew up in that air of conflict.

In this light, the Bougainville crisis in now our common problem; our old people who involved in the protests against our masters, the Papua New Guineans, did not carry our freedom campaign by heart so, when finer pasture sprouted, they forgot their fight and sucked on Papua New Guinean’s breasts.

Mr. Deng’s ideas did happened on Bougainville, but the Bougainville crisis of 1988, gave a venous sting to it. We know who we are; we know we are Solomon people, but our problem is pretention or irresponsibility to our homeland.

We have extreme attitude problem that ought to be address. We act it out so clearly in the open that even the silly New Guinean or Papuan, just ignores us and murders us; rapes us or exploits us without seeing that he has played a enormous part in exploiting and suppressing us before the crisis and throughout the conflict.

When in New Guinea we have our tails firmly glued to our bellies in fear. Here we talk PNG in the open; and we talk Bougainville only in the safety of the cyberspace. Are all Bougainvilleans connected into the world of social networking? No. Bougainville does not know your voice, yet.

I feel sad seeing all these. The more we drift, the more Bougainville will suffer.

Every year Bougainville exports students to be educated and then serve Bougainville in return, but away from home, they are here running after New Guinean penis & vulva and not pursuing the Bougainville reasons for the conflict. They don’t want to be the true Bougainville light to self-determination and progress.

In fact one fundamental reason why the United Nations supported referendum for Bougainville is cultural genocide that Bougainville was subjected to as marginalized people in the hands of irresponsible Papua New Guinea government and people.

But Bougainvillean educated and tourists into New Guinea wants our identity thrown into their ablutions in the light of Human Rights & Christianity the two notable catalysts out of others for poverty & under-development in the Third World countries.

At the same time, Bougainville today, has a good bunch of people that talk Bougainville away from home, but when in their village, they are the problem to the community.

I regularly, meet people coming home from New Guinea, loading beer into PMV because they want to drink all the way to South or Central Bougainville; or booze all the way to Haku or to Nissan Island. Does this, make any sense? Are we doing any good to our village relatives?

This shows how much we don’t respect those that died during the conflict and of course, ourselves as Bougainvilleans. Then,  leading us to become empty drums that lacks any vision and thoughts that is worth contributing to the good of Bougainville whether through your public offices like VA, CoE, Bougainville Administration, NGOs and so on; or through your family or community decision making.

Where do you stand?

We claim we are way-back in terms of development and for those o f us who travel beyond Bougainville, it is of paramount significance that our home coming ought to be a light of positive thinking to our respective communities so that Bougainville can be a better place.

Letter from the Prime Minister of Meekamui

Meekamui Government Progress

Prime Minister, William Sivusia

 7/08/2012.

Dear Uncle Leonard,

When I saw your sharing on FB about the accident in POM in which three Bougainvilleans were brutally murdered (killed) and my brother Camilus K responding to your sharing, which he specifically mentioned ....and I quote "don't worry uncle, Me'ekamui is pushing something that will stop the red skins from entering Bougainville uneccessarily...Unquote. Or something like that. These remarks between you my two clansmen have prompted me to talk to you about the recent achievements in the long struggle for Independance/Sovereignity for Bougainville.

I am one of your uncles, the bigger brother of Thomas Sivusia whom you know. Late Joseph Kabui and myself are also very close brothers. I am currently the Prime Minister of the faction of Me'ekamui government which is associated with Noah Musingku now known as King David Peii who I have been helping for the last ten (10) years to set up and establish our own monetary/banking and governing system, copping all the name callings - conman, pyramid scheme, attacks and police raids on our officers, bank account freezing & closures and even crucification on the media tribunal. But we have resorted to using the Law of Opposite" that enabled us to seize the opportuniies presented by the negative situations we have faced to go forward from power to power. e.g. When the conventional system closed and freezed our bank accounts in PNG banks, it has provided the opportunity to establish our own bank- International Bank of Me'ekamui (IBOM) which I am glad here to announce that the Me'ekamui governmnt and her international financial and banking system is now officially recognized by many countries of the world including 27 super power European nations, the European Central Bank (ECB), and European Union Commission (EUC), as a distinct sovereign government and nation. Our central bank (Central Bank of Bougainville) as the result of these protocol gesture have just received its BIC/SWIFT Code which is CBOBPGPMXXX and ISO 9362. The PNG government and BPNG protested and tried to block t off but official recognition and endorsement by the superpower nations in Europe had more weight in our favour. This is just one milestone breakthrough for us. We have many other breakthroughs too many to name here . Recognitionand awarding of BIC/SWWIFT Code to our central bank of Bougainbille means that our banking system is now fully recognized by all other international banks including WB, IMF, BIS, etc. Our bank can n ow transfer funds directly from Bougainville to any bank in PNG, SI, Fiji, Australia, NZ or wherever we want it to go. This was not possible in the past because PNG had an upper hand over Bougainville. However, sheer persistance and determination finally broke the record when the European Central Bank and European Union Commission came to our rescue.

Our central Bank of Bougainville is ow in the process of issuing/circulating our sovereign gold-base currency - Bougainville Kina (BVK)- electronically at the exchange rate of 1:1 against the euro. Therefore, despite lack of cooperation from ABG, the Me'ekamui/U-Vistract government went ahead and completed its international financial/banking system. It is our honour and previlege to repay the K1.00 billion debt/dinau that ABG incurred in her peace process todate.

That only the introduction of what I will share with you with regard to the culture based government of Me'ekamui.

Be blessed for now and await my next chronicle on this subject.

William Naru Sivusia

Kiaps and the Panguna mine: the truth revealed

BY KEITH JACKSON

IN AUGUST 2007, former Bougainville District Commissioner Bill Brown MBE [pictured in 1968] wrote to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra pointing point out a major error that had appeared in the book, Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, Australia and Papua New Guinea 1966 – 1969.

Bill Brown

The book was composed largely of official documents and, very much like the Wikileaks cables of more recent times, allowed rare insights into the words and actions of Australian politicians and bureaucrats in the three or so years it covered.

But when Bill Brown read the book he was particularly struck by documents that covered the time he was serving his nation in colonial Bougainville. It was a turbulent time and the role of the kiap in trying to educate people about what would happen to their land with the arrival of the Panguna copper and gold mine was a particularly difficult one.

There were about 20 kiaps directly involved with the establishment of the mine and, without exception, they were a voice of knowledge and reason in the face of corporate intransigence, academic insouciance and an Australian government driven by the desire to give PNG resource exploitation at all costs.

The views of these men is perhaps best articulated in an interview kiap Ross Henderson gave to Film Australia in 1969, when he said:

It did not surprise anyone that the Moronis were angry over the land situation. It is not just a block of dirt to them - it is part of the body and the soul. Their whole social system is based on land. The land is owned by the ancestors now dead, the present occupiers and by the unborn generations to come. The occupiers have the right to use the land, to lease, but not to destroy.

From as early as 1966 we have been telling all the villages as much as we knew of the project, and tried to put them into the picture …. It was difficult even for us to envisage what was going to happen. You can imagine how bewildering it must have been for the Moronis.

But many subsequent writers on those times, times which led to the bloody civil war in Bougainville that resulted in something like 20,000 deaths, compounding their lack of first hand research with a too easy acceptance of official documents, did the kiaps a great disservice.

The kiaps were blamed for things they did not do, and accused of doing things that, knowing what they knew, they would never have done.

So in 2007, so many years later, when Bill Brown saw the errors entrenched in the official documents of that earlier time, he decided to tackle Canberra and get the bureaucrats to address the errors and distortions of the documents.

The initial response from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was encouraging:

You are quite correct in your analysis of the errors which flow from the mistaken heading to Document 307. … Sir David, with whom I have friendly relations, has made me aware of the issue and we've come to an agreement on how to correct the record.

When we release these publications, we are aware that they will be carefully scrutinised and we do our best to make them accurate. But anything of this size and complexity will never be perfect. ... All this means that we need to be courageous enough to keep putting things into the public domain and also that we should be humble enough to welcome observations from our readers - and particularly from historical participants such as yourself.

Well, pretensions to accuracy, courage and gratitude were soon betrayed by the reality of a Department that would prefer to leave lies on the record than to admit error. As Bill Brown writes in the paper Bougainville Texts - Some Flaws In The Shards, which you can download below:

In 2007, Sir David Hay was told that a clarification would appear in the next volume, to be published in a year or so, and that a correction would be put on the DFAT website in the immediate future. Sir David waited, and he died. If he had not, he would still be waiting. Foreign Affairs updated their website, but made no correction and did not admit the error.

Even today, the Department is still promoting the book “Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, Australia and Papua New Guinea 1966 – 1969” as “a detailed record of the classified communications that informed and determined Australian policy in Papua New Guinea between 1966 and 1969.” There is no admission of error or flaw, and there is no correction.

“People have suggested that the Australian government has been niggardly in acknowledging the role played by kiaps,” writes Bill elsewhere. Niggardly? That’s putting it mildly. The term I’d use is “bloody disgraceful”.

Anyway, you can read Bill Brown’s compilation here – an invaluable contribution to the history of a troubled island and a welcome clarification of the kiaps’ role in those years between the mid sixties and mid seventies when they did their level best for the people of Bougainville.

Best turned out to be not good enough, but the blame cannot be sheeted home to those 20 or so kiaps. You’ve got to look a lot further south for that.

Retrieved from: Keith Jackson & Friends: PNG ATTITUDE (http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/11/kiaps-and-the-panguna-mine-the-truth-revealed.html)