Foreigner's Voice in Bougainville Politics is Off-Track

Leonard Fong Roka

In the 2009 YouTube film, The Reeds Festival, the late Bougainvillean film actor and advocator of Bougainville cultures, William Takaku stated, ‘The old leaves must fall to allow the young leaves to grow leaving their wisdom of the trunk to the young leaves to carry on the culture of the tree.’ But sadly on the political level the old leaves are there creating chaos and instability for the young leaves of Bougainville.

The Bougainville crisis since 1988 and the reaching of the peace process since 1997 is a development on the lives of Bougainvilleans that created shifts in the power status of individuals across the island. There are pre-crisis people that the crisis stripped them of their powers and there are those that the crisis catapulted into high status of power they had never seen before. And where normalcy is prevailing on Bougainville, the latter seem engulfed by fear of losing power.

And a notable Bougainville woman leader, Ruby Miringka stated frankly on the combatant populace in the 2009 Dom Rotherce film, Bougainville: Reopening old Wounds. Her myopic statement said, ‘They don’t know their future [and] that’s why they are hanging onto their guns.’ But the significance of her words would be found more stunning at the political arena.

Since the birth of the peace process threat was foreseeable for those whom the conflict blessed them with power status. And this is evident in the many Dr. John Momis vs. Sam Kauona that is hurting to the psyche of a people that want to see harmony on their land and politics.

Observing the trends of confrontation between these two political figures, it is obvious that it is war for political dedication to serve Bougainville interest for the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and a power status survival for Sam Kauona who had forge a long trail of international arrangements to strike the existing authority on the ground.

And Bougainville been a trouble zone transiting slowly towards normalcy is the place where opportunists rush at to make fortunes as noted in the Leonardo Dicaprio movie, Blood Diamond. Diamonds and violence in Africa but in Bougainville, the Dr. Momis vs. Kauona, is around who should be made or seen as legitimate by the authority system in place and the people.

A few people recognized the extremity of this struggle, from Kauona’s side, during the ABG-Landowner Association Forum in Buka that ran 5-6 December, 2013. Once here, facilitators told participants to keep out for a few minutes and they sort out agendas but Sam Kauona who of course was not part of this came from nowhere to storm the close door to verbally strike the organizers.

This Kauona attitude towards the ABG has roots in the pre-ABG days. And this is in his relationship with the Australian resident of Canada Lindsay Semple and a Southern Highlander, Philip Rali and their company, Invincible Resources. The trio was able to get the infant ABG under control then under the late Joseph Kabui who had a notable weakness of unwillingness to hurt others unlike Dr. John Momis currently.  

But despite winning the late Joseph Kabui they failed to win the parliament with their creation of the Bougainville Resources Development Corporation (BRDC) that of course sold Bougainville to Lindsay Semple and Philip Rali. Their deal gave 70 percent of Bougainville natural resources and wealth created from these resources away to these two foreigners; this shock also led to the dead of Joseph Kabui. But with Kabui gone, Semple and Rali are still around driving Kauona as a child everywhere since they have spent figures like the K20 million offered to ABG and so on and they need to get back that somehow.

After the first failure, Semple and Rali came back under the skin of the Canadian company, Morumbi Resources. Since 2011 as noted by the Dr Momis press statement, Bougainville Mining Law to End Backdoor Deals, in The National, (November 25, 2013) had been try to get control of resources in large parts of Bougainville but many people have resisted them after making use of their financial rains and this hurts.

And Semple and Rali cannot stop by having Kauona as they spokesman against the ABG. It is sad that foreigners are running a respected Bougainvillean Sam Kauona.

To the hurt Invincible caused on Bougainville ABG created its Bougainville Mining (Transitional Arrangements) Bill 2013 that shocks Morumbi Resources dozen MOUs with resources owners that is fighting for recognition by the ABG. This led Semple, Rali and Kauona to create own mining law, People’s Mining Bill, that is bad for Bougainville on one part where it gives all powers to landowners on all resources development and all Bougainvilleans are not partners through the ABG.

The trio wants ABG to throw away its mining law for they hate the provisions that the ABG is always are partner with the landowners of any resource projects and especially the trio target was Section 203A (Special Mining Lease) that seem under PNG Mining Act 1992 upholds the cruel Bougainville Copper Agreement Act of 1967.

But ABG says it is ‘transitional’ that needed for a peaceful and harmonious transition for Bougainville without conflict to existing PNG laws and scaring away possible investment attraction.  

But Semple and Rali could not stop pushing Sam Kauona everywhere turning him into a joke for the Bougainville politics literate community.

In a recent attack, Kauona, brought in the debate neo-colonialism and its major evidence it the presence of lawyer, Anthony Regan, his enemy number. But Regan began his enemy when he befriended Semple and Rali. Kauona worked with Regan in all the peace process efforts since late 1990s but Semple-Rali money is the problem for Sam Kauona.

Foreign money from Semple and Rali keeps his power status afloat around Bougainville; he does not care about the 55 years Morumbi Resources ownership of Bougainville mineral resources that is under a framework where only the landowners have right to exploitation or development and not the rest of Bougainvilleans who had suffered for this land due to mining in one part and their government and keep attacks ABG but his debate is like a child joking.