Commentary on poem, 'Kawas Meri'

Kawas Meri

by Leonard Fong Roka

Papa simukim kabu'ra

Mama salim taro

Barata wokim banis danis

Na ol salim yu kam lo bilak bokis kantri

Insait lo balus yu krai

lo lukim naispela kantri Bougainville isilip sore

namel lo solwara Solomon wantem hevi, na yu tok:

'Ba mi kam bek na dai lo yu'.

Ai bilong papa hait

Nus bilong mama pas

Han bilong barata ilus pinis

Na yu painim fridom imomo yet

olsem san bilong nambis

Yu bilas olsem misis na English olsem mama kakaruk

Tokples Buin, Nasioi o Haku ilus natin, na yu tok:

'Kiara, yu racist and undemocratic'.

Papa idriman

Mama isilip

Barata istap lo tudak

Na yu bihainim ol ivitu o ere'reng na givim skel lo ol

Ol kisim skel kisik skel olsem ol kisim lo taim bilong war...

taim ol kilim na katimkatim barata, uncle o papa bilong yu

husat ipait lo gutpla bilong yu

Ol kisim skel na yu tok:

'Aung, mind your own business'.

Papa hamamas

Mama hamamas

Barata hamamas

taim balus pundaun lo Buka, na ol krai:

'Kawas meri igat save pinis'.

source: http://asopa.typepad.com/files/leonard-rokas-bougainville-anthology.pdf

Commentary

I was a student when the Bougainville conflict erupted in 1988 on the streets of Arawa. It was not actually the Panguna mining area that saw the first attacks, but it was the New Guinean squatter settlement on the edges of Arawa town, then provincial capital.

One should know why? New Guinean Redskins were are problem to Bougainvillean harmony and freedom in their own island and not in a certain corner of New Guinea.

I write to educate Bougainvilleans to know who they are and understand what history had for them. We, as the Peace Process came in, have absolutely forgotten our recent past and try to foster sweet co-existence with the recent killer of ours. They blockaded us to die as we were struggling for our divine rights. We suffer the consequence of mining on our land, but who benefited from that Panguna mine? They label us, into New Guinea Islanders, but are you Redskin as them? Can you paddle a canoe from Lontis to Rabaul as you can from Olava to Ovau?

In Kawas Meri the message is: see the past, know the present and predict the future!