Environment Vandals

The opposition leader is absolutely right by saying in the article on National Newspaper today that what the government did in changing the Environment Act is Environment Vandals. It is very encouraging and promising to hear that from the opposition leader. We call on the opposition to do every bit in ensuring that all the members of the opposition including others in government to revoke these changes in the next parliament session this month. This is now a test if they opposition can do this. It will show to the people whether the opposition is really genuine in what it says.

Madang marchers face arrest

Source:

By JEFFREY ELAPA and RONALD BULUM

POLICE in Madang are awaiting instructions from their superiors and the attorney-general and state lawyers to execute arrests on ringleaders of yesterday’s protest march against the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010.
Provincial police commander Supt Anthony Wagambie Jr had earlier on instructed protest leaders against staging the march as the matter was before court and was sub judice.
However, yesterday, hundreds gathered and staged a peaceful and vocal demonstration against the amendments at an open field near the provincial administration buildings.
Wagambie said it appeared that the protest march was organised by both Madang-based and overseas non-governmental organisations. He said police would only execute arrests and file contempt charges if the necessary documents by state lawyers were in place.
Following the filing of a Supreme Court reference disputing the amendments, state lawyers also argued successfully for the matter to be ceased.
Attorney-General Ano Pala later explained that as such, “there should not be anymore discussions, comments or references conducted in the media, or elsewhere”.
“There will be no more talkback radio programmes and interviews, no more advertisements, no more letters to the editor, no more public meetings and, above all, no public demonstrations or protest marches,” Pala stated in a public notice.
The people, mainly town residents, were joined by villagers from Rai Coast, Trans Gogol and the Karkar and Bagbag islands who are members of the Madang People’s Forum and the Bis-marck Solomon Seas Indigenous People’s Council.
Nearly the whole student population of Divine Word University, who had foregone the PNG University Games currently underway at Unitech in Lae in preference of starting their second semester, left classes to take part in the protest, a protester said.
The protesters congregated at the Laiwaden oval and carried placards that said simply: “No no no” or, in a message to Environment Minister Benny Allan and his colleague MPs: “Yu yet gat graun” (you are a landowner).
They were planning to march on the road to the provincial headquarters when Governor Sir Arnold Amet arrived.
“He came escorted by police,” organiser George Ireng said.
Ireng said he asked Sir Arnold to take the lead and march with the people but the governor declined.
Sir Arnold could not be reached for comment.
“He opted to clarify the amendments but we did not want to get any clarifications. It was clear he was trying to defend National Alliance and not the people.”
Parliament had, on April 28, enacted a piece of legislation outlawing third parties from suing developers.
The landowners of Basamuk Bay in Rai Coast felt it was “a direct insult” on them having given Allan and Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu a 21-day ultimatum on April 10 to reply to their petition.
Their petition had called for an independent study of the effects of deep sea mine tailings from the Ramu nickel mine.
They felt that the disposal would adversely affect the marine eco-system from Rai Coast to Karkar and Bagbag islands in Madang to Siassi in Morobe.
Wagambie said all available police manpower in Madang, including a section of the MS14 (riot police) personnel based at Bogia, were dispatched throughout the town asking residents not to stage the protest march.

National Newspaper, July 1, 2010

Protest – Government Say NO! People SAY YES!

The beginning of change in PNG started today in Madang. This was purely people’s power in action. While the government was saying NO to the march today, the people went right ahead and protested. The people are no longer blind, they are rising up because of the many injustices in this country. They took the streets today to show their frustrations on the latest changes to the Environment Act 2000. Included in this crowd of about 3,000 people were the students from the Divine Word University in Madang as well as those from University of Technology, Lae, Morobe Province. People from all walks of life were on the streets today.
All members of parliament from Madang were not available to receive the protesters although they were informed about it. The Governor of Madang tried to stop the march physically by trying to talk to the people in not marching but the people showed their frustrations by ignoring him and marching to the provincial headquarters. The police were very understanding and cooperative, they should be commended for a job well done. Madang has now opened the door for protesting regardless of the Attorney General’s directions of not allowing any protests right around the country. The organizers of the Madang protests, including the general public, the students and even the police should be commended for an excellent job. The very fact that the protest went ahead will go done in history books of this country and that is the beginning of people revolting because the government is NOT serving their interests but that of the outsiders.

A disaster for the Raicoast People

While a lot of attention is focused on MCC in Madang, the Marengco Mine is doing its business quietly. Apparently the Marengco Mine is going to dump its waste directly into the sea at Astrolabe Bay in Madang. Although there will be different discharge points between Marengco and MCC, all their waste will end up in the sea. MCC deals with Nickel and Cobalt, Marengco will be copper and gold. The next question to ask now is which wastes will be more toxic? The people of Madang are really in great risks if they do not stop these companies from dumping into the sea.

If both companies will be dumping into the sea, how will the government know who is responsible for what? The government is in a situation where it cannot even do a study of the Astrolabe Bay, all these times it has been depending on the studies done by the companies.

Where is the church?

The people of PNG are facing more and more injustice. It is reported in media every week that there is misappropriation, money goes missing, the parliament’s law making process is flawed and the list goes on. One cannot imagine the magnitude of corruption in the country. One would think that the churches should play a role in ensuring justice prevails. But the situation is made more complicated when we see that the churches are also part of creating injustice. Most of the churches in the country are getting money from multinational corporations operating in the country. These multinational corporations are mining, logging, commercial fishing, agro forestry projects and so forth. While those churches are benefiting, the masses on the ground are always being suppressed, undermined and marginalized by logging, fishing, mining and other agro forestry projects. Most people say and think we are a Christian country by I doubt it especially in seeing what’s unfolding before our eyes.

Change of leadership

This is the 71^st day since the court injunction preventing the Ramu Nickel Mine from dumping of waste into the sea at Astrolabe Bay as well as blasting of the reefs. The situation in Madang as we hear from sources on the ground is now tense. While the people of Madang are fully prepared and pumped up for a public protest on Wednesday re: the recent changes to the Environment Act, MCC as well as the government of Papua New Guinea are desperately running out of ideas in dealing with the situation. This is an indication of the power of people. If people can stand together they can be able to make a big difference. The government of PNG is now confused as hell. The government should know that the people are no longer blind. The tactics used to run this country in the 80s is no longer relevant and applicable. Seriously there needs to be change in leadership if this country is going to progress.