LAND Is Our HOPE

LAND, to a Melanesian and to a Papua New Guinean is, L..I..F..E. This is the equation; period!
You talk about land - you touch peoples’ hearts; you even think about land - you connect with peoples’ inner being and when you use peoples’ land - you endanger people’s life support system. You play with fire if you mess around with land in Papua New Guinea. You will pay DEARLY if you do that!
Land is passed on from generations to generations. Thousands and thousands of years, people have held on to their land. Land is NEATLY INTERWOVEN with peoples’ culture. You cannot separate the two. Land is SPECIAL; it is peoples’ LIFELINE; it is also peoples’ IDENTITY AND SENSE OF BELONGING. This is the BOND that Papua New Guineans that have passed away, including those that are still alive today as well as those unborn once had, have and will still have with their land. This is their guarantee to survival. Some of the connections that the people have with their land are NOT easily NOTICEABLE by an untrained foreign eye.
Outside agencies such as the World Bank and others have always and are still keeping their eyes and interests on the peoples’ land. Time and again, they have attempted to free up peoples’ customary land for development but encountered heavy resistance from the people. These were the attempts by outsiders, BUT LOOK! Who is now trying to do the same thing? It’s the people’s elected government of the day under the leadership of National Alliance (NA) currently led by Somare who always claims to be the father of the nation. Seriously, is he really the father of the nations? Ooooh gossh!!!!
It is our own government who is now taking peoples’ power and rights over their land and given them to multinational corporations. This took place last week. It was down in a rush. These are the very rights and powers guaranteed by the constitution that were stripped last week in the recent changes to the Environment Act 2000. This is a slap on the peoples’ face.
Now what kind of government do we have that suddenly forgets those that gave her the recognition and mandate to govern this country? What kind of government do we have that strips rights and powers away from its people and hands them over on a golden plate to foreign multinational corporations? Do we expect this from a leader that claims to be the father of the nations?
We cannot point fingers at outsiders now. It is our own people that are taking advantage of us. Multinational corporations now have the power to control development on our land. Why can’t the government simply assist our people to develop their resources at their own terms? We have all the natural resources; we just need to develop our human resources so we can develop our own resources. What’s so hard about it?
Papua New Guinea is one of those very few countries where people still hold customary rights to their land. When are we going to learn from other developed countries? Are those people in developed countries much more happy and satisfied with life? Where in the world do you see most people sleeping on the streets? Where do you see most people dispossessed and alienated from their land? Where do you see most peoples’ relationships in despair and loneliness? Where do you see most people that work their guts out and become slaves in factories so they can have food on the table? Is this the kind of life we want? Is this where we want Papua New Guineans to end up in?
I appeal to all Papua New Guineans to be on the streets now. Now that our leaders have changed the Environment Act at all costs, we need to make them revoke the recent changes. There is no time to waste. Put pressure on your leaders, in the next parliament session they have to undo what they have done! Enough is enough; we don’t want to be like countries in Africa that have lost their land. We don’t want to be like the indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand that have also lost their land and find it very difficult to get it back. Remember once the egg is broken, you will NEVER EVER shape it back to its original form, no matter how hard you try.