Arrest of the ring leaders of the protest in Madang

It will be a slap on the face of the people of Madang if the ring leaders of the protest yesterday are arrested by the government. This will really show that there is no freedom of speech in this country. It will show the government’s shift from so called democracy to dictatorship. It will really look bad for the government.

But nonetheless if they government arrests the ring leaders all protesters in Madang are prepared to also be arrested along with their leaders. They feel it will not be fair if the leaders are arrested. If the government is smart, it should let the people express the concerns.

Other centres in the country are also planing to do what the Madang people did. If the government is serving the interests of the people, there will not be such protests. These protests are a response to the many injustices in this country and the government by now should listen to the people. The people had enough and are frustrated. The National Alliance's rule in this country is now numbered. This could be the down fall of the ruling party.

Madang residents protest

By ROSALYN EVARA

MORE than 500 people - including tertiary students - took to the streets of Madang yesterday to protest the changes to the environmental law.
The protestors turned up in droves as early as 8am at Laiwaden Oval armed with placards and banners carrying all sorts of messages, mostly expressing their disgust not only over the changes but at leaders including those from the province who had supported it.
The event went ahead after 9am despite another attempt by Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet, who had turned up at the oval, to again caution their actions would be deemed illegal.
Sir Arnold, the former chief justice, said he understood that he could not stop them but urged they respect the rule of law, particularly as the matter was before the courts. Further they should be wary of what they say.
This however did not go down well with the protestors, some of whom shouted back at him telling him it was their right before making their way out of the oval and onto Modilon Road enroute to the Sir Bato Bultin Complex.
Police on Tuesday after advice from Sir Arnold had also advised the protestors against going ahead with the march.
However, again this did not deter the protestors.
Madang provincial police commander superintendent Anthony Wagambie in a statement yesterday said while he had advised the public against staging the event the public who had congregated at Laiwaden in huge numbers did not look like they were going to back down.
Supt Wagambie given this scenario had to make a quick decision and allowed it to go ahead with police escort and supervision.
He said as law enforcers their primary duty is to protect lives and property and from his assessment, if police had moved them forcefully there would have been bloodshed and mayhem.
He said on the issue of the matter being “subjudice” (in contempt of a current courtation) he stressed the police role to protect and that it be best left to the lawyers to address.
“If proper written advice and instruction was given out earlier, this would have may be made a very small difference.
“However as I have stated, the organisers were very unyielding in having the march.
“I must state here that all means were used to have the march cancelled. After it was forcefully staged, I made assessment on the ground and provided police to supervise the whole event.
“There was no threat to the whole of Madang town, including the shopping centre, due to heavy police presence. The whole episode was under control by police,” he said.
The protestors had initially planned to march from Laiwaden to the Sir Bato Bultin complex - where they had expected to vent their frustrations to Sir Arnold.
However this did not eventuate as the Governor had made it clear that the matter was “subjudice.”
The protestors instead were redirected by police to the area outside the provincial administration headquarters where for more than three hours they vented their frustrations. While they had demanded the presence of the governor, he did not turn up.
George Ireng, who was one of the organisers of the event, said while it was disappointing there were no leaders to listen to the grievances of the people, they (protestors) could be proud they had achieved something.
“The Justice Minister Ano Pala, the Government has said it would be unconstitutional to be doing what we just did and that we would be breaking the law but we can take to the streets because it is our right.
“Even the governor said no to this march but we achieved something by taking to the street. While they (leaders) may not be here that is okay because if we wait for them they will not make a difference.
“The media is so we will have a media conference and get our message out to the world,” he said. The protest was orderly and many who spoke commended the organisers for the initiative.
The event ended about 2 in the afternoon.

Post Courier, July 1, 2010

Environment Act lacks vision

The Government’s recent amendment to the Environ-mental Act can be considered irresponsible, conceited, blind-folded and lacking vision.
The amendment is an enhancement for the Government because landowners in any future mining operations will hardly render the initial permit for the operation to proceed, given the doubts pertaining to the obvious unrecompensed environmental damages.
On the same hand, one may argue that the amendment restricts only third party involvement however the practicality of landowners pursuing a court injunction is a far-fetched option hence rendering landowners pursuit for environmental justice a tedious exercise.
So why did the Government go ahead to pass the bill in haste?

Niglembia
Mondia Khen Nem

Post Courier, June 28, 2010

Fairweather quits government ranks

SUMKAR MP Ken Fairweather has quit the government in protest over environmental law changes that protect a controversial Chinese-run nickel mine.
Fairweather left government ranks on Wednesday and criticised the recent amendments that prevented landowners challenging approved resource pro-jects, saying it would cause irreversible damage to his electorate.
“I do not want my people in later years to say I did not safeguard their rights when I was in the seat,” he said.
“It is a controversial law. Procedures were not followed in the passage of the bill. I am not against mining. I am against environmental damage that might affect the people in the future,” he said.
Environment Minister Benny Allan and other government members have defended the changes as “in the national interest” and protecting the industry from delays caused by court challenges.
The Environmental Act amendments now see the department director’s decision as “final and might not be challenged or reviewed in any court or tribunal”.
This move has outraged the opposition, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and landowner groups who are locked in an ongoing court challenge with China’s state-owned Metallurgical Construction Corp (MCC), the developer of the A$1.5 billion Ramu nickel mine.
Lawyer Tiffany Nonggorr has spearheaded the fight to stop MCC building an offshore deepsea tailing dam that would, over 20 years, pump 100 million tonnes of mine waste into Madang’s Basamuk Bay.
The government made the legal changes after Nonggorr had a “David and Goliath win” in the National Court that granted an interim injunction to stop the project building its tailings pipe.
“The director of the environment department can now make allowances for companies that cannot be challenged; the problem is we cannot rely on the director to make the right decision,” Nonggorr said.
He said the government had sold out to China, equating the potential damage to Madang, and other parts of PNG, with the BP oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“BP is what happens when you remove checks and balances from legislation. Even the Chinese have banned this particular type of tailings due to the environmental destruction they cause,” she added.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare lambasted the media for biasness in their reporting on the matter.
“The amendments did not mean we have lowered our standards of environmental protection,” he had said. – AAP

National Newspaper, June 18, 2010

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.

Amendment in the 2000 Environment Act

The government of Papua New Guinea made amendments to the current Environment Act on 27 May 2010. The people need to put immediate pressure on the Speaker of Parliament not to certify this amendment. If we don’t the end result will be:

1. The government has taken away landowners traditional rights over their land.

2. The government has taken away landowners legal rights over their land.

3. The government has said to Chinese and Exxon Mobil come to Papua New Guinea (PNG), do what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, and we will protect you from any legal liability whatsoever.

4. It is unconstitutional, undemocratic, an abuse of human rights and it is all because the Chinese and the Americans have captured the government and Somare and his Ministers are behaving like puppets.

5. It will apply to all new projects anywhere in PNG.


The people of PNG must ACT NOW! and tell the government NO! This is NOT acceptable.