Uni students warned against protesting

Source:

By JASON GIMA WURI

THE Students Representative Council at the University of Papua New Guinea has warned students against organising or taking part in any public demonstrations and protest marches.
SRC president Rainbo Piari issued the warning during a forum yesterday in view of the current political situation in Port Moresby.
“As intellectuals, we will not take part in any protest march.”
There were rumours yesterday of students from UPNG joining a protest march organised by non-governmental and civil society organisations to parliament.
However, this did not eventuate following a public ban on demonstrations by police.
“There was no formal agreement with NGOs or civil society groups to join a protest march and, therefore, UPNG will not stage anything of that sort.
“Rather, we have called for a forum so that students can air their views,” Piari said.
“Those students caught trying to instigate something in the manner of a protest march will be dealt with severely by the administration and police,” he warned.
“Over the years, UPNG has been known for holding protest marches every time there are political sagas but, this time, we want to take a more intellectual approach.
“We are not politicians but, as leaders of tomorrow, we call for a change in power and in direction because we have that right to exercise our freedom of speech,” Piari said.
“We want a change for the better, because we have had enough of corruption in parliament,” he added.
Classes were suspended for the day as students gathered at the forum square to air their views.
Uni-force security personnel were also deployed around campus to maintain peace and order.

National Newspaper 21 July 2010

Change Government Now!

The countdown has begun before we know whether the National Alliance the current ruling party in parliament will survive. The same can be a said about the Sir Michael Somare who is the PM of the country. There is going to be a vote no confidence in today's parliament session a 2pm.

Just listening to the talk back show this morning, there are a lot of frustrated people out there who sharing their sentiments against the current government. They are saying that this government has a lot to answer for for the many problems we face in this country. Stone throwing by the Tari people of Southern Highlands to the Prime Minister (PM) last week sends a big message and a symbol of peoples' disrespect and trust in the PM. What if the stone was bullet?

Most people are saying most of the leaders in the country have served their purpose in a particular time and those times are long gone. Most of these leaders are currently ineffective and are not contributing positively to the development of the nation. They are in parliament for their own gain. Very few of these leaders have new ideas and vision in-order to take this country forward. Some of these prominent leaders are implicated in most of the corrupt and fizzy deals taking place nowadays and nothing is being done about them. This frustrates the hell out of our people. This is one of the reasons why people are calling for the PM and others to step down. New leaders and visionaries are now needed quickly as the symptoms of a very sick and weak society are now obvious in this country.

Ramu NiCo fails to lift interim injunction on DSTP

See below an article from National Newspaper today.
Congratulations to the Raicoast people of Madang Province for standing together and for ensuring that this case has coming this far. Today is the 90th day for this court injunction to be in place preventing the Ramu Nickel Mine from dumping its waste into the sea as well as blasting of the off-shore reefs at Basamuk. The eyes of the other landowners in the region and also in the world that are going through similar struggles are on these people. It is very empowering and encouraging for landowners to win this case. It is a David and Goliath fight and we hope the landowners come out winners in the full trial next month. The government should by now understand that we are no longer in the 80s. Its time gone for all tactics to be effective.

Source:

By JULIA DAIA BORE

RAMU NiCo, developers of the giant Ramu nickel project in Madang, have failed in the Supreme Court to quash an interim injunction to proceed with the construction of a deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) system and get the mine off the ground.
A three-judge Supreme Court last Friday dismissed the appeal by Ramu NiCo and its state partners against the lower court’s granting of the interim injunction which had effectively stopped work on the last stage of the construction at Basamuk Bay.
The ruling means that a trial date will be set, probably next month, for the substantive matter to be argued in court.
Four landowner leaders – Eddie Tarsie, Farina Siga, Peter Sel and Sama Melambo – and the Pommern Incorporated Land Group had sought the interim orders in the National Court in Madang in March and April that the DSTP system off-shore of the Basamuk and Astrolabe bays would be detrimental to all landowners along the Madang coastal areas and their entire livelihood.
They also claimed that it was not the best practice of environmental management activity. Justices Catherine Davani, Derek Hartshorn and Don Sawong ruled that while they noted the submissions made by Ramu NiCo and its partners, they were also mindful that if the DSTP was allowed to proceed, “the potential environment harm far outweighs the lifting of the injunction”.
“The balance of convenience lies in maintaining the status quo at least until after the trial of the substantive matter,” they ruled, adding that “it is better to take a precautionary approach than to proceed in haste”.
Ramu NiCo and its partners had, in essence, submitted in their appeal that it was lawful for them to proceed with the construction of the DSTP system as agreed to in their joint venture agreement and also based on the mining development contract signed between the parties concerned, including the PNG government and MCC to start mining nickel in the Kurumbukari area of the Bismarck Ranges before the end of this year.
The partners had argued in court that the landowner leaders, in their ILG in this proceeding, only represented their own interests and not that of the bulk of the Basamuk Bay people.

National Newspaper July 29 2010

PM Once Again in Madang

It is now the 85th day of the current court injunction by the Raicoast Landowners which is preventing the Ramu Nickel Mine from dumping into the Astrolabe Bay. Because of this court case, the government has been trying desperately to talk to landowners in dropping the court case. The people still remain firm in their position, they simply don't want dumping waste into the sea. Because of this strong resistance from the landowners, the Prime Minister has been making secret trips into the province lately. He is now back in Madang today and is meeting with landowners from Mindire where the Ramu Nickel Mine established its refinery plant. We hope the landowners remain firm in their stand.
One has to be suspicious especially when the PM's frequent trips to Madang this year have mostly been done secretly. Don't be surprise if there is another project coming up in Madang which the landowners don't know of.

Lawyer: House can fix dent in OLIPPAC

National Newspaper below reports that true democracy has been restored but I doubt it. Politicians are now free to join any political parties they want but the bottom line is that we are still dealing with the same corrupt leaders. Additionally, we are still dealing with the same system.
It will really require a complete change of system and people in-order for any changes to take place in this country. The same recycled leaders will be in government. There is no immediate change that I see but we need to invest in getting young leaders with new ideas and vision for this country.

Source:

By JULIA DAIA BORE

WEDNESDAY’S Sup-reme Court decision on the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) was hailed by its referrer, Dr Bob Danaya, as “justice being done at last” for the people of PNG.
Danaya and counsel Loani Henao, however, said the decision had left a “dent” in the OLIPPAC.
Henao said: “The major parts of the OLIPPAC that we challenged in court have been declared unconstitutional, but the rest remained intact.
“The question of whether what remains of the OLIPPAC would hold the law together is something for Parliament and the registrar of political parties to consider,” he told reporters after the court decision.
“In our view, the OLIPPAC had been severely dented. And, so, necessary amendments are needed to put together a complete OLIPPAC.”
Henao said while the intention of the OLIPPAC was to bring stability to government, such should not happen “at the expense of freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom of exercising conscience”.
“Do it properly; you can still do it within the framework of the Constitution.
“Do not abuse and do not take away the rights of the people which are expressed by their representatives.”
Thanking his legal team for convincing the Supreme Court to rule in their favour, Danaya said: “I can tell Members of Parliament that from this hour on, you are free to resign from a political party – if you wish to – and join another party or form another party.
“MPs now have that freedom; and, the important thing is, from here onwards, we must ensure there is good governance in Parliament and throughout PNG.”
Henao said the fears of a dictatorship were gone.
“That has been removed.
“True democracy has returned.
“The Supreme Court decision was very important. It was, hopefully, a lesson to the legislators that the enshrined freedoms in the Constitution must not be tempered or interfered with.
“These freedoms are put there so that they will allow the constituencies and the grassroots people of this country to exercise their freedom of choice and their freedom of expressions through their elected MPs.
“That should never, ever have been taken away in the first place.”

National Newspaper July 9 2010

Unnecessary and Overdue Road Show

Benny Allen the Minister for Environment and Conservation talks about doing a road show on the changes to the Environment Act. The government is putting the cart before the horse once again, this awareness is long over-due. In fact it should have been done before changes to the act were made let alone passing of these changes in parliament.

This shows clearly that our government is not really concerned about peoples' views. Our government is moving from democracy to dictatorship. It is suppressing people from airing their views and wants total control of peoples’ natural resources.

The government once again is playing its trick by staging that road show. Why do they have to come to Madang, what about the other provinces. If they are really serious, they should go out to all remote areas in the provinces NOT only aim Madang Urban Centre. The people that own the land are out there in remote areas, go out there!

The people should not be fooled by the government. Benny Allen and the New Asian Party, your time is over! The people are no longer stupid.

Young people, take control now

This is now the time for the young people to regain control of this country before it ends up in the hands of the dogs. Now is the time, because the system (controlled by outsiders) now is slowly gaining control of our labour and our resources. They want the key to our lives which is our land.

We don’t want to be like other indigenous people in other countries that have lose everything. We don’t want to be like the Maoris in New Zealand, the Aborigines in Australia and the red Indians in the United States. Most of these people especially n the United States are in reservation camps. These people are suffering while the outsiders are enjoying themselves having access to all their resources. They even have control over the labour. We don’t want to be like them. PNG is a unique country and we want to be unique. We want to maintain control of our freedom. We don’t want to be slaves in factories and “work for the man’ we want to maintain control of our land. If we lose our land, that’s it we lose our labour, our lives, our culture and our identity.

Young people, this is now your time, rise up because if you don’t the old leaders are selling our country to the dogs. Take control now or never!