Bringing the Pacific closer to you.
@PatrickNomos
Bringing the Pacific closer to you.
@PatrickNomos
Gun Collection and Disposal in Bougainville after the Crisis
Photo: The late Hilary Masiria launching the UNOMB's gun destruction event, Buka town, 23/12/2003.
From 23/12/2003 onwards, the practical process of weapons disposal in Bougainville was led by the United Nations Observer Mission in Bougainville (UNOMB), a five-person team based at Buka and Arawa. To officially mark UNOMB’s mandate over weapons disposal, a public gun destruction event was staged in Buka town on 23/12/2003. Several types of firearms, previously locked in storage containers by PMG staff, were destroyed by ex-combatants using an angle grinder and an oxy-acetylene torch.
To launch the gun destruction event, the chairman of the BRF and police minister in the Interim Autonomous Government (IAG), the late Hilary Masiria, gave a speech in which he encouraged all ex-combatants to surrender their guns. In his speech, Mr Masiria noted that the continuing presence of guns in the community was hindering the IAG’s efforts to achieve peace and stability throughout Bougainville.
Medicinal Plants Used in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
Photo: Ringworm Bush (Cassia alata) - Juice of leaves and flowers treats fungal skin diseases.
The deterioration of health services in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) over recent years has led to critical shortages of medical supplies in its hospitals and rural health centres. This dire situation is similar to what Bougainvilleans experienced during “The Crisis” (1989-1998) when the PNG Government imposed a total blockade into Bougainville of goods and services, including medical supplies.
The blockade, which commenced in May 1990, remained in position until a ceasefire in September 1994 and operated informally for much of Bougainville until 1997. In addition to triggering a collapse in Bougainville’s economy and causing many deaths, the blockade forced Bougainvilleans to return to a traditional way of life, including the use of medicinal plants to treat a wide range of common ailments.
European Refugee Doctors in TPNG
(Photo: Village Clinic in Papua New Guinea - Courtesy of the ICRC.)
In 1964, at a village hospital in central Buka Island, Territory of Papua New Guinea (TPNG), a violent confrontation occurred between a village councillor and a European doctor who had recently been stationed there by the territory’s health administration. The councillor, armed with a loaded shotgun that he was legally entitled to hold, had been alerted by villagers that the doctor had just physically abused his 16-year old daughter. While villagers restrained the irate councillor, the parish priest was informed of the incident, and together with the village patrol officer (“kiap” in PNG Pidgin), this dangerous situation was resolved by having the doctor immediately transferred out of the village.
The circumstances leading to this confrontation involved the doctor conducting “clinics” at the village hospital whereby unchaperoned girls aged 6-16 were required to stand alone and naked in front of the doctor while he examined their breasts and genitals. When the councillor’s daughter refused to remove her clothes to allow this examination, the doctor slapped her face, precipitating the ensuing drama. Following the expulsion of the European doctor from the village, stories emerged of him using a scalpel to remove skin growths from villagers, without the prior application of local anaesthetic to dull the pain.
Buka Airport Terminal Upgrade Failure Wastes Public Funds
(Photo: Buka Airport Terminal with Rusting Arrivals Builiding at Rear)
Despite the letting of a contract in 2021 by the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) to a local company for an upgrade of the Buka Airport Terminal, this work is far from being satisfactorily completed. Air travel passengers to Buka, Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), are acutely aware of this facility’s current sub-standard condition.
Incoming passengers are required to stand in a rusting galvanised iron, ex-Department of Works “Nissen Hut” while waiting for their luggage before jostling with their fellow passengers to retrieve their luggage in a cramped, unventilated baggage retrieval area. Outgoing passengers are required to stand in a slightly less cramped check-in area, where ceiling fans provide inadequate cooling and no seating is provided for the travelling public. The airport terminal also lacks a public address system to allow important messages to be broadcast to waiting passengers.
Farewell "Dr. Fish", a Champion of Pacific Fisheries
(Photo: Dr Tony Lewis, Brisbane, Australia, 2015)
On 23/09/2022, internationally recognised fisheries scientist, Doctor Antony (Tony) David Lewis, affectionately known as “Dr Fish”, died at Wesley Hospital, Brisbane, Australia after a brief illness. At the time of his death, Tony was 74 years old.
In the early 1970s, working for Dr Bob Kearney with fellow fisheries research officer Barney Smith of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources (DFMR), Tony was involved in the initial research and survey work of PNG’s resources of skipjack tuna and baitfish species, onboard the Fisheries Research Vessel “Tagula”. Tony personally conducted aerial surveys of surface-schooling tunas in the Bismarck Sea, recording the location and size of tuna and baitfish schools from single-engine aircraft flying from Madang on PNG’s north coast. PNG’s National Fisheries Authority (NFA) recently estimated that the potential value of PNG’s tuna fisheries industry is USD600 million per year.
Bougainville Waters-Stormy Seas Ahead for PNG's Tuna Revenue
(Photo: Purse Seine Tuna Fishing Boat, courtesy of Ocean71.com)
Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) National Fisheries Authority (NFA) manages the nation’s tuna fishery by selling access to PNG’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to foreign tuna fishing vessels. The revenue collected by the NFA from managing the tuna fishery and other commercial fisheries is annually paid by the NFA to the PNG Government where it forms a significant proportion of the government’s consolidated revenue.
Bougainville’s steady progress towards independence from PNG threatens to significantly decrease this annual revenue because of an agreement between PNG and Bougainville that, once a revenue-sharing arrangement has been implemented, Bougainville will receive a portion of this revenue. In August 2019, Nelson Atip Nema, an economist based at The University of Papua New Guinea, estimated that at least 30 per cent of PNG’s annual tuna catch is taken in “Bougainville Waters” (maritime waters associated with Bougainville), which would value the catch at over USD333 million/year.
COVID-19 Vaccination Resistance in the AROB
(Photo: Buka General Hospital, AROB)
On Sunday, 7/11/2021, a 14-day lockdown came into effect in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) by order of the Secretary for Health/Regional Pandemic Controller, Dr Clement Totavun. This order, dated 4/11/2021, followed the release of the official COVID-19 case numbers (70) and deaths (9) from COVID-19 for Bougainville.
This lockdown is designed to physically limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus while allowing life-saving vaccines to be administered to the public. A vaccination programme to protect people against infection from the COVID-19 virus is currently in progress, starting in the north of the AROB and progressing to the central and southern regions.
Changing Attitudes to Family Planning in Bougainville
(Photo Credit: Bougainville Kids, 2004 by Jan Gammage - courtesy of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau).
Following the referendum on Bougainville's independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG) held from 23/11 - 7/12/2019 there have been three meetings of the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB), to facilitate consultations between PNG and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) on the implementation of autonomy for Bougainville. An important outcome of the most recent JSB meeting held at Wabag, Enga Province, PNG on 6/7/2021 is that a decision on Bougainville's autonomy will be finalised no earlier than 2025 and no later than 2027.
Fundamental to Bougainville's future, whatever its eventual degree of autonomy, is its ability to sustain its rapidly growing population. With almost 50 per cent of its population under 20 years of age, this will continue to increase the burden on social services such as health and education, placing further strain on an already fragile economy.
Timor-Leste's Reforestation : Lessons for PNG & Solomon Is.
(Photo Credit: Deforestation in Solomon Islands, courtesy of globalwitness.org)
Forests of Asia-Pacific islands have been degraded by some of the worst selective logging practices in the tropics. Illegal and unsustainable logging resulting in deforestation in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands has been occurring for several decades, despite the assurances of successive governments in both countries to effectively regulate these destructive practices.
According to Wikipedia, deforestation in PNG, mainly as a result of illegal logging, has been extensive in recent decades and is continuing at an estimated rate of 1.4 per cent of tropical forest being lost annually. Illegal logging contributes to an estimated 70-90 per cent of all PNG's timber exports, one of the highest rates in the world. In Solomon Islands, unsustainable logging has negatively impacted forest land availability resulting in logged-over areas losing significant natural and ecological value. It has been recently estimated that timber from Solomon Islands' forests is being felled and exported at a rate 19 times greater than what is considered sustainable.
Buka's Herman Somuk-"The First Modern Artist of the Pacific"
(Photo Credit: "Imposed Labour" c.1942-1943, by Herman Somuk. Collection: Musée d'Océanie A La Neylière, France/ Photograph: Natasha Harth / Image courtesy: QAGOMA ).
Represented at an exhibition entitled "The 9th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art" (ATP9) held at the Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia from 24/11/2018 to 28/4/2019, were four artworks by Herman Somuk, considered by ethnographer Dr Nicolas Garnier to be, "The First Modern Artist of the Pacific". Herman Somuk's artworks displayed at ATP9 were entitled: "Guérian,the founder of Gagan, went to Sine after his death" (c.1930); "Man with Upe" (c.1930); "Imposed Labour" (c. 1942-43); and "Shooting Allies" (c.1942-1943).
These four artworks were lent to ATP9 by the Musée d'Océanie A La Neylière, near Lyon, France that was founded in 1971 by Marist priest and ethnographer Patrick O’Reilly (1900-1988) and Claude Dessirier to house artefacts collected by Marist missionaries throughout Melanesia and Polynesia. Because of difficulties in obtaining appropriate travel documents, Herman Somuk's surviving child, Peter, was unable to accept an invitation by the ATP9's organisers to travel to Brisbane to view his father's artworks. Herman and his wife, Keang, had four children; Colette, Rose, Jacob and Peter.
The Dysfunctional PNG National ID (PNG NID) Project
In early January 2018 my mother needed a birth certificate and a Papua New Guinea National Identification (PNG NID) card as supporting documents for her PNG passport application. Little did she know that it would take three return trips from Buka, Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) to Kokopo, East New Britain Province by air before she finally collected a birth certificate, but not a PNG NID card. Although the PNG NID website carries the message, "We do not accept any form of gift from clients. Thank us with a smile.", my mother was asked by a PNG NID employee for a "personal loan" in exchange for her PNG NID card, a request that she declined.
The PNG NID Card Project, launched in November 2014 under a contract with the Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei Technologies, was promoted by the PNG Government as the vehicle to produce a universal ID card for all PNG citizens. At its inception it was a joint project between the PNG Electoral Commission, Civil Registry and National Statistical Office (NSO), designed to gather information on births, marriages and deaths.
Bank South Pacific's Customer Service - From Bad to Worse?
(Photo Credit: Artist's impression of BSP's Head Office, Port Moresby, PNG - Courtesy of PNGblogs)
Bank South Pacific (BSP) customers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) all have their personal stories attesting to the poor service delivery of PNG's largest retail bank. My personal experiences as a long-time BSP customer include regularly waiting in line for over two hours to make a simple deposit, paying an exorbitant two per cent service fee for cheque, cash or EFTPOS withdrawals whose value is greater than PGK5,000 and paying an annual fee of PGK100 for the privilege of using a BSP Visa debit card account, when the physical card was never delivered to me from the central BSP branch in Port Moresby.
Part of the reason for BSP's sub-standard customer service may be linked to its expansion into the Pacific region and beyond, that has resulted in a dilution of experienced staff members in PNG branches. The newly trained, inexperienced staff in these branches are struggling to deliver quality banking services to BSP's customers, sometimes taking thirty minutes or more to serve a single customer.
A Guide to Addressing Unlawful Detention in Papua New Guinea
(Photo Credit: Police Cells, courtesy of Pexels)
Try to imagine that, as a Papua New Guinea (PNG) citizen, you or a family member are suddenly arrested, with or without an arrest warrant, by the Royal PNG Constabulary (police) and held without charge in the local police station cells for up to three months while the police gather evidence to support their actions. Though this example of unlawful arrest and detention may sound fanciful, it happens often enough for the PNG Constitution to contain a special reference, Section 42(5), to address this issue.
Bio-diesel to Generate PNG's Power-Still a Hard Nut to Crack
(Photo Credit: Coconut Plantation by Allyson Fernando from Pexels)
Per capita, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the world's least-electrified countries, with just 13 per cent of its eight million citizens having access to electric power, most of them living in urban centres. Although upgrading electricity supply has been identified as one of PNG's key goals in its Development Strategic Plan, the fact that 80 per cent of PNG's population lives in rural areas looms as a massive issue in delivering electric power to remote population centres.
Despite the PNG Government's ambitious electrification goals through the PNG Electrification Partnership (PEP) announced at the 2018 APEC meeting, power load-shedding has become commonplace in cities and towns across Papua New Guinea (PNG), disrupting the lives and livelihoods of PNG citizens. While many PNG businesses are able to generate their own power during black-outs using fixed and portable power generators, this adds to their operating costs and isn't an option for most private house-holders.
China's Proposed Fishing Project at Daru, PNG
(Photo Credit: Map showing Daru Island, PNG and Australia's Torres Strait Islands - Courtesy of Google Maps)
On 12/12/2020, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News columnist Laura Tingle reported that in November this year, Papua New Guinea (PNG) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China's Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company to build a AUD200 million "comprehensive multi-functional fishery industrial park" on Daru Island, PNG. The announcement of the MOU's signing was by China's Ministry of Commerce, suggesting that deal was directly sponsored by the Chinese Government.
Daru town is the closest PNG community to Australia, within a few kilometres of the nearest of Australia's Torres Strait islands, and only 200km from Thursday Island. Strategically, it is a mere 1,400km from Darwin, Australia, the site of Robertson Barracks, a major Australian army base with a helicopter airfield. In November 2011 it was announced that up to 2,500 US Marines would be based for six months at a time at Robertson Barracks for training, over the next five years, but this troop ceiling was later revised to be achieved by 2020. The Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, comprising the US satellite surveillance base and Australian earth station, is located 18km south-west of Alice Springs, 1900km from Daru.
Bougainvillean Refugees in Solomon Islands During the Crisis
(Photo: Point Cruz, Honiara, Solomon Islands from Kola'a Ridge, 1998)
Much has been written about the deleterious effects on the people of Bougainville caused by the nine-year (1988-1997) conflict ("The Crisis") between the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), on one side, and the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government and Bougainville Resistance Forces (BRF) on the other. In addition to the tragic death toll on both sides, of a population of 160,000, an estimated 60,000 Bougainvilleans were displaced, many of them fleeing to nearby Solomon Islands. By 1994 there were an estimated 2,000 Bougainvillean refugees in Solomon Islands.
From 1989 onwards, many of these displaced people were granted refuge at care-centres in the western islands of Solomon Islands, the most prominent of which was the International Red Cross Care-Centre at Taro Island, at the northern tip of Choiseul Island, two hours away from Bougainville by motor-boat. There were also two care-centres at Gizo Island, further south.
More Stories
Promoting Law and Justince in Bougainville
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Following the success of the November, 2019 referendum on its political future, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces a multitude of political, financial, organisational and sociological challenges. However, disrupting the influence of ex-combatant groups on the Bougainville Police Service (BPS) and protecting the integrity of its Criminal Investigation Division (CID) must stand as two of its most pressing tasks if the rule of law is to be upheld and justice is to prevail for all Bougainvilleans.
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Despite its illegality, village-scale production of alcohol for sale and consumption is widespread in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Known almost universally in PNG as "Homebrew", there are also regional variants such as "Yawa" in East New Britain Province, named after the small, very sweet banana variety used in its production.
The Remarkable Dr Alexis Holyweek Sarei
Homebrew Alcohol in Papua New Guinea - Time for a Policy
Nukumanu Atoll's Links to Three Coastal Vessels in PNG
Among any regrets Sir Alexis may have had towards the end of his remarkable life, uppermost must have been the lack of a clear political successor. Sadly, the Solos people are likely to wait a long time before someone of Sir Alexis Holyweek Sarei's character and intellect emerges to lead them into Bougainville's post-referendum future.
Nukumanu Atoll's Links to Three Coastal Vessels in PNG
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Nukumanu Atoll's Links to Three Coastal Vessels in PNG
Nukumanu (lit. "Bird's Beak") Atoll is a ring of more than twenty islets on a reef surrounding a large lagoon situated north-east of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (PNG), four degrees south of the equator. The nearest land is Ontong Java Atoll, 38km to the south in Solomon Islands, whose Polynesian inhabitants share many cultural affinities with those of Nukumanu Atoll. Takuu Atoll, another Polynesian outlier in PNG, is situated west of Nukumanu Atoll, 250km north-east of Kieta, Bougainville.
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Prior to Papua New Guinea's (PNG) independence in 1975, the trade stores in Buka town, Bougainville were almost exclusively owned and operated by businessmen of Chinese descent. Prominent among these businesses were Wong Yu & Company and Wong Kui & Company, operated by what academic James Chin terms the 'old' Chinese, essentially the descendants of the first mainland Chinese emigrants to PNG who lived through the process of colonization and who tend to share some common traits - they are almost all Christians and use English as their first language.
Marijuana's Impact on Young Bougainvilleans' Mental Health
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Bougainville's Uneasy Relationship with Chinese Businesses
Wikipedia defines psychosis as an abnormal condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not. Symptoms may include false beliefs (delusions) and seeing or hearing things that others don't see or hear (hallucinations). Other symptoms may include incoherent speech and behaviour that is inappropriate for the situation. In Buka town, Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) and in Buka's villages, it's common to encounter youths exhibiting such inappropriate behaviour, apparently unaware of those around them.
Tactics Used to Frustrate Pacific Independence Aspirations
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
Tactics Used to Frustrate Pacific Independence Aspirations
Three referenda for independence have either been recently held or proposed in the Western Pacific Region. The two most well known of these are the referendum on New Caledonia's independence from France held on 4/11/2018 and that of Bougainville's independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG) held from 23/11/2019 to 7/12/20
Possible Chinese Submarine Presence in PNG Waters
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
Tactics Used to Frustrate Pacific Independence Aspirations
On 15 April, 2020, Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Post Courier newspaper reported that between 22 and 25 March, 2020, people on Takuu (Mortlock) Atoll, Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), sighted a submarine on the sea surface approximately three kilometres from shore.
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
On 29/11/2019 the Treasurer of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Hon. Ian Ling-Stuckey, in tabling the 2020 national budget, announced that as from 1 January, 2020 buyers of imported new and reconditioned motor vehicles for personal use currently attracting 100 per cent duty or more (engine capacity more than 2.7 litres)
Bougainville's Health Services - Past and Present
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Likely Effects of PNG Cutting Import Duty on Motor Vehicles
Pre-Crisis
At the time of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) independence in 1975, health services in Bougainville were provided as part of the PNG National Health System, with very strong support from the mainstream churches.
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Bougainville would greatly benefit from becoming a member or observer of Pacific regional and international organisations and agencies. Prominent among these are the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and The Pacific Community (SPC). Summaries of the focus and activities of each of these organisations and agencies are presented as an annex to this article.
Non-Mining Revenue Sources for Bougainville
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Bougainville's Future Relationships with Pacific Regional Organisations
Most of the mainstream assessments of the economic future of a post-referendum Bougainville focus almost exclusively on the proposed restarting of the Panguna copper and gold mine that exploited non-renewable mineral resources.