May 20 2015

Bougainville 2015 Election update: Voting near completion as counting gets underway

Acting Electoral Commissioner to Bougainville Mr George Manu speaks at the media conference held today Wednesday May 20, 2015.

(This is the Press statement from the commissioner).

Welcome and thank you for attending today’s media conference for the 2015 ABG General Election.

Today, I am pleased to report that polling has been completed in 31 of our 33 constituencies.

Polling is yet to be completed in just two of the more than 730 polling places that operated during this election.

There is one polling place in Tasman, in the Atolls, that is yet to poll. Polling has been delayed in that location due to weather and logistical challenges; however, I am advised that it is anticipated that polling will be held there in the next couple of days.
Polling is also underway today at one polling place in Kabaku in North Nasioi and is expected to finish there today.

Throughout this election we have had 218 polling teams operating across all of Bougainville and 5 provinces on mainland PNG.

I would like to thank the dedication and professionalism of all polling teams and the 19 Returning Officers.

They have overcome the many logistical challenges that we face when providing access to voting for the more than 172,000 enrolled Bougainvilleans.

Throughout this election we have achieved a number of things for the first time.

This election is the first election in Bougainville led by Bougainvilleans for Bougainvilleans. I cannot over emphasise the significance of this.
This election is also the first in Bougainville where we have established regional electoral offices in Arawa and Buin, bringing the administration of the election closer to the people.
Another first is that my office implemented out of constituency voting for Bougainvilleans Inside Bougainville. Polling places were established at central locations in Buka, Arawa and Buin to facilitate this. These Special Polling Places, established under our Elections Act, increased the opportunity for voters to exercise their democratic right to vote.
In this election we also increased the opportunity for Bougainvilleans Outside Bougainville on mainland PNG to participate in the election by providing voting service in Port Moresby, Lae, Goroka, Madang and Rabaul.
And finally, there was the enhanced security features of the ballot papers. This is the first time for PNG, and quite possibly the Pacific, that ballot papers with such advanced security features have been used.

What we have achieved is a great stepping stone towards better, stronger elections in the future. Of course every election is not without its challenges.

My office will continue to investigate all reports and complaints relating to this election as they come to light. This includes reports of people’s names not being found on the Final Electoral Roll and cases of voter or candidate misbehaviour.

As I announced yesterday, in light of credible reports received that some people were seeking to abuse the Special Voting Service for Bougainvilleans Inside Bougainville by attempting to vote more than once and by attempting to remove the indelible ink, polling at the Special Polling Places has been brought to a close ahead of schedule.

I took this step to safeguard the integrity of the election.

My office will be following up on the reports of multiple voting and I will be requesting assistance from the Bougainville Police Service.

I wish to thank the vast majority of Bougainvilleans who worked cooperatively with polling officials and the Bougainville Police Service to make this election, free, safe and fair.

In terms of next steps, OBEC will conduct a Training-of-Trainers for Returning Officers on counting procedures. This training will be held in Buka on Friday 22 May. All Returning Officers will travel in from their regions to attend and they will then return to their regions to train their count centre staff.

Then on Saturday 23 May OBEC will sort the envelopes from the Special Voting Services. Envelopes containing ballot papers cast through Special Voting Services, both for Bougainvilleans Inside Bougainville and Bougainvilleans Outside Bougainville, will be sorted according to their constituency.

The sorting of envelopes will be conducted in the full view of scrutineers and electoral observers. Envelopes will be sorted by region and constituency – there will be no opening of envelopes.

Sorting of envelopes for Bougainvilleans Outside Bougainville will take place in Buka, while sorting of envelopes for Bougainvilleans Inside Bougainville will take place in the three regional count centres at Buka, Arawa and Buin.

OBEC is committed to full transparency and I invite scrutineers and electoral observers to witness the process from beginning to end.

At the end of the SVS sorting, envelopes will be placed in ballot boxes, resealed, and transported with police escort to their respective regional count centres.

In addition to the three regional count centres in Buka, Arawa and Buin, there will be a Presidential count centre in Buka. That is where the counting for the Presidential seat will take place. To allow for a faster presidential count, the first step of the Scrutiny at each of the three regional count centres on Tuesday 26 May will be to identify misplaced ballots that may have been deposited in the wrong ballot box.

I will provide more detailed information on all of this over the coming days.

Thank you again for attending today’s briefing. I will hold my next media briefing at 2pm Bougainville time on Monday 25 May here in the OBEC Media Briefing Room.

May 20 2015

PNG BAN ON AUSTRALIAN’S TRAVEL TO BOUGAINVILLE – Momis says honour the Bougainville Peace Agreement

“I call on the Foreign Minister to lift the ban immediately, and to separately take steps to resolve the PNG dispute with Australia. There is no basis for the PNG Government to be harming Bougainville as a way of dealing with its misunderstanding with Australia.

“I also call on the Foreign Minister to work with the ABG to ensure that we can use our foreign affairs powers under the Peace Agreement.

“I also seek an assurance from the Minister that in future he will not take unilateral action in relation to foreign citizen’s travel to Bougainville. Instead, he must recognise Bougainville’s autonomy, and only take any such action at the request, or with the agreement, of the ABG

Grand Chief Dr John L. Momis

President John L. Momis today made a statement on the dispute between PNG and Australia over the PNG announcement of a ban on travel to Bougainville by Australians. The ban was imposed in response to Australia’s announcement about establishing a diplomatic office in Bougainville.

The President said the ban on Australians travelling to Bougainville would only cause problems for PNG, Bougainville, and Australia.

He said: “Australia is spending K120 million per year on assistance for Bougainville. It supports development building the capacity of the public service of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG). A ban on Australians travelling to Bougainville will severely slow delivery of important assistance that is helping Bougainville in many ways.

“It is therefore vitally important that this dispute between PNG and Australia is resolved as soon as possible. The dispute can readily be resolved if both governments honour the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

“Australia knows that under the Agreement, Bougainville’s leaders accepted that Bougainville is part of PNG unless the referendum process results in a change. So unless or until that happens, Australia must of course respect PNG sovereignty.

“I understand that what Australia proposes is a limited increase in the full-time office it has had in Buka since about 2007. Australia has had discussions with PNG and the ABG about doing this. But the announcement in the Australian Treasurer’s budget speech last week made it sound as if a major diplomatic office is to be established

That is not the case. Australia should publicly clarify what is little more than a misunderstanding.

“For its part, PNG should remember that the Peace Agreement provides Bougainville with high autonomy, now guaranteed by the PNG Constitution.

The travel ban has been imposed without a request from or agreement of the ABG. This is a serious breach of at least the spirit of the Peace Agreement.

“The Agreement also clearly gives the ABG control of access of foreigners to Bougainville.

Under it the ABG can propose names of foreigners to be placed on the visa warning list, to prevent their entry to PNG and Bougainville. All applications for work permits and employment visas for people wanting to go to Bougainville are required to be referred to the ABG.

“But ABG requests to the National Government to set up the necessary administrative machinery for the ABG to exercise these powers have so far been ignored. So it seriously concerns me that PNG now wants to control travel to Bougainville, when it does nothing to allow the ABG to exercise its clear powers to control foreigner’s access to Bougainville.”

The President said that he wanted to discuss the travel ban with Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs as a matter of urgency.

He said: “I call on the Foreign Minister to lift the ban immediately, and to separately take steps to resolve the PNG dispute with Australia. There is no basis for the PNG Government to be harming Bougainville as a way of dealing with its misunderstanding with Australia.

“I also call on the Foreign Minister to work with the ABG to ensure that we can use our foreign affairs powers under the Peace Agreement.

Grand Chief Dr John L. Momis

May 19 2015

PNG Australia diplomatic row: Bougainville needs sustained and meaningful peace and happiness

PNG – Australia diplomatic row:

Bougainville needs sustained and meaningful peace and happiness with everyone as well as with itself

Photo and words by Simon Pentanu :Kieta

Picture: A peace symbol on white coral sand, among black pebbles. Bougainville desires peace more than anything else. May peace and harmony prevail on Bougainville and in PNG.

“May be the choice of the words diplomatic office or mission in the Federal budget estimates is the primary source of this agitation in the context of political arrangements for Bougainville within PNG. That budget estimates are only proposals and plans pending approval is often lost, as may be the case now, when political fray momentarily takes over.

But there is no doubt that Australia must recognize sensitivities both political and cultural in a more considered and serious light to avoid stumbles and pitfalls in its otherwise long, enduring relationship with its most populous, boisterous and resource rich Melanesian neighbour.”

If there is anything at all that the ABG leadership should say on this matter it is that the spirit of the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA) should oblige the National Government to consult or at least inform Bougainville that it was taking such a course with Australia before banning visits by its citizens to the Region.

Simon Pentanu

This incident or misunderstanding is something that was probably bound to happen along the way. That it has, has thrown up an opportunity for Australia to think through more carefully just how best Canberra should bring such and other matters in connection with Bougainville to the attention of PNG leaders. I say along the way because we read that there have been discussions at bureaucratic and political level in mooting the office on Bougainville.

PNG has made its point well and clearly about the need for consultation. Australia has responded with some caution and constraint, clearly so that the diplomatic waters are not muddied any more than they are already. Both sides need to recognize that both countries have had more bellicose diplomatic and political spars and spats in the past and that humility, time and dialogue have been the best healers. Not ironically most of the similar cataclysm in the past has had to do with something or other with Bougainville.

Bougainville will continue to be a prickly thorn on the sides of successive PNG and Australian Governments for a variety of different reasons to do with the Region’s political future. What most of us don’t want to see is politicians in PNG, including Bougainville, and Australia flexing their muscles, grandstanding and communicating in euphemisms and monologues at a distance where they are hard of hearing each other and as a consequence creating potential uncertainty and confusion among ordinary folk in Bougainville on a matter over consultative procedures and processes in dealing with matters on the Island.

A Masters thesis or a PhD dissertation or a Crocodile Prize entry or even the verses from the humongous King James version Bible will not nearly address or offer the way out towards grappling with or getting this potentially divisive matter towards an amicable resolution as would be a dialogue between affected human beings at close quarters, and face to face.

The BPA which is a joint-creation between Bougainville leaders and PNG remains a good guide, and in parts an enforceable document, to consult. If there is anything at all that the ABG leadership should say on this matter it is that the spirit of the BPA should oblige the National Government to consult or at least inform Bougainville that it was taking such a course with Australia before banning visits by its citizens to the Region.

Sensitive issues, whether it is to do with thinking aloud about a diplomatic office in Buka now or asking former Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to remove his shoes at Brisbane airport some years ago calls for more than just diplomatic or political skills to manoeuvre through and get out of. They certainly cannot be suppressed or buried because they will simply resurface elsewhere in our regional relationship.

May 18 2015

Diplomatic row BREAKING NEWS: PNG Government Imposes Ban on Australians Travelling to Bougainville

Rimbink Pato, Minister For Foreign Affairs and Immigration, has announced a ban on Australians travelling to Bougainville.

Minister Pato issued the notice following the announcement by Australia of its plan to establish an Open Mission in Bougainville.

The Minister said, “I have instructed the Chief Migration Officer to impose the ban with immediate effect and to notify all PNG Overseas Missions and Posts and domestic carriers of the ban.”

He said Australians residing in Bougainville on work and permanent resident visas will not be affected by the ban. The ban will apply to all Australian passport holders who intend to visit Bougainville on tourist, business and other short-term entry visa’s.

All Diplomats and Foreign Government Officials wishing to visit Bougainville must seek clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs before travelling to Bougainville. A clearance note will be issued to the Carrier to uplift the named officail(s).

The ban will also be imposed on any foreigner who applies for a visa at an PNG Overseas Missions and Post to visit Bougainville.

PNG Migration, Customs and Police Officers on duty at PNG Ports and Entry and Provincial Airports will monitor the ban and report any non-compliance to the Chief Migration Officer.

Source: Rimbink Pato, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration 15 May 2015 [Media Release]

May 16 2015

Bougainville Elections 2015 : Deciding our future only 9 days to go

By Aloysius Laukai Managing Editor Bougainville News International -Subscribe for email delivery

Polling in 24 of the 33 seats in the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s Parliament were completed today Saturday May 16th, 2015.

This means only 9 Constituencies are yet to complete polling before end of polling on May 26th.

This also means that the remaining areas must be covered in the next nine days.

This was revealed by the Acting Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, GEORGE MANU this afternoon in his daily press conferences.MANU said that despite the hiccups at the start of Polling he was happy that polling is progressing well.

By this afternoon polling have been completed in many areas.

In North Bougainville, polling has been completed in 12 CONSTITUENCIES of HAKU,PEIT,HALIA,HAGOGOHE,TONSU,TSITALATO,SELAU,TEUA,MAHARI,

TAONITA TINPUTZ and TAONITA TEOP.

In South polling has been completed in twelve Constituencies of RAMU,KONNOU,LULE, BAUBAKE,MAKIS,KOPII,MOTUNA HUYONO, BABA,LATO,BOLAVE and TOROKINA.

The Commissioner said that due to communication difficulties receiving updates for Central continues to be challenging at times.

Polling for Monday will take place at RATERI in the Rao Constituency whilst team 99 For IORO will poll at SIREDONSI village, team 111 for South Nasioi will poll at ROREINANG and in KOKODA team 125 will poll at KOROMIRA.

NEWDAWNPIC of George Manu by Aloysius Laukai

The Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, GEORGE MANU today commented on the 2015 ABG Election Common Roll.

He told a media conference in Buka this afternoon that significant resources are required at an Institutional, Human Resourcing and Infrastructure level to maintain an accurate and comprehensive Common Roll and this remains a challenge for Bougainville.MANU said that it is a legal obligation of every Bougainvillean to enrol as a voter and it is the obligation of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, through the Returning Officers to provide that facility to the people.

He said that a good roll depends on the involvement by the people MANU said that through the Returning Officers, Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commission undertook an active enrolment drive between September 2014 and February 2015.

The drive resulted in a Preliminary Roll with about 11,500 additional voters.

The Preliminary Roll was put on public display for about two weeks and at the end of the public scrutiny another 8,800 voters were added to the roll.

The Electoral Commissioner said that the final Electoral Roll used for the 2015 ABG Election totals 172,797 voters, which is an increase of about 20,000 extra voters from the previous roll.

He said that his office received funding for the 2015 ABG General Elections only few weeks before the roll closed on the issue of the writs on March 27th, 2015.

May 16 2015

Bougainville Obituaries : Moses Havini: leader of struggle for Bougainville’s autonomy

Moses Havini, like his namesake, was a man who had a date with destiny. They shared the same cry: “Let my people go.” Neither man lived to see the fruits of his labour realised, but Havini’s struggle for Bougainville as an independent country was fundamental to its destiny.

People meeting Havini were instantly engaged by his intelligent, self-effacing honesty, passion for justice with honour, and sense of humour.

MOSES HAVINI 1947-2015

As published online in Australia by Jim Beatson

Photo above :Moses Havini speaking at the opening of an exhibition of artwork by his wife, Marilyn, in 2004. Behind Moses is a painting of members of the Autonomous Government of Bougainville. Photo: Anna Pha

People meeting Havini were instantly engaged by his intelligent, self-effacing honesty, passion for justice with honour, and sense of humour. At his 50th birthday he announced: “I don’t really know if this is my birthday. The local missionary just turned up one day and declared I was born on the 5th of June. But it’s a good excuse for a party.”

Moses Havini was dismayed by the lack of concern Australians displayed for his homeland’s plight. Photo: Palani Mohan

Moses Havini, officially born on June 5, 1947, was from the Nakas clan and son of the paramount chief of the Naboin clan on Buka Island, the northern tip of Bougainville. In 1972, he was Bougainville’s third graduate (BA from the University of Papua New Guinea).

His story is also incomplete without discussion of his wife, Marilyn (nee Miller): a gracious extrovert, passionate Christian, committed woman’s rights advocate, art teacher and artist.

She explains: “I became aware of Moses at a Christian Conference held at Melbourne’s Monash University in early 1971 when I was 20. He came as the editor of UPNG’s Christian student newspaper.

“We didn’t get a chance to talk but glances were exchanged. Their group then flew to Sydney and visited my place. We spoke, briefly, before they left. Later I went to the airport to see them off and at the last moment Moses ran over, jumped the fence and asked for my address. We became instant pen pals.

“Then I was selected by Australian Girl Guide Association as a Sea Ranger on a service project to Port Moresby where Moses was studying. We met, fell in love quickly, Moses asked both our fathers for permission to marry. Both agreed, while Moses’ father said that he could not speak for his people unless they met me.”

So during Moses’ mid-semester break, they travelled to Buka, where Marilyn was adopted into the clan and married in July 1971.

Not long after the wedding Moses received notice that as his wife was now paid as a lecturer at Port Moresby Teachers College, his university scholarship was cancelled. Simultaneously Marilyn received a dismissal notice saying that because she was married, it was her husband’s job to support her. Both letters were signed by the same Australian colonial head of the Education Department. Moses became a private student and graduated in record time.

Marilyn consulted clan leaders across Bougainville before winning the PNG competition for a Bougainville flag.

Although he was a graduate in law, Havini, knew that Bougainville, 1000 kilometres west of Papua New Guinea, was historically, geographically and culturally the principal island of the Solomon Islands. It had become a province of PNG in the mid-1890s as Britain, Germany and the US exchanged scraps of empires.

It became part of German New Guinea and was taken by Australia at the start of World War I. It was taken by Japanese at the start of World War II, and later by Americans, who handed it back to Australia as a UN Trust Territory.

In 1971 and ’72, Havini made several trips to Port Moresby, returning with strategies and recommendations for a localised transition towards district government. He replaced an Australian as the adult education officer for Bougainville and established many literacy and correspondence courses.

He also famously “captured” the PNG education minister, Sir Ebia Olewale, and took the minister up the Buka road to meet the local Hahalis Welfare Society, which was demanding a local school. Sir Ebia returned to PNG Parliament and carried through on his promise.

Havini’s dedicated and unpaid work for political representation to PNG for Bougainville led to his appointment by the nine local government councils in the province as their executive officer in setting up district government.

Gough Whitlam’s government wanted to grant independence quickly to its PNG Trust Territory, and was committed to preventing it from becoming a “failed state”. Whitlam believed the vast profits of the Panguna mine on Bougainville could prevent that outcome, but only if most of PNG’s slice of the negotiated agreement with the miners went to the Port Moresby government.

Havini and much of Bougainville’s population had other ideas. But first, on a Fulbright Scholarship, Havini visited America in January 1975 studying government and administration. He returned to tightening tensions between PNG and Bougainville.

On May 28, 1975, the Interim Provincial Government in Bougainville agreed to secede from PNG. On September 1, 1975, a month before PNG’s planned Independence Day, Havini carried the Bougainville flag to Wakunai (North Bougainville) and a Universal Declaration of Independence (UDI) was proclaimed. Similar ceremonies were conducted around the island.

In January 1976, at Hutjena, the PNG police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters into the crowd. Havini, a man committed to non-violence, was hit in the back with a canister, causing a wound that took months to heal and left a large scar.

Bougainville was unable to get other countries to recognise its UDI. So a negotiated settlement for “provincial” status led to Havini’s appointment as Clerk of the Assembly, 1977-81, then Speaker of the Provincial Parliament Assembly, 1982-85.

The uneasy rapprochement with PNG ended in 1989 when villagers blew up two power pylons carrying electricity to the Panguna mine. Further conflict followed and within months the mine was closed.

In January 1990, Moses, Marilyn and their four children fled Bougainville and moved to Sydney.

As Havini was married to an Australian citizen, PNG’s request for his deportation as a “terrorist” was unsuccessful. For the next 15 years Havini, living in Sydney, was the representative of the Interim Government of Bougainville for the region and the world.

PNG’s Defence Force received Australian-supplied helicopters and patrol boats to blockade Bougainville, where cerebral malaria was endemic. The struggle to create an independent Bougainville was on, turning quickly into a long, bloody, war, but one with no doctors or medical and food supplies.

Connected to his homeland only by satellite telephone and fax, Havini learned the arts of diplomacy with the UN, media, Australian and regional politicians. He attracted supporters to build an Australian political base, the Bougainville Freedom Movement, when Australian progressives were more motivated by events in East Timor.

A decade later the Bougainvilleans again learned that although they had won the war with PNG and set up the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), the victory had little meaning if no country recognised the winner.

So Havini decided his focus was to encourage a just peace between Bougainville and PNG. He made representations to the United Nations Human Rights Council, supported by Bougainvillean delegations. These efforts were also supported by the many women’s groups on Bougainville that Marilyn had helped to create. They charmed foreign minister Alexander Downer to take seriously the need to support a New Zealand initiative to set up peace talks. These led to the Bougainville Peace Agreement, where Havini was a key member on the ABG’s side. It decreed that all armed personnel should be withdrawn from the island by December 2002.

Havini also became adept at providing the detailed briefings needed by good journalists. The Australian correspondent of London’s The Times, Robert Cockburn, discovered the ADF member who had came up with the concept of the medieval-style blockade of the island and later wrote the related stage play, Hotel Hibiscus. Another journalist started a campaign to collect medical and other supplies in Australia for the beleaguered population – an idea copied across state capitals. Fred Hollows became one of the collectors while the ABC’s Mark Corcoran said his visit put him onto a career path that would drive his life.

By 2005 the Havinis had moved back to Buka, as negotiations between PNG and the ABG had established autonomy on Bougainville. Moses became mentor to the ABG as director of parliamentary committees. Marilyn says Moses’ aim throughout his life was to see “Papua New Guinea as a friendly neighbour, rather than their ruler”.

In August 2013, Havini was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and returned to Sydney for treatment.

The head of New Zealand police’s Bougainville Peace Team, the clerk of the NSW Parliament and PNG’s high commissioner to Australia attended his Sydney funeral and he received a state funeral on Bougainville.

Moses Havini is survived by Marilyn, their children Rikha, Torohin, Solomon and Taloi, four grandchildren and adopted children Patrick, Maria, Sissi, Justin, Judith, Genevieve and Jennitha.

Jim Beatson

May 14 2015

Bougainville Political News: PM O’Neill wasn’t consulted over new Australian mission in Bougainville

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has said he was not consulted by Canberra over plans to set up a diplomatic post in Buka ,Bougainville, a politically sensitive autonomous region expected to hold a referendum on independence.

Report from The Australian online VIEW HERE

The federal government announced on Tuesday it would open five new overseas missions as part of this year’s national budget, including one at Buka in Bougainville.

Australian diplomats will also be dispatched to Doha, Mongolia and Phuket as Australia seeks to expand its footprint and spruik trade and investment opportunities.

But Mr O’Neill said there had been no consultation and no agreement to establish a post in Bougainville.

“We were shocked to learn from the budget documents that Australia is planning on establishing a diplomatic post in Bougainville,” Mr O’Neill said on a visit to Sydney today.

“I want to say that there has been no consultation on this proposal and there is no agreement to proceed,” he added.

“As we respect the territorial integrity of others, we expect others to respect ours as well.” He said that the region was a historically and politically sensitive area for PNG, with Bougainville voters expected to elect authorities in June who will call for a referendum on independence from the country as part of a 2001 peace agreement.

Under the agreement, Bougainville was promised the right to hold an independence referendum between 2015 and 2020.

It followed an almost decade-long, bitter guerilla war beginning in 1988 that claimed 10,000 lives.

The separatist conflict was the bloodiest in the Pacific since World War II, and ended when the New Zealand government helped broker a truce signed by all factions in 1997.

An Autonomous Bougainville Government was established in June 2005 as part of a United Nations-sponsored process.

O’Neill said that PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato was requesting more information about Australia’s proposal.

Pato Thursday described the plan as “outrageous” and “mischievous”.

“I’ve directed the acting secretary to call in the Australian high commissioner to explain the media accounts of this mischievous proposal to open a foreign mission on Bougainville,” Pato said in a statement, local media reported.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop insisted the matter was discussed with the PNG government during a visit she made to the country last December.

“Australia has a significant and growing development program in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is almost 50 per cent higher than 2012/13, and will continue to partner with the PNG government in supporting economic growth throughout PNG,” her spokeswoman said.

Bougainville is home to the giant Panguna copper deposit. A Panguna mine run by Bougainville Copper, a subsidiary of Australian-listed Rio Tinto, was forced to close in 1989 during the conflict.

Rio Tinto has said the PNG government as well as Bougainville’s leadership were supportive of restarting operations at what is one of the South Pacific’s largest mines for copper and gold.

May 10 2015

Bougainville Elections News: Today 11 May we start the voting to decide Bougainville’s future

Yesterday was the final day for potential politicians to do more convincing to be voted in! Your vote is not just a vote but has value to choose who our next leaders and know that Bougainville’s political fate will depend entirely on the leaders we choose this week.

However, regardless of whoever wins the presidential seat, whether its John Momis, Sam Akoitai, Ishmael Toroama, Sam Kauona or Rueben Siara and many others representing the Regional Women, and the Constituencies seats.

I’m sure they all have our Bougainville’s future at their hearts interests. And each of them wants to show that they can lead and defend our political interests by serving our people.

Whether we like it or not, at end of the day we have to comply and work together for Bougainville’s future.

Geraldine Paul (see her full article below )

The polling period will fall between May 11 and May 25. Counting will commence immediately after the polling period from May 26 to June 7 and the writs will be returned the next day, June 8, 2015

Polling booths will open at 8am and closes at 4pm . Polling will be held in 215 locations both within the 33 constituencies in Bougainville and in the five provinces in the country including NCD, Lae, Rabaul, Madang and Goroka.

This election starting today Monday 11 May among Bougainville’s estimated 300,000 people brings the issue closer to decision. The Bougainville government’s new president and legislature will hold a promised referendum some time during their five-year term on whether the island stays in PNG or goes independent.

John Momis, who is the current ABG president and favourite for re-election against eight other candidates, is adding another explosive issue. After getting a new mining law passed in March this year, he is pushing for the reopening of the Panguna copper mine that was the original cause of the civil war. With only 11 per cent of his government’s budget coming from local revenue, the rest mostly from Port Moresby grants, the mines are the only prospective source of revenue to make either autonomy or independence a reality.

FROM Australia’s Saturday Paper Hamish McDonald

In his first couple of years as foreign minister, Alexander Downer had a lot of bombs explode in his portfolio.

Among them was the 1997 Sandline affair in which Papua New Guinea’s government brought in South African and other mercenaries to try to end the bitter conflict on Bougainville Island that had closed the giant Rio Tinto gold and copper mine there since 1989.

An army mutiny in Port Moresby scotched that idea, a truce with the Bougainville Revolutionary Army followed, and talks held in a New Zealand army camp led to a peace agreement in 2001 that set up an Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG). Throughout the talks, New Zealand sources say, Downer was out to prevent what he called the “Balkanisation” of Australia’s strategic arc of friendly states to its immediate north-east. The Kiwis were somewhat sceptical this could be avoided. Anyone who’s read the Lloyd Jones novel Mister Pip might agree.

An election starting today Monday 11 May among Bougainville’s estimated 300,000 people brings the issue closer to decision. The Bougainville government’s new president and legislature will hold a promised referendum some time during their five-year term on whether the island stays in PNG or goes independent.

According to Anthony Regan, an ANU constitutional law professor who advises the Bougainville government, most Bougainvilleans would prefer Rio Tinto to return to Panguna, under stricter local consent and environmental provisions. “They prefer the devil they know,” he said. Whether Rio Tinto wants to spend the $US5.2 billion it estimates it will take to reopen the derelict mine is another matter.

Other interests are hovering. Momis suspects that PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill wants to buy out Rio Tinto’s 53.83 per cent shareholding in Bougainville Copper Ltd, adding it to his contentious nationalisation of BHP’s former Ok Tedi mine at the other end of the country. Momis said this would lead to a demand for immediate independence. O’Neill denies any such plans.

A new face on the scene is Anthony Johnston, of Sydney-based waste disposal firm United Resource Management (URM) and sponsor of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Johnston and his old schoolmate, lawyer Ian de Renzie Duncan, have been cultivating former rebels around the mine who call themselves the Me’ekamui Government of Unity. Regan said URM’s interest appears to be in brokering the entry of a new mine operator to Panguna. At a meeting with ABG president Momis in February, which Regan also attended, Johnston and Duncan had argued that while Rio Tinto should be given first refusal, it should be given six months to make a decision. Johnston did not return calls to his Sydney office.

How will the Bougainvilleans vote in the referendum? Dark-skinned, like many of the peoples in the adjacent Solomon Islands, from whom they were separated by colonial rivalry between Germany and Britain in the 1890s, they regard the lighter-skinned people from the other parts of PNG as alien “redskins”. Efforts by Port Moresby to put resources into the ABG may have come too late to overcome bitter memories of the counterinsurgency campaigns by national police and soldiers in the 1990s. “Lack of support for the ABG from Moresby has loaded the dice towards independence,” Regan said.

So the fear of a chink opening in our belt of Melanesian buffer states could be realised. Yet there’s a sting in the peace agreement. At Downer’s urging, it left implementation of the referendum result to the PNG national parliament, contingent on disposal of weapons and development of good governance in the ABG, rather than making it automatic. Regan says there’s some legal opinion in Port Moresby the referendum can be stopped on these grounds. Any such effort, or to block the result, could reopen conflict.

Bougainvilleans accepted the compromise after Downer argued the international community would support implementation of “a free and fair referendum with a clear outcome”, Momis told his outgoing parliament ahead of the election. “The truth is that we may need to rely on international community support at that time,” he said.

FROM Geraldine Paul

Today is the final day for potential politicians to do more convincing to be voted in! Your vote is not just a vote but has value to choose who our next leaders and know that Bougainville’s political fate will depend entirely on the leaders we choose this week. However, regardless of whoever wins the presidential seat, whether its John Momis, Sam Akoitai, Ishmael Toroama, Sam Kauona or Rueben Siara and many others representing the Regional Women, and the Constituencies seats. I’m sure they all have our Bougainville’s future at their hearts interests. And each of them wants to show that they can lead and defend our political interests by serving our people. Whether we like it or not, at end of the day we have to comply and work together for Bougainville’s future.

We need to also take into account that ABG is still in its infant stage, and has a long way to go. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, as the saying goes… Again, having said this does not give our leaders the excuse to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again – Our chosen leaders can not AFFORD to make any more mistakes – it will be a waste and a loss of all our time, only bringing us 10 steps backward or more!

We still have outstanding issues relating to our service systems which needs attention to details – Health facility centers needs upgrading and staffs needs to be accomdated well, appreciated and compensated for the work they do. Education leaders needs to ensure teachers dont go missing from schools chasing after their pay packet only to end up leaving students unattended for days! More technical schools need to be set up or upgrade our current local technical schools to increase intakes per annum. Skills that are acquired from such institutions will go a long way.

Our police system is quite ineffective that issues are often not resolved. Too many wantokism within the adminstration which becomes a bottleneck to our justice system.

Leaders tend to forget that 99% of our population depends entirely on what they produce in their backyard garden -agricultural activity is the backbone of our people. What we need to do is tap into what people are already doing and expand it, create quality production, tap into niche markets and sell our produces! – we are only exporting Cocoa and copra products overseas, but what about vanilla, coffee, bananas, tapioka, taros and fresh vegetables, green coconut and fishing projects- these foods are growing in our land. Our mindset need to be changed, Think big and think outside the box! Think Commercial and create market opportunities!

Economic development is a must if we want to be independent, if our ordinary farmers are not financially independent – then we basically shooting ourselves in our foot. How can we expect ourselves to be independent when we are not investing in our own people to create local production!

There’s also the issues regarding the access roads which farmers have to travel through to sell their cocoa and other products , the back roads of Tinputz such as Namatoa, Pokapa, Tiobuin, and many places are in bad conditions, including the roads along Tokaino, Nakorei, Tabago, Rukauko, Wisai, Mughuai and not to mentioned acess roads along wakunai and Kieta/Kongara as well. Who’s responsibilities are they to be fixed? Do we always have to wait when the next election is around the corner for a politician to show that he or she cares and then they spend the next entire 5 years neglecting maintenance?…….

Social issues are eating us up like cancer within our societies – women and children are often not considered into decisions making although they make up our 60 or 70% of our population. Domestic violence is brewing like nobody’s business, and we still turn a blind eye, saying its none of our business- we should not be using customs and cultures as an excuse. But create a culture that says ‘No to any form of violence’ – our men folks need to own up and support women by standing up against such abuses – this cycle of violence need to be broken. We need proper services in place to support women, children and men to be helped is such situations…

Ah! Well!! Then again on the brighter side we did achieve lots of good things over the past 10 years and have definitely seen changes, some business houses being prosperous on the account of others or basically out of their own hard work. More land cruisers for our goverment officials have been purchased, hopefully this means more work and patrolling to outer stations instead of ferrying wantoks and families, which I hope not!
Our trunk roads have definitely been given attention to and the plans are in the pipeline for more upgrading, thanks to some hard working people pushing for it.
Aropa airport and the opening of BSP branch in Arawa is a success story of progress!

And I’m sure with all the ‘Bel kol’ iniatitives being carried out to resolve our past greivences, it will pave ways to reopening the mines, this will also mean more job opportunities, or more exploitations if not managed well. People that can afford to are building better homes in their villages, lifestyle is definitely changing with new technology everyday! You’re either in the boat flowing with the change or left behind with anger and blame others because you think its their fault for you being a failure…

I know! I know! this has been quite mouthful, but I thought I’d share my 2 toea thoughts and Happy Sunday to you all. May the Good Lord guide and bless us all as we decide on our future leaders by casting our vote this week, not because they bribed us with cash, but because we truly believe that they are a genuine, honest and someone with the great leadership skills to be our captain for the next 5 years, and most importantly, leaders with good intentions !!! So long every one!!

May 7 2015

Bougainville Election News : Mekamui Tribal Government says Panguna 100 % behind Momis

“The Mekamui Tribal Government of Unity stands behind President Momis as we see him as the person who will lead us to freedom,”

“The Mekamui faction has also started the realignment process with the Autonomous Bougainville Government that will see reintegration and unity amongst all Bougainvilleans,”

Mekamui Defence Force hard man, Moses Pipiro declared that the people in Panguna area were 100 percent behind President Momis : Picture presenting shell money

Please note the following text supplied by ABG media

The Mekamui Tribal Government of Unity have pledged their support to incumbent ABG President Grand Chief Dr John Momis in this year’s ABG General Elections.

Mekamui Defence Force hard man, Moses Pipiro declared that the people in Panguna area were 100 percent behind President Momis’ bid to retain the ABG Presidency in a political rally held in the heart of the Panguna Township yesterday.

“The Mekamui Tribal Government of Unity stands behind President Momis as we see him as the person who will lead us to freedom,” Mr Pipiro said.

“The Mekamui faction has also started the realignment process with the Autonomous Bougainville Government that will see reintegration and unity amongst all Bougainvilleans,” he added.

“President Momis has been with us from the very start of our struggle for self-determination and he is the only one who knows where will go,” Mr Pipiro said.

Former ABG President James Tanis was also amongst a host of leaders from North, South and Central Bougainville who endorsed President Momis’s candidacy.(file picture )

Mr Tanis said that his decision not to stand for this year’s elections was to allow President Momis to complete the long journey that is Bougainville’s move to self-determination and should the people choose, total independence.

“President Momis’ is on the verge of completing what he started more than 40 years ago when he took up the fight for our people’s freedom,” Mr Tanis said.

“It would be unjust for me to usurp his leadership, as a respected elder statesman he has the necessary experience and will to lead us to independence,” Mr Tanis added.

“With Bougainville’s Referendum to be held within the term of the third and final Bougainville House of Representatives, as stipulated in the PNG Constitution, Bougainvilleans must know the type of leader they want to lead them and President Momis is that leader,” Tanis said.

In attendance at the rally were ABG President, Grand Chief Dr John Momis, Mekamui Government of Unity President, Philip Miriori, former Clerk of the National Parliament and Chief Ombudsman Simon Pentanu and various ABG Members from Central and South Bougainville.

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May 6 2015

Bougainville Cultural News : The Bougainville Constitution caters not for my daughter

“In this day and age, with the high growth rate of the Bougainville population and dwindling of natural resources, the rights to access land has limitations and conditions.

In these circumstances, my daughter is an alien in Bougainville and the law of this island has not served its purpose in protecting her.

My daughter cannot lean on me when in need of land or citizenship, for Nasioi is a matrilineal society, and she cannot lean on her mother since Buin is a patrilineal society.”

LEONARD FONG ROKA ( pictured above with daughter Dollorose )

An entry in the Crocodile Prize PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum Award for Essays & Journalism

Author of 5 books available on AMAZON

I travel regularly through my matrilineal home districts of Panguna and Kieta to my patrilineal Buin where my partner and mother of 10-month old Dollorose comes from.

Whenever I do, a flood of thoughts torments me about the wording of Section 7 of the Bougainville Constitution.

This provision concerns the definition of who is a Bougainvillean.

Section 7 is disturbing because it says a Bougainvillean is a person who is a member (whether by birth or by adoption according to custom) of a Bougainvillean clan lineage (matrilineal or patrilineal) owning customary land in Bougainville.

There’s more we needn’t worry about.

The point is that through the diverse lenses of the 19-plus cultures of Bougainville, Section 7 has no value and relevance.

In all Bougainvillean societies, membership of any clan is a birthright whether male or female was born in or outside Bougainville.

All Bougainvillean societies practice adoption. In the Nasioi society the adopted members of other clans are referred to as bautara but their clan status never changes. They have access to land under the auspices of the individual who adopted them but they still remain bautara without much power in their new communities.

Bautara face their demise once their adoptee parent is dead or the population of their adoptee parent’s relatives strive for resources. Most bautara return to their origin and face a new series of setbacks especially over land rights that time has denied them.

But going back to my narrative. I have no automatic right to land in my matrilineal Nasioi society and my partner has no right to land in her patrilineal Buin society.

In my Nasioi society ownership and access are different issues.

I have access rights to land but the ownership rights are vested to my female relatives; likewise my partner has access rights to Buin land but only her brothers have ownership rights.

In this day and age, with the high growth rate of the Bougainville population and dwindling of natural resources, the rights to access land has limitations and conditions.

In these circumstances, my daughter is an alien in Bougainville and the law of this island has not served its purpose in protecting her. My daughter cannot lean on me when in need of land or citizenship, for Nasioi is a matrilineal society, and she cannot lean on her mother since Buin is a patrilineal society.

Bougainvillean cultures, unlike the Bougainville Constitution, have provisions that grant people like me land ownership rights. In Nasioi society, there are pieces of land where the ownership right is passed from father to the son (and daughter where there is no son).

On the unoccupied plateau above the Kupe-Topinang-Pomaua-Sirerongsi-Pakia Gap-Panguna circle, my grandfather passed to me and my brother such land ownership rights.

Thus my daughter has ownership rights (alongside her cousins from my brother) to this land but broader citizen’s rights are not settled by that since Kieta society recognises her as a Buin woman.

In Buin, there are cultural provisions that allow my partner land ownership rights; yet still our daughter Dolloroseis not a citizen of Buin as she is seen as being from my Kieta society.

The Bougainville Constitution clearly did not spell out the fate of children born to fathers from matrilineal societies marrying into patrilineal society and born to mothers from patrilineal societies marrying into matrilineal societies.

Our beloved children from such families are constitutional aliens on Bougainville. They will remain aliens till such time as Section 7 of the Bougainville Constitution is amended to serve this unique group of Bougainville people.

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