Jaive X
Somare studied Austrialian History and British History, so realised that British used Australia as a dumping ground for its ‘undesirables’ and he thought if PNG became a 6th State of Australia, this might be the case for the territory. He was teaching Australian and British history, so it was one of those issues that bothered him enough, as his journey from teacher to activist to political leader took shape, it helped shaped his sense of urgency to help the independent nation.
This ‘dumping’ ground problem still continues despite our independence. I believe that we need to break away from Australian Aid. I believe its possible.I think Somare wants us to do two things, rename Papua New Guinea, and become economically independent. I think economic independence is possible in 12 – 24 months but it requires a reform in taxation. It has been done before. Over a decade ago, changes in mining taxes laws led to the craziest GDP growth we have ever had PNG history and very strong financial reserves that we had a budget surplus.
Changing the name Papua New Guinea to Kumul Nation will be possible if PM announces that it will be considered (Kumul Nation is already protected by the State). If not, it will be up to the next Generation.
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Sana: The Construction of the Alter Ego of Michael Thomas Somare.
Its interesting that on Jan 1, 1975, Somare released Sana, his autobiography. He was 38years old.
I believe, and this maybe controversial, Sana was a book that presented the alter-ego of Michael Somare, who was seen as an angry, defiant, yet brilliant activist, to Sana, the national leader of people who only saw an aeroplane five years ago. Michael Somare, was a brilliant Sepik.
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But Sana was the leader of Papua and New Guinea.
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The voice on the radio that they listened to from Bougainville to Enga to the depths of Middle Ramu and the fiery slopes of Islands of Rabaul and New Ireland. The voice that old Sir Palau, Old Kenny in Wewak and so many others, tuned into to realise that the spark that they had set off, landed somewhere else, on a street called Silkwood in Hohola where a young teacher decided to listen to Sir Pita Lus and others and become something else.
The day he published Sana, the Sepiks lost him, and Papua New Guinea gained him.
Sana is a book on the philosophy of Melanesian leadership. Sana is a book about constant, constant negotiation. Sana is about a man, who practised an ancient, ancient tradition. The person who adopts the title Sana, makes meals for his enemies before a war. The Sana is therefore a person who is against war and is actively involved in reaching consensus between all parties.
Michael Somare became Sana, to reach a consensus that we can all, be one nation. He was the peacemaker leader in a violent, tribal nation.
There is a reason why he wrote in the constitution preamble,
‘… that we reject violence and seek consensus as a means of solving our common problems.”
This was Sana speaking.
~ What We Have Lost ~
We lost Sana the peacemaker, long before he passed. Its not that he left us, its just that we forget who we were in the impasse that removed him as PM a decade ago.
As members of Parliament moved away from him and created a new Government, they turned it into a personality cults about themselves. And us, the people followed them or suffered in silence. Since that time, we had a large corruption scandal that saw students shot in Port Moresby and fighting at all our Universities. Ethnic fighting, murders, witch burnings, crisis after crisis after crises. The kina plummeted, the foreign reserves got depleted, we got billions of dollars of loans for projects that have never transpired.
And we have become the dumping ground for Australia’s ‘undesirables’.
We embraced violence, not rejected it. We forgot about Sana, we forgot about the Moka, we forgot about the Kula and the Hiri and all the customs that created consensus. We have tried to solve our problems with violence and money. And they just get worse.
~ Yet we are still United ~
Just as his life united us, so has his death. For the past weeks, millions of parents around the country have been telling their children about ‘Papa’.
Children are seeing their parents crying, and their neighbour crying, and the buai market seller crying and teachers crying, and they are trying to make sense of what national grief feels like.
We were blessed to have him. We cry because we miss him. We cry because there is an empty chair in our house. And so for these confused children, we started to tell these stories about him. And these stories, we have found, have no end.
Everyday of his life, there is a story. Some mundane. A boy helping him walk down a flight of stairs as they joked. Others remarkable, him telling a fellow teacher as they drank water from the water tank outside as the whites drank tea and coffee in the office inside, “Dont worry, one day I will make them leave”.
~
One day.
One day soon, when everything is over, and he is resting, lets fill a plane together and lets all go to Wewak, lets sit and look out at the sea.
Sana was one of us.
Rest Easy GC.
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