By MATTHEW VARI
Sunday, September 13, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle Independence Supplement, PNG)
AS Papua New Guinea turns over a new chapter in its journey of self-determination. One can’t help but wonder how our democracy has been shaped over the past 40 years. Mind you the road has been tough despite being given the big “I” status in September 16 of 1975 on a “silver platter” as many have described.
The politics of Papua New Guinea has been played out at an unpredictable pace- at times moving at a stagnant pace, tested to its very core, and also riddled with rampant abuse in all four decades. Sunday Chronicle caught up with one of the country’s top political experts and current registrar for political parties and candidates, Dr Alphonse Gelu (pictured above), at the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission, which is an independent office created by the constitution in 2001. I spoke to Dr Gelu to get his views on the development of PNG politics on the eve of the country turning 40 this Wednesday.
Dr Gelu was an academic lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea for more than 19 years, after which he joined the National Research Institute as a senior research fellow under the division of Politics and Legal studies. He then was a research advisor under the Australian Aid Program called the Sub National Strategy that dealt with decentralization in Papua New Guinea.
How far has politics come since 1975?
“For Papua New Guinea, we can be categorized as a developing democracy. There is no question about that as we are still trying to develop our systems,” Dr Gelu said.
“It is not only for PNG but is the same for many of the Post-Colonial states. Those are countries that have gone through the process of colonization and they have gained their independence.”
“If you look at the countries in the south pacific, almost all of them have gone through that process as post-colonial states. Others are still making their way through, especially those territories in Micronesia as well as some islands in Polynesia who have close relationship with countries like New Zealand.”
Early years & building a strong political system
"The politics of Papua New Guinea has been quite interesting."
"One of the important things that we have to say about our independence is that for us we must be proud that we are independent, there shouldn’t be a questions or doubts as to why we got our independence."
"It was the right time for us, we should give credit to our forefathers, our leaders who got us right through to independence who fought for us. Papua New Guinea is very different in the way we attained our independence. It was done through very peaceful means. We did not tear flags down, but we just pulled the flag down and we raised our flags. It was a very very peaceful process."
"We should thank our leaders for that. Looking at the styles of politics- Papua New Guinea is quite unique. I remember looking at some of the literature on politics in PNG, I never forget what the late Sir Anthony Siaguru who once described Papua New Guinea’s democracy as being 'abnormal'. Abnormal in the sense that there are things that we do here that are totally outside of the democratic political culture."
"If you compare Papua New Guinea in the Commonwealth, Papua New Guinea is one of those countries that has maintained continues democratic rule since independence. We have continuously maintained that from independence in 1975 up till now."
"If you compare us with other countries like for example Fiji. People used to call Fiji paradise, at Fiji everything was assumed to be good, but see what happened in Fiji."
"Suddenly it happened, and now Fiji is into the culture of coups. In fact during those back in the late 70s and early 80s many commentators within and outside of PNG were saying that PNG would be the first to go under the barrel of the gun, but in Papua New Guinea we managed to manage our issues."
"If there are any difficulties or crisis we usually find ways to try and manage it. Sometimes some of the solutions may not be good ones, but we still managed them. I think for the next 10 to 20 years we will continue to do that."
Leadership & Level of Maturity
"When we talk about leadership, people have come up with various categorizations of leadership in Papua New Guinea. Example, from 1964 when we first had our elections, 1968, 1972, and then 1977- people referred to our leaders back then as not highly educated, they even couldn’t speak English and needed interpreters in the old house of assembly to interpret things to them."
"But for some reason this bunch of semi-educated leaders they were the ones to put together one of the best constitutions. We are still using that same constitution that they put together. They managed and maintained a very good system of transparency and accountability."
"Of course, at that time the Australian Administration was still with us, so they were the ones also getting us through that period."
"After independence our leaders now realized that they were in control that was when a new host of practices begun to crop in."
"Generally in terms of managing the economy by our leaders then, in those early days along with the politics it was a challenge."
"One of those persons that I cannot leave when we refer to our political history is Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. He once told us about when he first lost in the first vote of no confidence moved against him- he did not argue, in fact I remember when the vote was taken the transition was so smooth."
"If you look at those days back it had grown the maturity. So when the elections came around, Somare came back so strong that he almost, for the first time, formed a one party government as his Pangu Pati won many of the seats, but was short of 3 votes."
"But then into the 80s we began to the see the effects of the votes of no confidences."
Stability issues and its impact on the economy
"In terms of instability and its impact on our economy- it was not only about politics, but it also affected investor confidence. Who would want to come and invest in the country? That at any moment something would happen that would deem governments invalid even before they could even set up office."
"But looking closely at it one would find that moving a vote of no confidence being successful, imagine the length of time that government would be in office. It is only about two years while that new government was trying to get to know the systems in place. To tell you the truth, with statistics from organisations like the Bankn of Papua New Guinea, if one looks at that period from 1980 to about 1990, the economy had a big plunge because of this."
"There were many talks about the role of corruption, yes it did play a part, but most of it was because of the instability that we faced.”
"We were changing payrolls overnight were Prime Ministers were being changed, their deputies, and then as soon as they settled in they started making changes to the public service. You can see the costs that are involved. Governments didn’t have the time."
"Earlier this year I spoke to one of the senior government ministers about the revised organic law and he told me that after the writs are returned, that government spends the first year trying to consolidate itself and many of the ministers are new to their roles so it is a year of learning to get settled in. In the second year is when they are settled in and they begin to develop plans. When they come to the third year it is when they start implementing."
"That is also the when governments change. You can see that by the time that third year comes around and a change happens the government hasn’t done anything. In terms of building aid posts, constructing schools, have all not been done because there is a change in government."
What were some of the greatest challenges in our political history?
"If we look back the sandline crisis was one of the worst things that happened to us, which along with the Bougainville crisis and then of course the political impasse of 2011. Those were the moments that to an extent brought about the other side of politics in Papua New Guinea."
"Thinking that our leaders would respect institutions like the judiciary, but at that moment a different reading came about whereby one particular arm of government was claiming to be the superior arm of government which was parliament."
"But that is not supposed to be the case; under the principles of the separation of powers they are all equal. No one is above the other; they have got very distinct functions to play."
"It did test our democracy. We almost went down that road. We were lucky that the disciplined forces did not take part, they did not take sides. There were some elements of them, like police, the military; however, it did not really spill out into those organizations. Those are some of those moments."
The Impasse marks a black history in PNG politics. Papua New Guineans for centuries to come will not forget, we need to talk, write, and learn from it so that in the future when things happen like that then we will not repeat the same mistake we’ve gone through.
The road ahead
"Despite the fact that we do not have provision within the organic law that would maintain members of parliament to stick with their parties, which was thrown out by the Supreme Court decision (2010). If you look at that period from 2012, 2013, 2014- members of parliament are moving parties but it hasn’t really affected the trend of where suddenly a party would get so many members into it it folds and suddenly will crumble. It has happened before."
"The current government is maintaining its numbers, and in the process is maintaining its dominance and as a result it is maintaining some degree of political stability. To me at the registry I think it is a positive thing that we no longer need a law that would suggest that the ways MPs vote or behave should be controlled by law. We should not have that."
"But for us in Papua New Guinea, as a young democracy, we need something like that- after we get used to it we can put it aside and not refer to it as something that will control the way that we do things."
Where do you see the country heading politically in the next 40 years of independence? And is politics in PNG predictable?
No, it isn’t predictable yet, but I think we are beginning to see some signs after the 2012 elections that we can now predict something."
"But in order for you to make politics in PNG predictable, one of the things we need to do is pass the revised organic law. It is through the organic law that we will where exactly we are going. That is the message that I have been trying to get out to our members of Parliament."
"You see the constitution for example. In the constitutions we have the National Roles and Directives Principles. If we had gone by the National Goals and Directives Principles we would know exactly where we are going and we can predict things. We have gone away from those principles on what our society is supposed to be like."
"It is very vital to do things like this and ones we pass the law the type of politics that is played out in this country we will know exactly where we are heading."
"A question that we should seriously ask ourselves is how democratic are we? We call ourselves a democratic country but what really is democracy? If we look at some of the things in our country if we want to answer that question, we have to look at things like our constitution and the application of the law, look at the application of human rights, the freedom of the media, and freedom of association."
"After we go through each one of those areas then we can start determining the level of how democratic we are."
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