PAPUA NEW GUINEA DELEGATION IN VANUATU FOR TOK SORI CEREMONY RECEIVED BY MSG SECRETARIAT

PORT VILA, VANUATU (5 August 2024): The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat received a Papua New Guinea delegation on Thursday, 1 August led by Hon. Powes Parkop, Governor of the National Capital District (NCD) who attended Vanuatu’s 44th Independence Anniversary celebrations in Port Vila.

The delegation comprised Hon. Lohia Boe Samuel, Member for Port Moresby North West; Hon. Keith Iduhu, Member for Central Hiri; and Grand Chief Brigadier Ted Ramu Diro, Former Commander of the PNG Defence Force.

In welcoming them to the Secretariat, Director General, Leonard Louma assured them of the deep pride and honour attached to their visit to the Secretariat.

“At the very outset, let me admit that it is not lost on us here at the Secretariat that our creation as an organization is very much the product of what transpired 44 years ago in Santo when Papua New Guinea answered the plea for assistance from a fledging young Melanesian country aspiring to take its place as an independent nation in the Pacific and indeed the world.

“In more ways than one, MSG as an organization was born from that crucible of conflict in Santo. That readiness and willingness of a fellow MSG country, that was at that stage no more than 5 years old itself, as an independent nation, took the bold step to intervene, when others older than itself, were not able to respond in the affirmative, to the request for help from Vanuatu.” DG Louma stated.

He said the events in Santo set off a paradigm shift in the way our Leaders thought of cooperation amongst and between themselves. 

The experience he said, convinced them that cooperation amongst and between themselves was possible despite their myriads of challenges and very limited resources.

Soon after the successful intervention in Santo, then PNG Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan invited the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Fr Walter Lini, to join him on the aircraft to the Solomon Islands to talk with then Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Sir Peter Kenilorea, about how they might cooperate and collaborate with each other in their quest to address the different development challenges that their countries were facing.

“The seeds of MSG cooperation were sewn there and then. Convinced of the need to have joint approaches and positions on shared challenges and interests, Leaders of Vanuatu, PNG, Solomon Islands and the FLNKS external affairs representative, Yanne Celene Uregei, met informally in Goroka in 1986 and agreed to formalize the organization and coined the name “Melanesian Spearhead Group” as the name of our Organisation,” DG Louma said. 

Two years later in 1988, the Agreed Principles of Cooperation between the Independent States of Melanesia was signed in Port Vila to formally establish the MSG Group.

The Secretariat also gifted the delegation with a pig, kava and mats for the Tok Sori ceremony at the Saralana Park later on Friday afternoon, for the unfortunate loss of life during the Santo operation caused by the Kumul Force.

“This magnanimous act will have very deep and profound significance. It will heal wounds suffered from the conflict, it will build bridges destroyed as a consequence of that conflict, it will restore family ties shattered by the conflict, and it will reaffirm PNG’s noble intentions in agreeing to assist Vanuatu with its request – to help Vanuatu and its people find their feet as an independent nation and not to deliberately bring harm to its citizens,” DG Louma added.

Grand Chief Brigadier Ted Ramu Diro, Former Commander of the PNGDF who led the Kumul Force to stop the Santo rebellion in 1980, was honored with a Distinction Medal by the President of Vanuatu, His Excellence Nikenike Vurobaravu at the State House on Independence Day.

Ni-Vanuatu at Ok Tedi Gold Mine buys land in PNG

Moli Pakoro, 33, of Malo Island is the only worker from Vanuatu driving a giant crusher at Ok Tedi Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He is married to a ‘meri’ from the giant Melanesian country and has four children.

Entrance to Ok Tedi Gold Mine. Photo: Ok Tedi page

His wife is a childhood sweet heart from Kamewa Primary School on Santo where they both went to school. Her PNG parents arrived in Vanuatu to work for Vanuatu Copra and Cocoa Exporters (VCCE) Limited in Santo.

At 18, Pakoro became a seasonal worker under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme in New Zealand. “I supported my wife to graduate from university in PNG,” he recalled.

Asked what his first sight of something in PNG that he had never seen before in public, he replied, “Guns because here in Vanuatu, we don’t see anyone with guns in public.

“But on my first arrival at Jackson Airport, I was not afraid because I was there to meet my girlfriend and her family.”

They had been apart on different countries for a while.

“We had not seen each other for two years so on my arrival I searched the huge colourful crowd for her while she also searched for me,” Pakoro said.

“I turned my head and there she was standing next to me without even knowing that I was next to her. I placed the palm of my hands over her eyes. She knew it was me. We took a plane then landed at an airstrip and took a bus and travelled for a whole day to arrive in her village!

“I trialed for heavy duty and I chose to drive a crusher and did my three months training in Cairns, Australia. I came back and drove a crusher at Ok Tedi Gold Mine.

“I enjoy working on the machine. A giant boulder is loaded on the crusher but it is smashed without any problem into sand. It is deposited into a kind of strainer and with water, gold is separated from waste matter.

“I touched and held gold in my hand. It is heavy. Sometimes it is found from panning in a river.

“At times we go down to my wife’s bubu’s place at Sepik and panned for gold in the river there, pack the grains of gold in small Panadol-like containers and sell the gold at Jayapura in West Papua, on the border of Indonesia.

“In PNG, you can drive through Wewak, Vanimo and Jayapura. You can pay approximately VT10, 000-VT15, 000 by bus and drive through”.

Asked to talk about the minimum wage of Papua New Guineans, Pakoro said, “In PNG, the standard of education is higher than Vanuatu and as the second best salary paying country in the Pacific below Australia, their people are better educated than us here in Vanuatu too.

“For instance, my small ‘tawi’ went as far as Year 6 in Santo but on their return to PNG, he started at year four to meet their standard”.

Pakoro said this explains why in PNG, their people own huge shops and super markets and expand even as far as the United States. This is because they are very well educated to compete in the market place. Their academic education is the key to their economic success.

“Look at my own case. I dropped off at Year 9 at Santo. If you enjoy a cook’s recipe, don’t keep going back to eat at the same restaurant but learn how to cook the same recipe yourself,” he said.

“I have assisted a little girl that my wife and I had adopted and we cared for her until she entered university. She is completing her law course next year to graduate with her Law Degree.

“What a satisfactory feeling knowing that you have contributed to this success story for her to graduate to enter the professional workforce.”

His advice to young Ni-Vanuatu like him is to study to climb up the ladder of success

“I decided I wanted to drive a heavy duty vehicle and travelled to learn how to drive it,” he said. “The pay is good and I studied in Cairns in Australia and came home with my qualification to control this machine. Good pay. No problem.

“Now at 33, I have yet to touch kava or cigarette or ‘lif tabak’. I take beer just to socialise and that’s it. Kava is selfish because after drinking your kava, you return home and eat of the food that your wife and children have eaten. Your family do not drink kava and you spend a lot of money on your kava and that is selfish.

“We all go overseas to work to earn money for our families so please let us earn to save and not spend.

“Know how and when to communicate with your supervisor about any challenges that you or your team face. You must show your concern to stand for your colleagues’ rights”.

His advice to Vanuatu seasonal workers in New Zealand and Australia is for them to save their earnings to invest it by going into business in the national Capital or Provincial Capitals to create employment opportunities for their families and or ‘wantoks’ towards reducing the number of young people leaving to do seasonal works overseas.

“My father-in-law is involved in agriculture so I asked if we could set him up in agriculture and he agreed. I invested in my first 200 hectares of land and went into cocoa farming, pawpaw farming and poultry farming,” he concluded.

news@dailypost.vu

Pereifalo Family Opposes Shutdown of Santo Hydro Power Project

By Doddy Morris 1 hr ago

The Pereifalo family in Santo, on whose land the Hydro Power project was established, voiced their disagreement with the closure of the project last week, stating that it was a crooked practice by those responsible.

On April 26, 2024, the ten landowners of the water sources connecting to the main river, Sarakata River, which powers the Hydro Power project, closed the canal of the Hydro power. They stated that the closure followed discussions with the Government regarding compensation, but no action has been taken.

However, on Tuesday this week, the Pereifalo family provided a statement regarding the issue through one of their family members, Obed Perei, clarifying their disagreement and urging the Government not to compensate them since the Hydro Power Project has not damaged any of their environment.

“We, the Pereifalo family, where the Santo Hydro Power is located, thought that the group of individuals who claimed they are the landowners of the 10 streams that connect to the main river should not close the Hydro power.

“We have been declared as true Custom owners and we are the ones who obtained the green certificate on the land that the Hydro Power is located on. Such practice is referred to as trespassing on our area since the court have not given them any right on our land.

“The purpose of the grouping seeking compensation from the Government is that they only want to take money from the Government,” the Pereifalo family stated.

They go on to state that therefore, the Government should not compensate them, since the Hydro project has not damage any of their environment in their claimed stream and land, unless the court certified that they are the real land owners of the source of water that came out from their land.

“We want to make it clear that the ten streams these individuals are claiming as their water source are miles away from the actual location of the hydro power project.

“Instead of addressing their concerns at the correct site, they have come to the hydro power project's location, which is in a different area, and are demanding its closure while demanding compensation from the government. We view this as a dishonest practice,” they concluded in their statement.

The Pereifalo family is currently in Port Vila to have discussions with the Minister responsible for the Hydro Power project to compensate them.

doddy@dailypost.vu

More ownership claims over Santo Hydro Power

While the development of the Sarakata hydropower expansion in the eastern part of Santo Island brings progress in electricity, disputes over ownership claims have emerged among the original landowners.

Chief Joel Path of Hog Harbour expressed bewilderment at the situation, revealing that landowners of small rivers feeding into the Sarakata River are demanding a share in the hydropower benefits.

Chief Path, having seen copies of their claims, conveyed their argument that the hydropower at Fanafo wouldn’t exist without the contribution of these small river sources.

The current beneficiaries are from the village of Fanafo. The claimants are actively gathering signatures for a petition to present to the relevant authorities.

Chief Path finds the claim amusing, suggesting that the original landowners could counter by requesting the claimants to redirect the rivers back to their land instead of contributing to Sarakata hydropower.

While he couldn’t specify the number of river sources flowing into Sarakata River, he confirmed their abundance.

Daily Post observed during a recent visit to Santo that the Vanuatu Utilities and Infrastructure (VUI) Limited, managing Sarakata hydropower, has already installed posts from Turtle Bay to Port Olry.

Chief Path anticipates that villages in East Santo will soon receive electricity from Sarakata hydropower upon completing transformer installations.

He believes this power expansion will significantly benefit the local population, providing electricity to homes in areas like Hog Harbour and Port Olry. Notably, tourist resorts in these areas, such as Lonnoc Eco Beach Bungalows near Champagne Beach, currently rely on solar power systems.

Port Olry, one of Vanuatu’s largest villages, was the country’s first to receive electricity from a coconut fuel power station established by UNELCO over a decade ago. Since then, various projects, including bungalows and a butchery, have flourished in the village

Source: VDP