By: Albert Kaupa TOBBY

After living three years in Beijing, China, I arrived in Port Moresby on 30th July, 2010.

A few months before coming to PNG, I’ve read online in our two dailies that, there was a cold-blooded murder committed inside the Jackson’s airport’s terminal. Illegal high-powered rifle were also confiscated at the terminals.

Such reports have already painted a grave security image of the country’s premier international airport. Frankly, I was already on high security alert the moment I stepped out of Air Niugini at the Jackson’s airport.

My natural sensors’ quickly picked up the dorminant frequency of fear of lawlessness and insecurity in Papua New Guinea. As much as I hate to say such statements in public to describe the country, I loved and am proud to call it home, I am genuinely compelled to share the ordeal of my first one month’s experience in this country with everyone.

While living abroad, I’ve always tried to portray a good image of Papua New Guinea. Everytime, someone pointed out the negatives in PNG, I’ve always stood up to defend my country. Even at times when the supporting facts are overwhelmingly against me, I stood up with pride and still call PNG home and tried to offer reasonable explaination to the negative ordeals. Sadly that sense of nationalism and patriotism faded like vapour after living just one month in Port Moresby.

I started my first few days in Port Moresby with some awesome welcome dinners and church fellowships with colleagues and old friends. Those meetings made me feel at home and have rightly filled the vaccum that was unoccupied for the past three years. I felt complete and whole again.

However, everything started to change after my first Sunday service at Gordon’s Conner Stone, Gateway Church. I was standing in front of Tan Trading in Gordons, when a young lad, snapped a bilum from another innocent and defenseless elderly woman. That happened at around 1pm, when the main bus stop was jam-packed with people. The lad publicly snapped the bag off the woman and dashed through the crowd, untouched. That poor woman could be someone elses’ mother, sister or wife, yet no one cared to stop the lad who stole her bag. What she had in that bilum could be all that she had, to sustain herself and family for another day or two?

Despite, the fact that some hundreds eyes witnessed this criminal act, no one attempted to stop it. It seems that everyone condone this act and are happy that such infelicitous exist. The crowd’s inconsideration and inaction to stop such defects in our society depicts a symptom of a sick society.

When I asked those who stood beside me, they replied, “its normal”. This implies that such incident is the usual daily practice of Gordon’s town area – probably a norm in PNG’s changing cultures. A week later, I was in the Somare Library at the country’s premier university – UPNG. I was sitting in the front dest of the last rows of study tables at the third floor. Sitting next to me, was a final year journalism student. She kept her bilum under the desk, while doing her research. After about an hour, she could not locate her bilum. Later, we discovered that the bilum was placed at the corner of the library. Her bilum was actually picked up by another person (probably a student) who placed it there. Whoever moved that bilum, stole her wallet and a video camera. The wallet contained some money including her bankcard. We tried to identify the person who robbed her, by questioning the students who sat in the same row but no one seemed to know anything. Our inquiry reached a dead end.

It was truly a bitter-pill to my cognition to accept the fact that university students at the country’s premier university were stealing from each other. Where is this nation, going if the supposedly future creams of this nation are already behaving like criminals? Worst of all, it is happening inside the university’s library, let alone the dormitories and classrooms.

The following week, on a Friday, I was at Boroko, infront of the CHM store. I was with my colleague and a driver, who drove us there to buy my recorder’s batteries. We went there in a blue CRV mini bus. We have two laptop computers at the backseat of the car. That was about 11:00 am. We parked the car right infront of the CHM store. Standing at the store’s entrance facing our car was a security guard. Sitting just about two meters away is a street vendor who sold religious books, also facing the car.There was about a hundred people standing along the side of the stores, hiding from the sun’s heat, also facing our car. Despite of having hundreds of eyes watching us, someone managed to broke our car’s glasses and walk off with the two laptops.

As we walked out of CHM’s store, after about 15 minutes, some young men reported to us that our car’s glass was smashed. Realizing that, we quickly noticed that the two laptops were stollen. Sadly, no one was willing to step-up and identify the culprit who smashed the car’s glass and stole the laptops. The security guard and the vendor who happened to stand - facing our car just a meter away denied adamantly that they saw nothing.

I quickly went to report the incident to the Boroko police station. The lady at the front desk, said, “sorry there is no car and no police to assist you right now.” Fortunately, as I was walking out the police station, I met one of my university’s course mates, who happened to join the police force. Together with two other police officers, we walked up to where my car was parked. Even the Policemen’s inquiries, appeared to have no influence over the witnesses’ testimonies. It was a dead end. We walked back to the Police station to compile a crime report. After that, the policemen mentioned that, they knew those groups of street thieves who usually commit such act and will investigate. However, they (police officers) propose for us to pay them (thieves) to get our stollen properties back. Few other bystanders supported the police’s thesis. Personally, I cannot see the logic or just a simple common sense in this thesis. It’s just like paying the thieves to steal from me. Its absured and one will only find such arrangements in a sick society. There is a breakdown of ethical practices and common sense. All that prevail is the attitude of “what do I gain from this”. Everyone is out there to maximize the gratification of his/her infinite greed (some might be tempted to call it ‘forced-poverty’) from the opportunities that presents itself, either it be through good or bad means. To them, the means justifies the ends, as long as they earned something substantial from it.

That weekend, I decided to investigate myself and if possible retrieve the laptops. I was fortunate to identify those criminals, who appear to be from the Tabare tribe in the Sinasina District of Simbu Province. Sadly, I hail from this same district. Frankly, it is piercingly madness to know that my own ethnic groups are stealling from me.

Worst of all is that, the two laptops was sold to a professional lawyer and furthermore he is a son of a respected and well known leader in Simbu Province and Papua New Guinea. What I’ve learnt from his own relatives is that, the lawyer is like a panderer who is known for dealing with criminals in this business. I’ve met the lawyer and he admitted that he bought both laptop computers (Copaq and Dell). However he reluctantly returned only one (Dell) and decided to keep the other. I met the lawyer once indirectly and until now, he might not know me personally. However, I believe after reading this article he can return the other computer with all the contents of the bag intact.

Lawyers like him are a shame to their proffession and should not practice the law they consciously act against. He is also bringing the good name of his late father into disrepute. His father is a pioneer Simbu who have rose to the highest political rank- and-file in PNG that has ever held by any Simbu. My fellow Simbu, it is time for you to seriously do some soul searching and revisit your family bloodline to reconsider your acts. I am willing and ready to publicize your name in the public media and other responsible transaprency advocates in PNG.

From all these experiences in just one month in this nation’s capital, I have no reservations and regrets to conclude that, Papua New Guinea is increasingly developing a sick society.

A defenseless, innocent elderly woman robbed and yet no one shows any sympathy or convictions to stop such activities. Our future educated elites are stealing from each other in a venue in the university, which was supposed to be the most secured study environment and have gone unnoticed. Street vendors and security guards are protecting thieves for their own gain and safety. Law enforcers are condoning criminal activities by facilitating barter practice for stollen properties between thieves and property owners. Professional lawyers are buying stollen properties from criminals, even though lawyers know that being in possession of a stolen property is a criminal act.

There may be so many rationale to such ordeals in our changing mordern society. However, one simple rationale is the economic divide between the rich and poor, the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

This unequal and unfaire distribution of the nation’s wealth has caused the poor and underprivilidged to live off the possessions of the privilledged. Some can even argue that this is the design of the free-market capitalist economy, which encourages competitions, in a playing field that is uneven. The privileged and strong turned to benefit more from the underprivileged and weak.

The wealth of the nations is concentrated in the arms of the few privileged people who have access to influential people in business and government sectors.

This priviliged group composed of approximately 5% of the nation’s total population. Sadly, members of this group are in the position to decide the fate of this country’s development aspirations. Therefore, they are more complacent with the current socio-economic and political status-quo. Let alone the development prospects of the over-publicized, multi-billion LNG projects.