Mission & Justice

11/6/08

Joseph Kabui stopped taking his life-saving medicine four months ago because he didn’t have the money to pay for it and felt ashamed to ask for help. “Yu save sister blong mi, mi no man blong askim long samting sapos em I concernim mi,’’ he told me in his last media interview on Friday afternoon immediately after he arrived in Buka from his Manus trip. About 12 hours later, he collapsed from what is believed to have been a massive heart attack and was dead before he could be rushed to the nearby Buka Hospital. Late president Kabui, who could give me an interview at his Gateway because he was either tired or tied up singled out to me from his Gateway room after returning from the Manus Governor’s conference: “ringim mi tomoro (Friday) na bai yumi stori.”

(more…)

10/6/08

Bougainville’s first autonomous government president Joseph Kabui is dead after suffering a massive heart attack. Buka General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Cyril Imako confirmed the 54-year-old former seminarian from Siromba in Central Bougainville was already dead in the house before he was brought to the hospital for medication. Dr Imako said Mr Kabui was due for medication last December. He ran out of medicine four months ago and was depending on brand of bottled water reputed to have healing properties. He felt chest pains on the left side a week before he travelled for the Governors’ conference in Manus. He was premier of the province until the conflict started and then became the leading figure in the pro-secessionist Bougainville Interim Government which fought for independence from Papua New Guinea.

(more…)

6/6/08

The Autonomous Bougainville Government yesterday gagged an open forum on Buka Island which was planned to discuss the dealings of the government. High on the agenda would have been the recent signing of an agreement between the ABG and Bougainville Development Corporation Ltd. Police in Buka were instructed to apprehend two women leaders at the forum venue, they were brought to the police station and advised to cancel the forum pending the next sitting of the ABG parliament next week. Members of the inter-church womens forum, Monica Samu and Celestine Tomi, said the ABG had ordered the police to stop the forum. The police kept watch as the tents prepared for the forum were pulled down.

(more…)

Romulus Masiu; 5/6/08

Bougainvillean-made pornographic materials are being freely distributed on the streets of Buka town with the intention to expose the “porn stars”.These porn materials are being duplicated and widely circulated to government authorities and individuals. It is understood police in the region have also been given these materials. Yesterday some youths approached The National’s Buka office with a copy of a CD containing images of a senior Bougainvillean public servant and two local women. The images showed the three in nude scenes. The images were captured and turned into a video slide show and distributed in town with the intention of all to view and know who is involved in porn production, the youths stated. “It’s about time we expose some of our corrupt leaders because, nowadays, it seems that there a two sets of laws - one for the grassroots and one for the big-shots. “When the grassroots do wrong, police are quick to arrest and lock them up. However, when people in high offices do wrong, they are still walking around freely,” the youths told The National.

(more…)

3/6/08

Possession of pornographic materials and making pornographic movies in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville has increased dramatically. It is also becoming a possible way for some people to make ends meet. According to newspaper reports last week some professional people are starring in the locally made pornographic movies. In Bougainville this has also become an issue that could test leadership in the region because some leaders are allegedly involved. There are a lot of these movies being circulated around the Bougainville region. It has also brought concern for the Bishop of the Catholic Church in Bougainville.

(more…)

26/5/08

Women have contributed a lot in the peace process yet they still suffer silently, says a leader. “Women and chil-dren have all suffered during the crisis and seeing the Government practically giving millions of kina to the ex-combatants is quite annoying and unfair,” says Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency president Helen Hakena. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) gave K5 million to the Bougainville Revolution Army last year and K10 million was given to the resistance forces by the National Government as a token of ap-preciation for the efforts during the crisis.

(more…)

21/5/08

A week-long para-legal training on environmental issues held at the Tsiroge conference centre in Bougainville revealed damages caused by mining, oil palm and logging to the environment. The training was organised by Tulele Peisa Inc and facilitated by Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc. Mining, oil palm and logging industries pose a major threat to the lives of Bougainvilleans. Environmental impact issues identified included depletion of flora and fauna, soil erosion, chemical pollution and exploitation of marine life if seabed mining is allowed.

(more…)