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Articles by Keith Jackson
Tribute to PNG’s John Waiko: scholar and politician
The distinguished academic, writer and politician, John Dademo Waiko, died on 17 November 2024 at the age of 79. Waiko was born in the village of Tabara in Oro Province on the lands of the Binandare people. He once said his parents had been reluctant to send him to school because they feared he would not be able to look after them in their old age.
Recent Notes 5: 7th August 2023
_____________ THAT FINAL DAY By Joseph Tambure At last that day arrives In slow motion, not a surprise To hang up my boots To fold my pants up To hang my hat A feeling of fullness surrounds Expecting it and now That day finally arrives This day is upon me A reality that turns me back To tidy up my table To close my books To shut down computers A feeling of sadness overwhelms But accomplishments triumphs Today I reflect back many years Today is a wonderful day Started on a wonderful day...
The Dancing Waves
JIMMY AWAGL On the surface of the mysterious blue Unseen wind kissing saltwater surface Curving white clouds of rumbling bubbles Forcing the waves to follow in a curve Like morning fog on the tree tops A dancing queen with a glistening crown Smiling and swinging in magic rhythm Like Motu frangipani petals swaying Stalked on soft frizzy and kinky hair Waving steadily in ceaseless cadence Like an image reflecting in a mirror Rushing to the seashore’s sands As a herd of woolly sheep might move...
Grandfather’s Day
R J HAUSER I’ve been suggesting to my grandchildren that we ought to celebrate Grandfather’s Day In my grandfather’s day life was grim enduring the Depression and the Wars, it seemed as if the hard times wrung him out| and squeezed his life force slowly through his pores I’ve been a grandfather myself for twenty years. I’ve learned the rules of family push and shove, and how my times have proved quite opportune to demonstrate strong service acts of love.
Sherlock Holmes in New Guinea: Parth the thixth
ARTHUR CONAN KRANZ THE MOTUAN POLICEMAN, Inspector Vex, guided Holmes and Watson out of Moresby accompanied by some trusty native porters. They climbed and eventually gazed down at the distant lights of Port Moresby. "Where are we Vex?" "A place called Sogeri. The wildlife is unique and the climate somewhat more pleasant than the coast". They travelled on a few more miles and stopped to make camp. Watson - "Holmes, there is a strange foreboding feel to this place.
There's always a way to celebrate Christmas
Buna, Papua December 1942: US 126th Regiment's 2nd Field Hospital. Medics and a visiting Aussie gather around a bush Christmas tree decorated with surgical cotton wool, ration tins and cigarette cartons. Also a holed Japanese Type 90 Tetsubo (M30/32) steel helmet and Arisaka rifle bayonet (Dennis Burns - Twitter @DWB55)
A virus of evil tended by men of stupidity
KEITH JACKSON NOOSA - The pandemic has to be getting worse. It has to be simply because there are no serious public health steps being taken to halt its progress. Even the much vaunted vaccines are waning in their ability to protect. If you can get them in the first place. The federal government seems to have lost interest.
Worst public health disaster since World War II
And so the ‘hybrid-immunity’ strategy was born. The idea was that we could ease off public health measures that were perceived as restricting so much of society, and let widespread infection do most of the work. The prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison, encouraged us to ‘push through’ the first Omicron wave, and Queensland’s chief health officer went as far as to say it was probably ‘necessary’ for us to be infected.
The Cracking Dawn
The red eyes of the glowing flame Casts a golden spectrum like a sunflower Painting on the dazzling clouds Beyond the eastern skies Reflected like a convex mirror in our eyes The nocturnal creatures farewell the darkness The morning cicada welcomes the glittering dawn While the leaping sun greets the gliding clouds As morning birds sing their cheerful songs The rays kisses the dew on still leaves The calmness of dawn Forcing the leaves not to dance But to hide the beauty of their smile Like...
Birth of a Papuan Tragedy
YAMIN KOGOYA Psychopathology of the coloniser and colonised They taught me how to celebrate Christmas and New Year, but they did not teach me how to honour and celebrate my humanity. I was taught how to get to heaven and how to avoid hell, but I was never taught how to live on this planet as a human being – the only place I know. I was taught to see myself in God’s image, but they never respected that image. They taught me how to be religious, but they did not teach me how to be a human being.
Getting Old
Occasionally I am racked by a spasm of geriatric jealousy of the vim and vibrant drive that makes the young ones tough, but then in sober reflection traversing again the panoply of pain, the strained yearnings of my own youth, happy to cry enough. Perhaps my life is like a skipping stone flung upon the water, big bounces at the beginning full of untamed energy and zest, the slow slackening of momentum, the more constant buffets of surface abrasions, the final staccato splashes, the sink to rest.
Another innocent victim of a very cruel crime
As I walked past, the street was quite empty. There was one girl at the market table over the banis. Another walked behind me along the Pacific Helicopter fence. A group of women further along gathered at the Steakhouse gate. And further still were some Guard Dog Security guards and other people warming themselves with betel nut and smokes around the market table. He picked me at this very moment because it was just right. He may have known me.
R J Hauser’s poems of wisdom and humanity
KEITH JACKSON NOOSA – Ingrid and I are fortunate to share our leafy neighbourhood with many fine and gifted people, one of whom, Richard Hauser, happens to be an outstanding poet. Fairly recently, Australia lost Les Murray and Clive James from our midst, but thank heavens we still have RJ Hauser – a man whose works are always wise, provocative, bathed in a warm glow of humanity and very Australian.
Covid gaslighting is dangerous for democracy
After two years of acknowledging the dangers of Covid-19, something eerily similar has happened with public health policy across the western world. Federal and municipal governments in North America, Europe and Australia have begun lifting basic protections like vaccine and mask mandates, winding down public testing, ending contact tracing and withholding critical public health data, like case counts, hospitalisation numbers, wastewater results and even the size of local outbreaks.
Labor & me: a political affair to remember
‘I have trouble believing that they are somehow inspired by some deeply held sense of duty or purpose. Nowadays it just seems like part of a career path.
PNG youth is trapped in the web of modernity
It is clear that if the PNG government does not focus on the youth population now, the future prospects of the whole country will be saturated by failure. Few school leavers are able to find gainful employment. Many leave their villages for the towns and cities hoping to find work. There is no work for most and poverty and crime follow. One way to solve the problem would be to recruit more personnel for the army and police force.
Reflections on 2022: an era of instability
At best, it is a time for people to get together and enjoy the company of their family and friends. But mostly it is a time too often devoted to over indulgence and conspicuous consumption. Huge efforts are made to encourage people to spend as if there will be no tomorrow. Inevitably, tomorrow is when the bills become due. The media breathlessly reports new record retail sales over Christmas and the New Year as if this meant something significant or was an inherently good thing.
Proper subjects for poetry: love, virtue & war
“The proper subjects for poetry are love, virtue, and war” - Dante Alighieri, De Eloquentia Vulgari, 1304 Christmas Day on the Somme LESLIE RUB ’Twas Christmas Day on the Somme The men stood on parade, The snow laid six feet on the ground Twas twenty in the shade.
Overwhelming joy as aviation comes to Wetap
“Suddenly you have to decide whether you fly the circuit right or left. What is better, what is safer? “We arrived in the afternoon, the weather was good, the wind wasn’t too strong, the sky was clear, no clouds in the vicinity. “The perfect conditions to fly different circuits and determine committal, the point from where you have to land and no longer be able to resume the landing by going around again. “We need to pass a great deal of information to all pilots for future flights.
Election PNG: Far from founding fathers vision
Over the course of time, this Western process of appointing leaders has been modified to align with elements of Melanesian culture. And lately it has been hijacked to suit and validate modern Melanesian bigman status. In August this year our nation witnessed the worst election in its 47 year history. The overt disregard of the electoral process and the existence of rampant corruption, violence and election related deaths have been unprecedented.
In praise of a great doctor - and seed planter
Jimi district represents the many rural and remote (some very isolated) places in PNG where accessing primary medical care is limited by poor road access. This is where winding and narrow is the path to getting to see a doctor, places where the pastures of medical care are brown. The PNG government has tried various approaches to solve this issue, but all seemed to be superficial, symptomatic and reactive. So there needed to be a change of approach - a paradigm shift.
Recognising the perils of war to avert war
CHRIS OVERLAND ADELAIDE - We ought not to regard China as a direct military threat. It makes no strategic or practical sense to do so. After all, we willingly sell them the resources they need from us. They have long ago worked out that, in our neo-liberal capitalist system, money speaks much more loudly than ethics, morality or patriotism. I also agree that we should avoid being dragged into ugly regional wars, especially those premised upon the idea that democracy can be successfully exported.
Albo’s silent menace - a sullied public service
Waterford observes that “administrative reform is in the doldrums and focused on rhetorical fluff” and “there is no talk about accountability, individual and collective responsibility, or about moral cowardice”. Waterford writes that this failure to begin to address the massive systemic malfunctions inherited from Scott Morrison “is astonishing and criminally negligent.
Reflections on Christmas's past & present
A time of the year when we ignore our dire existence on the planet and revel in the inane commercialism that annually accompanies this holiday break. A time when we indulge in an orgy of overeating, drinking and maniacal shopping for junk that will probably be discarded in the early months of next year. We’ll literally spend billions of dollars and quickly look away from media reports of starvation in the horn of Africa and that insane war in Eastern Europe.
China’s behaviour tells story of its ambitions
He does not pay sufficient regard to the rhetoric coming from within the Chinese Communist Party about China’s destiny to resume its natural place as the world’s foremost power. To this end it has embarked upon a massive arms program which includes rapidly expanding its naval power to create the ‘blue water’ navy needed to project its power well beyond its shores. You do not need large aircraft carriers or nuclear armed submarines to simply defend territorial integrity.
Aid: the myth of partnership & collaboration
I can attest that her description of how she and her colleagues were treated, marginalised and made to feel worthless is replicated elsewhere by the ‘we are here to help you’ specialists who are both tunnel visioned and deaf to local nuances and desires. They are the so-called experts, with no local lived experience, who arrive in a developing country with preordained solutions that ignore local knowledge.
‘Doomed to disease & mortality', say experts
OPEN LETTER TO NATIONAL CABINET | OzSAGE OzSAGE is an independent network of Australian experts from a broad range of sectors relevant to the well-being of the Australian population.
W Papuans fear Indon-PNG defence pact
Rapa’s statement was in response to PNG police who arrived at the anniversary celebration and attempted to prevent Papuans from the other side of the colonial border from commemorating this significant national day. According to Rapa, the issue of West Papua’s plight for liberation should be at the top of the agenda in PNG. He urged PNG's foreign affairs minister Justine Tkatchenko to take the plight of West Papuans to the United Nations.
Slush funds used to maintain power in PNG
One reward was an all-expenses paid trip to Brisbane in September for 72 MPs to attend the annual prime minister’s 13 rugby league match between PNG and Australia. Against more pressing development needs, the trip cost more than K3 million. The match saw PNG thrashed by Australia 64-14. Another reward has been to increase the province and district services improvement program (P/DSIP) from K8 million to K10 million, the highest amount ever.
Poems of soul call up forgotten memories
The book is dedicated to Edward’s late brother, Albert T Pulagis. “There comes a time when you will realise that the people who care about you the most are the ones that you spend less time with,” Edward writes.
There are ways to keep our country united
It is this attribute the nation should try to harness in a proper way. At present, we have the laws and rules in place, but the enforcement mechanisms are not working. The processes, procedures and systems to enforce these rules and laws must be strengthened and provided with adequate resources. The rule of law should take centre stage and mechanisms to get respect for the rule of law should be a paramount concern for the government.
PNG's corruption is systemic & worsening
Corruption, and particularly systemic grand corruption, has worsened in PNG in the decades following its political independence from the Australian colonial administration in 1975. In addressing this issue, past and present PNG governments have continued to look for avenues to address and minimise corruption. The country has enacted laws, joined international initiatives, and adopted global principles and anti-corruption commitments.
Population: 'Mama, papa na faivpela pikinini'
Rather than arguing theoretical knowledge, I'll make an educated guestimate of what's likely in terms of rural population growth rates. These are based on recent observations, which I hope may be disproved (or my math and stats totally destroyed by more astute and learned commentators). Often desktop studies are scoffed at even when they are designed to be carefully adjusted within error bounds: a fact to which most honest statisticians, economists and geographers will attest.
With foresight, PNG can be a force of nature
PNG also lies at the heart of the Coral Triangle – a region that is home to 76% of all known coral species. Climate change and unsustainable growth threaten these natural assets, ones which the people of PNG have enjoyed for thousands of years. Generations to come should enjoy them too. Sipora Naraga, a resident of Aromot Island – an atoll off the coast of Umbol Island in the Vitiaz Strait of Morobe Province, laments what has come to pass.
When you complain and don't contribute....
Makes you wonder in which generation will the issues we complain about be phased out of our systems. Who will implement the change we all want to see? Let’s take a very relatable example; PNG Power and blackouts. We all complain. Almost every day we do. But that’s all we do, complain for the sake of it, complain, and expect miracles to happen. But here’s a question for students: how many of you strive to be engineers?
The unfortunate lesson of St Patrick the slave
After six years as a slave, Patrick escaped and returned to Britain where he trained to be a Christian cleric. He then returned to Ireland and began proselytising Christianity. In other words he became a missionary. By the 7th century Patrick had become the patron saint of Ireland. By introducing Christianity, he almost single-handedly destroyed Ireland’s proud Celtic warrior culture, something the might of the Roman Empire had failed to do.
Our thousands of unexpected Covid deaths
This historical average is based on an average of the deaths for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. They did not include 2020 in the baseline for 2022 data because it included periods where numbers of deaths were significantly lower than expected. The difference between the expected number of deaths based on historical data, and the actual number, is called ‘excess deaths’.
Julie Bishop delivers hard truths to PNG
Fortunately because the grand occasion of the investment conference at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney was probably geared to hear her telling PNG the truth. (Although a version of her comments which seems to be untrue went viral in PNG.) Unfortunately because PNG needs more leaders of high standing like her to stop the façade of big dreams premised on Australia as a fall back plan. Well now you know if you didn’t; Australia is not a fall back plan.
Share where you can and fight when you must
Security does not derive from respect. Security prevents disrespect. Tolerance derives from respect. Reciprocation is key. Strength must undergird this, and when push comes to shove (e.g., Ukraine), you must be prepared to stand and fight for your rights. What is the basis of human rights if it is not something worth defending?
Hefty taxes will wound our banks & business
The 80/20 rule is lost in the numbers here. To raise only 5% of the deficit, the government is prepared to sacrifice the stability of the financial systems of the entire economy. The announcement that Kina Bank will not be executing its expansion plans is a significant backward step for the economy. A credible second bank is needed in PNG to provide an alternative to customers aside from Bank South Pacific. This won’t happen now.
For good or ill US is democracy’s torch bearer
Our relationship with the US has endured since that time and, as Phil Fitzpatrick has rightly pointed out, we have usually acted loyally if sometimes unwisely to support our ‘great and powerful friend’. Successive American administrations have come to regard Australia as their most stalwart ally in a world where suspicion, fickleness and bad faith is more often than not a feature of diplomatic relations between nations.
A historian's view of the very near future....
Many expressed that New Guineans themselves were not developed and that the economy and infrastructure were not ready for self-rule. However, outside forces, including the United Nations, were too great and Papua New Guinea cut ties with Australia starting in 1972 with self-government and then independence on 16 September 1975. And so began the common talk of PNG's independence being given on a golden plate.
Meg Taylor should be appointed our next GG
His daughter, Dame Meg Taylor, would retrace his journey decades later in her documentary ‘In My Father's Footsteps’. In the film, she described how the Hela were thrust into the 20th century with the speed of a bullet. Today a son of Hela leads the nation that Jim Taylor helped build and unite, and Taylor’s daughter, Dame Meg, helped lead Papua New Guinea towards independence.
Moresby’s police have ways to make you pay
Our bus stopped in front of Mondo clothing with the crew shrieking ‘hurry up, hurry up, this is police stop, you want us to get caught?’ So we poured from the still moving vehicle, a norm for us passengers who travel in these parts. As I rushed out, I quickly pushed some change into my back pocket. I would be passing a group of beggars who sit at the junction opposite the Total Energies gas station.
Let's be friends to all & enemies to everybody
Everyone was happy. Community solidarity was in force on both sides of the fence. That solidarity in the face of the perceived enemy provided the impetus for the maintenance of a sound economy and the organisation of a happy rallying and flag-waving society. On the other side of the coin was the choice of our friends and allies. Prior to World War II, Australia’s greatest friend and ally was Great Britain, but it let us down badly.
What Australians really think about aid
When we started our work, other than headline figures about public support from intermittent surveys, little was known about how much aid Australians wanted given, and what they wanted it given for. We have now systematically surveyed how many Australians think their country gives too much or too little aid and we have tracked this over time. We have also studied whether Australians want their aid given to advance the national interest or help developing countries.
19m population shock was hidden from public
It would nearly halve PNG’s per capita income from $3,230 (K7,700) to about $1,770 (K4,200) a year – putting Australia’s closest neighbour on par with African states such as Sudan and Senegal. The findings are ringing alarm bells in Canberra and were considered so sensitive the PNG government – which already struggles to provide basic services to its people – had refused permission for them to be published.
West Papua: first one, then two, now five....
Under this new legislation, the two existing provinces have been divided into five, which include South Papua, Central Papua and Highland Papua. And in Papua’s capital, Jayapura, last week, Indonesia’s vice president Ma'ruf Amin said that “right now, we are building Papua better”.
The desperate & deadly streets of Moresby
I was very fortunate to get the job because I only graduated this year from a newly established training institute. After my probation, my company’s administration will decide whether to keep me and increase my pay or lay me off. Right now I'm working my guts out to impress my boss so he will keep me. City life is very hard unlike the Highlands town where I was born and lived. There, every place was a safe walking distance from school, work or hospital.
The lone and level sands stretch far away
Also, to be brutally honest, citizens in the developed world are not going to accept a conscious decision to embrace a life in which there is much less ‘stuff’. Stuff includes almost everything you can buy and everyday convenience: whether it is the stuff you can buy in a department store, mass tourism in its various forms (cruising the seas in enormous ships, flying overseas for holidays, driving all over the country towing a caravan) or consuming water in plastic bottles.
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