A Papua New Guinea minister has raised concerns about “serious issues” at the PNG-Indonesia border due to a lack of proper security checkpoints.

Culture and Tourism Minister Belden Namah, who is also the member for the border electorate Vanimo-Green, voiced these concerns while supporting a new Biosecurity for Plants and Animals Bill presented in Parliament by Agriculture Minister John Boito.

He said Papua New Guinea was the only country in the Pacific Islands region that shared a land border with another nation.

According to Namah, the absence of proper quarantine and National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) checks at the border allowed people bringing food and plants from Indonesia to introduce diseases affecting PNG’s commodities.

Minister Namah, whose electorate shares a border with Indonesia, noted that while the PNG Defence Force and police were present, they were primarily focused on checking vehicles coming from Indonesia instead of actively patrolling the borders.

He clarified the roles, saying, “It’s NAQIA’s job to search vehicles and passengers, and the PNGDF’s role is to guard and patrol our borders.”

Namah expressed concern that while bills were passed, enforcement on the ground was lacking.

Minister Namah supported the PNG Biosecurity Authority Bill and called for consistency, increased border security, and stricter control checks.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Namah, the Vanimo Green MP, said he was dissatisfied with the response Marape presented in Parliament yesterday as the death toll from the Wapenamanda killings rose to about 70.

“He never answered any one of my questions,” he said angrily.

“I would have expected him to say, yes, we are putting together a special force from the police and the military to go in there and go after the warlords, go after the murderers.”

“We have funding allocated separately for that. We have the capacity, the policemen and women have enough uniforms, three sets of uniforms, they have allowance, these are the sort of preparedness I was looking for the PM to tell me when I was talking about combat readiness.

“We are sending the same old people, the soldiers and the police and they are fraternising with the tribal fighters, with the lot of people on the ground and not effecting any arrests.

“In fact, they are standing around with the warriors carrying their guns, soldiers and police carrying their guns, where are we heading?” he asked.

‘I wanted PM to go hard’
“I wanted the Prime Minister to come to the floor of Parliament and say my government is going to do this and do that, and go hard on these people.

“The death toll has gone up to 70, it’s not a small number, it’s hit news media everywhere in the world.

“It is not about this 70 only, it started in his electorate, in his province and I would have expected that he would put in place counter measures for this.

“He has not. Police have their own intelligence officers, military have their own intelligence, [and] the government has its own.

“They should be out there penetrating the tribal villages collecting information and then send in special forces — that’s what I mean by having the government ready to counter these kinds of activities.

“And if the force was in readiness, they would have put [it] forward.”

Namah said Marape’s response yesterday demonstrated that the government was not interested in sorting out the security issues in the Highlands-affected areas.

Police chief on notice
Prime Minister Marape told Parliament that Police Commissioner Davd Manning had been put on notice to ensure the country was secured.

Marape addressed the pressing issues of lawlessness raised during a parliamentary session this week, singling out that a plan to incorporate all suggestions by MPs –– including the Enga massacre and others.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces.

The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was named a suspect by the KPK and summoned by Indonesia’s Mobile Brigade Corps, known as BRIMOB, after being accused of receiving bribes worth one million rupiah (NZ$112,000).

Since the governor’s kidnapping, Indonesian media have been flooded with images and videos of his arrest, his deportation, being handcuffed in Jakarta while in an orange KPK (prisoner) uniform, and his admission to a heavily armed military hospital.

Besides the public display of power, imagery, morality and criminality with politically loaded messages, the governor, his family, and his lawyers are still enmeshed in Jakarta’s health and legal system, while his health continues to steadily deteriorate.

His first KPK investigation on January 12 failed because of his declining health, among other factors such as insufficient or no concrete evidence to be found to date.

During the first examination, the governor’s attorney, Petrus Bala Pattyona, stated his client was asked eight questions by the KPK investigators. However, all eight questions,  Petrus stressed, had no substance to relevant matters involved — the alegations against the governor.

None of the questions from the KPK were included in the investigation material, according to the attorney. Enembe’s health condition was the first question asked by the investigator, Petrus told Kompas TV.

“First, he was asked if Mr Lukas was in good enough health to be examined? His answer was that he was unwell and that he had had a stroke,” Petrus said.

But the examination continued, and he was asked about the history of his education, work, and family. According to the governor’s attorney, during the lengthy examination no questions were asked about the examination material.

To date, authorities in Jakarta continue to question the governor and others suspected of involvement in the alleged corruption case, including his wife and son.

Meanwhile, the governor’s health crisis is causing a massive rift between the governor’s side, civil society groups and government authority.

Fresh update
“The governor of Papua is critically ill today but earlier the KPK still forced an examination and wanted to take him to the Gatot Subroto Hospital, owned by the Indonesian Army; the governor refused and requested treatment in Singapore instead” said the governor’s family last Thursday (February 2), after trying to report the mistreatment case to the country’s Human Rights Commission, who have been dispersed by the Indonesian military and police.

It appears, they continued, that the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) and Gatot Subroto Hospital did not transparently disclose the real results of the Papua governor’s medical examination.

Instead, they hid and kept the governor’s illness quiet. As a result, Lukas Enembe was forced to undergo an investigation by the KPK.

Angered by this treatment, the governor’s team said, “only those who are unconscious and dead to humanity can insist that the governor is well.”

They said that IDI, Gatot Subroto Hospital and KPK had “played with the pain and the life” of Papua’s Governor Lukas Enembe.

“Still, the condition hurts. The governor complained that in KPK custody, there was no appropriate bedding for sick people. Earlier today, the governor’s family complained about the situation to the country’s human rights commission, but they refused to accept it.

“That’s where the governor is, and that’s where we are now. They even call for security forces to be deployed at the human rights office as if we were committing crimes there,” the governor’s family stated.

“Save Lukas Enembe and save Papua. Papuans must wake up and not be caught off guard. They keep the governor in KPK’s facilities even though he is very ill,” the statement continued.

Grave concerns
In his statement, Gabriel Goa, board chair at the Indonesian Law and Human Rights Institute, criticised the Human Rights Commission. He said he questioned the integrity of the chair of the National Human Rights Commission, Atnike Nova Sigiro, for not independently investigating the violations of the rights of the governor by the KPK.

Goa stated that he had “never seen anything like this” in his 20 years of handling cases related to violations of human rights.

This was the first he had seen the office of Human Rights Commission involving security forces attending victims seeking help. The kind of treatment that is being perpetrated against Indigenous Papuans is indeed of a particular nature.

Goa warned: “If this is ignored, and something bad happens to Governor Lukas Enembe, the Human Rights Commission and KPK Indonesia will be held responsible, since victims, their families, and their legal companions have made efforts as stipulated by law.”

Despite these grave concerns for the Governor’s health and rights violations, the deputy chair of the KPK, Alexander Marwata, stated: “Governor Enembe is well enough to undergo the KPK’s investigation and doesn’t need to go to Singapore.

“The Indonesian authority says Gatot Subroto Hospital and IDI can handle his health needs, institutions the governor and his family refused to use because of the psychological trauma of the whole situation.”

‘Inhumane’ treatment of Enembe condemned
In response to Jakarta’s mistreatment of Governor Enembe, Papua New Guinea’s Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah condemned Jakarta’s “cruel behaviour”.

Namah, whose electorate borders Papua province, said it was very difficult to ignore this issue because of Namah’s people’s traditional and family ties that extend beyond Vanimo into West Papua.

According to the PNG Post-Courier, he urged the United Nations to investigate the issue, particularly the manner in which Governor Enembe was being treated by the Indonesian government.

The way PNG’s Namah asked to be investigated is the way in which Jakarta treats the leaders of West Papua — cunning deceptions that undermine their efforts to deliver their own legal and moral goods and services for Papuans.

This manner of conduct was criticised even last September when the drama began.

Responding to the way KPK conducted itself, Dr Roy Rening, a member of the governor’s legal team, stated the governor’s designation as a suspect had been prematurely determined.

This was due to the lack of two crucial pieces of evidence necessary to establish the legitimacy of the charge within the existing framework of Indonesia’s legal procedural code.

Dr Rening also argued that the KPK’s behaviour in executing their warrant, turned on a dime. The governor was unaware that he was a suspect, and that he was already under investigation by the KPK when he was summoned to appear.

In his letter, Dr Rening explained that Governor Enembe had never been invited to clarify and/or appear as a witness pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Code. The KPK instead declared the governor as a suspect based on the warrant letters, which had also changed dates and intent.

Jakarta’s deceptive strategies targeting Papuan leaders
There appears to be a consistent pattern of Indonesia’s behaviour behind the scenes as well — setting traps and plotting that ultimately led to the kidnapping of the governor, the same manner as when West Papua’s sovereignty was kidnapped 61 years ago by using and manipulating the UN mechanism on decolonisation.

As thousands of Papuans guarded the governor’s residence, Jakarta employed two cunning ruses to kidnap the governor, the humanist approach and what the Jakarta elites now proudly refer to as “nasi bungkus” (“pack of rice strategy”).

A visit by Firli Bahuri, chair of KPK, to the governor in Koya Jayapura, Papua, on 3 November 2022, was perceived as being “humane”, but it was a false approach intended to gain trust, thereby weakening the Papuan support for their final attack on the governor.

Recently leaked information from the governor’s side alleged that the chair had advised the Governor to put his health first, allowing him to travel to Singapore for routine medical check-ups as he had in the past.

KPK, however, stated that it had never said such things to Governor Enembe during that meeting.

With hindsight, what seemed to have resulted from the KPK chief’s visit to the Governor’s house had “loosened” the governor’s defence.

This then, processed by Indonesian intelligence began keeping a daily count of the number of Papuan civilians guarding the governor’s house by calculating the number of “nasi bungkus” purchased to feed the hungry guardians of the Governor.

Moreover, critics say information was fabricated regarding an alleged plan for the ill Governor to flee overseas through his highland village in Mamit a few days prior to the kidnapping which would justify this act.

Kidnapping, sending into exile, imprisoning, and psychologically torturing of Papuan leaders within the Indonesia’s legal system may be part of Indonesia’s overall strategy in maintaining its control over West Papua as its frontier settler colony.

In order to achieve Jakarta’s objectives, eliminating the power and hope emerging from West Papuan leaders appears to have been the key strategy.

Victor Yeimo’s fate in Indonesia
Victory Yeimo, a Papuan independence figure facing similar health problems, has also been placed under the Indonesian judiciary with no clear outcome to date.

He faces charges of treason and incitement for his alleged role in anti-racial protests that turned into riots in 2019, following the attack on Papuan students in Surabaya by Indonesian militia.

Yeimo provided a key insight into how this colonial justice system operated in a short video that recently appeared on Twitter. He explained:

“Although I have not been charged, but I have already been charged with the law, as if I wanted to be punished, so I have been sentenced. It appears as if the decision has already been made. Ah, this seems unfair to me and is a lesson to the Papuan people. You [Indonesia] decide whether or not there is legal justice in this country?

“Does the law in this country provide any guarantees to Papuans so that we feel we are proud to live in the Republic of Indonesia? If the situation is like this, I am confused.”

Tragically, choices and decisions of existence for Papuan leaders like Governor Enembe and Victor Yeimo are made by a shadowy figure, camouflaged in a human costume, incapable of feeling the pain of another.

Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic/activist who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

An angry tirade on Papua New Guinea and Indonesia border issues in the PNG Parliament yesterday is likely to ignite an international uproar over the alleged behaviour of government officials.

During yesterday’s session, Vanimo-Green MP and former soldier Belden Namah, asked why border liaison meetings were always held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

He also called on the government to allow for this Indonesia-PNG Border Treaty — which PNG has not ratified — to be withheld so serious issues pertaining to the border arrangements between the two countries would be addressed.

Namah, who is the parliamentary chair for Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, claimed that Indonesian government officials were “getting our officers drunk, giving them women and then come the meeting — they are just sitting there saying, ‘Yes sir, yes sir’!”

“Every time a border liaison meeting is held we are taking our people to Jakarta.

“When they go to Jakarta, they go and drink Bintang beer and get into illegal activities and they don’t attend border liaison meetings representing our country,” Namah claimed.

He said PNG soldiers were no longer patrolling the PNG border and that Indonesians were constantly breaching the border and crossing into PNG.

‘Serious security issue’
“This is a serious national issue, serious security issue that we need to address. We need to carefully look at these issues.”

Namah’s angry outburst followed a move by the Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko to introduce the ratification of the Border Treaty agreement between PNG and Indonesia.

“We must make hard decisions, we are a sovereign nation. We cannot go on border liaison all the time in Jakarta,” Namah said.

“There are a lot of issues yet to be addressed and we must not rush the ratification of these border arrangements.

“We as a country have not been seriously looking at the border demarcation, whether it is the responsibility of the Foreign Affairs or Provincial Affairs.

“When you go to the border, Indonesians have already crossed into our side and they are already engaged in activities on our side of the border — we have turned a blind eye.

‘Do we know what’s happening?’
“Do we know what is happening on the border?”

More than 12,000 citizens from West Sepik — especially people from Namah’s electorate — had crossed over to Indonesia because “on our side, we, as a national government” were not providing basic services to Papua New Guineans.

“I want to have a look at this treaty before Parliament can pass it and I am arguing now as the chairman for Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, I want to have a look at it before it is signed,” Namah said.

“I want to raise the issues of our land, why has Indonesia crossed into the side of our border?”

Namah said that perhaps PNG needed needed to close the Batas [trade] centre in Wutung and the Indonesians moved back to their side.

“Maybe we should build a naval base at the mouth of River Torassi in Western Province and ask the Indonesians to dismantle their naval base on their side,” he said.

“I am proposing now that every border liaison be held outside of Indonesia and PNG, somewhere neutral so we can raise these issues.

Important sovereignty issues
“These are important sovereignty issues.

“I propose that this particular treaty be withheld to allow my committee, the parliamentary committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade to review it before we actually sign it.”

According to Prime Minister James Marape, the border treaty agreement was signed in 2013 and ratified by NEC in 2015.

Since then, there had been no border talks.

Gorethy Kenneth is a PNG Post-Courier senior journalist. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Three major parties have emerged as frontrunners to form the next government in Papua New Guinea with their party leaders eager to be next Prime Minister.

These are current coalition leader PANGU, headed by incumbent Prime Minister James Marape, opposition leader Belden Namah’s PNG Party and the People’s National Congress led by former prime minister Peter O’Neill.

These leaders and the parties have invested heavily in their campaign and candidates for next month’s general election. They are using strategic campaigning including social media outreach to network with supporters in the rural areas.

It is always a numbers game.

The party that wins the most seats gets the invite to form the next government with its leader the most likely Prime Minister.

But politics in PNG is fluid and smaller parties with critical numbers often hold sway over formations of government.

Eleventh hour horse trading in the past has always featured prominently with the formations of government and smaller parties would also be riding shotgun with the bigger parties.

Three-way race
If anything, this is a three-way horse race with each party trying by any means on the campaign track to derail the other, even to the extent of attacking opponents, setting fire to their posters, and burning their properties.

All three leaders have been hot around the country, shopping their candidates to the voters, selling policies and even discrediting other parties, bringing in tension along the way.

PANGU’s James Marape is confident of returning to form government in the next Parliament and says he will step down if otherwise.

“I am taking the government formation to Wewak and taking all members who win and we will form the government there,” declared Marape.

Pangu is banking on 75 candidates for this election and Marape has travelled over four provinces to support their candidates.

Vocal opposition leader Belden Namah has also openly put up his hands to become Prime Minister after 15 years on the other bench.

“I am serious in the business to be Prime Minister of PNG after this election,” said Namah, who is leader of the PNG Party, which has endorsed a total of 50 candidates.

Ready to lead
Namah added he had never raised his hands for the role in respect of late Sir Michael Somare but now he was ready to lead the country forward.

Another strong contender is former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, leader of the People’s National Congress party, who has fielded 95 candidates contesting various seats across the country.

O’Neill has made it clear that the PNC party is ready to return to power.

He reportedly said that he and the PNC party was poised to return to government and “rescue” the country.

He said: “The new government needs to work harder… with a clear mandate to a political party with policies to deliver to the people and the country.

“To date, only PNC party has put [out] our policies, which are aimed at delivering basic services to our people and improving living standards.”

Other credible leaders
But while all eyes are on Marape, Namah and O’Neill, there are other credible leaders who just may be the new Prime Minister after the elections are over.

National Alliance Party leader Patrick Pruaitch, currently deputy PM, may have a chance, having been part of the two most recent coalition governments. For this election NA has endorsed a 59 candidates.

Other leaders like Powes Parkop, William Duma and Don Polye are also in running for the role having expressed their intentions.

While all these leaders vie for this top post, the one that comes through with the most numbers will be invited by the Governor-General to form the government.

The Papua New Guinea general election is on July 2-22.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s parliament has adjourned for almost four months, dashing an attempt to oust Prime Minister James Marape.

The adjournment allows Marape to avoid a no confidence vote.

Earlier, the opposition had tabled a motion of no confidence against Marape.

The opposition listed the former prime minister Peter O’Neill as its nominee for alternate prime minister.

However, PNG’s constitution doesn’t allow confidence votes against a sitting prime minister in the 12 months before an election.

The country is due to go to the polls in July next year.

The opposition is expected to challenge the adjournment in court, with O’Neill alleging it was in breach of rules around parliament’s minimum number of sitting days.

Covid-19 outbreak
But the adjournment was deemed necessary by government after the announcement of figures indicating a quarter of staff at Parliament are infected with covid-19.

Papua New Guinea crossed the threshold of 10,000 covid-19 cases yesterday, with 91 known deaths. However, health officials believe the true number of cases is much higher.

Parliament’s speaker, Job Pomat, told MPs that from preliminary sampling of 167 people within the parliament precinct, 42 – or 25 percent of them – tested positive for the virus.

RNZ Pacific reports that most of those infected were staff rather than MPs, but several MPs tested positive earlier this year, and Pomat said the situation was serious.

ICYMI – Preliminary testing for Covid-19 among staff at Papua New Guinea’s parliament precinct indicates a quarter of them are infected.https://t.co/qJ6OJkFLu1

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) April 21, 2021

On the advice of the National Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, Pomat said all staff and members were to undergo compulsory testing for the coronavirus.

Pomat said that prior to the letter he had already issued a similar directive.

“I have now issued further directives for compulsory testing to be conducted to both members of staff of parliament and political staff,” Pomat explained.

Another Vote of No Confidence is being lodged – former PM Peter O’Neill expected to be listed as the Opposition’s candidate for PM. https://t.co/YrU1vT1D3B

— Natalie Whiting (@Nat_Whiting) April 21, 2021

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has rejected opposition leader Belden Namah’s call for him to resign.

Namah’s call came after the Supreme Court yesterday ordered Parliament to sit next Monday, quashing the government’s recent adjournment of Parliament until April.

The court ruled that the Speaker’s move to overrule an earlier adjournment allowed by his deputy and recall Parliament last month, when the opposition was not present, was unconstitutional.

“If you want to get me out of office, then the proper place is contest through a vote of no-confidence process on the floor of Parliament.”

Parliament appears evenly split, with Marape saying he had the support of 55 of the 111 MPs.

Marape said the MPs with him could “not be bought or sold”, characterising the opposition’s move to remove him as driven by some MPs’ personal interest to be prime minister.

But his government is under significant parliamentary pressure, as the Supreme Court ruling rendered all Parliamentary business on November 17 invalid.

That included the government’s passing of the 2021 budget, which will have to be tabled again – although this time the opposition MPs will be present.

The opposition has not revealed who its nomination for alternative prime minister would be.

O’Neill key player
The former prime minister Peter O’Neill, who filed the successful Supreme Court challenge, remains a key player in efforts to remove Marape.

Last year, Marape led moves to oust O’Neill, who resigned before a Parliamentary vote elevated his former close ally to the leadership.

O’Neill said that Marape should do what he did when he had lost a clear majority and resign.

Marape has meanwhile appealed for the public to remain calm, despite the political turbulence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge over the election of James Marape as prime minister last year.

The challenge by Opposition Leader Belden Namah related to alleged irregularities in the parliamentary election 18 months ago.

During the May 2019 session, after resigning as prime minister, Peter O’Neill was re-nominated among the candidates for the vote in Parliament.

However, shortly before the vote he withdrew his candidature, and James Marape was elected as prime minister.

Later, the opposition leader at the time, Patrick Pruaitch, sought the court’s ruling on whether O’Neill’s withdrawal was constitutional.

Namah subsequently took over as opposition leader and pursued the same case.

A five-man Supreme Court bench today ruled against the challenge, upholding Marape’s position as prime minister.

The five judges were unanimous in dismissing the challenge.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Politics in Papua New Guinea has been plunged into more turmoil today, with government MPs continuing to meet while the opposition was out of town, thinking they had adjourned Parliament.

The government MPs passed the Budget, and then made their own adjournment, until next April.

Last Friday, the opposition, bolstered by government MPs crossing the floor, called for an adjournment vote, which they won.

Those MPs, or an estimated 43 of them then travelled to Vanimo, to prepare for a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister James Marape, with that to happen on December 1.

The date is significant because Marape’s 18-month grace period from no confidence votes would expire then.

But yesterday the Speaker, Job Pomat, announced that opposition leader Belden Namah had no right to call for an adjournment and that Parliament was still in session.

Parliament was to resume at 2pm today but Michael Kabuni, a political scientist at the University of PNG, said this was brought forward to 10am, presumably prompted by legal action the opposition’s lawyers were preparing to take.

‘They had a quorum’
“They had a quorum. You need one third of the 111 MPs present, and they had more than 37. They presented a Budget to themselves, the government MPs and they voted on it, so the Budget is passed and they also voted to adjourn the parliament to 20th of April, 2021,” Kabuni said.

A vote of no confidence seems unlikely in April next year because it would be just a year or so out from the election.

Kabuni said such a move would prompt the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and call an early poll.

Earlier today the former Commerce Minister, William Duma, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with the rebel MPs last Friday, rejoined the government, according to Kabuni.

This brought to three the number of MPs who have rejoined the government since the split.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Prime Minister James Marape says his executive is still in control for the next three weeks for doing state business, passing the budget and to serve the people of Papua New Guinea.

In spite of the defection by rebel members of his majority last Friday and a vote to suspend Parliament until next month, Speaker Job Pomat says the motion by opposition leader Belden Namah is “not right”, reports FM100 News.

Under the organic law and parliamentary standing orders, only a minister can adjourn Parliament.

Speaker Job Pomat said this meant Parliament was still in session and would continue this afternoon.

In a media conference, the Speaker said that after careful consideration and research he had found the motion moved by opposition leader Belden Namah on Friday to adjourn Parliament to December, to be in breach of the Organic Law and parliament standing orders.

Pomat said that under section 2 of the Organic Law on the “calling of meetings of parliament”, only a minister could move a motion to have a Parliament sitting adjourned.

He said this week’s sitting would commence at 2pm today PNG time.

Mining minister ‘rejoins’ government
Mining Minister Johnson Tuke has left his People’s Progress Party led by Sir Julius Chan and rejoined the government, bringing the number of government MPs to 53, reports the Post-Courier’s Jeffrey Elapa.

The other member who rejoined the government is the Member for Sohe Henry Amule.

Prime Minister Marape said Tuke had never left his government and was not part of the Friday “stupidity”.

“He is a leader that subscribes to my ideology about take back PNG’S resources. He is a pure hardcore Melanesian chief and a resource owner himself. He is here to stay,” the Prime Minister said.

Contrary to what the #PNG Opposition thought when it rushed to Vanimo to plot the downfall of prime minister Marape & his government, parliament will resume today. It seems Namah & Co did not fully understand parliament’s standing orders when they suspended proceedings on Friday

— Keith Jackson AM (@PNGAttitude) November 16, 2020

He said the executive government would still be in control for the next three weeks for doing government business, passing the budget and getting the government work moving to “serve our people”.

He said the events that unfolded on Friday in Parliament separated the good from the bad in his government, as he put the interest of the nation ahead with the passage of the anti-corruption (ICAC) bill on Thursday and the passage of several resource laws.

He said the government team had 37 MPs when the vote was taken on the motion, but the numbers had increased to 52 in a House of 111 members, minus the Bougainville Regional MP and Sir Mekere Morauta, who was sick but ready to fly back to Port Moresby.

Marape said the motion to adjourn Parliament to December 1 was normal Parliament business when the number swung their way and so the opposition leader did what he felt he had to do to take control of Parliament proceedings.

‘We’re not constitutional hooligans’
“And we accepted that as we are not constitutional hooligans, we are not constitutional plunderers and we are not constitutional rapists,” Marape said.

“I’m happy that I’m surrounded by a very solid first term and second term and a few senior members among us. A group of leaders who want to do the right thing for the country.

“The reason why we changed government in 2019 was to move away from a status quo that was rife with corruption, a status quo that was subscribing to corporate interest, multinational interest and for the interest of a greedy few, and we made a change,” he said.

He said he knew “what was cooking”, but he did not want to send a bad signal to the Members of Parliament.

“For me, as a Prime Minister that [has] managed a huge number that was close to 90 members of Parliament was a big task, not knowing who was among us.

“I have 52 and more contacts being made with those that surprised us by leaving on the floor on Parliament, signaling that they want to return. I am surrounded by a body of leaders who are confident that we will stand together into 2022 and beyond,” he said.

The executive government was in place, Parliament conducted its business[yesterday] and that is Parliament business and now the executive government will run its course.

“I’m the Prime Minister sitting on the chair of the Prime Minister,” he said.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has arisen with fire in his belly today.

A short time ago he issued a short and pugnacious Facebook message to members of Parliament who are plotting to overthrow his government.

The plotters are reportedly led by former prime minister Peter O’Neill and his former deputy Belden Namah.

They claim to have a majority of members who have defected to them, but a parliamentary vote of no confidence cannot be held for another month.

“Produce your numbers on the floor, mate,” a belligerent Marape wrote to chief plotter Belden Namah.

“I am a Huli chief responsible for the small people’s dreams to be rich in their God-given rich land and waters throughout the length and breadth of my country.”

He went on to say that “a Huli doesn’t surrender in a fight, you have to kill me on the battlefield and I will die with dignity.

‘I would rather die in battle’
“I would rather die in battle for the values I stand for than succumbing to the call of a political scumbag.

“And if you do kill me, I can assure you and your cronies, I have kindled a fire in the gut of many of my innocent country-loving first and second term MPs who will carry the fight to take back our country’s resources from the hands of greedy few elites who play this game under the pretext of people’s interest,” Marape said.

“Don’t ask me to resign, come and get it off me in the battlegrounds of Waigani.”

Referring to Namah’s previous hijacking of Parliament, Marape concluded: “You, Belden Namah took it illegally off the father of our nation [Sir Michael Somare] in 2011.

“It will not be as easy this time around.”

Keith Jackson is editor and publisher of PNG Attitude. The Pacific Media Centre republishes his blog items with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz