Academia Nomad

We all have names, not of our choice, but at least every name has significance. You were named after a hero, a dear friend of your mum, or native language that has deeper meaning. It’s different if something or someone is given a name by a stranger, depicting some meaning that only the stranger knows, and that name stuck for more than 100 years. Especially if the name had no significance or didn’t depict the object named. Such was the case with Papua and New Guinea, which became Papua New Guinea at independence in 1975.

In 2015, Professor John Waiko suggested that Papua New Guinea be renamed “Paradise Country” during the Waigani Seminar at the University of Papua New Guinea. He was ridiculed. I thought it was funny too. But when you look at the alternative, that is, what Papua New Guinea means, it can be best summarized as:

“Black look-a-likes of those occupying south of the Senegal River, the second lot to be discovered, with Malayan hairdos.”

In this blog I explore how the name “Papua New Guinea” came about, and ask whether we should be content with it.

What does “Papua” mean?

Why do we have “New” in between?

What does “Guinea” mean?

To make sense of things, we have to separate Papua from New Guinea, as it was before 1975. Papua was colonized by the British in 1884 at the request of British colony in what is now Australia, as they feared German presence to the north of Papua. The Germans had colonized the north, using New Guinea Company earlier in the year.

But neither Britain nor Germany gave Papua New Guinea it’s name. Don Jorge de Meneses, a Portuguese explorer, is credited with the European discovery of the principal island of Papua New Guinea in around 1526-27. He is also credited with giving the name “Papua.”

Papua derives from the Malayan word pepuah meaning curly or curly hair. The people along the southern coast of the island had hairs that looked like those in the Malayan Peninsula. The word Papua was use to describe our people who had curly hairs similar to the Malays. They had a Malayan-like hairdo.

It sounds like a harmless descriptive word. But if you asked the locals at the time what they called themselves as a people, I’m sure you’d have a much better description of who they are as a people than a word merely describing Malayan-like hairdo. The people that Don Jorge de Meneses observed probably had a name for themselves. Something that signified their history, legend, culture etc. What did they collectively call themselves? One thing is certain: they never called themselves “curly haired Malayan look-a-likes.”

And then you have “New Guinea”. This is a bit more problematic.

‘New’ here means those found on this (new) island were not the first to have such black features. They looked like people found elsewhere in Western Africa. At the time, Spain, France, and Portuguese divided up Western African, including a landmass that they called Guinea.

We were called ‘New Guinea’ because we looked like those in Guinea in West Africa. At independence, French Guinea became Guinea as it is known today. Spanish Guinea became Equatorial Guinea, and Portuguese Guinea became Guinea-Bissau.

So what’s a Guinea?

I know what you’re thinking: Guinea Pig 🐷. No it’s not. A curly haired guinea pig would have sounded very derogatory, thank goodness it’s not.

There’s no agreement on why portions of West Africa were called Guinea. Guinea is a Spanish word, which derived from a Portuguese word ‘Guine.’ Guinea was used by the Portuguese to refer to ‘land occupied by black Guineus’ or black Africans living south of the Senegal River.

New Guinea therefore, essentially meant ‘look-a-likes’ of people who occupy the south of Senegal River in Western Africa.

So there you go. Papua New Guinea as we know now has nothing original about it. It’s a construct of terms describing ‘look-a-likes’ of those in Western Africa and those in the Malays. The former has to do with skin pigmentation and the latter has to do with hairdo.

Papua New Guinea, in summary, would essentially mean:

“Black look-a-likes of those occupying south of the Senegal River, the second lot to be discovered, with Malayan hairdos.”

Senegal-look-a-like with a Malayan hairdo is hardly a description of what we are, don’t you think?

My preference: Kumul Nation.

What other names do you think best fits us?

Sana,
the sun did not rise as it used to
it knew it won’t shine on you
the heavens above mourned heavily
its tears rushing down streams
sweeping away all in its way
the clouds are low today
as if they want to get a glimpse of you
laying in your bed
to make sure it truly is true
that you are no more

Sana,
you fought for your people
the Melanesian people of PNG
it did not take years
for you to be granted self governance status
they may say it was given on a golden plate
but I say not one will ever comprehend sleepless nights
you endured to make sure we were free people

Sana,
free people do not ask for freedom
they claim it
and you did
bringing together thousand tribes
to co-exist with each other

Sana,
we are free people
do not worry
rest well Melanesia Warrior
know that we are free
as our ancestors were
as our forefathers were

Sana,
this is our land
of high mountains
of swaying palms
and coral seas
in its fullest splendor
people are in awe
as to ask ‘where did this paradise emerge from’

Sana,
the spirits of the land, the sea and the mountains
of our great great ancestors
as they watched you when your Mama gave birth to you
as they watched you when you grew up
as they watched you when you fought for us
as they watched you when you stood on the Independence Hill
and as now they watch you
when you are taken to the sky above
by the Great Mighty Spirit of God

Sana,
as a Kwila you stood
strong and firm, immovable
Now as a Kumul you fly
Fly so high proudly
Into your heavenly home

Sana,
be rest assurred
that your legacy lives on

Sana,
THE MELANESIAN DREAM LIVES ON!

The poem, originally written by Yanamlyn Yana on 26 February 2021, the day Sir Michael Somare passed on. Republished with permission.

Before yesterday, I spoke to Lazarus just once. Sometime this year we met briefly, said hello and passed. That’s what you do when you meet your Facebook friend, right?

But I’ve been hoping to speak to this guy. To ask him questions. We all know Lazarus is the guy who runs the popular “Current Job Vacancy Repost with LT”, a Facebook group that has 202, 000 followers. The guy who was awarded the Young Man of Honor by Digicel Foundation in 2018, and won the 2018 Commonwealth Youths Award from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and had a chat with Prince Harry, and the United Nations Youth Champions for Sustainable Development and some that we probably don’t know about.

But when I come across people like Lazarus, I ask them “how do you do it?” or “how did you do it?”

Cameras love the grand stage. Newspapers sell papers covering award nights and TVs have high viewers during grand finals. But there are no cameras, no journalists, and no coverage of the toils that leads to these grand moments.

So when I walked past him for the second time, and realized he was alone, I acted as though I just stumbled across a long lost friend. High-fived and invited myself to the empty seat opposite him. We had more than one hour chat. And I began with the question: “how do you do it?” Every time I go online, I see a post on “Current Vacancy Repost with LT”: either a vacancy, a story of how someone got a job using tips from Lazarus, scholarship information, and Lazarus replying to these people. How does he do that? I teach approximately 400 students at UPNG every year, and it kills me! 202, 000? How?

This guy replies to about 500 messages per day, using his own resources. Messages from people from all walks of life. Messages from PNG and the Pacific region. Questions range from seeking assistance from Lazarus on how to develop their CVs. Questions about how to prepare for an interview. Questions about a job application he shares on his Facebook group, scholarship, etc.

I asked him questions like: how do you manage your time; has it ever crossed your mind to monetize a large following of 202 thousand; where does your motivation comes from; how do you manage criticisms; why did you start such a time consuming voluntary job; how many people have gotten jobs because of your help; how long are you planning to keep this thing running?

Below is a summary of our chat.

Why and how did you start?

Lazarus was one of the first among his friends to get a job right after the end of his final year of studies in 2014. Thanks to an internship the previous year with Australian Awards office in PNG. After securing a job with Awards PNG (he’s now with US Embassy – PNG), he started helping his friends to find jobs. He would do their photocopies, scans, fix their CVs etc using his own resources. He then realized that not everyone can develop a good CV, or better sell their skills, or even prepare for an interview. He thought “if this is a problem faced by people I know, then there must be many more who face such challenges.” This gave birth to the now popular “Current Job Report with LT.” He also runs trainings o weekends and holidays on these same topics.

How many people have you helped secure jobs so far?

Lazarus says that in his honest estimation, he has directly helped more than 700 people get jobs. However, I think this is a conservative estimate. His estimate is based on how many people send him a message to thank him, or post on Facebook and tag him after getting a job with his help. We know the story about the 10 people that Jesus Christ healed, right? Only one came back to thank Jesus. Lazarus (coincidently Jesus’ friend’s namesake), may be dealing with the same. I think few come back to say thank you – after all, if they did it to Jesus, they could do it to anyone 😂.

Has it ever crossed your mind that you could monetize (make money out of) your large followers?

I know he wouldn’t, but asked because this seems to be a trend with the so-called “influencers”. Have you ever come across a video on how to invest in stocks, and the guy tells you the benefits of stock market and then tells you to sign up for a two weeks course to the secrets of becoming a millionaire through stocks? Or a pretty lady tells you how to loose weight but you need to sign up for personal, customized, coaching? So I put it straight to Lazarus. I figured the question made him uncomfortable. He has never monetized his followers, and will never do.

So why do it?

He said he does it because it gives him joy helping another individual get an opportunity in life. His reward for using his own resources, time, and peace of mind? When someone gets an opportunity in life because of his interventions.

He told me: “we could walk out right now (from Cuppa Coffee at Vision City) and walk to the front gate. And before we reach the front gate, we will be stopped couple of times along the way, and people will thank me for helping them get a job, or scholarship etc.”

We didn’t do that because I had someone to meet at the same place. And he left because he had someone to meet. It was Valentines you know.

How do you respond to 500 messages? How do you manage your time?

This invoked a long discussion, but it’s a combination of effective strategy, and efficient use of time. He has developed sample answers for the most popular questions he receives. So if you asked for tips for job interviews, he would copy and paste a detailed response and email it to you. Or send you a pdf. file he designed before. For details about a job vacancy he posts, he’d send you details and contacts he prepared before posting.

But even with a pre-planned responses, you still have to manage 500 of those.

Lazarus uses a strategy I also use in my personal life. Something called ‘incremental gains’ or incremental use of time. You do not have to wait until the last minute and do everything at once. Do it in five minutes sequences if you can. Commit five minutes for every half an hour. So in 30 minutes, you have 25 minutes to do other things. Spend 5 minutes to replying to emails and get back to your work. You can do the same for reading. Try spending 10 minutes out out 60 instead every hour, instead of whole weekend. If you’re consistent, by the end of the day you have done more than if you spent 5 hours straight at night.

However Lazarus does spends his lunch hours and after work hours replying to messages sometimes. He ensures that he doesn’t do his voluntary work helping Pacific Islanders to new opportunities during his work hours at the US Embassy in Port Moresby.

Do you plan on stopping, or what is the future of “Current Job Vacancy Repost with LT”?

Lazarus said he will do it for free, for as long as Lazarus Towa is alive.

Finally, how do you manage criticisms on Facebook that you do this for your own gain?

This was a silly question but I had to ask it anyways. Because I do read such negative comments and accusations. Lazarus’ responded: if you have a clear conscience, and you know what you’re doing, that is all you need. Criticisms have been, and will always will be, a cousin of any good intentions.

Conclusion

Lazarus is one normal Kerowagi kid, who uses his time, energy, and passion to help another human. If we set aside 5 minutes to help another countrymen, a stranger, we will have helped PNG in a great great way.

If you see Lazarus, give him a high-five. The guy has a huge smile.

About “My Sons Are Coming“ series

In 1961, Kondom Agaundo, member of the first legislative council, was invited to give a speech in Canberra. With very limited English, he stumbled before an all-white, English speaking audience. He then went off script, and said the following:

“I am a chief among my people, but now I stand here before you like a child. And when I try to speak in your language, you laugh at my words. But tomorrow my son will come, and he will speak to you in your own language. This time, you will not laugh at him…”

Lazarus is one of many sons. Sons of Kondom Agaundo.

Lazarus’ story is the first of a series of blogs Academia Nomad will run. Celebrating the coming of Kondom Agaundo’s sons and daughters. The young elites of PNG doing great things.

If you know of someone we could interview, comment below.

Let’s begin with a have a quick summary of what this blog is about. This is part two of the regional candidate Llane Munau, the lone female candidate’s experience contesting the recent Bougainville regional election. Earlier we published part one where the Bougainville people, particularly the womenfolk, asked Llane “where is our vote”? (vote blo mipla go we) when the counting tally didn’t reflect how they voted. See link to part one of the article at the end.

Part will make one uneasy. When PNG Electoral Commission set the dates for the Bougainville regional election in January 2021, the Office of Bougainville Electoral Commission was not notified. At least that’s what they said. And then the polling day was initially set to run for two days, but reduced to one day for some polling stations (locations). This information didn’t get to the people on time. The polling day for some stations (Central Bougainville for instance) were changed just before the polling day. Again, many voters didn’t know about it. In PNG, any last minute change is a very bad idea, given how slow communications flow. It’s even worse in Bougainville considering the bad communication infrastructure following detestations from the 10 year conflict.

The number of polling stations, more than 400, exceeded the number of police personnel in Bougainville by the hundreds, so naturally integrity of the voting process is now being questioned. Scrutineers who observed very low turnout for the actual voting day in some stations due to change of dates and reduced number of days were surprised that ballot boxes that were supposed to have just 6-12 ballot papers exceeded this numbers during counting…. any many more suspicious and questionable practices and outcomes are being reported.

This claims contrasts with the excellent Bougainville referendum conducted in 2019.

The referendum in 2019 was regarded as great success, not only because it was fulfilling the third and last pillar of the Bougainville Peace Agreement of 2001 (three pillars of BPA were: Autonomy, Weapons Disposal and Referendum), but because it was regarded as transparent, credible, inclusive and innovative by local and international observers. It applied several aspects of election management that were never tried in PNG elections. For instance, ballots were taken to the old people and the disabled who couldn’t come to the polling station; those residing outside of Bougainville – PNG, Solomon Islands, and even Australia were able to vote; and those who didn’t have their names on the common roll still voted under the ‘provisional’ voting. The provisional votes were taken to the counting station and cross-checked with the updated common rolls and counted if the names were on the updated common roll.

So how did a region that did so well for the referendum in 2019 do so poorly for the regional elections just a year later?

Below is Llane’s experience. It’s taken from her Facebook post. It constitutes Part 2 of Llane’s story republished by Academia Nomad on 3 February 2021.

JOURNEY OF A FEMALE CANDIDATE – Part 2

“The first dates of the bi-election were circulated and I sent the circular around. However, I felt I had to reconfirm the dates with OBEC (Office of Bougainville Electrol Commission). The OBEC didn’t know anything about the first dates. So I looked again at the circular and it was from the PNG Electrol Commission. Well understandably; it was an election for the PNG National Government, not Bougainville. Anyway the first dates were postponed and then the second dates came out and I went and nominated.

During my 6 weeks of campaigning, I heard that there will be only one day polling; eventhough the dates given said there would be 2 weeks of polling. When enquiring, the reply was, “…the PNG Electrol Commission would be trialing a new system of running the whole elections so they could use it in the upcoming 2022 PNG National elections.”
When polling day drew nigh, I got the list of places where polling would be held. There were 442 polling sites all through out Bougainville. My first thoughts were, ‘we don’t even have 442 police personels on Bougainville. Who will guard each polling venue?’

Then I looked at the places were the people were expected to go and vote and honestly, some of the villages were miles away from the allocated polling sites. Bougainville has rugged terrain and people have to walk hours, even days to get to a voting venue in some areas. Bougainville might be an island, but the geography and terrain make getting around very difficult. I wondered how 1 day polling could be achieveable, but thought with proper planning and preparation, maybe this could be achieved.

When we got the polling date (Wednesday 20th, 2020), we started letting our supporters know to prepare them to turn up at the polling sites. For us in Central Bougainville, there were 130 polling sites. However in the afternoon of the 19th we got word on the street that polling for Central would be postponed to Thursday 21st because the electrol team in Arawa (Central) were slow to collect their polling items from Buka. The funny thing is, South Bougainville already got their items (eventhough they’re further away from Buka than Central) and they polled on the 20th and 21st 2 days in some areas.

Because it was already late, we couldn’t pass on the message to voters in the rural areas, and many voters in the rural areas turned up to the polling venues on the given date, only to be told to come back the next day. This was utter ignorance on the side of the electrol commission as they didn’t take into consideration that most voters, especially women and the elderly couldn’t make the same journey again to the polling sites the next day. So for Central Bougainville the incompetency of a few electrol officers had great repercussions to the outcome of the elections. Something I hope OBEC and PNGEC must look into. Many voters rights to vote, were deprieved. That is why high number of ballot papers coming in from very remote polling venues raise great suspicion, and especially when the ballots look like they’ve been written by only one person and there are no informal ballots. Because comparing it to the urban sites, there were quite a number of informal ballots from the urban boxes.

Reports and surveys coming in from around the island say that not many people voted. The total number of people who voted against the total number of eligible voters is very low. I guess lower than the cut off percentage required in an election.

This is already a failed election. From the current counting centre it seems like 79 thousand Bougainvillians voted. However, reports from many presiding officers say that not many people voted; some boxes having as low as 6 – 12 people who voted so how did we come up with 79 thousand ballot papers?

It seems that the whole election process was from the start corrupted by the one day polling. Plus voters rolls didn’t have names and voters were required to go back to their constituencies to vote and no postal voting. Bougainville like most rural areas can not have ‘one day voting.’ We are not urbanized like a western country. We have rugged terrain and people have to walk hours, even days to get to a polling venue. I understand this bi-election was a trial by the PNG electrol commission. Therefore, I believe the PNG Government’s motive of conducting this bi-election in Bougainville was not transparent right from the start in the Board Rooms of Port Moresby. I began writing my journey when my female (mamas) supporters asked where their votes had gone. I’m seeing that this question is just the tip of the ice berg, there is so so so much to be addressed or exposed in this whole electrol process or system in PNG and Bougainville.

More to come. For a better upcoming 2022 PNG National Election and 2025 AROB elections. This 1 day polling system is ‘useless’ and must not be used in the 2022 National Elections (Especially for a whole province, as I believe it was already trialled in other parts of PNG). Because if it is used, I already see major problems arising in this beautiful Nation. And lastly, please don’t keep using Bougainville as a testing groud for new formulars and systems.”

The END!

Note: this is Llane Munau’s personal account, and it’s subjective. That should be kept in mind when reading.

For part one of Llane’s story, click this link below:

https://academicnomad.home.blog/2021/02/03/where-is-our-vote-bougainville-women-ask/

This is an edited version of LIane Munau’s experience as the lone female candidate contesting the Bougainville Regional vacant seat in 2021. This is part one of two parts series where Llane talks about Bougainville women asking why their votes for Llane did not show on the tally when counting started.

The Bougainville Regional seat, which represents the people of Bougainville in the PNG parliament was left vacant when the incumbent resigned to contest the Bougainville presidential election in 2019. For those not familiar with the current Bougainville political arrangement, Bougainville has been an autonomous region since 2001. It is referred to as the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, with an House of Representatives led by a president. But it also has representatives in the PNG parliament who represent Bougainville just like any other province in PNG. The representatives in the PNG parliament include Open MPs representing the Open Electorates or districts in Bougainville whilst the Regional MP or Governor represents Bougainville as a whole. Llane contested the governor’s seat in January 2021.

By way of context, since 1975, no women in Bougainville has been elected to PNG parliament. Llane was seeking to become the first woman from Bougainville to win a seat in the PNG parliament. A seat in PNG parliament at this point in time is very crucial, not least being that the PNG Parliament has the final say in whether or not Bougainville becomes independent. In 2019, Bougainvilleans voted 98% in favour of independence from PNG. But the final decision on their political status resides with the 111 MPs in PNG parliament. One of Llane’s five policy platforms was to seek PNG government for a fixed date for independence for Bougainville.

Below are Llane’s experience in her own words…

“The couple of weeks have been a very interesting journey for me as a sole female candidate in the Bougainville Regional Seat By-Election. As I haven’t posted on FB about my journey, but now I feel I owe it to my voters, friends, supporters and family, plus anyone else who wants to know how the elections from campaigning, to polling, and counting went for me.

In one word AWESOME!; until Monday when I started getting calls from women groups around the island asking me; ‘ol vote blong mipla go we?’ (Where are our votes?). And there was also the question, ‘Why na ol meri Bougainville no voteim displa wanpla meri candidate tasol? (Why didn’t the women of Bougainville vote for this sole female candidate?)

The answer is: the majority of females who voted did vote for me. Not because I was the only female candidate, but because they agreed with my five policy platforms.”

“Now, the big question is, where are the votes and why aren’t they showing on the tally board? In Siwai a group of more than 60 women hired a truck by themselves and went to a particular polling venue and cast their votes for me (Box 14); as they said, ‘it’s time they all vote for a female.’ But when the tally came out I only got 14 votes from the whole constituency. Where are these womens votes? Women do not lie about their votes, especially mothers from women fellowship groups.

In Taonita Teop and Taonita Tinputz it was the same. I didn’t mind until women called me up, or stopped our vehicle on the road to ask me, ‘ol vote blong mipla go we?’ ‘Mipla lotu group mama wantaim ol pikinini na man blong mipla go voteim yu.’ Then came the church youth groups, asking the same question, and the ex-combatants. I didn’t know how I could answer them because their votes never showed on the tally. I knew I had done a very good campaign in the Tinputz areas, and the places I couldn’t reach, the women, church groups and ex-combatants in the areas did very good campaigns there. However their votes never showed; plus the votes of my 300+ family in Tinputz. The tally showed that I got little to no votes from there as it seemed the two constituencies block voted for only one candidate.

Then I started to look at how the votes were tallied in each Region. In Central, when it came to boxes 75 – 130, where South and North Nasioi areas are in (where I come from), the PNGEC & OBEC (Office of Bougainville Electrol Commission) staff coordinating the counting stopped doing a call out for our scrutineers to know how much votes each candidate got in an area. Then the PNGEC & OBEC staff just closed the counting, packed all the ballot boxes without letting our scrutineers know the final results, and when the scrutineers enquired they gave excuses like: “there’s no pen marker to write the tally on the yellow canvas or, there’s no printer and ink etc…”

So we followed them to the OBEC office only to be met with more excuses. So from 2:30pm to 9:00pm we stood (in very heavy rain) there at the OBEC office waiting for some answers. They put out the yellow canvas in front of the OBEC office and started jotting numbers down, then in the night they gave us a print out, which to our surprise, one of our candidates numbers exceeded all to 13 thousand plus votes from just 55 ballot boxes, whilst the rest were two thousand less. I collected 1000+ votes from box 1 – 74, which are boxes not from my areas, but when it came to my home turf, I don’t know how the votes went because we candidates just got a print out telling us how many votes we got from Central votes. And now my family, friends and supporters are asking ‘Ol vote blong mipla go we?’

From South, my village in Nagovis there are less than 700 people. Voters would be 250 or less, but to my surprise, 1000+ votes came out from our box, and I got votes, but one particular candidate got 500+ votes from that box. I know it was one day polling and half the people didn’t vote; So What’s happening???? Where are these votes coming from?

Now it has dawned on me. These are the same questions supporters of candidates in the last Autonomous Bougainville Government election were asking; ‘OL VOTE BLONG MIPLA GO WE?’ Candidates they voted for especially in the Presidential and some special seats did not collect a single vote in their supporters areas. Many people in some of these areas have shared their sentiments and I begin to wonder, ‘Is our electrol process transparent? Have peoples votes been tampered with? Are our elected leaders voted into power in a clean way? Well I’m not a judge, but I am a journalist and an excellent researcher. I work with evidence and data, and from what I’ve collected, there is something very fishy going on.

Remember, Bougainville is a small island and we have family and friends everywhere, and for them to come show me their painted fingers and tell me straight to my face that they voted for me but I got no votes from their particular boxes, especially in the West Coast areas, I ask again, ‘What is happening. Where are these peoples votes??????’
Well all in all, people must know that majority of women in Bougainville did vote for me but where are their votes? Though it was one day polling and not many people voted, reports from presiding officers said, nearly all polling booths from North to South, more women went to vote than man. Now my question lies, ‘where are our votes?’ Women fellowship groups, of all denominations will not lie.

I’m writing this piece plus more to come because I know next year we will have another PNG National Election and I don’t ever want to hear voters asking the question ‘OL VOTE BLONG MIPLA GO WE?’ and to prepare those who will be stand to be cautious and protect your votes. I over trusted the system and the system has failed my mothers, sisters and supporters. But I have also trusted God wholly and His Word says, ‘…Whatever is hidden will be shouted on the roof tops.’ And the shouting has just began.

THE END!

More to come, data to be published. ‘OUR TIME IS NOW!’ Esther 4:14.”

Note: this article represents the view of Llane Munau. It’s not objective. That should be kept in perspective. Nevertheless, if these claims are true it is a serious cause for concern. If almost 100% of the votes for the referendum was counted, why is it that elections should have missing votes?

Academia Nomad is republished Llane’s story with her permission. Part 2 will be published later.

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