Academia Nomad

PNG Minister for Police and MP for Madang Open, Bryan Kramer

In August 2019, the Guardian Online News paper ran a story about the Police Commissioner of PNG and MP for Madang Bryan Kramer. The title read:

“…Meet Bryan Kramer, Papua New Guinea’s anti-corruption tsar…”

The subtitle called Kramer a “a rising star in Pacific islands politics…”

Such praise was not uncommon for Kramer. Kramer was a star, if a star is means having the largest followers on social media – Facebook. Tsars were the monarchs of Eastern Europe. It is not clear why the Guardian equated Kramer to the supreme rulers of Eastern Europe. The last Russian Tsar was from the House of Ramanovs, and he was killed: but not for fighting corruption. He was killed during the Russian Revolution of 1917, which ushered in the Communist party Bolsheviks, led by Lenin.

Perhaps the Guardian intended to say he was this epitome of anti-corruption. If there was an emperor of anti-corruption, it would be this no nonsense corruption fighter, who was willing to die fighting corruption.

They were correct to call Kramer a rising star though. Bryan Kramer is rockstar of online political movement in the Pacific. He arguably has more followers on his Facebook page the ‘Kramer Report’ than any other Papua New Guinean from any walk of life. That includes musicians, sports personalities, and wannabe celebrities in PNG. By 2019, his posts were reaching hundreds of shares, and thousands of reactions (likes, hearts, etc.) in less than 24 hours. Facebook care reaction was introduced later on, had it been introduced earlier, there would be thousands expressing their concern/care.

Also by his own admission, people from Solomon Islands follow him. So he is a Pacific star. But his stardom began at home: PNG.

Much of his popularity has to do with his opposition against the O’Neil Government between 2012 and 2019. His anti-corruption fight began before he entered parliament in 2017. The high point was probably when he was jailed at the Boroko Police Station in Port Moresby, following complaints laid by former Madang Open MP Nixon Duban’s father against Kramer. Duban was in Peter O’Neill’s government, and he also defeated Kramer in the 2012 elections for Madang Open.

That’s the past. Kramer has been in government for more than a year now. Is Kramer still popular after one year in the government? Below are two sets of 5 screenshots. First set of screen shots shows Bryan Kramer’s article about lawyer Greg Shepard, who filed a complaint against Bryan Kramer regarding social media publication by Kramer, who Shepard argued was amounted to defamation under the Cyber law of PNG. The first picture is a screen shot of the original article (showing only the first part of the article). The other 5 screen shots show replies/comments to the article. This is followed by another article posted this evening (December 2020), which is accompanied by 5 screenshots containing replies/comments on a short article by Kramer concerning the Supreme Court ruling against the Marape Government, of which Kramer is an integral member, and Minister. The ruling declared Government MPs’ parliament sitting on 17 November 2020 without opposition MPs as invalid, nullifying all decisions taken that day. Including the K19. 6 billion budget. Interestingly, the lawyer representing the case was Greg Shepard.

Both sets of screenshots (2019 article and 2020 article) are related to Kramer & Shepard. But they are one year apart.

Back to the question: Is Kramer still the anti-corruption Tsar? Or is the tide changing against the political star? How do Papua New Guinean view him today? Let’s see their comments.

Firs set of screenshots: This is a screenshot of the first article posted on 20 November 2019….

A snapshot of Comments from PNG Facebook community:

These comments gives you an idea of what the Gurdian was referring to. Kramer was a star, not only of the work he did, but also a star among Papua New Guineans. They loved him.

Now let’s see the second set of comments responding to his most recent post. The first screenshot is his original post on 10 December 2020:

A snapshot of Comments from Papua New Guinea Facebook community:

There you go. Five screenshots of comments from each post, one year apart. You will find this consistency:

An overwhelming majority in support of almost every single article Kramer wrote up till the pandemic (COVID-19) entered PNG in March 2019. After COVID-19, and especially after the November 2020 debacles on both sides on PNG parliament, you will find comments similar to the second set of screenshots.

Time will tell whether the rise of Kramer to stardom, driven by love form PNG Facebook community, will become the same means by which he will loose popularity.

Just one question to readers: why do you think Kramer (The Scientist) seems to be getting more negative reactions now than before?

Comment below and let us know. We may probably write part two of the article based on what you think the reasons are…

A student from the University of Papua New Guinea is reported missing by friends and family. Its reported on every major media outlet, including Post Courier and EMTV. A week goes by and still the student is not found. Rumors emerge on social media that he has been murdered, though it is dispelled. The students conduct one of the biggest search parties in the city. Among all the stress, anxiety and fear, it also brings out the best in humanity. This article was written by one of the students, Mary Terriette Aseari, a third year student at the University and a colleague of the student who had gone missing. She shares her experience in the search, that led to finding Mac.

By Mary Terriette Aseari:

“Maclarence Akua, a 22 year old third-year student, a good friend and a course mate of mine at the University of Papua New Guinea had been missing for almost a week. Mac has a mixed parentage of East Sepik and Bougainville but grew up in Kimbe. A search party was organized by his family and friends and we were put into groups and stationed in different locations in the city to cover ground in search for him.  All these groups that went out to search for Maclarence were groups that he is actively involved with in school. The different groups were: Peer mentor’s and Clean Generation who covered Gerehu and Rainbow suburbs; West New Britain students who covered the Boroko area; School of Humanities and Social Science students who covered Three Mile (3 Mile) and Manu; Madang and East Sepik students who covered Gordon and Erima; and Lae and Bougainville students, including his family and friends who covered the 9 Mile area. The groups consisted of about 25-50 people each, and the search begin around 9:30 am. Our search was successful and Maclarence was found in the afternoon at Sogeri. Sogeri is an hours drive outside of the capital. Someone from Sogeri saw the posters, approached one of the groups and said Macleren he’d seen Maclaren. The students followed him to the village and met up with him.

The successful location of Maclarence raised countless negative comments on social media. Amidst all the negativity I would like to share with you all, three positive things that I have witnessed/experienced in the search for Maclarence:

1. In all my 21 years of living in Port Moresby and calling myself a “pikinini POM” I have never been to the parts of Gerehu which I visited in our search for Maclarence. Walking from Gerehu stage 6 all the way to Gerehu stage 1, visiting every little street to put up posters and asking bystanders if they had seen Mac, had allowed me to see these parts of Gerehu and for that I am grateful.

• I truly saw the kindness of humanity being displayed in our search for Maclarence. Mothers shed tears as we held up the posters to show them, some even said they would keep him in their prayers. Random boys on the street volunteered to escort us to help find our friend, bus drivers and boss crews willingly posted up the missing persons poster on their buses, tucker shop owners also posted up the missing persons poster in front of their shops. Even when we ran out of posters the people whom we approached took out their smart phones so that they could take a snap shot of the poster to show their families and friends in their efforts to help spread the word. Seeing this made me to appreciate humanity and really appreciate being a Papua New Guinean because I could see that displa passin blon helivim em e still stap strong yet.

• The unity that I saw being displayed by the University of Papua New Guinea students and others that volunteered to search for Maclarence was heartwarming. People showed up in numbers and had with them personally printed posters of him. This search has made me to forge friendships with people I wasn’t even acquainted with in school. Through the sharing of water and snacks as we searched for our school mate some life long friendships were formed. And we have the search for Maclarence to thank for that.

Sometimes we have to look past the negativity that life throws at us to see and experience the beautiful things that life has to offer. In the words of marcandangel “Train your mind to see the good in everything. Positivity is a choice. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts”. Thank God our friend Maclarence Akua has been found.”

Note:

After Mac was found, there were some who criticized the young man for going out of the public eye without notifying his family. But there were many more who have come out to support him, saying we do not know what he’s going through or what his reasons are, and that he must be given the privacy he needs. On the part of his friends and colleagues, they are happy that he is found, and in good health. Apart from finding Mac, the next great thing was the experience of comradeship, and the humanity the nation and city has shown by coming together. We are so strong together. And this experience has shown just how much people really care, even about others not of their own blood. And that is what we should take away from this whole experience.

Mary Terriette Aseari  has originally written this piece as a ‘guest blogger’ for Academia Nomad. We thank her for sharing her experience.

Please share the blog, so we can spread the love and compassion our people have towards each other. God bless you all, and take care out there.

This 25 page pdf document contains all the necessary information, from entry requirements, how GPAs are calculated, how the quota systems affects selection etc. This is a helpful guide to Grade 12s and non-school leavers applying to PNG Universities.

Click online below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZWhHAOrDA-0Ny578WCJ8_6lcHFuD0abr/view?ts=5b80423e&fbclid=IwAR2PbZQAS6QnpW08rvalYImVzCeLzun8KzxXg-iUowj60r4zZNlZPgdfxzg