Political Crisis is beyond PNG’s hands

 

What we now have on our plate is a classic resource curse where foreigners are supporting either or both sides of politics. When I wrote my post yesterday highlighting the geopolitical power-play currently underway, I never expected such a vitriolic response from pro-western miners.

You can read the pro-western miner’s spokesperson’s comments on Mine Watch. The miner’s spokesperson who uses the pseudonym Wesley, wrote:

“But what people in PNG have to realize if they keep going the way that they have been and the State becomes a security risk to the region, and in particular to Australia, things will change whether the people of PNG stick their heads in the sand, or not”.

O yeah baby, haven’t we heard that before when Bush invaded Iraq supposedly to find weapons of mass destruction and protect America’s security interests. Bush went in for the oil just as any direct or indirect military intervention would be to protect Western interests particularly in Mining and the US$ 15 billion Liquefied Natural Gas Project.

For me, reading Wesley’s comments on Mine Watch crystallized my view of the geopolitical struggle between the East and the West as it unfolds here on PNG soil. That is the nature of squabbles between world powers: they fight their fights using proxies and on foreign territory.

What this means for Papua New Guineans is that if you support Peter O’Neil and his crew, you’re a foot soldier for the West i.e. Australia and the United States. If you’re supporting Somare, then you’re supporting the East i.e. the Asians - Chinese and Malaysians.

Indeed the recent media war between Rupert Murdoch’s Post Courier and Rimbunan Hijau’s The National newspapers has been a war over influence of public opinion. Lately, The National Newspaper has indeed been publishing positive spin about the Chinese-owned Ramu Nickel Mine apart from its regular spin on the Malaysian loggers. The Post Courier on the other hand has pretty much consistently published the ugly details of the Malaysian loggers, including the recent Pomio SABL case.

So where does this leave Papua New Guineans. Well we actually have two choices: either to fight for the Chinese or the West, or to stand back and let them fight themselves. Usually, the world powers do not like sending their sons to war; instead they’d prefer that others do the fighting on their behalf. It would be extremely foolish for Papua New Guineans to fight and kill each other just so that either the Chinese or the Western nations benefit from the spoils of destruction.

If there is going to be a Military Coup, it is most likely going to be a pro-western coup. Any sane military strongman wouldn’t dare undermine the strategic interests of an increasing Fascist and trigger-happy West. Australia’s strategic interests would be undermined if there is a pro-China military man in Port Moresby and so will the United States. With Australian Military just a few minutes South and a large US Navy base up North at Guam, no sane military leader would to dare antagonize the West.

Today, Papua New Guineans must realize that we do not have political leaders. Those at the top are puppets for foreign interests. Let them fight amongst themselves at the top and let the East and West battle it out however they wish to. Let us not build hatred and animosity amongst ourselves and let’s not spill Indigenous Melanesian blood for foreigners who hide in the shadows and pull the strings of those Puppets in Waigani.

The stakes are too high for either side to give up easily. Western resource exploiters are increasing weary of the Chinese intrusion into the resource sector. Hilary Clinton expressed this view to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee where she stated that China was trying to undermine United States interests in the PNG LNG Project.

Mostly Asian loggers, who have stolen 5.2 million hectares of land under the Somare Regime, now feel threatened by the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Purpose Agriculture Business Leases. The Chinese miners, who were allowed to dump toxic Mine waste into the sea, now feel threatened by the O’Neil Government that wants to reverse the changes to the Environment Act that the Somare dictatorship forced through Parliament. You can see why The National is allied with the Chinese Government-owned Ramu Nickel mine.

Now we’re talking about Billions of US dollars that are at stake here. An increasingly Fascist West isn’t going to let China win this tug of war in PNG. Each side wants to protect its interests.

This is not our battle to fight. This is a Cold War between the East and the West to try and protect their investments. Remember that the Ramu Nickel Mine is owned by the Government of China. Also the Governments of the United States and Australia have put money into the LNG Project through loans from their Export-Import (Exim) Banks.

Of course, the agents of the East and West would want you to believe that this is a Papua New Guinean’s problem, and they have nothing to do with it. They would want you to believe that Papua New Guinea is insignificant in the region. Well if Papua New Guinea is insignificant why have we received high-level Government Officials from the United States and China in recent years?

Our politicians have compromised themselves and are therefore now acting in the interests of their Puppet Masters. That is now obvious 5 days later; as no end seems to be in sight. Only Beijing, Canberra and Washington know how this will end or at least how they would like it to end.

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NOTE TO READERS

I have been called a lot of things by my critics but one thing is certain, I’m an indigenous Melanesian. I believe that the indigenous people of Papua New Guinea and their customary land need to be protected from exploitation. Many exploiters promise ‘development’ but all that our people see around them is ‘bagarapment’. So don’t get sucked into the lies as it’s played out at the moment by those Puppet Leaders in Waigani, their table-cats and Puppet Masters.