Thankfully there were no fatalities. PNG has again made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern, appealing for calm and respect for peaceful protest, freedom of assembly and a commitment to the rule of law.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, PNG’s founding prime minister Sir Michael Somare as well as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Transparency International all made variations on those comments.
How did this happen?
As I flagged in January, public concern at political corruption has escalated under the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. He has refused to be interviewed by the police over US$22 million payments to lawyer Paul Paraka, thus provoking a court-issued arrest warrant. And he is fighting an investigation over US$1.2 billion worth of loans borrowed without parliamentary approval. The state is in fiscal trouble. Foreign exchange reserves are short as income from liquefied natural gas has effectively been garnisheed to repay the loans. Budget cuts are severe. Health and education, for example, have been hit by cuts of around 35 per cent.
UPNG students have been boycotting classes for five weeks due to concerns about government corruption and PNG’s precarious economic position as well as a desire to preserve democracy and the rule of law. They have petitioned O’Neill demanding he step down (or at least step aside) while the charges are dealt with according to the law. The prime minister, who dominates the parliament, has stated that there is no case against him. But, as former Chief Justice Sir Arnold Amet points out, that is for the courts to decide.
The students and the prime minister appear to have angrily painted themselves into opposing corners. No third party mediator has emerged yet.
Student concern and wider public distrust of O’Neill’s government has been fanned by vigorous analyses in PNG’s outspoken social media. The prime minister seems to be running scared.
In April the National Court lifted a ban on the police Fraud Squad investigating the Paraka case. Three arrests related to O’Neill’s case soon followed. The Attorney-General, Ano Pala, was charged with corruption; O’Neill’s lawyer, Tiffany Twivey, with perverting the course of justice; and senior judge Bernard Sakora charged with corruption in a case that failed this week, apparently over a procedural error. O’Neill’s Police Commissioner, Gari Baki, shut down the Fraud Squad office, despite a court order, saying he must vet all their work. He claimed this had nothing to do with the three high profile arrests, but eventually was forced to reinstate the squad.
Mass meetings of students continued throughout the UPNG boycott, with the campus peaceful, but tensions rose when the university invited police onto the campus. In late May the UPNG Council suspended the semester and ordered students to leave campus residences. With little to lose, teams went out on ‘awareness’ campaigns in their home provinces, with some success. Sometimes they were blocked by police, who are ever fearful of unruly crowds. In early June the National Court ordered the university to stay open.
Then, on 8 June the small Opposition initiated a motion of no confidence against the O’Neill government. About one thousand students, men and women — feeling safe and mistakenly believing they had a permit to demonstrate — tried to board buses to go to parliament. Blocked by police, they tried to march onto the main road. There they were blocked again by police with automatic rifles and tear gas. They refused to accept the arrest of their leader in a heated argument with police commanders.
PNG’s undisciplined and poorly trained police are often trigger-happy, and their often ill-advised use of tear gas has helped create many a riot. Suddenly, some police fired what they claimed to be warning shots. They alleged this was in response to student violence, which the many witnesses deny. At least four bullets were fired. While police rapidly unleashed tear gas, they chased and beat the fleeing students. Locals there heard rumours of killings; some sheltered students and a police residence was attacked. Minor disturbances erupted in other volatile areas of the city and further afield.
The situation remains unresolved. That afternoon Prime Minister O’Neill made a statement to the House blaming students and outside political agitators. He set up a full inquiry — by the police — into the student protest. Critics have condemned the disproportionate police action and called for an independent inquiry, while the police commissioner blamed social media for spreading alarm. O’Neill then used his overwhelming majority to adjourn parliament until August. By August a vote of no confidence will no longer be possible, meaning that O’Neill has effectively removed a political safety valve.
Public hostility — not just to the police but also to the once-popular O’Neill government — is growing. History seems to be repeating itself. The Mekere Morauta government was badly damaged in June 2001 after three protestors were killed by police on campus during demonstrations against privatisation policies. The entire academic year ended, and many students lost their opportunity for higher education. It could happen again. UPNG students on Thursday said they would continue their protests, despite a new court injunction banning them from further campaigning.
The student protestors are all members of their clans back in their home provinces. Their campaigns will likely hurt current parliamentarians in the 2017 election. Whatever the outcome, hopefully all political actors in PNG can find a way out of this damaging conflict. If PNG is to succeed in doing so, it will be crucial to increase public trust without further damaging democracy and the rule of law.
Dr Bill Standish is a former lecturer at UPNG. Till recently he was a Visiting Fellow at the School of Culture, History and Languages in the College of Asia & the Pacific at The Australian National University.
Bill,
Thank you for a good update on a sad situation.
It is fair to blame the police in both cases, but not fair to suggest the episode over Mekere’s sensible reforms are comparable, in any way, to O’Neill’s defence of destroying respect for law.
Andrew
Hi – yes, clearly a different set of protest issues, but uncontrolled police the problem in both cases. In 2001 police attacked campus at night after Gerehu Drive looting. As a result, Morauta government bitterly resented by many. This time students acting peacefully blocked by police who don’t consider the impact of their actions. Comparable impacts on UPNG and politically. The Ombudsman investigation now announced should identify policy implications. See
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/Stories/shootout-inquiry/#.V1uj4Etbxg0
Bill
As one who lived and worked in PNG (for ABC Radio) for a few years before Independence its a great sadness to read of these events.
During that period much attention and a lot of Australian assistance was given to drafting a constitution for the new nation. My knowledge of most of this is anecdotal but I certainly recall in later years there was considerable anxiety that the structure of the constitution itself and the electoral system chosen might be a recipe for ongoing instability and corruption.
I wonder is there any ongoing analysis of what might be the constitutional changes which could help PNG towards more stable and less corrupt government, and might there be another article along these lines?
….
Can I add a completely disconnected note to the tail – that this and many,many more articles in EAF are hugely valuable in giving insights into the realities of Australia’s neighbourhood, particularly on issues like the South China Sea, US versus China, and the complex web of interactions between our neighbours, which are very poorly represented in the mainstream media. These short informative articles are a great contribution to clear thinking about Australia’s future. Appreciation and thanks to the editorial team and contributors.
Hello Peter, You raise important and complex issues. As a retiree I don’t know of much research on constitutional development, apart from an ANU PhD under way by PNG student Bal Kama. The PNG parliament can change the constitution easily when governments have over two thirds or three quarters of MPs, won over by the Executive’s power of the purse. The last three PMs have tried to enforce political stability in ways which have later been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (after delays noted by Paul Flanagan below). Chief Justice Injia has written excellent judgements available at http://www.paclii.org/pg to strengthen democracy, but in 2011 and 2012 the SC twice declared the O’Neill government takeover from Somare unconstitutional. These decisions were ignored by the executive and the parliament passed legislation attacking the judiciary (since rescinded). There are still attempts to weaken the Ombudsman Commission, and the new ICAC just hasn’t happened yet. The voting system has been preferential since 2003, but little has changed, given the fragmentation into clans and pervasive money politics culture. Australia hasn’t helped by initiating the Enhanced Cooperation Program (2004-05) and the Manus Island detention centre (also unconstitutional). So yes, I would like to see a lot more politico-legal research. Print media coverage has lapsed after the AAP withdrew from PNG, but great work is done every day by Radio NZ International and ABC/Radio Australia – only to be mostly ignored by our TV and papers. There is some hope in that PNG social media is vigorous – although sometimes intemperate – but trying to grapple with these issues. UPNG and other Unis need help to strengthen the social sciences, not just ‘governance’ which tries to be apolitical. Thanks for great comment. Bill
Bill
An excellent article. One small typo – the disputed overseas UBS loan is not $1.2 million, it was $1.2 billion (around 8 per cent of PNG’s 2013 GDP – so a very big loan not approved by Parliament). This loan was investigated by the Ombudsman Commission, then referred to the Public Prosecutor, and based on this advice, PNG’s Chief Justice set up a Leadership Tribunal in early 2015 even with foreign judges appointed. While initially welcoming the Leadership Tribunal, his lawyers have buried the hearing in discussion of technical law issues in the courts. This type of behaviour adds to student frustrations and contrasts with the behaviour of former Prime Minister Michael Somare and current Opposition Leader Don Polye who both stood aside for court and Leadership Tribunal hearings.
More information on PNG’s economic prospects were also included in a EAF article on 2 January.
I also agree with Andrew that the ethics and circumstances around the 2001 shootings were very different. Prime Minister Mekere had met with students several hours prior to the shootings to discuss the privatisation policy (as encouraged by the IMF and World Bank as part of an economic reform program to deal with PNG’s last fiscal crisis). Some of the politics may remain the same – students going back to their home areas to campaign against the Prime Minister.
Of course, given the demonstrated ethics and morality of the current government, there are scenarios where the 2017 election will not proceed. The numerical dominance of Parliament by the current prime minister provides enormous potential to amend the constitution – and hearings by the courts could take years to decide any amendments were unconstitutional.
Thanks Paul
Apologies for my thousandfold ‘small typo’ which slipped in overnight on Thursday. I’m not commenting on the economics of PM Morauta’s 2001 reforms, but the politics of parliament, the executive and the police which are alarming, and potentially threatening PNG’s democracy. Totally inadequate funding of the Electoral Commission doesn’t augur well for the 2017 election, but weakened administrative capacities in most provinces and the crude money politics which has grown over the last three decades both raise concern. The scenario of avoiding the 2017 election could only occur with a quantum leap of ruthless cynicism. Civil society outrage was high in early 2012 when there were unconstitutional attempts to delay that year’s election, and I hear widespread protests are emerging now over recent events. My hope is that PNG still has the capacity shown during the Sandline Affair of 1997 of being able to pull back from the brink, aided by democrats in the judiciary, the Ombudsman Commission, churches and civil society, as well as enlightened MPs. Cheers, Bill
Some people may find my statement that the ‘often ill-advised use of tear gas has helped create many a riot’ as counter-intuitive.
Since 1973 I have watched occasional disturbances in PNG towns and cities. In any urban area in PNG the streets are often crowded with people, especially on fortnightly paydays. What can happen is that those whom the elite call ‘street people’ will join almost any bandwagon or parade, and some know that if there is a riot then looting can spread in parts of a city or even town, as happened last week in Moresby and Mt Hagen city. The original organizers of a protest march (called a ‘strike’) often cannot control these ‘opportunists’. Hence the police and elite members fear street parades.
Then, even without any disturbance, what can happen is that a section of mobile squad police who casually carry shotguns or assault rifles and gas guns let off tear gas at the crowd; people panic and then flee to areas where there are no police and is no control. Some of them smash windows and loot along the way, in what one academic called ‘inchoate class action’. Mobile phones are used to spread alarm and rumour around the town. Who caused the riot – peaceful democratic protestors (or a football crowd, e.g.) or the nervous police who set the crowds running?
As a footnote, on 15 June Australia’s Fairfax press carried pix of male students in mourning. Interestingly, on 8 June within hours of the shooting PNG social media carried pix of a group of about forty women – not smartly dressed, perhaps mostly market sellers – in a peace march with their hands above their heads. One woman was writhing on the road in a vivid display of distress, and some reportedly had smeared their faces with mud in mourning. By then, they must have felt secure despite the presence of police. A new form of women’s political action?