its politics

New Guinea hots up its politics

With proposals for immediate home rule, a plan for a political party of influential local government councillors to contest next year’s general elections, and suggestions that New Guinea should have a presidential system sometime in the future, the Papua-New Guinea political scene had hotted up in March. The new activity was all directed at the elections.

THE home rule proposal made the greatest impact. It was contained in an 11-page submis sion by 12 New Guineans and one European to the House of Assembly select committee on con stitutional development. The Euro pean, Mr. Cecil Abel, member of the family which established the famous Kwato mission of Papua and now working on a research scholarship for the P-NG Uni versity, is the man behind the submission. He first introduced it in a somewhat different form last August.

The submission asked for a Cabinet, elected by the House and responsible to the House, to be set up in 1968, with full executive authority, comprising eight Minis ters to replace departmental heads.

There should be a Chief Minis ter, to head his own new depart ment, and Ministers for Home Affairs, Local Government, Lands, Labour, Information and Culture, Local Finance and Education.

Departmental heads would become permanent secretaries of their de partments until they were replaced by local officers.

High Commissioner

There would be a parliamentary executive, comprising Cabinet Ministers and House steering com mittee members; a Public Service Board to replace the Public Ser vice Commissioner; a High Com missioner to replace the Adminis trator (with a Deputy High Com missioner who had to be a New Guinean); and the Department of External Affairs would deal with P-NG affairs, not Territories.

The submission stressed re peatedly that the present system of colonial government, “with all its inevitable master-servant over tones”, had to go quickly and a caretaker administration hand over.

The submission was frequently couched in blunt, almost rude terms, which resulted in an attack by one committee member, the territory’s Secretary for Law, Mr.

W. W. Watkins, on what he said was its “impudence”. Mr. Watkins himself later came under attack by others for his attitude.

The submission is that of a minority—a minority to be found in the towns—but cannot be dis missed as the ramblings of rat bags. Many of those who signed it—but certainly not all—are capable and intelligent.

Those who signed

The signatures were those of: Cecil Abel; Albert Mauri Kiki, a patrol officer, born in the Gulf; Mike Somare, a broadcast ing assistant, of Wewak; Oala Rurua, president of the Port Moresby Workers’ Association, of Port Moresby; Elliott Elijah, a co operatives training officer, of the Trobriands; Sinaka Goava, train ing as a magistrate, of Port Moresby; Kamona Waro, a school teacher, of Hula; Karl Nombri, patrol officer, of the Chimbu; Ebia Ole wale, schoolteacher, of Daru; Dr. Homo Batton, medical officer, of the Sepik; Gerai Asiba, a patrol officer, from Daru; Dr. Reuben Taureka, Acting Assistant Director of P-NG Medical Services, from Marshall Lagoon; and Pen Ana kapu, training as a magistrate, of Suau.

Presidential system

The constitutional committee will attempt to put the submission into perspective when it gives its final report to the Assembly in June.

It might also take into account a five-page document on a pro posed presidential structure for P-NG, published privately in

March by Europeans Toni Voutas and Barry Holloway, two of the youngest members of the As sembly.

Voutas is a fulltime politician, Holloway a planter—both are thoughtful, constructive men, who said they published their paper to stimulate debate on the territory’s political future. They proposed no timetable.

Basis of the scheme is for a presidential head-of-state to be elected by the national parliament and be responsible to it. The President can submit a list of additional men to be appointed to the House because of their ex pertese, who might not otherwise win a seat. A Cabinet is to be chosen from the House, and could include these extra members.

If the President falls from office the additional members’ positions are vacated.

Local Government Party

Voutas had already circularised, on his own account, the territory’s Local Government councils with a proposal that the councils form a P-NG Council Party, to win seats in the 1968 elections. He told them that 30 or 40 candidates supported by councils would have to be elected to have a strong in fluence in the next House of 94 members.

If councils were clever, they would each decide who was the best man in their area to be nomi nated, not necessarily a councillor, and then ask the local people not to encourage other nominations.

He suggested party candidates meet in October to decide on their Assembly platform. The councils would be asked to contribute any thing from $lOO to $2OO for ex penses.

Councillors’ reactions to this scheme should be known in the next month. Voutas says he has put the scheme forward in an attempt to get people thinking along practical lines, whether or not they support this particular proposal.

Nominations for the 1968 elec tions will be called in November, and the closing date for nomina tions will be some time in De cember. The polling period will last from February to March, 1968. P-NG has a common roll of more than a million names— everybody over 21, and with 12 months’ residence in an electorate, has a vote.