[?]umility, honesty, "hatwok” evident

Ihe strengthening of Local Gov ernment Councils, rhe support of Volunteer Service. [s this programme an impatient iction to the cautious proposals of Guise report? The leaders of the v party won’t be drawn on this ;stion. [t is certain that a lot of midnight had been burned and the main ?s of the party’s programme had m worked out before the Guise ort was tabled. But it could well that disappointment with the cen ts of the report decided Pangu’s igenitors to make an immediate louncement of its formation and is.

UNP dead

"he first outcome of the formation Pangu has been that the United lional Party has been given up for d and has been accorded a quiet eral. Gala Gala Rarua, as one the “angry men”, has thrown in lot with Pangu.

Wiere do we go from here? Pangu ady has the adherence of nine [A’s—two Europeans and seven v Guineans—and hopes to have at t 15, and to operate in the House a party at the next meeting in just. he Europeans are Toni Voutas Barry Holloway. Earlier this year M, April, p, 39) these two nbers circulated a five-page docu it on a proposed presidential cture for the territory. They pub jd their paper to stimulate debate, proposed no timetable and made concrete proposals, he basis of their scheme was for residential Head of State to be

elected by a national parliament and to be responsible to it. A cabinet would be chosen from the House but the president would be able to appoint additional men outside the House because of their expertise.

Voutas and Holloway are among the youngest members of the Assembly and have been working together recently. Both are former patrol officers, who hold open seats (that is, they stood for election against New Guinean candidates).

Guise will join

The seven New Guinean members of the Pangu Party who are in the House are Paul Lapun (Bougain ville), Nicholas Brokam (New Ireland), Pita Lus (Dreikikir, Sepik), James Meanggarum (Ramu), Paliau Maloat (Manus), Siwi Kurondo (Kerowagi) and Wegra Kenu (Upper Sepik).

It is of interest that Brokam, Lapun and Kenu were all members of the Assembly’s Select Committee on Constitutional Development.

Mr. John Guise, chairman of the select committee, says he will also join the Pangu Party if he gets the approval of the majority of his electorate, at Milne Bay.

Gala Gala Rarua will be one of four rotating chairmen on the new party’s central executive. Two others are Mike Somare, a journalist, and Joseph Nombri. former patrol officer and now a student at the administra tive college in Port Moresby. All three are New Guineans. A fourth chairman is to be named.

It is clear that behind Pangu there is a measure of political realism and

organisational ability which has not been present in previous attempts at party making.

But what measure of support can it muster for its policies among the common people of the territory? This is anyone’s guess, and with most of the guessers the wish seems to be the father to the thought.

Ballot box will tell

Next year’s ballot boxes should give a reasonably reliable answer.

It is true that in some electorates candidates will win on personality rather than policy. But there is no reason to suppose that Pangu can didates will have a monopoly of personal charm, and we may assume that over a number of electorates the personal factor will cancel itself out.

While the results in any one electorate may not prove anything, the results over a range of 30 or 40 electorates (if Pangu is able to contest that number) should give a pretty accurate indication of how much support there is for the Pangu pro gramme among the people of the villages, from the Bensbach River to Buka.

Humility, honesty na hatwok. It is quite evident that already quite a lot of hatwok has gone into this venture, and there is no reason to doubt that honesty is there too. One is entitled to hope that in the hurly burly of party politics, and in the increased pressure on the political front which is now developing as a result of the nearness of the terri tory’s next general election, humility won’t fly out the window.

Mr. Holloway, one of the European members of Pangu.