Abaijah's 'Impossible Dream'

PNG’s Chief Minister Mr Michael Somare in September put paid to Josephine Abaijah’s Papuan independence aspirations (PIM, Sept, p 4). In Canberra, Mr Somare, describing Papua as a “colonial invention”, said Miss Abaijah promised violence and bloodshed if she did not get her way, but his government was determined that Papua would remain part of a unified country.

The Australian Government was determined that PNG would reach self government as a single nation.

“Miss Abaijah’s concept of a separate Papua is, therefore, an impossible dream,” he said.

Australian Minister for External Territories Mr Morrison used the same theme when he described how he had finally met up with Miss Abaijah, in Canberra. He said he pointed out to her that a unified Papua New Guinea was not merely the Labor Government’s policy but that of the previous government. PNG unity was not to be inhibited by inherited artificial colonial boundaries.

Miss Abaijah’s reaction in Port Moresby, was, “Mr Somare has forgotten that we are such stuff as dreams are made on . . . It is better to live with an impossible dream than to live with an impossible nightmare”.

Nevertheless, Mr Somare’s blunt assault on Miss Abaijah’s ambitions has taken the heat out of the free-Papua movement.