The Editor's Mailbag

Nauruan Workers

The Nauruan Workers’ Organisa tion was recently formed and Mr Bernard Dowiyogo, MP, was elected chairman of this organisation. (It was no surprise to the government because back in 1950 there was the Nauruan Workers’ Organisation which was very instrumental and President Hammer Deßoburt was the chairman of that organisation.) Later after independence, the organisation sud denly lost its sting or more or less became inactive as a result of the fact that some of its members were appointed to the Deßoburt govern ment.

This leaves behind the present members of the Public Service and other interested bodies, such as the employees of the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, the Nauru Local Government Councils’ employees and staff of the Nauru Co-operative Society have to remain content with their outstanding complaints as they lack the means for counselling.

Before the formation of this new organisation, the chairman Mr Dowiyogo had consulted President Deßoburt and Mr Deßoburt had given sanction for the reviving of this organisation. Of course there are many problems at present that are facing it.

It is envisaged that in the near future, this organisation will be fully recognised by the government and its activities sanctioned by the govern ment. Obviously this organisation is contemplating submitting a back log of claims by the members of the Public Service.

So far, the government has failed to entertain the notion that inflation has caused great concern to the public. There is no Prices Justification Tribunal. Emphasis was stressed by the government on recruiting ex patriate staffs from overseas, rather than training members of the Public Service to fill senior positions in the government.

During the Australian administra tion of this country many senior members of the Public Service were sent to Australia for specialised train ing. Moreover, the prices of our staple foodstuffs have doubled since last year and the basic wage has not yet been reviewed. (Last review was made in 1962). There are no means

of regulating the spiralling of prices

of the basic commodities.

The public as a result of mal administration has been made to suffer the consequences. If the government’s attitude remains un changed over the years to come, then, of course, there would be nationwide reaction. It appears at present that the government has focused its planning more on matters of pure “foreign affairs” rather than concerning itself with “internal strife”. This organisa tion has a big plan ahead of it and it is also considering having affilia tions with its neighbours in the Pacific

region.

Detonga Deiye.

Secretary, Nauruan Workers’ Organisation.

High-Class Pidgin

Dr Derek Bickerton (PIM, Jan, p 28) is mistaken, understandably enough, in supposing that the business of PNG’s House of Assembly is transacted in pidgin.

The business of the House is transacted in English. It is debated at great length, and frequently with only marginal relevance, in pidgin.

As in more sophisticated legislatures elsewhere, these debates make little difference to the decisions arrived at, and this is increasingly so in PNG as the party system gains strength.

It is from the purgatorial experience of sitting through these debates for eight years that I have derived my opinion that pidgin is not an ade quate medium for the kind of dis cussions which take place in a mod ern legislature.

I share Dr Bickerton’s high regard for the Summer Institute of Lingui stics. But most of its work has been done in New Guinea. I think that those few SIL linguists who have worked in Papua would support my contention that in the 25 years since Papua and New Guinea were amal gamated, pidgin has achieved very little penetration into Papua, except in urban and border areas. And this was to be expected, as Papua already had its own lingua franca, hiri motu, at the time the amalgamation took place.

With all respect, I do not think that it is meaningful to compare the linguistic situation in PNG today with that in Renaissance Europe. The confrontation between Latin and the European vernaculars took place in a world in which there were few books, comparatively limited vocab ularies and hardly any speculation.

We live in a world of many books, greatly extended vocabularies and a very high degree of specialisation. 1 can only repeat that the creation, almost from scratch, of libraries of books in pidgin adequate for the needs of modern secondary and ter tiary education is not really a prac ticable proposition. Even if it is pos sible language-wise, it is impossible writer-wise, money-wise and time wise. Particularly time-wise. Renaiss ance Europe was not in a hurry.

Papua New Guinea is, and unavoid ably so.

I am well aware of the world-wide communications gap between rulers and ruled, of which Dr Bickerton calls the “linguistic wedge” is just a small part. Basically it is the ever increasing complexity of the global situation which has created this gap.

The man in the street in Sydney or New York and the man in the village in Papua New Guinea alike find it difficult to understand what their rulers are up to.

Admittedly, the problem is seen at its worst in Papua New Guinea.

Our rulers here have the job of com ing to terms with the outside world on behalf of 2i million people, most of whom still live in a quasi-subsis tence economy. This is hard enough, but it is infinitely harder for them to explain what they are doing to people who haven’t a clue as to what makes the outside world tick.

If I am less worried about this problem than Dr Bickerton and his friends are, it is because I think that in the long term it is going to solve itself. In 1976 our present rulers will have to secure re-election if they want to continue to rule us. By and large the candidates and parties who are most successful in bridging the communications gap are the ones who will be elected. Without wishing to appear cynical, I think that the need to secure re-election will prove a more powerful spur to com munication than the homilies of the linguistic scientists.

Percy Chatterton

Sabama, Papua.

Gutter Language

I would like to say that, as a regu lar reader of PIM, I, unlike Mr H.

W. Cummings, have yet to be dis illusioned by anything printed there in.

Mr Cummings strikes me as being high-handed and more than slightly hysterical (PIM, Feb, p 29).

To save his delicate sensibilities further outrage, I suggest that he restrict his readings to Bill and Ben —The Flower Pot Men.

Cairns, Queensland.