[?]t people

[?]utting legal [?]attern to [?]t people

Prom a Port Moresby correspondent >apua New Guinea will reform law to make it fit its society and :umstances. Chief Minister Michael nare has outlined how laws from stralia have affected his people and ditions, and what it is hoped to lieve by change. -rom the first contact with the ite man, the law and the courts 1 been weapons for a continuing ial revolution in PNG. New laws pped New Guineans from follow customs or from continuing the toms of their ancestors. Some toms were made crimes under the •oduced Queensland Criminal de. ►ometimes Australian law changed G society by what it did not do. i groups could not operate within law. New Guineans’ business isactions, gardening activities and il compensation were based on kin ups—the clans. But they were er given a proper place in civil criminal law. When the people involved in western businesses i public transport or haulage, the groups found they could not ally buy trucks. fhey tried to overcome that by tnerships only to be told they •e illegal. There were many prob is over land usage. The various [its fairly rigidly applied the Aus ian concepts of guilt—in terms newly-introduced offences. Pro cures and evidentiary rules were same as in Australia. They were understood by New Guineans, n some cases the law was hold the people to values which had r er gained acceptance, and probably r er would. vlr Somare said that to a certain snt the law started in the courts, it was where the people saw the r in action. Alien procedures had dered development of a people’s r through the courts.

'Jow, as a first step, PNG was in ducing village courts, which gave ited power to influential leaders, :> had no real training. That would ead the network far wider than > possible with the existing offici ' trained magistrates. The jurisdic i would be limited, but the aim i to reach sensible decisions, based

tradition, and a modern blend of v, acceptable to the community.

The government intended to rely the good sense of the people to velop a law suitable for them.

Dn (WidnrK about hrido nrices and On decisions about bride prices and ath payments, the village courts •kd.Vtion would he unlimited isdiction would be unlimited. tfmai„ a th C „Tu P e“e Xge

urts. The administration problems

>uld be difficult, but PNG had to ive to find law systems to suit.

The criminal code was also being /ised. The government was con lering whether or not compensation r causing death should be paid, gardless of fault. That was particu- ’ly important because the people :re not very concerned whether a rson caused death accidentally,

gligently or deliberately.

The dead person, Papua New lineans reasoned, was still lost, latever the responsibility of the rson who killed. If compensation is not paid there would be a pay- ,ck killing, and that could tear

societies apart, leading, in some areas, to large-scale tribal fighting.

A committee which studied tribal fighting had recommended the intro duction of a form of group punish ment, including fines of pigs, im- Dr : sonment anc j enforced communitv pnsonmem ana eniurcea cummuimy work. Some of the committees recomm endations could be included The same “culture clash” occurred when one applied Australian civil law values to PNG communities. That could be overcome by changing the law so that there was automatic com pensation, regardless of fault, payable to the km § rou P of the in J ured P an Y- Under a new Groups Incorporation Ordinance, kin groups and others would be able to achieve the benefits of incorporation by very simple pro cedures, which would avoid the ex- P ense and complexity of incorpora tlon under the Companies Ordinance.

A new law would be introduced to settle land disputes in the early stages. It was believed that early settlement of such disputes would

help solve the frustration which could lead to clan fighting.

There were often press reports of public order troubles in the towns.

Although the publicity was out of all proportion, the government recog nised there was a problem. Once again, the laws might solve the diffi culties.

But in introducing a new law to cover such a situation, the govern ment had to strike a balance between law enforcement and the basic rights of members of a free society. In the long term, it was hoped to solve that problem through the social pro gramme, rather than through harsh enforcement of the law which had to be used to attempt to redress the social and economic balance that gave rise to problems of public order in towns.

PNG was also tackling social problems by studying regulations and legal procedures inherited from Aus tralia. Some had restricted the de velopment of PNG-style small busi nesses. In many ways, the present laws had killed PNG initiative.

Pedlars, market vendors, small food stalls and small liquor bars had found Australian concepts too demanding.

People with bright ideas had run into so much red tape that eventually they gave up their ideas.