Cultists'

Ship In

But Not

With Cargo

From GUS SMALES in Port Moresby A cult that started 30 years ago is ruffl ing the placid life-style of the Bali-Witu Islands in the Bismarck Sea.

The Bali-Witu group, a little handful of islands in Papua New Guinea, is the sort of picture book paradise that novelists and tourists dream about. But, in a series of ex peditions in May, a government ship has taken about 150 islanders out of their paradise and left them at the nearest major gaol on the big land mass of New Britain.

There’s no room in the local lock-up for so many prisoners.

The operation could well develop into a regular service over the 120 kilometres of sea separating the Bali-Witu group from New Britain. This is because 400 islanders are still facing court charges which could bring them gaol sentences of three months or more.

By the time the overtaxed court deals with the outstanding cases, close to half the adult male population of Bali-Witu could wind up in gaol. The charges against them are that they failed or refused to pay tax the equivalent of a few dollars to their local council, established under PNG law and elected by the islanders themselves.

The dogmatic anti-tax attitude stems from the newest campaign of a long established cult which believes that governments, councils and other establish ed bodies are without real powers and that supernatural forces are the source of real power.

In a classic example of the long recognised Melanesian cargo cult syn drome, some of the islanders believe that passive faith in the hidden powers will cause a big ship to beith off their palm fringed coastline. It will open its hatches, they say, and disgorge cars, tobacco, radios, torches, cloth, bicycles, wrist watches, knives and perhaps even an aeroplane.

The Bali-Witu cult began soon after World War Two when a group of leaders from the little island group came home after visiting other parts of PNG. They claimed to have had visions of sharing material wealth which the white man had already acquired by his own supernatural methods.

Several of the islanders later took up a collection and made periodic visits to Rabaul the nearest major town 350

kilometres away by sea, and brought back goods from the well-stocked shops in Rabaul, showing the goods as examples of what could be expected if the cult was followed correctly.

By western standards the operation had all the elements of trickery by false pretences, but anthropologists and many government officers recognise a groping sincerity. They say the developments were typical of a society which was unable to accept the existence of advanced technology, and thus attributed manufac tured goods to supernatural causes.

In the past 10 years, the Bali-Witu cult has manifested itself in sporadic incidents which supposedly were to prepare for the arrival of “cargo” a shipload of manufactured goods.

The incidents have included the destruc tion of an area of food crops (“we won’t need them any more”), the killing of pigs, the boycott of an election, and refusal to allow children to attend school.

Slightly less than half the population appears to be involved in the cult, and their current campaign is refusing to pay tax.

Unlike many other PNG cults, which have included active anti-government acts and even violence, the Bali-Witu cult goes placidly on its way as if secure in an inner belief that a reward is just round the cor ner.

Despite the rash of recent summonses and convictions, there has been no collapse of law and order and only a handful of police are stationed there. There’s little heat in the situation, and even the gaol sentences have been accepted

phlegmatically.

To the ingrained cultist, a few months in gaol is merely marking time while the big ship comes closer.

Torres tussle

The border between Australia and Papua New Guinea has still to be fix ed, but it will be south of the islands of Boigu, Dauan and Saibai, which will become Australian enclaves. Agree ment to change the border was reached on June 5, by the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Australia and PNG, Mr Andrew Peacock and Sir Maori Kiki.

The three islands are close to the coast of PNG, and the border is between them and PNG mainland. The islands will have a three-mile territorial limit.

Details of the agreement, covering the seabed and the actual border have still to be worked out. The agreement came under fire from the Premier of

Queensland, Mr Joh Bjelke-Petersen,

and the chairman of the Torres Strait

Islanders Advisory Council, Mr

Getano Lui.