News

The

In A

Nutshell

Arms For Irian

Indonesian troops have sealed off an area of Irian Jaya (West Irian) to prevent shipments of communist arms reaching anti-Indonesian government rebels.

The area is described by the Indonesian press as “to the north of Schotjon, near the Papua New Guinea border’’. This is probably Sekotchiau, about 30 km west of Vanimo.

The press quoted the local commander, Colonel Ismail, as saying that the area had become the main operations centre for the rebels. He said that captured documents indicated that the rebels were expecting arms supplies there from a communist country, but the colonel did not name the country.

He said that though the rebellion had lost its military significance, “they con tinue to disturb us and therefore they must be crushed”.

The rebels, known as the Free Papua Movement, want to set up an independent State of Papua, separated from Indonesian rule.

According to the Indonesian press, 1,500 rebels have given themselves up since last year.

Pilots Rescue

Papua New Guinea’s civil aviation rule requiring all aircraft to carry very high frequency survival beacons prov ed its value again in August with the rescue of the pilot of a crashed

helicopter. The pilot, Canadian-born

Jan Blanche, crashed in high moun tain country in New Ireland. He was on a flight from the Panguna mirie

site, Bougainville, when his helicopter

developed engine-trouble. The machine, a Bell 47 owned by Airfast Helicopters Pty Ltd of Sydney, was on charter to Bougainville Copper.

Air safety investigator, Mr Don Ende, who led the rescue party, said later: “Without the beacon’s signals, we wouldn’t have had a ghost of a chance of finding Blanche. These VHF beacons have proved themselves invaluable time and time again’’.

Mr Blanche, who spent four nights exposed to the mountain cold, sur vived on standard emergency rations and rain water collected in parts of the wrechage. “The hotel accommoda tion wasn’t too good in the moun tains,” he johed on his arrival in Rabaul. “There were no bellboys and too many cold showers.” He suf fered only a slight nose fracture, cuts and bruises in the crash.

Mr Blanche must be starting to wonder whether or not he’s accident prone. This was his third brush with death in two years in PNG. The first was when he fell from the first floor of a motel, and the second in a motor cycle accident in which he was critically injured and tahen to Australia in a RAAF mercy flight for treatment.

Big Blow

Strong winds sweeping across Anir (Feni) Island, 70 hm off the New Ireland east coast, destroyed a church and several houses in mid-August; a radio report from the remote island said the winds were the strongest hnown in 30 years. Homeless families are being accommodated in a school building. On New Ireland itself part of northern Papua New Guinea winds have caused damage in at least two villages.

Coppers Copped It!

Three Western Samoa constables retreated with some loss of dignity when five women assailed them with a bucket and sticks. The police were searching for stolen goods at Mulinuu when the women attacked them. One constable suffered a head cut when a woman hit him with the bucket. During the scuffle, the police lost their search warrant. They returned to their station, reported the matter, and, with reinforcements resumed the search.

They were looking for eight big sacks of dried cocoa beans and automobile spare parts, said to be stolen from Burns Philp.

Grateful Constituents

Mr Tupui Ariki Henry, Cook Islands Minister of Internal Affairs and son of Premier Sir Albert Henry, has become the owner of a 14 ft outrigger canoe, the gift of his parliamentary constituents on the

island of Mauke, which he has represented for the last 10 years. The gift was in recognition of his services to the island and those services aren’t minor ones. Mauke has now got full electricity and water ser vices, a new harbour, an airstrip in the making and a development corporation which exports the products of vigorous beef cattle farming and citrus industries.

The canoe is custom-made of Pacific mahogany with coconut fibre lashings.

Outside The Law

Court-martial charges against an Australian naval lieutenant on loan to the Papua New Guinea Defence Force have been dismissed because the court can’t apply its service law to Australians. The prosecution alleged that the Australian, Lt. P. J. Smith, as commanding officer, was negligent when the Attack class patrol boat Samarai struck a reef and damaged a propeller. Samarai is a former RAN ship which was a gift to PNG from Australia.

Damage to the craft is estimated at

$Lo,Ooo.

The case, heard in August, represented the first occasion since PNG achieved in dependence when an Australian officer on loan has faced a court-martial. Although the agreement which protects Australian servicemen from PNG service law was widely known and freely accepted, the im plications of the court’s decision are likely to raise questions between the two coun tries.

Some Australian servicemen in PNG see the situation as a denial of their own rights. They claim that court-martial evidence rather than lack ol jurisdiction could clear them of possible negligence charges.

Lt. Smith is one of 400 officers and men from all three services who are on loan to the PNG Defence Force. They are serving under an interim arrangement which is in force while PNG consolidates its own defence structure. The arrangement is scheduled to continue for the next five years.

Plastered Pedagogues

Teachers in some remote areas of Papua New Guinea are arriving at their schools 100 drunk to teach, according to an Educa tion Superintendent. In a statement in August, the Provincial Education Superintendent at Lae, Mr Alan Isoiamo, appealed to teachers to recognise their responsibilities, saying that many teachers believed they could walk out of their classrooms at any time and get drunk.

Mr Osoiamo blamed lack of support from rural communities as one factor con tributing to a breakdown in school stan dards in remote areas. Fie believed too much had been given to the people without any self-help involvement by the people themselves.

Christian Cooks

Christianity got a boost at the 11th an niversary celebrations of self-government in the Cook Islands on August 4.

Speaking on the occasion, the Premier, Sir Albert Henry, said: “The white man in troduced Christianity to the Cook Islands, but now other white men are trying to in troduce anti-Christian ideas. Cook Islanders, however, are convinced that there is no better creed than Christianity, which has given them peace and prosperi ty.

“The Cook Islands are about the most peaceful and friendly spot in the world to day, and that is the way Cook Islanders want to keep them.”

Present at the celebrations in Avarua, Rarotonga, were the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Denis Blundell, Lady Blundell, and diplomatic envoys to New Zealand from Indonesia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Malaysia and

Singapore.

Sir Denis Blundell pledged the con tinued assistance of the New Zealand Government to the Cooks until they achieve their final goal of complete in

dependence.

Tokelau - Only

The Tokelau Islands, a New Zealand dependency, will henceforth be known simply as “Tokelau”.

Proposing the change of name, the NZ Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr F. H.

Corner, said: “The Tokelau people customarily refer to their territory as ‘Tokelau’. It would be desirable for NZ terminology to be brought into line”.

Population of Tokelau was 1603 in September, 1975, compared with 1574 a year earlier.

Graves Pillaged

Cargo cultists on Bougainville are digg ing up graves and stacking coffins and bodies in a specially built “sanctuary”, ac cording to Papua New Guinea police sources.

They believe that their actions will liberate powerful forces to bring them material wealth. Police are concerned at reports that people who refuse to take part in the rites are being tortured. The reports come from Kopani village, about 30 miles north of Kieta in Central Bougainville.

The cult is said to have more than 400 followers. A later report said police had arrested and charged 21 men.

Fiji Press Ban

Fiji’s newspapers were forbidden by the Speaker of the Fiji House of Represen tatives, Sir Vijay Singh, to publish remarks made in the House in August by Fijian MP Sakiasi Butadroka, leader ol the Fijian Nationalist Party, which has the

slogan “Fiji for the Fijians”. Mr Butadroka had been expelled from the House for 48 hours for making a personal attack on Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and the Speaker while at tacking a government bill to make it illegal to incite race hatred. The Speaker, who described Mr Buadroka’s comments as “very vicious allegations”, banned publication of them, using, for the first time, powers given by parliament to ban publication of language which had been ruled out of order by the Speaker. Later, the Prime Minister said he was amazed that such hatred and venom could be in the heart of a man.

Bankrupt Justice

Lack of funds is hamstringing the work of law-enforcement officers in the Northern Marianas. Acting Attorney- General Linsey Freeman said in August that marijuana prosecutions in the Marianas will have to cease unless money is made available.

“Neither the attorney’s office nor the police department has the money to secure the expert testimony required in marijuana possession cases,” he said in a memoran dum to the Resident Commissioner, Erwin D. Canham.

Freeman, who is in favour of decriminalising marijuana possession, also sent copies of his memo to Marianas senators. He said he is “confident” that the legislature will enact a law reflecting his views.

Also complaining of lack of funds was Marianas Public Defender James Grizzard who claimed a serious crime problem is be ing created among Saipan youth by the lack of any rehabilitation programme for youth offenders. They cannot be jailed in Saipan prison because the Trust Territory Code prohibits putting youth and adult offenders together.

“Offenders who know that nothing will happen to them even if they commit the same crime again are not prevented from committing more crimes,” Grizzard said.

Death In Owen Stanley

Four Australian men died in August when their twin-engined Piper Aztec air craft crashed in the Owen Stanley ranges about 90 km from Port Moresby. The four who died were the pilot, D. Looker, a Melbourne policeman, his father, R.D.

Looker, C.M. George, and G. Spurling, all of Victoria.

The pilot was attempting to negotiate

the “Gap”, the narrow pass which is a recognised air-route through the Owen Stanleys. Indications are that he became trapped in cloud, and lost sense of direc tion. The “Gap” is notorious for its cloud build-ups and for the rugged nature of the country beneath. The party had planned a brief visit to Lae, and then intended to fly inland to Goroka in the Highlands to stay with a family friend of the Lookers, Mr Keith Deevers, an airline official.

Women Reformers

Nilai Ra Waden Association of Rabaul will press the PNG Government to take stronger measures to stop the growth of prostitution in urban centres.

The decision was among matters dis cussed at the second national convention of women held at Vunadidir in August.

Among other matters on the convention’s agenda were the prohibition of the sale of comics and magazines emphasising sex and violence, the complete abolition of gambling, and the return of unemployed persons to their home provinces.

The Law Reform Commission hearing in Goroka has been urged to recommend increases in the penalties for adultery. Mr Julius Mamina, a local court magistrate from Henganofi, has told the commission that the existing penalty of a fine of K 6 and six months imprisonment are insufficient.

He also submitted to the commission that local courts be given more power to award compensation money on claims over repayment of the bride price.

Strikers Fined

Eight members of the Fiji Municipal

Workers’ Union are to appeal against their convictions and fines in the Lautoka Supreme Court for strike offences.

General secretary Mr Ujagar Singh was fined the maximum of $5OO for influencing workers employed in essential services to take part in an illegal strike at Ba last December. Seven members of the union were each fined $75 for stopping essential work and furthering an illegal strike.

Unionist Fined

A member of the Solomon Islands Legislative Assembly was fined $55 on three charges in the Gizo Magistrate’s Court in August.

Mr Batholomew Ulufa’alu, 37, who represents East Honiara, pleaded guilty to causing bodily harm to Mr Martin Glass,

Mr. Butadroka

planning officer of the Western Council (fined $25), drunken and disorderly behaviour ($5), and resisting arrest ($25).

Ulufa’alu is president of the Solomon Islands General Workers’ Union.

Png-Solomons Link

Papua New Guinea will represent Solomon Islands’ interests at the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference in New York, and the Solomon Islands will accept a PNG offer of help with overseas

representation after independence.

These are among main points to emerge from a one-day visit to Honiara made in late July by PNG Prime Minister, Mr Michael Somare. In talks with the Chief Minister of the Solomon Islands, Mr P.

Kenilorea, Mr Somare agreed that the border between the Solomon Islands and PNG be settled before independence, and that official border discussions should be held as soon as possible.

In another move concerning PNG diplomacy, the Minister for Foreign Af fairs and Trade, Sir Maori Kiki, an nounced in mid-August the establishment of diplomatic relations between PNG and Norway.

Glitter At Rarotonga

Rarotonga in the Cooks has never seen such a galaxy of diplomatic talent as appeared at the beginning of August at the annual dance festival and a craft show. The VIPs included the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Denis Blundell, and Lady Blundell, the Indonesian Am bassador, Mr L. Soetikno, the Egyptian Ambassador, Dr I. Sorour, the High Com missioner for Malaysia, Mr K. Thar maratnam, and the High Commissioner for Singapore, Mr Chan.

Saipan Tragedy

Yomico Okasawa, a 10-year-old Japanese girl, was found drowned off the micro-beach on Saipan in the Marianas early in August. She had been bathing with other Japanese students on a touring holi day from Japan. They were swimming un der the supervision of teachers who dis covered she was missing when a head count was taken.

Yachtees Skip Bail

A French couple skipped bail from Port Moresby in August while facing trial on charges related to the illegal purchase of Papuan artefacts.

The couple, John Gueroult of Noumea and Jocelyn Knezevic of Paris, slipped out of Port Moresby harbour under cover of night in their luxury yacht Thetis 11. The charges related to a December, 1975, visit by the couple in which, according to

prosecution allegations, they engaged in a

“planned buying spree” of artefacts in the Gulf of Papua area.

The prosecution alleged that they left

Port Moresby in their yacht last December bound for Vila, but doubled back to the Gulf of Papua to buy the artefacts. They were arrested on a return visit to Port

Moresby.

c . u if Witnesses from tribes in the gulf gave .. r . ... & . evidence ol having sold figurines with great . a u tribal significance. One witness said she , , . had so dan ancient figurine to get money e . . „ 6 B J for my income tax .

J The Public Prosecutor s office in Port Moresby said Interpol had been alerted on the yacht s disappearance but police said no search would be mounted.

Artefacts of the type alleged to have been bought by Gueroult and Knezevic are

known to fetch very high prices on con tinental art markets.

No Medi For Islands

Overseas visitors to Australia, and that includes hundreds who go there each year from the Pacific Islands for holidays, will not be covered for medical insurance after October I under the national health scheme, Medibank. Previously they had automatically enjoyed that cover.

However, new arrivals, intending to settle permanently in Australia will be eligible for Medibank benefits, in the same way as Australian residents that is by com pulsorily joining the government scheme, Medibank, or a private health insurance fund.