Chan, Pm

The Man Who

Is Sir Julius

Sir Julius Chan, the new Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, sees his takeover as ‘a friendly and constitutional change of government at a time when our country needs new leaders and new ideas to keep

moving ahead’.

He doesn’t plan any sudden switch in government policies, although he has indicated that the controversial issue of investment from overseas will come under scrutiny and could become less restrictive for the investor. But even under more liberalised investment policies,

he says the benefits likely to flow to the people as a whole will continue to be the main factor in regulatingrinvestment from outside. Observers of the PNG financial scene accept this as a genuinely-expressed attitude which suggests there will be little effective change from the investment policies of the Somare government.

It may be however, that the Chan government’s idea of what is good for the people as a whole is not necessarily the same as the Somare govern ment’s idea. Sir Julius himself, product of a business orientated family, would not be expected to have the same perspective as a Michael Somare, son of a policeman and product of civil service

activism politics.

It has been argued that the chances for any major liberalis ation of investment from over seas are watered down by the fact that Sir Julius has chosen John Kaputin as his Finance Minister, and Mr Kaputin has an avowed hatred of most pat terns of capitalist investment in Third World countries. Fric tions of an almost doctrinal nature could develop between these two men and could create one of the early internal testing points of the Chan cabinet.

Sir Julius has made two major announcements of econ

omic importance since taking

office. One involved his de cision to close down the contro versial scheme by which the government has been buying out non-national planters and

redistributing the properties (at

a price and on long term loans) to Papua New Guinea semi communal ownership. The other indicated the acceptance in principle to proceed with a copper and gold mine at Ok Tedi near the Indonesian border, a scheme which will involve the government in financial partnership with Aus tralian, West German and US interests.

Although both these an nouncements are significant in themselves, neither is par

ticularly important in assessing

the economic policies of the Chan government. The Ok Tedi scheme has clearly been a starter for some time, awaiting only formal acceptance by the government of the day, and the

ailing plantation redistribution

scheme had been under a sort of ‘terminal scrutiny’ by the Somare government for some time.

It’s the human rather than the political angles which, in the first few weeks, have been significant in assessing the new Prime Minister.

For a start, Sir Julius has undertaken to discuss with Mr Somare every major issue which comes up in the next six months or so and which appears to call for special attention. ‘Mr Somare is still my friend, and I know he will still talk to me’ Sir Julius said soon after taking office. And Mr Somare, for his part, is pre pared to co-operate. With the hint of a smile he told one newsman T taught Sir Julius well in the early days he

hasn’t forgotten’.

Forty-year-old Sir Julius is of Chinese and PNG extrac tion, born on Tanga Island in the islands region of northern PNG, and member of a family

with plantation, shipping,

trading and other commercial interests. Rabaul on New Bri tain and Namatanai on New Ireland have been the centres of the family’s interests.

He was educated at Marist

Brothers College, Ashgrove,

Queensland, and for a while held Australian citizenship under qualifications which Australia extended to PNG Asians, but at independence in PNG he took up his entitle ment to PNG citizenship.

He is married with four chil dren and was first elected to parliament then known as the Legislative Council and subject to final control by Aus tralia in 1968 when he was 29 years old. Less than two years later he became parliamentary leader of the

Peoples Progress Party, and at

self-government he formed the first national coalition with Somare’s Pangu Party. This is the coalition which led PNG into independence in 1975, although Sir Julius had to wait until the 1977 elections before he became Somare’s deputy at the formation of the second national coalition.

Fifteen months later he split with Somare and led his party into opposition. He was knighted in January this year for his service to politics, and many saw this as a tacit sugges

tion of his relinquishment of

active politics.

The man himself is slightly built, quiet and friendly. His sombre face lights up when he smiles. Some measure of his competence is the fact that his party is the only one since independence which has con tinued to function as a tightly

knit and properly organised

group. He was a competent

Minister for Primary Industry

and an impressive Minister for Finance.

It was Sir Julius who established the financial guidelines which led to the basic economic outlook of the Somare government, an out look which continues to be assured under the new govern ment even if there may be dif ferences in accent. The policies

involved are regulated foreign

investment on specified terms, the retention of a hard currency

by continuously relating the

value of the PNG kina to the average value of partner cur rencies, no discrimination against investment once accepted from overseas but incentives for local investment.

and formal controls over wages and prices.

Asa minister under Somare (he was five years in Finance, 15 months in Primary Industry) Sir Julius earned a reputation for attention to detail, impec cable working habits some thing which not all PNG ministers have learnt and a habit of careful research before

making decisions.

Sir Julius has successfully bucked the often expressed be lief in PNG that there is no place at the top for a man with a part background in the Asian community. In his quiet, mat ter of fact manner, Sir Julius has long been piling up the in gredients which have made him one of the most trusted men on the PNG political scene.

As he said soon after taking office ‘We do not claim to be the possessors of all wisdom.

Our government will be one of consultation, by debate inside and outside parliament, by consultation with provincial governments, agencies, insti tutions and the senior public servants who administer the decisions of parliament.’