Islands

From the

Press

A reader’s complaint to the Papua New Guinea Post- Courier, Port Moresby, about an earlier-published cartoon Your cartoon attempted to label the British expatriate as forever complaining and whining about his life, when it is undoubtedly a fact that the average Australian, New Zealander and indeed Papua New Guinean will complain no more, or no less than the average Briton. It is a fact, too, that should such a cartoon appear in a British newspaper denigrating West Indians or Pakistanis, the editor would soon find himself hauled before the Race Relations Board. Is Papua New Guinea such an illiberal country that it can allow such attitudes to prevail? Can we expect to see so-called Irish jokes appearing in the Post-Courier in the near future? I hope that the staff of the Post-Courier can appreciate the difference between preaching about racism on the one hand and practising it on the ather. -rom a commentary on the current political scene written by Moi Avei and published in The Times of 3 apua New Guinea, Port Moresby ndependence brought us hope and raised our expectations. Some aw possibilities of an egalitarian society. But it was an illusion. We :ontinue to have inequalities, with the rich getting richer and the )oor getting poorer. . . . The idealism evaporated into thin air and t left a sour taste behind. Our universities have become intellectual leserts. Even our leading poets and playwrights have mostly put lown their pens. : rom Cook Islands News, Rarotonga \n unusual phenomenon has occurred at the Legislative Assembly ince the debate on the Constitution Amendment Bill started. Mr -es Priest of the Hansard office reports that since the debate tarted, a number of the members have been borrowing copies of he 1978 Hansard debate. No 13, on the five-year term amendment. >o many members have been borrowing this particular Hansard, hat Mr Priest has only one copy left which he is holding on to.

At Priest said that running out of the Hansard is unusual as there re normally plenty of copies to refer to . . . : rom the political writings of a Papua New Guinea miversity student, quoted in the Post-Courier, Port

Moresby

Jroadly speaking, this assimilative tendency is to defeat any •otential rivals. Hitherto, the two successive governments had ound it viable to cohere, but apparently the underlying principle if viscosity has either been forgotten or simply was superseded by ecalcitrancy and unilateralism thus consequented by incoherence nd incompatibility as a general trend. .etter to the editor in the Marshall Islands Journal am writing to complain about the many loose pigs roaming round. These pigs are unsanitary and unhealthy, they run through nd destroy gardens, they knock down fences and they cause traffic

accidents. There is a law on the books making loose pigs illegal, but maybe the police are afraid to enforce the law. I would like to suggest that the pigs be picked up by the police and then sold by the police to help pay for badly needed repairs to the police headquarters. Anything would be better than the present situation we must get rid of those unpenned pigs.

Part of a letter to the editor, Fiji Times, Suva It has now become more difficult for sensitive musical ears to listen to any Fiji Broadcasting Commission programme because of the constant procession of Moaning Minnies, Wailing Willies and Thunderous Thudders.

Letter to the editor in the Post-Courier, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea As a young girl from Koboka I am complaining on how young boys and old men act to young girls. When we go around the town these boys and old men always hiss and hiss as if we girls are snakes, and sometimes they call out ‘favour’, ‘I love you’, ‘you are so beautiful’ and so on.

Part of an editorial in Witika the Wampire’s news sheet, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea This is the year when true citizens of Papua New Guinea should cease to quote the by now incessant ramblings of ‘that’s not our custom’. It’s becoming a boorish syndrome. The vocal person is usually smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, in a western-type bar, working for a western company and living in a western-type house.

Western civilisation is here to stay.

From an editorial in the Fiji Times, Suva Air Pacific’s slow but sure entry into the big league of the international airline business will put it in one of the world’s most cut-throat competitive industries ... In opening its Sydney office the airline is engaging in a public relations exercise which might go down well with the privileged people flown there for the party, but which at the local level at home in Fiji is getting off to an unfortunate start. . . Surely the airline would have gained more if every cent being spent on champagne bubbles had been allocated instead to the business of selling tickets in the hard market that is

Sydney.

From Les Nouvelles Catedoniennes, Noumea Antoine Honakoko went to a cricket match because his fiancee was playing in one of the teams. During a torrid period in the game his beloved was struck on the head by a delivery from a hefty matron bowling for the other side. She collapsed, KO’d for the count. One of her team-mates immediately fell upon her and started to give her moulh-to-mouth resuscitation. But Antoine, no doubt believing he was witnessing a display of Lesbianism, suddenly became violently jealous and, leaping on the indecent provider of first aid, clobbered her with all his strength, putting her out of action for two whole days ... The process-server couldn’t immediately find Honakoko to present the summons, but he’s still up for an 8000 CFP fine, plus 5000 francs damages and costs to the assaulted player ...

From an article by Meredith Glenn in The National Union, Ponape, Federated States of Micronesia . . . Now the man had a big desk in a big office. He had his own private secretary and his own special assistant. His office had six other secretaries, several technicians, advisors, and planners. They all deferred to the man because they knew he must be important to fill a job like this. When they asked him if they should do something, the man would frown, consider, and then give them the answer befitting a man in his important position: ‘No, we can’t do this because .. . Moral: The ability to stop or delay something may be the only power available to unimportant people, but their use of this power can make them very important. . .

Letter to the editor in the Post-Courier, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea So, the deputy prime minister, Mr Okuk, wants to be prime minister, and the prime minister, Sir Julius Chan, thinks this is all very ‘healthy’. I mean, it’s nice to see such good cheer and amity between a prime minister and his deputy. Perhaps they could take it turn and turn about for a year or two so they could both get a ride in the executive jet and generally share things around.