The Region

Halls of Anger

By Frank Senge

JOHN Phoenix Sei’s dreams of a career in Papua New Guinea’s legal system came to an abrupt end early on Sunday, September 2. The third year law student from the Western Highlands prov ince received deep axe wounds to his head and back in a fight between two student groups at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG).

A truck load of students and outsiders went on a rampage through the campus after the fight, threatening and assaulting students. A woman student was pack raped and her boyfriend beaten so badly he was hospitalised. The riot put another man in hospital.

The next day, September 3, UPNG

Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Lynch,

declared a state of emergency on campus.

The emergency allowed police to enter the campus at any time, otherwise pro hibited unless asked by the university administration. The carrying of weapons, fighting and alcohol were banned. Both students and staff members were affected and the penalty was immediate termin ation of employment or studies.

In a letter to students and staff Professor Lynch said: “The members of the University community are as ap palled and horrified as I am at the senseless and cowardly killing of one of the students in the early hours of Sunday

morning.

“Whilst payback killing is a matter to be deplored anywhere, this is especially true on a university campus where intelligent and rational behavior is sup posed to prevail.”

Police arrested and charged 11 UPNG students all from the Highlands province of Enga with the murder of Sei.

The state of emergency was lifted within a week, but it showed the extent of the crime problem on campus, which, while on a smaller scale, was just as horrific as the national crime problem.

Lawlessness at the university really took

off from 1988. Previously, it was a problem created by outsiders entering the campus. Now the students themselves are turning UPNG into a campus of terror.

Professor Lynch said lawlessness at the university was a reflection of the national social problem. “People are a bit more disrespectful of other people’s properties and that seems to be spreading into the universities as well,” he said.

Lawlessness was not confined to UPNG in Port Moresby. Last November 8, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Technology in Lae, Mosley Moramoro, declared a state of emergency when violence and crime rocked the campus and its neighbourhood for eight months.

Students told Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu that there was widespread illicit sex including homosexuality, pornogra phy and group orgies amongst students and staff on campus.

Moramoro, his deputy, John Kambuou and Registrar, Mali Voi, were threatened and had to move homes often.

Moramoro was told to step down.

Namaliu commissioned an inquiry headed by Supreme Court Judge, Mr Justice Arnold Amet. It was delayed a week because nobody turned up to give evidence. In the end the commission reported that there had been cases of sex on campus but no evidence of “wide

spread sexual impropriety”.

The state of emergency restored some order. Seven students were held and subsequently released for alleged smug gling of arms onto the campus to enforce threats. The Student Representative Council President, Michael Kasi, was suspended from studies for five years as a result of the unrest. he Unitech state of emergency was the culmination of nearly a year of violence, interrupted lectures and delayed examin ations.

The longest period of unrest began in June 1989 when a third year agriculture student was shot by police outside a clubhouse in Lae. The shooting ignited riots that spread from the University of Technology in Lae to UPNG in Port

Morersby. In Lae there were clashes between police and students. In Port Moresby, Government cars were stoned and students took over security at all entrances to the university.

The alarming increase in crime, how ever, has not resulted in a drop in academic standards and performance, said Professor Lynch. What is being affected is the universsity’s ability to attract replacement staff members from abroad. The publicity of the university’s insecurities and the general lawlessness in the country have scared off qualified

people.

Professor Lynch said the last resort would be to close the universities.

In February, 1989, Kiribati pulled out most of its students because of the university’s inability to guarantee their security. In the months ahead, the Government of Papua New Guinea will be seriously weighing the usefulness of its universities as academic institutions. The halls of the University of Papua New Guinea, for example, are no longer just for learning. As in the case of John Sei, the university has become a place of broken dreams and naked terrorism.