Security challenge for chairman

WHEN high profile former poli tician, Sir Anthony Siaguru, left Papua New Guinea last June to take up his new job as Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth Seretariat in London, he left the South Pacific Games Foundation without a chairman.

The Foundation chose a quiet chicken farmer and banana grower to replace Sir Anthony: Bart Philemon.

Philemon, 45, has been with the Foundation since April, 1989. When he became chairman in June, 1990, his first major dilemma was time. Much of the work seemed to be lacking with a

controversy surrounding awarding of

tenders and contracts for the Games village in Port Moresby. His second priority was to ensure th~ different sporting bodies trained hard to ensure the host country was champions.

But the challenge was made bigger by publicity given to PNG’s crime problem.

Several countries demanded guarantees that their teams would be safe, and he was forced to set up a security committee and ask the government for an additional K 1 million for security arrangements. It was granted and a campaign to convince participating countries their teams were guaranteed safety at the games and their

accommodation sites. Finally, in April Philemon said all that could be done to ensure safety had been done and re turned his attention to the venues and teams, with 14 sub-committees and about 1500 workers working full time.

In 1980, Philemon, who comes from Bulibum in Morobe province, was chairman of the organising committee of the third South Pacific Festival of Arts staged in Papua New Guinea with 1700 participants from all over the Pacific, Aus tralia and New Zealand.

From 1982 to 1986, Philemon was chairman of the National Airline Commission at a time when Air Niugini made a record loss of K 7 million. With his appointment KLM was brought in on a

control management basis resulting in a record profit of K 4 million in 1985.

Philemon is a director of Kambang Holdings, the business arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a director of Niugini Table Birds, an alternate director of Oil Search Limited, and a director of PNG Gravel Ltd, a Butibum

village company. He is also a director of the Fresh Fruit Development Corpor ation, funded by the New Zealand government to establish an information system about fresh fruit cultivation, harvesting and marketing in PNG. He was educated in Queensland, Australia from 1958 to 1965, and was captain of the undefeated rugby union team at St Peter’s Lutheran College in 1964.

In 1966, Philemon at tended the University of Papua New Guinea while training to take part in the 2nd South Pacific Games.

But he injured himself play ing and couldn’t make the team.

He studied arts for two years, then .worked at the UPNG Administration from 1968 to 1973, when he was appointed services manager.

In 1973, he left the univer sity and joined Trans Aus tralian Airlines (TTA) as a

sales representative. In November, TAA and Ansett Airlines amalgamated and formed Air Niugini. In 1975, he was 3ppointed the second n3tiori3l port manager in Mount Hagen. That year, he returned to Port Moresby and became secretary to the National Airline Corn mission, and later Assistant General Manager until he left in 1980. □

South Pacific Games '91