The amazing Joseph

By Wally Hiambohn

HE is not the biblical Joseph of the ‘coat of many colours’ who had dreams about his future. But this Joseph has had dreams and done things which have earned him headlines such as “Joseph and his amazing one-color parliament”, and “Joseph and his

amazing one-colour political party”.

At the time these headlines were appropriately created, the musical drama Joseph and His Amazing Techni-colour Dreamcoat was popular among Port Moresby school children.

The Joseph in this story is Joseph Bare

Onguglo, the Papua New Guinea poli tician who is leader and only member of the Black Action Party. Onguglo is a new mediator on the scene with the hope of bringing an end to the war on Bou gainville.

The radical party with rather racist connotations stands for a government and country solely of the black Melanesian race, no-one else.

You see, some time in 1988 Onguglo had a dream at his home in the Highland

province of Chimbu to come out and lead his people out of “economic slavery”. He took on the call and won a seat in the PNG parliament in the 1992 elections. His party’s motto is for economic independence for PNG, and that PNG is for Melanesian Papua New Guineans. Among some of his party’s radical objectives are to revoke natural ised citizenship, ban all naturalised citizens from holding public office, remove control by foreigners of the economy, close all foreign professional firms and assist Papua New Guineans to establish themselves in these businesses and, all mining to be done by Papua New Guinean firms.

Of these objectives Onguglo says “One might say the Black Action Party is radical and racist, so what, who cares.

No-one has the guts to speak out, so our people are still suppressed, and will continue to remain slaves, in our own land.

“Major political parties today are controlled by foreign capitalists and cannot speak out about the exploitation of PNG’s economy and natural re sources. Too many of our nation’s highly educated elite are self-centred and are passing the buck.

“In the past 18 years not one individual or a political party has taken an honest stand for a truly Melanesian society. Black Action Party is the saviour for PNG today and into the 21st century.” The Joseph who now talks about the rights of the black man was for four years cared for by a white Australian missionary in Tasmania

who sent him to four years of college there. He returned home to undertake studies at the Uni versity of PNG but got involved in student leadership and politics. In a

proposed amend

ment of the consti tution recently to Parliament Onguglo sought to remove the right for naturalised citizens to enter parliament.

Onguglo said natu ralised citizens get elected on the pre text of representing indigenous people but the moment they are in office

they care more about the business interest, and become members of the elitist club.

“A white man with extensive busi ness interests and who presents himself as a representative of the native Melanesian population of this country is, in my opinion, not a true represen tative of the local people,” Onguglo said in a newspaper article under the headline, Joseph and his amazing one color parliament, last August.

“He does not, I repeat, does not, have the true understanding of a native Melanesian culture. He is incapable of standing alongside me in a village ceremony and participating with the fullest understanding of the sacred rituals and then on the next day stand on the floor of parliament and speak with authority about preserving my unique cultural heritage. I am sorry to be quite frank about this issue, but it is reality and it hurts.” □

New mediator: Joseph Onguglo