Link to on-line copy of Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk below:
Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk by David Wall
Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk by David Wall. A review
A respected reader of this blog makes his views known (Click on the link below)
Some thoughts about Nelson Mandela
Over the last few weeks we’ve heard nothing but praise for the life and person of the late Mr Nelson Mandela. Perhaps it’s interesting to consider other views.
I would like it known that I myself have an entirely open mind, and don’t necessarily agree or disagree with this reader’s views.
See:
This needs to be heard again!
Stories by David Wall
Alec Guinness and Gough Whitlam make a visit to
152 Wilson Street, Newtown.
December 21, 2010 at 6:04 am (Paul Dennett) (Alec Guinness, Commentary, Don Maund, Gough Whitlam, Paul Dennett) · Edit
Click on the link below:
The passing of the great!
When Sir Michael Somare finally gives up the ghost I have no doubt that PNG will go overboard in the memorial praises for him.
The international coverage will not be as extensive as that given to Nelson Mandela, and I expect we’ll not be favoured with a fake deaf interpreter like the one at Mandel’s memorial, but all the slogans will be there: Grand Chief, father of independence and the nation, sana, peacemaker.
No mention, of course, will be made to the shadow of financial misconduct hanging over him, and the shocking state Papua New Guinea is in.
There’s no wonder that at any hint of ill health he’s out of the country in a flash – anyone comparing the Wewak Hospital with Raffles Hospital in Singapore would not ask why.
Wewak is the town where he has held political preeminence continually since independence, and practically nothing has been done in maintaining the hospital since.
When he dies he’ll be praised to the skies and the ceremonies will go on and on.
Now this is where I get most of my readers off side. Sir Michael Somare is perhaps nothing compared to Mr Nelson Mandela. But I do think the world in the case of Mandela has gone somewhat too far in the praises and the various memorials conducted for him in the weeks after his death. I am predicting that Somare will get similar obituaries, certainly not as worldwide as Mandela, but within PNG.
I’m not a great one for the cult of personality for the living or the dead.
The great and not so great are only, in the final count human, and we all deserve to be judged dispassionately, and only objectively!
“Fear grips PNG’s Wewak amid reports of police violence”
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Fear grips PNG’s Wewak amid reports of police violence
Posted at 20:01 on 13 December, 2013 UTC
The East Sepik Council of Women in Papua New Guinea says the police in Wewak are very violent and the public are scared.
PNG’s acting police commissioner, Simon Kauba, has set up a high level investigation into the alleged rape at the weekend of a 19-year old girl, by Wewak-based policemen.
It will also look into the detention of a woman activist at the Wewak police station, who went there, with the girl’s family, to lodge an official complaint.
Norah Kapari from the East Sepik Council of Women says after an unrelated incident on Wednesday where a drunk soldier was severely beaten by police in the township, other soldiers stormed the police station in retaliation.
That sparked disorder and looting in the town but she says police have gained control again.
Norah Kapari says the people want the Commissioner of Police in PNG to come into the town and flush out the bad elements in the local police force.
“The police are very violent now they are not doing the proper work that they were trained to do so the people are scared of the police.”
Norah Kapari from the East Sepik Council of Women.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Keith,
I’ve heard that there was serious rioting in Wewak yesterday. You might have some sources to elaborate on this.
Regards,
David
Oh, yes, Dylan, I hear your words!
Two Sepiks 2
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas
“The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that things are not mended again.” ― Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country
December 18, 2013 at 8:27 am (Commentary)
The National, Tuesday December 17th, 2013
‘ A POLE symbolising national unity will adorn the Grand Hall in Parliament to replace the totem pole that has created so much public debate over its displacement.
Speaker of the national parliament Theo Zurenuoc said the national unity pole would comprise four layers representing the Word of God, the Constitution, the people and the Covenant.
Zurenuoc told reporters in Port Moresby yesterday that the removal of the totem pole was in line with a covenant made by Sir Michael Somare when he was prime minister.
Sir Michael had on behalf of the nation repented and renounced idols, ancestral gods and evil spirits.
He then re-dedicated Papua New Guinea to the God of Isaac, Abraham and Jacob.
“In essence, our founding father had by the declaration and prayer, reformed our nation, restored us back to God and showed us the new direction,” he said.
“When the Parliamentary House committee was considering our reformation, restoration and modernisation plans, the forgoing actions of our founding fathers became their inspiration.”
He said the committee decided that a fitting tribute to the founding fathers was to implement Sir Michael’s declaration and covenant with God by removing the carvings of wooden idols he renounced and install a national unity pole.
“The totem pole has three heads representing the god of witchcraft on the left, the god of immorality on the right and the god of idolatry in the middle,” he said.
“While the carvings are harmless and lifeless wood, they symbolically represent ancestral gods and spirits of idolatry, immorality and witchcraft.” Zurenuoc pointed out he did not make up that statement but was paraphrasing what Sir Michael said on the eve of Independence.
It was recorded in the book Living Spirits with Fixed Abodes: The Masterpieces Exhibition of the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, edited by Barry Craig and published in 2010.
He quoted Sir Michael’s declaration that the wooden carvings and cultural artefacts were “living spirits with fixed abodes”.
“Barry Craig interprets this to mean that the chief was referring to the prevailing belief of Papua New Guineans that everything is invested with spirit, not least of all the objects carved, modelled, or constructed for ceremonial and often everyday use,” he said.
“Some would scoff at this and dismiss it as a joke. But I am stating what Sir Michael said when he was then Chief Minister in order to provide you the context of his important declaration.” ’
Everything should now be fine in PNG!!??
I’m reminded of fictional characters in Sepik Blu Longpela Muruk:
“John Kabais went on to great things in PNG’s political life. He was knighted and became a Grand Chief. It was generally agreed that he had lost a lot of his earlier idealism. No one could say that he became corrupt but he did very well out of his political manoeuverings. One observer once innocently asked how he had lost a toe and the reply was: “He must have been caught with his toe in the till.” Whatever else was said of him, his contributions to PNG will never be forgotten.” ….
“Sepik people do not forget taim bilong bipo (olden times so for them the past is a living memory. The masalai (spirits of the forests) live on and it is pleasing to think of James Ward amongst them in some sort of immortal state. It in memory that raises people from the dead, or in William Batak’s words: Tingting kirapim man i dai pinis. The people in this tale might be forgotten outside the Sepik but they will live on in the Tok Pisin (Pidgin talk) of Sepiks.”
The art and culture of an ancient people cannot just be dismissed and forgotten.
All this nonsense about the carvings in the Parliament makes one think of Schiller’s famous quote: “Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.” And it must be also said that often the worst kind of stupidity is found amongst religious cranks!
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