Comments

Find time to send media's to locate those woman being raped while looting was happening, and make documentary for the history, not your publicity only,

Ministers and politicians come and go every 5 years, the real engine room is the public service and the policies that dictate how they perform png needs to have a serious restructuring here.

Further to Mr Mako's analysis, the economic and social injustices is not any excuse or reason to burn and loot. The businesses are not the cause of the economic woes endured by the citizens. PNGians can't stand up for the greater good. Fighting against corruption and white collar crimes. Lack of service delivery. High crime rates. Murder and rape of women and girls. These are issues the citizens should direct their energy and attention at. Not burning and looting innocent businesses.

A major problem hindering the economic development and the employment opportunities is that the registration of customary land has not been achieved. This should have commenced by the Australian administration at least a decade before Independence in 1975. Look at what the British administration achieved in Fiji years before Fiji independence. In the 1960s the ANU in Canberra with Australian academics and selected upcoming PNG educated elites, discussed the possibility of community land tenure and registration so that landowners and investors could develop land with secure title and be able to obtain bank loans via mortgage. This never eventuated because of the fear registration could mean loss of the land to outsiders. Now look at what situation PNG is in with landowners selling parcels of land to other tribes or individuals for a quick financial gain resulting in less land available for the fast growing families requirements. These new unregistered owners can be seen negotiating deals in hotels and coffee shops with foreigners to operate a company and business with the foreigner having 49% equity with the "landowner" holding 51% equity but usually little involvement in the management or operation of the company. In the 1980s the Land Group Incorporation Act (ILG) was legislated, initially to involve customary landowners in resource developments of mining and oil and gas extraction and benefits. Rarely was a survey conducted of these ILG land areas and the registration of these ILGS through the Dept of Lands was abysmal. ILGs could not mortgage their land for bank loans. As well as all the problems detailed in the above paper, there is no mention of the unregistered Customary Land issue. If the Australian Government had adopted the Fiji land registration model approach in PNG some 10 to 20 years before Independence, PNG could have had large commercial agricultural and industrial development throughout many parts of the country and PNG may not be facing many of the current problems. Landowner identification, survey, documentation and registration could have commenced using Government officers (Kiaps) of the Department of District Administration in conjunction with the Department of Lands. Land issues are a major concern in PNG and must be addressed as a high priority.

Hi Minetta, Thank you for this insightful blog piece. It is interesting to note from your research that mainly unemployed women present at the FSVU's. This is contrary to the DHS survey results that shows high levels of self-reporting of DV by more educated women. https://devpolicy.org/rethinking-perceptions-of-spousal-violence-in-png-20230222/ There could be a number of explanations for this but should be of concern for all of us is that, generally that we have high levels of interpersonal violence in PNG regardless of socio-economic background. This is why your research is very important because it provides an insight into the demographic of people who are accessing the FSVU service and confirms that the 'formal' system of justice is one that not all survivors choose as a pathway to addressing their concerns. I agree with your conclusion that gender based violence is preventable. I have written about it here https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiainsights/gender-based-violence-in-papua-new-guinea/ and elsewhere. Thank you again for sharing the findings of your study. I look forward to learning more about your research.

Thank you for this timely piece, Andrew. This is probably the worst riots since Sandline. The issue of rural-urban drift and income generation have been part of PNG's development discourse for decades, yet successive governments have failed to address these issues. I agree with your suggestion on police reform-in fact the whole law and justice sector needs to be able to be one that is responsive in terms of holding perpetrators to account but also providing adequate rehabilitation for long term behavior change.

It was quite emotional and heartfelt when scrolling down paragraph by paragraph reading through the entire blog. A true story from our humble beginings, our inocent days as am onenof his close childhood friends and also his cousin where every stories he told, I was there too besides him.

The concern is high inflation and taxation. Are our National security forces on strike for their own belly or does it includes others on the entire scale? Hope what the successive gov't or the existing one does is address this issue to the satisfaction of everyone and not just the police, defense and the correctional services. Besides reshuffling cabinet could hopefully improve anything. What's so wrong in addressing the problem directly than cutting around corners to get to the real cause? Again is technical glitch an excuse or a reality? Unless newly introduced, 'technical glitch' excuse is not acceptable, but if it was used for sometimes, then why is it happening and why wasn't it reported before the strike happened. This uncovers gov't deliberate attempt and yet tried to hide something. Just reduce the inflation, and tax is what the country needs right now that is the overall cause of this event bursting out pin the gov't on the wall with all its mistakes.

Thank you, good overview. I understand an additional cost, often not mentioned, was the sexual assault of a number of women

Thank you Very Much Kate.

Mr. Mako your article clearly describes the events that happened on 10th January 2024, very insightful. Thank you for sharing it.

Excellent and very useful research, Minetta. I hope you will continue to work in this area in the years to come!