Comments

Thanks for sharing your story Anon. I'm surprised there aren't more comments on the post or social media about this, maybe more will come through in the coming days. In my experience there's something in particular about men working abroad in some countries, particularly some long-term expats, and their attitudes towards sexual impropriety that is particularly troubling. It would also be wrong to assume that this behaviour doesn't make its way into some Australia-based workplaces as well. (It should go without saying that I am talking about some male expats, not all, and that there are many good men working in our sector, but just clarifying so this discussion doesn't go sideways...). When I was very young and working in the media abroad rather than in aid, a group of expat men decided to make comments on a public forum and in an anonymous blog post explicitly mocking me, my body, and my apparently radical feminist views, using my full name and photographs -- and from some of the details they shared, it was very clear that some of them were much older white men in my own workplace. All this for just existing as a young woman and working, and quite possibly being quite clear about my 'line' a few times with some of them. The workplace culture was definitely one element in the decision to change careers from working in newsrooms. In my aid-related workplaces I haven't directly encountered issues like the above, but it is all too clear that in some of these international workplace environments the HR structures mean that even if you did make a complaint, there's very unlikely to be any accountability, and the best option for your career is often to just leave. Having your visa tied to your employment also puts you in a more vulnerable position in some situations, as does the frequent use of short-term contracting. In smaller cities you also end up socialising with colleagues more than you would in other contexts, so your social circle and workplace are often tightly linked. Then of course there's the question of - imagine how these men are treating local women both in and outside of the workplace if they are treating their colleagues in this way? This is something that always troubles me when I have seen or heard about this kind of behaviour. There's also the issue of support when your workplace is in a particular environment, for example in a country with higher levels of sexual or other violence, and you may face incidents on the street or in daily life while based in that country for work. This often is seen as being 'part of the job' of being a development worker, and there's not necessarily support or other structures in place for this, or those structures only activate for particularly serious cases. The international development workplace is complex, but should be more attuned to these issues given the topics we work on are often so deeply rooted in systemic inequality and that the principles of our sector are aimed at addressing this. Thanks for bravely sharing your experience and I am hopeful it starts important conversations and appropriate action if people witness behaviour like this. I also hope the kisser reads this and reflects on how deeply inappropriate that behaviour is in a workplace, and the impacts that these things have on women's lives and careers.

Dear anonymous I am so sorry that you had to go through this disgusting experience. What he did is sexual harrasment. Plain and simple. Even though you might not want to go any legal or other route, maybe it would be good for your own healing to write to this man and explain to him the damage his behaviour has resulted in. It seems he's completely missing any sense of self awareness or just ignored your vulnerability all together. Unfortunately the systems will not provide an environment that protects other women of such behaviours because the top leadership is mostly the same people who would behave in such ways. I hope you have managed to recover and heal from both your first and then the second sexual harrasment and assault situations.

At quick perusal, this is wonderful and such useful research Grant. Glad you directed me to it. Far too often brilliant research such as yours remains as wonderful publications and sits in libraries or other repositories accessible to a limited number of readers and then other interested researchers in the field only. I sure hope our Pacific media pick on these and share it with policy makers and a wider audience of Pacific citizens, in order to read, reflect and come up with definitions and positions that recognise corruption, as that evil that impedes growth and development in our regions and nations. Thank you for pointing these out. More late night reading to widen my knowledge base and look forward to more blogs that we can share with our Pacific audiences. Hopefully with greater research such as yours and visibility on all manner of corruption; those grand scale one's and on the small scale common bribery, our Pacific leadership and citizens get motivated to call for a strengthening of our INDEPENDENT oversight institutions, to not only improve fiscal governance but to curb common bribery and corruption practices in our respective Nations, small developing Pacific countries and with our developed neighbors too. Vinaka Sadhana

True

Thank you for this obituary. Late Sir Michael Somare was great man indeed, despite his rise and falls. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

The fact that in those areas people don't have access to proper support only makes things worse. Untreated mental health issues don't just go away, they become worse.

Thank you Dr. Kama you've shed much light to the current Madang Case. You insights brings higher hopes to our marginalized population being deprived over so many years of basic goods and services. The ignorance of our political and beauracratic leaders can not be let alone. Justice must be done and served. Precedence is set and I believe flood gates will soon be opening. Soon under performing leaders and beuracrats will bow out to allow for decent and uprights to serve our people.

Accepting defeat in the first vote of no confidence was one of Sir Michael Somare’s greatest decisions. It set a precedence for acceptance of defeat and smooth transition of powers by prime ministers over the years. Other leaders of newly independent countries who decided to find a reason to hold onto power became dictators, and had to be removed through revolutions and military coups. And they then had to be removed through more revolutions and coups. PNG’s unbroken chain of democracy has its foundation in early acts like Somare’s acceptance of defeat. A lesson worth remembering.

Thanks for the comment and examples Ash!

Hi Sadhana, Thanks for your comments. You're right, it is important to understand people's perceptions of corruption in the Pacific and how activities outsiders call corruption are interpreted by Pacific Islanders. Peter Larmour has certainly contributed a lot to this debate. I've tried to pick up where Peter, who is now retired, left off. Most of my research has been focused on the very questions you raise. I've examined how Papua New Guineans interpret and define corruption: https://devpolicy.org/defining-corruption-where-the-state-is-weak-the-case-of-png-20150409/ I have also examined how Papua New Guineans respond to different types of 'corruption': - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2614179 - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3333475 Using data from Fiji ICAC I along with other scholars have examined how those reporting to the FICAC define corruption: http://devpolicy.org/publications/reports/Trends-in-complaints-to-FICAC-2007-2014.pdf I've also sought (along with Sinclair Dinnen) to reframe debate about the nature of corruption and organised crime across the Pacific region : https://devpolicy.org/dark-side-economic-globalisation-politics-organised-crime-corruption-pacific-20161007/ (in this paper we explain that while Pacific countries are often accused of being highly corrupt, Australia plays a key role in this 'corruption' ie by being a destination for corrupt money.) We certainly need to acknowledge the structural issues - culture, poverty, geography - that shape narratives and accusations of corruption. Much of my work has argued for that. However, I also think there is a role for researchers to shed a light on how corruption actually works. Hopefully this is done sensitively and with an understanding of the broader structural dynamics at play. But if we don't understand how corruption works on the ground, policy makers (including Pacific Islanders who are leading the charge against corruption in the region) are unlikely to effectively address the types of corruption that Pacific Islanders themselves are worried about. Best, Grant

I wonder if a landlord not returning Bond to returning overseas students and frustrating efforts with all manner of claims prior to departure home would be considered corruption in Australia? Or having an application for admission to an Australian University Degree expediated because you knew someone personally, while those without the insider contacts often not even getting a reply to their emails? What forms of corruption happens in Australia? Did I read something about some Gucci watches being shared around at taxpayer expense? In Fiji, we have had the much publicized BDO allegations at the regional University of the South Pacific, with the whistleblower Vice Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia kicked out of Fiji by the very Government that came into power via a coup in 2006 with a promise to weed out corruption. In the eyes of some, including certain legal eagles, the corruption, nepotism, mismanagement as seen by layman's eyes, was all legal and supposedly within the authority of the former VC. That the BDO allegations lost the University millions of tax payer and donor dollars looks like will be swept under the carpet, as were similar allegations under the VC, that Rajesh Chandra replaced. When allegations of millions lost to corruption by the powerful gets swept under the carpet, it is much easier to turn a blind eye to the poor, under paid officer, working a hard day, supplementing his meagre income with a bribe. Neither is right, but the wrong done by the powerful with access to the best of lawyers and fancy accounting at their disposal, not to mention connections in right places should be excusable. Do ethics and principles play any role in defining corruption? For if it doesn't, lawyers are the winners, as are the powerful, for they will steal, as the common men and women do, but legally so, and get away with it time and time again, taking away opportunities from the poor person, who then resorts to the little bribe to make ends meet, which then becomes the way of life in the developing world particularly. A good contribution to research on corruption in the Pacific Grant would be to study perceptions and understanding of corruption, something I understand Peter Larmour had made a start on...in some communities I know of, if you steal from rich Peta to feed poor Pauls huge family, it cannot possibly be corruption or theft, the bible says so, no? Wonder if distribution of wealth was equitable in societies, both developed and developing, we'd see less corruption, of grand scales but that common thievery as well?

Great post Grant. Once in Indonesia way back I was posting some items home at the Kantor Pos (via the cheapest shipping possible) and when I got to pay the small customs fee, the customs officer, sitting at his desk watching a small TV, informed me he was 'closed' and I would have to wait until he was open. When would he be open again? He couldn't say, he shrugged. He then tapped his cigarette box in his top pocket and winked. 'Uang rokok' or cigarette money is slang for a small bribe in Indonesia. Being the indignant early 20 something I was with my OK language skills at the time I argued with him for a while and put on a show of waiting for about half an hour... but then had to go to work. So I just paid him the cigarette money (Rp 10,000 or about $1 or so in AUD at the time). Suddenly the customs desk was open and I could get my form stamped... Another time my friend and I had a driver that we hired together for our lengthy commute to and from work and he got pulled over by the polisi one afternoon when the traffic was especially criminal and there was a lot of lane manoeuvring going on by everyone. Suddenly the 'fine' tripled as soon as the polisi saw the foreigners in the back seat. Our driver went on a long frustrated spiel about how we were idiots and couldn't speak any Indonesian and one of us needed to go pee and was angry that's why he had done whatever he had done (which everyone else on the road was also doing). We could understand everything but just sat there pretending we couldn't! The polisi tried to talk to us and we just looked confused and he gave up on the whole attempt all together and just waved us off... we were all pretty happy with the outcome! Our driver was furious about police corruption in general though. Thankfully it has only been small 'fees' or 'taxes' etc that I have encountered from public officials rather than scary or threatening requests for bribes. For me it was not an issue to pay these if I really couldn't get out of it, even though I would have some moral indignation about it. But for the average person on a low or middle income it would really cause stress and make it harder to access government services or to earn their living.