Comments

Yes Dan, I agree with you the confusion over the visas has further complicated the issue. These contractors/employers are actively targeting SWP workers through various means and falsely coming across as approved employers in the scheme. They are approaching workers in their local host communities, and I have seen several posts by these rogue contractors advertising jobs on seasonal worker social media sites. It is vital we get the messaging out there to employers and workers to create awareness of this.

What is staggering is that many absconders are lured into running to dodgy contractors and NO ONE seems to know that they cannot do so on a 408 or 403 visa. Furthermore, they think a Bridging Visa is their final visa but this is not active while they hold their 408 or 403. In some cases rogue contractors and their middlemen are enticing these workers across with promises of more pay. Those contractors are breaking the law as well as the worker breaching the work limitation of their visas Then they don't often pay tax or super. The alarming thing is that some people who do abscond are actively encouraged to apply for asylum and get assistance to do so. Isn't that IMMIGRATION FRAUD?

Thank you, Amanda for capturing what is happening now in Papua New Guinea and especially in my home and Community Basamuk in regards to SIM Card Deactivation. Well stated as most people around Basamuk Area registered their SIM cards with the help of Nigel Uyam. Instead of traveling in Madang Town for SIM Card registration, Nigel Uyam did that in the Village both Digicel and Telkom SIM cards.

On patronage, Terence Wood has done some good work on voter clientelism: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/app5.239 Pact or government formation process have been covered extensively by Michael Kabuni and Bal Kama: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327620367_Explaining_the_Paradox_of_Party_Instability_and_Political_Stability_in_Papua_New_Guinea_2012-2017 https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/archive/png-in-2017/png-in-2017-png-political-condition-to-2025.html On policy processes: the nomination fee is K1,000, still lower than the roughly K5,200 non-resource GDP per capita in 2017, which means that more people intending to run as candidates is possible. Former O'Neill government proposed an increase to K10,000 but failed to pass this amendment in Parliament. Perhaps the weakest part of candidate nomination requirements relates to having not committed a disciplinary/criminal offense in the past 9 months - any former crook with the means can contest the elections, increasing corruption levels. Also, reforms to the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) in 2003 (imposing more stringent requirements on political party registration) seems to have kept party numbers steady at 43.

Very true, although for all the anecdotal evidence we've encountered, it is still difficult to measure.

Hi Helen, Thanks for your comments. They’re all good observations and I agree with most of them. Blogs at DevPol are limited to 1000 words, and our focus was more on the acute situation arising from COVID-19 rather than agricultural policy or food security more generally, so unfortunately we couldn't get into all of the issues you raised as much as we would have like. That said, simply because it’s such an important topic, I do have a few (admittedly inexpert) comments. You’re right that TL’s malnutrition crisis is complex, in fact given that it’s dragged on for decades I wonder if malnutrition syndrome wouldn’t be a better term for it. I’d argue that it does have a lot to do with the agricultural sector which hasn’t been a priority, although as you point out, there’s a tricky set of factors related to education, the labour market and Timor-Leste’s social economy at play. Unfortunately, too often, they haven’t been a priority either. Your observation that debates over the best way to feed a country are ongoing is also spot on. I think what we were trying to express is that at the present time most Timorese farms are pretty vulnerable in a way that they wouldn’t had there been more development in the agricultural sector, whether that be commercial or otherwise. Then again, my direct exposure of this issue mostly involves hanging out with swidden farmers (atoin pahan) in Oecussi who were very much invested in what you might call ‘traditional’ methods, so I’m not totally across the latest regarding the promotion of new seed varieties and such. We’re in total agreement with your point that talk about ‘investing’ in agriculture is usually couched in terms of money (in this case not that much money), and that that is not enough. It’s not the main focus of the blog, but I hope it's a point we make clearly enough. I also agree that gender is an indispensable aspect of the issue to consider. I’m sure you’re aware of the literature surrounding this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminization_of_agriculture We do actually mention that Timor has a history of war induced famine, although regrettably we didn’t have a chance to get into much detail. Shifting food preferences over the 60s, 70s and 80s (which occurred throughout Indonesia in different ways) are certainly a worthy topic, however it is beyond the scope of our short blog on the impact of COVID-19. As you say it is a pity that home-economics and nutrition haven’t gotten more traction in the TL education system. Without a doubt if people, in particular younger people, had more knowledge about this type of thing TL would be less vulnerable to food insecurity caused by international shocks such as COVID-19. I reckon I’ve seen some local products on sale in TL kios (eggs, salt, certain brands of bottled water, coffee satchels and liquor among them), and there’s certainly plenty of local stuff at the wet markets. That said, as you would know most people have very little money so cheaper Indonesian products tend to get up. Economies of scale and all that + convenience, and it simply being what people are used to. But I take your point. All the more reason why state support for local manufacturing is important. The Fiji example sounds interesting. Was there ever a cooking show on TVTL? I could totally see that taking off. I agree that food security and sovereignty have never genuinely caught the attention of 'elites' in Dili. Lamentably the resource curse really is a thing. Let's hope things will change. To be honest the future of TL probably depends on it.

These are really excellent points Helen. Thank you for your informed and detailed comment. Just chiming in to add that as we are a blog, we do have word limits that authors need to stick to, which could be why some of those points you raised were not in the piece, with the authors focusing more on the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture and food security. Highlighting that an already troubling and complex situation needs more than some ad-hoc money thrown at it, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, seems a fair point to raise. Do get in touch with us (devpolicy@anu.edu.au) if you would be interested in contributing a blog on other elements of the food security/ag policy etc, as it would be great to dive into this issue further. It seems to have been such a protracted issue in Timor-Leste where very little ground has been made. Particularly interesting to hear you compare it to Fiji, would be keen to hear more on this.

I have heard that some candidates stand with no intention of staying through to the end- aiming instead to be paid to stand down by other candidates. Other candidates stand to strategically split the vote of particular candidiates, to deliberately benefit their preferred candidate (sometimes their sponsor). So much political intrigue to untangle!

Strong and lucid piece, Maholopa. This helps frame PNG politics in very useful and instructive ways, especially around the intriguing questions of party formation and power. Thanks for this! Please keep publishing this kind of quality material. At some point I would be very interested to hear your reflections on possible implications of all this for 1. Policy processes, and 2. Pact or government formation processes (eg Alotau accord) 3. Patronage, which seems to be a crucial aspect in PNG politics.

This article unfortunately makes some astounding assumptions which confuse several different debates 1. The assumption that Timor's malnutrition crisis is predominantly a problem with the agriculture sector, ignores the complex intersectoral nature of the food crisis and the health, educational and cultural aspects of deciding what to eat. 2. The assumption that if Timor had large scale 'commercial' farms productivity would be better and the country able to feed itself has not been proved anywhere. The FAO now recognizes that small scale family farming is the most productive sector all around the world. The Timorese government has never had a strategy for moving subsistence farmers into the small and medium enterprise sector using education, instead the secondary agricultural schools are largely attended by people hoping to go to university (where they often do a degree in agricultural science - thus repeating a large part of their studies, but they rarely go back and farm their land). Talk about 'investing' in agriculture is always about money, the real scarce resource is people who want to be farmers and who have the scientific and practical knowledge to rehabilitate the soil, build dams, conserve water etc. 3. The article also neglects gender issues and gender roles in food production and food processing. Farming is actually a skilled occupation, requiring multiple skills in planning, design, management, keeping accounts, building, energy and water supply etc. it was largely de-skilled under the Indonesian occupation, and is now regarded as suitable for those who have have dropped out of school and who never learnt how to use computers, keep accounts or decide what to plant. Most of these are women. 4. The article neglects historical events such as the 1980 famine which transformed Timorese eating habits and attitudes towards different foods resulting in the introduction of white rice as a staple wheres previously it had been root crops, and corn and some red rice. The large intake of white rice together with deficiencies in protein and micronutrients have led to an increase in diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. 5. The article neglects education as a key driver in improving nutrition - two home economics teachers colleges were closed down in 2002 and since then there has been nothing taught about food in the schools until 2014 when a few Permaculture school gardens were introduced in primary schools. There is now (post COVID) an attempt to introduce a nutritional component into the school feeding program but until school kids are taught how to cook a tasty, nutritious meal (a la Stephanie Alexander), as was the plan under Permaculture, it will remain theoretical only. Timor-Leste now has food-based dietary guidelines (which like the Australian ones urge Timorese to eat five servings of fruit and vegetable each day, but no attempt seems to be made to use them to change habits, junk food such as packet noodles are still advertised in schools. Kiosks, the most accessible sector of retailing for most people, sell only Indonesian products and for some reason will not sell local crops (or even local salt, honey, coffee or eggs). Timor is such a contrast to Fiji which has a highly successful national nutrition committee which has cooking programs on TV and publishes recipe books, runs cooking classes etc. Most Timorese women are too afraid to cook with gas even though it is cheaper than the firewood which is sold to them illegally! Rural-urban migration is currently threatening to bring an end to Timor-Leste's food production capacity, if Timor joins ASEAN it will enable large numbers of farmers who can't get land in the Philippines and Indonesia to possibly come in and take their place but it will be a real blow to Timorese identity and possibly not improve nutrition. It is a tragedy that Timor-Leste has never had a really broadly based multidisciplinary policy debate on the whole issue of food security and food sovereignty, it largely goes on behind closed doors and not even in the universities.

Fantastic story.

My thanks to Mr Gregory Bablis for this insightful and thoughtful piece. It is an important reminder of the people who were involved in the Kokoda campaign. It is extraordinary to think how much World War Two impacted upon so many people's lives. I am imagining this man, who was from a place that had only recently had its first contact with the wider world, beyond their immediate trading partners. In such a short space of time, he ended up in Kokoda and later Port Moresby. What must he have thought of the guns, the vehicles, the large buildings of the port town and so on? It's amazing really. Mr Bablis, did Late Mr Kumanyal reflect upon these experiences during his interview? What were some of his first impressions or memories of those times? As I understand it, and as you state in this piece, the carriers who became known as 'fuzzy wuzzy angels' have never been given anything apart from medals post-war. By comparison, these days, are retired PNG army soldiers entitled to a pension or other benefits? And if so, do they receive them? Thanks again for this thought-provoking piece and the photographs.