Comments

Does anyone have data on how much SIP funds were given to each province/district; when the funds were given? Opposition MPs under O’Neill complained of not receiving their share (being disciplined for criticizing the government) whist MPs supporting the government were rewarded. There’s no quantitive data to back these claims. Or at least the data is not publicly available. These practices have direct implications on the quality of democracy: for instance, MPs would be reluctant to criticize the government, MPs would migrate to the government side, legislative becomes weak in the process. Everything seem to suggest this has been the case, except the data need to back it up. We need a Freedom of Information Act or something similar to legally coerce responsible agencies to release these data. It’s almost evil for taxpayers not to access information on how their money is spent.

Thank you, Joseph.

Nice article kolega. Prof Michael is doing a great job in researching our small country.

Thanks Frederick, very interesting. Do you have a view about the underlying causes of this situation? Is it due to inadequate budgets, staffing levels and skills? Is it a problem of distorted incentives? Is there a group of people benefiting from the status quo and hence opposed to any reforms? In short is this a technical issue or a collective action / political economy challenge? I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you

Fredrick I agree with your blog post.

James was an outstanding colleague. His wry dissection of the vagaries of the Ministry of Finance FreeBalance system was a triumph of forensic scholarship. He had a neat way of enticing you into delving into an issue and an arcane knowledge and appreciation of Indonesian and Timorese political connections and the realities of Timorese political economy. He was always up for an adventure into some area one that was problematic and in charming his way through challenging moments. In addition his appreciation of Constructivist art was unsurpassed. I still recall his 'rocket chair' he built while living in Bario Pite, sliding with precision in the faulty generator lit evening.

Mr. Namorong. We are not crying to be seen as Pacifikas. It's only those few desperate people who trying to define themselves as belonging to some damn ethnical groupings. For all I care, I am from my family and that's what counts.

For me, he is a very kind person. It was a very interesting job with him when he was doing a gang survey in Dili in 2006, at that time I was also working for a gang group in Dili for the Justice and Peace Commission, Diocese of Dili. Last time we did a great survey on the national election in Timor Leste in April 2017 and we found many interesting findings. He has high journalism instincts, he made topics interesting and in-depth analysis. Adeus comphaneiro, GBU.

Mr. Peni, thank you for your comment. I would like to respond with a few points of clarification. First of all, I am a Papua New Guinean, I am the lead author of this article. More importantly, I am a Christian Papua New Guinean and I feel confident in my capacity to write with integrity on this topic. Secondly, we acknowledge openly in the blog that this study had a small sample size and that more research is needed to see how widespread these views are in PNG. The intention of this piece is not to "change the world", but to inspire other similar studies to ensure a diversity of perspectives is included in international research and responses to climate change. I understand you are trying to be constructive in your criticism, but I respectfully disagree with your depiction of the interview findings as "gossip" and "pseudo-science". If you are saying this because you think an "outsider" wrote this article, this is inaccurate. Thanks for your comments.

Thank you for this touching tribute to James, a dear friend and colleague. I first met James 10 years ago when we worked at Swinburne together, and learned so much from him over the years. His kindness, wry humour, and unwavering sense of justice will stay with me always. As well as being a talented anthropologist of Timor and the Pacific, James also had many other passions including cinema, experimental music, welding, and -- of course -- soccer. His interests and experiences were enormously varied. I really admired how James could engage with people from all walks of life, and treated everyone with kindness and respect. My shelves are full of DVDs that he lent me over the years, and which I'll treasure now. He was an incredibly funny and interesting person who touched many lives. We'll miss him greatly.

Dear Gordon, Thankyou for such a lovely, generous tribute to James. I'm his older sister Anne, it means a great deal to our family that he was respected and appreciated by his colleagues. We mostly knew the family James, but were very proud of his achievements and the things he was trying to do. We will miss his humour, generosity, kindness and great capacity to encourage. We will miss his presence in our lives always. Anne Scambary

I didn't know James well, but my office was two doors down from his at Deakin Waurn Ponds, and we had chats in the kitchen. He was a kind and friendly man. I'm shocked and saddened that this lovely man is gone. My condolences to his loved ones.