Comments

Wow!! What a piece! Well argued.

Raising GDP alone won't necessarily benefit most PNG citizens. Equatorial Guinea, number 5 on your list has a per capita GDP almost 6 times that of PNG but it is not much better than PNG on the UN's Human Development Index (141 compared to PNG's 153). Fiji, with barely a third of Equatorial Guinea's per capita GDP, fares much better on the more broadly based HDI ranking at 91. As you rightly point out, PNG catching up to Fiji's GDP would take more than a decade of unprecedented growth. Catching up with Fiji on the HDI would be more challenging still. Its not just about money, its about how you get it and what you do with it.

A very flash new airport opened this month in the enclave of Oecusse. Currently only serviced by a small domestic flight from Dili but hopefully international connections at some point soon.

Dear Editor and Author, Teaching and learning mother-tongue is a human right to a child. I was in born in a Mon language spoken mother and father. I was unable to learn my mother-tongue at my local public school but my parents enrolled me at the local monastery when I was eight years old. I had learnt basic Burmese from the age of 6 to 7 but I could not progress at secondary level. When I was 16 years old, I was able to read Mon, Burmese, Pali and basic English. However, until to our new democratic transition in Myanmar, close to 70% of children cannot attend basic education in their own mother-tongue. Children in IDPs camps and in rural areas have been struggling with basic access to text books in their mother-tongue languages. Education for All is not only not reaching to the poor, but it is underfunded in our country. Children shall be cared, provided and nurtured through learning in their own tongue, play with local environment and they shall be placed for priority to education and health outcomes. Language is the foundation of thinking and working in our daily tasks and in all aspects of life. Thank you to the author for shedding the light on this front.

Just to note, the agreement for Air Travel flights from Hong Kong is far from being signed, sealed and delivered. It is one of many options being pursued, but has not even got close to consideration by the regulator, AACTL, as yet. Air access is critical to the development of tourism in Timor-Leste, and currently a significant issue due to both lack of flights and ticket prices. The Governance for Development program is working closely with the Government of Timor-Leste, as well as the various tourism programs here, to identify and objectively assess options for improvements on both fronts.

Your article gave an alternative and it was a good read and analysis with your contribution to counter the observations by Howes and Curtain. Those of us from the Pacific who are in the labour mobility space agree that SWP will not be the only vehicle that PICs should only participate in but have an alternative through either the WHM or an agriculture visa that can fill the void that SWP is unable to supply. Thank you

Thanks for this valuable information page. Appreciate developing this page to disseminate information to women who are the victims of violence and abuse but live many years of their lives suffering until they cannot take it anymore and eventually help comes to them to speak up.

PS. Also, please check out the new CitiLink flights (from Jakarta) to the new international airport at Oecusse. The government is also in the process of seeking additional flights from Australia and Hong Kong to the new airport. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/06/21/after-oecusse-airport-wika-eyes-more-timor-leste.html

These academic policy 'opinions' pieces are always interesting - and food for thought. But always fruitful too to get the perspective of government and also, development partners. In this case, the USAID's US10M 'Tourism for All' program, which is very much trying to address these critical tourism access, connectivity and mobility issues. Also, two weeks ago, TransNusa airlines began operating international flights from Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara Province, to Dili, the capital city of Timor Leste.

Thanks Bal. Further to my earlier comment on Chinese language education in the Pacific, on the reverse side China offers both bilateral and multilateral scholarships to the Pacific annually. These were offered as part of China's commitment to their economic cooperation to the Pacific in 2006, in Nadi, and further added in 2013, in Guangzhou. The scholarships are open to all areas of study in bachelors, masters and Phd programs. It is also interesting to note that the multilateral scholarship program offered through the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is open to all 14 Pacific Island countries, including both the 8 aligned countries and the 6 countries that do not have diplomatic ties with China. Since the first batch of students on the China-PIFS Scholarship program in 2008, students from the 6 countries without diplomatic ties with China have studied in China. In my view, the Chinese education programs in the Pacific (currently at USP and being expanded through the USP extension programs across to the other Pacific Island countries), and in China, is closely aligned to the development and growth of economic cooperation between China and the Pacific, and these programs will reinforce and further develop the China-Pacific people-to-people connections now and into the future.

Thanks Bal. With regards to Chinese language schools in the Pacific, the first Confucius Institute (CI) in the Pacific was established in 2011 with the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva. In 2015, HANBAN, the Confucius Institute HQ in Beijing noted the success of the centre in Suva and was highlighted as a Model CI.

It's not just the connection from various places that is an issue in terms of tourism development, Timor-Leste is an expensive place to stay, hotels are pretty expensive even though the quality of hotel infrastructure is poor, apart from few hotels in Dili. Beaches like One Dollar sandy beach or Cameo pebble beach are marvellous but access to facilities is limited, one can only hope that with increased tourism it will improve. Travelling outside of Dili is equally problematic due to poor infrastructure, and very few and expensive places to stay. Hiring a car and a knowledgeable driver, unless you know one through friends, is a challenge, add overcharging and asking for a different price afterwards in this mix, and it is never impressive. The country has so much to offer - not just religious tourism, but natural beauty, scuba diving or snorkeling, and limestone art work in Jaco. The price does not match the experience and high end tourists hardly come this way for this reason, while middle level tourism is way cheaper in other Asia Pacific countries.