Comments

Interesting summary of the situation.

It's tough being poor and even harder being a poor woman.

Hi Great work Rohan a very useful resource as I'm in a similar boat not having the luxury of access to a university library anymore. I have just come across this resource that I want to share - https://openknowledgemaps.org/index#search A clever bit of kit and a useful addition to the arsenal.

Thank you to all those who have posted comments on this blog post. Your time, ideas and input are very much appreciated. Many of you have shared similar experiences or concerns to mine. Some of you have raised questions, which I’ll aim to address here. Joseph D Malabag and John I Tambiabu asked about whether SIM card registration is legally binding. Yes it is, under the SIM Card Registration Regulation 2016. The National Gazette was signed by the Governor General in April 2016. Festus Maiginap asked whether telecommunication companies could send officers to rural areas to register their customers. Another option mentioned in media reports since this blog post was published is that churches could perhaps assist with the registration process. Sabine asked about the potential for comments posted online to be traced to a user’s phone number. Stanley Spenzii Mark and Joys also posted similar queries. As much of the Internet access in PNG is through mobile phones, this may be a genuine concern. However, I am not a telecommunications engineer and I am not sure whether a phone number can be traced back – for instance, to a comment published on this blog. I’d welcome some input, if any reader has this technical know-how. Some new points have been raised, which could be worth further investigation. Bobby Kunda, Festus Maiginap, and Stanley Spenzii Mark raised the religious and spiritual beliefs around giving away personal data which are strongly held by some groups within PNG. Sabine raised the issue of handsets being shared. In my research in rural villages in Madang Province during the early days of mobile phone adoption, it was common for a woman to say that she did not own a mobile phone, but her husband did. If a woman does something illegal using a phone registered in her husband’s name, he could be wrongly brought before the courts, as Sabine implies. Stanley Spenzii Mark shared his experience of needing to register a post-paid SIM card. He was able to register his relatives’ numbers at a bmobile Vodafone outlet in Port Moresby, even though his relatives are in the highlands! Some suggestions have been put forth too. Urith suggested that the SIM card registration exercise could have been undertaken in partnership with the National Identification (NID) project. To me, this seems like a good idea, but it’s possibly too late to implement it now. Stotick Kaprangi suggested that Digicel could register SIM cards through an online system. Stotick, this may not help rural villagers too much as many of them would struggle to have the Internet access needed to complete the process. In Indonesia, telecommunication companies are registering SIM cards through online systems, through text messaging, through stores, or through a call centre. The difference is that in Indonesia citizens have identification numbers, so they can use these to register. The PNG context is different and the challenge of so many people not having any form of written identification (or an identification number) is a big hurdle when it comes to SIM card registration.

Hi Jo Thanks for your contribution - I think you have raised some interesting points. One of the things that struck me about Jack's presentation was how many of the key 'outsiders' were ex-insiders - or occupied some kind of hybrid space in which they managed to be both. I hope your presentation goes well at AAC.

I should add that the criminal responsibility/sim card registration issue was central in the Australian Haneef case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhamed_Haneef

This was a really interesting read. Unfortunately I didn't have time to read all the comments, but a couple stuck out: 1) Cracking down on activists as a motivation for the scheme. Does the registration therefore mean that mobile phone users cannot participate in online discussions anonymously? 2) The possibility that national security could be worsened if corrupt officials are able to get their hands on otherwise private data (if I read one of the comments correctly). I'm also interested in what happens if people share a mobile phone. Is the person whose name the SIM is registered to responsible in any way for crime committed by another person who is using that phone?

Hi Amanda, Great and timely write up From my observation, most people living in the rural areas are yet to register their Sim Cards and possibly will face deactivation of their Sim Cards.

Hi Tess. Thanks for the review. I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading Jack's book, but you've done a great job of making me move it up the list. I wanted to respond to your sense of frustration, drawing on my research. I looked at how aid policy goals changed - the high level purpose and organisational arrangements of aid policy in a donor government. (Note, I looked at quality changes, not quantity.) I think my findings show there is plenty external actors can do to change/influence aid policy. What I found key to change were individuals who behaved entrepreneurially, and who were connected to a network that cut across society and government. This network was connected by shared ideas about a donor's interests overseas and the purpose of aid. External actors (as in those who were not part of the political or professional executive), had power in setting the agenda for change and driving change through. It was just a matter of thinking about power and the rules of the system, and how to negotiate the system to advance their preferred change. So, as an external actor, you do have the ability to influence aid policy - it is not all an internal stitch-up. My research focused on New Zealand's aid, but other authors have also found that external actors can influence aid policy (eg: Lunsgaarde, Szent-Ivanyi and Lightfoot). Come to my talk with Ben Day at the upcoming Australasian Aid Conference, and you can hear about what it means for individuals to behave entrepreneurially.

Australia as a middle power nation in a fast changing South East Asian region and having China at the heart of global and regional change should place its foreign aid program as a matter of high priority. Less powerful nations in the region are already under the strong influence of China's economic might. A foreign aid program would be beneficial in laying some ground work for future relationships with those countries. Howes underscores the importance of leadership and the lack of it in this area. Unfortunately, the current political dynamic in Australia suggests that there is unlikely to be any change in a population which is more in a European/American identity.

Hi everyone, Happy new year, 2018. I am originally from Timor Leste, residing in countryside . I was wondering, to whom I may direct my questions regarding creating an SWP agency here in my countryside Aileu Remexio . I will be grateful for a guide. Tnks in advance, Samson.

Hi Amanda, Great blog by the way! Yes it was predicted well ahead there’d be a delay in having all mobile phone users register their SIM cards on the initial deadline, thus the extension date wasn’t a surprise to many. However, I am not sure the extended deadline of April 30 gives enough time for the exercise as the country’s demography and geography does stand in the way. I also believe there hasn’t been enough awareness done to educate the public and many are already linking this exercise to ‘signs of the last days’ or ‘Mark of the beast (666)’. One question I pose, however, is are these mobile phone companies willing to incur added expenses by sending agents out into the remote parts of the country to assist in the registration process rather than having the people meet the expense of transportation and meals etc. just to get to the nearest centre where they can have their SIM registered? Being a local myself, I know how daunting it is for a mere villager to save enough money in order to make trips into town. But then again, I know for sure the operators will not willingly deploy agents as that’d be a costly exercise apart from what is already being spent on advertising and marketing campaigns. With the current economic scenario we’re in, companies/organisations are serious on cutting down costs. That being said, I say the registration exercise be extended to a year, giving enough time for mobile phone operators and NICTA to educate the public, targeting those is remote parts of the country. The registration process can ride on the back of the awareness exercise in order to cut down costs while reaching the majority at the same time. Just my thoughts though 🙂