The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone – Who Decided?
I am entirely too lazy and ill informed to venture answers to a plethora of thorny questions. I put these things in the “too hard” basket, seemingly along with most of the rest of the population. Nevertheless, the questions remain. A big question that has been bothering me ever since RD Tuna came to town has come up again on several occasions. Specifically, it has come up again when Ramu Nico appeared as if by magic and more recently concerning the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone.
The question is: who decided? To put it another way, do the people of Madang Province have any say concerning “development” or are others pulling all the strings?
Of course, we all understand that provincial boundaries (and national borders) are legacies of the colonial past. The boundaries of Madang Province, and indeed Papua New Guinea itself are purely arbitrary in terms of ethnicity, common interest and cultural heritage. Nevertheless, Madang Province does exist and its people have rights concerning the use of their resources and legitimate claims to benefits from those uses.
So, the question is: when did the people of Madang vote for this:
Or RD Tuna, or Ramu Nico, for that matter. I have asked many people what they think of the PMIZ. Most do not even know what it is. Some suppose there might be a job there, but they also assume that any jobs will involve long hours with unreasonably low wages. This is probably because they associate the new PMIZ with other “developments” that have been extremely disappointing to them in terms of job opportunities.
If I were a citizen,* I would be asking a lot of questions about these so-called developments. I am not saying that development, even the PMIZ, is bad. I’m just asking such questions as I believe are reasonable for the general population to ask. Who benefits in what way? Where do the profits go? Who accepts responsibility for the social costs? What are the environmental costs and who is responsible for compensation for those costs? What jobs will be available and to whom will they be offered? How much will those jobs pay? These are questions that every citizen has a right to ask.
Okay, I need to back off here and turn it over to a few of my sources. Here is a selection of material that I found enlightening. Just Google “pacific marine industrial zone” (with the quotes) if you want more.
The Little Green Palai – (protesters illegally dispersed, 40,ooo jobs?)
Sun-Star – (view from the Philippines – it’s all about the fish)
Independent Media Centre Australia – (who decides?)
Mining Monitor – (The Hon. Ken Fairweather calls it “a fishy deal”)
What’s a Marine “Park” Doing in Madang? – (Nancy Sullivan sheds a little light)
Little Mindanao – (Nancy again with a scary story)
Proposed PMIZ - Pete Celso’s Power Point presentation
An item of interest in Mr. Celso’s presentation under the heading of “Threats” is, “[a] High potential of sabotage from those that will be detrimentally affected by the MIP.” Hey, wait a minute! Who are these people who will be “detrimentally affected” by the PMIZ? How many of them are there? How angry are they going to be?
So many questions . . . Will we someday hear, “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
No, I didn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed today. I don’t feel any more or less grumpy than usual. Later today, I’m going to take a ride up the North Coast Road on my Harley, dodging potholes all the way. In fact, I feel downright cheery. Maybe it’s because of this:
That’s our lounge with the golden light of the morning sun pouring in. God made this country a very special place. Every day I feel blessed by the privilege of living here. The lampshade is a little crooked, but otherwise, it’s Paradise.
* I am a Permanent Resident, not a citizen, so I obviously need to be careful what I say. The Government wants me for fork over K10,000 to become a citizen. I would, if I could afford it. Strange, eh? A country where you have to purchase citizenship. Merit and qualifications are apparently secondary considerations.
Related posts:
- The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone Revisited – With a Vengence! Well, it looks as if the PMIZ is back in the local news again. It seems a little act of civil disobedience (peacefully, thank you) is in order....
[...] borrowed from messersmith who also has an article on the [...]
[...] There is no person in my acquaintance that likes RD Tuna. That doesn’t mean the sentiment is universal, it just means that I don’t know everybody – nowhere near everybody. The reasons for dislike vary widely, as you might expect. Most centre not on the idea of development, but rather the type of development that we should seek. Others question why local people have little or no say in these decisions that affect huge segments of our economy, culture and habitat. I covered this issue in The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone – Who Decided? [...]
[...] Some good links here from Jan Messersmith’s post: [...]
I am with you in searching for answers for these lots of questions but sometimes when I reflect deeper and try to see things from different angle..I found out that most of the critics are white foreigners who either do some consultancy jobs and/or managing an NGO or to add–some guys who care only of living comfortable in PNG and making it as “their” vacation paradise. They Criticise but they offer no Alternative to make this country live a truly independent one..independent from foreign aid and develop its own resouces and technologies–including human resources at that–to finally stand on its own feet.
Investment like PMIZ probably has its flaws but it offers the PNG itself the opportunity to have the hands-on experience in doing and engaging in such business. This will facilitate technology transfer in the long run. Flaws and mistakes is unavoidable and we or you or Nancy need to offer suggestion to prevent such catashtrophy if you call it that way. To offer a solution that is to STOP the PMIZ is like sabotaging a PROCESS of economic independence of this country. Remember, PNG is not just a TOURIST VACATION PARADISE..it need to learn to do things for its own sake that someday PNG nationals could go to Australia, America and to the rest of the world to do what most Foreigners do in PNG..Vacationing, touring..
Thanks for your well-considered comment, Henry. Starting with your first paragraph, I’m assuming that you don’t paint me with the same brush. First, I do not identify myself as ‘white’, not that makes any difference in my universe. My ethnic identification is Indigenous American, specifically, Cherokee Indian. Next, though I am technically a foreigner, I’ve spent nearly three decades living in PNG. I am a Permanent Resident and I will die here. This is my home. I’ve never made much money here – missionary workers are not known for their wealth. I live modestly – very modestly by expatriate standards. I make no excuses for my concern for local matters, as they affect me for the rest of my life as much as any native-born Papua New Guinean. And I DO offer an alternative. My alternative is that we should be what we pretend to be – a democratic society.
Perhaps my comments here have been misunderstood by some. I clearly state that I am not opposed to development or even the PMIZ. What I do oppose is development without consultation. I won’t go back point-by point over my post here. I presented links to other posts because, as I stated, I found them ‘interesting’, not because I necessarily support every statement contained in them.
Henry, possibly you could re-read the post keeping in mind the title – The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone – Who Decided?
Other than the possibility that I did not make my point clear to you, I’m pretty much in agreement with your comments.
Finally, I’d like to address your comment about travel. We COULD BE a vacationer’s paradise. Papua New Guineans COULD travel to foreign destinations to develop their understanding of the outside world, IF we had an air travel rate structure that was not absurd. However, as long as it costs as much to get from Madang to Brisbane as it costs to fly from Brisbane to NYC, it’s not going to happen. Who do we have to thank for that?
I repeat my thanks to you for taking the time to comment. I value comments from all of my readers. Especially from those who read critically.
By the way, check my post for Sunday 28 September 2009 “The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone Revisited”. It illustrated the results of development without consultation.
[...] The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone Revisited – With a Vengence! It seems as if the first hint of the “sabotage” mentioned in Mr. Pete Celso’s Power Point presentation promoting the The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone has already raised its vengeful head. If this seems mysterious, check my post The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone – Who Decided?” [...]
[...] on from the video and Blog Posts about the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone or PMIZ, looks like some people have actually taken to the [...]