Papua New Guinea’s fourth prime minister, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, has died — four days shy of his 76th birthday which would have been celebrated today.

The late Sir Rabbie was born Rabbie Langanai Namaliu on April 3, 1947, to early local missionaries Darius and Utul Ioan Namaliu, at a mission station at Watnabara, Duke of York, in East New Britain Province. He was the eldest of eight.

In the wake of his death, Andrew Ilam, a first cousin to Sir Rabbie, recollects the blessing Sir Rabbie received at birth by the early white missionaries.

• READ MORE: Sir Rabbie Langanai Namaliu: PNG’s fourth PM dies
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“When he was born, because he had a big head, the sisters would carry him every morning. And they told his parents: ‘You know what, when this man grows up, he’s going to be a big man.

“He’s going to be a clever, educated man’,” Ilam said.

“So they actually blessed him for what he was doing when he grew up. This is what happened to him.”

When Sir Rabbie was old enough, his father enrolled him at Raluana Primary. He went on to Vunamami Vocational, a feeder school to Kerevat during the 1960s. In 1966, Sir Rabbie finished from Kerevat National High School. He was ready for university.

Told to ‘stay back’
Sir Rabbie’s younger brother, Jack, recalls that at that time most of the students would have gone to New South Wales to attend university. However, his brother’s group was told to stay back.

They were the first students to attend the University of Papua New Guinea at a time when there were still no buildings.

“He studied political science and history while living in temporary accommodation, a tent hitched at the Admin College,” Jack said.

Upon his father’s urging, Sir Rabbie was forced to turn down a job offer with the United Nations.

“He had already signed his contract and written to our father. But because we were getting ready for Independence, my father wrote back, telling my brother that he could not stay abroad, he needed to be here to help Sir Michael Somare prepare for Independence,” Jack said.

Jack, shaking his head, said: “The late Sir Michael even had to send the late Sir Pita Lus and late Sir Maori Kiki to Canada to press him to return.

“We knew Sir Michael well. Our fathers were very close.”

From lecturer to government
Sir Rabbie later left UPNG where he worked as a lecturer and in 1974 he became Sir Michael’s Principal Private Secretary.

“Sir Michael sent him back here … before Independence as the first local District Commissioner for ENB [East New Britain]. That time there was so many associations and movements in the province. He brought everyone together. That’s where everyone agreed to having provincial governments,” Jack said.

Sir Rabbie first became an MP in 1982. He was Member for Kokopo for five consecutive terms until 2007.

Jack remembers: “That was the year the voting system was changed to LPV (limited preferential voting). Not too many people knew about this and a lot of people were confused.

“And that’s probably why he lost. Otherwise he would have remained an MP.

“He accepted defeat and he congratulated his successor, the late Patrick Tamur. Consecutive elections after, people and leaders asked him to stand again but he refused. He had a principle that if he was defeated, the trust was no longer there so he stayed away.”

Vocal man for the people
In the years after politics and up until his passing, Sir Rabbie sat on a number of national and international boards. He remained a vocal man, with his heart for the people.

“He gives advice to anybody, even to the MP’s after him. He would say if you have any problems, come and see me — none of them have ever come to him. But he is a humble person, he does not want to hurt anybody,” Jack said.

Late last year, the late Sir Rabbie had decided he wanted to write a book.

Jack said: “We started on it and Dr Ilave Vele from UPNG agreed he would write Sir Rabbie’s biography. We’ll probably still have to pursue it and complete it.

“He pre-sold the whole book. He hadn’t even written it yet. He did have a title but I’ve forgotten … maybe we can still push it.”

Jean Nuia is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Kokopo Business College in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain province has evicted male students by force from its dormitories and dumped them onto the streets after a spate of school disturbances on Monday.

Police brutality against male students is alleged and female students were also reportedly kicked out in the heat of the moment.

School principal John Karis told the PNG Post-Courier yesterday that the removal was an extreme reaction to “extremely disturbing actions” carried out by students within the past week.

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Karis used the police and Guard Dog Security to move into the school’s boys dormitory at midday on Monday, forcing male students, mostly self-sponsored, out of the school’s boarding area.

They were moved onto the streets with their luggage.

Karis branded the action as “a move to save school property”, especially dormitories and lives.

He said the students brought it on themselves following post-exam continuous drinking, loud noise from music, drunken dancing and the burning of beds, the tearing down of interior walls, and ripping out of cupboards, doors and windows in the dormitories.

‘Education is a right’
“Education is a right but the dormitory is not a right. It is a privilege and as self-sponsored students boarding is not your right,” Karis said.

He said the school had the right to look after students under the HECAS programme while those under self-sponsorships were immediately sent off campus.

“I feel sorry for them but the property of the school belongs to the people of PNG and I must protect the buildings,” Karis said.

The students claimed that there was no written warning from the school advising them of such action, saying that some policemen punched male students, verbally abusing them and forcing them to pack up and leave the school.

They also claimed that they were victims of the attitude of fellow students under the HECAS programme who were leaving early. The fellow students were said to have celebrated under the influence of alcohol before damaging school property leaving them to take the blame.

“We were surprised when police approached us and told us to pack our belongings and immediately leave the dormitory,” second year student Josh Bobai told the Post-Courier.

“There were about 50 to 60 of us, male students who were forced out of the campus.”

Female students ordered out
A female student who did not want to be named corroborated the male student accounts by stating police had also approached female students, ordering them to vacate the girl’s dormitory.

“It was around midday when police approached us. I argued with the policeman telling him that we are students from outside provinces and that we had nowhere to go,” she said.

“He threatened to forcefully move us if we did not listen to orders. So we moved out but later the school administration called us back in.

“There was no notice advising us to leave the school so that we could prepare and leave.”

Karis, however, rejected the male students’ account saying thde statements were “lies”.

The students stated that the school had advised the final year students that graduation was set for November 19, 2021.

Due to this set date, many had booked home journeys after this date and now had nowhere to go.

However, Karis said he had advised the students on November 10, 2021 that graduation hasd been deferred to next year as diploma awards came from Port Moresby and they were not ready in time for graduation.

Poreni Umau and Phoebe Gwangilo report for the PNG Post-Courier. Republished with permission.

The tenth sitting of parliament suffered a delay and tensions broke out between Nick Kuman from the People’s National Congress and Lukas Dekena of the PNG party over who was the MP-elect for the Gumine seat, Radio New Zealand International reports.

EMTV News reports there was “commotion” as both members refused to move from their seat when asked by parliamentary staff to do so.

Dekena was declared on July 28 and Kuman on July 30, so the matter is currently before the court.

Due to such issues and the fact several seats are still to be declared — only 105 of the 111 writs have been returned — Kerenga Kua, MP-elect for Sinasina-Yonggamugl Open, visibly voiced his concerns, urging the Chief Justice to stop proceedings as members of the Alliance and PNC yelled at one another from across the room.

This prompted his Alliance colleagues to stand in solidarity with him before things eventually calmed down as newly elected MPs were sworn in.

O’Neill was the only candidate put forward by PNC after the party was invited to do so by new speaker Joe Pomat (PNC) on advice of the Governor-General, Loop PNG reports.

PNC holds majority
Pomat beat Allan Marat of the Melanesian Liberal Party 60 votes to 46, while PNC was invited to nominate a candidate for Prime Minister because the PNC coalition had the majority of seats (60), compared to the Alliance’s 47, EMTV reported just after 10am.

Both camps had been confident they had the numbers going into the sitting.

O’Neill’s appointment marks the end of Papua New Guinea’s tumultuous election period which began in April.

The country’s 2017 general election has been marred with electoral roll issues, shortages of ballot papers, disputed ballot boxes and violence, as reported by Asia Pacific Report.

For those wanting a change of government, the only consolation seems to be the decrease in O’Neill’s majority and the Alliance’s determination to stand by “the cry of the people” following a press conference.

Kua said the Alliance is not a lost cause and O’Neill’s government can expect to be “taken to task” over every policy.

With several seats still undeclared, the make-up of Papua New Guinea’s tenth parliament is still to be cemented.

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