Dear Prime Minister Marape

Our government has to admit the fact that there is a glaring imbalance between Papua New Guinean and foreign ownership of businesses. We own very little in our country.

The retail, wholesale and real estate in our towns and cities are controlled by Chinese interests. We own almost nothing in the logging industry. It is, as we all know, controlled by Malaysian interests.

There is an increasing push by (new) Chinese business owners who are buying up National Housing Corporation (NHC) properties and forcing out Papua New Guineans – YOUR people – onto the streets.

• READ MORE: My Land, My Country

There is no strong legislation that prevents 100 percent foreign ownership of property and land. We need those laws in place now. We need the political will to do it. Now.

The justice system can’t protect our people. They don’t have the money to fight long protracted legal battles… …and the syndicate – yes, syndicates – know this and they take advantage of it.

Recently, local people along the North Coast of Madang protested against a sand mining proposal. The people associated with the sand mining company have also evicted families from NHC properties in Madang.

It is no secret. It was reported by the media.

Tack Back PNG more than a slogan
Take Back PNG must not remain a political slogan for elections. The people must live it.

I am calling for legislation that protects the social and economic rights of our people. I want lower taxes (or no taxes at all) for struggling SMEs.

Give them tax holidays like the government did for RD Tuna and the petroleum sector. Give them REAL financing. Not a figure on paper they can’t access.

We want shop spaces in the centre of our towns and cities. Give it to us. This is our country. We want what is ours.

If the laws don’t allow it. Change the laws to suit our people’s needs.

We cannot continue to exist on the fringes of a large Pacific economy that boasts a “healthy” GDP yet cannot show it in the impact on the lives of our people.

Tax the alcohol companies. They contribute to the widespread abuse and the violence associated with it.

Society not mature enough
Our society is not mature enough to allow the widespread consumption of alcohol.

Tax the cigarette companies. Make them all pay for the ill health of our people.

We are not taking back PNG by allowing these cancers to continue untreated. We are in fact, selling off PNG’s future.

Reduce the cost of medical treatment at the private clinics and hospitals. Reduce the cost of dental care. It’s UNAFFORDABLE. How can a papa or mama in the village afford K500 for a tooth extraction.

Give your people the means to look after themselves. Give your people the means to pay for their children’s education so they don’t become enslaved by politicians who peddle election policies that don’t really serve our people.

We don’t want to be dependent on government. We want to make our own money. Wealth in the hand of its people is real wealth.

We demand preferential treatment for US.

Our resources. Our country. We deserve more.

Scott Waide is a leading Papua New Guinean journalist and a senior editor with a national television network. He writes a personal blog, My Land, My Country. Asia Pacific Report republishes his articles with permission.

TWO SIDES TO THE STORY

There are always (at least) two sides to a story.

And one of our Samoa Observer front page news stories today [Rising sea, sand mining see Solosolo village relocating, by Pai Mulitalo Ale] has elements of that truth.

The partial relocation of villagers of Solosolo to higher ground should not be simply placed under a headline of Climate Change although that has been the catalyst for many of the villagers to move.

And the Climate Change label, if you belong to one school of thought encompasses so much more, including natural disasters such as tsunamis as well as global warming caused by increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, and of course the associated rising sea levels.

But for many years while Samoa has joined in the worldwide clamour about big countries harming the smaller vulnerable countries such as ourselves, our own citizens have been contributing to the problems with our actions.

As well as featuring news stories on the subject, this newspaper has commented a number of times about the huge trucks on the east coast road seen thundering towards Apia with their loads of beautiful, white sand mined from our beaches.

In fact in 2011, the former Cabinet Minister of Works Transport and Infrastructure, Manualesagalala Enokati Posala, denied allegations that a brick-making company run by his wife was mining sand illegally from Lotofaga, Safata.

Manualesagalala said there was nothing illegal about the operations and his company had a permit from the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment that allowed him to mine the sand.

However, villagers disagreed and said that the sandmining had seriously eroded the village’s natural beauty and landscape and caused the evacuation of families who lived close to the shoreline.

One villager stood on the coastline and pointed to about 20 metres out to sea saying the village used to be there and there were homes built there.

• Rising sea, sand mining see Solosolo village relocate