Scottpng Design 221105.Indd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Lowy Institute Paper 09 re-imagining PNG CULTURE, DEMOCRACY AND AUSTRALIA’S ROLE Ben Scott Lowy Institute Paper 09 re-imagining PNG CULTURE, DEMOCRACY AND AUSTRALIA’S ROLE Ben Scott First published for Lowy Institute for International Policy 2005 PO Box 102 Double Bay New South Wales 2028 Australia www.longmedia.com.au [email protected] Tel. (+61 2) 8212 4350 Copyright © Lowy Institute for International Policy 2005 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Cover and text design by Shane Grantham Printed and bound in Australia Typeset in Esprit Book 10 Front cover shows Papua New Guinea’s language groups, based on a map prepared by Keith Mithchell and in which he retains copyright. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data Scott, Ben, 1969- . Re-imagining PNG : culture, democracy and Australia’s role. Bibliography. ISBN 1 921004 19 3. 1. Democracy - Papua New Guinea. 2. Australia - Foreign relations - Papua New Guinea. 3. Papua New Guinea - Foreign relations - Australia. 4. Papua New Guinea - Politics and government. I. Title. (Series : Lowy Institute paper ; no. 9). 995.305 Executive summary Ben Scott is an offi cer with the Department of Thirty years after independence, Papua New Guinea is looking Foreign Affairs and Trade. He wrote this paper while increasingly fragile. After a good start, the state’s authority and capacity on secondment to the Lowy Institute in 2005 and the has gone into decline. Average health and education levels are improving views expressed here are his own. Since joining DFAT in only incrementally, if at all. HIV has begun to spread at an exponential 1997 Ben has worked primarily on the Middle East and rate — with disastrous economic and human implications. The natural South Pacifi c. He served as part of the Truce and Peace resources upon which the economy depends appear to be running out. Monitoring Groups in Bougainville in 1998 and was Increasingly avaricious politics, violent elections, corruption, and the posted to Tel Aviv from 1999 to 2003. He is currently ascendancy of organised crime are all causes and symptoms of the studying Arabic in preparation for taking up a position as problem. The news is not all bad: Papua New Guinea has undertaken head of the Australian Representative Offi ce in Ramallah important economic and constitutional reforms, and the Bougainville in late 2006. Ben has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and confl ict has been resolved. But these positive developments are Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the University insuffi cient, on their own, to counter Papua New Guinea’s negative of Melbourne. trajectory. Unless this is reversed, Papua New Guinea’s democracy will become less liberal, criminal infl uence will grow, public order will deteriorate, more local groups will go their own way, and Papua New Guineans will become poorer, hungrier, and sicker. There is, however, little likelihood of large-scale violence, overt secessionism, a coup, or an outpouring of refugees. The hope that Papua New Guinea could leapfrog from a multitude of micro-societies to a unitary liberal democracy now looks over- ambitious. The top-down approach Papua New Guinea’s governments copied from their colonial predecessor has not worked. The state never quite established itself. Few Papua New Guineans see it as the vii RE-IMAGINING PAPUA NEW GUINEA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY embodiment of their collective will and many still view it as an alien state’s weakening provides some basis for re-thinking the current presence to be either resisted or looted. Papua New Guinea’s numerous system. A better-designed system could make government more ‘traditional groups’ — far exceeding its 800-plus languages — command fl exible, effi cient and accountable. greater loyalty. These groups are fl uid and overlapping but nonetheless Australia has a strong interest in Papua New Guinea’s well-being powerful. As the state has weakened, people have come to depend and must, at the very least, spend resources now to avoid spending ever more on traditional links for welfare and social regulation. While more later. Australia should support democratic reform, including by traditional groups may possess some internal cohesion, relationships leveraging the aid program. Australian support could make the all- between them are often suspicious, competitive and hostile. important difference between a well-designed decentralisation and a Taking better account of the reality of traditional groups is the poorly-designed one. But the ‘hard power’ of conditional aid should central challenge of building, from the ground up, the state and nation be complemented by more ‘soft power’ including stepped-up public of Papua New Guinea. Social engineering aimed at moulding a new diplomacy. Public opinion matters in Papua New Guinea. Increased national identity is unrealistic and making the state ‘more traditional’ public diplomacy would capitalise on Papua New Guinea’s democracy misses the point. The goal should be to build on the positive dimensions and the positive feelings many Papua New Guineans hold towards of traditional groups (such as internal cohesion and pluralism), deal Australia. Because of Papua New Guinea’s fragility Australia must, more directly with the negatives (nepotism and fragmentation) and in any event, work outside the centre. The challenge is to engage channel traditional loyalties and rivalries in the most productive way. the periphery in a way that facilitates national integration rather Offi cial acknowledgment of the reality of ethnic identity is a step back than fragmentation. A de-centred Australian strategy would have from the ideals of liberal democracy, but it may be necessary to keep three spokes: moving forwards. The fi rst step is to re-imagine Papua New Guinea. This process • Public diplomacy: The key message would be Papua New should start with a new round of national consultations. These would Guinean self-determination. Self-determination offers a encourage greater refl ection on the fundamental inter-dependence of mobilising ideology which is more practical than nationalism. It Papua New Guinea’s numerous groups, their collective interest in a counters both Papua New Guinean dependency and accusations functioning state and the appropriate role for ‘outsiders’. Through of Australian neo-colonialism. Australia could better inform these consultations Papua New Guineans could return, with the Papua New Guinea’s voters by publicising information about benefi t of hindsight, to the fundamental questions considered in Australia’s aid program and Papua New Guinea’s budget. the lead-up to independence: how to develop a democracy which is stable and accountable, and how to balance these two objectives. • Community envoys: Australia should put more of its representatives Recent reforms, including the legislative manufacture of political into the fi eld where they can engage directly with ordinary Papua parties (less promising) and the introduction of limited preferential New Guineans, monitor service-delivery and, in some cases, voting (more promising), provide some guide. But more fundamental mediate between rival groups. The 5000-plus Australians who reform, including separating the executive and legislature, and the served as Bougainville peace monitors provide a model. use of electoral colleges should also be considered. Decentralisation is unavoidable in such an ethnically and geographically fragmented • Decentralisation: Financial support for decentralisation through country. The de facto decentralisation which has accompanied the (a) linking Australian aid to the mechanism for intergovernmental viii ix RE-IMAGINING PAPUA NEW GUINEA transfers and mediating intergovernmental disputes where possible and (b) direct funding to sub-national bodies in return for greater transparency — and with incentives for scaling-up. Contents Executive summary vii Acknowledgments xii List of acronyms xiii Chapter 1: Australia and Papua New Guinea 1 Chapter 2: What is the problem? 19 Chapter 3: Re-imagining Papua New Guinea 43 Chapter 4: Changing the system 61 Chapter 5: Decentralisation 81 Chapter 6: Australia’s role 101 Notes 125 Bibliography 169 Lowy Institute Papers: other titles in the series 182 x xi Acknowledgments List of acronyms I would like to express my gratitude to all those in ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Australia and Papua New Guinea who helped in preparing Economics this paper by sharing their thoughts and opinions. The BRA Bougainville Revolutionary Army wise elders of Papua New Guinean studies in Australia CDS Community Development Scheme — David Hegarty, Bill Standish, Ron May, Hank Nelson CIMC Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Committee and Ted Wolfers — were generous with their time and CPC Constitutional Planning Committee knowledge and disagreed with me in only the most ECP Enhanced Cooperation Program gentlemanly of terms. I would especially like to thank GDP Gross Domestic Product those who made time to read and comment on part or GNI Gross National Income all of earlier drafts — Allan Gyngell, Ted Wolfers, Henry KDP Kecamatan Development Project (Indonesia) Okole, Malcolm Cook, Rosita MacDonald, and Ron May LICUS Low Income Countries Under Stress