Political Reviews 7KH5HJLRQLQ5HYLHZ,QWHUQDWLRQDO,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV nic maclellan 0HODQHVLDLQ5HYLHZ,VVXHVDQG(YHQWV david chappell, jon fraenkel, solomon kantha, muridan s widjojo 7KH&RQWHPSRUDU\3DFL²F9ROXPH1XPEHU¥ E\8QLYHUVLW\RI+DZDL©L3UHVV 351 political reviews melanesia 403 Rule of Law and Human Rights in Papua, stitutional and leadership crisis in the 2012). Unpublished nongovernmental history of the country. The crisis put organization report. to test the thirty-seven-year-old consti- Majalah Selangkah.com. tution, challenged the principle of the http://majalahselangkah.com/ separation of powers among the three MediaIndonesia.com. arms of government (executive, leg- http://www.mediaindonesia.com/ islative, and judicial), and shook the foundations of the Westminster system Merdeka.com. http://www.merdeka.com/ of government adopted by Papua New Papua Pos Nabire. Papua Pos Lokal Guinea. Additionally, business houses Network. http://papuaposnabire.com/ and landowners around the Lique- Pasific Post. Daily. Jayapura. Online at fied Natural Gas (lng) project area http://www.pasificpost.com/ warned that if the impasse between the two groups claiming to be the Radar Sorong, Cenderawasih Pos Lokal Network. http://www.radarsorong.com/ legitimate government continued, it could negatively impact investor Suara Papua. http://suarapapua.com/ confidence and the economy at a time Suara Pembaruan (Voice of Renewal). when the lng project was at its peak Daily. Jakarta. Online at construction phase (Post-Courier, http://www.suarapembaruan.com/ 19 Dec 2011). Tabloid Jubi Online: An Alternative Media Fortunately, 2012 was an election in Tanah Papua. http://tabloidjubi.com/ year, which meant that Parliament was dissolved and political incumbents Tribunnews.com. http://www.tribunnews .com/ had to re-contest their seats. This somewhat ended the leadership tussle Umaginews. http://www.umaginews.com/ between the Peter O’Neill and Somare vivanews.com. http://www.vivanews.com/ factions, who were forced to renew their leadership mandate through the ballot box. This was timely because the political impasse could have Papua New Guinea devolved further into social chaos, as The year 2012 and the events in the the stalemate was gradually politiciz- latter part of 2011 leading up to the ing and dichotomizing the different infamous “political impasse” in Papua groups in the country who supported New Guinea (PNG) will go down in one faction or the other. the annals of PNG political history for There was a sense of political inse- a number of reasons. Most significant, curity and uncertainty when Somare’s it was a year that saw the end of nine family announced that he was not years of rule by the National Alli- medically fit to continue as the coun- ance Party–led government of Prime try’s leader in 2011. Somare’s absence Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael from the country for almost three Somare—cutting short what would months created a leadership vacuum have been a historic two full terms as despite his having appointed Sam Abal prime minister. (the member for Wabag and minister These events led to the biggest con- for foreign affairs and immigration) 404 the contemporary pacific 25:2 (2013) as acting prime minister. Somare’s men had to sell their policies, boost prolonged absence led the majority in their popularity, and secure the voters’ Parliament to declare a vacancy in the support to return to power after the prime minister’s seat. Rifts within the national elections. National Alliance circles were already The rhetoric about free health conspicuous due to Abal’s displace- care service was one popular elec- ment of onetime Deputy Prime Minis- tion gimmick that never material- ter Don Polye. Abal had political foes ized during the twelve-month long from within his own party and also government of O’Neill and Namah. lacked the authority and respect that Nonetheless, after being elected prime was accorded to Somare. minister, O’Neill kept his word on Since Somare became prime minis- free education. The Department of ter in 2002, his style of leadership and Education was directed to facilitate many of his decision-making processes the dispensing of subsidies to schools, were perceived as dictatorial by the and when this was delayed and not Opposition. This was demonstrated in implemented in a timely fashion, the the ways that some controversial legis- National Executive Council in Sep- lation was bulldozed through Parlia- tember suspended the secretary for the ment without wider consultation and Department of Education, Dr Musawe debate—for example, the Environ- Sinebare, allegedly for failing to mental Act, which among other things effectively implement the policy. Prime prevents third-party lawsuits against Minister O’Neill issued a stern warn- resource companies (see Kantha 2011, ing that his government would not 491, 494–495), and the Maladina Bill, tolerate slackness in the public service, which proposed the removal of the particularly at the departmental head powers of the Ombudsman Commis- level (The National, 28 Sept 2012). sion (see Kantha 2010, 456-457). The There were numerous skirmishes in provision in the Environmental Act the short-lived O’Neill-Namah regime preventing third-party lawsuits was and many embarrassing reversals later repealed by the O’Neill-Namah by Prime Minister O’Neill of widely government. publicized decisions made by Deputy The announcement of Somare’s Prime Minister Namah. Namah was retirement from politics by his son and the government’s rhetorician, pre- Member for Angoram Arthur Somare dominantly seen as the one calling (Post-Courier, 30 June 2011)—seem- the shots, making the hard decisions, ingly without the knowledge of his and being easily agitated. Meanwhile, father who was in the hospital in O’Neill was soft-spoken, inquisitive, Singapore—provided an opportune and seemed to merely wear the prime moment for the Opposition to mobi- minister’s hat without really exerting lize support and seize control of the any authority. government in mid-2011. However, On one occasion, Namah sus- the bond between new Prime Minister pended the managing director of Peter O’Neill and his deputy, Belden the Mineral Resources Development Namah, was apparently one forged Company over allegations of corrup- for political convenience. The two tion in the company. The company political reviews melanesia 405 was set up by the government with on the legality of the processes and the prime minister as the sole trustee acceptable parliamentary norms. Legal to manage landowner equity interests opinions about the legitimacy of the in the mining and petroleum sector two government factions offered by (The National, 13 Oct 2011). Namah lawyers representing the two sides was acting prime minister at that time, were even more contradictory. as O’Neill was out of the country. The inexorable O’Neill-Namah On returning from his overseas trip, faction was adamant that Parliament, O’Neill immediately rescinded the as the law-making body, was supreme decision of his deputy. These contra- and that the decisions of Parliament dictions in the public pronouncements to disqualify Somare as prime minis- proved early in the formation of the ter and to remove him as East Sepik O’Neill-Namah government that the Regional Member for missing three alliance was just a façade for their consecutive parliamentary sessions own ends, and it was clear that the were legitimate. In fact, however, relationship would not last. Somare missed only two sessions. He The overthrow of the Somare gov- was compelled to fly to Port Moresby ernment and the impasse leading up from his hospital bed in Singapore to the elections in mid-2012 sparked a and entered the chambers of the debate regarding whether the constitu- Parliament House in a wheelchair, tion or the Parliament held supremacy. determined to fulfill the constitutional The unprecedented circumvention of requirements by not missing the third laws by the O’Neill-Namah govern- session of Parliament. The Somare ment—seen in the removal of Somare faction maintained that the constitu- as a member of Parliament, the tion created the institution of Parlia- amendment to the Prime Minister and ment and thus is supreme and that the National Executive Council Act to procedures undertaken by Parliament retroactively legalize Somare’s dis- to remove him were therefore uncon- qualification, and the introduction of stitutional and extrajudicial. the Judicial Conduct Bill, which was The impasse consequently raised an ominous attempt to penalize judges doubts about the independence and who might render a verdict upholding neutrality of the PNG Supreme Court, the supremacy of the constitution, and which is mandated to defend and thus reinstating Somare—were obvi- protect the constitution. The O’Neill- ously desperate attempts to cling to Namah government was wary of the power. The constitution, however, fell outcome of the Supreme Court ruling. short of clearly defining the param- After Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia eters by which such practices could be ruled that the manner and procedures deemed constitutional or otherwise. by which Somare had been removed Lawyers and political scientists from Parliament were unconstitutional alike conjured up varying interpreta- and called for Somare to be reinstated tions of the laws with respect to the as prime minister, a warrant was removal of Somare from Parliament, immediately issued at the direction of thus confusing the public with differ- Namah for the arrest of the chief jus- ing views more than