Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 49, No. 1, April 2008 ISSN 1360-7456, pp12–22 Ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea Benjamin Reilly Centre for Democratic Institutions, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Email: [email protected] Abstract: On many measures of ethno-linguistic diversity, Papua New Guinea is the most frag- mented society in the world. I argue that the macro-level political effect of this diversity has been to reduce, rather than increase, the impact of ethnic conflict on the state. Outside the Bougainville conflict, and (to a lesser extent) the recent upsurge of violence in the Southern Highlands, ethnic conflicts in Papua New Guinea have not presented a threat to national government. In contrast to most other ethnically diverse societies, the most consequential impacts of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea are at the local level. This paper therefore examines the disparate impacts of local- and national-level forms of ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea. Keywords: diversity, elections, ethnic conflict, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea combines two unusual fea- impact of ethnic conflict on the state. The reason tures which should make it a case of special for this is relatively straightforward: outside the interest to scholars of ethnicity and ethnic con- Bougainville conflict and (to a lesser extent) the flict. First, it boasts one of the developing recent upsurge of violence in the Southern High- world’s most impressive records of democratic lands, ethnic conflicts in Papua New Guinea longevity, with more than 40 years of continu- have not presented a threat to national govern- ous democratic elections, all of them chara- ment. Most conflict in Papua New Guinea takes cterised by high levels of participation and place at the local level. While this does not make candidature, and numerous peaceful changes of such conflicts inherently less important, it does government. Even more striking, however, is limit their impact on national issues. Of course, that Papua New Guinea has combined this local conflicts can, if left unchecked, eventually extended record of electoral democracy with rise to challenge the state itself – as occurred in high levels of ethno-linguistic fragmentation Papua New Guinea’s neighbour, the Solomon and inter-ethnic violence. The conventional Islands, in 2001–2003 where tensions between wisdom is that such a level of diversity and populations of the two of the main island groups, conflict poses significant challenges to success- Malaita and Guadalcanal, resulted in the capture ful nation building and governance. Some and overthrow of the elected government. observers of Papua New Guinea politics, for However, in large part because of the unique example, have argued that its ethnic fragmenta- nature of its ethno-linguistic structure, this kind tion represents a ‘formidable and intractable’ of conflict for control of the state itself has never impediment to nation building (Premdas, 1989: been a serious threat in Papua New Guinea. This 246). However, while having experienced a paper therefore examines the disparate impacts number of secessionist movements, most nota- of local and national-level forms of ethnic con- bly on the eastern island of Bougainville, Papua flict in that country. New Guinea has so far been able to maintain both its territorial unity and an impressive record of formal democracy. Ethnic structure and ethnic conflict in This paper argues that the overall effect of Papua New Guinea ethno-linguistic diversity in Papua New Guinea The state of Papua New Guinea is a colonial has been to reduce, rather than increase, the construct. Unlike parts of neighbouring Indone- © 2008 The Author doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2008.00357.x Journal compilation © 2008 Victoria University of Wellington Ethnic conflict in Papua New Guinea sia, there was no history of state-like organisa- them to distinguish themselves (and be distin- tion in the country before European contact. guished by others) – then PNG may have more Instead, society was made up of thousands of than one thousand such ethnic groups within its small, acephalous and largely independent borders’ (Levine, 1997: 479). tribal units. Such political entities as existed While distinct from the larger cultural group- ‘were both relatively unstable and small. Not ings around which ethnicity is often defined in many effective political units contained more other contexts, for the purposes of this paper, an than a few hundred people, although on occa- ‘ethnic group’ constitutes any of these larger sions thousands might cooperate for a specific or smaller cultural-linguistic groupings whose battle, or in trade and ceremonial exchange. members tend to act collectively for political Membership of even the smallest primary purposes. Even using Levine’s relatively con- groups was unstable – as people married in and strained definition of ethnicity, it is clear that the out, disputes arose between rival leaders, and level of societal heterogeneity within Papua inter-group warfare forced some members of New Guinea is exceptionally high by compara- each group to choose between the claims to tive standards. It is also clear that there is sig- their loyalties of, say, their residential or their nificant internal variation within Papua New kin group’ (Parker and Wolfers, 1971: 16). Guinea, with some regions being relatively Papua New Guinea is thus in many ways a homogenous and others, especially in the High- state in search of a nation. In geographic terms, lands areas, being exceptionally fragmented. it comprises roughly half of the world’s second Considering the lack of overt racial distinc- largest island, New Guinea, and about 600 tion between them, the depth of cleavages smaller islands, including the far eastern island between ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea is province of North Solomons, better known as often striking, and can be partly explained by Bougainville, which has a history of separatism geographic factors. Papua New Guinea has from the rest of the country. Papua New Guinea some of the world’s most dramatic terrain, with has a complex colonial history. Until 1942, the a vast range of mountains and valleys running country comprised two separate jurisdictions – through the middle of the mainland (’the High- Papua and New Guinea – which had originally lands’) and an extensive arc of populated vol- fallen under British and German rule, respec- canic islands off the coast – all of which create tively. Before the 1930s, the populous High- severe difficulties in terms of isolation, access lands interior of the country was essentially and transport. Accordingly, ‘most groups devel- unknown to outsiders. After assuming responsi- oped their own physical and cultural identity in bility for the different territories, Papua New isolation...communities living on different Guinea was administered by Australia from the sides of the same highland valley sometimes early years of the twentieth century until 1975, speak languages as distinct from one another as when it became independent. Spanish is from Italian’ (Souter, 1963: 49). On most measures of ethno-linguistic diver- Although few groups were entirely isolated, and sity, Papua New Guinea is probably the most many had ally groups with which they con- heterogeneous country in the world. At the ducted trade and marriage, relations between latest count, some 852 different languages are many were characterised as much by hostility as spoken by a population of 5.3 million people by cooperation. Traditional contact in the High- (see May, 2003a). This extreme degree of lin- lands, for example, often took the form of inter- guistic diversity translates into exceptional cul- mittent tribal warfare between clan groups tural fragmentation. As in most of Melanesia, (Reay, 1982). Moreover, within the main lan- Papua New Guinea’s basic cultural unit com- guage groups themselves, there are also often prises ascriptive extended family networks or deep and bitter internal divisions. ‘clans’ which form the primary unit of political Part of the difficulty of defining what consti- and social loyalty (Hogbin, 1973: 23). Stephen tutes an ethnic group in Papua New Guinea is Levine writes that ‘if ethnic communities are the sheer variation of its ethnic structure, which understood to be groups possessing a distinctive limits the ability to make generalisations. For language, custom and memories – traits that example, in lowland areas the population of give its members a sense of unity and cause ethno-linguistic units normally ranges from a © 2008 The Author 13 Journal compilation © 2008 Victoria University of Wellington B. Reilly few hundred to several thousand, whereas in but also other goods and services and, perhaps the Highlands these groups are much larger most importantly, public offices which provide (de Lepervanche, 1973: 1065). There has been an entry-point to the resources of the state itself. little detailed assessment of the total number However, the process of these many micro- of ethno-linguistic groups in Papua New ethnic collectives competing to secure desired Guinea, but estimates of the number of sepa- outcomes for their own group members inevi- rate ‘political units’ (i.e. clans) range from tably and inexorably create a massive collective 2000 to 18 000.1 If a larger unit of base mea- action dilemma for the country as a whole.2 The surement is used, such as ‘tribes’ (i.e. aligned combined effect of many small ethnic groups or related clan groupings), then we are still acting to secure their own interests