Life on the edge

If you ever wondered what life without a police force would be like, come to Papua New Guinea. Madang Province, the size of Southwest England has 110 members in the police force and are virtually invisible. Life goes on without them, not in an idyllic Garden of Eden mode despite the all-pervasive Christianity espoused by one and all, but more like “Lord of the flies” or one of those wildlife television programmes. The strong get away with anything, the less strong join others in gangs and the weak and the women folk stay in groups, and indoors at night.  From my house and small compound of 6 flats, guarded by a two metre fence topped with barbed wire and a night time security guard you can hear the young men outside taunting and fighting other groups to obtain supremacy or some bottles of beer.  The settlements, accounting for a significant proportion of the town’s workforce are on edge because of the latest eviction exercise which seems to occur shortly after each election. Fighting between different clans has escalated and in true Biblical fashion revenge is taken on anyone of the same tribe as whoever committed the last offence.  Flimsy houses are burnt down and people stabbed in the street, surprisingly few deaths but no end to the troubles in sight.

Last weekend a rally of ‘concerned citizens’ lead by vocal youth groups was broadcast on radio Madang and without fully following the language it sounded like a fascist lynch mob, offering (or threatening) to take the law into their own hands and chase all the settlers from other provinces “back home” next weekend if ‘them’ at headquarters don’t act.  Nobody trusts anyone else and with over 700 local languages it’s surely like mediaeval Europe but condensed into one small Island. Councillors and the business community plead for the constitution to be changed so as to prevent free movement of citizens across Provincial boundaries and to re-introduce the colonial ‘vagrancy’ laws making it virtually illegal to be homeless and out of work. Those who seek to make a living by selling goods on the street and hopefully also gaining marketing skills are ruthlessly hounded out of the centre despite the small business laws.   

It strikes me that apart from an effective police force the lack of employment opportunities is the main issue to be tackled.  Nearly half the students leaving school each year remain unemployed whilst the incoming foreign investors largely prefer to bring their own workforce with them which does not seem to raise any immigration problems.

At all events I have a ticket home for xmas, you would think that the cheapest and most environmentally friendly route would be the shortest and quickest but not so, am bound by way of an overnight stop in Hong Kong.  Details and the return route still to be disclosed but am looking forward to the break

 The Lily Lagoon but mind the croc who lives there

 Kranket Island

coast near office