NTS the right step for a viable film industry in PNG

NBC Managing Director Joseph Ealedona and Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare at the launching of National Television Service.
By MALUM NALU
SEPTEMBER 16, 1975, was indeed a momentous occasion for Papua New Guinea as we gained our independence from Australia.
And September 16, 2008, was likewise a significant date on PNG’s calendar as the country finally received its long-overdue television station.
The common denominator in both 1975 and 2008 was that Sir Michael Somare was there was prime minister.
I was also there in 1975 as an eight-year-old child in Goroka, and now, as a 41-year-old widower and father of four young children in Port Moresby.
“The dawn of a new era”...”proud moment for PNG”...”the world will now know PNG” were some of the phrases used on Tuesday this week to describe the launch of the State-owned television station in Wewak, East Sepik province.
The National Television Service (NTS) was switched on at the Port Moresby studio at exactly 6pm after the ceremonial launch in Wewak by Sir Michael.
Large screens were set up in Goroka, Mount Hagen, Rabaul and Port Moresby to watch the new service of mostly pre-recorded programmes.
As the TV screens assembled outside the NBC Wewak studios showed the live transmission in front of Sir Michael and invited guests, the Prime Minister hugged 10-year-old Manus twins, Debbie and Barbie Sipasan, and watched the screen with a big smile.
National Broadcasting Commission managing director Joseph Ealedona shed a few tears - overwhelmed with emotion to see the success of two years of hard work.
In Port Moresby, as I watched the transmission, I was likewise overwhelmed with emotion like my journalism classmate Joe and tears rolled down my eyes as my children asked me why I was crying.
It had taken so long, and at last, Sir Michael had lived up to his words by delivering an independence gift of a national television station on September 16, 2008.
The night started off with Yumi Yet, a nostalgic look at footage from September 16, 1975, moments forever etched in time.
This was followed by an address to the nation by Sir Michael on the setting up of NTS.
Then came Angels of War, a balanced view of WW11 from both the Allied and Japanese perspectives, with snippets from Papua New Guinea’ fuzzy wuzzy angels’, members of the Pacific Islands Battalion, as well as heroes like East Sepik’s Yauwiga with his one arm and blue eye, courtesy of an Australian donour.
Young Goroka-based journalist, Llane Munau, got the show running by introducing Chris Owen’s Betelnut Bisnis, a documentary on the trials and tribulations of his security guard, a wannabe buai tycoon.
The night ended off with Tin Pis Ran, starring my old Lae buddy and ex Aiyura National High School schoolmate, Oscar Wanu, a skit on the adventures of an old man, his offsider, his daughter and his happy-go-lucky PMV truck.
Communications Minister Patrick Tammur pulled down the curtain on a fine night of entertainment by committing the station to a lot of local content.
I asked myself, after watching all the PNG content, why we don’t have a viable film industry in the country after all these years.
EMTV also had the opportunity to promote local content for more than 20 years but failed miserably,
These days, with the advent of television, video, VCDs and the Internet, the movie projector has become as antiquated as the time-honoured typewriter.
Kids today have become virtual couch potatoes, intoxicated by daily doses of foreign programmes like Neighbours, Bay Watch and Mr Bean.
The 70’s that I grew up in was an epoch of PNG classics like Wokabaut Bilong Tonten, Marabe, and the later Tukana: Husat I Asua, to name but a few.
Documentaries like First Contact, Shark Callers of Kontu, the satirical Cannibal Tours and Trobriand Cricket won acclaim both here and overseas.
There were also local productions on the likes of agriculture, health, family planning and small business - seemingly destined for greatness.
The missionary zeal of the now-defunct Office of Information needs to be rekindled.
In those days, officers carried projectors to rural areas and showed development films, meaning that people actually participated in development.
When the government abolished the OI, PNG started having problems because information on development wasn’t getting out to the people, particularly the vast majority in the rural areas,
Sadly, as is the case with most things in PNG since September 16, 1975, things have fallen along the wayside.
In 2000, I wrote a series of articles for The National out of Goroka for PNG’s silver jubilee, one of which was an interview with local filmmaker Rodney Sinaune: “If the government seriously looks at the importance of this industry, it will help a lot in the development process.
“People will be educated if we use the mass media; they will become equal partners in development.
“There have been many productions made about PNG (by expatriates), but we are not supporting a local industry.
“People from overseas are gaining mileage out of us.
“We should have local content and participation.
“The need is there, the demand is there, but the government needs to give proper direction.
“The government should also look at setting up another TV station, as there’s a lot of material being produced, but no medium over which to broadcast.
“It should, perhaps, also look at the creation of a National Film Commission.
“If the National Executive Council, through an Act of Parliament, creates a National Film Commission, everything will be alright.
“The film industry will also employ a lot of people.
“The government, for far too long, has overlooked the industry.
“Bureacratic red tape is also a big problem.”
I know that film makers like Chris Owen, Rodney Sinaune, Leonie Kanawi, Ignatius Talania, Baike Johnston, and many others, will finally breathe a sigh of relief with the setting up of NTS.
It is, perhaps, a case of ‘better late than never’ as Sir Michael has finally seen the plight of the people of this country and set up a TV station, which will also hopefully create a strong local film industry, in the twilight of his career.

Greenpeace gets blasting

FORMER Gulf governor Riddler Kimave has slammed the recent interference of logging operations in Kikori, Gulf province, by activist Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, descri-bing it as “economic terrorism”.
Two weeks ago, Greenpeace environmental activists protested aboard a logging ship that was bound for China.
Mr Kimave said the arrival of Esperanza on Sept 3 sabotaged legitimate logging operations in the east and west Omati and east and west Sirebe sites in Kikori.
Mr Kimave is the principle landowner of the Dokovi clan in west Omati.
He said he had, in the early 1980s, negotiated with the State to usher in much-needed services and development with the help of logging company, Turama Forest Industries (TFI).
Forest management agreements were signed between the Omati and Sirebe landowners, State and TFI for commercial logging to take place.
“It is about time the Government takes a bold stand against Greenpeace who had made it their business to taint legitimate legal logging operations to capture media attention worldwide,” Mr Kimave said.
He added that the timber industry in Kikori was a major contributor to development in the district apart from the Kutubu and Gobe projects and the Government must stop outside interference.
The timber rent issued by the State to TFI was to harvest logs and provide appropriate premium payments, royalties and annual benefits to the locals and pay school fees for children attending school under forest management agreements.

Truely Unique

I was invited by the Head Teacher of the Ward Strip Demonstration Elementary School to attend and witness the school's cultural show this morning from 8 to 12pm.

The school children were all divided into the four regions, Highlands, Islands, Momase and Southern to take part.

I was part of a small crowd of about a thousand including parents, teachers, friends and relatives that gathered despite the heat of the sun to witness the show.

Mrs. L Turia when giving her opening remarks said, "PNG is truely blessed with the diverse cultures and so many languages and tridtions, furthermore the school decided to host this event as one of the curriculum is based on the cultures/traditions of Papua New Guinea".

I have decided to post these above pictures for those who read this post to know that even the kids here in Papua New Guinea can sing and dance like their older people.

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MY RAMU TRIP

The Ramu River is narrow and very lightly populated compared to the Sepik River with long, winding stretches full of snags and sandbars between villages. It is one of the many famous rivers in Papua New Guinea after Sepik, Fly, Strickland and of course Kikori, Purari and Markham.

The local inhabitants have lived along the river for many millenia and have depended on it as the basis for food, transport and culture. Sago is the main staple, supplemented by fish, gardens and irregular access to tradestore goods like rice.

The Sepik-Ramu basin originated as an inland sea. When tectonic and climate changes began around 6,000 years ago, the basin evolved into the present river system. The Ramu River originates from the Kratke range in the Eastern Highlands of PNG where it travels approximately 640km north -west to Bismarck Sea.

Excavations by the PNG National Museum on middens near Bosmun on the Lower Ramu show human occupation along this earlier marine shoreline transitioning to river floodplain about 1,000 years ago.

It is in Madang Province, and was discovered by the early German explorers in the 1880s.

My first trip to Ramu was in 21st January 2007, I left Port Moresby and headed to Lae and spent a night at Lae Travellers Inn. The following morning, a Monday we took off on a hire car to Ramu heading for Usino.

For me this was my first ever trip to travel by car towards Madang along the highway as I considered it to be a bit dangerous. Though I've been to Erap in 1996, I really enjoyed the scenery and along the Markham Highway all the way to Ramu Sugar. It took us about two and a half to three hours to reach Ramu Sugar to refill the vehicle and also a stop over for me especially to have look around before we continued.

After about an hour later we drove into the Usino junction passed the market and went into a friend's place to unload our stuff and wait for the other oarty coming over from Madang. As we were unloading, there was a haevy down pour but we braved the rain.

My colleague and I decided to get on a PMV and head to Madang and to see if we can meet our friends on their way to meet us or if not make it all the way to Madang and find out about the delay in them getting to Usino. However, we met them half way and got onto their vehicle and came back to Usino.

By then it was getting late so we had to make our way to Usino station and spent the same night with the District Administrator (DA.

The next day we tried to make our to Boko, to board our motorised canoe to our destination, Boko is where the Ramu Nico is based which they had already built a bride across the Ramu River to mine the nickel.

In my next posting I will inform you of my wonderful trip down Ramu River and back to POM.

B Mobile sold

* K130 million deal with Americans and top super funds *

THE Government has sold 50% of mobile phone company B Mobile, owned by Telikom, to a consortium made up of two American companies and PNG’s two major super funds.
The deal, approved by the Telikom board, was given the nod by the National Executive Council last Friday.

The partial sale was for US$45 million (K130 million).
B Mobile owners, Telikom PNG, have been under pressure to upgrade its ailing infrastructure and lift the game following the entry of World Bank-backed competitor Digicel, which controls about half the mobile phone market.

Members of the Telikom board and management and Independent Public Business Corporation officials revealed the complex structure of the sale, under the Government’s private public partnership approach, to the media yesterday.
Under the deal, the mobile phone business will be managed by a company called Black Dolphin Ltd in partnership with Capital Way Consortium in a 50/50 joint venture.
Capital Way Consortium is made up of Trilogy International Partners LLC (20%), General Enterprises Management Services (GEMS) Ltd (20%), Nasfund (5%) and Nambawan Super (5%).

The consortium will own 50% of Black Dolphin Ltd, and Telikom will own the other 50%.
Trilogy is an American company that invests in wireless telecommunications operations outside the US. It has operations in Bolivia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. GEMS is a US$750 million private equity fund that invests in telecommunications companies around the world.

It had previously been reported to have held talks with third mobile phone company Greencom, which has yet to launch in PNG.

Telikom board members and management spent yesterday morning explaining the deal to staff of both Telikom and B Mobile, and assuring them that no jobs would be affected.
With Public Enterprise Minister Arthur Somare and Telikom chairman Gerea Aopi unavailable, it was left to Telikom board member Albert Veratau to announce the deal.

Mr Veratau admitted Telikom’s infrastructure was old and outdated, and the consortium would bring much needed cash and technical expertise to raise the game to meet world standards.He said the partial sale was much better than two sales in the past that fell through.

“This deal would bring much-needed cash injection, and we still own more than half of a strategic asset in Telikom’s 50% and the 10% held by the super funds,” Mr Veratau said.He said Telikom PNG was fortunate to have the joint venture agreement with these successful companies under the Government’s public private partnership programme as they bring with them a wealth of management and financial capacity to boost B Mobile activities in PNG.

The new venture would be chaired by Telikom director Anthony Smare with representation from the Capital Way Consortium and Telikom.
Mr Veratau also said the infusion of capital and expertise into the B Mobile joint venture would allow customers enhanced access to efficient, reliable and competitive mobile phone services and ensure retention of its position as PNG’s largest mobile phone carrier with the best network.

“The joint venture would serve the dual purpose of enabling Telikom PNG to focus solely on upgrading its core network to world status, realising greater value from its international gateway, and improving and realising greater value from fixed line telecommunications network and internet services.”
Mr Smare said the deal has all the ticks and, in three years time, will list on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange.“In doing so, 10% would be floated for the public to buy shares in the company,” he said.

Mr Smare said the two American firms would make available the 10% from their shareholding for the public to participate.

National Newspaper 2nd September 2008

Papua New Guinea in Brief

Just south of the equator and right above Australia lies the second largest island with land mass of 473.189sq. km.

It is the riches in natural resources including gold, silver/copper, crude oil, nickel, coblat, copra, forestry and fisheries and huge potential in tourism.

Estimated population of 5.9 million (2006) people the capital city is Port Moresby all mostly Melanesians, and with the time zone of MGT +10 hours. It currency is PNG Kina and it's nominal GDP is about US$5.9 billion.

It's major export markets are Australia, Japan and China it mainly export oil, gold, copper ore, logs, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, and seafood. It imports machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, fuels and chemicals from countries like Australia, Singapore, Japan and China.

English is the offical language used in business and schools through out the country but Melanesian Pidgin and Motu are also widely spoken.

It has the great tourist attraction from Diving to World War II relics - it it home to spectacular world diving sites for diver, for trekkers in is also home for the famous Kokoda Trek, Bulldog and Wild Cat tracks or even just sight seeing venues.

Vanimo is known for surfing with its huge waves and sandy beaches and also Kavieng in the New Ireland Province.

There are World War II relics every where from Wewak to Rabaul and even in North Solomons Province for those interesed to see the relics. For bird watchers, there are places you can visit in Western, Oro and any province of your choice or the traveller can visit the famous Huli Wigman if Tari and spend a night or two at the Ambua Lodge and get to the mighty Sepik River and spend some time in Karawari Lodge and board the Sepik Spirit and visit the village along the river.

For more information regarding a great travel to visit this magnificant country which is rich in culture and ethnically diverse kindly check this site: http://www.pngtourism.org.pg/

Practice Management Software

LAE - PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S HEART

Lae is Papua New Guinea's industrial heart and communications centre with considerable activities in manufacturing, trading agri-business and most recently fisheries.

It connects or is the gateway to the highly populated highlands and Madang Province and provides easy access for road transport for transporting of cash crops especially coffee and also provides the largest port facilities in PNG that service about 70% of trade in the country.

Most recently there have been new investments in Lae, The Hidden Valley in Wau, RH Group's news paper printing facility and wholesale, Frabelle's fish cannery and Ramu Agri-Indutry's diversification from sugar into cattle, oil palm & cashnew nut.

Lae is home to major international and local companies and situated in the Huon Gulf and is the capital of Morobe Province. It's Airport is about 20 to 30 minutes drive from town and there is regular flught to and from Port Moresby and other domestic centres also home to UNITECH (University of Technology).

It also has other tourist attractions like the Botanical Gardens, The Universvity rain forest and wildlife Habitat.

To do business in Lae, simply contact Investment Promotion Authority through http://www.ipa.gov.pg/ or Lae Chamber of Commerce; lcci@global.net.pg

Memory Down Wawoi Falls

With over 800 languages and and a culture that is diverse Papua New Guinea is truely unique in its own way. It also boasts about its unique species of plants and animals; it has 9,000 species of plants, 250 species of mammals and most notably 700 species of birds.

From the Higlands to the coasts and the islands it has some of the most prestine and untouchable surrounds. Apart from popular water falls Biva Falls in the Southern Higlands, I had a chance of visiting Wawoi Falls in the Western Province in August of 2005.

Western Province shares a border with West Papua which is part of Indonesia and have some of the sevral large rivers which run thorugh the province including Fly River and tributaries, including Strickland and Ok Tedi Rivers, the largest lake in Papua New Guinea is the province. Birds view and a closer view of the Wawoi Falls.

If you are interested to visit the falls or other places in PNG, you can contact me for more information or email:biesmbuservices@fastmail.com

Canoe Culture of the Gogodala

Canoes are a very important part of the Gogodala Culture. They use dig out canoes for every day activities like gardening, fishing, transport, hunting, carrying house posts,transporting garden food, transporting sago and collecting firewood.

In the local language, Gogo is west and Dala meaning man, these people from Western Province of Papua New Guinea believed that their ancestors came from the west travelling by canoes. They also believe that when someone dies, their soul leaves the corpse with the rising sun on the day after death by which time it would travel to the west for its final resting place.

The Gogodala make 90 foot dug out racing canoes with elaborate prows and painted sides, paddles are decorated with owners clans. Canoes races symbolises the competitive rivalry but also the complementaries of clans.

In 2007, I visited Balimo for the 5th Gogodala Canoe Festival and saw it myself and if you are interested just contact biesmbuservices@fastmail.fm and will arrange for your travel there.