Third Goal: National Sovereignty and Self-Reliance

By Peter Fauma

Introduction

National Goals and Directive principles are home-grown set of objectives and aspirations founded upon the traditional customs of the indigenous people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and were incorporated into the Constitution of PNG. It was set as sense of direction and a guide for every PNG citizen, neither Big Men nor grassroots, regardless of our diverse cultures, to conform to in pursuing and achieving our aims.  More importantly, it captured the very own traditional diverse cultures, beliefs and values and identified proper and applicable mechanisms to promote them. “The five goals and directive principles are inscribed in the preamble of PNG’s Constitution. In 1974, a Constitutional Planning Committee travelled right throughout PNG in an unprecedented attempt to articulate the people’s hopes and needs for the new country”.( Our Pacific Ways, 2012)

This paper is produced to review and evaluate PNG in terms of National sovereignty and self-reliance.  It seeks to see if PNG is fully exercising its power as an independent state or still partly independent. Mainly, it sets to express what this National Goal mean to me as an individual of this great Nation. The National Goal and Directive Principle covered in this paper is notably the Third Goal: National Sovereignty and Self-Reliance.

Despite the Goal being a National Goal and its inscription in the preamble of the Constitution, there was much deviation from it or in simple terms, no one is seriously taking this goal into consideration or it is yet to be realised. It’s just another paper plan, put there to decorate the constitution of PNG. Therefore, the principal purpose for covering this Goal is to remind us that we are Papua New Guineans and in order to see change and progress, we have to go back and realise this National Goal along with other four Goals inscribed in the preamble of our Mama Law (Constitution).

As far as this National Goal is concerned, the main discussion in this paper will be based on Political Independence, Economic Independence and Self-Reliance in a consecutive order respectively. The discussion is mainly about my sentiments, basically what it means to me, on these three main components of National Sovereignty and Self-Reliance and what we should be doing as an independent state in regards to this National Goal and Directive Principle. 

Political Independency

From personal perspective, Political Independence is when our Government has the full authority and power in making impact national decisions for the nation, which are more or less free of foreign influence and control. Apparently, the construction of National Parliament and Constitution are the benchmark and symbol for authority and ultimately full independence. However, the main meaningful independence measurements and evaluation are based on how effectively the government is exercising its power as an independent body of authority in national matters. It is where the government exist to operate in the best interest and will of the indigenous citizens of a nation, rather than serving neither the interest of handful elites nor private and multinational organisations (Foreign investment). Serving such interest keeps our government under the control of foreigners in one way or the other, which in turn sees government neglecting its own people.

Namarong in his online blog stated that, “Political independence in its fullness finds itself in the way Political Power is exercised by the Citizens of a Nation State. In order for Citizens to exercise these powers, they must have greater political capital than any organization, institution or foreign influence. A nation State, in which its Citizens have less Political Capital than other third parties, is not a politically independent state”. (Namarong, 2012). He decided to use political capital as a marker of true political independence as it expresses who has greater influence on the agenda of a nation's highest legislative entity-Parliament.

It follows from what have been said that it is a fundamental goal of the people that Papua New Guinea should make its own decisions, and that its sovereignty should not be reduced by external political, economic or military dependence; that national leaders should always be free to make national decisions. (PNG Constitutional Planning Committee Report, 1974)  Now we want these words to be actions to lead us towards realising and achieving our Sovereignty goal and gaining full political independence. All in all, political independence is the exercise of the general will of the citizens by their government.

On the basis of this definition as well as personal sentiments, National Sovereignty and Self-reliance is basically all about government reforms that differentiates itself from the colonial manner of administration, which is better termed as Western Model of Development. This model of development, as many critics have mentioned, is inducing our government to be dependent or serving the interest of foreigners and not becoming the true representative of the people who voted them in. On his internet blog, (Namarong, 2012) identified this so called western model of development as the root cause of all evil in PNG, particularly a flawed system in our political system.

From personal point of view, I see that if our government keeps on preserving this foreign imposed model, then it is more likely that the government will function perpetually in the interest of the foreigners and few elites without worrying about Integral Human Development, Equality and Participation, and National Sovereignty and Self-Reliance, which were formulated by Papua New Guineans on the basis of our own general will and traditional values.The current model, which is a colonial legacy, is deliberately designed by westerners in a way that it will induce the government to function in their interest, even after we have given the opportunity to govern ourselves. Moreover, Western Model of Development disempowers indigenous people and leads to Law and order problems and more importantly make political instability prevalent in every government. It is pretty obvious here that, this model is not in the interest of PNG citizens and contradicts with our traditionally established values. Besides, many of the directive principles integrated into the preambles are seriously ignored or given very less attention as our elites are engaging in activities which are not anywhere near our home-grown national goals and directive principles .

Therefore, Political independence to me means that we should go back and fully grasp the entire eight (8) directive principles inscribed in our constitution under preambles forNational Sovereignty and Self-Reliance and put them into tangible practices. Furthermore, I believe that Political independence will be better experienced if our Political system is reformed on the basis of PNG values. This would mean full political independence and free from imperialism or more preferably Western Model of Development. “In talking about political reform, let’s not constrain ourselves to the box of the current Westminster system. Let’s go back to the forgotten goals of the Constitution, which captured the traditional values which our Melanesian cultures are built on. If the current political system does not respect those values – or those of our Constitution – perhaps it is time to talk about a system that does”. (Our Pacific Ways, 2012)On that note, achieving stronger government decentralisation and Devolution would be of great beneficial to the people of Papua New Guinea and be a breakthrough for full political independence. As former Constitutional Planning Committee member John Momis said recently, “We must not be afraid to make a detour from wayward ways and go back to the past that the National Goals and Directive Principles of our Constitution prescribe for us”

As far as Political Independence is concerned, another main area that’s undermining the political independency for PNG is none other than Foreign Influence. As per directive principle, it is stated in principle eight (8) that, “the constant recognition of our sovereignty, which must not be undermined by dependence on foreign assistance of any sort, and in particular for no investment, military or foreign-aid agreement or understanding to be entered into that imperils our self-reliance and self-respect, or our commitment to these National Goals and Directive Principles, or that may lead to substantial dependence upon or influence by any country, investor, lender or donor.

Looking at our current progresses and indicators, particularly realities in PNG, these directive principles are not being conformed to all along, in spite of being included in virtually all the past and present development plans. One on-going problem that triggers foreign influence is the public debt outstanding’s of PNG. Due to insufficient fund provided by our dependent economy to service these debts, the government always branches out to International Agencies such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for assistance in servicing our domestic budget deficits. Subsequent events include, IMF and World Bank with other international aid agencies devising and recommending policies for our government when there is a shortfall in repaying the debt. These international aid agencies require PNG to implement a range of economic and administrative policies not necessarily of the nation's own choosing. They are incompatible set of policies for a country with diverse cultures. The following is an extract from an interview with Stanis Kaka, which serves as evidence that we are controlled by Foreigners when or government engage in seeking foreign loans;

The World Bank and the IMF came in [in 1991] and offered ‘assistance’, and the Papua New Guinean Government accepted. Since then we have been told that we are millions of dollars in debt to them, but we can’t afford to repay. In 1995 the World Bank and the IMF declared our debt unpayable, and came up with 27 policy conditions that the government had to implement by 1996, or Papua New Guinea would not be able to access any more loans.

Furthermore, even Churches and other Non-Governmental-Organizations who indirectly supply resources by playing the role of the State, undermine political independence. Thus, what Political Independence and the Goal of Sovereignty and Self-reliance mean to me as an individual is that, our government reformed in a way that it really reflects the wills and values of PNG, critically decentralised government system, instead of operating in accordance with the flawed system left behind by Whiteman, less foreign assistance of any sort, government functioning in the best interest and will of its people and recognition of our National Goals and Principles and also full authority and power over national matters without any sort of outside influence. Moreover, Government agencies should fully functional and productivity and efficiency in Public service should be effective to achieve full political independence. In addition, it also means that people have full power and authority to execute decisions about the destiny of their nation. Authority must has the resource capacity, meaning, it should have its own resources and needs, supplied by its own people so that, it serve the will of its people in return.

Finally when our government becomes the true representative for our people, then we might as well see full political independence. All in all, we are politically independence at this stage, but not economically independent. Political independence is only a facade if the nation is not economically independent (Namarong, 2012). This takes us to our next set of discussions, which are on Economic independence.

Economic independency

“In any context, Economic Independence means local ownership of resources and the means of production for the utilization of natural wealth (aka natural resources). Local ownership is crucial to having the General Will of the People being expressed through a Political Authority. Economic independence is the control of the wealth of a nation by a majority of its citizens”. (Namarong, 2012)

As far as Economic Independence is concerned, these are some of the main areas, only to mention a few, that from empirical observation that have the potential in driving PNG to achieve full economic independency. Or in simple words, we should be seeing these economic activities happening in PNG after 37 years of Independence.

Firstly, a point worth stressing and as expressed by the definition above, is domestic ownership of wealth. The real economic independence can be seen and felt if the government has the capacity to provide for its own resource needs or own resources necessary for domestic development. Moreover, in order for the government to fully exercise its power as an independent body, it should discourage the ownership of resources by a few elites or foreigners, as it will function in their interest and reflect their will.

More importantly, it is the citizens who should be supplying the needs of the state if we are to see our nation achieving full economic independence. On his online blog, Namarong (2010) stated that, “all Governments need resources to exercise their power. It is therefore in the interest of Governments to ensure that they have a sustainable and reliable supply of resources. If the state owns and supplies its own resource needs, then the state promotes its own interests. If citizens supply the resource needs of the state, the state protects the interests of its citizens. If corporations supply the resource needs of the state, the state protects the interests of corporations. If resources within a political boundary are owned and exploited by foreigners or a few elite, the Political Authority or Government reflects the will of these parties.

Secondly, the most important inducement for economic independence is less dependent on foreign aid and allowance of Foreigners to stimulate our economy and to bring tangible development to our rural communities.  Discussions on foreign influence expressed in Political Independence were mainly on impact it is having on decision making on national matters. This time around, the discussions based mainly on foreign influence are in terms of foreign grants, Aid, Donor Funds and ultimately Foreign Investment which drives our economy. It is evident in PNG that our economy is greatly dependent on foreign investment to foster major economic activities such as employment opportunities and government revenue generation in PNG. For example, almost all mining companies are foreign owned and the current leading developer, ExxonMobil for LNG Project is not even nationally owned. It is therefore evident that, greater portion of economy influenced by external forces, as in higher foreign investments by overseas companies, which provide greater employment opportunities to citizens than the PNG government. This is not economic independence.

Namarong (2012) mentioned that, “in order to develop economically, Papua New Guinea requires aid in the form of human resources, capital and technology. More than fifty percent of the nation's income is derived from aid. The aid is not without its conditions, however. In receiving this aid, the PNG government undertakes to abide by the conditions set by the aid agencies. This means that the government does not have a free hand in the development of its national policies”. I've been writing about the importance of PNG being self-reliant and have lain out in my recent articles, how the people in this country ended up being dependent on "outsiders to bring development".

According to an internet website (Economy Watch, 2010) It was stated that “Papua New Guinea's economy is dependent on agriculture. A majority of Papua New Guinea's population is dependent on agriculture. More than 70 percent of the country's exports are mineral deposits like oil, gold, and copper. World Bank aid and support from Australia help in maintaining Papua New Guinea's economy.” Instead of seeing World Bank and Australia taking lead in maintaining economy, we should see PNG government playing this lead role if we are dying to achieve full economic independence.

The economies of the developing countries of the world are in most cases strongly affected by foreign interests.  Papua New Guinea is no exception.  A study made last year by the Australian Government's Joint Intelligence Organization is reported to have found that almost two-thirds of the developed section of Papua New Guinea's economy is controlled by Australian companies and individuals.  And with the rapidly increasing extent of Japanese involvement in large scale economic activity here, it is clear that we Papua New Guineans at present control only a very small part of our own economy, and will remain in this subservient position unless firm action is taken to change the existing situation in a meaningful way. (Constitutional Planning Committee Report, 1974)

All these dependence on aid in any form disempowers the government in doing activities that it should be doing as an independent state. So I would say that this is the real independence struggle of Papua New Guinea. Political independence was gained, but we are struggling for economic independence now. And so far two people died in 1996, four died in June – and probably we are looking at 1,000 people dying before we get economic independence. With the blood of those people, we will get economic independence. (Kaka, 2012)

Thirdly, In order for our government to create broad based employment for its citizens a, Rural Development opportunities and basic service delivery, the National Informal Economy Policy must be given much attention. Recognition and strengthening relationship of Informal sector besides Formal sector (cash economy) in the case of PNG where we have dualistic economy can be a breakthrough for PNG. A recent interview in Our Pacific Ways (2012) showed that the Government’s focus is all about mining, commercial fishing, commercial logging – big industry and less or even no attention is given to smallholder extension services, ultimately the informal sector.

There’s big potential there because that’s what we are good at doing and that’s what we are-promoting PNG ways. And also it doesn’t take 15 years of training and education to work the land in PNG. We are productive people and it comes naturally in a sense that local people, even without any proper knowledge in agriculture can produce something and sell. We will do it if given enough incentives in terms of better infrastructure, ports and markets for domestic production. Policies devised for this should be people-friendly, producer-friendly. All we need is better transport network and general infrastructure to support the people. Moreover, equality and participation as well as integral human development and equal distribution of income which the government is duplicating in almost all development plans are more likely to be achieved.

Thus, creating opportunities by realising potentials of our subsistence economy or giving priority to nationally owned enterprise to drive employment in PNG can be able to induce PNG to be economically independent. “In 2011 the National Informal Economy Policy was launched to promote “the informal economy as the ‘grassroots expression’ of the private sector and a partner in the formal economic system of Papua New Guinea.” The policy advocates growth of, and greater civil participation in, the informal economy, regardless of gender, urban or rural location, and ultimately socio-economic inclusion for all involved. (Wilson, 2012)

Finally, for our economy to be fully economically independent, we might as well consider having a developed Manufacturing Sector, in terms of down streaming processing. Mainly, PNG current Export is consisting of mainly raw materials straight from the Primary Industry; Agricultural and Mineral and Petroleum). This is the central attraction for foreign investment and it’s going to remain that way unless our government takes a step forward on this sector of the economy. It is not necessary that we handover our resources to foreigners in order to see progress. If it was, the Founders of this nation would not have called for National Sovereignty and Self Reliance or for the wise use of natural resources or even for our own model of development as articulated by Goal number 5 of the Papua New Guinea Constitution. A lack of independence means that the most important decisions of our country are able to be taken by foreign interests. This is already present in our country, with parliament and government proving their inability to safeguard the people’s well-being and welfare for many years now. (Renagi, 2010)

After discovering all this issues associated with economic independence, what economic independence really mean to me as an individual is that our government owning the wealth of the nation and getting only its own citizens to supply its resource needs, not from any other third parties, as in foreigners. More importantly, economic independence nation should not be relying on foreign aid and investment to maintain its economy. Furthermore, economic independence means people of the nation are in charge of generating cash, which stays in the domestic economy, stimulating it over time. As pointed out by Namarong (2012), Economic independence is the control of the wealth of a nation by a majority of its citizens. On that note, developing the subsistence or informal sector in Papua New Guinea can really contribute to the overall independency of our cash economy. Also improvements in road networks and basic infrastructure can serve as motivational factors to people in sustaining their lives and enabling equal distribution of income in the economy. Last but not the least; the government should create an economy whereby its debts are serviced domestically. This can prevent it from relying on outside assistance. In relation to this, having a developed manufacturing sector of the economy can be able to push towards achieving an independent economy.

All in all, for PNG to be really economically independent, let’s not forget about the eight (8) directive principles that were accordingly called for under National sovereignty and self-reliance in the Preamble of our constitution. It’s the foundation that’s going to lead us towards full economic and political independency and almost everything expressed in the National Goals are in PNG ways. Why is our government turning blind eye to these goals and seeking foreign advice in managing the economy? I personally believe that, we will achieve Sovereignty and Self-reliance only when the government seriously conform to these National Goals and Directive Principles.

A Self-Reliant Economy

When PNG is seen as achieving the above, then it is becoming self-reliant. If we can be able to create that then we have a reason to celebrate independence anniversary every year on September 16. On the basis of discussions executed above, it is evident in social indicators that this National Goals have been just mere paper plans with not much attention given to it and less nor little progress made on them. 

National sovereignty and self-reliance are very, very important. National sovereignty calls on leaders not to sell their people’s rights. Not to allow this country to be ripped up and raped by foreign investors. National sovereignty calls on leaders to reject bribery. National sovereignty calls on leaders not to use public funding to make investments overseas while their constituents are barely making enough money to buy medicine, school fees, and so on. Self-reliance means embarking on a massive program of empowering people to get involved in small scale socio-economic activities. Activities that would take into full account the Melanesian way (Momis, 2012)

Conclusion

Nothing is Papua New Guinean in nature in Papua New Guinea itself. For example, western education system that I am now in and the language I am using now in not even Papua New Guinean. 37 years is a very long time. Inap lo yumi kamap developed country pinis. It’s time we shift away from imperialist control and colonialist and neo-colonialist exploitation and approach full independence on the basis of our very own National Goals and directive principles. To me, These National Goals are very relevant and applicable in today’s context as they are in founded upon the values of Papua New Guinea.

Let’s take China and Japan and other fastest growing economies in Asia for example. Are they using English in their own country? They have strived to achieve the elimination of imperialist domination and influence (including that exercised through local placemen) and realization of full independence, both political and economic, has become the ardent aspiration of the indigenous people. They have set a good precedence for us to follow and nation like ours with our own unique ways is no exception. I assume that if we keep on holding onto this model of development, allow them to intervene in policy making, and keep neglecting our PNG ways, we will remain like this for the next 100 years.

In reality, PNG was allowed to have formal political independence; we are in fact still dependent on the imperialist countries economically or even politically. It is evident as we can see that we depend too much on foreign aid and investment to stimulate our domestic economy. Moreover, PNG is a member country in international agencies such as IMF, World Bank and ultimately United Nations and commonwealth. We must open our eyes that these countries are expanding in terms of technology and manufacturing at the expense of our resources. In simple terms, it is the agenda of white-men to keep the black men poor all his entire life and for that they have influenced us with their western ways of doing things. It’s obvious that everything we do is in their interest without realising. They have brought a system in which, we do the work and they get all the benefits and profit and the only thing left for us is deteriorated social indicators and people living below poverty lines and political disputes which accompanies instability in the government system.

Bibliography

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*Note: Peter Fauma is a (2012) Third Year Economics Student at The Papua New Guinea University of Techonoloy. He won K3 000 for his 2013 tuition fees.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be featuring the rest of the winners and several entries. If you missed out this year. Watch this page and our facebook page Act Now! for the Our Pacific Ways 2013 National Essay Competition*