Asia-Pacific Network: 11 September 1998
POLITICS: THE TOAST OF PNG TURNS SOUR
The "independents" bloc in Papua New Guinea was elected on a wave of hope last year in the wake of the Sandline mercenary debacle. Now it is struggling for credibility.
By DAVID ROBIE
JUST OVER a year ago, they were the toast of the non-government fraternity. They were the principled group who, it was believed by many, would lead Papua New Guinea into a new era of political and social leadership. No corruption. Accountability to the people. These were some of their popular epithets.
They would never "sell out", pledged the group in the turbulent election campaign in the wake of the Sandline mercenary crisis.
But now the "independent" bloc led by a former Catholic priest and onetime broadcaster, Robert Lak, and radical Melsol activist Peti Lafanama has a tarnished image. It did a deal with Bill Skate shortly after the election to support him as the country's first ethnic Papuan prime minister.
Lak ousted a former prime minister, Paias Wingti, as the governor of Western Highlands, with a crushing victory. However, the leader of the independents has been named by at least one newspaper as allegedly being implicated in the controversial parliamentary sex tape affair which has rocked the nation.
The National reported that he had been cited in sworn affidavits by four men from the tribe of the woman arrested in the case. But most news media have been more circumspect and have not named any politicians implicated.
Lafanama, controversial governor of the neighbouring Eastern Highlands province, has been stripped of his regional seat. But in a landmark decision by the National Court in September, the judge ruled that he could remain governor until the provincial assembly meets to elect his replacement.
Dismissing an application by Deputy Governor Dufe Tivai, Judge Robert
Woods said the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments did not
say the deputy governor should assume office as governor. Also, the judge added, the law did not say that he should convene a provincial assembly to elect a new governor.
The Supreme Court had on August 28 declared Lafanama's election void on the grounds that his comments during the election campaign about the previous government's controversial land registration policies exerted "undue influence" on voters.
Judge Woods said that under section 19 (4) of the organic law, a governor must remain in power until another is elected in a byelection. He said that that section of the law had been included to avoid a vacancy in the governor's position.
Although the judge said he could not rule a date or time for the election of a
governor, it should be immediate: "Whether it be a day, a week or a month, relevant authorities must convene a meeting and elect a governor."
Immediately after the decision, Lafanama denied that he was trying to cling on to power. "The people should keep calm and respect the court's decision," he said. Claiming that some MPs were jockeying for power, he gave no immediate indication about when he would call an assembly meeting.
At the time of the election campaign last May, Lafanama was general secretary of Melanesian Solidarity (Melsol). He campaigned bitterly against a plan by the Government led by former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan to register communal land in line with pressure from the World Bank. Lafanama also condemned the Chan Government's ill-fated bid to deploy Southern African-based mercenaries on Bougainville.
It was claimed that Lafanama told voters that Chan and his cabinet had "sold" the people's customary land to the World Bank/IMF.
Land registration is a highly emotive issue in Papua New Guinea with 97 per cent of the land unalienated. In July1995, there were major protests over the issue with students seizing government cars and burning them on the campus of the University of Papua New Guinea.
It was also alleged in court that Lafanama had also claimed that the hiring of mercenaries was not just to destroy the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, but also to attack people in the rest of Papua New Guinea who resisted the Government's attempt to take away their land rights.
Lafanama and Melsol played key roles in the mass protests in Port Moresby in March 1997 against the Chan government's mercenary "adventure", as well as organising grassroots political campaigns around environmental issues.
Many NGO movements, which had thrown their weight behind the "independent" bloc, were disappointed and critical when the new MPs voted to join the Government within days of national advertisements declaring that they would remain independent.
In spite of the legal reverse to Lafanama's political fortunes, Prime Minister Skate has pledged to support him.
But controversial as the Lafanama case has been, it has been almost insignificant compared to the so-called "sex tape affair" which has either enthralled or shocked Papua New Guineans for months.
After public calls for the politician allegedly in the pornographic tape to be prosecuted, surprisingly police instead arrested the young woman accused of having taken part. The woman, Regina Pera Gibol, was arrested after kidnap claims and other bizarre twists.
After a complaint was filed against the politician, one of the men, said to be Gibol's brother, was abducted by a group of men in two vehicles. But the complainants were "disappointed" with the way police responded.
An uncle of Gibol, Joseph Andawor, said the police had referred their complaint to the police commissioner's office because it was "politically sensitive". The police had also threatened the relatives with being in possession of pornographic videotapes.
"When the tape was revealed by Sir Pita Lus in Parliament, the Police Commissioner [Peter Aigilo] said he would only act if a complaint was laid with police," Andawor told the National.
Police did finally act - they arrested Gibol.
When Gibol appeared in the Boroko District Court to face charges, armed police held back a large crowd and barred the news media. She was originally charged with making an indecent videotape under the Summary Offences Act - but the charge was time-barred and she was later rushed back to court to be charged under the Censorship Act.
Human rights lawyer Powes Parkop took up Gibol's defence. Early in September, he moved to have the case struck out on the grounds that at a hearing in a new court, the Waigani Committal Court, there was no jurisdiction to try her.
Parkop argued that the charge against her, section 74 (1) of the Classification of Publication (Censorship) Act 1989 was not an indictable offence. He also argued that the Waigani court was limited in its jurisdiction to offences within the National Capital District and a 20 km belt in neighbouring provinces.
However, the tape had allegedly been made in Western Highlands province where she was arrested.
Parkop's other argument was that under the wording of the law, only "a person who involves himself ..." could be charged. But as Gibol was a woman, he argued, the charge should be dropped.
The case awaited Senior Magistrate Allan Kopi's ruling before proceeding and before Gibol made a plea. But community groups still questioned the delay in arresting a politician alleged to be in the tape.
Police Commissioner Peter Aigilo says his office will not be "dragged or dictated to by the media" into charging any man over the tape.
He says he is concerned over the reputation of the woman and her family. Condemning the intense national obsession with the case, he lamented: "Here is a mother of two beautiful children who are innocent - we've 'killed' them really for the lack of a better word."