{"id":10443,"date":"2024-01-18T13:25:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T03:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=10443"},"modified":"2024-05-07T14:05:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T04:05:57","slug":"papua-new-guinea-png-riots-a-new-nature-of-violence-and-a-cause-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/papua-new-guinea-png-riots-a-new-nature-of-violence-and-a-cause-for-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea (PNG) riots: a \u2018new\u2019 nature of violence and a cause for concern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEAN JACOBS<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Pent up rage\u2019 is a term that springs to mind after recent violent looting in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Port Moresby. \u2018Opportunism\u2019 is another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A supposed computer glitch<\/a> on the national government\u2019s payroll system left many public servants \u2014 including soldiers and police \u2014 without pay. In a nation of almost<\/a> 12 million, where an overwhelming majority are living kina to kina (PNG\u2019s currency), the error has sparked an eruption that, in the words<\/a> of Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop, is \u201cunprecedented\u201d and \u201cnever happened before in the history of our city and our country.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being born in Port Moresby \u2014 and living on and off there over the years \u2014 I incorrectly predicted that the looting would be localised to the national capital. I was woefully wrong, with violence also spreading<\/a> to PNG\u2019s second largest city Lae,  where apparently<\/a> seven have been killed \u2014 and otherwise relatively peaceful towns such as Kavieng<\/a> in New Ireland Province. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is clearly something dark emerging in PNG, which is challenging the fundamentals of its democratic, cultural, and social settings. Violence sadly is not new to the South Pacific nation \u2014 tribal fighting<\/a>, a ten-year civil war<\/a> in the province of Bougainville, matched with a small<\/a> police force and ongoing law and order problems<\/a>, point to perennial security and stability issues in PNG. Yet the contagion of the recent eruptions \u2014 where individuals feel permitted to loot in one town because it\u2019s happening in another \u2014 is a curious and concerning development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political scientist Francis Fukuyama observed<\/a> of PNG that it has a major collective action problem, which is the result of its severe cultural fragmentation. Fukuyama labelled this \u201cboth a blessing, and an obstacle, to development,\u201d primarily because it meant there was no dominant ethnic group to seize power and, at the same time, no largescale political incentive to deliver public goods beyond narrow kinship circles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet this recent violence \u2014 PNG\u2019s new<\/em> violence \u2014 partly challenges this position, because it shows an unusual form of collective action, which is at odds with common small-scale and disconnected disorder experienced in PNG. I am not suggesting here that nationwide looting is any way organised \u2014 it is clearly not. But its contagious nature is of high concern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of a way forward from here, a starting point to address such breakdowns is to massively increase<\/a> the size of PNG\u2019s police force. This is unpopular<\/a> among some development experts, yet there are clearly kinetic law and order issues \u2014 seen over the past week \u2014 that require immediate kinetic responses.  Only state law enforcement can and should ultimately administer justice in PNG, not private citizens, shop owners or private security firms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The powder keg-type eruption also points to an overall anger and resentment that is palpable in PNG. Rolling blackouts<\/a> that leave families stifling in heat, hospitals that have no medicine or equipment<\/a>, roads<\/a> that can\u2019t be driven on, schools that have no basic amenities<\/a> and whose teachers go unpaid<\/a>, all point to massive failures and competency issues among all tiers of government. In the private sector, the issues amount to a similar frustration \u2014 constant flight<\/a> cancellations and delays, black spot network failures<\/a>, astronomical data<\/a> and real estate prices<\/a>, fuel<\/a> and currency<\/a> shortages, and banking \u2018technical errors<\/a>\u2019 at crucial holiday times, are just a few of the examples of the frustrations of contemporary life in PNG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this in no way justifies the choices of handfuls of individuals in the past week, it does become easier to see why resentment \u2013 as a general attitude and response to government failure \u2013 is becoming so widespread. Citizens in any democracy can see legitimacy in government when it at least performs competently. Yet with the kinds of failures cited above, legitimacy wanes and frustration builds, creating a troubling sense of \u2018unity in disappointment and resentment\u2019.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, this will only become increasingly difficult to arrest in PNG. Prime Minister James Marape\u2019s Government clearly has its work cut out for it in 2024. Calls for a vote of no confidence are mounting<\/a>, with six MPs at the time of writing within the Marape government resigning. While Marape still has a strong majority, the fact that his power rests on an increasingly brittle political alliance will no doubt be on the minds of ministers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, it is a much less optimistic start for PNG than last year, when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed<\/a> PNG\u2019s national parliament, setting the tone for an internationally focused PNG, inking international security deals<\/a> and agreements<\/a>. On the events of last week, former PNG Prime Minister Peter O\u2019Neill has already taken aim<\/a> at the Australian aid program and for its direct PNG government funding \u201cnot helping the safety and security of our country that is now virtually at war.\u201d This casts light on how foreign assistance \u2014 and the agreements inked last year \u2014 may be able to assist PNG in addressing its increasingly desperate situation. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

AUTHOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean Jacobs is a Papua New Guinean-born Brisbane-based writer,<\/a> government relations and public policy specialist<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEAN JACOBS\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u2018Pent up rage\u2019 is a term that springs to mind after recent violent looting in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Port Moresby. \u2018Opportunism\u2019 is another.  A supposed computer glitch on the national government\u2019s payroll system left many public servants \u2014 including soldiers and police \u2014 without pay. In a nation of almost 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