Papua New Guineans at a local reugby league match. Photo: Facebook/PNG National Rugby League Competition
As Papua New Guinea's Golden Jubilee approaches, academics, judges, civil servants, diplomats and students are this week looking at the last 50 years, the present and the future.
Among the speakers is former Bougainville President John Momis, the last man standing from the group that prepared the country's constitution in the early 1970s.
RNZ Pacific asked its correspondent in PNG Scott Waide what PNG can point to as its most significant achievements over the past 50 years, and what are the prospects for the next 50.
(This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Scott Waide: I think one of the biggest highlights is being able to exist as a country of multiple tribes and 800 languages, that I guess, is a feat in itself - being able to live in one country without breaking apart, as you would see in other places.
And even given that it has come with a lot of challenges, and we have seen the challenges over and over again: the tribal conflicts that continue to happen, the violence that continues to happen. For me, it is the teething problems of a very, very complex country that is struggling to keep itself united.
Don Wiseman: Do you think that it's getting worse, or is it as it's been for 20 or 30 years?
SW: It is actually getting worse, and these are problems that can be fixed if there is political will. Two of the biggest issues that we need to solve: the land issues and the law and order issues that we continue to face because it is a complex country.
You cannot really apply one application of how to deal with land and law and order. It is not one size fits all. So that has been the challenge of both politicians and provincial police commanders trying to find that common ground to fix the law and order issues.
We have just had several key legislation for lands passed just in the last parliament, and that is targeted at those very issues that I talked about in terms of land management and customary land ownership, customary land protection.
DW: To a large extent, there are the laws in place, there are the institutions, but is the law being enacted?
SW: The cycle of justice is broken. That needs to be fixed and it is a huge priority that has been overlooked for 30 years. We have allowed that to continue and continue. Our jails are overcrowded. The police is struggling to deal with influx of people displaced by private conflicts, the population is increasing. All of that together has put an enormous amount of strain on the services, the ability of the systems of government to cope.
The other important thing to note is that, while laws are being enacted, the implementation, the enforcement of those laws, is still very weak, and it is a systematic weakness that needs to be addressed.
DW: As you say, it's very, very complex, the situation facing Papua New Guinea. Do you think the country can get on top of it? What are the next 50 years going to be like?
SW: It needs very strong political leadership, and at the moment, the leadership is weak because the Prime Minister has to manage his own internal politics and keep his numbers. That is our biggest downfall, and that has been the case since independence.
Every government that comes in has to maintain political stability within its own ranks before it can even go out and try to do the work that it is supposed to. So going forward, if that particular aspect of governance and political stability can be fixed, then Papua New Guinea will prosper.
