Act Now PNG

ACTION ALERT

Opposition to the so-called 'Maladina' amendments is entering a CRUCIAL stage as Parliament will sit again next week.
The amendments will change the law to weaken the powers of the Ombudsman Commission and protect Members of Parliament from possible criminal investigation for fraud and corruption.
ACT NOW! is therefore urging ALL its members and supporters to get involved and have your voice heard.
What CAN you do?
1. Download a copy of the Community Coalition Against Corruptionpetition and get all your family, friends and colleagues to sign - the petition includes details on where to fax or send the form once you have enough signatures
2. Email your personal message to ACT NOW! telling MPs what you think about the amendments. ACT NOW! will be writing to all MPs next week and we will include all your personal messages. So this is your chance to speak directly to all 109 MPs
Latest developments in the campaign against the amendments include:

• Transparency International announcement that it has collected 6,000 signatures to be presented to Parliament - read more
• Packed Forum on April 23 at the University of PNG where students unanimously opposed the amendments - read more
• Ombusman Commission submission to the National Executive Council opposing the changes published on the ACT NOW! website - read more
• Don Bosco Techinical College announcement of its opposition to the proposed changes - read more

Remember, this is an important opportunity to have your voice heard and for YOU to make a difference.
Please ACT NOW! and download the petition and send us your email
If we can stop the proposed amendments then our MPs will realise they have to start listening to us, the people of PNG, and we can start to get our democracy working again. So this really is the time to ACT NOW!
Thanks for getting involved

Madang Road Break Away

A Capture of Imagination and Expansion of Vision

This article was sent in by one of my ex-school mates, who is in Beijing, China studying. It is an article written by Professor Mahbubani.
Prof. Kishore Mahbubani is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and has just published a book titled The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East. He previously served as Singapore’s ambassador to the United Nations and as president of the UN Security Council.

http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/geopolitics/the-asia-renaissance

The Asia renaissance

By Kishore Mahbubani

26 February 2009

Tehran is the new Shanghai.
All of Asia is awash in a sea of modernity. The march to modernity launched by Japan during the 1860s as part of the Meiji Restoration has finally crossed China, Southeast Asia, and India to reach West Asia. The fastest-growing economies in the world are found in the region from Tehran to Tokyo. Trade flows are massive. Borders are open. A much-heralded automobile race from Tehran to Tokyo proceeds via Kabul and Karachi, north across Karakoram highway to Urumqi, finally reaching Beijing and Pyongyang and crossing to Tokyo. As competitors speed across this vast region, they view a landscape ruled by peace and prosperity.
The Arab world too is awash in modernity. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, founded in Saudi Arabia in 2009, has the largest R&D budget in the world. Young Arabs are the world’s most optimistic youth, excited about their futures. Many visit the great exhibitions in Baghdad and Damascus to learn how the magic of the great caliphates is being restored.
During the late 20th century, many Western experts predicted contentious geopolitical rivalries between the rising Asian powers, especially between China and Japan or China and India. Instead, the great Asian cultural renaissance now reminds Asian societies that they were all part of one culture before Western colonization divided the region. Nalanda, India’s ancient center of learning, which was founded more than 1,500 years ago, has once again become an educational center: the Harvard of the East. Scholars from Kabul and Samarkhand, Jakarta and Hanoi, Seoul, Beijing, and New Delhi once again flood to Nalanda.
In contrast to the geopolitical calm in Asia, Europe is now a tired, old continent that cowers before the Islamic renaissance. Each time the Arab League meets, Europe fears that new demands could be imposed on it to open its societies to Muslim migrants. In the face of an aging population, Europe has already “imported” 100 million young Middle Eastern Muslims; they are the region’s most dynamic and economically productive population. Still, despite several high-level Christian–Islamic dialogues, the millennia-old division between the two civilizations and their populations continues.
Torn between its Pacific and Atlantic destinies, Russia finally decides to join the European Union and is welcomed in by a worried Europe. Decision making no longer rests in London, Paris, and Berlin. Instead, the Moscow–Berlin axis dominates. The British, like the Portuguese, can barely remember that they once ruled a global empire.
The only consolation the British have is that English has become the common language of the European Union, the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Central Asian Caucus. With the English language comes a common set of values concerning how nations and societies should behave toward one another. The principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have become truly universalized. The world becomes a more “civilized” place.
In 2035, the US Congress decided to adopt two official languages: Spanish and English. This facilitates the nomination of the great grandson of Fidel Castro as secretary of state in 2040. He has two major challenges before him: rising demands from Latin America for the United States to join the Latin American Free Trade Association, and an equally pressing demand to join the greater Asian sphere of peace and prosperity. The nation’s still-growing Hispanic-American population demands closer ties with Latin America, while economic logic requires the United States to plug into Asia and avoid further global decline. In frustration, Fidel Castro IV cancels all trips to Europe, calling them a total waste of time. Only the assistant secretary of state for Europe visits European capitals.
In Africa, Nigeria and Sudan have broken into several states, while Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Ghana have become success stories. A recent wave of investment from China and India has fueled the economic expansion of several sub-Saharan states. Most modern African leaders were educated in Asian universities, and they look to the East as they make their plans for the future. The president of South Africa proposes a new Indian Ocean zone of prosperity; as a first step, South Africa and Indonesia set up a free-trade area that revives historical maritime links.
Global leaders are now primarily concerned with truly global challenges. There are no more doubts about the dangers of global warming. The Maldives has disappeared beneath the sea and New Orleans has abandoned its dikes. New diseases rush across the planet. In response to the need for enlightened global leadership, the leaders of China and India have convened a conference to plan a new global architecture, declaring that the UN structure, dating to 1945, has become totally outdated. They commit themselves to creating a new global organization by 2045.
In a new version of the UN Security Council (UNSC), the world agrees that each region should have one permanent seat (with limited and controlled veto powers) and that only China, India, and the United States will have unlimited veto powers. The regions vested with veto powers in the UNSC are the African Union, ASEAN+4, the European Union, the Arab League, the Latin American Union, and the Central Asian Caucus (including Turkey and Iran). The council now has 9 permanent members (instead of 15); this new council declares its determination to put global issues ahead of regional and national interests. The UN General Assembly becomes a true global parliament, with each country represented by three votes: the government, civil society, and the private sector. Majority decisions must be adopted by majorities in all three sectors. The UN also creates a new Council of Civilizations to promote understanding across civilizations.
Western universities now complement the study of the great Greek and Roman thinkers with those from China, India, and the Islamic world. The Asian universities do the same. The mental framework of the world’s global elite is no longer dominated by Western thinkers. Instead, when they meet, the world’s leaders also speak of the caliphates and the Mughal rulers, the Tang dynasty, and the greatness of Genghis Khan.
These global developments lead to the eventual disappearance of interstate wars. Minor domestic insurgencies persist in the weaker states, but these do not threaten global peace and stability. The whole world is mesmerized by the prospect of a giant asteroid crashing to Earth in 2050, drawing humanity away from local or even national focuses. All this leads to a greater sense of common humanity, with all civilizations and societies declaring that they should focus on their future survival, not past discords. National anthems are done away with in favor of one common ode to humanity. The survival of the human race and planet Earth become the number one preoccupation of all humanity, and all past divisions now seem strange and irrelevant.


Albert K. Tobby
Beijing

New Community Hall for Karkum village

 MADANG’S Karkum villagers have impressed Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish with their initiative to set up community projects.    Picture Courtesy of The National

MADANG’S Karkum villagers have impressed Australian High Commissioner Ian Kemish with their initiative to set up community projects.
Mr Kemish visited Karkum in Sumkar last Thursday and Friday where villagers are building a community hall using the Australian High Commission’s Head of Mission Direct Aid Programme (HOMDAP) funding.
Mr Kemish witnessed the work being done on the community hall which will be a multi-purpose facility used for village meetings, training, and clinics for women and children.
“It is a real pleasure to be here to see how the community hall HOMDAP project is progressing.
“I am particularly pleased that the Australian High Commission can support communities like Karkum who have displayed great initiative and successfully set up other community projects in the past,” Mr Kemish said.
A turtle restoration project and village water supply project are two projects Karkum has successfully set up and Mr Kemish was happy to see the people of Karkum working together to raise their standard of living.
“I’m confident that the community hall will be of great benefit to the people of Karkum when it is completed,” Mr Kemish said.

LBC Warriors win Easter 9s Cup

                      The Warriors Team after their 9's Tournament Win. Pic courtesy of the national

THE Lae Builders and Contractors (LBC) Warriors won the pre-season Easter Nines Cup challenge of Madang Rugby Football League after sailing through the tournament undefeated.
The Warriors boosted by a donation of K2,500 from Lae Builders were relentless in their onslaught against other teams in the seven-club competition.
They ensured archrivals, Ela Diwai, are beaten during the grand final winning 14-8 in extratime on Easter Monday.
The Warriors bagged the Easter Cup and K400 and a further K100 for being minor premiers while Diwai settled for the runners-up trophy and K200.
In the junior (U19) division grand final, Diwai prevailed over Warriors in an equally close encounter.
Warriors’ co-captains Hector Morris and Daniel Ikiwa said the victory was a morale booster for the club as they prepare for the the 2010 season this weekend.
LBC Warriors are also hosting their club launching night at the Unity Hall of the Modilon Campus of Divine Word University on Saturday night.
SBS Mendi Muruks, who would be travelling to Madang for a trial game against a Madang side on Sunday, are expected to be at the Warriors’ launching.