P.N.G. Gossip Newsletter - 6 Feb 2003

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PNG Gossip Newsletter Meri Milne Bay

Welcome to the

Papua New Guinea Gossip Newsletter


A very special welcome is extended to any new readers. If you have comments or suggestions to make then please click here.

C O N T E N T S

Tok Pisin General Links
Accommodation Links East New Britain Accom
West New Britain Accom Port Moresby & Central Accom
Milne Bay Accom Morobe Province Accom
New Ireland Accom West Sepik / Sandaun Accom
Western Highlands Accom Diving Links
Marine Conservation OPM Clean-up
OPM Camps University of PNG
Anglican Church Miss PNG Quest
Lihir Gold Production Swim Record
Southern Highlands Female Students
Madang Breakout St John's Ambulance
Languages Languages of PNG
International Airport (Rabaul) East New Britain
Visa Laws Plantations
Mining Department Rice Production
Jimmy Maladina Peter O'Neill
National Capital District Air Niugini
Kundiawa / Gembogl Road Koki Point Road
Travel Allowances Plastic Bags Ban
Fatima Catholic Station The Drum
Fast Money Scam Post PNG
Education Sites List Merge
PNG Media Related Sites em tasol

 

Articles for this newsletter

To send a message for submission to the PNG Gossip Newsletter -- then please click here.

 

 

 

Neo Melanesian

"Pidgin English"
Tok Pisin English
Februeri February
daka pepper used with betel nut
de bilong wok workday
dia expensive
didiman agricultural officer
dinau borrow
meri female / wife / woman
gel / meri girl
hausboi / hausmeri servant
i no gat man o meri free (vacant)
pamuk meri harlot
planti man na meri crowd

 

 

Remember that this mailing list is mainly meant for people who have an interest and already know a little bit about the people and geography of Papua New Guinea. The PNG Kina, which is mentioned from time to time in this newsletter, is currently worth around 24.0 - 24.5 United States cents but varies on a daily basis.

If you are really keen on finding out what the Kina is worth a currency converter for most world currencies can be located at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/moni.html

Want to find out more about Papua New Guinea? Try searching at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo and http://www.michie.net/png_faqs. The PNG Business and Tourism Directory located at http://www.pngbd.com is also an excellent place to look for PNG information.

For those who are not so familiar with the geography of Papua New Guinea I suggest taking a look http://maps.google.com and then click on the find a map option. Go to this link for a quick start to a link to a map of Port Moresby. http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/pom-map.html

Also remember that the accuracy of the information in this newsletter should not be relied upon - it is, after all, a gossip newsletter.



Links

Bill Purcell's Website -- http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/billsview/

Bill, a pilot, has sections dealing with Tok Pisin and PNG Aviation in General with special areas on Missionary Aviation Fellowship, PNG Airstrips, Humour and even some airline related humour. This site has more than mentioned above so my tip is to visit and take a good look around.

His section on PNG airstrips carries the following disclaimer. PNG Airstrip Data is published only as a guide to pilots in matters helpful to operations, such as GPS settings, wind characteristics, and surface conditions. The PNG AIP-AGA is the legal document governing aviation operations.



General Links

Privatisation Commission -- http://www.ipbc.com.pg

Tufi Dive Resort and Telita Cruises -- http://www.tufitelita.com/index.html

Larry Santana's PNG art pages are located at -- http://www.santartgal.com.pg



Accommodation Links

see http://www.pngbd.com/forum/f73s.html

and the following link will take you to the Coral Sea Hotel website which covers these hotels around PNG.
Gateway Hotel (Port Moresby)
Melanesian Hotel (Lae)
Highlander Hotel (Mount Hagen)
Coast Watchers Hotel (Madang)
Huon Gulf Lodge (Lae)
Lamington Lodge (Popondetta)
Hibiscus Motel (Port Moresby)

http://www.coralseahotels.com.pg - They also look after Budget rent a car.



East New Britain Accom



Hamamas Hotel -- http://www.OntheNet.com.au/~hamamas/index.html
Kaivuna Resort Hotel -- http://www.kaivunaresort.com
Kokopo Village Resort (East New Britain) -- kvr@global.net.pg
Kulau Lodge -- http://www.global.net.pg/kulau
Takubar Beach Resort -- lomotaku@global.net.pg
The Beach Hut Lodge - beachhut@daltron.com.pg
Vavagil Guest House -- vavagil@global.net.pg



West New Britain Accom



Walindi Resort -- http://www.walindi.com



Port Moresby & Central Accom



Coral Sea Hotels -- http://www.coralseahotels.com.pg
Ela Beach Hotel -- http://www.elabeachhotel.com.pg
Golden Motel -- rbasix@daltron.com.pg
The Weigh Inn Hotel -- theweighinn@global.net.pg
Granville Hotel -- http://www.islandshotels.com.au
Magila Hotel & Backpackers -- http://www.magila.com
Loloata Resort - 15 minutes from Port Moresby -- http://www.loloata.com
Pondorosea -- P.O.Box 6361, Boroko Fax - +675 323 4555
Budget Inn -- budget-inn@dg.com.pg Fax: +675 321 7396



Milne Bay Accom



Alotau International Hotel -- http://www.alotauinternational.com



Morobe Province Accom



Lae International Hotel -- http://www.laehotel.com.pg



New Ireland Accom



Nusa Island Retreat -- http://www.nusaislandretreat.com.pg
Lissenung Island Resort -- http://www.lissenung.com
Tree House Village -- http://www.treehouse.com.pg



West Sepik / Sandaun Accom



Sandaun Motel -- http://www.sandaunmotel.com.pg



Western Highlands Accom



Hagen Airport Hotel -- mmakap@online.net.pg
Haus Poroman Lodge -- http://www.hausporoman.com.pg



Dive Sites


If you are interested in diving in PNG then any of the following websites may be of interest to you -
http://www.underwaterphotos.com/tiata2.htm
http://www.cathychurch.com/png.html
http://www.diversionOZ.com/epngdive.htm
http://www.worlddive.com/phgal/png/pngpix.htm
http://www.blueseacharters.com
http://www.febrina.com



Marine Conservation



Please also have a look at http://www.egroups.com/list/marinenetpng

 


 

News Items




OPM Clean-up



The Government has given police orders to push members of the Operasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) off Papua New Guinea soil.
A joint police / military operation has commenced and troops are now being deployed into the border area to destroy any known OPM training camps inside the PNG side of the border. Any members of the OPM found will be arrested and dealt with under the law of PNG.



OPM Camps



It has been claimed that officials from the Australian High Commission and the American Embassy have visited Vanimo and later visited the camps, facilitated by the Catholic Church in Vanimo, against the orders of the local authorities. The Catholic Diocese of Vanimo has denied it had facilitated the visits by officers of foreign missions.



University of PNG



Traditionally the 2500 students from the Waigani and Taurama campuses of the University of PNG use water that costs the university about K1.3 million annually on water. Hopefully this will be history when a bore water system currently being installed comes into use. The main water tank for the bore-water system has already been installed and the pipelines are in place. It is expected that the university will start using the new system when the treatment facility is put in place in the next few months.



Anglican Church



The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Port Moresby, Peter Fox, has ordained two new priests at Saint Mary's Church in Gerehu last weekend. The Bishop at during the early 1980's was the parish priest of the Gerehu Church.



Miss PNG Quest



The 2003 Miss PNG Red Cross Quest will be launched at the end of the month. The reigning Miss PNG Red Cross Yaku Ninich has made plans to visit provincial centres to see projects sponsored by the quest after the 2003 launch.



Lihir Gold Production



Lihir Gold Limited located in the New Ireland Province has recorded its best-ever gold production producing 168,443 ounces from 1063 kilo-tonnes for the last quarter of 2002. The company produced a total of 607,087 ounces of gold for the year 2002.



Swim Record



A swimming record that has stood for 15 years has finally been broken by 15 year old Krystle Babao. The new 100 metres backstroke record for 15-year-olds is now 1 minute 14.37 seconds which eclipsed the previous time of 1:14.47 set in 1988 by Beryl Madouna at the Pacific School Games in Sydney. 16 year-old Ana-Liza Mopio-Jane has also swum a national record in her age group for the 200m freestyle in a time of 2:14.16, bettering Emma Huckins' 1992 time of 2:14.33.



Southern Highlands



A gang attempting to rob the Mendi town Post Office with a pistol and what looked like a rifle came across more than what they bargained for when police were quickly on their trail and chased the robbers across two nearby rivers, catching three of the five men involved in the hold-up. Two others managed to escape when a police car ran out of fuel and could not apprehend them. The three men who were caught had to face the wrath of members of the public who injured them.



Female Students



The National Council of Women says that there are more females gaining places in universities and secondary schools around PNG,
Statistics show that there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of women attending universities compared to previous years.



Madang Breakout



Over 30 inmates are on the run after escaping from the Beon provincial jail in Madang recently. Most of the inmates are remandees awaiting trial for serious offences such as rape, murder and robbery. The inmates managed to escape during heavy rainfall that cracked a concrete wall of the prison.



St John's Ambulance



It has become a regular occurrence that the St John's ambulance service is always waiting for release of grants from the Finance Department. This time the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) have bailed them out by providing fuel for the ambulance vehicles. NCDC raised a cheque of K10,000 to Lifu Holdings for the payment of fuel costs. The cheque was presented to the St John's Ambulance Service at the Lahara Shell service station



Languages



Some of the 800 plus languages spoken in PNG are under threat of becoming extinct. The Summer Institute of Languages has reported that at least nine languages have been lost since 1950. Five more languages have less than five speakers remaining. The major problem appears to be the widespread use of Pidgin throughout the country.



Languages of PNG



The National or official languages of PNG are Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin and English.

The number of languages listed for Papua New Guinea is 832. Of those, 823 are living languages and nine are considered to be extinct.

For information on the languages a visit to http://www.sultry.arts.usyd.edu.au/ling/research/papuan2.html will start you off in the right direction. Another interesting article is located at http://www.krysstal.com/langfams.html. It deals with language families and mentions the Rotokas language - Rotokas is spoken in Papua New Guinea on the Island of Bougainville by approximately 4,300 people and it has the fewest sounds of any language, 11 (compared to the 44 or so of standard English). These 11 are made up of five vowels and six consonants: A, E, I, O, U, B, G, K, P, R, T. - can you imagine that - a language with only 11 sounds. Six of those are used in the name of the language.

It has been reported that PNG has one language for every 900 square kilometres of the country or roughly one language for every 350 square miles for those readers who are not familiar with the metric system.



International Airport - Rabaul



The National Government has announced plans to extend the Tokua (Rabaul) airport to cater for international flights. It is anticipated that Japanese tourists may soon be pouring into PNG via Tokua airport in East New Britain Province. The Japanese government has indicated that it is willing to help because Rabaul had colonial ties with Japan.



East New Britain



A local leader in East New Britain has called on the five national parliamentarians that represent the East New Britain people to visit their electors in the province. The five politicians had planned to go on a radio talk back show but many people in East New Britain do not have access to telephones so they would not be able to ask questions of the members unless they visited the areas personally.



Visa Laws



The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has foreshadowed major changes to the immigration law to give foreign investors, business executives and long-term residents five-year residency visas at the Business Council of PNG breakfast at Crowne Plaza Hotel.



Plantations



The Agriculture and Livestock minister will be seeking Government and industry support for a bold plan to re-vitalise Papua New Guinea's agricultural plantations to make them productive again. The decline in the plantation sector - coffee, coconut and cocoa over the last decade had been a disaster for the nation's economy and for thousands of families who depend on a strong, growing agricultural sector.



Mining Department



The Mining Department has had several aborted attempts to occupy office spaces in Port Moresby. The attempts at moving has seen the department pay more than K190,000 for the fit out of buildings. The department has paid for the fit out of two floors of the Deloitte Tower and Datec Building but never moved into the buildings.



Rice Production



The Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, is determined to see the production of rice go ahead despite critics saying that PNG people would be inefficient. If rice production was successful it would see the replacement of up to K700 million in rice imports annually. A similar amount is spent on wheat and flour.



Jimmy Maladina



It is hoped that police have a strong enough case to have Jimmy Maladina extradited from Australia. Mr Maladina was probably the controversial person at the recent National Provident Fund (NPF) inquiry. His passport is currently in the possession of the trustee appointed by NASFUND (formerly NPF). Mr Maladina has legitimate residential status in Australia and is entitled to the full protection of the laws of Australia.



Peter O'Neill



The Industrial Relations Minister, Peter O'Neill, who has been mentioned numerous times in the National Provident Fund enquiry and referred to the police for alleged perjury investigations will not be asked to step aside from his parliamentary duties.



National Capital District



A report on security at the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) has found that the services were unacceptable, costly and highly political. The report stated that from early January to October 2002, NCDC engaged a total of 13 security groups to provide security services. According to the report, the groups engagement appeared suspicious and unbudgeted for, showing an over commitment of K2.14 million.



Air Niugini



The top workers at Air Niugini were all called to a top-secret meeting at the Gateway Hotel just across the road from the airline's headquarters at seven-mile. What was discussed was supposed to be reasonably secret and not meant to go to the press until a suitable press statement had been prepared. Well this is PNG and although the meeting ended at after 10pm the front page of one of the newspapers managed to carry the main points of the story the following morning. The other daily in PNG carried the story two days later hidden away inside the paper.

What was so important that it made front-page news? -- http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20030130/news13



Kundiawa / Gembogl Road



A major landslide has damaged the Kundiawa/Gembogl road in the Chimbu Province. PMVs (Public Motor Vehicles) are forced to drop off passengers on one end of the road and then the passengers have to walk to the other end and get a ride on other waiting PMVs. This has been an ongoing problem and nothing has been done to solve it. The landslide also destroyed nearby food gardens.



Koki Point Road



Here is a note I made sometime back -- 11 March 2001 - Start of "real" work on Koki point road. Bottom road closed to traffic. The preliminary works started a couple of months before that! As of this edition of the PNG Gossip the bottom road is still closed to traffic and there is no sign of any likely hood of the job being finished. The same goes for all other roadworks that ground to a halt after the 2002 elections. The five-mile intersection now has a crater like appearance and drivers have made as many different tracks as possible through the halted roadworks in a bid to find a smooth patch of road.



Travel Allowances



The Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) has said that Government Ministers and their staff are the main offenders who do not acquit travel allowances. Allowances are advanced and then receipts or invoices are never produced. Over K150,000 in allowances has not been acquitted as required over the past three years.



Plastic Bags Ban



As from next month plastic bags will be banned in the Western Highlands Province. Businesses in Mount Hagen will be given enough time to use up all the plastic bags that they have in stock.



Fatima Catholic Station



The Fatima Catholic station at Banz, Western Highlands, has been hit by a land compensation claim from landowners. A petition presented by the landowners and signed by eight chief landowners has called for K12 million compensation for the developed portion of Fatima parish and also for the church to relinquish the title of the undeveloped portion back to the landowners. As mentioned in a previous edition the Fr Peter Secondary School is also tied up in the same claim. The developed portion of the land contains the Fatima Vocational School, Fatima Primary School, the Good Shepherd Seminary and the Fr Peter Secondary School.



The Drum



The famous Post Courier Column "The Drum" has been in the electronic age for sometime now. For all of those people who are familiar with The Drum you can now email titbits of gossip to thedrum@spp.com.pg or you can still send a facsimile message to +675 320-1781. For those not familiar with The Drum then I suggest taking a look at the Post Courier website located at http://www.postcourier.com.pg and follow your nose to "The Drum".



Fast Money Scam



Hundreds of people in Lae have paid membership fees to a group calling itself the Papalain Association. Agents of the association have been collecting membership fees of up to K55 per ticket over the past few weeks, promising to pay the investors huge sums of money in return. People are concerned that this is yet another fast fast scheme taking the money from gullible investors.



Post PNG



POST PNG has become solvent and self-funding since the second quarter of last year (2002). Post PNG has signed a K250,000 contract with a Queensland-based software company to supply Post PNG with software and upgrade the computer system.



Education Sites



http://www.pngmc.ac.pg -- PNG Maritime College
http://www.dg.com.pg/Che/index.htm -- Commission for Further / Higher Eduction
http://www.ibs.com.pg -- International Business Institute
http://www.iea.ac.pg -- International Education Agency
http://www.pngimr.org.pg -- PNG Institute of Medical Research
http://www.unitech.ac.pg -- PNG University of Technology
http://www.uog.ac.pg -- University of Goroka
http://www.upng.ac.pg -- University of PNG
http://www.workersmutual.com.pg -- Computer Training



List Merge

This newsletter has been sent out using the List Merge (listmrg.cgi) script by Ron F Woolley of Melbourne, Australia. I obtained the script from http://www.dtp-aus.com website. Ron also has other scripts such as a Visitors Book, Graphic, and plain text counters etc. His scripts, as he mentions many times over in his documentation, are not for the beginning perl script installer but for "intermediate" level experienced CGI installers but then again if I can do it then it mustn't be too hard!

 

 





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-- THE END --

Some of the ways of saying "that's all" are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of Technology in Lae. -- http://www.unitech.ac.pg

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Created 6 Feb 2003
Updated 16 Feb 2003

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