By FIDELIS SUKINA
Who dreams of change? I do and everyone else who is fed up with the situation here in Papua New Guinea, unequal distribution of wealth social problems and the list goes on.
We tend to live in our own secluded little areas and ignore
the fact that society is crumbling due to simple actions of disrespect not
being corrected.
Every time a person swears, words so obscene that you just
shake your head bow down and walk on,
You support the actions of that person and give him the
immunity to curse his peers in words unimaginable.
When someone is breaking bottles and cursing people we just
ignore him or in some instances, beat the living daylights out of the poor person.
Who’s the victim here? People deserve respect and that’s
what’s lacking in society these days,
“The Vision 2050” a policy document of Papua New Guinea
created to meet mandated United Nations goals and the country’s own medium term
development goals, is working towards its main goal, to shape Papua New Guinea
into “A Smart, Wise, Fair and Happy Society by 2050”.
PNG has approximately 35 years to improve its ranking and
move into the top 50 of the United Nations Human Development Index.
“Then we will be creating opportunities for personal and
national advancement through economic growth, smart innovative ideas, quality
service and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of benefits in safe and
secure environment for all citizens” according
to Vision 2050
How can we seriously improve the standards of Papua New
Guineas when almost 40% of the 80% of our population living in rural areas are
far from basic health and education services?
Standards are put in place by International bodies to help a
nation realize its slack and by realizing so try to meet the world standards.
But we are always falling short somehow, look at the recent
reports in the media Government schools in the Nation’s Capital are short by
30% of school subsidies.
Free education is a
great concept put in place to reach the United Nations Millennium Development
Goal of universal education.
But we still misuse
the money for contracts and schools end up with incomplete classrooms, which
lead to overcrowding, and the list goes on.
And these are the urban schools; imagine the rural schools
do we even know what the situation is.
It all starts with education parents are the first teachers,
they teach respect and proper attitude accepted by a modern globalized society.
To be “A Smart, Wise, Fair and Happy Society by 2050” we
need to prioritize education, because that’s where a person of the next generation is thought to
think critically, to be wise and fair in decision making and that will
contribute to a society that is less rebellious.
We have fallen on
hard times; we have been left to take charge of our country since 1975 to
improve our communities.
We must take lead away from international condemnation;
constant human rights violations are seriously crippling our worldview.
Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is on this earth,
especially here in Papua New Guinea, looking around at the poverty that
surrounds me, the complete lack of respect for society and other individuals
I am like almost all Papua New Guineans conditioned to
accept a society that minds their own business, turning a blind eye at a poor
brother or sister, a mother being physically assaulted.
What is my purpose, is it to solve these problems, but
people laugh at the idea of helping them, or they simply just say “larim ol
wantok blo em ba kam helpim em” (leave him alone his relatives will take care
of him)
What a sorry excuse for a person who flies the flag on
Independence Day and sang the national anthem and pledge each day in primary
school.
Where has all that value of Christianity gone to? So many
churches popping up around the country but still we are poor in divine
intervention, to help a poor soul physically, spiritually and mentally down and
out clinging on nothing but sheer hope.
It’s hard enough
being an outcast in a country where the extended family is a strong hold, but
to see another Papua New Guinean with perhaps a plot of land back home to toil
being forced to beg by their relatives is a disgrace.
That is not smart wise or even fair it’s just plain
exploitation, what can the welfare and community development department do to
punish these exploiters.
