Islands Business - Politics/ PNG: SECURITY A CHALLENGE AS PNG HEADS TO THE POLL

There’s evidence of an illegal arms buildup

Patrick Matbob
Security remains the biggest challenge for PNG as it prepares for the national election set to begin in June this year.

Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen last month voiced serious concerns about security during the election period. He was concerned that PNG’s National Intelligent Organisation (NIO) was yet to present a threat assessment report on the election.

NIO chief, Bob Nenta, said they were carrying out their own assessment on the election but had not been asked for a report.

Illegal guns in the community... pose a serious threat to elections in PNG.

Commissioner Trawen’s concern follows evidence of a build-up of illegal firearms in the highlands of PNG which was posing a serious security risk to the election.

The PNG newspapers have been running stories and photographs of tribesmen in the highlands armed with military weapons that have been obtained illegally from the country’s disciplined forces.

Two years ago the Guns Control Committee formed to investigate and campaign against the growing number of illegal arms in PNG warned the national government there was a real threat that illegal guns would be used in the 2007 elections. The committee’s report was presented to Parliament last year, however, the government has not taken any actions since.

A member of the Guns Control Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the Post-Courier newspaper, Oseah Philemon, has also been concerned about the security issue.

In a recent editorial, he described the NIO report on security of the election as “too little, too late” and “should be torn to pieces and thrown into the rubbish bin”.

“NIO should have advised the government about the threat of illegal guns years ago and recommend ways in which this problem should be tackled—instead of waiting until the eve of the election,” Philemon said.

Meanwhile, a recent study by Philip Alphers, an associate professor at theUniversity of Sydney’s School of Public Health, has revealed that in the Southern Highlands alone, there were 2450 factory-made firearms owned privately, of which majority were assault rifles obtained exclusively for use against humans.

However, security forces operating in the province have recently put the number of arms as high as 15,000. The Southern Highlands Province is currently under a state of emergency since August last year with its provincial government suspended following widespread abuse of powers and corruption within the provincial government.

Police and the army have been deployed to maintain law and order in the province. One of the tasks of the security forces was to disarm the warlords in the province. But to-date, very few weapons have been recovered. The security forces who believe the weapons were being kept for use during the national election, were considering asking the government to extend the amnesty period for the weapons to be handed in.

Meanwhile, the PNG Police and Defence Forces have also been independently assessing the security situation. However, both have also expressed concern about the shortage of manpower to carry out effective operations during the election.

The disciplined forces have been experiencing a reduction in numbers due to the retrenchment of officers since 2002.

PNG Defence Force Commander, Commodore Peter Ilau, also said the force needs K2 million to service its aircrafts so that they can be used for contingency operations during the general election.

VOTERS’ CONCERNS: The 2002 general election throughout the highlands region was disrupted by gun related violence and the situation in the Southern Highlands alone was so bad that polling had to be suspended for some months.

Meanwhile, voters have also voiced concern about the changes that have been done to the ballot papers for the election. In the past, names and photographs of candidates appeared on ballot papers for voters to identify and mark. However, this has been changed and the new ballot papers are smaller and without candidates’ pictures.

Instead, a poster with photos, names and numbers of candidates will be provided separately at the polling booths. The sizes of ballot papers were reduced to make them portable so they could be easily transported to the remote areas.

However, illiterate voters are worried they would need the help of officials to identify their candidates’ names and numbers. This, they say, could lead to widespread cheating and dishonesty.

An illiterate elder in the Western Highlands, Nelson Pot Doa said: “If we ask people who are literate to help us cast our votes, they will trick us and we will end up voting for the candidates they support. How will we know?”

With a few months remaining, it is unlikely the ballot papers will be changed. The Electoral Commission is continuing its awareness campaigns throughout the country about the Limited Preferential Voting system, introduced for the first time since independence.

So far 3 million voters have registered on the new electoral roll and the commission is urging eligible voters to come forward and register. The electoral rolls used in 2002 have been discarded after a review.

Commission Trawen said the rolls had been hugely inflated and corrupt with so many ghost names and double entries which existed since 1975.

The commission is relying on village authorities such as councillors and village recorders to assist in compiling the rolls in ward areas which should make the communities and wards accountable for their own rolls.

The commission will do a comprehensive quality control check on the rolls before they are gazetted and declared as the 2007 electoral rolls.