The Richest Black Christian Nation

By Willie Mell

 The slogan "Making PNG The Richest Black Christian Nation on earth" has recently made headlines on mainstream and social media both locally and internationally. But the simple question is: Is it possible?

Firstly, the Marape-Steven Government is talking more positive, all in line with the public wishes for a better change arising from economic mismanagement by O'Neill-Abel government.

Papua New Guineans are desperately expecting more from the newly installed government, and Marape-Steven Government is at the helm of causing the wind of change. And for any new event, the beginning is always packed with positive moods and excitement, and our new government is no different. But will all the excitement continue till the end, and will all the sweet echoes materialize and take tangible forms just as we wish?

In this world, anything is possible except for supernatural occurrences and creations that human beings are not capable of impacting them.

Seeing and experiencing all the economic chaos and pains the country has undergone, even common Papua New Guineans have already recommended what actions we should take to solve them. Solutions such as reduce prices of goods and services, reduce Income Tax, tangibly vibrant health & education systems, electricity & telecommunications accessibility, reduce unemployment, full ownership of PNG economy, are among many on the solution list.

With this ambitious slogan, some people remain sceptical, whilst others are anxiously waiting to see if PNG will truly become the richest black nation on earth.

Marape has been a committed Seventh-day Adventist from childhood till now and, mind you, Adventist Church promotes all the virtues and this is the culture this gentleman has been brought up in. Thus, at face-value, what the new Prime Minister is echoing to the nation is what he really wants to do. But, like he says, he is only one, hence requires collective efforts from all the key stakeholders, and those in position.

In fact  we have the best brains in all the desciplines. And, we also have all the economic resources at our disposal. With all these, Marape-Steven's dream of making PNG the black richest nation is likely and possible.

BUT! There is a huge problem that will defintely prevent us from being the richest black nation in the world! How hard we try, we will never get there!

This huge problem PNG has is the ATTITUDE (and mindset) problem! Currently, our attitudes and mindest are too far from reaching this vision.

How can we become the richest black nation, if:
1. we go very late at work, take long breaks, and go home early?
2. nepotism is a common practice in the workplaces - recruiting and promoting wantoks?
3. public servants still collect "buai/smoke money" for jobs they are paid to do?
4. we vandalize public properties and litter like animals?
5. those in power receive bribery and allow foreigners to run our reserved businesses, steal our land and resources?
6. unemployed youths and street kids perceive the vulnerables and tourists as opportunities?
7. we drink beer to the last toea?
8. we stand on street corners gossiping and talking nonsense all day?
9. we allow all the relatives living in one house, feeding from one employee or businessman?
10. we look to foreigners as gods and live by their rules?
11. we are polygamous
12. we pay expensive bride prices and compensation
13. we commercialize haus-krai
14. we want tribal fighting
15. we promote regionalism
16. we still perceive, women to be the weakest beings.

If we really want to be "The Richest Black Christian Nation in the World", do something about all these above. Good policies and implementation initiatives are SECONDARY! ATTITUDE & MINDSET CHANGE IS NUMBER 1!

Address our attitudes and we address all the problems we currently face! And surely we will be the richest black nation!

 Albert Einstein once said, "do not expect different results if you keep doing the same things". 

 We, Papua New Guineans need to change in the way we do things! We must not expect the government to do everything. 

 Our improved attitudes form the left wing and government policy initiatives form the right wing. And together we can fly high!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How SMEs can beef up PNG's Economic Growth

Image
By Willie Mell INTRODUCTION PNG is among the very few lucky countries on the planet, abundantly blessed with all the natural resources! It is referred to as " an island of gold, floating in a sea of oil, surrounded by gas" . We have all the natural resources on the land and in the sea that other countries wish to have.  Better still, and geographically, we are located on a very prime spot in the Asia Pacific region to facilitate trade and commerce to our neighbours - we can provide an ideal trade route to our advantage!  But despite our obvious economic potentials and being  a sleeping economic giant, we are rated as one of the poorest countries in the world by living standards!  Why are we being so rich in natural resources yet rated so poor? What can we do to improve our conditions, and reach our full economic potential? And, is it possible to reach our full potential? Let's study some basic economics and see if these important questions can be put t...
Read more

A reason to consider provincial or regional autonomy by PNG government

Image
We are thousand different tribes distinctly peculiar. We are actually a nation made up of a thousand plus nations. We are united nations. The roots of our distinct thousand languages and cultures took 50k - 60k years to evolve! White men came to our shores only 100 ago with their language and culture. What is 100 years compared to 50k - 60k years of cultural and linguistic evolutions! We learn and adopt the white men's culture but is superficial. Deep down are our own distinct ways of life. We can never be as developed as China, Japan, Germany,  England, France, etc under our current system of government! A federal system of government  like the USA could work well for us given our circumstances. Give each province autonomy, and let each run its own affairs. Our current state is like, someone's intending a superior solution (product) by mixing clay and iron! The Tower of Babylon could reach the sky if the builders still spoke the same language. But conf...
Read more