Patrick Matbob
Madang
26-06-09
My cousin Bosko Isin wiped his eyes and turned apologetically to me.
“I can’t help shedding a tear,” he said in language to me. We were standing among the crowd at Vidar having just witnessed the groundbreaking of the new Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. Bosko was nostalgic.
“We will never again see this beautiful harbor, this piece of land that we use to walk through. It is land that our ancestors have called home.”
Bosko, from nearby Rempi village, was among many of the locals from Haven, Midiba, Sek, Kananam, Malmal, Riwo and Siar villages who shared similar emotions. Vidar Point was where the Rempi people used to beach their canoes for generations when visiting relatives or the mission at Sek. The people are saddened at the loss of their land. They feel angry and cheated by the government; especially their leaders who they believe should have been looking after their interests.
The groundbreaking event has brought home the reality of their loss. This piece of land lined with aging coconut palms, pristine mangrove-covered water edge, and the warm turquoise sea teeming with marine life that has supported the locals for generations, would now be permanent lost to the people of Rempi, Sek, Kanaman, Midiba and Haven. For a Papua New Guinean, this is unthinkable. It is a reality that the people find hard to accept especially considering what they are getting in return.
The people had been fighting to reclaim this land for more than 20 years from the Catholic Mission. The 860 hectares of Maiwara and Vidar land was owned by the Church which established its headquarters across the bay at Alexishafen in 1905. The land was purchased by Fr Eberhard Limbrock, a pioneer German SVD missionary who set up the mission headquarters and planted 284 hectares with 28,650 coconut palms and 67 hectares with 28,550 rubber trees. Madang was then under the German colonial administration which had approved the church’s acquisition of the land. The manner in which this and other land areas in Madang had been acquired is now a major issue amongst the local landowners who want portions of the land returned to them. People need the land because of pressures of population growth and need for economic development.
In the 80s local people began asking for the return of the land from the mission. When they did not get a positive answer, they resorted to sabotaging the mission properties which had led to the mission eventually deciding to return the land. The mission however, did not have the money to develop the land for the people, so instead decided to hand over the land to the provincial government.
Br Theo Becker, former procurator of Madang Archdiocese, said that the Vidar and Maiwara land were under freehold title, which the archdiocese handed over to Madang provincial government in 1996.
“The reason the land was given to the provincial government was that the provincial government wanted to do some projects in that area, for the benefit of the people,” he said.
“The archdiocese was not able to do development on this place for the people and we already had problems with the land before. So we sold our properties which our brothers had developed, and gave the land to the provincial government, to help give the people the opportunity for further development on this property,” Br Becker explained.
He said the archdiocese believed that the only institution which could really work with the people was the provincial government.
Br Becker who did this interview in 2000 believed that there was an understanding between Catholic Archdiocese and the provincial government about the use of the land.
“The provincial government did not follow the agreement that the land should have actually gone back to the people, for their benefit,” Br Becker said.
The original landowners are still confused and do not understand why they did not get back the land. Many feel angry and cheated when the Provincial Government had instead sold the land to RD Tuna and not honored the understanding with the local people. Today it seems both the people and the provincial government have lost out altogether in this deal.
The underlying issues over what is now ‘PMIZ’ land as well as other land areas in Madang have never been resolved and remain a sore point for the local people.
So far they have been told that the marine industrial zone project would create 30,000 job opportunities and spin-off businesses. The project involves the development of 10 tuna canneries and dock and storage facilities to service foreign fishing vessels that would come in to dump their tuna catch. However, they are worried because their experience with the existing RD Tuna Cannery has not all been positive. Benefits have been limited to jobs for women on the assembly line in the cannery and the spin-off business mainly involves transportation for workers to and from the factory for the round-the-clock operation. But there are also adverse social problems. Villagers have been affected by the so called ‘sex for tuna trade’ where local women have been driven to trade sex for the by-catches and there is also environment pollution, both waste and smell, affecting the communities around the cannery. Ten canneries, they say, would multiply the problem that much.
Many questions remained unanswered for the people. It is obvious that the local population will not provide the 30,000 workers for the factories. Where are these workers coming from? Where will they live? The government says the project when is up and running will earn the nation K2 billion a year in tuna catches. What percentage of that money will benefit the people in the impact area? What about the provincial government? People do not want to be mere spectators, fighting for spin-off crumbs and becoming impoverished each day while the foreign companies and the national government enrich themselves.
A youth from Sek said: “Mam, (dad) you think they’ll only listen to us if blood is spilt?” The people’s anger is real. A marine industrial zone and 10 canneries are not necessarily what the people want, especially after the Bel people had just declared parts of the internationally renowned Madang lagoon area that extend from Madang town as far as Sek and Vidar as conservation areas. This has been done because the lagoon is the only source of livelihood for the Bel people who have lost most of their land to state and private interests. A major impact project such as the PMIZ could be disastrous for them if not planned properly.
The national government would be making a mistake if it pushes ahead with this project without properly consulting the people and the provincial government and including them in the development and operation of the project. If the people and the provincial government own equity in this project then it will go a long way in addressing the bitterness and resentment that exists amongst the local people.
Madang
26-06-09
My cousin Bosko Isin wiped his eyes and turned apologetically to me.
“I can’t help shedding a tear,” he said in language to me. We were standing among the crowd at Vidar having just witnessed the groundbreaking of the new Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. Bosko was nostalgic.
“We will never again see this beautiful harbor, this piece of land that we use to walk through. It is land that our ancestors have called home.”
Bosko, from nearby Rempi village, was among many of the locals from Haven, Midiba, Sek, Kananam, Malmal, Riwo and Siar villages who shared similar emotions. Vidar Point was where the Rempi people used to beach their canoes for generations when visiting relatives or the mission at Sek. The people are saddened at the loss of their land. They feel angry and cheated by the government; especially their leaders who they believe should have been looking after their interests.
The groundbreaking event has brought home the reality of their loss. This piece of land lined with aging coconut palms, pristine mangrove-covered water edge, and the warm turquoise sea teeming with marine life that has supported the locals for generations, would now be permanent lost to the people of Rempi, Sek, Kanaman, Midiba and Haven. For a Papua New Guinean, this is unthinkable. It is a reality that the people find hard to accept especially considering what they are getting in return.
The people had been fighting to reclaim this land for more than 20 years from the Catholic Mission. The 860 hectares of Maiwara and Vidar land was owned by the Church which established its headquarters across the bay at Alexishafen in 1905. The land was purchased by Fr Eberhard Limbrock, a pioneer German SVD missionary who set up the mission headquarters and planted 284 hectares with 28,650 coconut palms and 67 hectares with 28,550 rubber trees. Madang was then under the German colonial administration which had approved the church’s acquisition of the land. The manner in which this and other land areas in Madang had been acquired is now a major issue amongst the local landowners who want portions of the land returned to them. People need the land because of pressures of population growth and need for economic development.
In the 80s local people began asking for the return of the land from the mission. When they did not get a positive answer, they resorted to sabotaging the mission properties which had led to the mission eventually deciding to return the land. The mission however, did not have the money to develop the land for the people, so instead decided to hand over the land to the provincial government.
Br Theo Becker, former procurator of Madang Archdiocese, said that the Vidar and Maiwara land were under freehold title, which the archdiocese handed over to Madang provincial government in 1996.
“The reason the land was given to the provincial government was that the provincial government wanted to do some projects in that area, for the benefit of the people,” he said.
“The archdiocese was not able to do development on this place for the people and we already had problems with the land before. So we sold our properties which our brothers had developed, and gave the land to the provincial government, to help give the people the opportunity for further development on this property,” Br Becker explained.
He said the archdiocese believed that the only institution which could really work with the people was the provincial government.
Br Becker who did this interview in 2000 believed that there was an understanding between Catholic Archdiocese and the provincial government about the use of the land.
“The provincial government did not follow the agreement that the land should have actually gone back to the people, for their benefit,” Br Becker said.
The original landowners are still confused and do not understand why they did not get back the land. Many feel angry and cheated when the Provincial Government had instead sold the land to RD Tuna and not honored the understanding with the local people. Today it seems both the people and the provincial government have lost out altogether in this deal.
The underlying issues over what is now ‘PMIZ’ land as well as other land areas in Madang have never been resolved and remain a sore point for the local people.
So far they have been told that the marine industrial zone project would create 30,000 job opportunities and spin-off businesses. The project involves the development of 10 tuna canneries and dock and storage facilities to service foreign fishing vessels that would come in to dump their tuna catch. However, they are worried because their experience with the existing RD Tuna Cannery has not all been positive. Benefits have been limited to jobs for women on the assembly line in the cannery and the spin-off business mainly involves transportation for workers to and from the factory for the round-the-clock operation. But there are also adverse social problems. Villagers have been affected by the so called ‘sex for tuna trade’ where local women have been driven to trade sex for the by-catches and there is also environment pollution, both waste and smell, affecting the communities around the cannery. Ten canneries, they say, would multiply the problem that much.
Many questions remained unanswered for the people. It is obvious that the local population will not provide the 30,000 workers for the factories. Where are these workers coming from? Where will they live? The government says the project when is up and running will earn the nation K2 billion a year in tuna catches. What percentage of that money will benefit the people in the impact area? What about the provincial government? People do not want to be mere spectators, fighting for spin-off crumbs and becoming impoverished each day while the foreign companies and the national government enrich themselves.
A youth from Sek said: “Mam, (dad) you think they’ll only listen to us if blood is spilt?” The people’s anger is real. A marine industrial zone and 10 canneries are not necessarily what the people want, especially after the Bel people had just declared parts of the internationally renowned Madang lagoon area that extend from Madang town as far as Sek and Vidar as conservation areas. This has been done because the lagoon is the only source of livelihood for the Bel people who have lost most of their land to state and private interests. A major impact project such as the PMIZ could be disastrous for them if not planned properly.
The national government would be making a mistake if it pushes ahead with this project without properly consulting the people and the provincial government and including them in the development and operation of the project. If the people and the provincial government own equity in this project then it will go a long way in addressing the bitterness and resentment that exists amongst the local people.
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