2007 elections

Sir Julius on the come back trail

 By Patrick Matbob

Five years ago, Sir Julius Chan was the prime minister of Papua New Guinea. This was until his government decided to resolve the Bougainville crisis once and for all by engaging the Sandline mercenaries. The decision, done in secret amongst a select cabinet, backfired when the media revealed the story to the world creating a political crisis. The PNG army which was to be part of the Sandline solution to Bougainville crisis rebelled and eventually Sir Julius had to step aside for an inquiry after the army and a mob of civilians lay siege to the Parliament House in Port Moresby. Although a commission of inquiry subsequently cleared Sir Julius, the damage had been done and as a result he lost his Namatanai Open seat in New Ireland Province in the 1997 elections to the sitting member Ephraim Apelis.

Sir Julius endorsing his candidate

Sir Julius is now on the comeback trail, contesting the New Ireland Regional seat currently held by former PNG Police Commissioner, Governor Paul Tohian. He is campaigning vigorously not only for himself but also for his People’s Progress Party (PPP) which he founded. PPP has always been in the forefront of PNG politics since independence until Sir Julius’ defeat in the last election.

Sir Julius has spent the past weeks campaigning in New Ireland and is also travelling around the country endorsing PPP candidates.

Being out of the limelight has been a mixed blessing for Sir Julius. Not only does he appear fit and healthy, but also in his absence, PNG’s economy has deteriorated badly handing him the ammunition he needs to campaign his way back into parliament. He certainly needs all his skills especially when coming up against leaders such as Sir Mekere who is being heralded both overseas and locally as PNG’s saviour. Exploiting his fame as PNG’s ‘economic wizard’ and as ‘father’ of the kina & toea (one of his sons is named Toea), he is attracting captive and sympathetic audiences wherever he goes.

He is telling the people that the country, which he was a founder, has almost been destroyed in the last few years.

“I am not a young man, but I have to come back because everything we built has been destroyed,” Sir Julius told the people in parts of Madang province.

“This election is about saving PNG.”

Being an islander whose family fortunes were built on copra and cocoa business, he has found allies amongst the coastal and island people who are feeling the pain of depressed copra prices on the world market and the collapse of the Copra Marketing Board (CMB) in PNG.

He reminded the people that since the establishment of CMB in the colonial era it has not experienced a problem until five years ago.

“The stabilisation fund for copra, I set it up. It has operated for more than 20 years without any problems,” he told them.

Today the fund which was set up to absorb the effects of the fluctuating prices on the world market and pay a stable rate to growers, no longer exists.

He told them that for 25 years the PNG currency was strong. Today it is almost worthless. Prices of goods have increased yet the people are being taxed by the government.

“This is a very stupid government,” he said of the Morauta government. He said no country in the world taxed poor people.

He said the wealth of the nation must be in the hands of the people.

“If the people are rich, then the nation will be rich.”

Such rhetoric is winning sympathy from the people who have experienced one of the most difficult periods in the country’s history because of a declining economy.

 The Institute of National Affairs (INA) has reported that the country’s whole minerals and petroleum sector, except for the Lihir mine, is scheduled to close by 2011. This sector represents 27 per cent of PNG’s Gross Domestic Product and warned that the nation has to increase its sustainable industries to offset this loss.

With the resources of his family’s airline company, Islands Nationair, he has been able to ‘drop in’ by helicopter on electorates in PNG to endorse candidates for his party.

Dressed in a pacific floral shirt, khaki trousers and sneakers, Sir Julius’ diminutive figure looks fit as ever with only his short-cropped graying hair revealing his age. He has been marching up and down the village paths, hopping over fences, shaking hands and greeting people. Unlike other PNG leaders, Sir Julius has a reputation for efficiency, a stickler for time and is a workaholic, who has set himself a rigorous schedule to cover all the electorates in PNG. In Madang he travelled to five places in one day in his chopper and met the people, addressed the crowds, talked to his candidates and opened a building.

“I am probably the only party leader who is doing this,” he said last month as he rested for the night at the Madang Coastwatcher’s Hotel.

Apart from the campaign, Sir Julius is really worried about the state of the nation.

“We have hospitals without medicine, schools without teachers, people without income, prices are so high, there’s government tax, the kina is so weak, we are in one hell of a mess,” he said.

Battered by economic, social and political problems and an uncertain future, Papua New Guineans are looking for answers from their leaders. Seasoned leaders like Sir Julius with a record of decision-making and achievements are bound to be popular choices.

“I promise the people that with hard work, determination, will to correct, and experience to steer the country back on course, we can save PNG.”

Ends…