Transcript
SAM ABAL: At that time, the thought was look let us wait with independence and let our people come in and let them get educated and with Australia watching on, and then we can come out of it and take charge of those things (the institutions). But we went in a bit too fast, I think. Because of that, in many part of the Highlands and all of us here, those things did not come into our... you know to manage, take ownership and all that type of thing, like law and order, basic things you know. We did not take charge of it. In some cases, people didn't realise that law and order is key to development, and that people have to put down their arms and listen to leaders and follow the law and order. But I'm afraid that we went through and we didn't strengthen those institutions, and there's been challenges to the three arms of government.
JOHNNY BLADES: Are you saying that the institutions could have been strengthened in a way that could guard against the human errors taking over at times, like there are ways to check it?
SA: Well that's true. The systems, as you said, are there already, to this year. But it's about who is in there and how that person is running the system. What we need is a bit of stability to get that adaptation sinking right through to the grassroots, down to the people, where the majority are. You see our people, 80 or 90 percent live in the rural setting. We have to start out developing, concentrating on the rural areas, and that is agriculture. Once we improve agriculture, then the livelihood of the people will effectively change, and law and order all the respect for that can come in. We're not concentrating on that. We recently have started to get distracted by this LNG thing. Distracted in the sense that some people thought it was the panacea for all our development needs, which is not correct. We have to stand back and go back to agriculture.
JB: Do you think outside influences have been to blame for some of the problems in PNG like corruption? I'm talking about foreign companies or even governments from other countries. Do you think outsiders have been to blame?
SA: Well as you know countries or companies from other countries, or from within countries, if the people are not careful themselves... you know, in the world nobody waits for anybody, you know, so they take advantage of whatever is available or what's possible. So we can blame them but we don't have to blame them too. It's ourselves who allow those things to happen. So our institutions and everything, we are a free country. We just have to contain ourselves and don't give the wrong intention. You start to play, they start to play. If you are firm in your decisions, and that type of thing, they will respect that, even if they are foreign.
