(Swearing - in ceremony at Government House, left to right: Finance Minister James Marape, Prime Minister Peter Oneill, Governor - General Sir Bob Dadae, and Goilala MP William Samb)
Bulolo MP Pangu Pati Parliamentary leader Sam Basil is blaming religion for the country's fate, as it agonises, and is fast swallowed by a sea of debt, a sinking ship. He is also praising PNC and Prime Minister Peter Oneill for appointing Goilala MP, which would be a ransom extracted from the enemy.
And, let Waigani move on with ‘religion’, ‘pass the collection plate around’, neither left nor right! Wrong move, Sam Basil.
In the drama developing during the week, Goilala MP and Pangu Pati Deputy Parliamentary Leader of Pangu Pati Samb has been appointed Minister of State to assist the Prime Minister or Assistant Prime Minister. It does litte to change the free - fall of Pangu Pati into oblivion. Papua New Guinea was a land of the unexpected, but Sam Basil was not about to hire a horde of lawyers to interpret every word, and led 10 MPs to cross over to join the government. He denied that he ever bullied the people of PNG. Instead it was them who lied to him and in full contempt for the truth for not giving Pangu Pati the numbers to form the government.
The developing drama is fast, something like an alliance of heretics making an end run around the mainstream conversation. Should we be listening?
One conversation is loud and clear. Pangu Pati National Executive decided to oust Sam Basil as parliamentary party leader of Pangu Pati in a calculated move, timely. It unequivocally puts the role of the party as the country’s leading vehicle of political culture forging the way forward to usher in the country's independence in its correct context. The frustration was clear. Pangu Pati council moved to put Sam Basil on notice and to redeem the party based on the party constitution.
The Trojan Horse is no more.
It begs the question if national interest was the reason he moved camps after the 2017 NGE. For a good answer we would need a curve of best – fit to ascertain what really constitutes a national issue, and therefore termed as a national interest.
The ideal is that the PNG legislature can afford to rise above the needs of the electorate, and think outside the box, so that that they diligently discharge their mandates at both the micro, and macro levels. PNG has yet to do without consultants and their expertise on deciding what constitutes PNG’s national interest because the legislature has been watered down to just dispensing its micro – level role to massage the pulse of the electorate.
Sam Basil was almost there. Then he fumbled with his options, and became a naïve opportunist whose real story behind the move to join Peter Oneill began to surface before too long.
He told the nation going into the 2017 NGE that PNG’s ratings as a member of the international community was worse than since Peter Oneill took office 6 years earlier, the scale is still infantile, and the want for alternate and better leadership was there for the electorate to consider when the ballot box next comes around.
He said it is a challenge that elected leaders, and bureaucrats who stand for something do not get co – opted into the system, and therefore fail to manufacture correctly the consent to rule over an ignorant people whose fate to be able to see the big picture, or conversely become casualties in the rat race to be a somebody and not a nobody because the rulers did not walk with them to see the big picture they did not know existed.
And, it starts with thinking big. Pangu Pati was to be the vehicle to think big.
He was convincing people everywhere he spoke: government spending money we do not have on projects in the electorate; PNG’s leadership got it wrong and did not deliver except in Port Moresby where the creatures are lurking in the swamp, and it was time to drain the swamp; the past 40 years was a time period in which PNG went from a plantation economy to a copper and gold economy, and now to LNG economy, but the results of the planned progress of a nation in transition from a stone – age to a modern capitalist state and mixed economy have not yielded, despite all the money generated over 40 years; and, PNG is now permanently indebted to the international system, and for the next 200 years we will have to pay off and retire the K30 billion nation debt.
Yes, he made the point eloquently every time most notably during the 2016 Vote of No Confidence taken against Prime Minister Peter Oneill for the people to take back PNG and opt for leaders who are gaining the hard yards for the country. Pangu Pati won the second largest number of seats in the 10th Parliament mastering a strong presence in the Momase provinces of Morobe and Madang.
(Bryan Kramer, MP for Madang, interviewed by media, Office of Registrar of Political Parties )
Madang Open MP Bryan Kramer did not join Sam Basil to cross over to the government side, opting instead to be prone to vulgar statements and tactics from the Pangu Pati Parliamentary Leader who soon disowned him. The Madang MP's chilling willingness to lead another political party to carry on seemed to moderate Sam Basil's behavior. This week The Alliance Party certificate of registration was issued by the Registrar of Political Parties.
And, the novice Madang MP taught the Veteran Bulolo MP how not to pander to his troubled mind. It was a game for the big boys.
Then the back – flip. Sam Basil dissociated himself from the Opposition and joined Peter Oneill who called the shots from the highest office any man of substance can aspire which is to hold political office. And, it means to define the national interest which is part micro – politics and part macro – politics.
The country's vehicle for independence and development of political culture Pangu Pati seemed to have lost the plot to validate its place in PNG's political development and landscape. It vehemently opposed PNC going into the 2017 NGE. But, found the going hard without teeth to bite so gave up the fight. Sam Basil's failure is twofold: he cannot redeem himself ever and face up to the people throughout the country who believed his crusade to humiliate Peter Oneill's PNC Party; and, he cannot avoid inheriting PNC's enemies as a sign of loyalty.
(Bryan Kramer, MP for Madang, interviewed by media, Office of Registrar of Political Parties )
Pangu Pati Merges With PNC?
It follows that Pangu Pati has merged with PNC. And Sam Basil wonders why PNC is cowing him, and Prime Minister Peter Oneill thinks he is a small boy?
Actually, Sam Basil is a politician. He has shown both his colors, and weaknesses, as a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2007, representing the electorate of Bulolo Open. His strength is his ability to be outspoken especially as a member of the Opposition during Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare's government, and after 2011/2012 political impasse he served as Minister for National Planning in the first ten months of Peter O'Neill's government, before returning to opposition after the 2012 election.
For the whole term of the 9th Parliament, he was Deputy Opposition Leader since 2012 and the leader of the Pangu Party since 2014. Prior to joining Pangu, he was deputy leader of the People's Progress Party and deputy leader of the Papua New Guinea Party.
Sam Basil may be a student of public opinion, or politics. May be none. He just became a student of religion to address heresy or lack of it in the Oneill - Abel regime and in doing so escape from freedom, and the people, who believed he would deliver on his word.
(Post - 2011/2012 political impasse Oneill/Namah government, Parliament Chamber: left to right: Sam Basil, William Duma, Don Polye, Belden Namah, and Prime Minister Peter Oneill)
Ideally, the people's concept of a leader in Sam Basil was perhaps simple. They do not need him to be a phantom superhero to live up to the responsibility he told them about going into the 2017 NGE. Pangu Pati boasted within its ranks elected MPs who had some basic attributes: a reasonable level of intellectual curiosity, a certain seriousness of purpose, a basic level of managerial competence, a decent attention span, a functional moral compass, a measure of restraint and self-control.
It was when Pangu Pati crossed over to join the government that the deficiency in one or more of them, we can be sure, was exposed.
As Minister Assisting the Prime Minister or Assistant Prime Minister Deputy Parliamentary Leader of Pangu Pati and Goilala MP William Samb would be challenged to match Peter Oneill's political talent — charisma, a raw cunning, an instinct for the jugular, a form of the common touch, a certain creativity that normal politicians lack. PNC Party would not have been returned to power, and its MPs elected without these qualities.
But they are not enough, they cannot fill the void where other, very normal human gifts should be. The country is calling for accountability, and Pangu Pati ran with the slogan, 'Pangu Bai Stretim Rot' to canvass for votes. It is now suffering from a serious deficit, becoming just another social club without moral or spiritual authority it once had to detect the pulse of the nation.
Political Theory - Political Change
In order to factor in on why Pangu Pati is right now the object of inquiry, caught between a rock and a hard place, an examination of political theory is necessary. The story is like this in which whether exploring between - system changes in society, withiin - system changes, or policy - induced changes in society, we theoretically assume that political change stems from conflict ; the severity of these conflicts explains the degree of systemic change. Mild conflicts or 'tensions' leads to within - system changes and moderate policy impacts. The political elites secure a blend of opposing elements so that the basic mode of political production - the political regime - remains stable.
As the classical conservative Edmund Burke asserted, ' A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.' Hence within - system change requires an adaptable strategy for handling disturbances to a system's equilibrium. More severe conflicts or 'contradiction' undermine the equilibrium of a political system. As a new mode of decision - making comes into being, the nation undergoes a between - systems political change and fundamental policy - induced changes in society.
Therefore the merger between Pangu Pati and PNC was inevitable, it was not a matter of choice, and the shift to the right - wing in the political spectrum was trendy and part of a chain of events punctuated by the 2012 - 2017 9th Parliament with Sam Basil sitting in the Opposition benches waiting for an opportunity to make his move. In 2011/2012 during the political impasse Peter Oneill and Sam Basil teamed up to overthrow the Somare - Abal regime in an illegal parliamentary coup. Light travels faster than sound. And, time takes a toll on the body. Sam Basil does not have to explain to the nation who he is, or what Pangu Pati stands for inside the PNC - led regime. Sam Basil apologised to Prime Minister Peter Oneill as a sign that he wanted to play his part to ensure the basic mode of political production - the political regime - remains stable. And, the rewards are coming.
Yet, if the swamp is full of creatures and is defined by religion as opposed to scientific credibility, a dark web of heresy would be there. Pangu Pati is inside to access the state apparatus in the mad scramble for riches, glory, and power. The tough call is the humble pursuit of justice, equality, and good governance which will have to wait, swept under the carpet.
William Samb is a civil engineer. His job is to become a good social engineer. Peter Oneill needs him, and the country wants him. The ship is sinking deeper into debt. If, we keep our fingers crossed, he could make a difference.
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