As early as 2008, when
Portion 152 took the initial stages of development to become the PNG LNG Plant
site, there was a sudden emergence of Paramount Chiefs and Principal Landowners
in Porebada village.
The battle of
Paramount Chiefs and Principal Landowners was already a ‘bad-to-worse’ case for
Porebada, as the village was already in the middle of a Land Mediation over a
nearby hill on which a transistor station for Telikom PNG was being built.
This same battle
extended to reach the nearby villages of Boera and Kouderika when a Land Boundary
survey was conducted along the road-corridor extending westward from Portion
578 (commonly known as Papa-Lealea junction) to as far as the Boera feeder
road.
The Land Boundary
Survey bore no fruit. When interested claimants marked their land boundaries,
no claimed portion of land started from where one ended. Likewise, none ended where
the next began. All land boundaries however overlapped each other, thereby
making a linear interconnection of dots along the road corridor. This converted
the simple survey into a complicated and serious land dispute only the District
Land Court could determine. All self-proclaimed paramount chiefs and landowners
retreated quietly only to make noise in the village. This land dispute became a
stalk from which many related issues grew in the family, clan and church
domains back in the village.
The irritation was eased
when the construction phase of the LNG Plant site commenced. Dozens of
subsidiary contractors engaged in the plant site development work recruited
semi-skilled, non-skilled and few skilled individuals for job training and
employment in various trades.
During this time, the
economy of Porebada must have been transformed for the first time in history.
Almost every household was blessed with at least an average 2-3 people who
secured a fortnight salary. Many enjoyed a lavish social life which comprised
of alcohol consumption, diet and fashion change and intermarriage amongst the
four impact villages (i.e Porebada, Boera, Papa, Lealea) due to extensive
social exposure in the workplace. Bride price and birthday parties occupied the
weekends by weekly intervals.
During this time, the
converging socio-economic pleasure eventually left Porebada with no Paramount
Chief and Principal landowner.
The idea of forming
Incorporated Land Groups, or ILG was already a pre-conceptualised idea during
the inception of the PNG LNG deals. For many who never heard of ILG, the
concept was promulgated during round-tables convened by representatives from
the four impact villages, the state and the operating company ExxonMobil.
All recognised clans
who participated in the BSA (Benefit Sharing Agreement) signing in Kokopo in 2009
elected their ILG chairman to deliberate on the assignment of forming an ILG.
ILG was meant to be a bucket to contain the many business opportunities that
would arise from the LNG project. All customary lands within close proximity of
the road corridor were to be secured titles under the ILG Act for investors to
develop into economic activities.
ILG is formed through
procedures prescribed under the Land Groups Incorporation Act (Chapter 147). The
primary purpose of the Act and ILG formation are stated in the introduction of
the Act. They are to encourage: (a) greater participation by local people in
the nation economy by the use of the land; and (b) better use of such land, (c)
greater certainty of title; and (d) the better and more effectual settlement of
certain disputes.
The Incorporation Land
Group Act itself and the formation of ILG’s by interested parties or clans can
be best described as a safety mechanism committed by the Government of Papua New
Guinea. This Act ensures that all stakeholders must participate in the equal
benefit sharing of a development such as the LNG project.
The traditional Motu-Koitabu
society was structured through incorporation and regulated through co-operation.
In other words, for the Motu-Koitabu society to survive, it must not only come
together, but also work together when it had done so. Passed down from time
immemorial, the evidence of this social order and structre is evident through
the make-up of the present day Motu-Koitabu villages. For instance, a distinct
Motu, or Koitabu village today is comprised of several clans who may not share
a common ancestor.
In the past, the
captain of a Motuan Lagatoi knew that a great multitude of Motu and Koitabu clans
would share the benefits of his toil. Something significant must have bonded
the different Motu and Koitabu clans. What is this significant ‘something’ then?
The answer is incorporation and co-operation.
If incorporation and
co-operation are always very difficult to achieve, the Motu-Koitabu society had
accomplished this through the simple act of mutual understanding and
witnessing. One clan had to understand and witness another with all its history,
status and possessions such as land and land boundaries.
With the inception of
the LNG project, this social structure of incorporation and co-operation is now
threatened by those who want to be recognised as the single Principal Landowner
over a vast area of land and a Paramount Chief of a great multitude of clans
whose customary organisation never had any in the past.
Watching the recent
mass-demobilisation of workers from the LNG plant site, Porebada must now
realise that they have nowhere to send the returning workforce for job employment.
The question of “who is to be blamed?” even does not matter anymore. Had
customary lands been transacted titles under the ILG Act, and developers been invited
to convert their economic potentials into tangible businesses, Porebada would
kindly appreciate the demobilisation because there would be countless job
opportunities arising from these businesses.
Porebada has failed
the challenge of understanding and witnessing; the key to incorporation and
co-operation—a challenge that was overcome by their ancestors many centuries
ago to build the society it now dwells in. What was supposed to be an ‘LNG
project impact-area issue’ had turned out to be a complicated landowner issue.
Everyone became a
talker, a great historian, all-knowing, and a star at that time. The village
was full of drama, starring everyone who fought over the top post of being a
Principal Landowner and a Paramount Chief. During the mass-recruitment of
workers, all the drama had calmed, every mouth shut and every star crippled.
Nobody was a landowner, and the once torn-apart everyone’s’ land had become
nobody’s land.
The quietness
prevails, but the village is eager to see what happens next. The issue of land
has drastically changed the mindset of the people more than anything else.
While every demobbed
worker from the LNG plant site wears a gumboot each, and a safety overall to
roam the streets and sell betelnuts, it is not hard to conclude that the
formation of ILG and customary land registration was all a historical fairy
tale. The characters once spoke and moved only when the story was told.
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