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Defining Citizenship for a New Nation

2013; Routledge; Volume: 48; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00223344.2013.787911

1469-9605

Jonathan Ritchie,

Australian History and Society

Abstract A key part of any process of decolonisation is the need for the emerging nation to determine the rules for citizenship. In Papua New Guinea, what it meant to be a citizen was the first topic that the Constitutional Planning Committee considered when it set about its task to develop a ‘home grown’ constitution in late 1972. The process by which it first comprehended this matter and then involved thousands of Papua New Guineans in their villages, missions and schools in a territory-wide exercise in consultation forms the subject of this paper. The records of the discussions that took place between February and April of 1973 reveal much of how the criteria for membership of the national enterprise came to be established. This case study of defining citizenship in PNG demonstrates the intensive consultation of the local peoples on key issues in nation-building and reveals the high degree of Indigenous agency in the decolonisation process. Notes 1 House of Assembly Debates (hereinafter HAD), Third House, second meeting of the first session, 23 June 1972, 279. 2Edward P. Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation: the citizenship debates in the Papua New Guinea Parliament’, in F.S. Stevens and Edward P. Wolfers (eds), Racism: the Australian experience, vol. 3: Colonialism and After (2nd edn, Sydney 1977), 301. 3See Brij V. Lal, A Time Bomb Lies Buried: Fiji's road to independence, 1960–1970 (Canberra 2008). 4Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 301. 5Ibid. 6 HAD, Third House, second meeting of the first session, 23 June 1972, 280. 7John Goldring, The Constitution of Papua New Guinea: a study in legal nationalism (Sydney 1978), 205. 8Among the more recent contributors to this discourse are Jocelyn Linnekin and Lin Poyer (eds), Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific (Honolulu 1996); Michael Jacobsen, ‘Vanishing nations and the infiltration of nationalism: the case of Papua New Guinea’, in Robert Foster (ed.), Nation Making: emergent identities in postcolonial Melanesia (Ann Arbor 1997), 227–49; Jeffrey Clark, ‘Imagining the state, or tribalism and the arts of memory in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea’, in Ton Otto and Nicholas Thomas (eds), Narratives of Nation in the South Pacific (Amsterdam 1997), 65–90; Lamont Lindstrom, ‘Pasin tumbuna: culture and nationalism in Papua New Guinea’, in Virginia R. Domínguez and David Y.H. Wu (eds), From Beijing to Port Moresby: the politics of national identity in cultural policies (Hong Kong 1998), 141–88; Berit Gustafsson, ‘The identity construction of ethnic and social groups in contemporary Papua New Guinea’, in Jürg Wassmann (ed.), Pacific Answers to Western Hegemony: cultural practices of identity construction (Oxford 1998), 169–90; Stephanie Lawson (ed.), Europe and the Asia-Pacific: culture, identity and representations of region (London 2003); and Stephanie Lawson, Culture and Context in World Politics (London 2006). The subject also connects to the large body of literature on the subject of kastom. 9On the CPC generally, see Jonathan Ritchie, ‘Making their own law: popular participation in the development of Papua New Guinea's constitution’, PhD thesis, University of Melbourne (Melbourne 2004); Donald Denoon, A Trial Separation: Australia and the decolonisation of Papua New Guinea (Canberra 2005), especially ch. 8. For a survey of Australian and PNG views that the Australians decolonised too quickly, see Denoon, Trial Separation, 176–7. 10Les Johnson, Colonial Sunset: Australia and Papua New Guinea 1970–74 (Brisbane 1983), 152. 11James Griffin, Hank Nelson and Stewart Firth, Papua New Guinea: a political history (Melbourne 1979), 205. 12Don Woolford, Papua New Guinea: initiation and independence (Brisbane 1977), 160. 13Ibid., 51. 14J.W. Davidson, ‘The Development of the constitution’, J.W. Davidson papers, National Library of Australia, box 27, MS 5105 (hereinafter Davidson papers). 15Saea Avosa, ‘Transcript of discussion by panel of constitution-makers, Port Moresby, 28 March 1996’, in Anthony J. Regan, Owen Jessep and Eric L. Kwa (eds), Twenty Years of the Papua New Guinea Constitution (Sydney 2001), 352. 16John Ley, pers. comm., 12 Dec. 2002. 17 HAD, Third House, second meeting of the first session, 23 June 1972, 279. 18T.E. Barnett, ‘Policy-making in the transfer of powers from Australia’, in J.A. Ballard (ed.), Policy-Making in a New State, Papua New Guinea 1972–77 (Brisbane 1981), 61–2. 19Ian Downs, The Australian Trusteeship: Papua New Guinea 1945–75 (Canberra 1980), 378. 20‘PNG will be independent “during 1974”’, Australian, 9 Jan. 1973. 24Supplementary Submission to the Select Committee on Constitutional and Political Development, 23 Jan. 1967, Davidson papers. 25C.J. Lynch, ‘Local citizenship: confidential memorandum to department heads’, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea National Archives (hereinafter PNGNA), Department of Prime Minister, Central Planning Office, accession no. 952, box 13700, ‘Law, Legislation – National Identity Bill – 1971 (5.4.71–12.9.17)’ (hereinafter LLNIB). 21Paul Hasluck, A Time for Building: Australian administration in Papua and New Guinea, 1951–1963 (Melbourne 1976), 334–5. 22See the discussion about the various terms for an Indigenous Papua New Guinean contained in the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia's annual lecture by the University of Papua New Guinea's vice-chancellor, Prof. Ken Inglis, delivered at the Australian National University, 5 Nov. 1974: K.S. Inglis, Papua New Guinea: naming a nation (Canberra 1975), 13. 23Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 303. 27Paulias Matane to Lynch, 23 Apr. 1971, PNGNA, LLNIB. Lynch's comment in his covering minute was that Matane's response was ‘the most interesting – apart from Agriculture's “no comment”(!)’. 26Michael Somare, Sana: an autobiography of Michael Somare (Port Moresby 1975), 40. 28Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 304 Johnson, Colonial Sunset, 61–2. 29Lynch suggested that there were issues arising from the employment of Australian citizens and Australian protected persons (i.e., Papuans) by the Asian Development Bank and their resulting tax exemption which would have been done away with had they acquired local citizenship. Lynch to acting administrator, 5 Apr. 1971, PNGNA, LLNIB. 30Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 305. 31Ibid., 307. 32 HAD, Second House, fifteenth meeting of the first session, 30 Aug. 1971, 4501. 33 HAD, Second House, fifteenth meeting of the first session, 7 Sep. 1971, 4676. 34In the meantime, they continued with discussions on the method of consultation to be followed; there was also considerable discussion about the transfer of powers and also on the second main issue in front of the committee, that of the relations between levels of government. 35CPC, Record of Proceedings of Meeting Held in Committee Office, Racal Building, Hohola, 4 Dec. 1972, PNGNA, Department of Prime Minister, Central Planning Office, accession no. 952, box 13702, ‘P.N.G. Government – Constitutional Matters (21.6.72–22.11.73’. 36Only a few members were present besides Momis and Kaputin. Somare himself was absent: T.E. (‘Tos’) Barnett wrote later that ‘Somare undertook an enormous workload … [and as a result] he neglected his relationship with the C.P.C. and only very rarely attended a meeting’. Barnett, ‘Policy-making in the transfer of powers’, 63. 37Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 316. 38‘The Labor Government will be willing to make that change in Australian Legislation before Papua New Guinea citizenship comes into force, although the previous government was reluctant to do it before independence’. This and preceding quotes are from Davidson speaking during the meeting. CPC, Record of Proceedings of Meeting Held in Committee Office. 39Ibid. 40Ibid. 41Ibid. 42Ibid. 43Ibid. 44Ibid. 45CPC, Citizenship, n.d., Davidson papers. 46‘When considering citizenship, it is necessary to remember that it deals only with the basic question of who should be a man (or woman) of Papua New Guinea and who should not: other questions – such as those relating to immigration or land – will be dealt with separately’. Ibid. 47This was controversial because if it had proceeded, many Papua New Guineans – including several senior politicians – would have been denied citizenship. 48CPC, Citizenship. 49CPC, Plans for Citizenship, n.d., Davidson papers. In the original text of the statement, the ‘tentative proposals’ were written as ‘tentative conclusions’. 50Ibid. 51Woolford, Papua New Guinea, 163. On the other hand, ‘the Chinese believed that this would create a dilemma for the Chinese alone, not the Europeans, for a white man who gave up his Australian citizenship could in the future always return to Australia and reclaim his Australian citizenship if he found it necessary. One said, “Their white skin is their protection and guarantee. Once we gave up our Australian citizenship we would never be able to reclaim it and if in trouble we would have nowhere to turn to”’. David Y.H. Wu, The Chinese in Papua New Guinea: 1880–1980 (Hong Kong 1982), 153. 52These illustrations demonstrated that the citizenship question implied qualification by race and colour. 53Government Liaison Branch, Department of the Chief Minister, ‘Citizenship, Information Paper prepared for the Constitutional Planning Committee by the Government Liaison Branch’, n.d., PNGNA, Department of Prime Minister, Constitutional Committee Papers (hereinafter CCP), accession no. 39, box 13142, ‘Citizenship’. 54Bougainville forms the exception, where the Bougainville Special Political Committee served the function of a district-wide discussion group. Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 313. 55Lists provided of the membership of 13 groups in the Southern Highlands show that nearly 40% were mission workers, teachers or students; 15% were government employees; and the remainder were villagers or farmers. Reports from Komo, Kar Christian Union Mission, Nipa, Koroba, Lake Kutubu, Dauli Teacher's College, Puril United Church, Pureni-Tari, Erave Katekis Trening Senta, Wabia, Lake Kopiago, GMML Guala, and Mendi South discussion groups, n.d., PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Southern Highlands District’. 56Gunat Aegit, adviser to the Agaun discussion group, 25 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Milne Bay District’. 57Thomas, adviser to the Timoenai discussion group, 7 Apr. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Manus District’. 59Yoseph Mirek, adviser to the Wassissi discussion group (Aitape Sub-district), n.d., PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – West Sepik District’. 60Athanasius Ogawa, adviser to the Aega discussion group, 23 Feb. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Northern District’, underlining in original. 58Unnamed adviser to the Sogeri Senior High School discussion group, n.d., PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Central District’. 61Cademon Bell, adviser to the Bovera Village discussion group, 6 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Northern District’. 63Smike Tetre, adviser to the Kiunga discussion group, 22 Feb. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Western District’. 62Alois Todave, adviser to the Lambom Primary School discussion group, 24 Feb. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – New Ireland District’. 64Michael Pajan, adviser to the Djaul PTS discussion group, 28 Feb. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – New Ireland District’. 65Ora Wari, writer to the Kupiano (Marshall Lagoon) discussion group, 15 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Central District’; Paul Sosori, adviser to the Kandep discussion group, 14–15 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Western Highlands District’; Dr Nad, leader of the Gumine Station discussion group, 3 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Chimbu District’. 67John Asika, adviser to the Samo discussion group, n.d., PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – East New Britain District’. 66Yogapene, adviser to the Sukunbi discussion group, patrol office, Laiagam, 20 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Western Highlands District’. 68Juhonewec Yang, adviser to the Baindoang Village discussion group, 7 Apr. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Morobe District’. 69Aguiave Karifa, adviser to the Raipinka discussion group, 15 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – Eastern Highlands District’. 70Matarua Tito, adviser to the Malaguna Warkurai Nigunan discussion group, East New Britain, 12 Mar. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – East New Britain District’. 71Wolfers, ‘Defining a nation’, 314. 72Yoseph Mirek, adviser to the Wassissi discussion group (Aitape Sub-district), n.d., PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – West Sepik District’. 73Gunat Aegit, adviser to the Agaun discussion group, Milne Bay District. 74Lassam Kelebi, chair of unidentified discussion group, 13 Apr. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship’. 75Ambuningi Yambangwau, adviser to the Ambunti discussion group, 27 Feb. 1973, PNGNA, CCP, accession no. 39, box 13141, ‘Citizenship – East Sepik District’. 76CPC, ‘First interim report’, HAD, Third House, ninth meeting of the first session, 27 Sep. 1973, 2916. 77Teddy F., ‘A waste of time?’, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 9 Oct. 1973. 78T. Cope, ‘Fact-finding – or is it just bluff?’, Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, 3 Sep. 1973. 79CPC, Final Report of the Constitutional Planning Committee, 2 vols (Port Moresby 1974), I, 1. There were also many written submissions made to the committee on the subject. 80CPC, First Interim Report, 2917. 84Ibid., 4/12. 81CPC, Final Report, 4/1. 82Ibid. 83Ibid., 4/2. 85Ibid., 1/1. 86Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, part IV (citizenship), available online at http://www.paclii.org/pg/legis/consol_act/cotisopng534/. 87D.J. Colquhoun-Kerr, ‘Sources of political legitimacy in conflict and naturalized foreigners: some comments on the General Constitutional Commission's final report, 1983’, in Ross De Vere, Duncan Colquhoun-Kerr, and John Kaburise, eds., Essays on the Constitution of Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby 1985), 122. 88Peter Fitzpatrick, ‘Popular participation and the constitution’, in De Vere et al., Essays on the Constitution of Papua New Guinea, 17.