"They are everywhere in the country and unless we aren’t careful, Papua New Guinea is already gone in the mouth of the great Orient sharks."

Wewak’s very own self style scone and prepaid phone card street seller cum businessman, David Ulgu continues to reach higher grounds in the local business arena. And there was no better time than this festive season for David to gift himself with a brand new Hino truck worth K172, 000 (pictured here) to further prove his course.

From rags to riches, it seemed as if this never-been-to-grade-one South Wosera man has the touch of the fabled King Midas where all he wishes for turns into gold. He currently enjoys the benefit of a retail and wholesale business - Narapel Isi (‘man of peace’ in Rubukum dialect) Service Ltd and has plans to enter into earthmoving in the near future.

Featured last year (in the Sunday Chronicle) as the dark horse “running on the outside lane”, David is not only very ambitious but patriotic as well about his business aspirations, setting the limit at “only when all Asian dominated businesses in Wewak are overtaken by indigenous businessmen and women” like himself.

After the Sepik vanilla boom (2002-04), David was selling scones and prepaid cards. He became very popular as the “wisket man” or “tok pisin man” referring to his unique selling skills.
Big retail businesses in town including Chinese shops, Digicel and Telikom PNG Ltd engaged his services and David says “I make K20,000 to K30,000 for them in a day…they then pay me very good commission. That’s how I got on my feet”.

“The way forth is the knowledge of how one can make money the honest way so that you can be happy…then it’s done. It doesn’t matter whether you go to school or not, the trick is to make money and be happy”.

David is content with life and currently enjoys his new Meni beach front home with his wife and children; Tim (16 years), Melisa (12), Michele (11), and Jesmine (2 and half). For him, “every man is born right but educated wrong”.

David wasn’t too busy about the high and fly and the glitterati of our last Independence Day celebrations unlike the other compatriot 20,000 plus citizens of Wewak and 6 million plus others across Papua New Guinea. David was deep ‘inside the box’ – thinking hard to himself; how can I catch up and one day take over these Chinese businesses in Wewak town?

He became so obsessed that he had to call me to go over so I can write and share his thoughts as one great Independence message for Sepiks as well as for other patriot Papua New Guineans to start thinking seriously about the inevitable deluge of Asian businesses and influence; a whole new era of ‘Oriental Alienation’ in Papua New Guinea over our land, over our resources and over our wealth.

“There are everywhere in the country and unless we aren’t careful, this country is already gone in the mouth of the great Orient sharks,” David shared in tok pisin, adding that “we can talk economic development, income generation, and so on. When you earn cash, where do you go to spend?...at an Asian shop whether it’s in Port Moresby, Lae or Wewak, the story is the same, it’s them everywhere”. So, what’s the significance of Independence if the Government is not making or enforcing laws to protect as well as promoting the interest of local indigenous business men and women in Papua New Guinea”.

For David, last Independence was more a challenge for the Somare Government than for its subjects. When will he stop the influx of Chinese into PNG and taking over all the businesses that belong to Papua New Guineans?

In PNG unfortunately, corporations are given more attention and value than human – fallacy of corporate personhood. Yet, we fail to acknowledge that corporations, for their survival, lean on massive public subsidies and paraphernalia. They take advantage and persistently use both courts and legislatures to expand the special rights and exemptions guaranteed in our laws.

This begins with special limitation on liabilities of their owners, an exemption commonly used by corporations to shield themselves from responsibilities of harm [in all forms; environmental, social, industrial relations, health, etc] caused by their operating subsidiaries.

If revelations by top bank robber, William Kapris about Asian mafia “black bank” operations in the country hold any water, any thought regardless may well settled with the fact that corporate money has corrupted the political process in Papua New Guinea as well as around the world to a point that democracy has a meaningless charade for all but a wealthy few.

And unless we take pride and ownership, we will loose our sovereignty, wealth and heritage forever - long enough for our children to continue to curse us for our inaction today.

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