Writers waiting to see Marape

Prime Minister James Marape and Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Dr Lino Tom with two of Daniel’s books a few days before Marape was elected. Behind them is Peter Mission.

Betty Wakia, Daniel Kumbon and Caroline Evari met in September to decide to write to Prime Minister James Marape.

By DANIEL KUMBON - The National

IF ANYBODY close to the prime minister reads this and if you think it is important, please mention it to James Marape that a letter on behalf of PNG’s writers, authors and publishers sits waiting in his office.
The letter is from three representatives – Caroline Evari, Betty Wakia and myself Daniel Kumbon.
We requested the prime minister to make time available so we can present a petition signed by some 300 PNG authors, publishers and supporters from around the world.
We are seeking government support for a sustainable home grown literature in the country.
We strongly feel that our work has never been recognised by the Government and decided to present the petition to our new prime minister.
I wrote the letter in late September and hand-delivered it at the front desk of the Sir Manasupe House on Oct 1.
When I followed it up for the third time on Thursday, Oct 24, we were asked to wait another three weeks because it was still pending.
We will continue to wait patiently because we know that the prime minister is very busy with more pressing issues.
The Gordon police shootings, the Rainbow police shooting, the Tari shooting of a police sergeant from Chimbu and the subsequent closure of the highlands highway by grieving relatives, the recent parliament sitting, the Paladin saga, the Ramu Nico slurry spill, etc, all require immediate attention.
However, Marape has been able to find time to address journalists from the mainstream media. And he recently attended the PNG Fashion Week grand finale at Apec Haus. So we remain optimistic he will also be fair with us writers, authors and publishers.
I flew down from Wabag in Enga province to join my colleagues to see him. We will still wait patiently for the next three weeks as advised by the prime minister’s support staff.
But we have decided to publish the letter hoping to attract James Marape’s attention and maybe he’ll decide to see us. We fear the letter might not be brought to his notice even in the next three weeks we’ve been asked to wait.
Here then is the letter…. . .

Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing to you on behalf of myself and four colleague writers requesting to see you in your office.
We wish to present a petition to seek support from the government for a sustainable home grown literature in Papua New Guinea.
We, Papua New Guinean writers and authors believe our nation’s literature is something that needs to be encouraged and supported by everyone, but especially by the government.
Without a home-grown literature the story of our great nation cannot be told.
We strongly believe that if our story is not told, future generations of Papua New Guineans will not be fully aware of where they come from, who they are and what made them.
We will be happy to answer any of your questions if you can spare us a little time to present the petition to you.
I thank you for taking time to read our request.
We are dedicated writers and citizens of our country, and trust that you will give us the chance to present our case to you.
Most respectfully,

Daniel Kumbon
Author

And here are some paragraphs from the petition we wish to present to the prime minister
We, the writers of Papua New Guinea are currently struggling to tell our nation’s story.
There are no major publishers in Papua New Guinea interested in publishing our work. If we want to publish our books, we have to pay for that ourselves.
Our books are not available in schools. The students of Papua New Guinea cannot read books written by their own countrymen and women.
Instead, they have to read books written by writers from other countries.
Papua New Guinea has a poorly resourced public library system. Few of our own books are available in these libraries.
In most cases Papua New Guinean authors have to donate books free of charge to libraries so people can read them.
Our national literary award, the Crocodile Prize, is struggling to survive. It is supported by limited private funding.
The Papua New Guinean government has never shown real interest in supporting it.
Nor has the government shown an interest in supporting Papua New Guinean writers.
It is time this situation changed.
We, the undersigned writers of Papua New Guinea, together with our readers and supporters, are calling upon our Prime Minister, James Marape, to commit his government and future governments to providing the support our writers, our literature and our nation deserve.
It is time to secure the story of Papua New Guinea for present and future generations.
To do less is unthinkable.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/music/