New Papua New Guinea leader a wildcard in Pacific power play

By Tom Westbrook, Colin Packham - Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) - When Papua New Guinea’s lawmakers started to shift their weight in their parliamentary seats in preparation for a tense vote on a new prime minister on Thursday, James Marape looked uninterested, his head lowered, fingers tapping his phone.

The former finance minister later explained he was preparing notes for a speech, should numbers fall his way.

They did, and the notes turned into a powerful series of addresses which signaled a desire to reset how the archipelago conducts business and diplomacy amid a strategic battle between China and the United States for influence in the Pacific.

“We are still struggling to economically free ourselves,” Marape told reporters moments after he was sworn in.“The nation needs to know that this is a break free ... and the emergence of a new group of like-minded leaders,” he said referring to himself and his supporters.

Marape became prime minister after receiving 101 votes to eight in parliament, a day after former leader Peter O’Neill resigned having lost the support of the house following almost eight years in power.

The new leader told the chamber he wanted to make his country the richest black Christian nation on earth, then headed to Royal Port Moresby golf club for his regular Thursday round, according to the club’s pro, Nelson Gabriel.

DEBT OF GRATITUDE

Formerly administered by U.S.-ally Australia, PNG has in recent years turned increasingly to China for financing as Beijing becomes a bigger player in the region, something Marape is being asked by colleagues to change.

“I would request that we take a long hard look at all Chinese arrangements,” one MP who shifted from opposition to support Marape’s leadership bid told Reuters, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

PNG is rich in mineral resources and is close to both U.S. military bases on the island of Guam and to Australia.

China forged a particularly strong relationship with O’Neill, who was the first Pacific leader to sign up to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure-building program and who met President Xi Jinping more than a dozen times during his time in power, the former leader’s spokesman told Reuters.

In dollar terms, PNG has the biggest debt to China among its neighbors, representing about one-quarter of its total external debt.

Foreign diplomats are now scrambling to understand the new leader, and there is belief among some PNG lawmakers and western diplomats that China has the most to lose by the change in leadership.

“We are trying to get some face time with him,” a senior British diplomatic source told Reuters.

“I suspect China is too and will be looking to pitch him with promises, but Marape has protectionist sentiments. Chinese loans often come with requirements to use Chinese labor and companies - if Marape isn’t willing to accept those terms, it could be an opportunity for the West.”

A senior U.S. government source said Marape’s family has connections with the United States because his eldest son is enrolled at a North American university.


“Marape has always been a supporter of Western principles such as democracy,” the U.S. source said.

“As finance minister he warned about unsustainable debt levels. We are comforted and buoyed by these statements.”

China’s embassy in Port Moresby did not respond to requests for comment. Analysts say Marape’s former job as finance minister will make him a familiar and friendly face to Chinese diplomats.

“We will engage with the Chinese government and its people (and) so long as it is fair and friendly to us and in our terms, we’re happy with that,” Marape told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.

SON OF A PREACHER
The 48-year-old son of a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Marape hails from PNG’s poor but gas-rich highlands.

He supported a 2009 landowner agreement that paved the way for Exxon’s $19 billion PNG LNG project, according to local media reports at the time, but soon became a critic of the oil and gas giant after the anticipated tax-take came in lower than forecast.

On Thursday, he put some of the world’s biggest resources companies including France’s Total on notice over a perceived lack of wealth flowing from their projects back to communities.

Total’s Chairman and CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, told journalists in Paris on Wednesday that O’Neill had defended the interest of his country during the negotiations.

While Marape has indicated he wants to diversify the country’s interests and develop its tourism industry, he is not against resources development.


In his highlands electoral base, he has led disarmament initiatives to strip “gun-toting cowboys” of their weapons, who he has blamed for trying to interrupt gas operations.

Parliamentary colleagues are expecting him to shake things up.

“It is time for a transition, it is time for a new generation ... to move on and bring some of the change that our people have been crying for,” Charles Abel, who served as O’Neill’s deputy, told parliament after Marape’s election.

Reporting by Tom Westbrook, Colin Packham and Jonathan Barrett in SYDNEY; Writing by Jonathan Barrett; Editing by Lincoln Feast.

Go to this link for more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-papua-politics-idUSKCN1T10QY

New PNG PM pledges to 'take back economy' from foreigners

By Angus Grigg, Lisa Murray & Jonathan Shapiro - AFR Financial Review

Papua New Guinea’s new Prime Minister James Marape has put foreign companies on notice, pledging to change laws in the resources sector and “take back the economy”.

Delivering his first speech since easily winning a parliamentary leadership vote on Thursday morning, Mr Marape praised his predecessor Peter O’Neill while indicating he would move the country in a new direction.

“Who says one conglomerate from outside can come and tell me I can’t change the laws for my country,” he told parliament.

“I have every right to tweak and turn resource laws. We are all about maximising resources for our country.”

The nationalistic rhetoric marks a departure from the O’Neill Government and could delay a critical agreement with the government that is needed to proceed with a $US14 billion expansion of LNG as the new Prime Minister seeks to renegotiate the fiscal terms.

There are two separate ventures: Papua LNG, led by France's Total; and PNG LNG, led by ExxonMobil. ASX-listed Oil Search has a stake in both ventures. Shares in Oil Search closed 2 cents lower at $7.13.

At a press conference, Mr Marape pledged to table an Ombudsman Commission report into the government's borrowing of $1.2 billion from investment bank UBS - a complicated deal which cost PNG at least $400 million.

The investigation into the loan, which financed PNG’s purchase of a 10 per cent stake in Oil Search, was one of the main weapons used by the opposition to bring down Mr O’Neill.

Tabling the report, which found the deal may have resulted in 15 laws being broken, is the first step in bringing disciplinary action against Mr O’Neill.

Former PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill officially resigned on Wednesday. AP

“Now that he has been dislodged from the office of Prime Minister he can expect to face criminal prosecution,” opposition MP Brian Kramer said on Wednesday evening.

Go to this link for more: https://www.afr.com/business/energy/new-png-pm-pledges-to-take-back-economy-from-foreigners-20190530-p51svy

Introducing PNG's new leader: James Marape

By Johnny Blades, Radio New Zealand Pacific Journalist

On the face of it, Papua New Guinea's new prime minister is an odd mix: a humble Christian and a political heavyweight in a cut-throat parliament.

After all, rising to the top of PNG's political scene - so often a flock of vultures driven less by national interest than the need to feather their own nests - is not for the faint-hearted.

But James Marape has prevailed through a combination of timing and audacity. The MP for Tari-Pori became PNG's eighth prime minister by rolling the man who he had supported as a key lieutenant since 2011.

It was Mr Marape's resignation as Finance Minister seven weeks ago, citing mistrust with the prime minister, which triggered a series of mass defections from Peter O'Neill's ruling People's National Congress party and the coalition government.

A flood of grievances over PNG's ailing economy, deteriorating basic services, handling of the country's resource wealth and festering corruption allegations ultimately turned the tide against Mr O'Neill who resigned as prime minister this week after almost eight years in the role.

The new prime minister was elected by an overwhelming majority of MPs on Thursday. A Seventh Day Adventist who is a graduate of the University of PNG with a Bachelor in Arts and honours in environmental science, Mr Marape made a gesture of humility in his maiden speech as PNG's leader.

"I am not multi-talented, I am the first to admit this. I am neither a saint. I make mistakes - that I can promise you. But I will make honest mistakes and not deliberate mistakes. In my lack of total talent and knowledge, I will draw from every one of you."

In essence, the rump of the O'Neill-led government has merely reconfigured to remain in power with a new leader. However significant hopes for change are pinned on Mr Marape's emergence as prime minister.

James Marape (centre in black suit) walks back to parliament after being sworn in as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, 30 May 2019. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Melvin Levongo

Bold move

If Mr Marape had not been bold enough to leave the government and combine forces with the opposition, as the opportunity for a motion of no confidence against Mr O'Neill arose, there would probably have been no change in leadership.

Such has been Mr O'Neil's mastery of the PNG political scene that few MPs in government have been willing to risk the perks of government and access to district funds by deserting him. But the signs have been clear for some time that people across PNG have been suffering for lack of basic services, especially health, and want change.

While Madang MP Bryan Kramer may claim to have landed lasting blows against Mr O'Neill with his relentless Facebook attacks, it was James Marape who ultimately brought the government down. When Mr Marape left government, more MPs followed him. He is personable, has significant mana, and shares genuine friendships across the chamber.

As PNG's new leader, he likened himself to a choir master bringing different singers together to deliver a harmonious performance, and begged membersfrom both sides of the house to follow the music he sets.

"Combined we can make a song that our children shall truly deserve in this country. No child must be left behind."

Telling parliament that he wanted PNG to be "the richest, black, Christian nation on planet Earth" within a decade, Mr Marape prioritised addressing uneven benefits from the country's abundant resource wealth.

One of the central reasons he left Mr O'Neill in April was disatisfaction at how his people had not seen promised benefits from PNG's first major LNG gas project, operated by ExxonMobil, which is based in his province, Hela, and has been exporting successfully for almost five years.

The new-look government, whose cabinet is yet to be finalised, is to review laws governing mining, oil and gas and other resource sectors, with Mr Marape saying his leadership was all about PNG taking back ownership of its economy in which foreign entities play a dominant role.

"We don't need more foreigners to come in and export our forestry sector. Those players currently playing in this country, your time is now to go into downstream (processing) and not round log exports."

James Marape said he didn't intend to chase away investors, but rather he encouraged them. Yet he insisted that PNG must maximise gain from its God-given resources.

Peter O'Nell and James Marape celebrate election success in 2017 Photo: PMO Media

Patchy record

A lingering problem for James Marape is that he has been caught up in some of Peter O'Neill's most glaring scandals in recent years.

Both of them were implicated in an alleged fraud case over which police sought an arrest warrant for Mr O'Neill in 2014. The case has not yet fully made it to court because the arrest warrant and other machinations behind the investigation were subjected to myriad legal challenges by the former prime minister.

Along with Mr O'Neill, Mr Marape was referred by the Ombudsman for a leadership tribunal investigation over a controversial $US1.2 billion loan that the government took on from Swiss-based investment bank UBS in 2014.

The two MPs come from the same Highlands region where deadly violence broke out during the 2017 elections and raged on well into 2018. Much of the unrest was sparked over widespread perceptions that the polls were rigged.

Mr Marape was declared the winner by PNG's Electoral Commission with just over 50 per cent of a total of 60,000 votes that were reportedly cast in his constituency - which was remarkable given the electoral roll had only about 40,000 eligible voters in Tari-Pori electorate.

During this week's dramatic parliament proceedings, in which Mr O'Neill finally resigned after appearing to backtrack on an earlier commitment to stand down, Mr Marape admitted that as a member of government he had made mistakes, but these were not deliberate. It was the systematic mistakes, he said, that his leadership would be working to eradicate.

He reminded the chamber that all the MPs were humans, and humans are not perfect, for that is the way God planned it.

James Marape and his wife Rachael Marape signing the visitors book at Government House after arriving for his swearing in as Prime Minister of PNG. Photo: PNG PM Media

Go to this link for more: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/390979/introducing-png-s-new-leader-james-marape