Transcript
TIMOTHY MASIU: The Peace Agreement is very clear, it's very clear, that when the people of Bougainville go into the referendum - now the questions to be asked have not been confirmed yet. That is the job of the Bougainville Referendum Commission which has been established but it is very, very slow in getting membership of the Bougainville Referendum Commission. The Prime Minister in reply to my question, or questions, mentioned that the former Irish prime minister has accepted the chairmanship position, and now they just have to include the other members of the Commission. They will be sitting down to decide on the questions to be asked.
DON WISEMAN: Bougainville itself has already selected its members.
TM: Yes they have been selected but they have not been appointed yet - yet to be appointed and commissioned into the Commission. The PNG government is supposed to fund this Bougainville Referendum Commission with 20 million kina. That's the budget for the Commission to operate on but so far we haven't seen anything being done. So while it is very very slow the countdown to the referendum date is drawing close, faster, and we feel that the issues, the key issues, are being sidestepped by the Government of Papua New Guinea. Therefore it is making it very, very cumbersome for us, as leaders on Bougainville, on the engagement of the National Government to the wishes and aspirations of the people of Bougainville, which is independence. That is the key issue. The people of Bougainville would want to vote in that referendum, they want to know what the questions will be, or question will be, and the earlier the better so people can be ready for that.
DW: Do you think that the government under Mr O'Neill is delaying payment to frustrate the whole process?
TM: I am not really sure whether it delaying payment to frustrate the process but from the Bougainvillean point of view that would be the case, but on the other hand it would also be telling us that the Papua New Guinea government has no money to support the process on Bougainville. So it is a very crucial time.
DW: He talked independence not being the only thing when he was attacking you in parliament. And he is right there isn't he? There are other aspects to this whole question.
TM: Oh yes Don, Let's say the Prime Minister did not attack me. It is not an attack on me. He, as the Prime Minister defends his government and he was doing that, he was defending his government, on his part. The issues on Bougainville - it is not only one issue. There are so many issues. I live with the people in my electorate and listening to the stakeholders on the ground, we have all kinds of factions on the ground and I listen to what they say, and some of these things, because of the kind of reaction and the attitude of the people I have to say it out in parliament, for the government to notice and if the government is intelligent enough it will pick up what I am saying as a parliamentary leader. And I don't think the Prime Minister's answers to my questions were an attack on me. It was an attack, if you think so, to the people of Bougainville. And the people of Bougainville will not accept anything like that. And we would like the national government to tell us what exactly they are going to do in terms of the process that we are following. I think that his reaction towards me has upset a lot of Bougainvillean leaders and the people are psyched up. They are waiting for the visit of the JSB [Joint Supervisory Board] in Arawa on the 14th of June. So I think it will be a very good meeting and a lot of misconceptions, or what not, can be discussed in that meeting, so we can move forward.
DW: What is your perception of what Bougainvilleans want? Do you think, right across the board, they are going to vote independence?
TM: I will say this honestly. I think the people of Bougainville, they are all divided, in their own ways of seeing things. I think there is a lot of informations that really needs to go down to the grass root level so people can really understand what is going on. Now don't forget that we have the ABG [Autonomous Bougainville Government] on the ground, we have all the donor agencies. Some of our friends, the NGOs, are on the ground as well. And from my perspective, from the point of view that I am seeing it is that we need to have only one body talking about the referendum issue, and educating the people on the referendum, and what are the repercussions of a referendum, what are the consequences of a referendum, and what would be the outcome if the people of Bougainville want the issue to be addressed. Because right now we still don't know what the questions, or questions, will be. When the question, or questions, are agreed upon, then i can give a straight answer as to whether the people are for independence. But I can tell you the talk about independence is loosely being spoken of on Bougainville. Everyone will tell you that we will go for independence, but that's one thing. Saying it is another thing, doing it is another thing as well. So I would say that we still need to have a more concrete awareness in Bougainville so all the people of Bougainville - they must understand the issues of referendum and the process that is taking place right now.
