IT was sad to see reports in the media about suspected brothels located inside business properties operated by foreigners in parts of Port Moresby recently.

There have been times over the past 25 years or so that I have observed similar reports of our government authorities storming into properties suspected of operating as brothels and interrogating the business operators especially in the National Capital District. In some of these claims, foreign women particularly from certain parts of Asia were reported to be the alleged prostitutes that served the clientele. In the recent cases, it seems our own PNG young women were allegedly involved. Suspected operators of this under-ground prostitution joints have often been foreigners with their Papua New Guinean compatriots in tow or lurking in the background. After the reports come out in the media, the issue becomes a hot topic for some days and weeks and then it dies out. During the period the story is no longer in the news, we can assume authorities have conclusively dealt with the suspects appropriately through the legal processes. It is equally important that the authorities do come out public to inform us about the conclusion of the cases. The claims of foreigners operating brothels, which are illegal in PNG, within properties in Port Moresby is one of the many unnerving modern PNG issues that strikes at the core of majority us as indigenous Melanesian people with strong values about human dignity and respect for another and our natural environment. It also strikes at our national consciousness as a nation founded on Christian principles. I am one person who feels bad when I read news reports of foreigners engaged in illegal activities like running brothels or prostitution joints and running illicit drug trade in cahoots with their PNG collaborators. Do some Papua New Guineans have to go that low to engage in illegal activities to collaborate with foreigners to run prostitution joints and smuggle drugs? Is this how far some Papua New Guineans can go in the name of making money or having access to it? This then leads me to the next question. Do Papua New Guineans need ‘dirty money’ to make ends meet or get by in life in our modernizing country with opportunities and most importantly with so much land with resources on it or can be ground on it?

Let us not kid ourselves. Majority of indigenous Papua New Guineans have a customary land and tribe to go to or identify with. Whether some of these Papua New Guineans reside in urban areas pre-urban settlements, most of us are connected to our land and tribes. We have relatives back in the village. Some of you reading this may have been born and raised in Port Moresby and Lae and you may have not been to the customary land of your parents and grandparents and touch base with our tribespeople. But when push comes to shove for survival, I strongly suggest you must find a way to trace your roots and go back. Papua New Guineans leading our age-old subsistence ways of life in the rural and remote village still hold strong the values of caring for their relatives and tribal people. They will not neglect you or turn you away when you turn up in the village for the first time after being born and raised in a town. They will embrace you. I am aware of retired or retrenched public servants and private sector employees and their families returning back to their rural or remote villages and being fully accepted back in to the communities. They then lead wonderful lives in the villages and start all over again in life in a way. Some of these former professionals leave their grown up children or teenage children in towns in schools and in employment and they return home to their roots. This is a wonderful thing that happens. More of this must be encouraged. Some retirees or retrenched public servants or private sector employees unfortunately shun the rural or remote village life and continue to live in the old government house or relocate to the settlements and hang around in the urban areas. These retirees and their families may have their own reasons but if it is because they think village live is ‘backward’ or do not want to return to the gardens or fishing and hunting joints, they should think again. Sons and daughters of these retirees or retrenched professionals who refused to return to the villages are among those who tend to get into trouble. I will not be surprised some of them end up as employees of these illegal brothels or socalled guest houses and lodges. I put it to us that ours is a land of milk and honey. We’ve get some of the best real estates in the world. Yet, many of us neglect this millionaire kina real estate spaces and migrate to towns and cities or refuse to return home and work this block of land we have back in our rural districts.

Let us never forget that 97 per cent of the land in PNG is classified as being under customary ownership and only 3 per cent is alienated land. This means you and my tribe and our tribes people own 97 per cent of the land. The State does not own 97 per cent of the land, we the indigenous people do. Let us liberate ourselves and educate ourselves on the proper economic use of our land and go back home and work on them. Not just farm the land but do other things with the land what is on it and in our waterways (seas, lakes and rivers). By the mere fact that we have 97 per cent of the land in our hands means, we can do many things with it. Our people must not be blinded by short-term gain with money by engaging with unscrupulous foreigners in activities such as running illegal brothels. These are activities that hurt our self-worth and dignity as proud indigenous Melanesians of this great land. Remember, we do not need ‘dirty’ money to get by in life. We have our land and our cultures associated with such as helping WANTOKS in need as our security, insurance policy and investment. We can make good use of them and we can get by in life, and money from proper use of our land and its resources.