LOSING THE UN PRESIDENCY SEAT

Above: Chief Somare and his team including Ambassador Utula Samana (right in the picture); Below Chief Somare being congratulated after the vote by his supporters. Pictures courtesy of Daniel Kumbon.

Young Paulini.

By DANIEL KUMBON

ON the world political stage, Grand Chief Sir Michael Chief was astute, immovable and solid as a rock.

He took each opportunity as it came; shrewdly celebrating his victories and humbly accepting with grace his defeats and smiling through the experiences.

These served to make him a wiser man as he aged. Wisdom supplements humbleness.

If I had had the opportunity to speak at his funeral this week, I could have talked about a time in New York when Mrs Patty Lohia, wife of the PNG Ambassador to the United Nations Renagi Lohia, wept bitterly after Somare lost the race for the mainly ceremonial role as President of the 46^th UN General Assembly.

Mrs Lohia and her daughter were the only women in our small group as we stood at the gate of the UN building as Sir Michael Somare shook hands and calmly thanked foreign dignitaries who had supported him.

It could have been a perfect gift for us - the few Papua New Guineans if Somare had won for it was the month of September, 1991, our independence month.

Then we walked across the street to a restaurant and sat together at two tables to have lunch and discussed how we had lost, a race that we had all expected to win.

Sir Michael was the hot favourite from the start but managed only 47 votes against Saudi Arabia’s Samir Shihabi’s 83.

“We lost out of Europe or Africa,’ Ambassador Lohia said bluntly. He believed many of the African leaders were bribed. “They were bought off.”

Education Minister Utula Samana blamed the defeat on the Gulf War coalition partners and Western Europe.

“They voted for Saudi Arabia as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for the role it played in the Gulf War,” he said.

Most of our votes came from Asian countries, other Pacific Island states, the Caribbean and Latin America. The only definite vote from the Middle East was from Israel.

“The Middle East is always in the news. We want somebody impartial to deal with issues affecting Israel,” Minister Arie Tenne, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, had told me at a pre-election gathering the night before.

Sir Michael remained calm as the results were declared. He sat through to the end as president-elect Samir Shihabi read a very long prepared speech in Arabic.

I was proud of Sir Michael’s great patience and diplomacy.

I did not want to read or see Sir Michael’s defeat on television that evening or read in the newspapers so I explored New York City. With me was Perai Manai from Tapini in Central province. He had come to America with Utula Samana.

First, we headed for the Empire State Building which was always open until midnight. From the 102^nd floor, we could see the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre shining white in the distance, the only building taller than any other on the New York landscape.

A decade later, the Twin Towers were blown-up by Osama Bin Laden’s Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. They flew two hijacked passenger jets straight into the buildings on 11^th September, 2001, now referred to as 9/11.

America immediately declared war on terrorism. Osama Bin Laden the master mind evaded capture for almost a decade before he was located in Pakistan by the U.S. military in May 2011 and eliminated.

Just like the memories of the Twin Towers keeps flashing in my mind, so too will the memory of Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare - not only among my generation but future generations to come.

His presence will remain with the people. Generations will continue to appreciate his efforts to unite a country of a thousand different tribes.

The moderator that Friday night then introduced a confident young girl of eight years whose father is from Enga and mother from Manus. And her grandparents of Enga and New Ireland heritage.

She is Pauline Wapen Mango, a 3rd grader at Lahara Avenue school in Boroko. She stood in front of a packed house and recited a poignant poem from memory.  

Here is Pauline Wapen Mango’s poem: - What it means to be a Papua New Guinean.

             Independent and free

             You helped us to see

             What life could be

             Living together in unity

             A thousand tribes and me

 

Thank you, Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare.

From the children of Enga (and Papua New Guinea)

• Author Daniel Kumbon's tribute to late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare following his death, funeral and burial. Originally published in Post-Courier, in April 2021.