ELECTIONS 1960s STYLE

 

Thomas Kavali (left), Michael Somare (centre) and Julius  Chan (right) in those early heady House of Assembly days.

The Rise of Sir Thomas Kavali 

By Big Pat

THE Vietnam War was raging in the Sixties.

A lesson in friendly fire was very evident of poor seamanship on the high seas of the South China Solwara.

The powerful Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne had just quite simply sliced in half the American destroyer Frank. E. Williams. 

It was an international embarrassment for the allies and great cause for concern for the navy.

The Chinese must have been laughing. Not so for their Vietcong sidekicks who were getting blasted in the bushes of the Ho Chi Ming trail.

It was all over the South Pacific Post of June 4, 1967. And more drama.

Nowadays, we don't often read of stowaways on aircrafts, especially those who sneak in on long haul flights.

But dramatic as it was, two Cubans, did attempt the long haul from Havana to Madrid. the Flying Cuban cigars got lit on arrival, one falling to his death as the landing gear extended him out under the wings.

The survivor was Armando Ramirez, 22 who endured temperatures of below 40 degrees during the 8 hour flight across the Atlantic.

On page 3, a name later to become famous with PNG politics, Thomas Kavali, won the Jimi Open seat polling 4329 to beat rival Teine Ambane 3142, Mai Kope 2876, Moli Kuru 1863, Gisipa Degimba 671, Eminol Tugo 606, Yinggok Kuloi 518 and Dangie Bal 291.

There was no trouble in the by-election following the death of MHA Kaura Duba in March 1969.

Kavali, a former warder, was just 25 years old. All the contestants were leaders in their own right. There was no club house fanfare, no 'kofi haus' sugar and unnecessary 'haus man' in each village for supporters to roll up for 'lem fleps, tosis and smuk buai' coins.

The did chew sugar cane but everyman and his dog this side of the mountain worked hard to feed his family. The government was law and the kiap enforced self belief and self help.

The political hopeful walked and held audience in the tribal sense of the word.

Certainly no one was ever bribed to vote for anyone. The men of that time were great orators. Their hearts shook the ground and their voices did the talking and convincing, not their pockets.

There was no promises of 'bringing goods and services' to the people. Certainly no 50 kina bribes, no kola, sips, sosis and lem fleps inducements. The people were told to work with the government.

Kavali, later to be knighted, was one of those who was humbled with humility.

After re-election in 1972, he was made the Minister for Works. And flew home to Mount Hagen, Western District, which encompassed Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Enga and Southern Highlands. 

L-R: Modern day leaders Sir Yauntine Koromba from Southern Highlands, Sir Philip Kapal from Jiwaka, Governor Paias Wingti of Western Highlands, Sir Nambuga  of Western Highlands. 

Kiap Garrett Roche, based at Karap in the Jimi Valley, writing in the PNG Attitude recalled:

In 1972, before independence, Thomas Kavali, who was from Maekmol in the middle Jimi Valley, was elected as the member of the House of Assembly for the Jimi constituency.

His National Party supported Michael Somare and was in coalition with Pangu and two other parties led by Julius Chan and John Guise. When Somare’s party formed government, Kavali was made Minister for Works.

In the Jimi area, it was widely believed that Thomas had persuaded his wantok  Kaibelt Diria, from Minj, to support the move for independence and thus give Michael Somare the numbers he needed. Kavali was later made Minister for Lands and was knighted.

In 1972, I was based at the Catholic mission at Karap in the Jimi Valley. There was a road from Banz to Karap and from Karap to Tabibuga where the government station was.

The road was rough, narrow, hilly and dangerous. The bridges were mostly made of tree trunks and planks. Landslides were not uncommon.

If the road was in good condition, the journey from Banz to Karap took two hours and from Karap to Tabibuga one hour.  It could be a frightening trip, especially for newcomers.

In the Jimi, we heard by radio that Thomas Kavali had been made Minister for Works and there was generally a sense of pride and jubilation.

Late one Saturday afternoon in Karap, I was chatting with some people outside my hilltop house overlooking the road from Banz when we saw a lone, well-dressed figure walking down the road.

As the figure came closer we recognised Thomas Kavali. We were surprised to see him walking. He was now a Minister in the Somare Government and we wondered why he was walking. We went to greet him and enquired about why he was walking.

Thomas explained he had arrived in Hagen by plane from Port Moresby.  An expatriate man from the Public Works Department was selected to drive him in a 4WD Landcruiser to Tabibuga where Thomas had a house. The drive from Hagen to Banz took the usual hour.

The driver then headed into the Jimi. The road through Kwiona was not great and the bridges creaked as they drove over them. Up at the Gate there had been a few minor landslides. After about an hour on the Jimi road, Thomas could see that the driver was getting more and more nervous.

At Kauwil the driver asked him if there was far to go, mentioning that he hoped to get back to Hagen before dark.

Thomas knew that it would be at least another two hours before they would reach Tabibuga.  If they went all the way, the driver would have to go back in the dark.

Thomas Kavali told the anxious driver to stop. He told him that his village was nearby and he could now walk the rest of the way.

The relieved driver found a place to turn around and gratefully headed back to Banz and Hagen.  Thomas continued by foot. It was a Saturday afternoon and there were no coffee buyers on the road and no other cars or trucks.  So Thomas kept walking and eventually came to Karap.

We listened to his story and shook our heads in wonder.  We did not know whether to be angry at the driver for turning back or to be amazed at the calm serenity and kindness of the Minister who let the driver go back to Hagen.

Anyway we spared Thomas Kavali further walking. I happily drove him to Tabibuga and called in to inform kiaps Jack Edwards, Ken Logan and Rod Cantlay about the triumphal return to his electorate of the National Minister for Works, the Honourable Thomas Kavali.

Sir Thomas Kavali died several years ago. I remember him as a true gentleman.

Sir Thomas actually passed on a few years before PNG celebrated its 40th Independence Anniversary.

Are there any true gentleman like Sir Thomas Kavali left in PNG's Parliament? 

Will there be another Sir Thomas - a humble nation builder - this NGE 2022 from Jiwaka?

Will Sir Philip consider running for one more time in Jiwaka? I don't know. But one thing is for certain - anyone who runs must consider the attributes of Sir Thomas. 

Tomorrow: Sir Nambuga recalls the inspiration of Sir Thomas Kavali. Only on bigpatpng.blogspot.com for png political history.

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The two men who led Western Highlands and Jiwaka provinces in 1980. Sir Nambuga Mara (left) was the first premier with Simon Koiam (right) who was his deputy premier.