Proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone

People’s Rejection of Proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) Continues

It seems like the PNG government (through its agents) finally managed to bulldoze its way in seeing to it that the scheduled ground-breaking ceremony for its overly-publicized Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) at Vidar in Madang, PNG, does happen today (Friday 19th June 2009) as was initially scheduled.

That done, the government might also have to use every means to prevent the people from expressing their REAL concerns and beliefs. In a democracy like PNG the people do know and highly value their right to freedom of expression and all the rest as is stipulated in NO UNCERTAIN terms by their National Constitution.

Thus the Madang Lagoon people’s unreserved resistance to their national government’s proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) still continues. “Which people in their right frame of mind will ever sit still and let such a monster enter their backyards?” says Francis Gem, chairman of the Idawad Association of Kananam village.

The government and other proponents of the PMIZ idea, have NOT consulted appropriately with the Madang Lagoon community, let alone the people of Madang province as a whole, on what the PMIZ really is. In Mr Gem’s own words: “They have NEVER carried out thorough nor proper consultative public meetings to inform the people about the PMIZ idea….We have been left in the dark on the matter, so we had to carry out our own fact finding researches…..

“And it startles us to see our government shoving that PMIZ thing down our throats… we understand that our government wants to get the best it can out of our tuna stocks, BUT is the proposed PMIZ way, the only way? Whose interest is the government serving?”

For the Madang people, the PMIZ idea is a NO NO, and Mr Gem echoes their voice: “We will NOT allow that monster in!”

ENDS

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