Young people in the South Pacific islands of Bougainville are seizing the opportunity to help reshape the future of the autonomous region of Papua New Guinea as they head to the polls this month to elect a new leader.
The general election is the first since Bougainville voted overwhelmingly for independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG) at the end of last year, and the winner is to preside over negotiations on the terms of separation.
For Bougainville’s younger “lost generation,” who grew up either under or in the shadow of a bloody 10-year civil war, it gives them a chance to break from the past and elect a civilian president with no ties to the previous unrest.
Photo: Reuters / Calvin Caspar / The Bougainvillean
Two decades after combatants snapped arrows to signal the end of hostilities, there is anger among the younger generation that there has been little economic progress for the resources rich region.
“It has been wasted on mere politics, and there’s nothing on the ground to show for it,” Pajomile Minaka, a 37-year-old law student, said by telephone.
“In terms of bringing sustainable economic development there is nothing. Young people like me believe the government has failed the people,” he said.
Bougainville’s 250,000-strong population has a median age of just 20, a demographic that is likely bad news for the ex-combatants among the open field of 25 candidates vying for the top political office.
Younger voters are likely to push for a fresh face, even though prominent figures from the conflict had the advantage of widespread name recognition, said Paul Barker, executive director of Port Moresby-based Institute of National Affairs think tank.
“There is a strong element of the lost generation missing out and wanting change,” Barker said, ahead of two weeks of polling that began yesterday for the five-yearly election.
Bougainville descended into a decade-long conflict in 1988, sparked by a dispute over how the profits from the lucrative Panguna gold and copper mine should be shared and the environmental damage it had caused.
As many as 20,000 died during the fighting between the region’s rebel guerilla army and PNG forces, and Panguna was closed.
Last year’s non-binding independence poll was part of the peace process that ended the conflict, but competing claims over development rights to Panguna still hang over its future.
Bougainville Vice President Raymond Masono said Panguna should “play a major role in revitalizing Bougainville’s economy.”
Younger voters, such as Augustine Teboro, 30, said it was time to dispense with the “old view” that Bougainville’s future relied on reopening Panguna when it should be making use of its physical and natural beauty by cultivating its tourism, agriculture and fisheries industries.
“Our hope is that this generation will transform our society and not be a generation that will make the same mistakes of the past,” said Teboro, who heads a Bougainville youth federation. “We are looking for a civilian leader with integrity.”
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