FUZZY WUZZY ANGELS IN PERSPECTIVE

Sunday Chronicle Letter to editor 31 July 2011  Patrick Kaiku

John Fowke’s article “Foundation of a free PNG” needs critical examination.

The deeds of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels and the 38,000 Papua New Guineans who served alongside the Allied Forces is inspirational. Rightly so, their courage laid the foundations of an emergent PNG nation state.

Papua New Guineans must honour these deeds in their various ways. However, I take issue with some of Fowke’s remarks.

Firstly the myth that “freedom and independence” now enjoyed by PNG would not have come about if Papua New Guineans had not resisted Japan must be put into perspective. Is Fowkes saying that PNG was free prior to the invasion of the Japanese Imperial Army?

PNG was a colonial possession prior to the Japanese invasion. The trust territories were subjected to some of the most dehumanized forms of restrictions ever implemented.

There was no freedom of movement and kanakas were second class citizens in their own land under the various provisions of the Native Ordinances and Regulations of the colonial power – Australia.

Some scholars argue that the Japanese invasion of the pacific Islands and South East Asia meant to dislodge the colonial empires of the Euro-Americans. Now which is the worst of two evils – Australian colonialism or Japanese invasion?

During the war, Papua New Guineans came to realize that white American soldiers treated them as equals, something that th white Australians considered unthinkable for the inferior New Guineans.

The vague use of fighting for freedom is a cover-up of the notoriously racist and debilitating experience under Australian administration.

Secondly, while praises for our war heroes are legitimate, we must also be mindful of the Japanese mothers who lost their sons in the war. The Japanese soldiers were mere pawns in the expansionist ideologies of their militarist leaders.

Likewise, the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombs must make up the complete picture of the narrative.

In some Melanesian societies, the bitterness of war and conflict is silently observed. These humane aspects of our societies are observed so as not to re-ignite deep wounds incurred during times of conflict.

I had the opportunity of meeting the grand-child of a Japanese soldier. Her grandfather saw action in New Guinea. Upon my revelation that my grandfather was forcibly recruited by the Japanese to be a carrier on Kokoda Track, my Japanese colleague became remorseful and apologized profusely.

Commemorating Papua New Guineans involved in the Second World War should not be seen to stigmatize the Japanese. The message should be about creating long-lasting friendships between our various societies.

In my experience, demonizing the present generation of Japanese through constant reminder of their grand-father’s imperial ambitions ignites shame and unnecessary stress among people who have already moved on in their lives. Balanced sensitivity must be part of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel myth.

Finally, Fowke urges Papua New Guineans to teach the truth in schools, in his idea of nation building. However the legend of the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel is just one of many foundation stories of this country. One can understand how Australians honour their Diggers and ANZAC tradition.

Should the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel legend be a miniature version of the ANZAC legend? Australia once a far flung dominion of the British Empire is said to have achieved nationhood at Gallipoli.

This is the myth making that legitimizes the presence of the Anglo-Saxon settler population in Australia. In the process, the 50,000 year history of the indigenous people of that continent is relegated to the background.

Papua New Guinea will judge and honour its own people together with the things that bind them together as a nation. The creation of war heroes and their deeds can be part of the multitude of areas in creating a national identity.

REFLECTION ON THE LETTER OF PATRICK KAIKU

Modern Papua New Guinea is a young country with very few heroes. From colonial times, there were many workers but they had a supportive and subordinate role to the colonial authorities.

They were native police, clerks, medical orderlies. Very few showed themselves as role models for a developing nation.

Anyone who did became a public figure like Peter To Rot. The only other public figures from the past emerged when some public figure asserted that his grandfather was an aid post orderly in the 1950s or a police sergeant major.

But new nations need role models that are known by everyone and they were the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. Some of them had histories going back such as the carriers to the miners on the Bull Dog Track. But carriers make poor national role models as they are simply human pack horses.

The only group that stood out and gave a contribution were the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. They worked for the Australian military. We do not talk about those who worked for the Japanese.

The Angels had scope for independent action as long as that involved carrying wounded Australian soldiers and supplies. They were generally treated badly with few personal supplies of food and warm clothing.

After World War 2, the Australians came back and turned the country into an economic and political sleepy hollow again. It took the Foot Report of the 1960s to nudge Australia into activity that prepared the nation for independence.

This was the era when the USSR was invading Hungary and later Czechoslavakia and the UN needed Australia to be seen to be doing the right thing.

Then the nation started to develop operations that enabled role models to arise. There were the beginnings of the PNGDF, RPNGC, CIS and a whole range of doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and health workers. There was also the onset of systemic and systematic corruption.

So where are the national heroes coming from Patrick Kaiku? It seems as if the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels were a key start though mainly in a supportive and subordinate role. There were also the troops of the Papuan Infantry Battalion and New Guinea Infantry Battalion.

They showed the qualities of toughness, endurance, courage and compassion that the young people today can copy. They are not obese and waddle like ducks as do many modern men in Government and business.

Many lived past the life span of 53 that many modern men never reach. This was the result of eating little protein and fat, little carbohydrate with plenty of clean water, no booze and regular exercise.

Many would have taken their outlook on life to build the churches. None would have joined raskol gangs in the city and terrorized young women at bus stops.

Then there was the village constabulary even on the Kokoda Track of whom the old man of Naduri is our foremost example. And there are silly Australians claiming he was not a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel. He was not. He was a village constable.

Mr Kaiku scoffs at the nation being free the result of the Japanese defeat. Australia needed a shove but still gave independence to Papua New Guinea.

Had the Germans not been defeated in World War 1, they would most likely still be here in a German colony. There would have been German farms up the Wahgi Valley. The Leahy’s were German albeit immigrants to the massive German colony in Southern Queensland.

So too the Japanese. Why build an empire then give it away 20 years later? The French had to be driven out of Indo China or they would still be there in a French colony. An elected representative would be sent to the French parliament. This could be termed occupation independence.

Knowing what we know now about the mineral resources of Papua New Guinea, no invader will ever leave.

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels are role models in working hard, getting little or no reward and dying penniless. They should have closed the track to the Australian and Japanese troops until they were paid.