This was a pilgrimage across linguistic, ecological, and cultural worlds at the age of 10. He arrived speaking only Melpa, learned Kote at school between 1953 and 1958, then transferred to national high school in 1959 to learn English — his third language in six years.
In July we celebrate 90 years of our family presence that sits at the intersection of every major theme in the Highlands story: first contact, wartime administration, administrative and infrastructure-building era, post-independence nation-building and now the digital economy.
The construction of the Kassam Pass was a primitive yet effective display of engineering. Without bulldozers, the road was carved into the mountainside using picks and shovels. Rupert Roelof Haviland took charge of a workforce.
"The history of a nation is rarely a linear progression of events; rather, it is a complex tapestry woven from the lives, decisions, and sacrifices of individuals who step forward when history demands it."
Serving the Territory of Papua New Guinea into becoming an Independent Sovereign Nation, the end of a journey arrives for the only female in the Bully Beef Club and first female interpretor for the Australian Administration.
@IlhanMN Somalian clans are not happy having a target placed on all of them by one person's actions. That support has cracked and anyone deported back will be looked down on. It's a double edged sword that makes you and breaks you.
If the world is silent, then power does not reside in signal production, but in signal interpretation.
And interpretation is not neutral — it is conditioned.
The horse was relieved when the automobile arrived.
And so will the public servant be — when the digital infrastructure finally arrives.
This isn’t just about efficiency.
It’s about humanity.
It’s about letting people who took an oath to serve actually serve.
#PNGDPI
One day, our children will not explain who we were through stories alone.
They will show it.
That is the future our sovereign DPI makes possible.
A New Generation is in the making.
#Culture#Nature#DigitalTransformation#ThePacificWay
We’re proud to see reps from Amazon, Astranis, Cisco, Google, Governful, Oracle, Salesforce and SpaceX at PNG’s #DTS25! Commercial diplomacy is core to U.S. foreign policy, creating space for PNG leaders to engage directly with U.S. tech on #investment, #cybersecurity and the country’s #digitalfuture.
Crisis and Opportunity exist simultaneously, innovation in tools accelerates our transition, but signal in signal out remains. Quality in, quality out - sh#*@ in sh#*@ out.
Most digital transformation strategies ask:
"How do we make government services digital?"
I'm asking:
"How do we make culture adaptive, identity secure, and governance distributed—using the same principles nature already perfected?"
Papua New Guinea deserves a Public Curator’s Office that honors our Constitution, our families, and our dead — not one that hides behind appointments and excuses.
Connectivity Is a Right! #Starlink & PNG’s Future
1/ #Starlink’s PNG dispute tests our digital vision.
2/ PNG’s terrain cuts off millions. Starlink can bring education & jobs to villages.
3/ Competition grows markets—Digicel proved it!
4/ Courts settle; we shape vision.
The #PukpukTreaty must be built on authenticity.
PNG’s sovereignty was not a gift—it was mandated by international law.
Manus has been used before: ANZUS, the Lombrum base, the detention centre. The people bore costs, not benefits.
We, respect the history, respect Manusians.
@krassenstein The statement "covering Trump's trip to the UK like you normally would" sounds like freedom from covering a President's story through an instructed narrative or script.
A historic moment where 62 years ago, a journey began at Administrative College and the formation of the Bully Beef Club and start of Papua And New Guinea Unite journey....but Hilan's name was spelt Helen, Ellan and Susan Hilan and got lost in the records of time. Now corrected
There are well below 10% pei opportunities in the 11++ million population. The pidgin language must not be misinformation, the informal sector knows this.