THE FUTURE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA RESTS ON BOUGAINVILLE

Make no mistake, Bougainville holds the rest of PNG together.

The future of Papua New Guinea as a sovereign nation seriously depends on keeping the province of North Solomon (Bougainville) as an integral part of PNG.

The equation is simple: No Bougainville = No PNG. In other words, as long as we have Bougainville, the rest of PNG will remain united and intact as one country and one people.

Mark my words, Bougainville's disintegration will trigger a rippling effect of mass disintegration or gradual dismantling of the entire sovereign nation-state of PNG.

As soon as Bougainville secedes and/or breaks away from the rest of PNG, it will consequently trigger the total collapse of the sovereign nation-state of PNG. The world will witness PNG to subsequently disintegrate into 22 or more smaller self-governing states. They will be regarded as former territories of Papua New Guinea.

The conditions are set and just right and the indicators are obviously evident everywhere throughout the width and breadth of the country.

The security vulnerabilities are huge and frightening in a land of so much uncertainty and unpredictability.

This term of Parliament could be the last because the parliamentary term in 2027 will certainly dissolve and no longer exist following the ratification of the Bougainville referendum results by Parliament.

The upper highlands, which hosts key resource projects like the Porgera mine and the petroleum and LNG projects in the Southern Highlands and Hela provinces, are already fed up with Waigani's handling of the wealth from their resources. The landowners in these regions already have stockpiles of high-powered weapons and ammunition. They have expressed their frustrations with Waigani and now will do anything to break away from Waigani.

The Papuan Besena is still very much alive although it remains dormant at the leadership level. They will break away, taking control of the papuan region, including the city of Port Moresby. New Ireland, New Britain and Manus will secede to be on their own whilst the Momase and Sepiks will follow suit.

Best option available.

Re-call the referendum to include the rest of the country. The first referendum was only done by Bougainville itself which is not proper. This is because of the serious security implications it has on the lives of all the citizens and the entire country. The rest of PNG must vote in the referendum as it affects the lives of everyone. This is the first step in the right direction.

The second step is to make all the provinces and districts autonomously governing bodies in all aspects of governance and statehood except for defence and foreign affairs.

If the government fails to undertake these simple yet strategic steps, every region must discuss the prospect of creating breakaway states for their own regions.

Everyone must start discussing their new boundaries now before it's too late.

Rimeliehali Yalame