Zurenuoc Justifies removal of PNG parliament carvings

PNG Parliament Speaker. Getty Image

PNG parliament Speaker has justified that the national Parliament is undergoing a facelift as part of a  modernisation programme to restore national unity. 

“When Parliament elected me to the Speaker’s chair last year, I inherited a house that had lost its dignity, integrity, respect and reverence,” Zurenuoc told reporters.

“The Parliament had become a house riddled with rotten administrative systems and processes that urgently needed reformation, restoration and modernisation to bring it up to international standards.”

He said Parliament needed modernisation to be undertaken as a project of national unity. And part of that was the decision to remove the totem pole in the Grand Hall of the House.

He said the plan was to remove the pole and give it to the National Museum but its director refused to accept it. He said the pole could remain in the House but not in the Grand Hall. 

“We want to open up Parliament to the people. It’s the Grand Hall which should captivate people.

“We want to make it a place where people and school children can come to learn. We’re not destroying the culture and I’m not a cultural terrorist.”

He said the decision was made collectively by the Parliamentary House Committee which comprised himself, Gulf Governor Havila Kavo, Morobe Governor Kelly Naru, Mul-Baiyer MP Koi Trape and Tambul Nebilyer MP Benjamin Poponawa. 

ONE PNG / The National