Die Schatten der Vergangenheit: Papua-Neuguinea und der steinige Weg zur nationalen Selbstfindung

Abstract

Papua New Guinea is a young Pacific island state which achieved its independence in 1975, then claiming to be "united in one nation". This article examines whether such a thing as national identity really exists. It searches for historical roots which either facilitated or impeded the development of such an identity. Some basic features of Melanesian traditions were diametrically opposed to the building of a nation-state: numerous small independent village societies, most of them not stratified, with a multitude of languages. Common institutions were unknown; not even the idea of a superior form of government seems to have been evolved. Instead, tribal warfare was rife and prevented the establishment of any political structure of more than purely local importance. European colonization brought institutionalized government and pacification. But this was not a ubiquitous achievement. Tribal warfare continued in some regions of the country; the general tendency to take to violence and to administer personal justice was never eradicated. Furthermore, there are few common values which could serve as a basis for national identity. What there is, the so-called wantok system, is largely responsible for an increasing strain on the European model of a nation-state. The lingua franca, Tok Pisin, is the most important indigenous contribution to the development of a national identity. But it still has to struggle with the old European prejudice that it is some bastardized form of English. It is not taught in schools. Infrastructural problems complicate the situation. The capital Port Moresby is an artificial, colonial creation which is not connected by road to any other regional center. The political elite gives anything but a shining example of how to pursue the nation’s interests instead of furthering one’s own private good. Last but not least, there are the institutions of a West- minster-style democracy. But they in fact represent the legacy of a colonial past and in their present form and application do not advance, but hinder the development of a stronger national identity.