Minister for Finance, Planning and Rural Development

When John "Tongri" Hickey came to Papua New Guinea as a young man in 1963, he was almost immediately (and unusually) a part of two worlds.

He was part of the expatriate administration but also a part of the Papua New Guinea life-world. This came to be increasingly the communities of the Lower Ramu River in the Madang Province, especially the Rom people of Daiden and Nem Nem villages. He came to be a trail-blazer in both of these worlds.

As an expatriate, he was part of the colonial enterprise but he created, by his work and his attitudes to Papua New Guineans, an unfamiliar trail. He was one of a small group of expatriates who adopted, and were adopted by, their new country as soon as they arrived.

He was initially a Specialist Project Manager for the Catholic Mission, looking after cattle projects and then teaching agriculture at Maiwara High School.

While teaching there, he was befriended by the paramount Chief of Manam and the Marangasi Clan of Boda village. There, He was appointed Headmaster at Marangasi Clan of Boda village and began a life-long association.

He was also appointed Headmaster at Annaberg Primary School and eventually Superintendent at the new Goroka Teachers College. During this time, he visited the Sepik and West Irian.

Also at this time he attained teaching qualifications and also in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

He was also used as a trail-blazer, by the Colonial Administration. From 1969 to 1980, he was a Specialist Community Liaison Officer.

He patrolled in the Telefomin area with the Department of Native Affairs, undertook various posts as a relief teacher at Kusabu, Gum and Talidig, and became Director of the Bogia Secondary Center from 1976 to 1980.

It was at this time that he established contact with the Lower Ramu and was invited to build his house there. He has lived there ever since. He was granted Papua New Guinea citizenship at the independence in 1975.

From 1981 to 1983, he was a Specialist Education Manager working again for the Catholic Mission at its Madang Education Office, Malala High School and Divine Word Institute.

As a teacher and an educational administrator, he believed that students should be taught philosophy, ethics and current affairs at a very early level. It is only in the last decade or so that his advice has been followed with courses in ethics and civics, now an established part of the curriculum.

For the next decade, he ventured into business as Managing Director of Jay's & Associates Pty Ltd in Madang and also into politics as firstly, Member for Jomba for two terms and then, Member for the Lower Ramu.

He had to make a choice between business and politics and chose the latter. During this time as a provincial politician, he was Minister for Culture and Tourism and Minister for Commerce and Business Development and a member of the Law and Order Committee.

From 1986 to 1989, he also found time to serve on the Prisoner Rehabilitation and Probation Committee and as an officer in the Reserve Police.

From 1993 to 2002, he moved home to the Lower Ramu permanently as a "villager" but also worked during this time as Operation and Public Relations and then Secretary-Director for Ramu Niugini, a petroleum exploration company. The people of the Lower Ramu also endorsed him as their candidate for the Bogia Open seat (and electorate he won in 2003).

While this particular time trajectory show him actively engaging in two different worlds in Papua New Guinea, creating trails of development and communication, he was also walking old trails and creating new ones in the social and cultural life of the people of the Lower Ramu.

The new paths were about development and communication with the wider world. Early on, he was made a member of the Dapur clan. He is now a leader of this clan and was given the name "Tongri", which means "trail-blazer" and "warrior".

He was eventually given "Yamdar" from the people of the Lower Sepik and Ramu. This is equivalent to chieftaincy. He is the second chief of the Dapur clan with a special role in mediation and is now recognised as a leader in the Rom culture. He has been deeply influenced by his Papua New Guinea teachers so that his life-world now is entwined with that of his people.

In his first year as a Parliamentarian in the new Government of Papua New Guinea, his history with trail-blazing has already shown itself.

As Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, he has been determined to create a proper and smooth road towards good and honest government. He has done this less in the style of a warrior and more in the style of a trail-blazer, working, with others, to pave a road for the security and well being of the people.

As he has said, he was not there incriminate but to help people understand the necessity for commitment, dedication and accountability to the State.

In June 2006, he was appointed Finance and Planning Minister, where he is now in charge of two very important Government Departments, and where his trail-blazing traits from the Public Accounts Committee are widely expected to be driving force against corruption within the Departments of Finance, and Planning and Rural Development - both of which have come under heavy public criticism.

As a Member of Parliament, his policies for the people of Bogia electorate show this in action. He is in constant contact with the electorate and spends much of his time there.

His main platform is the social and economic empowerment of his people through family units so that they can take charge of their own lives and their own futures.

This is reflected in his support for health community centered primary health projects and immunisation programmes, road maintenance (so that his people can get their crops to market), and the education and health of women, to name just a few. He is working closely with donor agencies to facilitate this path of empowerment.

At this time, he has just completed the distribution of 230,000 vanilla cuttings and conducted three Vanilla Trainers Courses where more than one hundred and twenty men and women have trained to work among their communities to pass on the knowledge they have gained in the cultivation of vanilla. He has also recently completed the distribution of two million cocoa nursery bags throughout the district and is now in the planning stages of organising regular field days for the management and care of cocoa.

Major road maintenance and upgrading are well underway and for the first time in many years, people are now able to move their produce to market by vehicle. Bank South Pacific have agreed to establish an agency in Bogia which is to be a joint effort between the BSP, District Treasury and the Joint District Budget Priority Committee.

As a result of his discussions with Post PNG, the Bogia Post Office may be reestablished soon after the Bogia Bank is operational. It is also his aim to fund and reestablish the District Court and the Bogia Corrective Institution along with rural police stations this coming year.

Mr Hickey and his dedicated team face a mammoth task to rebuild, revitalise and develop the district. The first steps have been taken. They are confident and are looking forward to his vision for the District becoming a reality in the coming years.

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