I am calling on the Prime Minister, Honourable James Marape to do the honourable thing and remove Justin Tkatchenko as a Member of Parliament and revoke his PNG Citizenship. The Prime Minister as Leader of this Nation needs to come out clear and publicly condemn Justin Tkatchenko’s racism and deal with him authoritatively. Because this is the will of the people of this country. The whole country was shocked and dismayed by someone we trusted and mandated to represent us as a Member of our Parliament and as Foreign Minister who unfortunately acted like a racist and embarrassed us internationally. What a shame!
Justin Tkatchenko has seen fit to call Papua New Guineans, and I quote, “…primitive animals…, I call them primitive animals because they are…, they have got nothing to do in their lives…” Degrading and derogatory words from Justin Tkatchenko as reported by Pacific Beat and ABC reporter, Mr. Stephen Dziedzic. This piece of news has surely been spread and read all over the world to our humiliation and embarrassment. Justin has clearly shown himself to be a racist and a discriminatory person. This is how he views the people of Papua New Guinea. They are useless animals according to him.
In other countries, leaders are well aware of who they are and are very careful with their choice of words especially during public speeches and in front of the media. Justin has no regard for that. He has uttered these despicable words against the people of this country and is still allowed to enter our parliament and partake of the discussions and decision making processes of this country as if nothing has happened. This is ridiculous and outrageous! It’s totally disgusting! He has embarrassed us by calling us useless animals and yet we do not have the balls to discipline him! Have we all chickened out and bowed down to Justin Tkatchenko because he is superior in some way to us? Is he untouchable? Has he become a demigod that even Parliament is scared to touch him and the Laws could not deal with him? Should we allow his offensive, racist and disgraceful behavior to pass without redress? In other countries, this type of leaders resign by themselves or are quickly dismissed from office. This is the norm in all civilised countries.
If Parliament doesn’t know yet, let me tell our MPs and remind them that on behalf of our Parliament, our Nation and the People of our Country, I have lodged formal complaints to the Metropolitan Superintendent of NCD, the Ombudsman Commission and Immigration and Citizenship Authority to investigate this so-called MP and take the necessary actions for the good of our country. We must save face in the international community and remove this embarrassment which is a dark blot on the page of our history.
Hence, I am now calling on Parliament to show leadership and initiative in dismissing Justin Tkatchenko from Parliament immediately and take all the necessary actions to revoke his citizenship. In doing so, we will project strength, integrity and show justice to our people and the international community that we are dealing with racism and corruption in our country as per some of our international obligations and requirements.
I specifically want to call upon the Opposition Leader Honorable Joseph Lelang MP, Honourable Belden Nama MP and Honourable Luther Wenge MP to support this call on behalf of our people on the floor of Parliament and present this call as a SPECIAL AGENDA for discussion in today’s Parliament sitting.
Once again, I want to remind Prime Minister James Marape that our people are not animals but human beings just like Justin Tkatchenko. They deserve respect. So do the right thing as whatever you do will truly show that you are a real Papua New Guinean and the Leader of our Nation.
May God Bless Papua New Guinea.
Andy Bawa, DPS
