By SEPKOLIN WALNE
The family of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has expressed gratitude for unveiling a statue of Papua New Guinea’s Founding Father at Parliament House last night.
Former State Minister and MP for Angoram Arthur Somare said the statue was “a symbol of dignity, humility, courage and unity”.
“Tonight, we unveil more than a statute. We unveil a symbol, a symbol of dignity, humility, courage, and unity,” Mr Somare told the large crowd at the special event, which was the highlight of Parliament’s 41st anniversary celebrations yesterday.
“My mother and my siblings wish to thank the very special effort of the speaker of the member of parliament that have contributed to the statue, to the clerk and to the deputy clerk of parliament, together with all the staff of Parliament who have made this evening possible, as they have engaged further and farther in extending our friendship to the good people of Bali and Indonesia to Bring this statue to tonight,” he said.
Mr Somare explained that independence was not just about political freedoms.
“It’s not about our rights only, and it’s not about our liberties. It is the enduring hope of economic sovereignty that many of us want today.
“It is about the right to stand on our own, to defeat as a nation. It is about reclaiming our dignity and our destiny and the destiny of our people. And it begins, and it ends with leadership, the leadership of the kind we honour here tonight.
“We must see beyond our tribes and our provinces and embrace the idea that unites us as far greater than what divides us.
Mr. Somare said this was his father’s vision and “what this statue must remind us of every single day”.