Thomas Raivet has been an army colonel and was once the chief secretary in Bougainville. Photo: Facebook / Thomas Raivet
RNZ Pacific has been speaking with the candidates lining up to become president of Bougainville when the autonomous region of Papua New Guinea holds its election on 4 September.
Including the incumbent, Ishmael Toroama, there are seven candidates, substantially down from the 25 lining up in 2020.
One candidate, Thomas Raivet, who has been an army colonel and was once the chief secretary in Bougainville, spoke with Don Wiseman, during a break from the eight week long election campaign.
(This transcript haas ben edited for brevity and clarity.)
Don Wiseman: You ran last time and you finished down the track, didn't you? What makes you think this time can be different?
Thomas Raivet: I'm not thinking like that. It's anybody's game, as far as we are concerned here. But I'm with New Bougainville Party (NBP), and I'm running with two other running mates with me. They are senior people to me, so maybe I'm the underdog in the team. One is Joseph Lera former lecturer at the university, and the other one is Nick Peniai. We are running together on a New Bougainville Party ticket.
DW: That's how the preferences would divide up between the three of you?
TR: Well, the way I see it these two guys are much more senior than me, and probably it might end up with one of them. Maybe it would end up with me, but I'm not so sure about myself, but I'm running with this too.
DW: Why should one of the three of you win?
TR: Well, one of us, Nick, is right out from the history of the crisis. He's been there through thick and thin. And Joe Lera was the lecturer at the university. I was one of his students at one stage, and I guess I'm the younger one going with these three, so we see how it plays out.
DW: But why should one of you three become president of Bougainville? What's special about you?
TR: Well, the other two of my colleagues seem to have a lot in their background history, and I seem to be shallow in my history. Basically, I came from the military, and I'm trying to be part of them.
DW: What would the NBP do differently in Bougainville from what has been done over the last five years?
TR: Well the New Bougainville Party we believe that we can make a difference, because for the last five years, nothing has really happened here and and maybe five years ago, and maybe you go back 10 years, nothing has really happened for us. So I see this an opportunity just to be part of the development of new Bougainville, in a new way, and we hope that we can be the government in waiting. And once we take over the reins, we will progress Bougainville to some, at least to some states.
DW: Yes. Well, how would you do that?
TR: We think that we can redirect the vessel from here and seek a new path.
DW: It's all very well to speak in those sorts of vague terms, but what are you going to do? What specifically will you do to do things differently?
TR: Well, personally, I'm not in for the main thing. I'm in for agriculture and fisheries, and I want to exploit fisheries and agriculture. That's my intention of trying to get in here. I'm from an island. I'm not interested in mining, and that's why I'm interested in agriculture and fisheries.
DW; Yes, well, just last week, the Chief Secretary talked about 20 exploration licences for mining on Bougainville have been lodged. So it certainly looks like there's going to be a hell of a lot of mining happening on Bougainville.
TR: Probably, probably not. It depends on what government is in place. And we've learned a very good lesson from Panguna. I have just been to Panguna and came back. It is really a sore eye.
We are thinking of diverting our attention to agriculture and fisheries only. That is our government in waiting. We do not know what the chief secretary told you. We have a lot of mines in Bougainville, but we have learned a good lesson from the Panguna story, the history of Panguna.
Our intention as a government [is that] we do not want to get back to that kind of crisis and a lot of people in Bougainville, they support us as well.
DW: You've spent quite a few weeks out there campaigning, and what have people been telling you?
TR: Well, mining is not being mentioned in our campaign so far. But in South Bougainville, they are trying to go for agriculture, which is cocoa really.
And in the islands, they want to go for fishery sector. It is a renewable resource where we can continue to make money without losing anything.
When we get to mining, it is quite risky. We have learned a good lesson from Panguna itself, so we weighed the consequences of getting into mining and fisheries and agriculture. I think we can do better with fisheries and agriculture. So that's where this NBP is heading, and we do not know about the others.
DW: Alright, so seven candidates for president, three of them from your party. How confident are you that one of you is going to become the new president?
TR: I am very, very confident the way we are campaigning so far. My two senior colleagues, they have a lot behind them.
