Council at UPNG, and a Pangu Pati recruiter while there. He suspended university studies (initially commenced at Sydney) to work for Okuk after the 1972 election and finally completed his degree years later.
When a labour inspector met with strikers they denied any concerns other than wages; the strike folded when they were told their wages and conditions were already above award levels. Some workers stated Dua Kaupa had recently been seen talking with John Kaupa, MHA and with Vuvu. Dua Kaupa was among eighteen workers sacked by Collins, who had an excessive workforce at the time.56 When Dua Kaupa was charged with theft from the society, Okuk used his superior resources to lend him the services of his lawyer.
Even the climax of the Collins saga was protracted. On 17 November the board resolved, in this order: that Collins himself take over CCC's insurance policy on his life; that the directors and delegates receive bonuses o f $50 and $20 respectively; that CCC build a new house to replace one the chairman lost in a fire while on a dividend payment patrol; and that, 'in view of the deteriorating political situation in the Chimbu District and the implications of the resolution passed by the House of Assembly1, Collins’s contract be terminated on completion of the erection^the new coffee factory, 'with full settlement of the unexpired portion' (CCC Board, 17 November 1973). Collins stated on 19 November that he had been advised the House motion did not have 'any teeth', but said 'It looks like they are trying to persecute me out of the country' (P - C , 20 November 1973).
At another meeting on 20 November the chairman said that with political interference and 'with Self-Government only a few days away the position o f the General Manager may be jeopardized' (CCC Board, 20 November 1973). Yauwe Moses said that the new Assembly had power and wanted to replace Europeans with local people. Like other directors who endorsed Collins's perform ance, Yauwe he stated that the two MHAs 'apparently had no intention of desisting', and because of this the contract should be terminated. Collins himself offered to work on to complete the new factory building on a short-term contract, but said that 'with Self-Government only a few days away he wanted the matter resolved immediately as the Government would soon have more power and try to interfere even m ore’. The CCC Secretary reported that paying out Collins's present contract would cost about $50,000, which was accepted. The fortunes o f the older Simbu leaders and the foreign businessmen w ere intertw ined in this body, with each dependent on the other-, t h e directors voted them selves $50 each 'for the continued pressure and uncertainty of their positions' (CCC Board, 20 November 1973).
Two days later yet a further meeting was attended by the Secretary for Business Development, Paulias Matane. The directors stated that they were very happy with Collins's work but still the criticism from the House o f Assembly continued; the directors
56 District Labour Officer, Mt Hagen (file 15-1-1) o f 2 November 1973 to Secretary, Department of
'could not tolerate this any longer and had decided to terminate Mr. Collins' contract'. Matane said he had come to hear their views, and told them the Assembly had no power over the contract between the society and Collins. The future of the society was in their hands, he said, but 'that he and many other people in Papua New Guinea were very worried about the state of affairs'. After a discussion about advertising for and selecting a new general manager, the board resolved yet again that Collins's contract be paid out The chairman warned directors that they 'must find a manager who concentrates on the business ... and does not get involved in politics, or the Society would collapse and the shareholders would not get any more dividends' (CCC Board, 22 November 1973). Reportedly the chairman wept as he said politicians had ruined everything and the CCC
would never be the same again {National Times, July 1-6, 1974). Collins banked his
payout cheque immediately, but stayed till April 1974, with two subsequent visits, to complete the factory and installation of processing plant.
The Simbu directors of CCC had an understanding of the imperatives driving Okuk, not only his desire to control Chimbu Coffee but his desire to redress a personal grievance and remove a cause of public shame. Okuk always denied that Collins had sacked him as
a mechanic, and even stated that he had not been a mechanic, only a buyer. His pride
and sense of justice were at stake, perhaps even his sense of honour. These would have been offended often in his childhood and youth, especially in the racist context of the Western Highlands where he spent much of his life; certainly expatriates from the Wahgi Valley said that some of his employers had given him a hard time. Perhaps Collins symbolized these bitter memories, and Okuk was motivated by more than a desire for revenge, known crudely in PNG as 'payback'. Okuk's self-assertion was also important in the transition to self-rule. Like other members of the Somare government and backbenchers on the CPC, Okuk was telling unreconstructed expatriate colonialists in general, of whom there were many in the Highlands, that there had been a changing of the political guard. Matters of individual pride were customary, and were compelling motives, and the Simbu board members clearly read them, and probably Collins, too.
The minutes of these meetings show a Simbu cultural factor at work, as I noticed later in the Area Authority. Simbu leaders occasionally gave way - against their expressed better judgement - when their opponents had high stature, were aggressive and looked as if they would never desist Unless an issue is adjourned, continued bitter political division in Simbu political culture is expected to lead to certain defined outcomes: one side conceding defeat, violent conflict, or withdrawal (the exit option). Conceding victory to Okuk and Kaupa meant a financial loss to the co-operative, but not to the directors personally. They could not tolerate the tension, which possibly for them carried expectations of violence which were unacceptable. By late November Collins himself
wanted to go, and the directors made it possible for him to exit, taking his salary and ultimately the commission.57
Collins did not lose out, but, in this gladiatorial duel, Okuk was victor from several perspectives. Okuk and his allies had used several innovations in his use of external political resources in this Simbu power play, bringing to bear the media, the workers, the legislature and his position in government. While his role in this costly episode was held against him for years afterwards, he had successfully used the issue to demonstrate that he was not a man to be tampered with lightly, and his fearlessness came to be admired.
This was to be only one episode in the struggle for control over the coffee industry in Chimbu. Chimbu Coffee remained the biggest and wealthiest source of power in Chimbu, apart from the state bureaucracy, and still no politician controlled it. Like many intractable political issues, the debate over the coffee industry in Chimbu itself was a 'resource', a continuing matter for political contest, and one which placed politicians centre stage. The issue of coffee rolled over into new political arenas and so recurs in succeeding chapters.
S e l f - G o v e r n m e n t
Chimbu Coffee dramas aside, there was late in 1973 something of a hiatus in Simbu politics. Self-Government Day, 1 December, passed relatively calmly, although some saw an ill omen in the outbreak that day of fighting at Kup between the Kumai and Endugwa No. 3 tribes after a marital dispute (Kerpi 1976). In central Chimbu people came to town, only to find the stores closed and no organized celebrations, as the government tried to downplay this much-feared transition. To ease the tensions the DC asked storekeepers to open, and they sold thousands of dollars of soft drinks, but after nervous anticipation among Simbu and expatriate communities alike the day itself was an anti-climax. There was one death, that of a policeman at Kerowagi township who angrily cornered a group - which included his wife - illegally gambling on cards (Standish 1976a). For months people had been saying 'We have self-government
already', as indeed was true, de facto, because the Administrator, L.W. Johnson, had
transferred effective control to Somare's cabinet ahead of the constitutional changeover (Johnson 1983). In Simbu some of the anxiety then shifted onto independence, the date for which was not set for another eighteen months.