The death of Julius Chang IR, one of the 1975 Papua New Guinea's independent founders, has said the end of the times.
As known, J IR was the “last man” from the first postcolonial government of PNG until he died 85 years old in Harris, New Ireland last week.
As the first Minister of Finance, Chang has led PNG banks and financial systems, leading the country twice as the Prime Minister (1980-82 and 1994-97).
After being forced to hire the employment of MERC soldiers in South Africa in 1997, Chan did not return to national politics, and since 2007, he served as the governor of New Ireland and attended the final cabinet meeting. I attended before the time. death.
The placenta of Julias Chan, born in August 1939, just before World War II Buk Buk,, Or a local apple tree according to the habit of mother's Tanga Island.
Miam Tinkoris, the mother of the indigenous Papua New Guinea, was married to his father, Chin Pack, an immigrant from Guangdong Province in China.
Chang, from an early age, said that the Chinese community looked down on his father and once said, “It will be lower enough to marry a black woman.” It was one of his first experiences of racism and discrimination, but it was certainly not the end.
The fifth year of the seven children, Chang, was characterized by the difficulties of Japanese soldiers, especially when they imprisoned a mixed race family in a few months after the war.
At the age of 14, Changn gained a scholarship at Marista University's Ashgrove in Brisbane and experienced the happiest year.
He returned to PNG, supported the still existing family transportation business, and was selected as a 27 -year -old parliament in 1968.
For several years, he has been working in a colonial government and remembered that his colleague once told by the manager of the Port Molesby social club to “finish the beer and put out this naughty.” Ta. He said that the case led to one of the first public debates on racism in PNG.
At the age of 34, Chan was given a responsibility to establish a PNG Bank system and was frank about how much he did not know. “The world of autonomy and independence was unknown, and we couldn't touch the world we couldn't see,” he said. “But it was something I should fight.”
When I was a journalist living in PNG in 1994, I met Julius for the first time just before he became the second prime minister.
These years were characterized by some national crisis, including the labol volcanic eruptions that destroyed his family's house and the long -standing Bougainville civil war.
Chang, who pledged to resolve the Bougainville crisis, was promoted to a global name when it was revealed that he had secretly hired a sandline MERC soldiers in a desperate attempt to end the war in 1997. It was done.
Despite the large protests, universal accusations, and the rebellion of the PNG army at the time, Julius IR had never done anything wrong. “No,” he later told me, “I was right, even if all the angels in heaven said I was wrong.”
The voters opposed. After about 30 years, he was thrown into a political wilderness and returned to public life as a New Ireland governor, a 18 -year role.
Political analysts and historians will definitely reflect his role in the contribution of Julias Chang to PNG and the role of the national complex and corrupt political culture. Writing his reminiscence, he gave him a chance to look back on his achievements, mistakes, and value.
“I always wanted to dial to describe my life,” said Chang. '' When I die, I will be buried at home. It is a place where you can come and visit me 100 years later. In the sea in Harris. ''
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Lucy Palmer, a former foreign parallel, was a researcher and writer for playing games by Julian IR issued by Queensland University Press in 2016.
