Rapa speaks on student, Uniforce confrontation

The confrontation between the University of Papua New Guinea students and Uniforce is an isolated situation from the peaceful protest we have held so far, says Student Representative Council president Kenneth Rapa.

Referring to the June 23 confrontation, Rapa said: “Please note that I and my fellow UPNG SRC members were restrained by a court order obtained by UPNG administration, restraining us from conducting any further boycott and protests.

“Any actions taken by my council members and myself to mobilise students would been seen as actions undertaken to boycott classes and we would be in contempt.

“As a matter of public interest, it is important to understand the underlying issues which actually prompted a large number of students to mobilise against Uniforce after an initial small confrontation.”

Rapa claimed they had been suppressed since the beginning of their protests by the UPNG administration.

“From the denial of referendums to the invasion of our privacy by Police, one-sided media propaganda and unreasonable and unlawful evictions of students from campus, suspension of classes aimed at causing division, etc. We have been and are the victims of imposed creative suffering.”

He said the situation was further worsened by the indiscriminate shooting by police officers at unarmed students on June 8.

“Since then, the Government has never given a conciliatory word nor condemned the actions by the police system. The UPNG administration has also failed to condemn the shooting.

“We have also noticed that the Churches and the Christian community have not come forward condemning the shooting nor provided spiritual direction in our so-called Christian nation. Their silence has been deafening.”

However, he thanked the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands who made some attempts to provide a way forward to resolve the issue.

“Let the public know, if they have not known, that my students are but human. Though I condemn those (June 23) actions, I urge the general public, at the same time, to have an empathetic understanding as to what led to this turnout of events.”

(UPNG SRC president Kenneth Rapa addressing students during a forum in May.)

 

Author: 
Press release