10,000 DISSIDENTS CONFRONT GORTON

Press, Issue 32345, 10 July 1970, Page 13

10,000 DISSIDENTS CONFRONT GORTON

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) RABAUL, July 9. The Australian Prime Minister (Mr Gorton) arrived in Rabaul today to receive a noisy, but non-violent, welcome from about 10,000 dissident Tolai natives.

As a helicopter waited close at hand to whisk Mr Gorton away if there were trouble, and hundreds of police cordoned off the demonstrators, the Mataungan Association leader, Mr John Kaputin, told the Australian leader in a fiery speech that hjs people wanted self-government and economic power now. It was, by far, the most hostile demonstration Mr Gorton had faced in his tour of Papua-New Guinea, but the violence which the Administration had feared did not occur. From 5 a.m. supporters of the Mataungan Association—the most radical organisation opposed to Australia in the territory—had been gathering in Rabaul’s volcano-ringed airport to demonstrate their hostility. Many carried placards, reading: “GiVe Us Home Rule Tomorrow,” “Gorton, Go,” “We are Suffering Because of Your White Colonial Rule,” and “Go Home, Monster.” As Mr Gorton stepped from his aircraft, the crowd of 10,000 people, all of whom were, at least, nominal Mataungan supporters, burst into a great shout of disapproval. By arrangement, Mr Gorton, shouting above the uproar, invited Mr Kaputin to speak first.

Mr Kaputin, who was frequently interrupted by lusty cheers from his emotional supporters, began by saying that it was an appropriate time to thank Australia for all the support his people had received in the past. “Without it we could not be standing here today,” he said. But Mr Kaputin said later:

“We are in a situation today where we are no more than a pool of cheap labour for Caucasians and Asiatics living in this territory. “This situation is not good enough for my people. If we are to control our destiny, we must use the education given to us. The goals of the Mataungans must be pursued.” In a deep ringing voice and amid the cheers of his supporters, Mr Kaputin proclaimed: “Mataungans are nationalists of the raw state. ■ ■ . We must mobilise politi-

cally and socially towards nationhood. “We are accused of creating violence. Some of us are being put in gaol. But grievances and despair cannot be put down by Her Majesty’s courts of law.”