Rimbunan Hijau versus the World Bank and Australian Miners: Print Media Representations of Forestry Policy Conflict in Papua New Guinea

This article reviews some recent print media representations of Papua New Guinea's changing sense of its regional place by an analysis of debates over forestry policy. While mining and forestry both destabilise Papua New Guinea's internal structures, forestry also uniquely destabilises its sense of its wider regional affiliation. Malaysian capital dominates Papua New Guinea's forestry sector and this sector is closely associated with corruption, threats to national sovereignty and ecological destruction. Attempts to define a new regional position for Papua New Guinea are linked with Asia. Previously hegemonic Australian interests, and others, challenge these attempts in ways that seemingly draw an often sharply nationalistic distinction between the Malaysian loggers and Papua New Guinea's citizens. Forest policy concerns become key signifiers in arguments about Papua New Guinea's changing sense of national identity and appropriate regional position.