PNG villagers sellling remains?

Antipodean Andy · 06-10-2007, 08:19 AM

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...-23109,00.html

OFFICIALS are investigating claims that skeletal remains of World War II soldiers, possibly including Australians, are being sold as souvenirs by villagers in Papua New Guinea.

Villagers living on wartime battlefields such as Sanananda and Buna in PNG's Oro Province were engaged in selling the remains, PNG's Post-Courier newspaper reported today.

Sanananda villagers had confirmed that a complete human skeleton was sold last month for $US20,000 ($22,500), while plastic bags containing soldiers' bones were being sold for up to 70 kina ($30), the report said.

Villagers said the buyers were from overseas, it said.

Far more Japanese soldiers died in PNG than Australian and other troops, and remains from unmarked graves are most likely to be Japanese.

Sanananda was the scene of fierce fighting and many Japanese are buried in mass graves there.

Luke Doari from Mangufo village said he and a partner dug up and sold 53 skeletons of Japanese soldiers and sold them for 100 kina ($40) each to an American buyer attached to an oil exploration company between 1997 and 1998.

Mr Doari, who posed with Japanese skulls and bones for a front page picture in today's Post-Courier, said the American told them he was given 30,000 kina ($12,000) by Japanese friends to buy as many skeletons as possible.

Oro Provincial Administrator Monty Derari said he learned of the illicit trade only recently when he heard of a bone seller receiving a large amount of money from Japanese sources.

“Such activities are uncalled for and because these activities are illegal, people should not tamper with the remains,” he said.

Any government officers or foreign tourists found to be involved in the trade would be dealt with under the law, Mr Derari said.

Comment was being sought from Australian government officials.

Mitsuo Kawaguchi, a Japanese Embassy official in Port Moresby, said he was surprised at the report and embassy officials would seek more information from PNG officials.

“Japanese tourist numbers are very small to PNG,” he said.

“They know very well they cannot take back any remains.”

Japanese teams sometimes visited PNG to recover remains found by villagers and cremate them for return to Japan, Kawaguchi said.

But that was done with full PNG Government approval and money was not paid for the remains, he said.

Australian and American recovery teams also visit PNG with official approval to recover soldiers' remains and arrange proper burials with honours.

The recovered remains of thousands of Australian troops are interred at Bomana War Cemetery near Port Moresby and at war cemeteries in Lae and near Rabaul.

But the remains of hundreds of other Australians who perished have never been recovered and still lie in the jungle or at sea.

A spokesman for Australia's Minister of Veterans Affairs Bruce Billson said remains must be treated with dignity.

“We would urge strongly against any activity that would see the removal of the remains,” the spokesman said.

“These are servicemen who have lost their lives on the field of battle, they should be treated with the dignity they deserve.”

He said the discovery of soldiers' remains should be reported to relevant authorities.

If any Australian identification was found with remains, the discovery should be reported to Australian defence officials or the Office of Australian War Graves.

The Returned and Services League (RSL) urged caution about the reports.

“These sorts of reports need a fair amount of validation. The remains could be those of animals, they could be the remains of Japanese soldiers as there were a lot of them who died in PNG in the war,” said RSL national president Major-General Bill Crews.

“Not being sure of the identity of the remains creates some uncertainty. I'm not sure that this is something that people in PNG would do.

“If it can be established that the remains are those of Australian servicemen, then they need to be properly protected and properly re-interred and certainly not used as a commercial bargaining item.”

spidge · 06-10-2007, 08:25 AM

It is sad to see however they are poor. If there are no customers, the trade will stop.

morse1001 · 06-10-2007, 10:10 AM

What a disgusting thing to do. It shows the depths of depravity that some humans will stoop to.

Those bodies were laid to rest, not to be conversations pieces on somebodys coffee table.

I think the full force of the law should be used to not only stop this macarbe trade but also to punish those who buy and sell the remains!

Antipodean Andy · 06-10-2007, 10:45 AM

I can understand the locals' desire to make money to live despite being totally against how they do it. However, the "American" and "Japanese" who pay for the bones? Now they truly are sick and clearly have way too much money to spend.

Kitty · 06-10-2007, 11:42 AM

A truyl dispicable case, however may i remind you all that British merchants in the 1840's went to Waterloo and dug up the mass gaves of the fallen from the battle. Ground up thebones and sold them back here as fertiliser? They even advertised the fertiliser as being made from the bones of Waterloo dead.
But this one needs to be stopped.