Keith Jackson
PORT MORESBY (PNG Attitude / Pacific Media Watch): Former journalist and poet/singer Loujaya Toni, 46, who shocked a strong field of male contenders to become Papua New Guinea’s newest female parliamentarian, was born in the city she now represents.
Before yesterday’s win in Lae Open, Toni had been an aspiring politician for some years. She contested the national elections in 2007 and the Local Level Government Elections in 2008, giving her male opposition candidates a close run for their money.
While still at school in Port Moresby in 1978, she was nominated as PNG’s youngest poet by the University of Papua New Guinea. Her collection of poems, A Sense of Interest, was later published by the Education Department.
In 1985 she launched a string of solo gospel music albums under the name Loujaya Dunar and has since been recognised as a singer/songwriter. She wrote and performed the song, Keep the Fire Alive with the group Tambaran Culture as a tribute to the 9th South Pacific Games held in Port Moresby in 1991.
Former journalist
Toni is a qualified journalist and teacher and also a practising naturopath. She is a part-time tutor at the University of Technology in Lae and has been a full-time student in the Department of Communication Development Studies, graduating in April, 2012.
Under the banner of the Indigenous People’s Party, Toni polled polled 7364 votes, ahead of the businessman Fred Wak with 5842 votes and sitting MP Philemon, trailing third with 4680 votes.
This poem, with a powerful political theme, was written as an entry in this year’s Crocodile Prize:
Twenty-two women
by Loujaya Toni
Twenty two women
Sitting ducks
Shot at
Mercilessly
By trigger happy mouths;
A
Nameless, faceless number
Posing
Threatening shadows
Women in waiting
Wanna-be politicians
Hopeful governors;
Unknown but significant
Twenty two women
All wanting
In on parliament;
They are daunting shadows
Reaching in
To the men’s haus
Haunting his wildest political dreams
Forcing a hand in his schemes
Being
A very present number
At all
His deliberations
Seen and heard more
Than a mere apparition;
Twenty two women
Waiting their dues.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
