Besides running grocery shops, the Chinese also dominate the restaurant business in Papua New Guinea.
By
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
·4 minutes read
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
A supermarket in the background of a traditional market in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Chinese traders have played a major role in economic activity in Papua New Guinea.
As night falls, the streets of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG) usually becomes deserted. Everyone takes refuge from the threat of criminals. Of course this is not an ideal place for doing business. But, some people are still able to benefit from the situation.
Peter, a young priest from Jakarta who has lived in this country for eight years, is very grateful for the growing number of Chinese traders in PNG. He said it made shopping a lot easier and cheaper.
He was on a religious mission at Kerema, 300 kilometers away from Port Moresby. In recent years, Peter has often visited the capital city. He usually visits the Chinese shopping district to buy church needs in his area. He usually drives an empty truck and comes home with a full load.
“There are actually several types of Chinese in PNG,” explained Peter. The first are local Chinese, or known as “Old Chinese”, descendants of 19th and 20th century Chinese immigrants. They have already become PNG citizens and mixed with the locals. They are few in number, but quite influential. For example Sir Julius Chan, is former Prime Minister of PNG.
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
Modern shopping center in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
The second group is those coming from Southeast Asian countries, including from Indonesia and Malaysia. They came to the country in the 1970s and 1980s to do business. Most of them have become established entrepreneurs who control supermarket chains, hotels and manufacturing industries.
The third group is new comers from China, who mostly came in the country in the last few years. They are mostly small traders, who run grocery stores in cities and even in remote areas.
***
We visited a Chinese shop in Erima district. Grocery stores lined up in a U-shape around a large square full of cars and boxed containers. Each shop has the same shape and size, in the form of a two-story shophouse, with the shop on the ground floor and the owner\'s residence on the second floor.
One of the shops sells t-shirts, jackets, calculators, lights, bicycle tires. The attendant is a young Chinese woman. I asked in Chinese where she came from. She curtly replied, "It\'s obvious that I\'m from China, why are you asking? ”
In contrast to Indonesians who are usually easy to get along with their countrymen when in foreign countries, Chinese people tend to be more wary of fellow Chinese. Xiao Yan, the woman’s name, became friendly after knowing that my ancestor was from Fujian (Hokkian) province, who happened to be the same as her.
Xiao Yan has already lived a year and a half in this country. She came with her husband, and the shop belongs to her older sister.
She referred to the local people as turen, which is synonymous with a primitive tribe, or heiren, black people. According to her, the local people are actually kind and innocent. They also like Chinese merchants, because Chinese goods are usually cheaper. But sometimes there are those who are angry because the goods they purchased are easily damaged.
"But what else?" said Xiao Yan shrugging. "They want it cheap."
AGUSTINUS WIBOWO
An iron trellis divides the buyer and seller at a shop in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Besides running grocery shops, the Chinese also dominate the restaurant business. A Chinese restaurant near the market has two entrances, each guarded by a burly Papuan man in uniform.
Visitors pass through the first door, and only after the first door is closed, the next guard opens the second door. It\'s a common security procedure in this city.
The owner of the restaurant is Chinese and the cashier is Filipino, while the waiter who serves dishes to guests\' tables is a PNG woman.
We then visited another corner of Port Moresby which is nicknamed “China Town” due to a lot of Chinese-owned shops.
The shop which is owned by Mr. Ni is more like a prison. The thin, middle-aged man from Fujian Province, China was standing behind thick iron bars that lined vertically, like he was imprisoned in his own shop.
Here everyone can climb and jump over glass cabinets and rob cashiers. They also carry weapons.
"Why using trellis?" I asked in Chinese. “Oh you\'re new to Papua New Guinea,” he laughed. “Here everyone can climb and jump over glass cabinets and rob cashiers. They also carry weapons."
He then pointed to the ceiling. "Once at night a robber came in from there and, then he pointed a gun at us and our family." His family live in this shop. And they will still stay, I don\'t know for how long.
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
