Traditionally. the Wantok system was supposed to be used to construct strong relationships in a household. folk or kin. Therefore. the Wantok system can be referred to as a group of people who speak the same linguistic communication and originate from the same country. It is characterized by a common linguistic communication. affinity. topographic point of beginning. spiritual or societal associations every bit good as belief in common reciprocality. The intent of this essay is to discourse the advantages and disadvantages of the Wantok system and how it helped PNG to develop. I will besides discourse how the Wantok system was associated with corruptness in Papua New Guinea. This paper will besides give an in-depth rating of the transmutation of Papua New Guinea as an indicant of the presence of the Wantok system given the complex economic and political conditions under which the Wantok system was created ( De Renzio 2000 ) .
Papua New Guinea has rather a figure of linguistic communications of approximately eight 100s and it holds one tierce of all the linguistic communications used in the universe. The official linguistic communication is Tok Pisin. which is derived from English. German and other local linguistic communications and it has assisted in giving the Wantok their strong individuality. Peoples who belonged to a certain linguistic communication group recognized one another as the Wantok. which literary means one talk and people populating in the same country who speak a common linguistic communication it subsequently developed for the Wantok system. Informally Wantok means neighbour. a good friend who has a strong societal bond and any other individual populating among them the aliens who have become friends of the state. Recently Wantok has included people who come from the same topographic point and it means person who has lived in Papua New Guinea for some clip ( Gibson 1998 ) . Peoples who live in Western Australia are besides considered as Wantok because they originate from the same state and they have alone civilizations. The usage of the word Wantok is respected in Papua New Guinea because it shows the sense of individuality and belonging and it is used by Papua New Guineans who live in other provinces of Australia at forces. household degree and in associations and assemblages. PNGWA is an illustration of an association that has adopted the name Wantok and it represents a alone ethnicity. long permanent friendly relationship. alone people that help one another in times of demand.
Papua New Guinea has a population of over four million who speak different linguistic communications and about 5. 000 people speak the mean linguistic communication. The Wantok system is a larger manifestation of cultural pattern and these people portion similar background. The Wantok people who speak the same linguistic communication have a feeling of duty and they help one another materially and with other demands. Their civilization puts accent on rites like birth. manhood matrimony and even decease and they hold jubilations and banquet. Wood plays a important function in farming and in art. but they have acquired metal tools. but they still produce cosmetic wood pieces to utilize in places and as utensils in the kitchen. In Religion missionaries played a function in change overing most of them to Christianity. although some little per centums still hold to their autochthonal beliefs. A church is cardinal to the civilization of Wantok. The Wantok aid in roll uping the bride monetary value for matrimony to take topographic point and besides help with burial disbursals. lodging and other signifier of outgo. The thought of holding a household is strong to the Wantok and they give a kid to a twosome that is unable to hold kids ( IMF 2007 ) .
Working in squads comes with many jobs and this has created divisions among the Wantok people peculiarly in concerns. The division in concern is attributed by the fact that there is a big division between the rich and the hapless. Politically the Wantok people besides experience divisions since they hold different positions. The Wantok people are a representative of the alone development of history in Papua New Guinea they played a really of import function in debut of Tok Pisin dictionary which became the standard book that assisted people to read and compose ( Ketan 2000 ) . Through the lexicon. the people were able to show their national concerns and gave them a voice in political thoughts that helped determine their state.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Wantok system
Advantages
The Wantok system has been able to supply a great trade of benefits to the people. Since it came into being. hungriness has become a thing of the yesteryear. It enabled people to portion what they have when runing. fishing or harvest home. This is owed to the fact that each and every member of the community thinks about the demands and wants of another. Sharing and caring are all of import benefits to this system as demands are met but everyone in the kin. folk and household. For illustration. those people who lack retirement benefits are taken attention of by members of the drawn-out and immediate household. The Wantok system besides strengthens and solidifies the relationships within the civilization. The life experienced through community. exchange and relationships promote high values because the people are able to make about all the activities together. It promotes a people to people relationship ne’er experienced before and gives a new significance to the word community ( Narakobi 1980 ) . For illustration wen a member of the Wantok system marries into another folk. they extend their good virtuousnesss and values into that folk and by so making they create an honest and solid relationship in the civilization. This helps the members of the community to beef up each other as relationships are the nucleus of the Wantok system. In instance a member of the household dies. they come together to demo their understanding by lending valuable points like nutrient among others. The kernel of this system is to supply a strong foundation of every component in their relationships like horticulture. hunting and assemblage and most significantly to assist them in critical issues like tribal battles. Thus a one on one relationship between people is the chief constituent that helps understand this system.
Disadvantages
The negative facet of the Wantok system has been equated to how malignant neoplastic disease destroys a society. Bribery has become a major concern for the Wantok system particularly in the modern society because makings and virtues are non every bit of import as earlier. Equally long as people have money. they can acquire anything and everything that they want. Peoples don non even necessitate makings or virtues in order to happen occupations because every bit long as they know the right people and grease a few thenars. they can acquire their desired occupations. In the olden yearss. people had to labor and sudate in order to acquire what they wanted but nowadays money negotiations ( Rynkiewich 2000 ) . Another affair of great concern is how the Wantok system has been misused as a political shield. This is because a batch of political relations get in the manner of the patterned advance of a state. Once it is incorporated with the system. it makes the politicians to go corrupt and mismanage public financess. It is through this misused system that political parties appoint unqualified and unworthy persons to executive occupation places. If political parties worked in alliance with the existent Wantok system. so the major end of functioning the state would be achieved affectively.
The system enables different political parties to increased nepotism as one may name a individual for a place that they do non cognize anything about. Politicss are governed by tribal. ethical or clan truenesss. All these grounds were rather important to the development of PNG because it was able to convey a batch of alteration to the state. either positive alteration or negative alteration ( Chin. 2000 ) . All in all. alteration is ever good because it helped to ease modernisation and still maintain its integrity ties even after the going of the colonialists. Since the independency of PNG. corruptness has had a major impact on the development procedure of the state ( de Renzio 2000 ) . This is because energy and support were diverted off from PNGs developmental programs and national ends taking the state to confront really rough economic times. Corruptness is rapidly choking the state and conveying it to its articulatio genuss as the authorities pretends to set up enquiries to cover with the legion corruptness dirts. This corruptness has reduced the growing rate of the state as most of the assistance money goes to politicians foreign bank histories. Corruptness has besides led to favouritism and tribalism in the tribunal system doing guiltless psyches to endure the effects.
Decision
The Wantok system has had a great significance to the development of PNG because it shows how the bing societal capital that is based on cooperation and trust in a group has both negative and positive effects on the operation of the group. The nature of the Wantok system as based on the colonial history of the state and the institutional model influences a great group behaviour that promotes the perpendicular linkages of backing. Give its alone civilization. the Wantok is rather instrumental in understanding and beef uping of the working relationships between persons.
Mentions
Chin. James. “The Media in Politics in Contemporary Papua New Guinea” . in Politics in Papua New Guinea: Continuities. Changes. and Challenge. Point 24 ( 2000 ) .
de Renzio. Paolo. “Bigmen and Wantoks: Social Capital and Group Behavior in Papua New Guinea. QEH Working Paper Series – QEHWPS27. Working Paper Number 27. ( 2000 ) .
Gibson. John “Identifying the Poor for Efficient Targeting: Consequences for Papua New Guinea” . New Zealand Economic Papers. 32 ( 1 ) . pages 1-18. ( 1998 ) .
IMF. “Papua New Guinea: 2006 Article IV Consultation—Staff Report ; and Public Information Notice
on the Executive Board Discussion for Papua New Guinea” . IMF Country Report No. 07/111 and Public
Information Notice ( PIN ) No. 07/36. International Monetary Fund. March 21 ( 2007 ) .
Janssen. Hermann. “Wantoks Everywhere” . in Catalyst 7-4 ( 1977 ) .
Ketan. Joseph. “Leadership and Political Culture” . in Politics in Papua New Guinea: Continuities. Changes. and Challenges. Point 24 ( 2000 ) .
Narakobi. Bernard. The Melanesian Way. Port Moresby PNG: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies. 1980.
Rynkiewich. Michael A. . “Big Man Politicss: Strong Leadership in a Weak State” . in Politics in Papua New Guinea: Continuities. Changes. and Challenges. Point 24 ( 2000 ) .
Beginning papers
