By SANJAY BHOSALE
THIS week’s leadership challenge in Canberra, Australia, has important lessons for Papua New Guinea.
After more than a year of speculation, former prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd challenged Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Rudd was determined to try and win back his old job of prime minister, which he believed had been unjustly taken from him in a parliamentary coup by Gillard in June 2010.
As most observers had predicted, Rudd was defeated 71-31 votes in a secret ballot in the ALP caucus on Monday. Immediately afterwards, he professed his support for Gillard and her government, promising to work tirelessly to ensure the ALP wins the next election due at the end of next year.
In the weeks and months leading up to the leadership challenge, both Gillard and Rudd and their respective supporters worked feverishly behind the scenes to gain the upper hand. And once Rudd indicated he intended to challenge, the hostilities descended into acrimony and open warfare, accompanied by the name-calling and character assassination one would expect in such a high-stakes political contest.
But throughout the entire exercise, both sides maintained a veneer of decorum, civility and decency. Both sides adhered to established party procedures and parliamentary conventions. Rudd, who was on an official visit to Washington, announced his resignation while still in the US capital, before boarding a plane for Australia.
He reportedly requested Gillard for two days’ grace after his return to Canberra to sort out his office and clear his desk. The prime minister magnanimously agreed to this request, advising Governor-General Quentin Bryce that Rudd’s resignation should take effect 48 hours after his return to Australia.
Even though Rudd and Gillard clearly loathe each other, they are now back in the same team, and the former has promised not to challenge her again till the next election.
Difficult as their relationship undoubtedly is, both will have to put their personal animosities aside in the larger interests of the ALP and work together for the good of the party and the people of Australia.
A similar scenario is playing out in the United States, where the Republican Party’s presidential hopefuls are fighting a no-holds-barred contest to win the right to challenge President Barack Obama at the election later this year.
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich are going hammer and tongs at each other in their attempts to win the primaries in battleground US states and clinch the momentum going into the Republican national convention in Florida in August, where the party will choose its candidate. But once the winner is decided, the losers will rally behind their erstwhile opponent and unite against their common “enemy”, Obama.
Four years ago, when Obama and his then rival Hillary Clinton were vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama remarked that “Senator Clinton has thrown everything at me but the kitchen sink”.
However, soon after Obama won the nomination, Clinton fell in behind him, worked hard to ensure he got elected and even accepted his invitation to be his secretary of state.
There are many other examples of how even bitter political adversaries can come together in the larger interests of their parties and their people. In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was once brutally bashed by President Robert Mugabe’s police when he was opposition leader, is now serving as his prime minister.
It is still not too late for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare to form a government of national unity to shepherd the country until the election, when the people will decide who they want to lead them for the next five years.
So far, PNG has fortunately been spared the bloodletting and turmoil that accompanies power transfers in many parts of the world. Let’s keep it that way.
lSanjay Bhosale is a former associate editor of The National and now works in Canberra, Australia. (email <letterfromdownunder@gmail.com>
THIS week’s leadership challenge in Canberra, Australia, has important lessons for Papua New Guinea.
After more than a year of speculation, former prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd challenged Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Rudd was determined to try and win back his old job of prime minister, which he believed had been unjustly taken from him in a parliamentary coup by Gillard in June 2010.
As most observers had predicted, Rudd was defeated 71-31 votes in a secret ballot in the ALP caucus on Monday. Immediately afterwards, he professed his support for Gillard and her government, promising to work tirelessly to ensure the ALP wins the next election due at the end of next year.
In the weeks and months leading up to the leadership challenge, both Gillard and Rudd and their respective supporters worked feverishly behind the scenes to gain the upper hand. And once Rudd indicated he intended to challenge, the hostilities descended into acrimony and open warfare, accompanied by the name-calling and character assassination one would expect in such a high-stakes political contest.
But throughout the entire exercise, both sides maintained a veneer of decorum, civility and decency. Both sides adhered to established party procedures and parliamentary conventions. Rudd, who was on an official visit to Washington, announced his resignation while still in the US capital, before boarding a plane for Australia.
He reportedly requested Gillard for two days’ grace after his return to Canberra to sort out his office and clear his desk. The prime minister magnanimously agreed to this request, advising Governor-General Quentin Bryce that Rudd’s resignation should take effect 48 hours after his return to Australia.
Even though Rudd and Gillard clearly loathe each other, they are now back in the same team, and the former has promised not to challenge her again till the next election.
Difficult as their relationship undoubtedly is, both will have to put their personal animosities aside in the larger interests of the ALP and work together for the good of the party and the people of Australia.
A similar scenario is playing out in the United States, where the Republican Party’s presidential hopefuls are fighting a no-holds-barred contest to win the right to challenge President Barack Obama at the election later this year.
Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich are going hammer and tongs at each other in their attempts to win the primaries in battleground US states and clinch the momentum going into the Republican national convention in Florida in August, where the party will choose its candidate. But once the winner is decided, the losers will rally behind their erstwhile opponent and unite against their common “enemy”, Obama.
Four years ago, when Obama and his then rival Hillary Clinton were vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama remarked that “Senator Clinton has thrown everything at me but the kitchen sink”.
However, soon after Obama won the nomination, Clinton fell in behind him, worked hard to ensure he got elected and even accepted his invitation to be his secretary of state.
There are many other examples of how even bitter political adversaries can come together in the larger interests of their parties and their people. In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was once brutally bashed by President Robert Mugabe’s police when he was opposition leader, is now serving as his prime minister.
It is still not too late for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare to form a government of national unity to shepherd the country until the election, when the people will decide who they want to lead them for the next five years.
So far, PNG has fortunately been spared the bloodletting and turmoil that accompanies power transfers in many parts of the world. Let’s keep it that way.
lSanjay Bhosale is a former associate editor of The National and now works in Canberra, Australia. (email <letterfromdownunder@gmail.com>
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