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In the rugged highlands of East Sepik, a boy from Wautogik Village grew up to define the spirit of a nation. Dr. Bernard Narokobi (1942–2010)—lawyer, philosopher, and dreamer—gave Papua New Guinea not just laws, but a moral compass. As PNG approaches 50 years of independence, his vision of The Melanesian Way remains a beacon in a storm.
Roots and Revelation
Narokobi’s journey began in the rhythms of Arapesh village life—where stories flowed like the Sepik River and ancestors walked beside the living. Against colonial odds, he became one of PNG’s first university graduates, earning a law degree in Sydney. Yet he carried his village within him: “I walked in two worlds,” he reflected, “but my heart never left the firelight.”
Architect of the National Conscience
As a drafter of PNG’s Constitution, Narokobi embedded ancestral wisdom into the nation’s foundation. His immortal Preamble echoed through history: "We pay homage to the memory of our ancestors—the source of our strength and origin of our combined heritage..." He championed “worthy customs” as living law, rejecting cut-and-paste Western governance. For him, true independence meant blending tradition with modernity—village courts alongside Parliament, Christian ethics dancing with ancient spirits.
The Melanesian Way: A Manifesto for Being
His 1980 book ignited a revolution of thought. Narokobi argued fiercely that Melanesians need not surrender their soul to progress. Land, to him, was not mere property but sacred kinship—a living bond between people and their ancestors. Community was not an abstract ideal but the essence of life itself: “We are not individuals chasing profit, but branches of a living tree.” Even faith, he believed, need not erase tradition. Christianity, properly rooted, could harmonize with ancestral beliefs. This philosophy became PNG’s moral DNA—quoted in classrooms, debated in Parliament, whispered in villages.
The Uncompromising Warrior
Narokobi lived his ideals with radical authenticity. As an acting judge, he upheld tribal compensation over prison sentences, only to be overruled by jurists who dismissed custom as “savage.” Serving as Cabinet Minister, he resigned rather than endorse policies that betrayed the poor. Barefoot in Parliament, he slept on his office floor, calling leather shoes “chains of the colonial mind.” His greatest sorrow was watching the courts dismantle his custom-based legal reforms while violence eroded the communal bonds he so fiercely defended.
The Unfinished Journey
Narokobi’s 2010 death drew thousands to Wautogik—chiefs, politicians, and villagers mourning their philosopher-chief. Yet his struggle endures. The Constitution’s promise remains unfulfilled for tribes displaced by mining and for mothers denied justice. The Law Reform Commission, his creation, still battles to blend custom and common law. And today’s youth, facing corruption and cultural erosion, are rediscovering The Melanesian Way as an antidote to disillusionment.
Legacy: The Village Light That Still Guides
Fifty years after independence, Narokobi’s voice whispers through the smoke of highland fights and the clamor of Port Moresby: "True freedom is becoming ourselves again—rooted in land, lifted by tradition, open to the world." In hospitals using local healing plants, in courts recognizing tribal wisdom, in artists weaving digital stories with barkcloth patterns—his vision lives.
As PNG reckons with its soul at this crossroads, Narokobi’s challenge echoes: build a future where the village fire never dies. For in that glow lies the map to a nation worthy of its founders—and its children.
"We are simple, yet complex. Grounded in traditions and borrowed modernities that are now our own."
— Bernard Narokobi