Sir Paul Lapun (1923 – 26 October 2003) was the first Papua New Guinean to receive a knighthood. Both a supporter of independence for Papua New Guinea (PNG) and of the secessionist movement on Bougainville, Lapun served in the

House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea The House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea was the legislature of the territory of Papua and New Guinea from 1964 to 1972. Before 1964, the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea sat from 1951 to 1964 under the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 ...

and in the first

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence ...

between 1972 and 1975, when he was Minister for Mines and Energy. He was instrumental in obtaining royalties for the people of Bougainville for the copper mine on their island.

Early life and education

Paul Lapun was born in Mabis village, Banoni, in what was, at the time, the Buin sub-district of the North Solomons District of the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

, an Australian-administered

United Nations trust territory United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All of the trust territories were administered through the United Natio ...

. In 1936 he joined the Chabai Catholic seminary in northwest Bougainville, from where he was evacuated in 1942 before the Japanese occupation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He left the seminary in 1948, although he continued to teach there until the 1960s. After leaving the seminary, Lapun established a plantation and a marketing cooperative. Without encouraging it, by the 1960s he had become the focus of an embryonic

cargo cult A cargo cult is an indigenist millenarian belief system, in which adherents perform rituals which they believe will cause a more technologically advanced society to deliver goods. Causes, beliefs, and practices Cargo cults are marked by a ...

. In 1962 he went to Australia to observe the operation of local councils, founding the Banoni village council on his return.

Political career

In 1964 Lapun was elected to the first House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea for the South Bougainville seat, and was made undersecretary for Forests. He was an outspoken critic of the colonial government's policies and faced considerable opposition from the administration. In 1967, he persuaded the House of Assembly, despite protests from members of the House who had been appointed by the Australian government, to agree that 5% of government royalty receipts from the

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...

copper, gold and silver mine at

Panguna Panguna is a town and a (now decommissioned) copper mine on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. It was owned and operated by Bougainville Copper Ltd, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. Beginning operations in 1972, the company hired thousands of wor ...

on Bougainville should go to the local people. This was at a time when initial operations at the mine had had to be suspended because of protests. Lapun had originally demanded that 50% of the royalties should go to the people. Under an earlier proposal agreed by the Australian government and the company, the people would have received just 5 percent of the unimproved value of the land. Lapun joined the

Pangu Party The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats in the National Parliament. History The party was founded in June 1967 ...

, which, in 1975, would lead the first government of independent Papua New Guinea, with

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

as prime minister. In 1967 he became the first parliamentary leader of the Pangu Pati, a position he held until 1972 when he resigned in favour of Somare. He was easily re-elected in the 1968 and 1972 elections. After the 1972 election he was made minister for Mines and Energy and was then closely involved in the renegotiation of the Bougainville mine agreement, which increased the royalties received by PNG. Having resolved the issue of compensation, Lapun then turned his attention to the question of independence for Bougainville. In 1969 he was one of the founders of the Bougainville secessionist movement and in the same year he became patron of the pro-independence ''Napidakoe Navitu'' movement. Support for the secessionists increased as the result of the government wanting to remove people from their land to make way for Arawa, a new town to serve the mine, and after two civil servants from Bougainville were murdered in

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about 285 km from ...

in the PNG highlands. Lapun thus found himself in a contradictory position of being a leading member of the Pangu Party, which stressed national unity, and being active in the movement that wanted to secede from PNG. In 1977 he failed to be re-elected as younger secessionists, who had more appeal for the electorate, had emerged with more of a confrontational approach than that being followed by Lapun.

Honours

Lapun was knighted in

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

1974 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1974 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 7 June 1974 for ...

, becoming a Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. In the same year he hosted the Queen and

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

on their visit to Bougainville. He was the first Papua New Guinean to be given a knighthood.

Later life and death

After his election defeat in 1977, he lived in Bougainville. He died 26 October 2003 in the Bana district of south Bougainville. Lapun was married to Sarah Lapun and they had three daughters and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapun, Paul Date of birth missing 1923 births 2003 deaths Papua New Guinean knights Pangu Party politicians Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Bougainvillean activists