Puri Ruing is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n politician. He was a member of the

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 ...

from 1997 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2012, representing the electorate of Dei Open. He served as Minister for Justice under

Mekere Morauta The Right Honourable Sir Mekere Morauta (12 June 1946 – 19 December 2020) was a Papua New Guinean politician and economist who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1999 to 2002. Inheriting a depressed economy and a fra ...

, Minister for Internal Security under

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 ...

and Minister for Civil Aviation under

Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...

. Ruing, a former police officer, was first elected to parliament at the 1997 general election. He stood on the ballot line of the new People's Resources Awareness Party, but immediately joined the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

upon his election. Ruing subsequently defected to the

People's Democratic Movement The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later rep ...

. Ruing's election was the subject of an unsuccessful challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns by defeated candidate and former MP Melchior Pep. He was appointed Vice-Minister for Treasury and Finance in the Morauta government in September 1999, and was promoted to Minister for Justice in December 2000. He recontested the seat as the People's Democratic Movement candidate at the 2002 election, but was defeated by Pep, the losing candidate from 1997. Ruing had Pep briefly declared bankrupt in 2004 over his failure to pay court costs awarded over the unsuccessful 1997 challenge to his election. The bankruptcy orders were later quashed after Pep paid Ruing more than 70,000

kina Kina can refer to: * Kina (animal), a sea urchin endemic to New Zealand * Kina (musician), American singer/songwriter, and former member of musical group Brownstone * Kina, an Italian music producer known for the single "Get You the Moon" * Kina ( ...

to settle the debt. Ruing won a rematch with Pep for the Dei Open seat at the 2007 general election for Morauta's

Papua New Guinea Party The Papua New Guinea Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 2007 by former Prime Minister and Leader of the People's Democratic Movement, Mekere Morauta, along with MP Wake Goi. The party won 8 out of 109 seats in the ...

, with Pep finishing third. His election was the subject of a challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns from second-place candidate Roy Pena. He was a shadow minister in the Morauta opposition to the Somare government for several years. In June 2009, his son, Emmanuel Ruing, was murdered in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

amidst clashes related to the Australian rugby league match,

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

. He was subsequently praised by Morauta for keeping control over potential retaliatory attacks. In July 2010, he defected from the Papua New Guinea Party to the

United Resources Party The United Resources Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. Foundation, Agiru and Akoitai's leadership It was established in December 1997 by Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, who became the inaugural leader. Its platform emp ...

, a coalition partner in the Somare government. In December 2010, Ruing was appointed Minister for Internal Security under Michael Somare. In August 2011,

became Prime Minister in the wake of a parliamentary

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...

in the government of Acting Prime Minister

Sam Abal Samuel Tei Abal (born 26 June 1958) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare o ...

(standing in for Sir Somare while the latter was hospitalised for a heart condition). O'Neill appointed Ruing as his Minister for Civil Aviation. Ruing was defeated by Westly Nukundj at the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruing, Puri Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean police officers People from the Western Highlands Province People's Democratic Movement politicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)