𝗦𝗶𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗲: 𝗗𝗿𝘂𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀

 𝘉𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯

Michael Somare, bearded, eager, proud and secure within his own remarkable culture, became the face of Papua New Guinea to the world from the time the first daring troublemakers there began to dream of independence in the 1960s. Even more extraordinarily, he remained to his own people the face that mirrored their national aspirations over almost 50 years.

Other prime ministers came and went — Julius Chan and Paias Wingti, twice each — but when Somare returned to the top job in 2002 after a 17-year gap, he began his longest term in power.

He was knighted, and was awarded the top honour, a member of the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, after PNG also introduced its own honours system under his prime ministership in 2005. But he was ubiquitously known as “The Chief”.

His political longevity was principally owed to three chiefly skills: as a public speaker, both in the national language, Tok Pisin, and in English; as a chairman of the board, maintaining his fissiparous ministers in some kind of order; and as a parliamentary coalition builder and political numbers man, keeping track of the countless trade-offs required to maintain a majority in the PNG political bearpit.

Celebrating 40 years as an MP, Somare said: “I know what PNG politics tastes like.” And to ordinary Papua New Guineans, he remained the embodiment of their bright hopes, which he articulated at independence.