Motocross spreads peace message

BUKA – A motorcycle sports group made up of former combatants of Bougainville’s civil war is spreading the message of peace across the country. The Bougainville Motocross Club has proved immensely popular and has helped turn around the lives of people who were affected by the war. The repercussions from Bougainville’s civil war still echo in the lead up to a referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea. The club’s founding president, Emilroy Augustine, said the members had toured across Bougainville. “We go to remote places and do a bit of a motocross show and all this, some freestyle with our bikes,” he told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat. “Then we’ll bring our little loud hailers and do our awareness campaigns on weapons disposal and the peace treaty.” Bougainville was administered by Australia after the end of World War II in 1945 until Papua New Guinea gained independence in 1975. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Bougainvilleans are estimated to have died in the civil war, which saw clashes between secessionists and anti-secessionists from PNG and within Bougainville, between 1989 and 1998. The conflict has been described as the largest in Oceania since World War II. Augustine, who fought in the war, said he had used his own experiences to help other former combatants. “I actually went through a very hard time trying to rehabilitate myself,” he said. “The woman who became my wife today – my girlfriend at that time – she played an important role in my rehabilitation.

“I was doing something inhuman, but she still loved me. I had to change.”

He said motocross racing has given former fighters an outlet to let off steam. The Motocross Club also sees itself as an educator – spreading the message of peace and encouraging people to sign up to the electoral roll.

In 2001 the peace agreement signed by Bougainville and PNG saw the region granted much more autonomy than other provinces, but it still remains part of PNG.

The agreement stipulates that Bougainvilleans be granted a referendum on whether to become totally independent between 2015 and 2020.

“We make people aware of the importance of the referendum,” Augustine said.

“And also about alcohol and drug abuse, women’s rights and global warming. Most people don’t know what global warming is, the old and the young.”

Before reaching people with this message, the club has had to bring people still reeling from the conflict back into normal community life.

“I define motocross as being a thing from war, from conflict, from the civil war,” he said.

“We saw it like a transition, especially when we’re trying to give up those things we hide in our house, like the guns. And we would like motocross to be an alternative.”