The following images are from the Post-Courier's anniversary edition one year after Indepedence, somewhat worse for wear just like the country itself.
On attaining Independence on 16 September 1975, Sir John Guise quotes Lawrence of Arabia as having said, "It is better to let them do it imperfectly, than for you to do it perfectly, for it is their country and their independence, and your time is limited", ... so let's do it our way.
According to Lawrence’s biographer, Jeremy Wilson, these much misquoted lines are probably a corruption of Article 15 of T.E. Lawrence's "27 Articles", published in the Arab Bulletin of August 20 1917 and meant as a guide for British officers fighting alongside Arab tribesmen. The original reads: "Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them."
Lawrence's 27 Articles offered some other good advice. He argued, for example, that "a bad start is hard to atone for", and provided perhaps the soundest recommendation of all by saying, "Cling tight to your sense of humour". Considering what Papua New Guinea has and still is going through, not always an easy thing to do.
P.S. Why is PNG's Independence Day on 16 September? Read here.
