There’s controversy in Papua New Guinea over a trip which has been undertaken to receive a 400 year old copy of the bible from an businessman in Indiana.
Speaker of Papua New Guinea Parliament, Theodore Zurenuoc, led a delegation to the United States of America to receive the bible.
It’s believed to be one of the original copies of the King James Bible.
He was accompanied by other MPs and church pastors.
On his arrival back from the United States he was treated to a rousing reception at Jackson’s International Airport,
He was carrying and displaying the 400-year-old bible.
It was met with a full ceremonial welcome and a military honour guard.
Radio Australia’s correspondent Liam Cochrane said anywhere upward of 10,000 to 20,000 people were there to greet it.
The Post Courier newspaper has estimated the trip cost the taxpayer 31 thousand Australian dollars in air fares alone.
The move is part of Zurenoc’s vision; to restore, reform and modernize Parliament, and the National Unity and Identity Pillar project.
He wants the bible to be placed centrally in the chamber.
The general secretary of the PNG Trade Union Congress, John Paska, says he’s suspicious of the speaker’s motives.
Zurenoc has courted controversy in the past with a campaign to christianise Papua New Guinea politics.
He chainsawed carved heads off the lintel outside parliament, and removed tribal totem poles from inside the chamber.
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