Noah Musingku, reigning as King David Peii II, is the king of the Twin Kingdoms of Papaala and Me’ekamui on Bougainville Island in the North Solomon Islands. Widely disparaged by foreign press as being a con-man, Musingku is the creator of U-Vistract, a shared-investment program, and the director of a series of banks.
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Bougainville Island is geographically and ethnically a part of the Solomon Island archipelago, but it is claimed by Papua New Guinea (PNG), which has granted it autonomy. In 1988 a civil war began with workers and landowners from Panguna mine (See also Panguna). This mine, owned by the PNG government and Bougainville Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group, was established under the force of Australian armed police protection, and its land appropriated without compensation.[1] The mine operation was accused of being insensitive to environmental issues, causing total destruction of aquatic life in at least one river, and failure to pay reparations to the owners of the lands taken or affected by the mining operations.
Even though the Bougainville Revolutionary Army ultimately controlled 90% of the land of Bougainville, its leader, Francis Ona, refused to participate in peace talks, saying that the BRA controlled the land, and had the support of the people, so there was no need to negotiate further.[2] A Unilateral Declaration of Independence was made on 17 May 1990, but Australian and New Zealand-brokered peace talks tended to ignore this fact. Even after the establishment of the New Zealand brokered autonomous government in 2001, Ona continued to maintain control of over half of the island, and proclaimed himself king of Me’ekamui (“holy land”) in May 2004. Musingku assumed the throne of Paapala Kingdom in the same year, and upon Ona’s death from malaria in July 2005, Musingku consolidated control of the “Twin Kingdoms” on Bougainville Island.
Moses Noah Musingku is a native of the village of Tonu, Siwai district in the southwest of Bougainville Island, and it is in this his ancestral village that he chose to establish his seat of government and the headquarters of his banking system. Musingku attended all of the 9 years of schooling then available in Bougainville. He won a PNG scholarship and continued to university where he studied a variety of courses including engineering, architecture, computing, law and politics. He also enlisted in the Papua New Guinea defense force for two years (2RPIR in Moem Barracks), where he felt disgusted by the immorality and impure habits implanted into new recruits by the trainers.[3]
Prophecies about Noah Musingku are recorded [ issue 4] to have taken place in PNG 23 April 2000 by an Brian Hayes, a New Zealander living in Australia who had never met Musingku or known anything about him until that event. These prophesies also tell that Musingku was going to destroy the World Monetary System, through which the world is controlled. He continued, “Noah needs your undivided support and prayers to complete his mission for he has touched the very heart of the devil’s control system”.[5]
Other prophesies about Musingku and his mission were recorded by Dr. Jonathan David of Malaysia in 1999.[6]
U-Vistract is a mutual investment system envisioned as a means of creating the funding necessary to gain political and economic sovereignty for Bougainville. Widely considered to be only a Ponzi scheme, it differed in that the intent was to use the untapped natural resources of Bougainville to fund the system. Eventually established in 4 countries, the system became wildly popular, but failed when the monetization of the in-ground assets did not occur.
In 1997, seven years after the unilateral declaration of independence, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army was fully in control of the island, but its leadership was starting to split into different factions. Ona continued in full control of the army, and intended to achieve full independence. His co-president in the Bougainville Interim Government, Joseph Kabui, was seeking rapprochement with PNG and formation of an Autonomous Bougainville Government, while the army General Sam Kauona had his own path. Musingku met with each of them as a mediator, and by 19 December had signed agreements with each. They realized that it would be impossible to join the three parties together without a source of funding, and that it would be impossible to achieve political independence without financial sovereignty.[8] As Musingku’s wrote,
Thus began the creation of the U-Vistract System. At first, the “U-Vistract Mission” was established as a Christian mission program in Australia. After he was arrested and then publicly denigrated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for an unlicensed securities and investment program, churches continued to invest.
"On October 19th 1999 in one of my trips to Australia the ASIC placed me under house-arrest….After a heavy interrogatory session they demanded me to shut down all my operations in the country. The ASIC publicized the matter in the media to let the world of Australia know about the so-called illegal operations. However, U-Vistract grew even stronger, gaining momentum almost overnight. The number of my agencies grew in Kempsey, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold coast, etc."[9]
From Australia, he went to Pt Moresby, Papua New Guinea. While in Pt Moresby, he attempted to set up a bank in the old Hawaiian Bank building, but he was shut down by the PNG government and forced to leave to the Solomon Islands. He began again to set up his system, but the Australian police in the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) forced him out. In 2003 he travelled to Ona’s headquarters in Guava, Panguna, Bougainville, and established a bank there. Two years later he was able to travel to his ancestral village of Tonu, where he established his bank headquarters in an old cattle farm owned by the paramount chief. This, he said, was the manger from which would issue salvation of the world.[10]
By 2005, Musingku’s banks were issuing bank statements worth millions of dollars, issuing notes and promises of payment in the billions and trillions of dollars. Interest rates for high yield accounts were up to 1000% per year. A few selected people did receive payouts from the accounts, but most received nothing. U-Vistract indicates that they still intend to pay on these accounts, and recently outside investments in to the Me’ekamui banking system appears to have bridged the link to the monetization of Bougainville’s natural resources.
A Pentecostal Christian, most of his talks and writings are generously sprinkled with biblical references. U-Vistract was initially created as a Christian Mission, and this has continued to be its focus. Musingku has compared his life and mission to that of Bibilacal saviors Noah, Moses or Jesus Christ. On the new currency that he intends to issue, pictures of Jesus will join the likenesses of Musingku and other Bougainvillean leaders.[13]
In spite of the large amounts of wealth that he projects his U-Vistract program to create for its members, Musingku has chosen a rather Spartan lifestyle based upon three covenants that he has made with God.[14] The three covenants include :
“I live a life of daily sacrifice in prayer and fasting, disciplining my body and having only one meal a day in the evenings plus two days a week, one week a month and two weeks a year”, said the King, which works out to 1 meal a day, 5 meals a week, 22 meals a month and 299 meals a year. “This is my routine lifestyle year in and year out”, he said while further explaining his first covenant of sacrifice and promise.
“God promised to protect and safeguard me until the vision and mandate he has given me is accomplished—as long as I am doing my part of the covenant”, he said.
Musingku is referred to as Crown Prince in 2005.[4] The first reference to Musingku being a king was in April 2005, when Francis Ona was crowned by Musingku as King Francis of Me’ekamui, and Musingku was crowned King of Papaala (a neighboring region within Bougainville).[15]
Musingku, as King David Peii II, refers to a previous royal lineage of King Peii which convened in Tonu village in 1922.[18] It was his intent to restore the “traditional King Peii Monarchial Governing System”. Ona died in July 2005, and after some discussion in Ona’s village about succession, Musingku effectively assumed control of both kingdoms as “head of state of the Twin Kingdoms”.
Musingku agrees with Ona, who declared that the promises of independence have been waved at Bougainville for 35 years:
Ona: We have already has other forms of autonomy. The provincial government system in 1975 we were promised. Bougainvillians were promised that after 5 years of after a few years, the provincial government will be replaced by the independent nation of Bougainville. (See So with this in mind, with this past history , we don't trust Papua New Guinea any more….[2]
Musingku recognizes that autonomy is not the same as independence, and that both autonomy and independence are only granted by an outside power.
Bougainville has already issued a unilateral declaration of independence on 17 May 1990.[20] This declaration was never rescinded, though it was ignored by the Australian and New Zealand governments who took it upon themselves to broker peace talks. It was to the advantage of these nations to broker a deal which would allow western nations into Bougainville again to exploit the mineral resources. Since Australia ran the Panguna mine and owned 51% of Bougainville Copper Ltd, and the PNG government was a 20% owner, both of these governments had definite incentives to deny sovereignty to Bougainville.
When New Zealand brokered a peace deal in 2001, Ona and BRA were not parties. His faction controlled 90% of the territory, and the support of the majority of the people, yet this was ignored.[2] A referendum on independence was a part of that agreement, and as of 2009, the promised referendum has not been held.[13]
In 2005, elections for the new Autonomous Government were held, but only 3% of the people participated. This demonstrates that the current autonomous government does not have a mandate, and the claim for sovereignty affirmed by Ona and later, King David Peii II (Musingku) remains valid.
Likewise, Mr. Musingku was quoted saying “the Royal Twin Kingdoms do not recognize the PNG government or any of its arms in Bougainville”.[21]
Someone asked me “should I participate in the forthcoming autonomous elections?” I replied “why should you knowingly become a slave of foreign domineering powers again?” He realized the answer and left satisfied. King David Peii II
In 2005 the World Bank contacted Ona as King of Me’ekamui and offered financial assistance. The bank recognized his government’s existence and was standing by to provide financial assistance, in the event that it may need such help. This offer was refused.[22] An essay by Musingku on independence, autonomy and sovereignty is available here:[20]
Musingku continued to exercise his powers as Head of State of Bougainville. In 2005 he publicly announced that he was hiring a security force from Fiji to train his guards and other governmental personnel, as well as establish security and satellite and other telecommunications for his bank in Tonu.[23][24] He said that this Fijian security force had been hand selected “mostly Born-Again Christians with overseas experience in Iraq and other areas”. When the first Fijians showed up in Bougainville, the international media created an international uproar and suggested that, contrary to what Musingku had announced, the eight soldiers were actually mercenaries staging a coup. Several of them were arrested and later deported by PNG.
By 2005, Musingku had established his own government, nation, city, economy, church, military, police, judiciary, and education system. Billions of dollars in promises were given to local schools, governments, and regional nations in 2005. Foreign emissaries were sent to many regional nations, as well as the UK. Issue 13 The enclave controlled by forces loyal to Musingku began to accept foreign nationals through issuance of its own passports and visas.[23]
Membership cards in U-Vistract served, at least temporarily, as membership cards in a credit system which allowed members to purchase goods from enrolled stores by simply showing the card. Not surprisingly, misuse of the system quickly showed up, and discipline, in the form of banishment from a bank that members believe provides unlimited wealth, was quick in coming.
In order to emphasize separation from the Western system, a new calendar system was established, with July being the first month, and alternate names given to all of the months.[24] The official Me’ekamui time was shifted to be 30 min after PNG, and 30 min before the Solomon Islands. Rather than going along with Western Christian custom, or Seventh Day Adventist teachings popular on the island, Tuesday was chosen as the official day of rest.
Musingku still claims that he controls more than half of the island, with banks and headquarters in the north, central, and south. He says that his government is integrating with the Autonomous government in many aspects, and that even judicial cases from the Autonomous Government are being remanded to Meekamui's magistrates and judges.
In 2010, the International Bank of Me’ekamui,[25] one of Musingku’s bank group, established relations with a group of companies and individuals engaged in commerce outside of the usual financial system.[26][27] This group has provided billions of dollars in capital to U-Vistract through IBOM, and provided the means for capitalization of the in-ground assets that Bougainville contains, while IBOM has provided access to the international banking system. Thus, U-Vistract now has the ability to generate the tremendous amounts of wealth that Musingku envisioned in the late 1990s.
To some degree, that political support for Musingku still remains – albeit fragmented. This was most recently demonstrated with outgoing ABG President James Tanis asking the PNG Government last year to pardon Musingku for the sake of peace – despite Musingku maintaining an armed security force and remaining secluded in his no-go zone stronghold of Tonu.[28] It is very possible that, as U-Vistract and IBOM generate the capital once promised, that King David Peii II will gain more financial and political power in the near future.