McLay had great dreams and passion for Lae

Weekender

By MALUM NALU
THE last email I received from my old mate from Lae Alan McLay was last Sept 27.
He was making a presentation on the Nadzab Airport Redevelopment Project being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and knowing how passionate I was about developments in my hometown, he asked me to attend.
I knew McLay had not been well, however, remained the true Lae diehard he was since I first came to know him in the late 1980s and 1990s when I was a young reporter for Talair’s daily Niugini Nius, Post-Courier, a weekly publication called Lae Today , and a then new newspaper called The National.
The Nadzab Airport Redevelopment Project had excited both McLay and myself since the signing of an agreement between the governments of Japan and Papua New Guinea in 2015.
We also shared a common passion about the history of Lae, Morobe and Papua New Guinea, and had collaborated in putting together a well-received feature article in The National on the history and future of Nadzab Airport.
“Hi old Friend,” McLay emailed me last Sept 27.
“I just wanted to advise you that I am entertaining a team from Cairns Trade Linked, Chamber of Commerce and the Cairns-Lae Sister City Relationship Committee on 6th October, together with Mr Paul Murphy, the Australian Consul General for Lae.
“We will be putting on a breakfast for them at the Lae Yacht Club at 7am on Friday 6th October.
“ I will be doing a NAC (National Airports Corporation) presentation put together by JICA for the Nadzab Redevelopment, which will show the planned airstrip and terminal developments etc, as well as the implementation schedule which moves onto the tendering and procurement process next year, then awarding the contractors and constructing from 2019-22.
“I provide below a little appetiser showing the planned two-story terminal building with a roof in the shape of a kundu drum.
“Very impressive indeed.
“The runway is being upgraded to take the Boeing 737s so Lae can be the emergency airstrip in case of an overfly at Jacksons.
“I am expecting Governor Ginson Saonu and Lae MP John Rosso to be present as well.
“Paul Murphy will also present some of the projects undertaken by the Australian government.
“I thought you may be interested in coming across for the function (and it just so happens that the Morobe Show is the next two days).
“Let me know and I will reserve a ticket for you.
“Rgds/Alan.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it home to Lae for that presentation, and that was the last time I heard from McLay. On the morning of Thursday, Jan 4, I heard the sad news of the passing of my longtime mate in Lae the previous night, just two weeks short of his 73rd birthday.
I remembered that time, way back in 1994, when I interviewed him for our local Lae paper Lae Today when he first became chamber president.
I remember going to his house at Wagtail Street, Cassowary Road, on the banks of the Bumbu River, and chatting with him. I wish I could find a copy of that article, written in the pre-computer and Internet days, for the benefit of the people of Lae.
We shared a common vision for the development of Lae, as well as a keen interest in its history, from then until his death. McLay was also a lifelong friend of firebrand former Morobe Governor, Sir Jerry Nalau, and I have many fond memories of these two legends. One time, around 1996, McLay, Sir Jerry, deputy provincial administrator Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc and a group of us from Lae flew from Nadzab to Siassi Island (along the Vitiaz Strait between Morobe and West New Britain) on a tiny Britten Norman Islander piloted by well-known bush pilot Morris Konai.
Sir Jerry, as everyone knows, loved his beer. The plane, invariably, was loaded with beer and most of us, with the exception of Alan and Sir Manasupe, were told to drink by Sir Jerry on the plane. It was one unforgettable sight when we landed on Siassi. Another time, in early 1996 when I was manning The National’s Lae bureau, the now-infamous Watarais Incident, in which Goroka police torched the famous Watarais Market and several Markham Valley houses, exploded.
McLay, Sir Jerry and Lae MP Bart Philemon, together with other Morobe leaders including Sir Manasupe, headed into the hornet’s nest and took me with them. Along the way, a bleeding Markham MP, Andrew Baing, who’d been bashed up by Goroka police, told us to turn back.
We turned back as heavily armed Goroka police followed us to Mutzing Station, forced us to lie on the floor with guns pointed at our heads, and demanded to know where Sir Jerry was. Sir Jerry had taken refuge in one of the Markham villages.
Alan John McLay was born in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan 16, 1945.
He came to PNG in 1964 as a 19-year-old kiap (patrol officer) and served in East and West New Britain, Bougainville and Chimbu before becoming Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Madang in 1976 and Morobe in 1978.
McLay was Lae City Authority manager from 1981-1984, managed a major wholesale chain in Lae from 1984-1994, and from 1994 till the time of his death was owner/manager of a successful business consultancy firm and a shipping service. He was also Lord Mayor of Lae from 1995-1997.
McLay is survived by wife Nellie, whom he married in Lae in 1982, and children Alistair and Catherine.
He was a true Lae-ite and was buried next to his old mate, Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc, at the old Lae Cemetery yesterday.
Thank you for the many wonderful memories.
Alan McLay’s dream and passion for a better and prosperous Lae must continue.