predecessor successor constituency_mp party office primeminister term_start article_title term_end name
jeffrey nape james marape guao zurenuoc paru aihi finschhafen open independent people 's national congress party , then people 's progress party , then speaker of the national parliament minister for education peter o'neill 3 august 2012 8 august 2011 6 august 2007 theo zurenuoc
 3 august 2012 theo zurenuoc
theo zurenuoc

theodore zibang zurenuoc is a papua new guinean politician .
he was first elected to the national parliament in the 2007 general election , as independent mp for finschhafen district in morobe province , though he subsequently joined the people 's progress party .
he won the seat by defeating the incumbent , his cousin guao zurenuoc .
previous members of the zurenuoc family to have held the seat include his father zibang zurenuoc -lrb- elected in 1977 -rrb- , and his uncle zure makili zurenuoc .
in 2009 , during a parliamentary debate on a government bill which would have seen women nominated to parliament , zurenuoc opposed the idea of nominated parliamentarians , but said he would support reserved seats for women specifically to elect representatives .
at the start of august 2011 , zurenuoc supported a successful parliamentary motion of no confidence which brought down the government of acting prime minister sam abal -lrb- standing in for somare while the latter was hospitalised for a serious heart condition -rrb- , enabling peter o'neill to become prime minister .
o'neill appointed zurenuoc as his minister for education .
one of the o'neill government 's first announcements was that it would commit funds to providing free primary education to all children in the country , and subsidised secondary education .
faced with questions about funding , zurenuoc stated : `` we can and will find the money to execute this objective , we will cut out fats of the budget and fund this worthier cost .
-lsb- ... -rsb- we will sacrifice expenses in other less important areas to give undivided attention to this noble task of giving our children a future that they have been deprived of for so long . ''
he also said all classes should be in english in primary schools , with classes in indigenous languages abolished , and that outcome-based education should be abandoned , since many teachers considered it to be `` suppressive , irrelevant , outdated and not working '' .
he retained his seat for the people 's progress party in the 2012 general election .
when the new parliament sat on 3 august , he was elected speaker .
in december 2013 , in his capacity as speaker , he `` removed and badly damaged '' several carvings adorning the interior of parliament and representing papua new guinea 's diverse indigenous cultures .
zurenuoc reportedly considered the carvings to be contrary to christianity .
his action was criticised and ridiculed by andrew motu , director of the papua new guinea national museum and art gallery .
specifically , `` a lintel containing 19 ancestral masks from the provinces were removed and chopped up '' , in what was intended to be a prelude to further destruction .
in response to the controversy , prime minister peter o'neill intervened and ordered zurenuoc not to destroy a `` four-tonne pole which contained carving traditions from around the country '' .
the papua new guinea trade union congress condemned the destruction , and called for zurenuoc to be arrested .
by contrast , community development minister loujaya kouza supported the destruction , and indicated that it had been carried out on advice from an israeli christian evangelical movement .
eventually , zurenuoc released a statement to explain his actions , and his intention to continue .
he stated that he wanted to remove `` spirits of idolatry , immorality and witchcraft '' from within parliament , and to replace them with `` a national unity pole , which will contain a bible , a copy of the constitution and an everlasting flame to represent god 's word '' .
in may 2015 , while still serving as speaker , zurenuoc changed allegiance from the people 's progress party to the people 's national congress party , the political party led by prime minister peter o'neill .
