Puri Ruing

Puri Ruing is a Papua New Guinea politician. He has been a Papua New Guinea Party member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Dei Open. He previously represented the electorate from 1997 to 2002.

Ruing, a former police officer, was first elected to parliament at the 1997 general election. He stood on the ballot line of the new People's Resources Awareness Party, but immediately joined the Christian Democratic Party upon his election. Ruing subsequently defected to the People's Democratic Movement. Ruing's election was the subject of an unsuccessful challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns by defeated candidate and former MP Melchior Pep.

He was appointed Vice-Minister for Treasury and Finance in the Morauta government in September 1999, and was promoted to Minister for Justice in December 2000. He recontested the seat as the People's Democratic Movement candidate at the 2002 election, but was defeated by Pep, the losing candidate from 1997. Ruing had Pep briefly declared bankrupt in 2004 over his failure to pay court costs awarded over the unsuccessful 1997 challenge to his election. The bankruptcy orders were later quashed after Pep paid Ruing more than 70,000 kina to settle the debt.

Ruing contested the Dei Open seat at the 2007 general election as a candidate of Morauta's Papua New Guinea Party. He led throughout counting, defeating Pep, who finished third. His election was the subject of a challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns from second-place candidate Roy Pena.

In August 2011, Peter O'Neill became Prime Minister in the wake of a parliamentary motion of no confidence in the government of Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal (standing in for Sir Michael Somare while the latter was hospitalised for a heart condition). O'Neill appointed Ruing as his Minister for Civil Aviation.