Observations from Malaita

A few reflections and bits of news from Terry Brown, Bishop of Malaita (thanks Terry!)...

Note that these are not necessarily the opinions of the blog owners, as we haven't been there on the ground - we simply find Terry's commentary very interesting!!

(1) A contingent of 10 RAMSI military (New Zealanders for sure, possibly others) have arrived in Auki. Yesterday they patrolled the streets of downtown Auki in full battle gear, fully armed. Obviously the full show of force is to make people think twice about causing any disturbance, especially at night. The last two nights have been quiet. In the end up to 16 were arrested in the Auki disturbance on Wednesday night. One Chinese shop (the one I mentioned in a previous update) was broken into and goods stolen. The owner and some of our other "new" Chinese fled to Honiara on Thursday morning. All the Chinese stores remain closed, although we are urging them to re-open as soon as possible. Of course, they are affected by events in Honiara. My impression is that the Honiara rioters distinguished between "old" and "new" Chinese buildings (QQQ in Chinatown was untouched), so our "old" Chinese stores in Auki may be in better shape than others. Long term though, Langa Langa vs. Chinese business rivalry in Auki will continue, and there will always be some in the former community who would like the latter simply to disappear. But Auki and Malaita are a big market, and there should be enough room for everyone. Banks finally re-opened and what little rice is still available has taken a big leap in price. Today's Saturday morning market is going ahead full force as though nothing had happened (no RAMSI presence). The only difference is that the two or three large ships that usually come from Honiara Friday night have not arrived -- obviously stopped by the police/RAMSI to prevent loot flowing out to the provinces (one load arrived yesterday) and gawkers and would-be rioters flowing into Honiara. As rural Malaitans have had their ears to the radio all last week (the FM station used its "call in" system to report the location of the mob and their arson and looting, while SIBC reported very little), many have come to Auki hoping to go to Honiara today to see the sights.

The Asian road workers on the Asian Development Bank-funded Kitano Malaita road-building project were also evacuated. It remains unclear to me why the ADB/Kitano has imported road workers from Cambodia and the Philippines to rebuild Malaita's roads (some sort of internal Asian agenda, I suppose), as though we don't have people in Malaita who can build roads. This is part of the feeling that everyone but Solomon Islanders are somehow making a profit out of our troubles (including, of course, all the NGOs, RAMSI advisors, consultants, volunteers, etc.).

(2) As far as Honiara events are concerned, the "spark" that sent the rioters into central Honiara from Parliament, the use of tear gas by the Australian RAMSI contingent against the crowd around Parliament who were becoming rowdy after the announcement of Snyder Rini's election, needs to be investigated. The Speaker of Parliament and leaders of the parties were apparently preparing to address the crowd and calm them down (the exact same rowdiness developed after the announcement of Allan Kemakeza's election as PM five years ago but was dissipated) when, apparently unannounced and without warning, the RAMSI tear gas hit. Sir Peter has complained about this on the Australian media and others have picked it up. It is cited as an example of Australian RAMSI's over-reaction to events that look like they might turn violent. All through the riots, the use of tear gas only inflamed and increased the crowds.

(3) The rioting and looting crowds were made up of people from all provinces, including some women and children. While Robert Wale, the leader of the so-called "People Power" movement is from Malaita (Langa Langa), participation was from all provinces and it would be wrong to see the rioting as some sort of continuation of a Malaita Eagle Force plot. The rumors that Edmund Sae, for example, is in Honiara leading the troops are, I am fairly certain, untrue. (I am afraid he has acquired a Jon Frum-like persona in these kinds of events.) Robert Wale, it should be said, is not exactly a Corazon Aquino. He is a former member of the Honiara Town Council and his record there was not especially clean. I am sure that he must have lost out in some of the land deals that saw so much of Honiara's prime sea front land sold to the Chinese by dubious means. I would think Wale would/should be arrested down the line, for incitement to riot. His media pronouncements are taking a high moral road but his record does not especially justify it.

(4) Honiara people have never liked the Australian RAMSI contingent. Most people distinguish between the Australian RAMSI (whom they don't like) and the New Zealand and Pacific Islands RAMSI (whom they do like). The general feeling is that the RAMSI motto "Helpim fren" doesn’t hold much water when the Australian RAMSI are so sullen and hostile, won't even say hello, speed up and down the streets without regard for the other traffic, won't allow the use of RAMSI helicopters and planes for humanitarian purposes, and hang out at all the expensive Chinese restaurants (some of them now destroyed, such as the Fortune Restaurant in the Pacific Casino Hotel complex) and the Green Mango and won't go near local eateries or the central market. (I heard a story yesterday that, indeed, RAMSI assisted financially Patrick Leong in the completion of the construction of the Pacific Casino Hotel, to house its personnel. It certainly has never attracted overseas tourists the way the hotels with casinos do in Vanuatu. The story needs to be checked out. There are also lots of stories about PCH being a centre of prostitution, which may well have involved RAMSI personnel. The "evacuation" of the Pacific Casino Hotel's "guests" by boat may well have been simply the evacuation of RAMSI personnel from the hotel.) I have always wondered if there was any money laundrying involved in all the new Chinese developments.)

So, for many reasons, the alliance of the (1) Kemekeza/Rini (corrupt) government, (2) the extensive and expensive Chinese commercial developments in Honiara, from before "ethnic tension", then interrupted, then resumed, while ordinary local Honiara people get poorer and poorer as the prices at the Chinese shops go up and up, and (3) RAMSI, friend of the Kemakeza/Rini government and the Chinese, (perceived as) hostile to Malaitans, unfriendly Australians, etc, etc. -- all united together in the riots. I have heard that 15 RAMSI vehicles were destroyed, not to mention the Pacific Casinos' entire rent-a-car fleet, 20 RAMSI injured (one sent back to Australia for serious jaw injuries from a stone). I am told that Reef Islanders can shoot a RAMSI helicopter with a stone. There were some failures of RAMSI intelligence -- half of Solomon Islanders are saltwater people and it is a bit inconceivable that the sea side of the Pacific Casino Hotel was left unprotected.

The properties (commercial, offices, residences) of the Kemekeza/Rini government's Chinese advisors and backers (for example, Tommy Chan, Robert Goh, Patrick Leong) were particularly targeted for destruction. The Honiara Hotel (Tommy Chan) has its own security and has survived, though there were rumours of an attack from over the hill behind the hotel. There were also rumours that the Mendana Hotel was on the hit list.

None of what I have written above is intended to condone or support the rioting. It is tragic, both for the individuals involved (on all sides) and for the country. For the Solomons claiming to be a "Christian country", it is a travesty of the Easter message, as church leaders have pointed out in pastoral statements. But legitimate frustrations are there and people explode. Alas, we are now producing refugees, with 400 Chinese living at the Police Club at Rove under police/RAMSI security.

(5) The new Prime Minister's media statements that the rioting had no political motivation and was simply criminal activity rather boggle the mind, although obviously those with non-political motives joined in for the free loot.

Despite the demands of Robert Wale and the "People Power" movement, I think the considered view of all members of Parliament, premiers, church leaders, diplomatic community, is that Parliament should meet and that any attempt to oust Rini as Prime Minister should be done constitutionally. In many respects, the announced cabinet contains some very good people, such as Fred Fono, the Deputy Prime Minister. Forcing a PM to resign by public protests, when he has been constitutionally elected (despite corruption), sets rather a bad precedent, such that every future election will face the same problem and the same hope by the losing party. If there were substantial bribes made (whether accepted or not) by the Rini camp and Tommy Chan, as Opposition leader Billy Hilly maintains, then the matter should be reported to the police; but whether the police and RAMSI have the wherewithal and will to follow up on and investigate these claims remains to be seen.

One issue in all of this is the extent to which Australia has interfered in the parliamentary process in the Solomons. For example, Fred Fono, the well-respected Malaita MP who for several years was a strong member of the Opposition, crossed over to the Kemekeza government a couple years ago to everyone's surprise. When accosted by his supporters about this, he maintained that he was asked to do this by the British and Australian High Commissions to give financial and administrative stability to the Kemakeza government to enable EC STABEX funds to be transferred. He is now the new Deputy Prime Minister, set to take over if Rini is dumped. If this story is true, it is another example of the diplomatic community's short-, rather than long-term thinking. Between this kind of interference and RAMSI, the SI risk becoming an Australian puppet state (at least that is the perception, though, of course, Australia and RAMSI strongly deny it) -- but, as last week's events show, it is hard to control all the people who feel that they are part of a puppet state (whether it is a puppet state or not), especially as the conditions of their economic life go down and down, and those perceived as pulling the strings and their helpers seem to get richer and richer.

(5) The arrival of a PNG police contingent begs many questions. I wonder if it is even in Australia's best interest, as PNG RAMSI personnel are well known for complaining about Australia, and only help to fan anti-Australian sentiment within RSIP and the communities where they serve. I am told that one of the first lots of PNG RAMSI personnel (when RAMSI first arrived) were sent home fast after they set up a prostitution ring. But PNG RAMSI personnel are liked much more than Australian RAMSI; they are fellow Pacific Islanders.

(6) To RAMSI's credit, there has been no firing on crowds, though I am sure many would have liked to have, given the barrage of stones. Had this been many other parts of the world, there would have been deaths. Unfortunately, the crowds also probably took advantage of the knowledge that RAMSI would not shoot *at* them. However, a core question remains why a multinational intervention force and the local police force it is supposed to be training and advising, led by a nation with high technology and unlimited financial resources, good communication and transport, and numerous advisors and consultants, were not able to anticipate and control (and, indeed, may have provoked) a small demonstration that got out of hand, not bringing in reinforcements very early (as RAMSI said they could when most military personnel left the country), not containing the demonstrators very early, not acting decisively in any way -- resulting eventually in a scale of damage, personal and material, immensely beyond anything that resulted from the "ethnic tension" crisis. "Helpim fren" has turned into "Spoilim fren". Is RAMSI only "rapid response" (late) after crisis, quick withdrawal, self-satisfaction, confusion when a new crisis comes, then another (late) "rapid response"? Of course, it is easy to criticize after the fact. Even veteran ABC reporter Sean Dorney had left for Australia after covering the elections and did not anticipate such events. Nor can I say I anticipated them, though I have long thought and said that anti-Chinese riots were always a possibility. I think most people anticipated that the "Grand Coalition of Parties" had enough votes to win and did not realize the capacity of the two "old" groupings usually in opposition to one another to band together to defeat it.

I think the road ahead will continue to be rocky. Australia and RAMSI need independently to assess where they now are, and not just uncritically back the elected government, whose mandate is weak indeed. (Such a consultation and assessment should be done with real Solomon Islands organizations on the ground -- such as churches and community groups, rather than by highly paid outside advisors. Even RAMSI's own consultation has been defective, very short and rushed visits and a quick exit when the difficult questions begin to be asked.) One only wishes that RAMSI could get away from its constant defensiveness -- that it is always right and does nothing wrong -- and admit to its mistakes, and not engage in constant self-promotion, which has now royally backfired. I think all would do well to back off a bit, rather than constant tinkering and interference -- courting favourite members of the government or opposition, insisting on an Australian Police Commissioner, producing an ever-creasing number of advisors (also travelling by helicopter), etc. The riots are a reassertion of Solomon Islands sovereignty, which has been significantly eroded in the past few years, though, unfortunately, it apparently takes a common enemy to unite all Solomon Islanders. On the other hand, the RAMSI presence is still needed, I would say -- particularly if parliamentary government is to continue -- as the alternatives (as last week's events show) are also not very attractive. But the future economic effects on the country of last week's events, at least short term, are grave and it will take much effort to keep things on a steady keel.