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Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 22-23 April 2006

Asians Fuel Discontent

Corruption lies behind this week’s events in the Solomons, writes Clive Moore

Waku is the Solomon Islands Pijin English name for the increasingly diverse local Asian community, who play a crucial role in the Solomon Islands economy. They are involved in corruption and have been behind the scenes in the political process since the late 1980s.

The devastation that has occurred in Honaira, the capital city of the Solomon Islands, has been targeted at the Chinese, but the underlying tension is much wider, and included large-scale corrupt business practices by Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Malaysian companies as well as the local Chinese.

The April national election and Waku manipulations threw fuel on smouldering resentment that predates Independence in 1978. The result has been explosive and far worse in its intensity than the original ‘tension’ of 1998-2003.

The first Chinese settlers arrived as tradesmen during the 1920s, and then set up ‘Chinatown’ commercial settlements at Tulagi, Honiara and Gizo.

They still control much of the retail trade in the country, and remain quite dominant in Honiara and in the main provincial towns.

The Chinese community began to integrate into colonial society in the 1950s and 1960s, adopting Christianity, establishing a Chinese-language school, taking out British citizenship and deliberately becoming part of Solomon Islands society.

The years around Independence were a period of uncertainty about their future welcome but many families stuck it out and have prospered, becoming leading hoteliers and owning a wide range of businesses.

Then, during the 1990s a significant number of new Chinese settled in the Solomon Islands, adding to the already established Chinese community.

The old Waku families are well-established and integrated into urban society; many have married indigenous Solomon Islanders while still maintaining their cultural core and networks.

Only two old Waku families have gone into politics: the Chan family of Chinese origin, and the Sato family, of Japanese origin. A Chinese accountant, Robert Goh, has had considerable influence as an adviser to the government of Sir Alan Kemakeza government (2001-06).

The destruction and torching of the Chinese-owned Pacific Casino hotel on Honiara’s foreshore may well have been partly because Robert Goh had his office there. His house was also burnt down in the riots.

These old Chinese families form a bridge between the established Asian community, indigenous Solomon Islanders and the new Waku, mainland Chinese and Malaysian Chinese who by dint of hard work and subterfuge rapidly incorporated themselves into the economy and grafted themselves onto the old Waku community.

The full extent of illegal Waku practices beyond formal business dealings is unclear. Over the previous twenty years an unhealthy relationship has developed between the Waku and various Governments, particularly those connected to Solomon Mamaloni.

In October 2005 two audit reports were presented to Parliament, one on forestry and one on fishing, both major industries. The total domestic revenue in 2004 was S$497 million, 36.3 per cent higher than in 2003, largely because of greater taxation compliance. The two audit reports estimate that at the very least over S$80 million that should have ended up in Consolidated Revenue during the early 2000s has been skimmed off by corrupt Solomon Islanders or has been not been paid by the foreign companies concerned. The companies names are participating in the corrupt practices are all Asian, mainly Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Malaysian.

The reports are not comprehensive and it seems likely that even more money is involved, and while the two Departments are important, there are many more, plus the provinces, yet to be audited, and then there are the lucrative exemptions to excise duty and aid money skimmed off over the last five years. The real dollar value of the corrupt practices is hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI) has the unenviable task of guiding a suitable reform process for the nation. The Regional Mission has restored law and order and was dealing with prosecutions of the ‘big fish’ while strengthening the public service and the economy. No one saw the events of this week coming.

There are valid criticisms of the method and rationale of RAMSI, which has concentrated on institutional strengthening. Development issues have not been tackled directly enough, as they were seen as the business of the Government.

All that the election achieved was a changing of the seats of the leaders, placing the Deputy Prime Minister, tainted from his years as Minister for Finance, into the role of Prime Minister, backed by Chinese money.

Clive Moore is an associate professor with the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland and the President of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies. He is the author of Happy Isles in Crisis: The Historical Causes for a Failing State in Solomon Islands, 1998-2004