Solomon Islands is not the same anymore after the Coup of 2000. The coexistence of ethnic groups in the capital remains fragile, and now our politicians are trying to define our new country; they first proposed the adoption of Federalism and now looking to remove the normal process of electing a prime minister. They just don't seem to have any clue how to proceed at this point. This blog will explore these two proposals.
Federalism in SI
Federalism is not a new issue and I am not going to go through [again] the pros and cons of the system, but it is important to remind Solomon Islanders that this system is not meant for developing countries like ours. The proponents of this proposal don't seem to care about the country but themselves and their people - how this system will benefit them in the long run. To understand the resurgence of this debate, we should go back to the years after the ethnic crisis of 1998-2000.
Redefining Ethnic Crisis
Redefining Ethnic Crisis
The ethnic crisis is far from what its being portrayed by our leaders in the post coup media. In their investigative review of the Operation of Regional Assistant Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and the ethnic conflict [that brought this peace keeping force to Solomon Islands], the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) found through talking to Solomon Islands' leaders, that the root cause(s) of the EC was the wealth disparity and a bad economy that people live through for decades. They emphasized the unemployment problems and the failure of the colonial government to address internal issues before leaving Solomon Islands. They [leaders of SI] argued that Britain failed to relocate ethnic Malaitans from lands they occupied during their time working in colonial plantations.
This academic approach bypassed, in my opinion, the truth. The compilers of the report were obviously talking to the leaders of Guadalcanal and Malaita who would not blame themselves for the mess that brought SI to its knees, but things that would make sense to foreigners. Their theory only make sense to scholars and cunning politicians than do average citizens.
This academic approach bypassed, in my opinion, the truth. The compilers of the report were obviously talking to the leaders of Guadalcanal and Malaita who would not blame themselves for the mess that brought SI to its knees, but things that would make sense to foreigners. Their theory only make sense to scholars and cunning politicians than do average citizens.
Violence and Exploitation
Malaitans aggression and the retaliation of Guadalcanal armed thugs were not found in this EPG report. When Journeyman, a freelance reporter, met up with GRA's supreme commander, Harold Keke, he was shocked to find that the man behind the uprising has deeper resentment against Malaitans going back to the senseless murder of a Guadalcanal family up in Mt. Austin by Malaitan criminals, and the mutilation of a Guadalcanal woman around Tasahe heights. He and his men believe their retaliation was justified by the fact that the government was simply incapable of defending their [Guadalcanal] own people from Malaitan aggression.
According to our laws, Keke is a criminal who should have been arrested and charged for crimes he committed in 1998. He was a man Guadalcanal leadership should have reprimanded, instead Guadalcanal provincial leaders saw an opening to to convey their demands so they funded his illegal operation making the efforts of the government and police extremely tough. He went on to murder Malaitan innocent families, his own men suspected of spying for the government, a Guadalcanal MP he believed was a government puppet, and Anglican missionaries he suspected of working for government.
According to our laws, Keke is a criminal who should have been arrested and charged for crimes he committed in 1998. He was a man Guadalcanal leadership should have reprimanded, instead Guadalcanal provincial leaders saw an opening to to convey their demands so they funded his illegal operation making the efforts of the government and police extremely tough. He went on to murder Malaitan innocent families, his own men suspected of spying for the government, a Guadalcanal MP he believed was a government puppet, and Anglican missionaries he suspected of working for government.
As the saying goes 'two wrongs don't make it right', so too was the Malaitan leadership's support for a criminal gang known as Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF) which determined to avenge the death of Malaitans and seized the opportunity to control the city using government weapons.
Both sides were apparently guilty of fueling a conflict that torn the nation apart, yet this part of the ethnic crisis' history was missing in the EPG's report.
Both sides were apparently guilty of fueling a conflict that torn the nation apart, yet this part of the ethnic crisis' history was missing in the EPG's report.
Instead of taking responsibility for the mess they created, leaders of the two warring provinces blamed socioeconomic issues for the ethnic crisis. Not only that, they argued that the political system adopted since independence was also contributing to the downfall of the country and demanded a swift change to the system. They then proposed a more decentralized system, arguing naively that such would reduce future conflict. They brought up federalism. According to this cleverly crafted agenda - the two sides have had higher unemployment rates for years and that their resources merely sustained a highly centralized government that is sooo big, powerful, and outright unfair to them (resource owners). The same sentiments were expressed by the Western and Makira provinces during independence day July, 1978.
In 2005, following the visit of the EPG from the PIF, the SIG sent consultants to provinces in an attempt to sell the proposed federalism to the people who know more about "planting Kumara" than the nature of the proposed system. The consultation was done ahead of the 2006 national election in a hope of using the 2006 newly elected government as the "transitional" government. We all know what happened in 2006 - RIOT! The idea to establish a transitional federal government seemed to have lost after the riot. Even in 2010, the newly elected government failed, or perhaps reluctant to bring federalism to the table.
As the idea for a federal system faded, those in power proposed new approaches to "elections", particularly the election of those in power.
As the idea for a federal system faded, those in power proposed new approaches to "elections", particularly the election of those in power.
Popular Vote
Popular Vote is a term referring to all the nations' registered voters. Just recently, the government released its provincial consultation report on the proposal to have registered voters elect the Prime Minister. Based on what I heard and read from media resources online, this proposal gains tremendous support from people in the provinces. Again, the government sent consultants to the the islands to sell this idea to those who know more about fishing and farming than the political twist-and-turns of this particular proposal.
Tilting the Scale
The first problem, looking at this proposal through the eyes of minorities, is that it will tilt the balance determining the head of government in favor of certain ethnic groups in the country. It is highly probable that Malaitans voters would never vote for a Renbel candidate nor would Guadalcanal voters vote in support of a Malaitan candidate. In a country that invented the word "wantokism", popular vote would mean Island/province first before the nation.
Against Party Rule
Against Party Rule
I don't have the proposal in writing but I am familiar with so-called party rule. So let us hypothesize: I assume that the nomination process doesn't change. If this process is strictly for MPs, it is unfair for the entire population to vote for a PM they didn't endorse. If the popular vote becomes the law of the lander, amendment is required to have the the general public nominate their own candidates. It undemocratic force voters to support candidates they nominate. Furthermore, if this proposal becomes the law, we are talking about days and even weeks to get the entire population to vote.
This process, in my opinion, will take longer than necessary. Unless the government used a computerized system to do this, it is simply impossible to conclude that that system is effective, and less prone to fraud. Votes from Temotu, remote areas of West and even parts of Makira and Malaita and Guadalcanal will take forever to reach the capital. This system is simply worthless!
This process, in my opinion, will take longer than necessary. Unless the government used a computerized system to do this, it is simply impossible to conclude that that system is effective, and less prone to fraud. Votes from Temotu, remote areas of West and even parts of Makira and Malaita and Guadalcanal will take forever to reach the capital. This system is simply worthless!
These are many other questionable government's proposals denote a nation so confused they don't know what to do. Throwing haphazard proposals here and there hoping that something would eventually work, shows a nation without a vision - a nation trying to recover from a severe conflict with the wrong ways and means.
It is my view that this proposal is not going to happen for two reasons: Politicians and respected political pundits, many of them scholars from abroad, know very well the cost to implement such a monstrous decentralized system. One of the Solomon Islands' lawyer living in New York wrote that federalism wouldn't work for Solomon Islands and cautioned that the system would be extremely expensive to implement.
This is a factor [implementation cost] that the proponents of federal system never seemed to grasp, why? It is because they care more about themselves and not the nation? The cost, in my opinion, to implement the federal system maybe higher than the national budget of all governments, going back to the first, combined.
It is my view that this proposal is not going to happen for two reasons: Politicians and respected political pundits, many of them scholars from abroad, know very well the cost to implement such a monstrous decentralized system. One of the Solomon Islands' lawyer living in New York wrote that federalism wouldn't work for Solomon Islands and cautioned that the system would be extremely expensive to implement.
This is a factor [implementation cost] that the proponents of federal system never seemed to grasp, why? It is because they care more about themselves and not the nation? The cost, in my opinion, to implement the federal system maybe higher than the national budget of all governments, going back to the first, combined.
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