Waku, Women and Solomons

Tim, a friend of mine, sent me an email a earlier this week, expressing his concern and well wishes for my family, who has business interests in the Solomon Islands, because of the rioting, looting and burning of mainly ethnic Chinese or Asian-owned businesses and property in Honiara this week. He was exasperated and wondered if there was any end to these senseless acts of violence in our world. Read the BBC report on the rioting in Honiara.

When I saw his email, I thought to myself, “No, this isn’t really all that ‘senseless’ if you can understand the situation and context behind all this.” There are reasons, albeit unsatisfactory ones, and multiple overlapping reasons at that – all of which involve a complex interplay of systemic government corruption, disenfranchisement among many people, unemployment, hopelessness, disempowerment, poverty, cultural differences, jealousy and greed among others.

But now that the dust has settled a bit, and as I see the wanton destruction left behind and listen to the quivering voice of the Solomon Islander woman (among countless others) on the news tonight wondering how she’s gonna feed her family now that she’s lost her job at the burnt down Pacific Casino Hotel, I find myself reluctantly agreeing with my friend. Yes, regardless of what explanations have been provided by the experts and analysts – and many have been given (see below links to some articles) – at the end of the day, it all has indeed been quite senseless, really.

I spent my last meal in the Solomon Islands at the Ocean View Restaurant at the Pacific Casino Hotel, and later walked along the swimming pool with my sister in the cool evening breeze before my flight back to Australia. I remember seeing the professional-looking waiting staff and the numerous local Solomon Islanders employed in the hotel service industry and remember feeling extremely hopeful for the Solomon Islands, realising that each job that had been created by the investment that has been poured into the country in recent years will help feed a few extra people and perhaps allow a few extra kids to stay at school longer.

To later see it burning on Wednesday night was tremendously sad for me – even though I have no connection whatsoever to the hotel, other than having spent my last meal in the Solomons there and remembering how optimistic I’d felt on behalf of and for the Solomon Islands then. But it was the hopes that I had for the country that were being burned to the ground.

The Pacific Casino Hotel alone, along with its Western restaurant, Chinese restaurant, nightclub and casino – owned by Patrick Leong, a naturalised Solomon Islander Chinese – employed up to about 600 local Solomon Islanders. I cannot even begin to fathom the flow-on repercussions this rioting will have on the country’s economy, now that a substantial size of Honiara’s government business tax revenue has been wiped out, along with most likely a thousand or so jobs .

It needs to be noted that the majority of the rioters and fire starters were unemployed young men, and a sizeable number of whom were under the influence of alcohol as opportunistic looting took hold in the chaos that ensued from the confrontation between RAMSI police and protesters outside the Parliament. These men had nothing to lose any way. But suffer the women and their children. It is the women who are ones who have gone looking for jobs and found work behind the counters of Chinese-owned shops, or in the service industry such as the Pacific Casino Hotel and who then bring food home to feed their children and send them to school.

Like the previous ethnic conflict, it was also the women and children who bore the brunt of the repercussions of the violence enacted by the men. During the ‘ethnic’ conflict beginning in the late 1990s and the subsequent government coup by Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF) militants and members of the police force in June 2000, up to 20,000 people were displaced and the entire country’s economy came to a standstill. The Solomon Islands economy contracted by about 14.3% in 2000, 9% in 2001 and a further 2.4% in 2002. (Source: DFAT) I can only wonder how much will the economy contract this time round.

Suffer the women and children. And suffer the local ‘waku’ (pijin for Chinese/Asian) of Chinatown - many who are second or third generation Solomons or who have become naturalised Solomon citizens - with them becoming scapegoats for the actions of a few (if the bribery and vote-buying allegations by some prominent Asian businessmen is true). This is not even considering the influence and financing of the Solomons government by one particular country – whose influence, for better or for worse, is without a doubt visibly evident in the Solomon Islands.

And though I still hold hopes for Solomon Islands and want to see it get back on its feet quickly, I fear its recovery won’t be as quick this time round. This latest blow to the Solomon Islands is akin to someone who has just gone and broken their hip before either of their broken legs have even fully healed. If any good thing can come out of this, I only hope it will have truly shaken the Solomon Islands government and its politicians into some sense and realise that they really must work to put an end to (or realistically speaking, at least reduce the level of) corruption in the country and ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth or risk squandering the future of their people away for good.

Suggested Reading
'Melanesia is a huge disaster' by Greg Sheridan
Foreign Editor at 'The Australian' 20/4/2006 p12

'Mission a moral hazard' by Susan Windybank
Researcher at Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney