Solomons controversial

Obituary

Solomons controversial ex-leader dies

By Michael Field

By any measure the Solomon Islands could be one of the region’s richest nations. It has gold, and probably other minerals if anybody looked for them, a lush

land and seascape that could attract tens of thousands of tourists to the astonishing environment and it has usually friendly people with rich and diverse cultures.

Instead the Solomons is the regional basket case; a country fraught with a low-level, nagging civil war and an economy veiging on bankruptcy.

Its dusty capital has sold its soul to a couple of Asian run casinos, its infrastructure is barely functioning and chronically endemic malaria continues to destroy its people. It is not the fault of any one person, but if anybody could have made a significant difference it was Solomon Sunaone Mamaloni who died January 11 from the effects of malaria. Hailed, after death, by Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu as a “distinguished and respected leader” Mamaloni was grossly corrupt and inept.

He was bom in West Makira (San Cristobal) in 1943 and educated at local schools before being sent to Te Aute College in New Zealand, a celebrated Maori college which has produced more than its fair shares of leaders. In New Zealand he lived with the family of Bruce Beetham, then a leader of the Social Credit Party.

Much later New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger and Australian Pacific Affairs Minister Gordon Bilney attributed Mamaloni’s domestic arrangements to his later economic ineptness.

Once educated Mamaloni joined the civil service and rose to become the clerk of the Legislative Council in what was then the British Solomon Islands. He was elected to the Governing Council in 1970, becoming its chairman three years later and then its elected First Chief Minister in 1975.

The country became independent in 1978 and Mamaloni left politics briefly to run Patosha Company. He was re-elected to Parliament in 1980, becoming Leader of the Opposition. In a mark of his considerable political skills he then set about to engineer the collapse of Prime Minister Peter Kenilorea, the country’s first leader. He succeed and became prime minister in 1981. The political instability and disunity saw him serve terms as prime minister from then until 1997/' 3 Early in his premiership Mamaloni flirted with Libya, causing some concern in Canberra and Wellington, but it was soon seen as just a

ploy to get more aid. It caused no damage, but Mamaloni’s relationship with Malaysian loggers was damaging and outrageous. The loggers, with no concern for the environment, were given enormous tax breaks to clearfell tropical forests.

The local land owners seldom got anything.

It is hard to pin down what personal gain Mamaloni made out of it all; he never flaunted any particular wealth and he seldom ever traveled. It suggests that the problem was his inability to manage an economy that was the problem. Politics was the only game Mamaloni knew - anything else was beyond him. The official Australian viewpoint on him was revealed in 1997 when the “Australian Eyes Only” document was made public accidentally a the Forum Economic Ministers meeting in Cairns. It described him as “wily”.

“Prime Minister Mamaloni will remain an obstacle to responsible Government for as long as he is in power,” the paper said.

“Even in opposition he will pose a threat which will make ministers wary of change. He bought support, with help from Malaysian logging interests, to topple the short-lived reformist (Francis Billy) Hilly Government in 1994.“ Mamaloni’s corrupt dealings with loggers and others enable him to continue to dominate Solomon Islands politics.

“He deflects blame for the Government’s financial straits by sacking ministers; the minister of finance has been replaced twice since September 1996.” The paper talked of fraud and mismanagement in the government Mamaloni’s poor health and a fear of travel kept him in the Solomons. The only time he attended a Pacific Forum was in 1991 - when it was held in Honiara. In 1995 he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Auckland when it suspended Nigeria from the oiganisation after it hanged political dissidents. In the communique at the time it was noted that only Gambia and the Solomons voted not to suspend Nigeria. A Commonwealth Secretariat official later briefed journalists telling them that Mamaloni had seldom attended any of the sessions, had been drinking heavily and did not seem to know what was happening. This may not have been entirely true because it was

revealed much later that each Commonwealth leader had gone to Queenstown and had received a hand written card from a local child welcoming them.

Mamaloni had received one, and unlike any

other leader, he had gone around to the home of the child to thank the family.

As a father ofpigfit|4ie perhaps had a personal touch (and Mamaloni was opposed to birth control, arguing that it would weaken the indigenous family system at a time the country needed more people, not less).

At the time his press secretary, Johnson Honimae, had defended the Commonwealth decision saying the prime minister had not heard properly what was being discussed.

Illness, not helped by almost obsessive betel nut chewing, ground down Mamaloni, prompting opposition politician Andrew Nori to call for his resignation.

“You are ill and have been absent from office for a period of nine weeks during the past 23 months of your administration,,” Nori said.

“Your illness has prevented you from realising the full impact of the financial hardship and your resignation should allow in new blood to take over the leadership.”

Mamaloni served during much of the Bougainville war which dramatically affected die border regions of the Solomon Islands. He was very hostile toward Papua New Guinea and gave die impression of supporting the Bougainvilleans in their fight for independence. A minister in the Ulufa’alu Government, Alfre d Sasako, told the Australian Broadcasting Commission that Mamaloni would be remembered as one of the architects of the Solomons. Sasako did not deny the corruption, but engaged in a torturous, if irrational, justification of it Yes, that was due, but what other nations in the region whose leaders escaped those sorts of allegations and perceptions, allegations that perhaps were based on perceptions, and perhaps because his views were not held to be an accepted view across the region, or across the political spectrum in the nation, and therefore a lot of people would try to see that as part of the legacy that he had left behind.

He said Mamaloni’s condoversial Malaysian logging concessions were based on the realisation that the country was under pressure to

develop.

For good or ill, Mamaloni will be remembered as a remarkably different leader of the Pacific. ■