Tuesday, January 29, 2008

From mosquito to firehouse...


(click for close-up)


“Alite? Alite, eniwan? Alite?... clea clea…

“Mosquito valley? mosquito eniwan?… flow…

“Stoa? stoa? stoa?... flow…

“Rain tree?” - Psssss comes a noise from the back of the bus - “Rain tree stap”.

And thus it continues.

“Geology? Geology? No sign, flow…

“Green tank? Green tank?” – a passenger imperceptibly raises an eyebrow a couple of millimetres – “Stanabae lo green tank. Stap lo green tank” – and the bus stops, letting two little school kids shelling and eating fresh peanuts clamber down.

The stops continue. Often the conductors don’t bother calling out the names of some of the minor stops. But occasionally, on a Friday evening perhaps, you get a fellah who really goes for it, calling out every stop in all its insignificant glory …

Motel…
Lightpost…
Red house…
Lo bend…
Cross road…
Small Axe…
Borderline…


(And now we turn off Lengakiki ridge and begin to descend through Mbokona valley)

Telekom…
DBSI…
King’s Base…


(And finally, the last stop comes, not really needing identification, but usually getting it)

“Central, Central, stap”

The smaller routes up the ridges off the main road, like the one to my house, have the best names as far as I’m concerned, classic in their simplicity. On the main drag along the water there are also some interesting ones, however, and some which require a bit of historical knowledge to understand. For example ‘leibalaen’ had always puzzled me, until one day I asked a fellow (elderly) passenger about it, and he told me that during the British colonial days the authorities had traditionally housed the local government staff in that area, hence ‘labourline’. But my favourite is ‘faeahaus’, a stop bang in the centre of town next to a vacant lot where long tufty grass grows and where a family has erected a small leafhut for their home. What of the mystery firehouse? Was there a fire brigade depot there at some time or the other? The explanation, I eventually learnt, was that the firehouse was/is a building that burnt down many years ago. Like a rock star that dies young, the building has gained everlasting fame through its dramatic and premature end. Firehouse indeed.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Political Crisis...

Since Monday 12th November, the same day that I last wrote something here (purely coincidental I hope), the political system of the Solomon Islands has been in utter turmoil. The trigger was a mass resignation of MPs from Government, followed in the days after by acrimony, corruption allegations and counter-allegations, and general 'handbags at dawn'-type behaviour. We were treated to the dignified spectacle of long-standing and hitherto vehemently anti-government opposition MPs whizzing across the floor to join the government to take up vacant positions as Ministers, and the vacant seat behind the wheel of a nice shiny Hilux, while lots of MPs even switched sides twice. I don’t really wish to go into detail about where I stand on this issue, but suffice it to say that my already pretty cynical attitude to the functioning of ‘democracy’ in the Solomon Islands has now hardened to the point of despair. And instead I will let the headlines of the Solomon Star tell the story:

The action kicks off...
PM SOGAVARE TOLD TO GO
Mon 12th November

SOLOMON Islands has plunged into a political crisis following the mass resignation of government ministers and backbenchers yesterday.Twelve members of the ruling government deserted Prime Minister Manasseh at the weekend and called for his immediate resignation.
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The Prime Minister's right hand man (accused paedophile Julian Moti from Fiji) is bricking it...
NEW GROUP PROMISES TO SEND MOTI TO AUST
Mon 12th November
ATTORNEY General Julian Moti will be repatriated to Australia as soon as a new government comes to power.As the political crisis escalate with more MPs resigning from the Government, the Opposition and defected Government supporters say Moti will be sent back to Australia as soon as they come to power.Mr Fono said Opposition has made its position clear that they will honour Australia’s request to have Moti repatriated.
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Corruption claims...
KOLI LURED WITH $440,000
Wed 14th November
AN Opposition MP claims he rejected $440,000 the Government offered him on the condition he joins them.MP for East Guadalcanal Johnson Koli said he turned down the offer because “it came at the wrong time”.
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And allegiance claims ("government MP's a crybaby, nah nah nah nah nah")...
NEW MP SWITCH CLAIMED
Mon 19th November
ANOTHER government minister approached the Opposition at the weekend and asked if he could come on board, the Opposition said.Indigenous Affairs minister Clement Kengava showed up at the Honiara Hotel on Saturday night, where the Opposition were staying, and pleaded if he could join camp.“His sudden appearance out of the blue took many of us by surprise,” one Opposition member said.Mr Kengava, a former Opposition MP who defected to the government to take up a ministerial post, is MP for Northwest Choiseul. Former Minister of Planning Steve Abana, a defector himself, confirmed that Mr Kengava showed up on Saturday night at the hotel.“He was in tears. He came in and asked if he could join the group,” Mr Abana said.“We told him that we remain firm and are committed to our mission,” Mr Abana said.
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GG and the PM go head-to-head ("GG Unmoved" read an earlier classic headline")...
GG, PM SHOWDOWN
Sat 24th November
GOVERNOR General Sir Nathaniel Waena announced on Friday that the Parliament must meet on December 13 in a bid to end the political tension between the Opposition and Government.However,immediately the Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, declared that he will be challenging Sir Nathaniel's decision in court citing non consultation with his government as the major problem.
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Government delaying, delaying, delaying...
Government ‘wants Parliament to meet on last day of year’
Monday 26th November
THE Opposition says Governor-General Sir Nathaniel Waena has told them the Sogavare Government wants Parliament to meet on the last day of the year, 31 December.Sir Nathaniel has instead called a meeting on 13 December to try to solve the political impasse, with the Government appearing in a minority.Opposition Leader Fred Fono said that the Government move was not justified.Sir Nathaniel told of the Government’s proposed date in his response to the Opposition’s request for him to call Parliament a week from today, 3 December.
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And it looks to have worked, with waetman MP Peter Boyes moving across to get the Minister of Finance position, and our friend Koli from earlier becoming Minister of Communication (it seems the time was now right!)...
PM NOW LOOKS SET
Thurs 29th November
THE Government regained their numbers and looks set to remain in power with 24 MPs in their camp last night.As lobbying continues, Sir Allan Kemakeza now holds the “balance of power”, with his loyalty crucial to both sidesSir Allan, a senior Opposition member, recently held talks with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (on right in photo).The government claimed Sir Allan is now with them. But the Opposition still count him as their member too.Sir Allan, who is facing jail, recently told the Solomon Star he is neutral pending the outcome of his court case.He was recently found guilty of ordering an attack on law firm Sol-Law in 2001 when he was prime minister.He will be sentenced Monday.The Government regained its strength following the defection of two Opposition MPs, one Monday and one yesterday.Peter Boyers, who defected on Monday, is now the new finance minister.East Guadalcanal MP Johnson Koli (left in photo) who had earlier rejected a $400,000 government offer in return for switching sides, joined the government yesterday.He is now the new minister for Communications and Aviation.Mr Koli could not be reached for comments last night.
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And then finally today...
BRIBERY CLAIM
Fri 30th November
East Guadalcanal MP Johnson Koli was believed to have defected after the government promised him a portable Lucas sawmill. But the sawmill is now a subject of controversy after Norht New Georgia MP JOB Dudley Tuasinga revealed yesterday the milling machine was already allocated to him. Explaining his move back to the government Mr Koli told the Solomon Star that there were two reasons why he rejoined the government. "First it was for the sake of my constituents and secondly I want to tap into the priveleges that are made available to government backbenchers". And what of that $400,000? "I did not accept the offer at the time of the lobbying but now that I am with the government I will go for it" Mr Koli said.

I have a funny feeling this story isn't over yet, so listen out for more. This is your resident political correspondent signing off from the Hapi Isles. Good night.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Brushing birthday...

5:05pm.

The blue CBSI pickup is already overflowing as the last few stragglers come strolling out of the bank and clamber aboard to find a nonexistent space to squeeze into; the laughter is raucous and the betal nut and lime are already being passed around as the driver Alick pulls away. This has been the scene every day after work for the last couple of weeks since I returned from Singapore, and indeed no doubt also for the two weeks I was away. Our destination today… Riffle Range, where the Central Bank owns a property and some land. This is pronounced Rifle Range, named after the large numbers of guns found on the land after the Japanese fought their way ashore at this point during the Second World War, but I have only every seen it written as Riffle and don’t want to fall into the trap of neo-colonial grammarisation. So Riffle it will remain.

But why are these office workers from as prestigious institution as the Central Bank all packed in a pick-up, all armed to the teeth with dangerous looking bush-knives, and careering down Mendana Avenue, whooping with glee like a raggle-taggle army of rebels heading off to war? Well, funnily enough in a way we are going off to war, but our enemy ain’t the government. Nope, these past weeks we have been waging a determined battle with a far more durable and persistent adversary… the Solomon Bush. I’ve mentioned previously the tendency for my own garden here to explode out of control if not kept under close guard. Well similarly, around all the Central Bank properties there are large areas of communal land that grow ferociously and freely throughout the year, but which about once a year are cut back by a hired group of young men before they swallow our houses completely.

This year, however, some bright spark at the Bank cleverly suggested that the Bokolo Blues football team and the Bokolo Hornets netball team could together take on the task of ‘brushing’ (as the activity is called), with the money earned going towards a joint trip to Vanuatu planned for next year. Just before I left for Singapore we began the work, with the coordinators talking confidently about 3 days for Mbokona and 2 days for Riffle Range to finish the job. In fact, almost everyone in the Bank has pitched in, and a good thing too; four weeks later we find ourselves still battling away, and I’m starting to wonder whether this could be another Forth Bridge scenario, so that by the time we finish the last clearing it will be time to go back to the beginning and start again. It is tough and sweaty work, but also great fun, as we march to the latest frontier, before each zoning in on our own particular patch, accompanied only by the shared rhythmic thwack- thwack of the forehand-backhand sweep of the bushknife. Only the sudden descent of darkness forces a halt to proceedings, when the scattered individuals make their way back slowly to the truck for the ride home, stopping here and there en route as one-by-one people jump down accompanied by cries of ‘gudnaet’, and those of us less accustomed to brushing (not just me I hasten to add) return to nurse hands blistered by the labour.

One day of brushing last week that I felt happily justified to miss was Tuesday and my birthday. This I celebrated the previous weekend when Fi organized a (genuinely surprising) surprise party for me at a little colourful cabin on a beach down the coast, where a big spread of food, barbecue and of course booze was waiting. We all had a merry time, drinking, singing and watching the electric storm sweep over from Savo Island to our left and descend on Honiara, somehow avoiding drenching us. Inevitably, once the food had been consumed and more importantly the drink drunk (but not us), our next step was to hit a packed Bula Bar, where we danced the rest of the night away to island grooves. Was a great night, and would only have been bettered if a few of you folks in England had suddenly materialized from the ocean, perhaps arriving on canoes filled with mangoes and cider. But you can’t have everything in this life.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Singa Pura...

From Solomon Islands to Singapore, and back again. That is what I’ve been up to in the last two weeks, and two more utterly contrasting capitals on this earth I find it hard to imagine.

The tallest building in Honiara, the renowned Antony Saro building, stands a mighty four storeys high, closely followed by the Central Bank building with three storeys. Other three-storey buildings you can count on the digits of one hand, even if you happen to be a Simpson. In Honiara there is not a single international shop outlet; the closest we come to having a multinational conglomerate is the Bulk Shop, a company with three small outlets selling flour, spices and popcorn in big plastic dustbins. Apart from shorts and shapeless shirts, it is literally impossible to buy new clothes here, and everyone buys their clothes from one of the many musty-smelling second hand stores. Advertising, that bastion of corporatisation and globalisation, is non-existent in Honiara streets, with the exception of the A4 sheets nailed to trees announcing either the imminent departure of the MV Haurisea to a distant village in Temotu province or informing all would-be spakaman such as myself about an upcoming dancedancedance at the Moonlight Niteclub; when one of the more orderly mechanical tool stores recently hung a big plastic imitation chainsaw on the front of their building big crowds of people gathered to watch. In fact, shopping is such a marginal activity here that almost all stores close by 5pm, if not earlier.

And then there is Singapore. Singapore, the most densely populated country in the world. Singapore the development miracle, one of the very few countries to have genuinely made the transition from so-called ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ country. Modern Singapore, where everything works just so damn well, where the streets are clean and the buildings built yesterday, and whose transport system makes the London version seem on the verge of collapse. As we were whisked from the airport to the hotel where I was staying, I was torn between being mesmerized by the sparkling shiny state of every single car on the road, and being terrified by the death defying speed at which we were racing (about 90 kph for the record). Entering this world of soaring office buildings and shopping centres on every corner was like a sledgehammer to the senses, exhilarating but slightly painful. Singapore is probably the most consumerism-oriented society I have ever encountered, but fortunately it is also much more. And two weeks, in a swanky (at least to my unaccustomed eyes) hotel with hot water to drool over, with some money to burn on clothes and electronics (including this ‘ere laptop that I types on now), and endless meals sampling the delicious Malay-Indo-Chinese-Indian cuisine, was an entertaining contrast to life in the Pacific.

I didn’t, however, spend quite all my time going up and down shopping centre escalators. The reason I went to Singapore was for a two-week course of lectures and workshops organised by the IMF, which basically looked at the inter-relations between the four main sectors of an economy: government spending; the real sector (e.g. production and investment); external accounts (trade and whatnot); and the monetary sector, and what implications this has for policy. In light of my student days attending various protests directed at IMF policies, and writing essays on the problems with the IMF policy dogma and approach to development, it was slightly strange to be sitting in a suit behind a desk listening to their words of wisdom. But as it turned out there was nothing very controversial in what we were discussing, and after working for a year in CBSI I found it extremely useful. It was made particularly interesting by the group of participants, who heralded from Central Banks and Ministries of Finance in countries from the Asia-Pacific region including Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, and Afghanistan. There was even one (surprisingly pale) fella from the Solomon Islands. If it wasn’t getting so late I could harp on for ages about the hilarious social dynamics of the different nationalities, some of the predictable sub-groups that emerged, and some altogether more odd and surprising little groups. As for me, I flitted here and there fascinated by such a diverse bunch or interesting people, but ultimately spent most of my time with my fellow Islanders who surprised me by being the loud-mouthed life and soul of the party. Highlights included hitting the dance floor of Zouk, one of the biggest dance clubs in Singapore, with my typically huge Tongan friend surrounded by waif-like Asians all dancing manically, and getting the underground/double-decker bus with a terrified/delighted niVanuatua lady.

Aside from the workshops, and the shopping, and the eating, and the drinking, there was little time for seeing much else in Singapore. But this wasn’t really a problem, as Singapore is not a city to visit as a tourist. I did manage to find a day and half to do a few ‘guidebook activities’, visiting Sentosa island (which a Chinese cabbie quite accurately explained stands for ‘So Expensive, Nothing To See Actually), going to the impressive Asian Civilisations museum, sampling a few Buddhist temples. But to get a feel for Singapore it strikes me as much better to visit for a week or two on work. At lunchtime there are an unlimited range of delicious cheap eateries to choose from in the various food courts and arcades, where you can grab a tray and sit surrounded by Singaporean workers in suits shovelling rice or noodles into mouths. After work the evening possibilities stretch ahead, with restaurants, bars and shops opening late. You can wander Chinatown grazing from the huge number of stalls selling food and Tiger beer, passing the seedy clubs with gangs of Phillipino girls in the doorway trying to lure you in (hence the cabbie’s translation of Chinatown as ‘Come Honey, I Need Action’). You can hit the Quay areas thronged with young people every night of the week (everyone seems to have money here), or if you’re feeling particularly flush you can visit one of the many hotels and get stung viciously for the privilege, most notably at the beautiful colonial Raffles Hotel, home of the Singapore Sling, where amazingly the astronomical price is actually worth the hour or so spent in the famous Long Bar, chucking peanut shells on the floor, listening to the Cuban band and sound of the fans on the ceiling, and (slowly) sipping the famous cocktail. I spent quite a bit of time too in Little India (I’ll Never Do It Again), the only place I saw in Singapore that is chaotic and dirty, but where I tasted Indian curries that blew my mind, and where the huge tangled mess of Mustafa shopping centre opens 24 hours a day.

So during the first week I dived head first into this jamboree for the senses, scarcely able to picture the sleepy world of the Pacific Islands I had left behind or imagine how I could return. But by the middle of the second week this began to change, and slowly I began to tire of the shopping, the hotel world, and all the bricks piled on top of each other. By the end of that week I was pining for a sweet coconut and fantasising about stepping off the plane into the familiar Solomon air and smells, and missing the smiling faces and laughter of my adopted countrymen. So I was more than happy to return on Sunday, and to see that in my absence nothing had changed at all save for some white lines that had been painted on the Lengakiki road which goes up to my house. Best of all my homecoming was particularly sweetened by the feast I was served thanks to Fi and her auntie crew cooking up a motu pigpig storm, replacing the gulf left by crappy airline food.

And now, adjusting to being back at work, I am left still thinking and pondering the enigma of Singapore. There is no denying it is a remarkable place. At the crossroads of international trade routes (all along the coast there are mountains of containers piled far higher than the tallest buildings in the Solomons) it is a truly multicultural city. It is a city where West meets East and everyone is (originally) an immigrant (Chinese make up about 70% of the population, followed by Malay, Indians, Sri Lankans and Europeans), and as such there can be no objection to other ethnic groups or new arrivals, only acceptance and tolerance. But it also strikes me as a city of paradoxes and, as in most places, first impressions are somewhat deceiving. For example Singapore is seen as the epitome of successful free-market liberalism, where a minimum of red-tape and government interference has made it a regional hub of international business and investment. In fact the situation is far more complicated, and the heavy hand of government is surprisingly omnipresent, constantly prodding and pulling the economy in new directions. The government is playing a big role in the construction of huge new resorts and a massive solar power generation plant (costing around 1,000 years of GDP in the Solomon Islands), and is effectively the owner of Singapore Airlines and 90% of taxi cars in the city (driven by extremely disgruntled cabbies).

Beneath the smiling, polite and helpful surface of Singaporean society, there is also a hard and somewhat brutal core. One contact I had there is currently finishing his military service, which basically involves ingraining a discipline and obedience to authority in all young people, in sometimes masochistic fashion (fortunately for him, as a university graduate, he was one of the officers dishing out the punishments). Another example is the whippings dealt out to the worst criminal offenders, which leave them not able to sit down for 3 months. Less extreme, but equally indicative of the hard-minded mentality of society, are the stipulations for being a Singaporean Airline hostess. There are five rounds of interviews (including a swimming costume round), candidates must be over a certain height and below a certain weight, have a certain kind of (pretty) look, and once they get the job they are weighed on a regular basis to ensure they do not put on weight. At 28 they are retired from aircraft duty to take up a desk job.

The name Singapore comes from Singa Pura, meaning Lion City, and the aggressive approach to development by leaders of the country (which is officially a democracy but in fact extremely authoritarian and effectively a one-party state) has so far proved incredibly successful. The true test of the government, and the population’s willingness to allow the leaders on high to make all decisions on their behalf, will come when the economy starts to falter. On which note I leave you with the words of a Chinese fisherman, speaking about the early boom days that transformed the sleepy Malay fishing village into the beacon of globalisation it is today. “Everyone traded on their luck”, he said. “If you have the luck of a coconut fibre, you float. If of stones, you sink”.