Nation-Building And The Churches!
From John Roughan in Canberra
23 October 2003
Did our small nation luck out? How close did the Solomons come to society collapse as happened and continues to take
place in sub-Sahara Africa as we speak? Take the Rwanda case for instance. Hundreds of thousands of villagers--the Tutsi
and the Hutu tribes--slaughtered each other in horrific ways. They started off well as did Solomon Islands. After a few
years of independence, however, their state failed followed quickly enough by society collapse. Could Guadalcanal and
Malaita people have traveled that same path? Fortunately society collapse has not become part of the Solomons story. But
to think it could not have happened to us, is not accurate either.
RAMSI's intervention has been a great blessing. Within a brief few months, its troops collected thousands of guns,
captured handfuls of warlords putting them behind bars and the militants who had been destroying the country by their
antics are currently on the run. But the danger of our people rebelling once again has not left our shores either. That
danger remains with us until there is serious work on melding hundreds of different tribes and cultures into something
resembling a nation.
Nationhood doesn't come automatically, nor easily. Simply because our country has been called a state--Solomon
Islands--is far from saying we are a nation. Statehood is about trappings: flag, national anthem, own currency, special
laws, having a parliament, etc. etc. A nation, however, is something else again. It's about welding many different kinds
of people, separate island groups, dozens and dozens of languages and cultures, into one people. We are very far from
this goal.
Building a nation is a difficult task, takes time and above all, the nation-builders must be dedicated and committed to
such an enterprise. That is where the churches come into play. Over the past 25 years, the political elite who should
have been the lead actors in nation building, have proven themselves singularly unfit for such a task. In spite of state
wealth, power and prestige, the masters of the state, its politicians, did not think nor act in nation-building terms.
Church leadership, however, in a dynamic partnership with other national leaders must see themselves stepping into this
widening and dangerous gap in Solomons' history.
The churches over the past 100 years have proven themselves to be close to the people. Their village networks scattered
across many islands, their active presence among the vast majority of people and their moral authority give them an
ideal platform to work from. Of course our schools must become more closely involved in nationhood building but that
work is long term. The churches must gear themselves up for the short and medium term so that when today's school
children graduate they really do find a country that is already traveling the nationhood road.
Refusal by the churches to become active participants in this most difficult nation-building task makes it almost
impossible for other organizations or structures--Civil Society, Women's Groups, NGOs, etc.--to do this work on their
own. RAMSI could indeed extend its stay with us another ten years, but if society's major structure is reluctant or
unwilling to take on the task of nation-building, then a second RAMSI intervention force may well have to be called into
help ten years down the track. And that won't happen! Society collapse along African lines could well be our lot next
time.
ENDS