Culture Of Impunity!
By John Roughan
15 May 2006
Honiara
Why is it that some Big Men are exempt from punishment no matter what their crime? They live charmed lives--rising
higher and higher in national political life--no matter how serious the offense. For instance, they make false,
exaggerated property claim losses supposedly suffered during our Social Unrest years. Their original excessive claims
are initially knocked back yet slightly smaller but still outlandishly false payments are paid in full. Their claims are
clearly false yet our justice system overlooks this official corrupt conduct.
This is what is meant by a Culture of Impunity . . . our society's Big Men think they are exempt from penalties for wrong doing. Over years, they have
continually escaped punishment, from suffering, in spite of criminal behavior. A main way of doing this is insure that
their crime is hard to trace or if, ultimately, found out, they are protected from going to jail. For this kind of
impunity to root, to become strong and to become part of society, it needs many years and many examples of Big Men
getting away with crimes. This is what people mean when they speak about the 'big fish'!
Last week's Star newspaper on its very front page--last Friday's edition--detailed how more than two dozen Big Men filed
exaggerated, false and criminal compensation claims while the government (during Sogavare's two years as PM, 2000-2001)
"knowingly paid for non-existent properties".These crimes took place more than five years ago and still we are yet to
hear about many of these Big Men facing a law court. Most who made clearly fraudulent claims still run around free and
only a few have faced arrest and now await their day in court. The Auditor General's 2005 devastating reports on
corruption in forestry and fishing sectors, also, have yet to see a single prosecution take place.
The best way of making sure that Big Men's crimes remain unknown is never to have crimes officially investigated. Take
the Civilian-Police Coup of 2000! To this day there has never been a proper inquiry of who did what, who planned the
destruction of the state, how did they do it and who were the major players and actors. As with the Youth Riot of 1989,
only silence prevails. No, really not silence, but rumor, 'coconut wireless' and tok stori. This lack of clear, proved
facts with names attached to the crime fits Big Men's view of themselves. As long as the facts are unclear, unsure and
unreliable, then the crimes of these people can never be known.
The major architects, planners and actors of Fiji's 2000 Coup, on the other hand, are only now coming to light. It has
taken the best part of 5 years to nail down who were the true coup leaders and not simply be told that George Speight
should shoulder all the blame. But at least Fiji is trying to get a more informed handle on their Coup masters. In our
case, however, our political leaders are stonewalling and have been stonewalling any inquiry from the beginning. Civil
Society asked for a Commission of Inquiry to study exactly what did happen in the Coup and how the election of PM
Sogavare went ahead and how many of our Big Men were behind these events. The 'coconut wireless' points fingers at some
of our Big Men, some of whom are still in power, who need to answer a lot of hard questions!
At present the nation is sliding towards another case of 'deafening silence' about Black Tuesday and Black Wednesday
when most of Chinatown burnt to the ground and followed the very next day by the burning down of the Pacific Casino
hotel. Who planned, orchestrated and ordered the destruction of these buildings? Was it simply a case of anger, copy cat
behavior or something more sinister?
What was the Australian Federal Police's role in this disaster? The country had never experienced such a meltdown even
during our darkest Coup Days and the 1989 Youth Riots. Only when we had the might of RAMSI on our doorstep that our
troubles exploded. Why didn't the foreign police respond to precise information that Chinatown was next in the mob's
sight? When credible information was shared by people of many years of Solomons' experience, it was disregarded out of
hand. The growing mob outside Parliament Building was dismissed by a senior Australian as 'huff and puff' that would
disappear once the sun tired the mob out. Well the so called 'huff and puff' mob almost blew the whole town out of
existence. How can the Federal Police's professional conduct be taken seriously when some of them were unaware that the
word 'waku' is Pijin for Chinese people. What does this say about the Police's lack of social interchange with the
people of this nation!
It is clear why RAMSI isn't that anxious to have an independent Commission of Inquiry study the whole Black
Tuesday/Wednesday debacle Its 'peace, order and tranquility's role suffered a severe jolt. Rather than touting the RAMSI
intervention as a template, an example of how to run other intervention scenarios, serious questions must be asked of
it. Solomon Islanders will closely study RAMSI's answers. Their 3,000+ gun collection is ancient history. What now must
be on the RAMSI agenda is why it failed the Solomons people in their hour of greatest need. It wasn't village people who
rebelled, burnt down other villages and put at risk the lives of hundreds of people. It was here in Honiara under RAMSI
'protective' shield that the destruction took place!
And why isn't government itself standing up and SHOUTING for an inquiry? Does it hide something? Are some of their own
members implicated or at least have some nasty questions hanging over their heads? The Culture of Impunity still rules
present day Solomons. It will weaken only when the nation determines to bring the criminal, incompetent and inept under
the microscope of public knowledge. If the Government and RAMSI fail to call for a Commission of Inquiry then Civil
Society, NGOs and the Churches must face that challenge for the good of the nation.
ENDS