Richard Irosaea, the Premier of Malaita, has the red white and blue flag of his province draped over his coffee table in his office in Auki, Malaita’s capital. When I spoke with him, the topic quickly turned to independence.
Premier Irosaea clearly believes in Solomon Islands, but not unconditionally.
‘If Solomon Islands becomes a federal state, we will definitely not be part of it. We will become a separate nation.’
Talks on federalism have taken place at a number of leadership conferences in Solomon Islands, including at a recent Premier’s Conference, though the idea is still controversial.
Silas Talota, the Minister assisting the Premier, was even more forthright.
‘I think that [Malaitan independence] is the way forward. Malaita should pursue that.’
Talk of provincial independence is common in the Solomons. Western Province, Temotu, and Makira provinces have called for independence at one time or another, and sceptics say that such talk is more about securing funding from the national government than genuine sentiment. Nevertheless, calls for independence tend to rattle national leaders, especially when it comes to Malaita. One out of every three Solomon Islanders is Malaitan. In Honiara, Solomon Islands’ largest city, that figure changes to one in two.
There is an echo of the Tensions in his thinking. He believes Malaitans are discriminated against throughout Solomon Islands, and believes – like many others – that Malaitan immigration to Guadalcanal was the root cause of the Tensions. Irosaea thinks that bringing Malaitans back to their home province could help from a social order standpoint, but he also believes in their labour.
‘I’d like them to (come back). Because of the human resources we have, Malaita would stand to be a successful state. I have no doubt about it.’
Malaita certainly faces challenges. World Bank data for 2010 showed that almost 30 per cent of the population of Malaita is in the bottom 3 income deciles, by far the worst rating for a province. Malaitans leave their province because there are few jobs and opportunities. Their labour in other provinces, and particularly in Guadalcanal, is an important contributor to the fragile Solomon Islands economy. Focusing development on Malaita may be part of the solution, but most aid money in the Solomons is spent in Honiara.
Francis Fukuyama visited Solomon Islands in 2008. During his visit, he called for the political elite in Solomons to lead a push towards nationhood to stop ethnic tensions from surfacing again. At the time, he said that wantok loyalties could be held in check by ‘a national elite that is loyal to a larger concept of nation.’
Compatibilist efforts to work the benefits of wantokism into the civil service have gone some distance since his visit, but many still associate the dense web of relationships in Solomon Islands with split allegiances.
At a Truth and Reconciliation Commission forum recently, participants in a question and answer session were asked to identify where they were from. Almost every questioner identified himself or herself by island. Only one, a government official, said he was from Solomon Islands.
Solomon Islands has some distance to go in gaining a thoroughgoing sense of nation. Hints at secession, particularly within its largest province, make that project even harder.
Charles Prestidge-King is a Masters of Arts (Strategic Studies) student at ANU, currently living and working in Honiara, Solomon Islands. He has written about the Solomon Islands for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Australian Associated Press, and the Lowy Interpreter.