Solomon Intel

A long time ago, at the Holy Cross Cathedral Community Hall in Honiara. A black belt karate instructor was demonstrating his martial arts prowess to his trainees. Like hitting bricks, fly kick, and stuff. Afterwards, on his way out, a group of men attacked him. They put him down, and throw him into the drain alongside the main road. Holy Cross Cathedral Community Hall in Honiara, Solomon Islands At that age perhaps, he was still naïve about what a sewer human nature can be. He had just join in a fight he knew no more about than we knew about the people who had come both to kill, and to save him. Sound familiar, yaar? Of course little we knew the atrocities our people are capable of in a street fight, you know. Those were the days, yaar, and here I am writing columns for Solomon Intel. Wheather you like it or not. I mean the man I was talking to was a security guard I simply took for granted, with a blind trust we reserved for our one talks, and in laws. That he knew far more than I...

The Prime Minister’s attempted coup on November 24, 2021 was desperately close. Later on, in a Motion of No Confidence against the Prime Minister, he won only after a count back, 32 primary votes to 15, after two votes abstention on the preferences of themselves. Member Parliamentarians gathered outside the Corridors of Power National Parliament. Honiara. November 24, 2021 Two years ago, similar circumstances too prevailed in April 24, 2019. Sogavare was declared Prime Minister, defeating Wale by polling 34 votes to nil. However, it has been noted that since the Coup of June 5, 2000, still undefeated, after winning four Prime Minister Elections, a  riot often time ensued Sogavare, as the Prime Minister, and  it got as hard as ever.  The Coalition was back in Opposition. Sogavare’s instincts about the Coalition’s call for him to resign were as sound as picking the right time to arrive almost 20 years earlier. And the point is? Just that, like another Prime Minister ...

War and Political Instability in Honiara City Solomon Islands November 25, 2021  The purpose of this article was to examine the implications of perceived risk and international tourism in Solomon Islands. A review of current literature primarily included peer reviewed online journals. Most of the study was aligned towards Lepp and Gibson’s (2003) research on tourist roles, perceived risk and international tourism as point of reference in studying Solomon islands tourism setting, and by reviewing other researchers’ work such as Cohen’s (1972) tourist typology, Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs and Pearce’s (1996) analysis of recent research in tourist behaviour. The study focus was more specifically targeted to identifying perceived risk factors associated with international tourism in Solomon Islands, and critically analyse whether those perceived risks disagree to Cohen’s novelty preference. A survey of Australian students, volunteers, New Zealanders, Americans, Canadians, and ...

The Melanesians have been growing bananas and cutting sugarcane near Nambour in Queensland’s hinterland Sunshine Coast Australia for more than a century. They were both men and women, mostly young and ready to remake Australia. Cutting sugarcane in the Sunshine Coast Australia 1870 There were thousands upon thousands in every State in the country that according to certain narratives, over 20 000 island natives had been brought back to Queensland in two hundred twenty-two voyages, and the islanders were so familiar with the methods of the recruiters that their vessels had become known as ‘snatch-snatch’ ships.  In my opinion, I think our friends don’t like the word ‘snatch-snatch’. So, I shall call it ‘finger-smith.’ They were professional finger-smiths, since they were fitted up precisely like an African slaver (minus the irons), and hundreds upon hundreds of natives on board may possibly be knocked up for a lot of pigs – no banks or partitions, not even a mat to lie upon, and yet...

Not so long ago, Ray Set Fah Chu (hereinafter referred to as Chu) made our lives a hopeless case. But, he made history in Solomon Islands! Chu created the first political mining operation on west Rennell. Raychel Fasifera aka Mrs Ray Set Fah Chu, 2021   A learned friend told me, he supposedly leased the whole of west Rennell, in the same way he headed the Town Ground saga! (Town Ground Plaza) “Its better you don’t ask,” he said. “It don’t pay even to talk about it,” Chu died the year before last. We do not know how he died. What we do know, he died very wealthy! In 2013, Chu convinced the PM – Prime Minister, at that time, GDL – Gordon Darcy Lilo to mine West Rennell bauxite. And, Chu built his resources or empire around APID – Asia Pacific Investment Development, along with, a “court jester” to entertain guests and landowners in their quest to mine west Rennell! It changed SI – Solomon Islands politics forever. We were kind of acting like fools then, every single one of us, ...