Unrest and riots in Solomon Islands

New Zealand has sent police and military personnel to the Solomon Islands in a response to a government request last week for aid. The aim is to help calm riots which have led to the destruction of property and businesses, and at least three deaths. 

Much has been made in news reports about the role of China and Taiwan in this unrest. But it’s much more complicated than that.

Today on The Detail, Emile Donovan talks to RNZ Pacific’s Koroi Hawkins, who grew up in Solomon Islands, to discuss the background to the protests which descended to riots; the deep-seated issues of governance and imperfect democracy; and what it’s like watching a conflict like this unfold in your homeland from thousands of kilometres away.   

Solomon Islands were first settled by humans tens of thousands of years ago. The first contact from Europeans was in the mid-16^th century, and they were made a British protectorate in 1893.

The islands were a key battleground during World War II: following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Japan and America vied for control as a strategic stronghold in the Pacific. To this day, the waters around some of the main islands are popular destinations for divers, due to the many discarded vehicles on the sea floor. 

While the islands were never colonised in the way New Zealand was, British influence continued even after the Solomons gained its independence in 1978.

A Westminster model of government was established, but little in the way of supporting structures put in place, and RNZ Pacific’s Koroi Hawkins says this has led to issues in adjusting to a very foreign style of governance. 

“When I came here to New Zealand, you have all these little councils, committees, all through society, at church level, community level. In Solomon Islands there’s none of that lower-level evidence of the democratic system,” he says. 

“It’s all chief councils, what the chief says goes … the provincial government is kind of structured in the Westminster way, but they’re not properly resourced so they’re not able to function effectively.

“And then you hit the national government, and all of a sudden it’s a full Westminster westernised system of parliament. 

“There’s almost a corruption of the system itself: the way MPs are elected and seen in Solomon Islands is based on what they can do directly, with money, with development, for their constituencies. They’re not elected on their policies or their legislation. People are very much voting for MPs as ‘big men’ still.” 

Riots are not new in Solomon Islands: in the late 1990s, political dissatisfaction descended into violence, largely between locals from Guadalcanal – the wealthiest of the islands where the Solomons’ capital is located –  and people from Malaita, the most populous island, spurred by waves of Malaitan migration which caused the capital to swell in size. 

Unrest was only subdued when a regional assistance mission, led by Australia and involving New Zealand and other Pacific nations, came in in 2003 to help boost the economy and train up the police force. The RAMSI mission, as it became known, only left the Solomons in 2017. 

Hawkins says the pandemic has accentuated existing economic and political inequalities, with the government giving itself considerable executive powers which many in the Solomons feel oversteps the mark. 

He says while a diplomatic switch in allegiance from Taiwan to China has been held up as a big factor by international media, it’s not the main concern of protestors, who want to see more transparency and accountability from their elected officials.