www.lifhaus.com.sb

Whatever it takes, SIG have to bear the consequence...that's why it's important to follow the rules...

what else do we expect. maybe AFP will help us pay for the damages they force us to commit to JM

some fala lo peoplefirst celebrate finish.  it was interesting, I think to avoid further embarrassment and a long battle, the judge decided to end the proceeding right there.  AFP obviously admitting guilt but what nao next move blo barata ya....grafixfarm, sapos hem ask compensation lo gavman blo Sikua, you no worry - hem and Our Telekom by tek from same source nomoa....seleni blo waku nomoa tok!!!!
 

What grounds na moti bae sue gafman lo solo lo hem? No legal grounds. Relax! We follow the right process to extradite him. if any compensation then he can be more successful against Australia Not US.

Why is everyone orgasmic over this Moti guy? He slept with a 13 year old girl, settled everything outside of court, relocated to Solomon Islands, and becoming the Attorney General of my country? Who the hell in his right mind should support this ridiculous appointment? The charges were thrown out for technical reasons such as the Australian government tampering with evidence and paying the family to make statements. Politicising the whole case was a mistake and that the judge was disgusted by this.
It was also clear that the Australian government nailed Moti as a reply to the expulsion of the AHC, but they knew their case was weak. Did Australia win this case? off course yes! the Australian government dragged Moti in the mud and contributed to the toppling of Sogavare who expelled the Australian High Commissioner. Regardless of the outcome, they indeed achieved their course! But that doesn't mean that Moti was innocent of having sex with an underage! I questioned why this man settled the case and left Vanuatu! What was he running from? and why would he pay this 13 year old and family money if he didn't screw her?
In any civilized developed country, Moti would never stood a chance of being the AG of a nation when his moral values equated a crowed public loo at lockup hrs, and whose reputation in the overthrown of Billy Hilly and Saemala's government and his constant bribing of people like Sogavare who throned him instead of hardworking Solomon Islands' lawyers showed that this man had a chimp on his shoulder that needed to go! He is the reason why SI and PNG would go down in history as the two most corrupt Pacific Islands nations after conspiring and smuggling him out of PNG! this man brought shame to SI and so are many politicians who are now sitting in teh Opposite side.
Dr. Sikua did the right thing and his government must not be punished for deporting a very controversial man! it was a wise move! 

Not only that, but Moti's company in Vanuatu used to employ the magistrate that let him off (before he was a magistrate), and paid for him to go and study in Australia. The guy is a joke.

While Moti is jumping with glee on being freed, nothing postive comes to mind when I think about the man. He is a devisive force in Solomon Islands and should not be welcomed. We do not want our society polarized between those in Moti's camp and those against him. During his term as Attorney General (AG) of Solomon Islands, his presence created a negative atmosphere and as a result, unneccessary resources and attention was diverted to his case at a time when the government and its people should be focussing more on iniatives to develop and take the nation forward.

The decision of the Sogovare government to policize the AG's post resulted in the government entagling itself in the Moti web. It is of their own making. Let us hope that future governments will return the AG position the be a career position. We do not need foreigners like Moti holding the highest legal position in the land. We have our own citizens who are just as capable of discharging the responsibilities that come with the position.

My advise to Moti is not to cast his eyes across the horizon to Solomon Islands.

Guys can someone rundown why JM came here and if possible a chronology of his involvement with private and Public sector. that would be an interesting read. some of us only know of this man when he was flown over from PNG.
But please no spoilem man. he is still a good man only some of his past actions that are not acceptable in the society.

In October 2008, The Australian Newspaper reported that Vanuatu magistrate Bruce Kalotiti, who heard the case against Moti in 1999, had been bribed by Moti to dismiss the case in exchange for Moti's paying for Kalotiti to study at the University of Western Sydney. The report cited university records and evidence obtained by the Australian Federal Police in September 2004. Kalotiti resigned from the bench as a result of the allegations and the evidence which supported them, gathered at the request of the Vanuatu government.

User1, follow the Solomon Star.  Ednal Palmer is doing exactly that.
as for Moti, oh well - the flipside of the coin is we did not get much for all the trouble we had to go through and with a possible compensation looming - I agree he is such a pest.
Conservative, having said that the Australian government has done what it has done with the Moti case - are you comfortable that another country can pull our leaders by the nose? 
Read what Wickham said in yesterday's paper.  He now feels the brunt of negative public perception just because his office acted on advice from higher up as he rightly should.  It is not the person Wickham that should be attacked it is the office.
Are we personalizing things too much here.  Attacking a person rather than the issues?  The issue was he came in illegally - the question is why would PNG collaborate with us on that?  The other issue is why appoint someone with a tarnished reputation to the highest legal position?  But then again most of our legislators fall in the same boat anyway!  The other issue is he was deported illegally (?)  But then he came in illegally anyway!  The final issue is, he has won his day in court - he can no longer be tried.
The truth is we may never set ourselves free because we continue to allow other countries, a few select people and idiots lead us.
you fala moa.

Neo, how does the Solomons allow other countries to lead them? Since independence, the government of the Solomon Islands has done very well all by itself to lead the whole country into all these continual messes. The only difference these days is that everyone knows about them because the press is (somewhat) more free and there is a better exchange of information due to the Internet (good on you Lifhaus and other forums). Now, as I say to my wife, stop seeing problems, see solutions. What is your solution???

Ingava, some may quickly jump onto the boat and scream - use the ballot box.  Indeed we could but I am thinking someone, or one government just needs to set out a goal, one common vision for this country....then we ALL work towards it - perhaps a bit of an idealistic view but look around, that is what is missing.  We are all sometimes doing the same things with different results....endless aid come into this country, it achieves little because no government, no one person has ever set out a real agenda we as a country can stick to and work towards....isn't that why the US is both powerful and successful....they were oppressed and searched for FREEDOM....they set out to find a new world and once there set out to ensure that freedom is the one thing they will protect at all costs...democracy and world dominance came naturally but at a later time....now if Solomon Islanders can only focus their time, energy and might into one vision for this great nation of ours - we could go some place....
you fala moa

 
"Conservative, having said that the Australian government has done what it has done with the Moti case - are you comfortable that another country can pull our leaders by the nose? "(Neo).
I don't get yout point Neo... I don't know what you meant by this statement "another country can pull our leaders by the nose"...if that implies Australia is dragging SI leaders by the nose, then you are dead wrong!
I don't really think Australia pulled Solomon Islands' leaders by the nose, and it is quite naive of you to assume that my statement implied that. Everyone knows that the Moti saga was more than just Moti's sexual intercourse with a 13 year old girl which is a crime according to the Australian law, it was more than that. Did the Australian government stabbed Moti as a payback for the expulsion of the Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands by Soga-Oti government? Off course! The timing of Moti's arrest showed that Australia wanted Moti's head on a plate for as a payback, and I stated that regardless of the out-come of Moti vs. Australia, the Australian government had achieved what it wanted! Its a political game and if Sogavare thought back than that humiliating Australia by declaring its HC to SI "Persona Non Grata" was funny, he was wrong! International politics is a two street road and if you want to drive in the wrong direction, you will lose! 
In fact, Sogavare made some ridiculous decisions in his 2000-2 government. Many of his ideas and strategies ramined to this day the most embarrassing in Solomon Islands political history. Two stand out: Remember when he became the PM  in 2000 and demanded $400 million dollars from Taiwan? Well, that was a huge embarrassment because he ditched Taiwan and recognized China instead! Turned out that the Chinese government didn't play cash-diplomacy or in other words, they don't pay to be recognized as does Taiwan. His team returned from Beijing empty handed. Sogavare ditched China and announced his government recognized Taiwan! WTF, he was a joke. Taiwan agreed to donate SIG $40 million dollar. He doesn't know scratch about international politics, he is thinks the world revolves around himself and his cohorts! After failing to fulfill his first 100 days promise, he tabled a bill to extend his term in Parliament! That bill was shot down and defeated on the floor of parliament. He is arrogant!
It is also funny for people to feel bad about their role in Moti's extradition. Did they feel bad about the SIG expelling the AHC after the Australian government paid the outsanding Police and Teachers' back-payment claims, amount to hundreds of millions of dollars? You don't bite the hands the feed you! I didn't hear of anyone resigning in protest of the government unprecedented move to expel the AHC. How about expelling a foreign diplomat for "merely expressing" his government's concern of a commission established by the Sogavare (to be paid with Australian money : $2 million)  to investigate the riot of 2006 which many viewed as a governemnt intrusion of the Judicial branch? I didn't hear any complain! Just the Opposition camp reluctantly doing its job. It was obvious that the Sogavare government was an anti-Australian gov't; an anti-RAMSI government who believed that Australians working in the treasury were spies of the Australian government and that RAMSI is a part of a huge conspiracy to recolonize Solomon Islands. You disagree right? Read the transcript of Sogavare's right hand man Pat-Oti at the UNGA! Who wrote this speech? Many people, including me, believe Moti wrote that anti-Australian diatribe!
But the issue is this, regardless of outcome of the Moti vs. Australia case, Moti should have never been appointed AG of SI considering his reputation. And I believe that Moti's appointment was a huge mistake and that contributed tremendously to the collapse of Sogavare's govenrment. Only in SI that people like this man (moti) are appointed to top positions every time. I believe that Dr. Sikua did the right thing by handing over an Australian citizen to the Australian government to be tried according to the law of that nation, he had to prove himself innocent, besides it is a head-of-state's obligation to do so. The same thing that happened to Afghanistan when Taliban refused to turn over Osama Bin Laden and the NATO began bombing Kabul.  If a Solomon Islander is wanted in SI for murder or rape and is living in Australia, it is the Australian's government's obligation to extradite him to SI; it is not the fuction of the Australian government or a responsibility of the head of state to determine whether this Solomon Islander is guilty or not. Its a two-way bargain! 
Aya mi nafu fastaem!

Both the GCC's and CNURA's handling of Moti were unsatisfactory. If the former's actions were driven by anti-Aussie then the later's moves were perhaps Aussie phobic. We need leaders who are neither easily swayed nor stubborn, instead allow the due process of law to take its normal course.

This is an interesting topic not so much so about Moti's personal life, or Sogavare's strong support of Moti or of the current govnt's weakness against Canberra's political pressure.

The interesting bit is about how the Moti case revealed a dark side of Canberra's disregard of the rule of law and due process in light of Australia's strong pursuit of their Pacific geo-politics agenda. An integral part of that agenda is to secure the Solomon Islands through the deployment of RAMSI here.

Juliam Moti, as the AG, was a threat to RAMSI and therefore Australia's presence here. It was no secret that Moti had issue with the Immunity clause that protects RAMSI personal against being prosecuted under SI laws if their commit any local crime. Moti also supported Sogavare's intention to establish a clear exit time frame for RAMSI. These govnt positions were a real threat to Australia's presence here. Moti as the AG has the power to influence government legal policies. Sogavare as the PM is the government. Australia then set the ball rolling to remove both these people from office, which they successfully did. Sogavare was removed from government and Moti went through a forced deportation to Australia by the new, pro-Australia govnt led by PM Sikua.

In the Solomons the Australia High Commission, the Australia controlled Royal Solomon Islands Police and the Pro-Australia Sikua govnt all colluded to the deportation of Moti. Why? We were made to believe that the reason was because Australia want to re-prosecute Moti over sex offences that he allegedly committed in Vanuatu. That was a good and moral thing to do and that imagery about Australia's intent was heavily pushed in the local Media. Australia the good and moral big brother who is so noble that they dont want to see a tainted and dirty man like Moti to be AG.

We were conned plain simple. Australia played us big time. And hey we cant blame ourselves cos we are small fish in the big fishes game.

Sogavare saw this from the start. But he was faced with a public that had no interest in the big fishes geo-politic games. The public did not care two hoots whether RAMSI was sent to further Australi's strategic interest in the Pacific or for actually 'helpem fren'. That prodding is too idealistic then and doesnt affect our ordinary lives.

What we understood was that RAMSI came, the guns dissappeared, kids can go back to school, workers can go back to Honiara and normal life can continue. Who cares about Australia's regional agendas. As long as we can walk down to the central market without fear of being harrassed by drunk militants with guns then hem ok na ia. RAMSI and Australia hero blong iumi nomoa! Leavim go sovereignty ia. Salem go lo Australia fastaem. Bae iumi olraet nomoa.

Can we truely believe in the sentiments above. Is it worth being passionate against issues that intrude against our sovereign status or hao? No need nomoa? Iumi concern nomoa long issues that directly affect our individual lives, family lives olsem?

The Moti case was a clear instance where Australia disregarded our laws and processes as a sovereign nation.

The Moti case also revealed the fact that Australia, a proud democratic nation, can willingly subvert democratic ideals & processes in the pursuit of their political and national interests.

Let's wake up and play Australia's game.

It is interesting to read the varying views about Moti and Sogavare.Of course there will be some of us who do not like Moti personally. For those that don't like him must have crossed paths with Moti. Ohers might shared the same ideals and principles. But there is more to it than meets the eye. To start with, there is no doubt that Moti has finally vindicated himself from the political persecution by Australian Government. There is no doubt in my mind that Moti was sought for political purpose. The evidence is clear. I for one, however, feels that the Moti saga is about the neo-imperialism by Australia and how it is as agreed by Bigredfish an attempt by Australia to trample upon the sovereignty of Solomon Islands. Australia's attitude towards Solomon Islands is clear in 2006-2007 when Sogavare was PM. No one would guess for a second for a local police officer to kick open the office of the PM. That office represents or is the symbol of our sovereignty. Australian officials confiscated complete database of our minerals in the Ministry of Mines. Australia place Shane Castles, whose resume includes intelligence analysis (basically a spy). No one would guess finding confidential memorandums between ministers and cabinet papers in the hands of AFP. The list can go on...........what does this say about our sovereignty. A lot! Whilst its true that we depend on their money and help to keep our economy...........does not give them the right to take our sovereignty as well.......Lets wake up folks!

OK - so I must admit I am on the same wavelength as BigRedFish and The Sovereign so it was a bit funny to read on Solomon Times online that "Australia is a true friend".  I think some people are in deniel.  Others are perhaps in a hopeless awe of countries such as Australia who either continue to purport the idea of "white supremacy" (deliberate but discreet) over the kanaka or seek to protect their firm grip on those that may wish to question authority.  I have been the strongest opposer of that thought - I argued for what it was worth that Sogavare (despite his imperfect tenureship) enabled Solomon Islanders like myself to finally believe in ourselves - that we had the capacity to do what it takes to take this country forward.  But he is gone and the country has gone back to its complacent, lost self that we have seen all too often.
In another thread, the Mr. Conservative thinks I am joking.  Well I am not - PM Sikua is a small time coward who cannot stand up to foriegn forces or even members of his own cabinet and say - NO!  He let that Asians get away with priceless timbers and boatload of illegal imports....people are taking advantage of our weakness to stand up for ourselves - WAKE UP!
BigRedFish and The Sovereign got it right.  It was never about pursuing Moti for his indiscretions - it was about bullying and exerting your influence over a smaller neighbour who at present neither has the capacity to lead itself or the confidence of its populace in the instruments of government....that is a myth the foreign powers continue to preach.  What Solomon Islanders need to do is wake up to the reality that WE R ONE NATION, WE ARE ONE PEOPLE AND ONLY WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.....you fala lo Malaita, Temotu & Renbel like independent, you fala Guale continue for cross, you fala West go het se state government, you fala Choisuel continue for ask compensation, you fala Central supportim Guale secretly, Makira continue slide backward and complacent.  Dasta why Isabel seleva nomoa garem shipping and continue to live together...hahahaha but seriously our pursuit of these different agendas is simply the reason why we cannot progress and develop.  Foreign powers would like to keep us there and their presence is only divisive.  Yes, if they take their guns home - we would slide back into anarchy because our self professed leaders and gun toting militants are too narrow minded to accept that bigger, more powerful countries like the US or even Australia are successful because they have chosen to accept their differences.  Look to Europe and Africa, the countries that continue to suffer strife and war are those that believe one ethnic/religious group should run its own affairs and be a country on its own.....Finally, if there was a country we need to look to for example, I suggest we look no further than across the border - North West!  It has given started giving aid - something even Bainimarama and his cohorts cannot even do - although they've done a good job in keeping countries like Australia out of domestic issues!

Wantoks, we should be careful with the way we portray Australia here because we have a lot of things to answer for as well. Painting Australia as the big-bully guy or the occupier, neo-colonialist, as some have raised in our media in the past two years, is like trying to take the dust out of someone’s eye while ignoring the humungous log that is blocking our view. I don’t want to be viewed by you wantoks as an Australian puppet, or apologist if you will, but thing is that Solomon Islands’ government under Manasseh Sogavare had a lot of things to answer for. I’ve been following this whole thing right from the start; read the pros and cons of the debate and came to conclude that no party is innocent in this whole saga. And rather than adopting the big-boy-bullying-small-boy argument, we should read between the lins and think for ourselves and not bowing to the Soga-Oti sentiments because they are just too good to be true. I don’t think Australia is colonizing Solomon Islands at all, or are here as occupiers. We need to be honest with ourselves.
Here are the facts:

1. The Solomon Islands gov’t under Kemakeza invited Australia and also agreed to the concept of a regional peace-keeping force with the endorsement of the PIF led by Australia and NZ. OUR Parliament passed a bill to let them in, even after Ulufa’alu warned of “unintended consequences” of any foreign peace keeping forces. Remember when Ulu said, yufala nosave wanem nao insaid long bokis ya nogud krokodael na inside. So these things disqualify the "invasion and intrusion of SI by Australia" arugments.
2. RAMSI had been reviewed by OUR Parliament a few times and each time the majority (MPs) voted to extend its mission which is a sure sign of severe distrust amongst our people. This rules out the “occupier-recolonisation” arguments many of you Moti sympathizers have raised this far.
3. Foreign Minister Patterson Oti slammed Australia on the floor of Parliament after returning from NY, claiming that the expulsion’s of the AHC was the right of SI, quoting from the Geneva Convention and our own Constitution. But applying that concept, the Australian pursuit of Julian Moti was also done according to the Federal law of Australia, which calls for the prosecution of Australian citizens who engaged in “Sex Tourism” in foreign lands, and yes Moti is an Australian himself. So to argue that SI had the right to expell a foreign diplomat and not Australia, is somewhat laughable.Whether or not our two countries were engaging in a dirty political tug-of-war, it doesn't matter at all! Please come up with a good defense! This one doesn't work!

Everything else is mere conspiracy or just outright dirty politics. If we chose to go down this path of finger-pointing and blaming others for our own shortcomings, we won’t get anywhere. And yes, everything boils down to this: Sogavare wanted Australia out of his way so that he could get his way in Parliament. Remember this--Oti explained to OUR Parliament that the AHC was expelled because he interfered in the government’s decision to establish a government commission to investigate the riot. In fact, it was not only the Australia gov't that expressed concern over this commission thingy; OUR Opposition was hammering Sogavare about his decision on the floor of Parliament and so were many ordinary (reasonable) Solomon Islanders on news editorial columns. Remember Sogavare counted on the two MPs (Dausabea and Ne'e) who were implicated and arrested for inciting violence or sponsoring the riot of 2006, for his supported and that the establishment of this commission, which was a government controlled commission, was to help these duo out. That was a conflict of interest as the RSIP with the help of RAMSI were investigating the Riot of 2006.
And whose money was SIG planning to use for that commission? Australian money. The Australian gov't, under normal protocol, convey its concern over the Commission, citing possible conflict of interest. Again, the AHC was only expressing Australian concern. Australia didn't want its money used for a political game that didn’t represent Solomons' interest. Remember that the same argument was leveled against Australia during Kemakeza's gov't when teachers went on strike in 2002-3 and demanded payment of their outstanding wages. The AHC, the only HC who refused to leave our shores since 2000, offered to pay the outstanding amount. When teachers demanded “back-payments,” Australia through the same Commissioner expressed its reservation, and the SIPEU spokesman (Waiwori?) jumped up and accused Australia of “interferring on domestic affairs” of SI. If Sogavare was the PM then, that AHC would have been deported immediately. 
During that same speech, Hon. Oti claimed that because of interference of the Australian gov't, Hon. Sogavare called the Australian government to send for its HC and because Aussy refused to do so, the AHC was pronounced “Persona Non Grata”. Do you really see the arrogance of that administration? The AHC was absolutely powerless and couldn’t have done anything to jeopardize Sogavare’s ambitions, but being an anti-RAMSI, Anti-Australian man, he wasn't afraid of expelling the AHC. But I think SIG under-estimated the consequencies of its own actions. The thing is that Sogavare didn’t do that to satisfy the SI people, but his own cronies of whom Moti was the legal mouthpiece. What followed that is whole different story. His men saw his arrogance and openly protested his policies by taking a public march to denouce the Sog-oti government. Critics like the World Socialist Websites claimed that it was Australia who instigated this change of government, but that is a LIE! He reshuffled his government and removed Lilo and others who followed him. In politics, reshuffling of offices is a polite way of firing people from their positions. These bunched decided to walk awyay from him and that is the truth. RAMSI didn't forced them out of their offices on gun-point, nor did Australia executed a coup within. Those who deserted Sogavare promised to get rid of Moti whom majority of the public service and the private sector who protested in front of the PM's office, and the rest of SI, didn't like! It was done according to the desires of the people of SI.
But who is Sogavare anyway? He is a man who not only conversed with dead people (he claimed to have conversed with Mamaloni in a vision shortly after his swearing in ceremony), but saw RAMSI as an obstacle to his political ambitions. He was a PM installed by the MEF in 2000-2 and the only PM to table an unsuccessful bill to extend his government’s two years to four. In 2005, Sogavare claimed that RAMSI officers in the Treasury were Australian spies. And the man who will go down in history of SI politics as a nationalist, and one of the most corrupt politicians of our time.
In moving the Motion of no Confidence in Parliament, Dr. Sikua surprised fellow Solomon Islanders and MPs by bringing up Sogavare's clandestine role in the toppling of Ulufa’alu’s government and his secret police which ended when RAMSI entered SI. He claimed that Sogavare endorsed the coup of 2000 and engaged in a huge conspiracy to bring down the democratically elected government of Ulufa'alu. Sogavare also created a ridiculous police force, many of whome were former MEF thugs, many of whom never made it to high school. Remember that? Well, we are talking about a government leader who had the nerve to expel a foreign diplomat and screamed “Sovereignty” everything he is cornered. Every time he stood up to challenge Dr. Sikua's allegations during that MON, he was literally screaming and hitting the table like a real Tae Kwando master, but that didn’t intimidate Sikua nor did he intimidate the Speaker of Parliament who guided the MON to the end! That’s the man, and that’s why the whole Moti’ crap went down this way.
Look, RAMSI could leave SI at anytime and Australia could remove its tax-payers’ money and give it to a nation who would use it properly, but the reality is--our gov’t won’t let them go! Our MPs wanted RAMSI extended; they don’t want to be victims again! So the rhetoric against Australia on this thread is driven by emotions and national pride, but sometimes we need to see the issues (political games) beyond Nationalism. We’ll always see ourselves as victims of Australian dominance, so as other Melanesian nations in the Pacific, but the truth is this: We need Australia more than Australia needing us.

That is the best analysis I have read of the situation so far. Well done!!

It is quite obvious that the general populace do not like Moti to be our Attorney General based on his past involvement with the under-age sex case in Vanuatu.

Australia on the other hand disliked Moti based on Moti's political leaning and not because of his infamous sex case. Canberra saw Moti as a threat to Australia's interest here and therefore used Moti's past case as the whip to get rid of him.

Australia was successful in doing that, but in the process they subvert the processes of justice and democracy as revealed by the recent Moti ruling in Australia. It's this machiavelian attitude that is troubling. An attitude of double-standards. Turn a blind eye [to legal processes, democratic ideals] when it serves your [national/individual] interest. That sounds close to the definition of corruption!

Like me, a lot of Solomon Islanders can see the above. Unfortunately 95% of Solomon Islanders have no clue at all!

USA watered down their own citizen's privacy rights after 9/11 by introducting the Patriot Act, which enabled US arms of government to 'listen-in' on any US citizen's private life without any court orders.

The Israel government do not care about Palestinian rights when it comes to Gaza.

And then there is the Moti case for Australia.

While we are thankful of Australia's assistance and presence here, our government do not need to bend over backwards for them. The Moti case is just that - SIG bowing down to Canberra's strong control of our institutions and therefore the state.

The danger in this is that in the Solomons there is a huge dislocation between the state and the people. When the state is seen as weak, when the state is seen as too pro foreign, it becomes problematic.

We have seeen the results when the people had enough of a weak state - flashback 'the tension period'

The Moti case after the recent Australia court ruling has the potential to create a wrong awakening amongst the people. One that will pitch locals against foreign presence.

This yr is election yr and already i can see machinery in place drumming up that rhythm. You can see it in the papers already...'BUP, Get rid of AID, Like our neighbour brother up North, Blong Iumi etc'.

It wont be long when the Moti case will resurface in our local media but now with a different intension..Now it will be used by Solomon Islanders political opportunists to drum up nationalistic support against the current pro-Canberra government- the same government that colluded with Australian government agents in the Moti case.

Iumi wait for June.

I stated in my earlier post that everything else is conspiracy theory or just mere dirty politics. What I was trying to get at in the opening statement was the standard in which we judge the Australian pursuit of Julian Moti. This standard is indeed a bias construct and many Solomon Islanders tend to see through this standard. This is the standard our leaders set: The Australian government pursuit of Julian Moti was inevitable because if his view of RAMSI. Moti would mean the end to Australian’s occupation and colonization of SI. How straight forward is that? In my article I warned that we need not to adopt the Soga-Oti anti-Australianism policy because their sentiments are too good to be true. If we expand this standard and try to view Australia in another angle, we would see Howard and Sogavare engaging in a tug-of-war by utilizing very similar tactics, and for that reason I said in my article that no party is innocent in this.

For instance: Sogavare expulsion of the Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands (Mr. Cole) was to intimidate Australia and RAMSI and have his commission determine wether his two MP supporters were innocent. (There is no excuse of expelling a diplomat who only express his government’s concern, which is a normal protocol). On the contrary, Howard wanted to punish Sogavare by utilizing the Australian Federal law which I explained in my article. Again, to think that Solomon Islands had the right to humiliate Australia and expecting little or no consequences at all is strange.

Was Australia fearful of Moti? Julian Moti was only a legal advisor who command no legislative power. He had no commanding power in the legislature and it was up to Parliament to make decision on RAMSI. The votes to keep RAMSI was done on both sides of the aisle (OP and government). Moti would be going to court and defend Sogavare’s anti-Australian policy, many of which I believe Parliament would shoot down before they materialize just as in his unsuccessful futile attempt to pass a bill to extend his term as the PM of SI (02) which got some of his side voted against.

The only one playing double standard in this whole saga is Sogavare who had the audacity to expel a foreign diplomat for merely expressing his government’s position on a committee that interfered in the judicial branch and paid for by Australian and SI tax payers’ money, while criticizing Australia of wanting a fugitive Australia who somehow found his way to the top of legal hierarchy of our country. Sogave=double standard!

Besides that BigRedFish, it is not the function of government to determine whether a foreign national  is innocent or not. Handing over an Australian to the Australian government is not in any way “illegal or undemocratic”. This is a normal practice of foreign relationship, unless Moti holds dual citizens, Moti was still an Australian who was wanted on "Sex tourism". But in my humble view, this is as normal as expelling a foreign diplomat whom the head of the SIG deemed dangerous.  Again, Sogavare was dumb enough to boot the AHC while appointin an Australian with a very tainted history to the “first legal office” of our country. How stupid could he be?

I found your statement about our people, extremely irresponsible. About 80% of Solomon Islanders live in the villages/islands and about 20% live in Honiara. But that doesn't mean that 80% of SI are oblivious to what is going on in our government. The SIBC station reaches all corners of Solomon Islands from Ontong Java ro Rennell and Temotu to the Western Province, and since 2002, Internet Cafes have been established in provinces. Check the Solomon Stars website and other social networks and find out for yourself how many people in the rural area wrote to these websites in the past six years. To assert that 95% of Solomon Islanders living outside of Honiara town “have no clues at all” is grossly wrong!

Look, establishing foreign relationships with foreign nations is a two way streets and you can’t just do something that harms another and expected little or no repercussion. History shows just how countries who decided to hurt other countries politically or militarily received their own shares!

Your statement, “The Moti case is just that - SIG bowing down to Canberra's strong control of our institutions and therefore the state”… extremely debatable. Can you name the institutions that Australia controls that resulted in Moti's extradition to Australia? The Immigration? The Police? Which one is it? These institutions are under the control of the Solomon Islands’ government.  When Australia launched its demands for the extradition of Moti, SIG openly protested, calling the move a serious dirty political game and vow not to give in to the Australian demands. On his way back from Asia, Moti was nabbed by PNG police in Port Moresby. A few hours prior to the illegal smuggling of Moti to SI by another Australian sworn certified hater, the PM of Papua New Guinea Michael Somare, a meeting was held in Honiara between the PM, the Minister of Immigration (Hon. Shanel), Head of RAMSI, and the SI Police Commissioner (an Australian) in which a consensus was reached that Moti was now a foreign illegal immigrant since Australia revoked his passport in PNG. Armed with this notion, the Solomon Islands Commissioner dispatched Solomon Islands police, covered by RAMSI, and arrested Julian Moti on arrival in the Western Province. When he was brought to Honiara from West, the Minister went to the Police with an executive-order and ordered the release of Julian Moti, a man who had no visa, no passport to enter or live in SI. The commissioner launched his complain to the government but he didn’t get any adequate explanations as to why the Minister acted contrary to the agreement reached earlier. The PM, on the other hand, waited until the Police Commissioner went to Australia on a family vacation then ordered the raid of his office, fired him, and banned him from returning to SI. Guys, didn’t you guys see what a dictator Sogavare was? Why are you guys attacking Australia and not the dirty politician Sogavare?

His corrupt counterpart, PM of Papua New Guinea who had criticized Australia earlier in 2005 after being searched at an airport in Australia, put Moti on a Military plane and sent him to SI at the cover of darkness and then told the Australian government that Moti had escaped. After the news that Moti was smuggled out on a Military plane reached Australia, Somare ordered a Commission of Inquiry to investigate it. Ironically, the commission concluded that SOMARE ordered that flight after weeks of testimony from the chain-of-command of the PNG forces. Somare became outrageous dismantled the commission and calling its findings bias! To this day, Somare is still fighting hard to have that report, now in the protection of the PNG High Court, thrown out!

The question is, what was Sogavare’s part in this illegal smuggling of Julian Moti from PNG to SI? A man who had no passport and visa?  And why are you guys focused more on Moti’s extradition, which is a state-to-state obligation, and not focusing on the Opposition leader (sogavare) himself? Any other country, this man would be eating with rats and cockroaches in jail for his illegal activities. And I am sure that he is thankful for being a Solomon Islands politician because he knows he can get away with anything including his role in the illegal overthrow of Ulufa'alu and his govenrment.

In another instance, Sogavare sent the Police to arrest an innocent Australia who was turned in by a friend claiming he made some anti-governments comments and not only did Sogavare endorsed torturing him physically, but turning him into a huge political circus. Sogavare went before the Parliament and boast about thwarting an Australian conspiracy to destroy his government. It turned out that the man is an innocent Australian who had resided in the SI for a decade and a half and married to a Solomon Islands and with no known association to the Howard gov’t. Jesus Christ, these kinds of political leadership can only be found in Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, or China; I never thought Solomon Islands would become a Communist state in a matter of months! Our country’s leader approved the torturing of innocent people to make a political statement? I am glad he is no longer the Prime Minister of my beloved country and that Moti was not longer the legal advisor of my govenrment.

The fact of the matter is, Moti's case was thrown out because of illegal discrepancies or technical issues. The Judge was disgusted by the way the Australian government handled the case, not because he found no evidence that Moti screwed a 13 year old girl. All that aside, it is a fact that Moti settled the case outside of courts and relocated to Solomon Islands. What was he running from? The Magistrate who pronounched Moti innocent was on Moti's payroll and as a result, he resigned! Which part don't you people understand? You should know that it takes a single error in a prosecution case to go down the tube, and this is a classic example. But if Australia's main objective was to punish Sogavare so be it, he should have seen that coming before he appointing an Australian with a tainted past. Since then, we  have been friends with the worst regimes in the world: Iran, Cuba, and perhaps China and Russian next. Soon we'll have an embassy in North Korea! haha. How sad!

The 'Innocent Aussie' incident you are refering to was very disturbing for many people in the Solomons (both expat and local) because the IA was a nice old guy who many people knew. He was a Vietnam war veteran who had a very badly damaged face (he was the big white guy with the very bad and large scaring on his face/jaw that you'd see around Honiara sometimes). He didn't come into Honiara very often, but when he did he liked to have a few beers, and after a few beers he would start to say lots of stupid things (not in a mean way, more karangi) - he even said he was going to shoot the Queen once! Everyone who knew him knew he was a bit stupid and harmless. It is alleged that Soggy got one of his 'secret police' guys to go and pay beers for this guy, and encouraged him to say what he thought about Soggy. He was then arrested and accused of plotting to kill Soggy. This is nasty Police State stuff - a lot of people got scared - could you not say anything about the government now without the threat of being arrested? I had friends around town tell me not to talk about certain things in public - i.e. usual stori B.S. with beers and mates at a bar. Is that the sort of Solomon Islands you would like to live in? In my opinion Sogavare did way too many things that were not the sort of things you would want the leader of your country to do - and now he wants to be PM again so that he can do that sort of stuff again. Let's hope people realise this at the next election otherwise Solo might just stay in a circle of never ending nowhereness.

Remember also that during Sogovare's rule the Solomons was called a 'Laughing Stock' - a country that other countries were laughing at. We should not let this happen again. Let the Solomons be strong and respected by all.

why do you waste your time and write essays on that j*rk?? he isnt worth it, not even my reply.

great minds discuss ideas.....unfortunately, Conservative may have seemed to miss that aspect of this debate - his long tirades on this forum focuses on people: Julian Moti and Sogavare - never on the issue of contention:  that it is simply irrational to entertain or accept the idea that bigger more powerful nations should have the innate right to subvert the rights of others and do as they please.  I think BigRedFish, myself and The Sovereign focused on this in this debate.  Perhaps if you would take the time to focus on the issue, you could make a contribution worth reading.
This is our country - only we can make a difference and we must be left to determine our own future.  Anyone expat or local who likes to "Helpim Fren" should do exactly that - help.  To play your politics under the guise of helping nao hard tomas for me acceptim.  The Julian Moti affair, Sogavare and his ill-fated prime ministership, our current government and how it is run all bear the hallmarks of people or regimes that have been corrupted by external influences with their own agenda.
Perhaps a new government come July or the same one could breath some "breath of fresh a%#^&@e" into this country.  Pardon me Lifhaus administrators.  But here I rest my case - there are now more important issues to discuss.

Neo
I don't think I miss anything. I just disagree with your conspiracy theory that Australia is bullying and controlling Solomon Islands. That sentiments don't hold any waters if you take a look at the whole picture and not just fragments and if you think that my posts were irrational then I don't know how to make things rational. Sad though, I don't see anything rational in your arguments either!
You can't ignore the facts of the matter while claiming to be factually correct or coherent. The facts I have laid out show a corrupt government (Man-Oti) who concocted this whole saga. And that fact that Moti was free didn't make Soga and his gang all innocent. Again I was replying to those who posted earlier making Dr. Sikua and Australia the villains while ignoring the real ones. This view is not new anyway! I was in a forum where Arabs attacked Americans, EU, UK for controlling the oil of the ME, and when I raised the fact that Middle Eastern governments: Kings, Presidents, and Queens who are amongst the most richest people in the world by exploiting their own oil, they were extremely outrageous! I guess the truths hurt!