www.lifhaus.com.sb

I wouldnt mind they serve another term. As long as they are doing their Job well.

the reality ....far from our frustrations, ideas and strong beliefs is:

the simple answer is that it is allowed under the law ..... i.e. once you have served your sentence, you are regarded as a freeman (although a criminal record has been alloted to your name)....thus as a freeman, you are able to stand for election.... and i think from the past election results, sir allan will win back his seat ... it seems his people want him etc - we can't deny their democratic right if it is permissible under our laws.

If you, me or whoever wants to ban former convicts or prisoners then we can work with our MPs or become elected ourselves to change the law - either the relevent consititional or legislative provision.

I believe some countries have such provisions banning mentally ill or former convicts from holding office, unfortunatly not the Solomon Islands.

Most of our laws need to be reviewed to bring them in line with the changing world that we live in.  Now it demands that if our current parliamentarians even have one iota of decency they will see the need - but for some of those in influential positions, this means the end of power, the end of money etc so some self serving interest kick in and we do not get the much needed legislative changes required.  So the best way to change this is in the ballot box - if we want change we can bring the change in that ballot box.  Until then - we will have anyone and everyone eligible for parliament.

We may see this guy as a criminal or an ex-convict but for his supports he is their saviour, sadly our laws only disallow a person with a metal state of mind from standing for election but not an ex-convict. Our short history had been tattered with people having criminal convictions, the likes of Dausabea, Maelanga, Alex and now Sir Allan. I believe there are many more to come. This got to prove the say. A country is as good as its people...how sad

If being a criminal is defined through the eyes of supporters not of the law of our nation, then we might as well release everyone in jail because their supporters don't think they are criminals. I don't see any reason why Harold Keke is locked up for life while those responsible for killings in and around Honiara town are still roaming Point Cruz, such as RASTA or Maelanga. And the killers of an Australia police officer who were released for lack of evidence, even if they were on the run right from the start.
Kemakeza and Rasta, Dao and Ne'e are no different from Keke and other GRA behind bars.And I agree that our laws need a serious overhaul so that these criminals don't contest let alone holding public offices.

@Mastermind, how do you know the men you mentioned above are killers in and around Honiara? They would have been behind bars for life if what you said is true!

Watch your words when you term people as such in a public forum like this. You should go to the courts if you have seen what you said with your own eyes, otherwise you are riding on fairytales. Better let the courts deal with what they know better than any of us.

Let's make our point straight without esculating speculations - you may be held accountable if the cops read your writings.

@Solo Boy: Why should I care about these idiots who destroyed my country? and why should I go to court to prove that Maelanga was the commander of the Malaita Eagle Force who went to Malaita, nabbed the man whom they claimed burned down the Radio Tech and tortured him to dead? and why should I be afraid of leveling him commanded the men that walked into the Hospital and shot dead two wounded Guale men? 
Why should I be afraid of speaking out against idiots like these men in any public forums in this or in any other forums? And why should I care about Daosabea and Ne'e whom witnesses saw handing out food and drinks to rioters? why were they in jail after the riot? and who give a heck about Kemakeza who ran the most ridiculous govenrment from 2002 to 2006? And why should I be scared of someone who was the head of a country and who encouraged MEF men to hold on to their arms despite the signing of TVA? Didn't you read the testimony against Kemakeza in court? Are you so scared of the man cos I am not. The only reason why Kema walked free was the testimony of those, including prominent SI politicians, who mitigated on his behalf. Why should I care about leveling people who torned this country down? You threatening me? You can boot me off here but try and take me to court cos I am not scared of any of these men including you! 
Nafu!

@Mastermind or @Conservative, SoloBoy was referring only to the people you referred to as killers. You said the 2 men mentioned were killers. If that is true then they should've been behind bars for life. But they have served their jail terms and are now released, so though criminals, according to the Courts they are not killers (otherwise they'd be in there for life). Are you saying your views are greater and smarter than the High Courts of the Country?

Courts are not institutions to scare people of with. On the same note I don't see any good reason for someone to act like a legal advisor telling people what they should or shouldn't post online. Let the netizens express themselves. We are not the ones to give limits to their expression, let the laws do that. Until somebody landed in the Courts, we don't give a sh**t about your Courts.

I may not have expressed my earlier post clearly and I apologized. I didn't say that Kema, Dao, and Ne'e were killers, I was saying that they aren't so different from the GRA in jail. For instance, why are they still free when Alebua was locked up? For Rasta and his men and those who murdered that Australian officer and escaped to Malaita, to walk free because of lack of evidence is to me "utterly strange!" Alebua didn't kill anyone, he didn't even command anyone in the battle field or ordered teh murder of suspect MEF enemies like RASTA did.
 
I was replying to why Kema and the others are allowed to run on national elections considering their shaddy pasts; the answer that they aren't criminals in the eyes of the voters therefore they have the right to contest is somewhat strange. Thats what I was replying to. It is rather stunning that in Solomon Islands, certain people can get away with things and others not! And yes, they aren't so different from those in Jail. Only difference is that these men have covers from the top echelon of society.

Besides, I didn't make comments regarding high courts. Lacking evidence, or wantokism, or suppressing of evidence in my view doesn't change blood from dark red into white. RASTA can walk free, thanks to the mighty High Courts and crooked lawyers, but does that change the fact that he was the commander of MEF who ruled Honiara illegally for three years? NO! these men should never been allowed to be law-makers, let alone hold public offices. Why are Solomon Islands pissed off whenever outsiders accused them of Corruption? THIS IS CORRUPTION!
 

@yoyo, So be it! Let the laws make the judgements, and not anyone's judgement. That is exactly what is implied above. No one is banning @yoyo from expressing his views! Expressing your views and making judgements are 2 different things.

I am astounded at the assertion by mastermind that HK is no different from those like Rasta and Maelanga, have you forgot those atrocities HK and his men committed both against his own people and others like the Tsius?. He disserves no other place but jailed and hell.

Talking about destroying the country least you forget that it was this very person HK that started the whole sh****t off and guess who was the mastermind of the problem Alebua so his buttocks disserves no other place but in jail, everything that happened after were but reactions to HK , Alebua and his cohorts actions. Your assertion that Alebua was not commanding anyone on the battle field is again not correct. was he not that one going around up and down roaming around the roads encouraging guales to look for old time war bombs and preparing themselves for the war as was revealed by one time deputy premier of Gale now minister for Fisheries Nollen Leni? Follow this link and hear for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPxXUr4ap3Q&feature=related

He denied this but why was he later sort after by HK and his men and was nearly killed at Tanagai?

Harold Keke was a criminal who formed a criminal gang to expelled innocent Malaitans who have lived in Guale lands for decades. He deserved to be prosecuted under the law of Solomon Islands and punished accordingly. Albua and his and his Guale MPs including the current High Commissioner to Taiwan, appointed to appeased Guale people, committed a serious crime by sponsoring this torture and evictions of innocent families. We all know that clandestine meeting in Tambea which enabled Keke's illegal activity.
On the other hand, RASTA and his gang, including Andrew Nori and the MEF financier Alex Bartlett, committed TREASON by overthrowing a democratically elected govenrment in June of 2000. Treason is the worst form of crime against state and you should know that! In many laws, TREASON is punishable by DEATH! How these men escaped the law of our nation is beyond me! RASTA and his gang with their legal advisor Nori tore Solomon Islands government down! 
Lets define treason: –noun
1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.
(dictionary.com)

Whats so astounding in my assertions Kekefenua? 

The ones who committed treason against our nation have been walked free! These are criminals and I don't care how many High Courts ruling favorable to their cases. Nothin would change the fact that RASTA was the commander of the group that destroyed SI sovereignty and overthrew the government, Nori addressed the nation after illegally occupying SIBC, they kidnapped, tortured, murdered their opponents, including a beheaded Guale man whose body was placed at the Main Market! What so bad about my comparison? 
 

there is no misunderstanding, there are only differences of opinion.  It would seem to me that one party is firmly entrenched in their belief that we must treat each criminal differently, the other believes they are the same and it is even more frustrating that one half of the criminals are freemen, even in parliament.  So be it - umi livim go lo dea nao.  In a public forum there is often very little chance of convergence so each person state their opinion, we all read it and live happily (or not) ever after.
As for my position on this debate - it is more a question of integrity then it is a legal question.  The laws have spoken, the laws are there to be followed.  It is up to each individual to come to terms with their own self and admit that perhaps they are unfit to serve the people of the Solomon Islands.  But as grafixfarm has said, some people cannot let go because of power, money and the chance to be seen as important.  If this was anywhere else in the world, some politicians will never be in parliament, others will never go past round one.  So givim time, by umi everyone mature and grow up.  Until then, we will crawl! Unfortunately!

There is a saying that goes like this “wars often produce unexpected endings” This was what seemed happened in the case of Solomon Islands ethnic tenson.

RASTA, NORI and other MEF financier cannot be tried for TREASON simply because they were covered under the TPA and the Amnesty Act 2000. Read the Act and digest for yourself why these people escape any conviction relating to TREASON. There is nothing you and I can do about it, that’s the law and that’s how it stands whether you like it or not.

Whilst nothing can change that fact that RASTA and his cohorts were part of a group that committee Treason as you like to call it. It should also be true that they forced into a situation not of their own making. HK is the one deserved the longest term in prison because he and his associates mastermind the whole thing and he should be the one tried for TREASON because his activities resembled the definition of Treason that you have just gave. All others ended up labelled criminals or became criminals only because their reaction to the situation created by HK and his men leave them little option to act otherwise.

Taking a historical perspective, any rational persons will defend themselves in the face of adversity; this was exactly what happened as in many other places around the world where similar crisis have happened, the Kosovo and Rwanda wars for example. Any group of people whose lives are under threat will not stand cowardly and see their people slain innocently. They will take up arms and resort to anything including overthrowing of a government if the government failed to address concerns quickly. And in any large scale retaliation there is no guaranty that laws will be followed after all the very law that supposed to protect the retaliators have failed them.

Unless you lived in another planet during the ethnic violence, you would have remembered that the formation of MEF was a direct response to the government’s incapability of addressing issues concerning Malaitans who were at that time brutally killed, raped and forced from the rural Guadalcanal. If you’re in that situation, where your whole livelihood was destroyed and the state or nation that supposed to protect you was not doing anything to protect you, what else is there for you to trust the state, absolutely nothing, in fact nation or state becomes a meaningless entity.

I need not remind us that this is a public forum, and we are now touching onto some very sensitive issues and it is important that I remind our contributors to be mindful of the allegations that we make.  While we are free to express our views, we must do so with responsibility.  Explicitly naming people without proof is irresponsible.  Slandering people on a public forum is unwarranted.  The right place to bring allegations for proof is in a court of law - not a discussion board or newspaper.  Therefore, I would like to ask our debaters to freely express yourself but with sensitivity and caution.

Thank you

Senior Lifhaus Administrator

Admin,
I apologize for calling people out in my earlier posting. Let say that the Thread is based on the question, "Why contest again?" which in my view is only relevant if people concerned are named. It is in my view that if these people chose to hold public offices after what they had done since 2000, nothing is wrong in calling them out. Besides, what I stated earlier aren't "hearsays". All of those I named above were either being locked up or charged with murders, assault etc. and the fact that they came out free doesn't make these charges mere allegations. All I am saying is that they don't deserved to be law-makers if they were once upon a time being charged and convicted of horrendous crimes. Others who were accomplices should also be treated the same way. Again, these people wanted to be law-makers and wanted to be public servicemen, they should answer public questions, criticisms and scrutiny. Besides, public servants are public figures and people whose reputations are questionable ought to answer the question whether they are 'fit' to be Parliamentarians. They are not running for church leadership for good heavens! they are competiting for the Parliament. For us who suffered through this whole ethnic crisis, this is justice being robbed! 
Kekefenua,
"There is a saying that goes like this “wars often produce unexpected endings” This was what seemed happened in the case of Solomon Islands ethnic tenson." Quote 1.
You've mixed up alot of things, including the meaning of "war" and the ethnic tension. We were not in a war, Solomon Islands' was going through some ethnic cleansing and crimes committed against innocent Solomon Islands should have been dealt with according to our laws. As I said before, Keke was a criminal, he was just another trouble maker who should have been arrested and locked up! In fact, not all Guadalcanal people supported his ideas the same way Malaitans didn't support MEF in its early days. What you forgot Kekefenua is the fact that Keke also tortured and torched homes of people who refused to join his gang. So it was purely a criminal act, and by the way ... didn't we have laws that punish criminals like Keke? Yes we had at that time. Some people chose to destroy it and guess where it took us!
About the TVA: did you read that before you posted your reply? Was the TVA applied only to MEF and not GRA or IFM? The Agreement was for all participating Militants (MEF and GRA) and also those who involved indirectly such as legal advisors and financiers. That agreement also stated that the"Amnesty Status" would only be given to people under one condition: the return of the arms. In my observation, majority of GRA with the exception of Keke and his gang who were hold up deep in the jungle, returned their arms. Kemakeza, the PM between 2002-2006, ordered MEF to hold on to their weapons. In that, MEF commanders were not covered by the amnesty as the conditions weren't met. Needless also to say that Rasta and even Bartlett spent time in jails after RAMSI arrived. Even Rasta himself blamed Kemakeza for advising them not to give up their weapons. So which part in TVA that covers MEF former soldiers and their advisors and which part that says that TVA didn't apply to GRA? I want to know because I read that agreement too.
"Taking a historical perspective, any rational persons will defend themselves in the face of adversity; this was exactly what happened as in many other places around the world where similar crisis have happened, the Kosovo and Rwanda wars for example. Any group of people whose lives are under threat will not stand cowardly and see their people slain innocently." Quote 2.
You really missed the point Kekefenua. What kind of a democratic nation are you living in Kekefenua because mind has laws and enforcers. My country is expected to punish those who committed crimes against innocent citizens of SI and there is no rule that says that you need to take up arms against your enemy because people are paid to do this. In events that the government is incapable of defending its own citizens, a peace-keeping force is required. Our case is extremely rared because the government was trying to be in the midst of two warring factions. In Kosovo/Bosnia and Rwandah, the Rebels tried to overthrow the government or the government wanted to eradicate a portion of the population. But there's a part to this history that you missed, thepart that those who destroyed their government starved their people by the millions and slaughtered more people than they fought to save. We were heading that way! What good did that brought to Solomon Islands Keke?
All investors and business owners and even diplomats left Solomon Islands when MEF overthrew the government, how did that working well for Malaitans and the rest of the country? Not good. So yeah, your analogy of Bosnia and Rwandah is flat out bad.
Back to the topic, our laws need to be amended so that criminals or exconvicts such as RASTA who spent years in jail or Kemakeza who was convicted only to serve a few months in jail, are NOT allowed be lawmakers.
This is my last post on this issue and I apologize to those I've offended and I am doing this in the name of "political correctness!"
Have a great weekend

Interesting to note some people want to score points, ignoring sensitiveness of issues. As Neo rightly said, everyone has different perspectives because there are different views to an object. That's why we have govt & opp govt, or light & day, or rich & poor, etc...

Going back to the issue of “why contest again” especially in the context of the ex-militants. For me they have served their jailed terms and become free citizens again. As far as the legal system and what it stands for is concern these people have served their terms and now free man ready to integrate back again in the society and get on with their lives. Why continue restricting them from involving in public life as though they are still criminals? After all these people were just common citizen just like you and I before the ethnic crisis. Their involvement in the crisis was pretty much because of the reason I’ve outline in my previous posting.

Their intention to stand for public office is but an intention only. For standing for election is only one part of the equation, the other more important part is for them to convince voters through the normal electoral process that they are worthy of being their representative. Mere standing as a candidate does not automatically qualify any one including Rasta into parliament. And if it happens that some of them end up voted to Parliament then that’s the choice of their people made.

Look at the current MP and minister for provincial government who was a former MEF. According to media reports he is doing very well for his constituency building new roads and schools for his constituency. Isn’t this what people wanted? How many of the older mps are doing that? may be a few or may be none. That is what people wanted someone who go in and do things to improve their lives, those who worked the talk in other words. Rather than voting in people who profess to be wearing heavenly huts during their campaigning only to be succumbed into the glitter of greed and self righteousness when they are elected into Parliament like few of our current mps does.

Mastermind you said those people wanted to be law-makers and wanted to be public servicemen, they should answer public questions, criticisms and scrutiny. Isn’t that what the campaigning period is there for? The time for all those wanting a place in Parliament to be scrutinized questioned and what have you.

For me the ultimate test for any free and normal citizen to become a Parliamentarian is the ballot box and not any restrictive legislation. People should be given all the opportunities for them to make their choice.
For the ex-militants especially those from MEF that I know of took up arms during the conflict not because they wanted to be militants, they did it for their survival and the survival of their people. If you take that mentality (doing things for peoples survival) into perspective. Then may be they would also want to replicate that same mentality in a more positivist sense at the political level. The incumbent MP for East Malaita is proving that to be the case.

I like the idea that everyone deserve second chances but I would be uncomfortable with his background and a exconvict. Why is he even allowed to be part of the election service? That seem a bit unjust and odd that he even made that far into the process.