Does Bougainville need its own regional ‘Rambo’ mission?
27 August 2012
AXEL G STURM | European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper
DURING HIS VISIT TO AUSTRALIA last week, Solomon Islands prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo stated that “the presence of RAMSI has been vital in allowing things to get back to normal in Solomon Islands”.
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is a partnership between the people and government of Solomon Islands and 15 countries of the Pacific.
RAMSI arrived in Solomon Islands in July 2003 at the request of the government. Since then, much has been achieved and Solomon Islands is continuing on its path to recovery.
RAMSI has managed to:
Ensure the safety and security of Solomon Islands.
Repair and reform the machinery of government, improve government accountability and improve the delivery of services in urban and provincial areas.
Improve economic governance and strengthen the government’s financial systems.
Help rebuild the economy and encourage sustainable broad-based growth.
Build strong and peaceful communities.
All these services are also desperately needed in the so-called ‘North Solomon’ region, the Autonomous Province of Bougainville and its surrounding islands.
RAMSI is helping Solomon Islanders get their nation working and growing again. That will take years of hard work. Nothing will change unless Solomon Islanders want change and are willing to work hard in support of a common cause.
It seems that RAMSI is quite successful in its work. While I believe that military presence as in the SI won’t be needed in Bougainville, the situation on the island sometimes reminds me a bit like the pre-RAMSI times in Solomon Islands.
News like the plundering of Chinese shops in Buka, the arson of the three Rabaul Shipping vessels, roadblocks on the island and even stories about a self-proclaimed king who manages hisfraudulent financial business relations by satellite phone from his jungle camp are not really encouraging for foreign investors.
But these investors are now urgently needed to build Bougainville’s economy in the way outlined by President John Momis recently.
My hope is that all Bougainvilleans will be willing to learn from their Melanesian brothers in Honiara and that they will take into consideration some kind of Bougainvillean RAMSI support.
This could perhaps be called ‘RAMBO’ (Regional Assistance Mission for Bougainville). It can bring the island forward towards a better future and perhaps even an important step nearer to independence.
Well I heard the then Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare was so concerned with the Solomon Island's state sovereignty during the height of the RAMSI Mission that he was calling for an early exit strategy to that mission.
That really irked Downer and Howard who moved heaven and earth to destabilise the Sogavare government which they sucessful did! So much for good governance and state building.
So our brothers from ABG should think twice before they allow such foreign interventionism programs on their island.
If they really need such programs; in my opinion they should look first to their blood and kin. Blood is thicker than water....osem mi tok tasol!
Posted by: Flintstone Segeben | 15 October 2012 at 07:51 PM
Okay gutpla avinun lo Yupala.
Posted by: Shallum Tabea | 03 October 2012 at 04:22 PM
This is a very good suggestion and alternative that can be considered when it comes to rebuilding the Autonomous Bougainville Region.
After the bloody civil war that cost 15-20 thousand lives, one tenth of the total population of North Solomon province at that time, the situation on the Island became very volatile place in terms of investor confidence and so on.
However, one cannot be surprised as it is the normal process that many countries in the world go through before they become independent sovereign nations. What Bougainville is going through is part and parcel of the same old history in many nations in Africa and the Asia Pacific region.
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), as stated in this article, managed to restore back services and helped rebuilt the economy and provided security and accountability of good governance in the Solomon Islands.
In the case for Bougainville, it is not the same concern compared to the situation in the Solomon Islands but vary greatly. Bougainville issue is an issue of irredentism after a long of period subjection to exploitation and suppression.
We cannot deny the fact that we do have many social issues that continue to cripple the progress of good governance on Bougainville.
In most cases the cause of the lack of service delivery and good governance on Bougainville is the matter of politics, but the ear or
eye-sore we know is caused by small factions of opportunists or dissatisfied people because the leadership is too weak. That is, ABG leaders are wearing the Papua New Guinea shoes that all Bougainvilleans don’t like.
Mr. Sturm’s main concern is not the long term harmony and development of the people of Bougainville, as can be noted in the many articles he contributes in PNG Attitude, but he is so interested in past-tracking the re-opening of the Panguna mine which is still a controversial issue.
Let me give you a scenario: When you are outside of the building you can hardly see what’s going on inside the room of your house. You may have all kinds of imaginations and conclusions of your own. What’s going on inside can only be understood by those who are inside. Same thing applies to Bougainville, from outside of the region the Island is seen as a monstrous Island. But the fact can only be seen when one is inside the region.
At the moment the region is progressing well but the game of politics is between the National government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG). Peace and unity has already reached the region and I don’t think Bougainville needs such Special missions to drag the region back to square one.
The negative snail-pace of economic come-back, Mr. Sturm sees, is good for Bougainville as Bougainvilleans are having absolute control over their island future by taking ownership of every little development sprouting there. That is self-reliance in the making in a Bougainville way and not Sturm’s way.
Posted by: Shallum Tabea | 03 October 2012 at 04:21 PM
Well that's a good idea but Bougainvilleans are very unusual people. They really affect the political system of PNG.
But I don't think Bougainville needs such special missions to intervene because at the moment everything is going well and it is from the outside of the region that many people continue to fear the Island.
Posted by: Shallum Tabea | 03 September 2012 at 04:10 PM
Unfreaking believable.
Posted by: Alex Harris | 28 August 2012 at 03:38 PM
Congratulations for your idea about a "RAMBO" on Bougainville Mr Sturm.
With your influence as President of the European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper you should help to create such an initiative.
Your say: Stop toktok,actact now!! ;-))))
Posted by: Jean-Jacques Tire-Bouchon | 28 August 2012 at 03:36 AM
If RAMSI has produced positive results in the Solomon Islands then I'm sure a similar program can work, not only in Bougainville but in all parts and at all levels of PNG.
Posted by: Russell B Soaba | 27 August 2012 at 02:21 PM