SOLOMON ISLANDS: Report says RAMSI should focus on economy
Updated
A report by an Australian think-tank says the regional assistance mission to Solomon Islands RAMSI has done a good job reimposing law and order on the country, but now needs to focus its attentions on other issues. The Center for Independent Studies will release the report, "Five Out Of Ten", next week. The report's author, Gaurav Sodhi, says RAMSI ought to put more effort into governance and the economy, as well as maintaining its very good track record on maintaining peace and security.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speakers: Gaurav Sodhi, Center for Independent Studies
SODHI: Now on the security front, RAMSI has been successful. There is no doubt about that. They came in at a time where Solomons was particularly unstable. It was on the brink of becoming the first failed state in the Pacific and they did very well to pacify the country and restore law and order and civil stability. So for that they get full marks 5 out of 5. But for the other half of the mission, which was a restructuring. I think that part of the mission remains problematic. Because underlying all security problems was 30 years of economic stagnation.
I mean what happened pre-RAMSI in the civil unrest period was decades in the making. It wasn't just a spontaneous outburst of violence. It's a result of 30 years where population growth has exceeded economic growth.
HILL: But does this report suggest that in order to do some more of this administration governance type thing that RAMSI needs to stay and do more? I mean isn't there a possibility that Australia, which leds this mission could get sucked into almost de facto running large junks of the Solomon Islands Government?
SODHI: That is already happening. RAMSI has already been running large junks of the Solomon Islands Government and that's actually been the cornerstone of the perk and that's what differentiates it from other nation building activities all over the world that it includes a civilian as well as a military element.
HILL: Isn't there a political risk in this that Australia risks becoming almost a de facto, making it almost a protectorate of Australia?
SODHI: Absolutely. But the one thing that they have on their side is that Australia is actually welcomed in by the local government. Both the population and the leadership on the Solomon Islands has been generally supportive of RAMSI. The population more so. There's a lot of popular support in the Solomon Islands for RAMSI to be there and to continue to be there. But one thing that it hasn't done very well is to fix the economy.
HILL: Is it Australia's job to fix the economy, though?
SODHI: This is the question that they have probably been asking themselves and I think if you want to maintain any sort of social stability, if you want to maintain the security gains that have been won by the defence force, then you have to maintain the economy.
The biggest problem facing the Solomon Islands today is the fact that along the streets of Honiara and anywhere else you go, there are teams of unemployed youths with nothing to do. I mean they literally just sit there and that's future instability right there.
HILL: But if you're expecting Australia to solve that problem, doesn't this range long term questions as the former prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has suggested threats to the Solomon Islands sovereignty and independence?
SODHI: No, I don't think that's correct. We're not asking the reformists that are needed to make employment generating growth in the Solomons aren't difficult. They're well known and all they require I think is a debt of leadership from both the Australian and the Solomon Islands side.
HILL: It all sounds a little bit like the sort of things that used to go on in the old colonial days. Isn't there a risk that Australia could start to be seen almost as a semi-colonial power if it's doing more of these sorts of things for the government of Solomon Islands, rather than the Solomon Islands Government doing it for itself?
SODHI: Mm, Well who does it is not really I don't think the relevant question. I think there's a lot of support for Australia to remain in the Solomon Islands and while they're in the Solomon Islands, they should at least be doing something worthwhile and useful. They do something that benefits the Solomon Islands and the people of the Solomon Islands, and I think some of the economic policies to date have not done that. They have only focused on a small formal sector that's centred around Honiara and they've done nothing to ease the main constraints on the economy and that's where they're focus should lie.
