Page 10 - IB AUG 2017

Security
Solomon Islands after RAMSI

by James Batley
ON June 30 the Regional Assistance Mis-
sion to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) came
to an end.
Established in July, 2003, RAMSI has
been a feature of life in Solomon Islands Royal Solomon Islands Police Force female officers march down the main street of Honiara. Photo: RAMSI
for more than a third of its history as an Despite extensive leadership and genera- but it illustrates a sense in which Solomon
independent country. tional turnover since then, the RSIPF has Islands itself remains a work in progress,
While much of what follows is anec- struggled to regain the trust of the general 39 years after independence and 14 years
dotal, recent visits to Honiara have pro- population. For many Solomon Islanders after the arrival of RAMSI.
vided some insight into the mood among the jury remains out on the competence That isn’t to suggest that RAMSI is leav-
Solomon Islanders as the end of RAMSI and impartiality of their own police. ing Solomon Islands in a national funk.
approaches. The operation has been in Some Solomon Islanders say they fear After all, some level of nervousness is
a gradual wind-down since 2013 and is that once RAMSI is off the scene, weapons only natural after such a long intervention.
now much less visible that it was in earlier that were hidden throughout the RAMSI There’s no doubt that RAMSI is leaving
years. Even so, RAMSI still looms large in period will once again play into local poli- Solomon Islands better equipped to man-
the minds of Solomon Islanders. tics. Recent crimes, in particular the hor- age the many challenges it continues to
RAMSI will be leaving Solomon Islands rific double-murder of a Solomon Islands face. The arrest in April this year of a gov-
in an atmosphere of general goodwill. The couple of Chinese ethnicity at Easter, have ernment minister on corruption charges
Solomon Islands government is planning done nothing to settle nerves about a post- must go at least some way to countering
a series of events to mark the end of RAMSI future. Earlier this month, clashes perceptions of impunity among Solomon
RAMSI in late June. These will be the occa- between long-term squatters and local Islands political class. At the same time, it
sion for sincere and heartfelt expressions land developers on Honiara’s crowded isn’t hard to meet impressive young and
of gratitude for RAMSI’s role in restoring and only semi-regulated periphery were emerging leaders in many walks of life.
the rule of law and the functioning of well-handled by the local police, but Beyond government, we shouldn’t forget
government in Solomon Islands. Much they’ve nevertheless served as a reminder the critical role played by local institu-
stress will—rightly—be placed on the of unresolved and intractable issues that tions, and in particular the churches, in
regional nature of RAMSI’s composition. continue to generate social stresses in providing structure to people’s lives and
Although RAMSI couldn’t have been Solomon Islands. indeed in delivering services that the state
mounted or sustained without Austra- Popular faith in Solomon Islands’ state can’t provide.
lian funding and personnel, it was the institutions more broadly is yet to recover After RAMSI departs, Australia will
participation of all of Solomon Islands’ from the Tensions period. Complaints still provide extensive advisory and train-
Pacific neighbours in RAMSI that gave it about corruption remain commonplace. ing assistance to the RSIPF, although
its particular character, and lent it genuine Cynicism about politicians and the political Australian police advisers will no longer
legitimacy in the eyes of Solomon Island- process appears alarmingly widespread. enjoy direct policing power. In a significant
ers. RAMSI’s positive reputation has, This is despite (or perhaps because of) the move, Australia is negotiating a treaty
among other things, been underpinned by fact that Solomon Islanders are increas- with Solomon Islands which would allow
a record of good behaviour and conduct ingly dependent on the goodwill of their Australia to provide assistance ‘in the case
on the part of its personnel. individual MPs through the distribution of of a major security crisis in the future’.
Alongside those warm feelings, though, ‘Constituency Development Funds’ which As RAMSI draws to a close, Solomon
it isn’t hard to detect a level of anxiety have risen to record levels (only matched, Islanders will hope that such assistance
among ordinary Solomon Islanders as on a global scale, by Solomon Islands’ is never again required. But they can be
to what might come next. The Royal neighbour Papua New Guinea). assured that it will be available.
Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) New life has also been breathed into - James Batley is a Distinguished Policy
was disarmed at the very outset of RAMSI a longstanding constitutional debate Fellow at the State, Society and Governance
and it was only on 8 May this year that with calls for a radical redistribution of in Melanesia Program at the ANU. He served
elements of the force were rearmed, in resources via a shift to a federal system as Australian High Commissioner to Solo-
anticipation of RAMSI’s departure and of government, which would see most mon Islands from 1997-1999 and as Special
following extensive training and prepara- revenues going to proposed new ‘states’. Coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission
tion. Solomon Islands police were seen to Given the interest of national politicians in to Solomon Islands from 2004-2006. Image
play an aggressively partisan role during retaining control over national resources courtesy of Department of Defence.
the euphemistically-described ‘Tensions’ (and their control over any changes to the n This article wa first published by The
that preceded RAMSI’s deployment. Constitution), that’s unlikely to happen Strategist

10 Islands Business, August 2017