Mission & Justice

Joy Basi; 24/9/08

National flags of a country are a symbol of a country’s pride, something people have often taken for granted. Have you ever wondered about the Solomon Islands flag and its history? According to research, the Solomon Islands flag was adopted in 1977 one year before Independence from Britain and although you may have thought it was a design from a Solomon Islander, this is not so. The Solomon Island flag was designed by a New Zealander who was a Visual Arts Master at the KG VI school from 1974-1978. According to his reports two flags were approved by the leaders then, following national applications for a suitable national flag.

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24/9/08

The Former Chairman of the Solomon Islands National Peace Council, Mr. Paul Tovua, yesterday joined police and RAMSI officials to bring a message of peace to the Guadalcanal Weathercoast. Mr. Tovua, who has long been associated with peace building, appealed to the people of Purepure village on the Weathercoast to help the police and RAMSI resolve long-term law and order issues. “The current issues are affecting the community and so the choice is yours,” Mr. Tovua said. “How can this problem be resolved? It really is up to the community.”

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Joanna Sireheti; 23/9/08

Honiara resident, John Keha, has questioned and challenged the Honiara City Council to keep a promise it made in January that it will introduce and enforce by-laws against betel nut chewers for spitting in areas used by the public in Honiara. Mr. Keha said that during the public clean up campaign in January the leaders of the council’s clean up campaign said that they were going to bring in shortly their proposed anti betel nut legislation and that people who did not comply with those by-laws would be fined. John Keha stated that 2008 is coming to an end however nothing has been done about the promises made by the Chairman of the campaign committee, Mr. Tom Lolemae.

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22/9/08

Consultation between police and community leaders on the Weathercoast has lead to three men being charged with attempted murder. The three men were charged yesterday in Honiara by detectives from the Solomon Islands Police Force Serious Crime Squad after they surrendered to officers based at Avuavu. The men were transported to Honiara yesterday. Police will allege the 26-year-old man, 31-year-old man and 39-year-old man were involved in the serious attack on a RAMSI police officer on 2 September 2008 at Avuavu.

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Joy Basi, 22/9/08

A 2nd Joint Border Meeting between PNG and Solomon Islands began this morning at the Iron Bottom Sound Hotel. The meeting is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and is expected to go on until the end of the week. In his key note address today, the acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Hon. Seth Gukuna welcomed the presence of Chiefs and delegates from the border areas of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.-”Your presence will provide the meeting insights of the issues involved for formulation and development of a robust border arrangement,” said Hon. Gukuna.

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Gina Maka’a; 22/9/08

The ‘Weto’ dance, originally from Ulawa in the Makira and Ulawa Province is a traditional dance that is said to only pass to the next generation through a dream. The Ulawa Island is situated about 80km from the Makira Islands and the Weto dance was said to have come from Maloupaina, one of the deserted three sister islands in Ulawa. According to the people of Makira and Ulawa Province, the ‘Weto’ dance routine is only revealed to a certain chosen person in a dream.

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19/9/08

Police have charged a 25-year-old man in relation to the murders of four people and attempted murders of 15 others in a roadside ambush that occurred at Dereni in East Guadalcanal on the 3rd of September 2002. The 25-year-old is the third man charged in relation to this incident. A 28-year-old man was charged in July and a man aged in his twenties was charged in August for involvement in the attack. Detectives from the Serious Crime Squad interviewed the 25year old male today and he was charged with four counts of murder and 15 counts of attempted murder.

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Gina Maka’a; 19/9/08

Have you caught a glance of the Nguzu Nguzu symbol and wondered what it stood for? The traditional Nguzu Nguzu is an icon for Western Province people. It is usually donned in front of the traditional Western Province War Canoe called the Tomoko. The Nguzu Nguzu was said to have been used to ward off dangerous sea spirits particularly that of the Kesoko sea spirit. The figurehead is said to be a protector of the Tomoko riders as they travel to conquer surrounding islands during the head hunting days.

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Julia Medew; 18/9/08

Australia must act to prevent HIV epidemics in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Papua New Guinea, from worsening and creeping onto its shores, the head of the Red Cross global HIV program says. Dr Bernard Gardiner, an Australian based in the Red Cross’ Geneva headquarters, said a recent cluster of infections among heterosexual Australian men who had visited PNG, reinforced why Australia could not be complacent about neighbouring epidemics. “Australia cannot sit back and wait for this to become a big problem,” he said. “It’s a really dangerous notion for Australia to treat itself as though it is somehow wrapped in cotton wool and protected from the reality of the global HIV epidemic. It isn’t. As a rich country, we need to play our part.”

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Madeleine Arek; 17/9/08

Papua New Guinea will not achieve its millennium development goal of stopping and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, according to the United Nations (UN). This was because the country still had a long way to go in meeting its 2010 goal of scaling towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support set two years ago at the UN General Assembly. However, UNAIDS country coordinator Tim Rwabuhemba said it would be unpractical to even attempt to achieve these goals as it would hurt current efforts to curb poverty, improve nutrition, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and curb the spread of malaria and tuberculosis among others. He said the human rights agenda had to be dealt in synchronism with HIV/AIDS and vice-versa and it would not be practical to deal with it any other way.

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