‘SOLOMON ISLANDS MUST RETURN TO GOD’


By the time Solomon Islands celebrates its 31st independence anniversary on July 7, this year, a new Governor-General could well be occupying Government House at East Kolaa Ridge in Honiara.
The five-year term of the incumbent Sir Nathaniel Waena (GCMG KStJ CSI) ends on July 6.
Waena comes from Ulawa, in the Makira/Ulawa Province, the same province that produced the country’s first Chief Minister in the late Solomon Mamaloni.
He will be amongst a number of people vying for the vice regal position. Among those rumoured as a potential candidate is the Clerk to Parliament, Taeasi Sanga.
As the Solomon Islands Parliament decides the next Governor-General, our contributing writer, Alfred Sasako, sat down with Waena for an interview in the lounge room at Government House.
Waena describes himself as a drum pusher, a reference to his first job at Solomon Motors and Mobil Oil in Honiara in 1966 on his return from two years of training at the Lae Technical College in Papua New Guinea. He left a few years later to join the public service.
He rose to Permanent Secretary position in 1984 but resigned three years later to contest the 1988 by-election in the Ugi/Ulawa constituency. Waena won the seat by a huge margin. He resigned in 2004 after he was elected to the Governor-General’s post.
Waena shares his thoughts on the many issues confronting his nation as it tries to recover from five years of social uprising. The upheaval on the island of Guadalcanal crippled his nation’s economy, robbing tens of thousands of jobs. Here are excerpts of the interview:
Prior to your election in 2004 as Governor-General, you and I were in Parliament and I had asked you a question whether you were putting your name up for the Governor-General position?
“Yes, we were. And you were the one who asked me one day in the corridors of Parliament House whether or not I was running. To be honest with you, it hit me like a ton of bricks that day—whether I should trust your question as being genuine. But then one other new MP, the late John Garo, also raised the same matter with me after you. I knew then you were genuine.
You have a colourful CV. You received your early education, for example, from church schools. What did that give you?
“It gave me everything. Discipline, respect for parents, authorities and others. It set in stone the character, attitude to work and life in general. Church schools were merely an extension of good old-fashioned parental upbringing.”
Your own generation was one underlined by flogging as a means of enforcing discipline and other social etiquette. What happened to that good old-fashioned strict, parental upbringing?
 “Discipline and respect are something we have lost. We’ve lost the responsibility to teach our children discipline, respect for parents, authorities and others. The church has lost it, parents have lost it. Teachers have lost it. It has become elusive.”

Sir Nathaniel Waena... "We need to go back to the basics and the basics is God."

What’s the answer?
“We need to go back to the basics. And the basics is God.”
You were a senior public servant at the time of independence. Hopes and expectations were high. And it seemed, we started out really well. What went wrong?
 “We’ve lost a touch of patriotism. Instead of taking pride in our country, our young people no longer do so. Our schools no longer sing the national anthem at morning assemblies. They no longer march under the national flag. In a way, this has chipped away what once united us as Solomon Islanders.”
Do we still see ourselves as Solomon Islanders?
“No, we no longer see ourselves as Solomon Islanders. We see ourselves in terms of provincial individuals. The only time we see ourselves as Solomon Islanders is when we are outside the country. That oneness stops when we step off the plane at Henderson Airport (now Honiara Airport). This is wrong.”
Are you concerned about this deterioration in our social responsibility as a nation?.
“Yes, I am. As a matter of fact, I have told the Prime Minister that the running of schools ought to be returned to churches. The singing of the national anthem as well as marching under the national flag at schools’ morning assemblies must be made compulsory. It’s the beginning of replanting the seed of discipline, respect and patriotism that we have lost in this country.”
From memory, you appear to be the only Head of State to take time out to visit schools. Why do you do that?
“Children are a blessing to parents. They are an important building bloc in any society. The early we instill in them the idea that they are important, that they are being appreciated, the better. You see, we operate at different levels. As leaders, we need to bring ourselves to the level of our children. They cannot come up to us. We need to go down to their level. So my regular visits to schools are in recognition of children being an important building bloc. I want my visit to instill the feeling in them that they are important, that they are appreciated.”
What do you see as the major difference between your own generation and that of today?
“In my own generation, parents were firm in ensuring discipline at home. Respect was just as strong. Disrespect had no place at home and in the community. Today, looseness has replaced discipline and disrespect has taken over respect for parents, authorities and others. My own generation as I am sure yours was, was fortunate to be brought up under strict discipline by our parents. Beyond the family setting, we had the church which continued to enforce discipline by the use of school rules in and outside the classrooms and the school’s compound. We have lost that. We need to restore it. Failing that, we’re only building a nation of disorderliness”.
Any last words?
 “God said in the good old book, Return to me and I will heal the land. Our nation needs that today. There is no other way”.