Comments clarified

The Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) yesterday clarified the background and context of the comment by Prime Minister labeling Taiwan as ‘useless’ that appeared in our front page publication on Thursday. A statement from the OPMC said the interview was initially derived from a podcast from The Red Podcast site.  The confidential…

Kenilorea: PM’s ‘Useless’ ROC comments

IT is truly unfortunate to hear and read of the expressed sentiments by Prime Minister  Manasseh Sogavare describing the relations between Solomon Islands and Taiwan as ‘useless’.  That’s according to the Foreign Relations Committee (FRC) Chairman and Member of Parliament for East Are’are Peter Kenilorea Jnr. “It is an unfortunate choice of words to describe…

US envoy meets Malaita leaders

LEADERS from Malaita met the visiting United States ambassador Catherine Ebert-Gray, during which they discussed the economic challenges the province is facing.   The meeting took place at the Sir Paul Tovua parliamentary complex, where Ambassador Ebert-Gray reiterated U.S. commitment to the Pacific region and Solomon Islands.  Apart from economic challenges, discussions also focused on…

Bilikiki coach hopeful

Bilikiki coach Gideon Omokirio hopes Solomon Islands will compete against the World’s best at the World Beach Games in Qatar next month.  Omokirio uttered this on Wednesday after naming his final 12-men traveling.  The former Solomon Islands international named four new players in the team alongside eight core players from the recent OFC Beach Soccer Nations…

Self defense training to continue

Yun’s Taekwondo Academy will carry on from where the World Martial Arts Champions Master John Gill has left following his one week tour to the country. During the the tour to Honiara he conducted self defense seminar for total beginners. Yun’s instructor Joses Duddley said they are more than willing to teach self defense more…

REGIONAL REFLECTIONS

TESS NEWTON CAIN* Civil society voices concern about West Papua   CIVIL society groups are voicing their concerns about the situation in West Papua. Across the region, there have been numerous displays of support for self-determination for West Papuans and calls for action to protect human rights.  This comes as the Indonesian authorities have deployed…

Obstacle to economic growth

DEAR EDITOR – In 2016, the former Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, Joaquim Levy, wrote about the gap he perceived in private investment.   Although he was then writing in general terms, there were several paragraphs in his article I thought relevant to the situation in the Solomon Islands at that time.…

Taiwan China debate

DEAR EDITOR – The current strong support and intention of most of our MPs fordiplomatic switch from Taiwan to China only reflect poorly on the leadership that lackedintegrity, wisdom, maturity and visionary mindsets that blinded by false assumptions and self-beneficial interests at the cost of tax payers and resource owners in this nation. This nation…