Dear Editor – In response to Beu’s interview on Radio New Zealand, 22 May 2017, I’m writing in my capacity as a mutually concerned Temotu Leader and a Land Owner on Nendo (Santa Cruz).
On the onset, Beu let us remind you that we are not outsiders. Outsiders are the miners that your government brought it to mine our Land.
For a Temotu leader to utter that Honiara based Temotuans are outsiders in the fight against Bauxite Mining on Nendo is a slap on the face.
In a Radio New Zealand interview on 22 May 2017, Brown Beu claimed the “the people of Temotu Province who have given consent are ready for this. The people who are against this prospecting are all working class, and they____re all in town. They should be assisting in some form, but they are not. Let me tell you that these people as far as we in Temotu are concerned, we____re not listening to them, full stop.”
As a Temotu leader in my own right and a Land Owner, Beu’s claim merely speaks to the fact that he lacks leadership vision. If he lives a leaderful life he should listen to people’s cry against mining. Beu’s statement that Temotuans residing in Honiara are the opponents of mining is totally misleading.
The consent referred to in his interview was not a well informed consent but in many cases were hijacked. I do not want to labour into the legal flaws of this process as this is not the subject of this article.
Be reminded that Temotuans and particularly Nendo people working and living in Honiara are Landowners and you cannot use our non-physical presence on our Land as a basis to term us as outsiders. The fact that he called us “outsiders” is a testament that Beu does not have any knowledge about the Nendo Customary Land Tenure System.
Your last statement that “we’re not listening to them, full stop,” speaks for itself that you are an arrogant person not a leader.
To hear this coming from a trained theologian and a priest is very humiliating. According to the principle of stewardship, Beu as a theologian should lead the way in protecting the environment. Mining in other parts of the country has proved to be very disastrous yet you (Beu) saw it fit for our very small island on Nendo.
Finally, your “not listening tactic” as expressed in the Radio New Zealand interview is very bulling and we are not listening to you either, Full Stop!
Dr Jack Maebuta
