Letter From Suva
Expatriates: The Good, The Bad, and The ...
Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Nollen Leni had some interesting thoughts recently, warning how foreigners can work their way into positions of influence in a country.
Mr Leni said there had recently been a new wave of foreign infiltration into the Solomon Islands and his concern was two fold: the influence these people were having on decisions which should be made by Solomon Islanders, and jobs they were filling which could be done by Solomon Islanders.
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Mr Leni said there is no use preaching good governance and accountability when foreigners are trying to make the decisions, instead of allowing Solomon Islanders to decide for themselves. This is undermining the sovereignty of the Solomon Islands, he said.
He also spoke of how some of these people infiltrate into these jobs, cultivating local contacts and using other means, such as claiming to be "volunteers". They keep qualified locals out of jobs the locals could fill.
Don't get me wrong, column readers. I am definitely NOT anti-expatriate.
All of our Pacific Islands countries continue to benefit from the skills and experience qualified expatriates bring when their expertise is wanted and needed.
There are also experienced and highly qualified expatriate executives running major companies and looking after the interests of companies who have invested in Pacific Islands countries. These expatriate executives help ensure economic growth in the country and employment for more of its citizens.
Expatriates like these are beneficial influences in our islands. No one with any common sense would argue against them being allowed in to work in a country. They should, of course, be welcomed.
Throughout the Pacific Islands there are also dedicated expatriates who have come to love the countries they work in. They stay on, commit themselves to these countries, renounce their former citizenships and take local citizenship. Many of them then contribute a lot to their adopted countries.
But I was interested in Mr Leni's comment because of the reaction to my column last month. This column, regular readers will remember, was about the growth of regional news agencies and how this is affecting how Pacific people get their news.
It was a fairly straight-forward column based on facts. But it flushed out an example of another type of an expatriate, one many locals have little time for. They are a type who can also embarrass other expatriates.
These are foreigners who arrive and become instant "experts" on and critics of things local. They give the impression they think they are superior to locals. They seem to think they know it all. They seem to think Pacific Islanders must automatically follow what they say.
The latest example is one of these people who somehow start working in Fiji as one of those "volunteers". He appears to have arrived in Fiji from Britain via Australia. He has somehow got a job as a "volunteer" with the Pacnews news service in Suva. He is doing a job which could easily be done by a local journalist.
He wasn't even mentioned in my column. But after it appeared, he attacked me personally by sending me nasty e-mails. He called me a racist and xenophobic. He also widely circulated an "open letter" with all sorts of misleading and untrue allegations.
I've also seen a nasty so-called "story" he sent out earlier about the local news media, but which was really character assassination on people in it.
How strange. This rather unusual fellow is from either Britain or Australia, depending on who you are talking to.
Don't get me wrong again. I've no problems with anyone responding to my columns, especially if they respond to the opinions, facts and issues in the column.
But I can't help but wonder how Australian or British journalists would react if someone from the Pacific Islands turned up in their country and started carrying on like this fellow is carrying on in Fiji.
I don't think any Pacific Islands journalist would be so arrogant or nasty.
Unfortunately, we Pacific Islanders sometimes don't say anything when people do this to us though. This could be because we are too polite, or we are still influenced by our colonial past, where we were expected to follow what our colonial "masters" said.
But we should now be way past those "colonial" days.
Maybe it is time someone in Fiji started asking the same sort of questions Mr Leni has been asking in the Solomon Islands. They are very relevant.
