A Two Hundred Million Dollar Damage Bill

The rioting, looting and inferno that followed the election of Solomon Islands new Prime Minister April 18 was beyond the imagination of reasonable-thinking Solomon Islanders.

Chinatown burns during the riots in Honiara, Solomon Islands. [Photo: Alison Ofotalau]

Most of the businesses looted and burnt belonged to business people of Chinese origin. Only a few structures belonging to locals and descendants of World War Two-era Chinese immigrants were spared and many of these were looted. A number of buildings at other locations in Honiara were also looted and burnt to the ground including the Pacific Casino Hotel and the Supreme Casino.

While the crisis claimed the businesses and livelihoods of Chinese and Solomon Islanders alike, it also claimed the leadership of Snyder Rini, who was forced to resign just one week after taking the Prime Ministership when it became evident he didn't have the numbers to defeat a no-confidence motion. His replacement was still to be named at the time of posting.

Trouble had begun brewing when it became evident that Rini, the deputy Prime Minister in the former government and MP for the Morovo seat in the Western Province, would become the new Prime Minister. His opponents alleged that the governing coalition was a "government for the Chinese" and that Chinese money had gained the coalition power.

A crowd gathers outside Parliament House to await the results of the voting for the new prime minister. [Photo: Walter Nalagu]

An anxious crowd waited for more than four hours April 18 to see the doors at the rear entrance of parliament swing open to reveal the newly elected Prime Minister, Snyder Rini. The crowd didn't wait for the Governor General's formal announcement. Instead, over 300 people chanted the name of Job Dudley Tausinga, the candidate that had lost to Mr Rini. They allowed members of the losing coalition to leave the parliament building but refused to let government MPs and the Prime Minister out.

Then Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) police started arriving in numbers. Dressed in protective gear and armed with tear gas canisters, they attempted to move the crowd away from the front entrance of parliament. That action proved injurious for some of their members who were not in protective gear. Some sustained injuries, one quite serious enough to be flown to Australia for treatment. Tear gas canisters were then fired and the crowd went wild.

More than ten police vehicles in the parking lot were stoned--not a single glass window was spared. Others were torched. From parliament, the crowd made its way to Chinese shops in the central Honiara area. There police tried to stop the tide but the crowd overpowered them and burnt a police vehicle. By then, night was falling and the 48-hour inferno that was to reduce the physical landscape of Honiara had begun.

The people's preference Job Duddley Tausinga (in black)--who lost the vote for PM--tries in vain to calm the angry crowd gathered outside Parliament House. [Photo: SIBC]

The provisional damage bill as a result of the riots has been put at nearly SI $200 million (US$26 million). Spokesman for the Chinese Association in Honiara, Patrick Leong has put the cost of damages in the Chinatown area alone at around SI$60 million (US$7 million)

Leong himself lost a 140 room hotel, the Pacific Casino Hotel and a Casino building, at an estimated cost of US$8.5 million. When interviewed by Pacific Magazine, he declared tearfully, "I don't know whether I 'm going to continue to invest in the country, because I had spent about 60 to 65 million dollars on my investments. That was destroyed in less than 10 hours and now I have nothing left.

"And also I have 600 staff with me and you know what will happen now, they all got no jobs," he continued. "Within the next two weeks they all will suffer and their children will have nothing."

Leong appealed for an end to the destruction. "Please don't harm us anymore," he said. "We are Chinese, but most of us are also Solomon Islanders. We are all friends so please don't harm us anymore, otherwise we will all go home.

"One thing I want to let everybody know is that most or all of the Chinese do not (get) involve(d) in politics," he pointed out. "They are just business people, not trying to control government. Solomon Islands people control the government and parliament."

Set by rioters, fire consumes a building in downtown Honiara, Solomon Islands. [Photo: Alison Ofotalau]

Leong said the immediate overwhelming feeling of those affected is for them to leave the country. Immediately after the riots they were being accommodated at the Honiara Police Club.

Leong puts the total Chinese population in Solomon Islands at around 3000.

There was little evidence that things would go this way during the polling itself, although allegations of Chinese/Taiwanese involvement in politics had featured in the lead up to the actual ballot.