The following documentary film by ABC Foreign Correspondent is based on my investigative work in the Solomon Islands during the 1990s.
Documentary film about Duran's investigative work
In Solomon Islands' Melanesian cultures, corruption is hereditary. And to fight it by using the Western inspired media and journalism is amounted to treason. The attached documentary is an attestation to that observation. The end result was - I was treated like a criminal. It triggered hatred and verbal threats against me and members of my immediate family for simply trying to investigate and tell the truth. I was also verbally vilified by my former employer and few colleagues. They engaged in a smear campaign to discredit my professional credibility, purely because I was an embarrassment to them. I did not accept bribes, nor take a backward step in taking on the fight to corrupt politicians and Asian loggers.
It was a sad case of character assassination by colleagues and a former employer, whom we should have been working together to prosecute the case against corrupt politicians, government officials and police officers. But instead, they allied with the devil they know. My initial investigation and the publication of a number of highly controversial articles about corruption in Solomon Islands were finally led to the termination of my employment with the Solomon Star English newspaper.
Besides the threatens of physical harm to me and my family, Asian loggers and corrupt politicians were also using lawyers to harass and bully my publisher, and the manager of sales, who was the wife of the publisher, to tell me to stop writing stories about them and they'd threatened to withhold advertising, worth thousands of dollars.
On hindsight after 20 years of observing Solomon Islands Melanesian politics, it's obvious that the country could have avoided the ethnic tension and its aftermaths, if the media (publishers and local journos) were courageous to prosecute the case. That missed opportunity had led to the current situation - a nation struggling to recover from the aftermaths of the coup on 5 June 2000. Since then, armed thugs have virtually controlled the government, transforming it to be a hub for criminals to exert their authorities over the country. As of now, political leaders are under the whim of Asian and Chinese loggers, let alone Asian miners.
Corruption is now rooted in the administration and the executive government of the country. Any attempt to weed corruption out of government institutions could destroy the very fabric of the country's government. One of the reasons is the very politicians and senior bureaucrats, who were implicated in major corruption cases in the past and the coup of June 2000, are still calling the shots in the administration and executive government. So, a change of government is just liken to going from one nightmare to another.
Watch the documentary film: it is a testimony to my endeavor to hold corrupt leaders accountable. My reward for doing my job was to be threatened with death threats, bullied, harassed and attacked on my professional credibility by former colleagues. In essence, I paid the price for exposing corruption. Fighting corruption in Solomon Islands is a lonely journey and can be fatal.
My greatest regret is I brought my cultural virtues and norms, which are hereditary, and applied them under the Melanesian Way that rooted on black magic mentality.
Documentary film about Duran's investigative work
In Solomon Islands' Melanesian cultures, corruption is hereditary. And to fight it by using the Western inspired media and journalism is amounted to treason. The attached documentary is an attestation to that observation. The end result was - I was treated like a criminal. It triggered hatred and verbal threats against me and members of my immediate family for simply trying to investigate and tell the truth. I was also verbally vilified by my former employer and few colleagues. They engaged in a smear campaign to discredit my professional credibility, purely because I was an embarrassment to them. I did not accept bribes, nor take a backward step in taking on the fight to corrupt politicians and Asian loggers.
It was a sad case of character assassination by colleagues and a former employer, whom we should have been working together to prosecute the case against corrupt politicians, government officials and police officers. But instead, they allied with the devil they know. My initial investigation and the publication of a number of highly controversial articles about corruption in Solomon Islands were finally led to the termination of my employment with the Solomon Star English newspaper.
Besides the threatens of physical harm to me and my family, Asian loggers and corrupt politicians were also using lawyers to harass and bully my publisher, and the manager of sales, who was the wife of the publisher, to tell me to stop writing stories about them and they'd threatened to withhold advertising, worth thousands of dollars.
On hindsight after 20 years of observing Solomon Islands Melanesian politics, it's obvious that the country could have avoided the ethnic tension and its aftermaths, if the media (publishers and local journos) were courageous to prosecute the case. That missed opportunity had led to the current situation - a nation struggling to recover from the aftermaths of the coup on 5 June 2000. Since then, armed thugs have virtually controlled the government, transforming it to be a hub for criminals to exert their authorities over the country. As of now, political leaders are under the whim of Asian and Chinese loggers, let alone Asian miners.
Corruption is now rooted in the administration and the executive government of the country. Any attempt to weed corruption out of government institutions could destroy the very fabric of the country's government. One of the reasons is the very politicians and senior bureaucrats, who were implicated in major corruption cases in the past and the coup of June 2000, are still calling the shots in the administration and executive government. So, a change of government is just liken to going from one nightmare to another.
Watch the documentary film: it is a testimony to my endeavor to hold corrupt leaders accountable. My reward for doing my job was to be threatened with death threats, bullied, harassed and attacked on my professional credibility by former colleagues. In essence, I paid the price for exposing corruption. Fighting corruption in Solomon Islands is a lonely journey and can be fatal.
My greatest regret is I brought my cultural virtues and norms, which are hereditary, and applied them under the Melanesian Way that rooted on black magic mentality.
No comments:
Post a Comment