DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 16, 2018; Taiwan is extending a solar streetlight program to remote outer atolls of the Marshall Islands.

“The Taiwan Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Daniel Tang handed over 100 solar streetlights, 66 batteries and $US20,000 to support the installation costs earlier this month.

“Through the National Energy Planning Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce, the Marshall Islands government received the aid from Taiwan.

“The Marshall Islands has maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 1998.

“This latest donation of solar streetlights aims to provide lighting to communities in the outer islands.

“The goal is to get local governments to use the government’s Outer Island Economic Development fund to purchase solar streetlights with the the ones donated by Taiwan to be used to match the purchases by up to 10 per atoll.

“Taiwan has donated hundreds of solar powered streetlights that are in operation in the urban centers of Majuro and Ebeye.

“The new batteries included in the latest donation would replace batteries for the existing solar streetlights in Majuro.” Copyright : RNZI 2018   (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, I was very pleased to read on Monday, April 16, 2018, that the Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Choiseul Province, Superintendent Cedor Nevol said the Media Awareness Training conducted at the Taro Police Station earlier this month would enable her officers to make more use of the power of the media to spread information to the people in the Province and rest of the country about the work of the police.

Superintendent Nevol was also quoted in the paper has having said:

“We are so privileged to be given this opportunity to learn about how we police officers can use the media to spread information and key messages about the work of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) but more specifically the activities of the police in Choiseul Province,” says PPC Nevol.

Superintendent Nevol adds: “If we the police want our communities to have confidence in us, we must be transparent about our work and one of the ways we can do this is using the media including newspapers, radio and now the social media which is accessible by our people.”

Twenty one years ago as the Commissioner of Police in the Solomon Islands when I first implemented a policy of issuing regular police media reports I was heavily criticised for doing so by certain elements of the community.

In my subsequent book ‘Policing a Clash of Cultures,’ which I wrote after leaving the Solomon Islands at the end of my two year contract in July 1999, I recorded these observations of that unwarranted and unfounded criticism.

“Policing a Clash of Cultures Part 18: The Media Relations Connection

“Excerpt from my memoirs.

“Something of a ‘first’ for police – media relations in the Solomon Islands – deciding to make forming a Police Public Relations Office (PPRO) a priority.

“The relationship between the media and the police is a tricky one; yet the objectives are the same – to inform the populace of events in an unbiased manner.

“The media is in the business of selling news and the police are in the business of protecting the public who get some of their knowledge about events which concern them, by reading the news. Reports are not interesting reading – sensationalism is interesting reading. Therefore the media do tend to play with words.

“Unfortunately certain members of the ‘international’ news media seemed to have their own agenda and deliberately produced false and misleading stories – stories indeed! Frankly the ‘local’ Islands media were much more honest in my opinion.

“I defined my position to local media representatives by telling them that my broad aims were to assist in providing information on police policies and procedures, in order to promote good public relations with all sections of the community.

“I explained that unnecessary secrecy about police work could be damaging and that the police must display openness and frankness in their dealings with the press. I also added that I considered the admission of a mistake could often evoke sympathetic understanding, but any defensive evasion could only heighten suspicion.

“I explained that it was my intention to eventually, have trained police officers handle press enquiries and to issue releases. However our situation, as they well knew, would make physical progress in this area somewhat slow. However my phone line was still operational both ways.

“While one had the determination to see a PPRO eventuate, one was handicapped from the start by not having even the basic equipment to get the project off the ground.

“One felt it vitally important to make a start and here I began by issuing regular press releases which I typed out myself on an old portable typewriter.

“Finally a computer was acquired; office equipment repaired, such as the copying machine, fax and printer. One was now able to work more effectively and efficiently.

“It was always my desire to ensure the PPRO fulfilled the aims and objectives of police policy, including guidance to police officers, but also to ensure the public would see that our ‘image’ was backed up, acted out and enhanced by the workforce.

“It was regrettable to me that one local parliamentarian in particular, and certain others took the view that by informing the public of what was happening in the police, I was ‘attention grabbing.’ One wonders why they failed to see the wider picture, or were they somewhat perturbed by this new police openness?”

It is therefore heartening, today, to see the RSIPF media savvy and fulfilling their vitally important public relations function with, seemingly, support from the community in doing so.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, as a concerned citizen I urge the Honiara City Council to address the issues of proper disposal of rubbish in the Honiara City.

Walking in and around Honiara, you would see that our town doesn’t give a good impression when there’s rubbish lying everywhere.

People have the attitude of littering and not properly disposing of rubbish in the right place.

For example last year I was walking along the walk path outside the United Church area and someone just threw a coconut fruit out of a bus.

Imposing fines should be strengthened and implemented so that people are mindful of where they are disposing there rubbish.

I want to urge Honiara city council to put more rubbish bins along the roads so that people can properly dispose there rubbish.

I also urge good citizens and people living in Honiara to dispose our rubbish in the proper place so that our town can be a clean town and will give a good impression to our visiting friend.

Velisia Lehe

USP SI Campus

DEAR EDITOR, speaking in Honiara in March on the occasion of Women’s Day, Casper Fa’sala, the Acting General Secretary of the National Council of Women, said to his audience (quote)

“Let me remind all of us again that this International Women’s Day is a reminder that gender equality is a basic human right for all women and girls to enjoy their full legal equality of opportunity and have the same life prospects as their male counterparts.”

“Solomon Islands as a State must do everything possible to ensure that the dignity of our women is never trampled upon but translate our statements and good intentions into concrete actions for the betterment of our women who represents almost half of our Solomon Islands’ population.”

I am mindful at the time of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; violence against women was recognised as a violation of their human rights, but several decades on the international community is still coming to terms in tackling the problem of physical violence and effective enforcement by bringing to bear the human rights framework on women’s private experiences.

Violence against women, and clearly evident in the Solomon Islands context, is linked to the historical inequality between men and women.

It has been argued that removing the political, economic and cultural structures which oppress women is the main way to eradicate male violence.

The SINCW gives voice for women to articulate experiences of violence and I would urge the organization to continue to define violence in all forms against women in terms of human rights. By so doing, the level of expectation about what can and should be done makes the state and civil society more accountable; the problem will then be seen as a legitimate public policy.

Thinking in terms of human rights will encourage a buildup of energy through major campaigns by local women’s organizations such as the SINCW and could lead to better systematic policies to criminalize gender violence, and to empower women seeking remedies.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 15, 2018, “The global shipping industry agreed a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions for the first time on Friday in a deal that had been hard pushed by small Pacific countries.

“The agreement came at the end of a week-long meeting of the International Maritime Organisation, a United Nations body, in London, where small countries were pitted against large shipping nations that were against such restrictions.

“Friday’s agreement calls for global shipping emissions to peak as soon as possible, and to reduce the total annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent of 2008 levels by 2050. It also calls for efforts to be pursued to phase out greenhouse gas emissions from shipping entirely.

“The IMO’s Secretary General, Kitack Lim, hailed the agreement as a “successful illustration of a spirit of cooperation,” while Pacific leaders called it historic.

“Today the IMO has made history,” said the Marshall Islands president, Hilde Heine, in a statement. “While it may not be enough to give my country the certainty it wanted, it makes it clear that international shipping will now urgently reduce emissions and play its part in giving my country a pathway to survival.”

“More than 2 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide come from the shipping industry, which is roughly equivalent to Germany’s emissions. But shipping, like aviation, has been excluded from previous environmental accords, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, because its focus was based on a system of state-level targets.

“The Pacific countries have long pushed for a reduction in shipping emissions, which have been mostly unregulated until now.

“In 2015, the then-foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, called the former IMO secretary general Koji Sekimizu “danger to the planet” after Mr Sekimizu spoke against regulating emissions in the industry. Last year, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga called for greater accountability for shipping emissions.

“But while the agreement has been hailed by these countries as a victory, it’s just as much a compromise. It falls well short of some of the lofty ambitions Pacific countries and others held going into discussions.

“The European Union and the Marshall Islands, which is the world’s second-biggest ship registry, had sought a goal of cutting emissions by 70 to 100 percent by 2050 going into the meeting. The Marshall Islands, at the conference’s opening, warned failure to achieve deep cuts would threaten the country’s survival as global warming intensifies.

“In a joint statement on Saturday, the EU’s transport commissioner Violeta Bulc and climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said that while the union had “sought a higher level of ambition, this is a good starting point that will allow for further review and improvements over time.”

“The Marshall Islands’ environment minister, David Paul, said that “to get to this point has been hard, very hard. And it has involved compromises by all countries. Not least by vulnerable island nations like my own who wanted something far, far more ambitious than this one.”

“If a country like the Marshall Islands, a country that is vulnerable to climate change, and particularly depends on international shipping, can endorse this deal, there is no credible excuse for anybody else to hold back,” he said.

“Clearly, other large shipping nations didn’t agree.

“The United States, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Panama didn’t want any targets for cutting shipping emissions at all and, according to reports, it was their opposition that saw the target dragged down to 50 percent. After the deal was signed with a clear majority, the head of the United States delegation to the talks, Jeffrey Lantz, continued to state his country’s opposition.

“We do not support the establishment of an absolute reduction target at this time,” he said in an interview with the BBC, where he also criticised the IMO’s handling of the talks, describing it as “unacceptable and not befitting this esteemed organisation.”

“A clear majority of the 100-plus nations at the IMO meeting, though, did agree with the need to cut emissions, signing an agreement which also committed to rapid innovation in the industry in terms of fuel efficiency and ship designs.

“But a final plan is not expected until 2023, and even then, the initial strategy would not be legally binding for member states.

“Still, Mr Paul said history had been made: “Our job is far from over. This is a step – an important step – on our journey to a safe and sustainable future,” he said in a statement. “There are many steps to come.” Copyright: RNZI 2018   (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, local journalist, Leslie Sanga, wrote a heart warming story which was published in the Solomon Star today, Monday, 16 April 2016 and entitled ‘Beyond Disability.’

Leslie’s story recounted how Ali Barnaba, now 38 and the new president of the Solomon Islands Deaf Association had a growing passion to look after young Solomon Islanders with hearing disabilities.

Leslie tells Barnaba’s tale with compassion and it is very moving.

I will let readers turn to the story themselves but I would like to take the opportunity of praising Barnaba for his care for others and also express my appreciation to all those institutions, associations and welfare organisations that have helped Barnaba and the people with deafness, young and old in the Solomon Islands, including the Solomon Islands Red Cross Association, the San Isidro Centre and the Solomon Islands Planned Parenting Association (SIPPA).

Thank you, too. Leslie for sharing your story with us.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT