SISA to investigate allegation
An urgent investigation will be launched into the “unruly behaviour” of a group of Solomon Islands students who are reportedly causing nuisance to their neighbours in Fiji.
President of the Solomon Islands Students Association (SISA) in Fiji Elijah Raomae said they will work together with the education attaché to investigate the claim on Monday.
“The allegations are serious and paint a bad picture of our country,” Raomae said in a statement he issued to the Sunday Star in response to the story.
Former assistant special coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) Fijian MasiLomaloma exposed the students’ behaviour on social media on Saturday.
In his Facebook post, Lomaloma, who had served with RAMSI for 12 years, and was now back in Fiji, said:
“I have a group of SI students renting a house just behind my house and the neighbourhood never goes to sleep for two to three weekends when these students receive their allowances.
“They are certainly not good ambassadors of Solomon Islands.
“Maybe these students be taught how to drink. The lot that lived behind my house transform to a pack of animals when they are drunk.
“They shout, they sing, they fight and indecently expose themselves to the neighbourhood and they are just total nuisance.
“On one occasion they attacked a young Fijian boy and this sparked a retaliatory response from the Fijian community in the area which was only broken up when the Police intervened.
“Most of us in the neighbourhood are Christians and we respect Sunday but I am not sure about these Solomon Islands students, they just have no respect at all for others.
“They think that they live in a jungle. These are not boys only we also have girls amongst them.
“As you know I have lived in the Solomon Islands for 12 years and during that time I have not seen anything like this whilst I was there.
“Two Sundays ago I was standing on the back veranda trying to ask them to keep the noise down.
“From where I was standing I could see a girl and a boy doing it in full view of us and our neighbours.
“When I asked them to draw the curtains I was told “mind your own F… business.”
Lomaloma said h was going to see the Solomon Islands High Commissioner in Fiji Patteson Oti this week to raise his concern about the issue.
A disappointed Raomae yesterday said all Solomon Islands students in Fiji are victimised and affected by the alleged unruly behaviour of these few students.
“We will follow up on this issue and verify all the reports and if proven true then we’ll deal with the responsible students accordingly,” he said.
Raomae added they will issue statement on the matter as soon as they verify the reports.
He urged Solomon Islands students in Fiji to be good ambassadors of Solomon Islands by refraining from unruly behaviour.
“Please don’t behave in any way that tarnishes the good image of our beloved country. Enough is enough.”
He said as students they should focus on their studies so that they can return home and contribute to nation-building.
“If you think you come here just to enjoy yourselves then you are wrong.
“There are hundreds of students who are crying to be given government scholarships but were not considered,” he said.
By LESLEY SANGA
