MALAITA Premier Daniel Suidani says he’s not happy with the Deputy Prime Minister and MP for East Malaita Manasseh Maelanga over his statement describing people back in Malaita province as “illiterate.”
Maelanga made the statement during his sine die motion speech to Parliament, Tuesday.
Premier Suidani urges Maelanga “not to misuse parliamentary privileges to unfairly label people in Malaita as illiterate”.
“To call our people illiterate is disrespectful and unbecoming of a national leader,” Suidani said.
He asked Maelanga to check the definition of the term “illiterate” before using it to describe Malaitans residing in the province.
“Being illiterate means undedicated, uninformed, ignorant, unschooled, untrained and untaught.
“Malaitans here at home do not deserve to be called this,” Suidani stated.
He reminded Maelanga there are many literate people in Malaita including doctors, teachers, engineers, nurses, accountants, entrepreneurs, traditional chiefs, elders, church leaders, police officers and many more.
“These are the people who toil day-in and day-out in their walks of life to serve Malaita and Solomon Islands.
“How dare you stoop so low to label your own Malaita people with such despicable description?
“You should be ashamed of what you have said.”
Suidani said Maelanga “owes the people of Malaita an apology because no one back home in Malaita deserves your condescending statement”.
“The best Maelanga could have done was to use his status to help Malaita Province develop and improve people’s livelihood.
“Yet, he chose to use the floor of parliament to belittle the people of Malaita.”
Suidani urges Maelanga to choose his language carefully, “because words can be hurtful”.
“Maelanga’s irresponsible statement implies that he is more literate and therefore better than people here in Malaita.”
He reminds the MP for East Malaita that “as humans we all have our abilities and inabilities and no one deserves to be ridiculed”.
The premier asks Maelanga to use his parliamentary privileges responsibly, especially as a national leader who represents the people of Malaita.
He invites Maelanga to use his position in the national government to engage the Malaita Provincial Government to ensure that proposals such as the Bina Harbor Project are implemented.
He also reminds the Deputy Prime Minister to honor a pledge to “stand with Malaita for its development” that Maelanga made at a meeting in Auki recently.
