OPPOSITION MP Peter Kenilorea Jnr says the philosophical view that we are a country conceived but not yet born is a curse on our nation.
Speaking in Parliament during the TRC Report debate this week, Kenilorea said we are a nation’s own nation and we should be talking about our modern Solomon Islands.
He said the continuous reprise of what he described as a philosophical point in Parliament is a curse on our beloved Solomon Islands.
“If we are a country conceived but not yet born, then what are we doing here?” Kenilorea, whose father the late Sir Peter Kenilorea, was the nation’s founding prime minister, asked.
“Mr Speaker sir, what are you doing there? You are the speaker of the Parliament of the Solomon Islands, born in 1978.
“All the ministers of the crown sitting here, if you doubt that we are born, then why did you run for the elections in the first place?
“We are the national leaders of the sovereign nation of the Solomon Islands.”
Kenilorea said such sentiments should be left to academics at SINU to debate and not leaders of this country.
National Parliament meeting this month.
“Put a panel up there.
“Get our academics there, let them argue this point: ‘Are we born already?”’
“Let the Facebook people discuss it on Facebook. But for us leaders of a nation to start questioning our own country, then what are we doing?
“What are we doing here, what am I doing here?
“That cannot be allowed to continue Mr. Speaker.
“It cannot be allowed to continue because for me that is a curse. Every time we mention that, that is a curse that we are not born yet?
“What is it? Are we sick? Is our mother sick? Is it a medical condition?
“No! It is time we see that quote for what it is,” the Opposition MP said.
Kenilorea said it is a philosophical position and it is not fact.
He said the more leaders repeat it in Parliament, the more our population will hold on to the curse that we are not yet born.
“This is Solomon Islands. We have our flaws; we are not perfect, far from it. What is incumbent upon us is that we have to rise, overcome,” Kenilorea said.
“I worked in the United Nations for 18 years.
“Everyday I go to work I see the Solomon Islands flag fly with 193 other nations. We stand shoulder to shoulder.
“And I come here, to the highest house to hear doubts about us not being born.
“We must sort this out. What are we saying to ourselves Sir?
“The least that I expect as an MP for East Are Are in my first term sitting here, is to hear that others agree that we are sitting saying, yeah, I am representing a nation.
“Sure we have problems. We obviously struggle, but we are a nation, a modern Solomon Islands,” he said.
The notion “Solomon Islands is a nation conceived but not born” was coined by a former prime minister, the late Solomon Mamaloni.