 Welcome to Think Tech Hawaii. This is a new program on Think Tech Hawaii called Indo-Pacific Compass where we track current events and affairs happening in the Indo-Pacific region. Joining us today is an investigative journalist in the Solomon Islands. His name is Ophani Aramai. He has a brand new investigative news website called Indepth Solomon. So welcome, Ophani. Thank you, Chris. Okay. Well, as everyone knows, I'm Christopher Cattrell. I'm an independent journalist. I'm based in Bangkok and I went to the Solomon Islands last November and I witnessed some of the great and interesting and fascinating and perplexing trends happening to infrastructure, society, culture, and politics in the Solomon Islands. The last few days, we've seen the Solomon Islands enter the world stage with a very historic trip by Prime Minister Sugavari to Beijing with Xi Jinping, as well as bringing delegates and athletes to People's Republic of China. So this is causing a lot of conversations in the Solomon Islands, Pacific and internationally. So Mr. Ophani Aramai, could you talk to us a little bit, one, about yourself as a journalist, secondly, about your website, and then third, how you're going to be covering these major current events at the Indo-Pacific? Right. Thanks, Chris. And thank you for inviting me to be part of this show. It's truly a privilege indeed for me to be on this show today. I have been a journalist for over 20 years, well almost 30 years now, working mostly in the print media here in the Solomon Islands. I had a brief stint in the Republic of Palau, where I worked for about two years there on a newspaper. But mostly I spent my time working here in the Solomon Islands. I've been an editor of the Solomon Star previously. Two years ago I was with the other paper called The Island Sun, where I was also the news editor up until towards the end of last year when I decided to step out and start in-depth solomons. It's an investigative newsroom established specifically to fill up a gap that has been absent, that has been vacant or void from the journalism landscape here in the Solomon Islands. I've been on both newspapers all these times, all these years. And one of the difficulties, the papers here, in particular as journalists who are working on these papers is that we just don't have the time, we don't have the resources, we don't have the manpower to engage, to involve in in-depth reporting, to pursue investigative journalism because we have daily deadlines to meet, we have to get the paper out tomorrow. So there is simply a lack of, well, an absence of investigative journalism in this country and in-depth solomons was established to do exactly that, to fill up the gap. Yeah, so that's basically what in-depth solomons is here to do. Okay, so you launched in May 2023 with in-depth solomons as you've explained, how did you put your team of journalists together and what have you been able to accomplish so far just in the past two months? Because I think you have filled the gap actually in terms of my reading in the media landscape. Right, so I have with me right now a team of three, including myself. We are, all of us are journalists, my other two colleagues are my former reporters at the Solomons Star newspaper. Then they went over and do their studies overseas, they can buy it and work with the national broadcaster. And then when they had me talking about this new initiative, they expressed their interest to become part of what we, part of in-depth solomons. Then I actually secured a small startup brand from an organization called OCCRP, Organized Crime Reporting Project. I think most of you may have heard of that it's a network of investigative journalists that sort of get us up and running. Solomons Island is a is a country with a very small economy that does not support, cannot support a profitable news organization. So I have to secure this small brand for a start and then hopefully we can generate some income as we move along. So I have a team of three, we had this small obvious since we launched our operation. I think one thing I need to explain is that we are not daily, we don't produce daily news. Of course from time to time we would put up a couple of stories on our news website, but our core activity, our focus is on investigative journalism. We have identified a couple of stories that we are currently investigating. The two most sort of big ones that we are looking into now, I can say it's to do with the unexplained wealth of some of our politicians as well as an investigative story looking into a relationship between the mining industry and some of our politicians. So those are the two immediate stories that we are sort of putting our focus on right now. Okay, that's exactly what we're doing. Seeing the development of the stories as certainly mining as well as illegal logging, fishing rights, these sorts of issues, as well as transparency of governance coming to sharper focus. Speaking of transparency of governance, the trip this week has to go to Beijing has had opposition leader, Matthew Whale called for greater transparency. So before we jump fully into that, could we possibly talk a little bit about one, how you might be reporting and looking at the Pacific Games from an investigative journalist's perspective? And then secondly, what does that this trip mean to those Pacific Games? Well, first of all, Chris, this current trip that our Prime Minister is on in Beijing came, you know, as a bit of a surprise to many of us, say it has never been announced, you know, it's a standard practice here in the Solomon's over the years that before our Prime Minister takes an overseas trip, they would normally issue a statement announcing to the people of this country that the Prime Minister is going to this particular country to attend this particular meeting and so forth. That was not the case with the current trip that our Prime Minister is on. I don't know for what reason why they decided not to inform the public about what is a significant overseas trip for our Prime Minister. We at the in depth Solomon learned of the trip a couple of days before the Prime Minister and his delegation departed. We have been sort of asking questions, asking, you know, always also about it, but they were all tightly about it. They just don't want to you know, release any information about it. But we eventually got confirmation from various sources within the government and got a story out a day before the Prime Minister flies out. So it's, I don't know why, you know, why the Prime Minister decided to keep it, that secret it's something that he's always also have to explain, but it's quite weird and I'm not surprised that, you know, the opposition leader came out and called on the Prime Minister to be open up and transparent about, you know, the trip and the agreements or whatever he's going to to sign with China while he's out there. And the trip is ongoing. So we'll see more obviously in the coming days. Have you been able to speak with any of the athletes or other business delegates who are on this important mission? Well, one of our reporters did prior to the athletes departing. They've actually, you know, hosted and the government and the games organizing committee here actually held a kind of a sending of ceremony, sending of function to farewell the athletes. And it's, as far as, well, personally, it's a good thing, you know, for athletes to go out there not only to China, but to Australia, New Zealand to prepare for the games. It's important for the preparation, I think. And, but, you know, this, those who have been going over to Australia, to New Zealand, have been doing that since the early, since the beginning of the year. The 80 that have left to China, you know, have just gone over now and you know, it's, it's, it becomes a big thing for this government, you know, making a big event out of it, you know, organizing a farewell ceremony to send them over there. So it becomes probably that's how they want it to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Will you be interviewing these athletes when they return? I mean, they're there for 90 days and I'm not mistaken. They will definitely be on the lookout, you know, when they come back to see how they, how their preparation was like. But in as far as investigative journalism in relation to the games, something that we will be looking out for is the amount is, you know, how the millions of dollars that the government that the donor partners have contributed towards the game, how has it been utilized, how has it been spent you know, we have experiences in the past when this country hosted original events like the Pacific cultural festival where huge amounts of money that were, you know, put into organizing these events have been, you know, unwisely spent, have been abused, have been, you know, reallocated and all that. So it causes a lot of, causes a lot of public outcry during those years. Now, I think this would be something that from an investigative point of view, we will be looking into as we move closer to the games and in particular after the games just to see how, you know, funds, public funds in particular, donor funds have been spent to organize all this. You mentioned public outcry before a bit. How is the public, how are the people in the streets, country, towns, fishing villages, across the Salam Islands, how are they talking about this trip and what does it mean to them when they have voices of non-transparency coming out? Yeah, you see a lot of, a lot of noise probably. Well, you see a lot of Salman Islanders talking about the current trip, particularly on social media. That's where you get to see how Salman Islanders normally react to government decisions, government outcomes and all that. Now, with the current trip that Brian is currently on, a lot of people have been sort of calling and talking about, you know, from now, from over the past few days, there has been, there have been statements being issued from Beijing by the Prime Minister's press check telling the nascent that they have signed this, they have signed this agreement, they have signed that particular document or that, you know, the paper and so forth. So, the reaction from members of the public here is that, so are those documents, so are those agreements. That's what we want to, we want to see so that we know what's in there. You may have, you know, come across previously of this security agreement that our government signed with China, with Beijing, which we have not seen its content up to this day. And now they are again talking about signing various agreements and, you know, Salman Islanders are saying, well, that's fine, that's fine with us, but so as these, the contents of these agreements, so that we know what's in there, what's in there for us, you know. So, as a journalist, what are the sort of procedures that you need to, are there, for example, America Way, the Freedom of Information Act, do you have anything like that that will help you empower you to get a hold of these documents for transparency, as well as interviews with cabinet members? Right. Unfortunately, we don't have that, you know, the kind of law that would empower us or get us to have access to those information. I hope one day we will have, because, you know, our leaders here have been talking about freedom of information bill that the government intends to bring to parliament, but that has not happened thus far. But, you know, as a journalist, I would sort of like the government to, I mean, our political leaders to be open up, to be transparent about all this. If what they are doing is for the good and for the interest of our people and nation, why are we hiding this? And why are we hiding all these agreements from people of this country seeing them? If they are for the good of our nation, by all means, let us know about them and what's in there for us. I think as taxpayers, citizens of this nation, we have the right to see those agreements. Okay. That's a very important comment you just made there regarding about the whole, this is a whole of society issue. So, how does this, again, put a burden on you as a journalist to go after illegal activities, organized crime, illegal gambling, these sorts of issues? Investigative journalism in the Solomon Island is not easy, like elsewhere. Okay. But, you know, I think compared to the past and today, a lot of Solomon Islanders are now concerned about the welfare of this country. And from recent experiences, a lot of Solomon Islanders are prepared to talk about things that are happening within the system, across the system. And it isn't easy because by doing that, they are putting their jobs at stake. But I have been, over the past months, been talking to Solomon Islanders who are prepared to provide information, who prepare to share their views, their opinions on particular issues that we are looking into on various topics of public concern. So, a lot of Solomon Islanders nowadays, especially the younger ones who are coming out from university and join the government and have now taken up positions of responsibility and who want to see a country that is free of corruption, a country that makes out justice for all, are preparing to talk to us about the issues that we are looking into. They prepare to provide information that we have been asking for. So, I think there's hope for investigative journalism in this country. It's not easy, but it's something as an investigative journalist, as an investigative news organization, we will be going after we will be pursuing no matter what. Okay, no matter what. So, there is positive public response to your new platform, a willingness by officials, I think maybe at the local level, and the public relate to start sharing and building a stronger conversation. That's the general gist of what you got done in the last two months. But do you have a bigger roadmap for the coming year towards the games? Yep. Going forward towards the games, we have a lot to do. Right now, we are a very small organization with only three journalists. We are looking at building this platform. We are looking at building in-depth Solomon into a news outlet that is truly independent, that is fearless, and that Solomon Islanders, that the donor community, that those out there who trust, we want to build this to be a trusted news source. We know that the games that are coming up is a significant public event for our country, but we are also conscious of the fact that it has to be done for the best of our people in our country and not just to please someone out there. So, we are very much looking forward to covering the games and not only reporting on any successes, but also looking at, as I've said earlier on, the big money that's been spent on preparing for this event. Do you have an idea of how much money has been presently invested or that won the stadium or other elements around it? Well, the stadium, as we all know, is fully funded by China and other donors like Indonesia. I think Papua New Guinea has also contributed towards building the infrastructures. The Australian government as well as other donors have contributed of funds towards preparing the athletes and building facilities that will help towards hosting the game. It's thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars that thousands of millions. Well, sorry. Yeah, it's millions of dollars that the government has spent to host the games. And right now, it's the priority of the government and recently people have been prying out about the conditions of our roads here and the terrible conditions of our road. Why are the contractors not coming back to fill up the potholes, repair the roads? And one of the excuses that the government gave was that you know, there's lack of funds because the Pacific Games is the priority for the government and most of the government funds have been spent on preparing for the event. Yeah. Well, putting this on the world's stage, really this creates a lot of interest across the Pacific Islands Blue Continent and there's going to be a lot of media interest in the coming months. Is it ready to host this level of journalism, if you will, with Australia Broadcasting Corporation, already New Zealand, Fiji Broadcast Corporation, CNN, BBC? Is it ready for this media ecosystem to arrive with the big camera, if you will? It's going to be huge. It's going to be big, huge. The level of media coverage that we expect here, the organizing committee, the Games Organizing Committee itself has been preparing for this. We at Indep Salmons are a very tiny part of the whole setup, but I think it's the Games Organizing Committee that has assembled a large group of media personnel who will deal with the the expected amount of journalists who will be coming from across the region to cover the Games. Our national broadcaster, the S.I.B.C., will be playing a leading role in all these. Our media association of Salmon Island, I think, will be very much part of the processes leading towards the Games. I agree that the amount of media interest in this event is going to be huge, and we expect large delegations from across the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand, coming here to report and cover the Games. Okay. So for Hawaii, how can Hawaii media, far from Team Tech Hawaii, think about these Games? And why are they important for viewers in Hawaii to pay attention to? Well, I think when you look at what's going on across the Pacific at this time in terms of the geopolitical competition that's been going on, Hawaii as part of the U.S., as well as being a Pacific island itself, has an interest in this. This is a Pacific thing, and Hawaii being a Pacific island, I think will have an interest. Hawaiians will definitely have an interest in the Games that's going to be held here in November. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you. Do you have any parting words of wisdom? We're up for time now about your message for Injet Salamons and what readers can hope for in the coming months. Right. Thanks, Chris. In-depth Salamons, as I briefly introduced earlier on, is a new outlet. We started out of nothing, but we wanted to become the news organization of these Salamons in the future. We wanted to be truly independent. We wanted to fulfill this gap of investigative journalism that has been absent from this country all these years. We need support, not only in terms of equipment, but financially, we've started off with a grant, and that will last us for only a year. We have a future ahead of us. We have a long way to go, and we will continue to rely and depend on those who believe in democracy, democratic values, those who believe in an independent press, independent media, to support us in any way you can. It's an interesting time in the Salamons. It's an interesting time in the Pacific where media freedom in particular has come under quite an intense pressure from those who want to keep the media silent. So, in order for the media, in particular, to keep on informing the public, providing trusted and reliable news, we would definitely rely on those who believe in those values. All right. Well, thank you very much for those awards of wisdom, Mr. Apani Aramai. Good luck to you and to the Indian Salamons teams. The Rears, I look forward to contributing more. I'm very happy that you came on the Indo-Pacific Compass at ThinkTech Hawaii, and we'll be in touch more soon. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Thank you so much for watching ThinkTech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.