THE SOUL OF OUR NATION: Celebrating Solomon Islands’ 40th Independence Anniversary


Dr. Tarcisius Kabutaulaka

As Solomon Islands celebrates 40 years of constitutional independence and share with our Melanesian wantoks attending the Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival, this is also a time to reflect on our individual and collective futures.
It is an opportunity to reflect on the soul of our nation, Solomon Islands.
Perhaps you are wondering: Can a nation have a soul? What constitutes the soul of a nation? How do we know if our nation has a soul, or not?
I believe that nations, like individuals, have souls. It is difficult to explain what the soul of a nation is. But, like faith, it simply exists.
The soul of a nation is the embodiment of ideas, principles and values that form the foundation of every nation. It is the altruistic values that exist for a higher purpose, beyond the self-centered personality of its citizens and leaders. A nation’s soul constitutes the collective soul of its citizens.
As the great Indian philosopher and political reformer, Sri Aurobindo, said, "the nation or society, like the individual, has a body, an organic life, a moral and aesthetic temperament, a developing mind and a soul…It is a group soul that, once having attained a separate distinctness, must then become more and more self-conscious"
In many instances, those ideas and values germinated in the hearts and minds of a nation’s founders –those who dreamt and envisioned a group of people who exist, not only as a social entity, but also as an epitome of cultures, principles, values and ethos.
A nation’s soul is sacred. It is often invoked when a nation is at its darkest moment, faced with many challenges.
Perhaps, this is such a moment for Solomon Islands. As we celebrate our 40th Independence Anniversary, it is also time to invoke and reflect on our nation’s soul.
But, does Solomon Islands have a soul?
This nation was born out of colonialism; a creation of the British empire. Constitutional independence was given by London, rather than demanded as a result of soul-searching by Solomon Islanders.
Consequently, could it mean that Solomon Islands has no soul of its own, except that which had been bequeathed to it by the former colonial power.
Is that why a former prime minister, the late Solomon Mamaloni, once described our country as “a nation conceived, but never born”?
While I understand why Mamaloni made that statement at that time, we have since moved on. Solomon Islands has been born and is growing. It therefore possesses a physical, spiritual, emotional and mental existence.
Our nation has a soul, which constitutes the collective souls of its citizens. We are therefore the embodiment of our national soul. So, we have a responsibility to nurture both our individual and collective souls.
The values of our nation are expressed in the preamble of our country’s Constitution:
“We the people of Solomon Islands, proud of the wisdom and the worthy customs of our ancestors, mindful of our common and diverse heritage and conscious of our common destiny, do now, under the guiding hand of God, establish the sovereign democratic State of Solomon Islands.”
Our nation’s soul is therefore exemplified by our collective wisdoms, customs, common and diverse heritages, and the pursuit of a common destiny. At the center of all these is faith in a divine authority.
Those are powerful ideas and values, which we must cultivate, if our nation is to grow into a vibrant and caring country.
However, it is sometimes difficult to imagine that our nation has a soul, especially given the many challenges we face: conflicts that ravaged our country from late 1998 to 2003; allegations of rampant corruption and maladministration in the public sector; the inability of our government to provide adequate, quality and affordable social services; leadership crisis; etc.
These challenges seem insurmountable and perhaps reflect the denigration –if not the loss –of our nation’s soul. One might ask, how could our nation have a soul and then we fight and kill each other, help ourselves to public funds, provide poor leadership, ignore social justice issues, etc?
But, despite these challenges, the soul of our nation continues to exist. Crises and challenges do not necessarily kill our nation’s soul. Rather, they provide opportunities for a fresh look at national priorities and purposes.
In other words, I am not about to give up on our nation’s soul simply because we have had many challenges.
This is the time to dig deep and search for ways forward. Every nation carries wounds. But the measure of a nation’s strength is its ability to lift itself from its bitter experiences and heal its wounds.
In order to do that, we need to search deep in our nation’s soul.
As we celebrate 40 years of constitutional independence, let us dig deep and let our nation’s soul help us chart the future.

God bless Solomon Islands.


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