Sydney
7 September 2003
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Brothers
died on mission to save their leader
‘Don’t
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Laity,
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Brothers died on mission to save their leader
By Alan Gill
Media reports about the troubled Solomon Islands have mentioned the murder of at least seven “Melanesian brothers”.
The news of their death was given by Solomon Islands warlord Harold Keke, who is now in custody. But how and why they died and who killed them is unclear.
In a region where belief of any kind is strong, the Melan-esian Brotherhood is one of the more unusual, and highly respected, religious bodies. It shies away from publicity, but could justifiably shout its achievements from the rooftops.
It is an ecumenical body loosely under the umbrella of the Anglican Province of Melanesia and has links with the local council of churches. Catholics have served as members.
In the 1970s I visited the Solomon Islands and went on a “recce” patrol with the brothers. I found the experience a blend of military training, religious retreat and the type of help given in this country by Vinnies and the Salvos.
The Melanesian Brotherhood was founded in 1924 by a Solomoni police sergeant, Ini Kopuria, in Maravova village, Guadalcanal. He was suffering a severe illness and vowed that if he recovered, he would devote the rest of his life to spreading the Gospel and serving others. He was as good as his word, devising a uniform – loosely based on that of the native police – of white shirt and lava-lava with a wide black-and-white belt.
In World War II members saved the lives of Allied servicemen and acted as clandestine carriers and reconnaissance agents; those who were caught lost their lives.
The order had about 200 members in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji at its peak in the 1950s. When I was there in 1972, membership was about 60.
Members take temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience – renewable every five years – and are required by their charter to give priority to work in villages and islands where the language is unknown and local customs unfamiliar or hostile.
An example of “unfamiliar” occurred in the 1980s when, as a social experiment, a small group of brothers went to work among Aboriginal communities in Cape York and in two white parishes in Brisbane.
The notion of “blacks” (they preferred to be called “browns”) as “missionaries” to whites aroused a degree of media interest. The exercise itself was deemed unsuccessful. Over the years a small number of white Europeans have applied to join the brotherhood. As far as I am aware, only three or four have actually done so.
At the beginning of this year, the head brother, Nathaniel Sado, set out on a peace mission to meet Harold Keke. Nothing further was heard of him, with the result that – on April 23 – six other brothers set out to bring their colleague (or his body) home.
According to a statement from the order: “Making contact with Keke was difficult, but the reports and news we received indicated that all the brothers were alive and well.”
In June, Keke took six brothers from another region as hostages. After some weeks he released first four of the group, then the other two, even asking them to preach to his motley band of rebels. This accounts for a rather strange photograph, used in some Australian news-papers, of Keke “at prayer”.
The incident provided a false hope that the original seven – who were still unaccounted for – were alive and well.
Then the order declared in a newsletter to supporters: “Our worst fears have been confirmed.” Police Commissioner William Morrell confirmed they were dead.
Br Richard Carter says: “It is hard for such news to sink in. These were six young innocent men who went out in faith and in love in search of their fellow brother. It seems too much to bear that they should have been murdered in cold blood.”
Apart from Nathaniel Sado, the murdered brothers are Robin Lindsay (Br Nathaniel’s deputy), Alfred Hili, Ini Partabatu, Patteson Gatu, Tony (an orphan with no surname) and Francis Tofi.
Ironically, Br Francis Tofi, who had previously suffered torture and indignity at the hands of the rebels, had been offered a World Council of Churches scholarship to attend a course on conflict resolution in Switzerland later this year.