Assistant Special Coordinator with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) Col. (retired) Mataiasi Lomaloma will be using archival records as part of a comparative study between Fiji and the Solomon Islands, and how lessons learned in Fiji might be of assistance to our Pacific brethren.
Col. Lomaloa is responsible for peace building, with a strong focus on reconciliation and community outreach and has served with RAMSI since 2005.
He also went on to discuss how archival records enabled government to resolve land and customary issues during his time as Commissioner Northern, and when he was at the Ministry of Taukei (Indigenous) Affairs.
“Through these records we were able to resolve disputes on land ownership through properly kept records. There were lots of stories surrounding the land and through the records we had solid evidence and were able to resolve that long standing issue.”
Col. Lomaloma also expressed his pleasure at the improvements NAF has made recently. “In fact I am really amazed and impressed at what you are doing here. It’s good that you have made such considerable progress. All Ministries and Departments need to transfer their most important records to the Archives for safekeeping. You are doing allot of good work and it’s not an easy task. Thank you very much. When I retire this where I will be all the time, I will literally be staying here.”
He said the Archives are an important resource for dealing with current day issues. “If we don’t keep all these records we don’t know where we started from, and if we don’t know where we started from we don’t know where we are heading, you can’t start a journey if you don’t know where you started from, that is what you what you are doing here (at NAF), you are establishing our roots.”
Looking through Fiji’s oldest record, the Methodist Register of Births and Baptisms 1835.