Solomon Islands academic, Dr Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, stated that the government's decision to formally appoint Julian Moti as Attorney General is disappointing.

Speaking to Radio Australia's Pacific Beat programme, Dr Kabutaulaka said that the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has made a strong statement to Australia that Solomon Islands is his country and he will do whatever he wants.

Dr Kabutaulaka, who is currently a research fellow at the Honolulu based East-West Centre in Hawaii, says this is quite obvious given the fact that despite the expressions of discontent emanating from within Solomon Islands and Australia, the government went ahead with the appointment.

Dr Kabutaulaka says it is also interesting to look into how Mr Moti could refer to those who oppose his appointment as a few disgruntled voices. Dr Kabutaulaka says if there was an opinion poll in the country, he believes an overwhelming majority of people would oppose the appointment.

Dr Kabutaulaka says reading from a number of web-sites operated by Solomon Islanders, where one could safely assume are being accessed by affluent Solomon Islanders, a large number are against Mr Moti's appointment.Dr Kabutaulaka said that there are very good reasons why Solomon Islanders should oppose Mr Moti's appointment.

"I think the biggest repercussion for Solomon Islands will be the distrust in the government.

"One of the reasons why we had the conflicts that we had in the last couple of years has been people's increasing distrust of government. And such decisions by governments I think perpetuate that distrust."

"So at the moment, I think the biggest challenge is getting the opinion that's out there and getting it to government, whether the government will listen to it, that's a different question altogether,"
said Dr Kabutaulaka.