DEAR EDITOR, one, Milton Robo, rallied on behalf of the ROC Government in comments your newspaper published in Monday’s paper.

Mr Robo seems to suggest that the comments attributed to former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, were all made up. That’s for the public to decide.

With more than 40 years’ experience as a scribe, my only suggestion to Mr Robo and like-minded thinkers is don’t try it. EVER

Yes, I did call the Taiwanese Embassy in Honiara to answer to the charges levelled at it by Mr Lilo. Like it or not, the charges are very serious indeed.

By mid-afternoon Friday I did receive a phone call from the Embassy that His Excellency was unable to meet but has suggested a dinner sometime next (this) week.

My telephone call was not to ask for dinner. My call was to give the Embassy an opportunity to respond to the charges. I don’t know that I had time for dinner.

As for claims that Mr Lilo was talking about something else and not the discretionary funds, I stand by my story. I’m old enough to know the difference between discretionary funds and labels given to other funding.

For your information Mr Robo, a former Taiwanese Ambassador once asked a friend “how to get Alfred on our side.” I don’t take sides. As reporters we have a code of ethics to report, not to take sides. I could have used the opportunity to grab something from Taiwan, but I did not.

SIPA workers did the same. They wanted to give me something in appreciation of my investigative reporting on issues affecting SIPA during Mr Colin Yow’s tenure. I refused on the grounds that I was merely doing my job.

But good on you, Mr Robo. You are doing a great service to this nation

Keep at it. My only hope is that you won’t wake up one morning to realise it was far too late to save this country from people with good intentions but beneath their “goodwill” was the intention to undermine the integrity of the public system

S Alfred Sasako