Mixed Reactions to Fiji's Suspension from Forum

Click on map to enlarge. MH Marshall Is., FM Fed.States of Melanesia, PW Palau, NR Nauru. Lighter shading associate members New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

(-) Niue. Niue Premier and Forum Chairperson, Hon. Toke Talagi, in announcing Fiji's suspension and full participation in the Forum on May 2nd, did so "with considerable sorrow and disappointment" adding that the decision was difficult but unanimously decided by Forum leaders in Port Moresby on 27 January." It is," he said, also "particularly timely given the recent disturbing deterioration of the political, legal and human rights situation in Fiji since 10 April 2009.” [This, presumably, was his own opinion, not an official statement by the Forum.]

(-) Australia. PM Kevin Rudd said "Australia's position is hard line." Fiji could also be suspended from the 53-member Commonwealth group by September if Bainimarama does not make progress towards democracy.

(-) PNG. PM Sir Michael Somare said he had worked to keep fellow Melanesian nation Fiji involved with the Forum, but had lost patience with Bainimarama's regime.

(+) Kiribati. The PM had earlier spoken of the need for more dialogue with Fiji (without Australia and NZ.)

(o+) Solomon Islands. PM Dr Derek Sikua says his government wrote to the Chair of the Forum, Toke Talagi, seeking a postponement of any action against Fiji, pending further reflection by Forum leaders (Radio NZ). "New developments in Fiji did not form the body of information that was available to the forum leaders at their Port Moresby deliberations" Sikua (ABC).

(+) Cook Islands. The Deputy PM Sir Terepai Moate said "talks should be pursued."

(+) Tuvalu. The ABC reports that in Tuvalu, its support of the suspension has proved unpopular there, and the government is keen to see the Forum soften its stance on Fiji.

(+) Fiji. Fiji Trades Union Congress president Daniel Urai has blamed Australia and New Zealand’s ‘bullying tactics’ as the driving force behind Fiji’s suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum.Urai said “smaller island countries have always been bullied by countries like Australia and New Zealand and because of their cheque book diplomacy with these island states, they always have a louder voice in the Forum.” He said the two regional powers have influenced the Forum to keep Fiji out.“Smaller island countries trading with Fiji may be the only ones affected by this suspension.” Urai said Fiji has always been regarded by other pacific island countries as a “big brother”, especially when most of the regional organizations are based here.“The Forum Secretariat for one, is based in Suva, the South Pacific Commission and the main campus of the University of the South Pacific to name a few.”

(o) Invitation from SPC. Despite Fiji’s suspension, Fiji has been invited to chair a ministerial meeting on maritime transport in Nuku'alofa,Tonga, on 14 May, funded by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Works and Transport Ministry spokeswoman Sainiana Waqainabete said, the invitation indicates "how important Fiji is to the region, despite its suspension from the Pacific Island Leaders Forum, the SPC is going ahead with Fiji being involved." She added that the invitation further indicated the commitment by Pacific Island Countries in continuing to engage Fiji in regional affairs.

(-) Samoa. PM Tuilaepa Sailele says "We weren't pushed (by Australia and NZ). We supported it. Fiji needs to stop implying that this is all about Australia and New Zealand and accept we don't want them either," Tuilaepa told AAP on Tuesday."We are sick of the arrogant bullshit they are giving out". Discussions are now underway over whether the Forum's Suva headquarters need to be relocated, with several Australian and New Zealand politicians arguing it is untenable for it to remain.

(+) Tonga. PM Dr Feleti Sevele said we should "engage and maintain an ongoing dialogue."

(-) New Zealand. PM John Key has backtracked on his earlier comment ("This is a free country") that a Maori Party delegation could go to Fiji. But TVNZ reports that a delegation could still go ahead, possibly accompanied by Green Party representatives.

(o-) Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said on tonight's TV1 that the situation was a "stalemate that someone needs to break." He did not support Bainimarama's actions but said "If you've got a relative who's not feeling well, you go and see him."

(o+) Australia. The Director of the Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at the Sydney based think-tank, the Lowy Institute, believes American Samoa's Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin makes some valid points in criticising Australia and New Zealand's treatment of Fiji. Jenny Hayward-Jones believes suspending Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum for its failure so far to move closer to restoring democratic rule is unhelpful. Click here for her very important comments on the suspension and Australia's role in the Pacific.
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Breaking News. Anti-Government bloggers FijiCoup2006 and Raw Fiji News (see links, left column) have written to President Iloilo protesting about what they describe as the "escalation" of human rights abuses.

(o) "The Main Reason" for the Coup?

It would seem from a document posted on Sai Lealea's blog that Bainimarama was planning to remove the Qarase government as early as 2003. A statement written and signed on 11 March 2004 by Col. Alfred Tuatoko (and witnessed by Lt Col. S V Raduva and Cdre (N) T T Koroi) stated that Bainimarama had ordered them to make preparations to remove the government "except for the MFA&ET and the GCC..... if his term of Comd RFMF was not renewed ... He also said he must remain as Comd because there was no one who could be Comd and pursue the May 2000 prosecutions as he is doing." Bainimarama told the officers to "put the plan together quickly or else you would be surprised I am going down (dou cakava vakatotolo na plan de dou qai kidacala au sa liu sobu)."

Officers who did not agree with him were told to "stick to their principles, take all outstanding leave and [then] do the honourable thing and resign." No one would be forced to resign. Col. Tuatoko says he and other officers told Bainimarama that his proposed action was illegal and amounted to treason. "I advised him there were legal ways to settle his disagreement with Government". Bainimarama responded that his action "may be legally wrong but was morally correct" because of the May 2000 prosecutions.

In an email to me, Sai concludes that the "main reasons for overthrowing the Government in 2006 was to protect himself ... Getting rid of corruption was a red herring" This would certainly seem to be one reason, though even then it was linked to Bainimarama's concern the 2000 Coup-plotters and Mutineers were appropriately punished.

However, the miltary takeover did not take place for another two years by which time far more more water had passed under the bridge, providing Bainimarama will further reasons. The Fiji Times had accused the Qarase government of racism and corruption. Bainimarama and several NGOs were vehemently opposed to the proposed Reconciliaton and Tolerance Bill (that would have seen the plotters avoid punishment). Bainimarama opposing the Qoliqoli and Land Tribunal Bills that would have granted ethnic Fijians access to more resources at the expense of other races.

Also, during this time Qarase had Australian police chief Andrew Hughes investigate Bainimarama's supposed complicity in military deaths during the November 2000 Mutiny (he was cleared of the accusation in 2004); he unsuccessfully approached another officer to take over command of the RFMF when Bainimarama was overseas, and he asked the President to cancel Bainimarama's appointment.

Jonathon Fraenkel makes a not dissimilar statement (Fraenkel, Firth, Lal 2009) about Bainimarama's motives when he says Bainimarama did not mention the need for non-racially based elections until mid-2007, as evidence that elections were never part of Bainimarama's agenda.

The evidence, to me, looks to point not to a single cause, or any inherent contradiction, but to an evolving -- but related -- list of complaints against the Qarase government, to be "corrected" in the post-coup period, by Bainimarama and his advisers. But, of course, all of our views are interpretations.

My sincere apologies to Prof. Wadan Narsey....

.... for publishing incorrect comments on his Niukula lecture (post 28 April, The Horrifying Consequences of the Coup.) He is not, as I reported, "a long-standing NFP supporter or an opponent of FLP." Quite the contrary. He was a founding member of the FLP but left the party prior to the 1987 election, due to policy differences. He was a NFP MP from 1996-99, having stood unopposed on the NFP ticket, but as a joint candidate with the FLP. Since 1999 he has had no political affiliation. My reference to his brother-in-law Brij Lal might have suggested to readers that he supports the 1997 Constitution because of this relationship. This is not the case. He thought, and still thinks, the Alternative Vote electoral system advocated by the Reeves Commission, and later included in the 1997 Constitution, to be "disastrous for Fiji." Readers may read more of Wadan's views on electoral systems, coups and the economy on the USP website.

Snippets: Maori Party for Dailogue; Forum Suspension Will Hurt Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji; Regime Paranoid:Dorsami Naidu

(o) NZ's Approach "Harsh" and "Wrong": Maori Party
NZ Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia New Zealand's harsh approach is wrong, and that Fiji's isolation by the PI Forum is not the answer. "We've talked about this and we believe that there is a way forward and we should be talking with Fiji rather than adopting the stance that we have," she says. "Dr Sharples [M.P.co-leader] is very keen to look at how we might be able to use NZ leadership and he thought of Tumu Te Heuheu, the king, that maybe a very small delegation could go and talk with Bainimarama [who says] he is attempting to combat racism and certain things that have been going on in Fiji for some time...we think we should find out exactly what is happening there."

But PM John Key says the delegation could only go in a private capacity, and he'd be surprised if a Maori negotiating team succeeded where others have failed. "The government is going to continue to negotiate for democracy in Fiji through the Pacific Forum leaders and through the Commonwealth." [I can see John Key's point but why doesn't he accompany the delegation? It would be in line with his familiar hands-on, up-front approach to other issues: a round-the-table dialogue by a down-to-earth pragmatist rather than hands-off bureaucratic negotiations? Unlikely, but it could actually help.]

(o) Fiji's Forum Expulsion will Hurt Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga More ...
... than Fiji, says well-known USP political sociologist, Dr Steven Ratuva. “What’s going to happen is that regional cooperation as we knew it for a long time since 1972 is going to go through a significant and substantial shift. And the shift is going to affect mostly the small island states like Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga [which] rely significantly on Fiji for economic survival.” Dr Ratuva says the suspension will see Fiji fall more under the influence of China, while Australia and New Zealand will lead the other power block in the region.


(-+) Regime Paranoid: Dorsami Naidu
President of Fiji's Law Society, Dorsami Naidu, a long-time vocal opponent of the Bainimarama Government, says the extension of the Emergency Regulations for a further 30 days from 10 May, is unnecessary and evidence of paranoia. For its part, Government has justified the extension, whose main effect is in curbing the media, saying Fiji needed a period of calm after the tumultuous events of recent weeks.

(o) Outsider's Media Freedom Report

The main reason given for the extension of the Emergency Regulations was a purportedly irresponsible Fiji press. Calm was said to be need after the Abrogation of the 1997 Constitution, and a "free" press would not help this process.

Did the Government have reason for concern? For the past 12 months the Fiji media has published reports by a string of outside observers (e.g., the International Bar Association, the US world report on human rights, and the International Jurists) without informing its readers of the full identity and credentials of these observers. Readers were left assuming they were qualified, informed, objective and unbiased, even though their sources came exclusively from opponents to the then Interim Government.

The latest report, on media freedom, by Freedom House ranked Fiji 85th out of a total of 195 countries, Tonga 73rd and Timor Leste 78th. They were classified, together with one-third of the countries reviewed, as "partly free". The other 12 Pacific Island nations in the report were "free". New Zealand and Palau were 11th, Marshall Islands 21th, Federated States of Micronesia 33rd, Australia 38th, Vanuatu 43rd, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu 53rd, Kiribati 59th, Nauru 60th, Samoa 63rd and Solomon Islands 66th.) Fiji's media freedom was reported to have suffered from “official pressure”, the deportation of two foreign national publishers and the Fiji Times being held in contempt for publishing “unflattering letters about three judges” (the High Court judges who ruled the President's action in appointing the Interim Government legal. Not the Appeal Court judges who found otherwise. They escaped censure!)

Many such international comparisons are often pretty meaningless, because we are seldom told the measures by which each country is measured (some things are just not comparable or measurable, and may be culturally or contextually specific) but we do at least in this case know who did the measuring. Freedom House is an "independent, non-profit organization" (aren't they all?). It styles itself as "a strong voice for a U.S. foreign policy that places the promotion of democracy at the forefront." It is "bipartisan", favouring neither US Democrats or Republicans; it condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan but not the US invasion of Iraq.

So, you can take whatever you like from its Fiji assessment: only 85th (worse than last year, and likely to be judged worse now), or only 85th, in the top half (44%) of the "freer" press. I doubt its political and cultural credential, but I have little doubt that its primary Fiji sources were the Fiji Times and the Fiji Media Council.

My thanks to Pacific Media Centre and Josephine Latu for the report but I should not need to have checked the credentials and credibility of its source.

(o+) The 55+ Retirement Age, the Fiji National Provident Fund, and Pensions

As with most Government announcements these days, the decree making 55 the compulsory retirement age (except in some circumstances) is seen by some as a diabolical act with horrendous consequences. This post seeks a more balanced account.

Government says the move is to save Government expenditure by reducing the size of an over-heavy civil service; create job opportunities for some of Fiji's 1,000 unemployed graduates and other young unemployed people, and encourage some of those retiring to start their own business or otherwise enter the private sector.A Fiji Times editorial on March 15 agreed with them.

Anti-Government Bloggers, however, say the money saved will be spent on the military, and the decree will be used as a way of getting rid of civil servants the Government does not like. NZ Public Service Association Nat.Sec.Richard Wagstaff, who lives in a country with longer life expectancies and far lower levels of unemployment, says its a "deplorable" move that discriminates against age and breaches, fundamental human rights. [I wonder why someone thought his opinion is relevant to Fiji.]

Some Government opponents have also expressed concern that the Fiji National Provident Fund could be bankrupted, not just by the retirees claiming their pensions, but because nominees of an "unelected military clique" have taken over the FNPF and, apart from general mismanagement, are using the funds to service recurrent government expenditure and debt, military overspending, and several unwise investments, such as the purchase of BP Pacific and several tourist ventures - the Natadola and Momi developments, and the restoration of the historic Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva.

Prof. Waden Narsey wrote of "people's life savings being under threat." This, and the fact that commercial banks, unlike the FNPF, had "wisely" decided not to lend to Government, is one of the points in his Fiji Times May 13 article "Coup Wolves Circling FNPF." (The Fiji Times cartoon that accompanied the article neatly summaries his argument.) It is unfortunate that the FNPF was not invited to respond to Narsey's attack and was obliged to take out a full page advertisement to make its case.

Prof. Narsey saw "nothing wrong per se with FNPF financing the Fiji government's budget deficit" but with an unelected government in place "we are unlikely to see the required economic growth, income and increased tax revenues, which could repay the loan. All that is likely to happen is an increase in the money supply, increased imports, reduced foreign reserves, bigger public debt, and an upward pressure on inflation."

The FNPF replied that it is not the normal function of private banks to lend to governments; that budget deficits are often used in recessionary times to stimulate economic growth; the Funds bond investments were earning more than the inflation rate; that the FNPF cannot become insolvent because, unlike banks, there cannot be a "run" on its money, and that it always has significant cash reserves. The Fund is thought to have assets worth more than $F3million. Readers wishing to follow these arguments further are referred to the Fiji Times and FNPF links above.

For the record, the FNPF was established in 1966 to provide financial security for workers when they retired aged 55 (sic!). Membership is compulsory for state sector employees who contribute 8% of their wages or salaries to which Government adds another 8%, and interest accrues to these contributions. As of June 2005 there were 317,000 members and 9,000 pensioners whose average monthly pension was $F372. Since 1976 members have been able to opt for a single or joint (with spouse) pension in lieu of a lump sum payment. The average single pension was $F407 and the joint pension $F322. The 55-year old pensioner living in rented or mortgaged housing in Suva, with no other savings and with dependent children, will certainly not be well off, but he or she will be much better off than the female garment worker earning less than a dollar an hour; the estimated one-in-three people in Fiji who are living in poverty -- and the many unemployed graduates without a job. There is no unemployment benefit in Fiji.

(+o) Forum Deadline: For Whom The Bell Tolls; it Tolls for Thee ...

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."John Donne (1572-1631) Meditation 17, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.

Fiji is downplaying (and Australia and New Zealand "up-playing") the effects of tonight's "automatic" suspension of Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum. If the suspension goes ahead, both are likely to be proved wrong.

For Fiji, the suspension could well lead on to suspension from the Commonwealth, the termination of EU aid for its ailing sugar industry, and UN sanctions, including possibly the termination of existing Fiji soldiers' contacts as UN peacekeepers. It is, however, unlikely to face trade sanctions, at least from NZ whose exports are worth five times more than its imports from Fiji, or actions that will further impact on NZ-owned tourist businesses in Fiji. Suspension will also further strengthen the hand of Qarase's SDL party and others in Fiji hostile to the Government, perhaps with deadly consequences. As one person put it: "The Pacific’s failed policies will simply ratchet up the response and counter-response until what … a counter-coup and ruin for the region?" For Australia and NZ, Fiji's suspension will demonstrate just how badly they have misread the Fiji situation, and expose the total failure of their "diplomatic" responses to the 2006 Coup.

For the Forum itself, it may not be the end of the road. Phoenix-like, it may relocate to Samoa and reinvent itself without Fiji's crucial representation, but it is unlikely to be quite the same ever again. When further dialogue was desperately -- and obviously -- needed, Melanesian leaders in particular will have noted Australia's and New Zealand's total inflexibility. As David Robie says in Cafe Pacific: "The Forum has never taken such drastic action against a member in almost four decades of virtual “Pacific way” consensus. If it does so this time – excluding the most influential and crossroads island nation of the region – the isolationist policy will come back to bite the Forum in most unpredictable ways. It will also open the door to a dramatic rise in Chinese influence in the region, at the expense of Canberra and Wellington."

The supposed unanimity of the Forum's decision should not be taken as total agreement with the two Pacific “super powers."Click here. In mid-April Kiribati President Anote Tong spoke of the need for "a new approach" and ‘talks [that] should proceed without input from New Zealand and Australia, because the two countries' foreign policies have failed on many levels. Pacific leaders may have a better understanding of how to reach Commodore Frank Bainimarama." On April 15 Radio NZI reported that “some leaders in Pacific nations are calling for more dialogue with Fiji’s interim government but they say input from New Zealand and Australia won’t be helpful, and the failure of the two countries’ foreign policies in bringing about a return to democracy needs to be taken into account. Cook Islands Deputy PM, Sir Terepai Maoate, said: “Fiji’s Cdre Frank Bainimarama feels cornered and bullied…and talks should be pursued. You only have to find a process where there will be trust in the two parties to sit down and go through the process of dialogue." Two days later, Tonga’s PM Dr. Feleti Sevele said, “Fiji needs help and the Pacific Islands Forum countries should engage and maintain an ongoing dialogue with the Fiji regime and help them to find their way back to normality." And on April 20 Solomon Islands PM Derek Sikua said: “The Pacific Islands Forum should not rush into implementing sanctions against the Fiji government." On tonight's TV Barbara Dreaver said PNG's Sir Michael Somare was coming around to the Australian position. Niue and Samoa support NZ's position.

As Rajendra Prasad, author of Tears in Paradise and a Indian Newslink columnist, put it in a recent article which offers an individual Indo-Fijian perspective with which, naturally not all Indo-Fijians would agree :"Country Needs Understanding, not a Shotgun."

So how has our (NZ) government got us into this mess? Why has our diplomacy failed? Why did we not have a Plan B? I doubt it started with the events of December 2006, or Helen Clark's pique at the failure of the Wellington talks she hosted with Winston Peters when they thought they had brokered a Qarase-Bainimarama deal. No doubt it had something to do with Helen Clark's personal intransigence, reinforced by her Western liberal good v. bad views on democracy, elections, and military coups, wherever they occur, irrespective of background or circumstance. There can also be little doubt that Bainimarama's personality, image and angered statements did not help.

It was probably also influenced by an Australian-NZ concern about political stability in their "backyard". For over a decade they had been promoting and funding "good governance" in the Region, while generally ignoring or closing their eyes to bad governance, in Fiji and elsewhere. They could not allow the Fiji "disease" to spread. There was also NZ's international good image to protect: we could not be seen to be lenient to a coup in a small neighbouring country.

One wonders what advice Helen Clark received from MFAT, and whether she took it? This is an important question, but my gut feeling is that most such advisers would think similarly, and those who differed kept quiet or were marginalised. I certainly felt marginalised at an NZAid meeting in early 2007 when I said our consultancy team about to visit Fiji should not prejudge the situation. The official NZ position was already set in concrete.

And, however distasteful it may be, we must also ask how much it goes back to our undoubted feeling of cultural superiority, less changed than we may wish from the days when Europeans "protected the 'natives' from the Indians", and knew what was best for all of them. Tonight's TV news said Fiji is heavily dependent on aid. All the Pacific nations have been tarred with this brush since we accepted the notion of MIRAB* economies, a useful term to describe the smallest PIN but not Fiji, where NZ aid plays only a small part. But aid seen as "charity" fits the superior image.

All of these factors, to differing degrees, no doubt played a part, and still influence our actions.

Diplomacy, the art and practice of conducting negotiations between states, to be fair and effective, requires states of equal power. NZ never saw Fiji as its equal. This is why from Day One Helen Clark among others could speak in such derogatory terms of Cdre Bainimarama. Why our High Commissioner, until he was deported, could ignore the Interim Government while consulting the deposed Qarase Government, and why we continue to support Bainimarama's opponents. It is why we are so short of diplomatic and academic expertise on the Pacific, a region considered hardly worth studying. Why we continue to accept such sloppy journalism. Why we could impose such inflexible travel bans. And why, even now, we appear not to have adopted so-called Track II diplomacy where informal, behind-the-scenes efforts are made, by academics, think tanks and others, to suggest diplomatic ways of resolving the impasse that Fiji presents. We have closed our eyes to coups and human rights abuses in bigger countries, but not in Fiji, a small and less powerful country.

Do I hold New Zealand primarily responsible for the way things have developed? Yes, but obviously not entirely. Bainimarama staged the Coup. His Government dug itself ever deeper into mud, much of its own making. Australia has also played an important role but seems, in most matters, to have taken its lead from us. Regretfully, I think we are the more culpable. I expected us to do better. Fiji's string of crises need not have come to this. We have been the most insistent on an election deadline that, for technical reasons alone, most probably could not have been met on time. Australia still has a High Commission in Suva, and has offered technical and other support. We have no High Commissioner and only skeletal HC staff.

We have offered nothing to help Fiji out of its mess-- no forsensic accountants, no judicial or electoral expertise, no progressive easing of the travel bans, not even an air accident inspector. We, more than any other country, in our direct attacks and support for his opponents, drove Bainimarama back into a corner, provoking retaliation. Other Forum countries merely followed our lead, some with extreme reluctance. Let us hope dialogue continues, with or without the Forum. In a year or two, looking back, we may have cause to recall that it was at this Midnight we "send to know for whom the bell tolls." We will then know whether is was Bainimarama, Qarase, Fiji, Australia's and New Zealand's mana, or the Forum we helped create and destroy.

Meanwhile, in displays quite uncharacteristic of good diplomacy, we have bailed ourselves and Bainimarama into a corner leaving neither a way to escape with dignity intact.

* MIRAB Migration Remittances Aid Bureauacy (small countries' major sources of income).

(+-) Lay Off Bainimarama

If anyone is used to criticism, it's Frank Bainimarama. So starts an article in today's Fiji Sun, "Lay Off Bainimarama, He's Doing it for Fiji." The article goes on to cite academics Hugh Laracy and Crosbie Walsh, and journalist Graham Davis, who support this view, and academic Stewart Firth, who does not. All, in different ways, are "experts" on Fiji. The road you follow depends on where you start from. Click here to read the article in full.

(+) Bainimarama Speaks on Eve of Forum Deadline

The original heading, "Dictator's Plea to Kevin Rudd: Let's Talk to Help Restore Fijian Democracy" by Graham Davis, does not accurately convey text content. I suspect it was selected by The Australian sub-editors. My thanks to Graham for allowing Bainimarama to speak, and to the Pacific Media Watch for this link.

Fiji’s military leader, Frank Bainimarama, has proposed a summit meeting with Australia and New Zealand to try to resolve the impasse over his refusal to hold elections for another five years.

With the expiration of the deadline today for Cdre Bainimarama to announce an election date this year or face suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum, the dictator has defiantly said his own agenda stands."It is not going to happen. There will be no elections until September 2014," he said. Commodore Bainimarama said an election this year would restore the "racist" government of former prime minister Laisenia Qarase, whom he deposed at gunpoint in 2006. "Qarase is finished. He will only return over my dead body," he insisted.

But the Fiji Prime Minister wants to map out a way forward to rebuild Fiji's shattered relationship with its traditional partners and has challenged the Australian and New Zealand leaders to confront him in person. "I would like to see Kevin Rudd and John Key face to face so I can explain things clearly to them about the changes we need to bring about," Cdre Bainimarama said.

Stressing that the summit should be "immediate", the Fijian leader expressed frustration about the attitude of Australia and New Zealand to his attempts to purge Fiji of racism and undertake electoral reform before elections in 2014."That's the sad part about it. I don't think the international community much appreciates what's happening here. "They need to come and find out," he said.

Cdre Bainimarama was speaking after Fiji suffered fresh political upheaval early last month, when the Fiji constitution was abrogated, a clampdown launched on dissent and the media, and President Josefa Iloilo said elections would be delayed until September 2014. Fiji faces becoming the first member to be suspended from the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Australian, Cdre Bainimarama was both conciliatory and pugnacious.He predicted that the forum would baulk at suspending Fiji in spite of sustained lobbying from Australia and New Zealand. He announced that the month-long state of emergency imposed in Fiji would be extended, including media restrictions. And he repeated allegations that Australia was spying on Fiji and tapping his telephones.

He revealed that his long-term plans to produce a multi-racial democracy included the restoration of the Queen as Fiji's head of state.

Canberra and Wellington
On his summit proposal, Cdre Bainimarama called on Canberra and Wellington to drop their insistence on an election in Fiji this year. "That will only ensure the return of the racist government I overthrew in 2006. We need to get rid of racism in the next five years and then have elections that people recognise will bring about true democracy in Fiji."

Cdre Bainimarama said he was prepared to give the Australian and New Zealand leaders a "cast-iron guarantee" that elections would be held in 2014, but not before. Anticipating their response that he had broken a pledge to hold elections this year, Cdre Bainimarama denied that it was ever a formal undertaking. "The Tongan Prime Minister, who was chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, came to me for an informal chat and said 'Look, there's a lot of pressure on us and on you to set a date for elections. Why don't you come up with 2009?' So I said, 'If we want to change that, we can talk about it later on'. I thought it was something we could discuss, a possibility, not something set in stone," Cdre Bainimarama insisted.

The Pacific Islands Forum
The military chief said he did not believe the Forum would proceed with its threat to suspend Fiji. "No one has ever been suspended from the forum, and I just can't see it happening. It's beyond its mandate to suspend a member nation. In fact, if it was up to me, we would have removed Australia and New Zealand because they're putting undue pressure on the Pacific islands and that's not how we operate in the Pacific," Cdre Bainimarama said.

The region's elder statesman, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, warned on Tuesday that he was running out of patience with Cdre Bainimarama's regime, and the Forum had no choice but to suspend Fiji if it failed to meet today's deadline. But the Fijian leader said Sir Michael "would be thinking twice" about telling member countries of the need to do so."Sir Michael Somare and Fiji have a very wonderful, strong relationship going back to the days when he and Ratu Mara (the founder of modern Fiji) were friends. That relationship will remain," he said.

Cdre Bainimarama appealed to his fellow island leaders not to be swayed by Australia and New Zealand."Fiji was one of the initiators of the Forum. Why would they want to suspend Fiji? Is there killing on the roadside? Why suspension, just because we don't go along with what the Australians and the Kiwis want?"He also asked his fellow leaders to consider, in their deliberations, supportive comments last week to a US congressional hearing by a Samoan member of the congress, Eni Faleomavaega. He told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Australia and New Zealand were making "nasty accusations" against Fiji and "acting with a heavy hand" about a "situation that is more complex than it appears".Ms Clinton promised to examine Mr Faleomavaega's complaints and acknowledged Australia and New Zealand as the source of much of the US's information about Fiji."She should listen to his advice," Cdre Bainimarama said, expressing his hope for a change in US policy. "There's someone who understands what's happening in Fiji. At least she will have somebody else besides Australia and New Zealand to listen to."

Cdre Bainimarama also said he was unfazed by threats to move the Forum Secretariat from Suva, Fiji's capital. "There's no need to move the forum headquarters, but I guess if they come to that decision, we'll assist them. I don't think it's going to happen."

Emergency to be Extended
In his interview with The Australian, the military chief also announced that Fiji's month-long state of emergency, due to expire on May 10, would be extended. The clampdown has seen the media muzzled and a prominent indigenous nationalist, Iliesa Duvuloco, detained for allegedly distributing pamphlets calling for a military uprising. We want this calm to continue for a while. The emergency regulations were brought in entirely for media censorship to ensure calm. I'm very worried about people like Duvuloco inciting people to rise up against the military and the government of the day," Cmde Bainimarama said.

He repeated allegations previously made by his Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, that Australia has been spying on Fiji. He said he had personally confronted Foreign Minister Stephen Smith with evidence that his telephone calls had been tapped in breach of Fiji's laws. "We had to caution Stephen Smith about spying on us, that this was illegal in Fiji, and in that meeting he didn't say anything. He didn't deny or admit it, but I took that as confirmation, bugging our phones and listening to our conversations." But the military chief described it as an irritant, and said it had not made him more cautious about what he said on the phone. "I really don't give a damn what they hear," he said.

China and India Ties
The Fijian leader outlined some of his plans, including closer ties with China and India, which have replaced Australia and New Zealand as Fiji's confidants and evident means of support. Confirming that Chinese aid to Fiji had risen dramatically, he said: "Yes, the Chinese are giving us money. We have a wonderful relationship with China and we're trying to build on that. They're very sympathetic and understand what's happening here, that we need to do things our own way."

Main Task - Promoting Notions of Racial Equality
Commodore Bainimarama said his main task in the next five years before an election was to promote the notion of racial equality over the indigenous supremacist agenda of the government he deposed. Pointing to recent high-level Indo-Fijian appointments, including the governor of the Reserve Bank, Sada Reddy - who replaced an indigenous Fijian - the military chief said:( "My vision for Fiji is one that is free of racism. That's the biggest problem we've had in the last 20 years and it needs to be taken out. "It's the lies that are being fed to indigenous Fijians that's causing this. We need to get rid of Qarase and everything associated with the 2000 coup and begin entirely on a new path."

The military chief envisaged that when democracy was eventually restored in five years, Fiji would ask the Queen to resume her position as head of state. The country declared itself a republic during the first coups of 1987. "I'm still loyal to the Queen - many people in Fiji are," he said, acknowledging her photograph above his desk. "One of the things I'd like to do is see her become Queen of Fiji again."