(o) Bainimarama Desperately Needs a Public Relations Officer

Commodore Bainimarama may speak as he chooses; Prime Minister Bainimarama should not. The Interim Government needs every friend it can get, and the PM desperately needs a public relations officer. Military personnel often lack the skills of diplomacy.

When the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group's predicable but very moderate announcement on Fiji was made on Wednesday (“should sufficient progress not take place... Fiji Islands will be fully suspended from the Commonwealth at the Group’s next meeting in September 2009”), he had a golden opportunity "to win friends and influence people."

He should have made no media statement until he had heard from Commonwealth GenSec Kamalesh Sharma, and in speaking with Mr Sharma all he needed to say was:

"Mr Sharma, I want you to know that we value our Commonwealth membership and fully understand your present predicament.* We thank you for understanding that progress must await outcomes from our President's Forum. We will announce a date for elections as soon as practicable. Please also understand our predicament: The type of elections and the role of the People's Charter must be resolved before elections are held.'If we go into elections now, it is not going to serve any purpose. It’s probably going to make things worse for the people of Fiji.'”

* The PI Forum's lead and the Millbrook Action Programme, that allows two years for a return to parliamentary government, must be recognized.

This would have been polite, conciliatory, forthright and honest ... and it asked the Commonwealth for a little more understanding.

Instead, he apparently told Auckland's Radio Tarana, as reported by FijiLive: “If they want to suspend Fiji this coming December, they can do it now. No one is going to interfere in what we are trying to do, not New Zealand, not Australia, not anybody else. Nothing is going to be done. There’s going to be no election,” he added. “If we go into elections now, it is not going to serve any purpose. It’s probably going to make things worse for the people of Fiji.” [This point last point needed to be made].

And on when Commonwealth GenSec Sharma phoned him: “I will tell him in no uncertain terms nothing’s going to change.”The score? Commonwealth (and indirectly Qarase) 8; Bainimarama 0.

Instead of grasping his golden opportunity, he handed a free one to the media. Note the negativity and inaccuracies in the headings. FijiLive "Suspend Fiji now, no elections still: PM". He did not say this, and his remark was prefaced by an important "if".

The Auckland Herald ("Fiji facing full suspension from Commonwealth"). DominionPost ("Fiji Rejects Commonwealth") syndicated by well-known Interim Government opponent Michael Field, sourced from FijiLive and unacknowledged. Field wrote that Bainimarama had "bluntly told the Commonwealth to kick his nation out of the body." No. Fiji did not, and he did not, Mr Field! You put a changed emphasis on the story originally reported by Radio Tarana. Fji live ("Fiji given a 6 month deadline and Hold elections, or else: C’wealth to Fiji").

ABC News ("Bainimarama Scoffs at Looming Election Deadline.") reports that Fiji will be "suspended completely in September unless it begins the process of returning to democracy." Reporter Campbell Cooney had it right; his sub-editor did not. Beginning a process is not a September election deadline. [Added since first posted.]

The most balanced, informative and --- positive ---report came from Irene Manueli in the Fiji Times. Here it is in full:

Commonwealth Gives Fiji Grace Period
Fiji will be suspended from the Commonwealth in September if the interim administration does not show "sufficient" progress towards returning the country to democratic rule.This was the decision of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration (CMAG) who met in London to discuss Fiji's situation less than 12 hours ago.

In its communique released at about 4am today, CMAG said it would not suspend Fiji as it was "supportive of the joint mediation of the Commonwealth and the United Nations of the Presidents Political Dialogue Forum (PPDF) process in Fiji". It emphasised that such an engagement by the Commonwealth and the UN should be "independent, inclusive, time-bound and without prejudice as to its outcome" and it called on the international community to support this mediation process "politically and financially".


CMAG specified that should "sufficient progress not take place, consistent with the benchmarks set out in the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Communique", Fiji would be "fully suspended" when the Group next meets in September. Furthermore, in the absence of satisfactory progress, it would convene an earlier meeting, it added.

Fiji remains suspended from the Commonwealth's Councils, a development that arose soon after the military forcefully took over the Laisenia Qarase-led government in December 2006.