At last a breath of fresh air!
A call for the way so many disputes are settled in the Pacific. A call from Fiji's "middle ground" (those unhappy with some of Bainimarama's methods who nethertheless see merit in his stated aims for a non-racist Fiji). A call from Fiji's most reputable governance NGO. A press release by the Citizen's Constitutional Forum. Photo: Rev. Akuila Yabaki.
The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) describes the call by Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, for the removal of two senior ministers from the Methodist Church, as tough and unfortunate.
CCF however feels that given the history of the support by senior Methodist Church ministers for ethno-nationalism and the coups of 1987 and 2000, the church should now consider engaging in dialogue with the military and government, to find a way forward for Fiji.
Bainimarama’s call, as well as the ban on the Methodist Church Conference due to be held in August, are against fundamental rights of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion and Belief,” CCF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rev Akuila Yabaki said.
On reflection, these two senior Methodist ministers have been at the forefront of the ethno-nationalist stance taken by the Methodist Church in recent years to the extent that it was proclaimed as if it was a divine right,” Rev Yabaki said. “This may be the right time for the Church to ensure that its exercise of Freedom of Religion does not impinge on the rights of others to be free from racial discrimination.”CCF calls for dialogue, not only between the Military and the Methodist Church, but also for wider participation in dialogue processes from stakeholders throughout Fiji, including different religious and civil society groups to find way forward,” Rev Yabaki said.“It’s time for the Methodist Church hierarchy to make a fresh start and to take the risk of moving into more inclusive leadership. It’s time for the younger and newly elected church leaders to exercise their gifts for the moderate responsible leadership required for dialogue,” Rev Yabaki said.
For further information, contact CCF on ph: 3308379 or fax: 33083
(signed) Rev Akuila Yabaki, Chief Executive Officer
2 comments:
Please allow me to add to your fine analysis of the current impasse between the Methodist Church and the interim government in Fiji. I have previously argued in the Fiji Times that the Methodist Church is in many ways the spiritus rector of the vanua with a long and honorable legacy in the formation of the Fijian state. Be that as it may, today the government is attempting to dislodge the complex linkages between the church, state and the land and one can only speculate the particular trajectory of the government’s undertaking.
The embedded relationship between the Methodist Church and the state is increasingly problematic since 1987 and raises serious questions about the nation-state, which few in Fiji have bothered to ask, or even attempted to answer. Does the Methodist Church believe in the establishment of a liberal democratic state? Is the Church committed to religious, social and cultural pluralism? On what theological grounds did the Church justify its participation in the coups of 1987 and 2000, and should one have a public debate about it? What is the relationship between modernity, identity, exclusion and otherness as a theological and political reality within an ethnically diverse society?
I ask these questions because the government’s response to the current impasse lets the Methodist Church off the hook rather easily and therefore allows it to claim the moral high ground. The fundamental failure of the Church (as well as other major institutions in Fiji) to explain its actions, associations and positions only replicates the many missteps and mistakes over the past two decades. The problem is not that the Methodist Church is involved in politics but that it has failed to reason publicly its many intrusions in politics nor has it ever been compelled to justify its ethno-nationalist ideologies within the context of a multicultural society. The Methodist Church in Fiji can once again meaningfully contribute to the ordering of society, but only if it is held accountable intellectually for its actions and inactions over the past twenty two years.
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