UPDATE. Ro Teimumu, charged with Contravening Public Order Act, Breaching of Public Emergency Regulations and Inciting against Public Order by publishing a letter on the internet, was released on a bail of $500 yesterday.The Revs Ame Tugaue and Tuikilakila Waqairatu, charged with Contravening Public Order Act and Contravening permit to hold meeting, have also been released on $500 bail orders, asked to surrender their passports, and told not to associate with former church presidents Manasa Lasaro and Tomasi Kanailagi, who will appear in court today. -- Information from Coupfourpointfive.
No matter how much her supporters may protest this is not the way to treat a chief, even if she did break the law; no matter whether she spent the night in police or army custody; whether the Public Emergency Regulations are "right" or "wrong," or the Bainimarama regime legitimate or otherwise, there can be absolutely no doubt that Ro Teimumu's action in publishing a public web statement that the Methodist Annual Conference would be held in Rewa (in defiance of the Government ruling that the Conference would not be held) was a very deliberate and calculated decision. There is little doubt either that she expected to be arrested. It would not have served her purpose not to be.
So what did she hope to achieve? That the military leadership would change its mind, back down and allow the Conference? I doubt it. Did she seek the accolades of the Methodists and Fijian nationalists? No. She is a Catholic, and she already had the support of her own people, as well as that of extreme Fijian nationalists. Accolades from civil rights activists? Unlikely. Chiefs and democracy seldom go together, and although normally a pleasant, friendly person, she was never noted for her defence of democracy or civil rights.
Ro Teimumu is a chief but she is also a politician. She was Minister of Education in the ousted Qarase SDL-led Government. She played a major part in the Great Council of Chiefs' rejection of Bainimarama's candidate, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, for Vice-President. She helped to re-politicize the GCC that only a few years earlier had vowed to de-link from politics. Her statement earlier this week was a political statement coming from a chief with a political purpose, no different, in this respect, than most of her public statements since 2006. I am sure she has some sympathy for the Methodists and her Rewan subjects who were to host the Methodist Conference, but I doubt this was her major purpose.
My interpretation is that her primary purpose is to use the Conference as a means to create unrest and rally mass Fijian support for a political cause she shares with extreme Fijian nationalists. That is, to overthrow the Bainimarama government and see the return of a government that puts chiefly, and Fijian elite rights and privileges, ahead of those of other citizens, including those of ordinary Fijians. This is not because she is an unfeeling person but rather, I suspect, because she believes chiefs are born to rule, and that Fiji, first and foremost, must be for Fijians.
But Some traction, some gain, must come from the past three years. I say this with no disrespect for Ro Teimumu or the Fijian chiefly system. But in the modern, multi-ethnic, multi-religious state of Fiji, Fijian chiefs and national politics -- and religion and politics -- should be kept apart, and the concepts of vanua, lotu and matanitu, as they apply to the 21st century, need to be re-thought. The prostrate bodies of slaves should no longer be used as rollers to launch Ro Teimumu's or anyone else's waqa drua. Over the next few weeks ordinary Fijians should be particularly wary of such manipulation by chiefs, church and the SDL.
Will Ro Teimumu's plan work? It's early days, but if the Fiji Live poll on Fiji's readmittance to PI Forum free trade talks is any indication (which, deeper down, is not a totally different issue) she seems to have gained -- and the Government lost -- considerable traction. A week ago over 60% of pollsters favoured Fiji's admission; today it's dropped to 44%. The knee-jerk reaction of decent Fiji citizens is to sympathize with this "wronged," decent woman "abused" by the military. Ro Teimumu, who is no fool, would have known this, too.
For the Fiji Times report on the Ro Teimumu and Church Ministers' arrest and release on bail, click here.
Waqa Drua = Large double-hulled canoes, some as long as 30 metres, capable of carrying up to 200 people, and faster than contemporary European ships. Photo: Fiji Times.
7 comments:
This is not a case of a 'wronged and decent woman' this is a case of the undermining of national security for a deliberate purpose and that purpose is political destabilisation of the state.
The rights of ordinary, taxpaying citizens, residents and investors come first. The security forces are there to uphold public safety and the national interest. That is what is required. That is what is expected. No return to May or November 2000. The security forces require our support in their firm endeavours to achieve this. They have the confidence of all sensible, peaceable people and we would expect of the international community also. Fiji requires support now to do what must be done to secure a safe environment for all. Inciting portions of the population is irresponsible, unlawful. Some of us are expected to 'know better'.
Time for this post from Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" - does it have relevance to Fiji? Yes, we believe it does:
"Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labours, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness: it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances - what remains but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?"
And this is democracy? Tell us please how?
NUMBER ONE
Crosbie,
It will never work for Ro Teimumu. mark my word for that.
You just do not know how Fijians think. Today younger Fijian generation just do not give a care in the world about chiefs anymore. its only the older folks who still see some relevance in it.
The younger Fijian generation (and I deliberately use 'fijian' to mean all ethnicities in Fiji) need to educate themselves as well as they possibly can as fast as they possibly can. Their knowledge of politics/economics/law should be sound and broad-based. The international community would do well now to fast track assistance with this to Fiji. Waving the cudgel is no longer productive. Get young Pacific Islanders educated and travelling, yes, travelling around the region and beyond as quickly as you can enable them. No more delays, no more smart sanctions and excuses for this continuation of 'serfdom' by another name. Time is running out. It is in your best interest too.
VII Generation
The first anonymous on this comment stream is obviously incredibly naive. Does the term civil disobedience mean nothing to the first anonymous? If Ghandi or Mandela had let the security forces determine their fate, then we would not have seen change in either India or South Africa. It took a hell of a long time, but each step is another step on the path.
The military dicatorship that is in place in Fiji has no formal basis conferred by the state of Fiji. It has stolen what authority it exercises from the people of Fiji so why on earth would the people of Fiji recognise it? It holds and imposes that authority on the basis of weapons, emergency regulations, censorship and intimidatory practicies which abuse human rights. Does the Rewa paramount chief do this? No. She exercises her right to freedom of association and freedom of speech. And what does she get for this? A date with the judiciary which has been imposed on the people of Fiji by the military dicatorship. National security is not under threat from a Chief and Methodist ministers. National security is already threatened by a military dictatorship which is leading the country into economic ruin.
If anonymous considers that the people of Rewa and the Methodists are going to attack ordinary, taxpaying citizens, residents and investors, then let the Military and the Police be used as a response to any attack. And in advance of this, take the heat out of the situation by lifting the PER and its inherent abuses of human rights, let the Methodists gather, let Rewa host them. Don't exacerbate the situation by using force.
We were not living in the Gandhi or Mandela situation in Fiji when this happened. What happened was that we were living in a so-called democracy under a constitution and electoral system based on race and it didn't even benefit anyone. Let alone the very people (indigenous Fijians) that were supposedly to be protected.
The only people who benefited from the previous constitution and electoral system are the elite Fijians who clearly exploited the chiefly and religious institutions for their own selfish interest. Time for them to go. Thank you Frank.
The naivete expressed in this last posting belongs fully with the poster, who could not possibly have been here in Fiji in 2000. Anyone who was on the ground and with just a modicum of knowledge would fully appreciate that only 'the security forces' - in this case, the RFMF, were able to return a measure of stability and that after a significant period of time. Anyone, anyone at all who believes they can 'pontificate' from afar is completely 'off beam'. The situation requires firm and disciplined handling and the potential at all times for the use of force. At times, pre-emptive action is required to save Fiji from further destabilisation. That is what security means. That is what is expected.
Post a Comment