There are comments to this posting. Click 'comments' below."The strange thing is I have talked myself to political leaders in Fiji and all of them agree strangely enough on the substance of the reforms which are necessary."
These are the words of Roger Moore, the European Union's Director for Development and Relations with the Pacific, after his recent return from Fiji where he met government and opposition leaders. He was speaking yesterday to NZTV's Paul Holmes.
Comment
It is indeed strange. It is also the first time I've heard the claim. One wonders why, if it is so simple now, the political leaders did nothing to implement the reforms when they were in parliament. Why they have constantly tried to undermine and detract from government's reform efforts. And why they themselves have done nothing to advance reform except to talk in non-specific terms to overseas visitors.
If Roger Moore's "political leaders" are to be included in any dialogue (and Bainimarama's relations with these "old" leaders are at an all time low), I would like them first to spell out the reforms to which they agree, and those to which they do not. I suspect their agreement is to do with the fine tuning of the previous electoral system: the replacement of the Alternative Vote with some form of proportional representation and perhaps the reduction of race-based communal seats. I doubt their reforms would tackle the divisive racial basis of the electoral system, its inevitably race-orientated political parties and the race-based communal seats . The things Bainimarama claims invite future coups as one Fijian faction or another seeks the privileges of power.
I doubt that they agree to other -- non-electoral --reforms, most especially the removal of special constitutional powers for the Great Council of Chiefs, Senate and the Law Society; the reform of the civil service; and provisions for multi-lingualism in schools and government offices.
I doubt also that SDL will revisit the party's mission and values statements that include "recognition of the paramountcy of indigenous Fijians and Rotuman interests" and the "special assistance or affirmative action to reduce the economic gaps between Fijians and Rotumans and other communities." They claimed this assistance would also be available to the disadvantaged of other ethnic groups but I doubt it was in anything like that needed for parity. It was, after all, an SDL Minister who referred to Indo-Fijians as "weeds" and poor urban squatters as "thieves."
Until those opposing Bainimarama's reforms come out publicly and state exactly what proposed reforms they accept, and do not accept but are prepared to debate, it is difficult to assess Moore's claim that there is no disagreement on matters of substance. We do not know what his "substance" is. But I doubt "everybody" (sic!) is opposed to Bainimarama, or that "the problem everybody has is just the way the prime minister is going about it." Whatever that means.
2 comments:
If this Roger Moore has been the "James Bond" that Fiji has been looking for, perhaps we have now found him. While Fiji's political leaders appear to be agreeing to the reforms and changes to outside parties, they are conceated and self-centred and do not wish to be destroyed by the reforms that will remove the fodder and fuel for their political support and survival-racism and divisive politics. Both Chaudhary and Qarase lived and thrived by such divisions. Bainimarama's squeeze on Methodist Church, Great Council of Chiefs, Cane Growers Council and depoliticising sugar industry and local government are actions in the right direction that the international community need to support. The ostrichs, NZ and Australia can now pull their heads out of the sand. Hope they now can have a clearer vision of Fiji's problems and hope they will try to appreciate Fiji's problems from a better perspectives.
It may well be the case that Fijis past political leaders aren't the only ones in fear of what the future may hold.
It could be that the regime has set a 5 year plan for elections because they need time to - fully marginalise those Fijian institutions that may represent an alternate source of power such as the GCC and the Methodist Church - devise a plausible system for restricting and controlling who can stand as candidates in any election and - if necessary disenfranchise those Fijians who would vote for the SDL or an SDL clone regardless of any pressure exerted on them by the regime.
Interesting times lay ahead - of course the regime could go for a simple system of one man one vote, electorates based on population sizes, and possibly a senate elected on a regional or provincial basis to counter the influence the urban electorates would hold.
And to cap it all off, Frank could put himself up as a candidate - with his distinguished military career he would be bound to romp home! Of course he would have to come up with a manifesto based on what he intends to do in the future, not what others have done in the past.
The regime may well discover what politicans around the world have known for quite a while - in the privacy of the voting booth you just never know what voters will do.
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