(o) Professor Brij Lal's Detention and Deportation

Please note that this incident was unreported by the Fiji 
media  due to the Public Emergency Regulations

Croz to Bai.
Thanks Bai for the information on Brij's detention (Click here.) There is no excuse for the physical attacks on Brij (if substantiated, they are abhorrent and must be condemned) but we would all be very naive if we thought an outspoken opponent of the regime, with pronounced political views, who is no longer is a Fiji citizen, and who presumably entered Fiji on either a tourist or work permit, would be immune from detention and deportation if he made any political comment during a time of national emergency. This is not to condone his treatment  or the continuance of the Public Emergency Regulations (PER) -- far from it -- but no one, least of all Brij, should have been surprised at his deportation.

Personally, I thought his comments on the High Commission happenings fair and reasoned, and there can be little doubt PER should be lifted.  But the incident further aggravates an already inflamed situation. I wonder what on earth Brij was thinking of when he agreed to give these interviews. He must have known the likely outcomes.

More generally, I believe it is not helpful to ignore realities, however unpleasant they may be. They should be recognized and turned, where ever and when ever possible, towards positive outcomes.  However obdurate the regime, it is the de facto government.Confrontation and the escalation of tensions makes dialogue and engagement -- which is the only peaceful way forward -- even more difficult.

It is easy, of course, for me to write this from New Zealand, but engagement is desperately needed, focusing on the positives. Further disengagement and repetition of the now well-known negatives can only make things worse. This is not letting the regime off the hook; it is a tactical shift to another fishing ground because the fish are not biting where were are currently fishing.


Stewart to Croz.
I could not disagree with you more.
 
Rod Ewin to many readers.
The diplomatic tit for tat that has been playing out over the past couple of days is one thing, but this is quite another. After the relative moderation and coherence of his press address two days ago, Bainimarama gives way to this self-indulgent folly. I sometimes disagree with Brij's views on various matters but that falls within the scope of a right to disagree and debate, something now also abrogated in Fiji. For VB to sanction Brij's arrest, humiliation and the expulsion simply for saying things that, on this occasion at least, are self-evident to everyone of passing intelligence, seems not merely petulant but extraordinarily politically naive. The incident will inevitably be tied to and consolidate the critique of his expulsion of the diplomats, and negate any political point he might have sought to make by that action. If VB could learn to think awhile before he acted rashly, it might enhance his prospects of managing affairs to a satisfactory conclusion in Fiji.

Bai, replying to Croz.
I can confirm that Brij was manhandled, sworn and spat at. One particular military person used especially foul language through the interrogation until he attended to a phone call. He became more ‘civil’ after taking the call. Officers who arrested Brij Lal came in private cars and were dressed in civilian attire. They were generally courteous.

The treatment meted out to Brij hits at the heart of an academic's work. Critical thinking, dissent and debate are fundamental. What happened to Brij is reminiscent of the experience that several of my friends had in 1987 and with the string of rather heavy handed treatment of outspoken individuals since December 2006. The extension of PER on a monthly basis means that gross violation of fundamental human rights by police and military is possible at the slightest pretext. Brij is an Australian citizen but also the most internationally well known Fiji scholar –a descendant of Girmiteers.

There is a fundamental disconnect between this regime’s avowed aim to lead us to a coup-free, non- racist nirvana, and its treatment of dissenters. I am not sure that genuine democracy will arise out of a barrel of a gun.