Charter Progress Yes But, Country in Deep Debt, Garment Exports, Wadan N's 'Disappearance,' Touché

PROGRESS ON CHARTER PILLARS BUT ... Earlier in the month representatives of ministries, departments and agencies reported to the National People's Charter Advisory Council (NPCAC) on their progress on implementing the eleven Charter pillars. Council chairman Josefa Serulagilagi said that the council had had six meetings, deliberating on tasks assigned to it in terms of monitoring progress on Charter provisions.

“We have made steady progress throughout the year and have been successful in ensuring that relevant pillars of the charter are well integrated into the work programme activities of Government and also to ensure there is greater level of ownership by ordinary members of the public in the implementation of the Charter.”

He said the Charter was a very powerful document that was fully integrated in government’s Roadmap for Democracy and Sustainable Economic Development and as such is of significant assistance in our quest for building an inclusive and a prosperous Fiji. -- Based on 2010, No: 2090/PSC.

This, of course, is good news but if the NPCAC truly wants more "ownership by ordinary members of the public," it should release the names of its members and the terms of their appointment, and it should be far more proactive in getting Government to publish the Roadmap. Why such an important document has taken so long to be turned from working draft to official publication defies explanation.

ANOTHER DAY OLDER AND DEEPER IN DEBT.  Think of a country that's deeply in debt, where imports exceed exports, where investment's risky, and where its dollar is worth less and less.  Obvious, isn't it? Fiji. Professor Narsey told us so. But no, this is not quite the right answer.

The editorial I was reading was not about Fiji; it was about New Zealand.  Apparently my country "is in deep hock to the rest of the world; our total indebtedness is on a similar scale to the so-called PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain...Standard & Poor's has downgraded the outlook of our sovereign debt." Moreover, our Institute of Economic Research warns about "our dollar battered by global currency wars." It's lost over 10% of its value against the Australian dollar in less than a year. We need to maintain our exports and save more and spent less.

The editorial says we have "raft of deep-seated, home-grown problems that stand between us and prosperity" and we require honesty to face these problems.  Now this does sound like Fiji. Where does the editorial say NZ should look for inspiration and example?  To Singapore that has "transformed itself [by] determined long-term planning." Isn't this where Fiji's been looking?  Reference:" NZ Listener Dec 18-24.

GARMENT EXPORTS UP, ATTRACT AUSSIE INVESTORS. Ten years garments were Fiji's largest industry but as preferential trade agreements with Australia, NZ and Europe, and quotas to the US were removed, markets collapsed and fly-by-night Chinese investors fled the country leaving bills and workers unpaid. The global recession and severe flooding in 2009 didn't help, either. The industry was in serious trouble. But now, thanks largely to reforms within the industry, things are looking up.

Last year, income from garments contributed 30% of Fiji's $3.5 billion GDP. Importers from Australia are interested, with some showing an interest in direct investment. Exports this year seem likely to be worth close to $100 million.

Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council president Kalpesh Solanki told a recent fashion exhibition in Melbourne: "We focus on flexibility. We Focus on small, customized orders. We practice a high degree of social responsibility. We speak clear and fluent English. And most of all we deliver quality. For any international company that needs superior quality at competitive prices with great service, clear communications and that requires social accountability concerning how their products were manufactured, then I say that you need to ‘Make it in Fiji’!” Besides Australia (AusAID helped the reforms), UK, US, New Zealand and Japan are also vital clientele for Fiji garments.

[I'm not too sure about the social responsibility claim. Many workers are paid only a little over a dollar an hour, far below the poverty line, and employer pressure has seen government defer minimum wage legislation for another two years.]

RESPONSE FROM WAGES COUNCILS.

The Editor, The Fiji Sun

letters@fijisun.com.fj

Dear Sir,

I am sure many people were pleased to read the statement of Mr Kalpesh Solanki concerning the garment industry in the Sunday Sun (19^th December). He speaks in very positive terms about his hopes for the garment industry in Fiji and suggests estimated exports could come close to $100 million this year because of new investor interest.

Mr Solanki said: “Our industry has undergone a successful transformation over the past four years that will benefit our clients ... “. He acknowledges financial assistance and support received from AusAID to “redefine, regenerate and retool Fiji’s garment industry from the bottom up”. He also notes that besides Australia, the UK, US, New Zealand and Japan are also vital clientele for Fiji garments.

This should certainly be good news for those working in the garment industry in Fiji. Currently their wages are the lowest in the country at $1.50 an hour for beginners and $1.78 for others and have not been adjusted for two years. Moreover there should be no reason now for employers from the garment sector to oppose wage increases established by the Wages Council.

It was also good to hear Mr Solanki assure his audience that: “We practice a high degree of social responsibility”. I trust that workers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry can now look forward to being beneficiaries of this newly proclaimed high degree of social responsibility.

Yours sincerely,

Fr Kevin Barr, Chairman of the Wages Councils

ROD EWINS ON WADAN NARSEY'S 'DISAPPEARANCE.' Dr Rod Ewins is a fourth generation Fiji European, an expert on Fijian traditional art, now resident in Australia where he is a professor and honorary research assistant at the University of Tasmania. He keeps himself well informed on Fiji and visits regularly. Writing to friends about Prof Wadan Narsey's recent article on the 2011 Budget he noted that Wadan had been a consistent and vocal opponent of the government, and the "language in which he expresses his opposition is not always quite temperate."  He went on to say:

"It does occur to me in reading this [article]  that if Fiji were actually as draconian as he paints it having become, he would himself have either disappeared, be languishing in gaol, or at the very least have lost his USP position because of pressure brought to bear on the university administration.  In the countries to which Fiji is often compared by the most extreme critics of the current state of affairs, one of those things would certainly have occurred, probably all three in reverse order. That none of these has happened perhaps might provide hope that, though I have no doubt that there is much that is valid in his criticisms, particularly of things fiscal, overall things are not quite as bad as he paints them.

"But I realise that by even entertaining that possibility, I become what he would label a "European coup collaborator"! My definition of an extremist is one who holds the view that "he who is not with me is against me." I reject that view from either side. I don't think it is just that my eyesight is failing with advancing years that makes me see the world in multiple shades of grey rather than in black and white these days. I prefer to think it is the dawning of tolerance, something in very short supply in today's world."

TOUCHÉ. A reader writes: "If, as is claimed, Indo-Fijians, Europeans and Part-Europeans are coup collaborators, this must make Wadan Narsey among others coup collaborators. But how is ethnicity even relevant when people of all races lie on both sides of the political debate?"

Did you read what Mark Twain had to say about petrified opinion? 

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