I quote Jone Baledrokadroka, a former senior RFMF officer now living in Canberra with a scholarship to ANU, writing in CoupFourPointFive:
"Four years after the military coup, the limitations of the military regime has become quite obvious by its unabashed machinations for local and international legitimacy. The regime now understands, it needs the two powerful indigenous Fijian institutions - the GCC and the Methodist Church - for support and legitimatizing of its rule to survive. Its Indo-Fijian main support has totally vanished."
The former acting Land Force Commander, dismissed by Bainimarama for alleged insubordination in mid 2006, proposes that two i'taukei institutions with deeply tarnished reputations will ensure legitimacy, and attributes no role for other churches or institutions belonging to other ethnic groups. This sounds very much like "legitimacy" between 2000 and 2006.
He then proposes that the Great Council of Chiefs [sic!] should act as the mediator to give "political legitimacy [to] the regime in a transition back to democracy." This would seem to be giving the least democratic element of the old regime the power to negotiate ITS preferred outcomes — something like inviting a shark to chair a lifesaver AGM.
He is correct up to a point: Government would greatly improve its position if it were supported by these i'taukei institutions, but only if they were apolitical and committed to assisting — or at least not actively obstructing — the institutional and infrastructual reforms heralded by the People's Charter and the Strategic Framework for Change.
He is wrong, however, in thinking Government has little support among both i'taukei and the IndoFijian populations. All but one of the Provincial Councils now support the Charter, numerous vanua have apologised for not supporting the Charter and thanked government for its development work, and Indo-Fijian and other ethnic support continues, despite concerns about the economy and temporary restrictions such as PER. I doubt any Indo-Fijian would want to return to the Fiji of Qarase's later rule.
Not everyone agrees with how government is going about its reforms but deep diehard opposition seems limited to SOME overseas i'taukei groups and, in Fiji, to SOME chiefs (not the GCC or chiefs as a whole),SOME well-known leaders of the Methodist Church, those who lost privileged positions under the old regime, and SOME former political leaders of the SDL and, to a probably lesser extent, the FLP.
This, of course, does not mean this restricted group is without power. They still have the ability to influence grassroots opinion by playing, as they did in the past, on racial fears and prejudices, and people commenting on overseas-based blogs still advocate one or another form of violence to remove the Bainimarama government. I suspect PER and media restrictions continue because Government recognizes these possibilities.
Baledrokadroka talks of mediation but he does not say who the GCC is supposed to mediate between: Government and the former SDL governnment? This might once have been possible had the SDL accepted the principles of the People's Charter and shown itself willing to consider electoral reform. It is now far too late for this, as Bainimarama has made quite clear.
And what is to be negotiated? A return to before 2006? Qarase's reinstatement or ideas on power-sharing? No way. The relevance, powers and membership of the GCC? This would be useful but as the GCC would be a participant, it could not also be the mediator.
Or perhaps, from another perspective, a re-look at Fiji's "parallel system" of indigenous governance and how to make it more inclusive of other races, and the reform of all local administration to include non-i'taukei? Nice ideas, but unlikely for the foreseeable future.
Realistically, there's nothing to negotiate or mediate about unless those in opposition accept the basic ideas on citizenship, democracy and non-racial governance as proposed in the People's Charter. If Jone would sound the opposition out on these – and if there is some agreement — negotiations may again be possible, but not negotiations mediated by the GCC. A neutral arbitrator would be needed.
The SDL and the FLP would also be doing themselves a service if, instead of fruitlessly opposing everything Government is doing, they spelt out what they want for Fiji; what they support in government's work, what they could support with minor changes, and what they oppose. We know Government's basic principles, even though few have yet been attained, and we have some idea of Fiji's economic difficulties, but we know nothing about what these parties might have learnt in the past four years, how they may reconstitute themselves, and what they want for the new Fiji come 2014. The FLP website New Year message is typically lopsided and the SDL website seems to have closed down.
11 comments:
Croz, Jone Baledrokadroka is a goose and why you'd even bother to canvass his opinions is beyond me. He's been consistently wrong about practically everything, especially his predictions about the imminent demise of the regime, and this latest nonsense is no exception. The notion that Indo-Fijian support for the regime has collapsed is laughable. Maybe among his Lalaland cohorts - Brij Lal at the ANU and Victor Lal at Coup 4.5 -plus a handful of others like Professor Narsey. But where on earth is the evidence for such a sweeping claim? This guy now poses as an academic at the most highly rated university in Australia. Is this the level of scholarship the ANU accepts? Absurd assertions with no supporting evidence? This wouldn't pass muster in a first year high school essay. As for the rest, Baledrokdroka is entitled to his opinions. But many Fijians are more than happy that the GCC and the Methodist Church have been driven to the margins of national life. Both institutions had become utterly corrupt. Time was in Fiji that the chiefs commanded respect because they led by example. But the progeny of many of the great names of the past are demonstrably self serving and degenerate. The GCC had become a bastion of hereditary privilege with a membership insisting on homage yet shouldering no responsibility. Like the House of Lords in Britain, its time has passed. It can be a quaint feature of the vanua but it should have no further control over the direction the country takes. As for the Methodist Church, this is an institution that long ago lost the plot. Since the 1980s, it has strayed from his proper mission of providing spiritual sustenance and advocating social justice. It was bad enough that Methodist clergymen became active political players. But to do so on the part of only one race in Fiji and one political party has been a disgrace of the first order. The "Methodist Mullahs" have taken racial politics in Fiji to a new and dangerous level by claiming some kind of divine blessing on indigenous aspirations. No, both these institutions need fundamental reform before they deserve to be brought back into the fold. Baledrokadroka can be a crusader for their interests if he chooses. But on both counts, he deserves to be ignored.
Congratulations Mr Baledrokadroka on an excellent stategy for the rebuilding of Fiji. We Fijians would expect nothing less from the man who will probably be responsible for rebuilding the professionalism and reputation of the once proud Fiji Military when the junta and its perpetrators removed and the legitimate deposed government is reinstalled. You and Rati Joni will be appropriately supported by key institutions such as the GCC and the Methodist Church in getting Fiji back as a nation to be proud of. Well done Sir.
Croz,
I would rather place credibility on Baledrokadroka than you Croz- a foreigner who know nothing of what we Fijians want. We want the freedom to choose who to rule over us - not a bunch of criminals and thugs with no mandate. Can you not get that Croz!
Please leave us alone and retire peacefully in NZ.
"Tide is Turning", in your dreams. "You Fijians" who speak in racial terms and cling to the fantasy of indigenous supremacy can continue to fool each other but everyone else has moved on. There's no sign whatsoever of the tide turning in favour of the old order and the SDL. Sa oti vakadua. Jone Baledrokadroka can play the viavialevu as much as he wants but he's finished and, one way or another, will spend his remaining days in exile. As for the GCC and the Methodist Church, they remain but have lost their mana and their mojo. It's over, tau, the game is up. Join the new Fiji or wallow in defeat. But spare us your pathetic fantasy.
"Kai Viti", what a disgrace you are to launch an attack on Croz in such a petty, small-minded way. It's you who should retire from your pathetic attempt to cast everyone but 'we Fijians" as outsiders, with no right to make pronouncements on the nation's affairs. It's because of people like you that Fiji is so backward and has barely progressed in the 40 years since independence. It has arrested development, like some unfortunate handicapped child. You might like to live in a country like that but many of us don't. Where are the "Fijians" doing what Croz does, constantly facilitating debate on issues of vital importance to all of us? And don't mention people like Sai Lialia, who approach everything from their own perspectives to the exclusion of all else. Really, you're lucky to have someone of Croz's intellect even bothering with your country's future. He does it because of a genuine love of Fiji and its people. Many of us deeply appreciate his efforts so yalo vinaka, keep your gratuitous comments to yourself. Kai Viti? More like Kai Colo.
Its a pity that at times, concerned people after reading posts by the Blogger, forget the issues and talk about the person. They may even go as far as running down the Blogger.
What happened to "focusing to the issue", don't get personal, the forum is about issues.
This shows the character of that person.
@ kai viti makawa....
"the handicapped child" that is Fiji aspiring to a democracy? Aspirations for true democracy require a realisation that in a functioning democratic state, government is funded from taxation and taxation requires consent. Taxpayers hold the reins of a functioning democracy and it is they who 'call the shots'. No conflicting interest should ever be permitted in a functional democracy concerning the use of public money. If this occurs, then it must be fully declared and a decision taken: you cannot be paid by Two Masters. "He who pays the Piper Calls the Tune" - an old Scottish proverb and true. So, in view of the fact that public money is in use and most of the country pays taxes of one form or another, we should pay more than close attention by whom and how the purse strings are loosed? Since another fundamental of democracy is equality there can be no helpful argument about a division of the spoils: it is a given. Go back to Pericles and the Athenian State as it first evolved into a democracy more than four hundred years before Christ was born. Study the arguments and follow them closely. Socrates was put to death allegedly for "corrupting the youth". So who is the Corruptor now? Whence come the arguments failing in truth and integrity concerning the Public Interest? Who pays for these arguments and how?
@kai viti
Racist arguments are regressive arguments. They achieve nothing in the serious debate about how a functioning democracy should be born. Insults rebound on the insulter and they reveal a meanspirited and compromised intellectual capacity. Since many of us have always known we were Fijians anyway, despite the petulant and puerile taunts, you have achieved nothing meritorious by your questionable and opprobrious effort. Merely a vilification of yourself and no furthering of the premises of the argument at all.
"Follow the argument wherever it leads" that is the Socratic ideal and enjoinder across more than two tousand four hundred years. No less true now than then.
It takes courage to follow the argument 'wherever it leads'. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks has suggested in the article in today's Sunday SUN (an interview with Forbes Magazine in October 2010) that 'courage is contagious'. Whatever our own view of Assange might be, there seems there is some essential truth in this. Courage is lacking in the democratic, socratic arguments. Because essential interests are threatened. But Fiji has almost been destroyed by conflicts of interests which went unchallenged, unconfronted and fatally unrepudiated. Who has the courage now to say 'Yes' that is so?
To end: I.F. Stone in "The Trial of Socrates" has this to say about the contrast between Greek and Roman democracy.
"Much can be learned in dealing with any Greek problem if we turn to the analogous aspect of Roman civilization. The comparison - and even more, the contrast - between these two kindred but widely divergent societies is illuminating. For example: To study the voting procedures and rules of debate in the popular assemblies of the Roman Republic side by side with the Athenian assembly is to see clearly he contrast between the two political systems, the former a thinly disguised oligarchy, the other a full and direct democracy. So our attempt at a new understanding of the trial of Socrates will also become a fresh look at classical antiquity. It is our YESTERDAY, and we cannot understand ourselves without it".
@ Bullseye for you...kai viti!
You really scored today! As the Commerce Commission rolled out a list of imperfections they allegedly discovered in their raid of the Fiji Rugby Union HQ in Suva, what are we left to suppose? The most intriguing finding we are told is that the FRU Bank account did not contain sufficient funds to pay out even the advertised prizes: all F$300,000 worth. Many purchased tickets had not been placed in the Draw and the list goes on and on. So, what we did we expect? Anything better than this? Come on, let's all awaken from our confused, slumber of stupefaction. A full makeover is required and the sooner we get to admit it, the betterer: for we've all "been had".
@Kai Viti - your small minded racist post is a disgrace. Croz has been doing a great job facilitating a discussion on the best way forward for Fiji and you insult him because he does not see things your way. Shame on you!!
Corruption only takes another form. What Fiji REALLY needs are more visionary people like Ratu Mara & A.D. Patel. Unfortunately, these qualities are hard to find in anyone nowadays. Btw, I thought Mr Francis Kean was convicted of some sort of crime??
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