Michael Field's Trickles, Re-engagement & Respect, PM on Budget & Reforms, NZ Media Shamed

THE TROPICAL CYCLONE ALERT HAS BEEN CANCELLED but forecasters say the tropical depression remains - with winds of up to 50km per hour. Heavy rain is expected to ease in most parts of the group from today. No major flooding is expected but flash flooding could occur in some areas.

EYE OPENER (in more ways than one). The PM opened the new eye clinic today in front of a large crowd. 

OPEN LETTER TO PM.  I withdrew this posting as a reader suggested. It was poorly timed. I'll re-post  at a more appropriate time in the next week or so.

MICHAEL FIELD's OLD TRICKS.  A reader writes: "Croz, Good old Michael Field is up to his old tricks again, willfully distorting the truth in a supposedly straight news story to push his own political barrow. Witness his updated story this morning for Fairfax Media's Stuff NZ (click here).

'One of Fiji's major exporters, Fiji Water, has quit the Pacific country and its military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama has said it is good riddance. ...In a statement this morning, Bainimarama, who seized power in 2006, accused the American firm of transfer pricing and not caring about Fijian people.... He has made it plain his regime intends to seize the remaining assets of Fiji Water – one of the world’s largest bottled water operations – and sell them to somebody else.'

Where in any of this did the PM say "good riddance"? And where did he "make it plain his regime intends to seize the remaining assets of Fiji Water"?

This is total fabrication and I think this guy should be reported to the regulatory authorities in NZ for willful misrepresentation. He's a complete and utter disgrace."

Field's Stuff heading read "Bainimarama sends Fiji Water packing." Fiji did nothing of the sort. The company closed its plant and dismissed its workers.

P.S. A reader thinks I'd missed the point on Fiji Water (actually, I'd merely published in full statements from the company and government).  He writes: "Croz misses the point which is perhaps why we never hear him on radio any more - and Field endlessly - even on the BBC last night! " No. That is not the reason the NZ public hears only one side of the Fiji saga.

RE-ENGAGEMENT MUST BE BASED ON MUTUAL RESPECT. Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation PermSec Solo Mara  has told an Australia and New Zealand business forum meeting that Government will welcome a fuller re-engagement with Australia and New Zealand "in a manner that is not discriminatory, accords mutual respect and recognition of the political changes that have already taken place." He said there should be no doubts that the current Government is at the helm of  moving the country forward to a brighter and better future for its children.

Mara told participants that Fiji’s support to business communities and their business partners remain resolute and the Government is willing to work within the limited confines of its existing foreign relations with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. Fiji’s trade relations with Australia has a value of about $1.6million annually while Fiji accounted for 37% of New Zealand's exports to the region.

PM ON BUDGET AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS. The PM has called on the nation to accept the 2011 Budget after some aspects were criticized by some organizations. He said "Government is committed to reforms in the civil service, state-owned enterprises and other public entities."

Some reforms have commenced, some are ongoing, and the short term ones have been completed. These include the change in management of the government quarters, the merger of various government funded entities, re-organisation of entities, the divestment of shares and sale of businesses, outsourcing, and the participation of the private sector with government in joint ventures.

On his recent China trip he said he had met with many potential investors and thought the visit a success.

GOVERNMENT TO QUESTION NZ PAPER. "Appropriate action [is planned]  against a renowned New Zealand newspaper and website for allegedly running a false story based on rumors that Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama had passed away last week. PermSec. for Information Sharon Smith Jones said it is irresponsible that the media outlet did not check the facts first before running the story.

ONE-EARED RADIONZ AND VAT. I'm not surprised my radio asked Mahendra Chaudhry what he thought about the 2½% increase in VAT, taking it to 15%, the same as New Zealand. They knew what he would have to say: it's a  "devastating blow" to the poor, and the low and medium income earners, and  "once again people are being made to pay the price for indiscriminate government borrowings."

But why did they not also ask what the man who delivered the budget have to say? 

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum dismissed the claim, pointing to  targeted assistance programmes for the unfortunate in the budget, and the recent 9% reduction in the prices of many food items through the Commerce Commission price determination. He also thought that political parties like the FLP are just trying to use the issue as a political point scoring. Had this  not occurred to RadioNZ? He could also have said that the Qarase government was going to increase VAT in 2006; that Government has held off the increase for four years, and that the recommendation came from the International Monetary Fund.

I'm not happy about the VAT increase either but government is trying to balance the need to increase government revenue (and decrease costs) with the need to protect the poor. It's the same as its attempt to balance the claims of employers and minimum wages, and the need to attract and retain investment and obtain fair tax returns from the investors.


FORMER NZ DIPLOMAT Gerald McGhie has a new posting on his new blog. Click here.

President's Address, Rika to ANU, Work for Elderly, Fruit Flies, More Anons

PRESIDENT'S FIJI DAY ADDRESS. President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau paid tribute to all the leaders who over the past 40 years had contributed to the development and modernisation of Fiji.On Fiji's relations with the international community, he said, "We have been criticised and shunned by some for determining our own destiny, but we will not be deterred. We will work closely with those who care to consult with us and to understand our deep complexities.We will embrace their assistance in helping us to find suitable solutions [and] to those who have closed the doors on us, we will tirelessly seek through quiet diplomacy to reopen those doors, including those doors of the Commonwealth."

NETANI TO NOT SO IVORY TOWER. During the Viet Nam war, anthropologists in northern Thailand and Laos were unsuspectingly passing on information about the Hill Tribes that helped the US war effort.  Over a longer time period, banks of audio equipment in laboratories at the East-West Center in Hawaii helped students learn hundreds of languages, many spoken by people in politically unstable areas of interest to American Intelligence. Further back, prestigious colleges at Oxford and Cambridge offered scholarships and training for Britain's Third World Elite, and Harvard produced a world-wide generation of right-thinking economists and businessmen, who we now see got it all wrong.

Further south, in Australia the National University (ANU) has  programmes, scholarships, workshops and conferences to inform and support its government's policies and "win the hearts and minds" of  overseas scholars from countries in which Australia has a special interest.  Fiji has moved up this list in recent years. It is largely thanks to ANU that we have heard the opinions of ANU academics, Jonathon Fraenkel and Brij Lal, both vociferous opponents of the Bainimarama government. It was ANU that gave former Fiji Land Force Commander Jone Baledrokadroka a scholarship to research the military. And it is ANU that has just given former Fiji Times Editor Netani Rika a scholarship to write up his memoirs.

The Australian  reports that Rika  will "spend time in Canberra writing his account of the almost four years he has spent contesting military government control of the media." Intriguingly, Rika said, "We were always willing to print both sides of the story. But the censors allowed only one side. In such cases, the paper spiked the stories altogether to spare readers being misled."

I have little doubt he truly believes this but an independent, objective content analysis of the paper from 2006 on (and before for that matter) would, in my opinion,  show most definitely that if both sides were printed, they were never printed equally. I stand by my crude assessment of a 3.5:1 ratio of opposition to Government. Content Analysis is a research method where qualitative data are measured and quantified, in this case by categorising the frequency, placement, coverage, extent and "bias" of newspaper headings and articles.

RADIONZI GIVES NEW MEANING TO OLD PHRASE. "Fiji's self-imposed (sic!) prime minister says his country is on track for elections in 2014 provided the international community does not interfere."  They also provide a "Rika" example of how to publish their side of the story while purporting to report another.  Click here.

KHAN APPLAUDS WORK FOR ELDERLY. Recent efforts by government to advocate issues affecting the elderly should be applauded says FCOSS (Fiji Council of Social Services) director Hassan Khan. He said senior citizens are the backbones of their family and government has done a lot recently to provide better services to them. Khan also commended the work of non-government organizations.

FEAR OF FRUIT FLIES. The Tuvalu Government says the lack of proper quarantine facilities in Rotuma means it has to maintain the suspension of fruit trade with Rotuma. Trade will resume when clearances are obtained from Fiji’s Quarantine Department. A new species of fruit flies has been found in Vatoa Island, a thousand kilometres in the Lau Group, but so far as is known there are no fruit flies in Rotuma, and the ban does not prevent exports of root crops. Direct exports between Rotuma and Tuvalu commenced at the beginning of the year following heavy investment in port and shore facilities by the Fiji Government. Properly controlled it will provide valuable income for Rotuma and cheaper, better food supplies for the Tuvalu atolls.

ANONYMOUS. Far more pro-government and neutral people wishing to comment on this blog fail to use pseudonyms. The ratio of unaccepted pro-neutral to anti- anonymous comments is 3:1. The imbalance shows, giving the impression that most readers are anti-government.

To restore some of the balance, and keep the anon issue in readers' minds, an occasional exception will be made to the rule ... as in this comment: "Gerald McGhie appears to be an eminently sensible man. He would appear to know and understand much that his own Government has failed to grasp. His experience is in all the things that really matter. Why are some not listening to what he has to say?" The comment was on the Weekend Reading, Resolving the Fiji Impasse: Let the Pacific Lead.
Pacific Lead

Resolving the Fiji Impasse: Let the Pacific Lead

By Gerald McGhie*

Former NZ diplomat, former Director of the NZ Institute of International Affairs,
former Chairman Transparency International NZ

 

Interim Prime Minister Bainimarama’s track record does little to encourage those who look to an early negotiated settlement to the current coup/crisis. But the coup is now in its fourth year and Bainimarama remains well entrenched. Action to date has not brought him to the negotiating table.

(o) Former NZ Diplomat and ...

... chairperson of the NZ chapter of Transparency International Gerald McGhie had a short article "Fiji's Gordian Knot" (although it covered Pacific-wide issues) in this week's NZ Listener. The issues raised were poor governance ("weak governance has made a number of Pacific power brokers very rich. Strong institutions would disrupt the flow of easy money."); corruption ("the most serious threat to future stability and development"), and New Zealand's need to understand the Pacific ("sometimes a strident tone has crept into NZ's Pacific statements ... [we need] a NZ voice that reflects an understanding of Pacific realities rather than the agenda of other countries... Our task is to take a lead. This will require intelligent diplomacy"). On the Fiji situation: "Unless there is a radical shift in the voting process, further elections will .. fail to make any headway." [A question for the NZ Listener: Doesn't the commissioned painting of the Fijian soldier in full battledress that accompanied the article run counter to McGhie's message to New Zealand? Or was it commissioned to fit any article on Fiji?] http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3589/features/12815/fijis_gordian_knot.html

(o+) Pushing Fiji Regime into a Corner is Not the Way
Opinion. Crosbie Walsh 29 January 2009

The special PI Forum meeting in Port Moresby has come and gone. The Interim Government's case went unheeded. NZ and Australia pressed for firm action. Sir Michael Somare called for further dialogue. Tonga was surprisingly silent given its earlier assurance to Baimarama it would support Fiji if the "promised" deadline for March elections could not be met. John Key reportedly mouthed personal insults at Fiji's Attorney-General. Kiribati and Tuvalu wavered but eventually agreed to support the "unanimous" resolution (Fiji, presumably,opposed it).

Fiji is not to be suspended from Forum membership (the NZ media got it wrong again) but the "ultimatum" to nominate an election date by May 1 and elections no later than December 2009 is going to be hard to meet. Meanwhile, sanctions will remain in place and the Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) will continue to monitor the situation for the PI Forum.

Fiji Live reports that Fiji must:
(i) provide to Forum Leaders a new timetable agreed with all key political stakeholders, specifying in detail the agreed steps to elections and a return to democracy, and the timing for completing them, reflecting a consensus reached through a genuine, open, inclusive dialogue without threats, preconditions, ultimatums or predetermined outcomes;
(ii) make a clear commitment that any reforms agreed through political dialogue will be implemented in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Fiji; and
(iii) undertake and sustain serious and credible election preparations, including allocation of necessary resources to the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, and the prompt preparation of the electoral roll.

On the surface, these demands may appear reasonable. But in reality they will be hard to meet. The IG will not abandon the coup objectives and revert to the status quo ante, and the Qarase grouping will not co-operate (or even meet) with the IG so long as it continues to have such unconditional outside support. Why should it support electoral reform when the present system served it so well?

For the "ultimatum" to be met by the IG, the Forum (and particularly New Zealand and Australia) must put pressure on all parties involved in the Fiji impasse, not just the IG. And it must offer legal and other support to find a way of meeting the conditions which do not force the IG to abandon the coup's objectives. If this cannot be achieved before an election, there must be a firm assurance that the incoming government will reform the electoral system to make it truly free, fair and democratic.

If it does not, the IG will be backed further into the corner. As one seasoned Pacific commentatator put it:

"My worry is that the harder the Pacific countries push the regime in Fiji, there is a danger that it will transform from a relatively benign but authoritarian military-backed administration into a full dictatorship with a full crackdown on the media and total denial of human rights. As the political and economic situation deteriorates, the sort of oppression seen in some other post-coup developing countries, notably in Africa (and the Philippines under Marcos and even now under a "democracy"), could emerge".

Evidence that a seige mentality is already emerging is provided by several coup supporters responding to the Forum ultimatum:

"Let the ban come - we will not be harmed. Our decisions are our own and Fiji does not bow to any other country. If the (Forum) leaders wish to remain thick-headed about their decision, then it is their loss. Fiji will continue to slogger on as we always have. Our people are hardworking and they care enough about this country to help rebuild it and take it forward. Do not fear what you write - only fear what will happen if you do not write the truth or stand up for what you believe in. Our cause is genuine and we will not stop simply because there are a few people crying as a result of the government discovering their corrupt ways and stopping it forever".

"It is really an act of war! Where in the world have other countries put deadlines to a sovereign state!"

"I'm fighting for my country. Count on me, Frank. Don't let them dictate things to us."

Former diplomat Gerald McGhie, well experienced in Pacific affairs (Dominion Post 23.1.09), asks how "links between such longstanding Pacific partners (can) have reached such a low point" and how they may be repaired. He makes several important observations:

• Our far less "restrictive and didactic approaches" to Asian coups."For all his faults, Voqere Bainimarama's rationale for the December 2006 coup was, among other things, to introduce proportional representation and rid Fiji of corruption."
• Our preoccupation with the timing of elections, in the hope they will lead to constitutional change. Since this has not happened before, "perhaps constitutional change should precede an election" (as Bainimarama requires).
• Our failure to apply the lessons learnt in resolving Treaty of Waitangi issues to conflict resolution in the Pacific.

The way forward?

"Why not," he asks, "send a team of experts to Suva to establish the broad outlines of new constitutional requirements?"

Perceptively he adds, " In discussing these issues with the politically acute (sic!) Fijians, tone and style will be vital."

My own advice to our Government? Reflect on the observation: There's only one thing worse than a coup, and that's a failed coup.