Croz Walsh's Blog -- New Zealand and Fiji: How Much Fairer They Could Be

WEEKEND READING ♦ Allen Lockington Column  ♦ People's Charter Pillar 5 (Achieving Higher Economic Growth): For Discussion  ♦ Is the PNG Land Grab Relevant to Fiji?

Photo: The University of the South Pacific Laucala Bay campus was built on the RNZF base for Sunderland flying boats which were then the only way to reach many islands in the region by air. The road on the left is Queen Elizabeth Drive that now dissects the upper and lower campus,  and the one from top to bottom of the photo is Laucala Bay Road.

N0292. PUBLIC DISCUSSION IN FIJI .  Restrictions on open debate could be improving in Fiji despite the retention of PER, the emergency regulations.  On Wednesday, USP held a public forum on the large loan recently taken out by Government, Fiji’s Second International Bond Issue. Speakers included Filimone Waqabaca (Ministry of Finance), Dr Mahendra Reddy (Fiji National University), Prof. Warden Narsey (USP), Norman Wilson (ANZ) & Dr. T.K Jayaraman (USP). Notable is the inclus…

N247. THE PM ON RACE AND ELECTIONS. Fostering racism should be stamped out so that the country can move forward, the PM told Nakalawaca Villagers in Tailevu last week.

“Na veivakaduiduitaki vakamatatamata e vakadukadukalitaka na noda vanua (Racism corrupts our country).“E kune e loma ni politiki, ka kauta mai na veilecayaki e na noda vanua. E teteva na veimata tamata kei na lotu. E dodonu me vakawabokotaki. E vakataotaka na toso. (It is rife in politics and creates uncertainty among people. Racism is found in religious societies also. It should be stamped out. It affects growth and progress).

He said the People’s Charter was built on removing racial differences.

“This Government wants to remove racial discrimination so that we can live together peacefully. This is the charter — one country and one people. We should learn to love each other and appreciate each other’s race. This is your country and this is your land. No one can take them away from you but what this Government wants is …

Photo: Commissioner Connors and the Attorney-General.Fiji Times.
N0184. LAWYERS GUILTY.  Three prominent lawyers, Muhammed Shamsud-Dean Sahu Khan, Mehboob Raza and Vipul Mishra, have  been found guilty of professional misconduct by Independent Legal Services Commission Commissioner John Connors. Mitigation for the lawyers will take place on 28 April and sentencing on 4 May. Readers in any doubt about Government charges of corruption, negligence and malpractice in the legal profession, and the earlier need to sideline the Fiji Law Society, should read the full article.

Speaking last year on Commissioner Connor's appointment, Attorney-Gereral Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum said, “The Bainimarama Government is determined that lawyers gain public trust. Having confidence and trust in the legal profession assists, and is an integral part of the proper and effective administration of justice.” Today's decision is part of that process.

N0185. PREEMPTING DIALOGUE?  Although the main elements o…

                                               By Crosbie Walsh
Government opponents have made much of the fact that the Roadmap has not yet been published and released for pubic scrutiny, and some have doubted its existence. I have no doubt the Roadmap exists in draft form, sufficient for government planning but clearly not sufficient for release.
I suspect Government reasoning, as in all else they have done, is that the Roadmap and the Strategic Framework for Change (that also has not been published) are operational documents based on the well known principles of the People's Charter. Publication for the general public is therefore not a priority at this time. 
If this is the case, it demonstrates government's step-by-step approach to change. First, the infrastructural changesdiscussed in Part I, followed by the constitutional and electoral changes that require public participation and the publication, if by then if it has any residual relevance, of the Roadmap. We should kno…

By Crosbie Walsh
In the relatively moderate anti-government blog FijiToday a Pita Massam writes to publisher Peter Firkin  raising interesting questions on race, racism, legislation and the 2014 elections.

Pita writes about an IndoFijjian business friend who says he can think of no one who would be acceptable to both i'taukei and IndoFijians as prime minister. "Both Qarase and Chaudry are way too polarised to be allowed to stand and the PM has promised to exclude them anyway."

Further, his friend doubts any "village Fijian would vote for a “Mongoose” and that is 30% of the total vote. No Settlement Indian would vote for a “Tu” and that is 18% of the population."

"He proposes a question to ask to gauge the level of racism bred into the current population. Would you be happy if your daughter married a Fijian or Indian? He believes that an almost 100% of parents would say “no way.” This will not change in the six years as proposed by the current Government. …

A VOTE BEFORE TIME. I'm not sure on whose authority Strategic Framework for Change Coordinator Lote Raboila has announced that voting will not be compulsory for the 2014 elections. He says people will be given the choice whether to vote or not to vote according to Pillar One of the People's Charter. Pillar One makes no specific reference to compulsory or voluntary voting. But, more importantly, I wonder what this has to do with the SFC Office?

Isn't it up to the people who will be involved in the electoral reform process to make recommendations on all matters of electoral reform?  Government may give "advance notice" of what it would like, but their views should not be stated as facts before the event.

ALL PROVINCES NOW SUPPORT CHARTER. The Permanent Secretary PM's Office Col. Pio Tikoduadua, reports that Government now has the support of the 14 provinces in the country. He says even though some chiefs have yet to show their support, they have received assuran…

Several people responded to Rajendra Prasad's account of his Fiji trip. One, signing himself Tears of Tedium, thought Rajendra's reflections  a "once-over-lightly approach to the Fiji economy."

"Talk to anyone in the business community," he said, " and they'll tell you new investment is zero. That, coupled with the dismal outlook for sugar, continuing EU sanctions, cyclone fallout, etc. ought to be ringing loud alarm bells. Cheap airfares aren't going to save the country either, only destroy Air Pacific as a viable carrier." 

I replied: "I'd be pleased to hear ... what advice you'd give to local and overseas protagonists ... what, realistically, do you advise to 'take Fiji forward'?"

He did not comment on the role of overseas protagonists, and thinks Government is the only local protagonist (I think him wrong but we may define protagonists differently. Stakeholders would have been a better word) but this is how …

After all the  repetitive negative public publicity Fiji has been receiving lately, most particularly from uninformed Australian media sources, it gives me great pleasure to see two very influential "big guns" fire back.


Fiji is pulling itself up with its own bootstraps
Letter in The Australian Financial Review Friday 12 February 1010

In your editorial, "Fiji's Bosses understand big-stick diplomacy" (February 6-7), The Weekend Australian Financial Review called on Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to emulate Theodore Roosevelt and carry  a big stick when he's dealing with Fiji. The editorial says the Australian government should make it clear to Fiji "that Fiji needs Australia and New Zealand more than Australia and New Zealand need Fiji."
This is an unworthy response and is condescending to a smaller neighbour. It is also strategically unproductive.  The last few years have demonstrated that if you send a man to Fiji with a big stick, he will be met b…

 Electoral Reform for Fiji: the Importance of Speedily Ending Malapportionment by Scott MacWilliam
The current regime in Fiji has correctly identified one vote one value as an important democratic principle which should underpin electoral reform in Fiji. The system used under the 1997 Constitution for the 1999, 2001 and 2006 elections grossly distorted the weight given to votes as between different constituencies, which is malapportionment, but not gerrymandering. (The latter involves the specific drawing of electorate boundaries to benefit a particular party or individual candidate, and was not a major feature of the Fiji electoral system.)
Malapportionment is usually initiated when conservative parties, with their bases in rural areas have most influence. In federations, where there is an elected upper house or Senate, there is often constitution derived, deliberate malapportionment which favours states or provinces with small populations. In the US, each state has two Senators, whe…

THE SPECTRUM SAGA IS UPDATED DAILY, 
WHEN SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING NEW.
SEE UPDATES AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE.


AFTER TWO WEEK OF CONSULTATIONS IN FIJI,the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Government that rushed civil service reforms could result in the loss of experienced manpower. The retirement age policy that  saw 2,044 civil servants go home earlier this year was part of the Civil Service Reform. The IMF also advised Government to stop borrowing, and reduce its reliance on the Fiji National Provident Fund as a source of finance. Full story.

WORK ON A LAND DATABANK has started at the Ministry of Lands and Minerals, working closely with the Native Land Trust Board. The work is part of the Ministry's 2010 - 2014 Strategic Planlaunched in Suva on Tuesday. Outcomes will assist land reform aimed at better land use and accessibility, needed to save the sugar industry and open more opportunities for tourism and agriculture. The reforms, part of the 2010-2014 Stategic Plan, wil…

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"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.

In this two-part series USP economics Prof. Wadan Narsey and I come to rather different conclusions on the possible outcomes of electoral reform. Wadan's two related articles, Electoral Reform Not about Racial Justice and Does the Military Really Want Electoral Reform? were previously published by Pacific Scoop. I abridge and summarize their contents here with a link to the originals. Part II Walsh New Election Playing Fields and Outcomes will be published next week.

Minor revisions, 28.9.09
It's not been a good last few days for Fiji internationally. PM Bainimarama called on the UN General Assembly for "patience and understanding" but it is doubtful any of the powers that count took any notice. That's what happens to little players on the international stage. He expressed disappointment that Fiji troops had been barred from new UN peacekeeping operations, despite its long "proud record" since 1978.

There was no doubt who he was referring to when he said, “Our people pose no threat to anyone, least of all to the big powers of the South Pacific who have abrogated to themselves the right to dictate to us our future and the way we govern ourselves. In all of this, they have used their extensive diplomatic and financial resources to deny Fiji to participate in new peacekeeping operations."

Not for the first time he said overseas critics had little understanding of the Fiji situation. They still seem "largely unaw…

USP's Professor Wadan Narsey has an article on this topic in Pacific Scoop, and a second instalment is to follow.

I believe some of his analysis and deductions are flawed, and shall argue along these lines when his second instalment is published.

Fiji's future political alternatives need to be publicly debated in Fiji's media, and not be limited to blogs and websites published from overseas. Unless Government is privy to information not generally known, the Emergency Regulations need to be lifted and the President's Political Dialogue Forum reconvened very soon. How else can there be constructive feedback on the Government's intended reforms? Meanwhile, check out Wadan's argument. Photo: USP.

IF DEMOCRACY IS ABOUT VOTING, WHY HAVE YOU NOT VOTED?
SEE LEFTHAND COLUMN -- PUBLIC POLLS ON FIJI'S POLITICAL SITUATION, AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS BLOG?

His Credentials
Born in Fiji, 16 years in the Fiji civil service, district officer, permanent secretary to the Governor-General when the 1987 coup occurred, author of Kava in the Blood about the coup (he was arrested on the first day), Fiji diplomat in Tokyo and Sydney, and now a private consultant in Australia on Pacific Affairs, Peter Thomson (photo) has recently returned from a visit to Fiji where he had a one and a-half hour one-on-one talk with PM Bainimarama. Click here to listen to what he had to say in an ABC Counterpoint programme. The interviewer is Paul Comrie-Thomson.

Thomson's comments are best heard in full and in context but for those in a hurry, these are the points I found most interesting:

Read more...

Reasons for the 2006 "Bainimarama" Coup
In talking about the reasons for the 2006 coup he drew attention to one cause that had slipped "under the radar," the military's opposition to Qarase's Indigenous Claims Tribunal Bill that would have…

It was certainly not love at first sight, they hated each other for years, but for several months now they have been seeing an unusual amount of each other, and we were all left wondering when an engagement notice might be expected. It seems that when Chaudhry's earlier courtship with Voqere Baimarama foundered, the disappointed Mahendra turned his attention to his earlier rival Laisenia. And it's now official. FijiLivereports the couple have sent a "joint letter" (sic!) to the PM asking him to be best man.

Read more...
At first sight things look promising. Chaudhry and Qarase seem to have accepted the need for electoral reform, or at least that the issue be discussed but with no "prejudice to outcomes." They will participate in a reconvened Dialogue Forum, to meet this month, but only on their terms, one of which is the immediate lifting of the Emergency Regulations that would see "freedom of the press" restored. The Forum must focus on holdi…

As predicted -- and as the CMAG group must have known -- Fiji will not comply with the Commonwealth ultimatum to announce elections by September 1 and hold them in November 2010. PM Bainimarama says Fiji will continue on its path to elections in 2014.

There was a time when Government critics accused Bainimarama of inconsistencies and backtracking on promises. No longer. For a long time now, he has been unwaveringly consistent on the reforms he sees as needed before truly representative election can be held. Since Australia, New Zealand and the PI Forum, from whom the Commonwealth takes its lead, are likely to see changes in their stance as a loss of face (not in my book), one hopes that behind-closed-doors diplomacy will now increase, with Fiji being offered all the assistance needed to design and implement the reforms and hold elections no later than 2014. I say "no later" because continuing internal and external obstructions may cause further delays.

My advice to my own…

Frank (Voqere) Bainimarama's recent "Perfectly Frank" interview by Australia SBS video journalist Mark Davis has been widely circulated by those opposed to Bainimarama, probably because they think he came out of the interview rather poorly. I thought differently. True, his "style" is not the typically diplomatic and he has a "raw" way of saying things in English, but what he actually said confirms my impression: he's perfectly consistent in what he says he's trying to achieve, and he means what he says. Of how many diplomats or politicians can this be said?

Of the interview itself, the two men seemed to be talking past each other on different planes of non-comprehension. Davis couldn't understand where Bainimarama was coming from: "Surely this man cannot believe what he's saying!" while Bainimarama seemed to be thinking: "How many times are they going to ask these questions? Why don't they believe me?"

In this p…

Speaking at Nadi yesterday, PM Bainimarama said Fiji would have have what he called "a modern day constitution" well before the 2014 elections, but that Government's focus for the next three years will be be on improving "socio-economic and infrastructure conditions throughout the country.” This will include encouraging the private sector and the media to join Government in initiatives that will be pro-growth and pro-poor.

Work on the new constitution will start in September 2012, two years before the elections. It will include provisions that “will entrench common and equal citizenry, it must not have ethnic-based voting; the voting age shall be 18; and it must have systems that hold elected governments accountable with more checks and balances." Public consultations on the constitution will include discussionon the “size of the new Parliament, the appropriateness of a bi-cameral system, the term of office of a government and systems of checks and balances”. B…

Made your views known. To see Realfijinews poll on the speech, click here.

The PM's Address at the Tradewinds Convention Centre on Fiji’s Strategic Framework for Change, July 1 2009. Click here to read in full from the official government website. I know some readers will be disappointed at the lack of detail. It certainly wouldn't do as a military map, and it does seem to take a long time to get from A (now) to B (constitution, elections), but with the destination logged in and set on auto-pilot, the address suffices to show Government is serious about reform and elections in September 2014. One might hope the international community, having given up on earlier elections, might sometime between now and then respond to Bainimarama's appeal for assistance. “I invite our international partners and relevant development agencies who are interested in facilitating the practicalities of the rule of law, creating transparency, facilitating access to justice and removing syste…