Gauging Fiji's Democracy.

The article by Stuff highlights the unhealthy obsession displayed by the Trans-Tasman rivals on the issue of Fiji's democracy. This artificial induced diplomatic pressure on Fiji, is spearheaded by the most quintessential abuser of democracy; none other than the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

Opinion article by a Fiji academic was published in Monday 26th February issue of the Fiji Sun. The opinion is informative and provides an accurate counter-point on the mechanics of democracy in Fiji and the structural elements supporting it.

Economic recovery vs democracy

By Dr Suresh Prasad

Fiji should develop a workable road map towards economic recovery and national capacity building and in the interim, the people crying for democracy should take a back seat. Once the nation has recovered economically, democracy will fall into place.

After all, several people, including self-styled merchant banker and deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase have spoken about democracy being an alien '`bird'', clearly denoting that other, more important matters needed to be attended to before we could all bask in the glory of being a democratic nation.

Let's not pre-occupy ourselves with this illusionary ‘`bird’, democracy, while there are matters of higher importance on the national agenda, such as poverty reduction, the deteriorating health and education systems, a dwindling resources sector and the self-destructing service and employment sector.

Even countries with established democracies occasionally need to address issues outside the parameters of democracy. For example, the United States, Australia and New Zealand have all shifted from democratic paths when it suited them.

New Zealand certainly did not engage with the Maoris in observance of the tenets of democracy. Neither did Australia in its decimation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders, nor the US in its annihilation of Native Americans and treatment of minorities. More recently, Australia's deplorable treatment of refugees was certainly not in line with the democratic principles it is so quick to preach about to the South Pacific nations, in particular, Fiji.

One can't help but make the observation that this kind of dictatorial sabre-rattling for democracy by New Zealand and Australia was conspicuously absent in the case of China, Pakistan and more recently, Indonesia. Perhaps the Eminent Persons Group from the South Pacific Forum countries, which recently visited Fiji will be allowed the same free passage to assess the plight of indigenous Australians and the abhorrent conditions that prevail in the country's various detention centres!

Where was this Eminent Persons Group in 1987 and 2000? Why is this group any more '`eminent'' than the EU and Commonwealth Election Observer groups who missed the pertinent issues by the proverbial mile?

A few eminent persons of our own - independent of the South Pacific Forum - have even questioned the credibility of some members to even be in this Eminent Persons Group given that some them did not declare their interests and have been involved in very undemocratic activities themselves. Their report is quite predictable: armed forces to the barracks and national elections sooner than later.

No attention was given to the wishes of the people of Fiji. No heed was paid by this so-called eminent group to the fact that the political life in Fiji has significantly stabilised since the hand-over of executive authority to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

The report, it seems, is yet another attempt to prop up and legitimise the much-maligned position that Qarase and his cronies had adopted under the guise of democracy. The report deliberately avoids any mention of the mini-Budget by the Interim Government, which is being compiled to pull out Fiji from a certain path of bankruptcy.

No mention is being made of the downsizing of the burgeoning public service previously headed by Qarase supporters on fat salaries. No word of approval on the recruitment of permanent secretaries to replace highly paid, very often incompetent and corrupt, chief executive officers and the reconfiguration and realignment of Government ministries.

The group makes no mention of the reinvigorated tourism industry, despite calculated efforts by our so-called friendly, neighbouring nations to impose travel bans to warn their citizens from travelling to Fiji. This so-called Eminent Persons Group made no effort to tap into the views of ordinary citizens of Fiji. Had they done so, they would have been told quite clearly that the law and order situation is at its best, tourists are starting to come back to Fiji's shores and businesses are thriving.

The Interim Government, through its streamlined Ministry for Foreign Affairs, is working on bilateral and multilateral engagements with immediate neighbours, including Australia and New Zealand. It is also sending delegations to India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia - the emerging economies of the future. And all of this is happening despite the calamities of widespread flooding and the closure of the Vatukoula mines, which will leave about 1700 people unemployed.

This has placed an additional burden on the newly formed Interim Government of Fiji, but no mentions of these are made in the group's report. The group spouts the same old gospel of democracy with no attention to economic recovery efforts in Fiji.

Countries that rather hypocritically `'cry'' for democracy are not quite democratic in their own conduct. Nascent forms of racism, discriminatory practices and jaundiced forms of justice are quite prevalent in these bastions of democracy.

At least Fiji admits to having these weaknesses, albeit a legacy of the Qarase era, and more importantly, in the full glare of international scrutiny, the Bainimarama Government has pledged to correct these deviant and corrupt practices that Qarase and his cronies engaged and indulged in for personal and political gains.

These were, in the Qarase era, masked by a sheen of a democratic hypocrisy that the US, Australia and New Zealand sponsored, endorsed and supported. Democracy is a subjective matter and one can only measure this rather elusive concept in shifts a country makes towards transparent, visible systems and processes, coupled with fair and just conduct in all matters pertaining to governance.

In Fiji's case, the move towards the path of democracy needs to be a well-considered and gradual one. Any impetuousness to appease and pacify just a few, including the Eminent Persons' Group, the forum countries and even the Commonwealth, will be a self-defeating proposition.

Fiji needs to heed the lessons of this hasty return to democracy in the aftermath of the previous coups and hostage taking. Any similar premature and ill-considered move would probably be quite catastrophic. The same can be said of the ill-conceived, hastily concocted and rather predictable advice contained in the report by the Eminent Persons' Group.

People of Fiji must be allowed to decide when and if they want to return to democracy and their national consciousness should not be dictated by a handful of highly paid NGO employees, lawyers who are really apologists for the blatantly corrupt and now, thankfully, deposed Qarase government and neighbouring nations with subtle but quite obvious, hidden agendas of their own.

There needs to be a widespread consultation and mature consideration and ratification via a national referendum before embarking on this rather illusionary path of democracy. In the meantime, Fiji should focus on the path to national economic recovery and make efforts towards becoming self-reliant and self-dependent. Fiji needs to develop sufficient capacities of its own to move away from depending on double-faced, fair-weather friends such as the US, Australia and New Zealand.

And this may not happen in the short term of up to two years that the eminent group prescribes in its report. The mechanisms that are prerequisites and an integral part of stable democracies need to be critically examined and strengthened before one can even contemplate moving towards a democratic election.

In Fiji's case, these would be an exhaustive review of the electoral system itself, which currently entrenches the existing racial divide and rather blatantly allows unscrupulous politicians to play the race card. Of course, people with a racist agenda will frown upon this constitutional shift, for their personal and political salvation is in keeping the major races polarised.

Fiji will have to move away from this type of racially divisive electoral system if it intends to achieve a stable democracy built on strong democratic principles of equity and fairness for all. Here, the Constitution will need to be tinkered with if not revised. But if a review is needed, then so be it.

It is an opportune time to examine this document in the context of a modern Fiji being part of a global community. Constitutions, like all national documents of law and conduct, need to be regularly reviewed and revised. Secondly, the electoral boundaries need to demarcated accurately to reflect geographical spread and shifts in Fiji's population and here, perhaps, the architects need to consider there being fewer constituencies to trim down the ever-burgeoning size of the parliament.

For the size of its population, Fiji seems to be over-governed; at least it certainly was when Qarase was at its helm. Thirdly, an accurate census needs to be carried out with, perhaps, the help of school teachers over the long, paid school holidays that they have as part of their conditions of employment. These teachers, through their social involvements in their respective school catchment areas, know best these regions as opposed to hired relatives of very many public servants who carried out voter registration for election 2006. This will avoid the debacle of the 2006 election when considerably more ballot papers were printed, giving rise to, perhaps justified speculations that the election was 'rigged' by the Qarase Government.

This, we hope, will come out in the wash when the armed forces carry out the clean-up of the electoral office. These are the bare minimum, but necessary, prerequisites to democracy and a deliberate oversight of these in impetuous haste to bring about a semblance of democracy to appease Australia and New Zealand and a handful of overpaid NGO employees funded by these countries would be not be in the best interests of the silent majority of Fiji.

Perhaps even the South Pacific Forum's Eminent Persons' Group will endorse this path of economic recovery and nation-building before Fiji travels the path of democratic national elections.

Club Em Designs