Back To Square One: SP Forum Ministers Contact Group.

In a follow up to the recent SiFM post titled "Fiji Reengages Pacific Community On Its Own Terms" which seems to have foreshadowed the eventual outcome.

Radio NZ correspondent, Jane Patterson radio podcast(MP3) covers the fact finding mission of the Forum Minister's contact group and the podcast includes quotes from Winston Peters and Laisenia Qarase.

Radio Australia's podcast of Pacific Beat, also comments on the results of the Forum contact group's visit.

Fiji TV news segment (video posted below)featured the final press conference of the contact group.



Kiwi blog posting titled "Fiji elections" also deliberated on the pledge for 2009 elections. Another New Zealand Blog: Whale Oil, whose latest posting discussed the comments of ousted P.M, Laisenia Qarase and the sad realities he faces.

The so called fact finding group eventually compiles a report for the South Pacific Forum meeting in Niue in August, which Fiji will be sharing the top of agenda with Climate change, according to a Radio Australia article.

Realistically, it is crystal clear that neither the Forum nor the Trans-Tasman neighbours would have any muscle to force the issue of elections in Fiji, besides the smart sanctions and more rhetoric.



Even with US State Secretary, Condoleeza Rice's upcoming visit to the region next week, will not make an iota of difference in the outcome, other than being seen as bragging rights to Winston Peters and Helen Clark's upcoming election campaign.



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Exit to Fiji: Winston Peters Leaves A Wake of Denials.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has lashed out over fresh claims his party received a campaign donation from billionaire Owen Glenn.

In a seemingly ironic official state visit to Fiji, New Zealand's Foreign Minister had only one objective to Fiji and that was to urge the Interim Government to honor the pledge of 2009 elections. However, it seems that Peter's hope of being a honest broker in the Ministerial meeting in Suva, has dark clouds hanging over his head, that raise brows over his integrity.

Peters' sojourn to Fiji, was perhaps a ideal moment to escape the swarming media attention over his campaign finances, for the upcoming New Zealand elections. While lecturing Fiji about the will to have elections, Peters seems to have neglected the absurdity of his position to hector; in any case these serious allegations will undoubtedly await the return of the honorable Foreign Minister.

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Fiji Re-engages The Pacific Community, On Its Own Terms.

The much anticipated meeting between the South Pacific Ministers and the Interim Government of Fiji is getting a lot of media attention.

Even the Fiji Times Editorial of Tuesday July 15th, outlines some partisan punditry.
The excerpt of the FT Editorial:

An opportunity

EDITORIAL COMMENT
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

THE visit by the foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand is a tremendous opportunity for our leaders to seek a way forward and out of the nation's political impasse.

We cannot continue to be dragged through months of waiting for democracy because of the selfish, stubborn wills of a minority within the interim administration.

The time has come for those who have usurped power in what was once our democratic home to take charge and be serious about elections. They cannot continue to hold on to power simply because they do not wish a certain faction or political party to return to a position of authority.

Nor can they attempt to predetermine the outcome of elections which should be designed to take the nation forward.

Australia and New Zealand have indicated in recent months that they are willing to take extraordinary steps to help in the return to democracy. Australia recently allowed the appointment of a high commissioner to our mission in Canberra and has permitted the return of a consular officer to Sydney.

New Zealand has continued to gently urge a return to democracy while allowing families with military links to visit that country on humanitarian grounds.
Most regimes would welcome such moves and attempt to find some common ground on which to begin meaningful and hopefully truthful discussions.

The hallmark of the current administration is its refusal to see any further than its own selfish whims and desires. In doing so, it has caused an enormous amount of disunity and tension between people who are normally well-meaning and able to see the best in others.

If this regime is engaging in these talks only to turn around next week and change its mind, there is no use in holding these discussions with the foreign ministers of our closest trading partners.

So far we have heard a myriad of unfulfilled or broken promises from the current regime. Or its leaders attempt to wriggle and squirm out of agreements made at regional or international summits with lame excuses about why it is acceptable for Fiji to renege on a bilateral agreement.

When will this end?

The answer from Voreqe Bainimarama and his interim administration should be one word today. Today his regime must decide whether it truly wants democracy for the people of different races, religions and cultures who make this such a wonderful place in which to live.

Engage openly and truthfully in discussions which will bring us all real democracy before the end of March next year.

And do it today.

The assertions of the Fiji Times Editorial is misleading, as well as myopic:

We cannot continue to be dragged through months of waiting for democracy because of the selfish, stubborn wills of a minority within the interim administration.

The editorial aspires to democracy, but only democracy dictated by these egalitarian neighbors, who forget and neglect that Fiji's democracy is race based. If removing those racial dimensions of Fiji's electoral system was selfish and stubborn as the FT editorial alludes, perhaps the publication and those advocating for accelerated elections, are themselves in the minority and want nothing more for the nation of Fiji, than to be perpetually splintered along race lines.

The misconception of the Fiji Times Editorial continues:

The time has come for those who have usurped power in what was once our democratic home to take charge and be serious about elections. They cannot continue to hold on to power simply because they do not wish a certain faction or political party to return to a position of authority.

Nor can they attempt to predetermine the outcome of elections which should be designed to take the nation forward.

The straw man fallacy by used by the Editor of the Fiji Times is disappointing and erroneously portrays that the Interim Government, as holding on to power simply because they don't wish a certain political party to return to authority.

It is true that, the Interim Government is against those parties which use the race card conveniently and purposely, along with misappropriated state funds, to donate garden tools and outboard motors as vote buying ventures, known as the Agricultural scam.

It appears that the FT Editorial is advocating the continuation of such divisive and immoral displays of political posturing.

The FT Editorial also claims that, the Interim Government is predetermining the outcome of the elections, conveniently neglecting that the only way forward for the nation of Fiji is not through racial or religious bigotry, which the Fiji Times Editor has chosen to defend.


Back to the deliberations of the Ministerial meet up. One sticking point that is bound to crop up in the high level meeting, revolves around the timing of the election, as the International Herald Tribune (IHT) article describes.

Another article from Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) seems to outline the warning which, Australia and New Zealand's Foreign Ministers have suggested if the March 2009 time frame is not met.

Particularly belligerent, are media reports painting the Australian Foreign Minister as, riding in to town like the region's Sheriff and demanding an immediate reassurance, to the pledge of holding the elections in the first quarter in 2009. Such grandstanding demands will ultimately result in logger heads, simply because it would come across as an imperialistic gesture and hugely disrespectful of Fiji's sovereignty. The brinkmanship of holding off aid, as suggested by the E.U, is an ill advised card to play that could result in unintended consequences.

Moreover, the failure of the visiting group to understand the conditionality of the Interim Government's pledge, that hinged on internal factors like electoral reform and the implementation of the 'National Charter'; will simply result in a wasted trip by the South Pacific Ministers and wasted time for all involved.


The except of the SMH article:

Smith to quiz Fiji regime about poll


Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has arrived in Fiji, putting the nation's coup leader on notice that he expects an unwavering commitment to fresh elections next year.

Smith has arrived in Suva ahead of talks on Tuesday with members of Fiji's interim administration, appointed and led by military leader Frank Bainimarama after he staged a coup in December 2006.

Australia has raised serious concerns about recent comments by Bainimarama that suggest he may abandon an earlier pledge to hold elections in the first quarter of next year.

Smith said he and other South Pacific foreign ministers who have travelled to Fiji this week expected Bainimarama to keep his word.

"We are of course charged with making a judgment about the willingness and preparedness of the interim government to meet the commitment it gave to Pacific Islands leaders to have an election by the end of March next year," Smith said.

"It is very important to the region that Fiji is a fully-fledged member of the Pacific Islands Forum, of the Commonwealth and of the region."

Bainimarama, who has appointed himself prime minister, warned in recent months that he aims to root out corruption and reshape the country's race-based political system before holding elections, which could delay the polls.

Bainimarama briefly broke off contact last month with a group of South Pacific foreign ministers working to assist Fiji in meeting his original commitment to a new vote by March 2009.

Two days of talks by six foreign ministers in the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum - including Smith and New Zealand's Winston Peters - begin in Fiji on Tuesday and continue on Wednesday.

Peters said democratic elections were "critical to the economic and social turnaround of Fiji". Since the coup, "Fiji has seen a huge slide economically and as a consequence it heightens the importance of the work we're doing," Peters told New Zealand's National Radio.

The delegation is the most senior diplomatic mission to visit Fiji since Bainimarama's coup, which critics say has resulted in widespread rights abuses in the country.

Australia and New Zealand, along with the European Union and the United States, are keeping pressure on Bainimarama to restore democracy, but Bainimarama accuses them of interfering in Fiji's internal affairs.

Smith is the first Australian minister to enter Fiji since the coup, and while he will come face to face with Bainimarama at the talks, there are no plans for a private dialogue.

Australia has been a vocal critic of the coup leader, and roundly condemned the expulsion earlier this year of two Australian newspaper publishers working in Fiji.

The publisher of the Fiji Sun newspaper, Russell Hunter, was ordered out of Fiji in February after his newspaper alleged a member of Bainimarama's government had committed tax evasion. Fiji Times publisher Evan Hannah was forced onto a plane to South Korea in May after being labelled a security threat.

The European Commissioner for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, said over the weekend that there is deep concern that Fiji's election timetable is at risk of slipping.

He warned that the EU expects Fiji's interim government to hold elections no later than the end of March 2009.

Noting that political groups in Fiji had agreed to dialogue facilitated by Commonwealth special envoy, Sir Paul Reeves, Michel said he hoped it would provide a solution to election-related issues well before the end of the year.

That "would allow the EU's 2008 support to (Fiji's) sugar sector to go ahead," he said. The EU, Australia and New Zealand are major aid donors to Fiji.

Radio Australia's radio program Pacific Beat(MP3) also covered the high level meeting and the expectations that the contact group have. Despite the lofty goals of the visiting group, regarding the timing of Fiji's 2009 election, it appears that those preconditions are presumptuous from the Interim Government's perspective and coming to the meeting with such demands is counter productive.

While the regional powers have urged Fiji to reengage dialogue, subsequently to pulling out of the South Pacific Forum, Joint Working Group last month, after the Interim Government decided to suspend negotiations with the entity in retaliation for Australia and New Zealand's unhelpful stance, reported in a IHT article; Fiji's re engagement should not counted on as a given, with all terms dictated from abroad considered signed, sealed and delivered.

Hopefully, common sense and the adherence to Chatham House rules would prevail in the visiting group, including the wisdom to back off with the preconditions and allow the Interim Government to take their time to do things right, in the progress to democracy. It is monumental and significant for the Interim Government of Fiji, to navigate back to democracy correctly and on the first attempt. Whether the International Community likes it or not; the nation of Fiji wins no medals in rushing to the finish line of democracy, that results in generations of disenfranchised citizenry.

Interim Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry has indicated in a Fiji Village(FV)article that, any demands will not be tolerated.

The excerpt of the FV article:

No Demands Please says Chaudhry
Publish date/time: 15/07/2008 [07:11]

As high powered talks between the interim government and the Ministerial Contact Group is set to get underway this morning, interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry stressed that no demands from the Group will be tolerated.

Chaudhry told Fijivillage that he is hoping that the members of the Ministerial Contact Group is not coming in just to set demands to hold elections next year.
The Ministerial Contact Group consists of Foreign Affairs Minister of Australia, Stephen Smith, his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters, Samoan Prime Minister Sailele Tuila'epa, the Tongan Prime Minister Doctor Feleti Sevele and Tuvalu Communications and Tourism Minister Taukelina Finikaso.

The visiting Foreign Ministers Contact Group is also expected to meet with the country's political party leaders.

Ousted Leader of Opposition Mick Beddoes had confirmed that he had been contacted by the Pacific Foreign Affairs office to meet with the Ministerial Contact Group.

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Beat Street- Popular Culture In Fiji.

The culture of youth is ever changing like fashion. It is also a reflection of the society transitions which they live. Fiji is no exception and recently the emergence of hip-hop inspired dance called "krumping" among the youth has become mainstream, even to the extent of corporate sponsored competitions, as featured in a Fiji TV article.


Fiji's older generation, like their international counterparts are undoubtedly perplexed with the gyrating and head turning movements and might not understand that this particular change in behavior of todays youth, is a global phenomenon influenced by the media. The questions that do arise, is whether these cultural shift is a good thing or is it a destructive element?

Fiji TV Video segment(posted below) covers the local competition.

LOYAL FIJIAN -FIJI INDEPENDENT NEWS: Bottled Water or Depleted Resource?

LOYAL FIJIAN -FIJI INDEPENDENT NEWS: Bottled Water or Depleted Resource?



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Of Stars and Stripes- Dodgy Dinger's Designated Democracy.

In his last July 4th celebration in Fiji, outgoing US Ambassador, Larry Dinger commented on the issue of coups and American policy, stating both don't go well together, as reported in a Fiji Live article.

The excerpt of the FL article:

Have elections, not coups: Dinger
05 JUL 2008
Counting down on the number of days as the United State’s Ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger has sounded a friendly warning maintaining the US stand that coups and election do not go well together.

Instead, the outgoing career diplomat said it is critical that Fiji realises the importance of maintaining democracy being the right way to move Fiji forward.

He said the US government valued its democratic roots, which it believed was just as important in other countries, explaining the US stand on the current political situation in Fiji.

“We continue to believe that democracy is the right way to go, that elections routinely without coups are the right way to go,” Dinger told more than 500 guests in attendance at the US Independence Day celebrations.

“American policy and coups don’t go along very well together so that has made it difficult but Fiji is still filled with wonderful people and great deal of potential.

“And so Washington and I just hope that things settle down rapidly and you can achieve those potentials in the future.”

Dinger, who toured polling stations around the country in the 2006 general election, said past elections had shown that there could be free and fair elections under the current Constitution.

He said there were a lot of ways a country could undertake democracy.

“The US has one way and the Fiji Constitution has another, other countries have different ways. Many ways to get there but the key is to have the voice of the people heard so that the leadership is responsive to the people and has legitimacy from the people,” Dinger said.

“And that’s the problem Fiji has at the moment.

“An election under the current system will be fine by us to bring in a government with that kind of legitimacy and that they can address other issues that obviously need addressing in Fiji.

“We are not fans of coups. But we believe very strongly that the United States will continue to advocate for a return to truly democratic governance at the earliest possible time.”

It appears that Dinger, is not well versed with the US history of supporting coups in numerous parts of the world or selectively omits the facts derived from the 1973 Church Committee. Dinger unapologetically follows the play book of Pax Americana, of choosing a convenient option like a coup or opposing it, as long as it suits their interest.

Interestingly enough, Dinger's comments comes across as a pharisaical, and in a "holier than thou" tongue in cheek, contradicted the Interim Attorney General's remarks on the perceived impartiality of Heads of Missions in Fiji, as seen in a Fiji Village article. The excerpt of the FV article:

Dinger Disputes AG's Allegation
Publish date/time: 04/07/2008 [11:55]

Outgoing US Ambassador Larry Dinger has disputed the allegation by the Interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum that some heads of missions in Fiji are not impartial in their work.

Dinger who will be farewelled tonight by colleagues told ABC Pacific Beat that his work is to report the truth on the current political situation in Fiji to Washington which he has done.

While, Dinger is entitled to his opinion on democracy and election, it should be noted that one of US' closest allies in the Middle East aside from Israel, Saudia Arabia is a monarchy and never ever had a general election. That illusive nature of Saudi democracy really undermines and erodes Dinger's diplomatic position on the subject of elections in Fiji.

On the aspect of coups and American policy; Dinger may be well advised to rethink that statement, as 'empty sacks never stand upright'. Readers may also note double standards of sorts, in the US policy and even that dichotomy has not escaped the mind of Russia's new President, quoted in a IHT article titled "U.S. is in no shape to give advice".


Videos (posted below)summarizes the extent to which US egalitarianism has wavered.









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FICAC investigates money transfers from NLTB to VDC.

The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating the transfer of several million dollars in rent from the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB) to its commercial arm the Vanua Development Corporation (VDC).

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