Acid Test: Fiji's military coup: it's not so simple

This blog has the complex nature of Fiji politics.

Acid Test: Fiji's military coup: it's not so simple

Fiji, A Democracy of Half-Measures?

Above: Image of soldier guarding the Government buildings in Suva.

The ever widening division of opinions between the cause and effect of the coup, is reflected in local sentiments covered in this BBC article.

Similar to the calls by Pacific regional protests in this clean-up campaign, the United Kingdom, France, India , European Union and the U.S follow in quick succession. Like their feeble protests prior to the Iraq War, these nation's democratic concerns are usually shortlived, as they seriously ponder their declining market share and influence into Pacific. Some also deeply worry this Fiji coup will inevitably trigger a continuation to the Domino Theory.

This realization of such a wave of change has also been acknowledged by the U.S. Secretary of State; when asked about the developments in the South Pacific. This is an excerpt of the Condaleeza Rice interview with Sydney Morning Herald's correspondent Peter Hartcher, published by Scoop, a New Zealand news agency.

QUESTION: Can I ask you a question about the South Pacific? You might have seen in the last day or two Tonga is the last one. There seems to be --

SECRETARY RICE: Yes, a wave.

QUESTION: Yes, a modern domino theory sweeping through the South Pacific. How do you analyze the problem? How do you see the Australian approach to it? And is there any role for the U.S. directly or is it sort of an Australian sort of division of labor?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I do think that the problems are somewhat -- you know, it is all in the same region but the problems are different. You know, East Timor has its own particular set of challenges coming out of what appear to be relatively stable evolution after independence, but then problems within the government between various figures in the government, leading then ultimately. But a situation that seems to have gotten better.

You know, a completely different situation in Fiji, where elections which Australia and New Zealand had really put a great deal into, and then this potential for a military coup. Solomon Islands, you had a different set of -- a different situation now in Tonga. I think really more of a police action. But so they're different, but they do all seem to have come in a row. I talk frequently with Alexander Downer about these, but we've greatly appreciated the willingness of Australia, and to a certain extent New Zealand, to be active in putting peacekeeping forces in where necessary and to really, I think, both reacting to the problems there and to being a deterrent to further problems.

So I don't think this is a place where American forces really are needed, but it is -- we have had very close political consultations about each of these as it's gone forward.

This recent change of managment in Fiji would also presents an opportunity for China to further their influence, especially amid the threats of expulsion from the Commonwealth group by their General Secretary. Taking into account, China's recent offer to pay-off loans for Pacific island nations including the debts of continental Africa.

Although the State of Emergency had been declared by the new head of state, Radio New Zealand's report of Fiji media being monitored, may have to be considered with other realities.

S.i.F.M neither supports this curtailment of information in Fiji, as much as condoning the over application of terrorism laws in adding layers of checks to airline transport. One may consider airline security as a necessary evil in the wake of 9/11, but why is the curtailment of one freedom more appreciated over another?

Filling this digital void of information dispersal are Blogs and certain online versions of Fiji publications exist. Among the publications at the leading edge of this transition to cyberpace are Fiji Live, Fiji Times, Fiji Village followed by the Fiji Daily Post, all of which continue to update their webpages, much to the relief of concerned overseas readers.

Other blogs that comment on Fiji's coup is The Lede, whose article had many interesting feedback posts. Other international responses has been made available by this BBC feedback question.


One Fiji Live article reports that, the senior Police officers being taken to the Queen Elizabeth barracks also highlights the racheting up effect of security.

Further contributing signals of enlarging Army security cordon was a report of the arrest of Assistant Police Commissioner and the removal of Ministry C.E.Os from their posts including the C.E.O for Prime Minister's office. As reported by Fiji Live article, all C.E.Os were subsequently released and allowed to return home. However reflecting a lagging perspective on the fluid events in Fiji, an article published by The Age may not considered the release of the CEOs as news worthy.

Above: Image of soldier entering the Fiji Parliament.


New Zealand TV footage describes the escape of Fiji PM to his island of origin and various international views. Including in the other interviews were the appeals by Fiji Prime Minister for the people to demonstrate. Concluding the interview was New Zealand's Prime Minister request for senior officers of the Fiji Army to mutiny. Ultimately this call for mutiny by Helen Clark would be weighed by political observers, against the Fiji P.M's denied request for the intervention of New Zealand and Australian troops.

With respect to the rapid deployment of ANZAC troops and police to Tonga in the aftermath of riots, inextricably those mutinous calls in Fiji's case, underline the relunctance of the Trans-Tasman guardians of democracy to back up their words with deeds .

ABC news video (Real Player) of the unfolding events in Fiji is evidence of itself. Another audio interview by ABC correspondent Emily Burke adds another layer of interviews that dissect the situation in Fiji.


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Terms of Endearment.

The fluid situation currently affecting the nation of Fiji has currents of many directions. Fiji T.V news covers the eddies of turbulence, amid the scenic back drop. Latest developments include Fiji Village's report of the Commander assuming executive control and the Fiji Live report of the President signing of the legal ordinance for the dissolution of Parliament. Pacific Beat podcast has audio of the Army Commander's press announcement and reaction by Australian Prime Minister by John Howard.

Although the Fiji Prime Minister has vowed not resigning in this article, Ministerial vehicles have also been repossesed by the military as reported by the Fiji Village article.
Fiji Army senior officer, announces the use of Nukulau to house persons whom they designate characters of ill repute. While another Fiji Live report is that, a caretaker Prime Minister has already named.
Although the Fijian series of shifting political landscapes has also angered the baby-sitting big brothers of the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. The 1997 constitution allows a premature exit of a standing Government, as described in online version of magazine: Island Business article. However Asia Time articles quotes Fiji Prime Minister 2001 speech, denigrating the concept of liberal democracy and decries any foreign intervention in Fiji's affairs.

This is an excerpt:

Oceania

Fijian PM says liberal democracy would destroy region
By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY - A debate in the South Pacific about western liberal democracy has been revived by Fiji's military-installed Premier Laisenia Qarase, who says it is ill-suited for to the region and would "destroy" its traditional values.

Addressing Pacific leaders in Hawaii earlier this month, Qarase said Pacific island nations, where social and ethnic tensions are rising, should go slow in imbibing foreign ideas and safeguard their traditional "communal democratic" systems.

Qarase made these comments as political tension in his tiny multi-racial Pacific island nation heats up ahead of a Court of Appeal verdict later this month on the legitimacy of his regime - and amid growing pressure by countries like Australia and New Zealand for him to step down.

On November 15, Fiji Supreme Court Justice Anthony Gates ruled in favor of the 1997 multiracial constitution, which was revoked following the May 19 coup against the elected government of Indian Fijian prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. The coup, launched by a group that said it was acting on behalf of indigenous Fijians and called for indigenous Fijian political leadership, set back efforts thus far made toward a multi-racial democracy.

The judge also called on the former president Ratu Mara to reconvene parliament. But the Qarase government appealed this verdict and Fiji's Court of Appeal will begin hearing it February 19.

With growing pressure on Qarase to give way to a government of "national unity", his comments on how western democracy does not fit Fiji comes at an interesting juncture. More so, these comments challenged the very principles of the 1997 constitution.

Qarase also used his address to appeal to the international community to stop its interference in Fiji. "Solutions for our problems in Fiji lie in Fiji and interference from outside will not solve the problem," Qarase said, in reference to criticism from Fiji's neighbors about the military installed government.

Qarase, who was Fiji's chief merchant banker before taking over the prime ministership last year, said Fiji and many other countries in the Pacific are travelling from communal democracy to liberal democracy. Fiji's communal democracy refers to a traditional chief system, under which every village or community has a traditional leader whose stature is not political but often spiritual too. These chiefs are grouped together in a Great Council of Chiefs, which meets annually or whenever they are called upon to discuss issues of national importance, such as the May 19 coup.

The council of chiefs has no legislative power, but it is considered the traditional guardian of the Fijian establishment.

Some countries, Qarase argued, never want to reach Western- style liberal democracy "because by doing so we will be embracing some of the adverse effects of some of the things that flow automatically from principles of full liberal democracy".

"There is a big problem for us as leaders because some of these principles will tend to destroy our culture and our traditional values," he added. In a communal democracy, he said, the structure is very clear. "There is a coalition within the society, there is a dialogue and there is consultation and a lot of issues are resolved by consensus among elders," Qarase explained.

He acknowledges that the chief of local communities would be the final arbitrator in such a system, but that he would be making decisions "after a lot of dialogue". Because there is no government and an opposition to argue things out like in a liberal democratic structure, this communal system of democracy will not allow much room "for divisive elements in that society", Qarase said.

Critics, however, say Qarase is invoking a false clash of concepts, perhaps to help justify the political system since the May coup.

For his part, Indo-Fijian political analyst Dr Sanjay Ramesh says that Qarase's explanation is not a correct picture of the situation in the Pacific and that what it has is often an autocratic set- up. "In Fiji, there never existed a communal system of democracy," he argued. "What did exist was a hierarchical autocratic communal system, which is in constant tension with both national and global political and economic values."

"The indigenous Fijian social structure is rigid and there is no social mobility," observed Ramesh. "That is why Western liberal democracy is incompatible."

There has been some debate on the power and accountability of the chiefs, who have a lot of authority on the local level. Qarase is not the first Pacific leader to raise concerns about the supposed incompatibility of Western liberal democracy with indigenous Pacific cultures. Many others have done so in the last few years as social tension and unrest increases in the region.

In a recent paper, Lopeti Senituli, director of tje Tonga Human Rights and Democracy Movement, argued that people's participation and accountability of leaders should be the cornerstone of good governance in the region. This, he added, should be a process and not an event, such as voting in elections. "Casting a vote in an election is an event that is meaningless without the accountability of the elected government to the people," he says.

In the Kingdom of Tonga where a "traditional" form of government exists, Senituli says that it is facing civil unrest from the grass roots because the government is undemocratic and unaccountable to the people.

Turning his attention to Fiji, where he has lived for many years, Senituli observes that the world view of the two of its major communities - the ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians - are vastly different. "But I firmly believe that the differences can be bridged," he said.

Ramesh adds that in addition to Fiji and Tonga, other Pacific Islands such as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are also facing similar social and political upheavals. "It is a clash between the old and the new value systems," he argued. "Indigenous leaders throughout the Pacific have to provide a framework for social mobility and economic prosperity. That is not possible under an autocratic system."

Fiji is a special case because of its large population of Indians, descendants of indentured laborers brought over by the British to work in cane plantations over a century ago. Indo-Fijians now make up almost 50 percent of Fiji's 700,000 people, which means almost half the population does not belong to the indigenous Fijian communal democracy system Qarase speaks of. Thus, Ramesh points out that Indian Fijians will have to live "under the whims of the chiefs and their cronies" forever.

"Indo-Fijians want a system that at least give them fair representation in parliament and fundamental rights protected within a constitutional framework," he said.

(Inter Press Service)

In another Fiji Live article, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark still in rampaging mood from the telling-off the NZ Police, bounces back and scoldingly rebuffs the office of Fiji President, for approving the dissolution even though, in a statement published by Fiji Village they report the President did not support the action.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and New Zealand P.M line up their limited assortment of sanctions, one in particular is especially designed to prevent Fiji soldiers from transiting the borders of the Commonwealth, as reported in this article.

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Not Easy Being Green.

Fiji Army spokesman denies the takeover of the Police Tactical Response Division (PTRD) headquarters in this Fiji Village report. ABC online magazine Pacific Beat podcast interviews Samisoni Pareti, a Fiji based correspondent who describes the fluid situation in Fiji and the weapons confiscation from PTRD and the subject of roadblocks.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is also interviewed in the segment, speculated on a mutiny being brokered within the Fiji Army. This brokering may be related to the actions of the Foreign envoys who visited the Queen Elizabeth barracks whilst the Army Commander was in New Zealand. Fiji Lawyer Jon Apted is also interviewed on the situation.

New Zealand Prime Minister is equally angry with the Fiji Army and the New Zealand Police. She describes the actions of Army Commander as "Silly" in this Fiji Times article. Being in the telling-off mood, New Zealand Herald reports that the Prime Minister lambasted the police for abusing their computer assets to check on girlfriends.




Fiji Police Force Assistant Commissioner has reassured the public that there is no takeover of the PTRD compound in this Fiji Time article. It also seems the Acting Police Commissioner, Moses Driver is basking in all the attention of being constantly interviewed and his words being zipped across the globe, as seen in this article of Malaysian news outlet, Star and Australia's The Age and NZ Herald articles.
Commissioner Driver often gets carried away in the constant interviews that some of his views often conflict. Like this article by Fiji Times, warning about the weapons confiscation of the Police armory.

The standing Police Commissioner, Andrew Hughes is left to make media calls out of the lime-light in Cairns Australia where he is spending his annual leave. Another article by The Australian, ponders the case of Peter Foster which will be interesting to observe unfold and also prompts other questions.

1. Would the Australian Government withdraw all their embassy staff and abandon another citizen currently under house arrest?
2. Would the Fiji Police withdraw charges leveled against Peter Foster?
3. Does Peter Foster hold some information that would be damaging for the higher echelon of Qarase Government; which ordered his rapid arrest?

Fiji Times reports the simple confiscation of weapons that, may be considered a threat to the Army. Fiji Village article also confirms the arms removal. This confiscation of arms should be viewed as an intelligent method to diffuse tensions between the two organizations that have soured recently due to the impasse between Government and Army.

The news of the entourage of Fiji P.M using a helicopter to evade a Army roadblock is concerning. It may reflect the poor choice taken by the security details.
The evacuation may also point out a serious deficit in skills by bodyguards, for blending into the rural surroundings that is a fraction of the costs billed to the state treasury and costing a fraction of the attention. Now the issue of Government contracts for helicopter services, will surely come under scrutiny on the annual Auditor Generals report.

Taking in account the recent weapons confiscation, it may safe to assume that their Helicopter company's office telephone number is set to speed dial to the principle Body Guard's unsecured cell phone.





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Check mate or Stale Mate.

Fiji Times Editorial has remarkably chosen to snipe at the Army Commander efforts, without providing solutions to the impasse.

Although some of Fiji's public have their own ideas of democracy as demonstrated by the Fiji Times coverage of a patriotic resident, who converted his house into a shrine; these individuals may be need to update their knowledge on ethics and morality; which is the foundation which the house of democracy is built on.

It is often said that, this same house of democracy in Fiji has been contaminated by native provincial entities. The same native provinces were recipients of tools purchased under the Agricultural Scam as documented by the Kunatuba High Court trial. This Agricultural scam was openly used by the Burebasaga paramount chief and Minister, to secure support for the 2006 elections.

Fiji Village reports that provincial network has thrown their lot blindly behind their own Chief and Minister.

If vote buying is among the pillars which constitute the idea of democracy by these native institutions; then unfortunately Good Governance in Fiji is nothing more than lip service.

Lip service is a convenient device used extensively by Fiji Public Service when dealing with incompetence and chronic mismanagement and corruption. Having their input on the impasse only worsens their unbiased standing.

To question the ideals of the Army and not their lethargic mis-control of over-spending, their inability to remove vestiges of colonial styled management underlines mis-direction that has plagued the civil service and the nation of Fiji more so, than the attempts to clean up by the Fiji Army.

These hidden losses amounting to astronomical amounts occur on an Annual basis and are usually published by the Auditor General. To say the Army clean-up campaign will cost the nation, the cost of inaction on ingrained corruption in Fiji government will inextricably be perpetually.


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KABOBfest: Will Fiji Soon Be Out of the Coalition of the Willing?

KABOBfest: Will Fiji Soon Be Out of the Coalition of the Willing?
This take on the other externalities facing the nation of Fiji and the often abused ideals of democracy used by Western nations.

U.N Secretary General's take on the situation in Fiji, did not have the warnings of ramifications that was covered by this article by New Zealand Herald.

On Vice and Virtures.

Above Image: Fiji Army Commander and Vice President watching the Sukuna Bowl rugby match.

The cutting edge of Blogs over conventional news sources is now carrying over to the use of terminology. It is rather amusing for the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark to be using the word featured numerously in S.i.F.M. The word: "Coupster" is used by the P.M Helen Clark in this segment radio interview by Niu Fm describing the future intentions of Fiji Army Commander while reconciling his exemplary record, post 2000 coup. An accurate chronology of the political events has been outlined by this Reuters article.

Podcast interview by Niu FM correspondent Mike Field in Fiji, highlights that fear the unknown and lack of factual information to support rumors. Rumors, like tip-offs share a similar DNA and this Fiji Times article on Pacific Island Forum reflects stove-piped objectivity by member diplomats on their concerns for grassroots frustrations. This gate-keeping further underlines the Forum's apparent divorce from grass-root socio-political frustrations. Wasn't the Forum also caught flat-footed on such signals on pro-democracy preceding the Tonga riots?

One leading update from Fiji Village is that, Army Commander says Laisenia Qarase has lost control and the Commander further denies that an extension to the dead-line has been given.

An article by The Australian, give an element of credence to the report of the crippled nature of Fiji Prime Minister.

In another article by Fiji Village(FV), several Cabinet cabinets in hiding have been urged to keep a low profile and the F.V article quotes Radio Tarana Managing Director Robert Khan who said, the telephoned comments gave overwhelming support to the Army Commander's clean up campaign, in Radio Tarana's radio talk back show.

Although, the Fiji Prime Minister attempts to lobby the support from the office of the President in seeking dissolution of Parliament; the P.M Laisenia Qarase flaunts the words of democracy and also denigrates the system of dictatorship as the ideals for Fiji in an interview featured in this Niu FM podcast . This would be a classic example of such mis-representations of the definition of democracy applied in Fiji. Selective Democracy is a subject covered lightly by other bloggers and this Letter to Fiji Times Editor.

Kofi Annan

The recent warning by the Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, to pull out all the current Fijian peacekeeping troops should there be a military coup in Fiji, is unbelievable and unprofessional, to say the least.

Mr Annan must critically analyse both sides of the story before making a public comment.

I am surprised that a military coup can be used by the UN to pull Fiji's peacekeeping troops out.

I hope Mr Annan is not just uttering a warning to please the Prime Minister because we all know that pulling our troops out is not as easy as it seems.

It is an enormous process and is an expensive exercise to the UN as well.

Our troops in Iraq for example went there because no other country would want to face the extreme risk and the monotony of the job there.

And now that they are doing extremely well, it would be foolish for the UN to get them out at the expense of the country's internal problem.

By the way when Rawlings staged the military coup in Ghana in 1979, the Ghanaian UN peacekeeping troops were not pulled out from Lebanon.

Our troops were not pulled out from Lebanon in 1987.

Perhaps Mr Annan should treat the intricacies of Fiji's situation with the best of his tact and diplomacy and stop making unnecessary warnings.

Democracy can be very deceiving as is the case here in Fiji.

And unfortunately the UN does not have a solution to encounter situations where the ruling party manipulates the rule of democracy to suit them.

Isireli Tawake
Nakasi

The Prime Minister understands the Fijian model of democracy is infact a hybrid template using the native institutions as electoral colleges. Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) is such a entity. The same entity that has a record of contaminating the system of Governance in Fiji in the wake of the coups of 1987 and 2000.

For the Fiji Prime Minister to equate the GCC with democracy only illustrates the sleight of hand and smoke and mirrors artistically employed to cloud the judgment of observers. It is far easy to talk about democracy rather than apply its ideals in Fiji. The sentiments that brilliantly stoke the imaginations of all theorists in democracy, falls quite short in the actual verification.


Outgoing President of Fiji Law Society's remark about not taking sides in a Fiji Times article further reinforce an ambiguous platform that does no justice to either camps of the impasse.

This is the excerpt of the speech:

Don't take sides, Leung tells judiciary

Saturday, December 02, 2006

+ Enlarge this image

Participants at the Attorney-Generals conference

The judiciary should be vigilant and avoid the temptation, however, unintended to take sides or to prejudice events or personalities, former Fiji Law Society president Graham Leung said.

Mr Leung made the comments at the 8th Attorney-General's Conference at the Warwick Fiji Resort where he spoke on the topic of 'Continuing challenges 12 years after the (Beattie) Commission of Inquiry: A time for evaluation.'

He said it was very easy in the fever of the moment to point fingers.

"I do not think that at a time of political instability, that this is either helpful or wise.

"It does not contribute to solutions.

"On the contrary, it may even make things worse," he said.

Mr Leung said the political impasse that gripped Fiji over the past few weeks suggested the greatest single challenge the country faced was a consensus and common understanding on the importance of the rule of law.

He said the rule of law was vital to Fiji and history taught that when the rule of law had been assaulted or challenged, the country had ended in grief.

"Whatever justifications at that time or now, there should be little doubt in people's minds that the 1987 coup and the attempted Speight coup in 2000 were wrong.

"It is illegal and criminal," he said.

Mr Leung said the damage to Fiji since that defining event in May 1987 had been incalculable, with untold energy and resources wasted as a result of successive acts of political instability and the rape of the Constitution.

He suggested it would be a terrible mistake to ignore or forget about the important practical problems within the system of justice simply because the country was engulfed in a political crisis.

He said life must go on. "The courts must continue functioning and remain focused on the dispensation of justice independently without fear or favor, ill will or rancour.

"In the coming months they will be severely tested.

"How they respond to these wider challenges and the issues that are likely to be spawned by the political crisis will determine the future direction and content of judicial administration in Fiji," Mr Leung said.

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Parallax Error.

Above Image: Fiji Sun front page.

Update on the drama in Fiji is that, the deadlines set by the Army has come and gone placing the observers of military in episodes of infantile frustration. One vocal projectile of insanity was hurled at the Army Commander by the Prime Minister depicting hopeless expression.

The recent raid on the office of the President by the Fiji Police Force was revisited, when an official of the President's office demanded from the Police the return of those seized documents .

It also appears in this instance that the Fiji Police and Government have fallen out of favor with the President's office in the wake of the shameful raid. This division was more evident and distant, when the silence of the President's office was shattered proclaiming their avid support of the Army Commander.

Although, the Army Commander had been given clearance for audience quite readily, as seen with his 40 minute brief with the holder of the highest office in the state of Fiji; this further illustrates the loss in influence by the SDL Government and supporters. This support for the Army by the President's office, marks the stark contrast in ideals mirroring a similar fault that has also deepened with the general public in Fiji. One side for the Government and the other in Frank's camp.

This difference in opinion was raised by the Fiji Attorney General when he read the speech of the Prime Minister that questioned the silence of Fiji Law Society and their relunctance to take a position on the conflict between the Government and the Army, even though other Non Governmental Organizations had voiced theirs.

One similar view has been voiced by the iconic Human Rights Lawyer and wife of the C.E.O of Airports Fiji, Imrana Jalal whose opinion article appeared in Thursday's Fiji Times.

This is an excerpt:

Flirt with the rule of law at your peril

IMRANA JALAL
Thursday, November 30, 2006

+ Enlarge this image

A policeman stands guards over ballot boxes during the May 2006 general election

I refer to the opinion piece on Fiji by Graham Davis (High Noon in Fiji) in The Australian newspaper on 25 November 2006 and in The Fiji Times 29 November.

There is little doubt that Fiji has a special place in Davis' heart and that he is sincerely motivated.

However, his opinion piece is unsophisticated, is an irresponsible piece of journalism, particularly at this time of crisis, is deeply flawed from a legal perspective and is extremely dangerous for those of us trying to build a democracy based on the rule of law.

The essence of the rule of law requires us to solve our problems using lawful processes and democratic institutions such as the courts, the police and civil society.

To suggest that an illegal alternative might be justifiable undermines the building of democratic institutions, the ultimate power of the courts to rule any proposed law unconstitutional and makes a mockery of democracy and legitimate elections.

We Fijians wish to solve our problems using the rule of law.

This might involve challenging legislation that is unconstitutional or in violation of human rights, as has been done before, or voting out a government in a general election, and not by supporting the illegal removal of a government through the rule of the gun.

That is precisely what Davis is indirectly advocating: he is feeding the coup cycle and giving succour to the military.

Using the rule of law is certainly a longer and more tedious process, one which takes time, but to dispense with it in times of trouble is courting disaster.

Flirt with the rule of law at your peril.

I am curious to know whether Davis would indirectly advocate the same method in Australia whenever Howard attempts to pass unconstitutional and anti-human rights legislation through parliament or is he willing to wait out the lawful processes including the right of Australian citizens to use the courts for their grievances?

Where is it written that in those "uncivilised islands" of the Pacific live lesser people entitled to lesser rights then that accorded Australians, namely to use democratic processes and the rule of law to hold their governments accountable?

Davis and Australia need to be reminded that it was not Commander Bainimarama who brought back constitutional democracy to Fiji following the crisis in Fiji in 2000, but a poor, marginalised (now completely disenfranchised) Indo-Fijian farmer, eventually backed by civil society, through the landmark Chandrika Prasad court case.

Bainimarama actually filed a lengthy affidavit supporting the abrogation of the constitution.

It might be prudent to remember also, that it was the Commander who the courts have said committed the final illegal abrogation of the Constitution, when he unlawfully removed our former President Ratu Mara from Office.

We should let the rule of law and lawful processes take their course without any threat or perceived threat of illegal removals of government and of coups.

Have faith in us Mr Davis.

Have some faith in the ability of us Fijians to build our democracy without illegal interference.

What you must remember is that the current government was only voted in a few months ago.

Surely the electorate made its choice at that time, and whether we like that choice or not is not the issue.

The Fijian people cast their vote.

Respect that.

We the citizens of Fiji deserve a country without coups. Our children and the future generations certainly do.

Ms Jalal is an international human rights lawyer, a former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner, a Commissioner of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists and a Board member of both the Geneva-based International Council of Human Rights Policy and the Fiji Women's Rights Movement. These views are her own and not necessarily of the organisations with which she is associated.

Fiji Police Commissioner, Andrew Hughes has conveniently kept out of the spotlight recently only to give impromptu interviews if the circumstances weigh in his favor. Fiji TV 6pm news segment of Thurs. Nov. 30th quotes Sydney Morning Herald on the rumored resignation of Police Commissioner Hughes. This rumour has been flatly denied by the man himself speaking from Cairns in an inteview with Fiji Village.

Although Fiji P.M has announced that no further shifting from his position on the impasse , he is reported to be seeking cover in undisclosed locations waiting for the political storm to pass.

This is the address to the nation by Fiji Prime Minister post- New Zealand talanoa session.

This is regarding the list of demands outlined by the Army recently. Despite the early comments of the seeking the application of the Biketawa Declaration by the Fiji P.M, the older and much wiser diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs plays the denial card.

Pacific Beat podcast of Dec 1st, 2006 has an overview from the Pacific Island leaders forum on the impasse in Fiji. The podcast also features an interview with the Fiji Police Commissioner.

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Australian Black Hawk Crashes in Waters off Fiji.

In exercises designed to replicate rapid insertion techniques that may be used in Fiji, a Black hawk helicopter crashed landed while attempting to land on HMS Kanimbla, killing one member of the Australian SAS.
This exercise and proposed mission has jinxed the efforts by Australian Government and setting the Commonwealth back several million dollars in damages & insurance payouts.

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The Placebo Effect.

Fiji Times editorial of Friday Nov. 24th 2006 views the current impasse between Fiji Army Commander and the Fiji Government with an objective and unbiased description.

This is an excerpt:

Only time will tell

EDITORIAL COMMENT
Friday, November 24, 2006

Things are coming to a head. The announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes that army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and others are to be questioned comes as no surprise.

Image: Hughes with sunglasses and Fiji P.M on their departure to N.Z.

Mr Hughes said they are to be questioned on cases ranging from disobedience of a lawful order, plotting to overthrow the Government, sedition, removing a container of ammunition, stopping the President from instituting an inquiry into the commander's actions, the death of CRW soldiers and abuse of LPOs approval.

What is surprising is the timing of Mr Hughes' announcement, which many will see simply as a flexing of muscles after the military's call for his removal.

Even more surprising, is the announcement coming only a day after Prime Minister said the State does not regard the military as the enemy and that he believes they can sort their differences out through dialogue.

Mr Hughes' announcement that the investigation is not against the institution of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces but against the individuals involved will do little to allay fears of political instability.

He, as head of a disciplined service, knows very well that the commander is the service. To go against him is to go against an institution that all but a die-hard few will admit is last bastion of decency this country knows.

In truth, the people are fed up of the cat-and-mouse games being played by all those involved in the stand-off that is on the verge of bringing our nation to its knees.

Mr Hughes must be careful. Now people will question why it took so long to say he wants to question military officers over things like the CRW deaths, something that happened five years ago.

If there were difficulties, why was this not said before? Likewise, the military commander has repeatedly said 'he will tell all'. Well, perhaps now is the perfect time to get everything off his chest. If it helps clear the air, so be it.

If not, everyone must face the consequences of their actions.

But the nation should not have to face the consequences of the actions of a few as it has done in 1987 and in 2000.

We are fed up of that. It is time to grow up and move forward, as everyone loves to spout.

Everybody seems to want to uphold the 1997 Constitution, when it suits them. Perhaps now is the time for all of us to live the spirit of the Constitution. But, for that to happen, it must start from the very top. A token multi-party divided Cabinet is not enough.

Do we, as a nation, have the courage to shape our own future or must we always pick up the pieces behind those with ulterior motives. Only time will tell.

The Fiji Times follow up article "No one is above the law" was written with similar template of unbiased reflection.

No one is above the law

VERENAISI RAICOLA
Saturday, November 25, 2006

Many people were exposed as a result of investigations into the 2000 coup and the mutiny at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in November that year.

People such as George Speight, Timoci Silatolu, Josefa Nata, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, Ratu Jope Seniloli, Ratu Josefa Dimuri, the Ratu mai Namalata Ratu Kolinio Tuirakiwaimaro, Captain Shane Stevens, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata and others have served their time in prison.

Some people, however, still live freely among us and some questions have remained on people's minds since 2000 as to why has it taken so long for police to lay charges.

That is not all and the investigation is hardly over.

The impasse and war of words between army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and the Government has extended to Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes.

That was after the unlawful removal of a container of ammunition by the army without the approval of police from the Suva wharf two weeks ago.

Commodore Bainimarama later called for the removal of Mr Hughes because police said the ammunition was not cleared and the document used by the army to clear it from the wharf was falsified.

In a press conference this week, Mr Hughes said there was a need to verify allegations and misinformation which needed to be cleared for the sake of good governance.

Mr Hughes said they needed to get to the bottom of things on the latest from the commander and senior officers in the military to clean-up the Government.

"The investors and potential tourists to Fiji want to know what their clean-up means.

"I have to find out what it means in the context of my broader responsibility for maintaining law and order in Fiji," said Mr Hughes.

He said people of Fiji had a right to know what "clean-up Government" meant and it was not fair to keep making threats and then disappear overseas.

Mr Hughes said everyone have to wait for more than a week while the commander attends his grand-daughter's christening in New Zealand, which is hardly fair.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into allegations against Commodore Bainimarama has taken 28 days with effect from October 24.

The allegations include:

• Disobedience of lawful order,
• Seditious contents of public statements by Voreqe Bainimarama,
• Unlawful removal of container of ammunition from the King's Wharf,
• Alleged plot to overthrow the Government by the commander,
• Unlawful obtaining of approval from the President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, to abort the commission of inquiry against the commander, and
• Investigations into the death of Counter Revolutionary Warfare soldiers who were allegedly murdered at the QEB during the mutiny on November 2, 2000, and

Alleged abuse of office by senior military officers in approving payments of LPOs beyond their authorised limits.

Assistant Commissioner of Crime Kevueli Bulamainaivalu said Commodore Bainimarama was supposed to be interviewed on Wednesday but he had left the country for NZ while the rest of the senior military officers were scheduled to be interviewed by Monday.

"It is important to note that the police have unsuccessfully tried to complete the investigations into the deaths of the CRW soldiers because of the difficulty faced by the instigators in securing the co-operation of the military," he said.

Mr Hughes said: "I also repeat a warning made a few weeks ago to the military, officers and troops in the military that they cannot commit unlawful acts and say I was only following orders.

"It does not wash with the CRW and will not wash now.

"Already there are five senior offices likely to face charges for committing unlawful acts in the past."

Mr Hughes said a vast majority of the service men and women in the RFMF were decent, honest and law-abiding honourable professionals.

"I do not want to see them step on the wrong side of the law; remember what happened to the CRW soldiers.

"Think of your families and I don't want to see costly mistakes happen," he said.

Mr Hughes said no one including the President could authorise anybody to commit an unlawful act.

"It is unlawful to do that and I plead to members of the RFMF to bear that in mind.

"The other thing I like to say is if there are plans out there to form an interim Government of some sort people need to be very aware of what happened after 2000 and the fate of those who committed an unlawful act.

"There were a number charged including former Vice-President Ratu Jope Seniloli. Mr Hughes warns that the same could happen again.

So he says if you have been approached and contemplating taking up a position in some interim government in Fiji, forget it.

It will not be in your interest and certainly not the country.

He said we have a newly elected democratic government and the people have voted it in.

"Remember the events of 1987 and 2000 and learn from it.

Mr Hughes said in 1987 it was widely speculated and indeed rightly so that there were people behind Mr Rabuka when he staged the coup.

"In 2000 there were people behind George Speight shadowy operating in the shadows manipulating and influencing rebels and we suspect the same applies here.

"There are individuals, groups and organisations behind this inciting and manipulating the commander and others to do what they are doing," he said.

Mr Hughes openly said the next phase was targeting these individuals and groups. In the interest of everyone in Fiji unlike what has happened in the past, these people will be dragged out of the sunlight for all to see, he said.

They will be interviewed in respect for their involvement.

"Tell everyone hiding in the shadows who were involved in the conspiracy to destabilise the Government that they need to think again because the investigation is getting closer to them," he said.

For the sake of good governance and transparency the public look up to the police force to allow justice to prevail.

At least, that way, we will still have some faith in our police force and the judiciary if not in the leaders who have failed us again and again despite our faith and trust in them.

Fiji Police responded with a hastily designed correspondence in response to the Editorial with a scathing Letter to the Editor (F/T of 25/11) that, almost questions the Freedom of Speech of the daily publication. This is the excerpt of the letter:

Only time will tell

Your editorial today (24/11) cannot not be left undisputed. The content is an example of the persisting parochialism and continuing reification of the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces and the commander as one and the same. It is not.

People need to understand that an institution such as the military as is the Fiji police, comprises of a group of individuals who subscribe to a set of values and ethos it is not beholden nor subject to any one person's whim even if he is the head of that institution.

The dignity and reputation of such institutions is a collective journey by the group to uphold and maintain those values and ethos despite influences (internal and external) to the contrary.

The game is much, much bigger than any one individual. That is the gist of what we mean when we say that our investigations are into the commander and a select few and not the military per se. I am surprised that a reputable paper such yours failed to identify and recognise that one simple difference. The respect that we, the Fiji police, have for the institution that is the RFMF remains undiminished. Its values and ethos are honourable and one that we too uphold, therefore, as I have stipulated above the RFMF as an institution is not the 'enemy' as you so plainly put it.

The even more troubling content of your editorial is that you saw fit to question the timing of the commissioner's comments at a press conference yesterday (23/11).

Where on earth have you been for the last two months? Were you in hibernation when the rest of the media (local and international) covered press conferences and statements by Commissioner Hughes with regards to the unlawful use of ammunition and sedition as well other matters pertaining to certain individuals in the RFMF?

What he talked about yesterday was an update to that. The only new thing he mentioned was the presence of those shadowy figures in the background who, for reasons best known to them, have seen it fit to advise the commander on this course of action. Yes, an investigation has started into these scurrilous few and we will, as Commissioner Hughes said, "drag these people into the sunlight for all to see". This cycle and mentality of coups must end.

As for the CRW soldiers, I personally had replied to questions sent by a reporter at Fiji Times last month regarding investigations into the deaths of the CRW soldiers and I told him that we did have difficulties because those wanted for questioning were either overseas or not at work.

I informed him that we had handed the Provost a To Do List that was given to us by the Director of Public Prosecutions and were given assurances that it would be done. So your assertions as to timing is so far off, you'd be hopelessly lost were you on a jungle survival course.

The wheels of justice may not move as fast as some would like but it does move and we, the Fiji police have managed to front up some of the more notable members of society in a court of law in relation to events of 2000. That should be proof enough that we do carry out our role without fear of favour. The law, you see is for everyone. What more can anyone expect?

Sylvia Low
Police acting director corporate communications

S.i.F.M has received an email that responds to the letter to the Fiji Times Editor by Police Acting Director Corporate Communications. The following is the excerpt:

Paradox or Placebo.

The letter penned on behalf of the Fiji Police Force to the Fiji Editor which appeared on the Sat (25/11) issue may require more than grain of salt to digest. The sentiments of the Fiji Police Force are outlined in the correspondence dispatched by their Acting Director of Corporate Communications (ADCC), Sylvia Low.

It may be prudent to analyze the correspondence and apply the same argurment raised by the Fiji Police force to their own Ad Hominem caricature of the Fiji Times editorial of Friday Nov. 24th.

“The content is an example of an example of the persisting parochialism and continuing reification of the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces and the commander as one and the same. It is not”.

Using the logic of the ADCC, the views of a head of an organization or incumbent should not be confused as being the policy for the entire organization.

To filter out the innuendos and parody built into the letter, truth is ultimately found by reversing this lampooning rhetoric and substituting it to other cases.

“People need to understand that, an institution such as the military as is (sic) the Fiji Police, comprises of a group of individuals who subscribe to a set of values and ethos it is not (sic)beholden nor subject to any one person's whim even if he is the head of that institution.”

People of Fiji understand the general concepts of institution and their inherent roles in society. They don't need to be lectured on the ideals of a democratic Government; especially when lectured by an organization that liaises with a foreign Government to import arms and men. This same agency that prides itself as law enforcement, further colludes to circum-navigate border controls of a sovereign nation under the name of security(see media reports of Australian covert soldiers overtly disembarking an international flight to Nadi airport from Sydney and spiriting away the silver cases and soldiers on Fiji Police vehicles).

The checks demanded by international conventions which the state of Fiji is signatory to, was raised before in international forums. Was it not these same foreign Governments who demanded a strengthening of these borders; in light of the events of 9/11? It demeans all rational thinking people, when these floating series of judgments actually are a premise based on falsehood. One ponders, when exactly did the Parliament give Fiji Police Force authority for border security and customs enforcement?Absence of such approvals illustrate the abuse of office, using the elements of fear and ignorance of the law.

The idea of diplomatic privileges of pouches and packages claimed by Australian Embassy and Fiji Police is only tenable if; those items are declared as such at the custom check points along with the right paper work. Avoiding these border controls at airports mandated by International conventions, only makes a mockery out of the need for border control and divisions of responsibilities. Legal precedents such as border and custom enforcement are in place for a reason; first and foremost they make it more difficult to import dangerous goods into the country.

It defeats the purpose of border controls, when the visitors are conveniently detouring these lawful checks with the assistance of local law enforcement agencies. There is much danger in relegating border enforcement in Fiji to the local law enforcement agencies. Abuse and concentrated power without checks and balances are the main pillars of concern.

The bill of goods which the Fiji Police are attempting to sell to the public is undoubtedly damaged products, with an expired shelf life. The issue of the ammunition ordered by the Fiji military not being released from Suva wharf without an import license is among those pinnacles of mis-representation.

Is it quite difficult to comprehend the process of applying for an import license with the Fiji Police Force, especially when they clearly do not have the authority to issue such import licenses or charge fees that accompany such applications.

What the people of Fiji need clarification on is, advice when these tools of Governance not living up to that same degree of excellence, they constantly hold the public to.

People of Fiji really do not need any advanced theory of Governance to understand when the wheels of justice turn only, when prompted by the influential. People of Fiji do not need a consultant to point out the ugly reality that, the financiers of the 2000 coup are yet to be brought to justice. People of Fiji have seen perpetrators of the 2000 coup being convicted and released within months. People of Fiji watch with incredulity that, the reports of abuse of funds and corruption which the Auditor General's office keeps publishing year in and year out; has become more of an annual event that reminds the public of decadence and exuberance. Auditor General's annual reports further congratulate Politicians and officials in how they have skilfully escaped the gauntlet of accountability in Fiji, yet again.

The people of Fiji have yet to understand the legality of this. The people of Fiji ask where and what the law enforcers are doing when spates of religious intolerance, corruption and coup investigations are not investigated with the same vigor, enthusiasm and inertia as demonstrated in the sedition investigation.

Similarly, when this logic is applied to the Fiji Police Force case: the perspectives entailed in the Letters to the Editor authored by the ADCC, inextricably makes those perspectives her own. This obdurated view is not, does not and should not reflect the view of the entire Police Force. Furthermore the constant interviews by Andrew Hughes, are his own perspectives and not that of the Fiji Police Force. If readers feel some awkwardness about this premise, than obviously there is an ingrained flaw of the initial logic.

“The game is much, much bigger than any one individual. That is the gist of what we mean when we say that [Fiji Police] investigations are into the commander and a select few and not the military per se.”

The game alluded to by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, is indeed larger than one individual or one institution. Although the charges of sedition have been leveled at those individuals, the actual legal determination is absent and far from absolute.

It also paints the logos and pathos of the Fiji Police investigations into the allegations of sedition, as politically inspired. As with the idea of terrorism that one group may find a certain action closely fitting their idea of terror; yet others may consider it freedom fighting. The ruction of the 1987 and 2000 coups of Fiji reinforce this double edged sword. The Fiji public remembers only too vividly the ethno-nationalism ideals brandished by those who supported the putsch.

The extension of this rhetoric is: one party's idea of sedition could be another persons idea of freedom of expression. The danger in Fiji's case is that, the same Orwellian rhetoric is being maligned, misappropriated under these fears.

“The even more troubling content of your editorial is that you saw fit to question the timing of the commissioner's comments at a press conference.” This sentence proves that content of the editorial was pre-judged more for its timing, rather than its content.

What the Fiji Police Force determined to be troubling in the Fiji Times editorial (of Fri. 24/11) was nothing more than a sad reflection of the facts.

These dangers of impropriety, unduly manifest themselves as state policy and abuse state tools to enforce these dogmatic principles.

Club Em Designs

For whom the Bells toll.

Fiji Times reports that the local police have sought the assistance of Interpol to arrest the Fiji Army Commander in New Zealand. This report comes in the wake of revelations in Fiji Sun article published on their new look website that, Fiji Police have dispatched officers to track the Commander. This is the excerpt of that article:

Top police team follows Frank

By CHEERIEANN WILSON

Police have remained tightlipped on a failed attempt to arrest army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama in New Zealand over the weekend. A team led by Assistant Police Commissioner Crime Kevueli Bulamainaivalu and Assistant Superintendent of Police Waisea Tabakau flew to New Zealand last Saturday. ASP Tabakau is heading the sedition investigation against Commodore Bainimarama.
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes last night was resting and refused to reveal the purpose of the officers' visit to New Zealand.

"The Commissioner is resting," a senior aide said. "Yes, we confirm that Bulamainaivalu and Tabakau left for New Zealand on Saturday but we will not say anything on the purpose of the trip," a senior police officer who answered on behalf of Commissioner Hughes said. Deputy Police Commissioner Moses Driver and Director CID Josaia Rasiga's mobile phones were switched off.

However, Commander Land Force Colonel Pita Driti told the Fiji Sun that he was informed that certain senior police officers had left for New Zealand on Saturday. "If the intention is to arrest the Boss then it is a failed mission," he said. "In actual fact, the police are only embarrassing themselves." Cdre Bainimarama said he had not met Mr Bulamainaivalu or Mr Tabakau in New Zealand. "What are they doing here?" he said. "If they had come in on Saturday and today is Monday, why haven't they shown up?"

Cdre Bainimarama said the Fijian and Indian communities in New Zealand had been visiting him during his stay. The New Zealand High Commission in Suva did not wish to comment on the officers' trip and whether they could be having talks with the New Zealand Police on how they could handle Cdre Bainimarama.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Kaliopate Tavola referred all questions to his chief executive officer Isikeli Mataitoga, who was not available to comment.

Meanwhile, Cdre Bainimarama opted to remain silent on Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's request for Foreign Ministers from the member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum to meet this Friday to discuss the situation in Fiji. Forum secretary general Greg Urwin said Mr Qarase had requested a meeting in accordance with the forum's Biketawa Declaration. "I don't want to say anything about that meeting," said Cdre Bainimarama.

This request by Fiji Police represents another untimely escalation in the volatile situation,
considering the efforts to broker a meeting between the Commander and Fiji P.M was intiated by the New Zealand Government. The efforts by the Fiji P.M to seek regional assistance as reported by Fiji Times, only compounded an already dicey situation derived from the Interpol request.

Arrest order out for head of Fiji military

REIJELI KIKAU and SERAFINA QALO
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

+ Enlarge this image

A Police Tactical Response Division member guards the entrance to Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes house in Tamavua, Suva last night

Fiji police have asked the international police agency, Interpol to have Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama arrested in New Zealand.

And last night, Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes and his family were moved under police escort to a secret location.

Police sources yesterday confirmed two senior officers flew to New Zealand on Sunday to seek Interpol help in arresting Commodore Bainimarama before he returns to Fiji.

The Commodore is expected back this afternoon.

The source said the two officers were Assistant Commissioner Police (Crime) Kevueli Bulamainaivalu and Criminal Investigations Department senior officer, Waisea Tabakau.

Commodore Bainimarama said last night from Wellington he had not been contacted by the two officers.

"Are they in New Zealand? Well, I have not heard from them," he said.

Commodore Bainimarama refused to comment further, saying he was enjoying his holiday with his grandchildren.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Moses Driver said police were being more careful in making comments to the media.

"Now, the media will have to fax questions over to our public relations department," he said.

"There will be no more casual comments over the phone." About 3000 members of the army's Territorial Forces were called in to camp at the weekend and have started training.

Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni said the training was a normal schedule for the army.

But Radio Australia said the two senior officers were sent to New Zealand to interview Commodore Bainimarama.

It's believed the decision to send a team to New Zealand was made after fresh threats on senior police officers were made via mobile telephone calls late last week.

Last night, Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes and his family left their home in Tamavua at 6.30pm escorted by a police vehicle.

Security officer Kalaveti Rokolati said he saw Mr Hughes and his family leave their home but he did not know if they were leaving the country or had gone elsewhere.

Last night two Police Tactical Response Division officers who were guarding the house confirmed Mr Hughes and his family had been moved to another place.

The house was in darkness, with only the porch lights on and two officers guarding the house.

Mr Rokolati said the officers started guarding the house last night.

Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said: "There is no need to worry about what is going on right now, especially the students, because they can enjoy their remaining week before taking their school break."

Fiji Police Force acting communications director Sylvia Low called for "calm in the country".

She asked the media to be responsible in its reporting of the stand-off between the military and the Government.

Australia's Foreign Affairs minister Alexander Downer told an interview with ABC he believes a coup could happen within the next two weeks but was not sure on which day.

"Perhaps a bit later than the end of this week, but I think a coup is very likely to occur," he said.

The INTERPOL request by Fiji Police Force created unintended consequences that further disturbed the simmering tensions as well as, eroding any motives for good will that this meeting between (Qarase/Bainamarama/Peters) had hoped to incubate. Although, Fiji Army Commander and New Zealand Foreign Minister have meet twice previously as reported by Fiji Times article, it is unlikely if any solution to the impasse would surface.

NZ minister meets Fiji army chief twice

1120 FJT
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Update: 11.20AM New Zealand's foreign minister has met Fiji's army commander for a second time in Wellington in a reported last-ditch attempt to head off threats of an imminet coup in Suva.

Winton Peters met Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama for a second time after holding talks with him over the weekend, his spokesman James Funnell said.

"Obviously our fullest focus is on trying to ease tensions in Fiji and do whatever we can do to prevent anything unfortunate from happening," Funnell said.

He declined to give further details.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government was "in dialogue with the commander and the Fiji Government ... to try to see whether there's a way through what is clearly an impasse."

The development comes as South Pacific nations rushed to organise a top-level regional meeting on the worsening crisis.

Bainimarama is expected to return to Fiji from a trip to New Zealand later today, providing a potential flash point in the crisis.

He has threatened in recent weeks to "clean up" the government if it didn't accede to a range of demands by next week, including halting a police investigation into his actions.

"My intention of removing this government is clear," Bainimarama was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Australia and New Zealand have upgraded their travel advisories for Fiji because of the security situation, and Wellington has pulled some of its 30 diplomatic staff and dependents out of Suva.

Tensions between Bainimarama and Qarase have been brewing for almost two years, but they have escalated recently.

Their dispute has centered around two pieces of government legislation: One offering amnesty to the plotters of a 2000 coup, and another that hands coastal land ownership in the multi-ethnic country to indigenous Fijians.

This level of diplomacy by Fiji Government must have prompted the need to create Australian initiated workshops for potential Fiji and Pacific diplomats. The experience of Australia in trade and diplomacy is second to none. So vast are their expolits that, Australia also is involved in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam reported by an article published by Times of India. Houston Chronicle remarks that, although the Commonwealth of Australia escaped wrath from the investigation, the heat generated from this case may indirectly damage the reputation of Australian P.M John Howard and Foreign Minister Downer.

The embarrasing involvement of Australian executives in this scheme of unbridalled greed, also tarnishes the track record and ideals which the Australian Commonwealth have built their plans for the Pacific on.

The simmering under currents of tension currently captivating Fiji can be safely acknowledged to the remarks by Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer in his recent interview.

Another perspective of the geo-political shift in the Pacific, blames the ripples of power brokering exercised by the larger and wealthier nations perched on the rim of fire.

This unamed article appears on this webpage. This is the excerpt of the opinion:

The New Pacific Wall:

Media Release(Nov 28, 2006)

The big three, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, have divided the Pacific island territories.

New Zealand now controls Polynesia, Australia is “in charge of” Melanesia (including the plundering of natural resources by its multinationals in Papua New Guinea),

and the U.S. has a firm grip on Micronesia. What are the consequences for the people of the island nations.

Return to Fiji Village Forum

Conspiracy Theory

After Fiji was condemn to the bottom of the Ocean by Australia, NZ and the US during the coupe in 2000, the Qarase government in its Foreign policy reviews had decided to forged a new look North policy to Asia.

China, Japan and Taiwan open the door for Fiji with the hope to bring in the rest of the pacific islands to their side. The move by Fiji and its acceptance by our Asian neighbours took Australia by surprise and immediately relax the tough sanctions they impose on Fiji. NZ and the US follow suite later on.

By this time The Qarase Government has decided to never again to put all Fiji's hope on Australia and NZ,

The new relationship has mushrooms to a new level of co-peroration and China shows their interest and mutual respect for Fiji and the pacific islands, in establishing a special envoy to the pacific and they show their commitments by attending a special China-Pacific business forums in Fiji this year attended by their Premier,

Australia and NZ wasn’t invited and I don’t think it sits well with them especially after they have accused China for using the pacific Islands and offering a Chequebook foreign policy. Which China adamantly denied.

The America Congress in its 2005 foreign policy reviews raised serious concerns on Chinas move to the pacific. Immediately they send General Abiesay to Australia, NZ, and stop by in Fiji to visit the Commander.

We can only speculate on the content of the visit or conversations, but we cannot deny the result.

Few months later the American and NZ resolved their long dispute over Non Nuclear issue.

Howard has already a strong Bush ally

NZ Foreign affairs and PM were given the red carpet treatment at the white house

American Military resume high-level meetings with Fiji Military

We had to wonder the unrest recently in Solomon Island and Tonga the target is Chinese Business. Will that happen in Fiji? Time will tell and certainly looks in that direction.

Also we have to wonder the true motives of Bainimarama’s against Qarase’s government who want s to forge a strong relation with China.

My theory is The US, Australia, and NZ has made it clear their intention, to destabilized any Pacific Island government that have strong ties to Beijing.

Victor Lal's opinion on the viable options available in his article published by Fiji Sun and provides an illuminating view of this stand off between the Government and Army.

There is no other way

By VICTOR LAL

Fiji is now in a ‘political crisis’ that so far has not been resolved constitutionally. The President should ask the Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and Commodore Frank Bainimarama to resolve their differences amicably, in the form of give and take, on the grounds of ‘national interest’. Towards this end, the option of the appointment of a new Minister for Home Affairs, to enable the Prime Minister to open a fresh line of communication with the military, remains. But this is for the Prime Minister to exercise, who can be encouraged by the President in doing this.

Even President George W. Bush sacrificed his Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when the heads of the army, navy, and air force declared a vote of no confidence in Mr Rumsfeld. Also, both Government and the Military, should submit independent mediators of their own choice (but please, no persons already hated and distrusted by both sides).

If this does not work, then the President should at this stage, call upon the Government to seriously entertain the military’s demands, even though it could be seen as caving into the Commodore’s threats, and setting a dangerous precedent for military leaders to dictate future running of a Fiji government. After all, there is ample evidence that it is the military that is in effective control of the military-government politics now rather than the Qarase government.

It must also be stated that both the military and the Government have raised issues that have merit and go well with many people. The Government has stressed the powers of the parliament in democracies - which is a position that must be respected.

On the other hand, the military, in sum, has stated that the democratic majority is being used by the Qarase administration to undermine the rule of law, and is using this majority against the interest of the state and the people; it has also stated that the elected Government is allowing for the serious possibility of foreign intervention in the country - as already evidenced by the undermining of the integrity of the office of the President by Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes in search of the Office - thereby posing a significant danger to national sovereignty.

This is a position that expresses the sentiments of many in Fiji. Mr Hughes has however strongly defended his action, saying the police carried out a routine search of the President’s Office in the course of their investigations.
What are the demands of the military?

The military’s list of demands include

(1) a public declaration by the Government that the events of 2000 were illegal; (2) withdrawal of the three controversial RTU, Qoliqoli and Tribunal Bills;

(3) all investigations against Commander RFMF and RFMF to be completely withdrawn;

(4) termination of Commissioner of Police contract to be effective as soon as possible;

(5) review the role of the Police Tactical Response Unit;

(6) no foreign police/military intervention;

(7) removal of the commercial arm of the NLTB, the Vanua Holdings.

The first demand is straightforward and easy to accept by the Government, as it can do nothing but condemn the 2000 terrorist uprising.

Demand two is negotiable, so the two sides should seriously consider discussing the three contentious Bills (here is a staring point of a sensible dialogue) while the Bills remain suspended.

As far as demands three, four and five are concerned, they are all negotiable and allow for room for serious discussions to move the talks forward.

Perhaps the Constitutional Officers Commission (COC) should conduct an inquiry into allegations that the Police Commissioner has been conspiring with the Australian and Fiji governments to remove the Commodore from power.

The military, on the other hand, should provide evidence, if any, to the COC for Section 172 (2) provides that ‘A person to whom this part applies may be removed from office for inability to perform the functions of his or her office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause) or for misbehaviour, and may not otherwise be removed’.

After all, it is the COC that appoints the Police Commissioner. The Home Affairs Minister Josaia Vosanibola has no control on the office of the Police Commissioner except on general matters. Demand six is achievable. As to demand seven, the onus is on the military to spell out in detail, and backed up by evidence, as to why the commercial arm should be cease operations.

We are all in the dark on this one. If the Presidential interventions as noted above were not effective - as for them to be effective, they have to be obeyed - then the political crisis would not, in all likelihood, be resolved under the provisions of the Constitution any time soon.

The consequence of letting this state of affairs fester longer is not only to see the economy totally destroyed - the Reserve Bank has already warned of an impending disaster - but also to see a serious possibility of breach of constitution, through the military’s clean up campaign.

It is now the responsibility of the President’s Office to resolve the crisis - and if its plea for dialogue and give-and-take does not yield results, then the President’s Office will be left with no other option but to, as a measure of necessity of protecting the Constitution and the rule of law, assume temporary charge under the convention of Presidential reserve powers.

The President could suspend the Parliament for a defined period of time (no more than 3-6 months), have an interim team of advisers to specifically address and help the President resolve the matters in contention, and then recall Parliament once the crisis is over. In strictly limited circumstances the President, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, could dissolve or suspend Parliament without acting on the advice of Prime Minister Qarase.

The President, like similar office holders in other Commonwealth nations, possesses “reserve powers” to be unilaterally invoked by him in a crisis. We have a serious and potentially violent and bloody crisis in the country. The suspension of the Parliament would also legally shield any persons chosen by the President to run the Interim Administration for the next three months.

The problem, however, is who is going to step in to maintain law and order? In abnormal circumstances it would have been the police, assisted by the army. But the two institutions are at loggerheads. Worse, the Commodore has called on the Government to ask the police chief Andrew Hughes, the very individual supposed to operate side by side with the Commodore, to “pack and leave now” otherwise “the military is going to do it”.

Without Hughes - during the period of Presidential control - there is significant possibility that the military and the police could rebuild their trust in each other, and work together. Direct presidential action, therefore, is the only way forward if dialogue fails. The people have endured enough misery and economic ruin. The President Ratu Josefa Illoilo has reserve constitutional powers in exceptional circumstances to use - that this is the time that may demand their use.

One other matter needs to be stated: Australia and especially its Prime Minister John Howard should simply butt out of the current impasse, for if anything, he and the Prime Minster of New Zealand, Helen Clark, have internationalised and inflamed the dangerous standoff. Instead of acting as honest brokers, since the two had immense leverage on Commodore Bainimarma, they blindly jumped to Mr Qarase’s defence.

In Mr Howard’s case, he has also seriously put his fellow countrymen in harm’s way in Fiji. The Australians should also have had common sense to stay out of the Fijian dispute, given another Australian Police Commissioner’s role in the raiding of the office of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, and now President Illoilo’s office for incriminating evidence against the Commodore.

Above all, the Great Council of Chiefs should stay out of the fray but though under no circumstances should the chiefs sit under mango trees and get drunk on home brew. They should provide support to the President in his attempt to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, the failed sacking of Commodore Bainimarama while he was overseas has a dangerous parallel with the attempted sacking of the then Pakistani Army’s Chief of Staff and current President General Pervez Musharraf. In October 1999, the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif removed General Musharraf as army chief while the latter was visiting Sri Lanka. Worst, while General Musharraf was still air-borne, Mr Sharif ordered the Karachi airport to prevent the landing of the airliner, which then circled the skies over Karachi. The army officers loyal to the General however ousted Mr Sharif’s administration and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and General Musharraf seized control of the government.
Mr Sharif was thrown in prison and tried by Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Courts, which sentenced him to several life sentences for corrutpion, hijacking, tax evasion, embezzlement, and terrorism in 2000. The military government agreed to commute his sentence from life in prison to exile in Saudi Arabia. Thankfully, the military officers loyal to Commodore Bainimarama did not emulate their Pakistani counterparts by seizing the Nadi airport, overthrowing the Qarase government, and installing Commodore Bainimarama as the new head of state in the footsteps of General Mussaraf, who is today feted as a great friend of Great Britain, the United States, and Australia.

On 15 October 2005 Mr Howard, while welcoming General Musarraf to a luncheon in the Australian Parliament, told the Pakistani dictator that he was glad to welcome him and reminded his listeners that the general had survived two assassination attempts in Paksitan: “So I pay tribute to somebody who has come through the fire of violent challenge to his position, somebody who has played a major role in the fight against terrorism, somebody who has understood the need to confront and defeat the extremist elements within our society, and they are to be found in many societies that seek to visit death and terrorism on people around the world.”

Well, Mr Howard, did you know that Commodore Bainimarama survived an assassination attempt on his life in November 2000? Did you know that he risked all to give back to the people of Fiji democracy and freedom after George Speight’s failed coup?

Did you know that he is hell bent on defeating Fijian extremism, which has caused so much pain and suffering to the nation since 1987? The only difference with your un-elected hero General Musarraf and Commodore Bainimarama is that the latter did not encourage his loyal senior officers to seize power for themselves and, in turn, appoint him (Commodore Bainimarama) as the new Head of State in the South Pacific when he was dismissed recently while overseas.

He should be congratulated rather than demonised. He should be encouraged rather than provoked. Let us, therefore, hope that Commodore Bainimarama will remain on the sidelines, allow the law to take its course, and enter into bi-lateral dialogue with the Government.

For that to happen, the President Ratu Josefa Illoilo must come out of the shadows and take charge of the affairs of the nation under the ‘reserve powers’ vested in him. If the Government and the military still refuse to listen to him, he should suspend the Parliament until a satisfactory resolution is reached.
During this period the nation should be governed by the President with the help of a team of Presidential Advisors. That is the only way forward.

Victor Lal is a law academic based at Oxford University in England. The opinions expressed are his and not those of this newspaper.

Entertaining letters published in the Fiji Daily Post reveals some idea of the extent of this conflict between people of priniciples.

Role of Police Commissioner
28-Nov-2006

Sir,

MAREKO Vuli and others who condemn the police and call for the sacking of the Commissioner of Police show their ignorance and lack of understanding on the legal and proper operation of a democratic system of government.

They praise the illegal ramblings of the military and accuse the Fiji Police Commissioner of improper conduct when he is enforcing the laws of the country. Perhaps these people prefer the looting and lawlessness witnessed during the political upheaval of 2000 when we experienced extreme suffering.

Mareko Vuli spews his venom through his extreme views regularly expressed through the Fiji media from the comfort of a true democracy in Australia, something we the committed citizens of Fiji are trying to achieve.

The Australian Immigration Department should check out the status of this man who is inciting illegal activities in another country through his support for the illegal activities of the army and demanding the sacking of a constitutionally appointed officer.

Commissioner Hughes may want to contact his colleagues in Australia to do a check on Mareko Vuli.

His true identity may be exposed in the process.



Emosi Balei,
Suva.

...

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Sunshine raggae
28-Nov-2006

Sir,

STREWTH, Commissioner Hughes is in the news again.

Only this time his unsubstantiated tirades have become more sinister wherein the colours of his political stripes are more obvious.

It is of great concern that Commissioner Hughes partisan comments, actions and press statements is in respect harmony with PM Qarase, Australian PM John Howard as well as his mouthpiece Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in national and geo-political benefits.

The political gridlock assuring mutual benefits was cemented during the Melanesian Spearhead meeting in recent weeks.

Briefly, the beleaguered PM Qarase did not take PM Howard to task over the controversial ransacking of Solomons Prime Minister’s Office on the islands by the Australian Police.

Why? As political soul mates, was there a trade off between PM Qarase and PM Howard?
Be that as it may, shouldn’t Fiji be supporting its weaker Melanesian cousins in time of need especially againt big brother such as Ned Kelly?

And more, PM Qarase has not adequately explained the Australian Police incursion into Fiji’s sovereignty, if any at all. Why?

Is PM Qarase supporting foreign invasion and the overthrow of Commander Frank Bainimarama? Why is the real story behind the Hooey Hughes and his $250,000 salary paid by AusAid? What is the trade off?

Concisely, what is more frightening than anything else, is the fact, that Hooey Hughes freely admits advising PM Qarase and his goons to have Commander Frank Bainimarama “stood down”.

Hooey Hughes’ plot came to nought.

If that is not enough, the maverick Police Commissioner then authorises the raid into the Office of the President of the Republic of Fikji in pursuit of a non-existent document he vows to drag the “shadowy figures” out into the sunlight for all to see. (As an aside, it would be interesting to know which HIgh Court Judge signed the Search Warrant).

The police blitz against the President of the republic of Fiji is an exact carbon copy of hte mercenary-style raid into the Solomon Islands Prime Minister’s Office.

Hooey Hughes’ reasoning is most bizarre considering that most of the shadowy figures in the 1987 and 2000 coups are out in the sunlight except that no actions against them.
For example, the gun-toting politician arrested in possession of firearms but not charged.
The man wearing the red bandana?

How about the bread lady delivering fresh loafs in the Parliament precinct during the illegal overthrow of the Chaudhry-led Government.

And there is that sleaze ball garment factory owner, who frequented Parliament during the dark coup days?

Where is the former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua? His name was strongly linked to the coup. What is the outcome of the finding against him conductedd behind closed doors by former Chief Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga?

Sir Timoci Tuivaga and current Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki together with High Court Judge Michael Scott freely admitted trying to abrogate the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, Arent’ they out in the sunlight Hooey?

In addition, how about the crooked lawyer found dabbling with his client’s trust funds and the current Attorney General Qoriniasi Bale holder? Why him? Well wasn’t he advising PM Qarase and the Great Council of Thieves?

How about the Naitasiri MP Ted Young? Wasn’t he found in the parliamentary precincts during the illegal takeover?

The bread lady, the textile merchant, crooked politician, the mercenaries, the gun-totting politician, the opportunists, the disabarred lawyer, High Court judges and brotheis were one way or another are linked to the overthrow of the constitutionally elected Labour Government.

These entire hosts of crookes and sleaze balls are all out in the sunshine for all to see.
But no action from Hooey Hughes, Why?

The answer is basic. Hughes’ pocket, political stripes and regimented thought process is smugly lodged between where the sun don’t shine. Period.



Tomasi Tokalauvere,
Suva.

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