(+-) Religious Intolerance: How Can You Dialogue With People Like This?

POSTSCRIPT. Coupfourpointfive raises a valid question: Why hasn't Sanatan Dharma complained on behalf of Hindu police officers? Is this because its president, Dewan Maharaj, is pro-Government? One might also ask why all other religious institutions have not protested, and why Coupfourpointfive singled out Sanatan Dharma? And why it allowed such irrational and racist comments to its posting on this issue. Coupfourpointfive usually sets a far higher standard.

The hold that Christianity, in its many forms, has over many ethnic Fijians -- and its fusion with Fijian ethnicity and Fijian politics, is difficult for people outside Fiji to appreciate. It it for this reason -- to show how difficult it is for the Bainimarama -- or any other religiously-diverse and ethnically-balanced government - to take the country forward, that I have broken a promise to myself. I'm going to publish the latest comments from RawFijiNews, one of the less rational blogsites that invariably mixes religion with its anti-Government politics. And then I'll look at the equally disturbing "Government" flip side.

Raw Fiji News Blog

RFN claims its sources have revealed that, despite the Government ban, the Methodist Church will go ahead with its annual conference scheduled for August. "This latest defiance from the Methodist Church," it states, "against Frank Bainimarama’s junta is something that will determine Fiji’s destiny in the coming years. Most christians in Fiji believe that the junta will succumb soon. There are even talks that Frank & Co. will seek assistance from the church as prophesied by Steven Penny* in 1997." [sic!]

To which "mrx77" (the photo accompanied his post) added, "I take my hats off to the Methodist Church leaders, members of the clergy and all devoted members for their stand. Lets show this illegal government who has the majority followers.Lets show this illegal government that strength is in the number of people you have. Lets show this illegal government that people power is mightier than their guns. Lets show it to them. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! Oh my, I have never been so proud to be a Methodist."

Even more to the point "Voresara" respondent said, "Thats more like it. Come on people no one and I mean no one will fight your battle for freedom accept yourselves or ourselves to be precise. Lets do it…its now or never…God bless Fiji. Oh I forgot… I hope they are prepared to shoot ministers, preachers, women and children. When that happens I am coming home to die."

*Steve Penny is the driving force behind the SP Ministries on Australia's Sunshine Coast. It is typical of the many evangelical, charismatic fundamentalist Christian sects that have gained influence in Fiji in recent years.

And Teleni's Ideas on "Government" is Just As Bad

Equally disturbing is Police Commissioner Esala Teleni's recent invocations of the New Methodist Church, of which his brother is the main minister, to mount Christian "Crusades" to reduce crime. That is arguably just acceptable. At least it's in a good cause. But to insist that all police officers must attend in totally unacceptable. Fijian youths, the most involved in petty crime, may turn to god and renounce crime as a result of these crusades, but it is clearly a breach of a basic human right -- and one would have thought contrary to the way the Interim Government seeks to lead the country -- to insist on attendance by officers who are not New Methodists, or even Christian. Even the choice of the word "crusade" is an affront to Muslim officers. Police spokesperson Ema Mua said "the crusade [funded by Government through the community policing budget] is the only [sic!] strategy the Commissioner Esala Teleni and senior police officers hope will reduce crime in the country and police officers who are against the idea have every right to leave the force." Local rugby stars "share their personal testimonies" at the crusades that so far have been held in Suva and Lautoka.

And it gets worse! The Police Commissioner has banned the drinking of yaqona (kava), a no-no to New Methodists, in all police quarters and barracks. Yaqona had previously been banned from police stations and police posts in a move to instill greater discipline and professionalism by former Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes who was deported soon after the 2006 Coup. This ban is different. Yaqona is an important social drink in Fiji. To ban it from police residences is as good as telling police officers they cannot entertain their friends in their own home.

The message to police officers is join the "crusade"-- or leave the force. Drink yaqona at home -- and start packing. Both edicts must be totally unacceptable to all reasonable people.

But the main issue is far bigger. And it will be pasted in large letters on national and international billboards.

Here is a government that says it wants a democratic, multi-religious, multi-ethnic Fiji where all people are treated fairly and equally, that seems to be condoning, -- if not actually promoting -- its diametric opposite.

Bainimarama may need Teleni -- but not, surely, at any price!

Read More

(oB) More Kava in the Blood: Lessons from the 1987 Coups

Peter Thomson is a sixth generation Fiji Islander, born in Suva, schooled in Lautoka, fluent in Fijian, with a passing knowledge of Fiji Hindi, who now lives in Sydney. Last week he presented a paper to the joint conference of the NZ-Fiji Business Council and the Fiji-NZ Business Council in Auckland. He was the key mover in establishing both councils and their counterparts in Australia some years ago.

The paper is entitled "The Lessons of '87" -- lessons he sees as very relevant to the 2006 coups, despite their different origins. He was a secretary to two prime ministers, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and Dr Timoci Bavadra, and permanent secretary to the Governor-General Ratu Sir Peni Ganilau following the 1987 Coup.* His book Kava in the Blood is a personal account of those years. He is a man who, as they say, "has been around;" he knows something about coups and he knows a lot about Fiji.

Where does he stand on the 2006 coup? "I know in my bones", he said, "there are better ways than military intervention to change governments and troublesome policies [but] neither am I in the camp of those whom one witty blogger describes as 'We Love Fiji So Much We Want to Destroy It from Overseas Front.'"

He sees Australia's and New Zealand's policies as unhelpful and damaging -- "They hurt the country when good friends would have been expected to lend a hand ... It should be glaringly obvious to [both governments] that continuing measures to isolate Fiji and choke off its income will come home to roost not just on Fiji's damaged economy, but on all of us in the South Pacific Region."

His advice to the Interim Government-- "Work with the media, not against it ... The solutions to Fiji's recalcitrant problems lie in an ongoing process of national dialogue towards reconciliation and reform". To those who think the Military Council will not budge, he says "If the carrot is enticing enough and if an accord is one that everyone can work with, the military will be on board. There is no shortage of intelligent people in the Fiji officer corps, and they know there are imperatives ahead that make a reconciliatory accord a better prospect than the current course."

He has this advice for the people of Fiji: "They must embrace acceptance of a common destiny ... reject hard-line political leaders who polarize their respective communities ... a new generation of moderate leaders [is needed]"

He looks to Fiji's many "bridgebuilders ... who are prepared to sit around the kava bowl ...[and] help the hardliners come to the middle of the meeting ground. [They are to be found]... in the churches... political parties ... the business sector ... the Great Council of Chiefs ...and in the Military Council."

To read the full paper,click here. You will be taken to the web storage programme Mediafire from where you'll be able quickly to download the paper. It's well worth the trip to cyberspace.

* Peter Thomson has also been Permanent Secretary for Information, Fiji Consul-General in Sydney, First Secretary in Fiji Embassy, Tokyo, Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Fijian Affairs, and district officer in Taveuni, Macuata and Navua.

Read More

(G) Government to Work on Timetable, Reforms for Elections

Update. FijiLive reports the PM as saying "a national roadmap" to be launched in the "next couple of weeks" will replace the Presidential Political Dialogue Forum. A political leaders' meeting will be used as "a forum for government to launch a roadmap” and the United Nations and Commonwealth will be invited to sit in the political forum discussion.

I will delay detailed comment on this latest Government release on its "way forward" but as it stands it does not look good. The absence of UN and Commonwealth participation is not as great a concern as the suggestion that the whole Dialogue and People's Charter process has been put aside. Government cannot surely intend to "go it alone" on the reforms, but that's what this "half" release infers! We'll have to wait and see.

Fiji Village June 12 2009

The Government will not go back to the United Nations and the Commonwealth to try to continue with the Political Dialogue Forum. PM Bainimarama said the Government will now work on the timetables and reforms before elections are held.

Bainimarama had earlier written to the UN and Commonwealth to facilitate the Political Dialogue Forum talks.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has confirmed they have not received any communication from the government of Fiji since the 9th April meeting of the interim government and the political parties in relation to the President's Political Dialogue Forum. The UN said it remains available to discuss Fiji's return to constitutional democracy through early elections.

However, the UN added any form of future engagement in assisting a dialogue process can only be based on the fundamental principles outlined by the UN and Commonwealth and that is, that the dialogue be independent, inclusive in participation, time-bound and without prejudice as to its outcome.

Read More

(+) Snippets: Complaints Against Lawyers to be Investigated

Q.What's the difference between a lawyer and God?
A. God doesn't think he's a lawyer.

So far 50 lawyers have registered with the Chief Registrar's office; the remainder have until the end of the month to do so. Graham Leung, a staunch opponent of the Government and former Fiji Law Society president, has decided not to practise again in Fiji and will not be one of them. FLS's lawyer registration duties were annulled following the Abrogation of the Constitution, and many observers feared this could lead to anti-government lawyers (and the appointment of judges under the same decree) being denied licences. So far this does not appear to be the case.

A new unit is to be established within the office of the Chief Registrar to investigate 283 pending cases against lawyers. More than one complaint may pertain to a lawyer, but 283 seems an extraordinary high number of complaints given that the Fiji Law Society has only about 168 registered members. Acting Chief Registrar Ana Rokomokoti (photo) says about five complaints are received a day. The complaints, some dating back to 2000 that should have been investigated by the Fiji Law Society, include malpractice, misconduct, deliberate attempts to delay cases, trust fund account violations, incompetence, negligence, discrepancy with costs charged to clients, failure to follow client’s instructions and failure to communicate with clients.

Public complaints against the FLS was one reason given by Government for the FLS's now diminished role. Based on FijiLive report.

Coupfourpointfive reports that three police officers involved in a brutal attack on fellow officer Raj Shavendra Prasad have been suspended from duty on no pay pending an investigation by the Police Complaints Department. Prasad has also been reinstated. See also my earlier post on May 29 "Snippets: Police Brutality..."

Read More

(-+) Brij Lal’s Speech that Could have Been

Thanks once again to Coupfourpointfive, this time for publishing the address Prof. Brij Lal would have given to the Accountants' Conference had Government not decreed otherwise. Its publication by at least two blogs supports a point made in his speech: “The whole exercise of controlling speech is futile and self-defeating.” To read the full address on the topic of ‘Fiji and the International Community: Acceptance or Isolation: Are these the only choices?’ click here.

Summary

On Fiji's relations with the international community, his main points were: Fiji cannot go it alone; Australia, the EU and New Zealand want to help but need evidence of “progress” from Fiji; China's interests in Fiji are limited. “Many initiatives contemplated by the interim administration [IG] are praiseworthy, and I have no doubt that there would be a meeting of minds on many of them. That is why there is an urgent need of tact and diplomacy.”

He thought the situation had deteriorated sharply since April 10^th The Constitution has gone. The political dialogue process has ceased. “There is now no pretence about finding a solution to Fiji’s political problems in a timely fashion, in consultation with its friends in the regional and the international community. Fiji is now telling the world: we will find solutions to Fiji’s problems on our own terms, in our own time …. we are the guys who are on the right side of history; we are doing the right thing; why doesn’t the world understand us? “

On where Fiji should go from here, he said elections must be held earlier than 2014 if Fiji is to win international support. He agrees that elections alone will not solve Fiji's problems but asks what kind of political culture the Government want to create. He says a non-racial electoral system will not remove race as a factor in politics. He thinks the military want a permanent place in politics, and that their “utopia” will delay elections long after 2014. He says the Government should spell out what is wrong with the 1997 Constitution. He thought the Constitution’s compulsory power-sharing provision addressed “the most fundamental problem that has beset Fiji since the inception of party politics in 1966” in that it enabled one community, the Indo-Fijians, to share power. He said the Constitution was partly based on “‘Consociationalism … a grand coalition of elites representing different segments of society...”

My Comments

Brij blames the deteriorating situation on the Interim Government alone. No mention is made of the role of Australia and NZ, the Fiji media, the “Qarase” faction, and others who constantly placed obstructions in the IG's path.

Elections are not held to satisfy the international community. Fiji will only hold elections (hopefully before 2014) when the system under which they are to be held is decided upon, and when race has been removed as the factor. The Government has made quite clear the “political culture” it wants to create.

Brij continues to see Fiji's problems in purely racial terms. The 1997 Constitution was an improvement on the decidedly racist 1991 Constitution, but the Great Council of Chief's provision, the reinforcement of race by its electoral provisions, and the parliamentary “power sharing” provision effectively deprived Fiji of a parliamentary Opposition, need revisiting. True, future modifications were expected, but none occurred in the next ten years. His “grand coalition of elites” is based on racial “segments of society.” Fiji is, and can be, “segmented” in many more ways.

I do, however, share Brij's and many other people's concern about the never-ending role of the military in Fiji's politics. I also sometimes doubt their real intentions but, for the moment, they have the benefit of my doubt.

In sum, Brij warns of everything that has, and can, go wrong. Wisely so, perhaps, but we already know most of them. He supports an agenda rejected by the Interim government. I would like him to have proposed some new ideas on the “way forward.” Perhaps a hypothetical redrafting of the 1997 Constitution, with the benefit of hindsight, or the drafting of a new Constitution that would win wide support? Photo: Fiji Times.

Read More

(-) Graham Leung's Address to Accountants

There can be little doubt the invitation to Brij Lal, Richard Naidu and Graham Leung, three prominent anti-Government people, to be keynote speakers at the Fiji Institute of Accountants' Conference, meeting at Nadi today, was intended to deliberately provoke Government. There was no way Graham Leung's "call to arms/stand up and be counted" address, copied below thanks to Coupfourpointfive, would be allowed during the Emergency, although with no media present (another Government stipulation) no more harm would have been done than by Coupfourpointfive and this blog publishing his address. The Conference was allowed to proceed, sans media and keynote speakers. Graham Leung is a former president of the Fiji Law Society. To read his address in full, click here.




I do not share all his views but his general account of Fiji's coup culture is fair, and the ideas he advances towards the end of the address on how to resolve the political situation are a good starting point for discussion. Photo: Fiji Times.

Read More

(o) Emergency Extended: Poor Call

PER (the Public Emergency Regulations), introduced on April 10th, extended in May, have been extended again for another 30 days until July 10th due, says Government spokesman LtCol Neumi Leweni, to the security situation in the country, but he did not say what the security concerns were.

Could the "concerns" include expected backlashes from the Methodist Conference, now cancelled by Government, despite the Church saying that politics will not be discussed? Or the Fiji Institute of Accountants' Congress due to start on Friday, but with keynote speakers anti-Government Brij Lal, Graham Leung and Richard Naidu now removed from the billing at Government insistence? (The reasons the Institute invited them are pretty transparent but I doubt the trio's oratory would rouse the masses.)

Or a once again hostile print media only temporarily held in check by the Regulations? Or revived negativity from the ousted political parties, at present totally silent in Fiji for the same reasons? Could there be a split, or tussle for power, within the military as was rumoured, and denied, last month? Should the overseas-inspired plot to "remove" Bainimarama as advocated by one anti-Government blog, and repeated anothers, be taken seriously? Or is it the threat of a nationwide stop-work protest, or the politically-tinged prayers? Or is PER reimposed merely to prove -- if proof is necessary -- that Government is still in charge, and nothing, no nothing, will stop it "completing the work it initially set out to do”? If so, it will need a lot of help and PER may not be the best way to get it.

In something of an understatement, Leweni accepted that "the initial period of the re-building process would naturally be difficult for some members of the public to understand [but he asked for] public understanding and active support." He did not explain why someone should support something they did not understand, or why Government does not explain more fully so they can understand. And what, it might be asked, is Government hoping to re-build? The judiciary is almost back in place; umpteen decrees have closed holes left by the abrogated Constitution. But politically, for the past two months it has merely reacted to perceived political threats, when it also needed to be pro-active, picking up on the People's Charter process, and clearly showing the way forward.

Leweni, incredulously, went on to say that "Fiji as a whole benefited from the emergency regulations...The absence of politics from the national agenda, for instance, is contributing positively to the peace and stability of the nation. People are now more focused on their lives, families and work without being distracted by the divisive and fragmentary views that were prominent in the period before the emergency regulations were implemented."

What Fiji needs if it is ever to achieve the peaceful, harmonious society, free from discrimination and corruption, that he talks about is more, not less, politics. Politics is the lifeblood of all democratic societies. The People's Charter is politics. Dialogue is politics, and politics dialogue. Both proceed from the assumption that there is more than one way of looking at every situation, that reasoned disagreement is healthy and leads to better conclusions. I think, and hope, he means the often one-sided reporting of politics, and not politics per se.

The sorts of change envisaged by Leweni has the public playing only a passive role. Just keep your heads down while we, the Government and military, fix Fiji for you. Surely this is not what Government wants. The particularly sad thing about PER is that there has been no public political discussion. The baby has been thrown out with the bath water! PER has paralyzed civil society turning its more intelligent members into "monkeys" who are allowed to hear, speak and see nothing. This is PER's biggest casualty. Surely the Government has sufficient support, and a sufficient number of erudite people to put its case to the public, expose the arguments of the opposition, and protest publicly about one-sided, biased journalism. Government needs to argue its case to win back the "middle" ground. And it needs the media to do that.

Peace, of a fashion, and stability can be imposed on a country, but not harmony. The future society Government envisages requires that the public play an active role in its formulation. If the People's Charter is to be adopted, the public has to adopt it, and for this, meetings, discussion, debate and press releases are needed. Major discrimination and corruption will only end when the public expose and condemn them. People of all races need to condemn the racist bigots among them, and all religions should condemn their religious fanatics. The Government, by legislative measures and institutional changes, can assist the process but only the people can bring about lasting change.

There may be good reason to extend PER at this point in time, but the public needs to be informed why. PER must be progressively relaxed, starting with the more responsible media and non-government organizations. There is a risk, of course, in relaxing the Regulations too early, but there is a far greater risk in relaxing them too late. The Government's top-down, heavy-handed approach can only work for a while. If it does not soon show more faith in the basic good sense of "middle Fiji" and behave more in line with its stated good intentions, it will fail, and all that has been achieved since 2006 -- and all that it wants to achieve -- will fail with it.

It is a strange and ironic twist, but Government's decision to extend PER will leave many of its supporters hugely disappointed (because it will further alienate "middle Fiji") while those opposing the Government will be delighted (because Government has played into their hands).

Read More

(+) Methodist Leaders in "Denial"

"It is time the Christian churches step away from politics once and for all for the benefit of the nation. For too long the failure of the churches to separate their pastoral role from national politics has fanned the flames of unrest." Fiji Times editorial March 17, 2009.

What a pity! There seemed to be some hope for a Government-Methodist rapprochement after Rev Akuila Yabaki's plea for dialogue (see previous post.)

But no. Fiji Live reports the Methodist Church's stance is unchanged.

I can understand the Church's refusal to sack Revs Lasaro and Kanailagi (photo), as requested by Government, but not for the reason given. I also have reservations about two other Church statements. My comments refer to elements within the Church; not the Church as a whole.

Gen.Sec.Rev.Tuikilakila Waqairatu said the Church does not believe the ministers have offended. If this is the case, members of the Standing Committee need to look very closely at the Church's Christian foundations. Their immediate offence is the use of the church to derail the Bainimarama government, and defying the Emergency Regulations. This is arguably an offence or not an offence, depending on your perspective. Their more general offence is the crime against humanity sort. Both men are extreme Fijian nationalists, far more than church ministers. They have been engaged in what most of today's Christians would say are immoral and unchristian acts: they have preached racism and supported racist causes for over 20 years. And during all, or most, of this time they have been senior officers of the Church.

The Rev.Waqairatu says, "The Church’s involvement in politics is for the spiritual and moral aspect." This is true, up to a point. The Methodist Church is the major part of the lotu of the lotu, vanua, matanitu trilogy. But the Church has allowed Lasaro and Kanailagi's decidedly unspiritual and immoral political preaching to go on unchecked for 20 years. It has helped-- or at least not stopped -- their election to high office within the Church. By not standing up against the racist taukei faction, the Church is thus seen to have supported three racist coups, and two political parties and two governments with racist policies. It is this brand of politics, not the spiritual or moral -- in which they have definitely been involved -- that the Government asks the Church to renounce. And it would insult the Church leaders' intelligence to pretend they did not know so.

The Rev.Waqairatu also called on the Government "to consider the spirit of love, compassion, morality and responsibility in the direction they move in." I find this "pot calling the kettle black" request ingenious. One must ask where were Lasaro and Kanailagi's love and compassion when they advocated actions and policies that, to varying degrees, insulted, hurt or impoverished thousands of innocent people between 1987 and 2006? Do they still excuse the desecrated temples? The refugee camps filled as Methodist Fijians threatened isolated Indo-Fijian farmers? The affirmative action policies that left one-half of Fiji's poor untouched? Or the displaced Indo-Fijians who moved into squatter areas when their cane farm leases were not renewed, as urged by taukei Fijians? Can they imagine how it feels to be a second class citizen, even when you are a sixth generation Indo-Fijian? Have they forgotten Qarase's proposed legislation that led to the 2006 Coup? Or the tens of thousands of Indo-Fijians who have emigrated? None of this, of course, was really about Indo-Fijians. They were merely the scapegoats. There were deeper causes and more devious reasons for the coups, but where was the Methodist Church then? Why were these human rights abuses not denounced from its pulpits? How can it allow two men so grievously marred to serve in the Church? How can it instruct Government on the spirit of love and compassion when its silence let the Laraso's and Kanailagi's have their way?

A Personal Note
For the record, I was at the receiving end of a Rev. Kanailagi attack in July 2002, a month before the Church's annual conference. Speaking to a public audience on poverty I said churches, and particularly the Methodist church, because of its numbers and its means of fund raising, needed to find ways of easing the poor's church donation burden, an issue then in the news because of similar remarks by MP Mike Beddoes. In 2002 Rev. Kanailagi was a Senator nominated by the Qarase Government. While speaking on the President's address to both Houses, he called "a Professor Walsh" every name under the sun: a fly-by-night expert, a person ignorant of the relationship between lotu, vanua and matanitu, ignorant of and insensitive to Fiji's cultures and faiths, a communist, an atheist ...

But that was nothing to what he called the Fiji Times and Five One. They were "agents of evil ... of some foreign agencies planning against Christianity and the indigenous people [note the coupling] ... poisoning the country with false accusations against the Methodist Church." How, he asked, could one expect fair reporting when "all the reporters were Indian?" He welcomed the Cabinet decision to review media laws.

What goes around, comes around. Reported in The Daily Post July 7, 2002. Need more be said! The Church had hoped to raise about $2.4 million at this year's Conference. Photo: : Matuvuvalu album.

STOP PRESS. METHODISTS MODERATE STANCE - A LITTLE
Rev.Ame Tugaue told FijiLive the Church will make a fresh attempt next week to meet with PM Bainimarama in a bid to convince the Government to allow the annual church conference to go ahead. He said political issues proposed on the agenda had been removed, but ...


The Church and Intellectual Accountability

"The problem is not that the Methodist Church is involved in politics but that it has failed to reason publicly its many intrusions in politics [or been] compelled to justify its ethno-nationalist ideologies within the context of a multicultural society. The Methodist Church in Fiji can once again meaningfully contribute to the ordering of society, but only if it is held intellectually accountable for its actions and inactions over the past twenty-two years."
-- Sudarsan Kant. Read his full comment by clicking "comment" under "Methodist Church Should Consider Dialogue."

Read More

(+) The Mad Hatter's Petrol Party

Coupfourpointfive has published six photos of a Saturday May 30th arson attack on the Knolly Street office of the Fiji Post & Telecommunications Employees Association, of which Attar Singh, a very vocal Government critic, is the secretary.

They are: an empty plastic bottle (smelling of petrol); a jug (used to pour the petrol through an open louvre window); the charred lounge floor; a charred chair; a charred office table, and " A farmer's hat normally worn by soldiers was left lying on the steps of the front door entrance to the office."

I would prefer to have commented directly on this post but Coupfourpointfive has not accepted my comments on three other previous postings, and my emails to one of its bloggers have been rejected by the server. Two equally well-meaning blog sites should speak with each other.

My comment would have been brief: "If your post was intended to implicate the military, the "evidence" would have been more persuasive had you not included the soldier's hat left so neatly at the front door."

Read More

Snippets: Regional Security; the Economy; Fiji Holdings Ltd; Wages

(o+) Pacific Security Discussed Without Fiji

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole
Then mend it, dear Goofy, dear Goofy, dear Goofy
Then mend it, dear Goofy, dear Goofy, then mend it ...
-- Burl Ives (photo credit)

The latest, almost laughable Burl Ives-ish, case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face" is provided by the Pacific Islands Forum.

Fiji, suspended from the Forum, could not be invited to the two-day Forum Regional Security Committee (FRSC) that met in Suva last week to discuss "transnational crime and counter-terrorism to political and security challenges." So the meeting proceeded without its second largest Island member whose geographic location and network of air, sea and yacht services put it at the very centre of likely criminal activity and exchanges in the south-central Pacific. Isn't this something like going for a wide-out try instead of scoring between the posts or patching several small holes in a car tyre while leaving the big hole unpatched? Or not mending a hole in a bucket? Based on report by Fiji Live.

(o) Economy Down but Reserves Up

The Reserve Bank of Fiji predicts the economy will contract by 0.3% this year, less than its major trading partners, and modest recovery is expected next year. Were it not for the January floods, the country would have recorded marginal growth. Foreign reserves had improved from $440m to $640m as a result of the devaluation. Liquidity in the banking system had grown to $150m., from a low of $15m. in late March, and was expected to be further assisted by various reforms in areas such as civil service, public enterprises and public financial management. "Government is committed to restraining the fiscal deficit to the budgeted level of 3 percent of GDP," the bank said."Revenue collections, which were above target during the first quarter, will assist Government in restraining the fiscal deficit this year." These would be further strengthened when visitor arrivals pick up in the coming months, said the bank. Based on report by the Fiji Times.

(B) Fiji Holdings Ltd

This item illustrates the potential hazards of too-close a relationship between Fijian institutional and Fijian business arrangements, and between Government and these "institutional businesses."

Fiji Holdings Limited was formed in the late 1980s with a $20m. loan from Government. Its aim was to "bring indigenous Fijians fully into the mainstream of the country's economic life" through the purchase of shares in major private companies. Shareholders include Fijian institutions, tikina, village groups, the 14 Provincial Councils, and family-type trusts registered as limited companies.

FHL has not been without its share of controversy. A paper in 2001 asked for an independent enquiry when it was revealed that individuals, families and other groups owned 70% of the shares, and the Provincial Councils, the originally intended major beneficiary, owned only 30%. Furthermore, individuals and their limited liability companies held most of the class A shares that had voting rights and attracted high dividends, while the Councils and large Fijian institutions, such as the Fijian Affairs Board (that owns 67% of all shares), owned mainly Class B shares with no voting rights and lower dividends. One major shareholding was registered in the name of former PM Laisenia Qarase's family, purchased apparently when Qarase was the managing director of the Fiji Development Bank (that financed the purchase of most "individual" shares), a member of the FHL Board, and an adviser to the FAB. The complainant thought Qarase had a conflict of interests.

FHL holds a well diversified portfolio of 24 firms in manufacturing (Goodman Fielder; Fiji Sugar Corporation; and the recently sold Forster's Group), building and construction (Asian Paints, Fiji Industries, cement, Humes; tourism (Blue Lagoon Cruises); property (several multi-stories); media and communications (Amalgamated Telecom, Fiji TV, Fiji Sun); retail (New World, RB Patel), and miscellaneous enterprises including Fiji's only private hospital.

FHL's major shareholder is the Fijian Affairs Board, now a part of the Ministry or Provincial Development, Indigenous and Multi-Ethnic Affairs. The Minister is PM Bainimarama who, within his rights but not necessarily wisely, has replaced most old board members in both institutions with his own nominees.

It is this Board that purchased RB Patel, sold its interest in the Forster Group for $F40m.to reduce local bank loans, and has all but concluded arrangements to purchase BP SW Pacific Ltd service stations and other operations for $190m. It was reported earlier than FHL sought Fiji National Provident Fund money to help the BP purchase. Most loan money will come from international banks.

Comment
I have three concerns about FHL and similar Fijian enterprises that are even more important in today's political climate.

First, I think there are genuine reasons for concern at the possibly undue influence of Government, on Board appointments and on business decisions. For very good political and economic reasons, most governments have no or only limited, indirect influence on business, even those they partly own.

Second, there could be an "unhealthy" overlap of personnel on the boards of these Fijian institutions. Some overlap permits the diffusion of ideas across institutions but too much limits the number of people engaged and, in becoming a sort of old boys' or old girls' club, could lead to croneyism and corruption. A conflict of interests was alleged when Qarase sat on several boards. It is no less a possibility with some of today's board arrangements.

Third, I do not see how ordinary indigenous Fijians are being brought into the mainstream of economic life by the purchase of shares in private companies, except perhaps by the use of dividends to provide scholarships and training schemes. The Fijians mainly helped are the older urban elite and the emerging Fijian middle class, well educated, urban-based and far removed from ordinary grassroots. This may or may not be a good thing in the early stages of indigenous economic participation but the time should soon come when THL (and other Fijian institutional) money helps a significant number of individuals or groups of Fijians establish themselves in business, and where this money is used to "create" new economic activity.

(o) Wages Council Hopes Government Will Stick to its Decision

Wages Council Chairman Fr Kevin Barr is hopeful Government will stick to its earlier decision to implement the new wage rate on July 1. The new rate, initally timetabled for February 1, was deferred at employer request. Since then the economic situation has worsened, affecting both employers and employees. The new wage rate would help an estimated 60% of employed people, in nine industries: garment, hotel and catering, manufacturing, printing, security, building, civil, electrical engineering, road transport, wholesale and retail and saw milling industry.

Read More

(o) Methodist Church Should Consider Dialogue as the Way Forward for Fiji: CCF

At last a breath of fresh air!
A call for the way so many disputes are settled in the Pacific. A call from Fiji's "middle ground" (those unhappy with some of Bainimarama's methods who nethertheless see merit in his stated aims for a non-racist Fiji). A call from Fiji's most reputable governance NGO. A press release by the Citizen's Constitutional Forum. Photo: Rev. Akuila Yabaki.

The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) describes the call by Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, for the removal of two senior ministers from the Methodist Church, as tough and unfortunate.

CCF however feels that given the history of the support by senior Methodist Church ministers for ethno-nationalism and the coups of 1987 and 2000, the church should now consider engaging in dialogue with the military and government, to find a way forward for Fiji.

Bainimarama’s call, as well as the ban on the Methodist Church Conference due to be held in August, are against fundamental rights of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion and Belief,” CCF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rev Akuila Yabaki said.

On reflection, these two senior Methodist ministers have been at the forefront of the ethno-nationalist stance taken by the Methodist Church in recent years to the extent that it was proclaimed as if it was a divine right,” Rev Yabaki said. “This may be the right time for the Church to ensure that its exercise of Freedom of Religion does not impinge on the rights of others to be free from racial discrimination.”

CCF calls for dialogue, not only between the Military and the Methodist Church, but also for wider participation in dialogue processes from stakeholders throughout Fiji, including different religious and civil society groups to find way forward,” Rev Yabaki said.

“It’s time for the Methodist Church hierarchy to make a fresh start and to take the risk of moving into more inclusive leadership. It’s time for the younger and newly elected church leaders to exercise their gifts for the moderate responsible leadership required for dialogue,” Rev Yabaki said.

For further information, contact CCF on ph: 3308379 or fax: 33083

(signed) Rev Akuila Yabaki, Chief Executive Officer

Read More

(-) Bainimarama warned to stay away

Coupfourpointfive reports: "The Marama Roko Tui Dreketi and the head of Burebasaga Confederacy, Ro Teimumu Kepa, has warned interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama, is not allowed in Lomanikoro. The Lomanikoro village was supposed to host the August conference.

"When the military issued a statement banning the conference, the Standing Committee of the Church tried to diffuse tension with the regime, by extending an invitation to Bainimarama to address the conference. However, according to sources, when Ro Teimumu heard of the proposal, she made it clear that Bainimarama should not set foot in the chiefly village, and if he agreed to giving a speech at the Methodist conference, then it would have had to be at another venue like Nausori. Sources say this message was conveyed to Bainimarama by Church President Reverend Ame Tugaue and Secretary-General Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu when they met him yesterday.

"But instead Bainimarama made it clear to them that as far as the regime, military and police were concerned, the Methodist Church conference was cancelled for an indefinite period.

"The Methodist Church is the largest Christian denomination in the country with over 200,000 members. It meets annually to discuss religious, national, political issues as well as to fundraise an average of $2.4 million to sustain its operations and activities."

Note: Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa has been an outspoken critic of the Interim Government. As head of one of Fiji's three great confederacies, she was a senior member of the Great Council of Chiefs. It was the GCC's refusal (led, I recall, by Ro Teimumu) to accept Bainimarama's nomination of Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as Vice-President that led to Bainimarama dismissing the council. She was also a cabinet minister in the ousted Qarase Government. See previous post on the Church Conference.

Read More

(o) Government and Church: What Do They Mean by "Politics?"

Methodist Church President Revs Ame Tagaue and Secretary Tuikilakila Waqairaru (photo) met with PM Bainimarama on Wednesday but were not successful in persuading him to lift the ban on the church's Annual Confererence and AGM planned for August. “Basically," Bainimarama told Fiji Live, "the conference will [only] happen once they remove politics not only from their agenda, but from the church too.” [Not an easy ask. See previous posting.]

So where does this leave Fiji, its major religious institution, and its search for a resolution to its present - political - problems? What do the Government and the Church mean by politics? Are they talking about the same thing?

The Government means any anti-Government action, ranging from the relatively mild and healthy criticism of groups such as the Citizen's Constitutional Forum, to the obstructionism of the Fiji Law Society, to the media's alleged one-sided account of events, to the crusading posturing of people like Rev. Manasa Lasaro that could lead to serious public unrest, to plans for actual physical action against Government. Government's apparent inability to distinguish between honest criticism and these different grades of opposition has been its major tactical weakness that, uncorrected, could well lead to its ultimate downfall.

If Government is to have any chance of implementing the much needed reforms it advocates, it must win the "political middle ground," and to do this it has to take some calculated risks. It must, of course, apprehend what Col. Pita Driti called "some factions of the Taukei movement" who are stirring up unrest. It must see that the Taukei faction within the Methodist Church does not have unrestricted access to the thousands meeting at the proposed annual conference. But it must also distinguish between low and high risk. The total clampdown of the past month allows its opponents to claim the moral high ground.

What the Church means by politics is harder to define. Conferences have always discussed politics, in its broader meaning, as it affects the church and the Fijian population. I would consider this a legitimate involvement. But the Church has also engaged in party politics, supporting extreme Fijian nationalists; its Taukei leaders actively supported the 1987 and 2000 Coups; and there can be little doubt that these same ulta-nationalist leaders, notably Rev. Manase Lasaro and Rev. Tomasi Kanailagi, will use every oppportunity to derail and oust the Interim Government. This type of political involvement would not be supported by the mainstream of Christian opinion, in Fiji or overseas.

Coupfourpointfive reports that Bainimarama speaking last week from Brussels told the church leadership to bar these clergymen from future church activities. This it cannot do. They are elected officials who can only be dismissed at the annual AGM. And therein, as "Anonymous" commented to my previous post, lies the irony. The Church cannot hold the conference with these clergy and they can only be dismissed at the conference.

There seem to be two other possibilities. Just as the Govenment needs to recognize degrees of dissent, so also the Church needs to distinguish between core and peripheral principles. How adamant is it in its opposition to Government? Is there really no common ground? How important is the Conference? Is it possible to disallow political discussion that could lead to civic unrest? Can Lasaro and Kanailagi be persuaded not to attend the conference (or attend but not to speak on political issues) for the greater good of the Church? This is one possibility.

The other possibility was raised by "Altergo" as a comment to my previous post. He writes:

"This is one area where the Bainimarama regime cuts off it's nose to spite it's face. Allow Lasaro a public platform in a free media and several things will happen: 1. He'll spend more time promoting his views and less time conspiring; 2. His views will attract reasoned and vigorous opposition, giving people the opportunity to hear more than one voice. (As it is, the only opposition comes from the regime mouthpieces who have little credibility when it comes to well-reasoned debate); 3. The likes of Lasaro will be less able to don the shroud of the 'righteous oppressed' if they're given a public hearing.

"As much as I detest the current regime, we cannot allow the Methodist Church in its current incarnation to claim any sort of precedence in any efforts to replace the current government with one that has a properly proven popular mandate. So let them bray, publicly. It will quickly become obvious that they are merely noisy, empty vessels. Rather than God-anointed saviours who have an viable vision for Fiji.

"I do not think the Methodist flock of Fiji is as stupid and gullible as many make them out to be."

I think "Alterego" has a point. It's a little risky but it could work, and if it did, Government would gain in support, and the Conference could go ahead. It's even possible but, in my opinion, unlikely that the moderates at the Conference would vote out the Taukei malignancy that has plagued the Church for too long. Well, this is at least a more pleasant prospect than the nightmare of extending the Emergency to August, as has been hinted.

Government's statement that there will be no more meetings with the Church is, I'm sad to say, characteristically unhelpful.

Photo: Fiji Live. Reports also in the Fiji Times, Fiji Village

Read More