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 10th 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.
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