170709RiddingFijioftheCoupCycleAY

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Breaking the Cycle of CoupsUniversity of Queensland

Special LectureMonday 20th July 2009

By Reverend Akuila Yabaki

Introduction

I am deeply honoured to be here first to speak and then to listen in an open

dialogue with you on the current Fiji situation.

The events of recent months in Fiji are worrying to those of you who have been

friends of our country. The abrogation of the Constitution on 10 th April 2009

removed the Bill of Rights and the constitutional protections of these rights. The

dismissal of the judges compromised the already weakened judiciary. And

current media censorship regulations and permit requirements have made it

difficult for civil society organisations to continue their good work.

But not all hope is lost. We are in a transitional phase where civil society must

learn to adapt and face the new challenges presented by these difficultcircumstances. Now, more than ever there is a need for engagement and

dialogue. We must continue to strive for free and fair elections, but the immediate

concerns are:-

Convincing government to come to the negotiating table for an open,

inclusive and independently facilitated dialogue process; and

Ensuring that the return to democratic and constitutional rule occurs as

soon as possible.

Without an ongoing commitment from all aspects of society to engage in

dialogue, including from government and the military, the coup culture will

prevail. With the right attitude, dialogue can bring people together and help

reconcile Fiji with its past history of political instability.


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Background

Let me begin by briefly summarising the events that led to the current crisis:-

Fiji has had 5 coups since achieving independence in 1970. Fiji is a multi-ethnic

society, and striking the right balance between competing community interests

has always presented a problem for the country.

Fiji has lived under effective military rule since 5th December 2006, when

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces,

deposed the elected Qarase government. At the time of the takeover, the interim

government promised to uphold the Constitution and to rid the country of

corruption and racist government policies.

In January 2008, the interim government established after the 2006 coup, in a bid

to move the country forward, created the National Council for Building a Better

Fiji (NCBBF), a council tasked with the drafting a roadmap forward called the

Peoples Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. This Charters objective

was to address for the first time the roots causes of Fijis problems, particularlyeradicating the coup culture. It was not designed to replace the Constitution, but

rather to complement it. The Interim Government called upon all sectors and

actors of society in Fiji (civil society, churches, institutions, etc) to participate in

the debates and in the drafting of this Charter.

The issue of engaging or not engaging brought about a clear divide amongst civil

society organisations in Fiji. Many of them refused to participate in this process,

not because they disagreed with the idea of drafting a Charter for Fiji, but

because the Charter had been initiated by the interim government, they saw any

participation in the Charter process as implicit support for this illegal government.

Some NGOs, including CCF, decided to take a risk, and agreed to participate in

the drafting of this charter.


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CCF strongly condemned the 2006 coup. However, we felt that accepting to be

part of the Charter process, which included sitting at one table with people from

the military, was the only way to influence the process from inside, to move the

country forward and also to provide input in terms of the values for which CCF

has always stood. We were supporting the interim governments idea of a

Charter, not the government itself. Many of the concepts proposed under the

Charter, including electoral reform to remove the race-based voting system, were

things that CCF and other NGOs had previously been lobbying for.

We made the decision to engage knowing that we would be criticized for it and

that if our intention was misunderstood, we might run the risk of compromising

CCFs reputation.

We put the following conditions to our participation:

1. The 1997 Constitution would not be abrogated;

2. The process would not interfere with the roadmap for a return to

democracy;

3. We would be as inclusive of possible, including also the parties and

members of government who had been deposed;

4. There would be freedom of expression during the deliberation, and there

would be no reprisals against people expressing opinions contrary to the

those of the Interim Government

5. The future role of the military forces would be added to the agenda for

consultation.

All these conditions were accepted at the time.

Legal Challenges to the 2006 Coup

Whilst this process was continuing, large parts of the Constitution were being

ignored or violated by government, and despite promises of electoral reform and


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elections by March 2009, not enough progress has been made in returning Fiji to

a parliamentary responsible system of government.

The ousted PM Qarase challenged his removal by Commodore Bainimarama in

Court proceedings.

- At the first instance, the High Court (on 9 October 2008) declared the

Interim regime valid. It held that the President had broad and

unreviewable powers to rule indefinitely. This decision was appealed.

- CCF decided to get involved in the Appeal case as a friend of the court

(amicus curiae) in order to assist with the complex constitutional issues of

this case. Our concern was that the Constitution was not intact and that

the decision offended the rule of law.

- On 9 April 2009, the Court of Appeal overturned the original decision and

declared that the interim government was unconstitutional and unlawful.

- Bainimarama seemingly accepted the decision and stepped down as

interim PM that evening.

- The following day, on Good Friday, 10 April 2009, President Iloilo

abrogated the 1997 Constitution and dismissed all judges, promising a

new legal order.

- On 11 April, the President then re-appointed the same PM and cabinet

and implemented public emergency regulations.

o The regulations give broad powers to the police and military to

search people and places, seize property, detain and interrogate

people; and

o Substantially restricts freedom of assembly, freedom of movement

and freedom of speech.


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o These regulations are now likely to remain in place until the end of

the year.

- All mainstream media outlets have at least one police officer and Ministry

of Information officer to screen and censor all news items before

publication or broadcasting. No negative remarks about the interim

government are allowed.

o This led for example to:-

Fiji One news on Sunday 12 April to cancel the broadcasting

of the 6:00 oclock news.

On Sunday 12 and Monday 13, the Fiji Times was issued

with large blank spaces where news items had been

censored (see pictures).

- Tuesday 14 April, 3 foreign correspondents were deported from the

country and one local journalist who worked with them was taken into

custody.

- Since then, a number of journalists, activists and lawyers have been

detained or questioned under the Public Emergency Regulations.

- A number of constitutional office holders (including the Director of Public

Prosecutions, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Ombudsman and

Governor of the Reserve Bank) have been removed from office without

notice.

- On 15 April, the Fijian dollar was devaluated by 20% and the Australian

Broadcasting Companys radio transmitter was shut down.

- On 1 July, Bainimarama announced his Strategic Framework for

Change, outlining his agenda for the next 5 years. On the same day, PER

was extended officially for another month, following comments in an


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interview with Bainimarama that they would remain in place until at least

December 2009.

A Strategic Framework for Change

On the face of it, this speech contains many promising commitments:-

A focus on pro-growth and pro-poor policies;

Re-engagement with Fijis neighbours and development partners;

Modernising of infrastructure and government systems and organisation,including:-

o Divestment of government shares;

o Closure of non-performing entities; and

o Outsourcing to the private sector.

Encouragement of the private sector to engage with government.

However, I do want to make the following observations:

1. The framework speech fails to address the critical issue that the

abrogation of the Constitution, the failure to adhere to the rule of law, the

lack of an independent judiciary and media censorship which are all

likely to deter foreign investment and international support.

2. The strategic framework is disappointing in that it provides no explanation

for why discussion on a new Constitution cannot commence immediately.

It gives us some indication of the areas in which government will seek to

implement reforms, but leaves us in the dark as to how some of these

reforms will take place.


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3. The government reaffirms its commitment to improving accountability and

transparency by improving institutions and laws, including the checks and

balances under the Constitution, but has overlooked its own failings in this

area. Without a Parliament, laws are passed in secret and public

submissions are rarely called for. Annual reports on government spending

are released to Cabinet and are no longer publicly available. This

environment cannot facilitate government accountability and highlights the

very need for constitutional protections on the powers of government.

4. Further, there is a real risk of entrenching permanent government control

of media if censorship regulations continue for much longer. Already many

organisations and individuals are afraid to speak openly against the

interim government. The censorship has now extended beyond

mainstream media, with the interim government controlling the speakers

at events such as the Accountants Annual Conference, the Pacific Youth

Festival, and the Methodist Church Conference.

Without any connection between government and the people, there is a risk of

government policies becoming increasingly detached from the needs of the

community. Now, more than ever there is a need for all sectors of the community

to engage with government to ensure that this does not happen.

We may not like the timeframes imposed by the government, but we need to

continue to work to ensure the ultimate objective of returning Fiji to democracy is

achieved. In order for there to be a long term, sustainable return to democratic

and constitutional rule, the people of Fiji need to be a part of that process. Forthis reason, an open, inclusive and independently facilitated national dialogue

process can offer a way out of this political crisis in a manner which addresses

the underlying issues which led to the 2006 coup.


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What can be done to address the deficiencies that resulted in the coups?

The first few coups have generally occurred because the coup-makers

manipulated the fears of the indigenous community the first component of this

fear, the fear of domination by another race, is no longer an issue as the Indo-

Fijian population has decreased to 38 per cent. It is anticipated that by 2010, the

Indo-Fijian population would have decreased to less that 35 per cent of the

population that is, almost half of the indigenous Fijian population.

The second fear of economic domination, can only be addressed through

economic development. Instead of relying on the civil service, diplomatic corpsand the political arena to provide jobs, there is a need for the indigenous

community to develop their land for economic income generation and venture

into other areas of economic development. This fear also cannot be addressed

by the private sector where also much of the population is employed. It can only

be addressed by the indigenous community by taking and initiating development

activities themselves.

The 2006 coup is different because the coup makers cited corruption, disrespect

for law, and racist and controversial bills and policies by the deposed

government, as reasons for the coup. While there can be no justification for the

overthrow of any democratically-elected government, we still need to address the

issues used to justify this coup, because it could be a problem for further

generations.

Finding a solution to the Coup Culture

No one of us can claim to have a perfect solution to end the political crisis, inter-

ethnic tensions or the coup culture in Fiji. Many of us have been proposing ways

and means of doing this. The truth is that we will all need to work together to find

a solution and commit as a nation to carry out that solution.

I believe the coup culture can be addressed through:


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i) examining the role of the military this has been done in the Charter process

and I will later elaborate some of the recommendations from discussions. One of

the conditions for CCF to become a member of the National Council for Building

a Better Fiji was that the role of the military should be examined in the Charter

process to find a way of ending the advent of military coups.

ii) electoral reforms to get rid of the race-based communal seats and adopting a

proportional representation system which would better reflect the population at

large. The elected leaders of Fiji have shown a general unwillingness to give

appropriate number of seats in cabinet, to reflect the different ethnic communitieshere. This problem could be rectified through a proportional representation

system, especially in light of the diminishing number of population of other ethnic

groups, since the 1987, 2000 and 2006 coups. Ridding the country of the

Alternative Vote system could end the trend of the past two elections where the

elections resulted in polarised ethnic voting. The fact that race elements in the

elections process is a problem has been acknowledged by mainstream political

parties. At a recent meeting the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party

made reforms to its constitution to remove racist elements. A copy of the revised

SDL Constitution, with no racist elements has been sent to CCF. This is a

positive move which shows the acknowledgement of this political party that racist

policies are wrong and Fiji needs to get rid of it to move forward in a democratic

way.

iii) electoral reforms which would give a fair representation to the diversity of

political views that exist within the indigenous Fijians themselves. In the 2006

elections, there were a diverse range of Fijian political parties which appeared to

have a small, but significant amount of support. However, the election results

showed that none of them managed to win a single seat. This could be due to the

use of fear in election campaigns to provoke people to engage in block voting

along ethnic lines. If Fijians do not get to exercise their democratic right to

choose political parties representing a diverse range of ideologies, then there is a


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greater danger of coups happening in future. A proportional representation

system could address this issue through fairer representation of political parties,

and also by getting rid of racial politics and politics of fear.

iv) introducing enabling legislation in Fiji to deal with racist activities, policies,

political parties and organisations as per the recommendations of the Committee

on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or CERD. Only through legislation and

prosecution of racist crimes can the message be sent out to everyone of the

seriousness of such events, and prevent the use of the race card for political

upheavals in future.

v) a political forum where the leaders of the political parties can come together

and engage in sincere and serious dialogue and commit to resolutions of taking

Fiji forward in a Constitutional manner that would also prevent further coups. The

charter will not provide all the answers but nor will the election of 2009. We have

deep seated ills which need to be resolved collectively now through political

dialogue.

Action Needed to End a Coup Based Culture

Below are seven key principles from NCBBF to end the coup cycle:-

a) Removing the political, economic and social conditions for coups and

strengthening the sanctions against coups.

b) Setting up processes to build national reconciliation and healing.

c) Redefining the role of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

d) Transforming the role of public leadership.

e) Taking action to improve ethnic relations.

f) Reforming the electoral system.

g) Re-looking at the overall national security system.


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Below are some specific recommendations that fall under the above principles:-

1) remove the economic and social conditions that lead to coups.

2) Require all holders of public offices, including the military, to take an oath

agreeing not to participate in coups.

3) Strengthen penalties and operation of criminal law in relation to offences

related to coups.

4) Amending the Constitution to say that no coup can abrogate the

Constitution.

5) Prohibiting participants in coups from holding public office in future.

6) Greater effort should be geared towards addressing the situation of therural and urban poor in order to avoid social alienation and political

manipulation.

7) Encouraging Indo-Fijian and Indigenous Fijian mutual partnerships in

development, commerce and investments.

8) Any conviction of treason is to be subject to automatic life sentence.

9) Every politician who enters parliament must, as part of their oath of loyalty

to the state, make a commitment not to participate in any future coups.

10) Participation in a coup to lead to immediate vacation of a public or chiefly

office and forfeiture of all property owned by the individual.

11) UNDP should be approached to conduct a parliamentary oversight

program for the military to ensure accountability of the military to

parliament instead of just the government in power. This program has

worked admirably in many countries.Fiji needs to find a middle way to

resolve the problems that has resulted in the four coups. Clearly, there

have been no reforms in institutions or legislations to try and end the coup

culture. In the aftermath of the 2000 and now the 2006 coup, dialogue has

not been held to find a middle ground to take the country forward. CCF

believes that an enduring dialogue process will enable us to find this

middle ground. South Africa was able to avoid bloodshed and is moving

towards better times after adopting the middle way through the Truth and

Reconciliation Commission. Northern Ireland took the middle way by


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dialogue between the two extremes sides, the Protestants and Catholics

who formed two opposing blocks in the population. A Community

Relations Commission was formed by civil society representatives which

presented a framework outlining what Northern Ireland could look like.

They explored their differences from a strength-based position and

realised that segregation was paralysing every single sector of the

country. The Commission created the first integrated school and started

inter-community projects. Closer to home, Bougainville, after losses of

thousands of lives, has now a peace settlement, involving cooperation

between participants. Fiji needs to go the middle way. This middle waycan be found in an inclusive dialogue process.

Developments with a Dialogue Process

To answer this need for a national dialogue, a number of civil society

organisations have collectively created a national dialogue process known as

Dialogue Fiji. This initiative is designed to bring the interim government, political

parties and civil society together for dialogue at one level, while providing a

space for the general public to voice their opinions at another level. The initiative

has been gradually built over the last 10 months. It now consists of an 11

member committee including representatives of the private sector, womens

NGOs and faith based organisations. This committee was selected by an

assembly of over 30 civil society organisations. This committee in turn directs a

full-time secretariat to organise and coordinate the initiative.

This initiative is still in its early stages, so I will not talk much further on its details.

CCF, as members and co- founders of the initiative, have hope that the initiative

at the very least will open avenues for solutions. But lets not think that this is

some magic pill, it can only provide the space not the solution. The solution

comes from mutual respect, understanding and an ability to compromise.

As I have said I am extremely grateful to be given this opportunity to speak with

you and I look forward to the open dialogue to follow I hope.

170709RiddingFijioftheCoupCycleAY

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