ROBIN NAIR: Civil Servants in Fiji are working in a climate of fear in a militarised democracy; 'I have to be careful of my own movements in Fiji'

7/6/2017

From Cook Islands News, 1 June 2017

A former senior public servant in Fiji Robin Nair says civil servants in the country are working in a climate of fear in a militarised democracy.

Nair resigned from his job as the Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs in April because of what he said was a lack of good governance within the Bainimarama administration.

He had been in the job for just over a year, after serving as Fiji’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf States.

Earlier he’d worked for the Australian foreign ministry for 22 years.

Nair has joined the opposition National Federation Party to help them fight the next election.

Speaking from Australia, Mr Nair would not name names but he said Fiji was ruled through fear and he said a lot of public servants were working in an “intolerable” situation.

“It can be very difficult in Fiji especially the way the present government reacts to any criticism or any views, or any ideas even if it’s given with the intention of making a contribution to good governance.

“I call it a militarised democracy but at the same time when I say it’s a military democracy I don’t say that the military itself is interfering but there are other people that have acquired that kind of a habit of ruling with a very iron fist, very tightly, in a very controlled way,” he said.

Nair said he left his job because he couldn’t bear the interference directed at his ministry.

He said he was used to giving advice honestly and fearlessly.

“There were people who wanted to have an influence on the advice I was giving and they seemed to be much more powerful and their opinions seemed to matter– so there were quite a few issues and it came to a head on one issue and decided the proper thing do was to resign and leave.”

“I don’t know why they do it – because they’ve got a majority in parliament but somehow there’s quite a siege mentality.”

Nair said after he resigned other senior civil servants and government ministers came to see him.

“They said it’s intolerable, they fear for their jobs and even a couple of ministers called me and wanted to talk to me because they have similar experience in the cabinet itself, and they said to me they always are talking about ‘who’s going to be next?’

Nair, who has a home in Australia, said he planned to return to Fiji when he felt “secure” enough.

He had not decided whether he would stand for election in Fiji with the polls due next year, but he said he would be helping the National Federation Party with its campaign and policy formulation.

“I have to be careful in my own movements in Fiji. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I might be embarrassed of course and they’ll try to embarrass me.” -

18 Comments

Chiku

8/6/2017 04:25:03 am

As a recently resigned apparatchik of the militarised Fijian democracy Robin Nair is lucky. He is now fearful of only being embarrassed by his erstwhile political masters and their agents/henchmen. Critics and opponents of the same regime of which Nair until recently was a part have endured far greater forms of fear and terror from 2006.
Now Nair after rubbing shoulders with the rogue rulers in Fiji is back home in Australia . The pro- democracy activists in Fiji continue to suffer at the hands of Nair's former political mates.

Refugee

8/6/2017 08:38:45 am

Spot-on Chiku and whilst the other former COUPIST Pio is fooling the People in Lautoka. These rejects of the Dictator are all dangerously 'born-again' spooks. Beware! But mercy, poor Biman picking up these rotten apples...Why?

Chris

8/6/2017 08:10:01 am

Thank you, Robin. Nair for coming out on the reason for yr exit from and the oppressive culture that has grown up in the public service of the Khaiyum Bainimarama regime. You could of chosen to remain silent but your noble conscious compels you to reveal the truth about the Khaiyum Caliphate in Fiji. It's so sad to read that Ministers if the regime are worried about upon whom the executioner's axe will fall, and doubly sad that these Ministers are spineless not to stand up to the two oppressors and shout from the rooftops "enough is enough." Please Mr Nair in the interest of humanity we look forward to more revelations from you.

Welcome Home

8/6/2017 08:16:40 am

The threats experienced have emanated contemporaneously to the installation of individuals who have chosen to wriggle themselves into lucrative and comfortable sinecures. It should never be overlooked that fourteen persons were witness to such a spurious manoeuvre at University of Fiji in September 2012. An effort was attempted to improperly record such conduct. The current head of FTU Mr Agni Deo Singh and various others drafted in without due notice saw what took place. Principles of proper governance were 'out the window'. However the main beneficiary mow faces serious charges of corruption and abuse of office. What 'Office' should be asked? Where are the minutes of 3rd September Council Meeting? For they should be material and key evidence. Fear and an insistence upon outdated honourifics being used by unscrupulous people without a sense of duty nor self esteem are symptoms of moral collapse. The soi-disant ambassador morphed into a registrar and a roomful of sycophants signed off! These events were real not imagined. Yes, Mr Deo Singh?

Chiku 2

8/6/2017 09:10:53 am

Those in Fiji and who know Robin Nair well, know him as an honest and a kind person with a great sense of empathy for the weak and disadvantaged. His humility is always commented on by his friends and followers. He rarely seeks publicity. He is generally a shy man but highly sought and pursued by the media, for his views. He is, in fact uncomfortable with media. But behind this is a steely man, fearless, decisive, highly analytical with a sharp intellect. He is s passionate Fijian and no one can keep him down. He will take risks for his people and will not be intimated. Chiku might say he is back home in Australia, leaving other activists to suffer under the Khaiyum regime, but you cannot keep a good man down. He is taking a well deserved break but I would be surprised if he were to quit on us.

Chiku

8/6/2017 12:50:40 pm

Where was the man's clear thinking, his moral compass when he decided to waltz with the Dictator of Fiji in the first place?
No amount of sugar coating his character can detract from the fact that he took that politically expedient decision to prop the oppressive Fijian dictatorship .

Refugee

11/6/2017 09:58:30 pm

The crucial question is why should we so easily forgive (or even now love) those who were just so lately ‘waltzing’ with the Dictator...?? Irrespective of their glorious pasts, their close association with the Dictator has tarnished all that, negated it to zero. Or has it not? Everything and anything they say sounds ‘sour grapes’, sorry-o. Do we have a certain ‘principled’ stand on this issue of the COUPISTS or not? On what criteria do we forgive Pio and Robin and NOT Rabuka and Chaudhary? All are politicians – so it’s apple to apple comparisons.

Like Rabuka, come tomorrow, we’d face Bainimarama, Akbar, Koya and Khaiyum ...croc-tears, with similar tyrant’s pleas...in the same miserable tone, echoing Pio and Robin...promising ‘Change is Coming’! Ha!

Coming elections is a spectacular line-up of COUPISTS. Even the squeaky clean NFP is polluted with Coupists Pio and Robin. Makes us think... doesn’t it?

Rajend Naidu

11/6/2017 11:49:32 pm

I don't know Robin Nair and his " glorious past ". What I know is that many very brilliant intellectuals threw their lot with Hitler's Nazi regime and acted as the regime's ideological props. ( see law professor Morris Ginsberg's book On Justice in Society) When the regime fell these brilliant intellectuals didn't have a legal or moral leg to stand on
( Nurumberg Trial ). Get my drift?

Welcome Home

8/6/2017 02:48:42 pm

Fully in accord with Chiku 2. As one examines the events of September 2012 Council Meeting several thoughts come to mind. Prior to this extraordinary performance, it had been necessary to find a trustworthy confidant in an atmosphere of malevolence and ever increasing signs of malfeasance afoot. Robin Nair proved to be that person. He has never betrayed this trust and born in Fiji will see the best ongoing interests of FIJIANS are served. The Trust Deficit inherent now in Fiji makes everyday life taxing and extremely stressful for vulnerable people of all walks of life. Where may one turn in dire need? Whom to trust? Who will bear witness in the face of existential threats coming from indeterminate sources? Is is any wonder that only two females dared to stand together as a substantive position was orchestrated and steamrolled through an irregular afternoon meeting which had not been provided with notice or Agenda? We stood our ground but this proved useless. Desperation sets in and paranoia becomes a day struggle. Yet people depend upon one and life must go on somehow.

Rajend Naidu

8/6/2017 10:21:33 pm

Editor,
A Leader Not Trusted
At the Senate Inquiry underway the former director of FBI James Corby said he kept a meticulous record of his meetings with President Trump because he felt Trump was likely to lie about what transpired (BBC 9/6 ).
The position of power often gives unscrupulous political leaders and senior state bureacrats the license to lie often with impunity.
We are familiar with that phenomenon through direct experience in post coup Fiji.
The lying and lies have only been exposed in Fijileaks and other alternative media not under the control of the post coup regime.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Travis Shah

9/6/2017 02:27:14 am

Robin has never really served the people of Fiji. His career began in Aust and then he ended up as Ambassador in Dubai. He miserably failed as Ambassador and could not manage his staff at the mission. He got caught up in a sex scandal while his poor old lady was waiting for him in Canberra. His contract was not renewed. He then became PS on the instructions of AG. He failed again because he could not take orders from his Minister. He then runs away and cowers behind the Australian media. He could not lead his mission, he could not lead his ministry...now he wants to lead the greater people of Fiji. He needs to save face and just retire!

Tomasi Tabanidalo

9/6/2017 09:09:22 am

If there was a time for Indo-Fijian Hindus and Christains to wake up and realise the reality that they are being delegated to third class citizenery, it is now. If you do not take action and continue your loyalty with the coupists Fiji first part, you will be signing your own isolation from dignified living in Fiji. Wake up and become agents of change.

Lewa

10/6/2017 05:10:20 am

Shah, are you one those who manufacture your own gossips and character assassinations and fan them into the public, to watch the fun or your mud sticking, to satisfy your sick mind?. Are you one those, sadly from Fiji, who has made gossips, innuendos and character assassinations into a sick sport to play at your neighbors expense?
You should join ISIS in Syria, they are recruiting your types to kill their own, innocent people and people of faith because of their calculated callousness and in the name of a God which is alien to their own people who know real Islam, a religion like others of peace, love, kindness and charity. Or are you already with ISIS and writing from there? The spirit which drives ISIS is the same spirit that you appear to possess, one of envy. From your diatribe about Nair, you appear to attack a man you don't even know, You say he "began his career in Aust". Just to show how wicked you are and how much you know of the man, he in fact started his career as a litigation lawyer in the then Fijian Crown Law Office in Suva, where he appeared for the Government in landmark cases. He was then sent to study international law and on return promoted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a senior level and posted straight away to the Fiji Mission in New York as First Secretary, where he distinguished himself For Fiji in the one of the longest international Conferences, The Conference on the Law of the Sea, to achieve for Fiji the Archipelagic Baselines. His then Foreign Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara had identified him as Permanent Secretary, only to be hijacked by the United Nations for a UN job as the Regional Fisheries Law Adviser for the South Pacific and the South China Sea region. I am tempted to carry on about his long list achievement and his distinguished career, including in the Australian Foreign Service and thereafter when he returned to Fiji and pro bono helped Fiji in political dialogue processes and appointed by the President as a member of the Independent Monitoring Group of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji. I will end up by asking you to go and talk to the wives, children and family of those 45 Fijian Peacekeeping soldiers taken hostage in the Southern Syria. These soldiers were targeted to be killed by Assad Forces, if not by the rebels who took them. Nair single handedly and tirelessly roamed the influential countries of the region, desperately seeking assistance to find a way of getting our peacekeeping Fijian soldiers released unharmed. He was successful in getting Qatari Government's influence to rescue them. We owe him a lot as do families of these worried peacekeeping heroes of ours. He never talks about this because he saw this a part of his job but it required well developed diplomatic skills of the highest order and a sense of great nationalism for his country. His outstanding services to Fiji, including for his work with the poor, was recognized only last February by the President of Fiji by bestowing on him as an Officer of the Order of Fiji. This was not a government award but a State Award. At the time of the hostage crisis, the political atmosphere was very charged as we were having our first elections under our new Constitution. If any harm had come to our soldiers, the Government could well have lost the elections. Robin Nair was well aware of this scenario and hence his desperation to do the yards. I am a woman writing this, one of Robin Nair's many women friends. I know that this man has no sexist bone in him. I have always felt very comfortable with him and his company. I feel absolutely no barriers in him as a man and I as a woman. We are just good friends. A man and a woman can be genuine friends unless you, Mr Shah always see a woman differently, with your hungry ogling eyes.
I have never voted for NFP but to see people of the worth of Nair and Tikoduadua showing their confidence in the NFP and its leadership, has made me think for once look at NFP seriously. Mr Shah , I am sure your scriptures also has the line, "love your neighbor as yourself". Envy and foul mouth is not only bad for your health but also for your soul. Go forth and love your neighbor and live in peace.

Welcome Home

10/6/2017 08:33:20 am

The ultimate test comes when on Oath in a Commission of Inquiry or a properly and lawfully convened Court first hand evidence is given. The former Head of FBI James Comey has just completed his conscience driven and professional duty in this regard. Senator Diane Feinstein had words of kind encouragement for him which were gracious and entirely appropriate. The circumstances of the situation for sacked Director Comey are grave and deeply disturbing but the national interest of the United States must be served first: Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori. In Fiji the time is nigh for 'Do or Die'. Each individual must make a serious and considered choice. You are not alone and James Comey is not alone. History will vindicate those who do their level best to uphold 'honest loyalty' as he quaintly put it. Judgement and the rest of the paraphernalia are in the hands of God.

Totaram

10/6/2017 12:16:15 pm

Lewa

Did Robin Nair draft your post?????

Another Lewa

10/6/2017 12:23:28 pm

And Shah, the Saint, why do you bring Mrs Nair into your wrath. She is a professional person in her own right and has a distinguished career of her own. She is not a slave who is expected to stay in the kitchen and be available to the huby at his whim. She obviously does not fit into your stereo-typed woman. Who are you to cast the first stone at their individual professional lives and living arrangements.. She wd be the last person to look for your crocodile sympathy. Why don't you, lamusona, dare delve into the sex lives of Ambassador Tikoitoga, Rear Admiral Naupoto, ComPol Siti Qiliho, Col Kalouniwai or indeed the juicy story fit for a thriller novel of Rear Admiral (Ret) Voreqe Bainimarama or Ambassador Madam Khan. Their stories narrated by you wd indeed wet your sick appetite.

Rajend Naidu

12/6/2017 12:09:16 am

Editor,
Football Man Taking A Political Stand
Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City FC issued a powerful call to arms for Catalonia's independence Referundum.
The former captain and coach of Barcelona said Madrid was " persecuting political debate " in " a threat that affects all democrats".
" We Catalans are victims of a state that is carrying out political persecution unworthy of a democracy in 21st century Europe. We appeal to all democrats of Europe and the world to stand up to the abuses of an authoritarian [ Spanish ] state" the football star said. ( read more in ' Pep Guardiola makes impassionate plea for Catalonia to spilt from " authoritarian" Spain', The Telegraph 11/6/17).
Since our first coup of 1987 and the last one of 2006 we are well acquainted with that phenomenon of " political persecution unworthy of a democracy ". We too made numerous appeals to the international community " to stand up to the abuses of an authoritarian[Fijian] state".
The appeal often fell on deaf ears because political expediency and hypocrisy rules foreign policy and international politics.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Lewa

12/6/2017 03:41:03 pm

Totaram aka Travis Shah, our political system has broken and contributing to the the slow death of our society as we knew, where one man can impose a Constitution on our people and get away with it, create a Parliament for himself and make a mockery of it's processes, trample single handedly on the the indigenous culture and rights and demean our indigenous people with impunity, create divisions between our Muslim brothers and the two other predominant races in Fiji by appointing his own, and bringing the sugar industry to it's knees by appointing mates like Abdul Khan as CEO and concurrently Chairman of the Board of FSC without transparent pricesses or on merit and without having to confess to abject failures of his appointments. We are captives of one man's lust for power. What is the result of our political malaise? Our society itself is breaking up before us. Hate and Envy and lies, like the diatribe propagated by the likes of you on your own people, are becoming the norm and the cancer which is eating up our values and culture. What we, as a group of women, are telling you, Mr Totaram aka Travais Shah is to rise above YOUR PROPENSITY for filth and the breakdown of your self worth, and help us bring back the our values - the quest for truth, love, peace and harmony as the virtues of our people Only then we will be able to resist the tyranny that is our government. Or are you one of recruits of the government as a charge dog to molest people seen as a threat to the tyranny and the megalomania of the few usurpers of State Power and recipients of State largesse. Dogs are not noble. We will overcome someday!

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ROBIN NAIR: Civil Servants in Fiji are working in a climate of fear in a militarised democracy; 'I have to be careful of my own movements in Fiji'

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