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Wadan Narsey: The new catastrophic risks to Fijian sovereignty

11/10/2014

29 Comments

 
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By
Professor Wadan Narsey (Fiji Day, 10 October 2014)

[This article is based on my presentation at a panel discussion on “Post-Election Issues”, organized by the Adi Cakobau Secondary School Senior Old Girls, at the QVSOB Club, Brewster Street, Suva, on 30 September 2014.]

Some are describing the election of the Bainimarama Government on the 17 September 2014 as the “dawn of a new era” and who knows, it may turn out that way if Fiji miraculously sees the emergence of a genuinely transparent and accountable government that we have seen no trace of, over the last eight years.

But the more probably outcome is that the Powerful Two (Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Khaiyum) will use the “people have spoken” popular mandate of the elections to further tighten their authoritarian and unaccountable rule and media control, under a façade of parliamentary democracy, while they now legally manipulate the revenues and assets of Fiji, including a fire sale of the most profitable public enterprises to preferred clients.

The next four years could see the Fiji economy dominated by a new breed of powerful investors whose disdain for the law could signal the beginning of the end of indigenous Fijian sovereignty in the only country which is home to a unique ethnic group comprising less than six hundred thousand people.

The experience of the last eight years and the 2014 elections make clear that the Powerful Two have defeated all opposition forces that could have defended Fijian sovereignty to take total control of a parliament, to which there are no checks and balances left.

All the checks and balances under the 1997 Constitution, contained in the powers of Senate (Upper House), especially for indigenous Fijian rights and contentious new legislations, are gone, simply because the Powerful Two have decreed that there be no Upper House now.

Bainimarama and Khaiyum are unlikely to allow FFP Cabinet Ministers or backbenchers to act independently, even if Fijian national sovereignty is at stake.

The 2013 Bainimarama/Khaiyum Constitution (2013 BKC) has been meticulously designed to ensure that the Fiji Parliament will be largely ineffective in ensuring the transparency and accountability of the Bainimarama Government.

While Adam Smith’s economic model argues that if all economic stakeholders follow their own selfish interests, then the paradoxical result will be an optimal economy, such a recipe in politics is likely to lead to the slow but sure, and irreversible loss of Fijian national sovereignty.

The writing is already on the wall for Opposition parties, but there are several indicators that the concerned public should monitor, such as:  the continued refusal of the Bainimarama Government to make public the full uncensored Auditor General Reports and all other important reports, the likely inability of the Opposition MPs to have constitutional reform items placed on the parliamentary agenda, the lack of internal democracy of the Fiji First Party, the Bainimarama Government’s distribution of membership of public enterprise boards, and the tightening control of the media.

There is an urgent need for a new breed of intellectual Fijian bati, if Fijian sovereignty is to have a reasonable chance of surviving in Fiji.

Adam Smith’s model will not ensure Fijian sovereignty

In economics there is an elegant if paradoxical model which argues that if all economic interests behave selfishly, maximizing personal profits, incomes and consumer satisfaction, then society’s  welfare will be optimized (with a few exceptions acknowledged such as externalities and public goods).

But this model is not going to work in Fiji’s politics, when it comes to safeguarding Fijian national sovereignty.

If Government Ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants, corporate interests, professionals and professional organizations, media owners, journalists, anonymous bloggers, and ordinary citizens all continue their “business as usual” in looking after their own selfish interests, as they have done for the last eight years, then there is a catastrophic risk that indigenous Fijians will lose political control of Fiji, with corporate control and the accompanying corruption eventually permeating the highest levels of government.

The catalyst for this erosion of sovereignty will be the entry of new corporate global giants to the Fiji economy, many of whom have little regard for laws that limit their total freedom.

New corporate kids on the block

With high economic growth of 5% or more being essential for the management of the increased Public Debt, it is likely that all large business investors will be given the green light, with minimal due process or regulation.

Over the years, Fiji’s powerful local business interests (usual multi-ethnic names) have exercised their influence over government ministers to obtain special financial and economic advantages in the grant of monopolies, tariff protection, tax exemptions or reductions, controlled price increases, restrictions on wage increases, etc.

These local business houses will continue to receive their special benefits, as reward for their  generous contributions to the FFP 2014 elections campaign.

But they will be minor supporting cast to the new breed of new investors, who are global billionaires, with little difficulty, especially in poor developing countries, in influencing government ministers and senior civil servants, using the “universal lubricant”.

Should these giants obtain pervasive influence over Fiji’s key ministers and civil servants, there will be no turning back the clock on Fiji’s loss of national sovereignty, and we will not be the first country by far.

There are several Central American countries whose political leaders and civil service chiefs became so subservient to American multinational corporations that they have been appropriately described as “banana republics”.

There are African and Asian countries today where similar trends are leading also to the rapacious extraction of mineral resources, circumvention of environment laws, and severe erosion of national sovereignty.

Even the corporate giants’ own home governments have difficulty controlling their illegal activities, while the political will to do so is often weakened because of the commonality between global corporate and global imperial interests.

The warning signs in Fiji

Over the last eight years, one visible indicator is that the Bainimarama Government has given permission for many business developments which have resulted in the illegal cutting of mangroves and tiri reclamation all over Fiji.

Despite many public queries and protests the Ministers and senior civil servants responsible have refused to reply (the planned rezoning and potential environmental destruction at Uduya Point will be an interesting test case), while continuing to make empty public speeches of their belief in green sustainable development, brazenly doing the opposite, which an intimidated media has been unable to highlight.

There has also been total silence by the authorities on the alleged approvals given to rezoning already scarce public spaces, such as at Shirley Park and Churchill Park, for private commercial development.

There has been no response to the anonymous query on The Pensioner website, on lease approvals apparently given to preferred clients, without public tender, at the Nadi Airport.

Many more such cases about which this government is keeping quiet, will become known in due course, about major mining concessions, government loans, the awarding of tenders, and the sale of shares in Fiji’s valuable public enterprises, some of which such as airports and ports, may also risk compromising national sovereignty at Fiji’s borders.

Many foreign investors have also contributed generously to the FFP elections campaign, and they will also expect return favors from government.

The danger is that elected FFP parliamentarians will not be able to resist unethical decisions by their government because of a fundamental lack of democracy in FFP.

The lack of democracy in FFP

It might be thought that with elected parliamentarians being part of Cabinet, individual Cabinet ministers can be relied upon to protect Fijian national sovereignty, but the September 2014 elections processes and results suggest otherwise.

In one my Fiji Times Elections Issues articles, I had suggested that candidates and voters examine the internal democracy of their own parties. While some prickly friends in the Opposition parties took offence, that article was more relevant for FFP candidates and supporters.

Was there any transparent committee which selected the FFP candidates?  Was there a FFP Committee which decided on the FFP manifesto?

Was there a committee which decided on the elections strategy which deliberately engineered the voting to ensure that the bulk of the votes went to the Party Leader Bainimarama, while giving the ordinary MPs minimal votes, as a result of which not a single one can boast that they have any popular democratic mandate from the voters (except for the Powerful Two).

Was there a FFP Committee that transparently decided on the appointment of Ministers and portfolios, or was it again the Powerful Two?

The public have commented that some FFP ministers had marginal numbers of votes while others, with much higher number of votes, were left out, such as Brij Lal (who one would have thought as being appropriate as a Minister of Education).

The public have noted that “proven performer” (according to the Regime spin doctor) Dr Neil Sharma was not returned as Minister of Health, while the new Minister of Health is one who has no experience in that area, and was the Minister of Labor previously.

Most astonishing is that the only elected MP with a PhD in Economics (Dr Mahendra Reddy) was not made the Minister of Finance or the several other Ministries where his knowledge and experience should have been useful.

No doubt these Ministers will do their best in their allocated responsibilities, and some might indeed be quite effective in their limited fields.

But will they be allowed any collective democratic decision-making within the FFP Cabinet and  party, with the freedom to oppose any decisions on professional and ethical grounds without fear of being expelled or victimized?

Or will they be so desperate to keep their positions, that they will become pawns to be used by the two Grand Masters?

One indicator of concentration of FFP power outside government will be their future distribution of Board memberships which should be much easier now that sanctions are no longer being applied against Fiji citizens who take up board positions.  Will the Powerful Two still continue the eight year pattern of multiple memberships for their select few, despite their inherent conflicts of interest?  Will membership of Public Enterprise boards even be restricted to Fiji citizens?

The subservience of military ministers and civil servants

One of the worrying political developments over the last eight years, has been the pervasive appointment of former military officers in key positions, as cabinet ministers or senior civil servants, now legitimated by the elections.

Unfortunately, unlike normal democratically elected ministers or independently appointed senior civil servants, these former military personnel have been trained to obey orders without question, even if they have professional and ethical reservations.

While some have displayed far more ministerial energy than some elected Ministers, will they question decisions which are not in the public interest, as for instance on environmental destruction or questionable decisions on contracts and tenders?

All the FFP cabinet ministers know that they can be easily sacked, since none of them have any independent political legitimacy with a proven voter base.

The same dilemma faces senior civil servants who oppose any political decision on professional grounds, that they can be dismissed with no recourse to appeal as they had pre-Bainimarama.

Most of these former military personnel have no alternative employment opportunities in the private sector. They are also now enjoying vastly increased higher salaries and perks as ministers and civil servants; they have acquired costly mortgages which require regular and substantial servicing; they are quite likely to obey orders blindly, even if it means compromising any professional and ethical principles.

The concentration of ministerial power

A powerful indicator of potential abuse of political power and vulnerability to corporate control, is that one individual has monopolized all the economically important portfolios, each of which would have been more than enough for one Minister.

For eight years, Aiyaz Khaiyum repeated over and over in his public speeches that it was the vision and objectives of “Prime Minister” Bainimarama that were driving the policies of the Bainimarama Government, and Bainimarama supposedly had the responsibility for several portfolios.

No doubt there is some branch of psychology which explains how subordinates to dictators must not only continuously glorify and legitimate the authority of the dictator but that is also a sure technique for wielding his powers from behind the throne.

But the eight year pretense of Bainimarama looking after several portfolios has now been discarded, and Khaiyum has been explicitly given control of all ministries which have the real power over Fiji’s economic resources, some not declared in the original list of five ministries.

[Since my presentation at the panel discussion, Khaiyum has relinquished two ministries (with little discretionary ministerial powers) and reacquired the Attorney General position which will be absolutely critical in the next four years during the likely challenges to the 2013 BKC, and the need for many more new decrees to expedite the fire sale of public enterprises worth hundreds of millions of dollars.]

One dangerous consequence is that important investors seeking favors in any field, will now legitimately have a “one stop shop” (Aiyaz Khaiyum) to make their requests and exchange incentives.  Khaiyum’s powers of micro-management will be immense, with only Bainimarama to be kept satisfied, as he has done quite successfully these last eight years,.

Unfortunately for civil service delivery, senior civil servants in a wide variety of ministries will continue to face a “paralysis of decision-making” as they wait for one minister, Khaiyum, to make the decisions.

It is quite likely that most of the other Ministers will have defer to Khaiyum for the final important decisions, as they have done over the last eight years.

It is highly unlikely that any individual Cabinet Ministers or senior civil servants will oppose any decisions by the Powerful Two, even if they undermine national Fijian sovereignty.

Contrary to all our expectations, the elected Parliament will also be unable to stop such erosion of national sovereignty or even raise it for debate within Parliament.

The emasculation of parliament

While many of us have tried to take comfort that after the September 2014 elections, government will now be more transparent and accountable, this may turn out to be “wishful thinking”.

Already, senior appointments have been irregularly made to the positions of Speaker and Secretary General to Parliament, with the Opposition not even being thrown the “crumbs from the table”, with the election of the Deputy Speaker.

There is every likelihood that parliament will be called as few times in the year as the Bainimarama Government wishes, and with limited agenda approved totally by themselves.

Despite the façade of high technology being made available to each and every MP and parliamentary proceedings televised to the world, the reality is that parliamentary proceedings and outputs will be tightly controlled, as will be the media reporting of issues, which is already unfairly monopolized and manipulated by the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.

It is wishful thinking that the Opposition parliamentarians will be able to question and revise the many objectionable elements of the 2013 Bainimarama Khaiyum Constitution (2013 BKC) that have eroded the basic human rights of our people.

One spin doctor profitably employed by the Bainimarama Government has already given the game away by declaring on his personal blog that the 2014 Elections results should be seen as a referendum on all past policies and decrees of the Bainimarama Government, including all elements of the 2013 BKC, which had been unilaterally imposed on the people of Fiji.

It will be next to impossible for Opposition parliamentarians to bring about any changes without the approval of the Bainimarama Government, because their 2013 BKC requires a 75% majority that the Opposition simply will not be able to muster, even if they could induce a few from government side to vote with them (also an impossibility).

The moving of parliament from the ample more suitable complex at Draiba, to the much smaller Government buildings space was strangely justified by Bainimarama as “coming full circle” to the pre-1987 parliament.

But the physical reality is that situating the parliament at Government Buildings severely restricts the space for the Opposition parties and their research staff, compared to the old spacious parliamentary complex at Draiba.

If the parliament is not going to be too fruitful an avenue for the real restoration of basic human rights, can the Fiji public look to civil society organizations and individual citizens?

The pliant NGOs and professional organizations

It is tragic that over the last eight years, professional organizations of lawyers and accountants have been quiet on the many decrees which have reduced the human rights of Fiji citizens.

Civil society organizations have disputed some, but eventually accepted the illegal “laws” and constitution imposed on them, despite the powerful intellectual and legal comfort of a 2001 ruling by Justice Anthony Gates (current Chief Justice) that no individual has the power to abrogate the 1997 Constitution, regardless of the number of years a tyrant may remain in control, and regardless of his popularity.

But Fiji’s civil society and professional organizations of lawyers and accountants have failed to defend democracy and freedom, because they have not been supported by society at large.

The Indo-Fijian apathy

There is an astonishing intellectual and social apathy of Indo-Fijian academics and students in all the three universities, made evident by their total absence from any national public debate, and refusal of university managers to provide ethical intellectual leadership.

The educated Indo-Fijian elite will continue to enjoy whatever benefits come their way and plan their date of emigration, while immersing themselves in the daily escapist diet of Bollywood that is their new “opium of the masses” peddled by Fiji’s businesses and the media.

The local Indo-Fijian business community have hedged their bets by taking out permanent residency or citizenship in Australia, NZ, US and Canada and moving their families there, “in case things go wrong in Fiji”.  You can be sure that they will make lots of money in Fiji before they go.

Expect no ethical activism from them about loss of Fijian sovereignty or lack of accountability of government.

The absence of Fijian whistle blowers and Fijian collaboration

For eight years the public and political parties have been calling for the Bainimarama Government to release all the Auditor General Reports since 2006, to reveal details of ministerial salaries between 2010 and 2013, to release the reports on the massive financial losses in FNPF investments, audits of the RFMF Regimental Funds, and how approvals were given for projects that resulted in environmental destruction.

What should be deeply worrying to the indigenous Fijian community, is that there has not been a single “whistle blower” who has made the information available to the public.

The indigenous Fijian intellectual elites, who merrily wine and dine at the annual charades of accountants’ or lawyers’ conferences, willingly dance along with the smooth propaganda that is thrust down their throats, apparently unconcerned about the dangers to Fijian sovereignty.

Increasing numbers of intellectual indigenous Fijians are escaping by taking up safe employment with regional and international organizations or emigrating like their Indo-Fijian colleagues, to greener pastures, leaving their Fijian communities totally vulnerable and leaderless.

The Fijian bati to defend Fijian sovereignty are only to be seen performing meke for tourists, or lining the driveway to Government House with their clubs and daubed with ashes looking fierce, but only after their High Chief had already been hounded from his presidential office, to die in sorrow at his home in Lau.

While the defense of Fijian sovereignty requires a new breed of intellectual bati, very few of the hundreds of educated Fijians have stepped up to assist those brave few in SODELPA who struggled against the mighty propaganda machine of the FFP and the likelihood of victimization by the powerful state machinery.

A few Fijians continue to vent their anger and frustrations through the blogs, but always anonymously, which reduces their social value to young impressionable Fijians to zero and indeed, had little impact on their very important votes in the September 2014 elections.

Anonymous bloggers also rant and rave about Aiyaz Khaiyum implementing his Master’s degree’s “Sunset Clause” on the Fijian race, when it should be obvious that it is the indigenous Fijians themselves who are driving the tanks and firing the shells at Fijian sovereignty.

Khaiyum, without any personal political base, just happens to a most efficient strategist, very smooth, suave, and successful at serving Bainimarama, who is backed completely by his Military Council and the RFMF, all also completely indigenous Fijian.

Ominously, there is a never-ending supply of prominent indigenous Fijians, including High Chiefs) who have been willing to join Bainimarama’s Government, parroting the Bainimarama Government propaganda, while keeping the government machinery running, all personally befitting in the process of course.

The uncomfortable reality that Fijians leaders have to face up to is that if indigenous Fijians (including Bainimarama) follow their own individual self-interest according to Adam Smith’s model, as they have done over the last eight years, they could be hammering the last nails into the coffin of indigenous Fijian sovereignty.

Let us hope that this “gloom and doom” scenario of catastrophic risk to Fijian sovereignty is all pessimistic conjecture which will be proven wrong by the next four years.

[The term “catastrophic risk” is usually applied to global phenomena such as global warming, which endanger the planet on a global scale.  I believe that the term can also applied to the risks to “Fijian sovereignty” for which there is only one geographical host in the world, Fiji.]


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Fijileaks Editor: Contrary to Wadan Narsey's assertions, local investors are displaying confidence in the election of FijiFirst Party led government and the investment environment:
$10million investment for Ba:
Jay Dayal of the Dayal Group is ready to undertake a new $10 million investment in his hometown, Ba.The investment, creation of a satellite town, is expected to start taking shape very soon. Mr Dayal said right now they are at the town and country planning stage and the rezoning part but plans are underway.“I am hoping to get retail shops lined up and that will give Ba a boost, new outlook and that is what I am doing right now,” he said.The project comes on the backdrop of when local investor confidence seems to be at an all-time high.Over the past two months, we have highlighted many such local investments and expansions in our business section in particular. Source: Fiji Sun, 11/10/2014


29 Comments
voice of the powerless link
11/10/2014 01:24:35 pm

the Powerful Two. That's nothing . Many Powerful have come and gone in human history. Under Mao there was the Gang of Four. They all ended up in jail. Where is Mubarak now? Where Musharraf? Power is not the permanent possession of anyone.

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rajend naidu link
11/10/2014 02:18:22 pm

Americans should be "deeply skeptical" of government power, says FBI Director James Comey, adding that law enforcement should be able to access someone's telephone only with a court order. Comey told CBS New's Scott Pelley in an interview for "60 Minutes" : " You cannot trust people in power".
I think we can all relate to that.
Read the full article ' FBI Chief : Citizens Should be Deeply Skeptical of Government' ( Newsmax; Independent. American. Sunday 12 Oct, 2014).

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rajend naidu link
11/10/2014 02:41:47 pm

We read in the Fiji Times (11/10) that the Head of the EU delegation to the Pacific said " It is clear that the international community is appreciative of our efforts to get back to parliamentary democracy and transparent governance".
We have got back to parliamentary democracy. We are still to get back to TRANSPARENT GOVERNANCE.

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PIO TABAIWALU
11/10/2014 04:44:45 pm

Thanks again Wadan for this article. This the message SODELPA took to the indigenous Fijian voters. The catastrophe is very real as we are already seeing manifestations of land and resource grab. Indigenous Fijians are being sold by their own people who are consumed by their self interests and the majority of Indo-Fijians voted for short term security. The military is now the tool used by B and K to monopolise power and control the general populace. There is sad loss of moral courage among the intellectuals and civil society. I see many of my former colleagues enjoying the gifts of jobs and Board positions and how they are lapping up every gesture and command of B and K. Many do not speak to me now perhaps knowing that we are now on opposite sides of the political debate and the likelihood of my asking awkward questions about ethics and the principles of truth, transparency and courage. The media has created a cadre of compliant reporters some of whom are now plumbing the depths of moral and ethical journalistic decadence in their propaganda articles. They no longer want to know the facts and the truth and to ask the "real" hard questions of the B and K government. With such a media we have very little chance of reaching the common people with the failures of B and K. We are at a critical juncture in our history and all who want to call themselves Fijians must realise that their security depends on the security indigenous Fijians in their own homeland, Some of us and our supporters out there will fight on knowing full well the consequences of failing. There in no retreat in such endeavors.

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stand by your conviction link
11/10/2014 06:39:50 pm

I don't know you Pio Tabaiwalu but I know fully well what you are saying. After the first military coup of 1987 a lot of my friends would say to me "politics baath nahi karo" . That is if they did not avoid me altogether! They did not want to "rock the boat" because they did not want their own vested interests put at risk. The concern was not there about what was happening to the country and how rotten our politics had become. We had a racist government and a racist constitution. But many refused to challenge the status quo prefering instead to swipe grog, talk bullshit and watch soccer when not watching some Bollyhood shit!
We must stand by our conviction to fight what's wrong. And, notwithstanding all the hype about Fiji returning to "parliamentary democracy" the reality is that the dictatorship has in essence merely acquired a new and more respectable ( and internationally acceptable) garb.

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a long walk
11/10/2014 09:43:13 pm

There is fighting, then there is fighting smart - two different things.

Also, Fiji didn't get to what you are now calling a 'critical juncture' by accident. There are no innocent parties in this unfortunately, including your sodelpa.

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Rakesh Chand
11/10/2014 06:25:15 pm

The people have spoken Dr Narsey. 85% of Indian Voters and 40% Fijian Voters support the FFP Manifesto which provides excellent social package including subsidy for water, medicine, electricity, free milk, bus fare, education, minimum wage $4.00, 10% employer contribution to FNFP, etc...

So let the elected government carry out these in four years. Come back and bark in 2018.

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bulla machari link
11/10/2014 06:47:13 pm

Rakesh Chand you just like a bulla machari. A bulla machari does not stop to investigate any bait. It just gobbles up whatever is dropped in front of it. You doing the same thing with the FFP Manifesto. You gobbling it up hook, line and sinker.
Professor Warden Narsey is at least a thinking man. A man who is prepared to think through what is presented and ask some tough questions. You Rakesh Chand are not a thinking man. You are a bulla machari!

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Rakesh Chand
11/10/2014 07:05:36 pm

Bulla machari - please dont attack me. I am just saying the FFP won the elections due to very good social policies. Hon PM has today told in Fiji that all the FFP promises will be achieved within first year in office. we should all welcome this progress please.

FullMoon
12/10/2014 03:01:13 am

Yes Rakesh you are quite right. Your Party with the STOLEN name - and the STOLEN Mandate -has promised the People the moon. Let it deliver it. They have four years. Everyone has a right to an opinion - right or wrong - that's democracy. Even Rakesh.. And Bulla Machari please leave Rakesh alone.

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how link
11/10/2014 07:18:04 pm

Rakesh Chand, you sure "the FFP won the elections due to very good social policies"?
Not vote buying, misusing government resources for propaganda, getting dirty donations from big business, media control to disadvantage opponents and staking the whole election process in its favour?

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Rakesh Chand
11/10/2014 07:40:14 pm

Vote Buying or rigging are allegations only. No evidence provided any parties or person. FFP won the elections. full stop.

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full stop link
11/10/2014 08:00:28 pm

the full stop is ONLy for people who are getting the lollies from the FFP.
what lolly you getting Rakesh Chand?

allegations only link
11/10/2014 08:06:19 pm

Frank Bainimarama made the allegation that the Qarase Government had rigged the elections and he took it upon himself to carry out a "clean up" coup. In the 8 years they were UNLAWFULLY in power did they provide any evidence of the alleged election fraud?
The allegations were sufficient when Bainimarama made them.
There is no need for evidence. It is common knowledge that Bainimarama won by vote buying. Only an idiot fails to see that.

Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni
11/10/2014 07:25:14 pm

Thank you fijileaks for this article and thank you Wadan for recording your thoughts on Fijian sovereignty, supported by Pio.
Facist government is what Fiji is experiencing now. Defined as power in the hands of one or 2 people where blame is directed at a philosophy/idea. For example, Jews were blamed in Hitler's Germany for their demise. In Fiji the blame is against the the Indigenous Fijian (IF) people with the "Sunset clause" written by ASK in his Masters's Thesis, for the demise IF Institutions, structure and culture. This has come to pass as Wadan and Pio have noted respectively.
For me as an entrepreneur markets have been removed that GCC leadership and management structures could have sourced for enterprise creation from land, culture, traditions, language, art, science, fashion, stories, heroes, heroines, food, religion and ethnic values towards universal diversity. These could have been targeted for the creation of small to medium business for IF people to evolve from their land capital to mainstream growth of the Fijian economy. From this bottom-up approach to stand alone creating wealth, jobs and profits in the new information economy of the 21st Century would have been a democratic and moral direction to take.
However, the IFs have been denied this inclusive reform capacity in the supply value chain management from grass roots within Fiji, in order to link up with (NTA, PICTA, PACER) national, regional and global opportunities.
Why? History is repeating itself in Fasicm mode, because of self-interest for power, money and status.
For your moral centre and Pied Pier role, thank you Wadan, Pio and fijileaks.

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Fiji First Party
12/10/2014 06:49:42 am

Mere, we are no supporters of Bainimarama / Aiyaz. (Indeed, these two thieves STOLE our Fiji First Party name from us). We do however have great sympathy for the real (and perceived) erosion of protected and customary indigenous rights of the I-Taukei people. A LOT of us Indo-Fijians have steadfastly (and proudly) stood for democratic ideals and opposed (however possible) the Tyranny of Bainimarama / Aiyaz.

Indeed, our Fiji First Party is probably the ONLY political party on record which made submissions to the Ghai CRC, for the outright preservation and restoration of the Peoples’ 1997 Constitution – Standing by the ‘rule of law’ and ‘constitutionality’ - whilst all of the rest of the Political Parties went to the Parley calling for some insignificant change or the other, which made no difference to the outcome of the 2013 Constitution, giving legitimacy to an unconstitutional process and compromising ‘fundamental’ democratic values. What was the use our peoples’ participation in the CRC process – anyway?

However in our recent historical march (2000 onwards) to our present day destiny (2014), your SDL/ SODELPA were no innocent party, were you? Your 2000 SDL government showed no mercy – ZILCH -(or any Human Right Concerns) to all those hundreds of Indo-Fijian Families left on the ‘roadsides’ (to swim or sink) due to the EVICTIONS. I am not questioning the evictions (which you would say was your indigenous rights) but the apparent lack of ‘duty of care’ and ‘social welfare’ responsibility that your SDL government bestowed towards its CITIZENS – left on the roadside.

Your SDL government [interim and elected] showed no mercy- ZILCH -to the welfare of the REFUGEES at the Girmit center, who were – downtrodden victims of GROSS human rights violations – some of whom had lost all their worldly possessions in politically incited violence, looting and arson.

We have on Video the present President promising (or more specifically, LYING to) the Refugees at the Girmit Center, in 2000, a compensation package of F$1.5 Million dollars. Your RACIST SDL government used ALL of this money allocated for refugee compensation - shamelessly for 2001 election vote-buying.

Refugees were FORGOTTEN by your RACIST (or FACISTS) SDL government, only because the Refugees were Indo-Fijians. Is there any other reason or explanation?

Now it is that eerie shadow of the SDL which is the SOLE reason for the present popularity of the PARTY with the STOLEN glorious name of ours.

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rajend naidu link
12/10/2014 01:52:41 am

A broader perspective on the powerful. The powerful two in Haiti, the two Duvaliers - Papa Doc and Baby Doc - between them killed 30,000 Haitians during their ruthless dictatorial rule and remained free men right till their end. They are both dead now and most Haitians don't miss them. (source : SBS news 12/10)

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Graham Davis
12/10/2014 04:36:30 am

Gee Wadan, when you get SODELPA luminaries like Pita and Mere tickling you gonads, you must feel pretty damn important. But you're not so good at accepting the will of the people. It is the height of arrogance to cry foul after a democratic vote that people like Pita and Mere took part in, was declared credible, free and fair by international observers but which you all refuse to accept because the skittles didn't fall your way. I wouldn't be remotely bothered about commenting here except for the fact that you keep mentioning me in unflattering terms. I can understand your frustration but can I make a helpful suggestion? Rather than these tortuous pieces about how you woz all robbed, what about regrouping for another tilt at the windmill at the next election? And then taking your (surely revised) platform to the people just like Voreqe Bainimarama did and submitting yourselves to their judgment? This particular exercise in self flagellation may be therapeutic for you and your dwindling band of groupies but it is very tiresome for anyone who believes in genuine democracy and winning fair and square. I try to make a point of keeping an eye on the blogs just to see what it happening but this piece just stinks of very sour grapes.

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what stinks link
12/10/2014 01:32:03 pm

what really stinks - boi ca sara - is when a journalist becomes a paid propagandist of a dictatorship and still pretends he is an "independent" journalist simply "keeping an eye on the blogs" and offering "independent", "impartial" and "objective" commentary on the politics unfolding in Fiji.
That is Graham Davis' story.
As a regime propagandist he would very much like to see all questions regarding the conduct of the so called "free and fair" elections swept under the carpet . That is what he seeks to do here.
He fools no one. Just because some mediocre international observers have endorsed the elections as free and fair does not make it so. Remember the international gang had also given their stamp of approval to the Qarase election win. What did Bainimarama - your cult hero Graham - say then?
Warden is doing the same. Nothing wrong with that in a "genuine democracy". What really is your problem Graham?

Reply
Graham Davis
13/10/2014 02:36:56 am

My problem is that the people have spoken and you don't accept it. I don't know where you've been for the past few weeks but the "dictatorship" is now a democracy - after an election endorsed by the international community as credible, free and fair - the "regime" is now an elected government and the "dictator" scored more votes in this election than anyone else in Fijian history. What's your problem, Sunshine?

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Sunshine link
13/10/2014 03:42:51 am

It's hard to believe an award winning journalist can be so stupid? Graham Davis you are a journalist . Good journalist question things and not accept things at face value. That is precisely what you are doing : accepting things at face value. You bring ill-repute to your profession. I think you need to let some sunshine into your head to get it to start working properly. It's been up the dictator's end for too long!

same team link
13/10/2014 03:56:55 am

If anyone from the Fiji First Bai-Kai Team said what Graham Davis says that would be quite understandable. That is just what the Bai-Kai Team want the whole world to believe. That Fiji is now a democracy. Just as when it was a military dictatorship it continued to pretend it was a "civilian" government, You don't expect seasoned journalists to buy into such bullshit. But I keep making the mistake of forgetting that Graham Davis is also a member of the Bai-Kai Team! It is only logical that he should talk the way he talks - peddling bullshit.

learning link
13/10/2014 04:35:18 am

It's never too late to learn. Graham Davis would learn a thing or two about how to practice his trade - as a journalist - if he took some time out from his propaganda duty for the Fijian regime to watch ABC Media Watch.

rajend naidu link
12/10/2014 02:39:48 pm

Editor,
Here's an extract from a letter written by Victor Diskordia in today's The Age (13/10). I thought I would put that here because I think some people can profit from the wise words contained in it.
"... The passive acceptance of official data by professional economists and the mainstream media ranks among the more shameful aspects of their professional conduct. Economics would progress more quickly if economists and journalists ASKED MORE QUESTIONS (my emphasis) before admitting official data into their analyses and commentary".
That's what we should do before admitting official ANYTHING presented in post coup Fiji, the return to parliamentary democracy notwithstanding.

Reply
make a point link
12/10/2014 06:45:12 pm

graham davis clearly wants to make a point of being seen to be still a loyal lapdog of the Bainimarama regime . the status he has acquired and the good time he has had for that loyalty to the fijian dictatorship has been the crowning glory of his journalistic career I suspect. he must feel like a very important and very respected white man among the natives. a latter day colonial.

Reply
Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni
12/10/2014 09:42:03 pm

I wish to make 4 comments.

1. First to FijiFirst. Two wrong coups do not make a right.
But do not confuse race with racism. These have two different meanings the former is objective, can be scientifically measured and can be controlled. While the latter is subjective and while difficult to measure and therefore difficult to control this can be turned into a positive market for innovation and niche marketing as I described in my earlier response.

2. Graham Davis as part of the Propaganda machinery you remind me of a bully who speaks up and out but is not balanced for property rights, which is the issue for a dignified direction for my people in diversity.
I blame the Universities here in Fiji for not doing enough research to measure markets as a way forward for our beloved Fiji.

3. In my Thesis (2009) I argued for entrepreneurial success factors for Fiji where I found statistically significant 186 to my delight.
Two of these are race and religion.
I also measured that 20% of businesses are owned by Indigenous Fijians (IF), 27% are owned by Other races and 53% by Indo Fijians in a population distribution of 60% IF, 5% Others and 35% Indo Fijians.
What does this tell you? This skewed distribution is not normal and should be normalized through scientific analysis.
The way Fiji is going today for equal citizenship and “one size fits all” how are the IF going to progress from hunter gatherer, subsistence, cash and industrial to markets from a 20% low???
In this context and what Prof Wadan is saying, big bucks and investments will win the day with morals thrown out the window.
History reinforces the story of man’s self interest as dictators from Hitler, to Mossolini, to Lenin, Stalin, to Idiamin, to Mao, to Gaddafi, to Papa Doc and Baby Doc and to the present in Robert Mugabe, Bashar Al-Assad and Kim Jong-il.
The Christians describe this scenario as “man is a sinner” and for salvation we admit our wrong to be saved by amnesty, a free God and the “word” not immunity.
In Fiji, this is the time, to slog on and give power back to the people in order to free them from oppression and slavery.

4. We want freedom, good governance, transparency and inclusivity.
Thank you fijileaks for allowing me this space.
Professor Wadan Narsey you are blessed with wisdom.


Reply
Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni
13/10/2014 12:24:42 pm

May I correct a minor mistake No. 3 issue para 5 last word, "Kim Jong-Un".

Reply
Whatabout?
13/10/2014 11:52:16 pm

What about equality Mere?

Reply
Fiji First Party
14/10/2014 12:00:11 am

Vinaka Mere for explaining – Yes, we quite agree with you that the RACISM of your SDL is quite empirically established in the two instances we mentioned, with all variables closely monitored and controlled and all being equal, the most scientifically acceptable reason for the ‘neglect’ by your SDL government to a group of citizens, who also happen to be Indo-Fijians, downtrodden and poor- is, yes- RACISM. Proven -No arguments there.

Thank you and Moce Mere.

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