Tony Cooper S Stories

The People’s Charter for Change, Peace & Progress is not good for Fiji. Professor Wadan Narsey

[Summary: This team has no doubt that the Charter will have some good elements. BUT given its origins and mode of enforcement, the Charter is not good for Fiji. Fiji cannot move forward by the brute force of a military coup. The Charter supporters are simply repeating the terrible mistakes of past governments. The Charter cannot be implemented unless it is made part of the only real Charter we have- the 1997 Constitution. That requires full honest co-operation between the FLP, SDL and the military.]

This team is here purely for a constructive discussion; we are not here to score points off the other side. We agree that the Interim Government has quite noble objectives for the Charter, for the National Council for Building a Better Fiji; and for all 6 National Task Teams they are going to set up.

The Charter process has many well-meaning people behind it- like the gentlemen and lady sitting opposite, the deeply committed John Samy who I have known for more than thirty years. There are also some very good civil servants working on the Charter which will probably end up with some useful elements- like a strong development plan and a code of conduct for politicians and civil servants. But our team will explain why the current Charter process is not good for Fiji. And a Charter cannot end the coup culture.

I will outline how the Charter represents a choice of violence as a means of taking our country forward when we have already, through peaceful co-operation, created a real Charter, the 1997 Constitution. I explain how “wheels are being re-invented” by exactly the same bad methods used by previous government, except that today’s charter supporters were the victims in the past, and they are now victimising others, with the support of the military.

Richard Naidu will argue that the Charter will be just another piece of paper that simply cannot be enforced; that our only real Charter is the 1997 Constitution which is enforceable by the judiciary; that the current Charter process symbolises a complete lack of respect for the rule of law; and the only way to stop the coup cycle, is to keep all the time, the promises that different ethnic communities and political parties have made in the past, and not just keep making new promises through new charters, whenever some one does not like the rules.

Tupou Draunidalo will explain why it is unreasonable to demand that the indigenous Fijians and the SDL should support the Charter process, especially when what has taken place is not just grossly unfair, but done outside of the 1997 Constitution. She will outline a constructive way forward, with full and honest co-operation between the FLP and the SDL if the proposed Charter is to be subsumed into our 1997 Constitution by a democratically elected parliament: because that is the only way a Charter can be implemented. Re-inventing the wheels

Today’s Charter process is repeating all the mistakes of the past. All previous governments have had their National Councils for Building a Better Fiji (before they used to be called Economic Summits); there have been many National Task Teams (used to be called National Task Forces); and they have produced many charters- called Constitutions, Development Plans, Strategic Development Plans; or whatever piece of paper that is supposed to guide our people into the future.

In 1984 the Alliance Party used the National Planning Office staff (including John Samy) to organise a National Summit for the Alliance Party to justify the National Wage Freeze; John Samy’s former lecturer at Sussex University (Bienefield) was flown in as the expert consultant to justify the wage freeze; unfavourable elements like USP academics and trade unionists were ignored; a ready-made communique supporting the draconian Wage Freeze was adopted and became law.

Soon after two USP academics (Narsey and Durutalo) gave papers at the Trade Unions Biennial Conference, opposing the Alliance Government’s dictatorial wage policy; the Fiji Labour Party was borne, and together with the NFP they won the 1987 elections.

A month later, came the violent 1987 military coup led by Rabuka, but with the support of the Fijian people, the GCC and the losing Alliance Party leaders (including Ratu Mara). We all know the effects of that coup on the Indo-Fijians and the economy.

Rabuka’s Interim Government also organised economic summits, carefully chosen National task Forces, with allegedly wide participation, also supposedly to “take the country forward”. But the victims of the coup (FLP and the NFP) were either excluded or refused to take part in the charade of revising the 1970 constitution Communiques would be unanimously adopted. Eventually, the racially biased 1990 Constitution was “adopted” by a suitably national gathering.

Then the peaceful revolution

Around 1995 there began years of painfully slow but peaceful and patient dialogue between the indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian political parties and their leaders. A tripartite Reeves Commission was appointed and sought views throughout Fiji, resulting in the Reeves Report. Without a shot being fired, the 1990 racially biased Constitution was peacefully scrapped.

The 1997 Constitution (the only existing and legitimate Charter) was unanimously passed by Parliament and the GCC. Parliament noted that the Constitution still had weaknesses and needed to be reviewed, revised and strengthened. (For instance it was known that the electoral system was fundamentally flawed, strengthening the larger parties.) In an era when demographic changes will now ensure the dominance of Fijian political parties, the Fijian political parties made a fantastic concession to the Indo-Fijian parties through the multi-party Cabinet provision: which could ensure participation in Cabinet of all the major political parties and races, including Indo-Fijians.

And the Korolevu Declaration was signed by the major political parties existing then, to ensure that there would be a “conflict resolution committee” should the major parties in Cabinet disagree on key issues. No party in power has ever set up this Resolution Committee.

The multi-party Cabinet provision was not followed in 1999 by the FLP led government which excluded the SVT.

In 2000, members of the military and the Speight group removed the FLP-led Government using all kinds of wild and unproven allegations against the FLP. The military again deposed the President (he was politely asked “to step aside”); the military took control, did not reinstate the FLP government, but installed yet another Interim, almost completely Fijian Government led by Qarase, to “take the country forward” (familiar words?).

After the 2001 elections, the SDL-led government also did not follow the spirit of the multi-party provisions and minor portfolios were offered to FLP which understandably rejected them. Again National Task Forces with supposedly wide representation but excluding the FLP were appointed, met, and made recommendations. National summits were organised by the Planning Office; chosen people invited with token representation from the FLP, NFP and academia. New Charters like the racially biased Affirmative Action Plans (50:50 by the year 2020) were unanimously approved and adopted for implementation by Government.

This side has no doubt that the SDL Government followed many undesirable policies which were opposed by large sections of the Indo-Fijian community and parties, and indeed all three of the team are on record in the media for opposing many SDL measures.

Remember the Reconciliation Bill which was really an amnesty bill for those found guilty of the 2000 coup attempts. Of course, reconciliation is good in itself, but the SDL government insisted on forcing it down the throats of the very reluctant FLP victims, who kept rejecting it. Similar to this Interim Government forcing the Charter on the SDL.

Affirmative Action policies for indigenous Fijians were followed, with resulting scams for which a few sacrificial lambs were jailed.. The SDL-led government was not interested in listening to independent advice on how to make the economy grow, or how to follow poverty alleviation policies without ethnic discrimination.

But nevertheless, after the 2006 election, SDL did create a strong multi-party government, with solid ministerial representation offered to the FLP and accepted (although the FLP Leader chose to stay out). While some basic disagreements continued to exist (such as over budget policies), Fiji hoped that the multiparty government could continue, and the parties learn to co-operate with each other. But this peaceful process was rejected by the military.

Military coup disasters

In December 2006, a democratically elected government was removed for totally unsubstantiated reasons. The military brought back into power the now minority Fiji Labour Party.

Every single military coup, including this one, has harmed us so deeply, frightening off investors, costing us valuable economic growth, worsening poverty, and driving out of the country our skilled and professional people of all races. An incredibly rich country like ours suffers crippling infrastructure break-downs in roads, water, electricity, medical services. Without the military coups, our GDP could have been more than twice that in 1986, just as the much poorer Mauritius has achieved.

In 1987, Rabuka’s soldiers armed with guns, put Markrava into control at the National Bank of Fiji, and eight years later it was bankrupt with Fiji needing to borrow $250 million to bail out the depositors. Rabuka’s Interim Government also had its share of budgetary scams wasting millions.

Since 1987, their military budget has grown bigger and bigger and is now comparable to the allocation for Health. We know what doctors and nurses and medicines mean for Fiji. But while the Government claims it has no money to increase nurses meager salaries, huge amounts are made available to the military for thousands of soldiers in uniforms to march around, fire guns, and do coups every few years, causing devastation to the Fiji economy.

Regardless of their stated principles of accountability and transparency, they have over- spent their budget by huge amounts with absolutely no control. One military commander after another has prevented the auditing of the Regimental Funds.

A decade ago, NGOs like the CCF and ECREA would have decried the huge wastage of public funds by the military, while the rest of the country suffers abject poverty. Today they remain silent for they are now in the same pro-coup, pro-Charter gang.

The military has totally undermined its international reputation and its international marketability as reliable professional peacekeepers.

The social disarray

Our society is in total disarray, morally gutted and even more divided, because of our unethical tunnel vision support of one coup or another. Both Fijians and Indo-Fijians have now supported one coup or another, and they are more deeply divided today then ever before. The religious groups are also terribly divided, with Methodists supporting the 1987 and 2000 coups, and Catholics and Hindus getting on to the 2006 coup band- wagon; NGOs are now bitterly pitted one against the other; while our country’s leaders are pitted against our large Australian and NZ neighbours.

The main Fijian party and its leaders are refusing to take part in the Charter process: quite understandable given the circumstance in which they were removed from power. But, like the previous military coup leaders, current Charter leaders are demanding that the SDL must get on board the Charter process and that there is “no other way” for dialogue between the political Leaders.

But the long-term population trend is for indigenous Fijians to increase their share even more than what they have now, and the Indo-Fijian share to keep declining. It is hardly sensible to ignore the views of the main-stream Fijian parties, whether one agrees or disagrees with their political views.

And the military must also think of its internal moral solidarity, given that the rank and file of the RFMF would have great empathy with the major Fijian parties, and not with this Interim Government.

Conclusion: vital to have ethnic co-operation

Our Team concludes that while the Charter may produce some positive things, the Charter process itself is intrinsically not good for Fiji.

To support the Charter process is to say: it’s OK for the military to violently remove a democratically government and put in a government of their own choosing; that it is OK to reject a peaceful process of ethnic and political co-operation which is the only sustainable way to give us economic growth, prosperity, and political stability.

The Charter will be only a piece of paper with no enforcement mechanism. The Charter can only be enforced, if it becomes part of the 1997 Constitution, and hence enforceable by the judiciary.

That requires the Charter to be approved by a democratically elected parliament, whether the 2006 recalled parliament (which could also change the electoral system), or a parliament elected by a new election. Both alternatives will require full honest co- operation between the FLP and the SDL parties in Parliament, and in a genuine multi- party Government.

Technically, that should not be difficult, as the world over, the public policies of political parties whether Leftist or Conservative, have pretty well converged.

If the FLP and SDL leaders do not wish to co-operate, surely it cannot be too hard for the military to “bang their heads together” at a bargaining table and not move until they have found a co-operative way to govern Fiji for the good of all.