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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2007

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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2007 Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2007 Reviews of Papua New Guinea and head of state. A month earlier, Ratu West Papua are not included in this Josefa had been removed from that issue. offi ce because he had disassociated himself from the coup, on the advice Fiji of Roko Tui Bau and Vice President Fiji in 2007 was marked by cycles Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi. Bainimarama of conciliation and repression that had, at that time, said he was only echoed like seismic aftershocks from temporarily “stepping into the shoes the December 2006 coup. Steps were of the President” (Bainimarama 2006). taken by the new military-backed Now restored to offi ce, the eighty- government to reconfi gure the estab- six-year-old president lamented that lished order, by purges at the top of cultural reasons had prevented him the public service and throughout the from “fully performing [his] duties” boards of the state-owned corpora- on 5 December 2006, referring to the tions; by reconstruction of the Great anti-coup pressure from his sacked Council of Chiefs; and by reform of high-ranking deputy. But he said that the Fijian Affairs Board, the Native he “would have done exactly what the Land Trust Board, and the Fiji Devel- Commander of the rfmf, Commo- opment Bank. Although there was dore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama did diplomatic disapproval for the over- since it was necessary to do so at the throw of Fiji’s elected government, the time” (Iloilo 2007). Read from a script new regime’s reformist credentials, as prepared by military offi cers who had, well as its anticorruption and antira- over the previous month, kept him cist platform, won it a fair number of virtually secluded from public contact, overseas admirers and some domes- the speech was carefully contrived to tic supporters. But the authoritarian fi t the anticipated “doctrine of neces- aspect of the coup—that it fl ew in the sity” defense of the coup before the face of majority ethnic Fijian opin- courts. Yet it constituted a gross abdi- ion—prevented any lasting consolida- cation of the president’s constitutional tion. Efforts to build legitimacy thus responsibilities. The normally obsequi- tended to generate mounting contro- ous Methodist Church, doubting that versy, while phases when criticisms the president was in full possession grew brought a furious but realpolitik- of his faculties, suggested that he be driven response. “medically boarded, and if neces- On 4 January 2007, Republic of Fiji sary, retired with dignity and respect” Military Forces (rfmf) Commander (Methodist Church 2007; see also Frank Bainimarama relinquished his Fraenkel 2007). temporary position as president, and The next day, Bainimarama was reappointed Ratu Josefa Iloilo as formally appointed prime minister, 450 pol i t ical reviews • melanesia 451 ending the month-long tenure of eradicate corruption. The sixteen- that post by the army camp medical member interim lineup included two practitioner, Dr Jona Senilagakali. former rfmf commanders, Ratu “Extra-constitutional steps,” Bainima- Epeli Nailatikau as foreign minister, rama insisted, had been “necessary to and Ratu Epeli Ganilau as minister preserve the Constitution,” claiming of Fijian affairs. Both men have close that legal precedents existed for such links to the family of deceased former usage of “reserve powers” (Bainima- President Ratu Mara, leading some rama 2007a). These arguments to depict the 2006 coup as signaling strongly resembled those put forward the reemergence of Fiji’s long-eclipsed by Fiji Human Rights Commission eastern chiefs. Several other minis- Director Shaista Shameem (2007a, ters were unsuccessful candidates for 2007b), but they found little sup- Ganilau’s National Alliance Party of port among Fiji’s senior lawyers (Ali Fiji at the 2006 polls. Also included 2007a, 2008). Ostensibly to facilitate was the little-known Aiyaz Sayed- an inquiry into the activities of the Khaiyum, who was to play a high- judiciary at the time of the 2000 coup, profi le role in the media for the new Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki and Chief government as attorney general. Magistrate Naomi Matanitobua were In an astonishing turnaround, the sent on leave a day before the presi- principal victim of the 2000 coup, dential handover. At the instigation of Mahendra Chaudhry, joined the the attorney general, a hastily con- government as minister of fi nance, as vened meeting of the Judicial Services well as assuming the national plan- Commission, chaired by Judge Nazhat ning, public enterprise, and sugar Shameem (Shaista Shameem’s sister), portfolios. The constitutionality of appointed Justice Anthony Gates as the coup was “yet to be determined,” acting chief justice. That appointment explained Chaudhry, and would not was defended by the attorney general, be resolved “for a very long time” but it was deemed unconstitutional by (Pacnews, 9 Feb 2007). He said that most legal scholars (Crawford 2007; he had the backing of the Fiji Labour Cox 2007; Leung 2007). It signaled Party (flp) and the National Farmers’ the start of a wholesale restructuring Union. Chaudhry’s loyal ally, Lekh of the judiciary, resulting in the August Ram Vayeshnoi, became minister for resignation of most of Fiji’s Court of youth and sports, and the only other Appeal judges. flp member of cabinet. The coup On 6 January, Bainimarama, now had been a “revolution for clean up,” fi guring as prime minister, outlined Vayeshnoi told a military passing-out the “President’s mandate” that was parade in June, claiming that it had intended to guide his interim admin- “effectively removed all vestiges of istration. The new government would racial discrimination in this country” provide amnesty for the soldiers who and that “today this country moves had carried out the coup; it would on steadily and unburdened by racial validate the decrees, suspensions, or ethnic considerations” (FijiLive, 25 dismissals, and appointments of the June 2007; Fiji Daily Post, 22 June past month; and it would set out to 2007). It was an extraordinary claim, 452 the contemporary pacifi c • 20:2 (2008) for the December coup as well as the replacements. It was not only Qarase’s presence of Chaudhry and Vayeshnoi Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua in the cabinet drew strong and almost (sdl) Party that was left out in the universal criticism from indigenous cold, but also the National Federation Fijians, even if the rfmf monopoly Party (nfp), the smaller of the two over the country’s armaments pre- largely Fiji Indian-backed parties. nfp vented any violent resistance. leaders like Attar Singh and Pramod The formation of the new govern- Rae were to become key critics of ment also made clearer the direction the new government, and steadfastly of the ongoing reshaping of the state opposed the coup. administration. Most of the former In accordance with the objectives of government’s chief executive offi cers the “cleanup campaign,” the promised (ceos) in the ministries had been Fiji Independent Commission against sacked, although Public Enterprises Corruption (ficac) was established in ceo Parmesh Chand had chosen to April, and the president of LawAsia, accept appointment as the top civil Mah Weng Kwai, was later recruited servant in the prime minister’s offi ce. as commissioner. This prompted out- The new government resolved to abol- rage from Court of Appeal President ish the ceo positions and revert back Justice Gordon Ward, and Mah Kwai to lower-paid permanent secretaries. resigned. Bereft of effective leader- In early January, Bainimarama assured ship, controversial policeman Nasir the public that rfmf offi cers would Ali took up the reins as ficac chief not benefi t from his appointment as investigator and conducted a series of prime minister (FijiLive, 5 Jan 2007). high-profi le raids on institutions such But soon military offi cers were being as Fijian Holdings Ltd, the Native positioned throughout the ministries, Land Trust Board, and even Fiji Police including Esala Teleni as chief of headquarters. These uncovered little, police, Viliame Naupoto as director of and Nasir Ali was transferred back immigration, and Ioane Naivalurua as into the police force in favor of a commissioner of prisons. The boards lower-key approach spearheaded by of all the state-owned enterprises Lieutenant Colonel George Langman. were overhauled, with those who had Other investigations––undertaken by been appointed by Laisenia Qarase or the Independent Investigating Team known coup critics terminated—usu- into Institutions Fijian, headed by ally following allegations of corrup- Colonel Apakuki Kurusiga––targeted tion. Their replacements were often the provincial councils, the Native flp members, as for example with Land Trust Board, the Fijian Affairs Fiji Trades Union Congress leaders Board, the Native Lands Commis- Felix Anthony and Daniel Urai, who sion, and the Fijian Scholarship Unit. were given posts on the board of the Most striking, a year after the coup, Fiji National Provident Fund. Most was how little evidence of corruption of Fiji’s ambassadors and high com- had been found, despite strenuous missioners were recalled, although the efforts. Conversely, criticism began to foreign minister frequently struggled intensify about corruption, nepotism, to gain overseas acceptance for their and abuse of public funds by the new pol i t ical reviews • melanesia 453 offi ceholders, within the Fiji military, ably receive the new order, although and even by senior interim ministers. a discernible ambivalence was evident The Great Council of Chiefs (Bose even there. Levu Vakaturaga, or blv) had been The years of Fijian chiefs playing forbidden from meeting in December the central role in national affairs 2006, after refusing to “reappoint” seemed a distant memory from the Ratu Josefa Iloilo as president. In vantage point of 2007. Before the the new year, the council was recon- coup, Bainimarama had told the chiefs vened with Bainimarama’s blessing that they should “meet under a mango to appoint a new vice president.
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