Political Reviews

The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2016 nic maclellan

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2016 alumita l durutalo, budi hernawan, gordon leua nanau, howard van trease

321 Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2016

New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, regulating where people live and the and Timor-Leste are not reviewed in types of structures people occupy in this issue. these areas. This is partly a legacy of the colonial practice of “indirect Fiji rule,” whereby Fijian chiefs ruled Fiji’s vulnerability to climate change their people on behalf of the colonial was tested throughout 2016 with administrators. Villagers were not cyclones, the most powerful being really taught to develop their resources Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston on for economic benefit but rather 20 January 2016. Winston was the continued to live subsistence or semi- strongest cyclone ever recorded in subsistence lifestyles. This arrange- the history of Fiji or the South Pacific ment was still very much the same in Basin. This category five cyclone left 2016, but with some changes in the forty-four people dead and at least administrative system. Village bylaws thirty-five thousand people homeless did not include strict housing regula- in Fiji (Fiji Sun Online 2016; Thack- tions. Those who have money to do so ray 2016). can build safe houses; others can only Recovery efforts have been slow. afford very basic shelters. At the beginning of 2017, almost a Nonindigenous and indigenous year after Winston, tents were still Fijians who wanted to live closer to being used in parts of Fiji for hous- urban areas but cannot afford to pay ing and for schools. The devastation rent have ended up in squatter settle- has added not only to the Fiji governments around the peripheries. Housing ment’s ongoing financial burdens but in these areas often does not adhere to also to its long-term responsibilities to any government-approved standard mitigate the impacts of climate change (see Fiji Government 2011). However, in the country. Recently, changing increasing climate change–related weather patterns have produced new emergencies such as cyclones and problems in Fiji requiring urgent flooding have amplified the govern- solutions. For instance, after Winston ment’s responsibility to implement destroyed so many buildings and new building standards to safeguard homes, it was realized that most were people from the devastating impacts of structurally weak and unable to with- natural disasters. stand such mega-storms. While the Fiji government has been From the colonial period on, a active in its attempt to help people significant percentage of Fiji’s popu- to rebuild, perhaps the main chal- lation has remained in rural villages lenge for its Climate Change Unit is or, increasingly, on the peripher- to ensure that these new structures are ies of urban centers. But also since able to withstand drastic cyclones and the colonial period, governments flooding. The Climate Change Unit have had very little involvement in has already relocated some villages

341 342 the contemporary pacific • 29:2 (2017) due to the direct impact of climate seventy-seven thousand people with change in some areas in Fiji (Chandra emergency needs. Besides rebuilding 2015). some of the schools destroyed by the Another challenge, evolving since storm, Fiji Red Cross has also “pro- 1987, is linked with Fiji’s political vided communities with clean water, economy and stalled development emotional support to help people issues due to recurring coups. Four process the trauma of the emergency coups in the small island state have and its aftermath, [and] information had ongoing and long-term socio on health risks” (ifrc 2017). political and economic impacts on the A major contribution by Fiji Red government’s priorities. Each post- Cross, in partnership with the Inter- coup military government, from 1987 national Federation of Red Cross to 2006, has been concerned less with and Red Crescent Societies (ifrc), looking after people than with finan- has been the rebuilding “safer and cially securing military rule through stronger homes that are more resis- such policies as increasing the military tant to future cyclones.” As explained budget (Durutalo 2016, 106). Devel- by Filipe Nainoca, director of Fiji opment gaps exposed after the cyclone Red Cross: “Through our Build Back were partially filled by aid donors. Safer programme we design and After Tropical Cyclone Winston, build demonstration houses that are Fiji received initial international built to withstand severe storms. We contributions for rebuilding from have also trained more than 60 local New Zealand and Australia. Despite carpenters who have taken their skills her tough stand against these two back to their villages” (ifrc 2017). neighbors following the 2006 military Red Cross rebuilding efforts in Fiji coup, Fiji readily accepted their aid are quite advanced in local com- packages, which included military munities, not only teaching people personnel to help with the rebuilding. how to build stronger homes but also Additional assistance poured into Fiji how to safeguard freshwater springs from the international community from contamination. Red Cross including France, India, Japan, the Cyclone Winston recovery efforts in People’s Republic of China, the United Fiji will continue through May 2017 States, and regional countries such as (ifrc 2017). French Polynesia, Tonga, and Nauru. In January 2016, prior to the Assistance was also received from arrival of Winston in the Fiji group, international financial institutions Moscow’s export to the Fiji military like the Asian Development Bank and forces had already arrived at Suva’s international humanitarian organiza- Kings Wharf. The export reflected tions like the Red Cross (Fiji Govern- Fiji’s new (post–2006 military coup) ment 2016). foreign policy focus on “looking to The Red Cross has been particu- Moscow.” The load of twenty-five larly active in helping Fiji to rebuild, sealed containers that were taken to despite a shortage of builders and the Queen Elizabeth Army Barracks building materials. One year after in Nabua under heavy military guard Winston, Fiji Red Cross has helped was described by the Fiji govern- political reviews • melanesia 343 ment newspaper, the Fiji Sun, as an high-ranking military officer, was “Arms Boost from Russia” (Bolatiki appointed as police commissioner. 2016). The containers held “Russian After the 2000 and the 2006 military weapons, ammunition and vehicles” coups, other army officers became (The Economist 2016), which were to diplomats and police commission- be used by Fijian soldiers on inter- ers. Sitiveni Qiliho, former Land national peacekeeping duties in the Force commander in the Fiji Military Sinai desert in Egypt and in the Golan Forces (who was also linked with Heights, near the Israel and Syrian army brutality after the 2006 coup), borders. is the current police commissioner. He This deal was brokered in 2013 replaced Fiji’s former commissioner of between Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe police, Ben Groenewald, who resigned Bainimarama and Russian Prime after alleging military intervention in Minister Dmitry Medvedev and came police work. Groenewald completed into clear view in 2014 when Fiji an investigation into the beating of abstained from voting against Russia several prison escapees by police in the United Nations on Russia’s officers. Three of the police officers bid to annex Crimea (The Economist who were charged in the beating were 2016). This is the usual price paid for subsequently recruited to join the political favors or aid by small, vulner- army (abc News 2015). able Island states that have nothing to Fiji’s ongoing attempts to revali- offer their big rich friends but votes in date and reinterpret the rule of law the United Nations. to suit certain agenda pose a chal- Reacting to the “Russian delivery,” lenge to the legal system. Two written Opposition members of Parliament constitutions—the 1990 one after claimed that the Russian military Sitiveni Rabuka’s 1987 coup and the weapons had entered Fiji illegally, 2013 version after Bainimarama’s without proper authorization by 2006 coup—included “Immunity the police. Additionally, some even Decrees” pardoning all those who claimed that arms were bought for the took part in the military coups and purpose of “threatening the opposi- the illegal overthrow of two elected tion” (The Economist 2016). governments (see Constitution of the Between 1987 and 2016, suppress- Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji ing opposition to government has been 1990, chapter 14; Constitution of the more conspicuous and the militariza- Republic of Fiji 2013, chapter 10). tion of the state more pronounced. Between June and September 2016, Military control of police and other two Opposition members of Parlia- institutions of the state has been ongo- ment—Tupou Draunidalo from the ing since the 1987 military coups and National Federation Party (nfp) and includes the appointment of army offi- Ratu Isoa Tikoca from the Social cers to serve as diplomats in overseas Democratic Liberal Party (sodelpa)— missions, in senior civil service posi- were suspended indefinitely from tions, and as police commissioners. Fiji’s Parliament (rnz 2016a, 2016e). For instance, in 1992, after serv- They joined another Opposition ing as a diplomat, Isikia Savua, a member of Parliament, Ratu Naiqama 344 the contemporary pacific • 29:2 (2017)

Lalabalavu, also from sodelpa, who prior to the interrogations, they had been suspended in 2015 for two were part of a group that attended years (rnz 2015a). The decision by a public forum organized by Pacific the Inter-Parliamentary Union (ipu) to Dialogue on Fiji’s 2013 Constitu- lift the two more recent suspensions tion (abc News 2016). Despite the was ignored by the Fiji government fact that the group was later released (rnz 2016b). The nfp’s Draunidalo without any charges, their case files has since resigned from Parliament. were handed over to the director of The nfp leader, Professor Biman public prosecution for review (Tahana Prasad, stated that penalties and sanc- 2016). This incident triggered discus- tions must be based on the exercise of sion and concern among Fijians about reason. He added that Draunidalo’s what some saw as a heavy-handed suspension showed the oversensitiv- response by the government. This is a ity of the Fiji First party, currently sign that politics in Fiji is still a work in power, to any form of criticism in progress. directed against them (rnz 2016a). Fiji’s coup culture has also brought By June 2016, leadership reshuffles with it a lot of institutional violence, in sodelpa saw the return of Sitiveni leading to severe harm and even death Rabuka, former coup leader in 1987 at the hands of local and national and prime minister from 1992 to security forces. In October 2016, 1999, as new party leader (rnz Prime Minister Bainimarama, Attor- 2016d). This caused some conflict ney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, in the party, as some members did and Police Commissioner Qiliho not want a former coup leader to expressed a political commitment to head sodelpa (rnz 2016c). Others end torture and ill-treatment of people consider Rabuka to be the only person in Fiji. This was a follow-up to Fiji’s who can beat Bainimarama in the ratification of the Convention against 2018 elections, given Rabuka’s mili- Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or tary background and history as a coup Degrading Treatment or Punishment, leader–turned–prime minister (Delai- in March 2016 (Amnesty International batiki 2016). 2016, 4). In September 2016, five prominent An Amnesty International Report opposition politicians were interro- released in Fiji in 2016 provided an gated for twenty-four hours in Suva’s in-depth analysis of brutality at the Central Police Station. The group hands of the security forces between included nfp leader Biman Prasad, 2012 and 2016. Some of the stories sodelpa leader Sitiveni Rabuka, were unknown to Fijians in Fiji due General Secretary of Fiji Council of to continued censorship through the Trade Unions Attar Singh, former 2010 Media Industry Development politician Professor Tupeni Baba, and Decree, which is still in effect (rnz Jone Dakuvula from the nongovern- 2015b). As explained in the report, a mental organization Pacific Dialogue. huge problem also relates to “the lack flp leader Mahendra Chaudhry also of independent oversight and near- handed himself in for interrogation impunity for such crimes increases the when he returned to Suva. A week risks of torture and other ill-treatment political reviews • melanesia 345 occurring. The police are effectively International report draws attention to left to police themselves, and the critical issues of justice and the exer- military has interfered with policing cise of the rule of law. The report also investigations where it involves mili- stresses the need for systemic change tary officers as alleged perpetrators” within the security forces and a com- (Amnesty International 2016, 5). mitment to safeguarding human rights The Amnesty International report (2016, 29). also highlighted that “the Commis- alumita l durutalo sioner of Police, Commissioner of Corrections and Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces (all senior References military officers) have the discretion to appoint, remove and discipline abc News. 2015. Fiji Police Commissioner their own officers and report to the Ben Groenewald Resigns, Replaced with Military Commander. 10 Nov. http:// Minister of National Security and www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/fiji Defence” (Amnesty International -police-commissioner-ben-groenewald 2016, 5), who is usually a former -resigns/6928358 [accessed 5 April 2017] military officer. Given the political culture of militarization and state ———. 2016. Fiji Police Release Five violence in Fiji, it is difficult to ensure Opposition Figures Detained after Consti- tution Forum. 10 Sept. http://www.abc transparency, justice, and the protec- .net.au/news/2016-09-11/fiji-police-release tion of human rights. -four-detained-opposition-figures/7834424 In summary, natural and political [accessed 6 April 2017] problems confronted Fiji throughout 2016. Climate change challenges Amnesty International. 2016. Beating through tropical cyclones and flooding Justice: How Fiji’s Security Forces Get Away with Torture. 4 Dec. http://www exposed Fiji’s geographical vulnerabil- .amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/fiji ities. A year after the natural disasters, _report_asa_1851492016.pdf [accessed new developmental issues like meeting 5 April 2017] building standards and a shortage of building materials continue to delay Bolatiki, Maika. 2016. Arms Boost from rebuilding efforts. Russia. Fiji Sun, 15 Jan. http://fijisun.com .fj/2016/01/15/arms-boost-from-russia/ As seen in 2016, the government [accessed 6 April 2017] has been swift in clamping down on meetings they consider subversive or Chandra, Torika. 2015. Village Reloca- as posing a threat to the administra- tions. Fiji Times, 13 Feb. http://www tion. Repressive edicts, such as the .fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=294897 Media Industry Development Decree, [accessed 6 April 2017] underscore the problems with the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji. 2013. government in power. Freedom of http://www.fiji.gov.fj/getattachment/ speech and freedom of expression 8e981ca2-1757-4e27-88e0-f87e3b3b844e/ continue to be eroded. Click-here-to-download-the-Fiji Fiji’s current political problems -Constitution.aspx [accessed 5 April 2017] did not emerge overnight and they Constitution of the Sovereign Democratic continue to evolve. The Amnesty Republic of Fiji. 1990. Archived online 346 the contemporary pacific • 29:2 (2017) by the Pacific Islands Legal Information -cyclone-winston-many-still-in-need-as Institute (PacLII), University of the South -reconstruction-efforts-continue/ [accessed Pacific: http://www.paclii.org/fj/promu/ 6 April 2017] promu_dec/cotsdrofd1990712.pdf rnz, Radio New Zealand. 2015a. Fiji mp [accessed 5 April 2017] Suspended for Slur. 22 May. http://www Delaibatiki, Nemani. 2016. Bainimarama .radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/ vs Rabuka. Fiji Sun Online, 4 June. http:// 274317/fiji-mp-suspended-for-slur fijisun.com.fj/2016/06/04/bainimarama [accessed 6 April 2017] -vs-rabuka/ [accessed 6 April 2017] ———. 2015b. Fiji’s Media Decree to Durutalo, Alumita. 2016. The Politics of Stay. 19 May. http://www.radionz.co.nz/ Security and Insecurity in Fiji: Delving into international/programmes/datelinepacific/ and Including Indigenous Epistemologies audio/201754966/fiji’s-media-decree-to and Knowledge Systems—Implications for -stay [accessed 6 April 2017] Education in Fiji. Micronesian Educator: ———. 2016a. Fiji mps’ Suspension Stirs A Journal of Research & Practice on Outrage and Support. 4 June. http://www Education in Guam and Micronesia 23. .radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/ The Economist. 2016. Fiji’s Army-Tainted 305631/fiji-mp%27s-suspension-stirs Politics: Corking the Genie. 21 Jan. http:// -outrage-and-support [accessed 5 April www.economist.com/news/asia/21688925 2017] -keeping-peace-abroad-seems-have ———. 2016b. ipu calls for Fiji to Lift -troubling-impact-home-corking-genie mps’ Suspension. 7 Nov. http://www [accessed 5 April 2017] .radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/ Fiji Government. 2011. Republic of Fiji: 317502/ipu-calls-for-fiji-to-lift-mps%27 The National Housing Policy. 11 March. -suspension [accessed 6 April 2017] http://www.worldurbancampaign.org/sites/ ———. 2016c. Outgoing Fiji sodelpa default/files/psup-action-items/fiji_national Leader against Rabuka at Helm. 20 June. _housing_policy.pdf [accessed 6 April http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/ 2017] pacific-news/306837/outgoing-fiji -sodelpa-leader-against-rabuka-at-helm ———. 2016. International Donors Come [accessed April ] To Fiji’s Aid. Press release, 25 Feb. http:// 6 2017 www.fiji.gov.fj/Media-Center/Press ———. 2016d. Sitiveni Rabuka Wins -Releases/INTERNATIONAL-DONORS Leadership of Fiji’s sodelpa. 24 June. -COME-TO-FIJI-S-AID.aspx [accessed http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/ 5 April 2017] pacific-news/307185/sitiveni-rabuka-wins -leadership-of-fiji’s-sodelpa [accessed Fiji Sun Online. 2016. The Year in Review 5 April 2017] 2016. 31 Dec. http://fijisun.com.fj/2016/ 12/31/2016-the-year-in-review/ [accessed ———. 2016e. Third Opposition mp 5 April 2017] Suspended from Fiji Parliament. 30 Sept. http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/ , International Federation of Red ifrc programmes/datelinepacific/audio/ Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2017. 201818083/third-opposition-mp Fiji: One Year On from Cyclone Winston, -suspended-from-fiji-parliament [accessed Many Still in Need as Reconstruction 6 April 2017] Efforts Continue. 17 Feb. http://www.ifrc .org/en/news-and-media/press-releases/ Tahana, Jamie. 2016. Fiji Arrests Cast asia-pacific/fiji/fiji---one-year-on-from Grave Concerns. Radio New Zealand political reviews • melanesia 347

International, 12 Sept. http://www.radionz questions the legitimacy of the ulmwp .co.nz/international/pacific-news/313110/ to represent Papua as a nation, even fiji-arrests-cast-grave-concerns [accessed though his organization signed the 5 April 2017] declaration. He claims that only the Thackray, Lucy. 2016. Death Toll in Fiji frwp holds the status of a state and Rises to 44. Daily Mail Australia, 25 Feb. thus has the legitimacy to deal with http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article Indonesia as an equal. -3463347/Death-toll-Fiji-rises-44-10 While the claim remains -month-old-baby-presumed-dead unresolved, it does not hinder the -catastrophic-Cyclone-Winston-tore operations of ulmwp in representing -country-wiping-village.html [accessed Papua at international fora. In 2015, April ] 6 2017 the ulmwp gained further historic momentum when it was granted observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group (msg), a subregional Papua diplomatic forum. This status signi- At the end of 2014, thanks to the fies the first international recognition strong commitment of Vanuatu’s of Papua as a political entity and has elders, Papuan leaders signed the galvanized grassroots support both Saralana Declaration that served inside and outside Papua. as the basis to establish the United Developments in the Pacific have Liberation Movement for West Papua profoundly reshaped relations not (ulmwp) in Vanuatu. This step only between Indonesia and the Pacific symbolized the unification of Papuan but, more broadly, between the Pacific leadership, which includes the Federal and the rest of the world. Pacific Republic of West Papua (frwp), the nations have become much more West Papua National Coalition of assertive in expressing their identi- Liberation (wpncl), and the National ties and interests. They are aware of Parliament for West Papua (npwp). their potential as key players in the Since then, the umbrella organization region and are able to negotiate with has become the rising star in repre- major regional and global players, senting the Papuan resistance move- such as Australia, China, and the ments at international fora, especially United States, to promote their own in the Pacific region. national interest. For instance, despite Five Papuan leaders from differ- its exclusion from the Pacific Island ent generations and time zones were Forum by Australia and New Zealand, unanimously appointed to run the Fiji managed to surmount its isolation secretariat: Octo Mote, Benny Wenda, and secure a presence at one of the Leonie Tanggahma, Rex Rumakiek, most prestigious United Nations (UN) and Jacob Rumbiak. Despite an fora by chairing the g-77 (Group of ongoing struggle within the organiza- Seventy-Seven Developing Countries) tion over leadership, challenges are in 2013 (regarding Fiji’s more recent not being lodged against these indi- international leadership roles, see Nic viduals personally. Rather, the leader Maclellan’s review of issues and events of the frwp, Forkorus Yaboisembut, in the region, this issue).