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In Frank Bainimarama's Shadow: Fiji, Elections and the Future Brij V This article was downloaded by: [Jawaharlal Nehru University] On: 11 January 2015, At: 01:09 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Journal of Pacific History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjph20 In Frank Bainimarama's Shadow: Fiji, Elections and the Future Brij V. Lala a School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University Published online: 18 Nov 2014. Click for updates To cite this article: Brij V. Lal (2014) In Frank Bainimarama's Shadow: Fiji, Elections and the Future, The Journal of Pacific History, 49:4, 457-468, DOI: 10.1080/00223344.2014.977518 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2014.977518 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions Downloaded by [Jawaharlal Nehru University] at 01:09 11 January 2015 The Journal of Pacific History, 2014 Vol. 49, No. 4, 457–468, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2014.977518 PACIFIC CURRENTS In Frank Bainimarama’s Shadow: Fiji, Elections and the Future BRIJ V. LAL ABSTRACT Fiji’s much anticipated election was held in September 2014, returning Frank Bainimarama’s Fiji First Party to power under a proportional representation open list system sanctioned by the decreed 2013 constitution. It marks an important step on a long and fraught journey back to parliamentary democracy. A new start has been made, but a lot will depend on how deeply Bainimarama’s publicly declared multiracial vision is shared by his own supporters, including the military, overwhelming Indigenous Fijian, which has a proven history of being a friend neither of multiracialism nor of democracy. Whether this turns out to be a pyrrhic victory for one man or a turning point in Fiji’s modern history remains to be seen. Key words: Fiji, elections, parliamentary democracy, military coup, Frank Bainimarama Fiji went to the polls for the eleventh time since independence in 1970 and eight years after the military coup of 2006.1 Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s newly formed party, Fiji First, won 32 of the 50 seats in parliament, easily beating its chief rival, the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), which won 15 seats. The National Federation Party won the remaining three seats. Other political parties failed to reach the 5% threshold prescribed by the constitution, including the once dominant Fiji Labour Party. The next elections are due in 2018. The elections, postponed in 2009 and so fostering widespread international condemnation and scepticism about Downloaded by [Jawaharlal Nehru University] at 01:09 11 January 2015 whether they would be held at all in 2014, is an important and potentially historic development in Fijian politics. To his supporters and admirers, Bainimarama is poised to open a new era in modern Fijian history, finally putting to rest the fears and phobias of the past. To his critics, his real test will come in the next four years Brij V. Lal – School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Aus- tralian National University. [email protected] 1 My thanks to Jon Fraenkel and Patrick Vakaoti for advice and comments. This reflective piece can be read as a sequel to my ‘The strange career of Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s 2006 coup’, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia, Discussion Paper 8 (2013). © 2014 The Journal of Pacific History, Inc. 458 JOURNAL OF PACIFIC HISTORY as he steers the country towards a new future. However viewed, the elections mark the first essential step in a long journey back to parliamentary democracy. A robust oppo- sition in parliament will test the mettle of the new government. From 2006 to 2014, there was no accountability and transparency in the conduct of the government’s affairs. The country was ruled by a barrage of decrees, many of which could not be challenged in a court of law. The media were censored or bribed with advertisement revenue, and critics were silenced or sidelined. Questions were constantly asked about the neutrality of the judiciary whose members served on short-term contracts or at the pleasure of the attorney general.2 All that could potentially come to an end with the opening of the new parliament. The international community accepted the result of the elections as free, fair and credible.3 Fiji was on the way to being re-admitted to the membership of regional and international fora such as the Commonwealth and the Pacific Islands Forum. The conditions under which Fiji returns are not certain, though it is abundantly clear that it would seek a larger and more independent role as the leader of the smaller Pacific Island states.4 ‘In our new democracy’, Bainimarama told the United Nations General Assembly on 28 September 2014, ‘we are all Fijians, not members of separate ethnic or religious groups. And having established a common and equal citizenry, along with a secular state, we intend to move forward together finally to fulfil our promise as a nation, to fulfil our destiny’.5 Bainimarama’s euphoria is understandable, given the magnitude of his electoral victory, but his judgement is open to contest. The structure of the new cabinet suggests that power remains concentrated in very few hands. The most powerful person in government is Bainimarama ally and second-in-command Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is minister of finance and communication, attorney general, minister of public enterprises and minister for the public service. In this capacity, he will set the state’s fiscal policy framework, control statutory institutions (such as the national airline, the ports, utility companies), make strategic appointments in the public service, oversee economic development plans and projects, control the flow of information, and exercise strict oversight of the country’s media. 2 See Justice Marshall’s petition to Commodore Frank Bainimarama, 16 July 2010, https://sites. google.com/site/justicewilliammarshall/petition (accessed 5 Nov. 2014), complaining about ‘pro- Downloaded by [Jawaharlal Nehru University] at 01:09 11 January 2015 gressive inroads into the independence of the judiciary’. See Radio New Zealand International, 18 Sept. 2012. 3 Local NGOs were restricted from monitoring the elections. 4 Among the preconditions set by Fiji for return to the forum is a much reduced role for Australian and New Zealand in that body, if not their actual withdrawal altogether. And according to Post- Courier (Port Moresby), 6 Oct. 2014, Bainimarama threatened to protest Dame Meg Taylor’s appointment as the secretary general of the Forum Secretariat, saying that PNG ‘used its financial might to secure the appointment’. And PNG was one of Bainimarama’s strong supporters in the Melanesian Spearhead Group. 5 ‘Hon. Prime Minister’s Statement at the 69th United Nations General Assembly’, 28 Sept. 2014, http://www.fiji.gov.fj/Media-Center/Speeches/PRIME-MINISTER-S-STATEMENT-AT-THE- 69TH-UNITED-NATI.aspx (accessed 14 Oct. 2014). IN FRANK BAINIMARAMA’S SHADOW 459 Interestingly, there will be only one junior minister to assist him in his various portfo- lios.6 Khaiyum’s unswerving (or, perhaps more accurately, self-serving) loyalty to Bai- nimarama has been repaid in abundant measure, but whether such concentration of power in the hands of one ambitious individual is healthy for parliamentary democ- racy is another matter. There have been murmurs of protest from within government circles, but in the current circumstances, a public expression of dissent is unthinkable. Then, there are questions about the extent to which Bainimarama’s publicly pro- claimed multiracial vision is shared by those who support him. Indeed, some have suggested that he is a late-coming convert to it himself. It was not the reason he gave for the coup in 2006, which was supposedly carried out in the name of eradicat- ing corruption from the country. It is doubtful whether it is shared by the Fijian mili- tary which is almost wholly Indigenous Fijian and which has a record neither as a defender of multiracialism nor of democracy itself. And the army under the 2013 con- stitution is the ultimate guardian of the constitution, not an elected parliament. The cabinet has several former military officers in it, along with known architects of pre- vious coups and champions of Fijian ethno-nationalism, such as Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabola. One hopes, for the sake of Fiji, that Bainimarama is right and a genuine democracy will emerge in Fiji after many long decades of turbulence, but there is also the very distinct possibility that the people of Fiji may have to learn to live with an illusion rather than with the substance of democracy.
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