Correspondent's Notebook
A nervous Fiji
6 March 2009
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group set a September deadline for Fiji to declare a return to democratic rule.
Interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama promptly replied, there would be no election.
Pacific Beat presenter Geraldine Coutts has just returned from Fiji and reflects on the future for those who have the most at stake.
According to Fiji’s interim prime minister the December 2006 coup was for the people.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama argues that elections won’t necessarily restore democracy to Fiji, but he does not articulate the kind of democracy he thinks would suit the Pacific island nation.
He promises instead idealistic reforms – the eradication of poverty, crime and corruption and repairs to the agriculture sector, municipal councils and the election process itself. The latter it is hoped will eradicate entrenched party political racism
The parliament, the only authority which could legally implement all of the interim governments reforms outlined in the People’s Charter, remains silent and closed to debate.
The people are disenfranchised, unrepresented and frustrated.
Mums and dads who were supportive of the interim government are becoming disenchanted by the lack of action on many of the interim government’s promises – including holding elections this year.
A recent visit to Nadi and Suva revealed the nervousness among the ordinary people of Fiji as they go about their daily business. Phone calls requesting interviews were sometimes met with whispered responses declining the invitation; people afraid to speak just in case the government hears.
Others agree to speak on the basis they remain anonymous.
This week, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group threatened to suspend Fiji in December if there is no real evidence of a path back to democracy.
And the International Bar Association released a report “Dire Straits: A report on the rule of law in Fiji”, which chronicles the deterioration of the judiciary since the December 2006 coup.
The interim government has labelled the report as spiteful revenge for the refusal of the Bar Association’s request to visit Fiji and conduct its own investigation into the judiciary.
But the Association and the Commonwealth are not alone; LawAsia, the Pacific Islands Forum, the European Union, The Governments of the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand all say elections can be held this year.
The threats to further isolate Fiji unless a path to elections is clearly defined continues to be met with the same response from Commodore Frank Bainimarama…’when we are good and ready’ and so far with no date attached.
And while, Fiji’s government is the most discussed, reported and exposed in the Pacific since the height of the ethnic tension in Solomon Islands during the 1990′s, very little is said or written about the plight of the country’s working poor.
Many families struggle to make ends meet with the price of fruit and veggies soaring.
For families in flood affected areas, the struggle to survive is a daily contest.
Is the People’s Charter an answer to these challenges?
What could be Commodore Bainimarama’s response to the international community if the suspensions are carried out?
A suspension of his own making? Perhaps the abrogation of the constitution in April as a strong arm response by Fiji’s Interim Government to the Forum and Commonwealth’s threats of suspension.
Could the series of suspensions be defining moments in lives of the silent majority and to democracy for the ordinary people for decades to come?
Through all the anxiety what remains constant in ordinary citizens lives is strong community spirit, a sense of self and respect for each other…bula.
