pn930. A Funny one, for a change

 

Fred was about to tee off on the first hole when a second golfer (George) approached and asked if he could join him. Fred said that he usually played alone, but agreed to the twosome. They were even after the first two holes. 

George said, "We're about evenly matched, how about playing for five bucks a hole?" Fred said that he wasn't much for betting, but agreed. 

George easily won the remaining 16 holes. They walked off number eighteen while George counted his $80.00. He then confessed that he was the pro at a neighboring course and “liked to pick on suckers.” 

Fred, shocked, revealed that he was the Parish Priest. The pro was flustered and apologetic and offered to return the money. 

The Priest said, "You won fair and square I was foolish to bet with you. Keep your winnings." The embarrassed pro asked, "Please, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" 

The Priest said, "Well, you could come to Mass on Sunday and make a donation. And, if you want to bring your Mother and Father along, I'll marry them.”

--

Thanks, Verghese, for this one.

pn929 An Unbiblical Exodus. Some 70,000 - 80,000 people have left Fiji in the last 18 months

Read this pertinent but rather emotional criticism of NFP leader and Deputy PM Professor Biman Prasad by Graham Davis in Grubsheet, and then read the professor's comments on the situation. First, read about the Professor as a major cause, because he did nothing; then read some of the effects he describes.

See also pn924.

pn928. Solomon Islands goes to the polls: here's what to expect by Anouk Ride

Dr Anouk Ride*  presents a picture of a very fragile democracy where most people' s allegiance is to their clan, island and church. The concept of a Solomon Island nation takes a second or lower place.

Solomon Islanders are set to vote on 17 April in an election that has significance within and beyond the country’s borders. It is the first chance for them to vote on policy directions that the coalition led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has taken and may change or consolidate his power.

Since Sogavare was elected by his parliamentary peers in April 2019, Solomon Islanders have lived through several shocks. First there were riots in April 2019, precursors to a much larger riot in November 2021. Both incidents related to grievances about the ruling political coalition and perceived foreign control of government decisions and the economy.

There was a switch in bilateral relations from Taiwan to China in September 2019, a decision announced before a parliamentary inquiry concluded or provincial governments had their say. The omission contributed to tensions between the prime minister’s office and the Malaitan provincial government, especially its former premier, Daniel Suidani. Those tensions resulted in Suidani’s removal from office in a vote of confidence in February, allegedly after money was offered to members of the provincial assembly to take him down.

Then there was Covid-19, which prompted a 28-month state of emergency. Sogavare’s emergency powers included rights to decide who could enter the country. He could also ban events, restrict inter-island travel and suspend access to media outlets. A decision to ban Facebook was ultimately not implemented but pointed to an anti-democratic trend. With even much-needed doctors and nurses sacked over strike plans or a critical social media post, rising centralisation of power and restrictions on free speech became clear. Criticism of the coalition has become more muted or is kept private.

Governance has become less transparent. No auditor general’s annual report on the state of government finances has been published in the past five years. The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force has released no annual report since 2018. Allegations of corruption, including alleged bribery of High Court officials, are unresolved.

Foreign money, meanwhile, has helped consolidate the ruling coalition’s power. Constituency development funds—discretionary money given to members of parliament— have a long history in Solomon Islands, but in 2021 the money, now coming from China, was for the first time allocated not to all MPs but only to members of the coalition. Aid funds from other countries tended to be directed into preparations for the South Pacific Games of late 2023.  Click here to read in full.

* Anouk Ride is a research fellow at the Australian National University and an adjunct research fellow at Solomon Islands National University. 

pn927 # His Lordship Must Stand Aside

Graham Davis in Grubsheet has written this damning account of Fiji's Acting Chief  Justice, Salesi  Temo:

The article opens: "Salesi Temo is cantankerous, erratic, capricious, imperious, self-important, sexist, patriarchal and behaves like a schoolyard bully. He shares these characteristics with a tiny minority of crusty judges in other jurisdictions of the common law that Fiji also inherited from the British. But he is unique in one particular aspect. The Acting Chief Justice is an outlaw – someone who presides over the administration of the rule of law in Fiji yet continues to debase it with his violations of the Constitution, the supreme law.

"Temo’s defiance of the law with his advice to the President to illegally appoint a fellow judge, Alipate Qetaki, and the Acting DPP, John Rabuku, have been canvassed at length in these columns. He appointed them when the Constitution specifically prohibits them from holding those offices because they have been found guilty of professional misconduct.

pn926. Someone's Spying on us

 Teuila Fuatau writing in E-Tangata gives this very disturbing account of spying on NZ and our Pacific neighbours. Read the article about this U.S. spy base located at Waihopai near Blenheim  and consider its implications for our supposedly independent foreign policy.

Waihopai Satellite Communications Interception Station.

pn925. Getting Rid of Seini Puamau

Today, Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo said he is exploring four options to remove Magistrate Seini Puamau for not ordering jail sentences on former PM Voqere Bainimarama and former police chief Sitiveni Qiliho. See post pn923.

They are: 

1. Activate contempt of court action against her;

2. Refer her to the police for allegedly disobeying a lawful order;

3. Recommend to the President that she be removed from the bench;

4. Ask her to resign.

So  .... in addition to hounding Bainimarama on a dubious charge, he is now hounding someone who was trying to uphold the law and do justice. God bless Fiji! Civil liberties may have improved under the new government but justice and upholding the law certainly has not.

-- ACW

pn924. The National Federation Party holds the key. See also pn923

The Fiji Government is a coalition of three parties. The largest, the People's Alliance, has 21 seats, all but one of whom is an ethnic Fijian i'Taukei. This is followed by the National Federation Party with 5 seats, 3 Indo-Fijian  and 2 i'Taukei members. The last and smallest with 3 members is SODELPA, a traditional i'Taukei party and all 3 members are i'Taukei.  Combined the three parties have 29 seats in the 55-seat parliament. 

The Opposition Fiji First Party is the largest party in parliament with 26 seats. It is also the most racially diverse with 11 i'Taukei and 15 Indo-Fijian members. Government has a very small, one seat, majority.

This posting proposes that the NFP is uniquely positioned to restore much-needed government credibility and create a better atmophere for national unity by improving relations with Fiji First.  

It can do so because it has the option to leave the coalition and bring down the government, and because all  of its five members are people of high repute and capability.  

Deputy PM Leader and Minister of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Developments, and Statistics  Professor  Biman Prasad is a distinguished former academic. He was  Professor of Economics and Dean of the faculty of Business and Economics  at the University of the South Pacific.

Party President and Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration, former Lieutenant Colonel  and Chief of Staff of the Royal Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Pio Tikoduadua  was a Fiji First member who left the party because of his doubts about some of its practices.

Minister of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations former broadcaster and  public relations consultant  Lenora Qereqeretubua is the Deputy Speaker of the House and Assistant Minister for Housing, Local Government and Foreign Affairs.

Former Labour Party MP  Agni Deo Singh served as general secretary of the Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) from 1999 to 2006, and again from 2007 to 2022.  As FTU secretary, he campaigned against the racist education policies of the Laisenia Qarase-led government.

Finally, Assistant Minister of Women and Children and Assistant Minister of Poverty Alleviation Sashi Kiran is the Founder and former Chief Executive of FRIEND,  the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises and Development, a rural-orientated NGO  that works on poverty alleviation through socio-economic and health empowerment programmes.

The fact that all five NFP MPs are cabinet ministers clearly shows their capabilities are recognized by PM Sitiveni Rabuka and senior People's Alliance members.   They have the power to change many things for the better if they choose to use it.

This is what I think they should do:

■ First, Biman must clear the accusations of personal tax evasion so there is absolutely no doubt that the accusations are false. 

■ Then NFP should exercise pressure to stop the hounding of Voqere Bainimarama.  It serves no good purpose and creates division when national unity is needed. Further, Bainimarama's three year suspension from Parliament for questioning the President and Parliament on the illegal appointment of judges should be rescinded.

■ Salesi Temo should not be confirmed as the new Chief Justice. His biases are only too obvious.  The successful appointee should be decided after wide consultations which include the Fiji Law Society.   

■ The illegal appointments of John Rabuka as Acting Director of Public Prosecutions and Alipate Qetalu as a judge should be reversed, and Christopher Pryde restored as Director of Public Prosecutions.  The charge that he was seen talking to Fiji First's Ayaz Sayed- Khaiyum at a cocktail party and is therefore biased towards Fiji First is the most ludicrous thing I've heard for a long time.

■  Former Assistant Director of Public Prosceutions  Elizabeth Rice who was sacked by John Rabuka because he wanted an i'Taukei ADPP and not a European should be returned to office. 

■ Prosecuting lawyer Losalini Tabuakoro should be dimissed. Her behaviour at the Bainmarama hearding when she didn't get the jail sentencing she wanted  from Magistrate Seini Puamau is unacceptable. As Graham Davis in Grubsheet says, it is a  "breathing example of the folly of getting rid of professional senior lawyers with judgment to prosecute cases on behalf of the state and replacing them simply on the basis of ethnicity."

■ Lynda Tabuya should be demoted (see pn923) and Sashi Kiran appointed Minister of Women and Children, and Minister of Poverty Alleviation with adequate resources and support to perform well in these roles. 

■ More generally, NFP should push more strongly for what Pio wanted in the 2018 elections:

"We want a Fiji where everyone works together for a brighter future. We will march forward in unison and harmony as a mighty collective force to once again restore power to all of you. Because it is you who have shaped our policies. It is you we have listened to. And we want you to proudly take ownership of the government and its policies.

Simply put, NFP will be a government of Team Fiji that make up our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation.

First, we must all be economically secure. That is why we want a fair living wage for our workers and our farmers. Our economy depends on them. Next, we have to get rid of the climate of fear that covers our country. People must be free to speak up so that they can contribute their ideas.

Then we need to begin the massive task of rebuilding. Because education will decide our future, we need an education system – including university education - that works. We must have a good health system. And we must ensure that every family has that most important thing – a good home.

These are our priorities. They are not the only things we will do. You can read more about our plans in this manifesto...

God Bless Fiji."

Disclaimer.  Biman Prasad is a former USP colleague who proposed my appointment as an Emeritus Professor.  Sashi Kiran and I circumnavigated Viti Levu  and Vanua Levu together while I was engaged on a consultancy. Sashi was also later one of my Development Studies students. I don't think my assocation with Biman and Sashi has distorted my judgment. If anything, it has improved it.  -- ACW

pn923. Making Sense of the Accusations and Rulings against Voqere Bainimarama

Sitiveni Qilohi &
Voqere Bainimarama

In October last year Magistrate Seini Puamau found former PM Voqere Bainimarama not guilty of breaking the law with regards to the accusation that he had stopped a police investigation about the University of the South Pacific in 2020.  Former police chief Sitiveni Qilohi was also charged. 

Salesi Temo

Seini Puamua

Earlier this month the acting chief Justice Salesi Temo overturned Puamau's ruling and found Bainimarama and his co-accused former Police chief Sitiveni Qiliho guilty. He ordered Puamau to sentence the accused. Jail sentences of up to five years for Bainimarama and ten years for Qiliho were expected.

Puamau could not reverse the Acting Chief Justice's verdict of guilty but in sentencing them on Thursday she ruled that Bainimarama was given "an absolute discharge," the lowest possible sentence, and the conviction was not to be registered.  In other words, she came as close as legally possible to her original ruling of not guilty. Qiliho was given a $1500 fine without conviction. 

Predictably, her ruling has been challenged and the case will be heard again on Wednesday, an unheard of short time after a ruling -- leaving effectively one working day, Tuesday, to prepare. Compare this with the case against dismissed former chief prosecutor Christopher Pryde who has been waiting for over a year for his appeal to be heard!

If we ask why the urgency, the answer is simple.

Government and its compliant judiciary are determined to "get" Bainimarama one way or another. And if these court cases are unsuccessful it is rumoured they have another 30 strategies up their sleeves. 

Holding on to power by just one parliamentary seat the unsteady government coalition of People's Alliance, National Federation Party and the ultra-nationalist i'Taukei SODELPA must discredit and decapitate Bainimarama's First First party, the largest single party in parliament, if it is to win the next election, likely in December 2026.

But there is another reason. Government needs to deflect public attention away from troubles within its own ranks. 

The best known is about Minister for Women and Children Lynda Tabuya who has been embroiled in an alleged sex and drug scandal with axed education minister Aseri Radrodro; others include alleged tax avoidance by NFP leader Biman Prasad which he denies, the past sexual merry-go-rounds by PM Sitiveni Rabuka, and the dubious and apparently illegal appointment of several judges.

In a democracy, the powers of Government and Parliament must be separate -- and be seen to be separate -- from those of the Judiciary. The Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo was appointed by Attorney General Siromi Turanga and PM Rabuka. This is considered illegal because it contravened sections 117 (2) and 105 (2) (b) of the 2013 Constitution (See extracts below.)

It is worth noting that the Fiji Law Society opposed his appointment.

Temo subsequently appointed John Rabuka as Acting Director of Public Prosecutions and Alipate Qetelu as a judge. Both men had been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission and were therefore not eligible for appointment.

Graham Davis of Grubsheet has advanced another possible reason for the appointment of acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo. Government hopes he can find ways around the 2013 Constitution, passed by the previous Bainimarama government, which cannot be changed without a two-thirds majority in parliament and a two-thirds majority in a referendum. Neither is even a remote possibility.

In these unsettled times one wonders what would happen if Bainimarama is sent to jail. A large public protest and even military intervension are not off the cards.

One final word. Magistrate Seini Korosaya Puamau is an incredibly courageous woman. Few others would have taken the stance she has in present day Fijij. I hope the rumour she has resigned is untrue.

-- ACW

Extracts from the 2013 Constitution

117. Director of Public Prosecutions

2. The Director of Public Prosecutions must be a person who is qualified to be

appointed as a Judge.

105. Qualification for appointment

1. The making of appointments to a judicial office is governed by the principle that

judicial officers should be of the highest competence and integrity.

2. A person is not qualified for appointment as a Judge unless he or she- • Eligibility for supreme court judges

a. holds, or has held a high judicial office in Fiji or in another country

prescribed by law; or

b. has had not less than 15 years post-admission practice as a legal

practitioner in Fiji or in another country prescribed by law, and has not

been found guilty of any disciplinary proceeding involving legal

practitioners whether in Fiji or abroad, including any proceeding by the

Independent Legal Services Commission or any proceeding under the law

governing legal practitioners, barristers and solicitors prior to the

establishment of the Independent Legal Services Commission.

pn922. Solomon Islands Thesis Catalogue

 SIIN: SOLOMON ISLANDS THESIS CATALOGUE:

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Dear colleagues

The Solomon Islands Theses Catalogue, collated by me and published earlier this month by the Solomon Islands National University is now available at SINU Library and online via the UQ e-Space (see below), There are 1,213 entries, although the 512 digital copies of theses (15.5 gigs) that I managed to find are not easily available as there are copyright restrictions. But the digitasl files are available at SINU Library, and eventually at other sites such as the SI National Library and Museum.

Solomon Islands Thesis Catalogue: Theses about or of direct relevance to the Solomon Islands, 1883–2023 - UQ eSpace

pn921. March 2024 Polls on Government Performance

 

Dr Bryce Edwards, director of VUW's Democracy Project,  had this to say about the latest polls on Government performance -  "Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls."

The sum of the polls, however, (see table) shows government to be in a relatively  secure position, and the Opposition to be in deep water.

 

The Talbot Mills, Roy Morgan and IPOS polls showed Government to be less secure than the overall results suggest.  

On performance and whether the country was heading in the right or wrong direction the polls were uncomplementary: The Taxpayers' Union showed that, after a brief "right" start, in March the scale had tipped to negative.  More people disapproved of government than approved. IPOS's score of 4.5 out of 10 had 37% of those polled signalling poor perforrmance, the highest since 2017, and Talbot Mills showed 40% in the right direction, down 3% since February. and  48% in the wrong direction, up 7% since February.

On the preferred PM question National did even worse. Talbot Mills showed Luxon on 24%, down 3, and Labour's Hipkins close behind on 23%. The Taxpayers' Union result for Luxon was similar, but the scores for his deputies, Act's Seymour and NZ First's Peters, were up.  It was thought that their strong performance overshadowed that of Luxon and contributed to his poor result. The exposure of Luxon's non-declaration of his housing assets would also not have helped his public image.

The public's main concerns (IPOS poll) were inflation and the cost of living, 59%, minus 3%, followed by housing 33%, up 2%, Hospitals and health care 33%, plus 1%, the Economy 25%, plus 1%, and crime, law and order 27%, down an astonishing 10%.  The attention to divisive issues such as the Treaty of Waitangi and the Māori Housing Authority by the Government's coalition parties would appear not to have helped goverment's image. 

It's a long way to go to the next election, time enough for Luxon to improve his image as a leader and for National's policies to show results. It's time also when both Labour and the Greens can improve their images and offer the country a genuinely different set of policies to those being pursued by Government.

If National were to move to the right, influenced by its coalition parties or remain a centre-right-party, and Labour were to move to the left instead of adopting its curent middle of the road position, the country would have a real choice at the next election.

-- ACW

pn920. Fiji's Coalition Government Looks Very Fragile

Lydia and Sitiveni. 

The largest party in Fiji's Parliament is Oppositon party Fiji First, the party of former PM Voqere Bainimarama and former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.  

Government is made up of a coalition of three parties, the largely i'Taukei (ethnic Fijian)-supported People's Alliance (PAP), the National Federation Party (NFP)  supported by many Indo-Fijians, and a rump taukei-nationalist SODELPA party. 

At the last 2022 election PAP and the FPF party needed the three SODELPA MPs to form the government and for a while it looked the three were not unaminous about joining the Coalition.  There was one dissenting MP, probably Aseri Radrodro who has been very much in the news lately, mainly because of his sordid affair, "brutal sex and sharing drugs, with Lynda Tabuya while on an official government visit to Sydney. Aseli's wife was a few rooms down the hotel corridor while the two entangled.   

Lynda, a former Hibiscus Queen, now 52, divorced with six children, is the Deputy Leader of the Coalition and Minister of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation. Aseli was Minister of Education until he was sacked a few days ago for "disobedience"on a matter unrelated to his dalliance  by PM Sitiveni Rabuka. 

SODELPA insists he be reinstated and Rabuka says he may be reinstated "sometime." Whether this will satisfy SODELPA is as yet unknown. They could accept it or shift their support to Fiji First bringing down the government.   The Fiji Government looks very fragile.

Another incident adding to the fragility is the dismisal of Assistant Deputy of Public Prosecutions British-born and long Fiji resident Elizabeth Rice  by the acting Director of Public Prosecutions, illegally appointed John Rakuka, because she is "white". He is supported by Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, who want  an i'Taukei as Assistant DPP. 

Ms Rice is taking the matter  to court for wrongful dismissal. What makes this situation even more serious is that Ms Rice was about to prosecute Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum for misconduct and her replacement is far less likely  to win the case which would be a victory for Fiji First and yet another display of the Coalition government's instability.

How long this can go on is unclear but at this stage the signs are that the Coalition could well lose the next election.

Note: The sex and drug story has been poorly reported by the Fiji media but has been well covered in social media's Victor Lal's Fijileaks and Graham Davis's Grubsheet.   Check them out if you want the nitty-gritty.

Earlier signs of instability. https://bowergroupasia.com/fijis-political-situation-remains-fragile-almost-six-months-into-new-government/

-ACW

pn919. Understanding Fijians

 Fijian language and culture: from Ronald Getty: Fijian-English Dictionary, 2009.

From his introduction (my emphases) :

Fijian conversation is very sensitive as to who is talking to whom. Relationships of regions, tribes, clans, extended families and nuclear families are all relevant but usually invisible to outsiders. There are privileges, courtesies and taboos that depend on those relationships. Some people may not speak with certain others, brothers and sisters for example or in some cases, children and a parent. Virtually everyone is related to everyone in some way that determines the conditions of mutual speech. Formal Fijian speech has an overload of verbiage with protocol and politesse. It may border on a mannered preciosity that can be quite boring.

Still today, though, Fijian patterns of thinking and feeling are very different from anything foreigners might expect. Fijian culture and social interconnections are difficult if not impossible for an outsider to penetrate. Fijian openness is never as open as it would seem. Questioning a Fijian on any sensitive issue is rather like peeling an onion. Layers are removed but nothing much is revealed at the inside.

Fijians usually pretend their thoughts and feelings are congruent with those of a stranger or a foreigner. They avoid disclosing potential discord of their different motivation, different social aims, very different manners and private behaviour. And some can be masters at hiding their self-interest. The Fijian smile presents a disarming front. The smile serves to charm, disarm, and put the visitor at ease. Sometimes it is a mask for dissimulation and manipulation. More often perhaps, it may be genuine, especially in the case of children.

A Fijian individual living in a traditional Fijian context exists within a social system that is much more structured than a European usually experiences. Within Fiji, the system leaves little room for an individual to act independently of the group. At the same time, for the individual, that system can be helpful and supportive emotionally. Emphasis is on human relationships, extended family, and clan, and to a lesser extent, the tribe and territory, and quite importantly, their church with their own Fijian versions of Christianity. But these social involvements and committments can be preoccupations that limit an individual’s development as an individual and dissipate the personal resources. Social demands can exact enormous amounts of time, effort, energy, even money, food and other consumables.

Commoners have been restrained by their elders and by their chiefs who with very few exceptions, have little education, and all too often, are marked by self-interest. Young people are discouraged from expressing opinions or openly asserting themselves as individuals. Still now, Fijians hardly dare “talk up” directly. Many men, especially, have been very considerably repressed. From early childhood all Fijians are taught severely not to ask questions and not to speak their minds. It is understandable that Fijians might become secretive about their own feelings and thoughts. They have had so little personal privacy.

It is not easy to understand Fijians and the common fallacy of foreigners is to think they do.

pn918. Links to articles about the Kingitanga Hui

 

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/21/john-campbell-i-saw-peace-joy-and-10000-people-uniting-to-say-no/

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/20/be-maori-kiingi-tuuheitia-gives-closing-speech-at-national-hui/

https://thestandard.org.nz/which-side-are-you-on-2/

pn916. Leaked ministry doc warns Bill could break spirit and text of Treaty

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag, also known as the national Māori flag,
is used to represent the Māori people of New Zealand. In 2009, the Tino Rangatiratanga flag
 was selected as the national Māori flag after a nationwide consultation. It was first revealed
 on Waitangi Day in 1990. Wikipedia

NZ News Māori affairs correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports a proposed Government Bill which, if passed, could break the spirit and text of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Note: In  signing the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori chiefs ceded kāwanatanga (sovereignty) to the Crown but not rangatiratanga.

Kāwanatanga derived from the English word "governor". Kāwanatanga was first used in the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835.^[1] Kāwanatanga reappeared in 1840 in Article 1 of the Treaty of Waitangi, where the Māori text "te Kawanatanga katoa" corresponds to the English text "all the rights and powers of Sovereignty".

Rangatiratanga

chieftainship, right to exercise authority, chiefly autonomy, chiefly authority, ownership, leadership of a social group, domain of the rangatra, .

1. the right of Maori people to rule themselves; self-determination.

   "the constitution reaffirms the principle of rangatiratanga"

Further reading

'We do not surrender!': Te Pāti Māori leaks Govt's draft Treaty principles, alleges it will 'erase' Te Tiriti (msn.com)

pn915. The dramatic exodus of brown women from parliament

.

Elizabeth Kerekere, Golriz Gharahman
and Kiri Allan
 (Design: Archi Banal) 

The Spinoff Daily, Wednesday January 17.

By Madeleine Chapman

Elizabeth Kerekere, Golriz Gharahman and Kiri Allan have all left politics in dramatic fashion in the past 12 months.

If your workplace isn’t designed for you to succeed, you won’t. And parliament is no friend to women or people of colour.

There are some jobs that only particular people can do, or at least do well. It takes a certain patience and temperament to be a good teacher. You can’t be a surgeon with nervous jitters. And unfortunately for those with poor eyesight, flying planes is out of the picture. But in a capitalist world it’s understood that everyone who can, should work, and therefore everyone should be equally able to do most jobs.

But that’s just not true.

pn914. A useful summing up of the Fiji political scene

 East Asia Forum, ANU      -     17 Jan 2024

Fiji’s tenuous grip on political stability

Author: William Waqavakatoga, University of Adelaide

After its December 2022 election, Fiji got a new prime minister for the first time in more than 15 years. A new government was formed with Sitiveni Rabuka, leader of the People’s Alliance party, replacing Frank Bainimarama of the FijiFirst party. One democratically elected former coup leader was swapped out for another.

The key challenge for the Rabuka government has been to hold together an effective coalition. The coalition has held despite tensions and on 1 January 2024, the Rabuka government exceeded the longest term of any Fijian government that came into office through a peaceful transfer of power.

The government’s suspension of a number of senior officials and public remarks about constitutional changes prompted the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) to raise concerns less than one month after the government was sworn in. RFMF Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai cited the ‘guardian’ role of Fiji’s military — a vague and controversial section of the military-driven 2013 constitution that charges the RFMF with responsibility for the ‘well-being’ of Fiji and its people.

The dramatic parliamentary exit of Bainimarama and his former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, followed by several resignations by FijiFirst members of parliament in early 2023, set the political scene alight.

Notable changes by the Rabuka government included the repeal of the controversial Media Industry Development Act and the iTaukei Land Trust (Budget Amendment) Act (known as ‘Bill 17’), new appointments of permanent secretaries and to statutory boards, the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs. The evolution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the involvement of the revived Great Council of Chiefs in politics will be of particular interest in 2024 given FijiFirst’s opposition to these measures.

The highlight of 2023 was the acquittal of Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho on charges that they interfered with the investigation of a corruption complaint filed by the University of the South Pacific in 2020. This may have triggered what Rabuka described as his intention to replace Attorney-General Siromi Turaga with Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Filimoni Vosarogo.

The plan was thwarted after the Fiji Law Society informed Rabuka that Vosarogo was disqualified from holding the office of attorney-general because of an adverse disciplinary finding during his time as a practising lawyer. The RFMF also weighed in on the proposed appointment, possibly foreshadowing future military involvement in government decisions.

Sayed-Khaiyum was also charged with abuse of office but the case was delayed due to his medical travel abroad. Sayed-Khaiyum resigned as FijiFirst general secretary in December 2023.

The return to Fiji of University of the South Pacific Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia was another notable event of 2023. In 2021, Ahluwalia had been controversially detained and deported. Also notable was the return of the ashes of academic Brij Lal to Fiji. Bainimarama’s military government had arrested and deported Professor Lal, arguably Fiji’s foremost historian, in 2009 after he criticised the government.

Rabuka, also serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs, facilitated Kiribati’s return to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). His February 2023 meeting with the leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda, contrasted with his predecessor’s stance. Rabuka and Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea have been appointed as special envoys by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to address the West Papua issue with the Indonesian government.

The Rabuka government has recalibrated Fiji’s relationship with China, with a marked shift towards longstanding Western partners. Rabuka stated the AUKUS security pact would ‘not affect the Rarotonga Treaty nor the Non-Proliferation [of Nuclear Weapons] Treaty’. Rabuka reiterated the phrase often used by Pacific leaders — ‘friends to all, enemy to none’ — advocating for the Pacific as a ‘zone of peace’.

The announcement of a planned new Fiji Embassy in Jerusalem appeased the government’s mostly conservative base. Fiji’s vote in October 2023 at the United Nations against a humanitarian truce in Gaza faced strong opposition from Rabuka’s coalition partner the National Federation Party. The RFMF also raised concerns for its potential impact on Fijian soldiers engaged in peacekeeping duties in the Middle East.

The vote underscored Rabuka’s pro-Israel stance. A permit for a ‘Free Palestine’ march in November was denied by Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Pio Tikoduadua, drawing criticism from his own supporters and from advocacy groups. But successful pressure on Rabuka led Fiji to vote in favour of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire at the United Nations in December 2023.

Rabuka’s professed satisfaction with Japan’s plans to release over one million tons of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean over the coming decades also drew condemnation. Fiji’s parliament had unanimously supported the PIF leaders’ desire to safeguard the Pacific Ocean and preserve its resources.

The government faces future challenges and its performance will be closely scrutinised. If one of the minor parties falls out of favour with the coalition, a motion of no confidence in the prime minister could lead to Rabuka’s downfall.

Rabuka’s decision making appears ad hoc, often catching his own coalition off guard with his announcements. But Rabuka’s unpredictable nature may be linked with his desire to secure a lasting legacy as a politician and statesman.