Dr Fred Sevele says the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit in Vanuatu should try to reach out to Fiji while remaining committed to the principles of democracy and good governance. He says dialogue with the current Fiji government would not mean legitimising it.
Dr Sevele also says it is quite understandable that Australian prime minister Julia Gillard will not be attending the forum personally because of the general election campaign. But he would like Australia and New Zealand to see that isolating Fiji is not good for anyone.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Dr Fred Sevele, Tonga's prime minister
SEVELE: I think it is important to realise that at the end of the day the future of Fiji in terms of its government, in terms of its development, of its democracy, is something for the people of Fiji to resolve, not for us from outside of Fiji to determine how we would assist. We would certainly like Fiji to come back and be part of the international community or the forum according to the governor's rules and policies of the forum.
HILL: Can Fiji do that if it's under an unelected coup-installed military government?
SEVELE: Well, what's the alternative, Bruce?
HILL: Eh democracy.
SEVELE: You've got to engage with the government.
HILL: Even a government that was installed with the point of a gun?
SEVELE: Well, the other side is no engagement at all, so which is the better alternative. The forum wants to keep the lines of dialogue open and this is also said by Australia and New Zealand. We all believe that. If they need assistance, we should be willing to consider that. But the alternative is to have no communication with Fiji and I don't think that is a wise course of action in the long run.
HILL: But if you engage in dialogue with a government like that, doesn't that in some sense legitimise it and make it very difficult to criticise a government that happens the next time some thug with a gun strolls into a parliament somewhere?
SEVELE: No, I don't think by engaging you're legitimising. I think that is two separate issues. I don't take that point.
HILL: Do you think that the forum is in fact divided on this? Is it Australia and New Zealand on one side, Fiji on the other and island countries caught in the middle, not wanting to offend Australia and New Zealand but perhaps sympathetic to the Fiji interim government in some respects?
SEVELE: I don't think that the division or divisiveness as you put it is quite that. Last week, I think Stephen Smith said they need to continue, they need to be talking and I think the question was put to him 'should we all withdraw, should Australia withdraw from Fiji' and he said no, that is not the way to go. And I think that sums it up. Whilst there are difficulties, as long as the lines of communication remain open, that is better than no lines of communication at all and at least the possibility are there for re-engagement, for talking things through.
HILL: Is there two messages coming out of the Pacific though, that the Engaging Fiji with the Pacific meeting island countries came out more or less in support of the commodore's road map, but at the forum they are probably going to support Australia and New Zealand's policy? Are we getting two completely separate messages?
SEVELE: Look, I think this is the mistake that people look at it - Australians on one side, the rest on the other. It's not quite black and white like that. For example, we Tonga have had the longest relationship with Fiji I think than any other Pacific Island and we've got blood ties, we've got Tongans living in Fiji, we've got Lau, half of Lau are Tongan and part Tongans. So engaging with Fiji is part and parcel of our foreign policy, of our relationship from over 100 years ago. Are we going just to say 'well Fiji, because we've got a military government we are not going to have anything to do with you'? Tonga's foreign policy from 1875 prior to that, and that's why we're not colonised, we're friends with all and enemies with none and I think Bruce we have never been colonised and that was one of the strongest reasons why we were able to do that.
