Mixed response greets Fiji PM's political roadmap speech
Updated
Fiji's interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama has delivered a national address, once again outlining his plans for electoral reform. He also made a plea for international understanding and more help from donor nations.
Presenter:Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Frank Bainimarama, Fiji interim prime minister; Dr Brij Lal, Australian National University; Jenny Hayward Jones, Lowy Institute
- Listen:
- Windows Media
COONEY: To discuss what was said by the Commodore I'm now joined by Doctor Brij Lal from the Australian National University, a Fiji born political lecturer and researcher focussing on the Pacific, and also one of the authors of the 1997 Fiji constitution. Also on the line is Jenny Hayward Jones, who is the Director of the Myer Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. To both of you welcome and thank you for joining us...
LAL: Thank you.
COONEY: I'm curious what your initial impressions are? I'll start with you Jenny Hayward Jones:
HAYWARD JONES: Campbell I was expecting to hear a little bit more of the Commodore's roadmap for the future which he portrayed this speech as. It was a little disappointing, it was a little bit I think a lot more of the same in terms of the political reform, which is fairly minimal. But I think the emphasis on the economy was quite interesting. I mean clearly the Commodore is worried about Fiji's economic situation and is making a plea to international donors and the financial institutions to help.
LAL: His speech is full of platitudes, and I'm talking about paradigm shift and thinking outside the box and agent of change; I mean what do these things mean? I think the second thing is that he's got the whole priority wrong; there will be no economic investment in Fiji unless there is political stability and the rule of law. The emphasis has been on he's trying to talk up the economy, what's going on, but I would have liked to have heard more about his roadmap for taking the country back to parliamentary democracy. The question has to be asked why so late? Why September 2012? Why not begin the process now?
COONEY: We'll get to some of those points now very soon and they're very good ones as well, but just sticking with that economic forecast for a moment there, is his ideas right, has the devaluation of the dollar been the positive impact that he's saying it is and is Fiji going to ride this out better than perhaps many might think and many have forecast that it actually will?
HAYWARD JONES: Well I think the devaluation's helped a little but I think it's only a temporary panacea and it's certainly not a solution to Fiji's long term economic problems or even a solution to getting them out of their financial crisis.
COONEY: Brij Lal you have a lot to do still with Fiji, I mean what impact are you hearing about what it's having over there?
LAL: Well I think the Commodore he underestimated the impact of the coup. I've been reliably informed that he was informed by certain businessmen in Fiji that six months after the coup things would return normal and investment would flow and so on. I was in Fiji just last month for a month, and you can see the effects of it, the devaluation has really hit the poorer sections of the community. I read a statistic the other day that something like 50 to 60 per cent of the working force is living below the poverty line. The economy is not improving and certainly the sugar industry is still reeling from the effect of flooding last year. There are no signs of new investment, so as I said he's putting the cart before the horse.
COONEY: The sugar industry certainly came in for a mention during that address and the positive outlook, now I think that's really the only person I've heard speak positively about the outlook for the sugar industry in Fiji was in that address?
LAL: Indeed, I mean if you talk to anyone who is even remotely familiar with the industry in Fiji you realise that the industry is in the doldrums and the prospects for recovery are particularly in view of this stance taken by the European Union don't look very bright at all.
COONEY: Ok let's move on to the constitution, 2012 before we have a new one, can things be held together?
HAYWARD JONES: I'm just wondering like Professor Lal why we have to wait until September 2012 to see any discussion about a new constitution. I mean firstly I'm not convinced there's genuine popular support for a new constitution. The 1997 constitution which I'm sure Professor Lal will acknowledge is a very fine document and world class. But if there is a need to change it then why do you wait another three years to even talk about it? We already have the People's Charter for Change apparently agreed to by the people and by the President, that's the starting point, why not start now? I'm just not sure what he's going to do to engage the populace until 2012 and keep them involved in a political process.
LAL: What the Commodore has said is that the whole process of consultation will not be confined to political parties but will involve NGOs, civil society and so on. Frankly, I read this as a very ominous sign, I mean a constitution belongs to every citizen of the country and every citizen ought to have the right to participate in at least expressing their views about what ought to be in it. Now the Commodore has said repeatedly in the past that SDL will never come back to power, that Mr Qarase will return to parliament over his dead body, things like that, so when you look at what the Commodore has said in the past and what he is saying now... I hate to say this but doubts remain in my mind about inclusiveness, transparency and those sorts of things. He's saying the right words but just today I mean he has extended the state of emergency of public emergency regulations until December. There is no freedom of speech; there is censorship of the press, the media, so how do you gauge public opinion in this kind of context?
COONEY: We're having a look on Pacific Beat at the address made by Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, a direct speech or a presentation you might say looking at the strategic vision for Fiji's future. Joining me is Professor Brij Lal from the Australian National University and Jenny Hayward Jones from the Myer Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Look it was a positive speech, it spoke in great terms about the future for Fiji, I don't think anyone would be really surprised, I doubt you would ever hear a political leader get up and say that things are grim or at least take credit or take the blame for things being grim. Who is he trying to get to with this address? Who is he trying to impress or who is he trying to get onboard with this presentation?
LAL: Basically I mean what he's trying to do is to get the attention of the international community; he's trying to persuade investors and what you call development partners to engage with the interim administration. But I think there's a problem here; the problem is this that the international community will not engage unless there is a definite commitment on the part of the interim administration to uphold the rule of law.
COONEY: What do you think Jenny Hayward Jones?
HAYWARD JONES: Well as you said Campbell it's a fine positive speech, the problem is it lacked a sense of genuineness. I think like Professor Lal he's seeking clearly to engage I think the international financial institutions, firstly the IMF and the World Bank to convince them that he is committed to economic reform, he's committed to reduction in government expenditure and modernising government infrastructure; these are all things which are attractive to the multilateral banks, and obviously seeking to appeal to traditional donors as well to convince them that he has a plan for the future. I'm concerned that he just hasn't spelled out any substance really for how he's going to do this. I mean we've been given the titles of the reforms but not how they're going to be enacted. What's also very concerning to me is that he hasn't discussed the role of the military at all in the future. Now if you're going to have a new constitution then and new elections I think the role of the military needs to be really clearly defined, and Commodore Bainimarama needs to outline what he sees as the role of the military and we had no discussion at all of that.
LAL: Now there's no doubt in my mind that the kind of parliamentary Westminster democracy that we had in the past will not be there in the future. The military will now be an entrenched part of any system of government we have in Fiji. Already as we know a number of senior military officers without resigning their commission have been appointed to senior positions in the public service.
COONEY: He has asked for international assistance and do you think that they're going to be listening?
HAYWARD JONES: Certainly for traditional donors I think they'll look beyond kind of all the rhetoric on economic reform and look to what the political reform outline is, and as we've seen it's very vague. September 2012 is far too late to be starting to talk about electoral reform and a new constitution. So I think you're going to get a pretty negative response from the traditional donors from Australia and New Zealand.
COONEY: Would you agree with that Brij Lal?
LAL: I agree completely, yes..
