Fiji deports Fiji-born Australian academic Dr Brij Lal
Updated
Fijian-born, Australian academic Brij Lal says he was subjected to intense verbal abuse, foul language and explosive anger, while in detention in Suva this week. But, arriving back in Australia, Professor Lal says he suffered nothing the people of Fiji don't already suffer daily. His return to Australia came with diplomatic tensions still high after this week's diplomatic expulsions which have left relations between Fiji on the one hand, and Australia and New Zealand on the other at a new low. Meanwhile, United Nations officials in New York say they're checking a claim that a Fijian army figure accused of human rights abuses is being sent to join Fiji's U-N contingent in Iraq.
Presenter: Canberra Correspondent, Linda Mottram
Speakers: Dr Brij Lal, Australian National University; Prof Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University
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MOTTRAM: Tired but unbowed Brij Lal, a 30 year veteran of research and writing on Fiji, arrived back in Australia relieved and touched, he says, by his welcome.
LAL: First of all I want to say that I was really touched by the words a police officer spoke to me when my plane landed in Sydney. She said to me, welcome home Sir, we'll protect you. Reassuring words that are beyond me to describe.
MOTTRAM: He says he was detained Wednesday in Suva for three hours in custody and subjected to a very unpleasant interrogation.
LAL: It is very difficult to distill that experience into words but intense verbal abuse, foul language, and explosive anger on the part of the officer who was interrogating me. There was no physical assault, but I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to leave the country within 24 hours voluntarily. They won't deport me but there was no place for me in Fiji at the moment.
MOTTRAM: He says such a circumstance is always one of fear.
LAL: But my personal agony and difficulties are nothing compared to what is endured by the people of Fiji on a regular basis.
MOTTRAM: Brij Lal has recently been based in Fiji to research a book and seems somewhat bemused that after many years of making clear his views on coups in Fiji he's wound up effectively expelled on this occasion. He believes it's because of his interviews with the Australian media in recent days on Fiji's expulsion of Australian and New Zealand diplomats, which he's called hugely counter-productive for Fiji. And while Professor Lal is critical of the effectiveness of sanctions against the Bainimarama regime, he says equally diplomatic expulsions and coup governments can't be allowed to pass without response.
LAL: The international community has to say to the regime that what is happening there is unacceptable, that overthrowing democracy by force is not the way for Fiji or for any other country in the region or elsewhere.
MOTTRAM: Professor Lal's main base is the Australian National University in Canberra where he's been for 20 years. His boss, the ANU's Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Chubb, has condemned the actions against Professor Lal, a person Professor Chubb describes as deeply devoted to Fiji and its people.
CHUBB: The ANU has a policy that as a public institution in this country that academics have not just a right but an obligation to speak out on matters of public importance, and particularly those that are in substantial contemporary issues. And when they do do that then the university stands with them and stands behind them and will support them.
MOTTRAM: The events of recent days have left open the question of how the region can bring Fiji back into the democratic fold. There's widespread agreement that resorting to economic or trade sanctions would be counter-productive. But there are continuing questions about the role of Fiji's soldiers in UN peacekeeping, which ensures a steady flow of UN income to Fiji's military families. Another ANU academic focused on Fiji, Dr John Fraenkel, has written that the situation is outrageous. He also says that Fiji has designated Colonel Pita Driti to head the Fiji guard unit in Iraq. Colonel Driti is described by Dr Fraenkel as one of the military commanders most implicated in human rights abuses since the coup. He's also the subject of a long-running dispute with Malaysia, which refused to accept him as Fiji's High Commissioner over his human rights record. In a statement the United Nations has told Radio Australia that it does not have confirmation about Fiji's intentions for Colonel Driti, but that it's seeking clarification from Suva. It also notes that personnel alleged to have committed human rights abuses or other illegal activities will not be accepted to serve in UN peace operations.
