FIJI: Bainimarama appoints himself top Fijian Chief.
Updated
There's been an uproar in Fiji today over the news interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has appointed himself as the Chairman of the "Great Council of Chiefs". The GCC is the highest representative body for indiginous Fijians. Since the 2006 coup the Council's influence has waned significantly, but for many this latest move is being seen as a step too far.
Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Journalist Atu Naisa, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation
COONEY: For indigenous Fijians the Great Council of Chiefs plays a role in every part of their life. Atu Naisa is a journalist with Fiji Broadcasting Corporation's Fiji Language Service.
NAISA: The core council that governs the fabric of Fijian life. Every decision that's made by government or from outside of Fiji that will affect the Fijian people have to go through the Great Council of Chiefs and it is very important. Once they endorse whatever comes into them, and that can be either be put in law for Fijian people or if they're rejected, that's it. It's a very important body.
COONEY: But since taking power in the December 2006 coup, Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama's made it clear he doesn't think the GCC has much of a role in modern Fiji. Last year he set up a review of the council, to see how it could fit into his future vision, and last week the review committee, presented him with its report. One of its recommendations was that neither the Prime Minister, the President, or Vice President, should be a member of the council, to help ensure it doesn't take a side in national politics. After he received it, Commodore Bainimarama said publicly he accepted its findings. What he didn't say was at the same time President Ratu Josefa Iloillo had signed off, on the Commodore's self-appointment as Chairman of the Council. The news became public, with the release of the government gazette. Atu Naisa says the response hasn't been good.
NAISA: When last year, they decided to review, to form a committee, to review the role of the GCC into today's modern world, one thing they stressed to us, that is the interim administration is that they want a new GCC that will be free from all political alignments, political informant, and all sorts of things. But appointing himself as the GCC Chairman, that defeats all the purpose in what it's been telling us all through the year.
COONEY: Last week after accepting the findings of the review Commodore Bainimara flew to India. He's still there, and so far no one from the interim government's saying anything on his behalf. But becoming GCC Chairman, combined with being interim prime minister of a military backed government, gives him an incredible amount of power. Many indigenous Fijians have been unhappy with some of the decisions he's interim cabinet have made, relating to land use, voting, and even the appointment of executives in the public service. Since December 2006 most of them have been either reserved, or completely silent. Atu Naisa says this week many of those critics are going public.
NAISA: All of them all seem surprised and all they are saying that it's very un-Fijian just to nominate yourself to the position that's highly regarded in the Fijian society and now the chiefs who have been keeping quiet throughout the 2006 and 2007 are speaking out publicly and it's really serious now, because with Fijian indigenous population, once you pass onto the land and you pass on to something that's sacred to them, like their chiefs which is the members of the GCC, it's a different story altogether.
