THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT AND A NATIONAL DIALOGUE
The Pacific Institute of Pubic Policy (PiPP) has today released a briefing paper on the Fiji crisis, calling for international engagement and the commencement of a national dialogue to bring an end to military rule.
International condemnation of the self imposed military regime has been loud, most noticeably from Australia and New Zealand. The briefing paper recognises the barrage of criticism is not without some validity, but judges the policy of international isolation as failing the peoples of Fiji and the region. Calling for an immediate return to democracy seems straightforward, and it is simple to condemn outright the sort of dictatorship that Commodore Bainimarama is busy implementing. But PiPP spokesman Derek Brien says “the situation in Fiji is anything but simple or straightforward and misreading the complexity and history divorces the discourse from reality.” The reality is that Bainimarama is there and showing no sign of going away. Non-engagement will only prolong his hold on power.
The PiPP briefing paper explores the evolution of the crisis, unearthing a host of fault lines that have long simmered. Apart from the indigenous Fijian versus Indo-Fijian issue is the east-west rivalry, which sees the more Melanesian west long ruled by Polynesian eastern kingdoms. There is spiritual rivalry between the dominant Methodist Church and other faiths including Catholicism, Hinduism and Islam. On top of this is a lingering class struggle, which has united many ordinary workers of all ethnic backgrounds in a sense that they are being exploited by their own elites. Add to the mix a disparate group of individuals, all for diverse reasons, exploiting the tensions and divisions for their own gain.
For decades the Australian, New Zealand and US alliance invested their political capital in making Fiji the hub of the Pacific only to have Bainimarama pull the rug from under them in 2006. Fiji has already been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum and suspension from the Commonwealth is looming. The rhetoric from Canberra and Wellington is especially terse, and yet it seems that if the international response remains negative then nothing, outside inciting rebellion there, is going to change Fiji’s course for the next few years. PiPP suggests that the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a sub-regional political alliance, hold the key to brokering Fiji’s return to the community of nations.
PiPP also calls on the military government of Fiji to lift its censorship of the media and restrictions on political activity. Mr Brien says “for Fiji to reconcile the deep-seated hostilities and mistrust that have long plagued the political landscape, there needs to be a rigourous, participatory national dialogue and that should commence without delay”.
A copy of the briefing paper is available here.
