Kiwiblog

Very stupid. Fiji is going to go ahead and expel the NZ High Commissioner today.

If Fiji wants the travel restriictions lifted, then they need to make progress towards elections.

Commodore Bainimarama seems to be very misguided if he thinks he is in a position to demand NZ issue visas to various family members of Fijian officials.

Such a demand would guarantee the Government won’t issue a waiver. If he wants waivers, then you have to make concessions, not threats. Such as a firm timetable for elections.

The threat is very lame – expelling our Acting High Commissioner. So what? It hurts Fiji far more not having NZ diplomatic presence, than it does NZ.

And this morning, they have expelled TVNZ’s Barbara Dreaver. Again, the Commodore is getting bad advice if he thinks this upset the Government at all.

I’m open to persuasion that the Commodore has good motives – his planned reforms to get rid of race based voting are laduable. But the longer he remains the self-appointed ruler, without taking concrete steps towards elections, the longer sanctions will remain. The way ahead lies with him.

The Fijian Government complained about an interview with Michael Field on Nine to Noon on 7 March 2008. Radio NZ rejected the complaint so they went to the BSA. And they won.

They’ve sent me a copy of the decision: bsa-decision-28-8-08 (large pdf) that upholds four complaints of inaccuracy.

Now I have been a pretty strong critic of the Commodore and his Government myself. But there is no reason to make things sound worse than they really are there. The four items the BSA upheld were:

1. Radio NZ were wrong to state the management of Fiji Broadcasting was military appointed (the Board is unchanged from before the coup)
2. Radio NZ were wrong to broadcast that a journalist had been given just 8 days notice to leave Fiji when it was 21 days
3. Radio NZ was wrong to state a Judge who got mugged had publicly criticised a report which upheld the legality of the coup. There was no evidence the Judge had done this, yet alone if it was linked
4. Radio NZ were wrong to state the Judge’s house was burnt down, when it was not

Radio NZ do not have to broadcast a correction. The publication of the finding is meant to be “punishment” enough. The BSA hasn’t actually got around to putting it up on their website yet despite the decision being made on 28 August 2008.

No Right turns covers some salient points of the proposed charter.

I beleive the coup was quite unjustified (and illegal), and the military Government has engaged in some nasty thuggish activities. I also doubt the Commodore will even really give up power (I suspect he plans to become President).

But I will say that his proposed charter would be a lot better for Fiji in the long term, than the current racially divisive constitution. Now that does not mean coups are a legitimate way to deliver better Government. They are not – and at this stage the charter is only words. But the charter does represent some light at the end of the tunnel.

Some key aspects:

• replaces racially divided seats with a one person, one vote system
• Introduce anti-discrimination laws
• remove the requirement for all major parties to be offered a place in Government, so that there is a functioning Opposition
• reduce the voting age to 18 from 21
• Abolish compulsory voting
• an independent Commission against Corruption (we need one of those in NZ also)

There are some aspects not so good, such as compulsory military service, and expanding the role of the military. They claim these are to stop the coup culture. I think it may be too late for that.

The current electoral system is not just racist but a gerrymander. One seat has 3,340 registered voters and another has 19,044. A voter in the first seat has six times the effect of a voter in the second seat. If the Commodore does get a truly democratic electoral system in place, he will be doing a good thing.

Back in March I blogged:

When I read that Foreign Ministers could not get an election timetable out of Fiji, but are hopeful there will be one next month, I am reminded of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Each time he goes for it, Commodore Lucy pulls it away!

This is still happening. There is no chance there will be elections by March 2009. In fact there is no chance of any free elections. Already the Commodore is talking of banning the former governing party, or members from it anyway.

When I read that Foreign Ministers could not get an election timetable out of Fiji, but are hopeful there will be one next month, I am reminded of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. Each time he goes for it, Commodore Lucy pulls it away!

Talking of Fiji, The Press reports a complaint from Fiji Solicitor-General Christopher Pryde regarding a recent interview on Radio NZ regarding Fiji. While I am far from a fan of the Fiji administration, I would not assume their complaint is without merit. I understand there were a reasonable number of straight out factual inaccuracies in the interview.

The NZ Herald editorial on Fiji is grim reading:

The Fiji Sun had run a series of articles accusing Fiji’s Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, of tax evasion. The junta’s response was a blatant act of intimidation against a newspaper trying to do its job. It made a mockery of Commodore Bainimarama’s assurances that his Administration would uphold media freedom …

 The attempt to tighten control does not stop there. This month, Commodore Bainimarama appointed himself head of the Great Council of Chiefs. This powerful group has sometimes been the voice of reason as Fiji stumbled through a succession of military coups. It can serve that role no longer. In addition, Police Commissioner Esala Teleni has warned Fijians not to speak out against the Administration. All this points to a determination to stifle debate, rather than a broadening of the regime’s tolerance to a wide range of viewpoints, the necessary precursor if a return to democracy is seriously contemplated.

Increasingly, it appears that any concessions Commodore Bainimarama makes are merely a response to aid-related ultimatums, especially from the European Union. There is nothing to suggest that he is genuinely intent on creating a united Fiji or that he is benignly shepherding it back to democracy.

The Commodore I suspect will never give up power.