DEMOCRACY ON TRIAL

by 
Raymond Croxon Q.C.
President
Movement for Democracy In Fiji

DEMOCRACY ON TRIAL

The importance of the appeal now being heard by the Fijian Court of Appeal should not be underrated. The result will either condemn Fiji to years of strife and misery, alternatively it could restore democracy to Fiji to the lasting benefit of all of its inhabitants.

This article is inspired by a re-reading of a book written by Kenneth Bain entitled Treason at 10 giving a detailed account of the previous uprising which started on the 14th May 1987 when the army, made up almost exclusively of indigenous Fijians, quite illegally and immorally removed the lawfully elected Government of Fiji. Who engineered that coup? We all know that it was Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka a true indigenous Fijian racist interested only in trying to wrestle the control of Fiji away from the Fijian people who had expressed their choice of Government by a fair and proper election which he intentionally overturned to impose his own will on the Fijian people, whether they agreed with it or not, and having caused massive disharmony then claimed he was acting in order to prevent it. Does this sound familiar? Of course it does, this was the identical tactic deployed by Speight and his gang of hoodlums. This is now the second time a lawfully government has been elected and then deposed by a racist minority exhibiting a disgraceful affront to all the freedoms which the Commonwealth had adhered to.

It succeeded on both occasions because it was connived at and achieved by a few powerful but influential indigenous Fijians. Forget all the racial hype which surrounded its success. Speight was no Christian Knight coming to rescue an oppressed people. This was the manufactured smoke screen, for what was the true motive of Speight and his gangsters. It was to line their pockets with money which belonged to the people of Fiji. Like all gangsters he began to show his colours and those who encouraged him were the very ones to turn on him when he got out of control and did not follow their edicts.

The only difference between this latest coup and the previous one, was that the first was Rabuka's revolt, in the second, although it was probably engineered by Rabuka, it was carried out by Speight with his rebel gang. Even if I am wrong and Rabuka took a lesser part in the coup, the army in which he still remained as an influential person, really neither did nothing to prevent the coup nor took any adequate steps to prevent the brutality carried out to both Indian Fijian men and women and the wholesale theft and/or destruction to their property. The inference to be drawn from this and looking at it objectively and from afar, it is unlikely to have succeeded without the sort of intelligence and knowledge that undoubtedly Rabuka possessed.

This was treason of the most sinister kind, and the question must be asked, "How did it all happen?" "How was it that a small gang of thugs complete with guns and ammunition was allowed into the country and then permitted without serious opposition, to surround Parliament House and by force capture the Government when the same thing had only occurred some 12 years previously? It does not require a great intellect to recognise that it was inside job. Rabuka and the army knew about it and I suspect Speight had their nod and a wink to get on with it. I infer from this lack of immediate response that the army had indicated that it would not interfere, provided the Indigenous Fijians were left unharmed. It obviously got completely out of hand as had Speight himself and those behind the scenes knew they were at risk from Speight and his gang and hence engineered the arrest of Speight and the leaders of his gang and they were then charged with treason. This effectively took them out of the arena of power. Instead of Speight being in power he was replaced by a racially motivated Government effectively controlled by the army with Rabuka in the background Those who were a party to this blatant disregard of the legally enshrined Fijian Constitution will at some time in the future be asked to explain their action. As it stands, their action merely endorses all that I have previously stated. The army in turn has been the tool of the Indigenous Fijians and their Chiefs. Again, this must be put right. It may yet need a United Nations intervention in order to establish the rule of law in Fiji and the enforcement of the Fijian Constitution, but it would best be done by the Fijian people themselves through a lawfully elected Government supported by the police and the army. A Constitution is already in place all that is needed is to enforce its provisions. Hopefully the Court of Appeal will do just that.

If in the sublime ignorance of what was so obviously happening, the army simply negligently allowed the coup to take place and then permitted the installation of this present bogus un-elected Government who did not have the support of the people of Fiji and had no intention of seeking the votes of the Fiji people, the army is culpable. They would in part be responsible for all that has flowed from this as a result of their inaction. The consequence follows the same pattern as before. The economy is now at an all time low and is in such a bad state that the army should by now be realising that their own future wages may be at risk, again if they do not do so, then I regret that they are even more stupid than is possible to believe. It is they who have allowed criminal damage to be occasioned causing massive damage and destruction of homes and farms and industry. The electricity and water services have been regularly interrupted. There is such an attitude of despair and gloom about the future that it is now vital and imperative that the lawful Government is allowed to return PDQ so as to restore the economy and provide a proper plan to restore the damage and to revive the tourist industry.
Then the army must obey what the Government of the country decides should happen. To do otherwise is Treason. Only then will the well being of all the ordinary Fijian people of whatever religion or race, be under the protection of the law which thus far has failed the majority of them. The true Government will undoubtedly take steps to restore to the ordinary people of Fiji their dignity, calm and prosperity, all of which has been denied by the activity of these selfish bigoted Fijians who have been manipulating these coups. Without hope for the future what has the ordinary man to look forward to in Fiji, poverty and hard times? Yes and needlessly so for this coup was totally unnecessary. It will in the end cost the Fijian people much money, sweat and tears simply to repair the damage done let alone get an improvement to their life. The stupidity of it all is that many of those who have been persuaded to perpetrate crimes against the Fijian Indians will by now be equal sufferers with them as when the infra structure of society is severely damaged as it has been twice in 12 years, everybody suffers in the end.

What a different future it would have been if the coups had not taken place? The Fijian people would not be facing a bleak future the economy would be strong and industry thriving.. The Fijian people should be given back their lost economy, which has been damaged as the foreseeable consequence of the coups. That this new catastrophe should re-appear within 12 years of the previous coup beggars belief. The Fijian people do not deserve this, and this time those who are responsible must be made to pay the price of the crimes they have committed and to pay for the damage that they have caused. It is only in this way will the message get home to this minority group of misled people that the cost to them of what they did, will outweigh any possible benefit they may achieve by attempting another coup.

There is now no room for any mercy for those who are found guilty and they must not just simply be arrested and charged with complicity and then given a pardon. All who are involved must be brought to trial. Those found innocent will escape but will not dare do anything like it again. Those who are found guilty must be punished and made to forfeit their wealth. Only by making examples of these treacherous people will Fijians finally put this sad and disruptive chapter of Fijian history at rest. The mistake of being lenient, as happened in the past, must not be repeated. The people of Fiji deserve nothing less than this, which is simply to let Justice be done.

I would like to cite what Kenneth Bain says on p223 of his book written in 1988, "Supporters of the Lange Government's policy of appeasement might now like to ask themselves what have we gained by snuggling up to the Brig (Rabuka) …Have we stopped racial oppression, or halted the slide into economic ruin and political chaos? No, we have not!"

To conclude I will cite a passage of a Foreword to Kenneth Bain's book by Dr. Timoci Bavadra in 1988. He said this "Images of brutalities, intimidations and other forms of coercion directed at so many innocent people are difficult to erase. Equally vivid is my continuing concern about economic crisis into which our country was plunged, prompting a surge in unemployment and poverty. I was also concerned about the carefully manufactured racism which spread its divisive, and destructive tentacles through our society and has become part of the institutionalised fabric of public life. What happened and is still happening in my country should lead us all to examine the motivation for human oppression and to ponder the inhumane indignities so often inflicted by those who call themselves civilized." This is as apposite today as it was in 1988 when it was written.

The first labour Government lasted 32 days, the second one sometime longer. The second Government must be reinstated and allowed to run its proper course. The first Government was not allowed to do so and look what misery that has caused. If the culprits had been brought to justice after the first coup the second one might never have started or been allowed to flourish. The only hope for Fiji is that all the people of Fiji should support the elected Government and to accept the right of the Government to impose law and order as dictated by that Government and their legally appointed officers of the law and the Courts. Any attempt to challenge this authority must be rigorously opposed. Any attempt to interfere in any way with the Government should lead to arrest and trial of all concerned on the grounds of treason and all persons found guilty, to suffer the proper punishment as imposed by the law. Otherwise anarchy will return yet again and again to Fiji. In support of this strong measure must also be a decree that racism itself must be made a serious offence applicable to all of the people of Fiji without exception. All persons are equal in the eyes of the law.