Kaliopate Tavola, the Interim Administration's Minister of Foreign Affairs, has just returned from visiting Europe with rather over-blown triumphalism. His "success" in warding off European Community Council sanctions for the time being is taken as endorsement of the time frame and objectives of the Constitution Review Commission. This is misleading because the European Parliament Resolution on Fiji is still operative and can be resorted to again. What had been merely decided is a wait and see strategy with a strong warning that Fiji must observe its international obligations in drawing up a new Constitution. What are these international obligations?

The first is obviously the requirement of the Cotonou Agreement for respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law. These could be invoked at any time resulting in the partial or full suspension of Fiji from the benefits of the Cotonou Agreement.

Another is the UN International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1969; which Fiji had ratified. Article 2(a) of that Convention says:
"2(a) Each state party undertake to engage in no act of or practice discrimination against persons, groups of persons, or institutions and to ensure that all public authorities and public institutions national and local shall act in conformity with this obligation".
So in drawing up a new Constitution, the Interim Administration is obliged to ensure that none of the provisions breach the above quoted Convention or, might in anyway trigger a complaint to the relevant United Nations Committee, or the European Community Council. The way the Interim Administration is carrying on, with this threat to decree a law that will force Journalists to reveal their sources is sending the wrong message to the international community.

From another perspective, John Battle the Junior Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in U.K. had warned Tavola that the new Constitution should be widely supported in Fiji. The British Foreign Office and the European Community Council know, that the primary aim of most of the members of the C.R.C. and their supporters in the Interim Administration and the public, is to draw up a new Constitution that enshrines George Speight supporters' notion of indigenous Fijian political supremacy. This is stated at the beginning of the C.R.C. Term of Reference. That is a notion beyond the recognition in the COMPACT Chapter of the 1997 Constitution, of the paramountcy of indigenous interests as a guiding principle to be taken into account in resolving ethnic and other conflicts. Will this mean reservation of the Prime Minister and President positions to indigenous Fijians and a return to a more lop sided Communal System of representation in the Parliament? More racially discriminatory Government development programmes in favour of indigenous Fijians? We will see what in practice indigenous supremacy really means. And what the international reaction will be to their report. The strategy of the Interim Administration is to have the Constitution drawn up by May 2001 and then spend another 18 months using it is a Campaign card for the next General Election. One might well ask: Do Fijian voters eat supremacist Constitution?

Nonetheless, the C.R.C. is also obliged to ensure that we have a democratic constitution that meets the principles of the Harare Declaration so that we can resume membership of the Commonwealth. Amongst the declared principles of the Harare Declaration are:
"…equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, race, colour, creed or political belief and in the individuals inalienable right to participate by means of free and democratic political processes in framing the society in which he or she lives"."We recognise racial prejudice and racial intolerance is a dangerous sickness and a threat to healthy development, and racial discrimination as an unmitigated evil"."We oppose all forms of racial oppression, and we are committed to the principles of human dignity and equality".

That is only part of what Harare requires to be reflected in the new Constitution. The 1997 Constitution was regarded as satisfying the Harare principles and thus enabled us to resume membership of the Commonwealth in 1998. That Constitution was internationally acclaimed as one of the best in the world. But George Speight and his supporters think otherwise. Except for the Electoral System, which needs reviewing, I cannot see how this Commission can improve in any significant way on the Reeves Commission Report and the 1997 Constitution. So will they in the end just resubmit the 1997 Constitution as the one? Statements by Qarase at the United Nations were hinting that this might be the result they want.

However, the new Chairman, Professor Asesela Ravuvu is on record as preferring the 1990 Constitution. In an interview in the Daily Post on September 2nd he said this:
"The 1990 Constitution simply safeguards the indigenous rights and values and the 1997 was aimed at bringing the two major races together, which may be described as an exercise in political idealism. And for anyone to believe that any Constitution will bring two different races together is naïve.""People have to note that nothing makes anyone forget the reality of race…The 1997 Constitution certainly doesn't safeguard the plight of the indigenous people. Because any constitution that has been influenced from outside and with alien ideals or ideologies cannot effectively safeguard the plights of the indigenous people who have different philosophy of life supported by their cultural value and belief system.""A Constitution which strives to enhance equality among all races without being sensitive to cultural differences and the economic, social and political development stages each ethnic group has reached is bound to cause more problems than what the Constitution has intended to resolve…the Constitution has been a source of contention and struggle and any right thinking mind will note that both the races have rejected the document."
Ravuvu has a misconception about the purpose of the 1997 Constitution. It was designed to encourage the different political parties and communities to come together in the formation of a government and to work together in running the government. That is not "political idealism" but political realism. We have had a history of political competition between predominantly race based political parties that had deepened distrust and suspicion resulting in the coups of 1987. The May 19th seizure of the Chaudhry-led Coalition Government was the continuation of that legacy of distrust, stoked up by defeated and power hungry politicians in the Opposition Parties and factions in the Coalition Government. Professor Ravuvu displays his ignorance of the 1997 in calling those experienced political leaders from all sides who decided on that Constitution, "naïve". He is the one who is naïve in continuing to believe in the false dogma that there is a Constitutional and democratic solution to the desire for Fijian Political supremacy and the "problem" of Fijian political disunity.

He also believes in the nonsense that a Constitution can adequately safeguard Fijian cultural values and institutions from the powerful influences that we are subjected to in the modern age, which includes what he derisively calls "alien ideologies". The Constitution is only a legal framework of principles that may guide government efforts in redressing inequalities of opportunities, access to resources and cultural disadvantages that have persisted throughout our history. Unfortunately, Ravuvu invests too much unreal expectations in what the Constitution, as a political system, can be expected to deliver for indigenous Fijians, or to shield them from foreign influences. To claim that his Committee can devise a State Constitution that accords with indigenous philosophy of life (whatever that is), culture and belief system, is amusing and surprising, coming from a Professor who had closely studied Fijian village communities and is widely regarded as an expert on Fijian culture.

In an interview in Nai Lalakai last week 19th October, Ravuvu particularly welcomed the four Indo Fijian Christian members (whom he called "vulagi") and said it was wonderful to have these four Christians because it would mean they should have the same beliefs and understanding of the ordinary indigenous Fijians. Ravuvu does not believe in looking beyond Fiji as he thinks the Commission should spend most of it's time talking to Fijians at the "grassroots" about the Constitution that they want. So it seems the Chairman (as a former candidate of the V.L.V.) is interested in a "Christian" Constitution (whatever that is) which accords with the minority nationalist Fijian notion of political supremacy. His mind is already made up.

You have to wonder why the Professor venerates so much the "constitutional wisdom" of the regular yaqona drinking Fijian men in the villages. These unhealthy Fijian men spend most of their time drinking grog late into the night, talking "politics" and sleeping most of the day whilst the women do most of the work for keeping the families fed and clothed. They hardly pay any taxes nor do they create employment or export income for Fiji. Yet to Professor Ravuvu, these are the people whose opinion is most important for deciding the system of Government appropriate for Fiji in the 21st Century! As he said to Nai Lalakai, the more money that can be provided, the better the access they will have to these grassroots constitutional authorities on what is best for the Taukei.

It has been noted that the C.R.C. is just a "Jobs for the boys" gesture from the Interim Administration to accommodate those who could not become Ministers. The C.R.C. members will be getting paid close to $70,000 a year for tripping around the country to drink grog and engage in "consultations" that will be basically a waste of time. People like Rakuita Vakalalabure and Berenado Vunibobo are being rewarded for their support of George Speight's gang's criminal actions in Parliament. They are enjoying "respectability" whilst ordinary law abiding journalists at the F.B.C, who were merely doing their jobs, are being treated as criminals by the FMF and Inoke Kubuabola.

Twelve men of the C.R.C. will collectively receive $1.7 million from the public purse for doing work that is not needed, whilst the Social Welfare Department is every week turning away hundreds of destitute citizens (most of whom lost their jobs because of the Coup) because there is no money! The Citizens' Constitutional Forum I believe could do a better job of reviewing the 1997 Constitution in less time for a fraction of the income that one member of the Commission will get.

It is gratifying to note (FT 24/10/2000) that Colonel Filipo Tarakinkini has eventually come to share our view that the 1997 Constitution is the best for Fiji. I hope that his colleagues in the top brass of the FMF now also share Tarakinikini's belief. Meanwhile, the FMF wanted more than the $10 million increase in its budget, for a national security and emergency situation that its own members of the CRW Unit started on May 19th. And we have about seven thousand people who have lost their jobs and this figure will rise steeply in the next 12 months. Employers do not believe in the Interim Administration's ability pull us out of the depression we are in. No wonder so many people are disillusioned with this country and have left or are planning to leave. The majority can't leave for greener pastures because they do not have qualifications.

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Last update: August 27, 2001