With the adoption of the Biketawa Declaration by the South Pacific Forum, it seems Fiji will face the threat of expulsion from the Forum as well, (in addition to the threat from the Commonwealth and EU/ACP) if we do not have a Constitution that satisfies international standards in the next 12 months. Well, it is all about the Interim Administration's dogged persistance with childish behaviour and childish agenda, originating from George Speight's gang. With the whole world against us, it is still being argued by people like Joji Kotobalavu, and Kaliopate Tavola (who should know better) that the world has no business "interfering" in our internal affairs. As if the world does not have any interests in Fiji! It is said the world does not understand us indigenous Fijians. And this includes indigenous critics like this writer. Our political sovereignty to decide on our political affairs is more limited now because international agreements and international standard are taken more seriously nowadays than before.

The Secretary General of the Commonwealth has been criticised by the Interim Administration and Mrs Druavesi of the S.V.T. for his amusing comments that called some of our current Fijian leaders "kids". He has been called a paternalist and even a racist. But, many people in Fiji regard McKinnon's gentle joke as very fitting one. Don McKinnon is certainly not a racist.

In New Zealand politics, he was regarded as one of the true gentlemen of the National Party and in my view he was the best Foreign Minister of New Zealand the last forty years of the 20th Century. I visited the Commonwealth Office Secretariat in London in August and I had the privilege of discussing the situation in Fiji with two of Don McKinnon's closest advisers, Judith Pestaina and Mischal Mills. Both were black women from the Caribbean. McKinnon would not have appointed these women as his advisers had he been a "racist" and they certainly had a lot of loyalty and respect for their boss.

Don McKinnon is right to regard people who were involved in the May 19th Military induced Coup as political kids who have not matured enough to be accorded the respect due to intelligent adults. The Minister for Information and the Minister for Agriculture, for example, have been at the centre of the agitation leading up to all the three coups that we have had since 1987 and each time, they have been the beneficiaries of their own treasonous activities. They are like bully boys who could not accept defeat after a game of cards, so they burn the cards and punch up the winners. They and their Taukei Movement followers have behaved childishly and have shamed all of us as we are now regarded internationally as racists and immature kids in a family of adults. We have not been able to grow up and leave our childish ways.

In thirty years since independence, our indigenous nationalist kids have trashed three Constitutions, two of them were the result of hard and mature consultations. The Constitution, as the fundamental law of the land, is supposed to last forever. Now the same indigenous "kids" want to dictate another one with new "rules" to suit them, hoping this time it will guarantee perpetual political power. Mature people know that it is not possible in this world to have a democratic Constitution that can guarantee perpetual rule by a group of childish bullies. We are the only country in the South Pacific, and indeed the Commonwealth, that had thrown out its Constitution each time a Government led by a particular group is fairly defeated in a General Election. At the rate we are going, this group of kids will demand a new Constitution after every General Election and we have to go through the same stupid and tragic historical ritual again and again with more business closures, more unemployment, more people leaving. It is like compelling a young man who has just passed U.E. to go back to class one and start again at the end of school.

Don McKinnon surely gave a very diplomatic and effective way of reminding us that we are the laughing stock of the whole world and the international community, including the South Pacific Forum. These international organisations of mature nations are running short of tolerance for childish behaviour in Fiji. The self-inflicted stupidity of George Speight's fifty five days in the international limelight had so deeply in irreparably damaged our international reputation, with such blatantly racists statement from him and his supporters, that I doubt Fiji will ever recover from this undeserved bad image. It could get worse if the Justice Tony Gates rules in favour of the 1997 Constitution and the Interim Government and those who installed it do not accept the decision. There is only one way forward to avoid more international sanctions and more losses to Fiji and that is for everybody to accept the 1997 Constitution and a G.N.U. formed under it. Colonel Tarakinikini has signalled the way forward with his support for the 1997 Constitution.

Don McKinnon must have had in mind the above quoted epistle from Corinthians. Indeed he seems to have a finer appreciation of the bible than the former Secretary of the Bible Society of the South Pacific. Perhaps we need to hear from the former Bible Society man if he has any biblical justification for being involved more than once in the illegal overthrow of a democratically elected government. And then we have his close adviser, Dr Ahmed Ali who, once in 1982 wrote an excellent paper on the need for a Government of National Unity. It was appreciated by the former Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. But now this intellectual doyen of the Alliance Party, since 1987, had become an embittered propagandist of military coups and opponent of G.N.U. Why? He even wants to disown his Indian ancestry! What a tragic demise of good mind. The great American President and intellectual, Thomas Jefferson, once said:

"Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct".

As for Apisai Tora, people will remember he was very vocal before May 19th in his criticism of the $28,000 compensation payment to Indo-Fijian farmers whose cane farming leases expire this year and have not been renewed. He said it was an unfair as a policy of racist discrimination against the Fijian landowners. The NLTB though the same. Now as Minister of Agriculture, he decides to recommend the continuation of these payments until it is reviewed next year. What will be the alternative then? There is now deathly silence from the Taukei Movement and the S.V.T. spokespeople like Ema Druavesi, about the adoption of this Chaudhry Governments' policy by the Interim Administration! Why will they not criticise Apisai Tora now? What has changed?

It is a good thing that the Daily Post now provides for better quality S.V.T. debate to take place. This is an "internal S.V.T. debate" taking place in public. The consequence of the S.V.T. exploiting good people for the political convenience of others ambitions, is the plight Ratu Jope Seniloli (Vice President) is in now. Ratu Jope is a good simple man who was pushed into becoming President of the S.V.T. and candidate for President of Fiji under a George Speight regime. He agreed to all these out of a misplaced sense of duty to others who merely wanted to use him. Now he may become the fall guy for these other schemers in the S.V.T. who are looking to desert him. The Police should be prosecuting those Opposition Politicians who supported the George Speight gangs' criminal actions in Parliament. Some got their names on his "Cabinet list". We all know them. Why does the Interim Administration keep rewarding people who were accessories to crimes?

It is sad to see Ema Druavesi and Joe Ledua allowing themselves to be the mouthpiece and shield for the ghost writer for the Minister of Information. First of all, I was not with Mahendra Chaudhry overseas. I have not seen or spoken to Mr Chaudhry since the morning after his release from captivity. Now Dr Ali has even indulged in trying to rewrite history with the lie that "the Great Council of Chiefs, the provinces, the Methodist Church as well as the V.L.V./CDA had rejected the 1997 Constitution". As a historian, Dr Ali should have respect for facts and cite the actual records of when and where the above institutions had rejected the 1997 Constitution before the 1999 General Elections.

As for his claim that the S.V.T. Party had also formally supported the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution, that is also wrong. Whilst some members of the S.V.T. Board led by Ratu Inoke went to Parliament to express their support of George Speight's illegal seizure of the Government on 25th May, I am not aware of any decision by the S.V.T. Parliamentary Caucus or the S.V.T. Annual General Meeting, supporting the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution. Under the S.V.T. Constitution, these are the only bodies that can propose such decisions. The S.V.T. in fact was until recently publicly calling for a General Election in six months, which may be taken as an indication that the Party did not regard the 1997 Constitution as having been abrogated. It is wishful thinking on Dr Ahmed Ali's part to claim that the S.V.T. has decided that the 1997 Constitution had been effectively abrogated.

Dr Ali has not been able to move beyond his under graduate thesis submitted almost forty years ago, on the history of Muslim demand for separate political representation in Fiji. He has persuaded some S.V.T. spokespeople, like Jone Banuve and Ema Druavesi, to announce that the S.V.T. now supports separate Muslim representation in Parliament. And of course he welcomes the purported abrogation of the 1997 Constitution and the C.R.C. headed by Professor Ravuvu because it is another chance to resubmit his undergraduate thesis for implementation, albeit through the Muslim Political League. The S.V.T. spokesmen need to take serious note of Justice Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and Nazhat Shameem's in recent cases that they regard the 1997 Constitution as still in place. This may soon be followed by Justice Gate's ruling.

As for Professor Ravuvu, I had merely pointed out his odd belief that it should be possible to draw up a new State Constitution based entirely on "Fijian philosophy of life, belief systems and cultural values" and free of what he calls "alien ideologies". By this token, the Christian creed of the V.L.V./CDA Party that he stood for in the last Election would also be classified as an "alien ideology" including the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and all other parts and institutions of the Constitution. Professor Ravuvu is quite capable of explaining himself without help from Ema Druavesi, Joe Ledua or Dr Ali. Will he defend his belief?

Druavesi has referred to the I.L.O. Convention No. 169 and the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. I am familiar with these documents. The latter does not have a legal status at present. Both were drawn up for the protection of the rights of indigenous people who live as oppressed minorities in independent countries. These indigenous minorities were oppressed because they had been deprived of their land and other resources, overwhelmed demographically by other migrant communities and do not enjoy equal access to the resources and opportunities of the state. The indigenous Fijians are not a minority in Fiji, we own over 90% of the land, we have dominated the government system of this country for the last 30 years since independence and we are very likely to do so for the foreseeable future.

The indigenous rights recognised in I.L.O. Convention 169 have been protected in Fiji since the 1970 Constitution. I.L.O. Convention 169 is not about the right of indigenous people to political or any other form of supremacy over others in their country. It is also not about a right to unfairly discriminate against other communities they have to live with. No, it is about, and I quote Article 2(1) (a):

"ensuring that members of these people benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which the national law and regulations grant to other members of the population".

It is also about:

"2(i) (c) assisting the members of the people concerned to eliminate socio-economic gaps that may exist between indigenous and other members of the national community, in a manner compatible with their aspirations and ways of life".

The above proviso of I.L.O. Convention 169 are fully consistent with the relevant provisions of the 1997 Constitution.

Druavesi, Ali and Ledua should stop misrepresenting I.L.O. Convention 169 as a justification for decreeing into the 1997 Constitution provisions that are likely to diminish the rights of other communities to political representation and participation in the formation of Government, to fair treatment in the provision of and access to Government services and other public institutions, and protection from discrimination against their religion and cultural values.

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Last update: August 27, 2001