Editorial: Fiji is not yet a proper democracy
Monday, 12 September 2016
OPINION: Fiji is not yet a democracy, despite the democratic elections in 2014. Democracies do not detain opposition politicians whose only crime is to hold a meeting, as happened in Fiji this weekend.
It's not clear exactly what game the police were playing when they detained National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad and others. It is astonishing that Sitiveni Rabuka, leader of the 1987 Fiji coup but now an opposition party leader, and former Fiji PM and Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhry, both felt they had to turn themselves in to police.
None of this would have happened in a normally democratic country, where politicians are free to meet and discuss whatever they like. A police spokeswoman, Ana Naisoro, blusters that several people were being questioned about remarks which 'could affect the safety and security of all Fijians.'
The police action looks like a deliberate attempt to cow opposition politicians and in particular to crush debate about the 2013 constitution brought in by then-dictator Frank Bainimarama. The meeting of politicians and trade union members coincided with the Government's new public holiday for Constitution Day, which Prasad had called a 'waste of money' and government 'propaganda.'
Prasad was right, but Constitution Day is a permanent reminder that Bainimarama imposed the constitution during the period when he was dictator following his coup in 2006. Somewhere behind the police action must be the dead hand of the dictator, who now claims to be a democratic politician following his landslide win in the democratic elections of 2014.
Bainimarama's old habits die hard, it seems. In June he insulted the New Zealand prime minister, John Key, during his visit to Fiji - the first by a New Zealand premier in 10 years. Bainimarama defended his blacklisting of foreign journalists, including a New Zealander, in a lengthy speech which was a clear snub to his guest.
This was not just an insult to a democratic leader who was trying to support Fiji's attempt to turn over a new leaf. It was also, in a way, a sign of contempt for democracy itself. Democracy is not just an uncoerced ballot, it is the daily habit of respecting human rights and the freedom of the media. Without those rights, democracy is only half alive.
The Fiji Government has shown that it does not understand the need for freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. But this latest incident raises other difficult problems. Bainimarama recently reshuffled his Cabinet and took the foreign affairs portfolio for himself. This is in a sense a merely symbolic move, since everyone understood that Bainimarama was in charge of foreign affairs anyway. But it also underlines Bainimarama's determination to take his country on an eccentric and dangerous path that reflects little but the politician's own obsessions and grudges.
The round-up of opposition leaders was intended to disrupt the annual Pacific Island Forum meeting as part of Bainimarama's campaign against New Zealand and Australian membership of the organisation. Bainimarama seems likely to cause more trouble for Fiji, the South Pacific and democracy.