PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

The Contemporary Pacific
Vol. 19, No. 2 Fall 2007, pp. 578-582

Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2006

Fiji

Alumita L Durutalo

By January 2006 the conflict between the Fiji Military Forces and the now ousted government, which had been led by the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (sdl) party, had been continuing for almost five years. One of the main criticisms put forth by the commander of the Fiji Military Forces, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, was that Laisenia Qarase's government was lax in dealing with the 2000 coup perpetrators. A number of high chiefs were allowed to serve their prison terms extramurally, and one chiefly parliamentarian returned to Parliament after his sentence. This conflict was later compounded by the introduction of the Reconciliation and Unity Bill by the sdl government. The bill was aimed at reconciling the perpetrators and victims of the 2000 coup led by George Speight. Commodore Bainimarama, who was also a victim of that coup through the November 2000 mutiny, along with other critics, detested the introduction of this bill. They believed that if passed, the bill would serve as a green light for future coup perpetrators in Fiji .

sdl government leaders did little to allay this fear. They simply kept on with the tasks of leadership based on their constitutional roles. They understood that the government and the various institutions of the state, including the military, had specific functions to perform as stipulated in Fiji 's 1997 Constitution. Perhaps the sdl government assumed too much about people's acceptance of the rule of law in a developing country or Third World context. As can be gauged from Fiji 's coup culture since 1987, the causes of political conflict in the country extend far beyond the scope of the modern rule of law, and solutions involve additional political, legal, and even customary measures. Perhaps continued dialogue between the sdl government and the Fiji Military Forces outside the parameters of Parliament could partially have resolved Fiji 's ongoing political crisis. After all, 95 percent of both the sdl government and the Fiji Military Forces were indigenous Fijians. During 2006, the commander's public comments about the sdl government were sometimes perceived as seditious and treasonous, but the government did not really take concrete steps to rectify the situation. The February 2006 issue of Fiji Islands Business noted, "In any other democratic country, and Fiji is (or was) basically one, Mr. Bainimarama's stance would have promptly caused his dismissal. The magazine went on to say that Bainimarama's behavior has gone beyond the usually accepted state of affairs in a democracy, wherein the military is subservient to civilian rule (fib, Feb 2006, 9).

In addition to the continuing political tussle between the commodore and Prime Minister Qarase, Fiji 's economy was not in perfect health. As early as March 2006, the Reserve [End Page 578] Bank warned that high internal consumption rates could no longer be sustained by depressed exports and high oil prices. By the end of 2005, Fiji 's export stood at f$1.18 billion, and total imports at f$2.72 billion (f$1.00 averaged approximately us$0.58 throughout the year). At the same time the trade deficit increased to f$1.53 billion. By the end of February 2006, the interest rate had increased from 2.25 percent to 3.25 percent. Fiji 's foreign reserve figure, which stood at f$991 million in mid-2005, had decreased to f$822 million by December 2005. Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Savenaca Narube warned that the only way to improve Fiji 's deteriorating economic situation was to raise the level of exports and investments (fib, March 2006, 6). Concerned about economic survival and meeting regional and international trade challenges, the Fiji textile, clothing, and footwear (tcf) industry, proposed a reduction in the local area content as required under the rules of origin regulations of the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (sparteca). This regional trade agreement, signed in 1981 by Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands Forum countries, allows products to enter Australia and New Zealand duty free, provided that 50 percent of the raw materials used are produced locally (fib, April 2006, 6). This move was vigorously opposed by the Textile and Fashion Industry of Australia (tfia), which argued that reducing the rules of origin would result in long-term harm to the Australian tcf industry (fib, March 2006, 5). However, the Fiji tcf industry, through Ramesh Solanki, argued that the sparteca-tcf provision of 50 percent local content was a trade barrier. He argued that reducing the local content from 50 percent to 30 percent would facilitate trade and was in no way a threat to Australia 's tcf industry, especially when customers in Australia selected fabrics and garment patterns. He added that the fabrics chosen were often either too expensive or did not qualify under the rules of origin. Reducing the rules of origin would enable the Fiji tcf industry to import fabrics from other countries and give the customers more choice. Orders diverted to Asia because of the rules of origin could be returned to Fiji . An additional challenge to Fiji 's f$200 million tcf industry is the lowering of Australia 's import duty from 55 percent in 1981 to the current 17.5 percent, making it cheaper for other garment-producing countries to export their products to Australia (fib, April 2006, 6).

General elections dominated the political agenda in the first four months of 2006. In April, Fiji 's voting-age citizens went to the polls to elect 71 members to the House of Representatives for the next five years. Since 1999, Fiji has utilized the Alternative Vote system, borrowed from Australia . Fiji 's electoral system is based on ethnic politics, which makes it quite complex. Voters are grouped together as Fijian, Indian, or General Voters—that is, individuals who are not registered as Fijian or Indian. There are 46 Communal seats where people vote for representatives of their own ethnic categories (Fijian, Indian, or General), and 25 Open seats, which are contested without reference to ethnicity. The Open seats, introduced [End Page 579] for the first time in the 1999 elections, aim to promote multiracialism. Fiji 's 1997 constitution also requires that all parties with more than 10 percent of seats in Parliament be invited by the winning party to join a multiparty cabinet. Given the ethnic nature of Fiji 's politics, this was the foremost challenge for the winning party in the 2006 general elections. Although eight political parties plus Independent candidates participated in the 2006 elections, two political parties dominated the competition for parliamentary seats. These were the Fijian-dominated Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (sdl) party, and the Indian-dominated Fiji Labour Party (flp).

The sdl party, led by Laisenia Qarase, won the 2006 general elections for a second five-year term, with all 23 Fijian Communal and Fijian Urban seats, and 13 of the 25 Open seats; the Fiji Labour Party won all 19 Indian Communal and 12 of the Open seats. The remaining 4 seats were taken by two Independent candidates and two members of the United People's Party (Fiji Elections Office 2006). The 2006 election results confirmed a number of voting trends in Fiji. Voting was ethnically oriented in both Communal and Open seats. The two parties won all of their respective Communal seats; of the Open seats, the sdl party won in constituencies with a majority of Fijian voters and the Fiji Labour Party won in constituencies with a majority of Indian voters. Multiracial politics may take a while to gain acceptance across the ethnic divide.

In the spirit of promoting multiracial politics in Fiji, the sdl government appeared to be serious and committed when it offered eight cabinet seats to the Fiji Labour Party. While Mahendra Chaudhary as leader of the Fiji Labour Party declined to be a member of the cabinet, eight of his parliamentarians accepted the offer. However, since the constitution does not specify the "rules of engagement" for a multiparty cabinet, it was a testing time for the new government. In the cabinet, members of the Fiji Labour Party were unsure whether they had to abide by sdl terms and conditions, or whether they were answerable to flp leader Chaudhary. During the vote for the 2007 budget in November 2006, a number of flp cabinet ministers were away on overseas engagements and so could not vote. The leader of the Fiji Labour Party asserted that this scheduling was a deliberate ploy by the leader of the sdl party to enable the passage of his government's budget. Whether such political incidents were foreseen by the architects of the 1997 constitution is not clear.

Public sector reform continued to be a major issue confronting the sdl government after its election victory. The large size of the civil service has been on the reform agenda since 1984–1985, when a World Bank and International Monetary Fund country mission recommended that the government be restructured. A wage freeze had immediately been implemented, and a debate about civil service downsizing had commenced. But over the years, through four coups and much political maneuvering, the size of the civil service has actually increased. Since the first coup in 1987, Fijian political leaders have increased the size of government to secure their [End Page 580] power bases and political support. The now ousted sdl government employed cabinet ministers as well as state ministers, which added to the cost of government.

There was a little light at the end of the economic tunnel after the November 2006 Pacific Islands Forum Meeting, when Fiji, along with Vanuatu, Sämoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Kiribati, successfully negotiated a temporary labor migration scheme with New Zealand. The much-welcomed New Zealand scheme will offer seven-month temporary work visas to five thousand workers from these six countries. Australia, on the other hand, refused to implement such schemes but offered other alternatives such as building technical colleges in the islands (ib, Nov 2006, 20). These colleges would enable Islanders to earn trade certificates, which would qualify them to apply for skilled work in Australia and New Zealand.

The issue dominating Fiji's political landscape throughout 2006 was the escalating war of words between Qarase's sdl government and the Commander Bainimarama of the Fiji Military Forces. The challenges to the sdl government by Bainimarama paused for a while after the elections, but reemerged and intensified toward the end of 2006. Apart from the ongoing debate about the aftermath of the 2000 George Speight coup, two measures that angered the commander were the Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill and the Qoliqoli Bill, which, if passed, would have given customary users ownership of qoliqoli or traditional fishing grounds. By November 2006, the debate had escalated. After the sdl government attempted to sack him while he was overseas, the commander threatened a "clean-up" of government. This attempt failed when the officer who was nominated to be the new commander preferred to be appointed after the commander returned to Fiji. A number of institutions, including the Bose Levu Vakaturaga or Great Council of Chiefs, expressed concern about the escalating tensions.

After its meeting on 10 November 2006, the Great Council of Chiefs established a reconciliation committee to attempt to mediate between the government and the military. The committee consisted of high chiefs from various traditional matanitu or confederacies, as well as a legal adviser, a political adviser, and a psychologist. Talks were initiated and a few meetings convened, but by that time relations had deteriorated too far. A further attempt at reconciliation was undertaken by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke, also in November 2006. However, these reconciliation attempts were unable to avert the coup, which occurred on 5 December 2006.

Fiji is again in the doldrums after the execution of the December coup, the fourth since 1987. International sanctions have been imposed by countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and members of the military, their families, and coup supporters are unable to travel to these countries. The military regime has, in turn, imposed its own travel bans on critics of the coup. Against a backdrop of increasing economic instability, Fiji is faced with long-term sociopolitical and economic problems. Recent events have once again highlighted [End Page 581] the complexity and precariousness of Fiji's democracy and rule of law, which are based on competing traditional and modern political interests. Perhaps the biggest challenge for future governments is how to get rid of an established coup culture and a subculture that offers immunity after the execution of coups.

References 

fib, Fiji Islands Business. Monthly. Suva. 

Fiji Elections Office. 2006. Elections 2006, Fiji Islands. Online at http://www.elections.gov.fj/results2006/elect_candidates.html  

ib, Islands Business. Monthly. Suva. 

Alumita L Durutalo is a lecturer in politics and international affairs in the Faculty of Arts and Law, University of the South Pacific, Laucala Campus, Suva. Her research interests center on political representations and leadership in the Pacific, and institutional means of conflict resolution in Melanesia.