My Say
Is Laisenia Qarase's Govt A Pragmatic Solution For Fiji?
Fiji's pragmatic solution
Fiji may not be a wise place to be in March and perhaps for some time afterwards. Early in March, the Fiji Court of Appeal, after a sitting due to open on February 19, is expected to rule on an appeal by the country's interim government on a judgment given last November by Anthony Gates, a British judge of the Fiji High Court. If, as widely expected, the appeal court ruling goes against the interim government, there could be a resurgence of anti-Indian communal violence fomented by opportunistic indigenous Fijian instigators of the coup that last May removed the country's first Indian prime minister.
The army, the ultimate arbitrator of the country's affairs, and the interim regime of Laisenia Qarase, a respectable bureaucrat, each say the decision by the court of at least five very senior foreign judges, will be respected by them. Whether or not it will be implemented by them is another matter.
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Should there be another upwelling of violence, then the army fears that it could be of a scale that could not be contained without bloodshed, worse than what was seen in 2000. In November, in response to a petition by an aggrieved ordinary citizen who felt that his rights were being trampled on, Judge Gates declared that the army did well in negotiating the freedom of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and most of his government members from being held hostage in parliament and threatened with murder.
But it went too far in purporting to abolish a new constitution and getting rid of the then president, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, as the rebels had demanded, Gates said. He ruled that the constitution remained in place, as did Mara as president, and that Mara's duty was to recall parliament and appoint as prime minister a parliamentarian he felt could form a national unity government able to constitutionally steer the country from the morass the hostage crisis dumped it in.
This ruling greatly displeased Qarase's regime since it compromised what little international credibility it had. After the coup, with the army backing, it was appointed by a replacement for Mara elected by the Great Council of Chiefs, an institution long open to being manipulated by indigenous Fijian politicians who benefited from the coups of 1987, and now 2000. The council functions as a de facto parliament unrepresentative of the 49% portion of the population that isn't ethnically Fijian. With the council's blessing Qarase has again and again declared that the 1997 constitution, parliament and government will not be restored.
Under international pressure from major trade and economic aid partner countries whose goodwill Fiji cannot afford to lose, the Qarase regime has advanced a promised democratic election from late in 2001 to March 2002. But, Qarase insists in terms couched to have only one meaning, non Fijian citizens must accept that while there will be no formal bars to their taking any other political or public office, the position of president and prime minister must be an exclusively indigenous Fijian domain. Otherwise, he warns, Fiji will never regain stability
What if the regime ignores a Court of Appeal ruling in favor of the Gates' decision and proceeds to plod along its declared path? There could be grave repercussions for Fiji; the international imposition of crippling trade, finance and political sanctions and the fatal undermining of the judiciary, so rendering Fiji to be a country without law and thus shunned by nervous international investors. Some of Fiji's lawyers speculate that the Court of Appeal could decide to acknowledge the risk of more violence by resorting to the doctrine of necessity; that what happened last May happened, that too much risk is attached to forcing the clock back, and that the pragmatic course would be to support Qarase's approach.
Other scenarios are on offer. Those who yearn for the restoration of domestic tranquility and international respectability for Fiji will regard them without any feeling of hope. The plain fact is that Laisenia Qarase's solution is a pragmatic one. It will be a long, long time before the Fiji Islands can enjoy the luxury of 100 percent democracy.
Robert Keith-Reid is publisher of Pacific Magazine. He has covered Pacific Islands issues for four decades. He can be reached at rkeith-reid@ibi.com.fj.
