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Login‘Step by step’ – how NZ can really help Fiji towards democracy
Murray McCully ... crucial meeting with Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Photo: AFP
Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Crosbie Walsh
Murray McCully’s recent statements on Fiji suggest a much more realistic appraisal of the situation than was evident under the former Labour-led government, and an improvement on his own earlier statements.
McCully’s meeting with Fiji Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola last week will bolster diplomatic representation. It did not change NZ’s basic position — elections with which it is prepared to assist in whatever ways it can — but it was a crucial first step.
The second step is his reaction to kerfuffle about pensions and the Methodist Church, both quite misrepresented by the media (see earlier post on pensions).
Foreign Affairs Minister McCully dismissed them as moves to quell dissent but “not a reason for us not to try and improve diplomatic relations.
“We expect progress to take place in terms of the relationship step by step with allowances for some setbacks from time to time.”
He could, however, underestimate Fiji’s threat to withdraw from PACER (Pacific Closer Economic Relations Agreement) unless it is represented at Forum discussions on PACER Plus, the Australian-initiated add-on to
PACER that has been received with suspicion in many quarters. I doubt Fiji will be satisfied with being “briefed on progress”.
What was particularly pleasing to hear was that Fiji’s exclusion from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) – and PACER Plus discussions – is not fixed in concrete.
McCully “would regard this as just one of the pieces of the jigsaw that is on the table over the coming months”.
Step 3 would see NZ supporting Fiji’s readmission to the PIF, or some accommodation not too short of admission, which in turn could lead to similar rapprochments with the Commonwealth, the European Union and the United Nations, and a resumption of aid and other economic assistance.
Step 4, though stated last, should be high on the diplomatic agenda, and needs to be implemented as soon as possible. It is composed of several elements, all concerned with good governance. The travel sanctions have to be relaxed to allow Fiji’s most talented administrators to apply for government positions.
New Zealand (and Australia) should second suitable qualified lawyers to draft legislation, especially constitutional
legislation, and to prosecute corruption cases.
Fiji also needs forensic accountants to unravel the corruption, and experienced senior judges. Fiji is lacking in these specialised skills.
Later, in 2011-2012, assistance would also be welcome with elections and electoral reform. Assistance in these areas will do much to restore our relationship with Fiji.
We have the expertise to assist Fiji to establish a much fairer society than in has been in the past. It is a pity a military-led and non-elected government seeks these reforms.
Earlier “democratically-elected” government had the opportunity but none put its hand up.
* New Zealand lawyer Robert Miller has been appointed Chief Legal Draftsperson in the Attorney-General’s Chambers. This is a Fiji government appointment – unrelated to McCully’s “steps” – but it is the
sort of assistance that is sorely needed.
Dr Crosbie Walsh is emeritus professor of the University of the South Pacific and retired founding director of USP’s Development Studies programme.
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how can you draft legislation when you don’t have a parliament?..in fact, how can you begin to draft legislation when you don’t have a legitimate government?
re: editor
you don’t really have to edit my posts. I meant every word i said and stand by every syllable i wrote, well, typed. We know our trade all too well. And it doesn’t take a stroke of genius to see that people like the good professor crosbie is in bani’s pocket..
Tupuola Terry Tavita
ph: 0685 722 3565
terrytavita@yahoo.com
Apia,
Samoa
I am amused at the readers lack of knowledge and understanding of political process.
You can draft legislation. You can then take it to the people in a referendum where the people and not the politicians have a say.
You do not have to go through the process of horse-trading in a Parliament that descends into a farce. Just take a look at the last 20 years of the circus we have had in Fiji. Its been a bigger version of the Suva City Council but more corrupt.
I am all the way with my mate BAINIMARAMA. At least this leader is doing something very positive the likes of which we have not had for many years in FIJI. Hate him., loathe him or love him, he is the man to lead this country out of its political morass of corruption, fraud and political mass that the likes of Qarase had played out.
Great to see a real leader with real vision for his people in the pacific for a change.
yea, let’s ask new zealand to send lawyers to write laws for the unelected tinpot dictator..
here’s some little steps for the little mugabe to take if he wants to restore some credibility (if he had any)..
1. apologize to the people of Fiji for hijacking its govt and wresting its national sovereignty
2. apologoze to the international community (to restore international credibility),
3. a select committee to be appointed by the president to maintain order and avoid a power vacuum,
4. bani and his clowns to return to the baracks (and await his fate under a democratic govt)
5. United Nations select committee to oversee free and fair elections,
6. new parliament to appoint pm and judiciary,
pm to appoint cabinet govt,
7. govt to start draghting bills and parliament to pass them into laws,
8. the judiciary to start prosecuting bani and co-conspirators for the Dec. 2006 coup
9. Parliament to dissolve the military
there ya go
Did Samoa ever have the progressive Western-Style democracy to lecture Fiji on democracy? Please clean-up your backyards first and let Fiji solve its problems at its own pace, by its own people, in its own ways.