At UN, Fijian leader defends coup and vows to overhaul ‘race-based’ politics

Fiji needs the help of the international community to become a nation with a truly democratic, non-racial and equitable governing system, its interim Prime Minister told the General Assembly today, defending his decision to launch a coup last year and promising to stage free and fair elections as soon as possible.

Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who is also commander of Fiji’s military forces, said the Pacific island chain faces deep-rooted, structural problems that will not be solved quickly or easily.

“The country now is at a very critical crossroad; its situation could escalate into more serious deterioration and instability,” he told the annual high-level debate at UN Headquarters in New York. “It is imperative that any such greater disaster or civil strife is disaster.”

Noting that some countries, “including the closest of our neighbours in the Pacific,” have introduced punitive measures following the coup last December, the Prime Minister said it was important to realize that many Fijians, especially in villages and rural areas, “live in a democracy with a mentality that belongs to the chiefly system,” voting for candidates selected by their chiefs, provincial councils and church ministers.

“This leads me to ask the question whether or not the countries which are demanding Fiji to immediately return to democracy really understand how distorted and unfair our system is both legally and culturally.

“This must change: every person will be given the right to vote for only one candidate, irrespective or race or religion. This will send a message out to our people that Fiji’s leadership no longer tolerates racial divisions and race-based politics.”

Mr. Bainimarama said the interim Government is preparing to launch the Peoples Charter for Change and Progress to engage and involve the population in the planned reforms and to promote better relations between the country’s indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities.

He said he undertook the coup last year “with extreme reluctance,” but that his country had suffered setback after setback, particularly after a brief coup in May 2000, and is now “in a deep rut.”

“In the past years, Fiji’s overall governance took a dramatic turn for the worse. In particular this was characterized by the politicization of the prison services and the criminal justice system,” the Prime Minister said.

“There was also a significant weakening of the key institutions of governance; a pervasive increase in corruption; serious economic decline combined with fiscal mismanagement; a sharp deterioration in the law and order situation; and a deepening of the racial divide in the country.

“The convicted coup perpetrators [from May 2000] were prematurely discharged from prison, and certain coup perpetrators and sympathizers were appointed as senior Government ministers and officials. There were also a series of legislations that were deeply divisive and overtly racist.

“The 2006 general election was not credible. It was characterized by massive rigging of votes with the incumbent government using the State’s resources to buy support.”

As head of the military forces, Mr. Bainimarama said he was responsible for Fiji’s “national security, defence and also the well-being of Fiji’s people” and therefore had no choice but to step in. He said he had also made fruitless attempts to engage with the previous government.

Promising to convene free and fair elections “as soon as practically possible,” he said steady progress has already been made into strengthening the independence of the judiciary and investigating allegations of human rights abuses, both as preparation for an eventual return to parliamentary democracy.