Page 13 - Islands Business September 2023

Fiji Fiji

making platform that had run parallel to the government its provisions for the role of the military. There are other key
structure since independence.” areas such as the single constituency electoral system with
proportional representation. Naidu contends it “encourages
Consensus on coups populism and authoritarianism by enabling a powerful leader
There appears to be a clear consensus that Fiji does not to accrue an overwhelming majority of personal votes on
need any more coups. But there is a chain that still binds Fiji behalf of the party, resulting in unquestioning MPs who owe
to that terrible legacy. their parliamentary or Ministerial positions to their leader.”
Fiji’s 2013 Constitution, imposed by the government of
Voreqe Bainimarama, makes the military the arbiter of the Uncharted territory
wellbeing and security of all Fijians. With his defeat at the 2022 polls and expulsion from
Article 131(2) of the 2013 Constitution states: “It shall be Parliament just months later, Bainimarama’s iron-fisted
the overall responsibility of the RFMF to ensure at all times influence over Fiji’s political environment may be finally over.
the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.” But if one era has ended, then this next one with the
“In democracies, the elected government and parliament victory of original coup maker Sitiveni Rabuka is not without
should be responsible for citizens’ wellbeing and security,” its own sense of political disquiet. A one-seat Parliamentary
said Naidu. More than that, the culture of coups and such a majority for Rabuka’s three-way Coalition government will
constitutional provision “provide the pretext of a handful of make sure of that.
military gunmen to wreak havoc on Fiji’s body politics.” The occasional rumbling of dissent from within the Coalition
Barely six months into the Sitiveni Rabuka-led Coalition is sure to keep Fiji’s rumour mills running. Add to that the
government’s term and that chain has been rattled several growing appearance of mysterious, unsigned documents
times. In the past two months, anonymous papers have calling for military intervention, and the ever-present spectre
emerged on social media citing a range of reasons for military of that possibility.
intervention based on “breaches” of the Constitution by the There are at least two factors that will influence the
Coalition government. possibility of another coup taking place.
“No civilian government elected by the people is safe with One the one hand, hope may lie in the fact that Fiji may
this kind of justification for military intervention,” Naidu told have moved away from the sense of discontent of the past.
Islands Business. “I really don’t think that we’re going to see the kinds of
ruptures that we’ve seen in the past with coups or where
Constitutional review rogue elements seize power,” said Tarte. “I don’t see a
Mahendra Chaudhry, leader of the Fiji Labour Party, has discontented element in society that is willing enough to take
been at the end of the gun barrel twice. First, in 1987, when that kind of action knowing that they would carry the support
he was a senior minister in the Cabinet of the then-ousted of the army or whoever might be out there to mobilise
Prime Minister, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. And then, in 2000, when support.”
he himself was removed from the Prime Ministership in a On the other – there is a very real possibility of a rogue
civilian takeover led by George Speight. element in the military that will defy any such reason, despite
“In talking about democracy in Fiji, the real debate is about the Army Commander, Major-General Jone Kalouniwai’s very
reviewing the Constitution,” he said at the panel discussion public reassurances that the military is committed to keeping
on Democracy Reimagined. “The process hasn’t even begun. the peace.
We know that the biggest impediment to democracy in this It’s a shadow that is of Prime Minister Rabuka’s own making
country is the Constitution itself. But we haven’t given it any and that will haunt him in his final turn at the helm, as he
priority. We haven’t set out a roadmap. Eight months into seeks to navigate out of the Bainimarama era and prepare Fiji
government, there has to be something done about addressing for escalating regional and global challenges.
the review of the Constitution because if we don’t remove it, “Obviously, as a nation, we need to be stronger to be able
you won’t have democracy.” to cope with these external pressures,” said Tarte. “When you
Any changes to the 2013 Constitution will require the think back, we turn inwards when coups happen. We become
approval of 75% of members of Parliament and 75 percent of focused on our own internal matters and we can’t afford to
voters. do that anymore.”
As Chaudhry puts it, “The requirements for a The need for constitutional change and improved
[constitutional] review are next to impossible”. parliamentary representation, the challenge to create more
Yet, he proposes a window of opportunity. economic opportunities for the people of Fiji, the survival
“The architects of the Constitution are out of circulation of the Coalition and getting the partners to see beyond their
for the time being,” he said, referring to Bainimarama and own political needs and survival, and the ultimate test—once
Saiyed-Khaiyum being out of Parliament. “And therefore, again—of whether the politicians will make it work.
it might be appropriate to appeal to, or to persuade the Once again, the perfect challenge for an imperfect
Opposition to regard this as a matter of national interest and paradise.
take a bipartisan approach to this.”
A review of the 2013 Constitution would not only look at richard@islandsbusiness.com

Islands Business, September 2023 13