Monday, November 09, 2009
Internet Access Blocked in Fiji
Simply log into http://unblockandsurf.com
And enter http://rawfijinews.wordpress.com in the space provided.
Bloggers can pass on the message to their Fiji families and friends to log onto
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RawFijiNews
to by-pass Frank & Co’s website block.
If they are IT savvy, they might like to download free anonymous proxies by googling “free anonymous proxies”.
Major call center businesses in Fiji like ANZ’s QUEST, ACS and the new MindPearl, are crying foul over Fiji’s military regime’s move to block certain websites.
Sources say if the regime has gone that far to block anti-regime websites from being viewed in Fiji, it means that the intergrity of the call center IT business in Fiji has effectively been compromised in a big way.
Fiji’s southern cross cable owner, FINTEL, the pipeline that feeds telecommunication and internet access into and out of Fiji is said to have been taken over by Frank’s junta.
In the process, all IT and call center businesses in Fiji are no longer reliable.
Insiders also report that CEO Fiji Trade Investment Commission, Annie Rogers, is not impressed with the junta’s decision to block website accesses in Fiji.
She said it has made her job even harder in trying to convince other IT-based overseas investors to invest in Fiji.
Bruce Hill
There are reports from Fiji of some anti-government blogs being blocked making it impossible for readers to read them.
Several of the websites are reportedly blocked in such a way people using Fiji-based internet service providers cannot access them.
The military government in Fiji censors all official media outlets, and has vowed to track down bloggers who disseminate information without approval.
The operator of one of the anti-government blogs, Coup Four Point Five, who could not be identified for security reasons, has told Pacific Beat its clear something is interfering with internet access in Fiji.
There is a way around the apparent blocking of access to certain internet sites within Fiji, but it involves people downloading and installing what’s called an anonymiser program.
This fools the internet into thinking a request to see a web page is coming from outside Fiji.
Australian IT consultant on computer security, Patrick Gray, says it is quite technically feasible to have access to certain websites blocked, especially by governments.
“Anyone sitting upstream from you, where you’re getting your access from, whether that’s you’re internet service provider or their upstream provider which provides provides the acces to them…if they wish to, they can block access.”
- Radio Australia
Yes, foreign reserves are high at the moment as the Governor of the Reserve Bank points out.
But the high reserves are not due to improving exports (we know the sugar industry is collapsing , the tourism industry is not particularly buoyant, garment is collapsing, fish, gold and timber are improving, but overall exports revenue are falling.
What has kept reserves up is that imports have also been falling because of the lack in investmen, and the serious constraints on our people’s incomes and expenditure.
So the current “healthy” foreign reserves” is nothing to crow about.
The only good sign is a growing economy with positive growth rates.
But following – 6.6% in 2007, a tiny recovery in 2008, current projections are of another negative growth rate for 2009 (possibly – 1% or even bigger drop).
Our people can not eat “healthy foreign reserves”.
- From Warden Narsey’s media blacked-out presentation at a recent gathering.
Sources in Fiji say there is no doubt that academic Professor Warden Narsey will be taken in by Frank’s Military Forces straight to the torture chambers soon for some serious talking down.
Like those before him, Warden Narsey is taken as an enemy to Frank’s junta, therefore, he must be subjected to abuses by Frank & Co.
Warden Narsey has been an ardent pro-democracy advocate. Someone who rised above all fears to speak on behalf of the silenced majority in Fiji.
His decision to speak to The Australian newspaper yesterday while still in Fiji means trouble for Warden Narsey’s life.
We salute Warden Narsey and we hope he will keep his contacts informed of his whereabouts
Illegal CJ Gates Behind Expulsion
Flawed memo by Anthony Gates behind Frank’s decision to expel top Australian diplomats
November 8, 2009
Merritt, Legal Affairs editor
FIJI Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama expelled Australia’s High Commissioner last week after receiving a memorandum from the country’s chief justice containing fundamental errors about Australia’s travel bans on Fiji’s judges.
The memorandum, written by Anthony Gates, provides an outline of how the bans are working that appears at odds with first-hand information the judge received just five days earlier.
Chief Justice Gates told Commodore Bainimarama that Australia had adopted a “shabby policy” under which it was attempting to control which foreign judges were permitted to enter Fiji to join the judiciary.
“These policies are a quite indefensible interference in our judiciary,” wrote Chief Justice Gates, who holds dual Australian and British citizenship.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has said that, while Australia imposes bans on serving Fiji judges, the bans do not apply until foreign judges take their oath of office in Fiji.
Chief Justice Gates’s memo to Commodore Bainimarama also criticises a letter from Australia’s acting High Commissioner, Sarah Roberts, who had said the bans would be applied on a case-by-case basis. “Therein lies their plea of guilty to the charge of interference, for they will choose which judge to let in and which to refuse,” the Chief Justice wrote.
Within hours of receiving the Gates memo, which is dated November 3, Commodore Bainimarama held a news conference and announced that he was expelling top diplomats from Australia and New Zealand. The disclosure of the Gates memo is the latest indication of his key role in the deterioration in diplomatic relations with Australia.
Chief Justice Gates has confirmed that he provided a briefing on the travel bans to Commodore Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and had a meeting with Commodore Bainimarama last Tuesday, the day the expulsions occurred.
The issue at the heart of the Gates memo is an attempt by seven Sri Lankan judges and magistrates to obtain transit visas so they could fly through Australia to take up their judicial posts in Fiji. Commodore Bainimarama referred to this incident, and another involving New Zealand, when explaining his decision to expel the envoys.
What the Prime Minister did not reveal was that his government had threatened to take action against Australia over the travel bans well before the incident involving the seven Sri Lankans occurred.
Fiji served an ultimatum on Australia on October 23 threatening “further precipitate action” unless High Commissioner James Batley provided “unequivocal confirmation” by October 27 that the travel bans on Fiji’s judges had been reversed.
New Zealand received an almost identical ultimatum the same day.
Neither ultimatum, both of which have been obtained by The Australian, mentioned the Sri Lankan judges.
On the day Fiji’s foreign affairs secretary Solo Mara wrote the ultimatum to Australia, visa applications from the seven Sri Lankans had been with the high commission in Colombo for just two days.
This has been outlined by one of the Sri Lankans, K. Priyantha Fernando, in an email sent on October 30 to Sri Lanka’s honorary consul in Fiji, Ajith Kodagoda.
A copy was sent to the personal email account of Chief Justice Gates on the same day.
Justice Fernando’s account of his contact with the Australian high commission appears to be at odds with one aspect of the Gates memorandum.
Chief Justice Gates wrote that one of the Sri Lankans had taped a telephone conversation with an Australian visa officer in Colombo “in which the officer clearly said the visa was declined”.
According to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs, all seven Sri Lankans withdrew their applications before learning they had, in fact, been approved.
None had been rejected.
Justice Fernando’s email appears to be in accord with Australia’s version that the applications were withdrawn and not rejected.
“As we had to confirm the airline bookings and since we had not received the transit visa up to 29th October, 2009, we withdrew the applications,” the email says.
The alleged illicit recording that Chief Justice Gates referred to in his memorandum has been supplied to The Australian by Radio Fiji. It contains no reference to a visa application being rejected.
According to the department, the high commission in Sri Lanka had not recorded the conversations with the seven judges, but the department had obtained a copy of the tape on which there was no mention of a current visa application being rejected.
The recording makes it clear the conversation took place after the judge concerned had withdrawn an application for an Australian transit visa and had decided instead to fly to Fiji via Korea.
The recording does not contain the judge’s side of the conversation but does include an extensive explanation of the travel bans Australia applies to Fiji’s serving judges.
The fact this conversation took place after the visa application had been withdrawn is apparent from the way the consular officer responded to a remark from the judge.
“OK then,” the officer said. “Oh, OK, you are going by Korea as well are you? OK, no problems. Well be that as it may, thank you very much for your time.”
There is no suggestion it was Justice Fernando who made the alleged illicit recording. However, his email confirms the high commission told the judges about the travel bans on Fiji judges only after they had withdrawn their visa applications.
“This fact was never informed to us by the Australian high commission at the time I withdrew the application and received the passport or before,” he wrote.
“I am informed that some other judicial officers who applied for transit visa also received the same call after the withdrawal of the application stating that the officers will not be given visa to Australia during their tenure of office as judicial officers of Fiji,” Justice Fernando wrote.
Although the Gates memorandum says a visa officer “clearly said” on the tape that a judge’s application for a visa had been declined, the department said this was at odds with the structure of the high commission.
Fiji Coup Starving Fiji
Coup culture “risks starving people of Fiji”
November 8, 2009
GUY HEALY, HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
From: The Australian
November 09, 2009
FIJI’S coup culture is costing it billions of dollars and unless democracy is restored the country risks hunger and further impoverishment, a leading Fiji economist and former shadow finance minister warned yesterday.
Days after Fiji-born Australian academic Brij Lal was arrested and deported from Fiji amid a diplomatic row, fellow academic Wadan Narsey told The Australian dwindling foreign investment in the Pacific nation was undermining its food production chain.
In speaking to The Australian yesterday, Professor Narsey, an economist at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji’s capital Suva, risks arrest and detention for criticising the regime of military-installed prime minister Frank Bainimarama. “Fiji’s GDP fell almost 7 per cent in 2007, the year following the coup that brought Commodore Bainimarama to power,” Professor Narsey said.
“The biggest threat to Fiji’s food security is the lack of investor confidence in Fiji, and that’s a direct result of the coups.”
A fellow USP academic — who would not be named — told The Australian yesterday that a pall of censorship had fallen over the country, and a handful of academics critical of the regime had been verbally “silenced”.
“People are risking their safety if they speak out. Under emergency decrees, the military have arrest and detention powers. People are scared,” the academic said.
Those making even well-meaning comments against the regime’s policies were likely to be taken to a military camp and subjected to abuse like (Australian National University professor) Brij Lal, the academic said.
“While Australian citizens may be generally safe, Fiji citizens face a real risk of physical violence,” the academic said.
Fiji’s three coups since 1987 will have cost $10 billion in GDP by 2014, according to a research paper by Professor Narsey on rural development, obtained by The Australian. After the economy stagnated last year, early indications were there would be a further decline of 1-2 per cent in GDP again this year, he said.
Professor Narsey, an MP and shadow minister from 1996 until 1999, said he had presented his findings to the government and the media, but had suffered a media blackout.
The urban working class — who don’t have access to food gardens — faced “sheer hardship” in obtaining nutritious and adequate food, unless local and foreign investment in business partnerships increased, he said.
Professor Narsey called on the military government to convene “a genuine political dialogue” with all political and social leaders.
The tragedy in Fiji was that total censorship of the media meant that the military government could not even be given public opinions that might help them and the country, Professor Narsey said.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Unelected PM Unashamed at Meeting with Elected Leaders
Regime Repressive Policies to Deal with Bloated Costs
Dropping the Fijian retirement age from 65 to 55 earlier this year by Frank & Co. received mixed reactions from those affected.
Frank wasn’t bothered about its impact on the Fijian populace.
His plan was to get rid of as many civil servants as possible from his payroll and the only way how is to reduce retirement age from 65 to 55.
While some celebrated with their over-night legal right to access their FNPF retirement funds, some were not amused with Frank’s bullish attitude in signaling them out as a group of Fiji citizens whose services were no longer required.
Frank’s new retirement age policy was lambasted after the public realised how selective he was with his new policy.
Case in point were his brothers who both kept their jobs eventhough they were way past 55 years and hardly productive in their own field of work.
And now, sources are saying there are talks that Fiji’s retirement age will drop further to 50 come 2010.
But it doesn’t end there.
The junta is introducing an FNPF decree that will disallow 50 years and over members to fully withdraw their pension money unless they are migrating overseas.
Sources say that members who wish to fully withdraw their pension will have to accept a repayment schedule by FNPF that will run over a few years.
There are indications that Frank’s reckless spending on things that only matter to his self-preservation program will cost Fiji’s public much with a predicted increased in VAT from 12.5% to 15%.
The VAT increase is expected to be announced during the 2010 budget session.
It is a tax that will directly hit the Fijian populace wallets as price of goods and services will jump by another 2.5%, on the backdrop of the the highest inflation rate ever recorded in Fiji’s history.
Frank’s junta is running very thin on money supply while Fiji’s economy continues to frail away under his military dictatorship.
Fiji’s national budget announcement is something that small coup fested island always holds it bated breath for.
More so now when it’s citizens freedom of sorts has been raped by a corrupt military led regime by Frank Bainimarama.
Without miss, previous governments have always marked the first week of November as the budget announcement week but not under Frank’s junta.
Sources say the budget announcement has been postponed to end of November while Frank & Co. try to pump some artificial life into their sick economic management ethos.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the latest diplomatic spat is reading the columns of so-called experts who say how bad or ineffective sanctions are.
What sanctions?
The major sanction applied by the Australia and New Zealand to the tin-pot dictatorship on the door-step is refusing visas to visit Australia or New Zealand.
Both governments have said they don’t want to use economic sanctions which could impact upon the lives of ordinary Fijians more than the regime elite. It’s standard practice in a dictatorship to make sure that the elite are taken care of no matter what, so there’s no way sanctions can affect them.
But refusing a visa to judges appointed by the regime (and then only after they’ve taken an oath to faithfully serve a regime that has abolished its constitution) serves only to let the judges know that they are regarded as servants of an illegal regime. It’s a symbolic gesture.
For the legal profession, illegality is something that ought to matter. And the way the illegal Chief Justice and Attorney General have reacted, it seems that the symbolism of the gesture is very effective.
Aiyaz and Gates do not like to have the illegality of their positions held up for the world to see.
THE Australian National University has sent a formal complaint to Fiji over the expulsion of one of its top academics.
Professor Brij Lal was detained, verbally abused and given 24 hours to leave the country on Wednesday after the Fijian military regime took offence to comments he made in the media.
His expulsion came just a day after Australia and New Zealand’s top diplomats were given similar marching orders, deepening the rift between the two countries and their Pacific neighbour.
The university has sent a letter to the Fiji High Commission in Canberra, condemning Prof Lal’s treatment and forced deportation.
”(We) unreservedly condemn the actions of the Fiji military forces in taking our colleague Professor Brij V Lal into custody, abusing him and ordering his departure from Fiji,” the letter reads.
“Professor Lal was born in Fiji, and has risen to become a leading Pacific historian as well as an important commentator on contemporary Fiji politics.
“He has consistently made his expertise available to advance the public good.
“For the Fiji military to abuse and expel him in this way is unacceptable.”
The Australian Government warned it will maintain a hardline stance against Fiji in the wake of the expulsions, but has not suggested imposing any further trade sanctions.
- AAP
THE escalating diplomatic stand-off between Australia and Fiji might follow established practice but it is clear this is not hastening a return to democracy in the Pacific island republic or lessening the burden of Frank Bainimarama’s military rule on its people.
While it might be understandable for Australian dilpomats to warn prospective Sri Lankan judges of the travel bans that would apply should they take up judicial appointments in Suva, such involvement in Fijian affairs was always going to be at least provocative and its wisdom is now open to question.
This, and the fact New Zealand authorities were seen to react slowly to a plea for medical assistance for the sick child of a Fijian judge, were behind the expulsion of our high commissioner James Batley and his counterpart from Wellington.
The usual tit-for-tat reaction in Canberra has prompted Fiji to apprehend an Australian academic Brij Lal and then force him to leave the country after the Australian National University professor gave interviews critical of Commodore Bainimarama’s regime.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith are clearly exasperated by Commodore Bainimarama’s refusal to talk with Australia or other Pacific countries.
It is this pig-headedness in Suva – and what Mr Rudd calls a fear of a “coup culture” pervading the Pacific – that’s behind the increasing use of blunt diplomatic devices such as expulsions.
The coup culture fear looks thin as, except for Papua New Guinea, there is no other military presence in the Pacific able to threaten a government.
The other actions against Fiji, particularly targeted travel bans, are obviously having an effect. Mr Rudd was right to resist broader economic sanctions which would only hurt the Fijian people, but there needs to be some smarter way of putting pressure on Commodore Bainimarama and his cronies who talk vaguely about holding elections in 2014.
The 16-member Pacific Islands Forum has been ineffectual, mainly because some participants are sympathetic to Commodore Bainimarama and dislike strong-arm measures favoured by Australia and New Zealand. Mr Smith protests that it is impossible to have a dialogue if the other side refuses to talk, which is true but after this week’s diplomatic chest-beating the chance of any conversation with Suva is non-existent.
To simply isolate Commodore Bainimarama even more does little except to give the military rulers an excuse for their actions. No one wants undemocratic rule in Suva with its suppression of free speech and denial of basic rights. However, shouting from across the ocean only serves to tick off the Foreign Affairs to-do list. We need to engage with the regime in Suva and find a way of changing the mindset that led to this coup that now stands against a return to democracy.
Mr Rudd doesn’t mind sending personal envoys to promote his grand international designs for Asia or the United Nations. Perhaps he should find someone to engage with the Fijians and find a new way to bring that country back into the Pacific community. This week’s events prove conventional methods are not working.
- Courier Mail
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,26315208-13360,00.html
Like previous appointments to the judiciary, we have not been told of the professional background of Sri Lankan judges and their fellow magistrates who were sworn-in by the illegal President Ratu Epeli Ganilau in the presence of the illegal Chief Justice Anthony Gates.
A search into Google has returned no hits on the two judges, suggesting that the two, as well as their colleagues, have been small and insignificant judicial frogs in the legal well of Sri Lanka. No wonder they are happy to get away from their island nation, to sit on the Fiji bench.
What is ironical is that these Sri Lankans come, presumably, from the majority Sinahala community, who have been oppressing the minority Tamil community, akin to what had been done to the Indo-Fijian community by the taukei Fijians, if we are to believe the toxic and maniacal dictator Frank Bainimarama that he is trying to eradicate ethnic chauvinism against the Indo-Fijian community.
What is not in dispute is that the Sri Lankan judiciary, composed of the majority Sinahala judges and magistrates, have been in the forefront of judicially oppressing the Tamil minority, as the following report in June 2009 by the International Study Group highlighted:
“Sri Lanka’s judiciary is failing to protect constitutional and human rights. Rather than assuaging conflict, the courts have corroded the rule of law and worsened ethnic tensions. Rather than constraining militarisation and protecting minority rights, a politicised bench under the just-retired chief justice has entrenched favoured allies, punished foes and blocked compromises with the Tamil minority. Its intermittent interventions on important political questions have limited settlement options for the ethnic conflict. Extensive reform of the judicial system – beginning with a change in approach from the newly appointed chief justice – and an overhaul of counterproductive emergency laws are essential if the military defeat of the LTTE is to lead to a lasting peace that has the support of all ethnic communities. ”
“The judiciary has not acted as a check on presidential and legislative power but has instead contributed to the political alienation of Tamils”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director. “Under the former chief justice, the Supreme Court’s rulings strengthened political hardliners among Sinhala nationalist parties”.
GOD HELP FIJI!!!!!!
A Fijian politician says the military backed regime is doing itself damage by censoring all voices of dissent. Since April, all Fiji’s news has been censored, under the instructions not to allow anything critical of the interim government. The military backed regime says it supports free speech, but as it is trying to rebuild the country, it does not need critics. And over the past week the censorship has included a lot of the stories relating to the tit for tat expulsion of High Commissioners and Heads of Mission from Suva, Canberra and Wellington.
Presenter: Pacific Correspondent Campbell Cooney
Speakers: General Secretary of Fiji’s National Federation Party Pramod Rae; John Keniapisia, Special secretary to the Solomon Islands Prime Minister; Samoa’s Prime Minster Tuilaepa Salilele Malalegoa; Fiji President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
COONEY: Since April when Fiji’s Constitution was scrapped, it’s only been what the interim government, the military which backs it and agencies like the police have judged as suitable which has been allowed to appear in the country’s media, and over the past week, its censors have made sure the public there have only heard, seen and read what they have deemed acceptable in relation to the diplomatic battle, which has seen their heads of mission in New Zealand and Australia expelled as well as Fiji’s expulsion of those countries heads of mission and the forced exit from Fiji of respected academic, Professor Brij Lal.
Pramod Rae, is General Secretary of Fiji’s National Federation Party.
RAE: That is how the place operates, there is extreme media censorship. There is a view that the way that people have become silent and have stopped being critics of the regime. That is not correct, the criticism and the scrutiny of the regime continues. It is just the media are under such strict control, so it’s not surprising these kinds of events are supported. But of course word gets around. Fiji is a small place. It does not take long for people to know.
COONEY: Mr Rae believes the interim government is being badly served by cutting off all voices of dissent.
RAE: They are actually doing themselves a great disservice, because word gets around of whose doing what and who can be bought for how much and those kinds of things are normal in this kind of environment. So as I said, they are doing themselves a disservice by clamping down the media in this way.
COONEY: Do you feel that things like nepotism, corruption, despite the fact that the interim government are saying that’s why they came to power, to get rid of those things. Do you feel that those things are being seen to flourish at the moment over there?
RAE: Well, I think that is the general view that is happening, as well as bad decisions and I think Mr Bainimarama is surrounded by people who are giving him incompetent advice and wrong advice and wrong views. The decision that he took to expel the Australian High Commissioner and the New Zealand head of mission appears that is a very extreme step.
COONEY: Around the Pacific, the response to what’s happened in Fiji is best described as subdued.
In Solomon Islands, the Special secretary to Prime Minister, Dr Derek Sikua, John Keniapisia said this.
KENIAPISIA: The new dimension that this problem has taken itself into is affecting international relations between our regional friends.
COONEY: And while Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Salilele Malielengaoi, has previously been a harsh critic of coup leader and interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, when he was asked how the current situation can best be resolved. He’s previous scorn for the commodore and his military-backed regime was nowhere to be heard.
MALALEGOA: We should pray a lot. I Epeli Nailatikau, being appointed president do swear that I well and truly serve the Republic of Fiji and the office of the president.
COONEY: In Fiji yesterday, all eyes were on the swearing in of Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, as the country’s new head of state.
Previous president, Ratu Josefa IIoilo was seen as little more than a rubber stamp, supporting all proposals and policies of the military government. Ratu Epeli is a former commander and a former interim minister of Commodore Bainimamarama and he was not appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs, which has been disbanded by the interim government, but was appointed by the interim prime minister himself.
Pramod Rae says the new president may have all the power that office holds, but the way he got into that office means he does not really have the respect of Fiji’s people.
RAE: I think the reaction and the lack of acknowledgment that this appointment draws is indicative of the fact that yes, you are sitting there, you can appoint the president, you can appoint two presidents. So it really does not make a lot of difference to the lives of ordinary people.
- Radio Australia
Pacific Beat speaks to Professor Brij Lal in Australia’s capital, Canberra, his home and also home to the Australian National University. The Australian academic expelled from Fiji says he was subjected to ‘intense verbal abuse’ and ‘foul language’ when he was taken into custody.
Geraldine Coutts begins by asking if news reports that Fiji’s immigration director, Major Nemani Vuniwaqa, saying he was not expelled are correct.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Professor Brij Lal, Australian National University
LAL: Well, I have never claimed that I was deported. I was told by the officer interrogating me in absolutely no uncertain terms that I had to leave the country within 24 hours or else. Now, the historical records would show that I was booked to leave Fiji on the 4th December. I mean I have been there since August, I was doing research and still one full month more to go before I was due to return and this can be confirmed and changes had to be made on that night that I was expelled and this can be confirmed by officials at the Australian embassy who were very helpful and indeed even officials from Qantas. So I respectfully ask the gentleman who has made this statement to confer with the officer who was talking to me to see exactly what was said. I have no reason to lie in this. I mean I was there fully prepared and commited to another month’s work.
COUTTS: Now, are they playing with words and semantics, choosing not deported as distinct from expelled?
LAL: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is verbal games. They simply want to clamp down on any dissenting voice and I suppose mine has been a fairly prominent one for a long period of time and my comment on the expulsion of the High Commissioners was the breaking point so to speak and I think the message that is being sent to other people in the country who might raise their voice against aspects of what is being done and happening in this country is to watch out. I mean unless you subscribe to the version of events that the military is putting out, you are simply enemy of the state.
COUTTS: Now, not one word of this has appeared in Fiji’s press. In fact, we know that stories were written up but the censors got to it and withdrew the stories about you. So, apart from the fact that you are a Fiji-born person, it’s a bit sad to say that people in your own country, your homeland are not hearing about this latest story?
LAL: Well, I mean this is one example and I was rung up on that night by a person from the newspaper, the Fiji Times, and told that they were writing a tory, whether it was to be published or not is a different matter. But this is attacking news. Mine is not an exceptional case. A number of cases which are which throw bad light on some aspects of what the government has done or is doing, they never get published. There is total darkness. I mean the newspapers operate under huge censorship, the radios; the television broadcasts only that which is approved by the military regime. So I think this is perhaps the most difficult part of living in Fiji. The total blackout on information, which gives rise to all kinds of blog sites and all kinds of other channels promoting information, as well as misinformation and I think this is what is really hurting the people of Fiji, because they cannot talk about what is happening. They cannot exchange ideas in public. You are always looking over your shoulder to see if someone is listening or not and I have been told by many people that this is one aspect of this coup that is different, very different from the ones in the past. In the past, there seemed to be a pattern where after the initial period, leadership was handed back to a civilian authority, whether it was Mara in 1987, or Qarase and others in 1999. But this time around, the military is deeply entrenched and they are intent on remaining in power for a very long period of time.
COUTTS: Now, you said earlier that you hoped the cooler heads will prevail and that in a couple of months time, you might consider going back. Are you serious?
LAL: Well, I would like to go back, not necessarily in the next couple of months, but hopefully in the near future. I mean I don’t want to tempt fate obviously, but writing about Fiji has been the preoccupation of my life, my obsession and I would not like to just leave that. But I will just have to wait and assess the situation, see what the thinking is and then hope, because expelling me or asking me to leave is not going to help solve Fiji’s problems. It’s simply a side event and I just hope also that the public emergency regulations which are being extended month by month by month will end and people will be able to express their views as they have done in Fiji for all this time, except since the abrogation of the Constitution in April this year.
Over the past week the events in Fiji have been front page news in Australia, New Zealand, and many other parts of the world, including the Pacific. Fiji’s media was also been given the go ahead by the censors to cover the comments by Chief Justice Anthony Gates, alleging judicial interference by Australia and New Zealand. Outlets there also reported the military backed regime’s response to those allegations, the expulsion of Australia and New Zealand’s heads of mission, and the reaction of those countries, and the expulsion of Fiji’s Heads of mission in Wellington and Canberra. But as Pacific Correspondent Campbell Cooney reports Fiji’s censors, based in newsrooms since the constitution was scrapped in April, have ensured there has been no mention of the overnight expulsion of Fijian born Australian National University academic, Professor Brij Lal.
Presenter: Pacific Correspondent Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Fiji’s Interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum; Radio Australia’s Phil Kafcaloudes; Mark Davies from the SBS; Fiji interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama
COONEY: A leading commentator on Fiji politics Professor Lal has a home in Suva and has been there for the past few months doing research. He appears to have run foul of the regime over interviews he conducted with international media about the interim government’s expulsions. After a three hour interrogation by the military he was told he was unwelcome and was given 24 hours to leave Fiji. But this story about the detention, interrogation and expulsion of one of the country’s leading academics and commentators appears to be something Fiji’s leaders don’t want Fijians to know about, especially on the day the military regime gets the head of state it wants with former interim minister Ratu Epeli Nailatikau swearing in as President. And online check by Radio Australia of Fiji’s media and the Pacific news wire service Pac News can find no mention of the forced exit from Fiji of Professor Lal. And in an interview with Radio Australia, interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum indicated Fiji has a different view of what free press means.
SAYED-KHAIYUM: The only restriction on media at the moment is that there are one or two individual politicians whose voices aren’t heard, but other people’s voices are heard.
KAFCALOUDES: Why are some politicians voices not heard, certainly that isn’t freedom of speech if some are not allowed to speak?
SAYED-KHAIYUM: Yes you can argue that, but the point is that we are building a nation.
COONEY: In July Mark Davies from the SBS Dateline program spoke to interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama about the censorship.
DAVIES: There’s a pretty good chance I could break a law on the streets of Fiji. I just have to bring my camera out and try and speak to an opponent of yours and I’d be breaking the law?
BAINIMARAMA: Well yes but that’s law by decree.
DAVIES: Mr Qarase, he’s not able to speak out against you or to organise against you. I believe he’s now not allowed to leave the country, is that correct?
BAINIMARAMA: That’s his bail condition I think.
DAVIES: And one of the reasons given to not allow him out of the country is that he will speak to journalists. Specifically he’ll speak to journalists in Australia?
BAINIMARAMA: Well not really, he will go out and make destabilising remarks about what’s happening in Fiji.
DAVIES: Is he able to speak freely?
BAINIMARAMA: Well he can speak to his wife and his family freely in that sense, yes.
DAVIES: Can I speak to him?
BAINIMARAMA: You want to speak to him? What do you want to speak to him about?
DAVIES: Ask him his opinion of you perhaps?
BAINIMARAMA: No, I don’t want you to speak to him because he doesn’t make sense.
COONEY: And while the interim government says there are only a couple of politicians who aren’t allowed to talk publicly, the expulsion of diplomats and academics means those contacted over the past few days by Radio Australia asking for comment have declined, giving the reason of not wanting to put Fiji’s military leaders off side. Fiji’s public are definitely not going to be reading a story in the News Limited-owned Australian newspaper about the man credited with triggering Fiji’s latest conflict with its international neighbours, Chief Justice Anthony Gates. Written by the paper’s legal affairs editor Chris Merritt, it’s first paragraph reads:
“The breach in relations with Fiji has been triggered by one extraordinary man, Chief Justice Anthony Gates, an Australian citizen who appears to believe the role of a judge includes providing briefings for dictators.”
COONEY: And if that’s not enough to attract the attention of Fiji censors then its description of Mr Gates’ career trajectory to his appointment as Chief Justice is sure to:
“For Justice Gates this promotion is the pinnacle of a career that has flourished as democracy in Fiji has withered.”
COONEY: Don’t hold your breath waiting to see it in print in Fiji anytime soon.
- Radio Australia
A spokesman for Fiji’s military regime says it will take action where it sees national security as a concern.
The military chief of staff, Colonel Aziz Mohammed, says the Fiji-born Australian academic Brij Lal was detained and questioned this week because he breached public emergency regulations.
Professor Lal says he returned to Australia after he was told to leave Fiji because of criticism he’d made of the interim regime’s decision to expel Australian and New Zealand diplomats.
Colonel Mohammed would not specify how Professor Lal had breached regulations, but says the military acted of its own accord and not in response to government instructions.
He says Professor Lal was treated well.
“We had a very cordial conversation, we made the position and our concerns known to him, and basically he agreed to certain things we had to say.”
Colonel Aziz Mohammed says he was not aware Professor Lal was told to leave Fiji within 24 hours.
Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Never before in our nation’s history has there been such a unified chorus of international condemnation levelled against our country as now following the most arrogant show of power by the Interim regime. In ordering that the Australian and NZ high commissioners leave Fiji within 24 hours, Bainimarama has not only defied the covenants of the Vienna convention but also showed how badly out of tune he is with international opinion and to what extreme extent he will go to entrench power for powers sake.
Australia, NZ, US, UK, the neighbouring Pacific, Commonwealth, EU and United Nations all have pleaded unsuccessfully for some measured restraint and show of commitment to restore proper governance and democracy. Pitted in a posture of unmalleable pride and strident defiance, the regime has shown a contemptuous unwillingness to engage with anybody who disagrees with their agenda of total control and usurpation of the democratic process.
There is no validity in the argument that in refusing transit visas to the Sri Lankan judges, Australia and NZ are interfering with the administration and independence of Fiji’s judiciary. There is no nexus between the two and his excuse is spurious at best. Nor is there any basis to suggest that any such action impinges on Fiji’s sovereignty in any way.
Fiji’s sovereignty is based on its stature and acceptance by the international community of nations; its adherence to the rule of law, respect and commitment to the true principles of constitutional democracy, human, civil and trade union rights, media freedom, racial equity and justice and the opportunity it offers to its citizens to live and conduct their lives freely and without fear of the state institutions.
National sovereignty is not compromised because a few Sri Lankan mercenaries have been denied transit visas by another sovereign country.
From a once glorious jewel of the Pacific, widely hailed “as the way the world should be”, our Fiji has been reduced to a pariah, isolated as a political leper without friends and ridiculed. It is this self inflicted degradation and destruction of the nation that has robbed Fiji off its rightful place in the world of nations which has besmirched its sovereignty.
The truth of the matter is that the current judiciary in Fiji has never had any independence since the Bainimarama coup of 2006. Whatever modicum and pretence of judicial legitimacy it had, has been irrevocably destroyed by the abrogation of the Constitution in April 2009. The entire legal infrastructure of the country; right from the appointment of the Chief Justice, judges, magistrates, Registrar of the Courts, the Solicitor General and the administration of the courts, the police and the prosecution etc lacks constitutional authority and independence. In its inability to attract suitably qualified personnel of adequate competence, integrity and independence, the quality of the judiciary has been heavily compromised and politicised. The traditional Westminister model predicated on the principle of the separation of the judiciary, the executive and the legislature as been violated. Justice Gates has established a new nadir in judicial chicanery by taking it upon himself to criticise two sovereign neighbouring governments.
There is no Legal and Judicial Services Commission to oversee the proper appointment of judges and magistrates. Most positions have been filled on the basis of political patronage and an unashamed declaration of allegiance to the regime’s political interests and on the recommendations of the PM and AG. Unlike the long established convention of appointment for life, they are all on temporary contracts which can be terminated at a month’s notice. Instead of declaring their adherence to the rule of law, ethics and proper administration of justice, they have all taken an oath to uphold the promulgation and decrees of the regime.
They have significantly restricted jurisdiction. Neither can any case before the courts prior to April 10th 2009 nor any subsequent decision of the regime be challenged.
The legal profession has been completely neutered by the Legal Practioners Decree under which practising licenses are now issued by the highly politicised Chief Registrar. These licenses are generally issued for 12 months but in certain cases for only 3 months.
The Public Emergency Regulation has completely destroyed media freedom, all basic human rights , freedom of expression, assembly and even the rights to religious meetings.
The economy is in a tailspin, high unemployment and little to no future for the poor citizens. Farmers are physically threatened and the sugar industry is almost dead.
The regime cannot go begging the world for financial assistance, UN deployment of its soldiers, EU aid and subsidy, foreign investment etc if they are not prepared to live by the norms of democracy.
The leader of the Fiji Labour Party says the expulsion of Australian and New Zealand diplomats is regrettable, and the sending of home of academic, Brij Lal, is concerning.
Mahendra Chaudhry, who quit as the interim regime’s finance minister last year, says he considers Australia and New Zealand to be important neighbours and development partners.
He says the cutting of diplomatic ties will have an effect on Fiji and the sooner relations are restored the better.
Mr Chaudhry says Australia and New Zealand have had a policy on travel sanctions since 2006 and have a right to determine their own policies.
He says detaining and ordering Professor Lal to leave after he criticised the expulsions does not help the situation.
“I’ve always maintained that we can only resolve Fiji’s problems by engaging, and having dialogue and not by taking measures which are arbitrary.”
Mahendra Chaudhry says the Labour Party has been engaging with the interim administration about issues that concern it, such as the harassment of sugar cane farmers.
Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Fiji’s interim attorney general says training of magistrates is ongoing, following a new report finding them to be gender-biased and unexperienced.
The report has been compiled by the Women’s Crisis Centre and looked at how new magistrates ruled in gender-based crime cases.
The new magistrates were appointed after the turmoil in April when the constitution was thrown out and the judiciary sacked.
Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum says the problem hasn’t appeared overnight.
“The Bainimarama interim government commissioned an inquiry into the magistracy and that found a number of issues that needed to be addressed. So, those matters are on foot. There’s also been some very good training that’s been going on within the magistracy and the judiciary by some very competent judges and former judges.”
Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum
Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
THE US government has strongly backed Canberra and Wellington in their escalating row with Fiji’s military regime.
Supporters of the regime had held out hope the US would take a nuanced approach, differentiating itself from Australia and New Zealand.
Instead, US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters yesterday that Fiji’s expulsion of Australian and New Zealand diplomats “has undermined any opportunity for progress toward re-engagement and constructive dialogue with its neighbours”.
“The United States calls for the restoration of Fiji’s independent judiciary and the rights to free speech and assembly that are essential to the country’s return to democracy,” Mr Kelly said.
Despite the US criticism, Fiji’s Chief Justice Anthony Gates, an Australian and British citizen whose press conference railing against Australia and New Zealand for “interfering” in the judiciary prompted the latest downturn in the countries’ relationship with Fiji, yesterday swore in Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as President.
Kevin Rudd yesterday ruled out any prospect of normalising relations with Fiji’s military rulers, vowing to maintain a hardline approach in his government’s dealings with the regime led by military chief Frank Bainimarama.
Cranking up the rhetoric, the Prime Minister told ABC radio he was concerned to ensure Fiji’s coup culture “was not seen in any way as normal” and did not spread to other parts of the South Pacific.
Mr Rudd’s comments followed yesterday’s expulsion of Fiji’s acting high commissioner Kamlesh Kumar Arya.
The tit-for-tat exchange was triggered on Tuesday when Commodore Bainimarama kicked out Canberra’s senior envoy James Batley for alleged interference in Fiji’s judiciary.
The latest casualty of the diplomatic row is Australian National University academic Brij Lal. Professor Lal, who was born in Fiji, was detained by the Fiji military and then ordered out for public comments on the worsening state of bilateral relations. He arrived in Canberra yesterday.
During a stopover in Sydney, Professor Lal, who had to leave his wife, Padma, in their Suva home, said he was relieved to be back in Australia.
“I was really touched by the words the police officer spoke to me when we landed,” Professor Lal said. “She said: `Welcome home, sir, we will protect you.’ These were words it was beyond me to describe.” Professor Lal, a Fiji expert and Australian citizen, had been living in Suva since August, preparing to write a book about the urban poor.
He was arrested after criticising the regime’s decision to expel Mr Batley.
Professor Lal was detained and interrogated for three hours on Wednesday and described the “intense verbal abuse, foul language and explosive anger” of the police officer who dealt with him, but said there was no physical assault.
Mr Rudd said Commodore Bainimarama’s actions over the past 48 hours showed normal dealings with the junta were out of the question.
“You cannot send anything less than a clear-cut message to the people of Fiji, the Fijian regime and more widely the people of the South Pacific — that the governments of Australia and New Zealand will not simply stand idly by while this Fijian regime fundamentally breaches its democratic principles.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the Coalition would support the government’s actions but called on Mr Rudd to relocate the Pacific Forum Secretariat, at present headquartered in Suva, to further pressure Fiji’s regime.
Additional reporting: Jill Rowbotham
- The Australian
A former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner says the treatment of the Fiji born Australian academic, Brij Lal, by military authorities is shocking.
Professor Lal says the military authorities came to his house and took him to the barracks for questioning on Wednesday, giving him 24 hours to leave Fiji.
This came after he gave media interviews criticising the interim regime’s expulsion of top New Zealand and Australian diplomats earlier this week.
Professor Lal left Fiji yesterday morning and is now back in Australia.
Shamima Ali says the military’s behaviour is unacceptable.
“I’m very concerned about what’s happening. We seem to be facing a deteriorating situation politically in this country. And when we thought that bridges have been mended that’s when it seems that it slipped out of our hands again. So it’s not a good place for Fiji to be at the moment.”
Shamima Ali.
Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Fiji Labour Party leader and ex- Minister Finance in Frank’s illegal military regime, Mahendra Chaudhry, is still enjoying his freedom to travel to Australia, eventhough he took an illegal oath to serve under Frank’s junta.
Mahendra Chaudhry is reported to have been in Australia for the past few days for some personal business and briefing with the Australia’s Federal Labor government.
Many are already questioning the double standard immigration policy adopted by Australia for entertaining a coup apologist and beneficiary like Mahendra Chaudhry while it continues to deny common Fiji citizens from entering Australia simply under the virtue of one of their family member being a military officer or a senior appointee of the junta.
Sources confirm that SDL political party General Secretary, Peceli Kinivuwai, was detained and questioned at the military camp yesterday.
It followed his radio new zealand interview where he said that the junta’s decision to expel the Australian High Commissioner and NZ acting High Commissioner was “naive”.
Like Professor Brij Lala, Kinivuwai is said to be been verbally abused and reminded that the Public Emergency Regulation is still in place whihc prohibits him from making any public statements against the junta.
Fiji Labour Party also released a statement calling for diplomatic restraint however, none of their officials was hauled in by the military.
Good for nothing Inoke Kubuabola, once Fiji’s Ambassdor to PNG and Japan, and now the illegal Minister Foreign Affairs has admitted that he was kept in the dark on the decision made to expel ANZ envoys from Fiji.
He is reported to have said that the decision was made entirely by Anthony Gates and Aiyaz Khaiyum who later adviced Frank to announce it during a press conference.
Sources say the latest foreign relations blunder by Frank & Co. is a slap on the face for Inoke Kubuabola – an unemployable becile who sided with the coupster for the sake of getting employed.
Inoke Kubuabola was also reported to have said that he can make positive changes from within in pushing Fiji to democracy but so far, he has nothing to show for except lining his own pocket with Fiji taxpayers money.
Sources added that Kubuabola is still renting in Cakobau Flats in Suva and is yet to take up residence at one of the government houses.
They hinted that Kubuabola is feeling uneasy about moving to a government quarters fearing that his stay there may be short-lived.
UN says human rights violators like Pita Driti will not be accepted to serve in UN peace operations
November 5, 2009
UN questions
There are continuing questions about the role of Fiji’s soldiers in UN peacekeeping, which ensures a steady flow of UN income to Fiji’s military families.
Another ANU academic focussed on Fiji, Doctor Jon Fraenkel, has written that the situation is outrageous.
He also says that Fiji has designated Colonel Pita Driti to head the Fiji Guard Unit in Iraq.
Colonel Driti is described by Doctor Fraenkel as “one of the military commanders most implicated in human rights abuses since the coup”.
He’s also the subject of a long-running dispute with Malaysia which refused to accept him as Fji’s High Commissioner over his human rights record.
In a statement the United Nations has told Radio Australia that it does not have confirmation about Fiji’s intentions for Colonel Driti in Iraq and that the it is seeking clarification from Suva.
It also notes that personnel alleged to have committed human rights abuses or other illegal activities will not be accepted to serve in UN peace operations.
- Radio Australia
Fiji PM's Naivety Clear for All to See!
PM sends clear business signal to Aust, NZ
www.fijilive.com - November 07, 2009
Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has used the annual gathering of business executives at the Exporter of the Year Awards to tell recalcitrant neighbours Australia and New Zealand that all is well between them and Fiji at the business level.
“We need to view and indeed separate the political from trade, tourism and the economy,” Bainimarama said to applause from the audience, in reference to this week’s tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions first by Fiji and followed by Australia and New Zealand.
Bainimarama said while the governments of Fiji, Australia and New Zealand had taken respective positions regarding their interaction at the political and diplomatic level, his government would not let “such issues affect or discourage trade, tourism, business co-operation, collaboration and investment”.
“On the contrary, we encourage more trade, investment and tourism between our traditional partners of Australia and New Zealand.”
Bainimarama said he again offered engagement at all levels with the two governments “on a level playing field in which our sovereignty and dignity is respected and maintained. Such engagement must encourage trade, investment and friendship for the mutual benefit of our countries”.
Among the early winners announced at the awards tonight are Affiliated Computer Services (FINTEL Information, Communication, Technology Services Exporter of the Year); Natural Foods Fiji Ltd (FSC Agro-Processing Exporter of the Year); Shangri-La Fijian Resort (MR Dayal Group of Companies Tourism Services Exporter of the Year) and, Tropik Wood Industries Ltd (Clyde Equipment (Pacific) Ltd Forestry Exporter of the Year).
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Fiji Crisis Discussed
| Don’t over dramatise situation-McCully | |
The New Zealand Foreign Minister said people should not see the events in Fiji this week as overly dramatic. According to reports from ABC news, Minister Murray McCully said the expulsion of the Australia and New Zealand's top diplomats out of Suva isn't getting him upset, adding they have in this relationship with Fiji some ups and downs, and that right now we have just been having a down. McCully has been discussing the Fiji problem with Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele. Meanwhile a senior Solomon Islands government official said isolation Fiji from dialogue with Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific countries won't help the nation's situation. The special Secretary to the Solomon Islands Prime Minister John Keniapisia said the latest deterioration in relations between the three countries is unfortunate. Keniapisia said it is unfortunate because in the world today, no man is an island, and we always need each other, and we always support each othe |
Friday, November 06, 2009
Goodbye Fiji
Goodbye Fiji: Diplomat flies home to NZ
www.fiitimes.com - Monika Singh
Friday, November 06, 2009
+ Enlarge this imageTodd Cleaver at Nadi International Airport last night. Picture: ANOKH KUMAR
"VINAKA vakalevu and moce mada, May God bless Fiji." These were the parting words of acting New Zealand High Commissioner Todd Cleaver as he and his family left Fiji at 6.30pm yesterday.
Minutes before boarding the NZ55 flight to New Zealand, Mr Cleaver expressed his gratitude to those who sent messages of sympathy during the past two days.
"It's a great regret that I and my family are leaving Fiji in such circumstances," said Mr Cleaver.
Mr Cleaver also expressed his sincere thanks for the kind hospitality so many people had extended during the two and a half years he spent in Fiji.
"Vinaka vakalevu (thank you very much) and moce mada (goodbye)," he said.
Before walking into the immigration section to board the flight, Mrs Cleaver said "may God bless Fiji".
When asked about the departure, Mr Cleaver referred further questions to New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
The family walked into the Nadi International Airport at 5.50pm accompanied by three New Zealand High Commission officials, their driver and the nanny.
The immigration supervisor at Nadi International Airport was also at the International Departure lounge.
Meanwhile, Australian High Commissioner James Batley has been out of Fiji since September.
Director Immigration Nemani Vuniwaqa said Mr Batley flew out to Australia on September 25
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Dr Brij Lal Expelled from Home of Birth
www.theaustralian.news.com.au - 5 November 2009
THE row between Australia and New Zealand and Fiji intensified rapidly yesterday, with tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and Fiji's military-installed Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, warning all other foreign representatives in Suva: "You work with me or leave."
Today, the besieged Fiji regime will close ranks as one of Commodore Bainimarama's predecessors as military commander, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau - also a senior Fijian chief - is sworn in as the new president.The deteriorating relationship appears to have contributed to Fiji's arrest and expulsion yesterday of one of Australia's leading experts on the nation, the Australian National University professor Brij Lal, hours after he gave interviews about the dispute.
The underlying cause of the current diplomatic flurry appears to be that travel bans applied by Australia and New Zealand to senior officials working for the military regime, as well as to their spouses and children, are beginning to bite.
But the Rudd government's attempt to pressure the UN into withdrawing Fiji from peacekeeping missions - a crucial morale and income booster for the army, Commodore Bainimarama's core source of support - has failed so far, with fresh troops still being assigned, including to Iraq.
Following the expulsion with 24 hours' notice of Australian high commissioner to Fiji James Batley - the country's leading diplomatic expert on the Pacific islands - and of the acting New Zealand high commissioner, Kevin Rudd yesterday warned: "We're not about to simply allow a coup culture to spread (in the South Pacific).
"We'll maintain a hard line in relation to this regime."
Commodore Bainimarama seized power three years ago, and in April this year his government abrogated the country's constitution. Defying international pressure, it insists elections will not be held for another five years.
Commodore Bainimarama, who accuses Australia and New Zealand of meddling in his country's affairs, has now expelled from Suva three successive heads of New Zealand's mission, its trade commissioner, and its police attache.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said yesterday: "The level of assistance the high commission can provide to New Zealand citizens may be affected due to the depleted staff numbers." The office has been closed until further notice.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday announced the expulsion of Fiji's acting high commissioner, Kamlesh Kumar Arya - a former Fiji Labour Party politician, appointed to Canberra 15 months ago - just as he was planning to upgrade his status.
He had been declared persona non grata, and as a consequence was required to leave within 24 hours, Mr Smith said. "This is deeply regrettable, and Australia is deeply disappointed at Fiji's conduct in this matter."
Suva had pre-empted Australian and New Zealand moves by recalling its representatives to Canberra and Wellington a day earlier. The government-friendly Fiji Sun yesterday led its front page with a warning issued to all remaining foreign diplomats from Commodore Bainimarama via the newspaper that they too would be expelled if they "work against the state".
The latest downwards spiral of the fraught relationship with Fiji follows a remarkable press conference conducted at the weekend by the chief justice appointed by Commodore Bainimarama, Anthony Gates, a citizen of Britain and Australia who began working in Fiji 32 years ago.
Justice Gates said Fiji had to "stand up against interference" by Australia and New Zealand in the appointment of judges: "One thing is clear, the judiciary in Fiji will not be cowed."
However, Commodore Bainimarama admitted the tactics by Canberra and Wellington had succeeded in "stopping him from nominating credible, well-qualified individuals to serve on the bench".
The state-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation said Justice Gates toured Sri Lanka in August seeking to recruit judges following a succession of judicial resignations and sackings since the military coup of December 2006.
Justice Gates expressed outrage that the six new judges he had hired from Sri Lanka were warned by Australian diplomats of the implications for their access to Australia.
Commodore Bainimarama said yesterday he had no regrets about triggering the latest downturn in relations in the region.
"We are suspended from the Commonwealth, Australia and New Zealand suspended us from the (Pacific Islands) Forum, so really it doesn't make any difference," he said.
Further likely to damage relations is the arrest in Suva yesterday of the Fiji-born Australian academic Professor Lal, a critic of the military regime who had hours earlier given interviews to Australian media.
Professor Lal, an Australian citizen, was taken from his home in Suva and later given 24 hours to leave Fiji, the ABC reported.
ANU colleague and Fiji expert Jon Fraenkel said: "The arrest is outrageous, but typical of this regime. The minute a diplomatic spat happens, they up the repression."
NZ Fijians worried about diplomatic stoush
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2009
posted on: coupfourpointfive
The tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions have left Fiji citizens in Australia and New Zealand concerned over what the practical effects might be.
A Fijian community leader in New Zealand, Sai Lealea, tells Radio Australia's Bruce Hill that indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians are worried about travel arrangements and visa processing times, especially with the busy holiday season coming up.
SAI LEALEA: In my case, I have got a nephew who is getting married in a couple of weeks time and there are efforts to try and get some relatives over for the wedding. With what has happened, impacts on kind of services provided by the High Commission in Fiji, it is going to make life a bit difficult for those wanting to organise travel. There is going to be a protracted period, other requirements, administrative requirements, lodging applications and these are people who have to travel from afar to come to Suva, make arrangements to book their travel as well as meet the requirements for the High Commission to enable them to travel, in terms of police check, medical examination and what have you. So at the practical level, these are the things that could easily happen and now people are worried about those things. And, of course, with the festive season, coming up to Christmas, that's going to be greatly felt.
BRUCE HILL: Who do New Zealand-Fijians blame mainly for this situation, Commodore Bainimarama or the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key and the Australian Government?
LEALEA: The question one has to ask and I know a lot of people are asking, what has Fiji got to gain by this kind of tactic by Bainimarama? I mean Australia and New Zealand are long term friends of Fiji, no question about that and they have never had any problem with Fiji before. It is the government, not the people, it's the government of this illegal regime in Fiji that is having trouble, because it cannot be trusted. New Zealand and Australia have only the best motives and try to assist the people of Fiji and as I just said, we have a government in Fiji that is illegally, that is just being led by somebody who just doesn't want to listen, who thinks he can intimidate and brag about dealing to New Zealand and Australia.
HILL: Is the Fijian community fairly united in this or is this just perhaps your opinion?
LEALEA: Well, it is no question it is my opinion, but I know it is widely shared. We're having trouble during this instant, during this period of illegal government in Fiji. I mean if you take Fiji's development over the years, you know you can trace back Australia and New Zealand's involvement. So there is no question about overall support for Australia and New Zealand having been good friends of Fiji. What we are having trouble with is illegal regimes who have come into power in Fiji through the point of guns, so there is something widely shared and the people have long memories about those.
HILL: I understand that you have actually launched a campaign within the New Zealand-Fijian community to get that community to publicly support the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, in his approach to Fiji?
LEALEA: Yes, it is really just promoting, publicising the avenue which people could voice their opinion and their support to the New Zealand Government in its effort to maintain its course and direction on Fiji and that direction is mainly about tightening up on those sanctions. So the effort really is to show people how to email the prime minister of New Zealand directly and just suggesting, just a couple of paragraphs or three stating their points of view, because it is important for New Zealand, certainly the prime minister to know that the people from Fiji here who endorse, who love Fiji, would like to see Fiji return to its rightful place as a democratic country in the Pacific
Illegal President Sworn in by Illegal CJ
Ratu Epeli in high office
www.fijitimes.com - Monika Singh
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Sai's Comments:
- It is a sad day for Fiji when a Chief takes up a position with an illegal regime. Fijians would be very sad that Ratu Epeli had not chosen to exert any influence on the military regime of Voreqe to retun Fiji to democratic rule. This is no doubt something all Fijians would have expected from a chief and one with such a chiefly lineage as Ratu Epeli.
- But equally sad, we all know that, Ratu Epeli has come to be a follower not a leader such that he has not got anymore influence over Voreqe the day the coup was carried out in 2006.
- Fijians will cast a wry smile every time he is ferried around in his motorcade knowing he got there after being rejected by his fellow chiefs on being sponsored by Voreqe.
- The sooner a new democratic government is returned in Fiji Ratu Epeli should do the honourable thing - to pack his bags as he does not have the confidence of the people but only the illegal military regime of Voreqe.
RATU Epeli Nailatikau will be sworn in today as President in place of Ratu Josefa Iloilo who resigned in September.
Ratu Epeli is a chief from the Naisogolaca household on Bau Island and is married to Adi Koila, daughter of former president and prime minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.
Ratu Epeli rose through the ranks of the military to become commander.
In 1979, he commanded the 1st Battalion, Fiji Infantry Regiment (1FIR) when it joined the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon.
He was removed from the position when Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka overthrew Dr Timoci Bavadra's Labour Coalition government in 1987.
Ratu Epeli was Fiji's ambassador to the Court of St James. On his return, he held several posts in the Foreign Service before becoming Speaker of the House and a special United Nations ambassador for HIV-AIDS. He held a number of Cabinet portfolios in various governments.
Educated at Draiba Fijian, Levuka Public and Queen Victoria School, Ratu Epeli joined the army and served in Malaysia on secondment to the New Zealand Defence Force during confrontations with Indonesia in the 1960s.
He is the second eldest son of the late Ratu Sir Edward Cakobau, who commanded the Fiji Battalion in the Solomons in World War II and became deputy prime minister in Ratu Mara's government.
Ratu Sir Edward was the eldest son of George IV of Tonga, grandfather of the current king, George Tupou II. His mother was Adi Litia Cakobau, daughter of Ratu Timoci Tavanavanua of the Vunivalu mataqali of Bau.
First President of Fiji: Ratu Sir Penaia Kanatabatu Ganilau (1987- 1993)
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (1993-2000)
Ratu Josefa Iloilo (2000-2009)
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Email to NZ PM
04 November 2009
If you like to email NZ's PM about Fiji, here are his contacts:
Email: john.key@national.org.nz
Website: www.johnkey.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6800 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4122496 (Electorate)
Website: www.johnkey.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6800 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4122496 (Electorate)
Use Template letter below if you like:
Bula Vinaka Prime Minister,
On behalf of Fijians in NZ and Fiji on whose behalf I know I speak, I wish to convey our ongoing support and gratitude to your government's effort to return Fiji to parliamentary and democratic rule.
It is our prayer that God almighty will bless you and the government and that you will never be intimidated by Frank's threats and hollow words as he again expels NZ and Australia's envoys. He is feeling the impact of the sanctions and thanks to you and the government for taking a strong stance todate.
I urge you and the government to strongly prosecute the direction you're taking on Fiji, especially representations to the UN to ban using Fiji's military and Police personnel in UN activities.
Sincere regards.
Australia Expells Fiji Diplomat
The Australian - 4/11/2009
AUSTRALIA has expelled Fiji's acting high commissioner, Kamlesh Kumar Arya, in retaliation for a similar move by Fijian leaders.
The move comes as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned Fiji's influence could trigger a "coup culture" in the Pacific and Australia must take a tough stand.
Fiji's military ruler Commodore Frank Bainimarama has accused Australia of targeting trade and interfering with judicial appointments after Fiji sacked its judiciary.
But Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has rejected the first charge, noting Australia has not imposed trade sanctions.
Mr Rudd said today it was clear Fiji's leaders had violated the constitution, suspended the judiciary and conducted a military coup.
“We do not want this coup culture to spread elsewhere in the Pacific,” he told ABC radio.
However, he did not say how Australia would respond to the latest problem.
It's the first time Fiji has expelled an Australian high commissioner.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has described the move as provocative and unreasonable.
NZ Expells Fiji Diplomat
Sai's Comment
- What a sad day for Mr Savou and his family after arriving just around 2 months from Fiji to take up his post in Wellington. In fact he was just at a 21st birthday last Saturday, no doubt oblivious to what was brewing under Frank's collar in Fiji.
- Such waste of effort, resource and time for public servants who could claim to be simply doing their job but caught up in Frank's idiotic brinkmanship.
- Civil servants in Fiji must all be running miles to avoid being appointed to a senior post in NZ.
- Again, unless and until a brave and courageous soul, rids Fiji of Frank, more of these lunacy is bound to continue.
New Zealand has hit back at Fiji and expelled their Acting Head of Mission in New Zealand, Kuliniasi Seru Savou.
The move was expected after New Zealand's Deputy High Commissioner Todd Cleaver and Australia's High Commissioner James Bartley were told to leave Fiji.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced that Mr Cleaver was declared persona non grata by Fiji this afternoon and was instructed to leave the country.
"At about 3pm this afternoon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, at my request, invited the Acting Head of Mission in here and made the same sort of steps," Mr McCully told reporters.
"Mr Savou was declared persona non grata and asked to leave New Zealand."
Mr Cleaver was New Zealand's acting head of mission after Fiji previously ousted High Commissioner Michael Green then his successor, acting High Commissioner Caroline McDonald
Frank's Bragging Rights Further Undermines Fiji
Sai's Comments:
- My prediction is that Frank will continue to use these expulsions as a way to garner support from within Fiji and among friends in the Pacific and those in Asia such as China and India.
- He portrays himself as the victim taking on big brother nations NZ and Australia to curry favour with others.
- The sad reality is that nations are plain sick and tired of his brinkmanship and will refuse to play to his tune. They have far better things to do in Fiji such as helping ordinary citizens directly through aid organisations on the ground. They must keep their integrity intact as Frank's rule though too long, will eventually end, if not in an inferno for him personally, and his soul mates in his illegal government.
- The key ingredients for a fruitful engagement are not there and hasn't been for a while. Deep listening to all citizens' expectations for Fiji has not been present as Frank is not one who listens other than to himself. His advisers are mere lap dogs who say what he wants to hear.
- Remove Frank from the scene and you begin to dismantle his apparatus of power. His regime has not been based on any sound or enduring philosophical foundation, despite his pontifications to the opposite. It has been based on exacting revenge and ensuring self preservation for him and his supporters. He lacks the brain power to even think for himself let alone for a nation.
- What he has in fact sown are the seeds for long term misery, distrust and discord among the people of Fiji. He must surely pay for that, if not in this life then in the next.
- I am just surprised no one has yet got rid of him up to now, in order to also earn the bragging rights, for ridding Fiji of its most hated tyrant, since the dark cannibalistic days of our forefathers prior to Christianity arriving on the shores of Fiji.
Jon Fraenkal, an expert on Fijian affairs at the Australian National University, said the latest spat added to the legacy of antagonism between the Fijian dictator and the governments of New Zealand and Australia.
"There's been a whole succession of these diplomatic spats and I think the Commander in Fiji uses these politically in order to consolidate support for his government," he told Radio New Zealand.
He said the expulsion of the diplomats would endanger the rebounding Fijian tourism industry as without consular assistance, travellers would be more weary, adding to an already bleak economic situation.
It was difficult to see a resolution, he told radio New Zealand.
These incidents were used to galvanize support but Australia and New Zealand could not facilitate a consolidation of the government.
"I suppose the really damaging thing about the current episode is that it closes lines of communication. If there is a transition io Fiji, if there is a crumbling of the regime, a move towards greater dialogue or even election, there won't be representation on the ground from Australia and New Zealand to assist that process."
He said he did not think Australia and New Zealand could do much to reconcile the situation.
The British High Commissioner to New Zealand, George Fergusson, condemned the expulsion.
"We very much regret this decision. It can only be a retrograde step for Fiji and the region," he said.
Fiji Judge Told No Shopping during NZ Medical Visit
by Michael Field - www.stuff.co.nz
4/11/2009
The government is expected to expel the NZ head of the Fiji high commission after both New Zealand and Australian envoys were expelled from Fiji.
Immigration New Zealand refused today to release letters its officials have written to Fiji Judge Anjela Wati.
It was treatment of her by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) officials in Suva that sparked Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama order the expelling of top Australian and New Zealand diplomats.
An INZ spokesman said they would never release such letters without a "privacy waiver" from the person who received the visa.
Her medical visa included a provision that there be "no shopping".
Bainimarama said that Ms Wati was "harassed and humiliated" by the New Zealand High Commission.
Fiji's military appointed Chief Justice Tony Gates over the weekend gave details of the contact between Ms Wati and immigration officials.
He said Ms Wati and her husband on October 15 lodged an urgent application for a medical visa with the New Zealand High Commission.
Their 22-month-old boy Kartik had been diagnosed with a fully detached retina on his left eye.
An ophthalmologist's report went with the application saying the condition required an overseas operation.
Later that day the branch manager of INZ wrote back to Ms Wati.
"To most readers of that letter it was abundantly plain from its contents that the visa was to be rejected," Mr Gates said.
"When this matter blew up in the media the visa staff swiftly moved to explain that the visa had 'not' in fact been rejected and was still under consideration.
"As we all now know the medical visa was eventually, if begrudgingly, granted."
Mr Gates said the letter to Ms Wati said, in part: "By virtue of accepting an appointment to the Ministry of Justice and you fall within the parameters of New Zealand's travel sanctions…
"Despite any other provisions of Government immigration policy, none of the people to whom the ban applies may be issued a visa to enter New Zealand (including a transit visa) or granted any permit to be in New Zealand."
Mr Gates said the letter added insult to injury by reminding her that "all applicants must be of good character."
Mr Gates said "out of a mother's desperation for her sick child and suppressing her own feelings of insult" she went to the High Commission in Suva to see INZ manager Steve Janes and a Ms Myers.
She was told she could appeal the decision.
"Judge Wati derived little comfort from this advice since she had already been told she was regarded as 'a person associated with the 2006 coup' by virtue of her accepting an appointment to the bench."
Mr Gates said Mr Janes was "dismissive of the gravity of the child's condition saying 'It wasn't life-threatening anyway'.
"Later those officers claimed ignorance of the gravity and urgency of the child’s condition," Mr Gates said.
"Life threatening the condition may not have been, but how much further medical explanation did they require of 'full retinal detachment'.
If untreated, it was a condition that would result in loss of sight in that eye.
"Anyway Judge Wati told them of the danger.
"If in doubt, one of the visa staff could have picked up the phone and spoken to the Suva ophthalmologist about it. Instead the officers went upstairs to refer to consult their superior officer, no doubt the Acting High Commissioner. They returned and said the visa was refused.
Mr Gates said once the refusal entered the media, the New Zealand High Commission changed its tune and issued a medical visa: "Even this visa was subject to absurd restrictions such as that there was to be ‘no shopping’. Were it not for the kindness, generosity of heart and support of the Suva and New Zealand hospital doctors, Judge Wati would not have persisted with her intention of seeking medical help for her child from New Zealand."According to Judge Wati this was an unpleasant, hectoring and hostile interview."
Fiji Statement on Diplomats Expulsion
Bainimarama Issues Statement On Diplo Expulsions |
Statement by PM Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama on the Interference with Fiji Judiciary by Australia and New Zealand Governments
Ladies and Gentlemen
The Chief Justice has already highlighted the interference into our Judiciary, the Fijian Judiciary by the governments of Australia and New Zealand
It is a matter of great shame that Madame Justice Anjala Wati a respected member of our High Court bench was harassed and humiliated by the New Zealand High Commission in Fiji when she applied for a visa on medical grounds to take her baby son to New Zealand.
In fact had the Attorney General not highlighted the matter in the media she would not have been granted a visa.
In addition to this shameful incident the Sri Lankan judges who have been appointed to serve in the Fijian judiciary were told that they would not be able to travel through and to Australia because they had taken these positions.
Again when this matter was highlighted in the media by the Chief Justice there was frenzied denial that visas had been refused by the Australian government.
However, we now know that one of these Sri Lankan judges had the foresight to tape the conversation in which she was informed by the Australian official in Colombo that travel sanctions would apply because she had taken the position in the Fijian judiciary.
The culmination of these incidents displays a consolidated effort to attack Fiji's independent judiciary. It also shows that the Australian and New Zealand Governments have been dishonest and untruthful over the matter of travel ban for judges.
In the circumstances it is not surprising that the Chief justice took the rather unusual step of holding a press conference on Sunday 1st November.
This morning he had a meeting with me.
In that meeting the Chief Justice reiterated his position that the interference by Australian and New Zealand governments in our judiciary undermines the judiciary.
The Chief Justice told me that this policy of the Australian and New Zealand governments stops him from nominating credible, well qualified individuals to serve on the Bench.
He also highlighted the fact that such interference is unheard of in particular in the absence of evidence that members of the judiciary are breaching any laws, either internationally or in Fiji.
If anything, the brave men and women who have joined our judiciary are contributing to the enforcement of the rule of law. They have shown fortitude and a commitment to the law.
Ladies and Gentlemen, following the meeting with the Chief Justice, given the seriousness of the matter at hand, I visited His Excellency the Vice President, who will be sworn in on Thursday as our 4th President.
I briefed the Vice President of my meeting with the Chief Justice.
We discussed the impact of the Australian and New Zealand governments' position in relation to members of our Judiciary.
We discussed the importance of our national interest to maintain an independent Judiciary with credible and well qualified judicial officers.
We also discussed and agreed that the mandate given to my Government by the former President which includes a reformist and modernizing agenda, as supplemented by the People¹s Charter for Change, must be implemented.
Indeed, we agreed that we cannot be deterred from this path.
We also discussed that we must engage with the international community and inform them, and indeed, partner with them to take Fiji forward.
We discussed the need to have an equitable and just society based on common and equal citizenry and an economy which is liberalized, investor friendly and which improves the living standards of all Fijians.
I am this evening holding this press conference to inform the public of Fiji about these events since it has an enormous impact on our country, on all our people as it affects our day to day living.
I am, to be candid, baffled by the position taken by the Australian and New Zealand governments.
On one hand they are our largest trading partners; they are members of the Pacific Islands Forum; 60% of our tourists come from these countries and their numbers are growing on a daily basis; majority of our people who have migrated have gone to these countries; we have studied, worked and holidayed the most in these countries.
They claim to be our friends yet on the other hand they fail to recognize the efforts that we are making in being a good international citizen; they fail to understand that we are creating a country that will be based on equal and common citizenry, a country of modern laws, a country which will have true democracy.
Only today Cabinet approved a new Crimes Decree, a new Criminal Procedure Decree and a new Sentencing and Penalties Decree that will make us compliant with CEDAW, with international standards on human trafficking and with the Rome Statute.
We have ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC); we have introduced new laws and strengthened existing laws in relation to corruption and bribery; we have introduced Domestic Violence laws; given protection to our children, paving the way for compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We have consistently said that we want to engage with our neighbours and indeed all our international and multi-lateral partners. We have also left the door open for bi-lateral engagements.
My focus is not disengagement rather it is engagement. My focus is on the future not the past.
My focus is to deal with ills of the past to create a better future.
My focus means that in my engagements I am upfront, candid and honest.
That is why I cannot understand why Australia and New Zealand are engaged in a dishonest and untruthful strategy to undermine our judiciary, our independent institutions and our economy.
I can accept their ban on me and my senior officers given the personalization of matters. But why punish those individuals both Fijians and non-Fijians who join the Judiciary?; those Fijians from the private sector who want to contribute to a better, progressive and modern Fiji by way of joining Boards of Statutory Organizations - even the Fiji National
Provident Fund is targeted.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not only a short sighted policy but it constitutes an attempt to sabotage national building, economy strengthening and the modernizing efforts.
When the Rudd and Key Governments came to power, I believed that we would encounter enlightened thinking and policies based on friendship and understanding. Unfortunately, it has not happened.
Instead all we have had is their heads of missions refusing to engage with government and engaging only with those Fijians who have a political interest in holding Fiji back.
They mis-inform Canberra and Wellington and wage a negative campaign against
the Government and people of Fiji.
By contrast the ordinary men and women and companies of Australia and New Zealand continue to come to our shores, they continue to do business in Fiji, and they continue to give us their good wishes.
My message to them is - you are most welcome, we value your investment, your visit and your best wishes.
We are a safe destination and the people of Fiji are the most hospitable in the world.
We are also proud of our country and our sovereignty and we believe in living in dignity. Therefore, we should ensure that our sovereignty, our Judiciary and key institutions are allowed to function with independence and integrity.
It is my Government¹s duty to ensure that no foreign Government should interfere with such judicial independence and integrity. We must always protect and be proud our sovereignty.
I wish to declare that my Government fully supports the Chief Justice. We will always ensure that his independence and that of his judges remains unassailable.
It is for these reasons that I have told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue communications to the Australian and New Zealand Governments that their respective heads of missions are to be recalled within 24 hours.
I have also informed them that our High Commissioner in Australia is to be recalled, with immediate effect.
Vinaka Vakalevu.
Reaction to Fiji's Expulsion Policy Flow in
The United States government has condemned Fiji’s explusion of the Australian high commissioner and the New Zealand acting head of mission.
The US State Department says it is unjust.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly began the daily briefing to journalists with a statement condemning the explusion.
“The United States deplores the decision by Fiji’s de facto government to expel New Zealand’s acting head of mission, as well as Australia’s high commissioner.”
Mr Kelly says the act was unprecedented, because Australia holds the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Undermined
The statement said of Fiji: “These actions have undermined any opportunity for progress towards re-engagement and constructive dialogue with its neighbours.”
Australia and New Zealand have expelled Fiji’s top diplomats in response.
In Australia, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop says the government should urge the United Nations to stop using Fijian troops in peacekeeping operations.
That is the major source of funding for the military regime.
About 280 Fijian troops and police are involved in peacekeeping efforts.
- Radio Australi
Aiyaz Khaiyum is Frank’s kingpin when it comes to scheming.
But his scheming mind has been challeged by another conniving schemer, Koila Nailatikau, who will be Fiji’s next illegal first lady after her shallow hubbie, Epeli Nailatikau is sworn in by Anthony Gates this morning.
Sources reveal that Koila is Aiyaz’s worst enemy and that Koila will find all ways to oust Aiyaz from his sit of power.
Now with his brother Ului stepping in as acting Landforce Commander of Frank’s Military Forces, Koila has the gun-power backing behind her while Aiyaz can only depend on Frank’s bully-boy tactics to protect him.
Is Aiyaz and Frank’s days coming to an end soon?
Some say the Mara/Ganilau/Nailatikau triad is etching in slowly but surely into the twosome’s power-grabbing turf. They say Aiyaz will be the first to go followed by his master Frank.
How and when?
Only time will tell!
Fiji Labour Party very much regrets the diplomatic row that has developed between Fiji and its neighbours Australia/New Zealand culminating in the expulsion of their Heads of Mission by Fiji.
Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has called on all parties to show diplomatic restraint and to enter into dialogue on the matter to prevent any further deterioration of this sensitive situation.
In the meantime, FLP feels the interim government should consider a review of the Judicial Decree to remove the restricted jurisdiction of the Courts in order to make the judiciary fully effective.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully has warned New Zealanders travelling to Fiji they might not be able to obtain consular help if they get into trouble, after the expulsion of the third consecutive head of mission in Suva.
The high commission is closed while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assesses how it will manage its duties on reduced staff numbers and deals with the departure of Acting High Commission Todd Cleaver.
Mr Cleaver was told on Tuesday to leave as a reaction to the inclusion of judges in the travel ban New Zealand has against members of Fiji’s interim Government and their families.
Australian High Commissioner James Bartley was also ordered out of Fiji and yesterday, both countries retaliated by ordering Fiji’s Acting High Commissioners to return to Suva.
Mr McCully said staff numbers at the Suva high commission were now seriously depleted following the expulsion of three heads of mission since the December 2006 coup.
Asked what travellers should do if they got into trouble, he said they should try to contact the high commission, “but they need to know as things unfold at the moment, we are not able to offer the support we would normally be able to provide”.
He advised New Zealanders going on holiday to check the Foreign Affairs travel advisory, which could change at any time.
Asked if the change meant Fiji was more dangerous than it had been to visit, Mr McCully said Foreign Affairs had to warn people the situation was “a little volatile” at the moment.
After Mr Cleaver’s departure, Foreign Affairs will have only one diplomatic officer in Fiji – down from three a year ago – and two administrative workers. Two NZAid workers in Fiji could be asked to help out.
Fiji had also refused to let New Zealand replace its police and defence attaches and staff numbers at the high commission had shrunk from 12 a year ago to seven.
Reports from Fiji say Mr Cleaver was given 24 hours to leave, but Mr McCully said the Geneva Convention required a reasonable time to be given. He did not known when Mr Cleaver would leave.
Fiji’s Acting High Commissioner to New Zealand, Kuliniasi Seru Savou, and the Acting High Commissioner to Australia, Kamlesh Kumar Arya, will be sent home as soon as practicable.
The travel ban was extended to cover judges in April, after Fiji’s judges were sacked and then some were reappointed following the abrogation of the Constitution.
The sackings came the day after Fiji’s Court of Appeal ruled that the regime installed by the December 2006 coup was illegal.
Mr McCully said the ousting of Mr Cleaver showed the travel ban was affecting the Fijian interim regime.
Australia and New Zealand have resisted applying wider sanctions – such as measures affecting trade and aid – preferring instead to target the interim government.
* High commission
Now: Total 7
3 Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff: a policy officer and two administration staff.
2 NZ Aid managers (one for Fiji/NZ projects, one regional).
2 Immigration managers.
Until December 2008: Total 12
5 Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff: High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner and as above.
2 NZ Aid managers.
2 Immigration managers.
1 Defence Force attache.
1 Police attache.
1 NZ Trade Commissioner.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10607325
An Australian academic has been taken into custody in Fiji and is being questioned by the military after giving several media interviews on the current political situation.
Professor Brij Lal, a long-time academic at Canberra’s Australian National University and an expert in Fiji politics, was reportedly taken from his Suva residence on Wednesday.
The Australian government has yet to formally confirm Prof Lal’s detention, but consular officials said they were urgently seeking access to him.
It is not known where or why he has been taken for questioning, but a university spokeswoman said colleagues were deeply concerned at the news.
She believed Prof Lal, who is based in Canberra but was believed to be on posting in Fiji, was taken by military authorities after giving several media interviews on the current political situation.
The rift between Australia and Fiji has deepened following tit-for-tat expulsions of top diplomats from both countries.Both have given 24-hour deadlines to have their respective High Commissioners out of Australia and Fiji.Consular officials are in contact with Prof Lal’s wife, as were university staff.
Prof Lal, who was believed to have been born in Fiji, but is an Australian citizen, has published numerous books on Fiji and is also an expert on Indian-Fijian issues.
He was part of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission, which formed the basis on which Fiji’s constitution was written.The university said it continued to stand by its academics for speaking out on their areas of expertise.
AAP
Will the sanctions imposed by Australia and New Zealand succeed in bringing Fiji’s military dictator to heel?
If you consider that the US has imposed sanctions on Cuba for half a century with zero results, the answer quickly becomes clear.
We also know from our own historical experience with Fiji the futility of sanctions.
Australia and New Zealand cut off aid to Fiji when Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seized power in a coup. Yet Rabuka, untroubled, held power by brute force for a leisurely five years before deciding that it suited him to hold an election, which he proceeded to win.
Indeed, a US study of 32 post-Cold War cases where countries have imposed sanctions in pursuit of regime change found that the odds were not good. The success rate was 39 per cent, according to the Petersen Institute for International Economics in Washington.
So what’s the point?
The Australian sanctions against Fiji this time are targetted to punish the military ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, for his refusal to hold an election.
The sanctions are designed to spare Fiji’s people pain. Aid for Fiji’s military and public sector has been cut off, but $32 million in aid for health and education continues.
Australia has not implemented any trade sanctions. It doesn’t really need to – Fiji is suffering serious economic pain already.
Terrible floods in January cost the equivalent of 5 per cent of the national GDP, according to the World Bank.
Inflation is rising, and so is the national deficit. It’s only IMF loans that are keeping the country solvent. Bainimarama and his officials are banned from travelling to Australia. And that’s what started the latest convulsion in relations.
He wants to create the impression that Fiji has an independent judiciary. Why? Because the president is courting foreign investors, and they like the idea of a judiciary.
But having gutted the courts, Bainimarama sought judges from Sri Lanka. The Australian Government told the candidates that they would be considered part of the Fijian military regime and banned from Australia.
That provoked Bainimarama into severing diplomatic relations. The regime’s options for courting investment have narrowed. In years past, Fiji would have looked to China for more aid.
But China’s contest against Taiwan for influence in the Pacific has ended as their rapprochement unfolds. Fiji’s leverage is now nil.
The Lowy Institute’s Pacific expert, Jenny Hayward-Jones, says she ”used to be more optimistic” that sanctions could change Bainimarama’s behaviour. ”But I don’t think the sanctions touch him. As long as he can afford to pay the police and the army, they will remain loyal, and that’s all he needs.”
Sensibly, Kevin Rudd is not making extravagant claims for the effectiveness of sanctions. They seek to ‘’stop the spread of coup culture in the Pacific”. They seem to have no chance of stopping Bainimarama.
- Sydney Morning Herald
SOUTH PACIFIC experts at a recent annual conference on the region were unable to see an end to the deteriorating political situation in Fiji.
At the Pacific Islands Update organised by the Australian National University last month, no amount of hand wringing and creative visualisation could project a path back to democracy within five years, if at all.
Mark Hayes, a media lecturer at the University of Queensland who lived in Suva for three years, says the military dictatorship’s espoused five-year plan for a one-man, one-vote democracy cannot be married with its claims that it would not allow the return of nationalist parties such as the SDL, which was ousted in the 2006 coup.
He says the steady flight of Indo-Fijians has restored the majority to ethnic Fijians, meaning that even without SDL’s involvement in future elections, ‘’somebody like them” would almost certainly win, creating the conditions for yet another coup.
”The regime has a profound and cyclically escalating case of group-think,” Dr Hayes says.
”What are the legal heads from which the regime draws its legitimacy? There aren’t any. The only thing that’s finally keeping them in power is that they can whistle up the military to come and beat the shit out of you.”
But some say Fiji’s deterioration should not be held up as an example of the entire region.
The view that the ”Pacific Way” is incompatible with Western-style democracy has lost traction as a result of the ”arc of instability” from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga.
The regional body, the Pacific Islands Forum, has made some progress by getting its 16 members to agree to regional involvement in the political affairs of their neighbours, say Stephen Levine and Nigel Roberts from Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand.
”There is much less readiness to accept the validity of a separate ‘way’ whose route deviates from a well-trodden path in the direction of values common to all peoples … [of] democracy, good government and human rights.”
In Tonga, where pro-democracy riots erupted in 2006, a year-long commission into constitutional change is due to report to parliament tomorrow, with elections planned for late next year.
It will recommend a majority-elected parliament, which will appoint the prime minister, who will appoint the cabinet. The king’s once near-absolute power will be reduced to appointing four out of 30 MPs and he may even relinquish that.
King George V of Tonga, who has supported the changes, said in May: ”The objectives of these reforms are the welfare of the people and protection of their rights … it is critically important that the reforms are clearly understood and peacefully arrived at.”
”Aside from the security issues … for the living standards of people in the Pacific it’s better to have democratic regimes, to make the state accountable,” says ANU expert, Jon Fraenkel.
”Samoa’s Human Rights Protection Party is the only political party across the region which has remained in office for close to a quarter of a century, consolidating its control by expanding cabinet size, increasing the parliamentary term to five years, outlawing party switching and creating new sub-ministerial positions for pro-government backbenchers.
”Solomon Islands and Tuvalu have sought to increase cabinet size, so as to render the executive more resilient to parliamentary challenge.
”Whether those efforts prove successful … remains to be seen,” he said.
- Sydney Morning Herald
There are fresh revelations today that Landforce Commander, Peter Driti, was demoted by Frank for a number of reasons.
Topping the list is Driti’s letter to Frank warning him of the controversially biased advice he’s getting from Aiyaz Khaiyum and Colonel Aziz Mohammed.
Sources in the know say that Driti had warned Frank that the military council was concerned with the way Frank was leading that troubled state Fiji.
They say the military council is also concerned with Fiji’s weakening economy and strained foreign relations with the international community.
The letter suggested to Frank to remove Aiyaz from cabinet and to launch an investigation on Colonel Aziz for his part in the failed FHL/BP Oil deal.
Instead, Frank sided with Aiyaz and Aziz and demoted Driti to lead a 200 men platoon to Iraq stripping away his 2,000 men landforce commander responsibility.
But will Driti really be given the greenlight by the UN to serve as a UN peacekeeper in Iraq?
According to our well placed sources, the latest falling out between Fiji and ANZ will seal Driti’s fate with the UN unlikely to give him the ok to serve as a peacekeeper.
Colonel Qilio behind Prof Brij Lal’s torture
November 4, 2009
We can confirm that Colonel Qilio is the man behind Professor Brij Lal’s detainment and torture on Tuesday.
Professor Brij Lal, who is originally from Fiji but now an Australian citizen was hauled to the military barracks on Tuesday afternoon.
Sources say he was screamed at and spat at by Qilio.
Qilio went as far as breaking Professor Brij Lal’s spectacles and was warned not to return to Fiji nor make comments about Fiji’s junta status.
THE row between Australia and New Zealand and Fiji intensified rapidly yesterday, with tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and Fiji’s military-installed Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, warning all other foreign representatives in Suva: “You work with me or leave.”
The deteriorating relationship appears to have contributed to Fiji’s arrest and expulsion yesterday of one of Australia’s leading experts on the nation, the Australian National University professor Brij Lal, hours after he gave interviews about the dispute.
Today, the besieged Fiji regime will close ranks as one of Commodore Bainimarama’s predecessors as military commander, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau – also a senior Fijian chief – is sworn in as the new president, The Australian reports.
The underlying cause of the current diplomatic flurry appears to be that travel bans applied by Australia and New Zealand to senior officials working for the military regime, as well as to their spouses and children, are beginning to bite.
Related Coverage
- Academic expelled from FijiNEWS.com.au, 5 Nov 2009
- Academic arrested in Fiji rowAdelaide Now, 5 Nov 2009
- Containing the coupThe Australian, 5 Nov 2009
- Tit-for-tat diplomacy no solutionThe Australian, 5 Nov 2009
But the Rudd Government’s attempt to pressure the UN into withdrawing Fiji from peacekeeping missions – a crucial morale and income booster for the army, Commodore Bainimarama’s core source of support – has failed so far, with fresh troops still being assigned, including to Iraq.
Following the expulsion with 24 hours’ notice of Australian high commissioner to Fiji James Batley – the country’s leading diplomatic expert on the Pacific islands – and of the acting New Zealand high commissioner, Kevin Rudd yesterday warned: “We’re not about to simply allow a coup culture to spread (in the South Pacific).
“We’ll maintain a hard line in relation to this regime.”
Commodore Bainimarama seized power three years ago, and in April this year his government abrogated the country’s constitution. Defying international pressure, it insists elections will not be held for another five years.
Commodore Bainimarama, who accuses Australia and New Zealand of meddling in his country’s affairs, has now expelled from Suva three successive heads of New Zealand’s mission, its trade commissioner, and its police attache.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said yesterday: “The level of assistance the high commission can provide to New Zealand citizens may be affected due to the depleted staff numbers.” The office has been closed until further notice.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday announced the expulsion of Fiji’s acting high commissioner, Kamlesh Kumar Arya – a former Fiji Labour Party politician, appointed to Canberra 15 months ago – just as he was planning to upgrade his status.
He had been declared persona non grata, and as a consequence was required to leave within 24 hours, Mr Smith said. “This is deeply regrettable, and Australia is deeply disappointed at Fiji’s conduct in this matter.”
Suva had pre-empted Australian and New Zealand moves by recalling its representatives to Canberra and Wellington a day earlier. The government-friendly Fiji Sun yesterday led its front page with a warning issued to all remaining foreign diplomats from Commodore Bainimarama via the newspaper that they too would be expelled if they “work against the state”.
Commodore Bainimarama said yesterday he had no regrets about triggering the latest downturn in relations in the region.
“We are suspended from the Commonwealth, Australia and New Zealand suspended us from the (Pacific Islands) Forum, so really it doesn’t make any difference,” he said.
The New Zealand Government is defending its decision to expel Fiji’s acting High Commissioner from the country.
The decision to declare Kuliniasi Seru Savou persona non grata and order him to leave is in retaliation to the expulsion of New Zealand and Australian senior diplomatic staff from Fiji.
Fiji interim leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama issued the 24-hour expulsion order on Tuesday evening, citing interference with the functioning of Fiji’s judiciary as the reason.
Problems issuing a visa for a Fiji judge whose child needed medical treatment in New Zealand and Australia’s refusal to allow Sri Lankan judges working in Fiji to visit Australia, were cited as examples of this interference.
New Zealand acting Head of Mission Todd Cleaver and Australian High Commissioner James Batley have been ordered to leave Suva. Fiji’s High Commissioner to Australia has also been ordered to return to Fiji immediately.
At 3pm on Wednesday, Mr Savou was declared a persona non grata by New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says the response is following diplomatic protocol and the Government’s action draws attention to the fact Fiji’s basis for expelling New Zealand’s diplomat was quite unfounded.
The situation deepens already soured relations between the nations following Commodore Bainimarama’s refusal to hold democratic elections in Fiji.
Coup leader Commodore Bainimarama was reappointed as Prime Minister earlier this year, less than two days after a court ruled that the 2006 coup and subsequent government was illegal. He sacked the entire judiciary in April and has been trying to replace it with Sri Lankan judges.
New Zealand and Australia have called for the elections to be held by next year, but Commodore Bainimarama has ruled this out until 2014.
In response, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Forum and the Commonwealth of Nations.
Labour supports decision
The Labour Party says it supports the decision. Leader Phil Goff says he thinks it is bizarre that three New Zealand diplomats have been expelled from Fiji in such a short period of time.
Mr Goff says Commodore Bainimarama’s behaviour is not rational and will ultimately make dialogue between New Zealand and Fiji even more difficult.
“This is not rational behaviour and it’s certainly not the way in which we can get back to rebuilding dialogue and finding a way forward whereby Fiji can meet the requirements of re-entry to the Pacific Forum and to the Commonwealth of Nations.”
Mr Goff says it is a bit rich of Fiji to accuse New Zealand and Australia of judicial interference, when the military dictatorship in Fiji has totally undermined the concept of an independent judiciary in that country.
Call for diplomatic approach
New Zealand-based Coalition for Democracy in Fiji says the latest row between the countries shows a different diplomatic approach is needed.
Spokesperson Nick Naidu says Fiji has made mistakes and he would like to see New Zealand and Australia change their approach from sanctions and isolation. He says people in Fiji are tired of coups.
However, Fiji Club of New Zealand president Alton Shameem says the New Zealand Government must adopt a foreign policy approach like that of United States President Barack Obama and start engaging.
- Radio NewZealand
Fiji’s top representative in Australia is due to return home as relations between the two countries sour further.
Fiji’s acting high commissioner in Canberra has until Thursday morning to leave Australia.
His expulsion follows a decision by Fiji to order Australia’s high commissioner to leave Fiji.
Tensions between the two countries were further strained on Wednesday night when Fiji briefly detained – and then expelled – an outspoken Australian academic, the Fijian born professor, Brij Lal.
The Australian opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, says the government should urge the United Nations to stop using Fijian troops in peacekeeping operations because she says it’s a ‘major source of funding for the military regime’.
About 280 Fijian troops and police are involved in peacekeeping efforts.
- Radio Australia
A Fijian born Australian academic Professor Brij Lal, has been expelled from Fiji for commenting on the current diplomatic stoush between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Professor Lal, from the Australian National University, was detained by Fiji’s military on Tuesday afternoon in relation to public comments made by him about Fiji’s expulsion of Australia and New Zealand’s head of diplomatic missions.
He says he was interrogated by the military for three hours, and told that his views were uninformed and unwelcome by Fiji’s military backed regime.
Professor Lal was then told he was unwelcome in Fiji and had 24 hours to leave the country.
He is expected to leave Fiji on Wednesday.
Professor Lal is an Australian citizen, and a leading academic and researcher, on Fiji’s political history.
In 1997, he was involved in drafting the country’s new constitution.
- Radio Australia
It is Frank's Illegal Government that is Shameful!
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Other Diplomats May Go
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Aust and NZ Considers Reataliatory Moves Against Illegal Fiji Regime
Posted on rawfijinews
November 3, 2009
Well-placed sources confirm that expelled Australian High Commissioner, James Batley, has been given a no-entry prohibition order by Fiji’s military regime.
This no-entry order on Mr Batley is a result of Fiji coupmaker, Frank Bainimarama’s announcement last night that he wants both the Australian and NZ envoys out of his troubled state.
Mr Batley is understood to be in Australia during the announcement and is not expected to return to Fiji any time soon in his capacity as High Commissioner to Fiji.
Australia’s hardline Fiji stance remains
November 3, 2009
Australia will maintain a hardline stance against the regime of Fiji’s self-appointed leader Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
“We’re not about to simply allow a coup culture to spread,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday, adding that Australia wanted stability in the South Pacific region.
“That’s why we’ll maintain a hardline in relation to this regime.”
Fiji on Tuesday ordered the top diplomats from Australia and New Zealand out of the country within 24 hours.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the military leader who has ruled Fiji since the December 2006 coup, gave both governments a day to recall their envoys over a spat about travel visas.
He accused Australia and New Zealand of sabotaging nation-building efforts by refusing to grant visas to Fijian judges.
Mr Rudd said Australia would maintain travel sanctions on Commodore Bainimarama, other regime officials and their families, and members of Fiji’s judiciary.
As for further action, Mr Rudd said, he and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith would discuss “a menu of possibilities” later on Wednesday.
© 2009 AAP
Setback as Fiji expels high commissioners
November 3, 2009
Australia is expected to issue a formal response after Fiji announced it would expel the Australian high commissioner.
But the government in Canberra has already described the move as a serious setback.
Fiji’s military ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, accuses the Australian and New Zealand governments of interfering in judicial appointments.
And he has ordered the high commissioners from both countries to leave.
Serious
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, says he is concerned the move will further isolate the Pacific island nation.
“This is a very substantial and serious setback,” he said.
Earlier this week, Fiji’s Chief Justice, Sir Anthony Gates, has called on Australia and New Zealand to stop interfering in the Fijian judiciary, claiming members continue to be harassed by travel restrictions.
Justice Gates says he has to “stand up against such interference”.
He was highlighting the plight of Sri Lankan judges due to join Fiji courts this week.
The Sri Lanakan judges are on secondments to Fiji, where there’s a shortfall in judges.
Justice Gates says the Sri Lankan judges were not allowed transit via Australia and have to go to Fiji through another country.
He told Fiji TV, Australian officials contacted those judges and tried to convince them to change their mind.
“That if they took up the appointments they would not be allowed to travel to Australia and that they would not be allowed into Australia for medical treatment,” he said.
Denial
But the Australian government has denied the allegations.
In a written statement, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says Chief Justice Gates, has misrepresented the Australian Government.
The statement also said it was incorrect to say that travel bans extended to medical treatment, as sanctions have been relaxed on a case-by-case basis.
- Radio Australia
NZ threatens to eject Fiji officials in response to expulsion
November 3, 2009
New Zealand is threatening to eject Fiji officials in response to last night’s expulsion notice against the heads of the New Zealand and Australian High Commissions in Suva.
The diplomats have been given 24 hours to leave Fiji after claims both countries interfered with the functioning of the Fiji’s judiciary.
If the order is enforced, the New Zealand acting High Commissioner and the Australian High Commissioner will have to leave by 7 o’clock tonight.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, says there are still diplomats from Fiji working in Wellington who could be removed today.
“’It’s what we did last time and the basis for that is when steps are taken quite clearly captiously you need to emphasise the fact that”
“gratuitous steps by some sort of gesture in return but we will think of that in the next few hours.”
Murray McCully says travel advisory guidelines for Fiji are now under review because of the diplomatic moves.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Fiji’s internet connection to blogs slowed down by junta
November 3, 2009
Sources from Fiji report that FINTEL, Fiji’s gateway to the world wide web, has slowed down access to anti-regime blogs.
These sources say they noticed the slowness in anti-regime blogs pop-ups two days ago.
They also report that access to other sites aren’t a problem and are accessible quite easily while anti-regime blog sites takes minutes to view.
Printing of Fiji’s new law underway
November 3, 2009
Did you know that there is a department in the government that works overtime and get no pay but collect meal money only?
They are working overtime now till next year trying to print the NEW LAW of the country under this regime. Many changes has been done by the thugs judiciary and AIASS KAIYUM.
insider
Ghosts from the past – get ready Frank & Co.
November 3, 2009
Argentine ex-leader goes on trial
The trial has begun of Argentina’s last military ruler, Reynaldo Bignone, and five other retired generals.
The men are charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping, torture and disappearance of 56 opponents of the military government in the late 1970s.
The abuses are alleged to have taken place at the Campo de Mayo base on the outskirts of the capital, Buenos Aires.
All of the eight accused, including two former military government officials, deny the charges.
Mr Bignone, 81, appeared frail and rocked back and forth in his chair as the charges were read out, correspondents said.
“This is a historic trial in the search for truth for all of those who disappeared,” Alcira Rios, a lawyer for relatives of one of the victims, told Reuters news agency.
“We have to say no to impunity. We owe it to our Argentine society.”
The other retired generals on trial are Santiago Omar Riveros, Eugenio Guanabens Perello, Jorge Garcia, Fernando Exequiel Verplaetsen and Carlos Alberto Tepedino.
More than 130 witnesses are expected to be called to testify against the defendants. The trial is not expected to finish before February.
Mr Bignone, who has been living under house arrest, faces charges in connection with alleged torture, illegal break-ins and human rights violations from 1976 to 1978.
He was the last of Argentina’s four military presidents, serving from 1982-83, and handed power over to democratically elected leader Raul Alfonsin when the dictatorship collapsed in 1983.
islandboy57
NZ considers response to Fiji envoy expulsion
November 3, 2009
New Zealand is considering whether to expel Fiji diplomats in response to the expulsion of New Zealand and Australian envoys from Fiji.
Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama has given New Zealand’s acting Deputy High Commissioner Todd Cleaver and Australian High Commissioner James Batley 24 hours to leave.
The envoys have been accused of interfering in Fiji’s internal affairs.
Fiji’s High Commissioners in New Zealand and Australia have likewise been ordered to return to Fiji immediately.
Mr McCully told Morning Report New Zealand will consider whether to expel Fiji diplomats from Wellington.
Officials are also assessing the travel advisory to Fiji, he says, as the move will make it difficult to offer the full range services at the High Commission in Suva.
New Zealand’s High Commissioner, acting High Commissioner and Trade Commissioner have already been expelled from Fiji.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told the ABC that Fiji’s move risks further isolating the country, not just from Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific, but from the international community generally.
‘Consolidated attack’
In announcing the expulsion on Tuesday night, Commodore Bainimarama said he had hoped for better relations with New Zealand and Australia after changes of government in both countries.
He accused both countries of a consolidated attack on the Fijian judiciary.
Problems issuing a visa for a Fiji High Court judge whose daughter needed medical treatment in New Zealand and Australia’s refusal to allow Sri Lankan judges working in Fiji to visit Australia, were cited as examples of this interference.
Mr McCully told Morning Report New Zealand lifted travel sanctions in the case of the judge whose child needed medical treatement and granted a visa on humanitarian grounds.
He said the issue was probably a “convenient flashpoint” from the regime’s point of view.
Commodore Bainimarama has questioned what he calls both countries’ lack of engagement with Fiji, claiming they are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies to undermine Fiji’s judiciary, independent institutions and economy.
The interim Prime Minister said by contrast the ordinary citizens and companies of Australia and New Zealand continued to visit and invest in Fiji as part of a much-valued relationship with his country.
Radio New Zealand
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/11/04/1245d31f15c3
Australia eyes further Fiji sanctions
November 3, 2009
THE Australian Government won’t rule out further sanctions against Fiji following the expulsion of the Australian High Commissioner from the country.
The move, which has given High Commissioner James Batley 24 hours to leave Fiji, was regrettable and unreasonable, a spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said.
Self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama ordered the Australian and New Zealand envoys out of the country late today.
It was an apparent retaliation to incidents in which both countries had refused visas to Fijian judges.
“This regrettable step will further isolate the Fiji regime and will contribute nothing to a prompt return to democracy or the rule of law,” the DFAT spokesman said.
“This is a provocative and unreasonable reaction to questions relating to the application of travel sanctions to judicial appointees, particularly given that Australia had formally expressed its willingness … to discuss this matter.”
It was the people of Fiji who will continue to suffer as a result of Commodore Bainimarama’s “ill-considered and destructive decisions”.
“In response to these developments, Australia will give careful consideration to the question of possible further measures against the Fiji regime.”
news.com.au
FIJI has been warned it risks further isolation from the global community after ordering the top diplomats from Australia and New Zealand out of the country within 24 hours.
Both Australia and New Zealand haven’t ruled out retaliating and are considering further sanctions against Fiji, in what threatens to deepen ongoing tensions in the Pacific.
Self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, the military leader who has ruled Fiji since a December 2006 coup, has given both governments a day to recall their envoys, in a spat over travel visas.
He’s accused the two countries of sabotaging nation-building efforts by refusing to grant visas to Fiji judges – or what he calls “a consolidated effort to attack Fiji’s independent judiciary”.
One High Court judge was initially denied a visa to New Zealand, while Australia vetoed travel for several Sri Lankan judges bound for the Fijian judiciary.
Both countries have defended travel restrictions for those connected to the Fiji regime.
But to punish members of the Fiji judiciary was shameful, and sought to undermine the system, Commodore Bainimarama said.
He sent word to the Australian and New Zealand governments on Tuesday to have their envoys recalled from Fiji within 24 hours, while Fiji’s high commissioner in Australia has been recalled, effective immediately.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the move to expel High Commissioner James Batley was deeply concerning, and warned the government was carefully considering its response.
He, along with New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully, expect to formally announce their plans once receiving the official notice from Fiji on the expulsions early this morning (Australian time).
“Australia will give careful consideration to the question of possible further measures against the Fiji regime,” the government said.
But it would be a proportionate response, Mr Smith said last night, while ruling out any tit-for-tat exchanges.
It is the first time Australia’s top diplomat has been shown the door in Fiji, although it is the fourth time New Zealand’s top-ranking official has been expelled.
“We’re gravely concerned (about) Fiji’s continual withdrawal from the international community,” Mr Smith said.
“Cdre Bainimarama has chosen to go down this path – it’s most regrettable – and in a matter of minutes and hours, rather than hours and days, I will announce what Australia’s response to this action is.”
Mr Smith said it was a substantial setback in the way forward for Fiji, which lost its democratically elected government in 2006 following a bloodless coup led by Cdre Bainimarama.
Australia is expected to issue a formal response later on Wednesday to Fiji’s decision to expel the Australian High Commissioner.
But the government has already described the move as a serious setback.
Fiji’s military ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, accuses the Australian and New Zealand governments of interfering in judicial appointments.
And he’s ordered the high commissioners from both countries to leave.
Australia’s foreign minister, Stephen Smith, says he’s concerned that the move will further isolate the Pacific island nation.
‘This is a very substantial and serious setback,’ says Mr Smith.
- Radio Australia
NZ Considers Next Move on Fiji Expulsion
NZ ponders expelling Fiji diplomats
www.fijilive.com - November 04, 2009
New Zealand is considering whether to expel Fiji diplomats in response to the expulsion of New Zealand and Australian envoys from Fiji, reports Radio New Zealand.
According to the report, New Zealand officials are also assessing the travel advisory to Fiji.
Fiji Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama yesterday gave New Zealand's acting Deputy High Commissioner Todd Cleaver and Australian High Commissioner James Batley 24 hours to leave.
The diplomatic row stemmed from Australia and New Zealand’s travel sanctions on Fiji’s judges following the abrogation of Fiji’s constitution in April this year. Bainimarama accused the two countries of attacking “Fiji’s independent judiciary”.
In announcing the expulsion, Bainimarama said he had hoped for better relations with New Zealand and Australia after changes of government in both countries.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the expulsion of its envoy will make it difficult to offer the full range services at the High Commission in Suva.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Aust and NZ Envoys Ordered Out of Fiji
Sai’s Comment:
- Here we go again! Fiji's idiotic and illegal PM strutting his dumb political and diplomatic muscle yet again as if anyone in the world have any respect for his illegal Government and its regressive policies in Fiji.
-The newly appointed, though illegal President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, has already failed to demonstrate true chiefly leadership on behalf of Fiji even before he is ceremoniously installed or sworn in! He could have advised against such a move, though it would be against protocol - then again since they are all operating under illegal orders, who cares, he could have stood his ground on this critical issues to avoid Fiji falling further into international ridicule and isolation.
-What has Fiji to gain from such a silly move? Nothing but just so Voreqe could brag about it in his old age, and I pray he never gets to it, nor enjoy it, as he simply does not deserve it.
-The critical point in all this sad saga that ever escapes this silly man, is that civilised nations operate under rules of law that are to be respected by all, let alone by those tasked to uphold it, like Voreqe's military. When they decide to ignore it for their own selfish interest, and to avoid being dragged in front of the courts, as he will surely face, they will always tend to act illegally from there on. They got into power by illegal and in a cowardous manner, everything else they do merely amplifies and worsens the initial act.
-The only way out was either for:
1 .a negotiated restoration of legal rule involving all parties; or
2. through violent means imposed from either inside or externally.
-The longer this political malaise continues the more emboldened people will be to opt for the second option above. Frankly for me, any which way will be justified in law and by God almighty, as people have suffered enough by Voreqe's tormenting and illegal rule.
-Otherwise, Fijians face a form of genocide in their own land by this illegal regime in Fiji. Get rid of them any which way I say!,
Aust and NZ Envoys Ordered Out of Fiji
www.fijilive.com - 03 November 2009
In a no-questions-taken statement before members of the local media in Suva this evening, Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said he had made the decision following a meeting with new President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.
Fiji’s High Commissioner to Australia, Kamlesh Arya was also being recalled to Fiji.
The action is a full-scale retaliation for what Bainimarama said was a “consolidated effort to attack Fiji’s independent judiciary”, displayed by proof that Australia had told Sri Lankan judges recruited to serve on the Fijian judiciary that travel sanctions would apply because they had taken the positions.
Bainimarama said although there had been frenzied denials by the Australian government that visas had been refused, “however, we now know that one of the Sri Lankan judges had the foresight to tape the conversation in which she was informed by the Australian official in Colombo that travel sanctions would apply because had taken the position in the Fijian judiciary”.
This also showed that the Australian and New Zealand governments had been dishonest and untruthful over the matter of travel bans for judges, Bainimarama said.
Bainimarama said his meeting with Nailatikau today took place after a meeting with Chief Justice Anthony Gates this morning where Justice Gates told the PM that interference by the Australian and New Zealand governments in our judiciary undermines the judiciary.
“The Chief Justice told me that this policy of these two governments stops him from nominating credible, well qualified individuals to serve on the bench. He also highlighted the fact that such interference is unheard of, in the absence of evidence that members of the judiciary are breaching any laws internationally or in Fiji.”
He said the denial of a New Zealand visa on medical grounds to Family Court judge Justice Anjala Wati for the medical treatment of her baby was further evidence of the attack on the Fijian judiciary.
“I am baffled by the position taken by the Australian and New Zealand governments. On one hand they are our largest trading partners, they are members of the Pacific Islands Forum. Sixty percent of our tourists come from these countries and their numbers are growing on a daily basis. The majority of our people who have migrated have gone to these countries. We have studied, worked and holidayed the most in these countries.”
“They claim to be our friends yet on the other hand, they fail to recognise the efforts we are making in being a good international citizen. They fail to understand that we are creating a country based on equal and common citizenry, a country of modern laws, a country which will have true democracy. We have consistently said that we want to engage with our neighbours and indeed with all international and multilateral partners.”
At the same time, he said it was his government’s duty that no foreign government should interfere with Fiji’s judicial independence and integrity.
“We must always protect and be proud of our sovereignty. I wish to declare that my government fully supports the Chief Justice. We will always ensure that his independence and that of his judges remains unassailable.
“It is for these reasons that I have told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue communications to the Australia and New Zealand governments that their respective heads of missions are to be recalled within 24 hours.”
I have also informed them that our High Commissioner in Australia is to be recalled with immediate effect.”
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