Table of Contents
During the period 2001–06, in between his repeated media skirmishes with Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase’s government, the commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), Commodore Frank Bainimarama, proclaimed his intention to depose Qarase’s Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party from government.[1] Even though Qarase had, for the first time, followed Fiji constitution’s power-sharing provision, and established a multiparty government, with ministerial appointments for eight Fiji Labour Party (FLP) members of parliament, it was evident, from three very controversial bills, that Qarase continued to push an ethno-nationalist agenda; this was used by the Commodore as a justification for the coup.
The interim administration, with Commodore Bainimarama as prime minister, has taken its authority and legitimacy from the Office of the President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands. Fiji is not a republic in the accepted meaning of the word; it does not denote sovereignty residing in the people of the nation. Under the constitution, the President of Fiji is nominated by the unelected Bose Levu Vakaturaga (Great Council of Chiefs or GCC).
Fiji’s 2006 coup not only bestowed near-absolute sovereignty on Fiji’s President, it also caused considerable confusion and angst among those who had previously supported the overthrow of legitimately elected governments. The coups of 1987 and 2000 had been justified by the perpetrators in terms of protecting and promoting indigenous Fijian interests against those of non-ethnic Fijian citizens. In 1987, the indigenous Fijian establishment of paramount chiefs and their allies, as well as elements from the newly formed Taukei movement, took power. This was celebrated by most – but not all – indigenous Fijians. In the vanguard of support for the illegal overthrow of the coalition government that had been led by Dr Timoci Bavadra were the GCC, the Fijian Administration, indigenous Fijian public servants, ethnic Fijian trade union leaders and the leadership of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma.[2]
A form of quiet ‘ethnic cleansing’ took place after 1987. More than 100,000 Indo-Fijians emigrated in the face of institutionalized racism and the ‘ethnicization’ of the State. The consequences of this loss of human capital, purchasing power, and financial capital have yet to be comprehensively measured.[3] The exodus of a third of Fiji’s Indo-Fijian voters almost guaranteed the victory of the dominant ethno-nationalist party in 2001, and even more so in 2006.
With the 2006 coup, things have gone topsy-turvy – the overwhelmingly indigenous Fijian military appears to have turned against the very indigenous Fijian establishment of which it has been an integral part. Both the GCC and the Methodist Church have been openly criticized and even ridiculed by the military commander.[4] Indeed, the interim government suspended the GCC following its refusal to endorse the former’s nominee for the position of Vice-President. Other exclusively ‘Fijian’ institutions, such as the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB) and the Fijian Administration, have come under close scrutiny. Not surprisingly, those previously opposed to the 1997 constitution, the practice of ‘democracy’ and human rights (including the deposed Prime Minister Qarase himself), have become very vocal advocates of them.
Those previously wronged by the repeated violent takeovers of elected governments have become beneficiaries of the latest coup. This applies especially to FLP leader Mahendra Pal Chaudhry. Ousted twice from government – first in 1987, when he was minister of finance in the Bavadra-led coalition government, and then in 2000, when he was prime minister – he accepted the position of minister of finance in the interim government established after the 2006 coup.[5] On the receiving end for the third time was Krishna Datt, an FLP founder and vice-president, who was a cabinet minister in the deposed governments of 1987, 2000 and 2006.
This spectacle of some individuals in the FLP (Chaudhry, Poseci Bune and Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi) benefiting from the 2006 coup by being allocated ministerial appointments, and others (Krishna Datt, Gunasagaran Gounder, Gyani Nand[6] and Adi Sivia Qoro) being ousted from such positions is part of a wider schism within the FLP. Beneficiaries of the coup include Chaudhry loyalists, such as executive members of the Fiji Trade Union Congress (FTUC) who were appointed to various boards of statutory bodies.[7] Felix Anthony and Daniel Urai, for example, assumed key positions in the Fiji National Provident Fund and, in those roles, exert powerful influence over the multi-million dollar Natadola tourist project in south-west Viti Levu.
The divisions in the FLP have been a product of Mahendra Chaudhry’s tight and authoritarian control over its membership, and his efforts to extend his influence through his loyalists into the wider trade union movement. Persons opposed to Chaudhry’s style of leadership and to his approach to issues facing the party and/or the country have been removed from the party and from the FTUC, the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Sugar Cane Growers Council (SCGC).[8] Chaudhry’s influence on both the FLP and the labour movement has been pivotal.
[1] Pareti, S. and Fraenkel, J. 2007. ‘The strategic impasse: Mahendra Chaudhry and the Fiji Labour Party’, in Fraenkel, J. and Firth, S. (eds) 2007. From Election to Coup in Fiji: the 2006 campaign and its aftermath, IPS Publications, Suva, and Asia Pacific Press, Canberra, p. 38.
[2] Robertson, R. and Tamanisau, A. 1988. Fiji: Shattered Coups, Pluto Press, Leichhardt.
[3] Reddy. M., Mohanty, M. and Naidu, V. 2004. ‘Economic Cost of Human Capital Loss from Fiji: Implications for Sustainable Development’, International Migration Review, 38, 4, Winter:1447–61.
[4] Bainimarama expressed his disdain for the chiefs by suggesting that ‘chiefs should go and drink home brew under a mango tree’ (The Fiji Times, 20 and 23 February 2007).
[5] There are two main views about Chaudhry’s accepting the position of interim minister of finance: First, that he was part of a coup conspiracy that began well before the August 2006 general election; and, second, that he was invited to join Commodore Bainimarama’s interim government after the 2006 coup and saw it as an opportunity to push his policies and his people into prominence. Both standpoints consider him as the ‘brains’ behind the interim administration. His alleged tax evasion over three years and failure to disclose A$1.6 million lodged in Australia, provide another possible rationale for his joining the interim administration (The Fiji Times, 23 February 2008).
[6] Mr Nand, a retired civil servant and diplomat, passed away in 2007.
[7] The FTUC’s opposition to the 2006 coup is muted, a stance which is very different from its policy of open opposition to previous coups.
[8] The CEO of the Sugar Cane Growers Council, Jaganath Sami, an opponent of Chaudhry, was summarily dismissed from office by a Presidential decree. He was subsequently forcefully removed and assaulted by members of the RFMF. Sami has been replaced by Jai Gawendar, a former FLP MP.