QILIHO and LAL: Australia's puzzling foreign policy position is queried by Tikoca and Wearne

It seems to me that with respect to the militarised democracy that now prevails in Fiji the following hypothesis is worth exploring: the emergent rationale for FijiFirst's "revolution" is actually found in its persistent opposition to the 1997 constitution, framed by Prof Lal. That opposition arises because that Constitution would not only democratically place the RFMF back in the Queen Elizabeth Barracks but presumes that the military be constituted under civilian control. In this matter the Masters thesis of Mr Khaiyum, written at the turn of the millenium under the supervision, as it happens, of Prof Yash Ghai, takes on even more significance. Mr Khaiyum in that thesis completely ignores the "autonomy" of military power he has subsequently presumed is a "necessity" for forming (his version of) a democratic Fiji. My reading of that document (i.e. the Hong Kong University thesis Cultural Autonomy), along with the FijiFirst propaganda for the September 2014 election indicates pretty well, that the electoral victory can now be interpreted as a culminating ("democratic") endorsement of the viewpoint Mr Khaiyum developed in that work - in that sense Professor Lal's work is the persistent "thorn" for Mr Khaiyum's reactionary politics. And even more interesting, therefore, is the fact that it was Prof Ghai's constitution that was trashed by the RFMF.

Bruce Wearne

Point Lonsdale Vic

________________________________________________________________ Fiji Opposition Queries Australia’s Offer of Specialist Training to Fiji's Military Commander The Opposition Whip in the Fiji Parliament, Ratu Isoa Tikoca, has called on the Australian Government to explain why it has agreed to provide Lt. Col. Sitiveni Qiliho, with military training in Australia. This man who was recently installed as the RFMF’s Land Force Commander, is also widely regarded by those who opposed the December 2006 coup, as one of the RFMF’s most notorious perpetrators of human rights violations.

The issue as raised by Ratu Isoa Tikoca, also concerns Qihilo's attitude to the respected Fijian academic and Australian citizen, Dr Brij Lal of ANU. Dr Lal, more than any other framed the 1997 Constitution, and is banned from Fiji on the bogus grounds that he is a threat to national security. So Prof Lal and his wife, are under a travel ban, unable to visit the land of their birth, even while the perpetrators of the December 2006 coup have gained right of entry into this polity.

The Australian Government has already undermined its standing in the Pacific by allowing itself to lift sanctions on the military perpetrators of the December 2006 and their families, while failing to insist that the now democratically endorsed militarised Government lift their ban on a Fijian committed to the establishment of a peaceful and law-abiding polity for Fiji. But now it shows itself ratcheting up its own naive diplomacy by being willing to provide Lt Col Qiliho with specialialised military training. The Fijian Opposition is asking: Does the Australian Government not know that he stands in the way of justice for one of Fiji's own eminent citizens, Dr Brij Lal? What is going on in diplomatic circles from Canberra? This latest "normalisation" with the Fiji military is a further sad twist to the Australian Government's appeasement with the militaristic and anti-democratic forces that still exercise behind the scenes veto power upon the Fiji First Government of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Ratu Isoa drew attention to the comments of Greens Senator for Victoria, Janet Rise who noted that although Fiji had made steps towards democracy, restrictions remain. So it is not as if it is only the SODELPA Opposition that says that Australian Government has taken the wrong path with respect to the Fijian Government and people.

Why is the Australian Government unable to appreciate the reality of Fiji’s so-called democracy? The Australian Prime Minister has recently visited the Torres Strait Islands giving respect to the work of Eddie Mabo the Melanesian leader whose work has actually laid the foundation for a significant transformation in Australia's place in the South West Pacific. Despite Prime Minister Bainimarama's bogus efforts to side-line Australia from the region, the fact of the matter is that in terms of South West Pacific international relations, Australia, just like Indonesia, is a part of Melanesia, and should assert itself as a promoter of region's "common good".

The Australian Government has an indispensable responsibility to play its part in forming regional political relations that are characterised by justice. It cannot hope to make a contribution that does that if it continues to allow itself to remain hostage in its appeasement to RFMF militarism. It must not endorse a Government policy in Suva that upholds the arbitrary desires of those who see the revocation of the 1997 constitution and all that is associated with it as the justification for their own political contribution. The Australian Government by providing the recently installed Commander with specialised military training is showing itself willing to stand with those of the Fiji military who continue to arbitrarily discriminate against Fiji's citizens including Dr Lal and his wife.

Ratu Isoa is right when he says that innocent citizens of Fiji who have suffered at the brutal hands of ill-disciplined soldiers like Lt Col Qiliho deserve some kind of explanation from the Australian Government.

FDP welcomes FEEDBACK and SUBMISSIONS – email: fijidailyposter@gmail.com