Fiji, 2007

On behalf of the people of Fiji, I extend to you, Mr. President, and

to the General Assembly, our warm greetings: Ni sa

bula and Namaste. We would also like congratulate

you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the

General Assembly at its sixty-second session.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We wish to extend to

him our warmest congratulations, as this is his first full

Assembly session as Secretary-General. We note with

gratitude the initiatives he has taken in the brief period

since he assumed leadership to enhance momentum in

the work of the United Nations. Fiji appreciates in

particular his policy of inclusiveness and the attention

that he is giving to the vulnerable situation and the

special needs of small island nations.

At the outset, Fiji wishes to reiterate its unwavering

commitment to achieving the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs), pursuing environmentally friendly and

sustainable development activities and addressing the

challenges of climate change. As those issues have been

widely debated in the Assembly, I would like to take this

opportunity to address other issues of particular concern

to Fiji.

United Nations-led peacekeeping operations are

renowned worldwide and have become the human face

of this multilateral body in war-torn and conflict-prone

regions of the world. For its part, Fiji continues to

stand ready to shoulder the burden of promoting

international peace. In that regard, we have offered our

services to the African Union-United Nations hybrid

peacekeeping operation in the Sudan. In the same vein,

Fiji is committed to our collective resolve to enlarge

the presence of the United Nations in Iraq. We are

willing to contribute further towards that end, should

the need arise.

Today, the demand for peacekeeping continues to

grow. With it comes the need for institutional reform to

adequately cater for the ever-changing nature of world

conflict. I would like to reiterate Fiji’s support for all

reform efforts, including the latest initiative of the

Secretary-General to reform the Department of

Peacekeeping Operations. At the same time, I would

urge the Secretariat to continue to resist the

politicization of United Nations peacekeeping and to

maintain the sanctity of its independence as a forum

wherein the willing may volunteer their services freely

and without bilateral mangling and interference.

I now seek your indulgence, Mr. President, and

that of the Assembly, to speak about the situation,

particular circumstances and needs of Fiji at this stage

of its nationhood as an independent sovereign nation.

Fiji’s overall situation is that it is in a deep rut. It needs

the understanding and support of the international

community to be able to move forward to regain its

dignity and its rightful place as a responsible member

of the international family of nations. I am mindful, as

I stand here today in the presence of the Assembly, that

members may see me as the military leader who

removed an elected Government. I cannot begrudge

them that, because that indeed is a fact. I submit to the

Assembly that, although the Government of the day

was removed from power last December, such action

was taken with extreme reluctance. I am not a

politician; nor do I aspire to be one. I am certainly not

much of a diplomat, and I am not used to speaking in

forums such as this. Therefore, in what I say and in

how I may put it, if in any way I am remiss with regard

to the protocols of the Assembly, I seek understanding.

By the time the military intervened last

December, Fiji’s overall governance situation had

regressed to a catastrophic level. The international

community needs to fully understand the special local

context of Fiji’s situation. Fiji became independent on

10 October 1970, inheriting an institutional

infrastructure that could potentially have evolved

further and been strengthened to allow democracy to

take root. At that time, almost four decades ago, Fiji’s

future appeared to be one of promise and potential. For

instance, in terms of per capita income, Fiji was then in

the same league as Malaysia and Thailand. We, the

people of Fiji, viewed our country with pride and

dignity and felt that that was the way the world should

be. For more than a decade after achieving

independence, Fiji did continue to make steady

progress in economic development, education, poverty

reduction and generally improving the living

conditions of its people.

Yet, in 1970, Fiji started its journey as a young

nation on a rather shaky foundation, with a race-based

constitution that rigidly compartmentalized our

communities. The “democracy” that came to be

practiced in Fiji was marked by divisive, adversarial,

inward-looking, raced-based politics. The legacy of

leadership, at both community and national levels, was

a fractured nation. Fiji’s people were not allowed to

share a common national identity. Of the two major

communities, indigenous Fijians were instilled with

fear of dominance and dispossession by Indo-Fijians,

and they desired protection of their status as the

indigenous people. Indo-Fijians, on the other hand, felt

alienated and marginalized as second class citizens in

their own country, the country of their birth, Fiji.

The dates 14 May and 25 September 1987 are

fateful in Fiji’s history and also for Fiji’s military

forces. The military coups of that year were motivated

by an ethno-nationalist, racist supremacy agenda.

Those political, communal and military leaders who

were responsible for the coups and related actions in

1987 carry a very large burden in their collective

conscience for the severe ruptures to the very fabric of

Fiji society and the dislocations and suffering that they

caused in the lives of many of Fiji’s citizens.

In May 2000, Fiji suffered yet another major

setback. Again, a group of ethno-nationalist

opportunists, backed by a small errant group within the

Fiji military, overthrew the Government of the day. As

Commander of the Republic of Fiji military forces, I

did not support or condone the coup. I drew upon the

structural and cultural organization of the military to

intervene and to restore order and a state of security.

The stand-off between the coup perpetrators and

the military in May 2000 was potentially explosive at

the time and, if not resolved, could have resulted in

much bloodshed and even greater chaos. As military

Commander, I played a key role in the handing

executive authority back into civilian hands in the

wake of the 2000 coup. This rested on a number of

critical preconditions being met in taking Fiji forward.

An Interim Government was appointed by His

Excellency the President of Fiji, with Laisenia Qarase

as caretaker Prime Minister. The Interim Government

was tasked to pave the way to fresh elections to be held

in September of 2001. The other fundamental

conditions were that all of the perpetrators of the May

2000 coup, including the military rebels, would be

prosecuted, and that the 2000 coup would be publicly

renounced as racially motivated.

It is tragic that Fiji’s recovery from the brink of

chaos in May 2000 did not endure. In the ensuing

years, Fiji’s overall governance took a dramatic turn

for the worse. In particular, this was characterized by

the politicization of the prison services and the

criminal justice system. There was also a significant

weakening of the key institutions of governance, a

pervasive increase in corruption, serious economic

decline combined with fiscal mismanagement, a sharp

deterioration in the law and order situation and a

deepening of the racial divide in the country. The

convicted coup perpetrators were prematurely

discharged from prison, and certain coup perpetrators

and sympathisers were appointed as senior Government

ministers and officials. There was also a series of

legislative acts that were deeply divisive and overtly

racist.

The 2001 and 2006 general elections were not

credible. They were characterized by massive rigging

of votes, with an incumbent Government using the

State’s resources to buy support. By late 2006, Fiji’s

overall situation had deteriorated sharply, heightened

by massive corruption and lawlessness, a severe

erosion of confidence and an economy on the brink of

collapse. Also, during the latter part of 2006, Fiji’s

military had to pay particular attention to certain

external threats to the sovereignty of the nation.

Under our current constitution, Fiji’s military is

charged with national security, defence and the well-

being of Fiji’s people. Under the circumstances, the

military, under my stewardship, could not possibly see

such an unacceptable situation unfold without seeking

to address it.

History is testament to how I did in fact respond

to the situation. For almost four years, I was strenuous

in my efforts to constructively engage the elected

leadership of the country, seeking to cause it to reverse

its course of action, which was taking the country

down the path of destruction into an abyss. The

protracted efforts that I made to constructively engage

with the previous Government came to no avail. On the

contrary, a prominent High Chief connected to the

ruling Soqosoqo Duavata Lewenivanua (SDL) party

incited a mutiny within the military, and attempts were

made not only to remove me, but also to eliminate me.

It was with the utmost of reluctance that Fiji’s

military, under my leadership, removed the former

Government from power in December 2006.

Many have criticized that decision. In response, I

say this: Fiji has a coup culture, a history of civilian or

military coups executed in the interests of a few and

based on nationalism, racism and greed. In order to

remove that coup culture and to make a commitment to

democracy and the rule of law, policies which promote

racial supremacy and further the interests of economic

and social elites must be removed once and for all.

Racism, elitism and disrespect for the law are

undemocratic. They lead to hatred. They lead to

violence, poverty and moral bankruptcy. We saw that in

the years leading to the Second World War. We saw the

genocide, the concentration camps, the rampant

imperialism which resulted, in turn, in the creation

of the United Nations.

Within a month of the removal of the previous

Government, the President of the Republic of Fiji

resumed his constitutional authority. On 5 January

2007, the President appointed an Interim Government

which is mandated to govern Fiji until a new

Government is duly elected. With the exception of

myself, the make-up of the Interim Government is all

civilian. The presidential mandate provides the

framework within which the Interim Government, in

which I serve as Prime Minister, administers the affairs

of the State. We are resolved to take the measures

necessary to convene free and fair elections as soon as

practically possible. On this, the Interim Government is

coordinating closely with Fiji’s fellow members of the

Pacific Islands Forum and the larger international

community, including the European Union.

Steady progress has been made in a number of

areas pertaining to upholding the existing constitution,

investigation into alleged abuses of human rights,

maintaining the independence of the judiciary and

preparatory work for the return of Fiji to parliamentary

democracy.

Fiji’s situation is not only complex; its problems

are also deep-rooted and structural. There are no quick

or easy fixes. The country is now at a very critical

crossroad; the situation could escalate into more

serious deterioration and instability. It is imperative

that any such greater disaster or civil strife be averted.

We therefore seek constructive dialogue and

engagement with the international community, with all

our bilateral and multilateral development partners,

whom we urge to work with us, to help support us, in

addressing our fundamental problems in moving Fiji

forward. Fiji needs the support of the international

community to develop a political and governance

framework that is truly democratic, accountable,

inclusive, equitable and non-racial and that unifies

Fiji’s diverse communities as a nation. That is indeed

the larger and most critical of challenges that Fiji now

faces.

For our part, we firmly resolve to tackle these

challenges on at least four levels: first, to restore

stability, law and order and confidence; secondly, to

strengthen institutions for good governance including

transparency, accountability and an independent and

effectively functioning judiciary; thirdly, to carry out

major reforms in the economy to facilitate sustainable

private-sector-led growth; and lastly, to convene free

and fair general elections within a constitutional and

governance framework that will ensure that

parliamentary democracy is not only restored but can

be sustained in Fiji.

To achieve all this, the Interim Government is

preparing to launch a major national initiative, referred

to as the Peoples Charter for Change and Progress

the PCCP. Through the PCCP, the broad cross section

of Fiji’s people will be fully engaged and involved,

through consultation and participation, in the

development of a comprehensive agenda of actions and

measures, as Fiji’s own way of addressing its

problems.

For the future, Fiji will look at making the

necessary legal changes in the area of electoral reform

to ensure true equality at the polls. At present, all

citizens have the right to vote for two candidates: one

for a national seat of any ethnicity, and another from a

communal raced-based seat. This in turn has kept our

races apart.

Although democracy in the form of electing a

Government was introduced in Fiji at the time of

independence, researchers and analysts have suggested

that Fijians live in a democracy with a mentality that

belongs to the chiefly system. In essence this means

that at election time, Fijians living in village and rural

areas are culturally influenced to vote for the candidate

selected for them by their chiefs, their provincial

councils and their church ministers. This leads me to

ask whether the countries that are demanding that Fiji

immediately return to democracy really understand

how distorted and unfair our system is, both legally

and culturally.

This must change. Every person will be given the

right to vote for only one candidate, irrespective of

race or religion. This will send a message to our people

that Fiji’s leadership no longer tolerates racial divisions

and race-based politics. All men and women are equal

in dignity and in rights. Electoral reform in this respect

will be looked at by a National Council for Building a

Better Fiji, which is designed to entrench the very

principle on which the United Nations was founded.

The draft Peoples Charter that will emerge from

such a national-level undertaking will provide the

political and governance framework, with effective

supporting and functioning institutions, to make Fiji a

truly democratic and progressive nation.

The draft of the PCCP proposal was circulated

widely within the country, with comments and

suggestions invited. Additionally, I personally wrote to

the leaders of Fiji’s bilateral and multilateral

development partners, including the United Nations

Secretary-General, on the PCCP initiative.

I am pleased to report that in general this

initiative has been received with very strong support

within Fiji, in particular from highly reputable and

respected civil society and community leaders in the

country. The Peoples Charter, once formulated and

adopted, will provide the strategic framework or

fundamental foundation within which the Interim

Government, and successive elected Governments, will

be expected to operate.

In the current absence of an elected Government,

there is the issue of legitimacy and mandates. To deal

with this, the Interim Government is willing to

consider putting the draft Peoples Charter to a

referendum to get the mandate of the people for the

fundamental changes, including changes to the

Constitution of Fiji, as may be considered necessary

and appropriate.

Fiji needs both financial and technical support

from its bilateral and multilateral development partners

to be able to effectively realize the vision that

underpins the PCCP initiative. Above all, we seek the

understanding of the international community to help

us rebuild our nation in the true spirit of internationally

acceptable precepts of good governance and a

democracy that can be made to work and that can be

sustained in Fiji.

We must thank those Governments that have

stood by and supported Fiji in our hour of need. Fiji is

indeed very grateful and is deeply touched by their

understanding and goodwill.

Some in the international community, including

the closest of our neighbours in the Pacific, have seen

fit to impose punitive measures upon Fiji. Of course

we know that those powerful States are protecting their

own economic and political interests in the region.

However, we in Fiji are protecting our democracy and

strengthening our democratic institutions. Those

powerful States are undermining our attempts to

rebuild our nation on strong foundations and are

undermining our attempts to appoint people of merit

and honesty to our State institutions, regardless of race

and religion. Current sanctions target any person

appointed by the Interim Government.

This is hypocrisy at its worst on part of those

States as they are clearly undermining our efforts to

promote and practice good governance. These

actions such as the travel bans, described as smart

sanctions have had a debilitating impact on our

struggles to revive, to recover and to reform.

Good governance requires effective, functioning

institutions. Since the coups of 1987, Fiji has suffered

a massive exodus of the country’s skilled and educated

people. The major beneficiaries of the transfer of those

quality human assets have been Australia and New

Zealand, and from those neighbours in particular we

seek understanding and support. Our capacities and

institutions have been severely eroded over the years.

In all of this, we desperately need help, not a closing of

doors.

I shall conclude my statement by reaffirming

Fiji’s commitment to the United Nations and to the

various United Nations conventions on human rights,

the rule of law and democratic governance. Fiji does

not seek any unwarranted exemptions from any of

those obligations. All we seek is your deeper

understanding of our particular circumstances and the

complex situation of Fiji. We hope that you will work

with us, assist us to rebuild and move Fiji forward.

In closing, I take this opportunity to extend to the

Secretary-General an invitation to Fiji and indeed to

our Pacific region during his tenure.