Friday, 06 August 2010
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"Fijians" Need to Love Frank Bainimarama Saviour of Fiji
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR?
6 August 2010
Waikato Times
English
© 2010 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The usual platitudes were sounded when Prime Minister John Key announced his intention to attend the 41st Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting and the Post-Forum Dialogue. The deepening and strengthening of New Zealand's relations with its closest neighbours in the Pacific were a high priority for his Government and the annual leaders' meeting was a valuable opportunity for regional counterparts to discuss how they can work together.
But who should be eligible to do the discussing?
Fiji is unable to join in because it was suspended from the 16-country regional bloc in 2008 for refusing to commit itself to holding elections by March 2009. The New Zealand and Australian governments are determined to maintain the suspension until Fiji's self- appointed leader, Frank Bainimarama, shows a genuine commitment to holding general elections.
Other forum countries are less hard-lined and some are sympathetic to Fiji's position. Four Pacific leaders in the past week or so signed up to a communique after meeting with the Fijian military strongman that says: "Fiji's strategic framework for change is a credible home-grown process for positioning Fiji as a modern nation and to hold true democratic elections."
Whatever semblance of solidarity might emerge from the forum's leaders' meeting this week, therefore, the Fiji issue will have been divisive and perhaps bruising.
The forum's secretariat is based in Suva and Fiji was one of the seven founding members in 1971. The objective was to improve the mutual interests of member nations. Particular attention was to be paid to trade, tourism, shipping and education.
But Fiji became one of several Pacific countries plagued by political instability which has brought regional security and governance matters on to the forum's agenda. Security concerns have led to interventions in East Timor and the Solomon Islands.
The Solomon intervention has resulted in national elections, while Bainimarama has made himself a troublesome neighbour.
The vexing question is whether the rest of the neighbourhood should shun Fiji or maintain a relationship over the back fence. The forum faces a dilemma. If it backs down on its original position on Fiji, it would lose credibility, send the wrong message and set a dangerous precedent that could have far- reaching consequences on the region's future stability. On the other hand, shunning Fiji raises the risk of her finding friends elsewhere, perhaps becoming a rogue state. Papua New Guinea's high commissioner to Australia, Charles Lepanib says his country wants to keep the door open for Fiji out of concern that it might "float away to other influences", and the "cost to the region of salvaging the relationship would become too great". It's a tough place to find a middle ground. For now, dialogue with Fiji should continue without compromising the forum's democratic ideals.
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