I'll freely admit to holding the Australian and New Zealand government and media in contempt for supporting what amounts to a racist aristocratic junta. Sometimes the support for 'democracy' and even the moribund semblance of it takes my breathe away.
taillesskangaru said:
Indians tend to be more commercially successful, while Fijians (as in, native islanders) have traditionally dominated politics.
That's the result of how the system is constructed. Ethnic Indians were denied the right to purchase or own land, with the exception of the land they already held, in order to survive they had to rely on commerce. Now, most people accuse the native Fijians of discriminating against ethnic Indians, that's only partially correct. The majority of native Fijians do not own significant parcels of land, they're really little better than subsistence farmers. The greater part of the land is locked up by a handful of families, the remnants of the old nobility. Its those folks who cause the majority of the troubles, they're classic rent seekers and want to maintain that. It isn't ethnic Fijian v. Indian at all, Bainimarama is himself a native Fijian and his power-base in the lower ranks of the military are overwhelmingly Fijian as well. Really its a conflict between disenfranchised ethnic Indians and poor Fijians who are locked in economic stasis by restrictive land ownership provisions vs. a small landholding elite who control the upper house via the leveraging of their dependents and clients. It's a brilliant system designed solely to entrench a wealthy hereditary landowning class.
taillesskangaru said:
For a while there was an ethnic quota in the parliament, with the majority reserved for ethnic Fijians.
For a while? Its been institutionalized since independence and even before that!
taillesskangaru said:
The main issue right now is more equal and less ethnic-based system of government.
That isn't the major issue at the moment. Bainimarama admitted that a proper civil society will take time to cultivate. He's also aware that any constitutional reform will simply be mooted via electoral manipulation, judicial interference or outright abrogation of the constitution. Consequently he intends to destroy his oppositions power-bases by undermining their systems of patronage by providing his own and by carving up their estates. That's what he's been mobilizing to do for quite some time - he basically admitted as much on Foreign Correspondent.
taillesskangaru said:
Frank Bainairanama had promised to reform the system so that it becomes more egalitarian, though it's worth remembering that he's a politician.
He's a soldier not a politician.
Camikaze said:
But what I still don't understand is the perception that a military led government that has postponed elections for the near future is instituting a more egalitarian system.
They've tried constitutional reform, comprimise and all manner of the fluffy stuff. It's never managed to alter the power dynamics of Fijian society - power still emanates from about a dozen families. Military dictatorship might be able to redress the serious systemic issues which have served to undermine true democracy for a long while.
Camikaze said:
Has there as yet been any indication that Bainimarama is going to follow through on his promises of reform, or are we just relying on his word?
Yeah, he's been working at it. Taillesskangaru covered it quite nicely.
* * * * * * *
Just to show how racist the system is, I'll show you the relevant sections of the 1997 Constitution which was abrogated by Bainimarama with some accompanying explanations:
The section on the Senate is particularly fun when applied to the real world, it automatically ensures that the Chiefs will always retain the balance in the house.
Section 64 Members
(1) The Senate consists of 32 members, of whom:
(a) 14 are appointed by the President on the advice of the Bose Levu Vakaturaga;
(b) 9 are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister;
(c) 8 are appointed by the President on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition; and
(d) 1 is appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Rotuma.
(2) The leaders of each of the parties entitled to be invited to participate in the Cabinet under section 99 nominate a person or persons for appointment under paragraph (1)(c) and, in tendering advice to the President pursuant to that paragraph, the Leader of the Opposition must ensure that the 8 persons proposed for appointment comprise such number of nominees of those parties as is proportionate to the size of the membership of those parties in the House of Representatives.
(3) If, at the time when an appointment is, or appointments are, to be made to the Senate under this section, the position of Leader of the Opposition is vacant, the Prime Minister must adopt the role of the Leader of the Opposition under subsection (2) in tendering advice to the President as to the 8 persons proposed for appointment under paragraph (1)(c).
(4) A person is not eligible to be appointed as a member of the Senate unless he or she is eligible to be a candidate in elections to the House of Representatives.
Of the 32 members of the Senate:
- 14 are appointed by the Grand Council of Chiefs;
- 9 are appointed by the Prime Minister;
- 8 are appointed by the Opposition; and
- 1 is appointed by the Council of Rotuma a dependency of Fiji.
The Grand Council of Chiefs will always elect a plurality of members who will defend the status quo. Practically this means that they will always elect just under half of the members of the Senate, who are opposed to any reform agenda because of their extensive constitutionally enshrined rights to own land. This is what happened. That accounts for just under 50% of the Senate seats already in the bag. The balance of power is ensured anyway, if the Chiefs parties lose, it doesn't matter the majority of the Senate is automatically in their favor courtesy of the 8 awarded to the opposition. Heck, they only needed to win 3 more, the rest is just there to act as buffer against the possibility of a revolt amongst the junior members of the Grand Council.
The House of Representatives isn't quite as bad, but via a roll system it still manages to skew the balance in favor of the Chiefs. I won't go into detail on this, it simply isn't important, we already know the result of a hypothetical opposition victory, gridlock. The opposition did form government and tried to pursue a middle path before the whole debacle that was Spieght. Ultimately any serious attempt at reform is going to be stifled by the upper house assuming that it can get past the lower house which is frankly not all that likely in the first place. Singh was the exception not the rule.
Section 50 Members
The House of Representatives consists of 71 members elected in accordance with this Constitution to represent single-member constituencies.
Section 51 Seats
(1) The 71 members are elected as follows:
(a) 46 are elected by voters registered on one of 4 separate electoral rolls, namely:
(i) a roll of voters who are registered as Fijians;
(ii) a roll of voters who are registered as Indians,
(iii) a roll of voters who are registered as Rotumans; and
(iv) a roll of voters who are registered otherwise than as Fijians, Indians or Rotumans;
(b) 25 are elected by voters from all communities registered on an open electoral roll.
(2) The number-of members elected under subparagraph (1)(a)(i) is 23.
(3) The number of members elected under subparagraph (1)(a)(ii) is
19.
(4) Tie number of members elected under subparagraph (1)(a)(iii) is 1.
(5) The number of members elected under subparagraph (1)(a)(iv) is 3.
This isn't even touching on the rights:
6. The people of the Fiji Islands recognise that, within the framework of this Constitution and the other laws of the State, the conduct of government is based on the following principles:
[...] (b) the ownership of Fijian land according to Fijian custom, the ownership of freehold land, and the rights of landlords and tenants under leases of agricultural land are preserved;
(i) to the extent that the interests of different communities are seen to conflict, all the interested parties negotiate in good faith in an endeavour to reach agreement;
(j) in those negotiations, the paramountcy of Fijian interests as a protective principle continues to apply, so as to ensure that the interests of the Fiji an community are not subordinated to the interests of other communities;
(k) affirmative action and social justice programs to secure effective equality of access to opportunities, amenities or services for the Fijian and Rotuman people, as well as for other communities, for women as well as men, and for all disadvantaged citizens or groups, are based on an allocation of resources broadly acceptable to all communities;
(l) the equitable sharing of political power amongst all communities in Fiji is matched by an equitable sharing of economic and commercial power to ensure that all communities fully benefit from the nation's economic progress.
I'll leave what these translate into practically to the imagination... I've already covered them in my arguments, its a simply measure to extrapolate their results based on what I've said.
