NationStates Jolt Archive

Fiji's military leader says he is worried about the rise in crime in the Pacific nation following the pulling back of soldiers into the barracks.

Self appointed Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama staged a coup last December and under martial law had soldiers patrolling the streets until June.

Police now man roadblocks but crime was rising.

"I am particularly concerned about home invasions, robberies with violence, attacks on taxi drivers and desecration of Hindu temples. We have received many calls from the public asking for the return of the solders to the checkpoints," he said in a statement this afternoon.

He has installed one of his deputies, navy captain Esala Teleni, as police commissioner and he said he would seek an urgent briefing from him.

"Clearly, there is a need to urgently look into how the police force can be assisted to improve their performance in fighting crime."

Both Australia and New Zealand travel advisories warn tourists of the dangers of crime in Fiji.


(source (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4202115a12.html))

Genuine, do you think, or just an excuse to maintain tight military control?

Didn't Bainimarama sing "Robert De Niro's waiting"?

Hehe... No.

(source (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4202115a12.html))

Genuine, do you think, or just an excuse to maintain tight military control?

Yes, an excuse, definitely an excuse, always an excuse.

It's an excuse all military dictatorships use or used at some point.

(source (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4202115a12.html))

Genuine, do you think, or just an excuse to maintain tight military control?


Quite possibly a combination of the two. Crime and "terror" are often used as an excuse to increase monitoring. By checking who is going through checkpoints he can presumably follow opposition movement under the guise of checking for 'unlawful elements'.

Yes, an excuse, definitely an excuse, always an excuse.

It's an excuse all military dictatorships use or used at some point.

To argue the opposite side, though, if people genuinely do see a correlation between soldiers' presence and lower crime...?

I'm still not certain about Bainimarama's intentions. The man's track record gives credit to his claim that he staged the coup in the name of stopping the previous government's racist policies, but...

For those who need a quick brush-up on Fijian history, in 2000 Fiji elected its first ever Indo-Fijian (i.e. person of Indian immigrant background) prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry. Very quickly, he was overthrown by George Speight, a failed businessman of part-indigenous Fijian, part "European" descent. (I mention their ethnicities only because it's important in the Fijian context.) Speight claimed (in essence) that an "Indian" had no right to govern Fiji, because an "Indian" would not respect specific indigenous rights. Some believe Speight said that simply to pander to popular racism, and that his real motivations had more to do with his personal economic woes, and because Chaudhry was Labour Party.

Anyway... Bainimarama was instrumental in defusing the crisis, negotiating with Speight then taking a firm line against him, and enabling Fiji's return to democracy. Bainimarama emerged from the crisis as a national hero.

Fast-forward a few years. Laisena Qarase is prime minister. He's an indigenous man from a hard-line right-wing nationalist party. Claiming that indigenous Fijians need Affirmative Action policies to catch up economically with the Indo-Fijian population, he starts implementing policies to aid all indigenous people, with little or no aid for Indo-Fijians facing poverty. His fellow party members are known for inflammatory anti-Indian statements. (In 2002, the Minister for Women said in Parliament "God has warned me that we must watch the Indians closely, for they are like weeds". Qarase refused to rebuke her.)

Adding to that, Indo-Fijian farm leases on indigenous lands were running out, and Qarase encouraged indigenous landowners not to renew them, resulting in
a) an economic downturn as lands went unused, and
b) many Indo-Fijians being driven out of their homes and drifting into urban slums.

Bainimarama (an indigenous man himself) repeatedly accused Qarase's government of corruption and of anti-Indian racism. (Oh, and of sympathy for Speight.) He demanded that the government withdraw proposed laws part of Qarase's Affirmative Action for indigenous people package, as well as Qarase's proposal to facilitate amnesty for Speight's followers. Qarase refused. Bainimarama overthrew him.

That's a condensed version of what happened; Fijian politics are extremely complex. Anyway, Bainimarama has been painting himself as the defender of all ethnic groups and of inter-ethnic harmony. Whether he's doing that because he really believed Qarase was "leading Fiji on a path to destruction" (to quote his own words), or whether he was simply looking for an excuse to grab power, is of course open to interpretation...

We'll know in a couple of years or so when he's scheduled to bring back democracy. He says his government is an "interim government", preparing the way for a more functional democracy.

The international community's position, meanwhile, has been very simple: Qarase was the democratically elected prime minister, and therefore the coup was unjustifiable. Bainimarama's reply has been to ask them to try and understand the Fijian context.

Quite possibly a combination of the two. Crime and "terror" are often used as an excuse to increase monitoring. By checking who is going through checkpoints he can presumably follow opposition movement under the guise of checking for 'unlawful elements'.

Good point.

wait six years and have another Coup d'état

I read that name as Bananarama. :eek:

wait six years and have another Coup d'état

Well, at least the latest coup was a novelty. It was a coup in the name of opposing anti-Indian racism rather than supporting it.

I'm wondering how Bainimarama plans to re-establish a lasting democracy that he will find satisfactory. Democracy, one assumes, means that if a majority of people want to see someone like Qarase back in power, that's what they'll get. Presumably Bainimarama won't want a repeat of the government he's overthrown. So I wouldn't write out the possibility of future instability, no.

I read that name as Bananarama. :eek:

Everyone does. ;)

Well, at least the latest coup was a novelty. It was a coup in the name of opposing anti-Indian racism rather than supporting it.
if i recall right he asked for our help in

I'm wondering how Bainimarama plans to re-establish a lasting democracy that he will find satisfactory. Democracy, one assumes, means that if a majority of people want to see someone like Qarase back in power, that's what they'll get. Presumably Bainimarama won't want a repeat of the government he's overthrown. So I wouldn't write out the possibility of future instability, no.

i don't know what he do,but the possibility of future instability means that Australia may have to step in and bring back peace

if i recall right he asked for our help in


If you mean Qarase, yes.


i don't know what he do,but the possibility of future instability means that Australia may have to step in and bring back peace

That would happen only if the Fijian government of the time requested it.

If you mean Qarase, yes.
yes and we said no and only sent naval ships to Fiji to assist in the evacuation of Australian citizens should a coup occur.


That would happen only if the Fijian government of the time requested it.

true and only if we can

yes and we said no and only sent naval ships to Fiji to assist in the evacuation of Australian citizens should a coup occur.


As I recall, Howard said he didn't want to be responsible for Australian and Fijian soldiers shooting at one another.


true and only if we can

That too. Australia may not want to commit itself.

OP: Was the 2000 coup truly spawned by anti-Indian and anti-multiracial sentiments? I've been reading about Fiji's recent troubles for an essay I'm writing and most of books seem to indicate this, but I read on Wikipedia that Speight might have just used Indians as a scape-goat to make some money. I know that the PM at the time of coup passed some legislation that cancelled some of Speight's contracts, losing him a fair bit of money, but I'm new to the subject. Your thoughts?

OP: Was the 2000 coup truly spawned by anti-Indian and anti-multiracial sentiments? I've been reading about Fiji's recent troubles for an essay I'm writing and most of books seem to indicate this, but I read on Wikipedia that Speight might have just used Indians as a scape-goat to make some money. I know that the PM at the time of coup passed some legislation that cancelled some of Speight's contracts, losing him a fair bit of money, but I'm new to the subject. Your thoughts?

See my earlier post. ;)

Obviously it's impossible to know for sure what Speight really thought. Conceivably he did believe what he was saying to some extent. What's sure is that

a) most of his supporters did buy into his rhetoric, and
b) whatever his own views, he played up the anti-Indian rhetoric while playing down his own economic situation.

So the 2000 coup did rest on anti-Indian feelings to the extent that many followers who made the coup possible, and members of the public who supported it, mainly did so for that reason.

obviously an excuse. you see it all too often.

The latest: A Commission of Inquiry (3 people, including a New Zealand academic) into the 2006 election in Fiji "claims to have uncovered up to a dozen cases of vote buying as well as widespread vote rigging" (news source (http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=35410)).

The government elected in 2006 (right-wing nationalists, led by Prime Minister Qarase) was the one overthrown by Bainimarama a few months later.

The full report can be found here (http://www.humanrights.org.fj/pdf/fhrcelecrpt20061.pdf).

The inquiry was commissioned by the Fiji Human Rights Commission, which has been criticised by the international community for supporting the coup, on the basis that Qarase had been seeking to undermine the human rights of Fiji's large Indo-Fijian minority.

I haven't read the report yet (it's long!), but if it's true, it would bring into question the legitimacy of the government that was "democratically elected" in 2006.

Or are Bainimarama's supporters simply looking for any way to legitimise the coup by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the government he overthrew?

Edit: Here's a screencap of the summary of the main findings, from the pdf report:

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2842/fijiscreencaply5.png

Not those who vote have the power but those who count the votes... :(

obviously an excuse. you see it all too often.

Of course it's an excuse, cause you know, whenever people choose between getting beaten/robbed/raped/murdered by thugs, and some extra security, they invariably choose the thugs, cause they never want the intrusive effect of more government.

Well, at least they do when they are safe and protected a zillion miles away, confident that the threat is only theoretical. Actual people in actual danger on the other hand, see things differently.