fijidemocracymovement.org

Subject:       Bainimarama’s Expulsion of the Australian and New Zealand Diplomat Condemned.

Date:          4^th November 2009

The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement strongly condemns the latest action of Fiji’s Military Dictator Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, who yesterday announced the expulsion of the Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners from Suva.

The Fiji Military Dictatorship must continue to be reminded of the fact that they gained power through illegal violent means, the barrel of a gun. The legal Fiji High Court have already made the decision that Bainimarama and his attorney general are illegal and took office through illegal criminal means.

The least they could do is spare us the indignity of having to listen to them try and justify their illegal grab of power and their continued weak claims of the need to maintain their illegal occupation of office.

The expulsion of the two envoys was again another knee jerk reaction from Bainimarama, and enhance his tendency to make erratic, ill thought out decisions that only suites him and is over inflated ego.

Also, it once again demonstrates that real power lies with his Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. After all, it was only last week that Khaiyum threatened to go and see his Prime Minister about the rejection of a High Court Judges visa to take her son to New Zealand for medical treatment.

It appears that whatever Khaiyum says or advises, Bainimarama does without fully considering its follow on effect. It raises the possibility that the tail (Khaiyum) is wagging the dog (Bainimarama) and that Khaiyum is now the real power in Fiji similar to the influence of Rasputin in Tsarist Russia.

The expulsion further demonstrates that Bainimarama’s Military Dictatorship says one thing and does the opposite. It proves the many claims that those illegally holding powers in Fiji do not really care about the common people and that is why we need an elected government answerable to the electors as soon as possible.

The last thing that Fiji needs at the moment is negative reporting on the international stage. It scares away potential investors. It scares away potential tourists. It scares away potential aid donors.

And who takes the full brunt when such selfish and gung-ho decisions are made? Not Commodore Bainimarama and his air condition SUV travelling illegal hangers on and ministers, or his cocktail circuit mates. It is the lowly paid struggling common citizens of Fiji who continuous to struggling daily to put food on the family table.

Commodore Bainimarama again showed his arrogance and naivety when he hinted that he thought relations with Australia and New Zealand might improve with the change of government in these two countries since he grabbed power in December 2006. Once again, he let out that the PM’s job is beyond him capability when he truly expected that the mentioned change in governments was going to change Australia and New Zealand’s views of his illegal dictatorship.

Commodore Bainimarama, in his exact words say “they (Australia and New Zealand) are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies to undermine Fiji’s judiciary, independent institutions and economy”. It is a bit rich coming from someone who grabbed power illegally via the criminal act of treason and has continued to illegally occupy the seat of power in Fiji without putting it to the people of Fiji to decide.

This is the same man who has to one day answer for the goon squad that have taken thousands up to the military barracks and have their rights violated, or those have their cars smashed in or houses fire bombed.

Not to mention the cold blooded murder of special force soldiers after the failed mutiny at the military barracks have been put down or the deaths in custody of Verebasaga, Rabaka, Malasebe and Baleiloa after the December 2006 coup.

The illegal Military Dictatorship needs to be reminded that Fiji needs Australia and New Zealand more than these two countries need Fiji. These are two very wealthy nations and the expulsion of their diplomats is not going to badly  impact their economy as much as it is going to impact Fiji.

Fiji’s illegal Prime Minister also need to come clean on what he is trying to defend here.

The former President abrogated the Constitution on the 10^th of April 2009 after the Fiji High Court declared the coup of December 2006 and the subsequent action of the President in appointing the Bainimarama Government was illegal.

As a consequence, the entire judiciary and magistrates were all dismissed and those that make up the present judiciary and the lower courts were head hunted by Bainimarama’s attorney general, appointed by Bainimarama and rubber stamped with consent by the current illegally appointed President Nailatikau.

In other words, these are not independent judge, separate from the executive arm of the state but directly linked via the appointment process that made them become judges under his regime. Therefore, their work and judgements will be overshadowed by the nature of their appointment and the question of doubt will always linger over the cases they preside over.

Finally, it is a well known fact that anyone that accepts an illegal appointment by the Bainimarama Military Dictatorship automatically has a travel ban placed on them by Australia and New Zealand. This was part of a list of smart sanctions that was announced by these two countries immediately after the 2006 coup. So why the sudden drama?

The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement appeals to the Military Dictatorship of Bainimarama, if there are any level headed people left in there, to please consider the plight of the innocent lives of Fiji Islanders suffering from these poorly conceived decisions of your leader and be brave enough to offer some positive advice to your leader.

Usaia Peter Waqatairewa

President