fijidemocracymovement.org

MEDIA RELEASE
July 22, 2009

Fiji military cracks down on Methodist Church leaders

Sydney, July 22, 2009

The military-backed regime of Fiji strongman, Frank Bainimarama, has cracked down on senior figures within the Methodist Church of Fiji, making a number of arrests last night and this morning in response to the Church’s defiance against the military ban to go ahead with its annual church conference in August.

The Military had earlier this month imposed a ban on this event   which has been a firm fixture on the Church calendar since the 1840s.

“The General-Secretary of the Methodist Church, the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, was arrested and released last night,” said Peceli Kinivuwai, Spokesman for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) Party which was ousted from government by Commodore Bainimarama in the 2006 coup.

Mr Kinivuwai confirmed that eight ministers of the church were arrested this morning, putting to rest any doubts about the validity of the claims of arrests, in the midst of the military-imposed news blackout in the island nation.

”Of the eight arrested, police are questioning: Rev. Apete Toko – Head of the Men’s Fellowship; Rev.  Simione Koli —  Divisional Superintendent of the Suva Division and Rev.  Ili Vunisuwai – Head of the Evangelical  Division.

The Sydney-based Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement (FDFM) meanwhile, has condemned  this latest move saying it is a direct reaction to the defiant stand taken by the Methodist church against the military’s declaration of a ban against the holding of Church conference.

“The Annual conference, which can attract up to 100,000 people, is an established event in the spiritual calendar of the majority of Fijians,” Movement President, Usaia Waqatairewa said.

“This annual event normally held in late August, has been around since the 1840s and this dictator wants to put a stop for the purposes of political expediency."

This year, the conference was scheduled to be held at Lomanikoro Rewa (in eastern Viti Levu) -- which is the traditional powerhouse  seat of the Roko Tui Dreketi, Ro Teimumu Kepa – One of Fiji’s three Paramount Chiefs and traditional Head of Fiji’s largest confederacy, the Burebasaga confederacy.

It was at the personal invitation of the Roko Tui Dreketi in 2006, that led to her province of Rewa hosting the annual Conference this year. “This is the most powerful evidence yet of the kind of opposition facing this regime,” Mr Waqatairewa said.

“What this regime has done in issuing a ban on the conference, is a direct assault on the

1997, Constitution, which says, under section 31, subsection 1: “Every person has the right to assembly and to demonstrate with others peacefully.

“And every person has the right to freedom of conscience, religion and belief.”

                                                            --ENDS-- 

13/7/09

The Editor Vanuatu Daily Post, Dear Sir,

Re: The Prime Minister’s PNG/ Solomon’s/ Vanuatu in MSG decision.

LACK OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES FOR 21^ST CENTURY NEEDS.

The recent decision by the MSG to support the so-called “road map” of Fiji’s illegal Regime (IR) is an absolute disgrace! I am writing to express my anger at the blatant disregard for the rights, expectations, conscience, will and choice of the people of Fiji that this unaccountable decision represents. Condoning the Regime’s illegitimate moves like this will only prolong the unnecessary suffering of the Fiji people. Better to continue isolating the IR and hasten their collapse from within (a process which was already underway, but which will now be needlessly prolonged).

I cannot for the life of me think what could possibly have prompted the MSG leaders to accept the Fiji Regime’s brain-dead roadmap. It is nothing more than a wish list of fine words by people who have proven time and again that they don’t know what they are doing, or how to keep their word. For these reasons alone, the roadmap is about as meaningless as it can be. And that is before you even consider the fact that it is based on their tainted “People’s Charter” which is already in place and failing to deliver on any of its promises to date, and which the Regime did not even have the guts to put to the people of Fiji by referendum or vote or any other legitimate polling method.

The roadmap is simply a joke – it lacks understanding, it lacks expertise, it lacks legitimacy, it lack popularity, it lacks detail, it lacks an economic platform, and most importantly, it lacks the commitment of the Fiji people. The only reason I can think of then, that the Regime might have been able to arm-twist support out of the MSG, is if it somehow made this into an issue of Fiji’s “sovereignty”.

If that is the case, then let me make this very clear – Fiji’s sovereignty belongs to the people of Fiji!! It does not belong to any gun-toting hooligan who happens to come along and thinks he has an idea for our collective future. Just think for a moment about the implications of accepting that, as a legitimate way of running affairs in your respective countries before you accept it on Fiji’s behalf.

The recent speech by USA President Obama to African leaders sums it up well. He pointed out that the people of Africa cannot blame colonialism or western dominance or democracy for their problems - they can only blame the tyranny and corruption of Leaders. Therefore it is up the to the African people to solve this for themselves in democratic ways of freedom, constitutional democracy and the rule of law and order.

In today’s 21-century market economy, the discipline of Leadership/Management is about fulfillment, as opposed to just effectiveness in order to sustain humanity. But the MSG completely ignored both good management practice and legal pathways in its decision. Why?

Although the MSG decision may give the IR some cause for hope, it does nothing of the sort for the people of Fiji. As I said before, this Regime is already collapsing. So even IF it makes it to its 2014 election deadline, it (or its designated successor) will not survive the verdict of the Fiji people in any free or fair election thereafter. I do not see how any legitimate Government that emerges then could find merit in an organization like the MSG whose tactics have no strategic meaning, and which so easily disregards:

1. The People of Fiji;

2. The Courts and Constitution of Fiji;

3. Commonsense;

4. Expert Advice; and

5. Basic Right over Wrong, in favor of such an illegitimate, bumbling and violent interloper as the Bainimarama Regime.

Such, an example of bad policy is not only outdated and uninformed, but goes against the heart of basic human values and hope for a free and emancipated Fiji.

The Hon. Dr. Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni MP.

Cc PNG Post Courier; Solomon’s Star; Pacific Forum Secretariat.

The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement would like to kindly ask the Melanesian Spearhead Groups Leaders that their Leaders Retreat today should be the last one that Fiji’s Military Dictator, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama attends.

Commodore Bainimarama, given his past misdemeanour against Pacific Islands Leaders, does not deserve to be engaged by the MSG Countries or the rest of the Pacific Islands Forum Countries.

His past lies and broken promises has brought shame on the high office of Fiji’s Prime Ministership and confirms that he is not worthy to be Fiji’s National Leader.

The Movement urges the MSG leaders to instead dialogue with people who are true representatives of the people, after all it is the interest of the people of Fiji that should be paramount.

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama represents no one but himself and a very small elite group of people, whose interest he is trying to protect.

His so called ‘Road Map’ to restore Fiji to Parliamentary Democracy is just another stalling process to delay his inevitable exit from Fiji’s leadership scene.

The Movement commends the noble intent and patience of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders but believe it will again be an exercise in futility. At the end of the day Commodore Bainimarama will never relinquish power unless forced to do so.

Bainimarama’s actions of the past has indicated that he will try and hold onto power for as long as possible and any threat to his hold on power will be swiftly sabotaged by his Regime. This has included the efforts of the Special Ministerial Group under the Biketawa Declaration and the President’s Constitutional Review Forum that was to be facilitated by the Commonwealth and United Nations.

Bainimarama has twice snubbed the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders by his non attendance at the annual leaders meetings. He has even insulted the Pacific’s most respected statesmen and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare when he rejecting Sir Michael’s ‘Tabua’ and personal overture to attend the Special Leaders Retreat in Port Moresby early this year.

Given that the Bainimarama Regime is now suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Leaders including those from the MSG Grouping should cast they eyes towards the leaders of the last elected government of Fiji.

The Coalition Government that was overthrown by Bainimarama in a power grab in December 2006 attracted 84% of the votes cast in a general election just six months earlier.

Therefore, any attempts to talk with those that grab power in December 2006 and members of the Interim Government ruling Fiji would be going against the grain of suppressed public opinion that exists in Fiji today.

The people of Fiji feels betrayed by the leaders of our Melanesian Brothers every time they re-engage and dialogue with a man that has brought nothing but death in custody, injury, humiliation, torture, misery and poverty upon them for the last two and a half years.

With all due respect, the Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement humbly requests the MSG Leaders not to waste their time and resources on seeking to re-engage Commodore Bainimarama. Instead, they should seek the wise counsel of Fiji’s political leaders and Civil Societies that advocate democracy and freedom. These are the true voices and representatives of the silent suffering People of Fiji.

Usaia Peter Waqatairewa

President, Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement.

The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement would like to denounce the announcement a week ago by Fiji’s interim Prime Minister, Commodore Bainimarama, of a Road Map for the Restoration of Fiji’s Democracy.

It is  a lot of fancy words about nothing and another poorly attempted strategy for Commodore Bainimarama to legitimise his illegal term as Prime Minister for another five years.

Commodore Bainimarama must first of all cease his many attempts at insulting our collective intelligence with his claim of a so called President’s Mandate. The President is now an illegal occupier of that High Office after his treasonous purported abrogation of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands on the 10^th of April 2009.

Commodore Bainimarama should also cease from claiming a Presidential Mandate when the whole world knows that he is the puppeteer pulling the strings of a proverbial puppet, the figurehead President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

Having stated that, the Movement will keep reminding Commodore Bainimarama, and the World as our witness, that any suggestion of reforms and change must come from the people and the 1997 Constitution of Fiji is still pulsating in the veins of the people of Fiji and can never be abrogated.

The people of Fiji must give the mandate, and the world does not recognise some false claim of a Presidential Mandate. Changes can only be made by those that represent the people in a legally constituted parliament under Chapter 15 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji.

Commodore Bainimarama, in his speech said that in his road map for change, he will seek to re-engage with his neighbours and development partners. The Movement wishes to remind Fiji’s regional neighbours and development partners that it was not them that disengaged from dealing with Fiji.

It was Commodore Bainimarama that so rudely disengaged from Fiji’s regional neighbours by snubbing them twice. First, at the Pacific islands Forum Leaders meeting in Niue and secondly at the Special Leaders Retreat on Fiji in Port Moresby early this year.

 It was also Commodore Bainimarama that lied after he promised to have a  general election for Fiji in March 2009. He made this commitment at the 2007 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in Tonga.

The Movement would like to remind regional leaders and development partners planing to re-engage with Commodore Bainimarama that while they are legal and elected, he is not. While their first priority is the people they represent, Bainimarama’s first priority is his personal survival and the delaying of his inevitable arrest and imprisonment.

Any leader that engages and dialogues with Bainimarama is doing business with a common criminal who has raped the democracy of his country and pillage the national assets of its people.

Bainimarama’s leadership scorecard since grabbing power via the barrel of a gun is pathetic. In his two and a half years of leadership, Bainimarama has presided over the decimation of the sugar industry, the destruction of the tourism industry, the devaluation of the Fijian Dollar, the wholesale sacking of thousands of public servants, the destruction of the future of an entire generation of Fiji’s youths and most recently the destruction of Fiji’s Dairy Industry.

Commodore Bainimarama in his address puts forward the false claim that a new legal order exists. A new legal order can only exist if the people have accepted it.

The World must be reminded that the Military overthrew a popularly elected coalition Government that was voted in just six months before being overthrown in December 2006. The two political parties that made up the ruling coalition attracted 84% of the votes cast in the May 2006 General Election.

There has been no popular opposition to the Bainimarama Regime since the purported abrogation of the Constitution because of the draconian Public Emergency Regulation Decree introduced after the abrogation declaration on the 10^th of April 2009.

This decree was suppose to be in force for only thirty days but has now been extended till the end of the year. The draconian terms of the Decree included the censoring of any news items that may portray the government in a negative way and the suppression of freedom of speech.

With the threat of an indefinite closure of any news outlet that attempts to defy the Decree, newspapers are not publishing any letters to the editor or statements that opposes the Regime.

Since the 10^th of April 2009, the people of Fiji have been drawn under a dark blanket of news blackouts while bombarded with government propaganda modelled on some Stalinist totalitarian regime.

 The framework for the return to constitutional democracy announced a week ago by Commodore Bainimarama lacks any clearly defined milestones and timeframes for his three year grandiose socio-economic dreams.

The Bainimarama Regime’s total mismanagement of the economy and erosion of the social structure of Fiji’s Society so far has created a lot of doubt about their ability to deliver on their latest attempt to provide a clear roadmap to democracy.

Delaying the start of their illegal constitutional reform till 2012 is just another poor attempt to conveniently come up with some sort of excuse that they will need more time in the constitutional consultation process and therefore extend their illegal governing mandate past 2014 when their self imposed five year mandate is about to expire.

Therefore, the Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement calls on Fiji’s Regional Neighbours and Development Partners not to be fooled by Commodore Bainimarama’s latest attempt to pull the wool over their eyes. They should learn from his many false promises and lies of the past.

Pacific regional leaders need to up the level of pressure and sanctions and demand an immediate return to constitutional democracy under the terms handed down by the Fiji Court of Appeal in the Case of Qarase and Others v Bainimarama and Others on the 9^th of April 2009.