I dont believe Stuart you in particular are buying into the argument that proposed “contentious” legisations by the Qarase Govt was reason enough for the 2006 Coup. There can be nothing right about a coup bloodless or not! Why the hell does the rule of law exist at all if coups are fine ?

Do I need to tell you again that Bainimarama was being investigated for treason, murder (ordering the killings of CRW soldiers after Speights Coup)and theft (Military Regimental Funds) prior to the elections in 2006 and Commander Andrew Hughes was poised to make some very revealing arrests in Dec 2006 ?

Also at the time with all the orchestrated bluster about legislation he didnt like etc. , Bainimarama was using taxpayers money to promote his own political party – NAPF.

In addition to the above we now know that Qarase Govt was committed to the following things prior to Dec :

1) the downsizing of the military to a number of approx 1300 and increasing the police force number. This was actually already signed to be done through budgetary allocation. Frank appeared before the cabinet sub committee on budget to plead his case and to ask for time. There is also the white paper on the restructuring and reorganising the military and police. It basically watered down the powers of the commander. Frank was not happy with this. The implementation of the white paper was being delayed as it required further discussion and organisation.

2) the Fijian Affairs Board had been restructured following the recommendation of a committee chaired by Ratu Cokanauto and implementation of the recommendations were being implemented before the Coup took place.

3) changes had been made, and were in place to be made to the NLTB to make it more proactive and to be able to improve its services .

4) the Bose ni Vanua was already in place since 1987 but with no official status. The BLV or GCC is an official body recognised under the constitution. Efforts were being made to recognise the Bose ni Vanua perhaps as a useful arm of the GCC as it is is a recognised and useful body at provincial level.

When Frankie took the country by force in Dec 2006 under the doctrine of necessity – even though he was the one creating the “necessity”, he said none of his officers would benefit.

Guess who have ensconced themselves all in positions of power and won’t let go ?

The military now controls the investigative body (through Teleni – who has now destroyed all evidence on the investigation into Bainimarama’s worng – doings)

The judiciary is controlled though Gates, Shameem, Rokomokoti & others, and the enforcement agencies, land and finance agencies though himself, Roko Lui and Driti and other coup perperprators.

Now they are abolishing the provincial councils and appointing all of the above to Commandant-like Gulag organisations.

And Gordon how well do you know Bainimarama? I have known this Navy cadet he was a young man. He has not changed his stripes and never will.

NO ONE CAN REASON with him!

He has a one track mind and it is based on illogic, bluster and trickery. You cannot negotiate with him as he is afraid of his own shadow.

The interview with Teleni is laughable as he has just made proclamations that he is appointed by God personally, and organised a rally complete with the 10 (altered) Commandments , to say so with taxpayers money.

And rubbish to the foreign invasion garbage too. Also Qarase did not “flee”. He was threatened with his life and that of his family as was Commander Hughes of the Police. The Court Judgement justifying the coup by using a perceived crisis to allow the Military carte blanche over Fiji’s power base is PURE bollocks.

What your article fails to point out Gordon (perhaps as you dont live in Fiji) is that Nacewa Senior has been the de-facto President of Fiji for 2.5 yrs now. He has been Iloilo’s ears, voice and pen and personally responsibile for the vile decisions made by that office.

The sanctions placed by NZ and Australia are working ! That is why Bainimarama in his hotheaded bloodshot way of thinking is so irritated … it does not matter what you give to the guy, he will only think he is entitled to more. McCully was right to say : ” “The New Zealand government can’t deal with these discussions with a gun pointed at its head,”

I tell you what would really work – if NZ said to all the Fijian living in NZ , get the hell out of here, there would be an immediate uprising here in Fiji- thats how many of us would be affected- and Bainimarama would be gone overnight.

People here are living in fear of the gun and the secret society that has become a part of our lives since the army took the country. Who the hell wants to live like this? —- this is the same set of silly circumstances that has caused the interim AG to believe that spies are listening to him on his phone … hello ! They are all paranoid ….. they all have 2 – 5 bodyguards each (what does that tell you?)

See this story – this is only the tip pf the iceberg – http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=109736 – you guys dont know what is happening here with hundreds of people being taken up to the military camp for “interrogation” and threatened with the lives of their dear ones. This is the post traumatic syndrome that has occured with the once revered Fiji army treating its own people as if it were the Hisbollah !.

As for THAT court-ruling, all those judges are coup apologists … and they did not answer nor address Nye Perram’s arguments in any way preferring to twist the arguments all based on a perceived crisis in the “President’s (Nacewa’s) mind.

So back to when Key says “The immediate answers to some of these problems are not obvious. But what is certain is that these nations need us to work in partnership with them to help resolve these problems. ” is not neo-imperialist …. he is merely stating the truth – Fiji would sink if all of the Fijians living in NZ (legally and illegally) go back to Fiji – we need NZ and NZ needs us. Ditto Aust.

What Bainimarama and his cohorts have to learn is – they arent just an island. They need to co-exist with the rest of the world – and unfortunately for young George and the Navy cadet, they must learn that there will be casualties – its all part of the human game of negotiation.

My sources say they all thought China and Korea would provide the panacea but as we know they are finding it harded than they thought as these countries are tough negotiators and will want our very soul.

We are finding it very hard in Fiji – so many of us have lost our jobs and our trust, BUT we are prepared to sit this out until we come to a hopefully bloodless solution. We want our rights and elected representatives back warts and all ! For this option is much better than this military nightmare that has presented itself.

You take an external view of the Nazi rise to power. There is a fairly broad consensus that the treaty of Versailles, by beggaring the German economy, almost guaranteed WWII. This being so, the ousting of the Weimar Government was almost obligatory.
The parallel with Fiji is not strong, with the rule of law continuing and paramilitary activity at a minimum.
The Nazi parallel was stronger with prior coup governments and the expulsion of Indians.
It is more Idi Amin that springs to mind though, what with post colonialism and Asian expulsions.
Rather than encourage Fiji down the path of isolationism, we should have engaged with them. That they still respect our culture enough to educate their children here should have been taken as a compliment, and a commitment to a constructive future.

Alas, NZ governments don’t do constructive.

Is a fair genralisation, but like all generalisations, it goes too far.

Perhaps one way to look at democracy is as a non-violent transition system for states, and as such there is a lot to be said for it.

But there is a tendency to place too much importance on elections, and not enough on performance in government.

A government that does not either enact the wishes of it’s constitutents, or instead act in their enlightened best interests, is not behaving democratically.

Whether such systemic dysfunction merits overthrow is always a matter to be determined by the polity concerned. But there must be a point at which even a democratically elected but non-performing government should be overthrown.

The argument about Bainimarama is whether his coup was an instance of this kind. Were the Fijian situation stable prior to his action, I suspect even a constitutional change as serious as that for which he ousted the government would have better been solved by something more nearly approaching due process.
As it stands, his government is only nominally less legitimate than the one it replaced.

The difficulty is, having chosen to back the wrong junta, NZ is now contributing to Fijian instability, and our long and amiable relationship with that state seems almost irrevocably lost.

Was barring some student’s education really worth it? I don’t think so, and I think the sanction regime we were running should have been properly labelled. They were not smart sanctions, they were smart-***se sanctions.
As might have been expected given the authorship.