Bainimarama is so puffed up with his Pacific Islands’ Devleopment Forum (PIDF) that he’s thinking he won’t be rejoining the Pacific Islands Forum. Who does he think is going to fund his PIDF? Our traditional aid donor friends, who give us cash, not loans, fund the Pacific Islands Forum, so who is paying for the PIDF? Is the taxpayer, who also has to foot the bill for the First Family’s First Class travel, going to be paying for the PIDF Secretariat?
Fiji Sun May 4, 2014 DIPLOMACY PIDF A Challenge To PIF: Academic
Fiji Democracy Now Blog 
May 8, 2014 at 4:12 am |
Fiji shares a fundamental problem with its Pacific island neighbours: The population does not really embrace western style democracy. There is a widespread acceptance that the “Chief” rules, whether this chief has obtained power through hereditary succession, strong arm power grabs, political corruption or military coups. In contrast to most of its neighbours, Fiji’s poor democratic record is exacerbated by the existence of a overblown military which was boosted by the UN and never had any genuine role in protecting Fiji’s borders. In such an environment, it is only natural that military officers with overblown egos step into the role of the “Chief” because they can do so with impunity. The population bows to the new chief, aiming to be on the winners side and obtain some benefits from being obedient and accommodating. Add poor education and a general indolence and a picture of today’s Fiji emerges. The electorate sees the tussles between regime and opposition as nothing more than a bit of entertainment with an opportunity to indulge in a little bit of backstabbing come election day. The political elite that has been removed by military leaders has higher stakes as access to unearned income is all of a sudden denied. In Fiji, there are two reactions to this: Go over to the winner (as Chaudhry did in 2007) or beg the “International Community” to re-install them in positions of power. Against this background, there is little or no hope that the 2014 elections in Fiji produce any other result than the confirmation of the rule of the coup makers; in particular as the regime has pulled out all the stops to cripple the opposition. What is truly amazing is the fact that several opposition parties have decided to participate in the charade, knowing full well how this exercise in “true democracy” is being orchestrated by the regime.
May 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm |
Quite thought provoking Momo. Thanks. Certainly something worth mulling over.