FIJI COMMITS TO ELECTIONS
Fiji’s controversial Attorney General, Aiyaz Saiyed-Khaiyum said the country will hold elections by September 2014 and will lift restrictions on the media before then.

Speaking today on TV3’s “The Nation” Mr Saiyed-Khaiyum said that anybody would be able to stand for the elections.

And the elections would be based on a common role.

Traditionally Fiji has had an electoral system which split electorates between indigenous Fijians, Indo-Fijians and other ethnic groups.

“You have for the first time a Prime Minister who's saying everybody's a Fijian,” he said.

“That is very powerful, that is very potent, is very modernising, is very forward looking.

“We must have one person one vote. Irrespective of your communal background you're a Fijian.

“You have a common and equal citizenry.

“In Fiji we have not had a common and equal citizenry being applied practically and legally also.”

In the interview, Mr Saiyed-Khaiyum hinted that Fiji would send its rugby team to the World Cup.

New Zealand has threatened to bar several players who are members of the military.

Under its “smart sanctions” policy New Zealand has barred members of the Fiji Government or its military from entering the country since the military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power in a coup in 2006.

“Fiji will be denied the right to field the best team if the New Zealand government continues with this ban,” he said.

“By banning a few rugby players that may be crucial to the rugby team, what is the New Zealand government getting out of it? What is the objective of it?”
Mr Saiyed-Khaiyum defended the country’s Public Emergency Regulations, which give the government wide sweeping powers, and its Media Decree, which controls the media.

He said they were needed while the country undertook a fundamental restructure of its society and institutions.

“You have a different level of development; you have a different colonial history. You cannot say just because something's done in New Zealand it should apply in Fiji,” he said.

But he said the media restrictions would need to be reviewed before the elections took place.

Asked by interviewer, Sean Plunket, when that would be, he said: “You'll find out before the elections. I mean that’s an assessment that’s made by the government. I'm not here to give you specific timeframes.”

He would not be drawn on allegations being made by the fugitive colonel, Tevita Mara, alleging torture by the military and corruption within the government.
You have one person who's suddenly come out and made all these comments,” he said.

“It’s fits in very neatly with your government's foreign policy position.

“It fits in very neatly with some of the mainstream media perception.

“So suddenly you’ve all jumped on the bandwagon. “



ATTORNEY GENERAL AIYAZ SAYED-KHAIYUM
Interviewed by SEAN PLUNKET

00.01.24 Mr Attorney General, let's start with something that both Fijians and New Zealanders are interested in, Rugby. As it stands at present Fiji is welcome at the Rugby World Cup, but because of our travel ban there will be restrictions on team members, and more importantly probably officials and supporters attending the World Cup in New Zealand. As things stand is Fiji happy to participate with those bans in place?

The situation is this, that Fiji will be denied the right to field the best team if the New Zealand government continues with this ban. And as we have seen previously the New Zealand government travel ban does not simply extend to a military officer, or a member of this government, of the Bainimarama government, but in fact it extends to relatives.

00.03.27 As it stands though of a squad of 50 players that have now been named, only two or three I understand would be affected by the ban. That doesn’t seem too much for Fijian Rugby to get round?

00.03.40 Well I'm not the technical person running the rugby team, but I'm sure that if the FRU officials are saying and the coaching team are saying these people are essential for the team, then I'm sure they're essential for the team. But I think it's a question of principle. You know what is the objective of the travel ban? It goes back to the whole purpose behind it. By banning a few rugby players that may be crucial to the rugby team, what is the New Zealand government getting out of it? What is the objective of it?

00.04.06 Well their objective they say is for you to commit to free and fair elections in 2014.

00.04.13 We have said that now for three years in a row running. The 1 July strategy framework that was announced by the Prime Minister in 2009 clearly sets out the steps leading up to the 2014 elections, and what exactly will happen when the constitution will be formed, what will be used as the basis for the formulation of the new constitution, when will the constitution be in place, and when the elections will be held.

00.04.40 Is it still however, and when we say free and fair, it may be a matter of interpretation. That would presume that anyone would be able to stand for office. Is it still your administration's intention to ban anyone who's been involved in politics before, or post the last coup, from standing for political office?

00.05.00 We have not made any such announcements, and I think if what the New Zealand media's interested in, is knowing what Fiji's planning to do, should look at the 1 July strategy framework, and I bet you many of the people in the New Zealand government, including perhaps your Foreign Minister has not even read it.

Okay, so have you got a date then for the elections?

00.05.18 Absolutely, we said the elections will need to be held no later than September 2014.

00.06.36 But anyone will be able to stand for office?

00.06.38 Absolutely, anybody.

There will be no restriction?

00.06.41 Well like all countries you do have restrictions, you cannot have somebody who's in prison standing for elections.

00.06.48 Alright, but all being equal you will not ban or prohibit anyone from standing for office out of line with if you like normal democratic?

00.06.57 Absolutely not.

00.07.43 Okay but my question is, you can assure Murray McCully, the Foreign Minister of New Zealand, that Fiji will have elections in 2014 that will be free and fair?

00.07.52 Absolutely, no doubt about it.

00.07.57 In that case he doesn’t have a problem with ..?

00.08.00 He shouldn’t have a problem. That’s what I've been saying from the treetops, that it would appear that the New Zealand and Australian government for that matter too, seem to be oscillating from one extreme to the other. They oscillate either from being really extremist in terms of saying well there's no game plan, or they simply go quiet.

00.08.17 How can you have free and fair elections when you don’t have a free media?

00.08.20 Well the public emergency regulations are in place. As it suggests it's only for a period of time.

A longer period of time than you initially said it would be?

00.08.29 It's reviewed every 30 days, that’s how the law operates. It's reviewed every 30 days, so obviously it has been extended. But in order to have those fundamental principles, before you hold elections they need to be in place. So those restrictions obviously will need to be reviewed, and in order to facilitate a free and fair election process.

00.08.52 So when will the emergency regulations come off?

00.08.55 You'll find out before the elections. I mean that’s an assessment that’s made by the government. I'm not here to give you specific timeframes, nor …

00.09.06 Why do you need them right now, what's happening in the country that means you need the emergency regulations right now?

00.09.11 Well we have certain media outlets that have a particular proclivity to only showing one side of the coin so to speak. Fiji is going through a fundamental restructure in place. Now this restructure is in place, a lot of this will be continuous, and these restructures are essential. Many of the issues that we are now dealing with or changing have been politicised over a number of years, and if anybody who understood Fijian history for example, if you compare ourselves with Mauritius, we were on the same platform on par regarding the sugar industry. We have now sort of just stagnated whereas Mauritius has taken off, because they have in fact taken a very commercial approach, whereas in Fiji sugar has been politicised. You have one major political party that has a union from the sugar industry. Now when you try and restructure, and then your country's gone through various restructures also.

00.10.15 But we restructure with no media restrictions.

00.10.17 Yeah but you have a different level of development, you have a different colonial history. You cannot say just because something's done in New Zealand should apply in Fiji. Of course there are various universal principles that do cut across the borders, but also at the same time there are various things that have taken place in New Zealand that helps you to deal with a particular situation in different methods.

00.10.39 Are you suggesting that Fiji or Fijians are not sophisticated to live with the level of freedom and democracy that New Zealanders and other countries have?

00.10.46 Absolutely not. I've never said we lack sophistication, in fact I would argue that at the moment the way your journalism is taking place in your country, lacks sophistication. In fact it's very rudimentary, the sort of questions we get asked, the sort of answers that are formulated even beforehand. But the point is that if you were to go down the street now, and talk to ordinary Fijians as to what do they think of it, I think you will get a very resounding approval of the processes that are in place. So from our perspective these restructures are very very essential. If you look at what's happening around the country in terms of opening up the land that’s available for development, in terms of desegregating various communal issues from governance issues, they're very very fundamental, they cannot be politicised.

00.11.58 So you have to understand the restructures that are going in place. Nobody likes – I don’t like you sitting here and saying to me oh why do you have this public emergency regulations. I'd rather you do not ask me that question, I'd rather have that removed. But for us we have to look at the end game. We have to look at what is more important. Is it more important to simply please you and the New Zealand government? Or is it more important to ensure that we put in place structures that is for the long term benefit of Fiji, and you have a country where you have people living – about 35% of the population living on or below the poverty line. We have power differentials that have in fact marginalised a whole section of community. We aim to fix that up.

00.12.39 Mr Attorney General, some would say it's also very important that Fiji gets to fully re-engage with the international community so it can have a GDP growth of more than below 1.5% per annum, which has been what for the last decade, your growth rate, and the only way to do that is to remove these restrictions, and to be able to re-engage?

00.13.00 But hang on, your question has a fault in it. You said it's been there for the past 10 years.

00.13.05 That’s the low rate of economic growth yeah.

00.13.07 Yeah, but you're saying the only way to remedy it is to remove the public emergency regulations.

00.13.12 One has to move towards democracy and full re-engagement with the international community.

00.13.14 We are moving towards democracy. See in your definition, democracy means holding elections. Right that is an important facet of democracy.

00.13.24 Okay what does democracy mean if it doesn’t mean holding free and fair elections?

00.13.27 No, democracy also means Hitler came to power through elections. What a government does after its elected also matters. Just because it's been elected it doesn’t mean you therefore cross the path and you're suddenly democratic. That is an important facet, no doubt about that, but as to what they do with the power is essential. We have countries where institutions are very weak and personalities matter. What we are trying to do is build strong institutions, and they survive people.

00.15.19 Where I was gonna go to, are you engaging more strongly or more proactively with countries like China, because of Australia and New Zealand's intransigence and the difficulties in those relationships?

00.15.30 The reality is that the Fijian government, the Bainimarama government if you see, has not discriminated against any government. In fact we are fully engaging with anybody who wants to engage with us. We have continuously said this. The Prime Minister's continuously said this. We want to talk to anybody. Just treat us as equals. You need to understand what the Fijian situation is. We are engaging with all the countries in the world, except Australia and New Zealand from their side. We're willing to engage with them, but they're not willing to listen to us. They don’t even want to sit down at the same table.

00.16.08 I guess we have problems too in engaging with you when we have people like Tevita Mara telling us that the regime is engaged in well hits on people, though he hasn’t been specific about that, that various citizens are being tortured at the military barracks, and there is corruption, huge corruption in your country. And it would see because of the media restrictions and other restrictions in place here, it's very hard to verify those claims one way or other.

00.16.40 There you see fundamentally again your question is flawed, because you have one person who's suddenly come out and made all these comments. It's fits in very neatly with your government's foreign policy position. It fits in very neatly with some of the mainstream media perception. So suddenly you’ve all jumped on the bandwagon.

00.18.33 Well let's look at the corruption commission. 2010, 9,261 complaints. The annual report says 15 new cases were prosecuted and 22 were closed from the previous years. That’s a very strange proportion for that number of cases. You seem to have complaints going like this and prosecutions going like that?

00.19.00 Yeah because you also have to understand just because somebody lodges a complaint in FAICAC doesn’t mean that it's a corruption matter. You see there are number of issues we found, we know that, if you go and talk to FAICAC they’ll explain why there are 910 complaints. We have people coming to our office and saying look I'm entitled to my $15,000 which my son left when he died through the Public Trustee Corporation, but they haven’t paid it. It's not necessarily corruption, but it's administrative …

00.19.30 You say it's working well, do you think your judiciary's working well cos you do seem to have a problem holding on to judges?

Why do you say that?

The number of resignations that there have been from the judiciary?

How many number of resignations…?

00.19.42 I'm looking at the Sri Lankans, four five of them I think resigned.

No.

No?

00.19.47 No. Three actually.

Three? Okay.

00.19.52 So why does that suddenly mean the judiciary's not functioning because three people have resigned?

00.19.57 Outsiders will say that the judiciary is not independent of the government.

00.20.01 Three people resigning makes it not independent?

00.20.02 No, the New Zealand Law Commission's annual report – Paul Temm QC has said he believes that there is way too many linkages between the government and what the judiciary does.

00.20.12 Please explain to me. I have been saying this since 2007, please give me a single me a single shred of evidence, tell me one example where I have picked up the phone, the Prime Minister, military police, whoever it is, picked up the phone and said hear this case in a particular way, hear this evidence, don’t hear that witness. None, it doesn’t take place.

00.21,58 Alright, let's look at the future of Fiji. In this administration's vision what would it be like? Would everyone here be able to own land, vote, and be totally equal under the law?

00.22.12 Okay, let's take all of them one by one. I think the most important mandate that the government has been given and the government wants to ensure, is enshrined in the constitutions going forward, and as has been set out in the People's Charter for Change, is that we must have one person one vote. Irrespective of your communal background you're a Fijian. You have a common and equal citizenry. In Fiji we have not had a common and equal citizenry being applied practically and legally also. The fact that a country in this century had to grapple with the idea that because you're from Fiji you could not be called a Fijian, tells you a lot of things about that country. You have for the first time a Prime Minister who's saying everybody's a Fijian. That is very powerful, that is very potent, is very modernising, is very forward looking. Because if you, your country and Australia has been the beneficiaries of many of Fijians good brains, minds leaving Fiji, fundamentally because they have believed there has been substantive justice in this country.

00.23.32 So apart from having equal citizenry where you have one person one vote, you need to also have substantive justice. You know you talk about democracy. What I alluded to earlier on about democracy is empowering people. We are in the process for example of putting in place a freedom of information decree. No government had wanted to do that. So you will know why a certain decision has been made by government when you’ve applied for a particular permit or license. We have put in place for example a lot more funding than ever before for legal aid.

00.24.02 So we get back, one person one vote, so universal suffrage, and those votes all equally influential.

Absolutely.

Okay.

00.24.12 And no demarcation along ethnic lines.

Should everyone be able to own land in your vision for a future Fiji?

00.24,19 The land system in Fiji has been you know settled for a long period of time. 91% approximately of all the land in Fiji is native title land, it will remain native title land. Then the balance is freehold state land. That’s not the issue. It's the accessibility to that land. Land is not going to be taken away from anybody. The fact is lack of accessibility to that land.

00.25.36 Alright, so elections, one person, one vote, the ability to own land or use land in I guess a more productive manner than ever before. I come back with all those laudible goals. Why then do we still have to have restrictions on media? Why then do you still need to have the emergency regulations if your aims are so noble?

00.26.03 You know like I said to you previously, I can sit here for the next one hour and you can say the same thing to me and I'll give you the same answer. You have to understand Fijian history to be able to understand that some of the changes that we are bringing around, the restructure that we're bringing about, is essentially for the benefit of the country. But because it has been politicised – you know like I mentioned to you the fact that the word Fijian you know was politicised in itself, where in New Zealand and Australia it's very simple. The Fiji Times until recently could not say the Fijian economy. They’ll say the Fiji economy. They would not say Fijian hospitality, they would say Fiji hospitality. But if that same newspaper were to run an article in Australia for example they wouldn’t say Australia economy, they'd say the Australian economy. I have had discussions with them about it. So this is the level of entrenchment of those prejudices that exist. So it is therefore imperative that in order for us to be able to carry out these restructures and people to see the benefits, then they’ll say oh hang on, we've been hanging on to this idea, in fact it's been you know superfluous, it's redundant. If we have at the same time people fanning the flames of the past, you cannot move forward.

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