Repúblika | October 2013

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Countdown to our future ESSAY

The Pacific’s cultural genocide

By Cresantia Koya-Vaka’uta

Volume 2 | No 6

INSIDE

October 2013

Josie Crick: Tribute to a beautiful soul

Banuve comes of age

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October 2013

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No 6 | October 2013

COVER 14 | Back to the ballot box Fiji’s fourth Constitution since independence 43 years ago COUNTDOWN TO OUR has remade this FUTURE country’s political landscape. Aiming to rebuild the foundations of Fiji, Bainimarama casts his ballot Prime Minister during the 2006 election.

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and his chief legal adviser Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum have fashioned a document they hope will end the coup culture. Key to this, they say, is a new electoral system based on the one-person, one-vote concept, along with the guarantee of socio-economic rights.

We provide a critique of sections of the Constitution and what the new electoral system will look like.

September-October 2013 | $3.95VIP

ESSAY

The Pacific’s cultural genocide

By Cresantia Koya-Vaka’uta

INSIDE

September-October 2013

Josie Crick: Tribute to a beautiful soul

Banuve comes of age

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MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

Volume 1 | No 6

AFP PHOTO/TORSTEN BLACKWOOD

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All booked These Nasavusavu Secondary School students look delighted to meet the author of the 2013 Constitution, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

FEATURES

DISPATCHES 24 | Election Wadan Narsey explains MARTYN NAMORONG

how the new system might work RICARDO MORRIS

26 | West Papua Camellia WebbGannon asks whether a state is viable

38 | Tribute Veronica Thoms 34 | Banz the bullet Ricardo Morris

remembers artist Josie Crick

32 | Papua New Guinea Gary Juffa on where his country is at 38 years later

talks to Tabakaucoro on maturity

REGULARS

OPINION

ESSAY

6 | Briefing Six years later, could this be

11 | The Rising Ape Alex Elbourne on

28 | Cultural genocide Cresantia

8 | Pasifika Post Regional current

13 | The F-Word Roshika Deo on the

justice calling for hanged girl? affairs

the problems with censorship

Koya-Vaka’uta on unscrupulous commercial culture

silencing of women

42 | The Last Word Netani Rika on the Methodists’ change of heart October 2013

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editor’snote republikamagazine.com

@RicardoMorris

A step at a time ...

T

his time next year we should have an elected government in place following Fiji’s first general election in eight years. With a Constitution now in place – putting aside its provenance – it is a start on the road back to much vaunted democracy.

While it may have taken a while for Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama’s government to get here, he appears ready to “face the judgement of all Fijians”, as he aptly put it while discussing the opposition of “old politicians” to his Constitution.

Much can be said about the constitutional process which gave us the 2013 document. After the ill-fated Yash Ghaiheaded commission’s document was rejected, the government released its own version earlier this year and asked for feedback around the country to incorporate them into the final document, which took a while to get done, but was suddenly unveiled on 22 August.

The impact that document will have on all of our lives cannot be ignored, and even political people opposed to Bainimarama and his government are pragmatic enough to realise that nothing they do or say will change the course set for us. They can protest the rules of the game, but will play the game regardless because to not do so could mean an even higher price than adopting pragmatism.

You’ve got to be in it to win it, is the slogan.

Points have been raised about the overly restrictive conditions allowing the limiting of provisions of the Bill of Rights. So-called “claw-back” clauses pepper the granted rights, allowing the government to make laws that limit those rights.

Of course the ability to limit rights is sometimes necessary, but with many of the rights the limitations span several paragraphs whereas the right is outlined in one.

Whether the government that is in power at any given time will actually put those limiting powers to use is moot, but the fact that it is there means it can be used whenever the need to is felt.

Of interest in this context was the silent protest and petition of several dozen people on the road outside Government House in the hours before the President signed the Constitution into force on 6 September.

The 14 people detained that morning for refusing to put away their placards and banners protesting the imposition of the Constitution were exercising the freedom of assembly under section 18.

But that right to peaceful assembly is subject to limitations including in the “interests of national security, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or the orderly conduct of elections.”

The only option police saw in that situation was detention but the authorities should be given a hat-tip for show-

ing restraint by releasing the detainees without charge on a day they had asked the people of Fiji to mark with pride.

There are many positives to be found in the Constitution such as socioeconomic rights for the first time, the mechanisms to build nationhood such as the cross-language learning requirement in primary schools, protection of indigenous land, the right to adequate housing and sanitation.

Many of the aspirations in the Constitution are admirable but how good they can be will only be tested when the opportunity comes to show whether they actually suppress injustice and vindicate the innocent, or simply reinforce the status quo.

At least, we’ve taken the first step.

And as the old proverb attributed to Chinese philosopher Laozi goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

CORRECTION: In my previous editorial, I inexplicably referred to the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation’s talkback show as ‘Have Your Say’ when it is in fact ‘Speak Your Mind’.

DISCLOSURE: In September, the editor was appointed voluntary coordinator of the Pacific Freedom Forum, a regional media rights and standards monitoring online group.

Vol 2 | No 6 Publisher & Editor Ricardo Morris ricardo@republikamagazine.com ADMIN MANAGER Asena Camaivuna asena@republikamagazine.com EDITORIAL INTERN Greg Ravoi greg@republikamagazine.com

CONTRIBUTORS Fiji Alex Elbourne Cresantia KoyaVaka’uta Netani Rika Roshika Deo Veronica Thoms Wadan Narsey

Papua New Guinea Gary Juffa Australia Camellia Webb-Gannon Stephen Howes

We welcome your comments, contributions, corrections, letters or suggestions. Send them to ricardo@republikamagazine.com or leave a comment on our social media pages.

The opinions expressed in Repúblika are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. The editor takes responsibility for all nonattributed editorial content.

Published by Republika Media Limited | 8 Mitchell Street, Peace Embassy Suite A107, Suva | PO Box 11927, Suva, Fiji | Phone: +679 3561467 | Mobile: +679 7748815 / 9041215 | Email: info@republikamagazine.com | Printed by Quality Print Limited, Suva, Fiji | ISSN: 2227-5738 4

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October 2013

inbox

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Your letters, feedback and viewpoints

Mining or minding paradise?

As capitalism sweeps the world for resources that will fill the pockets of those heading the hunt on the economic frontier, Fiji remains one of the few last bountiful places on Earth. Fiji has long its borders to international investors interested in our mineral reserves such as gold, copper, iron ore, bauxite and black sand.

Although there is a disparity in opinions over whether this is good for our nation, there is one truth that cannot be ignored or tagged with a price: our natural wealth is pristine, delicate, and unique.

How does one begin to measure this sort of wealth in dollars? It is wealth sacred to our people, and is all the more relevant in this day and age as we endure the global expansion of a consumptive culture. Those whose wealth is measured by the trees on their land and the soil in which they plant their crops, and the waters where they fish, are forced into a dark corner because outsiders want what is beneath their land and in their waters and will pay a price to get what they want.

The question of preservation is at hand. Do we, as a people who are tied to this land and sea, relinquish control of what it has to offer in exchange for the money that will buy us bread, butter, and an education? Do we instead act to protect our sovereign nation for generations to come so that our children too can plant, harvest, and fish using the land and sea to serve their well-being, something that can continue into perpetuity as it has for our ancestors?

The horrid truth many find difficult to swallow is that our beautiful nation will be a very different place in 20 years’ time if our doors remain open for mineral extraction by the rest of world. With seabed mining on the horizon and the set up of more mining operations and mining exploration, our nation’s mineral reserves will be depleted and while the long-term effects of that depletion are yet to be fully experienced here, they are easily witnessed elsewhere.

In Papua New Guinea, for example, evidence shows the negative implica-

TALK BACK TO US October 2013

tions of mineral extraction from deforestation and soil erosion, to drainage pollution in water systems. Natural ecosystems that once teemed with life will never be the same.

Though there are mining companies who have policies set in place to assess the environmental impacts of any given mining operation with teams of experts who conjure up ways of extracting minerals with a mindful approach, it’s chilling to think there are many companies that do not have such regulations in place for their operations and exist to simply extract with no thought to the environmental and social impacts, doing the bare minimum in adherence to national laws regulating the extraction of minerals.

If we look at Nauru we see a once beautiful island nation now experiencing the long-term effects of mining.

After being stripped bare of phosphate, what remains is a sight enough to make anyone’s stomach turn. The Nauru trust set up for the mining compensation has diminished due to mismanagement and now the depleted nation is trying to find ways to recover both environmentally and economically. The degradation of its phosphate reserves has left most of the island uninhabitable because the soil and vegetation have been destroyed.

We can learn a lot from mistakes made elsewhere, as in PNG and Nauru, to develop stricter policies that heavily regulate the industry to a much greater degree than it currently does. This will help us preserve our beautiful and unique nation and not let history repeat itself.

Better still is cultivating available avenues of sustainable development that could subsidise the economic growth that mining offers at a steep and permanent exchange rate.

No matter what occurs, the growth of our nation will happen. It’s just a matter of choice as to how we plan that growth through weighing the implications of the choices we make and deciding wisely what is best for our nation, its people and the future.

Nakita Begum Suva

Schools and national exams The Ministry of Education. no doubt under the instruction of the current Minister of Education, has been taking out advertisements listing their “achievements” over the last few years.

No doubt there has been considerable success in improving the percentages of secondary school age children, attending school.

However, one “achievement “ listed, the ending of national examinations, may well turn out to be a disastrous measure for the thousands of average and below average schools around the country.

As I have pointed out previously (The Fiji Times, 27 February 2010) having national examinations does not imply that children will be pushed out of school. You will merely be assessing the performance of all children by one national standard.

Not having national examinations creates the very real danger that underperforming children and poor school standards (especially in rural areas) will not be picked up through the internal schools exams.

Children will keep moving up until they must sit some examination to qualify them for the tertiary institutions in Fiji or abroad.

By then it will be too late for those not achieving acceptable standards, most likely to be from the poorer schools and families.

I would urge Fiji’s education authorities and principals to urgently meet to discuss this issue, and urge the Ministry of Education to retain national examinations and the skilled but scarce assessment staff the MoE has built up over the years.

This is one policy which will be difficult to reverse by a future elected Minister of Education, especially if the skilled assessment staff have been dissipated or even lost abroad.

Professor Wadan Narsey Suva

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briefing News worth noting

LIFE THROUGH GREG’S EYES

LAISIASA GREGORYNAULUMATUA RAVOI

*

* Fourth Edition

Six years later, justice for Sereima beckons hen 13-year-old Sereima Berwick Degei was found dead at the back of her house in Nabouciwa Village in Tailevu on 7 September 2007, the police concluded – without much in the way of an investigation – that she committed suicide.

The traumatised family initially accepted the verdict of suicide but many things did not add up, including the fact that she was never listed in the police suicide records for that year. This propted Sereima’s uncle, who was her guardian, to embark on a long campaign to get justice for Sereima.

In Repúblika’s first edition last year we featured the tragedy of Sereima’s short life and explained why the unresolved questions made it highly likely that foul play was involved. During the reporting for that story we ran into numerous obstacles, including official resistance. Behind the scenes though, our story pushed the wheels of justice into motion and an inquest was ordered – Inquest 1/2012 at Nausori 6

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Magistrates Court. The inquest finally got called in August, only to be adjourned again to September. But now over six years after Sereima’s death and a year after Repúblika’s report, the case has finally opened in Nausori. Many of those named or described but unnamed in our story have been summoned to give evidence at the inquest.

One of the key “missing links”, a man who lived in the village and probably has information on the last sighting alive of Sereima, left soon after Sereima’s funeral.

He has now been located, although he is yet to be summoned to court.

Another issue is the autopsy report which seems to contradict or at least remain silent on factors that Asenaca Rabo, Sereima’s paternal aunt and her other guardian, remembers distinctly about the condition of the girl’s body when it was found (diagram on right from September 2012 edition). Rabo recalls the pathologist telling a police officer while she was standing there

to ensure the case was investigated thoroughly, suggesting to her that it was not suicide. But a full investigation was never carried out, apart from several recorded statements.

The inquest is being held before Magistrate Charles Ratakele in Nausori.

BODY OF EVIDENCE

Strange marks likened to cigarette burns or cuts

APISALOME RABO

W

Dislocated or broken right arm

Bruising on the stomach and thighs

Marks of death Sereima’s

aunt Asenaca Naivolasiga, witnessed these injuries on the girl’s body when she was cut down from the mango tree. She was baffled about how the girl came to be injured in such a way.

Sereima Berwick in a photo taken just over a month before she was found dead.

October 2013

briefing New Archbishop signals Catholic position on power Three months after he was officially welcomed as the head of the Catholic Church in Fiji, Archbishop Dr Peter Loy Chong has made a speech which defines his thinking on power relations in coup-prone Fiji.

Archbishop Peter was invited to speak at the opening of a symposium on 12 September organised in Suva by the Pacific representatives of the World Association of Christian Communicators in conjunction with the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, Fiji Media Watch and the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA).

The two-day symposium was organised to develop a series of core messages that Fiji’s faith-based community could use in its collective call for a peaceful transition towards parliamentary democracy.

Archbishop Peter’s speech was an adaptation of his doctoral thesis in which he examined the power relations at work in Fiji and the Catholic Church’s role and response in it.

He challenged the 14 church leaders in attendance: “How can we pray, how can we preach and how can we do theology when we have our backs to something which has affected our history, namely the coup culture?”

In the speech he said “iTaukei power struggle is the central issue behind Fiji’s coup culture. Therefore, to understand how the coup culture emerged we need to examine it in the broader context of iTaukei power.”

He described the form of power exercised in Fiji as mostly patron-client, in which those of chiefly rank, higher socio-economic status or in a privileged

Father Peter Loy Chong was ordained as Archbishop of Suva on 8 June 2013

position gain allegiance and service from those lower down the ranks in an unequal type of relationship.

This type of power had been exercised from time immemorial through the colonial period, post-independence and during the various coups.

The difference this time around is that the iTaukei power structure has been dismantled through the “reforms” of Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.

“In the Bainimarama patronage, loyalty to the chiefs and vanua had shifted to the RFMF. The military had become the institution of patronage.

In other words, the form of power, namely patron-client politics exercised by former Fijian governments has not

changed. The only recognisable change in Bainimarama’s regime was the change in personnel.

“Instead of chiefs dominating the system, military officers now headed the important governmental institutions.

“In place of the old political rhetoric of the iTaukei paramountcy, (Bainimarama) campaigned on bringing about change and development.”

The Catholic priest outlined some of the problems the patron-client relationship can bring to a country, including the tendency to view economic and political problems along ethnic lines and the breeding of a culture of silence.

In the notes for his speech, which was released publiclly and formed the basis of a report in the Fiji Times the next day, Father Peter made reference to Qarase’s government as “corrupted and racist”, a label which rankled with long-time Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jioji Kotobalavu who also served under Qarase.

Kotobalavu, in a letter to the editor, said: “It is unworthy of a learned scholar to make this kind of loaded statement without authoritative evidence.”

Kotobalavu defended the policies of Qarase’s administration saying the current government has gone further than Qarase by including in the Constitution the rights of the iTaukei to their customary land and traditional fisheries, something that would certainly not be labelled racist. n RICARDO MORRIS

n Read Archbishop Peter’s speech here: http://tiny.cc/ChongOnPower (PDF)

ON THE RECORD “Happy 21st birthday to me...” Ratu Banuve Tabakaucoro after breaking the 100m record at the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna on his birthday. (Fiji Sun, 5 September) “A lot of the people want to come in but they can’t because of the sanctions so we have boosted the pays to attract these people.” Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama confirming the annual salary for 24 permanent secretaries have increased to between $160,000 and $221,894. (FijiLive.com, 20 September) October 2013

“Being the year of ‘plugging the gaps’ I feel we are not hitting the mark when it comes to how we conduct our investigations.” Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravi Narayan at the opening of a newly reviewed investigators’ course for 40 officers. (Fiji Times, 10 September) “It is now time to rebuild the bridges.” Then Australian shadow foreign minister Julie Bishop declaring that should the Liberal National Coalition win the September federal election, they would change their policy towards Fiji. (juliebishop.com. au, 29 July)

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briefing

According to the FNPF 2012 annual report, the fund provided loans totalling $145,697,239 to Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways) during the year to “add value to our investment in the tourism industry.” The loans to help fund the purchase of three new Airbus A330 aircraft, are for a 15-year period and attract 8.75% per annum interest, which are payable in advance on a six monthly instalment basis. The amounts for the principal repayments would have commenced on the delivery of the aircraft in March, May and November 2013. The loans are principally secured by the following: i) A first ranking aircraft mortgage in respect of each mortgaged aircraft. ii) An assignment of the insurance proceeds over each mortgaged aircraft. iii) A first ranking security over the borrower’s shares in Richmond Limited. iv) Security from the Fiji Government.

The new managing director and CEO of Fiji Airways, Stefan Pichler meets the media.

RICARDO MORRIS

The $146m FNPF loan

Pichler baffled by Airbus finance questions From the moment Fiji Airways’ new managing director Stefan Pichler met the media, it seemed like a charm offensive aimed at clearing the air over the publicity hanging over the newly branded airline.

After being introduced by the airline’s communications manager, Shane Hussein on 13 September, Pichler remarked: “Shane said to me ‘you have to make some stupid jokes as an ice-breaker because Fiji people are so shy.’ In my experience, I’ve been here 12 days and you are not shy at all. And I don’t bite, so just shoot whenever you like.”

To laughter all round, Pichler said he was committed to keeping an open channel with journalists and developing a relationship with the media, something that former MD David Pflieger, who left the airline earlier this year after leading the former Air Pacific through a restructure and rebranding, would shy away from.

The burning question about the financing structure for the new Airbus aircraft was asked towards the end of the news conference, when journalists quizzed Pichler in oneon-one interviews.

Pichler appeared exasperated by questions of which entity actually owned the new Airbus A330s, and the Irishbased Waqavuka Financing Limited’s role in this. He said the questions were “surreal” and “not substantial”.

Admittedly, aircraft financing can be complicated for lay people to understand, and Pichler tried to explain it in simple terms: Waqavuka is a neutral third party, owned by neither Fiji Airways nor the German lending banks, to hold the deeds to the new aircraft until the loans are repaid.

This is as a requirement of European export credit agencies (ECAs) to make it easier to enforce their security if there is a default on the loan.

ECAs provide guarantees to make good any specific losses incurred by the funding bank in case of default. As a conse8

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quence, the credit risk for banks is not the airline anymore but the sovereign risk of the ECA given the collateral However, despite the attempt to appear open, there are instances when Pichler invoked commercial confidentiality, especially when it came to the FNPF loan (which is outlined in the fund’s 2012 annual report).

To be sure, everything to do with the new Airbus purchases may be above board. But for a country like Fiji, whose people have mixed feelings of pride in the new aircraft and apprehension over how much it costs and if their investment through FNPF is secure, it was vital to explain clearly the nature of the Fiji Airways financing deal, even it is routine in the aviation industry. Fuelling much of the speculation has been the lack of a clear explanation on the financing, which the nation’s superannuation fund has a stake in.

The financing deal was not the only tough issue Pichler has flown into. In the past three months the airline has suffered from inordinate delays which have cascaded through the airline’s routes and schedules.

Pichler said the airline “overstretched” its resources during the transition to the new A330 fleet, and was left with a shortage of Airbus-trained pilots, unready flight crews and lack of maintenance crew.

He said these “teething problems” should be fully resolved by November, which is when Fiji Airways’ third A330 is due to arrive.

One of his first tasks is the development of a five-year strategic plan which will build on the former Air Pacific’s new image and structure and seek to expand the airline’s reach. “We have to do a lot of work. We’ve created the brand but now we must load the brand, which means we must tell people what the brand stands for,” Pichler said. n RICARDO MORRIS | As part of the airline’s marketing efforts, Ricardo Morris travelled business class courtesy of Fiji Airways on the new Airbus in April and received a complimentary upgrade in September.

October 2013

October 2013

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pasifikapost Regional current affairs worth noting

Nationalising PNG’s Ok Tedi

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development projects throughout PNG. With last decade’s resource boom, Ok Tedi became much more profitable than had ever been envisaged. It is now PNG’s largest mine and revenue earner. In 2011, it paid K1.2 billion (FJ$884.8m) in tax. The original idea that the mine would close shortly after 2010 has been replaced by a plan to extend mine-life Ok Tedi is an open-pit copper and gold mine in the North Fly by shifting from open-cut District of the PNG’s Western Province. to below-ground mining, which would require new Comments made by Garnaut at the time legislation. about revenue from Ok Tedi (“It’s very SDP’s funds also grew rapidly over tempting for political figures to think of the decade. The value of its long-term better ways of using it right now rather fund reached US$1.4 billion (FJ$2.6b) than putting it into long-term developin 2012. Its annual development expen- ment.”) led to the PM banning his entry diture expanded, making it the second to the country. largest donor in PNG, after AusAID. It became clear under PM O’Neill There was recurring tension be- that legislation would only be passed to tween SDP and the PNG Government extend the life of Ok Tedi if SDP exited. over the last decade, but Sir Michael Under its new Chair, SDP took a pragSomare, then as Mining Minister, had matic and conciliatory approach. At its helped negotiate the deal, so while he Annual Meeting a few months ago, Sir was Prime Minister (from 2002 to 2011) Mekere appeared to acquiesce to its reSDP was safe. moval from Ok Tedi provided that there All that changed when Peter O’Neill was a negotiated agreement, including became Prime Minister. This took a a “fair and transparent” process. while to become evident. In 2011, I unIt seems from press reports that dertook an evaluation of SDP, along there were some discussions, but eviwith Dr Eric Kwa, then at UPNG, now dently agreement could not be reached.

Secretary, Law Reform Commission. We And so, after an escalating war of words, were unable to meet the PM, but we met Prime Minister O’Neill not only introhis Treasurer, Don Polye, who was full of duced legislation this week, but had it praise for SDP. passed by parliament, all in the same Once Peter O’Neill won the 2012 elections, however, he started speaking day, to nationalize both Ok Tedi and out against SDP, essentially arguing that SDP. According to reports, some memboth the links from BHP to SDP and bers absented themselves from the from SDP to Ok Tedi should be broken. vote, including Sir Michael Somare, Towards the end of 2012, Ross Garnaut, who spoke against it, but no-one voted Chair of SDP since its inception, hand- against it. ed over the reins to Sir Mekere Morauta, who, as PM at the establishment of n Stephen Howes. Read the full analysis and legislation on the Dev SDP, had also helped negotiate the deal. Policy blog at http://tiny.cc/OkTediTakeover

DERIANGA.WORDPRESS.COM

In a single day on 18 September, legislation was introduced into and unanimously passed by the PNG parliament to give the Government ownership of the country’s largest company, Ok Tedi Mining Limited, and control over the country’s second largest development organisation, the PNG Sustainable Development Program.

While the Government has achieved a stunning victory, it is quite possibly a temporary one, and it is an outcome which represents poor public policy and a setback to development in PNG. The PNG Sustainable Development Program (SDP) was set up after BHP’s exit from the Ok Tedi mine in PNG’s Western Province just over a decade ago. Essentially, BHP wanted to shut down the mine, which had caused great environmental damage and become a reputational risk to the company. The PNG Government, however, wanted the mine to continue because it needed the tax revenue.

BHP agreed to give away its ownership of the mine in return for a guarantee that it would not be sued for environmental damage. BHP did not want to gift its shares in Ok Tedi to the PNG Government because of well-established concerns about corruption and limited capacity within the PNG public sector.

The compromise reached was an agreement that PNG would give its shares to a new trust fund, SDP, which would be registered in Singapore as a public company to be run by a board of directors, some nominated by BHP, the others nominated by a variety of PNG institutions. SDP was established in 2002. After a third shareholder exited, SDP was left with 63 per cent of Ok Tedi’s shares.

The remaining 37 per cent were held by the Government.

SDP was set up with two main tasks: to invest two-thirds of its Ok Tedi dividends into a long-term fund which would be available to the people of Western Province after mine closure; and to spend the other one-third on

October 2013

OPINION

The problem with shutting up The Rising Ape with ALEX ELBOURNE

I

f you aren’t offending someone, then you just aren’t trying hard enough. I once said that to someone many years ago as a joke. As a quick comeback to something they had said.

Flash forward to today and the problem seems to be the seemingly endless number of precious flowers who are willing to be offended about, well, any damn thing. And then when these people make enough noise, suddenly we have laws about hate speech and what not.

You know what? That’s a load of f***ing s**t. (I realize the irony of sanitising certain words so calm down petal.)

Here’s the thing that irritates me about censorship and so-called hate laws and putting limits on one’s freedom of expression: It’s stupid, it’s draconian and it makes the assumption that we’re just too stupid to limit ourselves.

Think about it for a moment. At this point, we are not allowed, by law to use hate speech (however hate speech is defined, which is another can of worms… more on that in a moment).

Okay, so if I said something derogatory about another ethnic group I will be punished. So all I do is keep my hateful, bigoted views to myself. Nothing changes. I’m still a small-minded individual who hates <insert ethnic group of your choice>.

I would rather there be no such laws. Let the bigots express themselves.

Why shouldn’t they be allowed to? Why shouldn’t someone be allowed to stand up and say I don’t like such and such a race.

But then, by the same token, the bigoted person should not be surprised or want to go running off crying to the authorities when such views are criticised.

It’s like when the Westboro Baptists stage their protests. Other people counter-protest. We can’t keep on asking government or whomever to protect us or to set laws on what people can and cannot say.

And government itself cannot decide arbitrarily what constitutes free speech. As much as I support many of the policies of the present government, October 2013

censorship of the media (as seen under the Public Emergency Regulations) is most definitely not one of them.

People have a right to make fools of themselves. Freedom means living with the consequences of your actions and/ or your words. It’s as simple as that.

And on the subject of censorship…

It’s one of the biggest charges laid against the government, any government from Fiji to the United States. Hell, right now the Obama administration is in some deep doo doo for infringements into personal communications.

Here’s what really irritates me though, given half the chance the very people whining about government will be censoring s**t left, right and censor (see what I did there!).

Don’t believe me? Okay, just two examples from Facebook. There’s a page called Kaci Vaka Na Dina. The page is pretty much dedicated to anti-government outpourings including of course, various whinges about the lack of freedom of expression in this country.

I posted a comment there one day which went against the general tone of the page. Instant banning. BAM! Obviously irony isn’t these people’s thing.

Then there’s a page called Letters To the Editor UNCENSORED (my emphasis), which has rules on what can and cannot be posted. Erm…guys… you can’t call yourselves an uncensored page and then go ahead and censor what people can post. Just saying.

“Butalex,” you say, “there needs to be limits on freedom of expression, otherwise it will be chaos.” Well, what I would say to you is this: If you can’t defend your position properly then by all means, the law should come down hard on you. You deserve all the punishment that can be brought to bear.

Everyone has a right to an opinion; just make sure you have the means to defend your opinion. And believe me, if you feel that “Indians are sub-human creatures who smell funny” or something similarly retarded you will find so many people either getting pissed off or laughing at what an idiot you are – you WILL be forced to eat your own words.

My biggest gripe is…

Here’s my biggest issue with limiting what people can say. Where does it

stop? Today someone says ‘hey we can’t make racist comments.’ And everyone goes “Yay!” Of course, racism still exists but at least we can indulge in a wankfest about how progressive and enlightened we are. Then tomorrow someone says “Hey guys, we can’t say anything offensive about gay people” … repeat the process.

But what happens when someone decides that the word “bitch” offends them? Do we ban that word altogether?

What do we call female dogs then? Yes, it’s a ridiculous comparison but you see my point.

I’m left-handed, should I decide today that everything in the world seems built for right-handed people, and that offends me to the point where I’m starting campaigns for equal-handedness?

It’s a slippery slope and it pisses me off that we’re always so quick to give over responsibility to “authority”. Time to man up (or woman up as the case may be) people. You said it, you own it. And have the courage to let others have their say, even if you vehemently oppose their views.

In this country, we need to realise something: you can disagree and still work together.

Noam Chomsky: “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”

Philip Pullman: “It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book.

Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don’t have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book.

You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has R the right to stop it being published. n Alex Elbourne is the Breakfast Show host on Legend FM. The views expressed are his own. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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October 2013

OPINION

The F-Word with ROSHIKA DEO

I

t is easy and even legal to silence women and girls. We are in the 21st century and yet this remains true. Girls and women continue to battle through the silencing to speak out freely and to exercise free speech which some of us enjoy more than others.

Free speech literally means sharing one’s ideas, opinions and sentiments without any censorship or limitations, intimidation or fear of personal security (very few exceptions to this right, for example hate speech).

Historically we are all very conscious of the fact that girls and women have been silenced through oppression, violence, social, cultural and traditional systems, laws, religion, military, government and what not.

This all is very evident from everyday life: the number of females publicly preaching the Hindu Ramayan compared to males; substantially more media coverage of male politicians and what they are saying during an election compared to female politicians; the woman living with domestic violence and no one knows; the girl child that got sexually molested and was told never to speak about it; a military that threatens women activists when they share differing views; a society in which when a woman seeks accountability she is told that she is grandstanding and it was staged, whereas when a man seeks the same accountability he is admired for being assertive and bold without any question.

Girls who open their mouth to speak and/or ask questions are told they talk too much (“moo chalai” or “dau vosa”); the prostitute who was raped and beaten up by police, but may never get justice; the lesbian who was assaulted and raped to “correct” her has been silenced by her economic and social status; the beauty pageant queens who are told how to dress and walk because they are not good enough as they are; the woman activist who can’t write exactly what she wants because she is scared of her government; when young women use effectively creative and flashy civil disobediOctober 2013

ence tactics, people are quick to dismiss it as action not premised on any social or political conscience. The women who are told not to speak with men or socialise with men (more so if you are married) because it will tarnish your reputation and put your “purity” under public scrutiny and shaming; and girls taught to speak only when spoken to.

There are many ways in which society has mastered the art of silencing women.

The silencing of girls and women has manifested in new ways, for example through Facebook forums. When girls and women speak they nearly always get attacked on their credibility. They get attacked personally. They are ridiculed.

They are called uptight, too serious, emotional and drama queens.

And when some are too lazy to deeply ponder on issues, and others perhaps afraid to compare their own status in society in relation to women and girls, find the easiest way out – labelling women as anti-men or men haters publicly. And it is an easy way to socially ostracise and humiliate girls and women, and also create a sense of powerlessness among other girls and women which prevents them from speaking out.

It is easy to silence girls and women by name-calling, shaming, humiliation or embarrassment, socially ostracising them and consequently forcing them to shut up.

It is also easy legally to silence girls and women. Draft a constitution which makes women and girls even more invisible in society. Pretend that women and men have equal power, voice, status and security in our society and legalise it as such in the supreme law. And conveniently ignore the actual lived realities of girls and women (and members of the LGBTIQ community) who continue to be systematically discriminated against.

Deny the supreme legal protection to girls and women from systematic and continued violence and discrimination.

Entrench in the supreme law the further subjugation and unequal sharing of power by girls/women in public spaces.

It is easy legally to ignore the voices of girls and women who have spoken about their lived realities, experiences and tell them to shut up by making a constitution that is devoid of women’s

FACEBOOK/FIJI YOUTH FOR DEMOCRACY

Why women are silenced

Filo Tuivanualevu was one of 14 people detained briefly by police on 6 September for protesting against the 2013 Constitution.

experiences and realities.

There are many ways in which we as a society have found ways to take away free speech from girls and women.

There is an urgent need for everyone to actively work to protect dearly the right of girls and women to free speech.

As diverse members of society, we cannot keep on looking at free speech from a patriarchal point of view because it is not free for everyone in the same way.

How women and men process information, act on issues, feel and express, and make decisions within the current social and political context needs to be considered. This is all done within the context of women and men’s differing actual lived realities and experiences.

We need to all work together to create an egalitarian society where both women and men are able to exercise free speech and work together to protect and promote it.

Barbara Ehrenreich: “What we need is a tough new kind of feminism with no illusions. Women do not change institutions simply by assimilating into them. We need a feminism that teaches a woman to say no – not just to the date rapist or overly insistent boyfriend but, when necessary, to the military or corporate hierarchy within which she finds herself. We need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries, but to inR filtrate and subvert them.” n Roshika Deo is a feminist and human rights defender. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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MINISTRY OF INFORMATION/PHOTO EDITED BY GREG RAVOI

COVER

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October 2013

The little blue book

COVER

...and what it means for Fiji’s future

I

t’s the weekend and it’s an odd sight to see a teenager poring through a pocket-sized copy of the 2013 Constitution.

She reads lines out aloud, her brows furrowing. “Have you seen the Constitution?” she asks. Questions begin flowing about the document, what it does in practice and what it will mean for us.

The scale and breadth of the distribution by the government of the small pastel blue books has been remarkable. In little less than a month since the Constitution was given the presidential signature, it is being handed out at many government events, and Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama himself took the document on a “Northern tour” when he went there in September to open several government tele-centres.

With versions available in English, the iTaukei language and Hindi, the majority of Fiji’s population should be able to read for themselves the provisions in the Constitution that the current administration

hopes will be a blueprint for building a better Fiji and ending Fiji’s so-called coup culture.

The Constitution’s release has brought a cautious revising of position on Fiji from country’s like Australia and New Zealand.

Australia has taken the biggest step, with the incoming government declaring even before its election that it was time to reengage with Fiji.

The Fijian government sees its role in the region and the world as growing in stature and is keen that it be given recognition for what it believes is the fundamental re-engineering of Fijian society.

Having spent the best part of the year, refining the government’s version of the Constitution both Bainimarama and his Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum have been busy handing them out, signing copies and urging people to read and understand it as the country counts down to the 2014 election, stipulated to be held no later than the end of September next year.

Holding it close A man holds a copy of the 2013 Constitution at Nadogo Secondary School

outside Labasa in September. Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama took the “Constitution on a Northern tour”, according to the Ministry of Information, when he was on Vanua Levu to open five new government telecentres. Thousands of copies of the little blue books are being distributed around the country following the presidential signature on 6 September.

October 2013

The following analysis, extracted from one prepared by the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, aims to provide an objective analysis of the Fiji Government Constitution that was presented on 22 August 2013 and assented to on 6 September 2013 (with amendments and revisions).

The analysis covers the process leading to the assenting of the Fiji Government Constitution, providing interpretation of the document section by section and highlighting areas of possible weaknesses and strengths measured against the international standards and other comparative constitutions of democratic states. At the same time it is important to include Fiji’s own experiences in constitution-making and ask some critical questions that have plagued our own experiences in democratisation.

Constitution-making process The Fiji constitution-making process began in March 2012 with the declaration of the ‘non- negotiable’ principles and a deadline for elections by September 2014 as part of the critical path for returning Fiji to sustainable democracy. Since the 4Continued on page 16 republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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3Continued from page 15

Constitution Commission consulted the people and completed its draft Constitution, the process has had three periods.

First, the government objected to the Constitution Commission draft and removed its commitment to the Constituent Assembly. Second, in March 2013 the government produced its own draft.

Third, on 22 August 2013 it released a revised version as the Fiji Government Constitution, and that was assented to on 6 September, 2013 (with some further revisions).

‘Free and fair’ elections Under the Fiji Government Constitution (and related decrees) electoral rights are granted, but can be (and are) limited by decree. This analysis explores the basis of “free and fair’ elections for Fiji under this Constitution and as claimed by the government.

Fiji Government Constitution vs the ‘non-negotiable’ principles On the issue of addressing the nonnegotiables the Fiji government Constitution promises to achieve these goals: an expansive range of rights; open-list Proportional Representation (PR) replacing communal voting; a secular state; ‘independent’ commissions and offices to check abuses; an impartial judiciary to uphold the constitution; and a transition to democratic government. However, a closer look reveals that these aspirations are subject to significant limitations and are contrary to the values of the non-negotiables.

Amending the Constitution: Section 161 It is impossible to amend anything relating to immunity, transitional provisions or the amendment process itself. It is difficult to amend any other parts as it would require super-majorities in both Parliament and a referendum— with processes that are inconsistent with most modern democratic constitutions.

However, section 161 allows the current Cabinet to amend the Fiji Government Constitution for a brief period until the 31 December 2013.

To assist to conform to its own principles, it should consider amendments, especially to: (i) remove the Claw-back Clause that undermines the entire Bill of Rights; (ii) involve Parliament in appointing judges and ‘independent’ commissions and offices; and (iii) allow flex16

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ibility in the amendment procedure.

The Constitution-Making Process Overview of Constitution-Making Process Significant changes to the previously provided constitution-making process were announced by the Prime Minister when releasing the Draft Constitution on 31 March 2013. The government deviated from the decreed Constituent Assembly [Decree 12/2013] and instead the people were asked to become the constituent assembly by contributing their comments on the Government Draft Constitution (GDC) by no later than 5 April 2013 with the government to then finalise the Constitution within a further seven days.

This was subsequently extended to 30 April 2013.

While the Government’s request for written submissions on the March 2013 Draft was defined as public participation and of testing public support, the official period for submissions was far too short to enable real participation.

Of greater concern, the Government has not made available the 1,093 written submissions received by the AttorneyGeneral’s office. It is therefore impossible to understand what motivated any of the changes from the March 2013 Draft to the Fiji Government Constitution, or indeed whether these changes were reflective of the wishes and concerns of the people of Fiji. Moreover, when the Government released the Fiji Government Constitution on 22 August 2013 it was widely understood that this was the final version. But when the President assented to it on 6 September 2013 the assent was to a version to which revisions had been made.

Compare all of this to the 2012 Constitutional Commission, which had every one of its over 7,100 submissions posted on its website and available for consultation in person. It also published a report explaining its decisions in developing the 2012 Draft Constitution, and relating those decisions to the views it received in public meetings and submissions. A legitimate test of public support, considering international standards, would involve at the least a far longer period of public debate and possibly a Constituent Assembly and/or referendum.

All of the factors outlined indicate that the process for making the Fiji government Constitution will no longer provide for ‘full, inclusive and fair participation of all Fijians,’ one of the government’s own ‘non-negotiable’ princi-

ples [Fiji Constitutional Process Decree 2012]. As a result, there are serious risks that any constitution emerging from this process will be neither ‘owned’ nor seen as legitimate by the people of Fiji.

Drafting The Fiji Government Constitution draws much of its provisions from 1990 and 1997, but also borrows extensively from the 2012 Draft. Given the markedly different drafting styles of these documents – 1990 and 1997 with their formal legal language contrasting the conversational tone of the 2012 Draft – the result is an odd and inconsistent amalgam.

A constitution is a country’s basic law; therefore it is important that it is as clear as possible from a legal point of view. It is often difficult to know the intention of particular provisions of the Fiji Government Constitution, especially since the promised explanatory report about the Fiji Government Constitution has not been provided yet. Fortunately, the avenue to remedy at least some of the structural and drafting problems identified in this analysis is provided by way of the section 161 transitional amendment October 2013

COVER

RODNEY YEE

Testing constitutional freedoms In the hours before President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau gave his assent

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

to the 2013 Constitution on 6 September at a Government House function (left), a handful of mostly young people and women staged a silent protest against its imposition outside the gates (above). The demonstration included leaders of the United Front for a Democratic Fiji, who delivered a letter of protest to the President’s officials. Fourteen of the protesters who refused to put down their placards and banners when told to by police were detained and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department at Toorak.

They were released several hours later without charge.

provision discussed in Part 4.

Omission of women While the right to equality and freedom is provided for in the Bill of Rights (26), the Fiji Government Constitution is otherwise silent on women, particularly in respect to their participation in public life. Of particular note, the Fiji Government Constitution does not implement any special measures to increase the number of women elected in parliament or holding office in other public bodies.

By contrast, the 2012 Draft required that party lists include women in electable positions [80.3] and that the composition of public bodies “reflect the regional, cultural and gender diversity of Fiji” [83].

Further, the 2012 Draft provided that the State could adopt special measures to protect or advance people who were disadvantaged. This can be juxtaposed against a provision in the Fiji Government Constitution expressly permitting legislation that ‘excludes persons from holding public offices’, which could be used to exclude women (26.9.f).

‘Free and fair’ elections For an election to be both free and October 2013

fair, it must have: (i) a coherent constitutional and legislative framework; (ii) independent and impartial election administrators, supported by a free media and peaceful order; and (iii) agreement of all political parties to participate in competitive elections. When read with the constitutionally protected decrees that severely restrict the media and political parties, the notion of ‘free and fair’ elections will not be easy to achieve.

Framework The Fiji Government Constitution affirms that elections will take place by 30 September 2014. It also sets out the basic structure for elections including: rights to register, vote and stand for election, voter and candidate eligibility, form of the voting system (open list PR), a commission to administer the elections, rights protecting the media, and penalties for corrupt or violent electoral practices. As the chapter-by-chapter analysis shows, each positive provision is undermined by another negative (and unnecessary) provision: n Electoral rights are granted, and can be (and are) limited by a simple decree;

n Citizens have a right to vote and stand for election. Trade union leaders are restricted from being candidates; n An electoral commission will administer the election. It is controlled by the sitting Prime Minister, who holds office until that post is filled following the election; n Media can report on the election.

The media decree and the limitations of freedoms can be applied by law to control media behaviour; and n Political parties must be transparent and peaceful. Limitations can be drawn to define these definitions of transparency and how they are to keep the peace.

Fortunately, the Fiji Government Constitution can be changed under section 161 to bring the electoral provisions into line with international standards. The government can also, at any time before the sitting of the first parliament under the Fiji Government Constitution, amend or revoke all decrees that prevent a ‘free and fair’ election.

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NEW SYSTEM’S CHOICES

The 2013 Constitution specifies a single-house (unicameral) Parliament consisting of 50 members elected in a multi-member open list system of proportional representation, under which each voter has one vote, with each vote being of equal value, in a single national electoral roll comprising all the registered voters. In other words, there will be a single constituency covering the whole of Fiji. A general election is to be held every four years, in which every citizen 18 years or above can register to vote in.

A British municipal council ballot paper showing candidate name, details and party symbol.

After an election, the seats in Parliament must be awarded to candidates in proportion to: (a) the total number of votes cast for each political party contesting the general election, which shall be determined by totalling the number of votes cast for each candidate of that political party; and (b) the total number of votes cast for each independent candidate, if any, provided however that an independent candidate shall only be eligible to be awarded one seat in Parliament.

(3) A political party or an independent candidate shall not qualify for any seat in Parliament unless the political party or the independent candidate receives at least 5% of the total number of votes cast.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

http://crossfields.blogspot.com/

For information on the Fiji Elections Office visit electionsfiji.gov.fj

Voting in the Netherlands using paper and red pencil: the voter colours in the box preceding the name of his or her favoured candidate. In Fiji, with each political party able to field up to 50 candidates, depending on the number of parties and independent candidates, the ballot paper - covering all aspiring members of Parliament’s names - could be quite large.

OUT WITH THE OLD

IN WITH THE NEW

Above the line, below the line

Andrew Reynolds

Fiji’s first election under the 1997 Constitution-mandated alternative vote system in 1999, proved somewhat difficult to understand and implement (see speciman ballot paper at left).

Voters were asked to either tick abvove the line or number all the boxes in the order of preference starting with the most strongly preferred. Many of the invalid votes resulted from people voting below the line by ticking instead of numbering or by doing both.

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Power with voters not parties “Fiji is to move from the alternative vote system to a list proportional representation (list PR) system, and there will no longer be usage of communal (or racially reserved) constituencies.

Under this system a party’s share of seats will roughly correspond to that party’s share of votes.

Under Fiji’s 1997-2006 electoral system, each constituency had only a single member.

Under the new system, (there is a single) constituency (with) multiple members.” ~ Professor Jon Fraenkel, School of History,

Philosophy, Political Science & International Relations at the Victoria University of Wellington, 27 July, Fiji Sun. October 2013

COVER

3Continued from page 17

Consent For elections to be legitimate, most (preferably all) political parties must consent to participate. Citizens in each party must make that decision themselves. A constitution can provide rules to protect parties from outside interference and enable them to campaign to be elected. The freer they are to operate in a fair playing field (within reasonable limits to prohibit corrupt or violent conduct), the more likely they are to participate.

The Fiji Government Constitution and Political Parties Decree set out positive rights to form parties and vote, as well as demands for accountable and transparent party finances.

Additionally, the Fiji Government Constitution and Political Parties Decree place demands on parties, including that: n trade union leaders must quit their positions before standing as candidates; n parties must gather 5,000 signatures across the country to register, n candidates can be barred for any election offence, which can easily be abused to target particular individuals, and n laws may limit the rights and freedoms relating to labour relations, association, movement and expression for the R ‘orderly conduct of elections’. n This is an extract from a document prepared by the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum titled An Analysis: 2013 Fiji Government Constitution.

This analysis is based on the Fiji Government Constitution assented to by the President of Fiji on 6 September 2013. In the event the Fiji Government Constitution is further amended by the Government of Fiji before 31 December 2013, CCF will release a revised analysis including such amendments.

To download and read the full document (PDF/1Mb), go to http://tiny.cc/CCFAnalysis or scan the QR code.

October 2013

AFP PHOTO/Torsten BLACKWOOD

Supervision The Fiji Government Constitution creates two important institutions for elections: the Electoral Commission and the Supervisor of Elections. The chapter-by-chapter analysis explores the independence of these institutions and highlights the significance of the Prime Minister’s control over appointments, removals and remunerations. The more immediate concern, however, is the transitional arrangements for elections in the Fiji Government Constitution. Until the Prime Minister (through the COC) appoints members the electoral bodies, the permanent secretary for elections will perform their functions. This affects the ability to administer General Elections ‘freely and fairly.’

Then Army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama,before he

became prime minister, casts his ballot in the national elections on the first day of voting in Suva, 6 May 2006. He overthrew Laisenia Qarase’s government seven months later.

MINISTRY OF INFORAMTION

Now Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama at a

Constitution book-signing on 17 September with 5-year-old Adi Ane Tagivetaua of Nabouwalu Village. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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1970

1990

1997

The 1970 Constitution came into being after Queen Elizabeth II promulgated the Fiji Independence Order 1970. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and Sidiq Koya agreed on a compromise constitutional formula in a London conference in April that year leading to independence.

The new Constitution drawn up

by Sitiveni Rabuka after his 1987 coups, institutionalised ethnic Fijian domination of the political system. Group Against Racial Discrimination (GARD) was formed to oppose the unilaterally imposed constitution and restore the 1970 constitution.

As promised in the 1990 Constitution, it came up for review during 1995 with the Sir Paul Reeves-led commission. A compromise between Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Opposition leader Jai Ram Reddy let to the enactment of the 1997 amendment to the 1990 document.

2013 CONSTITUTION After a process that began more than a year ago, including the rejection of the Professor Yash Ghailed constitution commission draft in late 2012, and a government draft released in March, the 2013 version was released in August. the 2013 Constitution 8 Download at this link: http://tiny.cc/2013FijiConstitution

Blueprint for a better Fiji

By GRAHAM DAVIS

T

he final version of the 2013 Constitution that will underpin the first genuine democracy in Fijian history has been released to the public. His Excellency the President will give his assent to the document on September 6th. It will be the supreme law of the country and pave the way for elections by September 30th 2014 conducted, for the first time, on the basis of equal votes of equal value. It is in line with the constitutions of some of the world’s most liberal democracies and provides a framework for the development of a modern, progressive state.

As previously flagged by the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, the final version differs from the Draft Constitution by containing specific provisions that guarantee and strengthen the protection of communally-owned i’Taukei, Rotuman and Banaban lands. During the consultation process that followed the release of the Draft in March, a large number of submissions were received calling for explicit protection clauses. These have been accepted and incorporated into the final document. They provide greater protection and security for iTaukei, Rotuman and Banaban land than ever before.

In addition, for the first time, an extra provision gives any landowner the right to a fair share of royalties derived from the 20

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exploitation of resources beneath the surface.

The 98-page constitutional document in English (ED: the assented version is 126 pages) has also, for the first time, been translated into the two main vernacular languages – i’Taukei and contemporary Hindi. In the 15 days before His Excellency the President gives his assent on September 6th, members of the public are invited to read the vernacular versions and provide feedback on their accuracy. Some of the legal terms and phraseology in the English language do not have equivalent words in the vernacular and therefore may be open to interpretation.

The Constitution provides for a single chamber 50-member Parliament – up from 45 in the Draft document- which will be the country’s supreme authority and be elected on the basis of one person, one vote, one value. Elections are to be held every four years and every Fijian over the age of 18 is entitled to vote.

In another alteration to the Draft document, individual regional constituencies are abolished. There will be one national constituency covering the whole of Fiji, as in The Netherlands and Israel. And every voter will get one vote, choosing the candidate who they believe best serves their interests under a proportional representation system.

A Prime Minister who commands the party with the most seats in Parliament will head the elected Government and, in line with current practice, a President will be the Head of State October 2013

RODNEY YEE

COVER

Long arms of the law Jasmine Kaur, a youth activist, is detained by police at Queen Elizabeth Drive outside the gates of Government House on 6 September in the lead up to the signing of the 2013 Constitution by President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. She and 13 others were detained by police for refusing to put down their banners and placards, for which authorities said they did not have a permit.

and perform the ceremonial function of Commander in Chief of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

Among the Constitution’s major provisions are: n A common and equal citizenry. n A voting system of equal votes of equal value. n A secular state and religious liberty. n An independent and impartial judiciary and equal access to the law. n The right to legal aid assistance. n Specific protection of the ownership of i’Taukei and Rotuman lands and recognition of their unique culture, customs, traditions and language. n The protection of the rights of leaseholders. n Specific recognition of the culture and language of Indo-Fijians, other Pacific islanders and other immigrants and settlers. n A Bill of Rights containing specific provisions guaranteeing a range of October 2013

civil and political rights and, for the first time, social and economic rights. These include the right to education, economic participation, a just minimum wage, transport, housing, food and water, health and social security. n A free media and freedom of speech, expression, movement and association. n The safeguarding of the environment. n The compulsory teaching of the iTaukei and Fiji Hindi languages at primary school level, along with English as the common language. n The right to multiple citizenship but a provision that only Fijian citizens be entitled to stand for Parliament. n The right to fair employment practices. n The right to join, form or campaign for a political party. n The right to privacy. n An Accountability and Transparency Commission which, for the first time, will hold all public office holders accountable.

n A Code of Conduct for public office holders. n A provision requiring public office holders such as civil servants, members of the disciplined forces and trade unionists to resign before contesting a seat in Parliament.

The release of the Constitution follows a community consultation process during which the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and his team conducted 19 public meetings in urban, rural and maritime areas throughout Fiji, including Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Kadavu, the Mamanucas and the Yasawas.

Submissions were also sought and 1,093 R written submissions were received.

n Graham Davis describes himself as an independent Fijian journalist and consultant for Qorvis Communications, which does public relations work for the Fijian government. He blogs at Grubsheet Feejee and is regularly published in the Fiji Sun. This article was written as an official Fijian government statement. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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IN PICTURES

The Constitution goe

PM signing copies of the wConstitution at Shri Guru Nanak Khalsa College.

Children boarding at a mosque in Labasa show off their copies of the Co

Farnaaz Bi and Zahara Zakiya of Labasa Muslim College.

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Tui Wainunu Ratu Orisi Baleitavea browses through the Constitution.

October 2013

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es on Northern tour

onstitution.

ALL PHOTOS MINISTRY OF INFORMATION

Students of Labasa Muslim College pose with the Constitution.

Malakai Tamanilele, Ulamila Rabete, Litiana Qilu, Eta Nasova of Shri Guru Nanak Khalsa College in Labasa pose with their new copies of the Constitution.

October 2013

AG Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum passes out copies of the Constitution at Nadogo Secondary School. republikamagazine.com | RepĂşblika |

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How voting will work

By WADAN NARSEY

A

lthough the vote counting process has not been exactly specified in the 2013 Constitution, the proposed electoral system will apparently: (a) have only one national constituency in which all candidates will stand, and each voter will choose one candidate (with or without a party), with one vote per person; (b) add up all the votes of candidates, aggregating those with political party attachments; (c) elect independents if they win at least 5 per cent of total votes; (d) give to each Party the percentage of the 50 seats (less independents) equal to the percentage of votes received, provided the party wins at least 5 per cent of the total votes (which will give them at least two seats immediately); (e) elect that proportional number of MPs from that party, beginning with the person receiving the highest number of votes, and going down the list ordered by the number of votes received, till they have fulfilled that party’s quota.

The Member of Parliament with the majority support of parliament would then become Prime Minister and form government.

The weaknesses of the electoral system (if it is indeed as outlined above) will be that: (1) there will have to be one massive ballot paper, with the names and symbols of hundreds of candidates, out of which some 500 thousand voters throughout Fiji (literate and illiterate), will (look for and) tick one name; (2) there will be no guarantee of local or regional representation of members of parliament; (3) there is no guarantee of reasonable representation of women, youth and other minorities (as was in the Ghai draft electoral system with a closed list); (4) If the bulk of the votes for any party have been obtained by the “leader” or a few candidates, then the last successful MP selected from that party to fill the party quota according to proportionality, may not have received any large number 24

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of votes at all – but this weakness prevails for all proportional systems based on open lists; (5) In the light of (4) above, the minimum requirement of 5 per cent of all votes for independents or political parties to be elected, is grossly unfair, considering that each of the 50 seats in the parliament would on average equate to 2 per cent of the total votes. This rule will discriminate against small parties and Independents who could be important moderating influences in Parliament.

(6) If there are small parties each obtaining less than 5 per cent of total votes, then there will be the headache of “leftover” seats in Parliament, after the large parties had their preferential bite at the cherry.

[For example, if Party A has 50 per cent of votes (hence 25 seats), and Party B has 30 per cent of votes (and hence 15 seats), while the remaining 20 per cent of votes are split between small parties each with less than 5 per cent of the votes who get no seats, who gets the remaining 10 seats? But there is an easy arithmetic answer to this problem: ignore all the parties with less than 5 per of the votes!]

There is one critical weakness in the 2013 Constitution which was also in the Ghai draft constitution: both threw out the multi-party government provision of the 1997 Constitution, which guaranteed any party with 10 per cent of the seats in parliament (here 5 MPs), to be invited into Cabinet.

Won’t it be ironic if Bainimarama’s party ends up being a large minority party, without the majority to form government?

The mantra of “1 person-1 vote-1 value” Will the new voting system eliminate racial voting and establish “racial equality” as the Bainimarama regime proudly repeats at every opportunity, like a mantra?

I doubt it, and the 2013 Constitution is even worse than the Ghai draft which also tried to hide racial voting by rigging the size of the constituencies.

Instead of having 25 single-member open constituencies (as most political parties and others including myself had

recommended), with another 25 to ensure proportionality from closed lists, the Ghai commission draft had four divisions as constituencies, banking on the subterfuge that the voting results would therefore not reveal any evidence of racial voting (even if there was racial voting).

The 2013 Constitution has gone one step further to stipulate just one constituency, so even more now, no one will know by examining the results, whether there is any racial voting going on: all that observers will see, is how many votes each candidate received throughout the entire country, from all voters, not their racial origins.

But I suspect that racial voting will continue in full force, despite this regime and umpteen grating TV advertisements calling everyone “Fijians”.

The reality is that after the voting fiasco is over, Parliament will comprise whoever is voted for by the voters: 56 per cent of whom will be indigenous Fijians, 38 per cent Indo-Fijians, and 6 per cent Others: the ethnic proportion of Parliament will be roughly in that proportion.

(By the way, check the ethnic composition of Bainimarama’s cabinet).

Despite the Bainimarama/SayedKhaiyum mantra repeated daily that the new electoral system is going to ensure racial equality for Indo-Fijians, the reality will be that the proportions of Fijians, Indo-Fijians and Others in the next Parliament will be pretty much the same as in 2006.

One crucial difference now will be that minority parties (for example those supported by mostly Indo-Fijian voters), will no longer have an automatic right to be invited into Cabinet, as they did under the 1997 Constitution.

The Indo-Fijian supporters of Bainimarama can ponder on this interesting consequence of the 2006 coup which was alleged to be partly to protect their interests, apart from “cleaning up” the country R (mind you, some have cleaned up)! n Wadan Narsey is Adjunct Professor, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University and former Professor of Economics, The University of the South Pacific. The full version of this article can be found at narseyonfiji.wordpress.com October 2013

October 2013

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VIEWPOINT

Is an independent West Papuan state possible?

By Camellia Webb-Gannon

T

he very unpredictability of politics is the greatest hope for those seeking an independent West Papuan state. Here, some of the key issues occupying West Papuan nationalists and observers of the region’s politics are addressed, including whether West Papuans are entitled to their own state; whether such a state would be politically and economically viable; and what chance Papuans have of forging their national vision into a constitutional reality.

Do West Papuans have a right to their own state?

Although the answer to this question is politically unpalatable for Indonesia and the countries that have, to date, supported Indonesia’s “territorial integrity” (West Papua inclusive), under international law, West Papuans preserve the right to choose political independence.

The right to self-determination is enshrined in treaty law through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which declare: “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”

Indonesia acknowledged this right by agreeing to a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1969, through which West Papuans were to be given a chance to opt either for integration with Indonesia or self-sovereignty. However, Indonesia thwarted the democratic process in the so-called Act of Free Choice (AFC). Less than one percent of West 26

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Papua’s population was selected to vote on behalf of all West Papuans for Indonesian rule.

The unsurprisingly unanimous, proIndonesian decision under the AFC was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly later in 1969. Since then, West Papuans have lobbied the UN, Indonesia, and the international community to provide an unrigged ballot through which they might freely and fairly determine their own political status.

Could West Papuans govern themselves if given the chance?

This question smacks of a residual colonial mentality and resounds of fiscal self-interest. Yet it is a question regularly posed, and often answered in the negative, by observers of West Papua’s independence movement. One may think, however, that Australia, for instance, might consider the money it could save by no longer funding and training many of the Indonesian troops and police deployed in West Papua to suppress “separatism.”

To be sure, an independent West Papua would face significant obstacles during and after an inauguration of self-rule. With a history of Jakarta-engineered divide and rule tactics targeted at foiling West Papuan attempts to politically consolidate as well as exacerbating tribal and regional enmities, West Papuans are already on the back foot in state making.

Effective education, technology, and health infrastructure would need to be built almost from scratch. A culture of corruption and nepotism, ubiquitous within Indonesian politics, would need to be overcome, and English would have to be a widely spoken language – at least among West Papuan office holders so that West Papua can take part in international forums. The racial and cultural

gulf between the predominantly Asian Muslim migrants to West Papua – currently comprising more than half of the territory’s population – and indigenous Christian Papuans, may prove difficult to surmount even with fair governance.

Nevertheless, West Papuans are wealthy in many respects. Economically, their land contains such substantial gold and copper deposits that it hosts one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines, owned by US-based Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. West Papuans have spent the last 50 years, since Indonesian occupation of their land, forging a strong national identity and developing their struggle strategically, diplomatically and even militarily, all of which will stand them in good stead in the event of independence. This comes in contrast to neighboring Papua New Guinea, a country of frequent comparison, often criticized for its political instability, but whose independence came about all too easily in the view of some during the era of decolonization rather than through opposition to a colonial power, as would be the case for West Papua.

Most importantly, perhaps, there are many West Papuans in the diaspora and in-country who are smart, capable and committed (unofficial) politicians.

It could be said that Indonesian misrule has made independence activism a default career for hundreds if not thousands of educated Papuans both at home and abroad. In a sense, this is just as well since there has been a terrible toll of revered Papuan leaders since the 1970s at the hands of Indonesian security forces.

Driven into exile by constant death threats, human rights campaigner John Rumbiak suffered a stroke in 2005 and has never recovered, while the military assassinated the much-loved anthroOctober 2013

VIEWPOINT

The Morning Star will rise

pologist, musicologist and musician, Arnold Ap, in 1984 and independence leader Theys Eluay in 2001. For their part, Indonesian police assassinated former guerilla leader Kelly Kwalik in 2009 and youth leader Mako Tabuni in 2012.

A strong culture of civil resistance is developing amongst a cadre of welleducated and internationally connected West Papuan leaders with the potential to utilize their skills in a Papuan state.

Interim government structures are generating a host of viable ideas about indigenously appropriate governance, and constitutional options. If given the opportunity to self-govern, there is no reason why West Papuans would be less able to function in this capacity than their neighbors in the formerly Indonesian state of East Timor.

Will Indonesia relinquish West Papua?

Although West Papuans should have the right to determine their own political future, and do have the capacity to govern a viable state, the likelihood of such an opportunity arising for them to do so is uncertain. And in the event of a referendum on independence, given that the migrant Indonesian Austronesian population in West Papua outnumbers the West Papuan Melanesian population, there is little incentive for the migrant residents to vote for independence.

The importance of the revenue accrued to the Indonesian state from Freeport mine is enormous, as is the value of West Papuan land for oil palm plantations and settlements for Indonesian migrants seeking opportunities October 2013

Dominic Brown/Forgotten Birds of Paradise

Raising this flag in West Papua is a criminal offence for which many are serving jail sentences.

This scene is a still image from the 2009 documentary The Forgotten Birds of Paradise (scan QR code below) by the British filmmaker Dominic Brown about the West Papuans’ struggle for independence.

away from their overcrowded home islands. The Indonesian government’s attitude toward West Papuan aspirations for greater freedom is unlikely to relax under any of the several ultranationalist presidential candidates vying to follow on from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2014.

Even so, there are weaknesses in Indonesia’s hold over West Papua that Papuans are effectively exploiting, replenishing the independence movement with the oxygen of hope. Solidarity groups like International Parliamentarians for West Papua and International Lawyers for West Papua are gaining the support of big names from around the globe, largely through the campaigning of West Papuans in the diaspora such as Benny Wenda in the United Kingdom.

The efforts of one peak body for West Papuan independence groups, the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, has recently been successful in placing, for consideration, West Papuan membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group at the top of that group’s agenda.

Mass media in Australia and elsewhere is highlighting human rights concerns in West Papua. Independent media is showcasing the conflict in feature films.

Australian politicians have debated the issue of West Papuan independence in parliament. And social media networks, to which many West Papuans are connected, are widely disseminating West Papuan requests for help.

In the case of East Timor, it was Australian public sympathy and outrage that finally forced the Australian-led UN intervention into action, enabling the process towards independence to

continue. West Papuans have demonstrated over the past five decades that they will not give up on their dream for independence, no matter how bloody Indonesia’s repression becomes. Indonesia is adamant that West Papua remains a part of its unitary state so that short of international intervention, whether diplomatic or military, West Papuans are unlikely to gain a new referendum on their political status.

If the West Papua crisis does unfold in a similar fashion to East Timor’s, hopefully it need not suffer its own Santa Cruz massacre of 250-plus protestors.

Captured on film in 1991, this atrocity raised global awareness of the crisis in East Timor and transformed international support for its aspirations.

Perhaps new media and technology publicising the “slow-motion genocide” in West Papua will invoke similar public outrage, forcing the hand of the international community to attend to West Papuans’ demands. The odds are certainly stacked against West Papuan independence aspirations. But politics are fickle; hope is infectious; and East Timor demonstrated that David and Goliath have their contemporary counterparts. West Papuans have the most to lose in pursuit of a state for their nation, yet they never say die. As concerned obR servers, how can we? n Camellia Webb-Gannon is a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, and the coordinator of its West Papua Project. She completed a PhD titled Birds of a Feather: Conflict and Unity Within West Papua’s Independence Movement in 2011. This article was first published on fairobserver.com. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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ESSAY

The Pacific’s cultural genocide

By Cresantia Koya-Vaka’uta

I

ndigenous communities around the world are falling victim to unscrupulous commercial practice that sees no harm in copyrighting various aspects of traditional knowledge to boost business sales. This has aroused concerns that what we are witnessing is a potential new wave of cultural genocide against which indigenous peoples have no protection.

It is not surprising that there is a growing fear that cultural loss is exacerbated by the new business culture which seeks to exploit and in most cases romanticise deeply spiritual cultural symbols. Within the cultural context, these symbols represent a closed sacred knowledge base that is meant to be accessed by select few who alone have the right to ‘know’ and ‘use’ this knowledge and related forms of cultural expression.

Article 7 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples begins with the statement: “Indigenous people have the collective and individual right not to be subjected to ethnocide and genocide, including prevention of and redress for (a) any action which has the effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities.”

The problem is that commercial entities are not interested in protecting cultural heritage. Their primary interests 28

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Some Pacific islanders may not see the value of traditional knowledge in the coming globalised technological age, but the debate to protect and preserve indigenous ownership is far from over.

lie in the potential to market a unique product that will rake in profit. After all, this is the main purpose of their existence. But is there a bigger ethical issue that needs to be addressed?

Like many Fijians, I was pleasantly surprised and proud at the announcement of the re-branded Fiji Airways decision to use traditional iTaukei designs on its new airplanes. The result was as promised, a design that was very Fijian and undeniably aesthetic. It soon became clear however, that not only did the airline wish to use these designs to market their new look but they also wanted to trademark the 15 individual motifs that were utilised in the winning logo competition submitted by a local masi-maker.

Unasked questions Concern arose among those who were aware of the lack of protective mechanisms and legislation in place to protect traditional knowledge. In this specific case, the indigenous producers of Fijian tapa (masi) who use these designs and their derivatives in their line of work. Trademarking also poses a problem for contemporary artists who may incorporate these motifs in their artwork and it sets a precedent for other commercial giants to do the same with other forms of cultural expression. Surprisingly, the questions that many failed to ask included: “how will this affect those for whom these designs hold meaning?” and “will cultural and creative producers be able to continue

using these designs without having to seek permission or make payment in order to reproduce these images in the future?”

Equally problematic is the fact that if the airline chooses to pursue its trademark intention to international status, this would have wider repercussions for other Pacific island countries. Two examples are Tonga and Samoa, where some of these designs and their derivatives also feature in their tapa cloth – siapo in Samoa and ngatu in Tonga.

In fact across all Pacific island cultural communities in which bark cloth is an important aspect of cultural heritage many design elements are shared.

Trademarking would mean that Pacific island cultural and creative producers around the world would potentially now need to seek permission from the new ‘owners’ to use these symbols. Surely, the ethics of corporate social responsibility ought to extend to incapacitating the livelihoods and cultural practice of indigenous peoples.

The kesakesa case is not a standalone example. The well-known bilum was recently patented by a French bag making company. Ironically the ‘bilum’ company markets itself as an eco-ethical fashion producer drawing attention to the question of ‘ethics’ in its patenting of an indigenous form of cultural heritage. Despite negative responses, the company continues to operate under this name as seen on its official website: www.bilum.fr.

Just this year, movie giant Disney atOctober 2013

ESSAY

Dressing down Nanette Lapore’s so-called Aztec print top, retailing for more than fj$400 bearing a masi print, below, recently drew the ire of Fijians and other Pacific islanders around the world at what they said was the appropriation of a cultural product. A similar version of the Lapore dress appeared in US Women’s Health magazine, labelled “African”, prompted petitions and protests against Lapore by Pacific islanders in the US and online.

October 2013

ignorance of the significance of cultural heritage symbols and their importance to cultural practice and memory. In the case of tapa production and use, each motif represents a historical marker, a form of text for cultural communities which did not have a form of written language. These oral cultures devised a unique way to communicate indigenous epistemologies or knowledge systems and their philosophies in a form of localised coding of the text. This was reinforced by means of repetitious use of specific meaningful designs in various forms of cultural expression.

When viewed in this way, we can see that all cultural heritage art forms are not merely “handicrafts”, “folk art” or “primitive art” as previously labeled by the Colonial masters. Rather, they tell us something about the origins, histories, relationships and underlying belief systems of a cultural group.

Any Pacific islander will tell you that a tapa presented formally at a wedding, a funeral or chiefly installation that bears the image of tables, chairs, dogs and or a Christmas tree for example, would be inappropriate. This is commonsense. It should therefore, also be commonsense that the designs contained within a tapa hold meaning and purpose, and together with the specifications of the medium and the way by which it is presented and used, cumulatively represent an aspect of cultural heritage that is specific to a particular community.

LEFT: NANETTE LEPORE.COM. ABOVE: WomeN’s HEALTH

tempted to trademark the phrase “Día de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) in anticipation of an upcoming animation originally named The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dia de los Muertos. The movie giant intended to protect the title of the film as well as all of its affiliated merchandise but public outcry from the Mexican community predominantly on social media sites later influenced a withdrawal of the application and a subsequent change in title of the animation film. “Día de los Muertos” is a traditional Mexican holiday that is held on All Saints and All Souls day each year (1-2 November) to commemorate those who have passed on. This begs the question, is there no end to what big businesses can claim to ‘own’? And is any of our knowledge really safe?

Another older, perhaps better known Pacific island example, is the musical hit Sweet Lullaby by European music sensation Deep Forest in the 1990s. The song Sweet Lullaby is a direct derivative of a traditional Baegu lullaby from Rogowela in the Solomon Islands. The background to this is that the song was originally recorded by an ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp in 1970 and added to the UNESCO musical sources collection. Funnily enough the original music video featured African children with no reference or acknowledgement of the community of origin or the singer Afunakwa whose voice is heard on the track.

The cultural insensitivity to try to ‘own’ traditional knowledge highlights

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3Continued from page 29

What stands out in the international examples – with the exception of the Día de los Muertos case which took place in May of this year – is that even though they were initially considered newsworthy there is on-going discussion of these issues within the wider community about the potential for continued unscrupulous practice in the absence of legislative protection. For some reason, there is no real incentive to discuss the hardship that indigenous peoples face in the new era of big business culture of marketing, branding, copyrighting and money making. These are too often simply seen as the socio-cultural cost of economic development.

Commoditisation of culture Closer to home, who could forget the numerous Samoan, Fijian and Tongan inspired tapa fabric and linoleum prints that are widely accessible and popular throughout the region. These Chinamade products do not bring any returns to the cultures of origin, nor do they acknowledge or understand the cultural significance of the motifs being mass produced.

Shopping at the vegetable market in Flagstaff, Suva, I noticed that the linoleum covering the makeshift shelving is markedly reminiscent of the Samoan tatau designs from the male tattoo – Pe’a.

While the designs are not an exact replica, the overall colour, and design elements are undeniably an appropriation of the tattoo designs. The same prints have incidentally in the last five years begun to appear in Samoan tapa (siapo) bark cloth made and sold in Samoa itself which in all possibility inspired these new plastic floor coverings.

Those of us who chose to support the ‘copycat’ industry which feeds these cheap products into our markets are often driven by the desire to have something that looks Pacific in our homes.

What we do not think about is the fact that we are actually feeding an external market that does not support or nurture our own locally made products and instead exploits local producers.

What is at stake is much more than just a few ‘pretty’ tribal designs that help sell a product or service. The real cultural cost is the commoditisation of culture as something that can be bought and sold. What is even more painful is the misrepresentation and misappropriation of spiritually cultural symbols.

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Whose marks? In January, Fiji Airways applied to be registered the trademark owner of 15

masi motifs used in their corporate branding. The move caused an uproar and an effort was organised to oppose the application. Fiji Airways has not announced yet if the application was successful.

Cultural motifs should never be seen as mere decorative designs but rather as culturally significant markers of knowledge and identity. We must never lose sight of the importance of cultural expression. They connect us to place and provide the foundation of cultural identity. They are a language unto themselves, filled with meaning and spirituality that relates us to each other within and between communities and to our natural heritage – the land to which we are birthed.

Many of these designs are found in a range of cultural expression such as tattooing, weaving, sinnet lashing, carving and pottery. The earliest forms of these designs are actually found in Lapita across the Pacific. I personally had the good fortune to see a wide range of these on display at the Tonga National Cultural Centre Museum last year.

Of course, romanticisation and misrepresentation of Pacific culture is not new. Postcards from the early 19th century are a testimony to that, depicting women from the region in Western Renaissance style poses. Typically, these seminude images show topless women draped in bark cloth or fabrics with a flower behind the ear. For many outsiders, these images represented the laid back paradise of free love that challenged their conservative social standards at that time. I have yet to see a postcard from the early years of contact that showed women or men at work.

That is, the actual reality of Pacific life.

This romantic view of the Polynesian temptress is far from dead. This year, Nicole Scherzinger, a former Pussy

Cat Doll, was photographed for a coffee table book with the Maori male taonga (tattoo) inked in Henna on her buttock and thighs. That image created an online debate in which some saw the picture as a contemporary artistic portrayal, while others found it disrespectful to use specifically gendered traditional Maori symbols in that way.

The urgency of protection Why should we protect cultural expression? Once ownership rights are held outside of the indigenous community, the new legal ‘owner’ can deny the right to use or reproduce any aspect of this information that is now ‘their property’. This would mean that members of the indigenous community who wish to earn a livelihood from that knowledge, such as tapa makers, traditional weavers, potters, or artists for example could now be required to seek written permission from the new owner to use their own cultural heritage because legally, they no longer have the right to use their own traditional knowledge.

On 15 June this year, the UN General Assembly issued a news release, announcing its post-2015 development agenda as the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals. The statement stresses the importance of culture to sustainable development. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon is reported as saying: “Development has not always focused enough on people; we need to understand and embrace their culture.

This means encouraging dialogue, listening to individual voices, and ensuring that culture and human rights inform October 2013

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Not nice Nike In late July the top sport

NIKEBLOG.COM

brand released women’s leggings that it called Nike Pro Tattoo Tech which the company’s blog reported was “aesthetically informed by the indigenous groups” of Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand. There was an outcry, especially from Samoans who pointed out that not only was Nike appropriating the Samoan Pe’a pattern that is rarely seen nonSamoans, but it used the pattern on women’s clothing when it is only applied to men. Two weeks later Nike removed the tights from outlets and apologised for causing offence which it said was not intended.

the new course for sustainable development. The fundamental role of culture was not fully acknowledged within the MDGs – as a goal, an overarching principle, or as an enabler.” This development lens is not new although it has taken some time for culture to gain full recognition at this level of dialogue.

In the Pacific, we have seen some regional policy inroads over the past 10 years. One example is the 2002 Pacific Modal Law which was intended for Pacific island countries to use as a guide in the development of national legislature.

Fiji has yet to formalise its own national legislature in this regard.

In the past two years, two critical policy guidelines have been endorsed

by Pacific Island Forum Ministers – the Culture and Education Strategy (2010) and the Pacific Cultural Strategy (2012).

These policy frameworks emphasise the importance of culture to sustainable development in the islands and for the cultural well-being and livelihoods of Pacific peoples.

Policy documents, no matter how well written or good the intentions are, do not bring about change. In truth, these will not stand up to commercial culture in the absence of rigorous national legislature and local mechanisms that work to deter the exploitation of our already vulnerable island communities. Does that mean we should give up?

Should we simply allow the inevitable bullying of indigenous communities into relegating ownership rights to various forms of cultural expression to take place? Of course not! But how do we protect, promote and celebrate these symbols October 2013

without opening various aspects of closed, sacred knowledge to exploitation?

No easy answers The answer is far from simple, but it begins with dialogue at the cultural community level between traditional leaders, owners of these forms of cultural expressions and the institutions that have been established to serve their interests. The absence of a legislative process which protects indigenous rights will only lead to cultural genocide. To be sure, the road ahead is fraught with many hurdles but one of the first steps would be to seek government intervention to restrict registration of traditional knowledge.

There also needs to be wider community awareness of the process by which to lodge a formal objection to an expression of interest for trademarking purposes. Legal language and process is not something that the average Jone understands. And it is the everyday person practicing their own cultural identity and heritage who will be affected by such moves.

Our people need to be educated and empowered so that they can find voice.

Indigenous communities should reserve the right to own all aspects of their own cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, not for a specified period of time as in international intellectual property rights, but for time immemorial.

Indigenous knowledge must remain the property of indigenous communities and any attempt to take this right away must be unequivocally resisted.

As one irate Facebook user writes: “Celebrate culture. Don’t exploit it.”

Incidentally, Cultural Genocide (also: Culturecide or deculturaration) is defined by Stuart Stein in the Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Studies (edited

by Ellis Cashmore) as: “processes that have usually been purposely introduced that result in the decline and demise of a culture, with necessarily resulting in the physical destruction of its bearers.” By this definition, giving a third party the right to own cultural knowledge which deprives the cultural community of its use and continued forms of expression is cultural genocide.

To be sure, commercial entities do not set out to deliberately impose cultural genocide on indigenous communities. Rather, it would appear that the insatiable quest for marketing and profit means that culture is exoticised and commoditised.

A practical solution would be cultural sensitisation, an orientation programme if you will, much like the gender sensitisation that women’s groups advocate. This cultural orientation will be critical to changing the mindset about the importance of culture to indigenous communities and the need to protect their identities in a shrinking globalised world that promotes a universalism that threatens the very core of who we are, where we are and what is important to us.

Cultural exploitation is the greatest form of disrespect. It is an atrocity and R should not be tolerated. n Cresantia is a Lecturer in Education at the University of the South Pacific in Suva. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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DISPATCH

Papua New Guinea at 38 T

hirty-eight years ago, the people of Papua New Guinea enthusiastically embraced independence from Australia.

Many had no real idea about the implications.

As is usual in any population whenever confronted with a situation, there were those who were against, those for and those who did not care either way. The majority assumed that under independence from Australia, life in general would improve. Some aspects of life improved for Papua New Guineans.

The way Papua New Guineans were treated by expatriates for instance. Now they were not openly discriminated against, well at least not overtly. Discrimination still exists, but it is very much reduced to a subtle or hushed effort by those who practice it and usually within small clichés or at specific institutions.

Interestingly, Papua New Guineans are also guilty of discrimination often obviously so towards each other. All Papua New Guineans will no doubt recall instances where Papua New Guinean waiters or shop assistants or front desk employees almost pushed them aside as they rushed to serve expatriates at hotels, restaurants or shops first.

This is just evidence of another problem that continues to exist among many Papua New Guineans: the continuation of discrimination in our own minds.

Many feel inferior to expatriates and this is perhaps because of the manner in which expatriates were respected or feared by the older generation and children were ultimately taught by subconscious effort to respect, fear or feel inferior.

For example most Papua New Guinean children of the generation of independence and immediately after and even in many parts of Papua New Guinea still refer to expatriates as “master”.

This has a profound psychological affect on the development of a persons psyche and is probably why many Papua New Guineans grow up feeling inferior to expatriates.

On the flipside, this is probably why many expatriates in Papua New Guinea feel superior because they are referred to as “master”. It’s especially evident at the Yacht Club and Grand Papua Hotel where nostalgic photos of colonial era Papua New Guinea adorn the walls.

So what has happened to Papua New Guinea after 38 years?

Well, it hasn’t fallen apart much to the disappointment of many who fled claiming that it would spiral out of control and explode in tribal violence, rampant crime and corruption.

Hang on, but that sounds exactly like it is now!

Well, not exactly. Though this has happened, the nation has remained intact.

What else? Well, the people still hope. It is evident whenever 16 September comes around. Flags and PNG shirts and caps are everywhere. The people celebrating the most however are the ones who have the least to celebrate.

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The Pineapple Building: Waigani’s Leaning Tower

MARTYN NAMORONG/NAMORONG REPORT

From GARY JUFFA in Popondetta, PNG

IN SOME ways the hollow building symbolises the state of Papua New Guinea today - a country with much potential that has been undeveloped. Famously labelled the ‘Pineapple Building’, it was built around the time of independence in the mid-1970s. During the planning and building, somebody overlooked the need for fire escapes in the multi-storey building and so it had to be abandoned soon after by the government departments that had set up office there. Compared to Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa which began listing soon after it was built, the windlowless Marea Haus this year has been undergoing renovation by L & A Company, owned by associates of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. While O’Neill has been praised for addressing the issue of idle state assets, questions have been raised about O’Neill’s links to the construction company and whether a proper tender process was followed. An NGO activist John Endemongo Kua says the same construction company has been given millions of kina worth of government projects, including the renovation of Marauta Haus for K35m and renovations of the parliament house. Kua called for O’Neill to be held to account for these deals. n RICARDO MORRIS October 2013

MARTYN NAMORONG/NAMORONG REPORT

DISPATCH

Generation next Papua New Guinean children play at the 5 Mile fountain in Port Moresby.

So why do they do it? Because it is what they have been doing for so long and they do not know better?

Or is it just another day save for the fact that they can display their traditional attire, sell their informal sector products and spend time with their families and clansmen and not have to go to work?

Thoughts among Papua New Guineans about independence are again in three groups. Actually, that is how people can be grouped when confronted with any situation: for, against and in between.

The first group, they “for” group are optimistic and claim that it was generally for the better. This group will assure themselves and declare to others that nations cannot be built in 38 years.

That’s true, especially democratic nations with diverse tribal cultures, languages and differences as Papua New Guinea.

But this argument fails to explain nations that did do well within approximately that time frame. The counter argument to that is, well they are not as diverse or their terrain is not as rugged and vast and so forth. Valid arguments perhaps but it still doesn’t explain say Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia who have done very well in their first 40 years of independence.

Interestingly none of these nations October 2013

are hindered by false perception of “democracy” as promoted by foreign interests and international finance loan sharks that hover around resource-rich developing nations who have recently acquired “independence”.

Then there is that group of Papua New Guineans who are the “against” group. This group believe that nothing much has happened to improve the standard of living of the average Papua New Guinean and the nation is in regress and decay, increasingly worsening social indicators and old colonial era infrastructure rotting away, unmaintained, unmanned even.

The average Papua New Guinean’s life span has deteriorated, STIs, waterborne diseases, general filth and carelessness is evident everywhere you care to look, begging, laziness and wanting something for nothing are now fashionable and the order of the day (here neo colonialists feel free to nod in agreement).

The last group can be dissected into two smaller groups: those who simply do not care because they do not know, or they know but still do not care and would rather survive then dwell on the “what ifs” that plague the two groups mentioned earlier. I admire this group.

In the first instance, ignorance is bliss and in the other, do not dwell on things you cannot do anything about.

But wait! There is a fourth group emerging.

Starting small but gradually growing and increasingly educated about the world and what it can offer, the dangers and opportunities. A small group initially but it is growing. Not of just Papua New Guineans but of those who love Papua New Guinea too.

It networks faster, is not hindered by regional or ethnic grouping, it communicates and educates others, it is gregarious in its efforts to counter perceived wrongdoing and is cynical of complacency.

This group is not fascinated by the expatriate concept and in fact may interact, recruit and work with it, and they do not posses colonised mindsets or colonial mindsets. They are determined to bring about positive changes and are globalized citizens as well as staunch nationalists, enthusiastically embracing globalisation but considerate of the future, using modern technology, travelling and not afraid to take risks in promoting their ambitions and beliefs.

This group is most likely to consider affirmative political, social and economic tactics and strategies to bring about changes that the nation needs.

This group is reading this now. You are in this group. Make that change! R n Gary Juffa is the Governor of Oro (Northern) Province in Papua New Guinea. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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PERSONALITY

RICARDO MORRIS

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October 2013

PERSONALITY

The Bauan bullet comes of age Fijiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teen track sensation Banuve Tabakaucoro has grown up and with a Pacific sprint record behind him, has his eyes set on the 2016 Olympics

October 2013

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PERSONALITY

By RICARDO MORRIS

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RICARDO MORRIS

F

or the fastest man in the Pacific, the heartbreak of disqualification in the blue ribbon event at the 2010 Fiji schools athletics finals now seems a lifetime away.

Ratu Banuve Tabakaucoro chuckles when reminded of that awful moment when, nursing a hamstring injury from his earlier 200m run – and with Fiji and the Pacific watching live on television – he broke-start and was sent off, shocking athletics watchers who had earmarked him for a sure gold.

He shut down emotionally in the hours after that and it seemed that the darling of athletics in Fiji had hit the bottom too soon. A year later, Tabakaucoro still found it draining recalling that moment but now that he is the undisputed Pacific sprint king and grown up, it’s no longer as tragic to talk about.

“I’ve finally reached the stage that when people talk about the Cokes, it doesn’t mean as much any more,” he says at his Laucala Beach home outside Suva. “At the time it was a big thing.”

“I’ve definitely matured. I’ve learnt from all my mistakes. And from this moment on, I just want to keep improving on my times and keep my goal intact for the 2016 Olympics,” says the man dubbed the ‘Bau Bullet’ from when he was a teenager.

Tabakaucoro made his comeback in spectacular fashion in the 2011 Fiji Finals. He toppled the 18-year-old 100m record, shaving 0.31 seconds off the previous time set by Viliame Lalabalavu of Queen Victoria School for a new mark of 10.43s, a time that remained unbroken this year. Remarkably, an hour later Banuve equalled his own record in the blue ribbon final. During the 2011 games he also set a new national men’s record in the 200m of 20.04s.

“I was my own enemy,” he says of his high school years. “I pressured myself too much. Instead of pleasing myself, I was too worried about pleasing other people. Now I’ve finally realised that when I do things for myself – when I really, really want to – I perform better.”

Tabakaucoro has been a collection of more than 50 medals, 28 of them gold, having participated in athletics since the age of 10.

Since his last run in the Fiji Finals last year, he has increased his participation in overseas meets and is focused

The spoils Tabakaucoro has more than 50 medals from his already long athletics career.

on getting a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, just under three years away.

“If you want to go to the Olympics, the grandest stage of all, you have to work from years out.”

On the track he finds himself, Tabakaucoro, he is likely to achieve this goal.

In September, Tabakaucoro gave himself a birthday gift by clocking 10.33s to break 100m record at the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna on 4 September, the day he turned 21. He had been trying to improve his own record for the past three years.

Tabakaucoro also brought home two other gold medals for his 200m recordbreaker and participation in the 4x400m relay.

The 100m record he broke was set by Jone Delai in Tahiti in 1995, and Delai – whose birthday was the next day and who had been coaching Tabakaucoro in the absence of his long-time coach Bola Tafo’ou – was there to see his record fall.

“I was hoping to break the record.

The day before I had run a very good time in the semi-finals, and as I was walking into the finals I had the record at the back of my mind. But then as soon as we left the block, I didn’t feel like it was going to be a record-breaking run.

“Jone Delai said he had looked from the other end of the field,” Tabakaucoro

recalls. “After 50 metres he had a feeling inside of him that the record would be broken.”

Winning gold “meant a lot” to him and while he was initially disappoint to be away from his family on his birthday that was erased by a surprise birthday call from Team Fiji officials early that morning and a birthday card which his family had written in and secretly given to one of the team members.

He says he now understands what makes him tick and how to prepare for events.

“I think I’ve finally discovered how to do psyche myself up. Sometimes I tend to over-think my races. The way I stay focused is that I’ll do my own training, I’ll think about the races for a few minutes, then I’ll switch off and think about other things as well. I think that’s the way I perform.”

Having been inspired by his participation in the World Championship this year, “I don’t want to focus my attention on all these local competitions, I just want to get out and compete abroad.”

The final decision on where to compete is made in consultation with coach Tafo’ou who has been Tabakaucoro’s track mentor since he was a 10-year-old.

Tafo’ou was banned for four years in 2011 by the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympics Committee after he and 10 others were found to have broken October 2013

WF2013 PACIFIC MINI GAMES

PERSONALITY

Fasanoc regulations by drinking kava and alcohol to celebrate Tabakaucoro’s treble gold triumphs in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the Pacific Games in New Caledonia that September. Tabakaucoro stood by his coach after the incident saying the punishment was “harsh” and “excessive” and that Tafo’ou would be retained, despite not being able to be accompany the athlete when he represented Fiji.

Tabakaucoro estimates he has another three or four years left of his athletics career and hope to make the best of those years. And it helps that he has also grown out of the attraction to teenage lures.

“I think I’ve learnt how to stay focus more on my training; how much time to commit to my family and friends. I don’t need to go out every weekend to be with my friends. Now I can be on my own more often, staying focussed most of the time.”

His last event for the season will be the Grand Prix in New Caledonia in October after which he takes a rest before resuming his training in late November, through the holiday season and into the new year.

“It was hard at first being a teenager; training through Christmas and New Year is very hard. But then again, I’ve done it so much I’m now used to it.

“I don’t feel that if I’m not drinking October 2013

and not partying with the rest of my family that I’m missing out. Even just being around them is enough for me.”

He has also begun to think about life after athletics. He is now leaning towards physiotherapy and becoming a personal trainer when the time comes to quit competitive running.

“It will be something new. I haven’t really tried training a person so I have no idea what it’s like.”

Even after competitive running, he wants to continue being an athlete and is inspired by the example of Graham Southwick, the Fiji Fish Limited managing director and veteran of some 50 regional meets. Southwick, who at 68 was the oldest Team Fiji rep at the Wallis and Futuna Games, led the youngest in the squad to win the team hobie cat gold medal.

“It doesn’t really matter how old you are,” says Tabakaucoro. “After the games we had a chat together in the physio room and I think Graham really taught me a big lesson.”

“I want to be on that edge all the time and keep a positive mindset.”

But for a 21-year-old, it’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be 68, so he is content to just keep his mind on the present and hope it all works out the way he would have wanted it.

“I just want to be the best Banuve I R can be.”

DIGICEL FIJI

Birthday run Ratu Banuve Tabakaucoro, second from left, shaves a second off Jone Delai’s Pacific 100m record on 4 September in Wallis and Futuna.

Horsing around Tabakaucoro pulls a face

while Digicel Fiji workers get their teeth into his gold medals at a celebration event for him.

“I was my own enemy,” he says of his high school years.

“I pressured myself too much. Instead of pleasing myself, I was too worried about pleasing other people. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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salon

PHOTO MONTAGE: CRICK PHOTO COURTESY EVAN NAQIOLEVU/BACKGROUND JOSIE CRICK/PACIFIC-ART/

TRIBUTE

Just Josie Seen in this 2011 picture, Josie was a colourful character as evidenced by a painting of hers in the background titled ‘Farewell at Sea’, appropriate since Josie was given a sea burial last month in the Suva Habour near the spot where her husband Leonard Crick was also buried.

Josie and her beautiful soul

By VERONICA THOMS

I

got to know Josie in more recent years but we immediately became firm friends and Ono Street in Samabula became a frequent stop between Suva and home in Lami.

Known to many as Aunty Josie, every where I went people knew her, and I made even more friends.

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It wasn’t long before my kids had met her too and they don’t nag much but going to visit Aunty Josie was one thing they would ask for, and God forbid if you said you would take them and she wasn’t home or you didn’t stop in.

The welcome was always “hello, my darlings!” with one of her all-encompassing hugs and one of those Fijian kisses where you are literally inhaled.

And she welcomed everyone into her home. Everyone dropped in: artists,

mataqali, acquaintances, and she had many overseas visiting artists stay with her.

Her late husband Leonard Crick had cancer and was given a few years to live, but he lived well past 10 years beyond that. Around the time he passed away we were talking about that and I remarked that that is what the love of a good woman does for you. She would doctor him with the herbal tonics she would whip up in the blender for anyone October 2013

Reminiscing a Fijian icon Josie was a great and wonderfully gorgeous lady. Talented to boot with a most loving and generous personality that was too big for this world. She was family and a big sister with a voice that commanded attention and a laugh that would brighten any dark space. There is nothing that can describe the pain within us all for we have lost a most inspiring and God-given woman. Thank you my dear for all you have given, for all that you shared and for all your warm hugs. I’m going to miss you so, so much. Bye for now my sister, I shall be looking for those colourful and bright flowers in the sky! ~ Lambert Ho, fellow artist and friend.

“She could see right through you and touch your soul.“ Talei Draunibaka

“A woman has no right to sorrow!”

Christopher Vanua remembers this quip as Josie would elegantly sip her vino.

When I first walked into Josie’s home, I was a stranger and very ill.

Within hours her skilful knowledge of Fiji herbs had worked their magic and I have remained well ever since.

I left five days later having gained a very special friend who, among other things, introduced me to the delights of duruka. Such a huge heart she had and such love she gave to us all ~ Rondo Blue who turned up with an ailment. I am not overly fond of such concoctions so we drank lemongrass tea or red wine.

Josie seemed to know everyone and make friends everywhere, not a hard thing to do for such a jovial outgoing person. She taught herself art, and this only widened her group of friends.

She could be found everywhere from her regular hangouts such as the Yacht Club, to Alliance Française, organising art shows, receiving art awards, and travelling and showing her work. Her most recent jaunt was to the Solomon Islands for the Festival of Pacific Arts a year ago. She was unable to make it to London to see her work hanging at the Commonwealth Society as one of the artists who was given an award for her contribution to the arts.

Her art work was bright, colourful and seemed to reflect those qualities and her larger-than-life personality. She probably gave away as many paintings as she sold: wedding presents, birthday presents, farewells, thank you gifts.

But then she was always giving, in every sense, she always shared everything with whoever was around, be it her art, a meal, her herbal tonics, or her advice.

October 2013

salon TRIBUTE

She was a lady who could fit in with anyone. We’ll miss her infectious and distinct laughter, her positive and spiritual outlook on life through her art. She was also amazingly generous with her art, giving it away and not expecting anything. Everyone loved Aunty Josie – and they came from all walks of life. We are sure Peter is proud of his mum’s achievements and her legacy, as we are. We’ll miss her usual words when we depart, “OK see you my darling (luvequ). Love you.”

Till we meet again. ~ Loloma from the Naqiolevu family and one of your best mates Jese Wade and family in Australia.

“She touched everyone’s heart with her warmth and grace.” Buka Sokovagone “Josie had a personality that was too big for this world.”

Lambert Ho

I have been smiling a lot since the night she passed on as I remember lots of little things, see all the tributes, and the photos everywhere that just capture her cheeky spirit. She always had a funny, often racy comment no matter the situation, and it would be accompanied with a huge laugh. If there was a camera nearby, she always struck a pose; there are so many beautiful photos.

She has left a big void in so many places, the art world and our lives among many. The full realisation she has gone will really hit home in those moments when I spontaneously go to drop in, or think of having a drink with her, and she won’t be there.

Josie is survived by her son Peter Navavia, who is equally as artistic as his mother creating his own masterpieces in the kitchen. He is a chef in Auckland, having worked as a chef on Waiheke Island.

Josie, we will miss you, but we know you have joined your beloved Len, and we know that you will still be there looking out for us all. ~ Veronica, Lauren, Harlan and Alana

R

Jasiliva ‘Josie’ Navavia Crick 20 May 1958 ~ 11 September 2013 In 2003, Crick received what is considered France’s highest civilian honour, when she was made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters).

The award has been made since 1957 to recognise eminent artists and writers, and people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.

She also received the Fellow of Royal Society of Arts Award, London and the certificate from the Royal Commonwealth Society, Fiji Branch in 2010.

See her profile at pacific-art.org/josie/ republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |

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41

thelastword Comment is free*

By NETANI RIKA

T

he Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma came full circle on 25 August when Reverend Josateki Koroi laid hands on Tuikilakila Waqairatu and ordained him to head Fiji’s largest Christian denomination.

Koroi – ousted as waves of ethnonationalism surged through the country and the church in the wake of Sitiveni Rabuka’s 1987 coup – returned after close to 25 years in exile. With fellow moderate Reverend Dr Ilaitia Sevati Tuwere he oversaw the transfer of the mantle of church leadership to the men they hope will chart a new course for close to 250,000 Methodists.

It was a hugely symbolic gesture.

At the Methodist Conference in 1989 in Suva’s Centenary Church, Koroi was shouted down by ministers and laity alike and driven into exile. Threatened with violence, his wife Nola humiliated by threats of sexual abuse, Koroi has lived most of his life since then on a farm at Pacific Harbour.

On 25 August the white-haired pastor returned to the building from which he was exiled to hand over leadership at an event which marked the beginning of the 2013 conference. Despite the prolonged stand-off between the Methodist Church and the interim government, Waqairatu and General Secretary Tevita Bainivanua are moderates in a largely conservative institution.

It is into the hands of these moderates that patriarchs Koroi and Tuwere placed the steering oar of the great Methodist drua. The gesture was a washing away of 24 years of bitterness, suffering and sorrow. It was symbolic of a fresh start, a rejection of past misdeeds and the close of a chapter best forgotten.

In the coming months, Waqairatu will wash the feet of his ministers as the church seeks forgiveness and healing.

The ministers will wash the feet of the people and the action, it is hoped, will spread throughout the land. The church has started to involve its non-iTaukei 42

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membership more through translation services during the conference.

Later there will be attempts to integrate bhajans (hymns) into mainstream liturgy. Language courses at the Davuilevu Theological College will prepare all students – iTaukei and Indo-Fijian – to minister to congregations of differing ethnicities.

These will not be easy changes to bring about but Waqairatu and Bainivanua are intelligent, deeply prayerful men who have the fortitude and courage to make this work.

The changes – lest others claim credit – are the outcomes of years of ecumenical study by both men in Fiji and abroad along with much prayer and reflection.

Tuikilakila and Banivanua inherit a church rich with tradition, financially challenged because of State-imposed restrictions, broken by the mistakes of the past.

For these men – both from Moala – the task will be to heal, rebuild and direct. Perhaps it is fitting that they have been placed in charge of the new journey. When the Methodist Church in Fiji became independent of the Australasian Conference in 1964, its first president was Reverend Setareki Tuilovoni from the neighbouring island of Matuku. Both islands are part of the Yasayasa Moala Group, known for their strong sense of independence, a quality Waqairatu and Bainivanua will need on their journey.

It will be no easy task to convince the church – clergy and laity alike – to make the changes necessary in a rapidly developing world. Waqairatu wants to see less church buildings constructed in a society in which places of worship symbolise wealth and devotion. He has proposed tithing instead of annual gatherings to circumvent the difficulty of arranging national fundraising events and wants to evangelise to all people by feeding the poor through a network of soup kitchens.

We can expect to see during his tenure an increased effort to involve the Indo-Fijian community and make them

feel they are equal members of the church despite their dwindling numbers. Traditionally the Methodists have been part of the three-legged stool concept central to the iTaukei psyche.

Lotu (religion or the church), vanua (tradition and the land) and the matanitu (State) are the legs of the stool on which the iTaukei have sat quite comfortably. Most Methodists saw the church as an extension of the State and the vanua.

Indeed, the lines tended to become so blurred that they sometimes merged as one. It was this which led dissidents in the church led by Reverend Manasa Lasaro to side with Rabuka in 1987 and push for a Christian state and a ban on Sunday activities.

When Rabuka stepped back from a total Sunday ban, Lasaro put the Methodists on the streets in an attempt to force the government to reconsider.

Lasaro spent 30 days in prison, was pardoned by Rabuka and then sought revenge on Koroi.

Today the church – not of its own accord – appears to have severed links with the State. Gradually it will move further away from political influence to the position it held in Fiji from 1835 – a voice of prophecy pointing out to the people the error of their ways, urging leaders to act justly and compassionately.

Waqairatu will need a firm hand to steer the Methodist drua through uncharted waters of change as the seas of State-imposed restrictions, doubt over past actions, impending elections and the rapid growth of new churches toss this massive vessel about.

The support of Bainivanua will be valuable but Waqairatu will need the faith of his ministers – the crew – and the laity or passengers that he has the ability to lead through the tumult to R safe harbour. n Netani Rika is an award-winning journalist who covered the Methodist troubles for The Fiji Times from 1988-1989. A convert to Catholicism, he is the son, grandson and great-grandson of Methodist missionaries.

October 2013

*But facts are sacred. ~ CP Scott

Methodists break 25-year coup ‘curse’

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October 2013