Repúblika | Insert | Changing of the Guard | March 2014

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Insert to RepĂşblika | March 2014

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Tikoitoga takes over

Soldiers hail their ‘David’ as Bainim

By RICARDO MORRIS

I

f the weather had not intervened and delayed the handover of the military command on 1 March, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama would have been in the role for exactly 15 years when he stood down as army chief.

The handover on 5 March took place 15 years and five days to the day Bainimarama took charge of an institution that would come to have a huge role in the reshaping of this country.

On 1 March 1999, Bainimarama was made commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and promoted to commodore. Before that he had been the RFMF chief of staff for a year-anda-half.

Just over a year into his role as commander, the May 2000 civilian 2

coup unseated Mahendra Chaudhry’s year-old government and brought Fiji to its knees again – for the second time in 13 years.

In November 2000, with the country just beginning to recover from the economic and psychological disaster from May, the military was plunged into the biggest crisis it has ever faced – a mutiny in the heart of the institution at Queen Elizabeth Barracks.

Bainimarama was at the barracks that day and managed to escape after loyalist soldiers shepherded him out through the back of army camp. One of them was Ratu Silivenusi Waqausa of Bau, who took a bullet in his head, and lived to tell the tale.

Bainimarama, quite rightly, regarded the mutiny as a direct challenge and an affront to his command. And he

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threw the gauntlet down: soldiers were either with him or against him.

The mutiny marked Bainimarama profoundly and he would dedicate the ensuing years to making sure those responsible for that uprising and preceding events were put behind bars.

Thirteen years after the mutiny, Bainimarama was sat in a shed on the same ground where rebel soldiers launched their attack, being thanked in the traditional Fijian ceremony of vakavinavinaka for his 39-year service to the military.

The men Bainimarama once commanded were sat on the very ground that marked the turning point for a military that had until November 2000 never countenanced such an insurrection.

Making the presentation to BainiMarch 2014

RFMF COMMANDER 2014

marama hands over to Tikoitoga marama, the commanding office of the Third Infantry Regiment, LieutenantColonel Manoa Gadai likened the outgoing commander to the biblical character of David, who stood against and slayed the giant Goliath.

Gadai said the RFMF had gone through some of the most tumultuous times in the 15 years that Bainimarama was commander but that he had been able to steer the military and the nation through it.

“You were a ‘David’ in the midst of the ‘Goliaths’ within the government of that time, those using chiefly status for gain,” said Gadai, who spoke in the Bau dialect, according to an RFMF translation on its website.

Gadai added the RFMF was happy that despite the threats to Bainimarama and his family he “maintained the March 2014

course” for what he believed in.

Fiji’s history, Gadai said, would have been very different had the coup and mutiny of 2000 succeeded and he thanked Bainimarama for his courage in handling them.

Earlier in the morning, Bainimarama had given his final speech as commander during a farewell church service and had taken part with his officers in holy communion.

Amid silent tears from his family, and some of his men, Bainimarama said while he was sad at leaving his chosen career, he needed to complete the “revolution” the military had begun through his political movement.

“Today, I leave behind my 39-year career in the RFMF to become a civilian and lead a political movement to contest the 2014 general election – a

political movement that we all started together.

“I have to admit to a feeling of regret because I am leaving a job that I dearly love. I will miss you all and the camaraderie of military life.

“I am intensely conscious of the solemn duty that rests with me to continue the revolution that we began together seven years ago – to create a new Fiji, a better Fiji for ourselves and for future generations.”

Bainimarama reiterated what he sees as the RFMF’s role as “guardian of the nation and the protector of every Fijian. And this duty is now guided by our nation’s Constitution, which it is your solemn duty to defend and protect.

He added: “As a Force, we are committed to the highest standards of

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RFMF COMMANDER 2014

morality and conduct. We must always do what is right and just, not what is expedient.”

The man who took over from Bainimarama, BrigadierGeneral Mosese Tikoitoga (who was promoted that day), has been an unwavering righthand man of Bainimarma’s.

Following the handover, Tikoitoga immediately asserted his loyalty to the 2013 Constitution which he acknowledged the military helped bring into existence.

“As the new commander of the RFMF, I want to solemnly declare before the nation of my commitment to the 2013 Constitution which incorporates the vision that we all share for a new and better Fiji. Under my command the RFMF will obey, defend and protect the Constitution and the new democracy that together we are all creating,” Tikoitoga told the media.

Tikoitoga also referenced the “revolution” started by Bainimarama, sayign the military would remain “independent” but support the Bainimarama government.

“That revolution continues to this day, and we have its climax later in the year with the first genuinely democratic elections in our nation’s history,” Tikoitoga said.

Jone Baledrokadroka, a former Fiji land forces commander, who moved to Australia after being implicated in an alleged plot to kill Bainimarama, has worked along Brigadier Tikoitoga and praised his selection, Radio New Zealand International reported. Baledrokadroka says he is the best candidate for the job, as an infantry man commanding a mostly infantry force and with international training.

“His mentality I think is firmly embedded in the apoliticalness of the military and I hope he brings that sort of training to bear on the future of Fiji’s politics,” BaleR drokadroka said.

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About Brigadier Mosese Tikoitoga

B

rigadier Mosese Tikoitoga comes from Muani, Ravitaki, Kadavu was born at the Suva Colonial War Memorial Hospital and educated at Dudley High School.

He joined the Republic of Fiji Military Forces in 1981 and Commissioned into the Officers Corp in 1988. He was seconded to the Australian Defence Force as an Instructor in the Land Warfare Center from 1999 to 2001.

Prior to current position in the Republic of Fiji Military Forces he has also served as Commanding Officer to the United Nations Security Forces in East Timor, Commanding Officer of the Force Training Group, Commanding Officer of the First Battalion Fiji Infantry Regiment under the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and the Chief of Staff Land Force Commander. In 2008, he was seconded to the Ministry of Provincial Development and served as the Commissioner Central Division. He returned to the RFMF as the Land Force Commander in October 2010. 05 Mar 14 appointed Commander Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

Brigadier Tikoitoga attended the Joint Staff College in Australia and the National Defence College in India. Apart from his military courses qualifications he holds double degrees: Master in Management in Defence Studies from Canberra University, Australia and a Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University, India.

He is married to Mrs Jiutajia Saukuru Tikoitoga and they have two girls and a boy. n WWW.RFMF.MIL.FJ

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March 2014