Iliesa Tora
RNZ Pacific senior sports journalist
The
traditional paramount chief of Lau province in Fiji says
immunity clauses sheltering past coup leaders cannot be a
stand-alone discussion.
Ratu Tevita Mara said Fijians
should also confront the economic disparity, and the drug
and HIV crisis in iTaukei communities, as the public
consultation phase of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill
begins this week.
He warned that conditions behind the
nation’s past upheavals remain unaddressed and the immunity
cover protecting past coup leaders from prosecution cannot
be addressed in isolation.
The Fiji Supreme Court, in
an advisory opinion in August, said that immunity provisions
in the 2013 Constitution cannot be changed.
Ratu
Tevita said he respects the Court’s opinion, but warned that
if the inequality and social problems exploited in past
political crises are not addressed, then lasting
reconciliation would not be achieved.
Fiji
has experienced four coups since gaining independence from
Great Britain in October 1970. It has also operated under
four constitutions, and the current Rabuka administration
has set in motion a constitutional reform process that could
result in a fifth constitution by the end of the
year.
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“Lasting reconciliation will not come from the
law alone, whatever the law provides,” Ratu Tevita
said.
“If we settle the question of immunity while
leaving untouched the inequality that was exploited in our
past upheavals, and the drug crisis now compounding it, we
will not have addressed the causes.”
He said 56 years
after independence, too many iTaukei families still stand at
the edge of the nation’s commercial life, on land and sea
that should be bringing them prosperity.
According to
official
statistics, 36 percent of the iTaukei population live
below the basic-needs poverty line, compared to 20 percent
of Indo-Fijians.
He believes these grievances were
left unaddressed and then exploited in 1987 and in
2000.
“Nothing can ever justify the taking of power by
force. But the conditions exploited then are still with us,
and they must be addressed now, not left to another
generation.
“Those conditions are made worse by the
crisis in our communities. Government has declared a
national HIV emergency, and with good reason.
“Around
nine in every 10 new HIV diagnoses last year were among
iTaukei, most of them young, and methamphetamine is driving
it.
“This is not a matter of shame to be hidden. It is
reaching into our villages and settlements, and the
vanua, our churches and every family must stand with
government in confronting it.”
‘Answer disrespect
with dignity’
Ratu Tevita, who is the son of Fiji’s
first prime minister, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, also
commented on recent remarks made by the leader of a Fijian
teachers’ trade union body.
Fijian Teachers
Association general-secretary Paula Manumanunitoga made a
Facebook post last week weighing in on the constitutional
reform debate currently dominating the country.
His controversial,
profanity-laden comments while defending Indigenous
chiefs and threatening to “roast” critics in earth ovens
sparked a major political storm, for which he later issued a
public apology.
Ratu Tevita said Manumanunitoga’s
remarks on social media showed how close to the surface
ethnic and political tensions remain.
While
acknowledging that the author has since apologised to the
Indo-Fijian community, Ratu Tevita said he does not condone
such threats.
“I do not condone threats against our
fellow countrymen and women. The chiefs of Fiji do not need
to be defended with threats.
“I understand the hurt
that moved some of our people to speak out in defence of our
chiefs. Much has been said, especially online, about our
chiefs and our traditional institutions that is deeply
disrespectful.
“It wounds the vanua, and those
who say such things should reflect on the harm they cause
but we answer disrespect with dignity, never with
threats.”
He said the Deed of Cession of 1874 and
independence in 1970 should remind people that Fiji has
become one nation for all its peoples.
Ratu Tevita
said people should always remember to make statements that
will lift Fiji and her people.
He pointed to the
recent statements by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces
commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, in which he said
that “a Fiji where the gun overrules the ballot is no
independence at all”.
He said all leaders must work
for the good of Fiji and help keep unity amongst all races,
as the nation works through issues like the constitution,
while also trying to find solutions to the ever-increasing
drugs and HIV
issues.
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