Bavadra Keeps The Flame Alive

Fiji

In our exclusive interview, the ousted PM reveals his mission

ACCORDING to Dr Timoci Ba vadra, deposed Fijian Prime Min ister and now leader of the newly formed South Pacific Progressive Parties Association, the ousted Coalition is still Fiji’s true democratic government and is determined to regain power.

In an exclusive interview, Dr Bavadra told Pacific Islands Monthly that the Co alition’s “peaceful, non-violent approach” to the question of Fiji’s political future has paid off. “The Army is no longer harass ing Coalition leaders or their supporters,” he said, “and while some key members have left the country or have taken up ap pointments elsewhere, the core of the Co alition is very much intact.

“Somebody has to be there to respond to calls by Coalition supporters; they and we all want democracy back. They cannot look to the Government because it was this Government that took democracy from them.” Dr Bavadra said the Coalition faced the enormous task of alerting indigenous Fijians to the implications of Fiji becom ing a republic and whether there was a genuine need to alter the Constitution.

“Fijians who originally supported the cause of‘Fiji for the Fijians’ are realising their mistake,” he said. “The country is in confusion: the Mara-led Government is not a civilian government, since there are four serving Army officers in key portfolios.

“But the real problem is that the Government is attempting to govern in isolation. There is no consultation with the people, and the approach is dictatorial: while on one hand the Government says the new Constitution will safeguard the interests of all the communities in Fiji, Rabuka continues to say that it will guar antee Fijian supremacy. He also says that the Constitution will be studied by a multi racial committee but that the Great Council of Chiefs will have the final say!”

Speaking at the end of a whirlwind tour of Australia in March, to attend the in augural meeting of an association of South Pacific Labour parties in Melbourne, Vic toria, and to meet with PM Bob Hawke and Foreign Minister Bill Hayden he said the trip was highly successful in explaining to Labour Party supporters and sympathis ers the strategy Labour leaders will pursue in their bid to regain political power in Fiji.

“The first task,” he said, “is to restore confidence both at home and abroad. The brain drain, unemployment, rising infla tion, rising cost of living, lack of invest ment and declining tourist numbers these are the issues that need urgent atten tion.” The only way the situation can be

reversed, Dr Bavadra believes, is by return to his Government’s multi-racial ap proach. “The Taukei movement is losing ground because some elements within the movement have become disenchanted with progress,” he said. “Most Taukei sup porters have withdrawn from active in volvement because they feel they’ve achieved their aims.

“But there’s another group that’s now out on a limb; it has joined forces with the Fijian Nationalist Party and is lending its support to an anti-Mara campaign. All this simply weakens not only the Taukei and its legitimacy, but foreign confidence in Fiji administered by and for Fijians alone.

What’s left of the Taukei has adopted a much more practical and softer stance with the loss of jobs and hardship all round, which have affected everyone re gardless of race, the Taukeis have realised that for Fiji to survive and progress every one has a role to play, be they Indians or Fijians.”

One Taukei group, he says, has actually approached the Coalition to discuss ways in which both movements could work to gether. “I haven’t responded directly,” Dr Bavadra said, “but they are very keen to hold discussions. I have not been secretive about my position: it’s multi-racialism, and it was through multi-racialism that I was able to work on some ethnic Fijian issues.

“If the Taukeis want to work together with the Coalition, they will have to accept a multi-racial approach. The response to that stance has been encouraging, and I will be pursuing dialogue with them more seriously on my return to Fiji. Day after

day Fijians are realising that for the coun try to survive it will have to have Indian participation in the economy; Fijians on their own are not succeeding.”

However, Dr Bavadra also expressed his and the Coalition’s disappointment at the haste with which Australia had recog nised the current regime in Fiji, and its restoration of aid which he feels is fail ing to reach the people for whom it was in tended. “Before restoring aid,” he said, “Australia should have found out whether genuine efforts were being made to restore democracy, and should have attached conditions to the aid package such as moves toward a Constitution acceptable to all Fijians.”

Dr Bavadra expressed to Australian PM Mr Hawke his concern over human rights and basic freedoms in Fiji today. Radio and the press were under Government control or self-censorship.

Mr Hawke told Dr Bavadra that Aus tralia had already been in the process of reviewing its policy of recognition moving toward recognition of states rather than governments when the question of recognising Fiji’s present Government arose. However, Dr Bavadra continues to feel Australia and the US “caved in under the threat of Fiji seeking closer relations with Indonesia, Japan and even Libya.”

Dr Bavadra’s message to Labour sup porters throughout Australia was clear: the Coalition is very much alive, and holds regular meetings. The bond of unity be tween Labour and National Federation Party leaders, he says, is strong and soli darity is intact. □

Dr Bavadra: Spreading the word to supporters.