Moving (slowly) in
pp. 21-22 · Read in the full issue
Interview
Moving (slowly) in the right direction
Dr Brij Lai, an academic at the Australian National University in Canberra, represented the Fijian Indian community on the constitution review comittee. He speaks to Kalinga Seneviratne Dr Lai: I think it's a major breakthrough. I can't imagine the consequences, if they had failed. It's a "move In the right direc tion, The constitution we've got has
embraced the spirit of our report, which is the need for Fiji to have a mul tiethnic government.
PIM: But there are some critics today who say that it has not really done that. It's not adopted many of your recommen dations. What have you got to say to them?
Dr Lai: As I said, they [parliament] have accepted the spirit of our report. It's a move towards a more open system. A move towards a more democratic pro cess, which has put in place institutions which will ensure accountability in gov ernance - the Bill of Rights, Human Rights Commission, code of conduct.
The constitution has accepted the select committee system which basically miti gates the adverserial effects of the
Westminster system. There is something called a compact, which basically enshrines values and principles which political parties have to take into account when forming governments.
The affirmative action programme rec ommended by us has been accepted by the constitution amendments. It's much more inclusive. Also, for the first time, we have open seats where people vote without consideration for race or com
munalism. The points they [critics] are making, I suppose, is on the composi tion of parliament, the electoral system.
Our view was that Fiji should move gradually, but decisively, in the direc tion of free, open and non-racial elec tions. To that end, we recommended that two-thirds of the seats be open seats and the other third be reserved for ethnic groups. What the constitution or the joint-parliamentary committee
has done is to reverse the order. I think it will be inappropriate for me to com ment on why it was done, because there would have been political reali ties in Fiji to be taken into account. As you know, the 1990 constitution had no open competitition at all. Perhaps, they are not moving as fast as in the direction the commission recommend ed, but they are moving In the right direction. ■