EXENCIONES EN LAS OPERACIONES ASIMILADAS A LAS EXPORTACIONES. Estarán exentas del impuesto, en las condiciones y con los requisitos que se establezcan

This chapter will focus on proximate causes of conflict in Fiji as identified by respondents. In a conflict, the proximate causes are elements which usually lead to an environment which allows for conflict to escalate, such as an uncontrolled military, human rights abuses and so on (INEE, 2013: 54). Triggers of conflict, which were discussed earlier, are the obvious factors of conflict but the proximate and the structural factors are not so obvious. For conflict prevention reasons, it is equally important to understand the proximate and structural factors as they indicate deeper and systemic problems: ignoring these may result in a superficial approach to conflict prevention.

Two main issues were identified as proximate causes of conflict in Fiji: the practice of democracy and the role of military. Under the concept of democracy, a myriad of issues were identified, such as the regard for democracy as a ‘foreign flower’ among many politicians, the lack of mature democracy, the lack in

understanding of democracy and its link to human rights not just at the grassroots level but also among politicians. Additionally, respondents also felt that when development was successfully executed by illegal governments in power, it undermined the need for democracy, particularly when democratic governments of the past were unable to deliver significant development. People seem confused regarding the role of the military and there were different perceptions among the military and key informants on the need for civilian oversight of the military.

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DEMOCRACY

Is democracy really a key element in reducing conflict or is the quality of democracy more important? Proponents of the democratic peace theory take the position that democracies do not go to war with each other, implying that democracies are more peaceful in comparison with other forms of governance (Doyle, 1997; Elman, 1997; Brown, 1996). However, in recent years scholars and policy experts have cautioned against this claim. One of the arguments against democratic peace theory states that rapid democratization can lead to more conflicts and ‘illiberal democracy’, particularly when elected leaders restrict the

rights of people, abuse power, and fail to fulfil the democratic expectations of voters (Zakaria, 1997; Mansfield & Snyder, 1995; Goldstone 2010). While it is generally agreed that democracy is positive, the context of its development differs from country to country and newly democratic countries may not have the same respect for democracy as more mature stable polities. Scholars and policy makers agree that democracy in the modern era is inextricably linked to human rights and goes beyond institutional and political democracy as characterised by elections and governmental structures (World Bank, 2011).

This section will focus on four interrelated issues of democracy: regard for democracy as a ‘foreign flower’; the lack of a mature democracy; the understanding democracy; and the undermining of democracy.

Democracy a ‘foreign flower’

Similar to the views on coups, there is an assumption in Fiji that Indo-Fijians and Fijians view democracy differently, particularly as some prominent Fijians have

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stated that democracy is a ‘foreign flower’. A breakdown of findings on democracy by ethnicity is relevant. Figure 11 illustrates that 93% of Indo-Fijians and 76% of Fijian respondents consider democracy important for Fiji. Of 46 indigenous Fijian respondents, only three responded that democracy is not important for Fiji, while one said it was important as well as not important and six did not choose to respond to this question. One Indo-Fijian respondent out of a total of 15 did not respond to this question and the rest responded ‘yes’ to the question. This data invalidates the perception that Fijians view democracy as a ‘foreign flower’ as 76%

of the Fijians consider democracy to be important.

Figure 11: ‘Is democracy important for Fiji’ by Ethnicity

The next figure looks at why respondents consider democracy important or not important. 76% 93% 7% 14% 7% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Fijian Indo-Fijian NR Yes & No No Yes

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Figure 12: Why is democracy important for Fiji?

Figure 12 expands on why respondents think democracy is important for Fiji and links with Figure 14 (what does the term democracy mean to you?) below, as their responses correspond closely with each other. Respondents indicated that democracy was important because of freedom and rights as it allows people to voice their opinions (29%); creates cohesiveness in a multicultural society like Fiji (14%); allows equal opportunity for all citizens (14%); was good for development, particularly as it was more attractive for tourism (8%); international relations (3%); and only 2% specified accountability as an important factor. 14% of the respondents perceive democracy as a Western concept ‘that has no moral

foundation of truth’, others within this response category remarked that ‘conceptually democracy is good as it can be sensitive to the rights of all citizens but, in reality, corruption occurs within democracy’ and some felt that there needs

to be more education on democracy for it to be effective in Fiji. 17% of the respondents did not answer this question. It was not clear whether this was due to lack of understanding of the concept, their negative attitudes towards democracy

Freedom and rights 29% Good for development 8% International relations 3% _Equality 13% Creates cohesiveness 14% Accountability 2% Other responses 7% Western concept 5% Corruption occurs within democracy 2% NR 17%

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or due to apprehension as democracy is a sensitive issue in Fiji under the interim government.

Three of the four coups in Fiji were carried out by ousting democratically elected governments; therefore it was disquieting to see that there was no acknowledgement of accepting election results as a crucial part of democracy. Semi structured respondent data on the perception of coups and the importance of democracy was cross-tabulated to examine if there was any link. While this is not directly associated with ‘acceptance of election results’, it could give an

indication of whether those who viewed coups as bad may perceive democracy positively. Figure 13 shows that the outlook on coup and democracy correlates, as 56% of the respondents who viewed democracy to be important for Fiji considered coups as bad. However, a sizeable 19% of the respondents view democracy as important but contradict this by stating coups to be both good and bad and 7% regard the coups as good and consider democracy important as well. This trend is similar to the perception of coups in Fiji. One person justified this contradiction in their view as such; the coup is good ‘because it is what the people wanted when

they were not happy with the previous government’s leadership’ and democracy is

good because ‘Fiji is a melting pot of different races, cultures and traditions and

democracy can bring all together’. This suggests that while people may

understand the overarching terms of democracy, there is still a misunderstanding when it comes to the applicability of these concepts.

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Figure 13: Perception of democracy by perception of coups

During my research, no respondent or key respondent stated that democracy is a

‘foreign flower’70 _{to Fiji. This indicates that the individual view from the past has}

been generalized to assume that people from similar communities think alike.

Maturity of Democracy

In most developed countries, democracy has evolved over a considerable period of time to its present stage. During that process, countries experienced revolutions, coups d’état, power struggles and other forms of conflict and tensions.

For instance, democratization in the United States went through weak governments, decades of slavery, civil war, labour struggles and racial violence from the time of independence until the 1960s and continues to have many problematic social issues even in the present day (Goldstone, 2010: 3). Some key informants of this research suggested that democracy would similarly evolve in developing countries after trials and tribulations, hence the cycle of

70 _{The term “Democracy is a Foreign Flower” is commonly used in the Fiji media and has}

been used by some prominent leaders, including former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and therefore this research focused on this term.

7% 2% 3% 56% 3% 7% 19% 2% 2% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Yes No Yes & No NR

Good Bad

Both good and bad Perception of coups:

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authoritarianism followed by periods of democratization should not be viewed with too much of concern, particularly in the context of non-violent situations such as Fiji.

I think we are just a small country and we have a few issues to deal with in a young democracy and two strong cultures...it’s not an easy task but I hope that what this government has put into place, I think one day we will get to proper democracy, especially with the platforms that is laid down by the [current] government. (David Tonganivalu – Former Deputy Director of Public

Prosecutions)

Many countries that gained independence [in the West] had to fight for that, such as US which had the war of independence. So one of the most democratic countries in the world today went through a civil war and it wasn’t too long ago. Similarly other countries went through such strife to gain independence. So it could be that Fiji will eventually grow out of this stage. (Andrew Hughes – Former Commissioner of Fiji Police)

Understanding of Democracy

Democracy goes beyond the traditional notion of institutions and elections. Human rights based approaches have increasingly influenced democratic principles. Some of the core principles of democracy are citizen participation, equality, political tolerance, accountability, transparency, regular free and fair elections, economic freedom, restricting the abuse of power, acceptance of election results, the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights, multiparty systems and the rule of law (Beetham, 1999: 1-30). Some studies investigating people’s

understanding of democracy show that there is no consistent pattern among the democratizing developing countries (Bratton, Mattes, & Gyimah-Boadi, 2005;

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Diamond & Plattner, 2008; Geer, 2004). By contrast, studies by Dalton, Sin, & Jou, (2007: 147) indicate that increasingly people were going beyond democratic institutions and procedures to broadly identify democracy in terms of freedom and civil liberties. The findings below demonstrate the respondents’ understanding of

democracy.

Figure 14 shows that 84% of respondents indicated that they understood some elements of democratic principles as they highlighted freedom of expression and participation (29%), elections (28%), equality for all (14%), peace and unity through tolerance (8%) and the rule of law (5%). The largest percentage of respondents identified freedom of expression and participation with democracy but as usual, elections were strongly linked with democracy. A smaller group of 3% did not clearly state their understanding of democracy and 1% identified democracy with corruption and greed while 12% of all the respondents gave no response.

This data indicates that overall the majority of respondents understand the core principles of democracy. It is a concern that 12% of the respondents gave no response.

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Figure 14: What does the term democracy mean to you?

It is understandable that respondents identified freedom of expression and participation with democracy if one takes into consideration that, at the time of interview, their ability to voice any opposition to the government was curtailed. It is therefore to be expected that they are strongly aware of this lack since, under democratic governments, this freedom was widely exercised. Elections were also identified with democracy and this could be due not only to the accepted understanding of elections as an important element of democracy but also because people in Fiji had been disenfranchised since 2006 and keenly felt their lack of suffrage.

Key informants of this research stated that while people may rhetorically state some of the human rights related factors of democracy, they are unable to contextualize these factors within the governance of the country and therefore shift their allegiance for or against democracy in times of conflict. Some argued that because people do not have a good understanding of democracy, when a regime does provide infrastructure and services, people start being loyal to that

Freedom of expression and participation 29% Elections 28% Equality 14% Peace and Unity 8% Rule of law 5% Corruption and greed 1% Other responses 3% NR 12%

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government, irrespective of whether it is legal or illegal government or democratic or non-democratic government.

I think we have to have an educated population who understand the concepts of civic consciousness; human rights awareness raising and people have to invest in the rule of law. Which means that they have to solve things amicably, not through coups, not through conflict, and that’s a long term goal and it doesn’t happen overnight…you know [indigenous] Fijians never wanted to share power. This also comes out of an uneducated fear, because issues such as land are very entrenched in the constitution and no matter who comes into power, it cannot be changed by just one party. But the issue of land is ‘played’ on by those who should have known better. (Imrana Jalal - Human Rights Adviser)

Most of the trainings on human rights issues are at superficial level as they are done to create awareness. Also there is the issue of loyalty within the army, where loyalty seems to be considered above the rule of law. This lack of understanding is also within the wider community. For example, last week there was a ‘vanua’ from somewhere in Naitasiri that came to present their ‘tabua’ to apologise and say that this is the best government, because it has provided them with road. People don’t know that the government is not doing them a favour when they provide these infrastructures and services; it is government’s duty to do so, nothing fancy. What are the implications of these communities doing a turnaround and saying I support this government?

But I think many of us educated Fijians also question the capitalist component of democracy, for instance when it promotes nationalizing land. We like the social justice aspect of democracy but not the capitalist aspect of it. I wonder if democracy in Fiji could be promoted from a socialist perspective. (Laitia Tamata -

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Lack of understanding of the concepts of democracy and human rights is particularly challenging when leaders are selective in their application of democracy and human rights. Laisenia Qarase’s paradoxical view on democracy

and human rights when he was the Prime Minister espouses this stance.71

Some of the respondents also argued that for democracy to be really effective in Fiji it is important to have educated leaders (both traditional and modern leaders) trained and sensitised to uphold democratic principles when in positions of power.

You know political governance is such an important thing yet the people who get elected are the most ill-advised lot. I believe that training of the parliamentarians should be constitutionally mandated, just like in Singapore. Also to be a parliamentarian, people should have to fulfil certain criteria and when you become a politician, you become a career politician and nothing else on the side. They should be taught governance, development, finance and the whole works. Our politicians are a joke sometimes; some of them are not even literate while running ministries. Sometimes political colleagues who have failed in elections get nominated into senate, with little calibre for it. (Hassan Khan – Executive Director

of Fiji Council of Social Services)

They [the community and leaders] have had some human rights training but it has been a challenging process. The military response to human rights issues is no different from our powerful and abusive chiefs. They [the chiefs] know it’s [human

rights problems] there but they continue to side-line it. And these [the chiefs and military personnel] are educated people but they still think that loyalty to custom is

more important than human rights issues. So how can we have a strong democracy when people think loyalty to chiefs and culture is more important than

71 _{For more details on Qarase’s shifting stance on democracy and human rights, see page}

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accepting results of elections or are banding together with perpetrators in power?

(Laitia Tamata - Former Fiji Military Forces Lawyer & Human Rights Advocate)

Undemocratic Bainimarama Government undermines Democracy

For governments to be effective, they should be able to provide both long term and short term development. For new governments to have support from society, they need to provide some immediate benefits such as security, economic stability, reduction in corruption, and some social services (Goldstone, 2010: 10). The provision of immediate needs will build confidence towards the new order and if those needs are not met, people can turn to opposition groups (ibid.). This section discusses the argument that some people find the undemocratic Bainimarama government easier to accept due to the government’s ability to fulfil the peoples’ expectations, particularly their economic and social concerns. This is

in stark contrast to past democratic governments who have not been able to fulfil such expectations, thereby undermining in the minds of the people the need for democracy.

Since 2009, Bainimarama’s interim government has effectively provided services

such as free education, free textbooks and free transportation for all primary and secondary students, reduced transportation fares for citizens over 55 years of age, pensions for all 70 year plus citizens who have no source of income, equal distribution of native land royalty to all Fijians72, tertiary toppers scheme scholarships, tertiary loan scheme for other students, rural electrification in a number of rural villages, construction of roads in a number of rural areas, reduced

72

Prior to this change in policy, all native land royalties were distributed according to the traditional hierarchy, which meant that the chiefs would get the largest sums of the royalty while the commoners among the community would get the least amount.