April 20, 2008
By Michael Field
Common electoral rolls in Fiji, currently backed by the military dictatorship there, would see indigenous people "come out on top", Commonwealth negotiator Sir Paul Reeves claims.
A former New Zealand governor-general, Reeves was also a co-author of the 1997 constitution under which two further coups have occurred.
Reeves has been secretive about his negotiations in Fiji but gave some insights to them on Radio New Zealand on Sunday.
This included warning of unpleasant outcome should the Fiji military be down-sized.
Challenged on the racist nature of the Fiji electoral system, in which people have to give their race before going on electoral rolls, Reeves blamed the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) for the situation.
He said that in the 1997 he had hoped that by giving the GCC the right to be guardian of entrenched rights on land and culture they could have moved to common voting.
They did not agree to it.
"We do have to get rid of it," Reeves said of communal rolls.
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama wanted to move to a common roll.
"There are now many more indigenous Fijians in that country than there are Indo-Fijians," he said.
If there was a common roll, "I guess the indigenous Fijians would come out on top."
The military have suspended the GCC but Reeves says it remains an essential part of the future of Fiji.
"There is a great sensitivity and appreciation of the role of chiefs."
Reeves has been criticised for being too close to Bainimarama, including taking part in a Mexican wave with him at a rugby match.
"I am working in Fiji on behalf of the Commonwealth," he said.
"My way in, is up close and personal.
"That is the way I am working in Fiji, not from a distance, but next door to the people who ultimately and very intimately involved.
"Yes, I believe the role of the Great Council of Chiefs remains to be defined... but I havenıt heard them say the Great Council of Chiefs should be done away with."
He said he was not sure of how the military could be reduced in Fiji.
"No country in the Pacific needs an army the size of Fiji's Army, but of course it has many uses," he said.
Fiji has a standing army of around 3000 with reservists taking it up to a potential 10,000 strong.
Reeves, who has largely declined to comment on his recent actions in Fiji, said the countryıs military had its other uses, not least raising foreign exchange.
Many former Fiji soldiers now work in the security industry in Iraq and Afghanistan while a small number of current soldiers work in the Multinational Force on the Egypt-Israel border and in United Nations missions.
He warned of a danger of this was changed.
"The thought of under employed or non employed former military people being back in Fiji and being unhappy with a lot in life they find themselves is not a pleasant thing," Reeves said.
Copyright: Michael Field
