NZ PM OFFENDS 30-MILLION+ OVER FIJI

By Maggie McNaughton
NZ Herald

Leprosy Mission NZ are shocked at Helen Clark's 'insensistive and discriminatory' use of the word 'leper'.
A throwaway line has landed the Prime Minister in hot water after she was accused of offending 30 million leprosy sufferers.

Helen Clark came under fire after she said Fijian coup leader Frank Bainimarama would be "treated something like a leper" if he attended the Pacific Islands Forum meetings.

Leprosy Mission New Zealand is demanding an apology from the Prime Minister to leprosy sufferers worldwide for her "shockingly inappropriate" comment and a promise that she never use the word "leper" again.

It is the second time that a casual remark has caused her problems.

In September, she was forced to apologise to people offended by her use of the word "cancerous" to describe Don Brash, National's then leader.

Helen Clark could not be reached for comment last night.

Leprosy Mission New Zealand executive director David Hill said yesterday that her use of the word leper was insensitive.

"[She] is promoting stigma and discrimination by using the word 'leper' when she means that Bainimarama will be ostracised by the South Pacific leaders," Mr Hill said.

Advertisement"Indicating that Bainimarama will be treated like a leper is degrading and insulting to the millions of people, who through no fault of their own, have had or have leprosy.

"Stigma such as this not only makes it more difficult for people to come forward for treatment, it often leads to human rights abuses.

"People affected by leprosy should be treated the same as everyone else - they are no different."

The World Health Organisation says there were 8646 registered cases of leprosy in the western Pacific region in 2005.

In September, Helen Clark's description of her political opponent as a "corrosive and cancerous person within the New Zealand political system" backfired.

ADMIN: And this from the PM of NZ !!!

A Herald-DigiPoll survey found that 73.6 per cent of people thought the comment was "not okay".

"I'm sorry if people have taken offence," she said at the time. "But clearly it is not a description one applies to people with cancer.

ADMIN: Yeah right !!!

"I think people should consult their dictionaries."

UNIONS KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG

Thakur Ranjit Singh, Auckland, New Zealand

I was amused to hear the statement of one of the unions going on proposed national strike. Fiji nurses Association Secretary believes that the nationwide strike would be a message to the interim administration that the plight of workers needs to be heard and looked into.

Perhaps the trade union movement in Fiji will care to tell us who hears and looks into the plight and pathetic pay, exploitation and abuse of bulk of Fiji’s non unionized workforce and poor people in the informal sector, who do not have full year’s job, let alone having a union. And how about those without jobs who cannot worry about 5% pay cut because there is nothing to cut from! The failure of union movement in Fiji to unionize and protect the vulnerable, unprotected employees in the mostly locally- owned retail and private manufacturing and commercial workers is a shame on the trade union movement.

This is a wake up call for Public Sector unions which have been draining the scarce funds from national coffers made worse by an incompetent leadership, which abdicated common sense and prudence to govern by agreeing to union demands that would have led to bankruptcy. This expedient action in appeasing the unions by signing away money that the government could not afford to pay was a reflection of sort of blinkered - mentality leadership that would have resulted in economic doomsday for Fiji had it not been for the event of 5 December, 2006.

Fiji government was run like a failing and ailing village cooperative store, heading towards receivership and bankruptcy. Like handing tins of fish free to your kins, the last government signed away pay increases to buy industrial peace. No wonder, despite so much racism, concerns and unfair treatment in public service, there were hardly any objections from the now vocal union leaders who were bought with an undeserving and affordable pay rise.

The pay rise was undeserving because it was never linked to performance which to date is pathetic. The CEO of a government (Prime Minister) which spends 40% on civil service pay, 45 % on debt servicing, with only 15% left for development has no moral right to lead the nation. This is because it can go only one way – just like National Bank of Fiji, to bankruptcy. The nation’s economy can no longer sustain such a large public service that has little sympathy for national interest. Any government which on the eve of election commits to further pay increase despite such mismanaged national wealth does not deserve to govern. Unions that apparently gained from such callous management style of the government by being party to this crime on the nation also do not deserve any sympathy!

The leadership of trade union movement in Fiji has taken as elitist position. In fact I distinctly recall my days in Fiji Employers Federation (FEF) where the employer group was referred to as the poor organisation of rich employers while trade union movement in Fiji is referred to as a rich organisation of poor people.

You only need to look at the lucrative remuneration of the trade union leaders who are threatening to take the ailing country’s economy to ransom by abusing the freedom of association provision and playing Russian roulette with us. They either drive a union BMW vehicle, top of the range Mitsubishi or four wheel drive vehicles which the members paying the subscription can only dream of. On top of that most would be nearer to the remuneration package of Permanent Secretaries, if not exceeding that. While the workers were forced to take a 5% pay cut, none of them were prepared to lead by example and impose this restraint within their pay.

When the country goes on strike and normal Tomasi, Daya Ram and Harry would lose their day’s pay, the union leaders would not have lost anything - they will get their full pay. It is this elitist group that makes decisions affecting their remuneration, so their interest is very well protected, and out of tune with normal workers they represent.

You also need to ask these leaders how many air miles or air points have they amassed at union and /or taxpayers expense in attending umpteenth trade union meetings around the globe. How many times have they been to Geneva, Bangkok, Singapore, Turin (Italy), Manila, Kuala Lumpur and other parts of the world? It would be so numerous. One be may just ask, why aren’t those training and exposure opportunities shared with other lower ranked union officials and members who should also taste and experience the rich and leisurely life of their leaders. You may also care to ask what sense of responsibility they have learnt from so many overseas jaunts in how to manage trade union movement in a developing and ailing economy. What will they gain by killing the goose that lays the golden egg? No worker can gain by bringing financial and economic misery to their employers; you do not need to go to Geneva or Bangkok to learn this cardinal truth.

The country had gone through similar difficulties in 1987 and 2000 and workers were prepared to shoulder the sacrifices for the sake of the country. So what has changed now?

It is wrong for Fiji’s trade union movement to mislead us by saying that the economic situation is in dire straits because of military’s actions on 5 December. In fact we are thankful for the intervention or else Fiji would have been a failed state. We are thankful that our pension funds at FNPF have been rescued, and other incompetent and ailing institutions will be improved to retain and save jobs. Trade union movement should be thankful for this at least, rather than blaming the plight of Fiji on the military action.

On the retirement age, perhaps FNPF and the union movement can tell us, of the 4,000 or so members over 55 who are still working, how many have withdrawn their FNPF and invested it (or wasted it) or are getting pension as well as pay. So why should we allow greedy individuals to have double benefits while we have qualified teenagers striving to enter the job market. Fiji’s economy just cannot sustain it, and if people reaching 55 are unable to manage their financial position after years of working and with FNPF funds, then they should not expect the country to owe them a living. The nation also has a duty of care to younger population struggling to enter the job market.

My advice to the government is, let the strike go ahead. The military has ventured to clean up the country, and cleaning up the union movement should also be its aim. While I appreciate the efforts of trade unions in protecting specific rights of the workers, Fiji’s union movement needs to appreciate its wider national obligations and responsibilities. They are not operating in Europe, UK, Australia or NZ but are in a developing third world economy with many problems and massive unemployment. The government and Fiji’s economy cannot sustain this undeserving bulging payroll bill that eats up all development funds. That is the reason for our falling and failing infrastructure, medical services, water, roads and other economic and social ills.

Therefore the strike must go ahead for at least three reasons. Firstly, for every day’s strike, taxpayers will save about $200,000, carry it for a week and we are better off by $1m which we could channel towards improving medical facilities, and make sure some of it goes to my birthplace at Ba Government (Methodist Mission) Hospital.

Secondly, when civil servants are on strike, only then will we appreciate how well things could run with so few workers.

Finally, it will be a good excuse to teach the union movement about its responsibility to the nation and other people who are not even fortunate to hold a job, let alone go on strike which could kill the golden goose that feeds them the golden egg.

Therefore I urge the Interim Government to stop meeting the unions which have already made up their minds to go on strike, and alert Fiji’s people to prepare in advance to ride through the strike.

Those union members with conscience and feeling of national obligations may opt out from the strike. They can be part of the conscientious workforce that recognizes the wider meaning of union solidarity in a third word country with an ailing economy and a national purse that is fast running empty.

Go ahead, make my day; go on strike. God save Fiji. Let us all help God in saving Fiji.

E-Mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz
(About the author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is an Auckland-based third generation Indo Fijian migrant community worker, a commentator on Fiji affairs, a human rights activist and an advocate of good governance.)

WHEN A DEMOCRACY IS NOT A DEMOCRACY ?

Thakur Ranjit Singh, Auckland, New Zealand

Every man and his dog, and their leaders in New Zealand, Australia, USA, United Kingdom, EU and other corners of the Pacific and the world are crying for elections in Fiji.

It appears that these gurus and proponents of democracy simply believe that democracy measured by elections is panacea and solutions to all problems in Fiji. As Father Kelvin Barr, a learned commentator and respected Reverend and elder in Fiji recently said, the great flurry of activity in hastily pushing Fiji to supposedly democratic elections has become very interesting and perhaps amusing. It seems the international community and the supporters of democracy think that no sooner Fiji holds elections and returns to democracy than all its problems will be over. All the international organisations will accept it with open arms, there would be great rejoicing and partying and international community will sit back satisfied that democracy has been restored in Fiji.

It is such a great pity that what we learn from history is that we do not learn anything from history. By now, Fiji and the world should have learnt that democracy measured by elections is not a panacea.

History is repeating itself in Fiji. After coups of 1987 and 2000, similar pressures were exerted on Fiji to return to parliamentary democracy as quickly as possible. This happened and the international community was overjoyed to welcome Fiji back into the democratic fold. But Fiji’s basic problems were not solved by mere elections. When these problems raised their ugly head under a racist, nepotistic and corrupt Qarase regime that was dragging the country to economic and moral decay and bankruptcy, the international community which had urged Fiji towards elections were in deep slumber. The now vocal neighbours New Zealand and Australia seemed unconcerned.

No fact finding missions came from the Commonwealth or the UN. No Eminent Persons were selected to look into the problems. Helen Clark, Winston Peters, John Howard and Alexander Downer did little to put pressure on a racist regime to act in the interests of all its citizens and deliver social justice that a democracy was supposed to deliver to all its people, irrespective of race and social status. New Zealand was in a state of deep democratic slumber because they had seen to it that a democratically elected government was in place and that was all that was required. They were only jolted to reality when the horse had already bolted and they hastily ran to lock the stable door by sending a special air force jet to Fiji to fetch Qarase and set up a king maker and peace-broker deal in Wellington. When Bainimarama refused to agree to the sleepy deal, that incident became the sour grape for Helen Clark and Winston Peters. Therefore the unprecedented vindictive venom against Fiji in general and Bainimarama in particular by them and their unforgiving and inflexible attitude towards Fiji is understandable.

But how about the fundamental problems in Fiji that are the root cause of the so called coup culture? Who will go to the bottom of that? Nobody seems to be interested in the multitudes of fundamental issues that Father Kelvin Barr had identified in his recent writing. Among them are the agenda of the nationalist who want Fiji for Fijians and declare Fiji a Christian state, the racially explosive mix of fundamentalist religion and extreme nationalism found in Assembly of Christian Churches in Fiji which has a strong influence on the political and social process, the inherent conflicts and tensions within Fijian chiefly families and confederacies, the culture of corruption, nepotism and cronyism, the economic policy which makes rich richer and poor poorer and the racially divisive electoral process.
Apart from the above, there is an urgent need of a well conducted census and leading from that, creation of fair and proper electoral boundaries. And most fundamental of all is the voter education about the nature and purpose of democracy.

Mere timetables for elections are not permanent solutions to Fiji’s problems. What we need is serious consideration and strategies to address the fundamental problems identified above. That is what Frank Bainimarama and the Interim Administration has been working towards. However, the international community has been so obsessed with the elections and democracy that they are blind to see the fundamental ills that the clean-up process is supposed to address. Setting up of the Council for Building a Better Fiji for All is a positive step in this direction, to attempt to root out the evils of the coup culture.

The recent statement from the deposed Prime Minister against this charter from his safety and exile in Mavana in Lau is understandable. This is because such a charter and clean up will remove the fodder of deceit and racial divisiveness which has been putting Qarase’s fundamentalist nationalist party in power under the guise of democracy. It is guise of democracy because in remote villages there is little semblance of democracy, people vote who the chiefs tell them to vote. In addition the nationalist propaganda and handout mentality under the guise of the racist affirmative action ensures that the vote could be easily bought at taxpayer expense from improvised simple villagers. The poverty in rural and urban Fiji have gone from bad to worse under past nationalist regimes where a new breed of rich favoured indigenous Fijians, the Fijian Holdings club, have been getting richer and have now created a new Fijian elite under Qarase regime. They have been the recipients of fruits of the racist affirmative action! Apart from New Zealand’s myopic views on Fiji, Australia’s John Howard has also revealed his hypocrisy.

In trying to tackle child-abuse crisis plaguing many indigenous communities, Australian Prime Minister Howard last week has moved to take over the Northern Territories Aboriginal lands and effectively strip thousands of indigenous people of their fundamental human rights.

John Howard has justified his breach of constitution with a simple rhetoric: “"What matters more, the Constitutional niceties, or the care and protection of young children?"

How conveniently he forgets: "What matters more, the Constitutional niceties, or saving Fiji from total corruption, financial and moral bankruptcy and heading towards social upheaval?"

Michael Green, the expelled High Commissioner from Fiji might have been doing what his Government asked but did his Government have the right to ask Green to go to subordinate officers and encourage them to overthrow Bainimarama? Was that legal, ethical, moral or under any convention?

They got it wrong in Solomons. They got it wrong in Tonga. They believe the 20 to 30 year old green NGO staff who have little real life experience, have no idea of what makes a country tick, have no understanding of economics and have no long-term vision. Yet they are the ones who write up any kind of reports to maintain their pay, flow of funds and New Zealand and Australia take such jaundiced reports as the gospel truth. Fiji is going to be the same: bullied into submission while corruption/economic destruction takes it on the road to Zimbabwe's hyper inflation! Now, wouldn't that be in interest of Australia and New Zealand?

It is essential for Australia and New Zealand to understand how democracy works in third world poor countries and how the leaders there can exploit it for their personal and political gains while showing all the niceties of a democratic government. The SDL Governments showed this deceit in the past.

Therefore should New Zealand and Australia wish to know more about the Pacific, they need to employ some Pacific and Fiji migrants in their Foreign Affairs to understand the Pacific, not second hand from teenage NGO staff or shoddily fed from their High Commission’s cocktail- circuit- blazing and night –club partying staff. Furthermore, it is in interest of New Zealand and Australia to make Fiji into a vibrant and thriving democracy like them. To do this they should stop kicking Fiji in the teeth and give it a helping hand.

Like her big brother neighbour and John Howard, Helen Clark also needs to ask: What matters more, the Constitutional niceties, or promoting and strengthening democracy in Fiji and removing the underlying reasons for the coup culture? The ball now is in New Zealand’s court to show its political and regional maturity in strengthening a fledging democracy in Fiji.

E-mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz
(About the author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is an Auckland-based third generation Indo Fijian community worker, a commentator on Fiji affairs, a human rights activist and an advocate of good governance.)