Oceania

Bainimarama Warns SDL Party

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s Interim Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has warned ousted Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, that his SDL party might not be included in the proposed President’s Political Forum if the party continues to criticize the interim government.

Spokesman for the SDL, Ted Young, says it is nothing that has not been said before but his party is surprised by the response, “The threats of excluding SDL from the forum would be a very counter-productive move, in fact the forum will not achieve its purpose if the biggest political party is absent from the Forum and it will be an unwise move on the part of the interim regime and Bainimarama to exclude SDL.”

Mr. Young believes the threat is a reaction of comments made by Mr. Qarase who is in Australia. Mr. Qarase has been unable to leave Fiji since he was charged with abuse of office after his government was overthrown in December of 2006. However, the High Court in Fiji altered his bail restrictions this week, allowing him to travel abroad as long as he is in Fiji in early March for his case’s hearing. He is in Australia lobbying for support of the SDL party and visiting family.

Meanwhile, the Fiji political situation will be discussed at a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in London next week. CMAG will meet in London next week to discuss Fiji and whether further measures need to be taken in light of the interim Government’s refusal to adhere to the May 1 elections deadline. Fiji was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth immediately following the 2006 coup.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times – CMAG to discuss Fiji at London meet – 27 February 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji interim regime threat undermines planned political forum – 24 February 2009

Fiji Daily Post – Qarase seeks help in Australia – 17 February 2009

World News Australia – Qarase free to visit Australia: reports – 12 February 2009

State of Emergency Regulations Will Continue in Tonga

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – The Tonga Government says state of emergency regulations will be in place until people in the capital city center feel safe again.

Nearly three years ago, the pro-democracy movement in Tonga turned violent, causing the death of eight and destroying Tonga’s capital city, Nuku’alofa. The riots erupted after the Legislative Assembly of Tonga adjourned for the year without employing promised reforms.

Following the violence in 2006, the government issued a 30 day state of emergency, and has since renewed those regulations on a monthly basis.

The state of emergency regulations were expanded in September, giving Tongan police the power to stop individuals, search them without a warrant, and even enter into and seize evidence from any vehicle, ship, or aircraft.

Citizens complain that the regulations are too restrictive, while the Government contends they are necessary to ensuring security.

While Police Minister, Siaosi Aho, recognizes that the regulations have tainted the people’s image of the police and government, he also says there is no foreseeable end to the “special laws.”

“And this is one of the things that has convinced me that I should continue [with the emergency regulations] is the fact that the people had completely lost faith and trust in the police. We are running a programme now, strategically, to bring back this trust,” Aho said.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Emergency powers in Tonga’s capital won’t go until people assure Government they feel safe – 25 February 2009

ABC Radio New Zealand – Tonga reimposes emergency regulations – 10 September 2008

AFP News Service – Tonga extends area under emergency powers – 10 September 2008

U.S. Court of Appeals Grants Fiji Family Political Asylum

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SAN FRANCISCO, United States – A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that a California man and his family who fled Fiji in 1998 in response to racially motivated beatings and death threats are eligible for political asylum.  The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reversed rulings by immigration courts against Rajeshwar Singh, his wife, Mohini Lata Singh, and their two children.

Mr. Singh’s father was killed by native Fijians in 1987 and the Singhs were under pressure to vacate their leased land so natives could move in according to their lawyer, Ashwani Bakhri.  Mr. Singh, a cabdriver in Fiji, was locked in the trunk of his taxi in 1996 by passengers who rolled the vehicle into a ditch, seriously injuring him.  His wife and young children were also attacked.  The Singhs, of Indian descent, said the violence against them was by Fiji’s native majority, who control the government.

The federal immigration board ruled that the family had not been persecuted which made them ineligible for asylum because they could not show that the police were unable or unwilling to protect them.  In a 3-0 ruling the appeals court said Singh had complained to police about the violence and had received no response.

The court ruled, “We have previously recognized the indifference of authorities to violence against Indo-Fijians during the period at issue in this case.”  The judges said the Singhs had been persecuted because of their ethnicity and probably would be persecuted again if they were deported back to Fiji.

For more information, please see:

San Francisco Chronicle – Fiji fear leads to asylum win for local family – 23 February 2009

Fiji Times – Fiji family qualifies for political asylum, US court rules – 24 February 2009

Ousted Chaudhry Says Reform Must Precede Elections

By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, said that Fiji must sort out its governmental problems before holding elections.  He says that reforms must be put in place if Fiji is to avoid another political coup in the future.
According to Chaudhry, Fiji’s problems are ones of fundamental governance and that the people of Fiji must admit that these problems exist before progress can commence.  The solutions to these problems, he said, must precede a return to democratic rule.
“We’ve had it for so long, we need to solve those problems,” he said. “Otherwise we will always have a turbulent democracy here, we’ve had four coups and we don’t want that again.”
While he admitted that the overall return to democracy will take time, he said that a timeline should be put in place for the return.  “It does not really matter, so long as progress is being made and there is a timeline – reasonable and fair to those demanding elections immediately and those who are saying ‘Let’s wait and solve problems out and have elections’.”
Chaudhry was the prime minister of Fiji before being ousted by a coup in 2000.
For more information, please see:
Fiji Times – ‘Solutions before polls’ – 23 February 2009

US Will Move 8,000 Troops From Japan To Guam

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

OKINAWA, Japan – The US and Japan have signed the Guam International Agreement ordering the relocation of 8,000 US soldiers from the Japanese island of Okinawa to Guam by 2014.  Under the agreement, Japan will provide $6.09 billion of the estimated $10.3 billion it will cost for the transfer of the soldiers and for the building of housing on Guam, a US territory.

The Guam Landowners Association says it is opposed to the plan for military buildup.  The Association’s Antony Sablan says the people of Guam have not been asked if they support the move.  The soldier transfer will boost Guam’s population by ten percent.  Mr. Sablan believes Guam will lose land and part of its identity.  He said, “We are a foster child of a foster parent, where our resources are getting raped by our foster parent.  Somebody has to step up to the plate and take the step to say: ‘hey, you can’t take advantage of this small group of innocent people.'”  Mr. Sablan went on to say the international community should step in to protect the people of Guam.

Meanwhile, Guam’s Chamber of Commerce is looking forward to the population increase for what it will mean for Guam’s economy.  The Chamber’s chair, Frank Campillo says it will bring many opportunities.  Mr. Campillo explained, “We’ll see a huge amount of construction activity: we need to improve our island infrastructure, the streets, the waterways, the distribution of electricity, we need to build new housing.  We understand there’ll be between 8 and 10 billion dollars of construction activity.”

For more information, please see:
Press TV – US to remove soldiers from Okinawa – 17 February 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Guam Landowners oppose US troop build up – 18 February 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Guam businesses eyeing benefits from the US marines relocating – 18 February 2009