The Fiji Labour Party (FLP) has denounced the composition of the commission charged with "reviewing" the country's constitution. The seven-member body is dominated by individuals known to support a return to the provisions of the racist 1990 constitution that politically excluded of Indian Fijians.
The chairperson of the commission, University of the South Pacific academic Professor Asesela Ravuvu, was one of the architects of the 1990 constitution, which was drafted to formalise Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka's two 1987 military coups. Ravuvu was also among those put forward by coup leader George Speight on June 19 to be included in the interim government, the composition of which he was then negotiating with the military.
Other commission members include Apenisa Kurisaqila and Charles Walker, both former ministers in the Alliance Party government of Ratu Kamisese Mara. Mara and the Alliance Party supported Rabuka's 1990 constitution.
The Great Council of Chiefs, which represents the dominant eastern chiefly elite that has long ruled Fiji, nominated three members of the commission, all of whom were closely associated with Speight: former deputy chairperson of the GCC Adi Litia Cakobau; former foreign affairs minister Berenado Vunibobo and lawyer Ratu Rakuita.
FLP spokesperson Pratap Chand said that the commission would bring about a constitution based on race and designed to deny Indian Fijians political and civil rights in their country of birth. "It is an insult not only to the Indian community but also the people of Fiji who cherish democracy, rule of law and respect for basic values essential for the development of a multiracial society", he said.
As if to confirm the FLP's fears, Ravuvu on September 2 told Fiji's newspapers that there was a big difference between the 1990 constitution and the 1997 constitution, which substantially lessened the racially discriminatory aspects of the Fijian political system.
"The 1990 constitution simply safeguarded the indigenous rights and values and the 1997 one was aimed at bringing the two major races together, which may be described as an exercise in political idealism. And for anyone to believe that any constitution will bring two different races together is naive", Ravuvu said.
BY NORM DIXON
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