The Independent: 30 August 2000
FIJI: SMART RATS ABANDON SHAKY SHIP OF POST-COUP NATION
The Fiji Islands are suffering a brain drain amid calls for investigation into Speight's furtive support.
By DAVID ROBIE in Suva
FIJI is suffering a brain drain while civil society groups and elected political leaders push for a public inquiry into behind-the-scenes plotters of the May insurrection which has crippled the country's economy.
There are also mounting calls for a referendum before any change is made to the 1997 multiracial constitution, abrogated by decree under martial law.
The civil service is the latest sector hit by the exodus of qualified people.
The Public Service Commission has confirmed it has lost 72 skilled staff as a result of the rebellion - mostly doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants and some clerical officers.
"The current situation is much worse than in 1987," said PSA chairperson Sakiasi Waqanivavalagi, referring to former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka's two military coups.
The PSC plans to recruit about 48 doctors abroad with a recruitment drive starting in the Philippines next month.
Among critics of the military-backed interim administration of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is the deposed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Tupeni Baba, who has accused the appointed government of being "prejudiced".
Baba, an indigenous Fijian who was a former professor of education at the 12-nation University of the South Pacific, believes the interim administration should have its term of office trimmed to six months.
Baba says the administration is illegal and has been working for the entrenchment of the interests of an elite group of Fijians and not the welfare of grassroots people.
The administration was "riding on the back of George Speight and his collaborators," said Baba.
Seen by Fiji's business community as a commercial hazard, Speight and 16 of his alleged conspirators have been charged with treason and detained on Nukulau Island, off the coast of Suva, awaiting trial.
Baba said Qarase's administration "doesn't have the open-mindedness of an interim administration because they weren't elected and many of them are implicated".
He said he believed the majority of Fiji Islanders favoured the retention of the 1997 constitution and a national referendum should be held to decide whether changes were needed. He intends to lobby island leaders before the South Pacific Forum in Kiribati in October.
Baba's criticism's follow those of the Citizens Constitutional Forum executive director, Rev Akuila Yabaki, who recently visited New Zealand.
Yabaki welcomed a pledge by President Josefa Iloilo for an inquiry into the attempted coup but warned that it should not be a "cosmetic gesture".
"You can't have the 'poacher turned game-keeper', carrying out an investigation and expect the outcome to pass the test of transparency," he said.
Three members of the ousted elected government have filed a writ against the president, former president, armed forces chief and the administration alleging wrongful dismissal following the insurrection. The lawsuit filed in the High Court at Lautoka also claims that the 1997 constitution was abrogated illegally.
Qarase told the Fiji Employers Federation annual general meeting on Friday night: "The solution that will endure is not to be found in the blind assertion of legal rights or in challenging ... cherished Fijian institutions like the Great Council of Chiefs. It lies in being sensitive to the feelings of the indigenous Fijian people."
Allegations of implication in the insurrection have been levelled at several ministers in the interim government, including Agriculture and Lands Minister Apisai Tora, a Taukei Movement leader; and Information Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, who had succeeded Rabuka as leader of the SVT Party which was defeated by the Fiji Labour Party-led coalition in the May 1999 elections.
Also implicated, Police Commissioner Isikia Savua has been suspended pending an investigation by a tribunal set up by the PSC into allegations arising from his alleged involvement.
Criticism has been levelled at his alleged failure to deal effectively with the outbreak of looting and rioting in the capital of Suva on May 19, and also his decision to attend a security conference in Vanuatu leaving a leadership vacuum in the police force during the crisis.