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Those accusing the key institutions of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), the SDL government and the military for the current crisis are barking up the wrong tree.
The Great Council of Chiefs, the SDL government and the military are but symptoms of a much deeper but otherwise fundamental problem. The root cause of the problem lies elsewhere. The heart of the problem lies in the inability and failure of the 1970, 1990 and 1997 Constitution to fulfil the needs of the people.
The four coups were therefore as much an indictment of the failure of the parliamentary system of Government as it was on our inability to make structural changes to certain provisions of the Constitution, which was not providing for the needs of our people. These include an electoral system which divides us on racial lines.
This is compounded by veto powers and other checks-and-balances, which make it virtually impossible to make appropriate changes to otherwise straightforward provisions of the Constitution.
Imagine what the Fiji of today would have looked like if we had adopted the late A.D. Patel's proposal to the Constitutional Conference leading up to Independence in 1970 that we should adopt an electoral system espousing common roll or one-man one-vote system. We failed ourselves and our posterity by agreeing with our colonial powers that we were not quite ready for such a big step. The Reeves Commission had a similar vision and recommended more open seats then communal ones for the 1997 Constitution. We turned this recommendation on its head instead.
Imagine what the political landscape for Fiji would look like today if we had taken firm grasp of our destiny and rejected the divide-and-rule tactic of the colonial era we were trying to free ourselves from. We had two chances at uniting our people in the 1970 and 1997 Constitutions and we bungled it.
The Fijian chiefly system and the Great Council of Chiefs as an institution similarly holds a revered position in the Fijian psyche and like the land-tenure system is an integral part and, indeed, lies at the core of the Fijian identity.
Like the Imperial system of Japan and the British monarchy, chiefs are supposed to be the conduit through which ordinary Fijians access and communicate with the mystical powers of our ancestral and consequently Christian Gods. Remove the chiefly system and the ordinary Fijian is unable to trace his lineage to his ancestral God or kalou-vu in the spiritual world. He consequently loses his identity much like the American Indians, the Aborigines and the Maori. The chief is what binds Fijian society together in both the temporal and spiritual world. The chief's world is considered sacrosanct and is jealously guarded against intruders from ordinary members of society.
This is reinforced in customs and behaviour ranging from the official yaqona ceremony to when you present yourself before your chief, when it is considered disrespectful to make eye contact or be standing upright in front of your chief. The common Fijian believe that he will be struck by lightning and/or cursed for life for any act of indiscretion or signs of disrespect for his chief.
The manna and high regard associated with the chiefly system as an institution has been slowly eroding since Independence in 1970 when common Fijians became educated and enlightened, followed by a growing number of non-chiefs being allowed to become members of the GCC.
The mystique of the GCC has been further eroded when some chiefs chose to run for public office.  A chief immediately reduces himself to a mere mortal when he contests elections and goes on the campaign trails. 
A chief immediately reduces himself to a mere mortal when he contests elections and goes on the campaign trails.
The military's non-recognition of the GCC as an institution has put the GCC in a precarious situation. The Great Council of Chiefs has found itself in a defining moment of its history.
The recent events spearheaded by the pro-democracy movement in Tonga had destroyed the mystique and manna shrouding the monarchy in that country.
Is the Great Council of Chiefs prepared to modify its role in the digital era and modern day Fiji? Fiji can save its chiefly system by redefining its role and position in line with the modern demands of society confined to the vanua and let non-chiefs manage the operational aspects of the nation through their involvement in national electioneering.
Chiefs do not have to involve themselves in the politics of man much like members of the British monarchy and the members of the Emperor of Japan. My identity as a Fijian and that of my posterity will depend on the decision of this august body. Like the air we breathe the chiefly system as an institution is part of my life. To deny the ordinary Fijian his chief, is to reduce him to a traveling gypsy where he is unable to connect with his spiritual world.
I have only highlighted two areas of the Constitution to illustrate that the 2006 crisis is caused by certain inadequacies of the 1997 Constitution. The SDL government, the GCC and the military are but symptoms of this flaws in the Constitution. Correct this inadequacies in the Constitution and the symptoms will sort themselves out.
The process and the barriers for changing the relevant provisions of the Constitutions together with the challenge of integrating western form of governance to traditional Fijian leadership and values is the subject of the second and final part of this two-part series.
This article was first published in the Fiji Times on 2nd January, 2007. However, Fiji Buzz faced difficulties in contacting the author until the 11th of January. Taito Waradi is the President of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce & Industry and was recently appointed Minister for Commerce in the interim Cabinet. The views expressed herein are his and do not necessarily reflect those of the Fiji Chamber of Commerce & Industry or the Interim Fiji Government.
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