Is democracy a foreign flower? True democracy does not exist, at least in the real world.

It is a Utopian concept which western democracies strive for but never quite get to. Many progressive democracies of the world acknowledge the illusive and very often contradictory nature of democracy where unbridled freedom and liberty have led to some of the worst atrocities of human rights abuse in the world such as that in Guantanamo and the Iraqi War.

It has also led to some of the world's biggest corruption scams including the Food for Oil and Australian Wheat Board scams.

Fiji has not been spared with our very own NBF and the Agriculture scams. It is against this backdrop that Fiji is grappling with the concept of democracy and democratic governance

Democracy

Whilst independence from UK in 1970 was welcomed by all, it came at a great price. When the British packed their bags and went back to the UK, they left behind their legacy and more important western institutions which locals were ill-prepared to manage.

Their Westminster model of Government, their education system, the Judiciary, the Christian church are but a few of this. Institutions and values which had taken the British centuries to develop and to inculcate to the depth of their very being and consciousness are being introduced to a people with totally different culture and value systems..

When the white man across the desk left Fiji in 1970, he was replaced by a black face with white shirt and tie, khaki shorts, long socks folded just below the knee and one or two pens tucked in the shirt pocket.

They certainly looked the part but could not play the role as casting directors of movies often say. The Fijian bureaucrat finally has to learn the difference between form and function the hard way and our bureaucrats of today are still grappling with this.

Independence from the colonial powers must invariably be accompanied by building capacity and consequently responsibility, transparency and predictability if Fiji is to move on and to assume its place in the world stage. Culture change of the magnitude of transplanting foreign values and institutions as we did in 1970 should be progressive and gradual and not thrust on us. In trying to integrate two totally different cultures and value systems, it is best that the transition is evolutionary, as the toad in the slowly boiling water can attest to.

Traditional or Western

The change from a traditional communal way of living to one where independence and individual success is highly priced can be quite daunting to the uninitiated. Indeed it ushers in a whole new world with its own unique challenges. The problem is how to bridge the gap between the two cultures.

Pacific Island leaders acknowledged in their meeting in Nadi in 2002 that, " western values of democracy had been imposed on their already established tradition and cultures. That democracy is new to many pacific island countries, in that they should be given time to accept democracy at their own pace. The pace of acceptance needs to be in tune with the capacity to absorb the process. They need time to adjust".

Because of tremendous pressure being brought to bear on them to conform with the demands of the market economy on one hand, and the need for them to keep their traditional identity on the other, a catch-22 type situation was created where they want to please both sides, and end up pleasing none. This is made manifestly clear in many forms including corruption, incompetency and abuse of office brought about by their culture of accommodation.

For those who were born to and have lived in a democracy/market economy all their lives, the challenge is minimal if not non-existent. They have lived in a one dimensional world all their lives. They are not faced with the additional challenge of daily balancing their lives akin to a Jekyll and Hyde lifestyle. Little wonder that you see elements of what appears to be corruption, incompetence and abuse of office rife in some of our island nations.

Honesty and Integrity

In such a situation we see emerging a new breed of leaders or a lot of honest man lacking in integrity. I define honesty as the things you do publicly and integrity to what you do even when people are not looking.

The dilemma that the typical Fijian bureaucrat faces in the modern Fijian society is to reconcile the fact that he will have to live and die in two worlds. What would you do when as a telephone operator, your Turaga-ni-Koro makes a $3 call to the city but only has $2 in his pocket? What do you do when you witness a distant cousin taking lunch money from a customer? What do you do when you know that a multi-million dollar Tender was made under questionable circumstances?

The answer may appear simple to you and I. Not so for the typical local.

Do you penalise him under his traditional system or under the western law or both? Do you punish him as Dr Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? Therein lies the dilemma and therein also lies the answer. To strike that delicate balance.

A new social and political order that transcends the two cultures is needed.

Military coups

In the first part of this series I explained how it is virtually impossible to introduce simple amendments to the Constitution.

And yet we are a very young democracy at 36. The older democracies of today are where they are today in their level of developments because their forefathers have perfected their Constitution through hundreds of amendments spread over many centuries. Our young Constitution prevents us from making these changes. The military coups of 1987. 2000 and 2006 therefore were attempts made at making the appropriate structural adjustments to strike that delicate balance between parliamentary form of governance and democracy against that of tradition. There was rising frustration and discontent. The status quo changed when the military warnings to the SDL Government to curb corruption fell on deaf years. This gave way to military takeover and the clean-up campaign which followed.

The current crisis can be directly traced to certain inadequacies in the Constitutions. A sustainable solution can only be found therefore by addressing these inadequacies and by putting in place mechanisms to bring to account those who are found foul of the law.

This article was first published in the Fiji Times on 3rd January, 2007. However, Fiji Buzz faced  difficulties in contacting the author until the 11th of January. The author 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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