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>The Editor >Daily Post >SUVA > >Dear Sir > >It is so good Jale Baba (DP 07/04/04) had found some >time to get out of the wood and get among the trees of >"liberal democracy" to engage in defence of Prime >Minister Qarase's silly statement in Wellington >telling New Zealand leaders that they do not >understand Fijians and the context of the 2000 coup >and therefore should shut up. What a patronising and >ridiculous observation. Imagine how Qarase would feel >if Helen Clark were to say in a dinner speech >welcoming him that the problem with you Fijians is >that you are just too immature to understand and be >governed by the rule of law and democracy. > >So is Baba going to explain to us now what he means by >"conservative" liberal democracy that Fiji needs as >opposed to a "liberal" liberal democracy that it does >not need? > >Whilst we are on this subject of communal seats and >conservative democracy, let us look at Malaysia and >Singapore, two countries that Prime Minister Qarase >had recently publicly held up as models for Fiji. >These are examples of conservative consensus model >democracies with multiethnic populations similar to >Fiji. They do not have communal seats. Their systems >have been based on common roll, one person one vote >since independence. Common Roll which has been the >bugbear of Fiji nationalists like Baba for the last >forty years. > >Communal Voting is a strong feature of Malaysian >politics but they have multiparty multiracial >Government for decades and, in Singapore, a >multiracial national unity Government for the same >period. They have been winning elections without fail >over forty years as consensus conservative >democracies. Contrast that to the "Conservative" SDL >which rejects multiracial consensus democracy and has >been in power only for two years, elected on just over >50% of the Fijian communal votes and now struggling to >remain viable is a "conservative" government. > >I agree with Jale Baba that SDL (quote) "would do much >better to learn systems adopted by different >governments around the world". In the case of Qarase's >latest "models", Malaysia and Singapore, Baba should >advise him to ponder whether these two countries >success in economic development and raising the >standard of living of their people have something to >do with their inclusive consensus approach to >governance. If he can't do this, then he should get >back to chopping other people's wood. > >Jone Dakuvula >SUVA

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