Qarase removal not a coup: Dr Shameem
Thursday August 30, 2007

The removal of the Laisenia Qarase Government in December 2006 was not a "coup" and it is legally wrong to call it so, says the Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission Dr Shaista Shameem.

And she claims that Fiji has had only one "coup" in its history and that was in September 1987 when Fiji was declared a republic.

Dr Shameem made the statement in a report addressed to the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, where she questions "Was the December 5th 2006 takeover a 'coup'?"

"The word 'coup' has legal connotations. It means the removal of that critical apparatus or the 'essence' of state power, namely a head of state or constitution," Dr Shameem said.

"It does not necessarily include the removal of a government. The French term coup d'etat means to 'hit the state'."

Dr Shameem makes references to the removal of the Whitlam Government in 1975 by the Australian Governor General, Sir John Kerr, "which was not defined as a coup".

"The Head of State (Governor General) could not have a coup against himself," she said.

"In fact, over the years, various Governors and Governors General of Australia have removed (elected) ministers and dissolved parliament rather more frequently than is commonly known- the precedents of Queensland in 1907, Victoria in 1908-9, Tasmania in 1914, New South Wales in 1916, 1926, and 1932, Commonwealth in 1918, and the well-known dismissal of Whitlam by Kerr in 1975 are relevant in this regard.

"None of these incidents in Australia were ever termed a 'coup', which means that the 'essence of state power' had not been removed."

Dr Shameem said the FHRC's "investigations" have revealed that the Head of State of Fiji, that is the President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, was not removed on December 5 2006.

"The President remained in place and was protected at Government House," she said.

"The Commander of the RFMF (Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama) acted under a delegated sovereign authority and 'stepped into the President's shoes'.

"The December 5th 2006 takeover, unlike that of May 2000, made no attempt to remove the Head of State or the Constitution. In fact, the intention appeared to be to protect both from further harm."

Dr Shameem further explained that only one of Fiji's reported four coups can be described as a coup.

"Indeed, we can safely say that Fiji has had only one 'coup', that of September 1987," she said.

"The takeovers of May 1987, May 2000, and December 2006 were either not sufficient (May 1987 and May 2000), or not designed (December 2006) to dislodge that 'small but critical segment of state apparatus', which is the Constitution/ Head of State.

"It would therefore be legally wrong to refer to December 5th events glibly as Fiji's 'fourth coup' as many NGOs and foreign governments have done," Dr Shameem said.

"If a 'coup' is merely a dismissal of a government by a Head of State, we could then, with some confidence, assert the proposition that Australia has experienced at least eight 'coups' since 1907- a surprising record."