Monday, May 14, 2007

National Security

The military needs to explain to the people of Fiji why they feel that there is a continued threat to the "national security" of Fiji.

They do afterall have all the guns and - according to them - some of the finest soldiers in the world.

They also need to explain to the people of Fiji exactly what national security means to them so we can appreciate why they think its imperative to keep the Public Emergency Decree in play.

According to wikipedia, national security refers to the need to maintain the survival of the nation state through the use of economic, political and military power. And sometimes, through the exercise of diplomacy.

Although national security measures are imposed to protect society as a whole, such measures will necessarily tend to restrict the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The concern is that in cases where the exercise of state or military power in the name of national security is not subject to good governance, the rule of law or strict checks and balances, there is a very real risk that "national security" may simply serve a pretext for suppressing unfavourable political and social views.

Taken to its logical conclusion, this view contends that measures which may ostensibly serve a national security purpose (such a mass surveillance, intimidation and detentions and censorship of mass media) could ultimately lead to a police or military state.

In Fiji, the continued extensions to the Public Emergency Decree has raised two questions in the minds of ordinary citizens – to what extent, for the sake of national security, should individual's rights and freedoms be restricted and can the restrictions of civil rights for the sake of national security be justified?

King Bai, Driti and Leweni need to look deep into their souls to find the answers to these questions.

They must know by now that the seemingly innocuous decision to keep extending the Public Emergency Decree one more month is in reality severely affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

People are losing their jobs and their ability to put food on the table - all in the name of "national security".

I sincerely hope the military top brass are willing to accept the consequences of their actions (in this world and in the next) if it turns out they were wrong about this.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

THEY ARE AFRAID - afraid of the truth that the bloggers like you are talking about and revealing to the rest of the world. Good on you - please keep them VERY afraid. Only liars and cow-ards are afraid of the truth . God bless you and God help our country

Anonymous said...

the immunity decree signed by the pressie is only good on paper its writen on, the only thing that'll protect the FMF & IG till they finish is the Public Emmergency Decree and making us believe there is a national security risk.

blog ppl....and down with these bastards.

Anonymous said...

This strikes me as an extremely non-transparent way to do things - especially when they are so politicized themselves,and they give absolutely no details on what the particular threat is. I understand the need for secrecy, but for example, even Dept of Homeland security gives some details of the possible threats they are facing. Also, they have degrees and extent of alert (yellow, orange, red etc. at burrough, city, county, state etc.) depending on the type and possibility of threat they believe they face. But these guys just have a blanket decree with no details. They don't give any credible explanation on how the blogsites post a threat to security, and we just have to assume they know what they're talking about, despite the fact that all the really highly trained and excellent officers from Waqanisau to Tarakinikini to Seruvakula to Rabukawaqa have already left the army.
Last month, I heard second hand from someone right inside HQ that there really wasn't any security threat as of March, and that they military was just using the Decree as a cover for their micro-management of political opposition to the regime, and as the platform to "ensure" the success of their "mission" (whatever that is/was).
Finally, even if there is a credible security threat now, the army has abandoned its primary role as the final guarantor of law and order in favour of trying to "leap frog" over all the other security organs and mechanisms, to try and achieve all its goals through "intelligence" and espionage.
But their real role is to physically interdict and security problems which have already and clearly gotten too out of hand for the courts or the police or the politicians to handle. Instead, the army has ridden roughshod over all of that in their frantic effort to punish "crimes" that haven't even been committed yet, if at all.
And we can see the results with the wrongful detention and harassment of Taoi and Digitaki.

Anonymous said...

King Bai, Driti and Leweni, are the Mara puppets. They know nothing about National Leadership. All they know is their personal well-being at the expense of the mass.