The Republic of Fiji Military Forces should be downsized and reformed as part of efforts to address Fiji’s coup culture, an educator says.
The Fiji National University’s head of Department of Ethics and Governance, Dr Mosmi Bhim shared this on Wednesday, saying reducing the size of the military and changing the structure of military service could help prevent future coups.
While making submissions before the Constitution Review Committee she said a National Security and Defence Review conducted in 2004 had recommended reducing the size of Fiji’s military by half.
“The former prime minister Laisenia Qarase had also viewed reducing the size of the military as a possible solution to Fiji’s coup culture,” she said.
“The 2004 national security report had identified the large size of the military as one of the threats to Fiji’s democracy.”
Dr Bhim said military service should be temporary, with soldiers serving between five and 10 years in the RFMF.
She said soldiering was not intended to be a life-long career in Fiji because the country did not experience civil conflict or wars, with soldiers mainly exposed to combat situations during overseas peacekeeping deployments.
Dr Bhim said soldiers often reached an age where they could no longer participate in peacekeeping operations and would need to transition into other careers.
“Such scenario occurred after the 1987 and 2006 coups in Fiji where soldiers have benefited by being appointed to senior government positions, diplomatic corps and statutory bodies.”
Dr Bhim said soldiers should be supported to move into other permanent careers after completing their military service to prevent similar situations from occurring.
“To prevent a repeat of such incidents, service in Fiji’s military needs to be for temporary period of 5 to 10 years and soldiers should be provided assistance to move on to other permanent careers that they can last in until their retirement.”
She also said the RFMF needed to undergo a civil-military reform to strengthen understanding of the role of soldiers within a democracy.
