A lot of hype has been created over the last few days on whether the SDL party would make a submission to the constitutional commission like the one that was highlighted by Fijivillage.
Radio Australia spoke to an unnamed party source earlier this week who said to them that the SDL does not want a Christian state among other issues highlighted in the presentation by SDL.
The Australian report then said that the SDL is denying making a submission and former Fiji citizen Doctor Brij Lal said that he can never see the SDL make such a submission in an interview on Pacific Beat.
As Fiji’s political expert based in Canberra, Doctor Lal said in the interview that maybe it is in the interests of some groups in Fiji to portray SDL as a racist party without really checking with the party on whether it is their constitution submission.
However, Fijivillage confirmed that two SDL party officials made the submission on behalf of the party to the commission in the presence of the SDL President, Solomoni Naivalu at Suva Civic Centre.
In the SDL submission, as highlighted by Fijivillage, the party wanted Fiji to be declared a Christian State, Christianity to be the state religion and Fijian to be the national language of the state.
While making its submission to the Constitutional Commission, SDL said they want the name “Fijian” to be reserved for the indigenous Fijians and all citizens to be called “Fiji Islanders”.
SDL also proposes that there should be no provisions for dual citizenship.
Speaking to the Professor Yash Ghai led commission, the SDL officials said that the party wants the term “sexual orientation” to be removed from the Bill of Rights of the 1997 constitution.
In that section it states that a person must not be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly, on the ground of his or her sexual orientation.
They propose that parliament and senate should be retained, some communal seats to be retained and the balance to be won under the one man one vote system.
On the appointment of the country’s President and Vice President, SDL has suggested that they should still be appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs.
The party said the GCC should be established under the constitution and a GCC Act should clearly set out their roles and functions.
Furthermore SDL said the multi party cabinet provisions should be removed and the principle of winner takes all should be adopted.
The party also said that clear provisions should be set out on the roles and functions of the RFMF without any ambiguity.
SDL also states in its submission that the 1997 constitution should be retained but some important changes should be made.
Radio Australia now said that it has obtained a copy of the SDL submission, which clearly states that it was made on behalf of the party.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
