The desperate dictator is pinning his hopes on the MSG

Frank Bainimarama thinks he’ll manipulate his meeting with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in Vanuatu this Friday to make it appear he has a support base in the Pacific.

Once again he’ll be clutching at straws.

What he doesn’t seem to understand is that there fe a difference between dialogue and support.

Being invited to the meeting is not a sign of support. It’s because people like MSG Chairman, Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Edward Natapei, see the meeting as an opportunity to maintain dialogue.

The MSG wants dialogue among MSG nations, including with the pariah state of Fiji, which has been formally suspended from membership of the far more influential regional grouping, the Pacific Islands Forum.

This is because the MSG was launched with the stated objective of strengthening inter-Melanesian cultural ties, commercial, trade and common adherence to shared values such as “sustainable development, good governance and security”.

So, with the likely exception of Frank Bainimarama, no one at Friday’s meeting will see what the dictator has done in Fiji as in any way enhancing the region’s sustainable development, good governance and security. In fact, it’s quite to the contrary.

Other Pacific leaders see the dictator as a threat to those shared values.

So, if Frank thinks the meeting will help him undermine the will of the Pacific Forum and the wider International community, he’s a bigger fool than so many people already take him for.

Remember, Frank, the purposes of the meeting is dialogue. And remember also that it will be two-way dialogue, NOT your preferred one-way dialogue.

No doubt you’ll get a fair hearing, but because you can’t bring your guns to bear on your interlocutors, like you do on the people of Fiji, your interlocutors will want to have your say.

The best thing you could do for our beloved nation is to shut up and listen, just this once?

Fiji Democracy Now