Interview Transcript - Col Aziz Mohammed

7/31/2019 Interview Transcript - Col Aziz Mohammed

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Colonel Aziz Mohammed created history of sorts by recently becoming the first Indian to be

appointed Commander of the RFMF, albeit in an acting capacity. The RFMF chief of staff,and head of legal services, is a former headboy of Gospel High School, unlike most top

officers in the RFMF who have come from Marist Brothers High School, Ratu KadavulevuSchool, Queen Victoria School and Suva Grammar. Colonel Mohammed is one of 8 children

from a Raiwaqa, Suva family, and always wanted to join the disciplined forces. He is but oneof the officers in the top echelons of the Fiji military who are not only career soldiers, but

have Masters degrees (Law in his case) in Strategy, International Economic, Business

Administration, and other fields. A loyal officer, he has stood by Commander Voreqe

Bainimarama even as officers senior to him have fallen by the wayside for thinking about or

even wanting to commit a mutinous act by deposing their boss. Colonel Mohammed spoke

with FijiLives Farzana Nisha on his appointment, his 23 years in the army, why the army had

to take charge and the armys vision for Fiji:

At the United Nations, the Commander offered the RFMFs services for peacekeeping

tours. Has there been any development on this?There have been some representations made to the UN for extending our participation in other

regions. The Permanent Representative at the UN has been liaising with the UN Departmentof Peacekeeping Operations. We have basically voiced our support for providing more

peacekeepers and stand committed for that. There hasnt been any development but hopefullythere will be some news coming soon. We have also expressed our special interest in

providing troops in Iraq and the African region.

There are a lot of senior officers who have left for various reasons. Are you up-scalingyour training or how are you replacing that loss of seniority?

You have to know how our arm forces work. We train our officers at three levels. In terms of

training, we train our officers to take up responsibilities at command levels. From 2006

onwards there has been some attrition in terms of officers and soldiers. They have left for

various reasons some have reached retirement age, some have got lucrative positions

outside and some have been seconded to other govt departments where their skills will bebetter used. We have fulfilled our own requirements in the camp. In terms of training, we have

three officer training programmes. One is the junior staff officers level where we train them on

staff duties, the second one which is scheduled for next week is the staff and tactics course

which is for company commander level, and at the end of the year we will have another course

which will be aimed at the battalion level. Associated with this, we have got a running

programme of sending our officers overseas. Although the doors have been shut with

Australia and New Zealand, we have opened new arrangements with India and China where

officers are receiving as good a training that used to be previously given by Australia and NewZealand. We are fortunate that India for the first time has offered us a position in the Higher

Defence College from where an officer would be returningsoon Lt Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga(Land Chief of Staff) and Lt Col Sitiveni Qiliho is in India attending a staff officers course.

We expect him back next year.

So is the army aligning itself with China and India?Think of what we would gain in terms of development and training from them. The alliance is

not only for military training it is also for agriculture development, infrastructure

development, etc. These are two very well developed countries and they have a lot of potential

to contribute to the development of our nation. We should see it in a positive manner and how

best we can capitalise their offerings and utilise it for the betterment of our society.


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Is it only because certain western powers have snubbed us?

Yes, because they have closed their doors on us. When they closed their doors, we had to lookfor alternatives countries who were willing to support our country and its development. It is

very unfortunate that Australia and New Zealand and other countries have imposed sanctionsand restrictions. It would have been more prudent if they would have assisted us in trying to

bring about reforms. Having said that I think the working relationship with Australia and NewZealand is still there, it will never go away. The partnership with Australia, New Zealand and

the South Pacific countries has to remain. We have to come together for the common good

and when all these things pass, hopefully we can sit around and work towards how we can

support one another in our endeavours.

How many senior officers do you have holding the rank of Lt Colonel or Colonel as

compared to before?

In the military, we dont promote people for the sake of promotion. There are individuals who

are already doing the work but are not necessarily holding the rank. An appointment of a

battalion commander will usually be reserved for a Lieutenant Colonel but a Major can

equally do the job. For us we have to be satisfied that the officer has had the appropriate

training, qualifications and has passed the required physical level test to be given that position.

How many officers have been deployed to the civil service?In total, those on secondment and those that have been posted out, would be around 60.

Is that a strategic move?

Its done on the basis of requirement. We have identified the ministries or departments wherethere is an urgent need to boost the performance. We saw individuals in the military who

would be best placed to do the work, hence we allowed them to move out and assume those

positions good examples are the Commissioner of Prisons, Commissioner of Police and

Director of Immigration.

Those three are very key positions. But apart from those, what about the other 60 or so?There are some in the junior ranks who are supporting the senior officers, not necessarily in

the police and prisons but in the government departments. There are 15 who are seconded to

Immigration.

How many more is the army you thinking of seconding?

We dont see the need as yet to second any more to the civil service.

Were these people seconded or posted because the army was unhappy with the way the

civil service has been supporting your cause?

I think the word is not unhappy. We wanted to bring about reforms at a faster rate. We want toexpedite things so that we could move faster to benefit the people and what they are supposed

to be given.

So would you say some people in the civil service have been uncooperative because they

are politically unhappy?

They may be. There may be some individuals trying to undermine our work, but it hasnt been

brought to light. We made it clear from the outset that if they cant work with the interim

regime or the military, then they have options. But the efforts of the interim Govt will

continue.


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There is criticism that there is a militarisation of the public service.People have a misunderstanding of the word militarisation. In Fiji if you realistically look at

the practices, its not militarisation. Every extended family in Fiji has some part of them in themilitary uncle, grandfather or somebody has served in the military. A better word is

kinship. The development of the military is the development of the nation. Its nation building.The military is trained to look after the welfare and well-being of this country. Some

individuals perceive it differently, all in an attempt to undermine the work of the interim

Government. We have to accept that in Fiji there is this feeling among the community

whereby the military is seen with pride and everybody wants to be associated with it. When

we call for a recruitment drive, wanting 100 soldiers, thousands will turn up. So you can see

how interested they are in being associated with the military. We have so many territorial

reserves out there and these people are employed in the government departments and private

sector. Once a military person, always a military person and you will be a soldier and an

officer until you die.

How do you explain the recent leave payout?

Leave in the army by law is of right. Its the right of every officer and soldier to enjoy leave.Leave is of right and cannot be forfeited whether you have a day or 100 days of leave, the law

does not permit forfeiture. The PSC has no function or say in how the RFMF is to exercise itsleave provisions. PSC regulations do not govern the RFMF, hence they have no say in the way

we manage our leave.

The practice of leave compensation is not new. This has been done since the inception of theforces. There have been times when officers and soldiers have been compensated for the

leave. This is where officers and soldiers had wanted to go on leave but due to their

commitments in the force they have been recalled or they were not able to go on leave. Hence

they were compensated for it.

Since 1978 the RFMF has been participating in numerous peacekeeping missions we werein Lebanon, Sinai, Iraq, and East Timor. With the number of service personnel we had in the

army, turnover from one mission to another is very quick. We had some officers and soldiers

coming back and staying in Fiji from 3-6 months when they were rotated back into a mission.

For them having the opportunity to be in Fiji and take leave was not there.

We made the decision to compensate the officers who have gone out of the military on

secondment. We made the decision to ease the burden of the RFMF. We took it as an

opportunity that if we pay these officers, and at that time when we did the payment, we wouldbe saving money - there was a five per cent pay reduction.

We should not be accumulating leave but the exigencies of service in the RFMF were such

that we had to do that. Unfortunately we had allowed this to happen we should havestopped it a long time ago. We have taken remedial actions to stop accumulation of leave. And

the payment is one way of trying to rectify this problem. Another way is we are trying to sendservice members on leave.

We have been liaising with the Auditor-General on this. We have had three meetings already.

They have indicated to us the documents they want. Documents are being collated. We have

had some sharing of documents. We will meet next week to go through the files and submit to


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them all the remaining documents. We have nothing to hide, we will be very transparent. We

will show them everything we have done. In fact, we will go to the extent to show them all thedocuments in the personal files of the commander, some senior officers and some other ranks

in the military who have been paid. All these funds paid to them are coming from our budget.This will not be an extra provision from the Government.

When did the military realise that the nation building was not going the way it should

be going?

The military has been at the forefront of nation building. We had the incident of 2000. The

whole social fabric of the society was basically destroyed. The military stepped in, and

although we came in with good intentions, we were criticised although we showed that the

military had no intention of keeping power. At the first opportunity we handed back power.

However, we had asked that this countrys well-being be paramount and good governance

should be practised and protected and that nobody should derail it for their personal agenda. In

2000 we were quite vocal in terms of prosecuting individuals who tried to destabilise the

society, good governance and the law. But there were elements within our society and within

the government circle at that time, who had other intentions. We started telling political parties

not to bring in an agenda which basically undermined the society. The introduction of theQoliqoli and many other bills were not in the best interest of the country.

When did this realisation that enough was enough come about?

The impasse in 2006 between the SDL government and the military was the catalyst. Therewere several attempts to remove the Commander. This was the thing we were saying to stop.

In all, there were about 14-16 attempts to remove the commander. And it all started becausehe did not agree to support the agenda of the SDL, whatever they did. They saw him as an

obstacle.

What gave the SDL government the confidence to do that? Did they feel they had their

men in camp?

At that time there were some renegade officers who actually stood against the commander andactually rebelled. There were officers who tried to remove the Commander and take up

appointment as Commander when the Commander was away ( which resulted in their

removal).

More than once ?

Yes, and most of this was propagated by the political parties. We think their understanding

was that the military was fragmented. They were misguided. It was a rude awakening when

they suddenly realised that the army stood by the commander and was united.

We are confident in saying that the military is 100 per cent behind the Commander. TheCommander has the full support of all the officers and soldiers in the camp. We are all

together and in support of the vision of what military represents. We all support what thePresident has mandated.

So does that mean elections are far from you mind?

No, its not far from our minds. What we are saying is that all the political parties in Fiji have

to come on board and work together with the interim govt in what they want to achieve - in

terms of political reforms, electoral reforms, and other changes that may be warranted in

moving our country forward. We want to have a vibrant and peaceful society before we go to


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elections. The elections, as stated by the Interim Government, is all dependent on the

completion of the reforms.

So if you get a government which is not pro military ?As long as we are able to put in all these reforms to basically better our society, to enhance the

well-being our people, what government we get will be up to the people.

Your appointment as an acting commander is a first Its at the discretion of the commander who advises the minister on who is to act in the

position.

Are the number of Indians in the army growing?

There number of Indians in the military is growing. There is more interest shown now then

before. More are now staying back compared to what we previously experienced where after a

year or so of training, they moved to greener pastures. We have more Indian soldiers trying to

stay back and support the military. We are also getting more educated individuals joining the

military than previously and we have a lot of people expressing interest in the army and

willing to commit a longer time in the military than previously.

Did the event of 2006, to quote your words, had to happen?It has happened

Or to paraphrase Rabuka , There was no other way?

Those are the Major-Generals words

Is the Military Council united?

The Military Council is united as one.

At any stage of your life, did you ever think you would one day be army commander?

No, not in my wildest dreams. Initially I came into the army for a year to do officer cadettraining after a year I went and did peacekeeping duties. I was scheduled to revert back to

the civil service where I was working before enlistment. But things at that time (1987) in Fiji

had changed and I was absorbed into the regular force at the camp. I ascended through the

ranks. I have taken leadership roles throughout my career - command and staff appointments. I

have studied military tactics and non-military courses and more. It has been a challenging

period. Military life has been good to me although I had thought I would reach a Captains

rank but the current rank and the current appointment was never in my mind. Im just thankful

to the almighty for giving me this opportunity.

Why did you join the RFMF?I had members of my family who had served in the disciplined forces. I was always very

impressed by the discipline in the military. I saw it as a challenge and wanted to experiencewhat it offered and represented. And I ended up staying with the army for 23 years.