THE military should never be disbanded, says former ambassador to China Sir James Ah Koy.
In his 62-page submission, Sir James expressed his support of the principle and position that Fiji must always have a constitutionally prescribed and named security force, comprising police, army and navy with all of its various branches and divisions.
He said Fiji had been blessed to inherit from former colonial masters, Britain, a military that was well trained in warfare and security.
"Peacekeeping around the world is big business and has been a major foreign-exchange earner for Fiji and our military should be maintained for this purpose as well," Sir James said.
"The military should be upgraded specifically to assist and complement our police force in maintaining peace and order and internal security in this nation, for guarding against external threats to national security, especially from terrorism, and for maintaining its prestige in international peacekeeping and especially for the UN.
"Because of Fiji's open door policy in welcoming tourists from all corners of the world, to protect them and bolster our number one export and foreign exchange earnings, we need to upgrade and maintain always our security forces — the police, army and navy," he said.
He added this would require constant upgrading in surveillance and modern technological equipment and up-skilling and it required a yearly national budget commensurate to those needs.