Fiji Near The Precipice, Again
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday January 23, 2004
The first Fiji military coup of 1987, the first of two within five months, caught other nations of the south-west Pacific by surprise. One reason was that diplomatic and military intelligence services had taken their eyes off the ball. Another was that since Fijian independence in 1970 there had been a veneer of harmony between its indigenous population and the roughly equal number of Indians descended from indentured labourers. That harmony was torn to shreds and replaced by the reality that in Fiji the potential for political and economic conflict is always high.
Now, less than four years after the overthrow by George Speight and his indigenous Fijian nationalists of the duly elected ethnic Indian-led government of Mahendra Chaudhry, there is a renewed tension. This time it is not between the two main ethnic groups but within the ethnic Fijians. On one side is Frank Bainimarama, the military officer who imposed martial law during Speight's attempted coup in May 2000, during which Speight supporters overran parliament and held the government at gunpoint for six weeks. Commander Bainimarama's five-year contract as head of the military is due to end next month. His detractors accuse him of megalomania and say he refuses to countenance cuts to an unaffordable military budget. For his part, he accuses the Government of looking for someone more pliable who will turn a blind eye when the Government quietly abandons outstanding prosecutions of people behind the Speight coup.
Chairing the committee to decide on Commander Bainimarama's replacement is the Home Affairs Secretary, Jeremiah Waqanisau. He is a former senior army officer who was involved in the 1987 coup. Last week he and Commodore Bainimarama clashed so angrily that police were called. Such is the tension in Suva between the military and a government dependent on ultra-nationalist sympathisers that the Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, and the police chief, Andrew Hughes, made televised pleas for civil calm.
Fiji's return to the precipice of tumult is disturbing. It is a reminder of how far there is to go after the repudiation of democracy represented by the Speight coup before arriving at a new stable system of government. The 1997 constitution, under which the Chaudhry government was elected, is a dead letter. Its replacement must not only respect the legitimate aspirations of the ethnic Indian community but also accommodate, without violent upheaval, the traditional rivalries within the indigenous Fijian clans.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald