A year after coup, Fiji still far from recovery

By Urs Waelterlin

SYDNEY (DPA): Many had feared that disturbances would mark the one-year anniversary of Fiji's coup but things remained calm. Just a few demonstrators turned out to commemorate the event that caused the island to erupt in chaos. Women and men quietly attached yellow ribbons to the gate surrounding the parliament building as a sign of their hope for peace and reconciliation. Police and military units were reserved.

Just over one year ago, on May 18, 2000, businessman George Speight and a group of rebels stormed the parliament building in the capital, Suva, taking the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry hostage. Speight declared an end to the "oppression" of indigenous Fijians by the island's ethnic Indian residents and demanded that Chaudry, himself an ethnic Indian, step down.

The coup leader also suspended the new constitution guaranteeing equal rights to Fiji's Indian population, who had long been the victims of racial discrimination. When Speight's supporters started attacking their fellow citizens of Indian descent, the country threatened to become engulfed in a civil war.

Chaudhry and the other government MPs were finally released after 59 days, but not before Speight had had an opportunity to physically abuse him. Speight was arrested and has been held in custody on an island ever since, along with some of the others who participated in the coup. In March, an appeals court declared the interim government put in place by the military during the chaos of the coup illegal.

Today the country is governed by the banker and caretaker prime minister, Laisenia Qarase. March's historical court decision means that the people of Fiji are finally to get the chance in August to elect a new, legitimate government. But the wounds of the past have not healed and many observers think it might still be too early to hold proper, orderly elections.

Even today, no one knows for sure who was behind Speight's attack on democracy. What does seem clear, however, is that the "race problem" between ethnic Indians and indigenous Fijians, who respectively make up 41 and 51 percent of the island's population, was merely a ruse. Prior to the coup, native Fijians had lived in harmony with islanders descended from Indians who had been brought to Fiji to work on plantations.

Many believe that powerful indigenous interests saw in Mahendra Chaudhry a threat to their control of the lucrative trade in tropical woods. No one knows when George Speight will ever be brought to trial. Surrounded by sympathetic guards, he seems to feel at home on his island.

Nor is the outcome of the general election scheduled for August clear. Mahendra Chaudhry's Labor Party is divided. The ex- premier would like to return to power but is being challenged by his own former deputy, Tupeni Baba. Another 20 or so splinter groups also intend to put up their own candidates.

If at all, the political confusion in Fiji is surpassed only by the chaotic state of the island nation's economy. Tourism, one of Fiji's most important sources of revenue, has come to a complete standstill. Five-star luxury hotels offer rooms at youth-hostel rates. Textile manufacturing, also a crucial part of Fiji's economy, continues to be crippled by bans on imports imposed by several countries in protest against the removal of a legitimate government.

The ranks of the unemployed are growing, and more and more women are being forced into prostitution. A new sight are the beggar children with outstretched arms who accost the few tourists who still dare to make a trip to the once-fabled South- Sea paradise.