Ethnic eruptions in Fiji

Ethnic eruptions in Fiji

The civilized world will unanimously condemn the crude attempt
to topple the democratically elected government in Fiji, in
particular to oust its prime minister. That the principal victim
is of Indian origin is only an additional reason why India and
Indians will be outraged by the manner in which a gang of
disgruntled but apparently powerful men have held Mr. Mahendra
Chaudhary and his cabinet at gunpoint inside the country's
Parliament. Whatever the final outcome of the effort to end the
crisis, the way the so-called coup leader, Mr. George Speight,
has held out threats and subjected the country's Prime Minister
and others to unbearable psychological and physical pressure is
reprehensible.

The Indian diaspora, unlike the Chinese and others, in some
respects was a colonial legacy as the British recruited
indentured labor to serve in their distant colonies and helped in
the transplantation of large populations. Decolonization threw up
problems. Where people of Indian origin assimilated themselves in
the local society, as in the West Indies and South Africa,
everything was easy and smooth.

Problems began elsewhere when native politicians started to
target these ethnic groups in their attempt to capture and retain
power. Eastern Africa in the seventies saw much turmoil and
uprooting of people of Indian origin. In pockets like Fiji
attempts to construct a multiethnic society in the post-colonial
era have been repeatedly thwarted by interested groups. These
must be defeated and the country helped to evolve acceptable
constitutional arrangements that safeguard the rights of the
minorities while providing for the majority's unhindered
progress.

People of Indian origin must be allowed to live with dignity
and self-respect and not be reduced to the status of second class
citizens. The international community must make it clear that it
will not countenance the creation of a system which does not
respect and protect the rights of all Fijians regardless of the
accident of their ethnicity.

-- The Hindu, New Delhi