Editorial: Fiji traitor must not go unpunished

Like all hostage-takers, George Speight let go of his only tangible bargaining chip when he released his captives. Any residual power that he possessed lay in his status as the standard-bearer for an ethnically pure Fijian government. Now his bluff, and that of his followers, has finally been called. The arrest of Speight and yesterday's swearing-in of an interim Government devoid of his supporters are optimistic signs for a nation formerly hell-bent on self-destruction. However, Fiji is doomed to remain an international outcast until it demonstrates a readiness to restore democracy and a multiracial constitution.

The world has yet to hear any signal that these are the objectives of the interim unelected and all-indigenous Government, which is scheduled to rule Fiji for three years until general elections are held. On the contrary, the Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, has criticised New Zealand and Australia for an "aggressive and threatening" stance towards his country.

The statement was extremely ill-judged. Mr Qarase is well aware that Wellington's and Canberra's limited sanctions, and the threat of worse to come, have wide support internationally. Fiji still faces the paralysing prospect of coordinated economic sanctions, exclusion from international sport and possible expulsion from the Commonwealth.

The pressure for such international action will start to abate only when there is a clear guarantee that ethnic persecution will no longer be tolerated. The Army has backed its assault on Speight's rebels with statements referring to the shame and embarrassment felt by Fijians. But the serpentine path that preceded Speight's apprehension supports the proposition that his racist doggerel enjoys widespread tacit support among indigenous Fijians. That impression was strengthened when both the military and the Great Council of Chiefs initially kowtowed to some of the rebel leader's outrageous demands.

The treatment of Speight will be an important test for the interim Government. There is a suspicion that he will be released once the Administration has found its feet, and may even be consulted over the drafting of a new constitution. Such a course would invite severe condemnation.

The military says Speight may be charged with treason. The charges, however, would apparently not relate to his overthrowing of a democratically elected Government by force of arms and the holding of the Prime Minister and most of his multiracial cabinet hostage for 56 days. Somewhat lamely, the military points to Speight's threat on the life of President Josefa Iloilo and the illegal possession of weapons.

The civil war threatened by Speight if his nominees were not included in the interim Government has so far not materialised. Unrest has been relatively localised. This may suggest that many Fijians, despite sympathising with Speight's cause, recognise the damage that will befall the country if a racist path is pursued. They understand that Fiji, of all the Pacific Island nations, has the potential for a hugely prosperous future. They undoubtedly also recognise that much of that potential is bound up in the commercial acumen of the country's Indian population.

That is the real shame of Fiji. An unwillingness to face reality sees the country, for the third time in recent history, sidetracked by dead-end policies that invite international scorn and retribution. The interim Government must renounce such policies. It must commit itself to democracy and embrace the 1997 multiracial constitution. The only practicable way of affirming that commitment would be a detailed timetable decreeing the early return of internationally accepable practice. Further, Speight must be charged with treason. That alone is the appropriate response to the overthrowing of a democratically elected Government. If this set of steps is not followed, the future for Fiji remains bleak indeed.