Editorial: Early poll needed to reunite Fiji

Simmering tensions in Fiji illustrate just how much that country is still struggling to come to grips with its troubled recent history.

The seeds of the state of unease between the Government and Fiji's military chief lie in the treatment of those involved in the latest of three coups, in 2000. Commodore Frank Bainimarama's proposed way out of the present impasse is, paradoxically, yet another coup. The motivation for such action is, to a considerable degree, understandable. But the damage it would heap on Fiji - economically, socially and politically - makes it utterly untenable.

Commodore Bainimarama has been making his grievance with the Government clear for the past six months or so. The major point of disagreement is the inappropriately named Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill, which Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has vowed to pass before his term expires in September. His largely indigenous Government claims the legislation will end lingering divisions from the 2000 coup, in which Fijian nationalists led by George Speight toppled the first government led by a member of the ethnic Indian minority.

Commodore Bainimarama takes the opposite tack, seeing the bill as characteristic of an administration sympathetic to the stagers of the coup and bent on disadvantaging the Indo-Fijian community. The legislation's promise of amnesty to those involved in the coup who acted with "a political objective" provides considerable credence for his view. It means, in effect, that Speight, who was jailed for life for treason, could be quickly pardoned. The New Zealand Government, among others, has voiced its unease about how this odd categorisation creates an exemption for people who have overthrown a democratic government by force.

Nonetheless, this piece of legislation is the work of a democratically elected government. The military appointed Mr Qarase the country's caretaker leader after it quelled the Speight coup, but he was elected Prime Minister in 2001. If Commodore Bainimarama were to stage a coup, he would be mimicking Speight's crime. The damage to Fiji's reputation occasioned by the Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill would be accentuated may times over, not repaired.

Commodore Bainimarama should, in fact, take encouragement from the path of the legislation. Mr Qarase has confirmed that the view of Fijians, as gauged by a law and order committee which toured the country, would lead to the bill being watered down. That is an optimistic signal, suggesting that most Fijians recognise it is not acceptable to use force to overthrow a government. And that those involved in the coup should serve a penalty befitting their crime before pardons are contemplated.

The present tension seems to have arisen because senior military officers, influenced perhaps by the Government, have demanded Commodore Bainimarama either stop threatening Mr Qarase or quit his post. It is a ploy that promises escalating unrest, rather than a solution. The Prime Minister may do better to ponder his recent decision to rule out an early election.

A poll should, in fact, be held as soon as possible. It might just confirm that most Fijians are happy with the course charted by the Government. If so, Commodore Bainimarama must accept that verdict, and stop threatening martial law. Alternatively, the election may find that most people, as indicated by the law and order committee's inquiries, favour a less divisive approach to race relations.

If so, Fiji may be sailing into calmer waters. Finally, it may be ready to confront its racial tensions constitutionally, not at the point of a gun.