A naked grab for power

THE AUSTRALIAN Letters Blog May 08, 2009 3 Comments

I REFER to Graham Davis's response (Letters, 4/5) to Jon Fraenkel's letter (2-3/5). I carry no brief for the racial supremacists of my country, but Fiji's imperfect democracy is an evolving one. And neither Frank Bainimarama, nor Sitiveni Rabuka before him, had the right to destroy it, whatever the pretext.

The wonder and paradox of democracy is that the outcome cannot be guaranteed in advance. A fairer and more equitable electoral system will not necessarily deliver a result that Bainimarama, Davis or some of us would prefer. Indeed Fiji's coup leader is on record as saying that ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase would return over his dead body.

What this sentiment suggests is that Fiji's unelected ruler, who has no mandate from the people, would lend his support to a democratic model of governance so long as he was satisfied with and could guarantee the outcome. That is a dangerous proposition and reveals far more about the shallowness of Bainimarama's understanding of the nature of democratic politics.

The charge of "racism" that is flung with abandon at Qarase's government is cited to justify the December 5, 2006 coup. Suffice it to say, that in the context of Fiji the discourse about race and ethnicity is more complicated than is portrayed. It is not confined to one community. As a person of mixed-racial parentage, I can cite examples of being at the receiving end of racial slurs and discrimination. But I would not for one moment suggest that a coup d'etat would be the way to address racism and bad governance. The end does not justify the means.

Electoral reform, while important, is essentially a red herring. The real problem in Fiji is that feudal cliques refusing to relinquish privilege, an army that refuses to recognise its limitations in a democracy, and failed politicians of all persuasions and opportunistic businessmen who support them, see nothing wrong in undermining electoral verdicts.

The choice is not between good and evil as such, but rather between the legitimation of arbitrariness and whim in public life and the hesitant but gradual process of democratisation with all its checks and balances.

If the racial supremacists in Fiji are now converts, let it be the Damascus experience of Saint Paul and not the ambivalence of Hamlet. Fiji's latest coup should be seen for what it is—a naked grab for power.

Graham Leung
Suva, Fiji