It was wise of Fiji’s President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to commute to life in prison the death penalty passed on George Speight who, two years ago, overthrew the elected government of Fiji. His seizure of the Fijian Parliament and holding Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and government MPs hostage for 56 days was undoubtedly an act of treason, but this crime was a symptom of a greater malaise, which Speight’s death would have exacerbated rather than solved.
The Fijian economy is dominated by ethnic Indians, whose forebears were brought to the islands by the British colonial power to work on the sugar plantations. For a long time, both ethnic communities got along fine. However, as Fiji acquired the trappings of a modern, consumer state, the economic dominance of the Indian community began to produce a reaction among the ethnic Fijians. While that dominance was confined to commerce, it was tolerable. When, however, Chaudhry was elected as the country’s first ethnic Indian prime minister, it seemed to many ordinary Fijians that their role in their own country was being diminished.
Even though Chaudhry’s government did nothing to promote this perception, the very fact that the state was no longer being led by an ethnic Fijian troubled the deeply traditional islanders, who had never abandoned their system of tribal elders, which ran almost in parallel with central government. It remains a widely held conviction that Speight and his hotheads were not acting alone. It is suspected that some prominent leaders of the ethnic Fijian community were, at best, sympathetic and, at worst, actually complicit in the attempted coup. But whatever the real plan, it was quickly abandoned in the face of worldwide condemnation and clear threats both from the Australian and British governments.
Speight and his hoodlums were left out on a limb. His eventual surrender was in return for a promise of pardon, a promise which the authorities promptly broke. It may be that his guilty plea, when he finally came to trial was informed by another promise of clemency. His obvious shock when sentence of death was passed was striking. The tough guy who had waved a gun in front of the world’s media was suddenly reduced to tears. But within hours, the sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment, in itself, a serious enough punishment.
It was a wise decision. Speight will not become a martyr and if, as must be hoped, the ethnic tensions on the islands subside dramatically, at some future date, his release as a goodwill gesture could help cement the progress. But Fiji has a long way to go before that stage is reached. The Indian community has had a wakeup call and the ethnic Fijians, once renowned for their tolerance, have shown unexpected prejudice.
Both sides must now work with a will to sort out the tensions that have grown up between them. The Indian community may believe, in its heart of hearts, that it has raised itself from the status of poor laborers to a comfortable middle class, while most ethnic Fijians have not had the drive and verve to better themselves in the same way. This is, however, a dangerous attitude. Fiji is too small to be divided between rich and poor. Its people should now plan for the good of everyone.
