Forgotten Fiji

Fiji was once a country where democracy lived. However in 2006 the democratically elected government of Fiji was overthrown in an armed military coup. At the head of the coup was military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama. On December 4, 2006, Bainimarama and the army set up road blocks around the nation’s capital Suva, seizing weapons from government supporters. Having achieved physical control over the islands, the army then set about disbanding meetings amongst politicians and dissolving parliament. Meanwhile, the ousted Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase called on other countries to intervene by providing military support to help return democracy to his country, but no military support arrived. By the morning of December 6, the bloodless coup was complete and Bainimarama announced to the press that the military had taken control of the government, and were now running the country. Where democracy had once lived in Fiji, it now was dead.

As to why Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase’s calls for other countries to intervene fell on deaf ears, the only fathomable reason is that Fiji is too insignificant for anyone to bother with. As a small Pacific nation Fiji’s military is tiny and only poses a threat to itself. It has no great wealth or supply of natural resources to speak of, and it only has a population of just over one million. Put simply, Fiji is not a threat to anyone but Fiji.

In New Zealand newspapers, stories of the coup lay side by side with ads extolling the luxury of an eleven night cruise to Fiji and Tonga aboard the Pacific Sun – New Zealand’s latest cruise ship. Helen Clarke discussed placing a ban on Fijian sports people travelling to New Zealand and then withdrew her proposal to allow the Fijian Sevens Rugby Team into the country for the International Rugby Board’s international sevens tournament in Wellington. Aid to Fiji was slashed, and Australia followed suit, but this did nothing to return democracy back to the people of Fiji.

“Freedom is worth fighting for, dying for, and standing for – and the advance of freedom leads to peace.” These words were spoken in a speech given by the American President, George Bush Jr., just two months after the coup in Fiji. He goes on to say how America’s “commitment to democracy is tested in countries like Cuba and Burma and North Korea and Zimbabwe – outposts of oppression in our world,” yet there is no mention of Fiji in George Bush’s speech. For the Americans, it is as though Fiji does not even exist.