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Issue No: 873; 21 June 2001
The 1987 military coups and the 2000 terrorist activities have had a negative effect in the neighbouring Pacific Island Nations. This is the view of the noted Tongan Professor, Dr. Futa Helu. Professor Helu is the head of Tonga's Atenisi University. In a Fiji Times interview, Professor Helu stated: "My view is that there is a contradiction here in Fiji. There is this tension between the veneer of democracy and an undercurrent of the reality of Fiji which is the rigid hierarchical society. "The power of the chiefly classes is so strong that you almost have no hope and the way I see it, Fiji is not going to be able to solve this problem. "Fiji is going to go on deteriorating politically and socially speaking from now on. I think that, this may be too strong, but Fiji could become the Haiti of the South Pacific, if we are not careful. "Specifically I think the ruling that was made by the
Appeals Court should have been respected and I thought that was a great
opportunity that Fiji missed. They missed that by insisting on a caretaker
government. I think Fiji was at a kind of crossroads whether to take the right
way or the wrong way. In my own opinion, Fiji chose the wrong way." |
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People's Coalition Government - Fiji Islands |
