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Coup leader appoints interim Premier

P. S. Suryanarayana

The change of regime may benefit ethnic Indians, say diplomatic sources

SINGAPORE: Fiji's military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who took over the reins of government in a coup on Tuesday, may make a positive difference to the ethnic Indian minority, according to diplomatic and political sources.

The coup leader appointed Jona Baravilala Senilagakali, a stranger to politics, as interim Prime Minister. Cmdr. Bainimarama promised to pave the way for a new democratic order, which he said, would "mend the ever-widening racial divide that currently besets our multicultural nation."

The two main communities in Fiji are the native population and the ethnic Indians who settled there at the dictates of the old colonial rulers. The new military takeover was not directly traced to the "racial divide." However, the "controversial" legislative bills, which Cmdr. Bainimarama had opposed in challenging Mr. Qarase, impinge in some measure on the political and economic rights of the ethnic-Indian minority.

The coup marks the climax of a power struggle between Cmdr. Bainimarama and his one-time political nominee, Laisenia Qarase. Shortly before his dismissal and "house arrest," Laisenia Qarase called upon his compatriots to "stand up for democracy" and requested Australian Prime Minister John Howard for military intervention.

Mr. Howard, however, condemned the coup as "a tragic setback to democracy" and said he had, nonetheless, told Mr. Qarase it would not be possible to send Australian troops to save his government.

Cmdr. Bainimarama vowed that "the takeover will not be permanent" but cited in defence "the legal doctrine of necessity." He pointed out that Pervez Musharraf's seizure of power in Pakistan was judicially upheld on similar grounds.

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