May 30, 2000	atimes.com

Oceania The question remains: who will lead Fiji? By Craig DeSilva HONOLULU, Hawaii - As the Fiji coup entered its second week on Friday with no clear end to the crisis, many Hawaii residents with ties to Fiji continue to wonder about the future leadership of the island republic. Terence Wesley-Smith, an associate professor for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaii, said there aren't many ethnic Fijians who would receive the majority support of voters. He said Deputy Prime Minister Tupeni Baba and former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka may be the only two Fijians that are noteworthy enough to become Fiji's next leader. But the question remains: can Fijians live with an Indo-Fijian prime minister? ''The people in Fiji in power have decided that shouldn't be allowed to happen again in the future,'' Wesley-Smith said. ''I wouldn't be surprised if the Great Council of Chiefs come through with a safeguard against the possibility of an Indian being prime minister again.'' Smith said although there were obvious signs of dissatisfaction with Chaudhry's new government, the coup attempt came as quite a surprise. ''I didn't expect there would be something in the form of a coup,'' he said. ''People had invested so much in the new constitution. There was a lot at stake in that document.'' Vilsoni Hereniko, a native of the Fiji Island of Rotuma, said Fijians must address the problem of leadership in the country. Although Hereniko said he is disappointed at Speight's actions of attempting to overthrow Chaudhry's government, he admits many Fijians find it difficult to deal with an ethnic Indian prime minister. ''There is a real crisis in Fijian leadership,'' said Hereniko, a professor at UH's Center for Pacific Islands Studies. ''This coup, just like the 1987 coup, is an attempt to call attention to the fact of who is going to be the Fijian leader. ''Given the politics in Fiji, it would be much better if the leader was an indigenous Fijian. I think if you have an Indian prime minister, things may look OK to the outside world for awhile, but sooner or later there would be another uprising by the indigenous Fijians,'' he added. A former state department official, who spoke to Pacific Islands Report under conditions of anonymity, said racial tension between indigenous Fijians and Indians in the country has always been an issue. But he added that an underlining motive for Speight's action might be due to the fact that Chaudhry fired him as chairman of Fiji Pine Ltd and Fiji Hardwood Corporation Ltd. He said the kidnapping might be Speight's revenge on Chaudhry. David Chappell, a history professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said it will be interesting to see how history regards the events over the last week. ''To me a coup is when you succeed, and this is far from a success,'' he said. ''A handful of thugs kidnapped (the prime minister), and they don't have widespread support from the population. I'm hesitant to call this a coup.'' (This is a special report by Pacific Islands Report, a service of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii. For news in depth, link to the PIR website: http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/pireport)

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