Word: fijian
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...world, most vocally Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Bainimarama's actions were an unacceptable interference in the democratic process, but the armed forces chief and now interim Prime Minister is unrepentant. "If you want to stop the coup cycle, you have to get rid of the ugly side of Fijian politics," he says. "If the Qarase government had done what we're doing now, they would still be there...
...says Hughes was ignorant of Fijian politics, a charge he lays at many doors. Foreign politicians like Downer and his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters are getting bad advice from their Fiji missions, he says, and don't know what's happening on the ground. "The diplomats got along better with Qarase's people," he says. "They want business as usual-even if it's going downhill." Last month Fiji's Reserve Bank predicted the economy would shrink 2-4% this year; before the coup, it had forecast growth of 2%. Speaking the day before his government's first Budget...
...Meanwhile, he stresses his successes: government agencies are operating with military efficiency after a "change of attitude"; the streets are so much safer that checkpoints will be removed "maybe by the end of March"; an Independent Commission Against Corruption will soon be established; and expatriate Fijians are returning to the country. For good or ill, Bainimarama has pressed the reset button on Fijian politics and is prepared to wait while the program reloads. He is "very confident" the country is on the right path. "We've set our target and we're heading towards it," he says, with a determined...
...Evanson takes a keen interest in Fijian politics, even helping finance the Qarase campaign after the 2000 coup. But he says he felt cheated after Qarase's government pushed ahead with the Qoliqoli bill. "In that first election, the Qoliqoli Bill came up and he [Qarase] said, 'I'm going to be influenced by what New Zealand does,' and so then when New Zealand gave it up and he didn't, I felt double-crossed on that...
...successfully recommended Bainimarama to succeed him as head of Fiji's armed forces when he stepped down in 1999. Evanson declines to reveal how much he donated to Ganilau's National Alliance Party to run against the Qarase government, but some observers say it was a substantial sum in Fijian campaign funding. Ganilau's election bid failed, but he has remained influential in military affairs, telling TIME he has recently been advising Bainimarama's military but "only on ceremonial matters" in the lead-up to the coup...