(o+) Would the Real Mahendra Chaudhry Please Stand Up

It's difficult to gauge Mahendra Chaudhry.

Ousted Labour-led Government Prime Minister. Brave and defiant prisoner of the Speight coup.
Opponent then colleague in the Qarase's SDL-led government. Fierce advocate for cane farmers or obstructionist in the sugar industry. Banker for displaced Indo-Fijian refuges, or tax evader and shady banker for himself. Supporter of Bainimarama's People's Charter, briefly minister in the Bainimarama Government, and now -- apparently-- compatriot of Qarase (two people who once were barely civil to each other). Once denied entry to Australia and now mysteriously admitted, with no explanation.

Martyr and people's advocate? Self-serving and two-faced opportunist? Pragmatist, realist, survivor? Who knows? But there's no questioning he's an important wild card in Fiji's deck of cards.

With these thoughts in mind, I read the FLP website release, initiated no doubt by the great enigma himself. The proposals are sound, except possibly for their timing and the insistence that all initiatives should come from Government; it's just that you're left unsure about their motivation. The old saying "I cannot believe a word you say, for what you are is speaking louder still" comes to mind -- but what is he? The word "restoration" in the "restoration of democracy" line also raises suspicions. Restoration to the race-based communal electorates that ensured him earlier election successes, or "restoration" used loosely to encompass elections but only after electoral reforms?


To read the Fiji Labour Party release, entitled Lift Emergency Rule and Talk, click here.