The Leopard Who Only Appears to Change His Spots
The full text of the FLP leader's message may be read courtesy of RawFijiNews, the anti-Government blog that last year could think of nothing nice to say about him. How things change, as Chaudhry himself acknowledges in his opening comment, first a biased media (when he was part of the Government), now a media-gagging government (when he is not):
"This year again, as last year, I have been unable to convey to you my message on the auspicious occasion of Deepavali through the media. But the reason for my inability to do so this year is different from that of last year. In 2008 it was because of a hostile and biased print media; this year it is because of the media gag put in place by the interim government on April 10 following the abrogation of the constitution and the imposition of Emergency Rule."Mahendra Chaudhry is an accomplished politician who most times turns every event to his own advantage. The only time he got things seriously wrong was when Labour won the 1999 election. To survive, he should have allowed Tupeni Baba to be the PM; been far more cautious on proposed land and lease reforms that could so easily be distorted by rabid Fijian nationalists, and he should have heeded warnings about the prospects of the 2000 Coup.
Following the 2006 Coup --that some say he helped engineer-- he became Minister of Finance in the Interim Government, but disassociated himself from the Bainimarama Government early this year. My guess is he foresaw the July judicial findings and the inevitability of the events that followed, including the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution. At some point he decided his long-term political survival (that rests on race-based Indo-Fijian politics) gave him more things in common with Qarase and the SDL party than with the Interim Government. I think he's hoping that one way or another, the Bainimarama government will be overthrown before the 2014 elections.
The censors should not have stopped his Diwali message. They should have advised the media to print it -- as an advertisement.
3 comments:
Mr Chaudhary has sufficient funds of his own to have his Diwali address to the Nation published as a paid advertisement. It all depends upon his intention and interest. One must conclude that he did not find it sufficiently important to spend his own or FLP-donated funds? A most telling decision but quite in character. All your comments are essentialy correct. Fiji has been ill-served by this man and we might have foregone much sorrow had his judgement and absolute self-interest been otherwise employed.
Crosbie W.
Your piece on 'the leopard' seems to echo the Fiji press of 10 years ago when it demonized Chaudhary & promoted the myth that the F.L.P. is an "Indian party".
Like any other Labour party, the F.L.P. draws its support from workers & the disadvantaged of all races as well as those who want a fair go for all, while the business community vote for someone else thus splitting the Indian vote.
Perhaps Mr Chaudhary knew that Dr Baba was not P.M. material, something we learned after the 2000 coup when Baba, mistaken in the belief that race is all, went on to split the party, accepted financial backing from the crook, Peter Foster & utterly failed in his ambition to become P.M.
In an interview some months ago on radio Australia, Chaudhary said he left the I.G. to comply with its rules about contesting the proposed 2009 election but teamed up with Garose to protest the postponement of that election.
If Mr Chaudhary could have bought ad space for his address, might not the Nationalists do the same & would the cash be in a brown paper bag?
I would like to think you are correct. All any of us can do is ponder motivations. I'm certainly not anti-FLP but there can be no doubt Chaudhry has used race (and sugar) to win support, and in this regard he is little better than Qarase.
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