About That Comet

Some Citizens Know

From Vijendra Kumar in Lautoka

CHRISTMAS was one of Fiji’s guietest ever. The usual at mosphere of Yuletide cheer and bonhomie were sadly missing. And the New Year was more or less a non-event. But for the banging of empty oil drums by carefree children on New Year’s Eve, one would have hardly noticed.

Indeed, there was little to be joyful about. Just a few days be fore the festive season, Fiji was stunned by the sinking of two inter-island vessels which claimed 84 lives. In November, the people suffered a brutal shock with the realisation that the world energy crisis had invaded their homes.

Last year was crisis-ridden.

Early in the year, the government imposed rigid prices and in comes regulations in a futile attempt to curb inflation. The

government’s repeated claims that

statistics showed that the policy was working did not convince the masses who wanted, not statistical data, but tangible evidence of a price fall in goods and rents.

Continued labour troubles plagued industry. Unions called strikes at will. Even the Fiji Sugar

and General Workers’ Union, which is legally prohibited from calling strikes, withdrew all its labour, forcing Fiji’s all four sugar mills to close down for more than a week.

The civil servants, normally a docile body, went on strike. So did several other groups. All these wildcat strikes proved one thing: No government can wipe out in dustrial unrest just by legislation.

The controversial Trade Disputes Act, which the government ram med through earlier in the year, proved ineffective.

As if man-made disasters were not enough, a freak cyclone which weathermen had named Lottie, slammed Kadavu south of Viti Levu, flattening homes and crops.

The previous year it was Hurricane Bebe from which nation-wide devastation Fiji is still recovering.

In superstitious Fiji, the omens for 1974 are worse. The vernacular newspapers have been carrying stories of doom from astrologers and other star-gazers. Most of their projections, the newspapers report, are based on the sudden emergence of the comet Kahoutek.

One Hindi newspaper carried a front page banner headline saying that there were prophecies of world-wide destruction. A comet was regarded as a sure omen of misfortune since the creation of the earth, it wrote.

"In 9 BC, after sighting a comet, the oracles warned King Herod that a child would be born who would be more powerful than the king. As a result, Herod had thousands of new-born children slaughtered. Jesus was born,” the weekly Jai Fiji wrote.

The paper cited another his torical case when a comet ap peared in 451. The same year, Attila the Hun rampaged Europe.

"According to Hindu scriptures,” the paper said, “death and destruc tion would stalk the planet in the form of a comet. Most Christians believe that the world would be destroyed after a Middle East war and Jesus would be re-born to save mankind.”

In the villages and farming settlements, the talk invariably turns to Kahoutek. There is general agreement among the simple folk that it is an omen signifying the end of this world.

"What can one do against Fate?” an old woman asked me during a discussion on the sub ject. "I am prepared to meet my maker,” she added resignedly.