Pim Opinion

Politics in the Pacific have always had their own unique style and vigor, elements which have frequently conspired to confuse the foreign mind, leading it sometimes to despair and more often to the erroneous conclusion that disaster’s brink awaits, but inches away.

In this area Fiji is at least as renowned as anywhere else, having also what might be termed the “Bombay Factor” adding, if the metaphor may be excused, curry to an already active pot.

But, even for Fiji, the sudden resignation (PIM Jan. p 42) of so senior, and highly-respected, a figure as Charles Walker, the minister of finance, is somewhat unusual. And what makes it even more curious, and intriguing to outsiders, is the fact that Mr Walker offered no public explanation of his action.

It was widely assumed, both inside Fiji and outside, that he resigned in protest over his Government’s decision to give public servants a pay rise at a time when all other workers were either being asked to accept a pay freeze, were facing redundancy, or had been laid off.

Since the public sector in all its incarnations employs about 60 per cent of the wage-earning force in Fiji, and since Fiji now faces some very serious economic problems, such a reason could be readily

accepted, and applauded.

But his own Budget, tabled in Parliament only a short time before, had virtually conceded that some token payment was due public servants as a set-off against their accepting a system of redundancies in order to lighten the government payroll.

It is also true, however, that the Budget spoke of dire problems weighing upon the nation, and had increased the already very heavy burden carried by taxpayers, both corporate and individual.

Reports from Suva say Mr Walker arrived at a Cabinet meeting with his resignation letter in his pocket, waited until the Prime

Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, had left, and then sent the letter along to him by messenger. Whether Mr Walker and Ratu Mara subsequently met is unknown.

No unusual public outcry, nor any political brawl, preceded the resignation. No rumor of it had so much as brushed the normally gossip-strewn streets of Suva prior to the act.

Since Fiji is a place where the production of rumor has been refined to an artform, all manner of stories sprang up to explain the sudden departure for the back benches of so eminent a father of his country.

None had any basis in known fact, and Mr Walker made no public statements. He simply allowed all the rumors to circulate and, ultimately, exhaust themselves.

Anywhere else this sort of thing might have triggered a first-class political crisis. Mr Walker is one of the original Mara team members and, for a time, was widely tipped as a “compromise” candidate to replace Ratu Mara when he finally steps out of the prime minister’s office. He has also earned genuine international applause for the very conservative and wise fashion in which he has managed Fiji’s finances.

His departure, particularly in this somewhat melodramtic fashion, might be seen as a weakening of Ratu Mara and his Alliance government. But, in fact, the Opposition looks in worse shape than the government.

The new Minister of Finance, Mosese Qionibaravi, is well regarded and has apparently assumed duty with little difficulty or upset.

Business appears to be proceeding as usual with no real crisis in view.

Thus, while admitting ourselves singularly puzzled by Mr Walker’s sudden departure, we are constrained to salute Fiji for the serenity and apparent ease with which it absorbed the loss of a man so recently regarded as a pillar of the government.