Activists disagree over Ratu Tevita Mara

Submitted by TemoL on Mon, 20/06/2011 - 8:48pm

Overseas Fijians who want democracy restored to the country are split over whether they should cooperate with former senior Fiji army officer, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara.

The disagreement over whether to cooperate with Ratu Tevita is shown clearly in an exchange of e-mails between Nick Naidu, the Auckland based leader of the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji, and Stuart Huggett, the former Chairman of the Fiji Public Service Commission.

Mr Naidu opposes Ratu Tevita's involvement in the pro-democracy movement, and said so last week. But Mr Huggett wrote separately to the New Zealand government disagreeing with this and saying that many expatriate Fiji citizens believe the former senior military figure is someone who they could and should work alongside.

Nick Naidu isn't happy at Mr Huggett breaking ranks, but he says that at least this shows that in a democratic system people can have disagreements and differences in the open, but still work together.

Presenter: Bruce Hill

Source: Radio Australia