Fiji's porter George: smiling on

By TONY WALL

The person I shall remember most fondly from my 10 hair-raising days in Fiji is George, and I'm sure as hell not talking about Speight.

For me, Centra Hotel doorman George Reece encapsulated the spirit of the Fijian people at a time when the very fabric of their society was crumbling around them.

Even as everything was turning to custard in Suva and Speight's armed thugs began roaming the streets, George's wide grin remained firmly in place.

"You guy always talk about politics," he lamented as he sat with a group of journalists dissecting every moment of a gunfight that morning.

"All I can think about is the game."

He meant the Fiji sevens' shock loss to Argentina in the world series match in Paris.

Despite the troubles, sport was still a hot topic among the rugby-mad indigenous population.

Even the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, took time on Saturday night to watch the Super 12 final, his grandson told me.

George, who became the Herald's guide in Suva and up to the highlands to talk to terrorised Indians, is typical of many Fijians.

Intelligent, with a quick, dry wit, he can speak three languages fluently - Fijian, Hindi and English - but is paid just $2 an hour at the hotel.

He gets on well with Fiji Indians, making a tut-tutting sound when he hears of their plight, but like many indigenous residents fears that "they are trying to take our land from us."

However, he does not approve of Speight's methods and thinks the coup will be bad for his country.

Prime Minister Helen Clark talks of sanctions against Fiji if democracy is not restored but she should think long and hard about the effect this action would have on people such as George, his wife and two small children.

Already George is thinking ahead to hard times and says he will sell the old car windscreen out the back of his house to get money to feed his family.

It is all very well for Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Phil Goff to talk tough, but they should go to ground-zero, Suva, and see first hand the catch-22 situation the country finds itself in.

Ratu Mara, who was President until the military took over on Monday night, is in the worst position.

His own daughter is a hostage and he must have known that if he sent the military in after Speight and his men, there would most likely have been a bloodbath.

His move at the weekend to sack the Chaudhry Government in an attempt to resolve the crisis brought the question from journalists: "Why are you bowing to terrorists?"

The old man responded: "Do you have an alternative?" There was a long pause before a reporter asked another question.

A few days earlier the former Prime Minister and 1987 coup leader, Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka, had told foreign journalists that democracy was a foreign flower to Fiji.

I just hope that no matter what the outcome of this difficult situation, George Speight gets dealt with like the criminal he is and George Reece gets his city back.

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