'Leper' Bainimarama steps out in style

Audrey Young

NUKU'ALOFA - Frank Bainimarama looked anything but a leper this afternoon as he stepped out of his silver Buick limousine (Chinese import) in a smart civilian suit at the Dateline hotel in Nuku'alofa to be warmly greeted as the leader of Fiji by his Tongan host Dr Feleti Sevele.
And the Fiji military leader is going to be anything but a leper tonight when he attends a dinner for Pacific Island Forum leaders hosted by outgoing Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon.
But inviting Bainimarama to the dinner is a highly questionable gesture by McKinnon, given that Fiji has been suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth.
It gives the Commodore who overthrew the elected Fiji Government the legitimacy he craves.
It makes a mockery of Helen Clark's prediction months ago that Bainimarma would be treated like a leper and it makes a mockery of her comments in this morning's Herald where she compared the treatment he was getting from the forum with the cold shoulder she thought he was getting from the Commonwealth.
Okay the Pacific's military rogue is not in the same league as Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and there would surely be outcry if McKinnon invited Mugabe to dinner.
But symbolism is important. A seat at the formal meeting table of the Paqcific Islands Forum says let's talk business. Sitting at the dinner table is a far more friendly and forgiving gesture.
McKinnon is arguing that the invitation was given in the name of promoting dialogue - which was guaranteed to Bainimarama anyway in the formal sessions of the forum.
Helen Clark has not arrived yet so we don't know what she thinks or if she will care to sup at the same table as the commander.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer may be arriving too late to have to make that call.