Calm After the Storm

Everything is mostly calm after the coup scare. On Monday, the prime minister and the military commander met with the president. They seemed to have ironed out their main source of contention. Instead of speaking publicly, the commander will have regular meetings with the PM to discuss issues and hopefully resolve them. The commander and the police chief will be more involved in security meetings. The commander had issue with some controversial bills that the PM was trying to steamroll through Parliament that the commander and many others saw as racist. The commander's opinion on these bills will be entertained more by the PM and the PM said they will ask for more public opinions on these bills as well. The commander expressed concerns about legit elections this year. There is still some ongoing controversy. There is an army investigation into the commander's ex-righthand man who was forced to resign on confronting the commander, which caused the initial scare. We don't know if he tried to cause a mutiny against the commander. The commander says he threatened to shoot him. But that's a bit confusing, because he would be jailed I would think if he did that. The Fiji Labour Party (FLP) says it has sources (it hasn't divulged yet) that the PM was behind the failed military mutiny. The police are investigated these possibly inflammatory accusations. I mentioned that the head of the FLP made public comments that they will support a military takeover of the government. The PM says they are making their accusations against him to try to cover-up their remarks about supporting a coup. Police are investigating that as well. The FLP is also saying the major party is tampering with voter registrations to rig the upcoming elections. But everything is mostly back to normal. The general environment is calm. The tourism bureau says tourists are comfortable visiting now with an increase in bookings. Let's hope everyone can keep the communication channels open to resolve issues to keep Fiji coup free, but there is still a long way to go.