One year on from the Fiji military coup
In the days after the coup last year Fiji's soon to be dismissed Labour Minister Krishna Datt gave his opinion on the response to Commodore Bainimarama's actions.

"You know you'll be facing sanctions from New Zealand, from Australia," he said.

"We'll be out of the Commonwealth again. the European Union is likely to withdraw the aid and assistance it was going to be providing us. There'll be further unemployment, there'll be further difficulties for the people."

On the 12 month anniversary of Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years, everything predicted by Mr Datt has come to fruition. But all isn't doom and gloom.

A month ago I was in Fiji, reporting on the alleged assassination plot against Commodore Bainimarama. There was no sign of closed and shuttered shops and hotels, and the streets and markets were as full of people as they were a year before.

But when you entered those shops you noticed there was a lot less staff on duty, one hot bread shop I went into in December 2006 had three people working on the counter. In November 2007, there was just one, and there are plenty of other examples I could make. Business owners and managers say they're surviving, but doing it hard.

For Fiji's tourits resorts the story's the same. They survive, and over the past year they've kept their occupancies at a decent level. But to do so the whole industry's had to massively discount.

But if there's one unavoidable sign a country's economy is in trouble, it's the number of people living rough. In Fiji's capital Suva there's a lot more people begging, living and sleeping on the streets, than there was a year ago. Most of them are refugees from villages, regions and islands, which can't sustain their numbers.

Commodore Bainimarama's stated reason for overthrowing the government of Laisenia Qarase was to cleanup the corrupt practises of successive adminstrations. 12 months later, there has been no real evidence produced of corruption. The interim government has also committed to changing Fiji's voting system, to one person one vote, instead of the current system where you must vote on ethinc lines. A system the Commodore says is open to influence by churches and chiefs.

In the relatively urban suburbs of Suva that proposal is seen as evidence Fiji is a modern society. It hasn't been as well recieved in the villages and islands, where the chiefs and the churches guide and rule every aspect of life. And of course those chiefs and religious leaders are doing all they can to fight any influx of "so called" modern values, which may dilute their influence.

On the 12 month anniversary of its latest coup, Fiji's isn't a basket case. Anarchy doesn't reign and it hasn't cut itself off from the rest of the world. US academic, Dr Jerry Finin, has made point that today Fiji stands in a far more favorable light than many countries that simply, because they hold elections, claim to be highly democratic. That line was leapt on by Fiji's media, desperate for a foreign quote which was positive about their country.

But they failed to include the majority of Dr Finnin's statement, which went on to say the military leadership has allowed matters to deteriorate, the rule of law is threatened, and human rights abuses remain a concern. Immediately after the coup Fiji's military showed it would act swiftly, and at times brutally with critics. 12 months on there are some voices of dissent, questioning the interim government's assurances all problems are being dealt with, but you've got a better chance of hearing them in the foreign media than you do in Fiji. If it stands by its committments in 15 months Fiji will hold democratic elections.

On the 12 month anniversay of military control, many are curious just what sort country it will be by then.

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