Fiji's constitution gets kiboshed.

Momentous change has come to Fiji's government in the past 24 hours.

While military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama's coup of 2006 brought international scorn and made the nation a pariah in the South Pacific, it also represented hope for Indo-Fijians tired of being deprived of equal citizenship. The man Bainimarama ousted, Laisenia Qarase, was in the process of enacting harsh laws based on ethnicity, thereby making Fiji's longstanding racism against Indians institutional. Qarase has been engaged in a court fight since the coup. Yesterday, Qarase prevailed, as the Fiji Court of Appeal declared his dismissal and dissolution of his parliament unconstitutional.

In effect, this left Fiji without a ruling government. It was up to Fiji's President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, to decide the government's fate. Less than an hour ago, Iloilo announced he was abrogating Fiji's 1997 constitution. From the Fiji Times, a paper Bainimarama and his ministers have been browbeating since day one of their regime:

(Iloilo) said he would appoint an interim government to rule for the next five years to implement the necessary reforms required for "true democratic and parliamentary elections."

He assured that he had the full backing of the country's security forces and he directed military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama to "to take all reasonable steps" to ensure the maintenance of peace.

What this means is anyone's guess. On one hand, yesterday's ruling was a victory for constitutionalism, for Bainimarama's coup was ruled illegal as it subverted Fiji's democratic process. So how to judge Iloilo's abolishment of that same constitution the next day? Bainimarama has been under internal and external pressure to call for a general election ever since promising one after the coup, but Iloilo has announced elections won't be held until 2014. A furor would have erupted if Bainimarama had made such an announcement. How will the international community react to a constitutionally appointed President making the same declaration?

Progress is impossible to measure in Fiji. Every positive step is met by a half dozen blunders that reward Fiji's powerful few and punish its impoverished majority. The past 24 hours have been remarkable ones. I hope and pray that life improves for the people I know and love in Fiji.