The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Fiji has questioned what he calls the type democracy being trumpeted by some foreign governments and some individuals and groups within the country.
Archbishop Petero Mataca raises the question in an opinion piece published in two Fiji newspapers today.
Archbishop Mataca says democracy is not an end in itself but a means to higher goals which he says are freedom, good government, just laws and happy homes.
He says whatever the systems of governance, democracy in its various forms or socialism, it must be at the service of humanity.
Archbishop Mataca says if any of these causes people to oppress, discriminate and racially divide societies, they need to be reformed so happy homes become a reality for Fiji's people.
Yet, he says, shortcut answers are being fanatically promoted by some foreign governments and local individuals.
Archbishop Mataca says this is overnight democracy with little or no substance to what is meant by democracy.
He says to set a strong democratic foundation for the future, Fiji needs to assess the assumptions of democracy as experienced in the country in the last 20 years, the principles that underpin it and the institutions that are created to maintain and protect it.
