REPORTER: Chris Hammer
In a small temple in the suburbs of Suva, members of the local Hindu community are celebrating the festival of Ram Naumi. For 10 days they mark the birthday of Rama, the main character in the religious text, the Ramayana. But this year's celebrations are marked with a touch of anxiety - this temple has only just been refurbished after being set on fire in late March. Sailesh Chand recalls the desperate fight to save the temple.
SAILESH CHAND: We started putting water. We fill the bucket from the tap here and we run, we run and throw the water on the fire. We managed to stop the fire.
The fire was stopped, but the damage was done. The perpetrators had piled up and burnt the temple's holy books.
AMRIT PRASAD, TEMPLE ELDER: Probably they are maybe thinking this is a second-class religion not comparatively... compared to their religion. This can be another reason why they probably destroyed the holy books as well.
An organisation that promotes religious tolerance in Fiji says there's been an escalation in desecrations since the coup five years ago.
TESSA MACKENZIE, INTERFAITH SEARCH: Since 2000 there have been more, I think we found police statistics of 134 cases over the last three years, four years, and this year, since the beginning of 2005 there has been a big increase.
Tessa Mackenzie says Hindus are becoming more outspoken in condemning the attacks, she fears that could spill over into retaliation.
TESSA MACKENZIE: Well, we hope not, we hope not. But, I mean, people only have so much patience.
Elsewhere in suburban Suva I visit Narare Primary School.
MRS PREM CHAND, ASSISTANT HEAD TEACHER: This is the temple, the main part of the temple.
Mrs Prem Chand, the assistant head teacher, tells me how the school's small temple was trashed just three days before.
MRS PREM CHAND: All this was on the floor, they were scattered. All these statues were down and the holy books which were there were all on the floor.
It's the third time the temple has been ransacked. The local media carried pictures of the desecration on the evening of the incident. Mrs Chand says the attack has distressed her students.
MRS PREM CHAND: They were traumatised because they haven't seen something so bad as this one. Because it was exam week, they were supposed to sit for their exams and when they came into the rooms and everything was scattered all over, the children were traumatised.
The desecrations are now occurring at a frequency of one or two per fortnight, but the police view them as simple break-and-enters.
ANDREW HUGHES, POLICE COMMISSIONER: It seems a common thread, the motive, at least, is for cash and other valuables. So it's about looking for items that they'll be able to readily dispose of.
That assertion angers Hindu community leaders. They point to the burning of holy books and say the intent is clearly one of sacrilege.
PRATAP CHAND, OPPOSITION MP: What concerns me is the reaction from the police. You know, I see that the police generally treat these incidents as a theft or a break-in or a burglary.
With four desecrations in his constituency already this year, Pratap Chand fears frustration with the police could lead people to take the law into their own hands.
PRATAP CHAND: You could have some individuals who could lose their patience, who could find themselves extremely intimidated and may feel that they must pay in kind. So that potential is always there.
Just who is responsible for the desecrations is difficult to say. Most occur in small Hindu temples, with occasional attacks on churches and mosques. But the sharp increase following Fiji's year 2000 coup suggests the desecrations are symptomatic of underlying political tensions. They mirror a spate of desecrations that followed Fiji's original coup back in 1987 when the genie of religious intolerance first escaped.
TESSA MACKENZIE: The 1987 coup - we were told that it was the will of God. The Christians involved told us it was the will of God. Rabuka was portrayed as being a Moses leading his people to freedom from heathen races.
And now, while the police maintain the attacks are the work of opportunistic thieves, they also say politicians are beginning to exploit the situation.
ANDREW HUGHES: But at a political level, a lot of this plays out. And of course, when we have instances of sacrilege occurring in a particular religious group, then that's picked up and can become a political tool, or, you know, a political weapon against opposing parties, where we have this division on racial lines.
Fiji's Prime Minister, Liasenia Qarase is concerned the desecrations could destabilise his country's fragile post-coup calm.
LAISENIA QARASE, FIJIAN PRIME MINISTER: It could be a destabilising force, because religion is also racial, unfortunately. It is an ugly issue and I hope it doesn't develop to a stage where communities confront each other.
The dominant church in Fiji is the Methodist Church. I filmed its Suva choir, acknowledged as perhaps the country's finest. The Methodists are about as close to being a state religion as it's possible to get without being one. Its leadership condemns the desecrations outright.
But out in the villages, some Methodist ministers have been involved in desecrations of a different kind. I've come to the village of Drabuka, where, beneath the idyllic surface, I find another case of sacrilege - this time practised by a Methodist pastor.
I meet Alesi. She takes me to the equivalent of the village green and shows me the handiwork of a local Methodist preacher, Pastor Lemeki. Pastor Lemeki has taken it upon himself to cleanse villages of their evil past, demanding villagers burn kava bowls and other traditional artefacts. Also burnt - the former focal point of Drabuka's village life, the giant Vai-vai tree that offered shade and protection to those gathering beneath its branches.
So big was the tree, it overshadowed the Methodist church, Alesi and other villagers now regret the burning.
ALESI: When our tullatulla said we have to burn down the trees, well, we burn down the trees, but when we think about that it makes us now feel guilty again, because the trees brings us... you know, it's God's gift to us.
REPORTER: The trees were God's gift and so they shouldn't have been burnt?
ALESI: I think that's it.
This is the monument erected to honour Pastor Lemeki's good works. In a village with five competing churches, the monument clearly stakes out the Methodist preacher's turf. In some ways Dabuka got off lightly - in other villages houses have been burnt down.
The National President of the Methodist Church says he has no knowledge of Pastor Lemeki's campaign but he also doesn't condemn it outright. He says only that headquarters should be consulted first.
REVEREND JIONE LANGI, PRESIDENT METHODIST CHURCH: Because it is important for us to know before we can give the final authority to do it on behalf of the Methodist church or in the name of the Methodist church.
REPORTER: So you wouldn't tell him no, you might actually approve of it?
REVEREND JIONE LANGI: Well, that's why he has to come and talk it over with us.
The Methodist hierarchy may or may not approve of Pastor Lemeki's methods, but there is some sympathy for his desire for Methodist supremacy. Many Methodists want their church to become the state religion.
REVEREND JIONE LANGI: As a personal opinion, I would support it, because we have freedom of worship and freedom of religion here and all religions can practise but, where Fiji is now today, the Christian church has played a very major part.
Religion plays a central role in the day-to-day lives of Fijians, much more so than in Australia. Everywhere you look there are signs of belief. The danger now, as next year's elections approach, is that the desecrations will continue and religious intolerance will increase.
TESSA MACKENZIE: We're very much aware that we've got a lot of volatile situations with the upcoming elections. There's bound to be more pressure on all the pressure points, like the race and religion, the economic situations, the poverty and so on. All these areas which are potentially explosive will be under pressure as the electioneering goes on.
Out in Suva Harbour, you can see the island where George Speight is imprisoned. Five years on, it seems Fiji is yet to escape the legacy of the coup he led.
In a small temple in the suburbs of Suva, members of the local Hindu community are celebrating the festival of Ram Naumi. For 10 days they mark the birthday of Rama, the main character in the religious text, the Ramayana. But this year's celebrations are marked with a touch of anxiety - this temple has only just been refurbished after being set on fire in late March. Sailesh Chand recalls the desperate fight to save the temple.
SAILESH CHAND: We started putting water. We fill the bucket from the tap here and we run, we run and throw the water on the fire. We managed to stop the fire.
The fire was stopped, but the damage was done. The perpetrators had piled up and burnt the temple's holy books.
AMRIT PRASAD, TEMPLE ELDER: Probably they are maybe thinking this is a second-class religion not comparatively... compared to their religion. This can be another reason why they probably destroyed the holy books as well.
An organisation that promotes religious tolerance in Fiji says there's been an escalation in desecrations since the coup five years ago.
TESSA MACKENZIE, INTERFAITH SEARCH: Since 2000 there have been more, I think we found police statistics of 134 cases over the last three years, four years, and this year, since the beginning of 2005 there has been a big increase.
Tessa Mackenzie says Hindus are becoming more outspoken in condemning the attacks, she fears that could spill over into retaliation.
TESSA MACKENZIE: Well, we hope not, we hope not. But, I mean, people only have so much patience.
Elsewhere in suburban Suva I visit Narare Primary School.
MRS PREM CHAND, ASSISTANT HEAD TEACHER: This is the temple, the main part of the temple.
Mrs Prem Chand, the assistant head teacher, tells me how the school's small temple was trashed just three days before.
MRS PREM CHAND: All this was on the floor, they were scattered. All these statues were down and the holy books which were there were all on the floor.
It's the third time the temple has been ransacked. The local media carried pictures of the desecration on the evening of the incident. Mrs Chand says the attack has distressed her students.
MRS PREM CHAND: They were traumatised because they haven't seen something so bad as this one. Because it was exam week, they were supposed to sit for their exams and when they came into the rooms and everything was scattered all over, the children were traumatised.
The desecrations are now occurring at a frequency of one or two per fortnight, but the police view them as simple break-and-enters.
ANDREW HUGHES, POLICE COMMISSIONER: It seems a common thread, the motive, at least, is for cash and other valuables. So it's about looking for items that they'll be able to readily dispose of.
That assertion angers Hindu community leaders. They point to the burning of holy books and say the intent is clearly one of sacrilege.
PRATAP CHAND, OPPOSITION MP: What concerns me is the reaction from the police. You know, I see that the police generally treat these incidents as a theft or a break-in or a burglary.
With four desecrations in his constituency already this year, Pratap Chand fears frustration with the police could lead people to take the law into their own hands.
PRATAP CHAND: You could have some individuals who could lose their patience, who could find themselves extremely intimidated and may feel that they must pay in kind. So that potential is always there.
Just who is responsible for the desecrations is difficult to say. Most occur in small Hindu temples, with occasional attacks on churches and mosques. But the sharp increase following Fiji's year 2000 coup suggests the desecrations are symptomatic of underlying political tensions. They mirror a spate of desecrations that followed Fiji's original coup back in 1987 when the genie of religious intolerance first escaped.
TESSA MACKENZIE: The 1987 coup - we were told that it was the will of God. The Christians involved told us it was the will of God. Rabuka was portrayed as being a Moses leading his people to freedom from heathen races.
And now, while the police maintain the attacks are the work of opportunistic thieves, they also say politicians are beginning to exploit the situation.
ANDREW HUGHES: But at a political level, a lot of this plays out. And of course, when we have instances of sacrilege occurring in a particular religious group, then that's picked up and can become a political tool, or, you know, a political weapon against opposing parties, where we have this division on racial lines.
Fiji's Prime Minister, Liasenia Qarase is concerned the desecrations could destabilise his country's fragile post-coup calm.
LAISENIA QARASE, FIJIAN PRIME MINISTER: It could be a destabilising force, because religion is also racial, unfortunately. It is an ugly issue and I hope it doesn't develop to a stage where communities confront each other.
The dominant church in Fiji is the Methodist Church. I filmed its Suva choir, acknowledged as perhaps the country's finest. The Methodists are about as close to being a state religion as it's possible to get without being one. Its leadership condemns the desecrations outright.
But out in the villages, some Methodist ministers have been involved in desecrations of a different kind. I've come to the village of Drabuka, where, beneath the idyllic surface, I find another case of sacrilege - this time practised by a Methodist pastor.
I meet Alesi. She takes me to the equivalent of the village green and shows me the handiwork of a local Methodist preacher, Pastor Lemeki. Pastor Lemeki has taken it upon himself to cleanse villages of their evil past, demanding villagers burn kava bowls and other traditional artefacts. Also burnt - the former focal point of Drabuka's village life, the giant Vai-vai tree that offered shade and protection to those gathering beneath its branches.
So big was the tree, it overshadowed the Methodist church, Alesi and other villagers now regret the burning.
ALESI: When our tullatulla said we have to burn down the trees, well, we burn down the trees, but when we think about that it makes us now feel guilty again, because the trees brings us... you know, it's God's gift to us.
REPORTER: The trees were God's gift and so they shouldn't have been burnt?
ALESI: I think that's it.
This is the monument erected to honour Pastor Lemeki's good works. In a village with five competing churches, the monument clearly stakes out the Methodist preacher's turf. In some ways Dabuka got off lightly - in other villages houses have been burnt down.
The National President of the Methodist Church says he has no knowledge of Pastor Lemeki's campaign but he also doesn't condemn it outright. He says only that headquarters should be consulted first.
REVEREND JIONE LANGI, PRESIDENT METHODIST CHURCH: Because it is important for us to know before we can give the final authority to do it on behalf of the Methodist church or in the name of the Methodist church.
REPORTER: So you wouldn't tell him no, you might actually approve of it?
REVEREND JIONE LANGI: Well, that's why he has to come and talk it over with us.
The Methodist hierarchy may or may not approve of Pastor Lemeki's methods, but there is some sympathy for his desire for Methodist supremacy. Many Methodists want their church to become the state religion.
REVEREND JIONE LANGI: As a personal opinion, I would support it, because we have freedom of worship and freedom of religion here and all religions can practise but, where Fiji is now today, the Christian church has played a very major part.
Religion plays a central role in the day-to-day lives of Fijians, much more so than in Australia. Everywhere you look there are signs of belief. The danger now, as next year's elections approach, is that the desecrations will continue and religious intolerance will increase.
TESSA MACKENZIE: We're very much aware that we've got a lot of volatile situations with the upcoming elections. There's bound to be more pressure on all the pressure points, like the race and religion, the economic situations, the poverty and so on. All these areas which are potentially explosive will be under pressure as the electioneering goes on.
Out in Suva Harbour, you can see the island where George Speight is imprisoned. Five years on, it seems Fiji is yet to escape the legacy of the coup he led.