A politician in Fiji says the Pacific Islands Forum had to send the interim government a symbolic message that it wouldn't tolerate its deviant behaviour.
The general secretary of the National Federation Party, Pramod Rae has been speaking in reaction to the forum's decision to suspend Fiji after it failed to meet a deadline to set an election date.
Mr Rae says the forum has taken a lenient line with Fiji until now, but he would not be surprised if it went further by introducing economic sanctions.
He says the current measures are targetted at the government but the people of Fiji would understand if the Forum took tougher action.
"You can't have a halfway house in this. You can't say we will do this but we won't do something else because it might hurt the people. The people in the country are already hurting, they are hurting by a brutal and illegitimate regime that is governing us without any moral authority to do so. The people of this country will not mind a little bit more hurt if it helps them get rid of this mob."
The general secretary of the National Federation Party, Pramod Rae.