In the past 20 years there have been three coups in Fiji.

The 1987 Coup

The “real “ underlying reasons for the Rabuka coup, if it is meaningful to talk of such a thing, may never be known.

Ratu Mara's 17 year reign as Prime Minister was brought to an end in 1987 by his loss at the polls to the Labour party led by Dr Timoci Bavadra.

Displeasure emerged when there were demonstrations in the streets against the new Government.

Working behind the scenes were Apisai Tora and Ratu Inoke Kubuabola who had enlisted the support of Colonel Rabuka, as he then was. Rabuka took over the planning and executed the coup on 14 May 1987.

It was obvious that some criminal elements and radical dissidents took Rabuka's overthrow of the Government as a license to harass and persecute the local Indo-Fijian community. Rabuka's forces moved slightly to restore public order but Anti-Indian sentiment remained rife. A mass exodus from Fiji by members of the Indo-Fijian community followed.

Little wonder that this daddy of our coups came to be characterized as the “racist” or “Anti-Indian” coup.

Engineering Of The Coup

The measures which perpetrators of the coup took to engineer anti-Indian sentiment are barely recognised:

The events of 14 May 1987 had been preceded by a “coup” within the Methodist Church whereby the conservative “old guard” had been replaced by a stridently pro-Fijian (anti-Indian) charismatic evangelical element. The new leadership justified their actions on the need to return to fundamentalist biblical teachings. The justification for separatism is easily found in the Bible in phrases such as:

"Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers"

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"

With 90% of the Indo-Fijian community comprised of Hindus and any number of Hindu temples dotted about the countryside as evidence of the “rise of Mamon,” the base for popular "anti-indian” sentiment was present and ripe for exploitation.

In parallel a “Taukei movement” was formed to infiltrate local squatter settlements and generate support. Certain local Fijians were chosen to carry out the task and some resident overseas brought back to Fiji to assist. Nadonumai, Sterling Place and a number of squatter type settlements were the Suva targets.

At this distance in time the source of the movement's funds are practically impossible to trace and destined to remain a source for future speculative argument.

The point is that a “fifth column” was in place waiting for overt duty on 14 May 1987.

From that date, within the Prison Department, instructions were being received by telephone to take dangerous prisoners by prison van out of the prison and to release them onto the streets of Suva and in the countryside with instructions to cause mayhem among the Indian communities.

The prison van would return later to roundup the prisoners. Those who voluntarily returned to custody would be paid for their endeavours and hidden way in their cells until the next raid.

The chances of Police detecting such raids were limited from the outset and then eliminated altogether by Rabuka when he established control over the Police force.

The Road Back To Normality

With international trade almost at a halt and the country in danger of becoming a haven for racists and an international pariah, Rabuka realised the need to “normalize” the situation.

Wide spread tax exemptions were offered to companies prepared to establish export businesses in Fiji.

Foreign garment manufacturers quickly realized that among the Indo-Fijian community there existed a range of skills and human resources which could easily be harnessed for garment production purposes. The cynical public pronouncements to encourage Indians to leave these shores began to abate.

To encourage acceptance of written law a new constitution was put in place in 1990. Due to the prohibition it contained forbidding any person except a member of the Fijian race from becoming prime-minister the constitution was considered racist.

Nevertheless Indians participated in the elections held under the constitution and took their places in the new Parliament.

Apart from a glitch encountered when a Parliamentarian crossed the floor bringing down the Government and necessitating fresh elections in 1992, seven years of peace followed with Rabuka at the helm of the country.

Some bedding down of the new order was taking place.

In 1993 rumblings emerged concerning the state of funds within the Public Trustees Office but the Attorney General moved promptly to put matters in order.

Just around the corner though was an even larger financial scandal concerning the state of the National Bank of Fiji.

By then the Attorney General had proposed the establishment of a Serious Fraud Squad to permanently manage such financial scandals and prosecute the miscreants involved. Unfortunately he lost the bill which did not make it to a second reading. Later he lost his office. The Solicitor General who served with him was posted overseas.

The 1997 Constitution

The attention of the Legislature was then turned to the formulation of a new constitution. The reason for the new direction remains a mystery.

Was it really that "more democracy" was needed or that the banner of "democracy" was about to be used as a tool for instability.

Instead of incremental constitutional changes being formulated and validated by referendum the country was forced to endure the elaborate facade of a constitutional commission led by a former Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand. The commission proceeded to tour the country and then formulate proposals for a grand scheme of constitutional changes. So blessed and sanctified how could it not succeed.

The proposal to remove the prohibition against a non-indigenous Prime-Minster was accepted by Parliament. Common sense would have dictated that a referendum should have been called on the issue.

In the forefront of the Commissions recommendations was the abolition of communal electoral rolls and establishment of "open rolls” for all electorates. The recommendation was promptly abandoned when the Bill came before Parliament for consideration.

Instead, one of the strengths of the Parliamentary system was taken away; The right of a member of parliament to dissent and vote if necessary, against his or her party was abolished.

The unwritten rules on Cabinet Government which have existed in much the same form in England since the time of Queen Victoria and therefore considered by most to have endured the test of time came under the scrutiny of the Commission.

It brought in the previously unmentionable proposal that the opposition must be invited to join Cabinet and in one stroke destroyed the right of citizens to have the decisions taken by Cabinet properly scrutinised.

Ever alert to the opportunity to earn more money as a Minister of the State both sides of the House wasted no time in accepting that recommendation.

The fourth major change was the abandonment of the 'first past the post system' of vote counting in favour of a a system of proportional vote counting which was untested anywhere in the world and for which Fiji was to become the hapless guinea pig.

Forgetting the maxim that unenforceable law is bad law, voting by registered voters in general elections was made to become compulsory with the Courts able to levy fines for not voting.

Inherent weaknesses concerning the proper preparation and publication of electoral rolls, the proper conduct of party political campaigns and measures to safeguard the right of voters to a free choice when attending the ballot box were thought to be too unimportant to address.

The 2000 Coup

Rabuka's 12 year dominance of the political scene in Fiji came to a close in 1999 when the electorate apparently rejected the Rabuka-Reddy led SVT-NFP alliance and swept Mahendra Chaudhry's coalition government into power.

The old racist murmurings immediately emerged when Chaudhry took the reins as Prime Minister instead of doing courtesy by Dr Tupeni Baba who was appointed deputy Prime Minister.

Chaudhry set loose a range of uncontrolled elements when in December 1999, his Cabinet acting in a fit of pique, disbanded the Fiji Intelligence Service and handed responsibility for the nation's security intelligence to the Police.

In doing so Chaudhry seemed quite unaware or unconcerned that the

Police Commissioner Isikia Savua had been one of the band of Army Officers who had taken Parliament captive on 14 May 1987

Again the Chaudhry of the Coalition Government seemed blissfully unaware that Republic of Fiji Military Forces habitually maintain a security intelligence watch and by December of 1999 their unit was monitoring reports that a coup was to be staged by June 2000 at the latest. By 11 May 2000 Army intelligence had it that the coup would be staged on 19 th May 2000. Their Commander Frank Bainimarama left the country the next day bound for Oslo.

Commercial Undercurrents

By the 1999 elections the Rabuka Government had established a Government owned entity called Fiji Hardwood Corporation to manage its "mahogany interests."

George Speight, who had been appointed its Chairman, had started to make firm 'investor" arrangements with an American company. Something called "Fiji Mahogany Unit Trust" had surfaced overseas but locally its details were never revealed. For its part the Chaudhry Government proceeded to disrupt Speight's arrangements by contracting in a British "investor."

Early in the year 2000 import restrictions were placed on rice. By the first week of May the Rice Company of Fiji was complaining that a vessel laden with a shipment of rice bound for their factory was being prevented by those import restrictions from being unloaded. The vessel was forced to lie at anchor at horrendous cost, in the stream of Suva harbour.

The Nurses Union staged a protest march in Suva.

Despite the objections raised by his Minister of Home Affairs, Jioji Uluinakauvadra, Chaudhry insisted that the next protest march planned for 19 May 2000 and proposed to be led by Apisai Tora, should be allowed to proceed.

By 10 am on 19 May 2000 Chaudhry was being made to pay dearly for that mistake.

The Seizure Of Parliament

Shortly after the prayer had been said and whilst Dr Tupeni Baba was addressing the House, George Speight at the head of the band of CRW soldiers jumped the rail in the Debating Chamber and made prisoners of the legislators.

Speight announced "This is a civilian coup" which remark was taken seriously by outsiders. Thus the coup of 19 May 2000 became characterized as the "Mahogany coup"

Engineering Of The Coup

On the evening of Tuesday, 16 May 2000 a self confessed member of the 1987 Taukei movement was openly boasting that the protest march due to take place on Friday (19 th May 2000) would result in the overthrow of Mahendra Chaudhry's Government. On the evening of 19th May the same person was openly offering as gifts, spoils acquired during the pillaging of Suva which had commenced earlier that day.

Although gangs of youths had been at large on the streets since 11 am in the morning, openly pillaging stores and setting fire to buildings, the Police Riot squad and the like was unable to be seen. Instead the Police Riot squad had been sent two days previously by the Commissioner of Police to Nadi to reconnoiter the Airport.

Criminals again began to terrorize the Indo-Fijian Community. In particular a convicted murderer one Alifereti Nimacere despite being captured when at large, somehow acquired and re-acquired his liberty on several occasions during the course of the next 7 weeks.

Major General Rabuka though, came somehow to be locked out from the attempt to gain the reins of power. Largely it seems, because he was considered by those who had occupied Parliament, to be a traitor to the "original cause." The manner in which the parliamentarians were taken captive, bound, led out of the chamber and segregated caused one of them, who been though the 1987 experience, to observe that "It was simply a repeat of 1987"

A crowd of some 3000 people gathered in the grounds of Parliament shortly after 10 o'clock on 19th May 2000 to party, feast and engage in prolonged debauchery for a period of 8 weeks. Money flowed by the suit-caseful through the gates into Speight's hands to feed his throng. When the supply dried up men rode out in Police trucks into the country-side to compulsorily appropriate produce and supplies for the throng in Parliament.

All the elements of 1987 were present. The Methodist theological college in Davuilevu became an arm of the Speight circus by printing and distributing propaganda in favour of the coup. The captives in Parliament were forced daily to endure the preaching directed against them in the name of God.

From the accounts of Parliamentarians taken captive on 19th May 2000, it is apparent that by 11:00 am on the morning of 19th May, Speight was making telephone calls on his mobile, looking for someone to come forward from a civilian walk of life to take charge of the situation. He complained to his audience that “these people are unreliable” and that he could not establish contact. The person Speight was seeking did not present himself to Speight in the next 56 days.

Speight was effectively compelled then to go through the charade of appointing himself Prime Minister and swearing in a cabinet. None of the persons he swore in gained effective power and Ratu Jope Seniloli who administered the oath was later gaoled.

Who then was the beneficiary of the 1997 Constitution and the subsequent coup?

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