[Discussion Forum Question]
Q1. What factors led to Fiji's 2000 Coup.
- Fijian nationalist and a champion of indigenous rights attracted support from certain elements of the Fijian population who were angered by the results of the 1999 election, which had swept away a government dominated by ethnic Fijians and brought to power a multiracial government led by Mahendra Chaudhry, who became Fiji's first-ever Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.
- Chaudhry government might institute some form of land reform also generated considerable resentment among sections of the indigenous population, despite Constitutional guarantees of ethnic Fijian land ownership.
- · Chaudhry revoked the contracts of two marketing firms chaired by Speight that were involved in the country's lucrative timber trade.
Identify the role played by George Speight during the Coup?
He was the leader of the Fiji coup of 2000, in which he and an elite unit of Fiji's military detained thirty-six members of parliament and held them hostage from May 19, 2000 to July 13, 2000. George Speight, a businessman who had been declared bankrupt following the cancellation of several contracts by the Chaudhry government, therefore he has personal grievances against Chaudhry’s government.
[Tutorial Questions]
Q2. What do you understand of the hostage crisis and how it was resolved?
Hostage crisis is a situation where someone is holding people as hostage and in terms of the hostage crisis in 2000 coup, it was held at about 10am on the 19th May 2000, where by seven armed gunmen, led by George Speight stormed the Fiji parliament taking Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his ill-fated government hostage.
On 13th July, the hostage-takers held a traditional ceremony seeking forgiveness, then rebel leader George Speight shook hands with and embraced the deposed prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry before allowing him and the other freed hostages to be loaded on to two lorries.
About 150 Speight supporters cheered as the hostages left. The hostages later arrived to applause at the Fiji Red Cross Society building, where they underwent medical checks.