Identify the reasons for the 2006 Coups? Which were the controversial Bills that led to the confrontation between the military and government during the phase 2000-2006?
The 2006 military takeover by the RFMF had been so regularly threatened that many doubted that it would ever happen not least because the commander himself had for several years repeatedly and emphatically publicly denied that he was intending a coup. The RFMF, led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, overthrew the Government for the alleged purpose of ‘cleaning up’ the racist policies and corrupt nature of the current Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party.
Reasons for the 2006 Coup
There were a lot of factors that led to the outbreak of the Coup in 2006:
- Firstly, the Coup of 2006 was heavily rooted in the Coup of May 2000. This was mostly because Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was heavily involved in solving the 2000 Coup. Banimarama wanted proper prosecution of the perpetrators of the 2000 coup whereas SDL/CAMV Government (formed after 2001 election) often did not follow through on this and at times ensured the early release of the most high profile convicts.
- Secondly, there were prominent four instances of high tension between the Government and the military: Bainimarama’s reappointment in 2004, the Unity Bill dispute in 2005, the January 2006 coup threat, and the 2006 election. Hence, these were some reasons that led to the outbreak of the Coup.
- In addition, the Qarase government was biased towards the Indigenous Fijians interests in turn neglecting the Indo-Fijian community and therefore this action had threatened the growth of the economy.
These were some of the reasons that led to the outbreak of the 2006 Coup.
Four Controversial Bills that Led to the confrontation between the military and the Government.
Bainimarama wanted proper prosecution of the perpetrators of the 2000 coup whereas SDL/CAMV Government (formed after 2001 election) often did not follow through on this and at times ensured the early release of the most high profile convicts.
There were important four instances of high tension between the Government and the military. Bainimarama’s reappointment in 2004, the Unity Bill dispute in 2005, the January 2006 coup threat, and the 2006 election. The conflict started in early October 2006, when the RFMF issued a three-week ultimatum to the Government to dispose of the Promotion of Reconciliation Tolerance and Unity Bill [2005] (grant amnesty to the 2000 coup plotters and perpetrators), the Qoliqoli Bill (which concerned indigenous rights over reefs) and the Indigenous Claims Tribunal Bill [2006], or to resign. Later new demands added to this was made that Andrew Hughes be removed from the post of Police Commissioner, and for the Police to drop the investigations that they were conducting into Bainimarama’s comments and actions against the Government.
The 2006 coup stated as ‘coup to end all coups’, that the military by temporarily abolishing democracy would restore it later in a form that would solve Fiji’s political problems once and for all. The Fiji military, which had spearheaded the ethno-nationalist coup in 1987, was now responsible for a coup that would – it was claimed – forever eradicate the politics of race. A month after the military seizure of power, and despite the hostility of core ethnic Fijian institutions, such as the Great Council of Chiefs and the Methodist Church an interim government was appointed.