WEEK 12 FORUM
What factors led to Fiji's 2000 Coup. Identify the role played by George Speight during the Coup? [Discussion Forum Question]
The Fiji coup of 2000 was a complicated affair involving a civilian coup d'état by hard-line i-Taukei nationalists against the elected government of a Fijian of Indian Descent Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, on 19 May 2000, the attempt by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority on 27 May, and his own resignation, possibly forced, on 29 May. An interim government headed by Commodore Frank Bainimarama was set up, and handed power over to an interim administration headed by Ratu Josefa Iloilo, as President, on 13 July. Parliamentary elections in May 1999, had resulted in a decisive victory for the People's Coalition, a multiracial grouping that was dominated by the predominantly Labour Party but which also included three other parties supported. Mahendra Chaudhry had become the country's first Prime Minister of Indian descent.
The election result and Chaudhry subsequent appointment as Prime Minister angered hard-line i-Taukei nationalists. His government's hints at land reform caused further alarm. When a group led by George Speight, a businessman who had been declared bankrupt following the cancellation of several contracts by the Chaudhry government, entered Parliament buildings on 19 May 2000, disaffected elements of the i-Taukei population rallied to his side. For 56 days, Prime Minister Chaudhry and most of his cabinet, along with many Parliamentarians and their staff, were held as hostages while Speight attempted to negotiate with the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who denounced the coup and declared a state of emergency, and with the military administration which took office on 29 May.
On 26 May, fifteen soldiers and two officers defected to the rebels, and, the following day, gunfire was exchanged. In a move that constitutional experts have described as of questionable constitutionality, Mara dismissed the government from office (for being "unable to act") prorogued Parliament for six months, and assumed executive authority himself. In doing so, he claimed to be following the advice of the Chief Justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga, but he refused to abrogate the constitution, which Tuivaga had also advised. Mara admitted that his actions were at the very edge of constitutionality but said he believed they were within that boundary and necessary
Speight's claims to be a 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. Hints that the 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. Speight thus found sizeable number of sympathizers when he launched his putsch on 19 May.
Speight proceeded to appoint a "Cabinet". He initially named himself President, before appointing Ratu Jope Seniloli to the post two days later. Ratu Timoci Silatolu was appointed Prime Minister, downgraded to Deputy Prime Minister two days later, when Speight himself was named to the post by Seniloli. Other appointments included Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu as Minister for Fijian Affairs, Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure as Minister for Home Affairs, and Simione Kaitani, Isireli Leweniqila, Levani Tonitonivanua, Berenado Vunibobo, Ratu Tu'uakitau Cokanauto and Ratu Inoke Kubuabola as Ministers without portfolio. Some, including Seniloli, Lalabalavu, and Vakalalabure were later convicted of coup-related offences, but whether all of the others had consented to their ministerial "appointments" as announced by Speight is not known.
Claims have been made that Fijian nationalism may have been nothing more than a political ploy to attract supporters to what was, in reality, a personal grab for money and power on the part of Speight and his co-conspirators. During the 1990s, Speight had built up a modestly successful marketing business, but many contracts were lost after the Chaudhry government came to power in 1999. Charging corruption, Chaudhry revoked the contracts of two marketing firms chaired by Speight that were involved in the country's lucrative timber trade. By the time of the coup he was allegedly bankrupt. Several of his accomplices were undischarged bankrupts as well. Conspiracy theories hold that the real motive for the coup was to loot the treasury. Ratu Isireli Vuibau, the deposed Assistant Minister for Fijian Affairs, declared on 31 August 2000, after the rebellion was over, that many of those involved with Speight had links to the Timber Resource Group, comprising Fijian politicians who were investors in Speight's Timber Resource Management Limited company, which had interests in pine, mahogany, and hardwood. He said these politicians had joined Speight against the government when their proposals were rejected. "Indigenous Fijians were used but little did they know that the coup was for a little group here and abroad," Ratu Vuibau said.
Mahendra Chaudhry has supported the view that ethnic nationalism was only a mask to gain the support of nationalist Fijians, and that the true purpose was to loot the treasury. He alleged in court papers and on his party's website that some of those who helped to finance and support certain aspects of the coup, such as the mutiny that took place at the Sukunaivalu Barracks in Labasa on 7 July 2000, were, in fact, Indo-Fijians. Another view sees the rebellion as one supported by a very disparate group of individuals, all for diverse reasons for their own. It was also alleged that the coup was supported by the Methodist church.