Fiji
What Really Happened in Fiji's 2000 Coup
Fiji Courts Testimony Uncovers Mystery Coup Conspirator
It’s nearly three years since a shaven-headed part-Fijian named George Speight burst onto the world stage proclaiming, “This is a civil coup!” His seizure of the Fiji Parliament on 19 May 2000 was a putsch of smoke and mirrors and so ambiguous it is hard to say whether it even succeeded.
If the idea was to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, then clearly it was a success. Chaudhry is now wandering in the political wilderness, too bound in his own ego and hurt to ever make it back as leader. The cause espoused by Speight is now enshrined in the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Speight is a convicted traitor on Nukulau island, like Napoleon on Elba, perhaps, but mostly forgotten.
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Through the murk it is impossible to say what the 2000 coup really was about: Speight may have been its leader, but even that fact is probably not the case. Others remain unaccounted for and may one day try another coup. A handful of Fiji court cases offer only hints of what the coup might have been about and who was behind it. Unanswered are these questions: Was Speight the master of the coup? What was the real motive for the coup? How much did others know of the event?
Material for this story is based on court testimony and evidence from Justice Andrew Wilson’s High Court treason trial of politician Timoci Silatolu and journalist Jo Nata. Material also comes from Justice Anthony Gates’ High Court trial of Viliame Savu, who was convicted of treason.
Material also came from the Military Court Martial of 15 members of the “Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit” on mutiny charges. Some material also came from proceedings surrounding George Speight who, on February 18, 2002, was convicted of treason—a sentence pronounced by Justice John Scott, who said to him: “George Speight, the sentence of the court upon you is that you be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of execution and that you there suffer death by hanging and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.” Within hours his sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Fiji’s court proceedings take place in the splendid Government Buildings, a concrete and stone colonial relic that has been allowed to run down under the heavy traffic of petty criminals, lawyers, reporters, judges and casual observers. The Fiji justice system has mostly failed in the business of revealing truth and dispensing justice. An air of cover-up taints the coup trials.
High Court No. 1 is a cold and uncomfortable place with many ghosts. Back on 14 May 1987, it was Parliament’s debating chamber and there, at 10 a.m., Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka strode in with armed men and said, “Please stay calm ladies and gentlemen. Stay calm.” Education Minister Tupeni Baba shouted, “What kind of joke is this?” That was the first of Fiji’s three coups and Baba was to be in an almost identical situation in the 2000 coup in a new Parliament.
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Number 1 court was the scene of another farce when, in 2001, the then-Chief Justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga held a secret inquiry into the behavior of Police Commissioner Isikia Savua. Under Savua’s leadership, Suva had burned on 19 May 2000 and the democratically-elected government was seized. Either Savua was monumentally inept or he was complicit. Tuivaga, who had written the military’s martial law decrees that scrapped the constitution, listened to evidence in secret and cleared the man. Savua was rewarded for losing Suva by being named Fiji’s United Nations ambassador and Tuivaga was Fiji’s nominee for a judgeship at the International Criminal Court.
From a variety of statements and evidence given in the few 2002 open court proceedings, a rough sketch of what happened in May 2000 emerges.
Chaudhry had won the elections on 19 May 1999, becoming the first ethnic Indian leader of Fiji. Lost in the later events was the scale of the win; he came to power on a landslide, including the votes of indigenous Fijians, who decisively tossed the Rabuka Government out. Chaudhry’s socialist style government moved quickly in key economic areas, aiming to ease the rampant poverty building in the country. He closed down the intelligence service. He irritated people with an abrasive presidential style, and the rank nepotism of having his son appointed his private secretary.
Rumors of coups grew after Chaudhry’s election, as did indigenous protest marches. Chaudhry asked Savua about the rumours: “I was advised there was no threat to the government,” he later said.
A minor figure in the coup, Viliame Savu, revealed that a series of meetings were held in the weeks before the coup, often addressed by Speight and his brother Jim. A representative of Rabuka’s Soqosoqo Vakavulewa ni Taukei party attended too.
The meetings were held in the Mitchell Place home of failed businessman Iliesa Duvuloco (the house is now vacant and next door to the SDL headquarters).
Jone Vidi was at the meetings: “They wanted to destroy Suva by fire, but I told them it was better to stage a coup,” he told the court.
The mutineers had a supply of petrol and washing soap to make firebombs. “George told us the weapons from the military was confirmed, he showed us the paper and someone had written that the weapons were set, it required us to pick them up.”
They discussed the taking over of townships and police stations.
Another court heard that the plotters had planned to dynamite Parliament and the Westpac and ANZ banks in central Suva, as well as issue petrol bombs to Fijian youths to attack shops and to dock workers to sink ships. Savu claimed the Speight brothers did not say how the coup would be staged, only to confirm “everything was set.”
Savua’s inability to police the May 19 riot takes on a different complexion when linked to court evidence that the march was part of the coup plot and the Mitchell Place meetings resolved to apply for a march permit. Duvoloco, now in detention on minor-coup related offenses, was the front man for the march.
They all met one last time on May 18 and early the next day, at 2 a.m., they picked up their weapons at the army’s Queen Elizabeth Barracks.
“I was asked to kidnap the president, but I told George I couldn’t because he is my chief,” said Vidi, who is from Lau, Mara’s home fiefdom. They waited for 14 soldiers from the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit (CRW) who were to cut off all phone lines, electricity and destroy Fiji TV.
“George told us that, after the coup, our families would receive a salary for life and we would be responsible for internal security.’”
One of the pieces of evidence against Speight was the complex web of mobile phone calls. Fiji’s Vodafone keeps a record of all phone calls made.
One of the key players with Speight in Parliament was CRW founder Ilisoni Ligairi, a former NCO with Britain’s Special Air Services. He was to later claim, through his lawyer, that he did not know a coup was taking place, but when he discovered his men were involved in it he decided to join them to protect them from harm. In his case, Justice John Scott thought that his story had no credibility.
In the minutes prior to the assault on Parliament, Speight was on the phone to Duvuloco and to Timoci Silatolu, a backbench MP in Chaudhry’s coalition government. Silatolu was sitting in the assembly as he whispered into his phone. Speight was to name him Prime Minister, a post he kept for less than a day.
During later investigations, documents were found in a briefcase belonging to lawyer Rakuita Vakalalabure. On the day of the coup he had joined Speight and was filmed emotionally accepting his swearing in as Speight’s justice minister. Curiously, he not only was never charged, he is now the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament he was part of sacking.
Chaudhry has only once given evidence in court on what happened, and in the style of Fiji courts, little was made of his evidence. He told of Speight’s arrival and then the tense scenes as Speight paced the floor: “It seemed to me they were waiting for someone to arrive.”
Chaudhry had given police a list of 20 names, but neither the prosecutor nor the defense sought to get those names, nor was the name of the person Speight believed was on the way to Parliament ever adduced in court. It was as if prosecution and defense agreed among themselves to hide this little truth, if that is what it was.
MP Leo Smith told a court that as he lay trussed up on the floor of Parliament, gunmen said he would be surprised by the man who was to come and brief them all. Speight was there: “He was frantically trying to reach someone on the mobile telephone, he appeared frustrated because he was not getting a response.”
There was a meeting soon after the seizure. Leo Smith says among those involved was Speight’s father, prominent businessman Sam Speight, Vakalalabure, the general manager of the Native Land Trust Board, Maika Qarikau, and the sacked head of the now-closed Fiji Intelligence Service, Metuisela Mua.
Sainimili Cavuilati was usually the bodyguard of Vir Mati, Chaudhry’s wife, but on the day of the coup she had a day off. With the town being looted, she reported to police headquarters and claims she was told to infiltrate the coup plotter’s “operation center.” She did and met Vakalalabure there.
“I introduced myself to Rakuita and he said ‘good, good, we need support from police since we’ve got support from the military,’” Cavuilati said in court.
The coup plotters had prepared some decrees for the new government. Among them was one in which Lieutenant Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini was named the new army chief of staff. We don’t know if he agreed to his appointment. Later, on May 29 when the military declared martial law, he became military spokesman, and an internationally recognized figure. He left Fiji and lives in New York beyond the reach of the military who failed to charge him with any crime when they had the chance. His name keeps reoccurring in evidence in court cases.
At Parliament, the politicians were divided into ethnic Fijians and Indian groups and began what turned into an eight-week hostage nightmare. Rabuka appeared on the second day, said Chaudhry.
“He said he was there to say hello to us and to see how we were doing. He then left.” That was May 19. Speight was to hold Chaudhry and his government hostage for a total of 56 days. And Chaudhry never returned as prime minister.
The Coup’s First Moments
When George Speight and his fellow thugs invaded Fiji’s Parliament, the moment was recorded. The official record or Hansard emerged when its reporter, Serei Moucavu, produced it at the Jo Nata-Timoci Silatolu treason trial. She first noted the arrival of “strangers” in Parliament, commenting in evidence that the use of the term was Hansard style for anybody who should not be on the floor of the assembly. The transcript notes that Parliament opened at 10:40 a.m. May 19. Absent members were recorded, along with the minutes of the previous session and the tabling of documents. Deputy Prime Minister Tupeni Baba was speaking when the Hansard takes up the story, noting in brackets: “At this point (10:45 a.m.) several heavily-armed strangers (one wearing balaclava) stormed into the Chambers and jumped over the Bar shouting: “Sit down, sit still and remain calm!”) As the Hansard reports:
MR. SPEAKER (Standing up) What is this?
STRANGER NO. 1 This is a civil coup. Hold tight, nobody move!
MR. SPEAKER Yes?
STRANGER NO. 1 This is a civil coup by the people, the taukei people and we ask you to please retire to your chamber right now, Mr. Speaker. Please co-operate so nobody will get hurt.
STRANGER NO. 2 Tose ike; o iko toso mai ike! (Move here; you, move here!) (Speaking to the other strangers) Dua me toso mai ike. Dua me tu mai kea. Totolo! (One to move here, one to stand over there. Quickly!)
STRANGER NO. 1 Hold your seats.
STRANGER NO. 2 Dabe! Dabe I keri! (Sit! Sit there!)
MR. SPEAKER (Still standing) Na cava: what is this?
STRANGER NO. 1 This is a civil coup, with arms and ammunition, by the people and for the people. Please just tell them not to get up!
MR. SPEAKER It is an illegal act, you know that!
STRANGER NO. 1 Mr Speaker, please, we do not want anybody to get hurt. Please do not make things difficult for us or I will be forced to use this (brandishing a gun). Would the Members of the Opposition leave the Chamber with the Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER (Still standing, and pointing a finger at Stranger No. 1) If you have to shoot anyone in this House, you shoot me first!
HON. RATU I. KUBUABOLA (opposition leader). (Still seated) No, we will not leave without our Speaker! (At this point, Stranger No. 2, fires two shots towards the ceiling of the Chamber)
(Mr. Speaker leaves the Chamber with the Leader of the Opposition and Opposition Members. All the doors to the Chamber are immediately closed and guarded by the armed strangers. Government Members and six Parliamentary staff remaining in the Chamber)
“The House was unceremoniously adjourned at 10.55 a.m.,” the Hansard records.
