The clash of dynasties and rise of demagogues; Fiji's tauri vakaukauwa of May 2000

Journal of Pacific History

Volumn 35, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 295-308

  Fraenkel, Jon ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0000249389     PISSN: 00223344     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00223340020010580     Document Type: Review

References (56)

1. Fiji Times, 20 May 2000.
2. Poseci Bune, former Agriculture Minister, interviewed on 'Close Up', Fiji TV, 16 July 2000.
3. Bune, 'Close Up';
4. Liu Muri, 'Unscrupulous business dealings uncovered', Sunday Post, 30 July 2000.
5. Letter to Fiji 'Times, 15 June. 2000.
6. Controversy about who was behind the 1987 coup ironically also centred on a discussion between Rabuka and Mara on the golf course (John Sharpham, Rabuka of Fiji: the authorised biography of Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka (Rockhampton 2000), 104-6).
7. Interview in Fiji Sun, 27 May 2000;
8. 'Operation Chaos5, The Review, May 2000.
9. Bune, 'Close Up'.
10. Press release, 22 May 2000.
11. Bose Levu Vakaturaga Resolution, press release, 25 May 2000.
12. Constitution (Amendment) Act 1997.
13. A 40-member SVT delegation also backed Speight (Fiji 'Times, 26 May 2000).
14. For a more detailed analysis of the extent of ethnic Fijian support for the FLP, see Jon Fraenkel, 'The triumph of the non-idealist intellectuals? An investigation of Fiji's 1999 election results', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 46:1 (2000), 99-102, table 2, p. 91.
15. This was covered in greater detail in a paper presented at a seminar at the University of the South Pacific on 9 Mar. 2000, entitled 'The alternative vote system in Fiji; electoral engineering or ballot-rigging';
16. see also 'Fiddling with democracy' fails', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 2000;
17. The exception was Bua, where indications of early support for the uprising (Daily Post, 9 June 2000) were followed by later opposition (Daily Post, letters, 5 July 2000).
18. See Jone Dakuvula's comments, Fiji Times, 25 May 2000;
19. The Review, June 2000.
20. Robert Keith-Reid, 'Chaudhry: The man in the hot seat', Fiji Business Magazine, June 1999;
21. Shaipham, Rabuka of Fiji, 292-3, 294-5.
22. Veteran trade unionist, Taniela Tabu, claimed that before the 1987 coup from the top, middle management, senior administration level, the bulk [of civil service positions] were controlled by Indians. Now that they are in control of the government, our fear is the move to weed Fijians out and put Indians in their place to run the affairs would lead to another domination' (Fiji Times, 23 and 24 Oct. 1999).
23. John Da vies, 'Reforming the leasing and the use of agricultural land in Fiji: an economic incentives approach', unpub. paper, Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada; World Bank, Pacific Island Economies: Towards Higher Growth in the 1990s (Washington, DC 1991). ALTO was amended in 1976, with the passage of the Agricultural Landlord and Tenants Act giving 20-year renewals of leases and 30-year periods for new leases.
24. Jone Dakuvula, Fiji TV, 'Close Up', 28 May 2000.
25. 'A flawed transition from village rulers', author's interview with Lieut.-Col. Filipo Tarakinikini, The Australian, 14 June 2000.
26. Timothy J. Macnaught, The Fijian Colonial Experience: A study of the neo-traditional order under British colonial rule prior to World War II(Canberra 1982), 50.
27. See, e.g., Asesela Ravuvu, The Facade of Democracy: Fijian stivggks for political control. 1830-1987 (Suva 1991), ix-x.
28. Speight justified his initial choice for the presidency as follows: 'If Ratu Jope Naucabalavu is President, he will then, in his traditional position as Komai Naua, installer of the Vimivalu appoint a person to take up the position as chief of Bau' (Inteiview in Fiji Sun, 6 June 2000).
29. In an unusually frank exchange, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau laid his claim to the title in mid-July (see Daily Post, 13 July 2000).
30. One spokesman for rival contenders rejected Ratu Epeli's claim on the grounds that he was 'Tongan', and that his claim derived from a line of descent that passed through the matrilineal side (Fiji Times. Letters, 15 July 2000). Ratu Nailatikau is married to Ratu Mara's daughter.
31. Daily Post, 6 June 2000. Less than two weeks later, the two were listed as part of Speight's proposed interim administration.
32. Ratu Seru Cakobau's daughter married the Qaranivalu of Naitasiri, a connection that also facilitated a military alliance that saw several villages along the Rewa river, including Kasavu, shifted into the province of Naitasiri to serve as household servants, so-called 'rourou pickers', for the displaced Bau noble.
33. Dakuvula, 'Close Up'.
34. Michael Howard, Fiji: race and politics in an island state (Vancouver 1991), 257-8;
35. Stephanie Lawson, The Failure of Democratic Politics in Fiji (Oxford 1991), 246-8:
36. see Brij V. Lal, Broken Waves: A history of the Fiji Islands in the twentieth century (Honolulu 1992), 256, 269.
37. For the controversy concerning rents and royalties from the Fijian Hotel, see Fiji Times, 23 Oct, 9 and 11 Nov. 1992.
38. See Margaret Wise, 'Unravelling a web ol intrigue', Fiji Finies, 11 June 2000;
39. Marian Wilkinson, 'Mahogany row', in Sydney Morning Herald, 27 May 2000.
40. Interview in Daily Post, 8 July 2000.
41. See Speight's nine-point proposal, published in Fiji Tunes, 15 June 2000. There was also a family connection: Speight's elder brother was married to Ratu Iloilo's eldest daughter before her death several years earlier.
42. See Daily Post, 11 June 2000.
43. Interview with Fiji Sun, 10 June 2000.
44. See the comments of Fiji Times reporter, Margaret Wise (Fiji Times, 11 June 2000). The provincial councils send three delegates each to the Great Council of Chiefs, who sit alongside five ex-officio members and six members nominated by the Minister of Fijian Affairs.
45. Tarakinikini, 'A flawed transition';
46. see also NLTB General Manager Maika Qarikau's comments in Daily Post, 9 June 2000
47. and the anonymous soldier's comments in Fiji 'Times, 30 May 2000.
48. As admitted by army spokesman, Tarakinikini (Interview in Fiji Times, 4 July 2000).
49. This is based on a daily review7 of Fiji's three newspapers, The Fiji Times, Fiji Sun and Daily Post.
50. Fiji Times, 25 June 2000.
51. Military announcement, Fiji Times, 15 July 2000.
52. During the hand-over of weaponry back to the military. Major Ligairi acknowledged that some had been sent out around the country, specifying Levuka and Korovou. It was the notorious 'Commander Bill', who had been involved in the initial seizure of parliament but was jettisoned for drunkenness, who turned up again to lead the assault on the Pacific Fishing Co.
53. Fiji Times, 12 July 2000.
54. Including Police Commissioner Isikia Savua, who at the eleventh hour tried to negotiate for himself a position in the interim administration.
55. Acceptance speech, 21 July 2000.
56. Hansard Parliamentary- Debates, House of Representatives, Suva, Fiji, 24 July 1992, pp. 730-1.