Opening sequence

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Excerpt from story

Byrne:   Under the gun in Fiji.

Vayeshnoi:  If there was any invasion, then he will shot all the members.

Byrne:   A terrified witness to an audacious power grab.

On the point of the gun, to make my choice, and life or death

Speight:  You know, we got a hundred years of suppression. He's only had four days of discomfort. There's no comparison.

Byrne:  And the perils of flying in China.

Hutcheon:   It wasn't just a cultural difference. Food that tasted of rubber bands.

Byrne:   Jane Hutcheon goes in search of the perfect hostess.

Byrne in studio

Byrne:  Hello, I'm Jennifer Byrne, and welcome to Foreign Correspondent. Without delay, to Fiji. Siege leader, George Speight's armed assault on democracy has reopened a fissure between east and west. Old tribal rivalries that will bring greater turmoil to Fiji. Evan Williams reports on what drove Speight's siege, the forces in the shadows of the coup, and a first hand account of the day terror took over in Suva.

Man before crowd

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Vayeshnoi:  We saw the gunmen running into the house and moving into the strategic locations with the gun and pointing the gun to Members of Parliament asking them not to move.

Williams:  Lehk Ram Vayeshnoi is a government minister who's just lost his job - but counts himself lucky to have his life. He was in Fiji's parliament when seven armed gunmen stormed in.

Vayeshnoi:  The coup leader George Speight walked straight beside the Secretary-General and he asked everyone to be quiet and he announced that it was a takeover and he has been instructed by the indigenous Fijians to act for them.

Williams:  For two terrifying days Lehk was

Coup member with gun

held with more than 30 other MPs. The parliament became his prison. In his chilling account of Fiji's coup, leader George Speight is cast as ruthless but erratic man taking extraordinary risks to seize his country.

Vayeshnoi:  If there was any invasion then he would shot all the members.

 Williams:  Shoot you?

Vayeshnoi:  Yeah shoot all of us.

Williams:  It must have been terrifying.

Vayeshnoi : Yes it has been.

Speight amongst crowd

Williams:  A failed businessman with no political pedigree George Speight's fight for indigenous rights is the public face of a very private battle for power and profit that could rip Fiji apart.

Map Fiji/Suva

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Suva from inside vehicle

Williams:  We arrive at Suva at night - a city shrouded in curfew where every movement is checked by nervous police.

Williams:  Good evening... Australia... Foreign Correspondent.

Williams:  Razor wire barricades block the roads to parliament - and it's here at midnight we find the country's deputy police commissioner sharing communal cups of kava to help boost his men's spirits.

Police commissioner

Police commissioner: The president's instructions are that the media have to keep away one kilometres from there, from the parliament.

Williams:  Why has that order been given?

Police Commissioner:  You would know better.

Williams:   No, but why, why?

Police Commissioner:  You should know better, why the president is killing the publicity for the guy.

Williams:  Daybreak reveals the damage done as looters cashed in on the coup that ousted elected order. There are fears of more violence and so Suva's streets have been empty.

Instead people have been travelling to the other side of town to hear a man who wants their country. To get there they leave government authority to walk through no-mans land - the leafy hill leading to a parliament taken hostage by George Speight's gunmen. Hundreds walk it every day even in the tropical heat.

And it's here too - in this very South Pacific coup - the world's media is allowed daily audience to hear George Speight's vision of a new Fiji.

Speight talking to reporters

Speight:  So no more of this western style democratically elected box.  First let's cement a political system that enshrines indigenous supremacy. And then let's define the role of the other ethnic groups in Fiji.

Williams:  But it's up close you find a man who's mood quickly swings from knockabout charmer to angry coup leader, especially when asked about the health of his key hostage -- Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Speight:  But I'm not interested in what the world thinks about Mr Chaudhry's wellbeing. This whole scenario here is for the world to focus on what we Fijians want, okay. And I think it's about time you realised that. So help us take to the world the fact that we're unhappy. Meanwhile be rest assured Mr Chaudhry's fine.  We've had a hundred years of suppression, he's only had four days of discomfort, it's no comparison. Let me go.

Red shirt man with gun

Williams:  He has reason to be sensitive - Speight's henchmen have twice beaten Mr Chaudhry for refusing to resign, but others were less intransigent.

After two days in captivity - often in a darkened room - Speight's men called each MP to the door, covered their face with a balaclava and led them to a room where George Speight was waiting.

Veyeshnoi interview

Super:  Lehk Ram Vayeshnoi

Information Minister, PM's Office

Vayeshnoi:   I was given an option of just a very little moment on the point of the gun  to make my choice and -- life or death. So then I asked what you want me to do? He said you write here that you're resigning from your seat. So I did exactly that and I resigned from my parliamentary seat.

Speight:  Because I have suspended government and I have thrown out the constitution. You know, whether they resign physically or not, as far as we're concerned they're not coming back, and that's it.

Members greeted at stairs

Williams:  To find members of the government still free we have to cross town to the headquarters of what's meant to be the ruling Labour Party.

Radio:  That there will be no dialogue or negotiation under duress in any form.

Williams:  Huddled around the radio for presidential updates are ministers and party chiefs. Labour Party President Koroi Jokabeci is the leader of the senate - instead she's leading efforts to try and save the lives of a government.

Koroi interview

Koroi:  I felt that the coalition government was doing so well. And to have this, you know, it's about turn to what has been to this government.

Williams:  Industrial Relations Minister, Ratu Tevita Momoedonu, now chief spokesman for a government in exile in its own city, warns backing down to blackmailers is the death of democracy.

Momoedonu interview

Super:  Ratu Tevita Momoedonu

Chaudhry Government Spokesman

Momoedonu: If that is let to happen, then every five years we will have a similar experience, you know, a group of thugs will come up and say look we don't like this man. So it's a question  of democracy really.

Williams:  While the Labour Party is being out-manoeuvred - Fiji's ethnic Indian population has been scared out of the capital, Suva, and remain vulnerable targets of racism in the only place they can call home.

Indian refugees:  The future in Fiji especially for the Indians, it's not secure.  We are going to die like this.

Williams:  Running most of the country's biggest farms, Indians lease traditional land from indigenous Fijians it's the only way they can survive, but many of the leases are starting to expire.

Chaudry talks to reporters

Chaudhry:  It is beyond our expectation and I thank the people for placing their trust and confidence in the Fiji Labour Party...

Williams:  Keeping his election promise to better protect Indian farmers,  when he won power Prime Minister Chaudhry flagged moves for better lease extensions.

Super:  Robert Keith-Reid

Publisher, Islands Business lnternational

Reid:   He was trying to push very strongly his own insistence for the retention of legislation that enables the tenancies of farms to be renewed automatically for thirty years.

Williams:  In Fiji, where land is more than just a commodity, and indigenous rights are so emotionally attached to land, it was Chaudhry's political weak spot.

Taukei political march

That's when the extreme nationalist Taukei Movement started its public marches, demanding greater indigenous rights and the removal of an Indian prime minister.

As the Opposition campaign gained momentum Fijians who had signed new leases a few years ago suddenly started demanding Indians leave. Displaced families were paid 28-thousand dollars by the government,  giving more ammunition to opposition Fijian politicians beating the nationalist drum.

Pradesh interview

Super:  Satandra Pradesh

University of South Pacific

Satandra:  Politicians and parties which had lost power have tried to use the leverage of land to put pressure on the government and actually to use it to perhaps bring the government down. And that's really what has happening.

Williams:  But beyond the sensitive land issue there's an even more compelling reason why Chaudhry's election victory was so hated by the previous power brokers and their cronies --   Chaudhry was cancelling the previous government's lucrative privatisation deals.

Satandra:  It brought to an end a lot of very lucrative consultancies for overseas and local corporations and you see some of these names cropping up in terms of support to the self-proclaimed regime. You see some of these characters actually involved in the organising, etcetera, that's been going on

Travelling through Fijian interior

Williams:  But it's out in Fiji's interior you find the biggest deal of all - a deal linked to none-other than George Speight himself.

Fiji has the world's largest reserve of mahogany - worth a quarter of a billion dollars - it's the nation's biggest resource deal since independence - and it's ready for harvest.

Vasu:  The people of Fiji

what they want ... ‘cos of the land

Williams:  Landowners like Saula Vasu support George Speight's coup - and it's no wonder. Saula would have already been receiving royalties for the government owned trees on his land if George Speight's plans had gone through. Under the last government George Speight was the CEO of Fiji Hardwood Corporation - the statutory authority responsible for managing the timber and helping to find a suitable partner.

Archive newsreel.

Super:  May 21 2000

(logo) FIJI

Newsreader:  The government now says Speight should have declared his conflict of interest over the matter...

Williams:  But as Fiji TV station Fiji one recently revealed George Speight received money from one of the key bidders Trans Resource Management - or TRM - while in that key position.

Super:   Ganesh Chand

Chaudry's Finance Minister

Chand:  Now this particular case, apparently there was a lot of conflict of interest. It may be also bordering on the illegal.

Williams:  TRM says it  was for work Speight had done before he was in the that job, but it didn't appear that way.

Newsreader v/o:  What the government says, due to all the revelations, the whole mahogany deal will have to be investigated.

Reid interview

Reid: At a meeting, according to an eyewitness, Mr. Speight suddenly appeared and said he had a far better deal with TRM, which suggested that - to some people - that TRM had had another look at the documents after putting their own tender in.

Williams:  One of the Chaudhry government's first acts was to sack George Speight from the Fiji Hardwood Corporation and review the deal.

Minister:  The government will look at the entire processes, we will have to carry out a thorough investigation into the whole deal, not only this, but also the past deals on timber and forest resources.

Speight talking to foreign reporters

Speight:  TRM's got nothing to do with me.

Williams:  Speight told me his government would bring back TRM. Facing currency charges over the deal and chased by a string of failed business ventures - the coup may have been Speight's way of clearing his personal slate.

But no one believes this is his coup alone - and there are many - including those outwardly trying to solve the crisis - who would not be too unhappy if Speight succeeds.

Rabuka at press conference

Super:  Sitiveni Rabuka

Chair. Great Council of Chiefs

Rabuka:  I don't know. I'm not the architect for this thing. I'm just the chairman of the Council of Chiefs... Don't blame me.

Williams:  Foreign Correspondent has learned Chaudhry had quietly started a major investigation in to the 200-million dollar debt that led to the collapse of Fiji's National Bank.

Ratuva interview

Super:  Sitiveni Ratuva

University of South Pacific

Ravuka: There were many actors involved. A lot of them are good guys now, a lot of them are bad guys now.  Thousands of people took advantage of the post-coup political situation as a means of accessing, you know, the bank vault.

Williams:  A 1995 audit named many in the former Government led by Sitiveni Rabuka - including leaders of the nationalist Taukei Movement - as those who owed money to the bank.

Ravuka: This was after 1987, and (Taukei movement leader Apisai) Tora  was just one of them.  There was a big list which came out in the local press, I think it was in the Fiji Times, the who's who in Fiji. Started from the top down. When I say the top, you know what I mean.

Inside parliament house

Williams:  It was exactly these politicians who lost their vested interests and could have been exposed by Chaudhry's election victory.

Super:  Robert Keith-Reid

Publisher, Islands Business l'national

Reid: A lot of Fijian politicians lost out and they wanted to get back on the gravy train. So a lot of the trouble, a lot of the agitation that has been aroused against Chaudhry in the past 12 months was caused by people who wanted their old cushy positions back.

Williams:   People who lost out because of the election?

Reid:   And were using the nationalist flag as a pretence.

Williams:  And to go that extra mile and actually storm parliament they needed a gutsy  hothead with a grudge against Chaudhry who could still articulate the nationalist creed.

As the next tense stage of his power play unfolded, Speight invited me to share a calming brew of kava. The coup was clearly taking it's toll - he was tired and hungry - and for a few moments let down his guard to reveal a chilling resolve.

Speight:  I hold the President's daughter up there.  And his son... his stepson.

Williams:  It's a pretty drastic - you don't strike me as the sort of guy that would actually kill somebody.

Speight:  course not... not without a reason.

Williams:  Yeah. If they wanted to walk out of there, you would.

Speight: They know that I'd cook ‘em if they walk  out of there so they won't come out.

Williams:  With the government in his control, the only person in his way of total victory was the President, Ratu Sir Kamasise Mara, who refuses to scrap the constitution and endorse Speight's leadership.

Williams:  Do you think it was a mistake not to arrest the president?

Speight:  Wasn't a mistake at all. 

Williams:  It was deliberate?

Speight:  I could easily have done it.  I chose not to.  We considered it an option, actually.  If we had place him under detention we would never have had the problem, but see from a chiefly perspective...

Williams:  Oh I see... to arrest such a paramount chief?

It would have really put us off with the Great Council of Chiefs.

Great Council of chiefs meeting

Williams:  As a mixed-blood latecomer to Fijian nationalism Speight badly needs the Great Council of Chiefs' backing. It's the most powerful retainer of traditional Fijian authority, and the council could condemn Speight as a nationalist pretender. Many expect the chiefs to back President Mara - himself a high-chief - against Speight's violent upstarts.

Delegation walking

But then Speight's fortunes took a dramatic turn. A delegation from the Great Council comes to him with extraordinary concessions. They included the unconstitutional removal of the prime minister, a post-trial amnesty for Speight and his men, a share in power on an interim three year government, and changing the constitution to make sure no Indian ever again serves as the prime minister of Fiji.

NAT SOT

Williams:  But still it wasn't enough - in fact Speight was angry because the deal ignored his main demands - which now included the sacking of the President himself.

Kaitani talks to reporters

Super: Simione Kaitani

George Speight's Spokesperson

Kaitani:  Number one, the abrogation of the 1997. Constitution. Number two, the pardoning of George Speight and his men, and number three, the blessings to George Speight's administration.

Williams:  But how could a group of armed thugs - ostensibly fighting for Fijian rights - reject Fiji's highest traditional authority?  It's because what started for the world as a push to rid Fiji of an Indian Prime Minister is in fact a fight among rival Fijians for political power.

Reid:  There's been a revival of

Reid in office

people say tribalism - certainly regional rivalries had all come to a head, and the western Fijians who, for one reason or another, found themselves in a position of subordinancy for  a long time, came to resent the fact that power was in the hands of the eastern Fijians, personified by Ratu Mara, the president.

Williams:  Most of Speight's gunmen and some of the politicians he's installed are from his western birthplace. And with the covert backing of his tribal chiefs, Speight's now trying to control the Council of Chiefs itself.

Seen by many common Fijians as corrupt and increasingly out of touch, if the Chiefs' Council doesn't bend to Speight's will - he'll even challenge them.

Kaitani:  There will be a fight

Kaitani talks to Williams

between the people versus the chiefs, and there will be conflict of interests which will I suppose will also result in the people themselves questioning how real is the great Council of Chiefs is in terms of addressing the aspirations of their own people.

Singing

Fijian seascape

Williams:  President Mara's temporary resignation gives Speight another win. But he'll hold the hostages until he gets legal immunity, and probably even a share in the army's interim power. Negotiations for that will be tough. But the forces Speight represents have emerged as much more determined and deep-rooted than anyone thought when a disgruntled nobody strode through the doors of parliament to kill Fiji's democracy.

Singing

Byrne in studio

Byrne:   Evan Williams the reporter there. Now to our postcard. Not so long ago you could buy a T-shirt in Hong Kong bearing the slogan ‘I survived CAAC.' It referred to the Chinese airline, CAAC. The T-shirt was a joke of course, and so was CAAC, the worst airline in the world by a country mile. When Beijing correspondent, Jane Hutcheon took up her posting four and a half years ago, air travel in china was very much in its infancy. But times have changed, and now Jane takes fearlessly to the skies for this postcard.

Archival of train

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Hutcheon:  In the old days, the only way to travel for true blue Reds was on the rattling iron rooster. It was the safest way to cross the country.

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Plane landing

Hutcheon:  But since communism's demise, flying has become the preferred method of travel for the elite. Today, with ticket prices falling and salaries rising, air travel is getting more and more affordable. This Chinese New Year, seven million took to the skies in just one month, an aviation record.  But it wasn't that long ago that flying in China was a nightmare.

View from aircraft

Hutcheon:  It wasn't just a cultural difference - food that tasted of rubber band, grumpy in-flight service, and a passenger stampede as soon as the plane landed.

There was the question of safety, which really hit home on this flight when the clouds started coming into the plane.

But thankfully, that was then.

With foreign businesses and tourists beating a path to China's door, airlines are reinventing themselves.

Hostess giving safety instructions

Hutcheon:  Wu Eryu is the pretty new face of Chinese aviation.  Efficient and dedicated, she's known as a lady of the sky.

Today, it's a sought after profession. But in a country where equal opportunity doesn't yet exist, flight attendants are chosen for their looks, even if Ms Wu isn't willing to admit it.

Wu interview

Wu:  I wasn't the prettiest one in the group - but I was self-confident.  When I stood in front of the panel I was self-confident and always had a bright smile.  The judge probably thought my character and appearance were very suitable so I was chosen.  It wasn't because I was very pretty.

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Hutcheon:   Most flight attendants must be under 30 and single when they're first hired. But Ms Wu was an exception.

Five years ago, 30, married and with a child, she was facing unemployment in Shanghai's debt-ridden textile industry. But as a publicity stunt, Shanghai Airlines took her from the nearly bankrupt factory and trained her as a flight attendant. For Wu Eryu it was a childhood dream come true.

Wu interview

Wu:  I used to dream a lot and once dreamed of becoming a flight attendant.  But when I graduated from school there was no opportunity.  The airline company didn't recruit many people.  My parents were also against it because they thought it was dangerous.

Hutcheon:  Since the bad old days, just five or six years ago, Air China has invested millions upgrading planes and safety procedures.

At a multimillion dollar training facility in Beijing, emergency evacuation is now as familiar as a gymnastics routine. Though some of the newer recruits are a little less than graceful.

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Aircraft on runway

Hutcheon:  These days Chinese airlines have all but abandoned Russian planes for the Boeing and Airbus. 

And to prove things have changed, I was treated to first class service, the best available reading material, fine dining.

Hostess:  OK ?? chicken is very delicious.

And a smooth trip was guaranteed, since this plane doesn't even leave the ground.

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Hutcheon:  Clearly for passengers, times have changed for the better. But flight attendants like Ms Wu are seen as little more than airborne waitresses.

Ms Wu:  Some passengers know mobile phones are not allowed to be used, but they do it on purpose.  If you tell them once, they still use it- then you tell them again, and they still keep using it.  When you tell them again they tell you how annoying you are.

Hutcheon:  And forget about the excitement of a different city every night. Chinese flight attendants work longer hours than their western counterparts, and the last stop of the day is always home.

Wu serving passengers

Ms Wu:  Excuse me, ?? orange juice. Subtitles: I think all cities look the same with a concrete ground.  All we see is the runway and the place where the plane parks.

Hutcheon:  Ms Wu is only halfway through a four city, 18 hour day, but as she waves goodbye to her passengers, there's mutual satisfaction. If nothing else, this beats working in a factory any day.

Byrne in studio

Byrne:  The high life in China. I am absolutely sure I've seen some of those meals before. Jane Hutcheon reporting there. And that's our program. Thanks for joining me, and I hope to see you again next time. Goodbye.

Music 

Fiji Coup

Reporter

EVAN WILLLIAMS

Camera

GEOFF CLEGG

Editor

STUART MILLER

Research

ALISON ROURKE

Producer

ASHLEY SMITH