Four Corners charts the anatomy of the Fiji coup - from the early
rumblings of anti-Chaudhry discontent to the fateful decision to ambush
the Parliament. Chris Masters tackles the central question: was the coup
driven by self interest before national interest?
Dur 44'38
---------
Reporter: Chris Masters
02:50
CHRIS MASTERS: Tonight Four Corners hears the stories from within Fiji's
besieged Parliament.
02:57
LAVINIA PADARATH, CHAUDHRY GOVT MINISTER: So when they started with PM,
that was --
I still have to get over this, when I explain it.
That was the time when I cried -- the way that they manhandled him.
03:15
CHRIS MASTERS: We walk behind the barriers of the Fiji crisis to watch and
listen as history unfolds.
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI, ARMY SPOKESPERSON: The unmasking of Speight
to his people will come, whether he likes it or not.
In time, his people will realise that he was a fraud.
CHRIS MASTERS: On the eve of another promised resolution of the 53-day
siege, we reveal how George Speight has gambled the future and the
reputation of his nation with barely a thought for tomorrow.
When do you expect to achieve your objectives?
03:48
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I don't know.
That's the other thing that's crazy about what's happening -- I haven't
got any fixed time on it.
I just let each day pass.
Because if I set a time frame, I'll be disappointed.
I could be here for a year, it could end tomorrow.
It might take longer.
04:21
CHRIS MASTERS: When the calendar turned to May in Fiji, there was a
convergence of relief and anxiety.
The monsoon season had passed.
The Suva Trade and Aid Convention that would crown 12 months of Mahendra
Chaudhry's People's Coalition Government was about to begin.
But May is also a month for trouble.
The big Taukei or nationalist marches that had preceded the May 1987 coup
were back.
The protests were a culmination of a destabilisation campaign that had
begun when Chaudhry came to power.
Was there an opposition campaign to get rid of him pretty much from the
beginning?
05:07
NAVI NAISORO, SVT ECONOMIC CONSULTANT: From day one.
From day one.
CHRIS MASTERS: Sitting in on the early meetings was a former staff member
of the ousted SVT government, Jone Dakuvula.
05:20
JONE DAKUVULA, FORMER SVT PARTY ADVISER: We were going to turn every issue
that came up into a racial issue, to arouse the suspicion and fear of the
indigenous Fijians about the loss of their land and about to cast doubt
and suspicion and fear about every initiative that the Coalition
Government brought up.
05:46
CHRIS MASTERS: A collection of documents from Chaudhry's own security
council attest to the Government's belief the dirty tricks campaign was
being played out.
JOHN ALI, CHAUDHRY GOVT ASSISTANT MINISTER: You could see disruption in
services.
We were getting power cuts.
We were getting water cuts.
CHRIS MASTERS: Gossip was fermenting along with the yaqona or kava -
Fiji's first Indian Prime Minister the chief topic around many a grog
bowl.
06:22
NAVI NAISORO: Wednesday before this thing happened, on the Friday, I was
meeting with a senior guy.
And he said, "I hope you're not one of the guys "plotting to overthrow
this place, the government."
I said, "I haven't seen anyone "who isn't plotting to overthrow the
government.
"It's the conversation everywhere."
METUISELA MUA, FMR DIR., FIJI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE: People that went to
church came back and talked about it.
People that had, um --
Fijian -- attended Fijian ceremonies, you know, relaxed around a bowl of
yaqona and talked about it.
And everywhere, everybody talked about it.
07:02
CHRIS MASTERS: After the 1999 election, the former union leader had
fast-tracked a reform program with typical aggression.
In doing so, Chaudhry trespassed onto the biggest issue of all -- land.
The objective of making better use of the land without threatening Fijian
ownership has vexed all governments.
Chaudhry's attempted reforms gave rise to the perception the Indian was
intent on stealing their precious land from under them.
07:39
RATU SAKIUSA TUISOLIA, DIR., PM'S POLICY ANALYSIS UNIT: It was great to be
working under a leader who was so visionary.
And he was always there, finishing work quite late.
But it was all most unfortunate that despite --
..in spite of all that, I suppose he had his flaws and, uh --
..being, uh -- ignorant about the way he was handling Fijian issues and
how this was actually inciting unrest amongst Fijians.
08:07
CHRIS MASTERS: Chaudhry was not the only leader to have inspired unrest.
There was a strong view the former Rabuka-led SVT government had lost the
election as much as Chaudhry had won.
08:21
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Rabuka's the problem because, you know, he brought all his
cronies out of the army, put them all in ministerial positions.
These people have no idea how a government is run.
No idea.
08:32
CHRIS MASTERS: On the eve of the coup, while Mr Chaudhry was toughing it
out, the Indian shopkeepers were battening down.
The 42 per cent Indo-Fijian population knew they were in for another
storm.
MATELITA RAGOGO, REPORTER, 'FIJI TIMES': We had actually heard talks of a
coup, but it's Suva, you know -- there's a new rumour starting every day.
09:02
RATU SAKIUSA TUISOLIA: One doesn't have to be blind or to be smart to,
basically, realise or feel that we were heading for danger.
09:14
SUE BOYD, AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER: We were concerned that the
government really wasn't being very skilful in selling its message to its
people.
What the government was doing, inherently, was not bad, but it was failing
in --
failing to convey, in terms which the people understood, its message and
what it was doing.
And we could see that it was losing, therefore, general support.
09:36
OSMAN SIDDIQUE, US AMBASSADOR: I had tried to tell, and a lot of people
tried to tell -- publicly and privately -- Mr Chaudhry, you know, the
sensitive nature of the situation.
But I guess it fall on deaf ears.
09:53
CHRIS MASTERS: The public grumbling remained in stark contrast to the
government's self-belief that May 19 would be a proud day.
JOHN ALI: What this government has done in 12 months no other government
has done in 12 years.
10:09
CHRIS MASTERS: This is the newspaper supplement that never was -- listing
a range of achievements and produced, as you can see, for the following
day.
It was never released.
On the other side, among the plotters intent on capturing government,
there was little to no preparation.
They said they didn't need it.
10:31
ILISONI LIGAIRI, SPEIGHT'S HEAD OF SECURITY: I think that the taking over
of any -- or storming of any place is already been practised in the army.
CHRIS MASTERS: The coup's military commander, Major Ligairi, was a member
of Britain's SAS when its soldiers stormed the Iranian embassy.
Ligairi returned to Fiji to head up a counter-warfare unit, whose members,
we are told, asked him to take charge of this hastily improvised plan.
A staunch nationalist, Ligairi would bring the necessary force.
Speight, who would become the public face of the coup, was recruited at
the eleventh hour.
11:24
METUISELA MUA: George Speight was a distant relative of one of the guys
and that was how it all came about.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: The story behind how the coup took place and how we met --
all of the players -- is quite miraculous --
in and of itself.
It's nothing short of providential influence.
And, yet, I'm not a religious man -- I haven't been to church in 15 years,
so --
And yet having said that, I think all of us in our hearts, you know, have
a quiet resolve and respect for the Almighty, in our own way, but so,
it'll shock you to learn that I met Major Ligairi on the morning of the
coup for the very first time.
12:03
ILISONI LIGAIRI: I didn't know Mr Speight until 30 minutes, 40 minutes
before the coup.
And, as I said, the struggle for indigenous people is always there.
When I was called up to see them, I just --
..when they told me the thing is set, and I just asked, "Who's this, who's
that, who's that?"
And then I say, "OK, go ahead."
12:34
CHRIS MASTERS: So, who made the call?
Who called you?
ILISONI LIGAIRI: Oh, my own people called me.
The people in the unit, they called me because, here, they are the only
people who can contact me.
12:52
CHRIS MASTERS: The first objective for Ligairi, Speight and just seven
soldiers in civilian dress was the removal of the Indian PM who had been
popularly and democratically voted in.
The second was to tear up the Constitution that had been approved and
introduced by the preceding Fijian-led government.
13:13
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I had timed it to be right after the opening prayer in the
morning -- two seconds after the 'Amen' and they sat down. (Laughs)
13:28
SIMIONE KAITANI, INDEPENDENT MP: I mean, all of a sudden I saw men walking
in with guns and I did not even recognise anybody.
It was a few seconds later that I started to recognise George -- George
Speight.
13:43
MATELITA RAGOGO: Normally, we don't really see him in sulu, the Fijian
way, and so we really took us a while to recognise him.
JOHN ALI: They came right in front and, uh -- started firing the gun up in
the air.
14:00
LAVINIA PADARATH: The Speaker, even what I remember him shouting out from
the chamber was, "You can shoot me if you want."
RATU RAKUITA VAKALALABURE, OPPOSITION MP: The leader of the opposition was
crouched with his hands over his head.
14:13
RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA, OPPOSITION LEADER (SVT PARTY): And then George
pointed to me.
"Leader of the opposition, "can you please take your members to your
office?"
JOHN ALI: I must give credit to the Prime Minister.
He said, "Look, I will not take orders from you," despite the fact that
the gun was pointed at him.
14:25
MATELITA RAGOGO: They dragged -- dragged Mahendra Chaudhry out of his
seat.
LAVINIA PADARATH: Just the way that they got him, tied him up and then
brought him to the --
more or less pushed him to the centre of the room to kneel.
That was difficult to take.
That's when I cried then.
14:45
SIMIONE KAITANI: My first initial reaction was, "Good, you deserve it."
We -- we sort of reminding him that we tried to tell him -- "Move away
from that kind of direction or else."
That was sort of how I felt, at the very moment, uh -- uh -- where George
--
CHRIS MASTERS: That Mr Chaudhry had invited this?
SIMIONE KAITANI: Yeah.
He personally, myself, he dug his own grave, sort of, yes.
15:13
MATELITA RAGOGO: The only person who was --
who willingly joined these people and -- and who was --
whose mobile phone wasn't seized was Ratu Timoci Silatolu.
Because the rest of them were --
..but the rest of them were kept with everybody else and then were let go
after everything had settled down.
15:35
RATU TIMOCI SILATOLU, CHAUDHRY GOVT MP: I was asked, point-blank, whether
I'm for the cause and if I am supporting to stand up and be part of the
team.
And then I stood up and I was briefed later that they need politicians to
continue the struggle.
16:01
CHRIS MASTERS: As Silatolu, a member of Chaudhry's People's Coalition,
joined Speight, other government members were herded out.
Indian and Fijian members were separated.
16:14
JOHN ALI: We were put against the wall.
We were to make --
to stand against the wall and there were two gunmen holding guns.
And that was the moment -- a most frightening moment in our life.
We believed that we would be shot.
16:31
SURUJ MATI NAND, CHAUDHRY GOVT MP: I was the only Indian lady member of
parliament, with all of my men colleagues.
LAVINIA PADARATH: At that time, the one person I was worried about was our
only Indian woman member, and I didn't want her to go and be, like, by
herself.
I was already worrying.
16:52
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: When the coup happened, I was sitting my MBA
exam at the university.
And halfway through the exam, we were told, you know, there's been a coup
and I rushed off to school and get my daughter, rushed home in the traffic
jam.
And when I eventually got to the camp and I asked, you know, "Who is this
that's involved?"
17:12
ILISONI LIGAIRI: I went to the senior officers in the army and told them
what happened.
And I told them that I give the order, and I'm responsible for whatever is
going to happen.
I know that I broke the law of the Constitution.
And I told them --
All I asked them is, "I don't want anything to -- blood shed."
17:39
CHRIS MASTERS: On the second day, some of the parliamentarians were
offered their freedom in exchange for their resignations.
JOHN ALI: I was told that I have a choice.
If I resign from the government, I'll be protected.
Failing that, you know, I could be shot.
18:02
CHRIS MASTERS: The Prime Minister, his son and the Deputy Prime Minister
were locked away with 30 of their colleagues.
10 found their way home as the smoke began to clear above Suva.
Immediately following the coup, the shopping centre was systematically
looted and burned to keep the authorities busy.
18:33
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: I believe it was organised by those who
organised the marches.
There was a group of people who were, you know, physically strong and were
out there to, you know, take down shop windows and throw goods out onto
the streets.
NAVI NAISORO: You had to have looting.
They didn't have any arms, so they wanted to stretch out the forces, the
police force particularly.
18:58
RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA: If it went to plan, it would have been sorted out in
the next few days after 19 May.
That's why it's still going, you know.
I think there was no plan at all.
19:12
RATU RAKUITA VAKALALABURE: I really believe there wasn't any plan --
particular plan -- except to depose the government, to see that the
Constitution was abrogated.
19:28
CHRIS MASTERS: Fused with the nationalism was a mix of ambition, revenge
and opportunism.
The planning itself did not go beyond the first day.
The confused agenda contributed to this slimmest of all plots being lost
when the army failed to follow Speight's script.
Did you expect the army to come in on your side?
19:52
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Yes, we did.
Yes, we did.
But they didn't.
CHRIS MASTERS: What went wrong?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I don't know.
It doesn't really bother me.
I mean, because even if the world stands up against this cause, we will
still go through with it.
10:05
CHRIS MASTERS: In the preceding 12 months, Speight had reason to develop
his own grievances against the Chaudhry Government.
He'd been sacked from a range of boards, including Fiji Hardwood.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: He didn't just sack me.
He sacked any respectable Fijian off all the boards.
Is this the way to go about treating Fijians in our own country?
I make no apology for sitting on a board of a public company.
I do that because I believe I can make a contribution.
And it's not like it pays --
CHRIS MASTERS: A personal attack?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: It's not like it makes -- .
Look this is personal, everything is personal when it --
..when you're fighting for your race.
20:39
DR TUPENI BABA, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: This certainly puts an interesting
twist into the whole affair.
I understand Mr George Speight was certainly chairman of the Fiji Hardwood
Corporation at the time I received this.
We would like to get to the bottom of this.
20:54
CHRIS MASTERS: The government discovered Speight had received consultancy
payments from one of the bidders intent on exploiting Fiji's rich mahogany
forests.
Speight insisted the payments were entirely proper.
His attack on Parliament came three days before he was to appear in a Suva
court on a different currency charge.
21:16
GEORGE SPEIGHT: So what?
All that is insignificant.
CHRIS MASTERS: Doesn't that speak of opportunism rather than nationalism?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Look, if it is opportunism, I'd make it an absolute
mandatory demand that I run this country when all this is over.
That is not so.
21:35
CHRIS MASTERS: As George Speight attempted to form a government, there was
a jockeying for position and power.
Even the opposition members who doubted Speight's credibility had no doubt
about his cause -- indigenous rights.
21:49
SIMIONE KAITANI: I believe George is an instrument for the cause.
If you started to look at George as George, then I believe that there may
be certain things like that.
We would be bound to discuss it.
But to us, we look at George as a sort of the --
..representing the cause.
22:11
CHRIS MASTERS: Shouldn't you unequivocally condemn Mr Speight for what he
has done, even though you say you do agree with and understand some of the
motives?
22:21
RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA: I have a difficult situation that I'm in.
The president of my party is in that -- is in the complex.
And most of our members are in that.
22:30
PRATAP CHAND, CHAUDHRY GOVT MINISTER: Well, that's what you can't
comprehend -- what the opposition wants.
Do they want merely power, that every time you lose power, you change the
rules of the game?
CHRIS MASTERS: As it turned out, when Speight set to form his own
government, he overlooked the older members, including the opposition
leader.
22:52
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I announced to him that morning that as far as I was
concerned that was the end of their political careers, period.
It was over.
CHRIS MASTERS: Why?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Well, because, you know, they've had their run.
They've had their run.
23:04
CHRIS MASTERS: Four Corners has learned that in one respect, Speight HAD
jumped the gun.
Within Mr Chaudhry's Government, they had been talking about a leadership
challenge of their own.
But Deputy Leader Dr Baba had preferred to wait until after the July Suva
convention before mounting the challenge.
23:24
RATU INOKE KUBUABOLA: I was hearing that.
Even a few weeks before that, I was hearing that.
In actual fact maybe, not mentioning names, but two diplomats had
approached me as to what --
..where would the opposition put its support.
I said, "Well, we'll --
we'll go along with that."
23:48
CHRIS MASTERS: Wouldn't have made any difference?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: No, no difference whatsoever because the basic foundation
of the government --
See, my desire for a change is not just a change in the people who run the
government.
My desire for change is a change of the very structure and nature and laws
and policies of government as well, which is the very foundation, you
know, which regulates the lives of our people day to day.
24:14
CHRIS MASTERS: By day three, it was obvious there was going to be no quick
resolution.
Along with the arrival of the foreign media came offers to counter
Speight's attack from some of their governments.
24:27
OSMAN SIDDIQUE: We offered some assistance but it was rejected on the
grounds that Fiji would like to resolve its problem its own way.
CHRIS MASTERS: Was this assistance to help remove the hostages?
OSMAN SIDDIQUE: Well, I don't want to go into details but it included
hostage negotiation teams and training, etc.
24:45
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: The angle that they were coming from was they
were trying to put a universal template on this solution, on this crisis.
They wanted to treat it just like a straight-out hostage situation.
But they did not appreciate what we saw.
We understood our own people, our own culture, and that in time -- in time
-- things would begin to clarify itself.
25:18
CHRIS MASTERS: By now, mob rule had seen the local television station
trashed and the first bloodshed.
A journalist and some soldiers were wounded, a policeman killed.
COMMANDER VOREQE BAINIMARAMA, HEAD, FIJI MILITARY FORCES: At approximately
1800 hours tonight, Monday, 29 May 2000, I have assumed executive
authority of the country and henceforth declare martial law.
25:54
CHRIS MASTERS: In the first weeks of the coup, Fiji lost its head not once
but twice.
President Ratu Mara was asked to stand aside by the self-appointed interim
military authority, which took it upon itself to tear up the Constitution.
26:11
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: That same day, the President's life was
threatened.
We got information that the people in Parliament were going to try and
seize the President and the group had came down that way that same
afternoon, firing shots into the air.
Then we knew then that we had to step in because the very institution that
guaranteed the state was under threat here.
And if that was allowed to happen, then it would be very hard for us to
bring it back.
26:45
CHRIS MASTERS: It soon became clear that Speight had been gazumped by the
people he had counted on saving him.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: They're a bunch of hypocrites basically.
Bunch of has-beens.
They have no guts.
And in that respect at least, I can say that at least Mr Rabuka had the
guts to do something in '87.
27:06
CHRIS MASTERS: Checkpoints and curfews were imposed by an army used to the
tedium of martial law.
Constant international peacekeeping duties means there's barely a soldier
in Fiji without experience in demonstrating restraint in tense
circumstances.
27:35
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: That's the major contribution we bring on to
the table here in this crisis in our country.
Because we have seen with our very eyes how, you know, undue use of force,
unjustified use of force can lead to situations that are very hard to
repair, like in Israel, in Lebanon.
28:00
CHRIS MASTERS: The waiting game began.
Instead of parliamentary bells, the compound rang to the sound of pounding
kava.
The villagers arrived to exercise their claim of ownership, the village
overwhelming the Parliament.
28:18
VILLAGER: I'm here to -- for the future of my kids and my family, for
their future and for the generation, you know.
I want them to be in --
to be secure in future.
28:35
SECOND VILLAGER: The outcome is that --
that we'll get --
..that we'll form up the government.
Fijian people will lead their own country, have their own government.
28:57
CHRIS MASTERS: The new flags of governance of this people's uprising line
the compound.
Underpants hang in the Speaker's office.
Sandshoes crowd the corridors.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I have not a cent in my pocket.
I walked into Parliament without a cent.
The coup was planned without one cent being used and it continues to run
like that.
29:20
CHRIS MASTERS: Food arrived daily to supplement what Speight insists is a
cut-price coup.
As a commerce graduate, what's your view on the cost to Fiji?
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Of this coup?
CHRIS MASTERS: Mmm.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: $300 million, $400 million.
So?
This is for generations.
It's just not for today.
And if we have to, you know, all take some hurt because of it, so be it.
29:45
CHRIS MASTERS: Speight believes his support springs from the country's
grass roots -- from the village, the vanua, the kinship loyalties that are
the soul of Fiji.
29:57
ILISONI NALEWABAU, LOCAL TAUKEI LEADER: What he did was what we wanted.
Fight for the indigenous people.
That's what we wanted.
All Fijians wanted that.
But the problem is, they could have just sit down, everybody, all the
chiefs get a dialogue, solve it.
And the main problem now is one chief is arising from this side, another
one coming from this side.
They all are power hungry.
30:37
CHRIS MASTERS: More than a dispute between indigenous Fijians and Indians,
this coup is an expression of Fiji's identity crisis, a dilemma of loyalty
to the state, or the vanua, the village way.
30:52
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: I would say that I understand why the coup
took place and I sympathise with the aspirations they represent.
And I feel, personally, that those aspirations and the feelings of
insecurity must be addressed in and signed into the Constitution and in
the laws and also translated into day-to-day governance, which gives them
the feeling of security -- that they are secure in their own land and that
they can then have a share in the economic wellbeing of the country.
31:30
CHRIS MASTERS: Both sides in Fiji's civil disturbance have eschewed the
shooting war in favour of propaganda operations.
The pace began to slow.
The news agenda, now largely controlled by the white-collar terrorist,
accessible and beguiling with his stock of whiteboard rhetoric.
31:55
GEORGE SPEIGHT: There's always a future in negotiations.
Always.
FIJI TV: Good evening, Fiji.
Never have both sides of the current conflict been so positive in terms of
negotiations.
CHRIS MASTERS: The difficulty for most of the locals is the language of
the media and the government is not their first language.
While Speight ran his daily press conferences, the army began its own
public relations missions to get its message out to the villages.
32:23
LT COL. FILIPO TARAKINIKINI: I think a lot of them are not well-informed.
It is hard, and in a country like ours people still don't appreciate the
importance of information.
A war, as far as the information is concerned, is very real.
32:42
CHRIS MASTERS: Dr Paul Geraghty is a Cambridge-educated linguist working
on a local dictionary project.
So, what is happening now -- a crisis indeed -- is that well-communicated,
is it well-understood throughout all these villages in Fiji?
32:58
DR PAUL GERAGHTY, DIR., INSTITUTE OF FIJIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE:
Absolutely not, I think is the answer to that.
That the -- politically events generally are communicated mostly by
hearsay.
This is partly again --
it's a colonial legacy in that the government was always run in English.
33:14
CHRIS MASTERS: So the coup proceeded in slow motion -- too slow for most
of the accompanying media.
The negotiators came and went.
There was a lot of talking -- in Fiji style and Fiji time.
The objective -- more consensus than compromise.
33:40
DR PAUL GERAGHTY: Fijians never stay enemies for very long, in any case.
So, you do drink with the enemy, you talk with the enemy.
And you try to get things sorted out in a civilised fashion.
JOE BROWNE, SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT, 23 JUNE, 2000: The journey that
started on 19 May will be completed tomorrow.
And at 11:00, we will sign that agreement.
34:00
CHRIS MASTERS: There's been a queue of false endings.
For every breakthrough, a new obstacle.
The changing demands seem to indicate that you are answerable to others.
Is that not so?
34:12
GEORGE SPEIGHT: No, but I -- but it's --
there's a team there.
We talk of different views about the future of Fiji in terms of policy
issues and stuff, but I think generally there is a resolve for the same
path to be followed.
I try and get a consensus decision on most things but I reserve the right
for the final decision, and that's the way we operate.
34:37
ILISONI LIGAIRI: My aim is to let these people seek to start the
groundwork of the Fijian government.
That's what we aim for.
34:50
CHRIS MASTERS: The first victims of the waiting game were the hostages and
their families.
Relatives, fearful of retribution, were largely silenced.
Each morning they would arrive at the Red Cross offices to pass on small
comfort.
35:05
JOHN SCOTT, DIR. GEN., FIJI RED CROSS SOCIETY: As you can see, messages
are being written.
We read them quickly to make sure there's nothing that we perceive to be
controversial in any way.
And then --
Are these the chickens?
Um -- then they'll be taken and screened inside then given back to me if
they've decided that they're satisfactory.
And then I'll be allowed to distribute them and have a brief chat.
35:32
LAVINIA PADARATH: That was another treatment for us -- therapeutic for us
-- looking forward to John Scott's daily visit.
We were very fortunate that Red Cross was right there and we appreciated
the mattresses they supplied.
CHRIS MASTERS: Lavinia Padarath was one of the group of females released
after 37 days.
She and the others were generally kept out of sight.
35:58
LAVINIA PADARATH: We were terrified with soldiers around and the guns, you
know, they were always there.
SURUJ MATI NAND: If somebody wanted to go to washroom, he wouldn't even --
..may have not even finished, they will start banging the door, shouting
loudly, frightening them, threatening them.
"Hey come on, get out!"
You know?
Like that.
36:21
LAVINIA PADARATH: I would go and find one of the women crying, you know?
I would just say, "I think I need a big hug," and we would hug.
So, you know, we did all we could.
36:39
CHRIS MASTERS: The women could hear rather than see what was going on
outside.
Among the people crowding into the compound were known criminals.
After the first weeks, Major Ligairi began organising and drilling them.
36:56
ILISONI LIGAIRI: I think my only problem here is to keep these people
together, that's all.
Not from outside.
I have no problems facing any threat from outside, no.
It's the people to keep these people disciplined.
You know, they come from villages and things like that.
37:15
CHRIS MASTERS: There were plenty of preachers too.
You could hear the praying outside and the services outside, I take it?
37:28
LAVINIA PADARATH: Well, that was theirs.
We had our own inside.
We just wondered, you know -- some of us sort of made comments wondering,
you know, which god were they worshipping.
37:44
CHRIS MASTERS: After the first five weeks some pictures were released of
the hostages, showing a gaunt and drawn Mahendra Chaudhry.
There is evidence also of some clumsy attempts at brainwashing.
37:57
GEORGE SPEIGHT: I think he's realised, you know --
Not 'I think' -- he knows.
I've been talking to him as well.
A lot of people have been speaking to him.
He knows, he understands why the coup took place.
He can see the folly of his ways.
And at the same time, I think it's heartening to him the fact that, you
know, we look after him, we talk to him, you know.
I tell him, you know, "It's not about hating you guys, you know, "it's
hating the things you do and the things you believe."
38:22
SIMIONE KAITANI: I -- did not have the heart, even until now, to go in and
see my former colleagues, members of parliament, who now have been held
hostages, despite the fact that my other colleagues have gone in and seen
them.
I do not have the heart to go and see them.
I feel it's wrong.
It's not right.
But this may be the only other way.
There is no other option.
38:55
CHRIS MASTERS: The second prominent victims of the cause are Mahendra
Chaudhry's fellow Indo-Fijians.
Their numbers, reduced since the last coup, are in further retreat.
39:07
GEORGE SPEIGHT: My best friend is an Indian.
CHRIS MASTERS: Yes.
GEORGE SPEIGHT: (Laughs) You know amazingly enough.
CHRIS MASTERS: So, but what are you going to say to them, because haven't
you committed a profound racist act?
39:19
GEORGE SPEIGHT: Yes, but they understand why.
They understand because, at the end of the day, it's not about them, it's
about Fijians.
You know, the events of the coup and how I've looked after my Indian
brothers down there at least is a testimony to, and I thank the good Lord
that we have at least some respect for human life.
Otherwise, if this is about Indians I'll just shoot the whole lot of them.
39:44
CHRIS MASTERS: Denied access to freehold land, largely unrepresented in
the army, Indo-Fijians endure -- with little complaint -- institutional
discrimination.
39:55
SURUJ MATI NAND: They stand nowhere.
Because unfortunately Indians are the scapegoats in this.
BERENADO VUNIBOBO, OPPOSITION SENATOR: I remember distinctly as a boy
where we were called 'junglies'.
Junglie means you were a bloody bushman and this was by Indian
cane-farmers who were leasing our land.
40:14
NAVI NAISORO: Fijians and Indians have completely different attitudes to
life, lifestyles, view on priorities in life.
The Indians haven't assimilated.
40:30
GEORGE SPEIGHT: They are very particular people, our Indian brothers.
Oh, these guys are something else.
Indians don't know where to stop basi