The Failed Businessman Who Took Over The Fijian Government (2000)

[Music] we saw the gunman running into the house and moving into strategic locations our with the gun and pointing gun to members of parliament asking them not to move like Ram Vesna is a government minister who's just lost his job but counts himself lucky to still have his life he was in Fiji's Parliament when seven armed gunmen stormed in the coup leader judge speed walked straight to beside the secretary-general and he asked everyone to be quiet and he announced that it was he take over and he has been instructed by the indigenous Fijian sir to act for them for two terrifying days lake was held with more than 30 other MPs the Parliament became his prisoner in his chilling account of Fiji's coup leader George spate is cast as a ruthless but erratic man taking extraordinary risks to seize his country and if there was any invasion then he shot all the members should you be assured all of us must have been terrified and has been a failed businessman with no political pedigree George Speights fight for indigenous rights is the public face of a very private battle for power and profit that could rip Fiji apart [Music] we arrived in Suva at night a city shrouded in curfew where every movement is checked by nervous police Australian foreign correspondent razor-wire barricades blocked the roads to Parliament and it's here at midnight we find the country's Deputy Police Commissioner sharing communal cups of Carver to help boost his men's spirits themselves at the mediator will keep away one kilometres from the Parliament why is that order been given killing the publicity for the gay [Music] daybreak reveals the damage done as looters cashed in on the coup that ousted elected order there are fears of more violence and so Silver'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-man's land the leafy hill leading to a parliament taken hostage by George Speights gunman hundreds walk it every day even in the tropical heat and it's here too in this very South Pacific qu the world's media is allowed daily audience to hear George Speights vision of a new Fiji no more of this western-style democratic elected box right first let's cement a political system that that enshrines indigenous supremacy and then let's define the role of the other ethnic groups in Fiji but it's up close you find a man whose mood quickly swings from knockabout charmer to Angry coup leader especially when asked about the health of his key hostage Prime Minister 400 children but I'm not interested in what the world thinks about mr. Chaudhary's well-being this whole scenario here is for the world to focus attention on what we feed Jin's want ok and I think it's about time you realize we also help us sure take to the world the fact that we are unhappy meanwhile be rest assured mr. Chaudhary is fine you know we've had a hundred years of suppression he's only had four days of discomfort there's no comparison let me go he has reason to be sensitive Speights henchmen have twice beaten mr. Chaudhary for refusing to resign but others have been less intransigent after two days in captivity often in a darkened room Speights men called each MP to the door covered their face with a balaclava and led them to a room where Jorge spate was waiting 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 said you right here that you're resigning from UC so I did exactly that and assigned I resigned from my Parliament seat because I have suspended government and I've thrown out Constitution you know whether they resign physically or not as far as we're concerned they're not coming back and that's it 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 cuttle drowned the radio for presidential updates our ministers and party Chiefs Labour Party president Corey Joker Becky is the leader of the Senate instead she's leading efforts to try and save the lives of a government Industrial Relations Minister ratted to Vita mama Donna now chief spokesman for a government in exile in its own city warns backing down to blackmailers is the death of democracy that is led to to happen then every five years you'll have a similar experience you know a group of signs of this tomorrow look we don't like this man so it's a question of democracy ready while the Labour Party is being outmaneuvered 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 running most of the country's biggest farms Indians least traditional land from indigenous Fijians it's the only way they can survive that many of the leases are starting to expire it is beyond our expectation and thank the people for placing the trust and confidence in the Fiji Labour Party and it's keeping his election promise to better protect Indian farmers when he won power Prime Minister Chaudhry flagged moves for better lease extensions he was trying to push very strongly his own insistence for the retention of legislation that enables the terraces of farms to be renewed automatically for 30 years in Fiji where land is more than just a commodity and indigenous rights are so emotionally attached to land it was Choudhary's political weak spot that's when the extreme nationalist talc eye 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 28,000 Fijian dollars by the government giving more ammunition to opposition Fijian politicians beating the Nationals drum politicians and parties which had lost lost power I have tried to use the leverage of land to put pressure on the government and actually to use that perhaps to bring bring the government down and that's that's really what has been happening but beyond the sensitive land issue there's an even more compelling reason why child Riza lection victory was so hated by the previous power brokers and their cronies Chowdhury was canceling the previous government's lucrative privatization deals it brought to an end a lot of very lucrative consultancies for overseas and in local corporations and you see some of these names cropping up in sochi in terms of support to the to the self-proclaimed regime you see some of these characters actually involved in the organising etcetera that have been going on but it's out in Fiji's interior you find the biggest deal of all a deal linked to none other than George Spade himself Fiji has the world's largest reserve of mahogany worth a quarter of a billion US dollars it's the nation's biggest resource deal since independence and it's ready for harvest people fetus what do you want a column with landowners like Sola Vasu support George spades Koo and it's no wonder Salih would have already been receiving royalties for the government-owned trees on his land if George Speights plans had gone through under the last government George spate was the CEO of Fiji hardwood corporation the statutory authority responsible for managing the timber and helping find a suitable partner the government now sees speech should have declared his conflict of interest over the matter his Fiji TV station Fiji one recently revealed George Spade received money from one of the key bidders trans resource management or trm while he was in that key position in this particular case apparently there was a lot of conflict of interest it may be also working on the illegal in which trm says it was for work spite had done before he was in that job but it didn't appear that way but the government says due to all the revelations the whole mahogany deal will have to be investigated at a meeting according to an eyewitness the state suddenly appeared and said he had a far better deal with trm which suggested that to some people that TR m and I never look at the documents after putting their own tender in one of the child recover months first acts was to sack George Spade from the Fiji hardwood Corporation and review the deal 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 Tim bye and forest resources spite told me his government would bring back tra me facing currency charges over the deal and chased by a string of failed business ventures the COO may have been Speights way of clearing his personal slate but no one believes this is his COO alone and there are many including those outwardly trying to solve the crisis who would not be too unhappy if spate succeeds we've learned Prime Minister Chaudhry had quietly started a major investigation into the 200 million dollar debt that led to the collapse of Fiji's National Bank there are many actors in war a lot of them are good guys now a lot of them are bad guys now the sense of people I took advantage of the post coup political situation as a means of accessing you know the bank vault 1995 audit named many in the former government led by a siddha Vinny Ram Booker including leaders of the nationalist telco movement as those who owed money to the bank this was after 1987 and Taurus is one of them and there was a big list which came out in the local press I think it was in the 50 times the who is who in Fiji starting from the top down when I say the top you know what I mean yeah it was exactly these politicians who lost their vested interests and could have been exposed by Choudhary's election victory 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 Chad Reed in the last 12 months was caused by people who wanted the old cushy positions back people who lost out because of the election we usually using the nationalist flag as a pretense and to go that extra mile and actually storm Parliament they needed a gutsy hothead with a grudge against Chowdhury who could still articulate the nationalist Creed as the next tenth stage of his power play unfolded spate invited me to share a calming brew of kava the coup was clearly taking its toll he was tired and hungry and for a few moments let down his guard to reveal a chilling resolve the council Senate it's a pretty dress T I mean you wouldn't you don't strike me as the sort of guy that would actually kill somebody if they wanted to walk out of there with the government in his control the only person in Speights way of total victory was the president righto sir commerce' Samara who refused to scrap the Constitution and endorse Speights leadership we consider whenever this industry our suit - IRISA - as a mixed-blood late comer - 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 spate as a nationalist Pretender many expect the Chiefs to back president Mara himself a high chief against Speights violent upstarts but then Speights 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 spate and his men a share in power on an interim three-year government in changing the Constitution to make sure no Indian ever again serves as the prime minister of Fiji [Music] soon but still it wasn't enough in fact spate was angry because the deal ignored his main demands which now included the second of the President himself of the 1997 Constitution number two the pardoning of the the judge spear and his man and number three the blessings to Speights administration but how could a group of armed thugs ostensibly fighting for Fiji and rights reject Fiji's highest traditional Authority it's because what started for the world as a push to read Fiji of an Indian Prime Minister is in fact a fight among rival Fijians for political power there's been a revival of people say tribalism certainly regional rivalries all come to a head and the Western Fijians who for one reason or another found himself in a position of subordinate C for a long time and that became to resent the fact that power was in the hands of the eastern Fijians personified by rottenmeier at the present most of Speights gunmen and some of the politicians he's installed are from his western birthplace and with the covert backing of his tribal chiefs Speights now trying to control the Council of Chief sit self seen by many common Fijians is corrupt and increasingly out of touch if the Chiefs council doesn't bend to Speights will feel even challenge them there will be fight between the people was just the the Chiefs and now the there will be this conflict of interest which will I suppose will also results on the the people themselves questioning how how real is the great council of Chiefs in terms of addressing the aspirations of their own people [Music] president Mara's temporary resignation gives spate 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 spate 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 [Music] you

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 331,751

Keywords: Journeyman, Journeyman Pictures, Fiji, ethnic conflict, corruption, nationalism, George Speight, Coup

Id: IobPB6b6GOI

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Mon May 21 2018